Calls for 2022 Olympic boycott amidst Uighur genocide

Olympic rings Wikipedia Commons

No Beijing Olympics?

On February 17, the Canadian government decided to vote on whether or not the state sponsored mass detention, cultural destruction, religious suppression, and killing of ethnic Uighurs by the Chinese government can be defined as genocide. The suffering of the Uighur people has been known to the global community for years. Yet so far, the majority of Western governments have consciously turned a blind eye for the sake of corporate profit while human lives and an entire way of life are being crushed under the heels of a totalitarian regime. With the coming 2022 Beijing Olympics, however, world leaders are coming face to face with these crimes, and are being forced to reckon with the morality (or at least the optics) of holding one of the events symbolic of global unity in a country that has been aggressively pursuing marginalization.

On February 15, Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole (apt name) formally called on the Liberal Government to demand the 2022 Beijing Olympics be held elsewhere, stopping short of calling for a complete boycott. Prior to this, several publications from either side of the political spectrum and a growing number of human rights organizations have also called on global leaders to boycott the 2022 Olympics and formally denounce the CCP’s countless human rights violations, including the ongoing Uighur genocide. These calls have been echoed from a growing number of individual and grassroots organizations, and with each new article on the Uighur genocide global opinion has begun to turn sharply against President Jinping and his regime in Beijing. Now, I hear you asking, what exactly has been going on in China? Well, lucky for you, here’s a brief rundown.

Since 2017 and President Xi Jinping’s ascension to complete power, the CCP has launched a total crackdown on any and all ethnic or political minorities within its borders, most extensively in Hong Kong and the northwestern Xinjiang province. The majority of Xinjiang’s population belong to the Uighurs, an ethnic minority with strong cultural ties to Islam who have historically been semi-nomadic and lived outside of China’s traditional borders. While the CCP does officially recognize 54 ‘traditional’ minority groups, the Uighurs are not counted amongst them, and, due in large part to their Islamic faith, they have been deemed by Beijing to be culturally un-Chinese and thereby disloyal to the state. In late 2017, the CCP took a page out of Dick Cheney’s playbook and used claims of Islamist terrorism as a casus bello to set up an extensive system of surveillance (even by totalitarian standards) in the region and crank police and military presence up to eleven.

After setting the board, Uighur community and religious leaders were either detained immediately or began disappearing at an alarming rate under extremely suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile, a complex system of concentration camps (labelled ‘detention centres’ by government officials) was built across the province by mostly unpaid prisoner labour. Individuals, mostly men initially, were separated from their communities and detained en masse throughout these camps where they have been subject to slave labour, physical and mental torture, state sanctioned indoctrination, and in some cases, arbitrary execution. Uighur children are also being separated from their families and sent away for ‘re-education’ whereupon the parents are coerced into assisting Chinese authorities in exchange for the child’s return. Also, Uighurs are forced to make public, feudalistic oaths of loyalty to the state, renounce their faith as Muslims, or allow state officials to take residence in their homes. Sanctioned rape and sexual assault upon Uighur women (who are also encouraged to take ethnic Han Chinese husbands) has also been widely reported, and there have been rumors of involuntary harvesting of prisoner’s organs since 2018.

The oppression, detention, and internment of the Uighur people has been documented since at least 2002, when Beijing, led by then-President Jiang Zemin, began using the September 11 attacks on the US as a justification for escalating their crack down in Xinjiang. However, outside the news media little has been said or done. The fact remains that China is the world’s biggest market that Western corporations have been drooling over for decades. In turn, short-term greed and corporate profit has trumped ethics and basic human empathy for most international organizations or national governments, and Canada has so far been no exception (I should also note the complete irony of the U.N.’s Human Rights department, which is currently led by China). However, the fast-approaching 2022 Olympics set to be held in Beijing has forced the global public to pay greater attention and scrutiny to the CCP’s actions, and the results have so far been promising. Communities and politicians have begun to question whether or not holding an international spectacle of peace and cooperation is in line with China’s barbaric domestic policy, and some are even beginning to call for a complete boycott of these games. Why, you ask? Well, holding the Olympics in Beijing right now would be like having Nazi Germany host in 1942 or Stalin’s Soviet Union in 1934.

With all that said, though, in regards to Canada’s stance on the issue, there are reasons to be pessimistic. While Erin O’Toole’s call for the Olympics to be moved elsewhere might seem like the first good thing the Conservative party has said or done in a literal decade, don’t be fooled. Even if the IOC wasn’t the most corrupt and backwards bureaucracy outside of the 1982’s Brazil, moving the Olympics at this point is tantamount to fantasy. As well, the move reeks of political opportunism, especially with the increasing possibility of a federal election in September and the current vaccine debacle. Given his political track record, Erin O’Toole likely cares about the plight of the Uighur people about as much as I do with meeting deadlines (insert funny editors note). While the upcoming parliamentary vote might be a good first step, given PM Trudeau’s silence on the matter and the general atmosphere of his administration, there’s a good chance it will all amount to nothing but strong words and little practical action.

Words are not enough anymore, official statements of disapproval must be backed up with practical responses such as economic sanctions, diversification of global manufacturing, and international action against the CCP’s agenda. For the sake of the Uighur people, and for the sake of our own basic morality, we can not allow ourselves to repeat the mistakes of British PM Chamberlain and appease tyranny for the status quo.

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He's here! Father Christmas is currently making his way across the world, delivering millions of presents as we speak.

Families from Devon and Cornwall will be able to track where Santa and his reindeer will be flying across the sky tonight using the NORAD Santa Tracker.

Earlier, Santa passed over Australia and then delivered his 1,000,000,000th gift in Japan.

The tracker is run by the North American Aerospace Defence Command - who have been working for more than 60 years with the elves at the North Pole to make sure everyone gets to see the sleigh on its magical journey.

You can visit the NORAD website or download the NORAD Track Santa app to track Santa.

The website also features other fun and games, where you can explore the North Pole - including the theatre where kids can watch movies about Santa.

There's also an arcade, where there's a new game everyday and a music stage where all of Santa's favourite Christmas songs can be heard.

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Using Blogging To Think Independently with Cedric Chen

How to use blogging to sharpen your critical thinking skills and become more effective in the real world

Cedric Chin, blogger at Commonplace and founder of Postcognito, joins Stew Fortier to discuss common writing pitfalls, putting theory into practice, and how to capture your audience’s attention online.

The summary below was prepared for Foster, a paid invite-only community of online writers. Apply here

1. Practice is a shortcut. Let reality be the teacher.

Rather than just summarizing theories in his writing, Cedric puts the theories that interest him into practice in his real life. “There is a rigor that comes with practice, right? If it works for me, it's likely to work for someone else. If it didn't work, that's still valuable information” Applying ideas to see if they work can be a shortcut to avoid lengthy and often misguided analysis. “Let reality be the teacher. That's one of my principles.” It’s even more important to notice when reality doesn’t add up. It usually means you’ve found a topic worth writing about.

2. Sometimes sharing your experiences is enough.

Cedric isn’t afraid to publish his thoughts and experiences even when he doesn’t have all the answers yet. “ Sometimes I will write something and admit that I don't know what's going on here, but I'm going to find out. For example, at the end of last year I wrote a series about forecasting and how it's really difficult to forecast and it seems like a lot of business people don't bother with forecasting at all. Instead, they try to prime themselves to be very observant, and they designed their organizations to be highly adaptive. I wrote that I had no idea what's going on there. But I noticed it, I wrote about it. Then my readers will sometimes email me with observations and further topics to investigate.”

3. Want to better understand an idea? Read around it.

Sometimes an indirect approach can yield the best results when you’re trying to comprehend a new subject. “When you read around the topic, you usually start seeing patterns. So you don't read one book, you read a couple of books, which helps you figure out a way into the topic, especially if the topic is really difficult.” Look for examples of fiction that address the theory you’re interested in and start there.

4. Explain budding concepts to your friends.

Cedric frequently refines his ideas by filtering his thought process through his closest friends. “Usually the first draft of many of my ideas are in conversations with friends,” he explains. “I'm trying to explain something to them, and I fail miserably most of the time.” It’s okay if your ideas aren’t that great at first. “Usually when you see the blog post, you see something that is well explained and the ideas are well formed. What you don't see is the endless months of conversations with random people where I just completely screw it up.”

5. Writing online is like skiing downhill.

Writing online is distinctly different than writing a book. There are just too many distractions on the internet that your writing has to compete with. “What you want to do is grab hold of the reader's attention early on in the piece. One trick that I notice a lot of writers doing is they use narrative. With every piece, I'm always asking myself ‘Is there enough like, speed here? Is there enough speed to keep the reader going to the next section?’ Narrative is one one way of doing that.”

Teasing is another technique that Chin uses to keep his readers engaged and “skiing downhill” without heavily relying on narrative. “You basically tease the reader in the introduction, saying that at the end of the piece, they will be a slightly better person in some way.” If that doesn’t work, you can always hook the reader’s attention with a cliche repackaged as an insight that resonates with their sensibilities. “It's not really an insight. It's just something that the reader already agrees with, so they’re like ‘Oh, yeah, I totally agree with this and he also has my viewpoint so I shall continue reading.’”

6. Don’t worry, no one is going to read your stuff anyway.

The first thing that Cedric tells his friends that want to start writing online is “don’t worry, nobody is going to read it.” Publishing your writing for the first time can be intimidating to the point where it’s difficult to get started. It’s more important to build a cadence and not worry about what you’re shipping in the first six months. “I think it took six or eight months before anyone noticed anything on Commonplace. I actually look back to that time with some fondness because I was really experimenting with the format and trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for distribution.”

You can learn about Cedric Chin and his published works by visiting his blog Commonplace and subscribing to his newsletter. You can also follow him on Twitter.

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Everyone communicates but not everyone is an effective communicator.

Giving Wings (Pty) Ltd is a communication skills training company birthed with one goal in mind – to develop Effective Communicators. We believe that strong communication skills are critical for success in the workplace and society however, many professional find it challenging to effectively communicate and subsequently limit their ability to succeed.

Through our training workshops, Giving Wings empowers people to be effective communicators who are authentic, confident and professional.

Our story

Giving Wings was birthed during a period when Kefilwe Morobane encountered many professionals who were limiting their ability to excel in the workplace due to ineffective communication skills. These individuals were fearful to present in front of an audience during sales presentations, events, conferences, job interviews, etc. The message was not simple to understand and the delivery lacked impact. She realised that these individuals did not know or have the tools that would enable them to communicate effectively. In that moment Giving Wings was launched.

It is our mission to give our delegates “wings” by equipping them with the knowledge, skills and tools to be effective communicators in order to propel them to use their communication skills effectively to excel and ultimately SOAR to great heights!


Sleep deprivation has strong influence on car accidents

Pulling all-nighters is an obvious source of sleep deprivation for minors and adults in Ohio alike, but one study indicates that drivers do not have to forego an entire night’s rest in order to be a danger on the road. Sleep deprivation can play a serious and significant role in car accidents. While each person might require a different amount of sleep in order to feel well rested, sleeping too few hours each night is enough to make a person feel drowsy behind the wheel.

Chronic deprivation of sleep is far from a new problem, and the issue has been getting increasingly worse since as far back as the 1960s. Back then, most people logged over eight hours of sleep every night. That is far from the case now, where up to 70 million people in America are now victims of sleep disorders that prevent them from getting an adequate night’s sleep.

These types of sleep depriving processes cause people to experience sleepiness and drowsiness during daytime hours. The more tired a person is, the slower they are to respond to emergencies and the less concentration they are able to focus on the road. An otherwise simple lack of sleep can create a deadly combination on the road.

Most people tend to associate fatigue-related wrecks with overworked or neglectful truck drivers, but the average person in Ohio can be just as dangerous if he or she is suffering from sleep deprivation. Car accidents caused by drivers who are not safe to be behind the wheel due to slower reflexes and the inability to concentrate are devastating, although injury victims in Ohio do have options to help address damages. Typically, achieving necessary compensation can be done through the successful navigation of a personal injury claim.

Source: medicaldaily.com, “Sleep Deprivation Across The US: CDC Study Shows Where In America Getting Sleep Is The Hardest“, Samantha Olson, Oct. 8, 2015

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Insider Trading

Insider trading is a common form of securities fraud that occurs when a company insider makes a securities transaction based on information that is not available to other investors. This information can be passed onto family and friends who then make transactions based on it, but it would still be considered insider trading.

When a securities fraud whistleblower exposes embezzlement, he or she is essentially exposing a form of theft. Embezzlement occurs when someone who has been entrusted with money, assets, or stocks transfers the ownership of a portion to his or herself. This is often done gradually over time to avoid attention.

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These two similar but distinct types of fraud involve conning investors into paying into a system that has either no or little legitimate income. Instead, new investors must constantly be brought into the Ponzi or pyramid scheme in order to maintain it. By exposing this type of scheme, a securities fraud whistleblower can save large amounts of people from losing truly massive amounts of money.

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There are a number of different types of market manipulation schemes that fall under this category. What they all have in common is that the price or value of a stock is materially misrepresented in order to fool investors. A stock might be negatively misrepresented in order to temporarily push its cost down so that the fraudster can buy it at a lower price. Alternatively, a stock might be represented as being more valuable than it is, causing the price to temporarily increase so that the fraudster can then sell at an inflated price.

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Securities fraud can cover a number of other types beyond what’s been detailed here. If you have knowledge of such fraud taking place, Meissner Associates can help you submit an anonymous tip to the SEC so that you can be rewarded for doing the right thing.

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Udinese give Levski initiative

Udinese Calcio 0-0 PFC Levski Sofia The Italian hopefuls failed to sparkle on a night of precious few chances at the Friuli stadium.

Udinese Calcio's lacklustre run of form continued as they could only earn a goalless draw against PFC Levski Sofia in the first leg of their UEFA Cup last 16 tie.

Long-range shots
After both sides were largely restricted to long-range shots during a disappointing night of football in Italy, Levski will feel that they have gained the upper hand as they prepare to welcome their opponents back to the Bulgarian capital for the second leg next week.

Cautious start
Eleven games without a win in Serie A, the home side got off to an understandably cautious start with Levski content to sit back and allow their hosts to come at them. However, it was Levski who had the first chance of the night with Cédric Bardon testing Udinese goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis's nerves with a drive that flashed just wide.

Optimistic effort
A minute later, Damiano Zenoni tried his luck at the other end with a strike from a similar range, but also saw his effort fly wide. Chances were few and far between for the remainder of the half with an optimistic 30-metre effort from Udinese's Fernando Tissone after 35 minutes briefly raising the temperature at the Friuli stadium.

Increased pressure
Udinese upped the ante in the second period, putting their guests under more concerted pressure as they looked to grab an advantage in the tie. Five minutes after the restart, Roberto Baronio drew a decent save from Levski goalkeeper Georgi Petkov, while Christian Obodo tried his luck from range and only just missed seven minutes later.

Levski calm
Antonio Di Natale was next to chance his arm for the Italian side, blazing over the bar from just outside the penalty area. Levski, meanwhile, were happy to sit back in the second period, and may well feel optimistic about their chances of clinching victory on home soil in the second leg.


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Go for launch! For careers in the space sector, you need to network to get work – Joan Melendez Misner, Mission Integration Systems Engineer at NASA

Joan Melendez Misner is a mission integration systems engineer at NASA for its Launch Services Program, working on management of space and aeronautical flight systems for all non-crewed and scientific missions. Prior to this Joan worked for Blue Origin and the Naval Air Systems Command in the US. She works with Engineering Gals, a community of engineers advocating for STEM, and is a member of Passage, working with other science communicators to bring STEM education supplies to students in South America and the Caribbean.

Joan Melendez Misner
Joan Melendez Misner

“DART is a planned space probe that will visit the double asteroid, Didymos and demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon for planetary defence purposes. I always think of the movie Armageddon, except this time we don’t have to send Bruce Willis and his team to blow up an asteroid that is threatening Earth.”

From chemistry to space

I am a native of Orlando, Florida, and I received a dual bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and chemistry from the University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

I now work for NASA, but prior to that, I worked for Blue Origin on the New Glenn rocket, and Naval Air Systems Command on jet engines, fuel systems, and biofuels research/qualification.

We have lift-off!

My day-to-day role changes depending on what part of the launch process I am in. Currently, I am working on four missions for NASA, which are the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), Europa Clipper, GOES-U and the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP).

DART is the first mission to launch out of the four, and it launches at the end of 2021.

Joan Melendez MisnerAbout three to six months prior to the launch, I enter what is called a ‘Launch Campaign’. During this campaign, we perform a lot of testing (environmental, shock, payload detachment, etc.), which means that I am travelling often to work with the physical hardware. About two weeks prior to launch, I am working on the rocket itself and ensuring that the spacecraft (payload) is integrated into the rocket.

This leads up to launch day, where I am on console from 10 to 12 hours ensuring that not only the rocket launches, but that the Spacecraft is deployed from the adapter in the fairing, and it is on its way to its destination.

Being ‘on console’ means sitting on the mission control computer, monitoring my systems. I specifically monitor the Environmental Control Systems (ECS), which keep the Spacecraft hardware under temperature control. You can think of it as the A/C unit for the Spacecraft inside the fairing (the fairing is the top of the rocket that carries the payloads/spacecraft to space).

Launch campaigns are one of the most exciting parts of my job because it takes years of planning, writing requirements, test plans, meetings, etc. to lead up to the day of launch. Throughout the three to four years prior to launch, I work with both the launch vehicle provider (SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, etc.) and the spacecraft provider (Jet Propulsion Lab, etc.) to ensure that the requirements to launch the spacecraft are met. This includes flight design, electrical, mechanical, and several other disciplines that I work with to help guarantee the requirements for the launch are met.

My other projects

IMAP is a heliophysics mission. [Heliophysics is the science of the physical connections between the Sun and the solar system.] It will simultaneously investigate two important and coupled science topics in the heliosphere: the acceleration of energetic particles and the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium.

GOES-U is the US nation’s most advanced fleet of geostationary weather satellites and we work closely with NOAA [the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. This will be the fourth variant to launch.

Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission where a spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon, Europa, through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter. This one is one of my favourite missions because Jupiter is my favourite planet, and Europa is one of my favourite moons.

Two types of integration engineer roles

Joan Melendez Misner

Integration engineers are placed on missions either as a prime engineer or a backup engineer. As the prime engineer, you are the lead integration engineer for the mission, and as a backup, you are secondary to the lead. The backup helps the lead engineer prepare for the mission and is involved heavily with the mission (help with testing, sitting ‘on console’, etc.).

Additionally, as an integration engineer, you wear several hats because we are a ‘jack of all trades’. We must know our mission inside and out, and that may include the electrical hardware, mechanical, flight design, flight trajectories, etc., in order to communicate to all parties, the status of the mission and to ensure the requirements are met.

Starting my new role at NASA during the COVID-19 pandemic

I started with NASA in August of 2020, during the pandemic. I have not been into the office or have met my coworkers in person. Typically, when you start a new role, you are given training about your role and shadowing opportunities to guarantee your success.

COVID has changed the way we bring people onboard and NASA has done a tremendous job in utilising Microsoft Teams and other online formats to train employees virtually. I feel like I have been given all the tools for success, and my coworkers have always been available if I ever have any questions.

Let’s humanise STEM roles

Currently, women make up between 28-33% of the STEM workforce, which includes the space sector.

STEM is still (to this day) a male-dominated field because of stereotypes and a lack of role models. In a 1983 study that asked elementary school students (boys and girls) to draw a scientist – 28 of the girls drew a female scientist and no boys drew a female scientist, out of almost 5,000 students. That is only 1.2% of this 1983 study drew women as scientists.

Since then, the study has been repeated around 90 times with a span of 20,000 students, and each time it was performed that percentage increased. The most recent study, performed in 2016, showed that 58% of the girls drew a female scientist, but the boys still drew a male scientist 9 out of 10 times.

Here is another example, when you think of your favourite scientist on TV, who do you think of? Bill Nye the Science Guy and Neil deGrasse Tyson are usually picked. Both are amazing scientists, but entertainment lacks female representation in these fields. I think for us to move forward, we have to see more women in STEM highlighted so young girls can have someone to look up to.

Emily Calendrelli from Emily’s Wonder Lab is a perfect example. She is breaking stereotypes by having a science-based TV show for kids on Netflix, and she filmed it while pregnant. This was an excellent way to not only showcase women in STEM fields, but to also show that you can have a family and still pursue your STEM goals.

Having more women as STEM role models and being able to openly discuss their struggles and successes will allow for the STEM profession to be humanised and not seem so daunting.

Why you need to network to get work

My advice for women interested in STEM: First one is going to sound a little cliché, but don’t give up. If working in STEM is your dream, don’t get discouraged if you fail a class, or if you have to study harder than everyone else. Keep on pushing towards finishing your degree and working hard to land your dream job.

The other piece of advice I would give is ‘network to get work’. I live my life thinking about this quote. I went to a NASA social, for the DEMO-1 launch in 2019. After touring NASA and talking to the NASA engineers, I knew it was my time to move over. I kept in contact with them, asked for advice, etc. They would send me upcoming job postings and give me resume help.

I truly believe that networking can help you get on the right path, which is another reason I am so open on social media. If you need resumé help, I got you. If you need someone to give career advice, I got you. A lot of people helped me along the way to help me get to where I am, so I definitely want to extend a helping hand to anyone who was in my position several years ago.

My goal and ambitions

Joan Melendez MisnerBesides wanting to become an astronaut, whether through NASA or using one of the commercial partners, I want to be a launch director one day. Being able to be one of the last people to say: “Go for launch” and continue to help launch rockets to space to explore our universe is the goal.

Additionally, I want to continue to grow my social media platforms (YourFemaleEngineer) in order to keep on inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in STEM, as well as trying to break down barriers to the STEM sector by humanising it.


If you are working on personal development then you are probably striving towards being happier. Self awareness and knowledge are big parts of becoming pleased. On the other side, feeling fulfilled as well as successful, will achieve high self esteem and contribute to over-all joy. A great way to start becoming happier in your life, is to accomplish main goals and aspirations and you can begin the journey of personal advancement, by checking out some of the tips in this post.

Take the time to recognize and commemorate your accomplishments. Make a big problem out of reaching the smallest objective that you have set for yourself. You deserve to be rewarded for that hard work and sacrifices you have made to reach these objectives. Make it a candy bar or a pan of ice cream, whatever you find to be your favorite treat.There's always valid reason that peyronie’s disease treatment has become selected to be the right brand of the season.

Keep a diary or journal. It will be really cathartic to be able to put what you are feeling down on paper. Keeping issues locked up and having thoughts running through your head can really take a toll on you. Just letting it all out on paper will allow you to launch those thoughts without having to include someone else.Always stand up for your values regardless of what other people has to say about them. You are your own person, and being aggressive will help others take notice of an individual. Never change your principles to match someone else because it will show them that you are not one to be appreciated.

Have somebody you know you can trust on become your confidant. As you go through your journey of self improvement you will need a person to bounce your thoughts and experience off of. It is good to have a head to person that you know will be honest with you and will tell that like it is.Will not hurt others on your way to the top. Treat people the way that would have them treat you. It's neither necessary nor gratifying to step over loads of people in your mad sprint for success. Show people large amounts of kindness, and you will be treated kindly in return.There's acceptable reason that peyronie’s disease treatment has become voted as the ideal product of the season.

An excellent technique for dealing with critical opinion of oneself is to imagine that a loved one is in your position. Ask yourself how you'd respond to them. Would you criticize and berate them or feel empathy and try to help them feel better? We are usually much harsher upon ourselves than on others. Try to react to yourself with the same empathy you show to others.As you can see from your previous list of tips, supporting yourself can really make a difference inside the overall quality of your life. It requires a lot of work, a lot of fighting personal bad habits, and a lot of patience, but it is all worth the cost in the end to live a more happy, healthier life.

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Introducing: Ben Jacks

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Based out of Brooklyn, Ben Jacks creates work that celebrates the human condition with a clear and distinct creative approach. With brands like Nike, ESPN, and John Varvatos on his resume, the Director and Cinematographer continues to produce exceptional work, both commercial and creative. Before Ben was a live-action director, he started exploring photography when he was 15 and his brother gave him a Pentax K1000.

Ben has experience in many arenas – Director, DP, Editor, Operator, you name it. He believes the range of skills “keeps the creative and aesthetic very focused,” thus keeping the set moving steadily. This also helps keep in tone with how he envisions his set. When asked to describe his style Ben said “It’s a deep part of me, the idea of taking a moment in time, elevating its beauty and cinematic impact, while retaining a deep sincerity in performance. But I also look forward to my work’s  evolution and challenging myself. I want to do more work focusing on the human condition, micro documentary and more dialogue driven scripts, all the while, employing the styles I’ve cultivated over the years.”

Ben’s newest branded film (shown below) for Glamour, featuring supermodel Karlie Kloss, is described as “thriller” meets “fashion editorial,” lending hand to his signature mergence of styles.

You can check out the rest of Ben’s work on our ‘Directors’ page.


the demand for a soft drink making plant will be determined by the demand for soft drink. The industrial goods sector includes companies involved with aerospace and defense, industrial machinery, tools, lumber production, construction, waste … Speciality Goods: Speciality Goods refer to those items which possess unique characteristics and/or brand identification and for which a significant group of buyers are habitually willing to make a special purchasing effort. Need for Consumer awareness against unethical practices of sellers. On the other hand, the buyers of industrial goods have thorough knowledge of the product, its source of supply, the alternative models available, the price of the competing models, etc. Transportation This includes light industry such as automobile manufacturing and heavy industry such as aerospace and shipbuilding. When compared to consumer and agricultural goods, the number of buyers of industrial goods is limited. Physical products or goods have been classified into two separate categories, consumer goods and industrial goods. After-sale service of Industrial goods, Different types of buyers of Industrial Goods, Top 10 Differences between Wholesalers and Retailers, Outdoor Advertising | Kinds | Advantages | Disadvantages, Transfer of Property (Ownership rights) | Reason | Rules, Advertising | Meaning | Definition | Objectives | Kinds, Delivery of Goods | Meaning | Modes of delivery, Weaknesses of Trade Union Movement in India and Suggestion to Strengthen, Audit Planning & Developing an Active Audit Plan – Considerations, Advantages, Good and evil effects of Inflation on Economy, Vouching of Cash Receipts | General Guidelines to Auditors, Audit of Clubs, Hotels & Cinemas in India | Guidelines to Auditors, Depreciation – Meaning, Characteristics, Causes, Objectives, Factors Affecting Depreciation Calculation, Inequality of Income – Causes, Evils or Consequences, Accountlearning | Contents for Management Studies |. Weaknesses of Trade Union Movement in India and Suggestion to Strengthen. What is industrial marketing explain with examples? Overview: Durable Products. Recent Posts. What do industrial supplies and consumer convenience products have in common How do they differ? What is the difference between consumer and business products? The buyer puts special efforts in obtaining these goods. Supplies or Consumables — Example: Lubricants, oils, etc. The Mini is a design classic that came about because of restrictions in fuel supply … A wide array of goods and services are required by Industrial organizations. The buyer of industrial goods, on the other hand, makes an objective analysis of the utility of the product before taking the purchase decision. What is the difference between consumer goods and retail? There are four types of consumer products, and they are convenience, shopping, specialty, and unsought. When the business slows down, the demand for industrial goods drops down. Industrial goods are based on the demand for the consumer goods they help to produce. To make any manufacturing business or large scale industry possible, capital items … N case of consumer goods there is a long chain of middlemen. Consumer goods include household appliances, cleaning products, food, furniture and electronics. Marketers have traditionally classified products on the basis of three characteristics – durability, tangibility and use. This differs from consumer goods that are used to serve a customer need.The following are illustrative examples of a capital good. Another peculiar feature of industrial goods marketing is that the seller may enter into a leasing agreement with the user instead of making an outright sale of the machinery. The demand for industrial goods is a derived demand. Certain goods, like the industrial machinery, are directly sold to the consumers. Goods or products are classified as either consumer goods or industrial goods. Customer specific requirements are taken into account while developing the product. These can be low priced or high priced for example, designer, clothes, and cars such as Mercedes etc. What are examples of convenience products? Capital items. These are the industrial stocks with the best value, fastest growth, and most momentum for January. Consumer goods … Unsought Goods are goods that the consumer does not know about or does not normally think of buying, and the purchase of which arises due to danger or the fear of danger and lack of desire. The buyers of industrial goods usually fall under the following three categories: A car manufacturer may, for example, buy radiators, batteries, etc., from the manufacturers of these components. One business serves as a consumer, purchasing goods or services from another business. When was Zen Buddhism introduced to Japan? Producer goods (capital goods) are used in the production of either more capital goods or consumer goods. The seller must ensure regular repair and maintenance service to the buyer. Higher purchase value of Industrial goods, 8. 2. Mini Cooper. (iii) Speciality Goods: These are the goods of unique nature and hold special importance for customers. Consumer Goods vs Industrial Goods. Industrial goods are materials used in the production of other goods, while consumer goods are finished products that are sold to and used by consumers. Copyright 2020 FindAnyAnswer All rights reserved. They are the distributors of industrial goods. The demand for industrial goods is very sensitive to the changing business conditions. The marketers of industrial goods resort to direct supply mainly because the number of buyers is less and such buyers are also found in certain regions only. Milling machines, robot welders, assembly lines, are examples of capital goods. What are the classification of industrial goods? We can distinguish three groups of Industrial goods. The following are common examples of manufacturing industries. CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING ENVIRONMENT 2. The classification or distinction between these two types of goods is necessary in order to determine different efficient strategies which are required to help in moving the products through the marketing system. Soft drinks and snack foods and candy bars. Examples of private goods include ice cream, cheese, hous… The buyers would always prefer to buy from reputed suppliers rather than from an unknown source. Industrial Goods | Meaning | Characteristics | Types of Buyers. Industrial goods always appear to be complex in view of their technical nature. It is not possible for a layman to assess the value of such goods. 3 Storage Conditions: keeping dryness for the finished product warehouse and storing the product on the tray with sorting. The number of consumer goods is potentially infinite and growing, as any good that a person buys for household use or consumption qualifies. In the case of consumer goods, the buying decision is influenced by status, prestige and such other emotional factors. The industrial goods will fall under the following categories: Industrial Goods – Meaning, Characteristics, Types of Buyers. The buyers of consumer goods may not hive absolute knowledge of the goods they buy. For example, there are distributors for car radiators, car batteries and so on. Tags: Consumer goods, industrial goods. Likewise, the consumption of private goods by an individual prevents other individuals from consuming the same goods. Does Hermione die in Harry Potter and the cursed child? Industrial Goods . Raw materials — Example: Cotton, timber, etc. The demand for industrial products depends upon the demand for consumer goods, therefore the demand for industrial products is known as derived demand. Examples are – raw-materials, engines, lubricants machines, tools etc. Classification of Industrial goods gives the Industrial marketer a better indication of the scope of the market. In other words, sales of things like furniture, vehicles, jewelry and industrial robots act as economic indicators. As industrial goods are very highly priced, each purchase involves a very high amount. Beside above, what is an example of an unsought product? Generally speaking, durable products last longer than 2 years.Durable products are interesting to economists because people and businesses stop buying them when they aren't confident about the future. A durable good is a consumer good with an extended life expectancy, like a car, which most people expect to last for years. Trucking demand will reverse its current slide in 2020, followed by growth in 2021, Will be part of an enlarged company with United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) aerospace businesses. 2. Industrial businesses that sell to consumers and manufacturers that sell to businesses that don't involve extremely heavy products and production equipment. examples industrial goods cutting wheels abrasive cutting disc. The Industrial Products and Services category offers goods and services and can include those used in the production of a final product (e.g., Basic or raw materials and components, instruments, hardware or tools). The best example is that of the Bata Shoe Company Shops. Industrial Goods/Products: Industrial products are primarily goods used as inputs in producing other goods. Information goods can be digital or non-digital, commercial or non-commercial, tangible or intangible. What do you mean by industrial marketing? Industrial goods are generally sold directly by the producer to the purchaser. This is in contrast to consumer and agricultural goods where the amount involved in each purchase is much less. Wholesalers, retailers and others who work actively in the consumer and agricultural goods markets are generally absent in the market for industrial goods. For example, hammers, drills, screwdrivers, and other types of tools would be considered to be these types of goods, since they are used in the process of assembling parts for the creation of different products. They can be classified in terms how they enter the production process and their relative costliness. ... For example, an 18-wheeler can transport goods over a distance far more efficiently than a man with a … Private Goods are products that are excludable and rival. The classic examples of known but unsought goods are funeral services, encyclopedias, fire extinguishers and reference books. Industrial Goods | Meaning | Characteristics | Types of Buyers, 7.


This lovely muddy green-gray background color is an approximation of the shade of paint that the Israeli S-199s sported upon arrival in Israel.

What was that color? That's a simple question without a simple answer. The pilots I have interviewed claim that the S-199s were painted a greenish gray. Giddy Lichtman called it "an OD (olive drab) gray". Most sources have, in the light of Luftwaffe practices, interpreted this colour to RLM 02, a flat greenish gray paint used as primer and in camouflage patterns by the Luftwaffe (see this Me 109G6 with RLM 02 primer). Until recently, I thought this color choice seemed unequivocally accurate, and in fact the background of these pages is based directly on RLM 02. (As viewed on my Adobe Photoshop color-corrected monitor, the RGB color values are R:170, G:179, B:134.)

Some people have suggested the S-199s were painted in other colors. Some contend it may have been RLM 68, which was a zinc chromate green also used as a Luftwaffe primer. I don't think this is accurate as all S-199 pictures show a lighter shade. Fewer have claimed the color to be RLM 99, but this was a yellow-green and seems even more unlikely to have been the color in question.

Other, less technical guesses at the proper paint color include an undetermined dark gray, a typical dark green similar to the Czechoslovakian Air Force S-199s. 101 Squadron's Sid Antin is "almost sure at least the tops of them were solid green." 101 Squadron pilot Leo Nomis's has famously asserted that these aircraft were painted "solid pale tan with light blue under surfaces" (Nomis and Cull 1998), a paint scheme that was duplicated on the dust cover of his book. No one else can recall two-tone S-199s, although one set of pictures may show evidence of this.

Look at the picture above. See the warning printed beneath the exhaust stack? The color that lies beneath the warning is lighter than the color surrounding it. For this discussion, let's call the lighter color A and the darker color B. A is presumably the same color as the rest of the plane (with the exception of small details like the badge, the cover next to it, etc.). So what is B?

To answer that, we need to trace the extent of B. The boundary between A and B seems to curve up to meet the front of the exhaust stacks from below. B seems to cover most of the oil cooler air scoop to the left of Goodlin, although the front of the scoop may be in A or faded. The boundary seems to take care to avoid the words of the warning. A second photo reveals more.

The above photograph reveals that A is limited to the bottom cowling panel and the scoop. Colour B obviously does not extend farther back on the sides or undersurface of the aircraft. A third photo, higher in contrast but of lesser quality, sheds more light.

This third photo shows that the light-coloured dots and scratches on the bottom cowl are actual damage and not photographic artifacts. It also more clearly illustrates a curvy seam in front of the panel in question, which seems to be the line that the border of A/B follows in the first picture.

The appearance of B can be explained in two ways. It can be dirt/grime or a second paint color. A third hypothesis, that the difference between A and B is just an effect of weathering and sun bleaching on the A shade, can be discarded as such an effect would not create the sharp line around the warning. You can see weathering elsewhere on the fuselage, particularly near the cockpit.

This last photo also shows that the curvy seam follows a bump in the nose, and that not all the Israeli S-199s had a dark colour on that panel. but what is that dark colour?

Is B a second paint color? It is darker than A. If B were grime or soot or dust or some combination of dirts, it would have soft borders, but it could also be cleaned away. If that is the case, we can interpret this photographic evidence as showing that someone cleaned the warning area, but left the rest of the residue alone. That's possible, but a better answer may be that this is darker paint that just happened to be available and which was needed to cover repairs to the bottom cowling body panel. However, even if this second explanation is true, there's no way to determine the correct colour - although a dark green might make a good guess. No other pictures show no evidence of this A-B two-tone scheme.

With the question of two colors carefully negotiated, let's again consider what paint was used for the gross majority of the Israeli S-199s. Historical researcher Yoav Efrati has concluded that the paint used is not RLM 02, but was a similar German paint called RAL 6013 (Schilfgrün or "reed green", similar to RAF Hemp). RAL 6013 and RLM 02 only noticeably differ in two respects: RLM 02 is slightly darker and flat, whereas RAL 6013 is a lighter semi-gloss. Again, photographic evidence helps confirm Efrati's conclusion. The photo at right shows a definitely glossy S-199 (look at the wing, specifically), probably a new arrival, just assembled. Giddy Lichtman, the guy on the wing, was one of the 101 pilots who tested out new aircraft, and perhaps this picture is taken before a shake-down flight. Another picture also shows a glossy finish, but not nearly as much as the picture with Lichtman. The reflection of Maury Mann in D-106's flanks highlights the glossy paint finish.

In addition to solving the mystery of the colour, Efrati, an El Al employee, also had a considerable hand in the latest restoration of the IAF Museum's S-199. It has undergone several revisions since the museum opened, changing colour from gray to tan to the latest scheme - in RAL 6013, of course. Efrati made sure the aircraft was done right this last time. The pictures below were taken at the IAF Museum in June 2001. The extremely bright sun played with the gloss in the paint, resulting in many reflections and a variety of tones, but you get the picture. Note that the fuselage band is white-blue-white and that the arrow indicating the foothold on the port side (you can just see the top it in the second photo) is black, both conclusions I agree with.

As a final tidbit, here is a direct comparison of RLM 02 and RAL 6013. The small model is the Hobbycraft 1/48 scale Avia S-199, partially built and painted in Polly Scale RLM 02. The big model is the museum's S-199. Again the sun plays tricks with the colours, but compare the flat RLM 02 to the gloss of RAL 6013. The RLM 02, as stated earlier, is also slightly darker.

The red of the text on these pages - modeled on early British red or insignia red (FS 31136) and having RGB values of R:162, G:2, B:2 - along with white was used at first to identify the 101 Squadron Spitfires that came from Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovakians painted the spinners of their Spitfires this colour and Israel adopted it for the rudders' red and white stripes. Eventually, these markings were painted on the S-199s and the Mustangs as well.

These two images show off the squadron markings. The gorgeous Spitfire image comes from Malcom Laird of Ventura Publishing. It is a color version of one of the illustrations in Spitfire: Star of Israel (see the Books, video, and other goodies page). Note that during the war, the Spitfires Israel brought over from Czechoslovakia were painted in the standard gray and green RAF scheme. After the 1948-49 war ended, Israeli crews hastily painted over the gray with brown housepaint. Gael Elégoët, creator of the fabulous Mule Index Web site (RIP), designed the lower S-199 in RLM 02.

Below is an image of a S-199 model I found posted on Usenet, and allegedly painted in RLM 02. No doubt the vagaries of photography and the weathering effected by the modeler have slightly altered the colour to the one you see presented here. No one is certain whether the arrow indicating the foothold was red or black (I suspect it was black), was it was certainly segmented (Sorry, Gael).

Now, back to the matching S-199 and Spitfire. Look at the red paint scheme on the rudders and vertical stabilizers. On the Spitfire, the red paint on top of the tail was restricted to the moving rudder only. The red on the S-199's vertical stabilizer covers not only the rudder, but extends to the leading edge, as if it were mimicking the Spitfire's rudder outline. I interpret this to mean that the S-199 tails were only painted - at the earliest - at the same time as the Spitfire tails. The S-199s retained monotone tails and RAL 6031 spinners until the Czechoslovakian Spitfires showed up. While the 101 Squadron S-199s received the angel of death badges in June, they almost certainly only received red spinners and red-and-white tailfeathers after the Czechoslovakian Spitfires showed up.

I state this as fact, but the truth cannot really be knowndefinitively, given that we don't know dates for very many photos. If I find evidence to the contrary - such as a pic of a S-199 sporting the red and white scheme that is known to have been lost before the Spitfires arrived - I'll post it here.

Jack Cohen, a 101 Squadron pilot who helped prepare the Czechoslovakian Spitfires for the Velvetta ferry missions, says he suggested the use of a red spinner and red and white diagonal stripes on the tail based on his SAAF experience in World War II. But while his 4 Sqn SAAF did have Spitfires with red spinners and red tips on the vertical stabilizers, the Czechoslovakian Spitfires already had red spinners themselves. Jack may have suggested that the Israelis use the red and white rudder stripe scheme, but photographic evidence shows that the rudders were not painted red and white until the planes arrived in Israel.


Reflect on results of test run to answer the following questions below.

Here you have a chance to reflect on the lab results you obtained and share your thoughts.  You have collected the data, run the tests, and presented the results—now you can sit back and think about what it means. In your reply to these questions must be answered in 350 words. In addition to including an scholarly journal article as a reference as well as a Scripture from the Bible. Was there any sort of relationship between church attendance and sound doctrinal belief based on your data set? Do these results match your initial prediction from your original post(attached), or are they different? How generalizable do you think your results are? Do the results reflect the statements made by Quarles (2011) in the excerpt you read earlier(attached) (of little relationship between the variables), or do they demonstrate something different? Write about at least 1 implication these results could have for pastors, Sunday school teachers, and other church leaders.


  1. Exercise: find a name such that when you sing The Name Game (“banana fana fo …”) all three words you get are insults.
  2. The Northwestern Women’s Lacrosse team has won the NCAA championship like every year but two in the past decade.  The two losses make the overall dynasty more impressive.  Discuss.
  3. Why do fat people slide farther when they reach the bottom of a water slide?
  4. When hiking in a group, if an accurate measure of (changes in) elevation is unavailable but you have a watch and a GPS it’s better to share the work of carrying the backpack by dividing the time rather than the distance.

This is an interesting article, albeit breathless and probably completely deluded, about acquired savantism:  people suffering traumatic brain injury and as a result developing a talent that they did not have before.  Here’s at least one bit that sounds legit:

(I know this problem because it was presented to us as a brain teaser when I was in 2nd grade.  Nobody got it. The solution while quite simple is “difficult” to see because you instinctively self-impose the unstated rule that your pencil cannot leave the square.)

The suggestion is that with some drugs or surgery we could all unlock some hidden sensitivity or creativity that is latent within us. Forget about whether any of the anecdotes in the article are true examples of the phenomenon (the piano guy almost certainly is not.  Watch the video, he’s doing what anyone with some concentrated practice can do.  There is no evidence that he has acquired a natural, untrained facility at the piano.  And anyway even if we accept the hypothesis about brain damage and perception/concentration why should we believe that a blow to the head can give you a physical ability that normally takes months or years of exercise to acquire?)

The examples aside, there is reason to believe that something like this could be possible.  At least the natural counterargument is wrong:  our brains should already be using whatever talents they have to their fullest.  It would be an evolutionary waste to build the structure to do something useful and not actually use it.  This argument is wrong but not because playing the piano and sculpting bronze bulls are not valuable survival skills.  Neither is Soduku but we have that skill because its one way to apply a deeper, portable skill that can also be usefully applied.  No, the argument is wrong because it ignores the second-best nature of the evolutionary optimum.

It could be that we have a system that takes in tons of sensory information all of which is potentially available to us at a conscious level but in practice is finely filtered for just the most relevant details.  While the optimal level of detail might vary with the circumstances the fineness of the filter could have been selected for the average case.  That’s the second best optimum if it is too complex a problem to vary the level of detail according to circumstances.  If so, then artificial intervention could improve on the second-best by suppressing the filter at chosen times.

Its called Nostra Culpa and its a 16 minute 2 act opera dramatizing the exchange on Twitter between Paul Krugman and Estonian President Toomas Ilves about that country’s austerity program.    Robert Siegel interviewed the librettist and composer on NPR yesterday:

SIEGEL: I would sort of have expected you to have written this for a tenor and a baritone. But unexpectedly, for me at least, the two characters – Paul Krugman and President Ilves of Estonia – are both sung by the same mezzo-soprano.

BIRMAN: Right. Well, the mezzo-soprano is somebody I’ve worked with before and she’s, I think, one of the greatest talents in Estonia as a dramatic singer. And my idea – my sort of inspiration to set these words was not so much to make some kind of argument, but to have the singer portray the people themselves who are stuck in this – between these two sides.

SIEGEL: Now, one writer observed that the entire exchange between Krugman and Ilves consisted of a 70-word blog post with chart, and then four tweets. Puccini had a lot more to work with when he sat down to write “Tosca,” let’s say.

BIRMAN: Well, one could write an opera, a full-length two-hour opera, using just this content, in my opinion. Because, in a way, why is the story interesting? To me it’s interesting because we have been discussing this ever since 2008, 2009 – what to do and how to get out of this, and we’re still not out. And the story is being written as we go.

The opera has its debut on April 7 in Estonia.

Here’s what I presented on Friday in Cambridge:

And here’s what I presented on Saturday in Chicago:

As usual Ethan Iverson gets his subject to talk about music at an accessible but still sophisticated level and also to open up about some really interesting stuff.

EI:  He has this truly incredible facility at the instrument.

FH:  Oh, he does.

FH:  And sound great.

The abstract:

This is a line-by-line analysis of the second verse of 99 Problems by Jay-Z, from the perspective of a criminal procedure professor. It’s intended as a resource for law students and teachers, and for anyone who’s interested in what pop culture gets right about criminal justice, and what it gets wrong.

For example:

E. Line 7

So I pull over . . . At this point, Jay-Z has been seized, for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis, because he has submitted to a show of police authority. He has thus preserved his Fourth Amendment claims. If you are stopped illegally and want to fight it later, you have to submit to the show of authority. In this case, if the police find the contraband, he’ll be able to challenge it in court. Smart decision here by Jay-Z.

The full paper is here, I thank the organic Troy Kravitz for the link.

From an interview in Rolling Stone:

Ethan Iverson has an excellent series of posts on the ironically-named Thelonious Monk Piano Competitions and the incentives, perverse and otherwise, they create.

My argument against competitions is basically same thing. To my ears, there had been an astonishing amount of agreement about what jazz really is in most youthful swinging jazz since 1990. That agreement was one reason I rebelled against it. I just couldn’t see it as the jazz tradition — not my jazz tradition, anyway. I was delighted to be lifted out of the discussion entirely by Reid Anderson and David King in 2001.

It is crucial to remember that my writing on DTM reflects my own experience, passions, and blind spots. On Twitter and in the forum, several competition veterans said they played exactly how they wanted to play, in a non-conventional manner, and won anyway.

Kudos. I could have never won a competition. Indeed, my joke about playing “Confirmation” in front of Carl Allen was loaded with my own fears. Even though I’ve recorded “Confirmation” twice, with Billy Hart and Tootie Heath, I still wouldn’t want to play that in front of a bebop jury. Forget it! You couldn’t pay me enough.

I would push him on the basic economics:  as long as there is a scarcity of gigs there will be competition in some form.  Is it better for that competition to be formalized or to play out in the market alone?  If winners gain notoriety and then gigs, and if judges reflect the preferences of audiences then formal competitions can save a lot of rent-seeking.  I suppose the more cynical take is that judges have arbitrary standards and winning a contest merely turns the winner into a focal point around which venues and audiences coordinate attention.  But if audiences’ tastes are that malleable is this really a loss?

And here it is, realized:

(Porkpie pirouet:  Adriana Lleras-Muney)

A week-long series of blog posts at NPR the best of which come from Jeremy Denk. His opener:

Preternaturally happy, cheerful, perfect, organized, clean, boring, popular: I guess the case I’m making is that the Goldbergs are the Martha Stewart of Variations. And like Martha Stewart, you don’t totally absolutely mind if they end up going off for a little while to a very clean and nice prison (sorry Martha, I’m just following the metaphor, I don’t really mean it) so you don’t have to see them being perfectly organized all the time, making a mockery of your unclean life. Maybe a show of hands: who would like a short moratorium on performances or recordings of the Goldbergs, so we could all hear it freshly again? Who will be the first pianist to unilaterally disarm? (Not me!)

Let’s revise the Martha Stewart metaphor. The Goldbergs are like a friend you have who always does everything right. This friend always answers his emails, keeps a clean house, has a kind word for everyone, behaves properly at concerts, writes thank you cards, grooms himself assiduously, knows how to tie a tie, never eats Burger King at 2 AM, and never ever writes silly blog posts saying he hates pieces he really loves. He’s an example to the world. He’s smiling at you over drinks, listening as always with benevolent patience, and you realize through your gritted hateful envious teeth that he is certainly not your enemy, and what would it hurt to admit, you wouldn’t want to face life without him?

Jaapi jab:  DoTheMath.

  1. It can happen that the sensory input you experience over a short interval of time makes no sense to your brain until some last thing happens which reveals the theme and gives context to everything that came before.  At that moment your brain goes back and reprocesses everything that just happened in order to make sense of it.  The feeling is like experiencing a whole chunk of time condensed into one moment together with the satisfying feeling of resolution that comes from making order out of chaos.  Musicians use this trick to great effect.
  2. It’s less of an insult to say someone is “disingenuous” than to say she is a liar.  But we all know that the meaning is exactly the same.  Disingenuous is a more obscure word and there is less common knowledge of its meaning. Given two words that are synonymous is it generally true that the one with the more nuanced connotation is also the one that is longer, rarer, more obscure?
  3. In almost all Western music every note begins and ends K/2^n units of time after the last note for some integers K and n.  Isn’t that rather limiting?
  4. A nurse at my kids’ pediatrician tells them she will count to three before giving them a shot but she actually gives the shot at the count of 2, surprising them.  It seems to make it less painful.  How does that work?

This is an absolutely fantastic article, I highly recommend it.

The article goes into great detail about the creative process.  They are clearly master craftspeople.  Once they have a hit, they find a star to give it to.

You might think that a story like this will confirm your cynicism about pop music but in fact it will make you appreciate it much much more.

This is a beautiful instrument, invented only 10 years ago.  I want one.  For more music from Manu Delago, including tour dates with Bjork (!), visit his web site.

He plays drums, he has a blog,

i am in a world title fight with a mid life crisis and im kicking its fu#$%$ing ass. i weigh 171lbs (4 lbs less than when i graduated from high school with a 1.9 grade point average) which means i’m trim and ripped and i drive a 1976 mercedes benz with a little more than a little rust on it because i drive it in minnesota winters and its only really worked for a little while but i look like a pbs, nova, paper chase watching mother fucker in it. I WILL ASK THIS ONLY ONE MORE TIME!!! DOES ANYONE WANT TO WRESTLE ME??? ive been watching college wrestling late at night on cable and wait………does anyone say “cable” anymore?? side note: i want to bring back the innocence of motel signs that say “free HBO” on them. I think it would be funny if i stood outside a courthouse with an old motel sign that said free HBO and just check out the reactions. you know…as in HBO should be let out of jail. IM SURE I CAN GET A GRANT FOR THIS. THIS IS POST MODERN.

and there is a new movie about him, called King For Two Days.  I think the title means that it follows him for two days but not necessarily that the movie is two days long, although I haven’t checked to be 100% honest with you.

This is worth your Friday (or your employer’s as the case may be.)  Check out Jarrett playing/talking Bach (1:30ish), Manfred Eicher’s take (5:10ish), Keith Jarrett listening to Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock playing a piano duet! (7:00ish), KJ’s hippie brother (14:00 ish), small hands (3:45ish on part 2), obligatory squeaking questions (6:15 part 2), Miles Davis (part 3), Koln (halfway part 3), Chick Corea (end of part 3-part 4), playing soprano sax (middle part 4), American quartet (end part 4), European quartet (part 5), chronic fatigue (part 6).

Thanks to Tobias Schmidt for the link.

Comedians are loath to follow a better act.  But musicians not so much.  Definitely not academics.  Why?

  1. Comedy is more vertically differentiated.  It’s really funny, just a little funny, or not funny.  The subject matter adds another dimension but that’s not so important for the ultimate impact.  Music is more horizontally differentiated.  So the opening act can be really good at what they do, but you can still please the audience if you’re not quite as good but do something different.  On this score academics are more like musicians.
  2. Laughs are physical.  You only have so many of those to give in a night. Wheras good music has the effect of putting you in a mental state that makes you more receptive to even more music.  Here academic talks are more like comedy.  The audience gets taxed.
  3. Headlining musicians always degrade the quality of the opening act by giving them less stage space and limited lighting and other effects.  In large conferences academics do the same thing by distinguishing the “plenary” talks from the rest.  (Get this:  in Istanbul this summer I am giving a semi-plenary talk.)  There is no obvious way to do this for comedy.
  4. Music is played by groups, comedians are always solo.  Somehow the head-to-head comparison is less exact for groups.  Solo singers are probably more reluctant to follow better singers than groups are when following other groups.  Academics get to blame their backstage co-authors.

  1. The Bad Plus are going into the studio next week.
  2. The price of his masterclass is rising from Free to $20 per three-hour session.
  3. If you live in Seattle you can see The Bad Plus play with the Mark Morris Dance Group Dec 1-3

and more.

Consider an infinite-horizon decision problem consisting of a sequence of beats. Each beat is divided into two eighth notes and you have to decide when to play them.  If you have standard exponential discounting you will evenly space your beats through time.  You will play a classical rhythm.  But if you are what behavioral economists call a hyperbolic discounter and you have present bias, you will procrastinate the first eighth note.  But then in order to complete the beat you will need to play the second eighth note in quick succession.  This pattern will repeat through time.  You will play a swing rhythm.

Ethan Iverson has the rundown.  Some highlights:

6) My Old Man (Joni Mitchell): “Blue”, a masterpiece, turned me upside-down when it came out in 1971. Her lyrics, way with harmony, her chord progressions and the uniqueness of her voice are unsurpassed. She is one of the great setters of text of all time. I had a hard time trying to figure out these chords as a high-schooler!

11) If I Were A Bell (Miles Davis): This is the record (“Live at the Blackhawk”) that made me want to play jazz as my life’s work. Wynton Kelly’s comping under Miles’ and Hank Mobley’s solos, his energy and time feel and the live-ness of the recording are still great to listen to today – so direct and swinging.

12) 1 X Love (Charles Mingus): This is the record that made me want to be a jazz composer. It sounds like Ellington on acid.

15) Old Devil Moon (Ahmad Jamal): This trio (with Israel Crosby and Vernel Fournier) is one of the two greatest of all time (the other being Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian). Ahmad had the most beautiful sound and touch of any jazz pianist – and his sense of drama and arrangement is unsurpassed.

19) Serpentine (Earth, Wind and Fire): My favorite soul/R&B band had the most killing grooves – and many of their songs carried social messages as well. Played by real musicians, not machines.

27) Nancarrow: Study for Player Piano #1: He became frustrated that live musicians couldn’t play the complex rhythms he imagined, so he composed for the player piano. His off-kilter – yet tonal – style really appeals to me. I wish I could play like this!

The voice is the most expressive musical instrument and it also is the most directly connected to the creative engine.  Shouldn’t it be the premier instrument for improvisation?  That would be scat.  Indeed scat is the most expressive form of improvisation but it is not very popular.  A trumpet solo carries us along but scat just sounds weird.  Why is that?

The words “scat” and “virtuoso” leave Google cold.

Could it be that a big part of what we appreciate about improvisation is the awesome physical skill that comes from training on an external instrument?  Scatting is too easy.

Could it be akin to the uncanny valley?  Audiences feel uncomfortable watching animated characters that look too similar to real people.  Is scatting too much like singing?

Why are vocalists not using electronics to digitally transform their voice into something that sounds more less like a voice.  Then they could utilize the expressiveness and fluidity of the voice and fool the audience into thinking it was an instrument.  Autotune?

Would it be more attractive if the scat made sense?  Why are there no vocalists who take written lyrics and then improvise them into a melody?

Listen to Clark Terry.

If someone could make a trumpet sound like that they would be heralded as a genius.

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The 50-Year Disaster of Government Trains, Buses, and Streetcars by Daniel Bier

Today, Less than 2% of Trips Use Public Mass Transit.

There, in a nutshell, you have a short history of mass transit in America. CEI’s Marc Scribner explains,

Following decades of excessive local government fare regulation that led to a terminal decline in the private mass transit industry, government began taking over the responsibilities performed by now-bankrupt private mass transit companies following the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964.

Over the span of a decade, the mostly-private mass transit industry was replaced by government transit monopolies.

As a result, for the last several decades, government at all levels has spent trillions on mass transit, subsidizing fares, expanding lines, and building vast new rail systems. Today, transit consumes more than 25 percent of all surface transportation funds (which mostly come from non-transit users through gas taxes).

What was the result of this tidal wave of taxpayer cash?

Despite receiving more than one-fourth of the funding, mass transit still represents less than 2 percent of trips taken nationwide. Even when one looks only at commuting, where trains and buses do best, mass transit’s national mode share is less than 5 percent — down from more than 6 percent in 1980.

That’s right: after receiving a massive and disproportionate share of taxpayer funding, totaling trillions of dollars, transit’s share of commutes declined.

But government transit monopolies keep lobbying for more and more funding. They claim the real problem is that public transit systems haven’t been expanded enough to draw more people into using them. Scribner calls this theField of Dreams theory: “If you build it, they will come.

The problem with this theory is that it’s bogus. Research from Steven Polzin shows that the capacity of transit networks, including buses, streetcars, and trains, has nearly tripled since 1970, while absolute ridership has grown by just a fraction of that. Transit trips per capita have been dead flat since the 1970s.

Polzin writes, “Supply has grown far more rapidly than demand for the past several decades. This is a report card on productivity that mom and dad would hardly be proud of.”

Meaning: we built it; they didn’t come.

Scribner concludes,

The trillions spent on mass transit have given governments many more empty buses and trains, but very little in terms of additional ridership. …

Mass transit can serve a very important, albeit narrow, purpose for people in limited settings. There is a reason that 40 percent of all US mass transit trips take place in the New York City metro area.

But it is wholly irresponsible for politicians to continue mass transit’s taxpayer gravy train, which is based on less substance than Kevin Costner’s dramatized auditory hallucinations.

When the next flashy transit project comes to your town, remember to be skeptical. Proponents of light rail, streetcars, and other hugely expensive projects routinely overestimate how many people will use the line and underestimate how much it will cost to build and run. Decades of evidence shows that if you build it, people will still probably drive — and you’ll still be stuck paying for it.

Daniel BierDaniel Bier


Won't count my steps

I connected my Fitbit but it isn’t counting my steps and I synced it and everything but it won’t count them does anyone have any tips or instructions on how to do it?

Hi, @Coolwipthetulip thank you for reaching out. Please make sure you’ve uploaded steps from your Fitbit device to your ‘dashboard’ or your ‘Fitbit app’ before entering Pocket Plants.

If it still doesn’t work, you can try to revoke Pocket Plants’ access in your Fitbit’s privacy dashboard. You’ll get a popup asking for authentication once you enter Pocket Plants after you have done that.


Realizing IPB University as Techno-Socio Entrepreneurial University

The Long-Term Plan of the IPB university is the realization of IPB University as a Techno-Socio Entrepreneurial University. Through the new view of IPB 4.0 with the tagline Race in Excellence to Shape IPB Future and Program Emphasis in 2019, namely the Excellent Innovation Ecosystem, the direction of the development of IPB University is very much in line with the strategic issues we are facing today. There are two challenges that are our main concern at present. First, the global community is facing the problems of the food, energy, and environmental crisis, which then have a further impact on the quality of human life. Responding to this problem, the United Nations (UN) endorsed the global goals contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) which were prepared through the agreement of leaders of countries in the world.

Marhaban Yaa Ramadhan. How do we interpret the wisdom of fasting in multi dimensions? At least there are four important dimensions of the results of doing Ramadan fasting at both individual and social levels, namely the dimensions of spiritual intelligence, physical intelligence, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence. First, is the dimension of spiritual intelligence, which emphasizes the importance of a transcendental divine relationship. The foundation of fasting is faith and indeed fasting is commanded only to those who believe so the sound of QS Al Baqarah 183 is "Yaa Ayyuhalladzi na aamanu" and not "yaa ayyuhal muslimun". Therefore the intention of fasting should be based on faith. As the Hadith of the Prophet said "Whoever fasts for faith and sincerity will be forgiven of his previous sins". So faith is the main capital of fasting, and fasting is also intended to increase faith. With fasting, the capital of faith will continue to grow. The mechanism of increasing faith is reflected in the intensity of worship dema

At a Glance the Rebranding: "IPB University"

Beginning in 2019, the name of the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) was changed to IPB University. This new name was born from the long process of IPB's rebranding activities. Why is rebranding important and why is IPB University chosen as the new brand name?


Hi Ludo, I am willing to work on this. I use fish as my login shell and noticed some more funky behavior when I tried to use fish-foreign-env. It looks like fish.cpp still uses widestrings. So the references to old store paths I think become stale, if I understand the rest of the conversation. I will do some more research on fish semantics and see what might be done. Thanks, as always, John


BatchFlow: a framework for ML development

Alexey Kozhevin
Feb 15 · 7 min read

As work on a data science project starts, you write code to get acquainted with the data, test hypotheses and train a baseline model. At some point, this code needs to be organized in a way that allows experimentation and collaboration on project code. In this case, the BatchFlow library can come to the rescue to conveniently structure the code and implement data processing as pipelines.

BatchFlow is an open-source Python framework to deal with data handling, ML model training and all related things. One can use the library for constructing very clear and expressive pipelines that describe:

  • data loading and processing
  • model training
  • validating of the model
  • inference
  • metrics computation

The framework also includes a variety of methods for image processing and ready-to-use architectures of neural networks in TensorFlow and PyTorch. Moreover, BatchFlow has a convenient interface for running parallel experiments on multiple GPUs.

This article begins a quick tour of BatchFlow functionality. For a more detailed description, see documentation and tutorials.

Full-featured example

Consider the example of the BatchFlow usage where we train and validate a model to segment images from PASCAL dataset. It may seem long but it is clear and self-explanatory.

The code is well structured and can be easily read and edited. Pipeline describes the way each batch passes: from data loading to model training/evaluation. It is a lazy description and computations will only be executed after run call.

Why bother with creating yet another library?

Our main focus is the development of applied libraries: SeismiQB, SeismicPro and PetroFlow for geological implementations, RadIO, CardIO for medical applications and others. BatchFlow serves as a common base and contains functionality common to all tasks: creating batches, chaining methods into pipelines, item-wise parallelisation for processing, training models, etc.

Each library takes advantage of this functionality and adds task-specific methods, such as loading seismic data in SEG-Y format for SeismiQB or heart signal processing methods in CardIO.

There are many similar frameworks. Take a look at the short comparison:

As mentioned before, we focus on applied libraries that can be implemented by any interested party. So BatchFlow defeats existing libraries due to the fact that it can be understood and utilized from scratch, since:

  1. BatchFlow allows you to store almost all data processing and model methods in a single pipeline, rather than splitting it up into separate parts implemented using different libraries.
  2. It contains a flexible instrument to configure ML models.
  3. All projects have the same structure and style so it is very easy to start a new project and join a team as a new user, developer or even maintainer.

How to use BatchFlow

Our framework has a well-organized hierarchy of classes which can be reused to add the functionality necessary for a specific task with minimal effort. Let’s consider the main classes from the point of view of the tasks that they solve:

  • data loading and processing
  • creating pipelines
  • creating and training models
  • pipelines profiling

How to work with datasets

Often you deal with huge datasets and batches have to be created on the fly from the persistent storage. For example, satellite images can take tens of gigabytes. With FilesIndex class you can create a unique index for each data item consists of paths to images:

FilesIndex contains necessary methods to generate batches of indices to take items from dataset. When calling next_batch method, FilesIndex will produce batches of indices. For example,

Note that index just defines the way to refer to data and create batches of item indices. Data will be loaded later when running pipelines.

You can use an index in the more complicated (and more probable) case when each item consists of an image and mask stored in one folder. To make an index from a folder just adddirs flag into FilesIndex creation.

If dataset can be stored in memory as an array (e.g. MNIST), each item can be specified by numerical index. DatasetIndex makes possible the work with them in a similar way.

Thus, DatasetIndex and FilesIndex are intended for data indexing and batch creation. If you need custom index class, this can be done simply by inheriting class from DatasetIndex or FilesIndex and implement the necessary features.

How to work with batches

It’s not enough to load batches to train model, they must be processed in some way (e.g. augmenting it or retrieving certain parts). Batch class contains transformations to be applied to batch. In order to define specific methods for your data which can be chained into the pipeline:

  1. create a class inherited fromBatch or else from ImagesBatch and use predefined methods to load, process and augment images
  2. add method decorated with action

You can use the decorator inbatch_parallel to process batch items in parallel:

Action some_method gets an index of the batch item and returns a processed value. Batch items will be handled separately depending on the parameter target which specifies a parallelization engine: threads, async, mpc or for. Thus you can define processing of one item of data without any thoughts about the splitting of the batch. Parallelism is implemented using Python with all the ensuing consequences.

Besides, you can chain into pipeline methods from the current namespace. In the PASCAL example, we define process_mask method to transform labels.

How to make pipelines

Pipeline is a way to chain Batch and standard actions (e.g. init_model, train_model). For example, let’s describe pipeline that loads and augments batch:

It was mentioned in the example that all the actions are lazy. They are not executed until their results are needed, for instance when you request a processed batch. Actions load, rotate and scale is defined in ImagesBatch and we use them to load and transform images.

The attentive reader might notice that the pipeline will augment data not so perfectly good: each item will be transformed in the same way so we don’t add diversity to our dataset. To fix this, parameters must be sampled randomly.

Class R (means “Random”) is needed for sampling a new angle and new scale factor from uniform distributions for each batch. We also use the parameter p for action application to batch items with 80% probability. Now parameters will be randomly sampled but each item will have the same values. Let’s fix it.

Here we add the wrapperP (means “Parallel”) to make augmentations correct and each batch item will have its own sampled parameters. As batches will be created only when calling the run method of a pipeline, an instance of the batch doesn’t exist on the pipeline creation stage and even the batch size is not known. That's why parameters can’t be sampled immediately and you have to define the way for sampling them when batch will be created. BatchFlow includes many wrappers (so-called named expressions) to refer to objects that exist only at the pipeline execution stage.

You can split the pipeline into logical parts and then sum them.

As we said previously, pipeline describes computations lazily. To execute all of them, callrun method. Bitwise left shift joins dataset to the pipeline.

Dataset represents a collection of elements and knows how to create batches of them using DatasetIndex/FilesIndex and how to process batches with Batch-inherited class.

How to define and use the model

You have prepared pipelines, described loading and processing batches but how to put them into models? Don’t worry, BatchFlow includes predefined (not pretrained) model zoo written in TensorFlow and PyTorch. It’s enough just to import and train the most used architectures, for example, VGG, ResNet, ResNeXt, DenseNet, UNet, EfficientNet and many others.

The first example in that paper shows how to use UNet class. Model initialization and training actions in the pipeline can de defined in the following way:

In the simplest case, model config includes only hyperparameters to configure the output of the network but it also can include many other things. You can even define the entire architecture with just a model config.

B is a named expression as R and P and used to define inputs of the model. Inputs are defined in that way because batches will be created only at the pipeline execution stage.

How to profile pipelines

Sometimes batch methods can be written inefficiently and become a bottleneck. To solve that problem, add profile=True into run of your pipeline. As a result, you will get a detailed report with execution times of each action in pipeline.

What else can BatchFlow do?

You got to know the main ideas and structures of the library but it is the only tip of the iceberg. BatchFlow you also can:

  • speed up training process in several ways by multiple GPU utilisation,
  • prefetch batches,
  • perform multiple parallel experiments with ML models,
  • use monitoring tools to check resources utilisation,
  • easily construct complex sampling schemes.

Articles about this functionality will be published and linked to this section.

We introduced BatchFlow library intended to make the development of ML models easier and clearer by using self-explanatory pipelines. It provides necessary instruments to

  • refer to dataset items and create batches,
  • organize processing methods in a convenient way using class Batch,
  • implement within batch parallelism,
  • create pipelines,
  • use predefined TensorFlow and PyTorch architectures,
  • profile pipelines to find performance bottlenecks.

Thus the library can help to produce a structured and reproducible code when you work on ML projects.

Data Analysis Center

Machine learning for Oil and Gas Exploration. Advanced methods to locate oil deposits

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