#Eliza Tech Tips | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

melatovnik · 5 years ago

Photo

wei baby [a wangxian mix] (Spotify | Dropbox)

🌱🐇 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 🐇🌱

lan zhan oh lan zhan, we're really in it now!

Or, alternatively:��

[in wang yibo voice] wei wuxian! wei wuXIAN. WEI WUXIAN ....... wei YING !!!

🌱🐇 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 🐇🌱

track list (and instructions for listening to the full playlist in Spotify) under the cut:

Wang Ji - Hai Lin

Once Upon a December (Anastasia) - Liz Callaway

Dancing in the Moonlight - Toploader

King of Anything - Sara Bareilles

Grace Kelly - MIKA

Time Flies (时光荏苒) - Erhu Version B (二胡B版) - Mó Dào Zǔ Shī (魔道祖师) Donghua OST ***

Lonely People - Orla Gartland

Lark of My Heart - Eliza Rickman

Full Spring (春意盎然) - Mó Dào Zǔ Shī (魔道祖师) Donghua OST ***

My Love - the bird and the bee

Here, There and Everywhere - Nataly Dawn

[Theme Song] Wu Ji (Special Edition) - Bibi Zhou

Lotus Laughter - Maoer FM ***

Iron - Woodkid

Dream State (Dark Day) - Son Lux, WILLS

Gomd - Sickick

Immigrant Song - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Karen O

Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift

Better By Myself - Hey Violet

Riding Formation - Maoer FM ***

Boss Bitch - Doja Cat

Polite Dance Song (Totally Rude Remix) - the bird and the bee ***

Fortress - Lennon Stella

Night Time - The xx

...baby one more time - The Marías

The Modern Leper - Frightened Rabbit

The Summer - Josh Pyke, Sydney Symphony Orchestra

醉梦前尘 - ''Drunken Dreams of the Past'' (Opening Theme Song) - Lin Zhixuan ***

Deliver Us (The Prince of Egypt) - Eden Riegel, Ofra Haza

Yes We Can Can - The Pointer Sisters

Hercules - Sara Bareilles

No Choir - Florence + The Machine

The Woodpile - Frightened Rabbit

willow - lonely witch version - Taylor Swift

I Want to Know What Love Is - Acoustic - John Adams

羡云 - ''Cloud's Longing'' (Wangxian) - HITA ***

Begging - Dua Lipa

I Go Crazy - Orla Gartland

In Your Likeness - Woodkid

White Queen (As It Began) - Remastered 2011 - Queen

When You’re Gone - Avril Lavigne

Foolish Love - Rufus Wainwright

Light of Love - Florence + The Machine

Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

The Piper - ABBA

[Interlude] Yi Nan Ping - Yin Lin

Viva La Vida - Katie Herzig

Heartbroken (断肠) - Mó Dào Zǔ Shī (魔道祖师) Donghua OST ***

Howl - KAYE

5 out of 6 - Dessa

Seize the Power - YONAKA

Toxic - 2WEI

Sister, I’m Sorry - Maoer FM ***

Iron - Acoustic - Woodkid

The Parting Glass - The Wailin’ Jennys

Shadows - Woodkid

[Lan Wangji] Bu Wang - Wang Yibo

In Silence - Janet Suhh

醉梦前尘 - ''Drunken Dreams of the Past'' (Opening Theme Song) [Piano Version] - Artem Syrovegin

Feeling Good - Nina Simone

Sing for Myself - Voices in Your Head

Song 4 - Maoer FM ***

Run - Hozier

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ (Oklahoma!) - Gordon Macrae, Darcy M. Proper

Being Alive - Glee Cast

[Wei Wuxian] Qu Jin Chen Qing - Xiao Zhan

Trouble - Valerie Broussard

Rocksteady - Wild Belle

Hot Knife - Fiona Apple

the lakes - original version - Taylor Swift

Pretty Please - Dua Lips

Fake - The Tech Thieves

Beggin’ - Madcon

Hidden Fragrance (Jin Guangyao) - Maoer FM ***

Awaken - League of Legends, Valerie Broussard, Ray Chen

The March of the Black Queen - Remastered 2011 - Queen

忘羡 - ''Forgetting Envies (Wangxian)'' (Season 2 Ending Theme Song) - Wu En, Yu Xia ***

Xap - The Hit House

Blue Monday - Sebastian Böhm

See the Day - The Altogether

Sigh No More - Audrey Assad

I Left You - Arthur Beatrice

Shape of My Heart - Backstreet Boys

How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees

Ghosts That We Knew - Live - Mumford & Sons

Light of a Clear Blue Morning - The Wailin’ Jennys

It’s You I Like - Ellie Schmidly

Song 10 - Moonlight - Maoer FM ***

满足 (Satisfied) - Xiao Zhan

Infinite Mountains - Louie Zong

[Theme Song] Wu Ji (Chorus Edition) - Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo

To Noise Making (Sing) - Hozier

long story short - Taylor Swift

Undone - the bird and the bee

Love Today - MIKA

Anything We Want - Fiona Apple

Son of a Preacher Man - Aretha Franklin

Lips - The xx

Freak - Doja Cat

As - Becca Stevens

Come Along - Cosmo Sheldrake

Herdsmens New Song - Jian Guangyi

*** Local files can be downloaded from the Dropbox folder link

How to listen to the Spotify mix WITH the locally downloaded songs:

Download the local (or all) song tracks from the Dropbox folder link to your computer (note: don’t change any of the song file names after downloading, or else this won’t work)

In the Spotify desktop app, go to settings

Under “local files”, make sure “show local files” is switched on

Click “add a source”

Select the folder where the songs you downloaded in Step 1 are located

The previously greyed/dimmed out local songs should now be available to play in the Spotify playlist (if they don’t show up immediately, try closing/reopening Spotify)

For a detailed guide with tips: check out the link provided in this twitter post someone made for their own Spotify playlists (though these steps can be applied generally)

#mdzs #the untamed #cql #wangxian #my mix #my edit #wei baby #EDIT: mix updated as of 7/24/21 #HERE'S MY WWX-CENTRIC FANMIX I'VE BEEN WORKING ON!!!!!!!#it seems i'm incapable of not including music from my favorite fanvids #and was it necessary to painstakingly screencap the show and edit fanmix covers for this audio playlist? no! but i love pain #anyway... hope you guys enjoy!#this is a spotify mix but you can also download the songs directly from the dropbox link i've included in case you’re feeling devious

23 notes · View notes

newyorkprelawland-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Yes, New York City’s Public Schools are Still Segregated

By Paloma Castillo, Columbia University Class of 2021

June 16, 2020

Brown v. Board of Ed (1954), the Supreme Court ruling that essentially overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine espoused in Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), was a landmark case for the Civil Rights Movement [1]. In it, the Court argued that segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” [2]. As a result of this ruling, integration efforts began throughout the country, with the intent to equalize academic opportunities for minority students and diversify school settings. Unfortunately, 66 years later, the legacy of segregation in schools continues to plague cities and school districts across the country.

It may come as a surprise that New York, which is generally considered liberal and progressive, is the state with the greatest number of segregated schools in the country [3].

In 2009, Black and Latino students in New York “had the highest concentration in intensely-segregated public schools (less than 10% white enrollment) ... and the most uneven distribution with white students across schools” [3].

New York City largely contributes to this reality: though Black and Hispanic students make up 70% of its public-school system, they only make up about 10% of the student population at the city’s nine specialized high schools [4].

Last year, only seven of the 895 spots at Stuyvesant, the most selective public school in the city, were offered to Black students (down from 10 offers the previous year, and 13 the year before)[5].

Perhaps most concerning is that this form of educational segregation has significantly worsened in recent decades: in 1982, 51% of the students at Brooklyn Tech (one of the 9 specialized schools) were black, a number that drastically reduced to 6% by 2016 [4].

Feb. 3, 1964. Eddie Hausner/The New York Times

This stark reality in New York is partially due to a long history of resistance to reform. Protests and school boycotts led by civil rights activists in the 1960s in response to the lack of implementation of the Brown v Board of Ed ruling were met with significant opposition from (mostly white) parents who favored segregation [6]. Then, in 1971, lawmakers in Albany passed the Hecht-Calandra Act, mandating that admissions to Specialized High Schools rely solely on a singular admissions test [7]. While some defend the Act and the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) as a means to maintain the academic rigor of these schools, there is great debate as to whether or not it has harmed communities of color in NYC [6]. As test preparation for the SHSAT has created an industry of test prep centers that offer tutoring costing thousands of dollars, reformers argue that Black and Hispanic students that are often low-income are at a disadvantage, and less likely to be able to join these elite schools [4]. Mayor de Blasio developed a plan to repeal the Hecht-Calandra Act, but recently changed course, after having received much backlash from specialized high school alumni groups, parents, and others [8].

Even if the SHSAT were replaced by more holistic indicators of achievement and intelligence, much would still have to change. Many supporters of the SHSAT have suggested that the problem minority students face in the NYC public school system is not the SHSAT, but rather, the lack of “high quality education in Black and Latino communities,” and the elimination of enrichment schools in these neighborhoods [9]. The reality of the situation is that even if the SHSAT does perpetuate racism, it is only

the tip of the iceberg. Black and Latino students in NYC face educational barriers that result in academic segregation much earlier on than high school. Public elementary and middle schools in wealthier, white neighborhoods have better resources and opportunities (both academic and extracurricular) for their mostly white students, but the opposite is generally true of the schools that children in minority neighborhoods are zoned to. This type of zoning contributes to the segregation of students, as minorities that are zoned to attend lower-performing schools in their earlier years are less likely to be prepared for and admitted into highly selective, high-performing schools in their later years than their white counterparts.

Thus, while eliminating the SHSAT is a useful way to allow a more diverse population to access elite public schools in NYC, reform at earlier levels of public education would be more efficient. This should involve both removal of screening for younger students but also increased allocation of funds to poor-performing schools. While there is currently no singular, city-wide plan for integration, some school districts have implemented policies that could guide the way for the rest of New York. Brooklyn Community District 15, which includes the wealthy neighborhoods of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens (but also immigrant-dense, low-income neighborhoods), has made some of the most sweeping changes for integration in all of New York [10]. Its new program, called the D15 Diversity Plan, eliminates selective admissions criteria from all of the district’s middle schools, including those that are very “sought-after” [10]. Replacing previous admissions systems will be a “choice-based district-wide lottery,” that gives “extra weight to students who come from low-income families, are learning English as a new language, or are homeless” [11,10].

The plan adopted by District 15 is hailed as inclusive and considered one of the best attempts at equalizing access to public schools. However, many districts remain segregated. To address this issue, de Blasio has adopted some of the recommendations made by the Student Diversity advisory Group he created, including the provision of additional funding for five districts throughout the boroughs to implement integration plans similar to Brooklyn’s District 15 [12].

So far, it seems that these patchwork efforts at integration have frustrated reformers calling for larger-scale change. Surprisingly, the COVID-19 Pandemic might have created the conditions for wide-spread reform, as the quarantine and distance-learning have led to the collapse of some of the most important metrics of achievement and performance that highly selective screening admissions processes rely on, such as attendance and standardized tests [13]. The need to create a new admissions system for a post-COVID New York City may perhaps be a one-of-a-kind “blank slate” opportunity to champion integration in the largest public school system in the nation. I hope that the de Blasio administration will react effectively and contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight against systemic racism by eliminating systems that have maintained public school segregation. Perhaps 2020 will be the year that Brown v. Board of Ed will come to fruition - we must not let the opportunity pass.

________________________________________________________________

“Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1).” Oyez, 17 May 1954, www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483.

“14th Amendment.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv.

Kucsera, John, and Gary Orfield. “New York State's Extreme School Segregation: Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future.” UCLA: The Civil Rights Project, UC Regents, 26 Mar. 2014, www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/ny-norflet-report-placeholder.

Shapiro, Eliza, and K.K. Rebecca Lai. “How New York's Elite Public Schools Lost Their Black and Hispanic Students.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 June 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/03/nyregion/nyc-public-schools-black-hispanic-students.html.

Norwood, Candice. “Of 895 Freshmen Spots, Only 7 Black Students Got Into an Elite New York Public High School.” Governing: The Future of States and Localities, 22 Mar. 2019, www.governing.com/topics/education/Of-895-Freshmen-Spots-Only-7-Black-Students-Got-Into-an-Elite-New-York-Public-High-School.html.

Shapiro, Eliza. “Segregation Has Been the Story of New York City's Schools for 50 Years.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/school-segregation-new-york.html.

“Decision No. 17,748.” New York State Education Department: Office of Counsel, 29 Aug. 2019,www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume59/d17748.

“'Our Plan Didn't Work': De Blasio Indicates Openness to Keeping the SHSAT.” Spectrum News: NY1, Charter Communications, 25 Sept. 2019, www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2019/09/26/shsat-bill-de-blasio-says-plan-to-scrap-specialized-high-school-exam-did-not-work.

Cary, Larry. “The SHSAT Isn't Racist: A Careful Look at the Hecht-Calandra Law Shows It Was Not Motivated by Bigotry, nor Did It Initially Harm Blacks and Hispanics.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, 3 Sept. 2019, www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-the-shsat-isnt-racist-20190903-ihtrstrombhd7lveugv2xr6shy-story.html.

Veiga, Christina. “Brooklyn Middle Schools Eliminate 'Screening' as New York City Expands Integration Efforts.” Chalkbeat New York, Chalkbeat New York, 20 Sept. 2018, https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2018/9/20/21105759/brooklyn-middle-schools-eliminate-screening-as-new-york-city-expands-integration-efforts.

“D15 Diversity Plan: Final Report 2018.” D15 Diversity Plan, http://d15diversityplan.com.

Gould, Jessica. “Mayor De Blasio Finally Rolls Out First Part Of His School Integration Plan.” Gothamist, Gothamist, 11 June 2019, https://gothamist.com/news/mayor-de-blasio-finally-rolls-out-first-part-of-his-school-integration-plan.

1 note · View note

pass-the-bechdel · 6 years ago

Text

Dollhouse season two full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

100% (thirteen of thirteen).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

44.96%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Eleven, six of which had a cast of 50%+.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eighteen. Twelve who appeared in more than one episode, five who appeared in at least half the episodes, and two who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Thirty-three. Twelve who appeared in more than one episode, four who appeared in at least half the episodes, and one who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Rubbish. As with the first season, the show suffers seriously for having no moral compass, it indulges in misogynistic violence and voyeuristic sex crimes as a mainstay, and any attempts to critique its own content are marred by hypocrisy and excuses (average rating of 2.76).

General Season Quality:

Also rubbish. While the majority of the cast are doing a fantastic job despite flimsy, problematic material, and there are a bare few episodes that could be considered good, altogether there’s no cohesion to the story, it lurches and fast-tracks and skips over anything that seems like it would have been a good concept to explore, and in the process it manages to lose any semblance of being about something. It’s just an excuse to stretch some acting chops on different kinds of character templates, and even that, it did badly.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

...so. I guess it’s a ‘nevermind, then’ on the exploration of any of the show’s own invoked themes re: personhood et al. I really thought they did more in that arena, but outside of a handful of single scenes sprinkled across the series, they really never did dig in to their existential concepts or anything that could approximate a broader narrative purpose beyond ‘let’s get Eliza Dushku to embody common sexual fantasies’. It’s ok to do some prompting of meta discussions for the audience and then leave them to fill in the blanks with their own musings, but not at the expense of bothering to say anything about your own subject matter. If you don’t have anything to say, then don’t ask people to listen to you. Keep your gross rape fantasies to yourself (or share with your therapist, damn), and leave the storytelling to people with a story to tell.

Everything that was wrong with season one is still entirely intact in season two, they fixed zero of their problems - they’re still fetishising and excusing rape, shamelessly objectifying and brutalising women, steeping the series in misogyny for no discernible reason, failing to achieve a basic moral underpinning to their content, underusing their quality acting assets while over-using their worst ones, and of course - as above - completely ignoring the need for a cohesive purpose to their own story or even just a ground-level sense that they knew what they were doing (or at least what they WANTED to be doing) with the arc of the narrative. Indeed, not only were all of the first season’s flaws intact, but season two even managed to make many of them worse! Off the top of my head, I’m not sure they made a single good character decision in the entire season, but I’m gonna save that conversation for the full series review so that I can properly compare the changes from one season to the next; there are plenty of other sins in season two to keep me busy for now. The lack of a moral anything (compass, backbone, compunction, whatever you want to call it) became a much bigger problem as the show attempted to escalate the scope of conflict with outside forces - largely, the Rossum corporation who runs the Dollhouses in service of their E-vil Plans - despite its own characters having committed all the same atrocities variously and knowingly, and the sketchy characterisation did a poor job of convincing that some magical moral something-or-other had taken hold between the seasons to give these characters new ethical dimensions that aren’t just blind hypocrisy. But, the biggest flaw of the season - relevant to all other issues but most especially to the lack of a central narrative theme or sense of meaning behind it - was the arc of the...’story’ that the season told. It was a Goddamn disaster, kids.

Pro tip: if you happen to, say, make a tv show that performs badly in the ratings in its first season, but you score a second season anyway, and you’re not confident that you’ll ever get a third...don’t try to jam all of the possible plot you imagined for a long-term series down into one season. It’s also probably a good idea to NOT end your first season with an ambitious flash-forward to an apocalyptic future which you are now irrevocably committed to bringing about in your regular narrative in spite of having only thirteen episodes to do it; a problem compounded by the inclusion of ‘flashbacks’ within that flash-forward, depicting events that you have now made canon only to turn around and nullify your own story by changing your mind about how to have it unfold (in the course of insisting on trying to make the whole thing unfold immediately, with plot that should have taken at least half a season to be explicated instead being fast-tracked into the subplot of a single episode). Don’t do that. Especially, don’t do that if you’re gonna ditch any kind of meaningful character arcs or thematic discussions or anything which would give your story a sense of purpose or cohesion or a mission statement of any kind (have I mentioned that yet? It��s mildly important to storytelling). Choosing to roll out a series of rapidly-accelerated plot events with all the nuance removed for streamlining is patently useless - you’ve removed everything that would make those plot events have value. That’s assuming that there were character beats (beats! Not beatings! This show has an excess of the latter; criminally few of the former) or narrative explorations or conceptual deliberations or somesuch in the original plan, anyway, and the first season did not do a great job of suggesting that there were (just...a better job than season two did). At any rate, better that you spend your time well and sadly never get to conclude the story like you wanted, rather than screwing over your own idea trying to just deliver the cliff notes. Cui bono?

Let’s consider what we got this season: thirteen episodes, and the first three are total Imprint of the Week fodder. A certain amount of episodic adventuring is expected, yes, but it’s a good idea to actually inject some useful plot machinations in there at the same time, and the first three episodes were very weak on both the one-off plot and the inclusion of significant long-term detail. The first two episodes are especially bad for being boring, inconsequential, and failing to capitalise on any interest drummed up by the end of the previous season; both also include teensy extra scenes of Senator Perrin pursuing his investigation into the Dollhouse, though neither creates any tension or interest around it, they literally just amount to ‘here is a guy, he’s gathering evidence’. It’s not exactly a thrilling or detailed introduction to the ‘Dollhouse plant in the government’ plot which comes to a head in a two-parter a few episodes later and then never impacts the story ever again. The story has no chance to build before it’s over: it’s introduced, it escalates, it’s nonsense, and then it’s done (the fact that the entire plot turns out illogical in the extreme really, really steps on any attempt at relevance or use). If you’re not gonna try and make the plot thread at least functional, why waste two whole episodes on it? You’ve only got thirteen, and you already wasted the first three!

I say they wasted the first three episodes, but arguably, it’s more than that: episode four was ‘Belonging’, with the unfortunate decision to explain how Sierra came to be in the Dollhouse by expanding on the existing rape narrative with her abuser, Nolan, and while the episode in itself mostly works (in spite of itself, really), it’s not of any long-term importance outside of some character building/expansion, which is not a complete waste of time but, also, is not turned to a particular purpose. We didn’t need to lose an entire episode on this; we could have built and expanded upon character while dealing with some meaningful plot content, instead of indulging that ol’ rape obsession some more. Similar flaws exist for most of the other episodes of the season - though not entirely useless, spending an episode on an unfocused and largely meaningless Alpha visit in ‘A Love Supreme’ or fast-tracking through Victor’s backstory with the overly-ambitious and ultimately irrelevant military tech in ‘Stop-Loss’ is not a good use of the limited time the series had left to tell its story. And then there was the terrible ‘Meet Jane Doe’, which gave us a time-skip and a bunch of rushed plot to do with Echo learning to master the many personalities composing her identity while Topher mocked up a doomsday device out of thin air back at the Dollhouse: the single most excessively stupid example of what should have been at least a half-season’s worth of plot, instead crammed down into a ridiculously contrived subplot in a single episode. If you’re gonna try and tell several season’s worth of plot in thirteen episodes, you gotta COMMIT, man: hard plot, every episode is essential, every one of them advances your central narrative in some significant way even when it appears you’ve just done an episodic plot, it’s all vital to the endgame. Don’t think you’re gonna tell a few years of story in three episodes, and spend the rest of the time on fetish fantasies. Don’t be that stupid.

As I noted when it happened, ‘The Attic’ is the only genuinely good episode of the season, and not least because it’s the only episode that does a passable job of making it seem like the plot has actually been going somewhere, for a reason, and with intention. It’s still very much a too-little-too-late situation, and the episode does all the heavy-lifting on introducing the puzzle pieces to complete the plot at the last minute, rather than having any of those pieces seeded at an earlier point in the series (the way that pre-planned things in a story that is going somewhere for a reason usually are). It gives us a last minute mystery to solve - who is Rossum’s shadowy founder? - though that turns out to be a very ill-advised mystery (for the calibre of the reveal, for the stupid convenience of having a shadowy founder to rail at, and for the obvious pointlessness of pretending that there’s a singular Boss Battle to be had that will magically dissolve the power of the corporation and its various pre-established players (Harding, Ambrose, and now the addition of Clyde 2.0 as well as ‘the founder’)). It also gives us a final mission - to take out Rossum’s mainframe - though that turns out similarly ill-advised in a more low-key way, since ‘we took down their computers’ is a patently idiotic way to ‘win’ (it’s laughable to pretend that any of the characters could be fooled into thinking that blowing up the Tucson facility would be anything more than an inconvenience to a global medical research corporation with thousands of employees and billions of dollars in resources and a trillion opportunities to store information on non-networked computers or on paper or in any of their numerous potential ‘legit’ published scientific proofs, etc, to say nothing of the fact that the physical tech and the people who built and used it are all still there, and yep, so are all those other Rossum higher-ups and probably even the founder himself, waiting on a harddrive to be put back into play). It all makes for an incredibly weak finisher to the ‘main’ plot, and that’s before we pointlessly bounce into the future again to show that, oh yeah, it WAS all meaningless and our characters are fucking morons who made no difference to anything with that explosion-y mainframe bullshit! The potentially-clever game-changer idea of including the flash-forward to the Thoughtpocalypse at the end of season one becomes a mistake now, when it calls for the waste of the finale on concluding a whole wild story development that the show never got a chance to actually develop at all. Eek. This is not how you storytelling, y’all.

Heavy sigh. Honestly, I really, really thought this show would give me more to talk about, because at first glance it looks complex and stocked with conversation starters and potentially polarising content. Upon analysis, however, the complexity is a sham, the show itself starts no conversations, and the content lacks the nuance necessary to create oppositional interpretations. Ironically, it turns out as empty as the dolls are, simplistic, lacking the self-awareness to reflect on itself and the basic comprehension to fathom morality. It has no personality, no drive, and though at times it shows glimmers of understanding that there could be more to its existence than catering to shallow pleasures, ultimately it never focuses well enough to follow that anywhere. Even its transgressions are bland and predictable, worth calling out - as aggressive misogyny and rape fetishisation always is - but not worth picking apart in detail (because - shock horror - it’s not morally complicated and full of shades of grey, it’s just bad and wrong: it’s very simple and easy to follow, Whedon. Get therapy). If the Dollhouse is all about giving people what they need, well, I think I know what Joss Whedon needs: to shut up, and leave the show-creating to someone who hates women less, and knows how to string an idea into an actual story, more.

#Dollhouse #Dollhouse season two #Bechdel Test #female representation #full season review

4 notes · View notes

ebooklords · 3 years ago

Text

Remove Resistance and Reframe your Stress

Remove Resistance and Reframe your Stress - https://ebooklords.com/remove-resistance-and-reframe-your-stress/ - If you feel as though circumstances have you backed into a corner, it’s time to reassess. If you’re sick of your situation — your partner is driving you up the wall, you’re frustrated with your job, you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed — realize that the stress and frustration you’re experiencing has nothing to do with what’s happening right now in this minute. The stress you’re experiencing is a resistance to what is. Instead of focusing on the right-here-now moment, the focus of your thoughts is on the projected and imaginary future state in which your current situation remains the same, or is worse. Stress comes from the anticipation that there’s no end in sight. Take any stressful situation you have going on and ask yourself: “Where does the misery exist?” Is it here in this moment, or is it when you’re thinking about the imminent journey that this situation may travel, extending the misery and the strife? Your heightened anxiety arises from the imagined future state. Now get really present. Shift your attention internally to the sensations in your body. Drop any stressful thoughts for a second. Ask yourself “What’s real this very second?” Nothing is too stressful in the present moment, right? Here are three real ways to reframe your stress: 1. Acknowledge that you’re resisting what is. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed and miserable, many times this simple acknowledgement will transform your resistance into acceptance. But let’s be clear : I’m not talking about resignation where you’re not going to do anything about your situation. By acknowledging your resistance to what is you can shift from reaction to response. When you’re responsive you can act. When you’re responsive you are present and powerful. When you’re responsive you’re not stressed. A practical example is when you’re stuck behind a really slow driver. Your reaction is to get angry. Simply acknowledge that you’re resisting what is and see what happens to your anger. 2. Acknowledge that your stress doesn’t exist now. Your stress exists in your imagined future. Don’t paint a miserable future but tell yourself a different story and get present in the now. Forget the past, drop the future, and simply be with what is right now. It’s a moment, and every moment is manageable. 3. Envision a better future. Here’s a bonus step — and it’s definitely my favorite if you want to do more than just find relief: Fast forward to the vision you’d like to be true, whatever you imagine that future state for you is. See the perfect scenario that would make you happy tomorrow, or two months from now, or three years. Now tell the story backwards and explain to yourself how the current situation was absolutely necessary, absolutely on purpose, to get you to this new place. Telling the story backwards is powerful because it doesn’t just remove the stress from the current circumstance (the imagined future state) but it puts the current situation in a light that allows you to automatically shift into gratitude and purposefulness. That’s way more enjoyable than stress. These reframing tips can help anytime you get knocked off your center or feel overwhelmed. Practicing them regularly can recondition you to a state in which stress and anxiety are the exception and not the norm. Therefore, because you won’t be so conditioned to negative emotion, it’s easy to catch and recenter as soon as it happens. * * * Amy Eliza Wong is a certified executive coach who has devoted more than 20 years to the study and practice of helping others live and lead on purpose. She works with some of the biggest names in tech and offers transformational leadership development and internal communication strategies to executives and teams around the world. Her new book is Living on Purpose: Five Deliberate Choices to Realize Fulfillment and Joy (BrainTrust Ink, May 24, 2022). Learn more at alwaysonpurpose.com. GET THE BOOK BYERIN FALCONER!Erin shows overscheduled, overwhelmed women how to do less so that they can achieve more. Traditional productivity books—written by men—barely touch the tangle of cultural pressures that women feel when facing down a to-do list. How to Get Sh*t Done will teach you how to zero in on the three areas of your life where you want to excel, and then it will show you how to off-load, outsource, or just stop giving a damn about the rest. - 2507 - August 14, 2022

0 notes

puppypilled-sheep-wife · 5 years ago

Text

Eliza’s Tech Tips 2 - Torrenting

I’ve probably made a post covering this before, but given current events with both people being stuck inside and the rampancy of separate paid-for streaming services, it’s something people might like to find out about. Note: Torrenting is normally associated with Piracy, but it’s actually a very useful and versatile way for sharing and downloading files!

How does it work? When you download something with torrent, you don’t get the files from a single website / server like normal - instead bits of the file are downloaded from different people also downloading. More people who download, means more people who can share. (sharing is called “Seeding” in this case, and people who turn off seeding are called “leeches”) What software should I use?

I personally use a program called uTorrent, which offers some useful things like selecting download and upload rates, number of similtaneous downloads and how long something should seed for. But any client, like BitTorrent should do fine.

You should also make sure to get some sort of VPN - regardless of whether you are downloading illegal content, since some service providers out-right block torrent connections. If you can’t afford one, see if a friend has a spare device on their plan - PIA for example allows as many downloads as you want, but only 5 connections from an account at once.

Brave browser is a useful web-browser for keeping all of this separate from your regular search history, since it will interface with your torrent client and comes with a host of security plugins built in.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the nature of torrent-based downloading means some pretty harmful files can make it onto your system. So be sure to have anti-virus running, and to scan downloaded files before opening them.

#Eliza Tech Tips #Coronavirus #Quarantine #Computer #Technology #Software #Tips #Useful #Torrent #Piracy

4 notes · View notes

maswartz · 7 years ago

Text

Young Justice League

This is basically my idea for the next gen Teen Titans (at first, but now it’s more like a Young Justice League) Sadly this will never exist because DC can’t let us have anything good. Damian Wayne- Robin- Field Leader Sin- Jade Canary Maxine Baker- Animal Girl- Has the same powers as her father (call upon the skills of animals) However can only call upon the powers of animals that live on the same land she does (no polar bear powers in Europe, no cheetah speed in America) Milagro Reyes- Green Lantern Nell Little- Flamebird Jai West- Trajectory- Taking the name in honor of the first Trajectory (Eliza Harmon) Jai discovered that he can still lend and steal speed as well as run at super speed but only in short bursts. Iris (Irey) West- Impulse Traya Sutton- Twister- The adopted daughter of Red Tornado she uses tech to replicate his wind powers. Lian Harper- Red Hood- Lian tends to use trick arrows like her father but has begun to tip some with a variant of her mother’s poison (paralysis/stun only) Chris Kent- Superboy Red -Due to not having as much exposure to Earth’s yellow sun he is the weakest Kryptonian on Earth (still far stronger than the average human however) Jon Kent- Superboy Blue- He is stronger than Chris but has less battle experience. Both Superboys are mentored by Conner in how to use their powers. Cerdian- Aqua Lad- Inheriting his father’s mystic powers he has control over all forms of water, however he is still inexperienced on land. Robert Long- Wonder Star- Wears a version of the DarkStar suit while his natural powers begin to unseal slowly. Tiffany Fox- Batgirl Joshua Jackam- Meteo Mage- Inheriting his father’s power over the weather he uses them to fight crime Luke O’Brian- Offspring- Fights evil using his father’s power of elasticity Shyleen Lao- Fever- A former member of the Doom Patrol she’s gained better control over her fire powers Anita Fite- Empress- One of the most experienced members of the team her skills and powers are as strong as ever Thanks to @majingojira for these ideas Colin Wilkes - Abuse - he has Venom bonded to his DNA, so he can gain great strength (and size) at a moment’s notice. Moshe Levy - Dust Devil - A leftover from the Invasion! Crossover event, who has Aerokinetic powers. Largely forgotten, but included for completeness sake. Aaron Langstrom - Man-Bat - The mutant form being his ‘natural’ form and in control of his instincts, he could be a great asset to the Justice League, or at least the Bat-Family. Aviva Weinberg - Fury - Another minor kid hero, this electrokinetic used to be known as “Temper” … but her frustration with things hasn’t lessened over time, so now she’s Fury. She’s still a hero, she just has a little ‘excessive force’ problem. She tries to reign herself in, but more often it’s her teammates that do that. Zoe Lawton - Deadshot - Much to her fathers anger, she got into the ‘Game’ on the opposite side of things (IE: A Heroine). She has his natural talent for marksmanship, but uses designer, non-lethal rounds and bullets that are akin to the Gadget-arrows and bat-arrangs of her piers. Just Faster. Wildebeest - No Longer a Baby, big and strong once more. Ramsey Robinson - Manhunter - Because that future version of him was pretty cool. New additions Darla Dudley, Eugene Choi, Pedro Pena- Lieutenant Marvels- Empowered by stray bolts from the Marvel Family they can tap into the power of Shazam to fight evil however they are not as powerful as Billy, Mary or Freddy.

#dc #dc comics #young justice #teen titans #young justice league

8 notes · View notes

lostlevelsclub · 6 years ago

Text

Mike’s Eliza Notes

Since there was more to the game than we could cover in the episode, below are the full notes that I made while playing Eliza.

Chapter 1

It starts with Evelyn talking about a dream. When’s the last time you had a dream?

She writes herself an email titled “You will do it” saying “I believe in you” ?!

The music is very Zachtronics

I like the chat History - probably will be useful…

What is the game going to be? Will I have to choose whether to stick to the script that Eliza gives? Is it mostly going to be just thought provoking about what therapy is and the machine vs. the human touch?

The sentiment analyzer tagging things as positive or negative - is it meant to show that the way Eliza works is actually pretty simplistic? E.g. “expensive” tagged as negative, but it’s used here in a positive sense (the office is in an expensive area)

Eliza totally lies to him and pretends that you’re talking not it! Scandal

It tells you to tell him your name!

Anexophin? Is that real?

Surely this wouldn’t be sufficient even if you had a super smart AI - there’s so much variance in how you can read the script and deliver it.

Haha, even as the proxy therapist you get achievements, a score and can level up?!

They added the “speak to a real human” script. Is that how AI works? I suppose it might work any number of ways. Hey, is this the AI game Ting said they should make??

Rae: Sometimes you don’t have any choices and you just have to follow directions, Most jobs are like that, honestly.

Eliza - named after the 1960’s computer program (early chat bot?)

Eliza is just making people feel better, but it isn’t actually making things better. Is Darren right that the world is a mess and counselling just helps people ignore it?

Zachtronics loves solitaire minigames…

It must be weird going to Eliza and speaking to a different person every time that talks as though they know you. Maybe it’s like speaking to a hive mind? Many bodies, one set of thoughts.

Lytosinol-2? Is that real?

Your friend Nora asks if the people at the counselling office “know” - know what?!

Something traumatic clearly happened 3 years ago

Nora - formerly a coder but now a musician and artist. Old self might have worried about not making as much money, but happier now. Is this me?! Sometimes takes a little contract coding work, but makes most what she needs for rent from her art

Did you used to work on Eliza as a coder or something? Your former boss was a psychologist and “creepo” (Soren)

Nora has some whack eastern european accent.

Soren is currently at (and leaving) Skandha, so sounds like you did work on Eliza

Snake Person = VSs, “biz dev”

Evelyn’s comment about the coffee shop - “it’s nice to know this is an option, the tea and coffee at the counselling center didn’t look so inspiring. Am I… am I being a snob?”

Immediately after coffee, you get an email that confirms you were one of the principal devs on Eliza.

Komorebi (the name of the coffee shop)

Language: Japanese

Meaning: The interplay between light and leaves when sunlight shines through trees.

Evelyn has some pictures propped up against the wall “that have been sitting there like that for a long time”. I also have a picture that is just propped against the wall instead of hung up (though I like it on the floor, or maybe that’s just what I tell myself?!)

Chapter 2

Email (from your mum?) with news story about mandatory fortnightly Eliza conversations at school for middle and high school students

You used to work at Magus books. Email from a customer there that is sad you left

Induced dreams by direct neural stimulation… interesting and creepy idea. Rather than invoking a feeling or improvement by talking, directly cause the required feeling.

Aponia - ancient greek, it means “the absence of pain”. Is it meant to sound like “a pony”? That’s what everyone really wants :P

Yao-Ren “Rainer” Tsai. Chairman and CEO of Skandha Corporation

Eliza is always talking about the rain - I guess that’s Seattle?

Gabriel stressed about having no time for himself after becoming a father

15 mins of VR - starry skies. Would that really help anything?

Anexophin - is that a real thing?

He gave 2 stars, but still a $5 tip?? He didn’t seem to find it helpful… he’ll be back

Maya

Has some serious social anxiety.

No one cares about her art (like no one cares about our podcast :P)

15 minutes of Meadow Lands each day. Is this to illustrate that Eliza’s treatments are bad?

Holiday Durant

Would smoke dope more often but it’s expensive :shrug:

Unmarked white busses, secret transport system “just for them” - it probably is! i.e. employee transport for tech firms

She asks Eliza about past life regression and Eliza breaks XD

Eliza doesn’t know what to do, since there’s nothing particularly wrong?? She just wants someone to talk to.

Fortipran hydrochloride - is that a real thing? Is it for shoulder pain, since that’s what she asked for? Apparently it sounds like an anti-anxiety drug (it’s not real). She forgets the name and thinks it’s forzapram. (you later discover it IS for shoulder pain!)

Dinner with Soren

Move on - “want to do his memory right, don’t you”. So the trauma was related to a guy?

I say “whose” and am told “Damien of course. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Rainer and Soren. Soren bitter that Rainer is CEO and never wanted for anything. Had all the right names - Harvard, Goldman Sachs

He needs a chief engineer, wants you (or maybe he wanted Nora but she said no :P)

Nora is DJing at an S&M club… or not - Soren is just wrong, and then goes to hit on a bunch of random women.

Email - Car will pick you up for meeting with Rainer at 9:20am from Queen Anne office. So Rainer must know you are working as a proxy

Nora tells you a load of electronic music stuff. The names sound real, and I know the other Zachtronics founder is into electronic music, so maybe it’s all real facts

Roland-TB303 (devil fish mod?)

Moog (pronounced Moag)

Li’l Sappho - greek poet..?

The music is… lewd? Sounds good, wild and untamed.

Chapter 3

Talking with Rainer. He found out you were back because your proxy scores were unusually good and he looked.

Being a proxy - more than an order of magnitude drop in pay vs. old job

Damien Seabrook - brilliant career cut short. He died? Suicide?

“Burnout isn’t uncommon in our line of work, still three years is...”

“You know what outstanding engineers have that mediocre ones don’t? It’s curiosity”

I guess you get to choose everything except the therapy? Are there branching paths?

Erlend, Chief Engineer - “he looks like a baby”, “he must be fresh out of university”

3rd chief engineer in 3 years since Evelyn left

Ratings are normalized per proxy. I don’t think you’ve really done enough sessions to really be an outlier though, unless you’ve done some off camera

Teams in Romania, Munich and Hyderabad.

Rae totally fangirling over Rainer

Erlend - “If I understand the programmer, then I understand the program”

It really is interesting to see other people’s code. It gives insight into how their brain solves problems, decomposes complex tasks.

So Eliza is just a small facet of Skandha, and Rainer really is a bigshot. Genuinely surprising that he knows who Evelyn is, or maybe at a tech firm the CEO does know star tech talent.

Eliza v10.3.3, Firmware version v110 c3115

Boot ROM 114.0.0.0.0

Chipset 18210B0

Mark Foras

“Well i don’t know if you’ve noticed, but young people are really pissy and entitled these days.” “Why would we want these conceited, overcelebrated whelps on our team? I’ll never understand the logic there”

Neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg neg…

SwiftMail, InfoVault - more traditional enterprise software

He’s very dismissive of Eliza! Supposedly Rainer “liked a chick on the team”, which would be Nora or Evelyn I guess.

“Mark, I’m going to suggest you try a program called “Lakeside Fishing”“ LOL

“I didn’t recognise his face or name”

“Glad I never had to work with him”

Hariman Gunawan

British accent, so since this is an American game does that make him a villain? He sounds very posh.

Grad student, English Literature

He sounds a lot like the British Malaysian comic that is on Friday Night Comedy podcast sometimes. Phil Wang..? OMG - it IS him!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10741934/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Evelyn’s reading of the lines seems slightly more wooden after seeing Eliza (the server room). Is that intended? It’s very subtle. Or maybe it’s not wooden, maybe it’s some personal opinion creeping in? The goodbye for Hariman and Mark were both not neutral

Lytosinol 2 - in universe it’s a beta blocker

2 stars!? Rude! A tip though?

Rae’s brother struggles with substance abuse. She mentions it in the article about her and she’s on the phone to him when you visit.

Being a proxy gives Evelyn perspective - seeing how everyone else is messed up…

“Were we all just talking past each other?”

Rae - But you could also help even more people by working on Eliza itself, right? Not to mention make way more money.

Rae tells you not to downplay yourself

Rainer messages you and reveals that most of the Eliza cluster isn’t used for therapy, it’s trying to build a general purpose AI! :O

Rainer: This may sound off to you, but I’ll know I’ve successfully created a general artificial intelligence when I see it write a poem.

Evelyn: A poem

Rainer: Yes, It would have to be a good one, of course.

AI to humans as powered transport is to pack animals. Interesting way to look at it.

Rae describes a Skanda tech recruitment event. Is tech talent REALLY that in demand? Is it really that hard to get good engineers?

Evelyn - “And before that I just never had the time. It was just, research and science and work and then I woke up one day and I was in my thirties” OMG

“Even if I wanted to date, I wouldn’t know the first thing about how it’s supposed to work

“I wouldn’t even know how to tell if someone were interested in me…”

Though is this game THAT kind of visual novel? haha.

Rae is asexual? Will this game be a fully representative spectrum of everything?

Chapter 4

Soren: Say there was a medical procedure that could remove your suffering. No side effects, no cost. Just an operation that would make you permanently happy.

I’d say being permanently happy was a bad side effect.. Sometimes you need to feel sad (cue melancholy playlist…)

The Glencadam - scotch whisky. Is that a real thing? (yes)

Direct stimulation / induced dreaming vs talking things over. I’ve actually thought about this - there are changes that you might want to make to your mind or body, but you can’t because you don’t have the right levers.You have to take an indirect route and use the tools / levers that exist. Is it possible to build levers from what you have? Like hacking a machine and getting a foothold, then building an editor to enter more exploit code until you control the whole machine. Could you do that to your mind, or even your body?

Soren: Anger, depression, emptoness, anxiety, jealousy, every kind of unhappiness you can think of… obsolete.

I’ve thought about this too - these things serve a purpose, even if it’s not one that’s necessarily beneficial for you as an individual. Like when you’re depressed, is that your body telling you to die so you’re not a drain on the group? Not a nice thought - could it just be an error to be fixed?

Soren thinks Rainer was against direct stimulation “fixes” so that people would be unhappy and reliant on mental health services from Skandha

Damien worked himself to death. All nighters, multiple times. Pulmonary embolism. At least it wasn’t suicide…

Soren:

It’s late and I’ve had quite a bit to drink, so I’ll tell you a secret, Evelyn.

I said I want to end human suffering, which makes me sound very altruistic.

But I’m not doing it for humankind. I’m doing it for myself.

I have nothing. I’ve ruined every relationship I was ever in.

I hardly ever see my kids, and, well, they hate me anyway.

…

I want to end my own suffering, but I can’t bring myself to do it the… traditional way. That’s why I’ve pursued this technology. That’s why I want it to exist.

The idea that everyone else could use it too… it’s just a bonus.

Mark Foras mass emails the whole of Skandha with his farewell message! He signs off “Excelsior!” who does that?!

Hariman again

Evelyn has mirth in her voice as she says hello

He slept with Sylvia

Is he comic relief? He’s more worried now than before!

“How do I tell Liz?” Wtf

“Did I mention this last time? I have a sort of, girlfriend”

“I can’t believe this. I got what I wanted and it ruined my life.”

Irony - he hated self-pitying novels by men who were messed up by a relationship and couldn’t get over it, but how he’s one of them

Eliza’s questioning really is reminiscent of the Eliza program

15 minutes of Meadow Lands each day - Hariman thinks this is a good idea?!

3 stars?? I guess it’s better than two. Still got a $5 tip

Maya Leeds

Jealousy at the success of younger people - mid-thirties.

This is clearly the age at which everything starts to go wrong. It’s easy to be positive when you’re younger, but when you get to mid-thirties, you feel that time is running out, it’s half way for most people…

Maya:

Well there’s - there’s one woman in particular everyone loves.

And her work is… I don’t get it. I just - I don’t understand. She gets so much money and support for this basic, basic shit.

And somehow everyone’s predisposed to like her.

I mean, maybe I do get it…

I feel like people pay attention to her work not because it’s good on its own, but because supporting her feels like the right thing to do.

The way she’s aligned herself it’s like�� if you support her, it means you’re cool, You’re in with the cool kids.

And if I’m not publicly supportive of her and generally tolerant of her mediocre work, then I’m the bad one, I’m the competitive bitch, I’m the… the bitter failure.

Transparency mode! Eliza reads all of your emails and chats

5 stars, $5. The tip seems to always be $5 if there is one

Is there anything that secret in my electronic messages? I don’t think there’s anything that salacious. Maybe I’m just boring… or maybe I just keep it off the record most of the time. I guess there are a few mad conversations.

Eliza Transparency Mode 0.8.2

Maya’s text conversation with Garrett - super grim. She’s just venting and being sad and he doesn’t know what to do.

$186.11 rideshare bill! $150 cleaning and $10 tip.

Erlend is disturbed by the idea of copying Eliza and sending the data to other teams, including external ones.

You don’t really tell him anything, you just listen and he feels better.

Capitol Hill - is that a real place in Seattle?

I have a jacket like Nora’s

Chat with Erlend - what does it mean to be conscious, to be sentient? Would you even know? What if you just gave the correct responses, but weren’t? Chinese Room

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

In Evelyn’s three lost years. She tried to get up in the morning like she meant to go to work, tried to do personal projects… it didn’t last long.

Stayed in bed, even though she was awake. Cared less and less about projects

A blankness would come over her and it seemed fine to do nothing (depression?)

Evelyn:

I was by myself and I thought that was alright. I thought - that’s how it is, really. Everyone’s along. I’m just being honest about it.

…

I was...thirty-one when I left Soren’s group. Now I’m thirty-four.

I just slept into my mid-thirties.

(I just podcasted…)

Chose to get super high and watch cyber-goth music vids

Chapter 5

Nora is a public critic of Eliza. Rae is sad about it

Everyone is very understanding - trying not to push you one way or the other! Presumably you’ll get a choice how the story goes - whether to work on Eliza or not.

Holiday Durant!

She is so random and all over the place. She tried to buy “forpanza” but it was $162 and she didn’t have that kind of money. Asked for a generic, didn’t have one, there’s a similar one but she didn’t have a prescription. The off to a story about meeting someone with wires in their brain.

Concerned that bus operators don’t care as much since there was a guy playing the guitar on the bus, and also that you don’t hear as much music any more???

A lot of “forced reflow during execution”

Recommended she tries a program “Dolphin Smiles”. Her phone is broken XD

Holiday seems to be the most challenging client for Eliza to understand, since she doesn’t really have any problems other than wanting someone to talk to.

Nora forwards the Eliza critical article to me - it mentions that the proxies are humans that have been reduced to machines as all they do is follow the prompts. The guy who wrote it emailed you earlier about an interview (which you ignored)

Transparency mode for Holiday!? Seems surprising

Fortipran HCl IS for joint and muscle pain, so Eliza’s prescription was on point!

Holiday is clearly NOT in a good place financially.

She never mentioned her real problems to Eliza

I just noticed that one of the early emails you get is “The Damien Seabrook Memorial Fund”, year 3. Who are K & G that sign off the mail?

Transparency mode from SOREN?!?!? Is this hax??

Soren says to Nora that she knows she fancies Evelyn. So it is one of those games :P

Why is your chat with Soren not in here?

He was messaging Sarah, Rainer’s assistant

He was emailing what sounds like a bondage tutorial???

Rainer says that Soren is focussing on dreams to defend his territory, Jung-ian tradition.

Soren believes the mind is indivisible after a certain point - some undefinable, ineffable soul inside every person.

Rainer: One day, algorithms will write better poems than humans ever have.

I’m not sure it’s an easy thing to judge - art is so much about the intent and the journey as much as the result. Look at modern art, like Rothko - it’s very simple, but it’s considered important because of what it means rather than the execution. If a machine just generated it without struggle, would people treat it the same way?

Rainer: The pleasures of the senses are just small bubbles on top of a vast sea of… forms. Sensations, perceptions. Thought. Awareness.

It might be fun to take a break and just debate philosophy for a while.

Rainer: What comes after having the power to experience the dream of anything you could possibly want?

You’re still just as trapped as you’ve always been - imprisoned by your own desires

(this is Maya’s problem)

He calls you Eliza, haha

Evelyn Ishino-Aubrey

You have to answer 7 questions about how you feel - I’m not sure how I should have answered them for Evelyn, I wonder if it makes a difference.

The Eliza interface is projected onto glasses it seems.

Evelyn is middle class or richer, seeing Holiday’s situation was a shock for her.

The proxies were Soren’s idea.

“<NAME>, imagine that you could have something that you wanted. What would you want?”

Does it matter what you pick? You get a huge list, but then it says “or maybe I just wish I could feel connected to someone”. Probably because it’s built on a dating sim :P

Evelyn:

I think maybe that’s the real problem.

I can’t have a connection to anyone…

(is that my problem too?)

“I was alone a lot, and I got used to being alone, and I got used to the idea of being alone, and now I can’t… I can’t break away”

Evelyn is prescribed “Virtual Amphitheatre”, 20 minutes 2-3 times a week

So you CAN tip more than $5, haha

Chapter 6

Erlend talks about dogfooding the apps, which is a term well known in tech circles, but maybe not outside.

Maya Leeds

YOU GET A CHOICE :O

I stuck with Eliza…

Eliza suggests Dolphin Smiles, Maya says she can’t imagine anything she wants less

Hariman Gunawan

Still obsessed with Sylvia. Liz found out and dumped him, Sylvia lost interest.

Eliza suggests breathing exercises, Anexophin

Gabriel Navarro

I super want to know what he’s hiding, but the Eliza questions aren’t that probing. Is the game really really trying to make you break from Eliza?

Gay?

Gabriel: “I’m a man and that’s what men do. I made a promise and now I have a responsibility”

Eliza prescribes stress management exercises, Lytosinol-4 (4 not 2)

Gabriel asks if that’s in addition to or instead of the previous medication (which he didn’t follow up on). Eliza says that she can’t comment further on medication and to discuss the specifics with his doctor or psychiatrist

Receive a thank you email from Allison Zulfiya for inspiring her during a visit to her class

Chose to hang out with Rae

Rae: You have a decision to make about what you’ll be doing in the next chapter of your life and all…

(a bit on the nose there! That’s borderline 4th wall breaking)

Chapter 7

Working on Eliza Ending

Skandha benefits - Activalet. Use the app to summon a personal assistant to book things for you, stand in line for you, receive deliveries for you.

Invitation to be the keynote speaker at the International Mental Wellness Symposium in Malmo, Sweden

Evelyn: We’ll generate a three-year roadmap document by the end of the week, and then a more granular development plan for the next six months or so by the week after.

“Eliza is the real boss. The manager of its own project”

“Through us, it’s realizing itself”

Rainer is a singularity believer

Written by: Matthew Seiji Burns (Zach’s collaborator that likes electronic music)

The Solitaire Game - Maya mentions it if you break the script. It is hard at first, until you learn to think several moves ahead (I think you need to think 3 moves ahead to be able to solve it, since at the end you only have 2 slots free at best).

After winning the first time, I played another game and immediately won that too.

Maya realises that you’re not following the script if you don’t prescribe dolphin smiles

Maya:

“Um. Thanks for listening to me. I’m sure it’s been annoying to hear me complain about how I’m not successful yet, every single week”

“Oh my God, will this bitch ever shut up… you ever think that?”

I’m sure that’s what my therapist was thinking too… :P

Gabriel: If everyone just did what they wanted to all the time, the world would collapse. It would be a disaster.

We all want things we shouldn’t actually have.

Nora Ending

Nora: I don’t feel this weird oppressive hierarchy where people try to figure out where they are relative to you on a ladder when they first meet you…

(this is literally how things work at my real job)

Who is “therationalmind20” Soren? Eldren? Rainer? Someone else?bI feel like I’ve seen the name before somewhere...

“you think you’re so smart but you’re not. women like you have nothing better to do that to criticize because you can’t create on your own.

enjoy your life being a shrill harpy nobody wants to listen to”

(this is from the Nora ending)

There’s no histogram, but the information to create one is collected

https://steamcommunity.com/app/716500/discussions/0/1640919737478105344/

Soren Ending

Soren:

“You know they used to criticize anesthesia. It’s true.”

“They said it was important to feel pain, even during surgery”

Trans cranial current thing - is that what Aponia is? Or at least the real world equivalent is that

Sodality? What does that mean? I learned something new:

a confraternity or association, especially a Roman Catholic religious guild or brotherhood.

One of the benefits touted by Aponia is “increased sodality, transients eliminated”

Counsellor With Rae Ending

Darren comes back to thank you (you Evelyn not Eliza), though really, what are the chances of him getting you as his proxy again?

Also, $100 tip!

Leave It All Behind Ending

Throws away the narrative. Go to Japan, try to find father.

0 notes

michaeljtraylor · 6 years ago

Text

Brexit on hold – POLITICO

Brexit on hold — The roller-coaster drama that is Britain’s departure from the European Union will go on, after U.K. lawmakers extended the March 29 deadline for an indeterminate amount of time in a messy 413-202 vote. For the delay to go through, it must be approved by European leaders from the other 27 countries, who will meet in Brussels next week. Prime Minister Theresa May will also try again to get Parliament to ratify her deal next week, though she will ask for some sort of extension either way.

CSIS’ Bill Reinsch on what the vote means: “It just kicks the can. There doesn’t seem to be a majority for anything except postponing making a decision. The EU will – and should – ask what will be different two or three months down the road? For business, I guess it’s a short term reprieve from looming chaos, but it just prolongs the uncertainty – which is the last thing companies or financial institutions want – and guarantees we will be going through all this again in the near future.”

Story Continued Below

Mnuchin conflicted — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is “very much involved” in negotiating with China on behalf of the movie industry, according to testimony from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month, even as his most recent disclosure filing shows that his wife, Louise Linton, continues to own production company Stormchaser LLC. That disclosure form has not yet been certified by the Office of Government Ethics, even though it has had the document since last summer. Hat tip to the New York Times for connecting those dots yesterday.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed Mnuchin on his relationship with Stormchaser at a hearing on Thursday, and the secretary said he has been advised by career ethics officials at Treasury that “I am in compliance and have no ethical issues.”

BB&T-SunTrust deal gets hearing date — Two, actually. The Federal Reserve and FDIC announced Thursday that it will hold public hearings on the proposed merger between the two large regional banks on April 25 in Charlotte and May 3 in Atlanta. The last time there were public hearings for a bank merger was for the 2015 alliance between CIT and OneWest.

The proposed deal, which would create the sixth-largest retail bank in the country, is getting congressional attention, particularly from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). On Thursday she said the merger would create “another too big to fail” bank, during a hearing on regulation of systemic risk posed by nonbank financial institutions.

HAPPY FRIDAY — Ben White will be back next week. Send him news at [email protected] and @morningmoneyben, and to Aubree Eliza at [email protected] and @AubreeEWeaver. And please feel free to pass along tips on financial regulation to me at: [email protected].

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Patrick Temple-West on House Democrats’ criticism of a proposed SEC rule aimed at improving investment advice requirements. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or [email protected].

MALPASS UNOPPOSED — AP’s Marty Crutsinger: “The Treasury official nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next president of the World Bank has cleared a major hurdle, with nominations for the position closing with no other candidates emerging.

“The World Bank said Thursday that David Malpass was the only candidate put forward by the bank’s 189 member countries. Malpass is currently the undersecretary for international affairs at Treasury. … The World Bank said its 25-member executive board will interview Malpass in the coming days and expects a decision will be made before the bank’s spring meetings, which start April 12.” Read more.

TRUMP-XI SUMMIT WON’T HAPPEN THIS MONTH — Reuters: “U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that a trade summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would not happen at the end of March as had been previously suggested because there was still more work to do in U.S.-China trade negotiations. Speaking to reporters after a U.S. Senate hearing, Mnuchin also said he was not concerned about U.S. banks’ exposure to Britain’s banking sector amid uncertainty over the country’s looming exit from the European Union because institutions on both sides of the Atlantic were healthy.” Read more.

‘IT’S COMING, SO BE PREPARED’ — Our Brian Faler: “Mnuchin clashed Thursday with House Democrats over their plans to seize President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Mnuchin, who would field the Democrats’ coming demand for the returns, repeatedly declined to detail how he would handle the request since he has yet to receive it, though he appeared to imply the administration intends to fight it.

“‘I will consult with the legal department within Treasury and I will follow the law,’ Mnuchin told the House Ways and Means Committee, in his first appearance before the panel since Democrats took control of the chamber in January. ‘I can’t speculate on the request until I see it.’” Read more.

SEC CLAWBACKS — Our Patrick Temple-West: “The SEC would get twice as much time to claw back ill-gotten gains from wrongdoers as part of legislation introduced [Thursday] by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). The bipartisan bill addresses a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that limited the SEC’s ability to collect ill-gotten gains to a five-year statute of limitations. The bill would extend the window of time for which the SEC can pursue such gains for harmed investors to 10 years.” More for Pros here.

NCUA BOARD NOW FULL UP — Our Zach Warmbrodt: “The Senate [on Thursday] confirmed Rodney Hood and Todd Harper to serve on the National Credit Union Administration’s board, which will have a full set of members for the first time since 2016. … [Hood] will replace NCUA board member Rick Metsger.”

Milken Institute Global Conference: Ben White will once again bring POLITICO’s Morning Money newsletter to the Milken Institute Global Conference from April 28 through May 2. The special edition newsletter will detail conference highlights, major conversations, evening festivities and VIP gatherings throughout the conference. Sign up today to receive exclusive, in-depth coverage from the scene of #MIGlobal.

WYNN’S OPPORTUNITY ZONE — WSJ’s Richard Rubin and Alexandra Berzon: “Former casino executive Steve Wynn generated $2.1 billion and a big potential tax bill last March when he was forced to sell his stake in Wynn Resorts Ltd. after sexual-misconduct allegations. Less than three months later, he held a meeting with Treasury Department officials as they were writing regulations for a new tax incentive that had the potential to help him defer and reduce those taxes.

“Mr. Wynn met with senior Treasury officials on June 4 to discuss ‘opportunity zones,’ a break that was part of the 2017 Republican tax overhaul. The opportunity-zone program gives individuals a chance to defer and reduce capital-gains taxes if they make investments into low-income areas.” Read more.

GOLDMAN JOB CUTS — Bloomberg’s Steve Dickson: “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a filing it planned to eliminate 65 jobs from its New York operations. The firm filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the New York Department of Labor describing the planned workforce reduction, which it blamed on ‘economic’ factors.” Read more.

STOCKS END MOSTLY LOWER — AP’s Damian Troise and Alex Veiga: “U.S. stocks indexes barely budged Thursday as the market’s three-day winning streak stalled. The benchmark S&P 500 index finished essentially flat as losses in communications, industrial and health care stocks outweighed gains in financial and technology companies. Several retailers and homebuilders also declined. … The market was coming off a solid three-day rally as it reclaimed some of the momentum it had in January and February.” Read more.

BUT TECH IS BACK — Reuters’ Noel Randewich: “Wall Street’s beloved tech trade is back on. U.S. technology stocks this week took back their title as the stock market’s most profitable bet of the year, and the so-called FANG stocks have regained their shine after investors dumped the high-flying group in December over fears that the decade-old bull market was dying.” Read more.

RISKY BUSINESS — WSJ’s Amrith Ramkumar: “Stock sectors that tend to gain when investors are embracing risk or expecting faster growth have performed better than others as major indexes approach last year’s peaks, boosting some analysts’ confidence the rally will continue. Fast-growing technology and internet stocks, along with sectors tied to economic cycles such as industrial and energy stocks, pushed the S&P 500 to a four-month high Wednesday and helped the benchmark equity gauge erase last week’s five-day losing streak. It fell 0.1 percent Thursday.” Read more.

HOT OFF THE PRESS — The CDFI Coalition, which represents community development financial institutions, in a new report showcases the work of 67 CDFIs. “In FY 2018, CDFIs program awardees made over 280,000 loans or investments totaling over $11 billion, including loans to nearly 15,000 small businesses,” according to the report.

BPI JOINS MEDIUM — The Bank Policy Institute has launched a new Medium channel, with an initial post on artificial intelligence and machine learning that argues outdated guidance is the primary obstacle to the adoption of critical technology that would help to expand access to credit and reduce systemic risk.

PLAYBOOK POOL: March Madness is here, which means it’s time for the third annual Playbook Pool bracket challenge hosted by our Playbook authors across the country (Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida and California). Track who’s up and who’s down throughout the tournament as you compete against your friends, top Playbookers, political insiders and VIPs to win prizes including an Amazon Echo, Apple Watch Series 3, iPhone XR and more. Create your bracket starting on Selection Sunday (March 17) after the highly anticipated field of teams in this year’s tournament are chosen. Click here to get in the game.

Source link

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8312273 https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/03/17/brexit-on-hold-politico/ from Garko Media https://garkomedia1.tumblr.com/post/183513639884

0 notes

garkodigitalmedia · 6 years ago

Text

Brexit on hold – POLITICO

Story Continued Below

Source link

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8312273 https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/03/17/brexit-on-hold-politico/

0 notes

garkomedia1 · 6 years ago

Text

Brexit on hold – POLITICO

Story Continued Below

Source link

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8312273 https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/03/17/brexit-on-hold-politico/

0 notes

transhumanitynet · 6 years ago

Text

Episode 107 - Epiphany Jordan on Human Touch in The Internet Age

This week’s guest is Epiphany Jordan of Austin, Texas – a nurturing touch professional whose therapy sessions help triage the crisis of loneliness and touch-hunger facing billions of tech-immersed but intimacy-stranded people. In her new book, Somebody Hold Me: The Single Person’s Guide to Nurturing Human Touch (Printed • E-Book), Epiphany explains how to get your basic touch needs met – consensually – outside of romantic relationship. In our conversation we talk about why this is such a widespread issue, how people are fumbling their attempts to connect with one another, and what to do about it.

youtube

Her Website nurturinghumantouch.com

Support Future Fossils on Patreon and get access to secret episodes, our sci fi book club, and more

Join the (lively, interesting) Facebook Group

Subscribe on any platform you desire: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc.

We Discuss:

The internet has not replaced human intimacy; it has only convinced many of us that it can.

“Because our culture identifies sex with touch, if you’re not in a romantic relationship, you’re not getting your touch needs met.”

“Nonconsensual touch is like a starving person stealing a loaf of bread, or something.”

When hugging someone is their worst nightmare.

Is not wanting to be touched something that should or should not be seen through the lens of trauma-induced disorder?

The future of getting touch needs met by nonpersons: heavy blankets, hugging machines, womb simulators, intimacy robots…

Eliza Schlesinger’s Elder Millennial standup special and how women in their 30s start displacing mother impulses onto their pets.

Why don’t we extend the same rights we give people to other nonhuman beings? (e.g., nonconsensual touch of animals…)

Is professional cuddling a symptom of a tragic dehumanizing trend in the evolution of civilization?

“Paleo-cuddling”

Tips for effective, safe, consensual, non-sexual cuddling.

The tribal joy of the pseudo-anonymity of cuddle puddles.

The double-edged sword of oxytocin.

Teaching touch to teenagers.

Touch deprived, or touch illiterate? Multicultural societies and trouble navigating overlapping rules about intimacy.

“Part of what I’m trying to do is have people write another story about what it means to be human and how humans treat them. There’s so much distrust and fear of other humans, and humans can be nice to each other, and kind and gentle and look out for each other. I think it can help us be more of a global village…” “I don’t want to be a part of the revolution unless it has to do with people being nice to each other.”

https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-107-on-24822439

Episode 107 – Epiphany Jordan on Human Touch in The Internet Age was originally published on transhumanity.net

#future fossils #intimacy #Psychology #society #touch #crosspost #transhuman #transhumanitynet #transhumanism #transhumanist #thetranshumanity

0 notes

whatchamagadget · 7 years ago

Text

This Scale Doesn’t Tell Me My Weight—and That’s Just Fine

In high school, I didn’t have a scale in my house, but my friend Eliza did. A typical Saturday night for us was to eat a bunch of cookie dough and then marathon a season of Friends. When I used the bathroom at her house, I couldn’t help but step on the scale. As soon as it registered my weight, I’d realize my horrible mistake of ever going near sugar, and then return to the TV den and insist on doing crunches, as though I could remove all the fat I didn’t want right then and there, while three women of varying degrees of “extremely skinny” engaged in hijinks on screen. “The scale is bad news,” says Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. Weight fluctuates naturally, and people are just not good at taking the data a scale provides and using it to make rational choices. Say one day you exercise a lot, and then the scale declares that you’ve gained half a pound. Feels bad, right? For all the overwhelming guilt or grim success a single measurement can make someone feel, each individual weigh-in is just not that meaningful—carb intake, water retention, hormone levels, and even the amount of sleep you get can affect your day-to-day weight by as much as a few pounds. Ariely’s proposed solution is the Shapa (“shape-ah”), a scale without numbers. It looks like a small flying saucer, and in lieu of showing your weight in pounds or kilos, it has a glowing S in the middle that lights up in a color corresponding to how your weight is trending relative to the past three weeks, from gray to green to blue. [newsletter] Ahead of the Shapa’s release in December, I was able to try one out. I installed the accompanying app on my phone, answered dozens of questions about my habits, and began stepping on the Shapa twice a day, as the app mandates. Ariely’s inclinations to bring the focus away from individual data points track with my own experience learning to be dispassionate about my literal weight. My obsession with scales took off in college. I was bad at feeding myself regular meals, so I’d often have the majority of calories for the day in, say, a single pint of Ben & Jerry’s, always unable to stop until I finished the whole thing. The next day, I’d go to the YMCA, get on the scale—I knew enough to keep the thing out of my own home—and notice either a small dip in weight (and feel relief) or a jump in weight (and feel terrible). I’d exercise and then get back on the scale again a whopping hour later to assess my “progress.” The other problem is that I hated my weight. When my therapist suggested I had habits and accompanying thought patterns that represented disordered eating (I never threw up after binging, but not for lack of trying), I felt heard and relieved. She signed me up for group therapy, a weekly session with a dietician, and a regular appointment with a scale in her office. [pullquote]My obsession with scales took off in college.[/pullquote] The idea with that scale was for me to learn to treat my weight like any other metric about myself, such as my height or age. (The concept that one’s weight stays within a general range despite even solid efforts to change it is called set-point theory [PDF].) My therapist kept a log of my weight with a little arrow or dash next to each number: up, down, up, up, up, down, the same. And so on. We’d start the session off talking about how it made me feel. At first: “Bad.” “Triumphant.” “Triumphant.” “Meh.” “Bad.” But then: “I don’t know, we’ve been doing this for weeks, I am kind of used to it?” I even learned not to hate the underlying number—about 160 pounds—itself. Last spring I set up a line of scales in my bathroom to test for Wirecutter’s guide. My roommate came home to find me marching on and off them. “I’m bored!” I declared. Once, it would have felt like walking a tightrope. While the Shapa does away with weight in numbers, the goal is decidedly not dispassion toward weight as a concept. Ariely made the scale to address obesity, and he has measured its success in pounds lost. In a 12-week pilot study with 645 participants, Ariely found that participants who used the Shapa (app and all) lost on average 0.61 percent of their weight per month (for a 200-pound person, that’s 1.2 pounds for the first month), while the group of regular numerical-scale users gained 0.91 percent. (Treat these numbers lightly: The study was not peer reviewed.) For rough comparison, in a study on (and also funded and designed by) Weight Watchers, participants lost about 2 pounds a month for three months using the online program. However, the Shapa is far more expensive than other scale options. It costs $130 for the physical device, plus $10 a month for the subscription accompanying the app; for comparison, our top smart-scale pick, the Eufy BodySense, typically costs $50. That Eufy model charts out your body weight on a graph so you can see the overall trend and choose to respond to that rather than the number on any given day. (That concept is admittedly trickier than having the Shapa mask the figures for you.) The Shapa system is more comparable to something like Weight Watchers, which costs about $20 per month for a basic online subscription, or about the same for one year once you factor in the price of the Shapa scale. (Due to overwhelming demand from participants in a pilot study, a future version of the Shapa will have the numerical weight buried somewhere in its app.) If you’re committed to using the Shapa scale as part of a weight-loss program, it sends reminders. When I was about to miss a weigh in, the Shapa app sent a notification congratulating me on my streak so far and encouraging me to keep it up. I haven’t seen anything else that will do the same thing (as seamlessly with the scale, at least—it’s easy to set up a daily reminder on your phone’s calendar and track your habit with a free app). Part of the way the Shapa system justifies its subscription cost is through a barrage of general health tips and push notifications from its app. The Shapa app gave me daily missions to help me eat less—such as to drink more water, or use smaller plates at mealtimes—or to simply continue engaging with the app and my ostensible goal of losing weight, like decluttering my room or sending a silly selfie to a friend. I lied and told the Shapa app that I decluttered my room, and it sent me a notification: “You are terrific” followed by a heart-eyes emoji. The app’s daily missions are not that beneficial, per Ariely’s study: Participants who used the Shapa scale without them lost an average of 0.57 percent of their weight per month, essentially the same amount as the group that did receive them. While the notion of using smart features to focus on the value of body weight as a trend is a promising application of tech, the Shapa is still narrowly focused on the concept of losing weight, which cuts out potential owners who may want to maintain weight or even gain it. (The Shapa website currently suggests that the scale can accommodate all kinds of health goals, but the actual system accommodates only weight-loss goals for now.) For those people, the daily missions and reminders might even be counterproductive. Focusing singularly on weight as a metric of health isn’t the best route even for obese people; losing weight and keeping it off can be monumentally challenging, and ultimately not as connected to healthy behaviors, even in the long term, as people might like. If someone—no matter their size—has perfected their diet and exercise routine to the point that they feel healthy, but they then see a light telling them to try harder when they weigh in, it might be discouraging. Likewise, someone could tumble down a rabbit hole of restrictive eating and exercise, cheered on by a blue light from the Shapa; being overweight by BMI standards doesn’t preclude a person from developing an eating disorder. This problem is hardly unique to the Shapa. Even the best smart scales fail to give owners the ability to set—and be supported by—their own goals. For instance, you have no way to prevent the Eufy BodySense from displaying that your weight is “normal,” “high,” or “excessive” based on your BMI, regardless of how the number fits into your overall health. Even with expanded goals, the Shapa won’t be for everyone: Ultimately, the whole thing is about controlling your body, not observing it for what it is. Ariely knows weight isn’t the be-all and end-all, and he has ambitions to expand the approach to other devices and metrics of health, including blood pressure and cholesterol. And his scale seems to be evolving on the issue, too: In a version of the app that I tried prior to the scale’s launch, a bright green light from the scale indicated weight loss. Now, green corresponds with no change in weight. “Shapa is celebrating for the users even if they are just maintaining their weight,” explain the press materials. As it is, the Shapa is too narrowly focused to be useful for anyone who isn’t trying to lose weight, and it’s possibly damaging to anyone who has anxieties about their weight. Even if it weren’t, a subscription would be hard to justify. On top of that, the Shapa scale takes three weeks of twice-daily weigh-ins to calibrate to your weight. After weeks and many weigh-ins, I still failed to use the Shapa consistently enough to even calibrate it. Even though the current device misses the mark, Ariely is on to something in making tech that looks beyond the fine-grained data toward something more meaningful.

#Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World

0 notes

maswartz · 8 years ago

Text

Young Justice League

This is basically my idea for the next gen Teen Titans (at first, but now it’s more like a Young Justice League) Damian Wayne- Robin- Field Leader Sin- Jade Canary Maxine Baker- Animal Girl- Has the same powers as her father (call upon the skills of animals) However can only call upon the powers of animals that live on the same land she does (no polar bear powers in Europe, no cheetah speed in America) Milagro Reyes- Green Lantern Nell Little- Flamebird Jai West- Trajectory- Taking the name in honor of the first Trajectory (Eliza Harmon) Jai discovered that he can still lend and steal speed as well as run at super speed but only in short bursts. Iris (Irey) West- Impulse Traya Sutton- Twister- The adopted daughter of Red Tornado she uses tech to replicate his wind powers. Lian Harper- Red Hood- Lian tends to use trick arrows like her father but has begun to tip some with a variant of her mother’s poison (paralysis/stun only) Chris Kent- Superboy- Due to not having as much exposure to Earth’s yellow sun he is the weakest Kryptonian on Earth (still far stronger than the average human however) Cerdian- Aqua Lad- Inheriting his father’s mystic powers he has control over all forms of water, however he is still inexperienced on land. Robert Long- Wonder Star- Wears a version of the DarkStar suit while his natural powers begin to unseal slowly. Tiffany Fox- Batgirl Joshua Jackam- Meteo Mage- Inheriting his father’s power over the weather he uses them to fight crime Luke O’Brian- Offspring- Fights evil using his father’s power of elasticity Shyleen Lao- Fever- A former member of the Doom Patrol she’s gained better control over her fire powers Anita Fite- Empress- One of the most experienced members of the team her skills and powers are as strong as ever Thanks to @majingojira for these ideas Colin Wilkes - Abuse - he has Venom bonded to his DNA, so he can gain great strength (and size) at a moment’s notice. Moshe Levy - Dust Devil - A leftover from the Invasion! Crossover event, who has Aerokinetic powers. Largely forgotten, but included for completeness sake. Aaron Langstrom - Man-Bat - The mutant form being his ‘natural’ form and in control of his instincts, he could be a great asset to the Justice League, or at least the Bat-Family. Aviva Weinberg - Fury - Another minor kid hero, this electrokinetic used to be known as “Temper” … but her frustration with things hasn’t lessened over time, so now she’s Fury. She’s still a hero, she just has a little ‘excessive force’ problem. She tries to reign herself in, but more often it’s her teammates that do that. Zoe Lawton - Deadshot - Much to her fathers anger, she got into the ‘Game’ on the opposite side of things (IE: A Heroine). She has his natural talent for marksmanship, but uses designer, non-lethal rounds and bullets that are akin to the Gadget-arrows and bat-arrangs of her piers. Just Faster. Wildebeest - No Longer a Baby, big and strong once more. Ramsey Robinson - Manhunter - Because that future version of him was pretty cool. New additions Darla Dudley, Eugene Choi, Pedro Pena- Lieutenant Marvels- Empowered by stray bolts from the Marvel Family they can tap into the power of Shazam to fight evil however they are not as powerful as Billy, Mary or Freddy.

#dc #dc comics #superheroes #young justice league #way too many to tag

8 notes · View notes

soulshapeslifestyleinteriors · 8 years ago

Text

MANDALA PEACH YOGA MAT

Looking for a new yoga buddy? I found her!!

Take your practice + 'Zen Den' to the next level with the most delicious mats I have ever come across! Not only does this 'Yogi Peace Club' mat resemble a gorgeous Turkish rug, but it is also SUPER eco friendly. Designed to increase it's grip in a hot yoga sesh, there will be no more slipping around like a hot mess! ;)

ELLE FIT ACTIVE LOVES HER YOGI PEACE CLUB YOGA MAT

"Anytime I upload a photo of my Yogi Peace Club mat on Instagram or roll it out in a yoga class I have so many people asking me where to get one. I love all of the prints (it’s too hard to choose a favourite)! As soon as my hands and feet warm up a little the eco friendly mats have a great grip. Yogi Peace Club gets a big tick of approval from me!"

Eliza Landgren (@elle_fit), Owner of Elle Fit Active - The Home of Stretching.

LUXE ECO YOGA MAT TECH DETAILS

MATERIAL: Biodegradable Natural Tree Rubber with Micro Fibre Top 100% Vegan.

ECO BENEFITS: Free from latex, silicone, toxic glue, PVC, Chlorine and Phthalates.

DIMENSIONS: 1730 mm in length by 610 mm width.

WEIGHT: Approximately 2.5 Kilos.

THICKNESS: 4mm thick.

PACKAGING: Recyclable cardboard. Includes info on how to care for you yoga mat.

FREE AUSTRALIA WIDE POSTAGE

Due to hygiene reasons we do not offer any returns on performance accessories. Thank you for understanding the strict quality control protection we offer in Zen Market.

OTHER FEATURES

Comes with durable carrying strap.

The mat has zero odour. No toxic smell.

The more you sweat the better the grip. Once you get warm the mat becomes grippier.

Perfect for Yoga, Bikram, hot yoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, pilates, and general exercise.

The extra cushion, rubber stability, and responsive grip can help to reduce injuries .

WASHING TIPS

Hand wash in cold water. To speed up drying, wrap mat in a towel and squeeze out excess water. Hang to dry. (DO NOT PUT IN DRYER)

NEVER LEAVE IN A HOT CAR OR PLACE ON HOT SURFACES AS THIS CAN EFFECT THE RUBBER. Designed lovingly at Bells Beach Torquay Australia || Made in China

#yoga mat #eco friendly #turkishrug

0 notes

alienation2016-blog · 8 years ago

Text

New Post has been published on Alienation

New Post has been published on https://alienation.biz/liquid-spaces-mark-gilbreath-on-the-future/

Liquid Space's Mark Gilbreath on the Future

We, the wider community of industrial real estate tech businesses, have to be accomplishing for the massive transformative matters.” It’s clear that Mark Gilbreath, founder, and CEO of LiquidSpace, has a massive imaginative and prescient for the destiny of real property. However, in contrast to many with pipe desires for a higher world, Mark places his cash where his mouth is. He is creating an innovative industrial real estate platform with the goal of accomplishing a hundred percentage occupancy in commercial real estate spaces.

One captivating improvement that Mark currently led was a diffusion of altSpace

A bendy workplace space providing from LiquidSpace for organizations with 10 to 2 hundred employees. AltSpace permits growing startups to avoid a number of the challenges accompanying a consistent need for added workplace space. In fact, altSpace may also have been a notable healthy for an organization like RealtyShares early on, as we hopped from small office to slightly larger office more than one times to accommodate our growing group.

I recently caught up with Mark to ask him some questions about the future of actual property tech. If a fraction of Mark’s predictions come proper, we will see a completely exceptional world of an industrial real property before we are aware of it!

LiquidSpace and modifications in the commercial actual estate industry

LiquidSpace describes itself as a marketplace network for workplace area. Equal parts Craigslist, Amazon, Google and LendingClub, LiquidSpace offers a powerful search engine that connects those with rentable workplace area to people who want the distance.

Liquid Facelift Procedure Using Botox and Fillers For A Younger Fresher Face

It’s pretty probable that you may inherit some of your circle of relatives’ facial features; optimistically you have got your mom’s pretty eyes, however every now and then you emerge as with jowls, hooded eyes, or darkish eye bags! This isn’t as bad whilst you ultimately develop vintage, but no longer so much fun to your Thirties and Forties!

While imagining a younger face, we see company skin, complete rounded cheeks and a clean texture and It is the fat in our face that fills out the skin, maintaining it searching easy. Collagen gives the pores and skin its strength and durability and It is chargeable for the easy, plump look of young, wholesome looking pores and skin. The decline in collagen production from age 25 onwards, ends in unwanted wrinkles, lack of volume, sagging and aging pores and skin.

As a whole lot as we want to stay searching younger, most people do not need to do something as drastic as a surgical face elevate. We do not want our face to appearance too exclusive, simply fresher and extra youthful.

A liquid facelift can improve and raise your facial areas to offer a younger, refreshed look

Without the need for surgical treatment. It’s a very good non-invasive cosmetic alternative – an injectable treatment which involves the usage of dermal fillers and Botox. While Botox paralyzes the muscle groups and erases frown strains, the facial filler containing hyaluronic acid plumps out sagging skin and creates a lifted effect.

The liquid facelift is a great answer for those who have misplaced volume to the face, specifically in the cheek and mouth areas. The Dermal filler will supply tissue help and quantity to the parts of the face that have sagged, alongside injections of Botox with a purpose to erase the nice strains and wrinkles.

The liquid facelift can improve many facial areas:

It improves sagging of the jowls. Replaces misplaced extent inside the face. Cheek enhancement: filling out sunken cheeks. It is capable of raising the jaw line.

Soften the marionette traces: the vertical strains on either aspect of the mouth.

Allows reaping a miles brisker, younger searching face. The liquid facelift is a non-invasive procedure, so there aren’t any cuts and no bleeding. The injectable remedy uses neighborhood anesthetic and takes approximately 15 – the half-hour to complete. The dramatic outcomes are immediate and will enhance over the following 3-6 weeks because the filler stimulates your body to provide its very own collagen. The recuperation is very quick, with any minor bruising and swelling lasting only a few days. The results last as long as 12 months with a small top up required periodically. Do you want help choosing a beauty manner? We offer an intensive range of beauty processes for the face and body to assist create a younger, slimmer, greater youthful searching you!

Botox, Vaser Lipo, Lip Augmentation, Dermal Fillers and plenty of more treatments are to be had.

The Selston cosmetic Sanatorium is placed in Selston, Nottingham, wherein we offer a bespoke service with a personalized touch and supply excessive client pride. We have been concerned in the cosmetic enterprise for over 10 years.

How to Mark Out a Football Field

The way to mark out a football subject: Then the usage of a string line, start with your purpose line, ensuring which you have 100 meters clearance of any hedges/obstructions and so forth. This line must be measured to as wide as you could in the space allowed, to approx 65-70m.

Use the 3, four,5 triangle method to attain a right attitude at every nook of your purpose line and take a string line down the pitch following your proper angle to 95-105m. Do this for each corner of your first purpose line to be able to give you contact traces.

On the quiet of one of the touchlines, use every other 3, four, five triangles and observe a string line to the give up of the alternative touchline.

You must now have strung out a rectangle. To test the accuracy of your rectangle, measure the diagonal lengths – these ought to identical the equal. Once you are sure the string traces are accurate, use those as a guide to mark the triangle.

Using a tape degree, locate the center of each aim. From the center, make a mark at the goal line for the six backyard and eighteen backyard boxes. Do this for each quit.

From the corners, measure up both the touchlines, six and eighteen yards. Also, degree up touchlines to discover the middle of your subject. Once all of the inner measurements were strung, mark those strains, ensuring you mark on the inside of the string line.

Once the six and eighteen backyard containers are marked, mark your center line. Ultimately, placed a string line up the center of the pitch and measure from the again of the road (36′) for the center of the penalty spot at every end. From the center of the painted spot, measure 30′ on the outdoor of the penalty container to get your arc.

follow the same fundamental to mark out your center circle by way of again measuring 30′ out from the center spot of your midway line. The final step is to mark out the quadrants at every corner – those must be the 1m radius.

Why Bots Are The Future Of Marketing

Within the beginning (1966), there was ELIZA – she was the primary boat of her type, had roughly 2 hundred traces of code and changed into extraordinarily clever. However you probably do not know her. Later, came PARRY who turned into smarter than ELIZA (and could imitate a paranoid schizophrenic affected person). However you probably do not know PARRY either. Or ALICE (1995) or JABBERWACKY (2005). However you do know Siri! And that right there’s exceptional advertising and marketing.

The bots have existed for a long term now But they were not continually popular till Apple. usually one step in advance of its opposition, Apple not only introduced the services of a chatbot However extensively utilized it to create a unique logo image. It killed two birds with one metaphoric stone referred to as Siri. there has been no going lower back from there. Siri become/is a family name. She can read stories, are expecting the climate, supply extremely witty answers much like a human would, and in a single example, Siri is also regarded to have dialed 911 and save a lifestyles.

Why marketing with the bots is a good idea

Despite the fact that in its early days, chatbots are changing the way brands communicate and thereby, market themselves. For starters, individuals are bogged down with the aid of a million apps that litter their digital space. Wherein apps and websites have failed, the bots are succeeding. It performs relevant add-ons including addressing queries, offering customer support, presenting tips, and moreover comfortable messaging systems which might be frequented by way of customers. Facebook’s Messenger with over 800 million users is one such example. If Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella’s phrases are something to move through, chatbots are the subsequent big thing.

Chatbots also are replacing traditional advertising techniques with personal conversatiadd-ons,

laced with diffused upsells. Take Tacobot for instance – Taco Bell’s ultra-modern bot. the following time a person desires to order tacos, Tacobot right here goes to listing out the menu and let the consumer understand if a one-plus-one provide is going on. It’ll also recommend like fried beans and salsa. If the person consents and places an order, the bot has just made an improved sale without resorting to pushy, income methods. This is a bit of a customer support for you; a very effective one at that. Every other advantage: chatbots are smart cookies. They test net cookies and song predictive analytics to offer hints primarily based on beyond searches and purchases. A good deal of the time, it’s pretty effective.

0 notes