#21st Century Skills Development

[nicholasandriani]

Welcome to ‘Learn Play Innovate’ - Navigating the Convergence of Educational Technology, Game Design, and Learning Through Storytelling

Unveiling the Synergy Between Learning, Tech Innovations, and Interactive Design Twitter Patreon GitHub LinkedIn YouTube Introduction: Greetings and a warm welcome to Learn Play Innovate! It’s an exhilarating moment to begin this journey with you, delving into the intricate blend of educational technology (EdTech), game design, and the profound influence of cultural narratives. Allow me to…

[cyber-soul-smartz]

21st-century Project Management: The Power of Communication Skills

Unlock the secrets to successful project management with Hafsa Reasoner's latest guide on mastering communication skills. Elevate your leadership and team collaboration. Don't miss out—subscribe now for more insights and updates!

[strategiadvizo]

Transforming Education: Unleash the Potential of Your Students with Strategia Advizo's Vocational Courses

Introduction: In today’s rapidly evolving world, the traditional education system faces the challenge of keeping up with the pace of technological advancements and changing job landscapes. At Strategia Advizo, we believe in empowering the next generation with the skills they need to navigate and succeed in the 21st century. Our suite of vocational courses, designed specifically for CBSE schools…

[giorgio52fan]

Nurturing 21st Century Skills

Preparing Students for Success in the Modern World / Pregătirea elevilor pentru succes în lumea modernă In the rapidly evolving landscape of the 21st century, education must adapt to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in a dynamic and interconnected world. The traditional model of education, centered on rote memorization and content delivery, is no longer sufficient. Instead,…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What kind of bubble is AI?

My latest column for Locus Magazine is "What Kind of Bubble is AI?" All economic bubbles are hugely destructive, but some of them leave behind wreckage that can be salvaged for useful purposes, while others leave nothing behind but ashes:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Think about some 21st century bubbles. The dotcom bubble was a terrible tragedy, one that drained the coffers of pension funds and other institutional investors and wiped out retail investors who were gulled by Superbowl Ads. But there was a lot left behind after the dotcoms were wiped out: cheap servers, office furniture and space, but far more importantly, a generation of young people who'd been trained as web makers, leaving nontechnical degree programs to learn HTML, perl and python. This created a whole cohort of technologists from non-technical backgrounds, a first in technological history. Many of these people became the vanguard of a more inclusive and humane tech development movement, and they were able to make interesting and useful services and products in an environment where raw materials – compute, bandwidth, space and talent – were available at firesale prices.

Contrast this with the crypto bubble. It, too, destroyed the fortunes of institutional and individual investors through fraud and Superbowl Ads. It, too, lured in nontechnical people to learn esoteric disciplines at investor expense. But apart from a smattering of Rust programmers, the main residue of crypto is bad digital art and worse Austrian economics.

Or think of Worldcom vs Enron. Both bubbles were built on pure fraud, but Enron's fraud left nothing behind but a string of suspicious deaths. By contrast, Worldcom's fraud was a Big Store con that required laying a ton of fiber that is still in the ground to this day, and is being bought and used at pennies on the dollar.

AI is definitely a bubble. As I write in the column, if you fly into SFO and rent a car and drive north to San Francisco or south to Silicon Valley, every single billboard is advertising an "AI" startup, many of which are not even using anything that can be remotely characterized as AI. That's amazing, considering what a meaningless buzzword AI already is.

So which kind of bubble is AI? When it pops, will something useful be left behind, or will it go away altogether? To be sure, there's a legion of technologists who are learning Tensorflow and Pytorch. These nominally open source tools are bound, respectively, to Google and Facebook's AI environments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

But if those environments go away, those programming skills become a lot less useful. Live, large-scale Big Tech AI projects are shockingly expensive to run. Some of their costs are fixed – collecting, labeling and processing training data – but the running costs for each query are prodigious. There's a massive primary energy bill for the servers, a nearly as large energy bill for the chillers, and a titanic wage bill for the specialized technical staff involved.

Once investor subsidies dry up, will the real-world, non-hyperbolic applications for AI be enough to cover these running costs? AI applications can be plotted on a 2X2 grid whose axes are "value" (how much customers will pay for them) and "risk tolerance" (how perfect the product needs to be).

Charging teenaged D&D players $10 month for an image generator that creates epic illustrations of their characters fighting monsters is low value and very risk tolerant (teenagers aren't overly worried about six-fingered swordspeople with three pupils in each eye). Charging scammy spamfarms $500/month for a text generator that spits out dull, search-algorithm-pleasing narratives to appear over recipes is likewise low-value and highly risk tolerant (your customer doesn't care if the text is nonsense). Charging visually impaired people $100 month for an app that plays a text-to-speech description of anything they point their cameras at is low-value and moderately risk tolerant ("that's your blue shirt" when it's green is not a big deal, while "the street is safe to cross" when it's not is a much bigger one).

Morganstanley doesn't talk about the trillions the AI industry will be worth some day because of these applications. These are just spinoffs from the main event, a collection of extremely high-value applications. Think of self-driving cars or radiology bots that analyze chest x-rays and characterize masses as cancerous or noncancerous.

These are high value – but only if they are also risk-tolerant. The pitch for self-driving cars is "fire most drivers and replace them with 'humans in the loop' who intervene at critical junctures." That's the risk-tolerant version of self-driving cars, and it's a failure. More than $100b has been incinerated chasing self-driving cars, and cars are nowhere near driving themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Quite the reverse, in fact. Cruise was just forced to quit the field after one of their cars maimed a woman – a pedestrian who had not opted into being part of a high-risk AI experiment – and dragged her body 20 feet through the streets of San Francisco. Afterwards, it emerged that Cruise had replaced the single low-waged driver who would normally be paid to operate a taxi with 1.5 high-waged skilled technicians who remotely oversaw each of its vehicles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.html

The self-driving pitch isn't that your car will correct your own human errors (like an alarm that sounds when you activate your turn signal while someone is in your blind-spot). Self-driving isn't about using automation to augment human skill – it's about replacing humans. There's no business case for spending hundreds of billions on better safety systems for cars (there's a human case for it, though!). The only way the price-tag justifies itself is if paid drivers can be fired and replaced with software that costs less than their wages.

What about radiologists? Radiologists certainly make mistakes from time to time, and if there's a computer vision system that makes different mistakes than the sort that humans make, they could be a cheap way of generating second opinions that trigger re-examination by a human radiologist. But no AI investor thinks their return will come from selling hospitals that reduce the number of X-rays each radiologist processes every day, as a second-opinion-generating system would. Rather, the value of AI radiologists comes from firing most of your human radiologists and replacing them with software whose judgments are cursorily double-checked by a human whose "automation blindness" will turn them into an OK-button-mashing automaton:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

The profit-generating pitch for high-value AI applications lies in creating "reverse centaurs": humans who serve as appendages for automation that operates at a speed and scale that is unrelated to the capacity or needs of the worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

But unless these high-value applications are intrinsically risk-tolerant, they are poor candidates for automation. Cruise was able to nonconsensually enlist the population of San Francisco in an experimental murderbot development program thanks to the vast sums of money sloshing around the industry. Some of this money funds the inevitabilist narrative that self-driving cars are coming, it's only a matter of when, not if, and so SF had better get in the autonomous vehicle or get run over by the forces of history.

Once the bubble pops (all bubbles pop), AI applications will have to rise or fall on their actual merits, not their promise. The odds are stacked against the long-term survival of high-value, risk-intolerant AI applications.

The problem for AI is that while there are a lot of risk-tolerant applications, they're almost all low-value; while nearly all the high-value applications are risk-intolerant. Once AI has to be profitable – once investors withdraw their subsidies from money-losing ventures – the risk-tolerant applications need to be sufficient to run those tremendously expensive servers in those brutally expensive data-centers tended by exceptionally expensive technical workers.

If they aren't, then the business case for running those servers goes away, and so do the servers – and so do all those risk-tolerant, low-value applications. It doesn't matter if helping blind people make sense of their surroundings is socially beneficial. It doesn't matter if teenaged gamers love their epic character art. It doesn't even matter how horny scammers are for generating AI nonsense SEO websites:

https://twitter.com/jakezward/status/1728032634037567509

These applications are all riding on the coattails of the big AI models that are being built and operated at a loss in order to be profitable. If they remain unprofitable long enough, the private sector will no longer pay to operate them.

Now, there are smaller models, models that stand alone and run on commodity hardware. These would persist even after the AI bubble bursts, because most of their costs are setup costs that have already been borne by the well-funded companies who created them. These models are limited, of course, though the communities that have formed around them have pushed those limits in surprising ways, far beyond their original manufacturers' beliefs about their capacity. These communities will continue to push those limits for as long as they find the models useful.

These standalone, "toy" models are derived from the big models, though. When the AI bubble bursts and the private sector no longer subsidizes mass-scale model creation, it will cease to spin out more sophisticated models that run on commodity hardware (it's possible that Federated learning and other techniques for spreading out the work of making large-scale models will fill the gap).

So what kind of bubble is the AI bubble? What will we salvage from its wreckage? Perhaps the communities who've invested in becoming experts in Pytorch and Tensorflow will wrestle them away from their corporate masters and make them generally useful. Certainly, a lot of people will have gained skills in applying statistical techniques.

But there will also be a lot of unsalvageable wreckage. As big AI models get integrated into the processes of the productive economy, AI becomes a source of systemic risk. The only thing worse than having an automated process that is rendered dangerous or erratic based on AI integration is to have that process fail entirely because the AI suddenly disappeared, a collapse that is too precipitous for former AI customers to engineer a soft landing for their systems.

This is a blind spot in our policymakers debates about AI. The smart policymakers are asking questions about fairness, algorithmic bias, and fraud. The foolish policymakers are ensnared in fantasies about "AI safety," AKA "Will the chatbot become a superintelligence that turns the whole human race into paperclips?"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space

But no one is asking, "What will we do if" – when – "the AI bubble pops and most of this stuff disappears overnight?"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/19/bubblenomics/#pop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

tom_bullock (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tombullock/25173469495/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[newageleaning012]

The procedure of obtaining Knowledge and Human Development Authority agency in Dubai certification might be challenging. And the precise measures to take may vary greatly depending on the type of institute or training you choose. This is where picking us will relieve you of the responsibility of managing this demanding process. You will therefore have access to many opportunities and learning once you register with us. By completing a KHDA-approved course, you can gain the skills and knowledge that are necessary to succeed in your chosen field, which can lead to improved career performance and professional advancement.

[blumineck]

hi! you're great I love your work! I've got a weirdly specific archery question and thought I'd send it to you in case you'd find it fun to have a crack at

say you're an expert archer originally from Vietnam sometime in the late bronze age. say you're a super duper expert archer because it turns out you're immortal, and so you do your archery across Eurasia through the first millennium BCE and the first millennium CE and into the age where gunpowder weapons are evolving into cannons. that's a long time to be alive and you do lots of hunting and fighting with all kinds of bows and shooting styles, especially war archery on horseback. then you're out of the picture for a while, let's say you're peacefully sleeping for a handful of centuries. (this is about Quynh from The Old Guard who alas was not peacefully sleeping)

all of a sudden you blink and you've gone from the era where firearms were just starting to develop and maybe with this new flintlock thing guns could eventually get good enough to rival a bow and arrows— bam, now you're in the 21st century. what kinds of modern archery tech would you be most excited to try out? what would you think of a compound bow? Olympic style archery? plastic fletching?? how about the modern reproductions of what are now considered historical bows and shooting styles? is there anything about 21st century archery that you'd want to rant about at length? other opinions about these newfangled takes on your trusty old bow and arrows you care to share?

This is a phenomenal question, and thank you for asking it! Here’s my 2 cents:

The thing about modern archery is that for the most part, modern bows are designed to make it easier to be accurate, to the stage that modern target accuracy is probably better than it’s ever been historically.

BUT, if we assume Quynh is capable of feats of archery that match the level of melee combat skill that e.g. Andy has, then she doesn’t NEED it to be easier to be accurate.

My guess is that someone like her would actually find most modern archery developments needlessly slow and awkward. Compound bows and Olympic recurves are NOT designed for instinctive, fast shooting, and would probably feel quite restrictive once she got over how easy they made accuracy.

BUT, I imagine she would be blown away by the range and arrow speed that modern bows can generate, and there are some recurves (and at least one compound bow), that have been designed to make use of the efficiency of modern materials and bow design, while still allowing traditional shooting styles, and those, THOSE are something an ancient immortal archer might fall in love with! (FWIW, my own go-to is a horsebow made with carbon-fibre limbs and a modern limb profile, and for impact energy it can match some traditional bows with a draw weight that’s 50% greater. The Oneida eagle compound could trump that).

So yeah, it might take her a bit, but once she gets her hands on the right equipment, she’d be (even more) TERRIFYING!

[sysmedsaresexist]

Further Reading 📚

The plural self: Multiplicity in everyday life

Rowan, J., & Cooper, M. (Eds.). (1999).

Abstract

With the emergence of postmodern thinking, the notion of a unified, singular 'self' appears increasingly problematic. Yet for many, postmodernism's proclamation of 'the death of the S' is equally problematic. Can we find a way out of this dilemma? The Plural Self suggests we can.

As a response to the postmodernism dilemma there has been a rapid rise of interest in pluralistic models of the 'self' in which the person is conceptualized as a multiplicity of subpersonalities, as a plurality of existential possibilities, or as a 'being' which is inextricably in-dialogue-with-others. Combining the fluidity of a postmodernist perspective with the human concerns of a romantic one, self-pluralistic thinking promises to be a major new approach to personality in the 21st century.

This book will be a resource for academics and students working in social, humanistic or clinical psychology and for those working in the field of personality. It will also be highly relevant for therapists, counsellors and clinicians who want to develop new skills and techniques to incorporate into their existing practice.

[intercomkris]

🍅🦇 @birdietrait did someone say vampire ?

Josiah, formerly known as Jafaar, carries the weight of centuries on his shoulders, a vampire born in the desolate landscapes of Somalia, forever bound to the shadows after a fateful encounter in the mid-1720s. Captured and turned by a Syrian vampire, he was whisked away to the unfamiliar terrain of Syria, where he was reluctantly introduced to a royal vampire family.

In his formative years, Josiah immersed himself in the pursuit of knowledge, studying languages and literature, and clandestinely devising intricate plans for the royal family that held him captive. However, the flame of his ambition was extinguished when the longing to find his birth parents, a desire he had harbored since adolescence, was abruptly silenced.

Growing up as an oppressed and envious teenager, Josiah transformed into a bitter young adult, seeking refuge in the intellectual haven of Europe—specifically England—during the mid-1840s. University life exposed him to capitalist and economist ideologies, molding his worldview as he delved into the intricacies of societal structures.

His journey into the nocturnal realm began with a sinister twist, as his first taste of blood was drawn from one of his professors. A predator in the shadows, he continued his nocturnal pursuits without ever being exposed. As the decades unfolded, he evolved with the changing times, returning to Somalia in the 1970s with a desperate quest to reunite with his birth parents, only to be met with the harsh reality of their long-departed lives.

Returning to the United States, Josiah adapted to the ever-evolving social landscape of the 21st century, attempting to blend in with the trends and norms of the time while clinging to his deep-seated beliefs. His younger sister, a relentless force of change, compelled him to undergo a transformation – tattoos, piercings, a new hairdo, and a wardrobe overhaul – all in an attempt to assimilate into contemporary society. Yet, beneath the superficial alterations, Josiah longs for the simplicity of his original attire, appearing almost robotic in his detachment from the ever-changing fashions.

In the present day of 2023, Josiah finds himself in the forgotten hollow, a place that holds a singular purpose for him. With an enigmatic goal set firmly in his immortal mind, he navigates the delicate balance between adapting to the current era and preserving the essence of his timeless existence, forever haunted by the echoes of his past and the insatiable thirst for the unknown.

TRIVIA:

Fashionable Anachronism: Despite his sister's attempts to modernize his appearance, Josiah secretly hoards a collection of clothing from various eras, finding comfort in the timeless elegance of garments that reflect the epochs he has traversed.

Literary Pursuits: Josiah's love for languages and literature extends beyond his mortal life. He has amassed a private library filled with rare manuscripts, preserving the stories that have shaped his understanding of the world. One of his prized possessions is an ancient tome written in a language long forgotten by mortals.

Musical Tastes: While he outwardly adapts to the music of the modern era, Josiah secretly cherishes classical compositions from his youth. He has been known to haunt hidden concert halls, drawn to the haunting melodies that echo the melancholy of his immortal existence.

Hidden Talents: Josiah possesses a keen talent for calligraphy, a skill he developed during his youth while studying languages. He often spends the quiet hours of the night crafting intricate scripts and inscriptions, each stroke a testament to his centuries-long pursuit of perfection.

Artistic Reflections: In a concealed chamber of his dwelling, Josiah maintains a gallery of portraits capturing moments from his past. Each painting tells a silent tale of the people he has encountered and the cities he has watched evolve, providing a haunting backdrop to his eternal existence.

Nocturnal Philanthropy: Unbeknownst to the mortal world, Josiah channels his capitalist inclinations into philanthropic endeavors during the night. He discreetly funds projects that align with his vision of societal improvement, drawing from the wealth accumulated over centuries.

Unquenchable Thirst for Knowledge: Josiah is a perpetual student of the world, and he continually enrolls in university courses under various aliases. His insatiable thirst for knowledge spans disciplines, from cutting-edge technology to ancient philosophies, allowing him to seamlessly blend into different intellectual circles over the years.

Classical Arabic: Being born in Somalia and later taken to Syria, Josiah mastered Classical Arabic, delving into its rich literature and linguistic nuances.

Syriac: A language with historical significance in the region, Josiah became fluent in Syriac during his time in Syria, connecting with the ancient roots of the supernatural world.

Latin: As a young adult in Europe during the mid-1840s, Josiah immersed himself in the study of Latin, a language that granted him access to the scholarly and philosophical works of the time.

English: Moving to England for university, Josiah not only learned English but excelled in it. His linguistic proficiency allowed him to navigate the rapidly evolving social and intellectual landscape of 19th-century England.

French: Embracing the cultural diversity of Europe, Josiah added French to his repertoire, finding himself captivated by the elegance of the language and its literary treasures.

Somali: Despite his nomadic existence, Josiah retained a deep connection to his roots, maintaining fluency in Somali to honor his heritage and communicate with those from his homeland.

Italian: In his pursuit of art and culture, Josiah picked up Italian during the Renaissance, allowing him to appreciate the masterpieces of the era and connect with the intellectual elite.

Spanish: Venturing into the exploration of the New World, Josiah acquired fluency in Spanish, enabling him to engage with the diverse cultures and civilizations flourishing in the Americas.

German: With a keen interest in the economic and philosophical discourse of the time, Josiah became fluent in German, immersing himself in the works of influential thinkers from the German-speaking world.

Mandarin Chinese: Embracing the advancements of the 20th century, Josiah learned Mandarin Chinese, recognizing its growing importance on the global stage and adapting to the changing geopolitical landscape.

[pillow-anime-talk]

from the future to the past.

request: professional hacker!s/o whos very skilled in computers and building them, with terrifying abilities to gather intel,,,, also has a talent in making gadgets then time travels to mtp,,,, works for mi6, best buddies with von herder, close relationship with secretary holmes too,,,, how would the rest of the moriarty gang react? would they use them???  

# tags: headcanon; strangers to friends & strangers to lovers; time travel; hacker!reader; soft romance; a bit of comedy; sfw

includes: gender neutral reader ft. whole mi6 {mtp}

author’s note: hey anonnie, sorry for waiting so long! thank you! hope you like it :)!

↘ Your latest invention turned out to be the biggest and by far the most shocking success of your twenty-something life.

↘ And at the same time your greatest and most dangerous curse, because the last virtual time exchange program you created, which was made by the initiative of restoring old databases, took you... several hundred years back, to be more precise, to the end of the 19th century and on top of that to London city.

↘ You looked like a recluse among beautifully dressed ladies, children in clothes with long frills and gentlemen with tall hats and gold-trimmed coats.

↘ Your bright jeans, black sweatshirt with a huge hood and hair tied up in a loose bun were a comic image among the dressed-up nobility or even less wealthy townspeople. Your appearance and the fear in your eyes caught the attention of Albert and Louis Moriarty, who extended a helping hand to you without asking for anything else.

↘ At the MI6 hideout William spoke first, not convinced of your presence among them. At first he thought you were the enemy and wanted information about their group, but then when he started asking you about various names and situations that seemed logical to him, your expression didn’t become distrustful or deceitful in the slightest. He realized that this is not your world.

↘ On that day you told everything about yourself and the future that awaits humanity, as well as about their fame in later centuries. You told about the actions of Sherlock Holmes and the Moriarty family, and also that in the 21st century many books, series and films about their lives were created. Of course, Sherlock was thrilled and asked you about everything, and then he got closer to you than anyone in MI6.

↘ For others it was strange that he liked and trusted the other person in this way, and for some it was completely normal – after all, you were a person always smiling and really cute in your actions.

↘ Sherlock quickly fell in love with you and became your partner (not only at work, but also in life).

↘ Over time: days, weeks and months, you forgot about your previous life. You gladly accepted the help of Louis and Miss Moneypenny, who helped you dress up so that you fit perfectly with the other members of MI6, while Sebastian and Fred, with a little help from James Bond, created a new name for you and your new past, so that no one has not developed unfounded suspicions of you.

↘ You also made great contact with Jack, who replaced your father in these difficult times, and with Von Herder, who became your closest friend. You two got along great, and although he did weird things sometimes and had a dangerous passion for firearms, you really had a good time and loved playing cards and reading books in your spare time, and teasing William or Albert who always shook their heads when they saw the two of you.

↘ Zack acted like your second father, although he was definitely shyer than the others, while Henry and Sherlock’s male sibling were like big brothers to you. The latter felt great respect for you, the more that you straightened his real, younger brother a bit, and at the same time made him much more serious and became a good helper of the Moriarty brothers.

↘ Your manual skills have been very useful to MI6; even if at first the middle brother just wanted to use you to help him with his own plans, over time he really liked you and realized that even though you feared for your current life, you worked hard to help them and be their real friend.

↘ You continued to create your inventions as a hobby, and your list of later achievements included the creation of the first light switch and lamp, and even the first screen with the ability to save data on it. For your entire group, you created the first makeshift telephone with the ability to receive short calls, and when you had a little more time than normal, you created more inventions that benefited not only MI6, but all of England, and then the world.

↘ You wrote it all down in a notebook, which after many years found its way to the right people, and they published it, making MI6 famous all over the world, starring you, and your romance with Sherlock Holmes became one of the best-loved romance novels of those years.

↘ Such was your new life, and your relationship with people from the officially nonexistent sixth branch of the British Military Intelligence.

[ichayalovesyou]

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow

SPOILERS AHEAD

Oh man you guys! I really enjoyed this episode! I loved it way more than The Broken Circle but I did not love it as much as I loved Ad Astra Per Aspera but that episode was so a cut above the average (as in in the running for best episodes of Trek ever written caliber stuff). That it hardly seems fair to say so because this episode was an absolute JOY to watch! Lol! I love a good time travel romp!

I remembered enjoying Paul Wesley’s Kirk in A Quality of Mercy but I wasn’t sure whether I was just riding the high of the previous season or whether he could pull it off twice. But he did and I really really like his interpretation of Jim. I honestly like it a lot better than Chris Pine’s if I’m super honest with y’all.

I mean he UNDERSTOOD the assignment! He was definitely at his Kirkiest when they initially arrived in the 21st century that body language and cadence was on point despite him not looking too much like Shatner. I mean hats off to the writers too for that one. The passion for chess without being overly cocky. The all of it!

There was something about the hot dogs scene and letting La’an have the bed in the hotel that felt very Tarsus IV even tho that might not have happened in this timeline. It’s still very James Kirk of him. Not to mention the whole bit where his type is overachiever, kinda uptight but also dark and mysterious and dare I say a little out of his league folks. Whom he charms without being pushy into warming up to him and letting their guard down. Also THANK YOU to the writers and to Wesley for recognizing Kirk Drift and acknowledging our boy is a hopeless romantic and NOT a babe hound.

I called the La’an/Kirk thing way before it happened because of it. And from what was implied in the Ready Room interview with Paul Wesley it sounds as though we might get more La’an & Jim content in the future which I certainly wouldn’t object to! Although we are skirting the edge of when Jim & Carol Marcus supposedly met so that might get a lil complicated but the seasons (because they’re sorter) might not be 1:1 with years so they’ve got some wiggle room to work with.

I love seeing the cinematic parallels between Kirk & Jim’s love interest stuff in SNW that clearly draws them to each other later on. Chapel is a lot like Kirk and Spock is falling for her pretty hard. La’an is a lot like Spock by the time we meet him in TOS (not too similar to SNW baby Spock though) and they fell for each other pretty badly too! For example, both La’an & Spock are terrified of Kirk’s insane driving skills (or lack thereof lmao)! But enough about Jim & the whole K/S kitten caboodle! This episode is about LA’AN :D

Holy shit did La’an need what’s been happening with her in these past couple episodes. She got to face her generational trauma headlong, she got to see a mirror in Kirk and further realize the value of enjoying the fleeting and precious joys of life. By both convincing this alternate timeline version of Kirk that her version of the world is worth saving (also not the “Sam’s alive?” 😭 because his older brother dies unexpectedly and tragically in both timelines DONT TOUCH MEEEE, also not the potential Kirk bros content going forward also 😭). To eating the damn hot dog, and presumably letting Kirk talk her into taking the bed and just ugggggh.

And then HE DIES! They fridged Captain James T. Kirk of all people for HER character development lmao how’s THAT for a twist. Historically it’s been the other way around how’s that feel for once Jimbo? Damn!

Sera was an interesting villain, she was a good twist honestly felt like something was up with her the minute she had pics of that romukan ship. Also, I love all the self referential like, “yes we acknowledge this changed a little bit” stuff that’s happened. Like the Temporal Wars are why the Eugenics war is supposed to start around *now* and not the 90s like previously stated and Sera has been trapped trying to fulfill her mission for 30 years. Or how clearly Jim thinks everybody calls his brother George and only he gets to call him Sam when clearly that’s not the case lol. It’s nice little touches like that that really make me feel validated for having faith in the writers when nitpickers complain.

Also PELIA! She’s an art thief?! Incredible! Hilarious! Brilliant! No notes! Although it JUST occurred to me that because La’an went to Pelia before the whole “preventing the timeline from changing entirely” bit does THAT mean that La’an can at least talk to Pelia about what happened?! Because it’s implied La’an is who inspired her to become an engineer and that’s still part of our prime timeline! Maybe it’s like a Guinan and Picard situation! I think La’an should get to sob into the arms of our funky little klepto engineer grandma as a treat instead of breaking down alone in her room, please and thank you!

Anyway, baller episode! 9/10

[cyber-soul-smartz]

Mastering Project Management: Essential Skills for Success in the 21st Century

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Effective project management is more crucial than ever in today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape. Whether you’re steering a small team or overseeing a large-scale initiative, the ability to lead, communicate, manage time, solve problems, and mitigate risks can make or break your project’s success. But what exactly does it take to excel in this multifaceted discipline? And how can…

[timomoe]

Talking at y'all about Estonia again (sorry not sorry)

So, Estonia specifically is a character I see as a massive missed opportunity. Do y'all know what's super lacking in this series? Characters that look like cinnamon rolls but will kill you - we have one. Exactly one: Finland. Everyone else who would kill you looks like they would kill you. I think that the one thing that would improve Estonia's character about 1000x would be him looking like he does, this skinny, unassuming man, but being able to rip you in half with his bare hands. Same goes for Latvia, by the way.

I mean think about it for a sec. Estonians have been a fighting people since before Christianity sank its teeth into Europe, but after that, they had to fight even harder. Estonia as a country being chill and at peace is a pretty new development, and through no fault of their own; Livonia has always been a juicy part of land due to the trade opportunities it provided. It's why Sweden and Prussia and Russia (And Denmark and the Teutons, etc.) and all of those old empires and militias were so dead set on fighting for it. They knew how much it could benefit them, so carnage was a small price to pay.

So imagine it, baby faced little Estonia floats up out of a bog, gets handed a spear, and is told to go fight all the other toddler nations running about around him

And then it doesn't stop until the 21st FUCKING century 😭

Like even setting aside the fighting Estonia's had to do just to earn the right to exist aside, Estonians in ye olden days were quite a force to be reckoned with. They went on raids like the Vikings, for example, and burned down Sweden's original capital of Sigtuna (hc that Sweden's got some sick burn scars bc of this) and got involved with battles on behalf of their allies, too

And like we already know Estonia is kinda strong bc he's bragged openly about winning a wife carrying contest with Finland. How much does Finland weigh? No idea, but not any schmuck could do it (I couldn't, I'd die).

So Estonia having the capacity for great violence and having the ability to be exceedingly dangerous would be an excellent addition to his character. Like yeah, I'd like the idea of him trying to settle disputes like a regular person, with words, or with his wiles (like how he tricked Russia when he was creeping on him in those strips w/ the cardboard cutouts), but I also enjoy the idea of him knowing how to, and not being afraid to, fight if that's what it came down to. And the idea he's much more skilled in combat than anyone would guess is just a cherry on top. It would be so great

[ndconceptarchive]

Wired Interview -

Secret of Shadow Ranch Mobile Mysteries with Megan Gaiser

This interview was done in promotion for the Secret of Shadow Ranch Mobile Mysteries and published on March 10, 2011, by Jenny Williams for Wired magazine.

It contains some of the highest-quality images I've been able to find for this game.

I recently had an opportunity to interview Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of Her Interactive, the company that makes Nancy Drew computer games and other related titles. Megan is a force in the gaming world, helping the company receive 20 consecutive Parents' Choice Awards, and being a very influential woman in the game industry. Millions of copies of Nancy Drew games have been sold.

As we've written before at GeekDad (and also at GeekMom), Nancy Drew computer games are great fun for kids and grown-ups alike. There is enough help built in for kids to play (age 10 and up, perhaps), and enough difficulty and logical thinking required to entertain adults.

In addition to creating the beloved computer games featuring Nancy Drew (and sometimes The Hardy Boys), Her Interactive has recently developed Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries® for the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch, the first of which is Shadow Ranch. It seems to be set in the same location as one of the Nancy Drew computer games, but the new playing environment has given the opportunity for plenty of new game functionality. From what I can tell, it's one part Choose Your Own Adventure-type book, one part game and one part puzzle, and completely awesome.

GeekDad: Obviously these games are based on the Nancy Drew books and need to include the intrigue and suspense, but why is there a need to make the music scary and have people jump out and surprise you, especially since these games are intended for children?

Megan Gaiser: We make lots of different types of mystery games. Some have more adventure to them and others we try to make them a bit scary. We try to use music that both immerses the player and also adds to the story content. We use scary music at the appropriate times and we’ve found that most of our fans like it.

GD: Which games do you recommend to those who prefer less scary fare?

Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries. Image: Her Interactive

MG: I think a good rule of thumb is to pay attention to the ESRB rating. Our most recent release, Shadow at the Water’s Edge was our scariest game yet, but we try to create games with more adventure like Warnings at Waverly Academy, The Phantom of Venice, Treasure in the Royal Tower.

GD: How close to the original books are the games?

MG: We do take inspiration from the Nancy Drew books. For instance the new iPad game is based on the best selling Nancy Drew book “The Secret of Shadow Ranch.”

GD: Which game is your favorite? What do you like about playing the games yourself?

Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries. Image: Her Interactive

MG: Right now I’m very excited about our new Mobile Mysteries series for the iPad/iPhone, Shadow Ranch. With our modern twist on the interactive storybook, you’re not just reading a Nancy Drew mystery – you’re engaged and making decisions about how that mystery unfolds.

GD: How will the upcoming Mobile Mysteries compare with the PC versions? What similarities and differences will they have?

MG: The Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries Series of Apps from Her Interactive is a mystery gaming adventure that introduces a new category of interactive entertainment-on-the-go for the 21st century by innovatively merging books and games so that players discover a new adventure with every turn of the page, mini-game played or decision made.

GD: At what age do you feel kids can do these mysteries on their own? I've done them with my 9 year old daughter for a few years, but don't feel she'll be able to figure most of it out on her own for a few more years yet.

MG: Many of our games allow players to choose difficulty level. They can choose to play as a Junior or Senior detective which allows players of all skill levels to solve the mysteries. Some mysteries are more challenging than others and we think it’s okay for kids to play along with their parents. We are working on ways to make these PC games more accessible to welcome a broader audience.

Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries. Image: Her Interactive

GD: Will there be more Hardy Boys games coming? They bring a different feel to the gameplay.

MG: There are no plans for Hardy Boys games at this time, but we often have male characters in our games helping Nancy solve the mysteries. Stay tuned!

GD: What type of research do the game developers do when developing the games? Do they travel to ranches and oceans and the desert to get a better feel for the setting?

MG: We take pride in the fact that we do a lot of research using the internet, books, photos, etc., to ensure we create authentic settings. We also learn a lot about the culture so we can incorporate cultural discovery into our games. For example, in Shadow at the Water’s Edge, there is calligraphy and tea ceremonies.

GD: How long does the average adult player take to finish a game?

MG: 5 hours.

GD: Some games are more interesting than others. Do you have more than one design team?

MG: There are around 30 employees at Her Interactive, several who have been with us since the beginning. Everyone on the team contributes to creating the game. I am proud to say we have mastered the art of creative collaboration. We have the designer, creative director and art director who set the general direction and the look and feel, the writer who gives the story life, the artists who create the beautiful environments, the sound and music directors, the programmers, etc.

My daughter and I have played half a dozen of the Nancy Drew computer games. They're fantastic for playing as a team or a family, since there is something for everyone to do. There are puzzles to solve, decisions to make, information to write down, and conversations to have. If you're looking for several hours of a family (or individual) challenge, check out Her Interactive. To get more information, visit the Her Interactive website, or try out some of the games in the Nancy Drew franchise!

[kccinstitutes]

Skill Development Program 2024

KCC Institute of Legal and Higher Education hosted a Skill Development program titled " Excelling the Corporate Expectations by Acquiring the 21st Century Skills " on October 11, 2023. Mr. Ashish Kumar, Service Delivery Manager at Tata Consultancy Services was the guest speaker and provided his valuable guidance to students on aligning with contemporary corporate requirements and acquiring essential skills.

The Skill Development Program (SDP) encompassed several crucial topics, including comprehending the expectations of freshers in the corporate world and effective strategies to surpass those expectations. It also delved into methods to enhance the likelihood of securing job placements, offering insights into common interview questions and tips for excelling in interviews. The session highlighted significant skill domains and certification pathways for students to explore.

Towards the conclusion of the session, Mr. Ashish Kumar, the resource person, engaged with students, addressing their queries, and assisting them in discovering opportunities for internships related to their specific skill areas. The overall session proved invaluable knowledge to the students seeking internships and placement prospects, equipping them with essential tools for their future endeavors.

[mariacallous]

As the global trend of schoolification pushes educational systems toward standardization, which emphasizes “preparation for school rather than preparation for life,” innovative approaches that address the how’s, what’s, and why’s of education are critically needed. This prevailing shift, intensifying in the late 90s, often sidelines essential skills like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, that are crucial for equipping young learners to tackle global challenges. It also overlooks learners’ well-being and joy—a rising concern in educational circles.

A number of organizations and projects are working to combat the schoolification trend. UNESCO’s Happy Schools initiative hopes to tackle the problem by creating safe, developmentally appropriate, and joyful learning experiences that span multiple learning goals. The OECD’s Future of Education and Skills Project launched in 2019 focuses on how the science of learning can foster best practices for developing holistic education systems that balance academic skills with emotional, social, and practical competencies essential for the 21st century. Further, a number of countries are beginning to address curricular and pedagogical quality through policy initiatives, such as those in Ghana, Vietnam, Singapore, and India, to name a few.

As countries and organizations develop new ways to support U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, one program from the Global South emerges as a critical response to these issues. In this blog, we explore how methodologies like those developed by Education for Sharing (E4S) champion playful learning and prepare our youth not just for academic success but as proactive, informed global citizens.