#Colorado Process server

[delciastudies]

Welcome to the internet café ˚✧₊˚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ

get comfy and get connected ᯤ

***

What is the internet café? The internet café was born from the memory, nostalgia, and aesthetic of internet cafes of the 2000s. The first Internet cafe was the Cafe Cyberia in London’s West End, which opened in 1994. The Internet cafe, with its dial-up connections and as one of the first public and communal means to access the digital world, is now a heart for lofi and vaporwave nostalgia and aesthetic, as we continue to navigate the digital world and our digital lives.

I’m a firm believer that we need communal liminal spaces. Two of my absolute favorites are gaiaonline (gaiaonline.com) - which includes Rally and other digital virtual worlds where moving and chatting is possible - and the Vaporwave Plaza (plaza.one), the space captured through their radio emission and communal discord space. The internet cafe is an extension of these two ideas, bringing together a discord and digital resource-sharing that we may find in a material Internet cafe.

How do I get connected? The discord server is the main space; it can be accessed at this link >>> https://discord.gg/7N2jdbza

Is it free? Yes! Everything posted in the discord is free, open-access.

However, I do sell exclusive materials (which helps fund my art, which I hope will become full-time). Exclusive resources (printables, downloads, and also tier membership to connect to 3G, 4G, 5G, and ETHERNET) can be found on my ko-fi here >>> https://ko-fi.com/delciax

About the artist (me!)

My name is Delcia, recent graduate living in CH. I am an anthropologist and writer with an ethnographic, research-based artistic practice. My current research works around colonial and capitalist ruin in Western Colorado with a specific focus on the processing of collective trauma via affect theory and archival disruption. I revolve my thinking around epistemic disobedience, auto-ethnography, curation, and contemporary art as a means for engaging with current pedagogies and epistemologies in the field of research and imagining artistic creation and affect as important sites of knowledge production.

My mediums of focus are photography, writing, film, graphic design, collage, and installation.

On the side, I love blogging, writing, reading, working on my tumblr, teaching (which pays the bills), moseying around on gaiaonline, traveling, having brunch in coffee shops, and taking care of my plants.

✧

Topics of interest: engaged anthropology; archives and collective memory; trauma studies; environmental politics; decolonial theory; more-than-human epistemologies; queer and feminist theory.

Aesthetics of interest: lo-fi, mundane, 2000s, anime, glitch, grunge, pixel, vaporwave

✧

Favorite authors: Michael Taussig; Donna Haraway; Jason Pine; Sophie Chao; Anna Tsing; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi; Julio Cortázar; bell hooks

Reading list: The Thing Around Your Neck (Adichi); The Cornwolf (Taussig); The Night Face Up, Continuation of Parks (Cortázar); In the Shadow of the Palms (Chao); The Mushroom at the End of the World (Tsing); The Magic of the State (Taussig); Art on my mind (hooks).

Currently reading: Clay’s Ark (Octavia Butler); Leonora Carrington: The Image of Dreams (Giulia Ingarao); The Body Keeps the Score (Bessel van der Kolk); The Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann)

Currently listening to: NIGHTS LIKE THIS radio (Spotify), Nightwave Plaza

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you want to chat or talk about really anything at all. I will drop my corresponding pages, as well, below. ♥

✧

Age: 26

Pronouns: she/they

Star sign: Sagittarius

Fields: anthropology and sociology, contemporary artstudies

*CRITICAL CURATORIAL CYBERMEDIA, MFA2022 - 2024 // Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD - Genève), Geneva

*ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY, MA 2020 - 2022 // Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), Geneva

*ANTHROPOLOGY, BA2016 - 2020 // University of California, Santa Barbara

✧

Instagram: @delciax

gaiaonline: @delcia x

tiktok: @delcia.x

tumblr: delciastudies.com

discord: @delciax

✧

[jcmarchi]

Alex Yeh, Founder & CEO of GMI Cloud – Interview Series

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/alex-yeh-founder-ceo-of-gmi-cloud-interview-series/

Alex Yeh, Founder & CEO of GMI Cloud – Interview Series

Alex Yeh is the Founder and  CEO of GMI Cloud, a venture-backed digital infrastructure company with the mission of empowering anyone to deploy AI effortlessly and  simplifying how businesses build, deploy, and scale AI through integrated hardware and software solutions

What inspired you to start GMI Cloud, and how has your background influenced your approach to building the company?

GMI Cloud was founded in 2021, focusing primarily in its first two years on building and operating data centers to provide Bitcoin computing nodes. Over this period, we established three data centers in Arkansas and Texas.

In June of last year, we noticed a strong demand from investors and clients for GPU computing power. Within a month, he made the decision to pivot toward AI cloud infrastructure. AI’s rapid development and the wave of new business opportunities it brings are either impossible to foresee or hard to describe. By providing the essential infrastructure, GMI Cloud aims to stay closely aligned with the exciting, and often unimaginable, opportunities in AI.

Before GMI Cloud, I was a partner at a venture capital firm, regularly engaging with emerging industries. I see artificial intelligence as the 21st century’s latest “gold rush,” with GPUs and AI servers serving as the “pickaxes” for modern-day “prospectors,” spurring rapid growth for cloud companies specializing in GPU computing power rental.

Can you tell us about GMI Cloud’s mission to simplify AI infrastructure and why this focus is so crucial in today’s market?

Simplifying AI infrastructure is essential due to the current complexity and fragmentation of the AI stack, which can limit accessibility and efficiency for businesses aiming to harness AI’s potential. Today’s AI setups often involve several disconnected layers—from data preprocessing and model training to deployment and scaling—that require significant time, specialized skills, and resources to manage effectively. Many companies spend weeks and even months identifying the best-fitting layers of AI infrastructure, a process that can extend to weeks or even months, impacting user experience and productivity.

Accelerating Deployment: A simplified infrastructure enables faster development and deployment of AI solutions, helping companies stay competitive and adaptable to changing market needs.

Lowering Costs and Reducing Resources: By minimizing the need for specialized hardware and custom integrations, a streamlined AI stack can significantly reduce costs, making AI more accessible, especially for smaller businesses.

Enabling Scalability: A well-integrated infrastructure allows for efficient resource management, which is essential for scaling applications as demand grows, ensuring AI solutions remain robust and responsive at larger scales.

Improving Accessibility: Simplified infrastructure makes it easier for a broader range of organizations to adopt AI without requiring extensive technical expertise. This democratization of AI promotes innovation and creates value across more industries.

Supporting Rapid Innovation: As AI technology advances, less complex infrastructure makes it easier to incorporate new tools, models, and methods, allowing organizations to stay agile and innovate quickly.

GMI Cloud’s mission to simplify AI infrastructure is essential for helping enterprises and startups fully realize AI’s benefits, making it accessible, cost-effective, and scalable for organizations of all sizes.

You recently secured $82 million in Series A funding. How will this new capital be used, and what are your immediate expansion goals?

GMI Cloud will utilize the funding to open a new data center in Colorado and primarily invest in H200 GPUs to build an additional large-scale GPU cluster. GMI Cloud is also actively developing its own cloud-native resource management platform, Cluster Engine, which is seamlessly integrated with our advanced hardware. This platform provides unparalleled capabilities in virtualization, containerization, and orchestration.

GMI Cloud offers GPU access at 2x the speed compared to competitors. What unique approaches or technologies make this possible?

A key aspect of GMI Cloud’s unique approach is leveraging NVIDIA’s NCP, which provides GMI Cloud with priority access to GPUs and other cutting-edge resources. This direct procurement from manufacturers, combined with strong financing options, ensures cost-efficiency and a highly secure supply chain.

With NVIDIA H100 GPUs available across five global locations, how does this infrastructure support your AI customers’ needs in the U.S. and Asia?

GMI Cloud has strategically established a global presence, serving multiple countries and regions, including Taiwan, the United States, and Thailand, with a network of IDCs (Internet Data Centers) around the world. Currently, GMI Cloud operates thousands of NVIDIA Hopper-based GPU cards, and it is on a trajectory of rapid expansion, with plans to multiply its resources over the next six months. This geographic distribution allows GMI Cloud to deliver seamless, low-latency service to clients in different regions, optimizing data transfer efficiency and providing robust infrastructure support for enterprises expanding their AI operations worldwide.

Additionally, GMI Cloud’s global capabilities enable it to understand and meet diverse market demands and regulatory requirements across regions, providing customized solutions tailored to each locale’s unique needs. With a growing pool of computing resources, GMI Cloud addresses the rising demand for AI computing power, offering clients ample computational capacity to accelerate model training, enhance accuracy, and improve model performance for a broad range of AI projects.

As a leader in AI-native cloud services, what trends or customer needs are you focusing on to drive GMI’s technology forward?

From GPUs to applications, GMI Cloud drives intelligent transformation for customers, meeting the demands of AI technology development.

Hardware Architecture:

Physical Cluster Architecture: Instances like the 1250 H100 include GPU racks, leaf racks, and spine racks, with optimized configurations of servers and network equipment that deliver high-performance computing power.

Network Topology Structure: Designed with efficient IB fabric and Ethernet fabric, ensuring smooth data transmission and communication.

Software and Services:

Cluster Engine: Utilizing an in-house developed engine to manage resources such as bare metal, Kubernetes/containers, and HPC Slurm, enabling optimal resource allocation for users and administrators.

Proprietary Cloud Platform: The CLUSTER ENGINE is a proprietary cloud management system that optimizes resource scheduling, providing a flexible and efficient cluster management solution

Add inference engine roadmap:

Continuous computing, guarantee high SLA.

Time share for fractional time use.

Spot instance

Consulting and Custom Services: Offers consulting, data reporting, and customized services such as containerization, model training recommendations, and tailored MLOps platforms.

Robust Security and Monitoring Features: Includes role-based access control (RBAC), user group management, real-time monitoring, historical tracking, and alert notifications.

In your opinion, what are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for AI infrastructure over the next few years?

Challenges:

Scalability and Costs: As models grow more complex, maintaining scalability and affordability becomes a challenge, especially for smaller companies.

Energy and Sustainability: High energy consumption demands more eco-friendly solutions as AI adoption surges.

Security and Privacy: Data protection in shared infrastructures requires evolving security and regulatory compliance.

Interoperability: Fragmented tools in the AI stack complicate seamless deployment and integration.complicates deploying any AI as a matter of fact. We now can shrink development time by 2x and reduce headcount for an AI project by 3x .

Opportunities:

Edge AI Growth: AI processing closer to data sources offers latency reduction and bandwidth conservation.

Automated MLOps: Streamlined operations reduce the complexity of deployment, allowing companies to focus on applications.

Energy-Efficient Hardware: Innovations can improve accessibility and reduce environmental impact.

Hybrid Cloud: Infrastructure that operates across cloud and on-prem environments is well-suited for enterprise flexibility.

AI-Powered Management: Using AI to autonomously optimize infrastructure reduces downtime and boosts efficiency.

Can you share insights into your long-term vision for GMI Cloud? What role do you see it playing in the evolution of AI and AGI?

I want to build the AI of the internet. I want to build the infrastructure that powers the future across the world.

To create an accessible platform, akin to Squarespace or Wix, but for AI.  Anyone should be able to build their AI application.

In the coming years, AI will see substantial growth, particularly with generative AI use cases, as more industries integrate these technologies to enhance creativity, automate processes, and optimize decision-making. Inference will play a central role in this future, enabling real-time AI applications that can handle complex tasks efficiently and at scale. Business-to-business (B2B) use cases are expected to dominate, with enterprises increasingly focused on leveraging AI to boost productivity, streamline operations, and create new value. GMI Cloud’s long-term vision aligns with this trend, aiming to provide advanced, reliable infrastructure that supports enterprises in maximizing the productivity and impact of AI across their organizations.

As you scale operations with the new data center in Colorado, what strategic goals or milestones are you aiming to achieve in the next year?

As we scale operations with the new data center in Colorado, we are focused on several strategic goals and milestones over the next year. The U.S. stands as the largest market for AI and AI compute, making it imperative for us to establish a strong presence in this region. Colorado’s strategic location, coupled with its robust technological ecosystem and favorable business environment, positions us to better serve a growing client base and enhance our service offerings.

What advice would you give to companies or startups looking to adopt advanced AI infrastructure?

For startups focused on AI-driven innovation, the priority should be on building and refining their products, not spending valuable time on infrastructure management. Partner with trustworthy technology providers who offer reliable and scalable GPU solutions, avoiding providers who cut corners with white-labeled alternatives. Reliability and rapid deployment are critical; in the early stages, speed is often the only competitive moat a startup has against established players. Choose cloud-based, flexible options that support growth, and focus on security and compliance without sacrificing agility. By doing so, startups can integrate smoothly, iterate quickly, and channel their resources into what truly matters—delivering a standout product in the marketplace.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit GMI Cloud,

[jc-lambert]

To the State of Kansas, Department of Motor Vehichles

Hello...

My name is J.C. Lambert. 

I've been carrying a corporate TPI card from Portland Oregon as ID for about 10 years now. Former employees of the State of Kansas working in the area had me attacked for my wallet and computer equipment: so I sort of had them killed by global authorities under Reaganite Instruction to massacre anyone who would state that marijuana is "legal". Under the endowments of the Regan administration: I can have almost anyone in the United States lawfully executed and their bodies processed into cannibal pharmaceuticals as well as gemstones from bone material. (howlite, opal, etc) Such products are then sold on QVC's global market as well as the internet.

I also reported my mommy dearest for treason and terrorism, then threatened to have her incarcerated for abuse, neglect, and abandonment of the mentally ill: which forced her onto a plane from Florida to Oregon. It also probably got her killed while traveling. I do not know. What I do know, is that my elder sibling sissy poo Tammy Barlow is being a right proper terrorist cunt next to mommy dearest and she too might have to die next to MOST citizens of Kansas. When and where someone is from tighty whitey Americana society: they can fall victim to the WORST government slaughter houses in todays age. Even and especially the police or any government employed persons, baby. 

If my mommy dearest is still alive...

She would be getting tortured by Zia McCabe in Portland. Why? Because Tammy-poo decided to download all the music and share that music on Kazaa and other peer-to-peer networks. If she's alive, she would return home with every bone in her body broken and vaginal scars from tasers and other electrical devices. The west coastline gets psychotic when and where they cannot get a paycheck for their hard work. Sissy-poo Tammy has children who live incestuously and grandchildren who do as well. They like to steal identities, hack into emails, and they have servers with over 100 terabytes of illegally duplicated media. So its moreso fair to have them beaten and electrocuted. However mommy dearest still has to be beaten and electrocuted JUST for having ever given birth.

Me? I'm illegally adopted. My momma is Arabella Rees, Constable if you please. Just ask the bartenders in Cardiff and New Orleans. I'm perfectly a bastard.

Which, I am rocking that system of body bagging folks here in Kansas while the whole United States is under feudal law: especially if and when and where someone is rude or refuses me whatever I could possibly want. Me? I voted for peace and freedom so such things wouldn't happen. However I am in Kansas now, which puts me to work under Reaganite and Christian oppression. While Kansas has declared corporate war with peace and freedom, Kansas is forced into a position of "Terrorist State" by the Obama administration when and where the peace and freedom partier does not smoke reefer and can perfectly pass a urine test.

Too: I am from a Luciferian Society, so anyone who would identify as a modern Christian is perfectly to be called a hypocrite and corporate terrorist.

My social workers at TPI have me using their name card, while the feds separate all the who's who and lock up appropriate people who've been involved in psychosocial gang activity. While at a loss for my wallet: I am without my Florida, Colorado, California, or Kansas ID cards.

I am going to need state ID soon, my TPI card is wearing thin and my picture is starting to rub off.

I also understand that my TPI card might not be enough to use for the purpose of business. May I use three or four classmates from highschool and a yearbook photo?

Can you tell me what all I would or could possibly need for proper ID while I sit here kidnapped in the state of kansas and missing from everywhere else in the United States? If in Colorado or California: I could scan my fingerprint and wait about 30 minutes while a quick background check is ran.

I need Social Security...

I need Birth Record...

I need Identity Card...

My fingerprints are on a perfect driving record in California and Colorado. My fingerprints are on criminal record in Portland Oregon and probably Lawrence Kansas.

With that all said....

Give me 150 thousand digital resource. Now.

PayPal Link

why? Because I am still pissed off that your city and state have had other people living in my home at 510 W. Funston 67213 for the last 20 years. The ministers who backed the criminal charges of sodomy, where sort of murdered and their church has become a Buddhist Meditation center and NOBODY described as white is welcomed to be anywhere near my home. Especially neighbors and people who would identify me as "family".

I'm going to spend your money on dope and therapy.

I truly am.

[govindhtech]

4th Gen Intel Xeon: Turbocharge Broadband Performance

Intel Xeon Performance and power savings for broadband are increased by 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors

According to the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the networking sector is often one of its busiest during the first quarter of the year.  There, Intel had a significant presence and demonstrated how our most recent 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors carry on a long legacy of innovation and have become the industry’s first option to power network components like the 5G core and virtualized RAN.

Not to be outdone, the last three months of the year focus more on the wireline and broadband sectors of the network business.  The SCTE Cable Tec Expo, taking place in Denver, Colorado from October 16 to 19, offers a chance to see the outstanding development taking place at the network’s edge.  At the edge, users on wired and wireless networks, including those of us who often work from home, rely on the service to provide the bandwidth, low latency, and security we need for both work and play.

In this post, he will go into detail about how Intel and our ecosystem are setting the standard in the cable and convergent access sectors, allowing service providers to benefit from the same features seen in our most recent CPUs that we unveiled at MWC. 

These advantages were first felt in the data center, then moved to the core, and are now reaching the periphery. Here, service providers are utilizing our most recent 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors‘ numerous new features and cloud native architecture to deliver the necessary performance while also processing data in a more power-efficient manner with fewer servers, ultimately resulting in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Cable

Let’s start by examining the cable business, where we are now at a turning point. The majority of the multi-service operators (MSOs) in this sector are starting to implement and reap the rewards of virtualizing the Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS).  Cable MSOs have moved to enhance their network infrastructure to satisfy customer demand as the need for video, broadband access, work-from-home consumer behavior, and data services continues to rise. 

MSOs have opted for a general-purpose server-based virtualized CMTS that offers notable performance throughput, scalability, and service agility while also using less power and taking up less space (rack space).

By utilizing the open-source software DPDK and integrated accelerators to meet DOCSIS privacy and security standards, such as Intel QAT, Intel AVX-512, and AES encryption engines, our 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors offer a new microarchitecture designed to address the most dynamic and demanding wireline and wireless workloads.  Without our ecosystem, we are unable to provide the MSOs these advantages.  Our partners demonstrated our ongoing cooperation earlier this year, including:

In a whitepaper, Harmonic, our Emmy-winning partner, describes how their CableOS vCMTS software grows quickly to provide high-speed data services everywhere.  This vCMTS platform’s use of 4th Gen Xeons also results in reduced infrastructure costs as well as decreased power, cooling, and cabling needs.

In their whitepaper, Casa Systems showcases their Axyom vCCAP, which boosts performance by 65% and supports DOCSIS 4.0 with the newest 4th Gen Intel Xeon CPU.  This enhancement was made possible by new DPDK API capabilities, integrated QAT for DOCSIS encryption, and CRC offload and acceleration.

 At CableLabs in August, CommScope showcased their vCore vCMTS compatibility with DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems before launching their vCore solution on 4th Gen Xeon CPUs.

Fiber Internet

Let’s move on to the next section, where we’ll look at how service providers are using cloud native architecture to enhance performance, efficiency, agility, and scalability.  The BNG at the central office edge location serves as the major network component in this scenario.  Access to the internet is made possible by the BNG, which collects data flow from various residences and places of business. 

The advantages of using a cloud-native based architecture and 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors to deliver the speed and power savings provided during packet processing, authorisation, and authentication are being investigated by Communication Service Providers (CoSPs), much like the cable MSOs.

In this area, too, our partners have been working assiduously, and they keep showcasing how the characteristics of our CPUs combined with their software are setting the standard for the sector.  You may learn more about the following highlights by reading the whitepapers:

Axyom vBNG, a CUPS-based cloud native vBNG with performance throughput of 540 Gbps and scalability to 1 Tbps utilizing a single socket 4th Gen Xeon server, was featured by Casa Systems.

Using just 2U of rack space and a 4th Gen Xeon, netElastic increased vBNG performance throughput by 46% (generation over generation) and is scalable to 1 Tbps.

[thecoloradopi-blog]

Why Do You Need A Process Server in Colorado

Due process of law mandates life, liberty, and property to every U. S. citizen.

One cannot deprive someone of these basic rights. Therefore, if a person faces a pending lawsuit, the process servers will be responsible for providing a notice related to the lawsuit. There was a time when County Sheriffs were responsible for serving these legal documents, however, since cities became populous over the years, the task was given to the Colorado process server, officiating the jurisdiction over the defendant.

Responsibilities of a process server:

   • Deliver legal documents to a defendant    • track down a defendant    • documents include writs, subpoenas, summons, formal complaints, etc.

What is the need of hiring a process server?

If you are trying to track down an individual in relation to a case, you will need the help of an investigator or process server. Since these personnel are professionally-trained and registered, you can take their services for finding a defendant, sending them legal notices, and alerting them on a timely basis. If you aren’t able to produce evidence that the defendant has been served a notice, then you may find yourself in new trouble.

How to find a reliable process server?

Finding a process server Colorado may not be the most difficult thing in the world. You can find companies with a dynamic network of professionals in this field, especially those with perfect credential-checked and background-checked details. The servers may charge a sum of money based on their rate of services. But, it would not cost you a fortune.

[processserverharrisonburgva]

www.armenhyl.com

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[johnnyrobish]

MAGA Congresswoman Lauren Boebert Serves Husband with Divorce Papers

According to the Colorado Sun, US Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Co) is filing for divorce from her husband, Jayson Boebert, issuing a statement that "it is with a heavy weight on my heart that I have filed for divorce from my husband" and "am grateful for our years of marriage together and for our beautiful children, all of whom deserve privacy and love as we work through this process. I’ve always been faithful in my marriage, and I believe strongly in marriage, which makes this announcement that much more difficult. This is truly about irreconcilable differences.”

Wait, the mother who sends out Christmas cards showing her and her children armed to the teeth with assault weapons is doing what?  Good grief!  This announcement comes right on the heels of her chief rival for Trump’s attention - Marjorie Taylor Greene - announcing she is getting divorced also.  What’s happening to the party of “Family Values?”  I’ll bet George Soros, Hunter Biden, and Antifa have something to do with this.  Oh well, I guess its back to the bowling alley for husband Jayson.  Should be a new, fresh crop of teen girls there by now.

The thing is, it seems like just yesterday when Lauren Boebert was condescendingly instructing women whose marriages were on the rocks that “If you start chasing Jesus with everything that you have, I promise you, your husband will chase you chasing Jesus.”  Well, I guess when Jesus sprinted off, Boebert must not have had her running shoes on.  That said, I don’t understand why Jesus was running in the first place.  After all, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Jesus that Jayson Boebert exposed himself to in that bowling alley.

Meanwhile, its being reported that getting served those divorce papers caught husband Jayson off guard, and he set his dogs on the process server.  Ironically, now Rep. Boebert is a divorced 36-year-old grandmother whose son recently knocked up a 14-year-old girl.  Now, is it just me, or are these MAGAs turning our federal government into a friggin’ Jerry Springer Show?  Then, she has the nerve to ask for “privacy” during these trying times.  OK, then I’ve got an idea; how about we’ll respect her “marital privacy” when she starts respecting other folks’ “reproductive privacy?”

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve just read, please consider joining me at:

[bala5]

This year, the Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition gave out prizes in all the usual categories: painting, quilting, sculpture.

But one entrant, Jason M. Allen of Pueblo West, Colo., didn’t make his entry with a brush or a lump of clay. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics.

Mr. Allen’s work, “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” took home the blue ribbon in the fair’s contest for emerging digital artists — making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such a prize, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially, cheating.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Allen defended his work. He said that he had made clear that his work — which was submitted under the name “Jason M. Allen via Midjourney” — was created using A.I., and that he hadn’t deceived anyone about its origins.

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“I’m not going to apologize for it,” he said. “I won, and I didn’t break any rules.”

A.I.-generated art has been around for years. But tools released this year — with names like DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion — have made it possible for rank amateurs to create complex, abstract or photorealistic works simply by typing a few words into a text box.

These apps have made many human artists understandably nervous about their own futures — why would anyone pay for art, they wonder, when they could generate it themselves? They have also generated fierce debates about the ethics of A.I.-generated art, and opposition from people who claim that these apps are essentially a high-tech form of plagiarism.

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Mr. Allen, 39, began experimenting with A.I.-generated art this year. He runs a studio, Incarnate Games, which makes tabletop games, and he was curious how the new breed of A.I. image generators would compare with the human artists whose works he commissioned.

This summer, he got invited to a Discord chat server where people were testing Midjourney, which uses a complex process known as “diffusion” to turn text into custom images. Users type a series of words in a message to Midjourney; the bot spits back an image seconds later.

Mr. Allen became obsessed, creating hundreds of images and marveling at how realistic they were. No matter what he typed, Midjourney seemed capable of making it.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. “I felt like it was demonically inspired — like some otherworldly force was involved.”

Eventually, Mr. Allen got the idea to submit one of his Midjourney creations to the Colorado State Fair, which had a division for “digital art/digitally manipulated photography.” He had a local shop print the image on canvas and submitted it to the judges.

“The fair was coming up,” he said, “and I thought: How wonderful would it be to demonstrate to people how great this art is?”

Several weeks later, while walking the fairground in Pueblo, Mr. Allen saw a blue ribbon hanging next to his piece. He had won the division, along with a $300 prize.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I felt like: this is exactly what I set out to accomplish.”

(Mr. Allen declined to share the exact text prompt he had submitted to Midjourney to create “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial.” But he said the French translation — “Space Opera Theater” — provided a clue.)

After his win, Mr. Allen posted a photo of his prize work to the Midjourney Discord chat. It made its way to Twitter, where it sparked a furious backlash.

“We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes,” one Twitter user wrote.

“This is so gross,” another wrote. “I can see how A.I. art can be beneficial, but claiming you’re an artist by generating one? Absolutely not.”

Some artists defended Mr. Allen, saying that using A.I. to create a piece was no different from using Photoshop or other digital image-manipulation tools, and that human creativity is still required to come up with the right prompts to generate an award-winning piece.

Olga Robak, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state fair, said Mr. Allen had adequately disclosed Midjourney’s involvement when submitting his piece; the category’s rules allow any “artistic practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process.” The two category judges did not know that Midjourney was an A.I. program, she said, but both subsequently told her that they would have awarded Mr. Allen the top prize even if they had.

Controversy over new art-making technologies is nothing new. Many painters recoiled at the invention of the camera, which they saw as a debasement of human artistry. (Charles Baudelaire, the 19th-century French poet and art critic, called photography “art’s most mor­tal enemy.”) In the 20th century, digital editing tools and computer-assisted design programs were similarly dismissed by purists for requiring too little skill of their human collaborators.

What makes the new breed of A.I. tools different, some critics believe, is not just that they’re capable of producing beautiful works of art with minimal effort. It’s how they work. Apps like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney are built by scraping millions of images from the open web, then teaching algorithms to recognize patterns and relationships in those images and generate new ones in the same style. That means that artists who upload their works to the internet may be unwittingly helping to train their algorithmic competitors.

“What makes this AI different is that it’s explicitly trained on current working artists,” RJ Palmer, a digital artist, tweeted last month. “This thing wants our jobs, its actively anti-artist.”

Even some who are impressed by A.I.-generated art have concerns about how it’s being made. Andy Baio, a technologist and writer, wrote in a recent essay that DALL-E 2, perhaps the buzziest A.I. image generator on the market, was “borderline magic in what it’s capable of conjuring, but raises so many ethical questions, it’s hard to keep track of them all.”

Mr. Allen, the blue-ribbon winner, said he empathized with artists who were scared that A.I. tools would put them out of work. But he said their anger should be directed not at individuals who use DALL-E 2 or Midjourney to make art but at companies that choose to replace human artists with A.I. tools.

“It shouldn’t be an indictment of the technology itself,” he said. “The ethics isn’t in the technology. It’s in the people.”

And he urged artists to overcome their objections to A.I., even if only as a coping strategy.

“This isn’t going to stop,” Mr. Allen said. “Art is dead, dude. It’s over. A.I. won. Humans lost.”

[ontimelegalprocessing-blog]

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[thecoloradopi-blog]

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[nwbeerguide]

The Brewers Association, a trade group, receives the Susan Harwood training program grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA.

image courtesy the Brewers Association

Press Release

Boulder, Colo. … The Brewers Association (BA) today announced that the trade organization, for the second year in a row, was awarded the Susan Harwood training program grant, a competitive grant through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) aimed at providing training and education resources. The $132,664 grant will be used to revise existing content and develop free trainings for draught line cleaning professionals and those working adjacent to line cleaning. “We’re honored to receive these funds and put them to work in an industry that values employee safety and creating quality craft beer for people across the nation,” said Chuck Skypeck, technical brewing projects director, Brewers Association. “The first step to creating quality craft beer is ensuring draught line cleaning maintenance and operations are not just understood, but also effective. The Brewers Association will work collaboratively with experts to further develop and deliver training materials addressing safety and health challenges associated with handling draught beer.” In addition to working with Brewers Association staff and experts, an advisory committee was established to help direct programmatic efforts and continues to be vital to the development of training materials and strategic outreach. The committee members participating in the second year of the program include William Brazile (Colorado State University), Bridget Gauntner (Bell’s Brewery), B.C. Gilmore (Red Tap Draught Solutions), John Lane (Winking Lizard), Keith Lemcke (Contract Beer Education), Nicholas Rosenberg (Blue Point), Stephanie Rusk (Colorado State University), Matt Stinchfield (OSHA/Safety Training), Jeffrey Walton (A Head for Profits), Darin Whitaker (Carolina Premium Beverage), and Neil Witte (TapStar). “This grant comes at a critical time when small and independent breweries need valuable resources to train staff and optimize processes,” said Matt Stinchfield, safety ambassador, Brewers Association. “The receiving of this grant also highlights the BA’s commitment to safety for the industry at large.” The Susan Harwood Training Grants Program funds grants to nonprofit organizations, including community and faith-based groups, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor-management associations, and colleges and universities. Instructor-facilitated, 2-week trainings will be offered to draught line cleaning operators March 7-18, March 28 – April 8, and April 11-12, 2022, free of charge. Space will be limited, and participation may require prerequisite experience or education. Registration opens February 14 at BrewersAssociation.org. An abbreviated course will be offered on-demand in spring of 2022 for employees working adjacent to line cleaning operations such as beer servers and front of house staff. For more information and resources on draught beer, please visit the Draught Beer Resource Hub on the Brewers Association website. To download a free PDF copy or purchase a hard copy of the Draught Beer Quality Manual, visit here. The Brewers Association, at the time of initial publication of this document 01/2022, is funded by a grant of $132,664 federal funds, which constitutes 100 percent of the program budget. Zero percent, or $0 of the program budget, is financed through non-governmental sources.

 About the Brewers Association  

The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 5,600-plus U.S. breweries and more than 38,000 homebrewers. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR™: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, Homebrew Con™, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer® and Zymurgy® magazines, and Brewers Publications® is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the U.S. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com® and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association® and the free Brew Guru® mobile app. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

from Northwest Beer Guide - News - The Northwest Beer Guide https://bit.ly/3r9mFMV

[ontimelegalprocessing-blog]

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[papermoonloveslucy]

TELEVISION aka GEORGE RUINS A NEIGHBOR’S TV aka THE TELEVISION SUIT

June 17, 1949

“Television” aka “George Ruins a Neighbor’s TV” aka “The Television Suit” is episode #49 of the CBS Radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on June 17, 1949. It later served as the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7) first aired November 10, 1952.  

Synopsis ~ Liz and George's visit to their next-door neighbors, the Stones, turns into a disaster when George tries to repair the Stones' new television set by himself.

REGULAR CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born as Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84. 

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96. 

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release. 

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) and Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) are mentioned, but not in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (The Process Server) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973.

Frank Nelson (Frank Stone) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.”  On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.”  Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.  

Mary Lansing (Mary Stone) was best known for playing Martha Clark and ten other characters in Mayberry on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Mayberry R.F.D.”, both filmed at Desilu. Lucy lovers might remember her as the voice of weepy Cynthia in “Over The Teacups”, the Broadway play that the Ricardos and Mertzes attend in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E9).  She met Frank Nelson performing on radio. They married in 1933 and had two children. Lansing appeared with him frequently on the "Jack Benny Program" during the 1950s.

Alan Reed (Harry, the Judge) is probably best remembered as the voice of Fred Flintstone where he acted opposite Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury), who voiced Betty Rubble on the animated series. His only television appearance with Lucille Ball was on “The Lucy Show” in 1963, an episode which also featured Frank Nelson. In 1967, he did an episode of the Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law”. 

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. When Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, on air concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown. In addition to being aired on the CBS Radio Network, the episodes were heard on the Armed Forces Radio Network, where the commercials were omitted. 

THE EPISODE

“Television throws ‘My Favorite Husband’ for a loss, and the whole neighborhood into night courts.” ~  Mason City Globe-Gazette radio listing

As the episode opens, Liz and George are discussing their upcoming summer vacation. Liz has packed five suitcases - just for herself.

George is concerned that Liz’s swimsuit may be too skimpy, a subject explored again in “LIz Learns To Swim” (June 11, 1950) as well as on a couple of episodes of “I Love Lucy.” 

Liz and George realize that they do not know any of their neighbors well enough to ask them to water their lawn while they are away. Liz knows the first names (Frank and Mary) of the Stones next door because she read a postcard that was accidentally delivered to their house. George says that he hopes Liz didn’t read the message, but Liz lets it slip that “Mrs. Stone’s mother had a lumbago attack at Lake Tahoe.” On “I Love Lucy” Fred Mertz also chastised his wife about reading postcards delivered to their tenants. In 1951′s “Drafted” (ILL S1;E11) Fred say about Ethel...  

FRED: “Some people build model airplanes. Ethel reads postcards.” 

At the Stone home, Frank and Mary welcome the Coopers. Frank Nelson (Mr. Stone) does his trademark “Weeeeeell!” and the audience laughs, recognizing it from “The Jack Benny Program.” Mrs. Stone (Mary Lansing) asks if they would like to watch television. The Coopers do not yet own a television set, but Liz casually remarks that they don’t miss it.

LIZ: “I crawl in the Bendix and sing and George watches me through the little window.” 

The Bendix Corporation (1924-1983) licensed their name to a line of electric clothes washing machines. The 1937 Bendix Home Laundry had a glass porthole door, a rotating drum and an electrically driven mechanical timer. The machine was able to auto-fill, wash, rinse and spin-dry. Bendix Home Appliances was later sold to Avco who sold it to Philco.

In 1952, Lucille Ball actually played a talking washing machine in a full-length Westinghouse industrial film called Ellis in Freedomland.  

Six years later, when Desilu partnered with Westinghouse to present “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse,” Ball did another industrial film for them titled Lucy Buys Westinghouse where she actually got inside the machine, fulfilling Liz Cooper’s off-the-cuff comment of 1949.  

The idea of Liz pretending to be performing on television by getting inside a household appliance also recalls when Lucy Ricardo hollowed out their television set to help Ricky picture her doing a TV commercial in the now-famous Vitameatavegamin episode of 1952. 

On “I Love Lucy”, it was the Mertzes who did not yet own a television set. By the end of 1949, 4.2 million US homes had a television. By 1953, 50% of all American households owned one. The increase was credited to “I Love Lucy” and the 1953 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.  

Frank turns on his TV and after it warms up (a common problem with early televisions), the only program on any station seems to be wrestling. One channel is actually airing lady wrestling!  

MARY: “Oh, they have more than wrestling, Mrs. Cooper. Sometimes they have boxing and baseball.” 

Televised sports, especially wrestling and boxing, were the primary attraction in the early days of television, especially for male viewers. Long-haired blonde wrestler Gorgeous George was even mentioned on “I Love Lucy.”  

ETHEL: “Our grandmothers must have had arms like Gorgeous George.” ~ ‘Pioneer Women’

In “Ricky’s Movie Offer” (ILL S4;E6) the Grocery Boy asks Lucy what she’s supposed to be in her Marilyn Monroe dress and wig, Fred quips “Gorgeous George.”

Nearly every time Ricky and Fred watch television it is to see a boxing match, such as in “Ricky and Fred are TV Fans” (ILL S2;E30) in 1953. That episode, like this radio broadcast, also featured Frank Nelson.

When the TV reception is fuzzy, Frank and George feel they can fix it themselves, much to the disbelief of their wives. Frank takes the back off the set:

FRANK (reading): “Back of this set should be removed by a qualified television repairman only.”

On “I Love Lucy” the warning is similar:

FRED (reading): “Danger! High Voltage! Do not remove this back under any circumstances!”

Both Frank and George and Ricky and Fred cause their sets to explode by fooling around with some loose wires!  The wrecked TV results in name calling by both couples and the Stones / Mertzes threaten to sue the Coopers / Ricardos.

Next morning at breakfast, the Coopers are worried that a lawsuit will prevent them from going on vacation. Katy the Maid reports that there is a strange man at the door, whom they immediately suspect may be a process server. Liz tells Katie to lie and say that they are away for a fortnight in the Catskills. Katie answers the door nervously,

KATIE: “They left for a catnap in the Fortskills. I mean a nightcap in the Footskills.”

The Process Server (Hans Conried) surprises the Coopers when they sneak out the back door. They have been served!  

TRIVIA!  Ironically, on TV the Process Server (Harry Bartell) at first asks the Ricardos where the Lewis apartment is, to throw them off the track. On “I Love Lucy,” Miss Lewis was an elderly tenant played for one episode (”Lucy Plays Cupid”) by Bea Benadaret, the actress who usually plays Iris Atterbury on “My Favorite Husband,” although she is not in this episode. Hans Conried appeared as Dan Jenkins and Percy Livermore on “I Love Lucy,” episodes that book-ended “The Courtroom” during season two! 

George writes out Liz’s testimony, including stage directions telling her when to flirt with the Judge. Ricky Ricardo and Fred Mertz do the same thing on “I Love Lucy.” When Liz rehearses her testimony aloud, she states the date and time of the event as “June 13, 1949 at approximately 7:35pm” which was the real time and date of the broadcast. To keep the television version from becoming  ‘dated’ - any reference to dates is purposefully omitted. Lucy instead tells the Judge (Moroni Olsen) the events happened “about three weeks ago.”

In the courtroom, George and Frank act as their own attorneys just as Ricky and Fred will do in “The Courtroom”. For economy sake, the radio script omits the character of the Bailiff who swears in the witnesses, although the character is part of the television script. Both scripts also include the flirtatious ‘stage directions’ for Lucy and Liz to appeal to the Judge’s vanity. 

LIZ: “...when Mr. Stone suggested we watch television flutter eyelids at jury.” 

On television, Lucy hikes up her skirts instead of fluttering her eyelids. Since TV is a visual medium, during her testimony she just does it, rather than says it. 

TRIVIA: When the Ricardos and the Mertzes go to court again in “Lucy Makes Way for Danny” on the “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”, the judge who Lucy and Ethel try to flirt with by hiking up their skirts is played by Gale Gordon, who usually plays Rudolph Atterbury on “My Favorite Husband,” although he is not in this episode. 

The final gag of the Judge’s TV also exploding is the same on radio and TV, except Liz intimates that they are headed for the city jail instead of the happy ending on television where the Judge encourages the couples to forgive one another and sends them home friends. 

CODA

George and Liz are in bed and George cannot sleep. Liz encourages him to yawn to induce sleep. It works!  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[accurateserve]

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[mortarchive]

My Journey to Lexington and Return to Aotearoa

On Monday the 20th of July NZ time at 11:30 my sister went missing. Her fiancee told me she was seen on security footage getting out of their car and walking away. She was found by Lexington, Kentucky police 4 hours later, extremely dehydrated and distressed. She had a mental health incident. I won’t go into this further to protect her privacy.

I flew over to be with her, leaving on the 29th of August when it was obvious to us that she needed support as did her fiancée who was struggling on his own with worry and looking after himself also. As the youngest family member who has dual citizenship and earns the least as well as being her sister able to provide intimate care, I was elected to go and help.

My flights over took two days, I stayed a night in LA. In the parts of the US I visited there was absolutely no quarantining. As a citizen, I was not even subjected to a health screening.

Once I got to Lexington it was much easier to reach my sister while she was in the hospital and we made our best effort to call her twice a day. She told us this was extremely helpful for her path to getting better. By the time she left, she was very bored as she is extremely intelligent. She was quite anxious and unable to focus on reading, as well as not being allowed anything to write with except crayons and couldn’t get ideas out of her head.

On the 6th of August she was able to come home and it was so good to hug her. We spent the next three weeks talking, drawing, making food, playing video and board games, going for walks, playing with one-year-old Sochi and the cats.

I was able to work remotely the whole time and I am extremely thankful to my work for being so accommodating.

I had never been to Kentucky before. Going outside was quite strange, and I mostly tried to avoid it except for exercise, groceries and essential items. People sat at tables outdoors, none wearing masks. We mostly tried to do our groceries via pickup, which worked out well. Lexington is very similar to Auckland in that is hot, humid, flat, spread out and full of people obsessed with their cars.

Something I never had seen before in New Zealand was motorcyclists with no helmets and no leathers, I assume it would be an infringement on their rights to not be brutally be killed in an accident.

There were many signs for personal injury attorneys, Jesus and the military. One Baptist Church had a sign saying “NO ITS NOT HOT AS HELL”.

I enjoyed the myriad of inexpensive vegan snacks such as cheddar flavoured chickpea puffs and cream cheese alternative.

Lexington has a huge history of horse racing and many of the streets were named after famous horses such as “Man o’ War Boulevard.” I also enjoyed Versailles Road which is pronounced by the locals as Ver-Sails. My sister’s home is across from Red Mile, a giant horse racing track and casino. They way they circumvent the gambling laws is by only having slot machines that have tiny horse races from years ago that you are betting on.

The tension about the election was palpable in the friends of my brother-in-law and the household itself. Many people are terrified for November and the farce of a democracy the United States has become. With the USPS being de-funded, mail boxes being removed, prisoners not allowed to vote who were convicted for non-violent drug offenses and protesters in Portland being snatched of the street in unmarked vans by unidentified people in SWAT gear, it is a fascist state.

I am an American, I was born in Colorado, I have family that I love that are not what we hear on the news here on this little island in The Pacific. The loud conspiracy theorists are a vocal few, and we need to remember as people of Aotearoa that they exist here too. I will never forget the faces of the 5G conspiracy theorist protesters as we walked down the main street protesting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. We are not above Americans. I am proud to be a citizen of both countries while recognizing the flaws of both nations.

Please vote.

My return journey home was painless other than accidentally spending $40 US on a half bottle of wine at LAX. I now know fancy wines are a racket because it tasted the same as any other chardonnay to me.

Other than having my temperature taken and asked about any Covid symptoms I might have, my entry into New Zealand was the same as always. It really helps to be a citizen of the place you are traveling to.

Once we had processed through customs I was led to a bus that took us to The Pullman Auckland, a 4.4 star hotel on Princes Street. There were about a dozen or so of us on the bus and our luggage was loaded and unloaded for us by people in full personal protective equipment. We were explained what the process would then be by a Ministry of Health representative and a member of the Air Force. We were checked in at one desk, asked why we traveled and where we would be staying at another. The third desk was an explanation of the hotel facilities and procedures. The fourth desk was a health interview with a nurse. I filled out a meal request form while I waited. I notified them that I do not consume animals or things that come out of them. Absolutely everyone was extremely kind and efficient.

I then went to my room on the tenth floor which has a beautiful view of Albert Park and I can see the Sky Tower to the right. Around 8:30am they brought me a lovely vegan breakfast of bacon and eggs. A couple hours later I noticed the yogurt they had brought said “VEGAN YOGHURT” on the bag. I ate it very happily! There is no fridge or microwave.

I joined my work team meeting and tried to work but the internet is really bad to connect remotely to our servers on. I fell asleep at 3pm and woke up at 3am. I have watched a lot of Star Trek: the Next Generation.

I tried out another eye makeup with the new supplies I got in Kentucky. I went to the exercise facilities on the ground floor, saw all the people walking in circles, panicked and returned to my room to do laps, burpees and sit-ups. The Covid tummy is out in full force and I hope to get back to my regular exercise.

I spoke to my sister, mother and some of my best friends Jasmin, Maya and Lewis. I had my temperature taken again by a nurse and I am normal. Now I am here writing this and eating a lunch of tofu and spinach.

I will spend the next to weeks trying to work as I can, making art, playing games, speaking to the people I love and thinking about my plans for the future. I hope to pursue further education on Community Partnerships with a focus in local government. I loved my time on Youth Council and hope to be a voice in decision-making to represent unheard and marginalized voices. I want to be there for queer people, youth, takatāpui, multicultural communities, women and a voice for the arts. I am hoping to achieve a Certificate in Social and Community Leadership through the University of Auckland next year, where I have been offered a place. I now have to think about how I’m going to make that happen with in-person classes whether I will move to be near Epsom or fly up for my classes once a week.

Arohanui and Ngā mihi,

Samantha

[s4g2webdesign-blog]

Good Web Design

What is Web Design?A Web site is the final output of a Web design. The Web site sits on a Web server where electronic files are stored. The Web site presents the contents and interactive features or interfaces to the end user in the form of Web pages. How the information requested is displayed to the user is par of the Web design process. Additional controls are embedded in order to display more complex media like animations, sounds and other forms.

Whats New? The Clouds of Course!Everybody wants something new from time to time and yet some need a fix of something totally different. In the realm of the internet, that is quite a common occurrence with the many innovations that are always popping up and with all of them, none can be as exciting as the move into the clouds.

The Open Design Community: Free CSS Templates!If youre most people out there who dont know CSS and have no time, or care, on how to do one for your blog, then the next action for you would be to find a place where you can download one for free. Thank goodness that there are a lot of sites out there that give them away for free. The only problem is, that since you were not the one who created it, you will be subject to their designs and whims.

One of the sites that give free CSS of cool web designs is The Open Design Community (TODC). The Open Design Community is a hub for open source website designers from around the world providing thousands of XHTML and CSS based free web design templates available for download. So, please feel free to take a minute or two and browse through the designs that our fabulous designers have submitted and see if one might work for you! And remember they are free!

Bad Web DesignHere are some features that can really mar the over all concept of your web design. It is important to take notice of the most common mistakes web designers commit. You might be able to use some insights into creating an effective web design which might be simple but can invoke your projected image. Backgrounds that are gray in color by default presents so many problems most especially with the pages readability. Avoid color combinations that can render the characters unreadable. Backgrounds are mostly effective when it is left simple and does not interfere with reading. Texts must be readable. Avoid small characters. Keep the links colored blue as much as possible because common users are already used with the color.

DIY Web DesignDo it yourself design projects are proliferating in the internet these days. There are a number of web sites that practically teaches you what to do without hiring a web designer. A do it yourself web site design applies perfectly for young professionals who are just starting to learn stuff in business or trying to reformat the existing business that they are running. DIY web site design offers you total control over the project and over the site that is why its simply gaining popularity. It takes the work out of dealing with consultants, designer, contractor landscaper and the likes. In DIY design, your ideas are sure to be heard and taken careful attention to. You get to express your style and personality. because at the end of the day, it still will be your website, selling your products. This has solved constant problems with web designers who are truly passionate in their work who sometime can get overly sensitive to a small correction or observation of his work. Do it yourself web designing surely saves you money and time and energy.

Benefits of Web 2.0 ApplicationsWeb 2.0 applications are the latest trend in website design . Many Internet companies and users are turning to web 2.0 for its added features. It has also increased functionality. It has brought about a new wave in how sites are to be built, designed and applied hands-on. It makes the users enjoy blogging, download, RSS feeds etc. These developments give added excitement to online experience. It is said that Web 2.0 companies sites get higher ranking in search engines, like Google, yahoo and countless others. Web 2.0 benefits are countless. You can post photos, albums, help guides and maps for planning your travel abroad.

It has radically changed the quality of social interaction worldwide. Blogs proliferate. marketing online costs much less. And it has created networking success stories. Web 2.0 gives you full control over your business while adding smaller but very useful features to it.

Website design is of course not giving the visitors with another plain piece of text. Go as per the old saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Here the beholder is the visitor of the website that you are going to design. So as a skilled website designer you should have mastered all the skills needed to create classy and attractive graphics, colors and shapes placed in perfect balance to catch the eye of the visitor together with drawing his focus to the most important sections of your website. Your job as a website designer is to make use of colors, text and graphics and translate into a visually appealing layout, logo, banner, and button system.

As a professional website designer, you need to chalk out a well-devised approach for creating the website. First, you need to understand the specific business necessities of your client and lay out the basic structure of the website. In order to minimize the cost of the set up, the website designer should be equipped with predefined web templates. Having this feature in your armory, you don't need to go hog-wild with the designs for the reason that you are not designing a website by tinkering.

Internet Marketing (Part 2)

Start a blog. Blogs have now become a favorite for search engines. If you go ahead and launch a blog, link it into your main site, print blocks of information and float RSS feeds. If you do these then most of the search engines can locate you much faster. Design some copies of digital books that you can send out to everyone. You can write for articles or courses online that could be submitted elsewhere. Then, create your own write-up in a manner that you can use them in any possible type of media, whether online or offline.

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