#Introducing Science Based Search

[sumaya432]

WE PROPEL THE WORLD’S BEST COMPANIES WITH DATA ENGINEERED TO DELIVER THE ABSOLUTE HIGHEST PERFORMING C-LEVEL AND BOARD LEADERSHIP FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. Recognized for securing Rocketship CEOs for Tech Giants and many of Silicon Valley’s original unicorns, Christian & Timbers is now re-engineering the next generation of executive search. Introducing Science Based Search For the first time the data transparency to know you will be selecting from the absolute best, highest performing Rocketship Leaders within days not months of initiating the search. TALENT MAPPING → TALENT PIPELINING Knowing the complete competitive candidate ecosystem at launch allows you the business intelligence and talent pipelining to always execute the optimum search strategy. PREDICTIVE LEADERSHIP - PROPRIETARY OUTREACH Our brand, command of language and multi-tiered outreach engines assures leadership trusted to deliver our client’s most critical high-performance business outcomes. UNCOMPROMISING LEADERSHIP HIRING MODEL Capturing the complete candidate universe, KPIs and an Uncompromising Leadership Hiring Model gives you the data transparency to always hire the absolute best. Winning the war for talent for over 40 years

Our experience, global reputation and deep relationships with the best leadership gives us access to the most sought-after Rocketship Talent around the world. The industry’s most advanced Talent Map Engineering adds to our expertise in every specialization.

We first specialized in Robotics, then semiconductor, becoming market leaders in every sector of technology. We are experts in each sector we focus today.

[ozzgin]

Yandere! Android x Reader (I)

It is the future and you have been tasked to solve a mysterious murder that could jeopardize political ties. Your assigned partner is the newest android model meant to assimilate human customs. You must keep his identity a secret and teach him the ways of earthlings, although his curiosity seems to be reaching inappropriate extents.

Yes, this is based on Asimov’s “Caves of Steel” because Daneel Olivaw was my first ever robot crush. I also wanted a protagonist that embraces technology. :)

Content: female reader, AI yandere, 50's futurism

[Part 2] | [More original works]

You follow after the little assistant robot, a rudimentary machine invested with basic dialogue and spatial navigation. It had caused quite the ruckus when first introduced. One intern - well liked despite being somewhat clumsy at his job - was sadly let go as a result. Not even the Police is safe from the threat of AI, is what they chanted outside the premises.

"The Commissioner has summoned you, (Y/N)." 

That's how it greeted you earlier, clacking its appendage against the open door in an attempt to simulate a knock. 

"Do you know why my presence is needed?" You inquire and wait for the miniature AI to scan the audio message. 

"I am not allowed to mention anything right now." It finally responds after agonizing seconds.

 It's an alright performance. You might've been more impressed by it, had you not witnessed first hand the Spacer technology that could put any modern invention here on Earth to shame. Sadly the people down here are very much against artificial intelligence. There have been multiple protests recently, like the one in front of your building, condemning the latest government suggestion regarding automation. People fear for their jobs and safety and you don't necessarily blame them for having self preservation. On the other hand, you've always been a supporter of progress. As a child you devoured any science fiction book you could get your hands on, and now, as a high ranked police detective you still manage to sneak away and scan over articles and news involving the race for a most efficient computer.

You close the door behind you and the Commissioner puts his fat cigarette out, twisting the remains into the ashtray with monotonous movements as if searching for the right words.

 "There's been a murder." Is all he settles on saying, throwing a heavy folder in your direction. A hologram or tablet might've been easier to catch, but the man, like many of his coworkers, shares a deep nostalgia for the old days. 

 You flip through the pages and eventually furrow your eyebrows. 

"This would be a disaster if it made it to the news." You mumble and look up at the older man. "Shouldn't this go to someone more experienced?" 

He twiddles with his grey mustache and glances out the fake window. 

"It's a sensitive case. The Spacers are sending their own agent to collaborate with us. What stands out to you?" 

You narrow your eyes and focus on the personnel sheet. What's there to cause such controversy? Right before giving up, departing from the page, you finally notice it: next to the Spacer officer's name, printed clearly in black ink, is a little "R." which is a commonly used abbreviation to indicate something is a robot. The chief must've noticed your startled reaction and continues, satisfied: 

"You understand, yes? They're sending an android. Supposedly it replicates a human perfectly in terms of appearance, but it does not possess enough observational data. Their request is that whoever partners up with him will also house him and let him follow along for the entirety of the mission. You're the only one here openly supporting those tin boxes. I can't possibly ask one of your higher ups, men with wives and children, to...you know...bring that thing in their house."

You're still not sure whether to be offended by the fact that your comfort seems to be of less priority compared to other officers. Regardless of the semantics, you're presently standing at the border between Earth and the Spacer colony, awaiting your case partner. A man emerges from behind a security gate. He's tall, with handsome features and an elegant walk. He approaches you and you reach for a handshake. 

"Is the android with you?" You ask, a little confused. 

"Is this your first time seeing a Spacer model?" He responds, relaxed. "I am the agent in your care. There is no one else." 

You take a moment to process the information, similar to the primitive machine back at your office. Could it be? You've always known that Spacer technology is years ahead, but this surpasses your wildest dreams. There is not a single detail hinting at his mechanical fundament. The movement is fluid, the speech is natural, the design is impenetrable. He lifts the warm hand he'd used for the handshake and gently presses a finger against your chin in an upwards motion. You find yourself involuntarily blushing. 

"Your mouth was open. I assumed you'd want it discreetly corrected." He states, factually, with a faint smile on his lips. Is he amused? Is such a feeling even possible? You try your best to regain some composure, adjusting the collar of your shirt and clearing your throat. 

"Thank you and please excuse my rudeness. I was not expecting such a flawless replica. Our assistants are...easily recognizable as AI."

"So I've been told." His smile widens and he checks his watch. You follow his gesture, still mesmerized, trying to find a single indicator that the man standing before you is indeed a machine, a synthetic product.

Nothing.

"Shall we?" He eyes the exit path and you quickly lead him outside and towards public transport. 

He patiently waits for your fingerprint scan to be complete. You almost turn around and apologize for the old, lagging device. As a senior detective, you have the privilege of living in the more spacious, secured quarters of the city. And, since you don't have a family, the apartment intended for multiple people looks more like a luxury adobe. Still, compared to the advanced way of the Spacers, this must feel like poverty to the android.

At last, the scanner beeps and the door unlocks. 

"Heh...It's a finicky model." You mumble and invite him in.

"Yes, I'm familiar with these systems." He agrees with you and steps inside, unbuttoning his coat.

"Oh, you've seen this before?"

"In history books."

You scratch your cheek and laugh awkwardly, wondering how much of his knowledge about the current life on Earth is presented as a museum exhibit when compared to Spacer society. 

"I'm going to need a coffee. I guess you don't...?" Your words trail as you await confirmation. 

"I would enjoy one as well, if it is not too much to ask. I've been told it's a social custom to 'get coffee' as a way to have small talk." The synthetic straightens his shirt and looks at you expectantly. 

"Of course. I somehow assumed you can't drink, but if you're meant to blend in with humans...it does make sense you'd have all the obvious requirements built in."

He drags a chair out and sits at the small table, legs crossed.

"Indeed. I have been constructed to have all the functions of a human, down to every detail." 

You chuckle lightly. Well, not like you can verify it firsthand. The engineers back at the Spacer colony most likely didn't prepare him for matters considered unnecessary. 

"I do mean every detail." He adds, as if reading your mind. "You are free to see for yourself."

You nearly drop the cup in your flustered state. You hurry to wipe the coffee that spilled onto the counter and glance back at the android, noticing a smirk on his face. What the hell? Are they playing a prank on you and this is actually a regular guy? Some sort of social experiment? 

"I can see they included a sense of humor." You manage to blurt out, glaring at him suspiciously. 

"I apologize if I offended you in any way. I'm still adjusting to different contexts." The android concludes, a hint of mischief remaining on his face. "Aren't rowdy jokes common in your field of work?"

"Uh huh. Spot on." You hesitantly place the hot drink before him.

Robots on Earth have always been built for the purpose of efficiency. Whether or not a computer passes the Turing Test is irrelevant as long as it performs its task in the most optimal, rational way. There have been attempts, naturally, to create something indistinguishable from a human, but utility has always taken precedence. It seems that Spacers think differently. Or perhaps they have reached their desired level of performance a long time ago, and all that was left was fiddling with aesthetics. Whatever the case is, you're struggling not to gawk in amazement at the man sitting in your kitchen, stirring his coffee with a bored expression.

"I always thought - if you don't mind my honesty - that human emotions would be something to avoid when building AI. Hard to implement, even harder to control and it doesn't bring much use."

"I can understand your concerns. However, let me reassure you, I have a strict code of ethics installed in my neural networks and thus my emotions will never lead to any destructive behavior. All safety concerns have been taken into consideration.

As for why...How familiar are you with our colony?" The android takes a sip of his coffee and nods, expressing his satisfaction. "Perhaps you might be aware, Spacers have a declining population. Automated assistants have been part of our society for a long time now. What's lacking is humans. If the issue isn't fixed, artificial humans will have to do."

You scoff.

"What, us Earth men aren't good enough to fix the birth rates? They need robots?"

You suddenly remember the recipient of your complaint and mutter an apology. 

"Well, I'm sure you'd make a fine contender. Sadly I can't speak for everyone else on Earth." The man smiles in amusement upon seeing the pale red that's now dusting your cheeks, then continues: "But the issue lies somewhere else. Spacers have left Earth a long time ago and lived in isolation until now. Once an organism has lost its immune responses to otherwise common pathogens, it cannot be reintegrated."

True. Very few Earth citizens are allowed to enter the colony, and only do so after thorough disinfection stages, proving they are disease free as to not endanger the fragile health of the Spacers living in a sterile environment. You can only imagine the disastrous outcome if the two species were to abruptly mingle. In that case, equally sterile machinery might be their only hope.

Your mind wanders to the idea. Dating a robot...How's that? You sheepishly gaze at the android and study his features. His neatly combed copper hair, the washed out blue eyes, the pale skin. Probably meant to resemble the Spacers. You shake your head.

"A-anyways, I'll go and gather all the case files I have. Then we can discuss our first steps. Do feel at home."

You rush out and head for your office. Focus, you tell yourself mildly annoyed.

While you search for the required paperwork - what a funny thing to say in this day and age - he will certainly take up on your generous offer to make himself comfortable. The redhaired man enters the living room, scanning everything with curious eyes. He stops in front of a digital frame and slides through the photos. Ah, this must be your Police Academy graduation. The year matches with the data he's received on you. Data files he might've read one too many times in his unexplained enthusiasm. This should be you and the Commissioner; Doesn't match the description of your father, and he seems too old to be a spouse or boyfriend. Additionally, the android distinctly recalls the empty 'Relationship' field.

"Old photos are always a tad embarrassing. I suppose you skipped that stage."

He jolts almost imperceptibly and faces you. You have returned with a thin stack of papers and a hologram projector.

"I've digitalized most files I received, so you don't have to shuffle a bunch of paper around." You explain.

"That is very useful, thank you." He gently retrieves the small device from your hand, but takes a moment before removing his fingers from yours. "I predict this will be a successful partnership."

You flash him a friendly smile and gesture towards the seating area.

"Let's get to work, then. Unless you want to go through more boring albums." You joke as you lower yourself onto the plush sofa. 

The synthetic human joins you at an unexpectedly close proximity. You wonder if proper distance differs among Spacers or if he has received slightly erroneous information about what makes a comfortable rapport. 

"Nothing boring about it. In fact, I'd say you and I are very similar from this point of view." He tells you, placing the projector on the table.

"Oh?"

"Your interest in technology and artificial intelligence is rather easy to infer." The man continues, pointing vaguely towards the opposing library. "Aside from the briefing I've already received about you, that is."

"And that is similar to...the interest in humans you've been programmed to have?" You interject, unsure where this conversation is meant to lead. 

"Almost."

His head turns fully towards you and you stare back into his eyes. From this distance you can finally discern the first hints of his nature: the thin disks shading the iris - possibly CCD sensors - are moving in a jagged, mechanical manner. Actively analyzing and processing the environment. 

"I wouldn't go as far as to generalize it to all humans. 

Just you."

[jstor]

I saw something about generative AI on JSTOR. Can you confirm whether you really are implementing it and explain why? I’m pretty sure most of your userbase hates AI.

A generative AI/machine learning research tool on JSTOR is currently in beta, meaning that it's not fully integrated into the platform. This is an opportunity to determine how this technology may be helpful in parsing through dense academic texts to make them more accessible and gauge their relevancy.

To JSTOR, this is primarily a learning experience. We're looking at how beta users are engaging with the tool and the results that the tool is producing to get a sense of its place in academia.

In order to understand what we're doing a bit more, it may help to take a look at what the tool actually does. From a recent blog post:

Content evaluation

Problem: Traditionally, researchers rely on metadata, abstracts, and the first few pages of an article to evaluate its relevance to their work. In humanities and social sciences scholarship, which makes up the majority of JSTOR’s content, many items lack abstracts, meaning scholars in these areas (who in turn are our core cohort of users) have one less option for efficient evaluation. 

When using a traditional keyword search in a scholarly database, a query might return thousands of articles that a user needs significant time and considerable skill to wade through, simply to ascertain which might in fact be relevant to what they’re looking for, before beginning their search in earnest.

Solution: We’ve introduced two capabilities to help make evaluation more efficient, with the aim of opening the researcher’s time for deeper reading and analysis:

Summarize, which appears in the tool interface as “What is this text about,” provides users with concise descriptions of key document points. On the back-end, we’ve optimized the Large Language Model (LLM) prompt for a concise but thorough response, taking on the task of prompt engineering for the user by providing advanced direction to:

Extract the background, purpose, and motivations of the text provided.

Capture the intent of the author without drawing conclusions.

Limit the response to a short paragraph to provide the most important ideas presented in the text.

Search term context is automatically generated as soon as a user opens a text from search results, and provides information on how that text relates to the search terms the user has used. Whereas the summary allows the user to quickly assess what the item is about, this feature takes evaluation to the next level by automatically telling the user how the item is related to their search query, streamlining the evaluation process.

Discovering new paths for exploration

Problem: Once a researcher has discovered content of value to their work, it’s not always easy to know where to go from there. While JSTOR provides some resources, including a “Cited by” list as well as related texts and images, these pathways are limited in scope and not available for all texts. Especially for novice researchers, or those just getting started on a new project or exploring a novel area of literature, it can be needlessly difficult and frustrating to gain traction. 

Solution: Two capabilities make further exploration less cumbersome, paving a smoother path for researchers to follow a line of inquiry:

Recommended topics are designed to assist users, particularly those who may be less familiar with certain concepts, by helping them identify additional search terms or refine and narrow their existing searches. This feature generates a list of up to 10 potential related search queries based on the document’s content. Researchers can simply click to run these searches.

Related content empowers users in two significant ways. First, it aids in quickly assessing the relevance of the current item by presenting a list of up to 10 conceptually similar items on JSTOR. This allows users to gauge the document’s helpfulness based on its relation to other relevant content. Second, this feature provides a pathway to more content, especially materials that may not have surfaced in the initial search. By generating a list of related items, complete with metadata and direct links, users can extend their research journey, uncovering additional sources that align with their interests and questions.

Supporting comprehension

Problem: You think you have found something that could be helpful for your work. It’s time to settle in and read the full document… working through the details, making sure they make sense, figuring out how they fit into your thesis, etc. This all takes time and can be tedious, especially when working through many items. 

Solution: To help ensure that users find high quality items, the tool incorporates a conversational element that allows users to query specific points of interest. This functionality, reminiscent of CTRL+F but for concepts, offers a quicker alternative to reading through lengthy documents. 

By asking questions that can be answered by the text, users receive responses only if the information is present. The conversational interface adds an accessibility layer as well, making the tool more user-friendly and tailored to the diverse needs of the JSTOR user community.

Credibility and source transparency

We knew that, for an AI-powered tool to truly address user problems, it would need to be held to extremely high standards of credibility and transparency. On the credibility side, JSTOR’s AI tool uses only the content of the item being viewed to generate answers to questions, effectively reducing hallucinations and misinformation. 

On the transparency front, responses include inline references that highlight the specific snippet of text used, along with a link to the source page. This makes it clear to the user where the response came from (and that it is a credible source) and also helps them find the most relevant parts of the text. 

[aimmyarrowshigh]

what if feige and the mcu were able to commit to following through on actual story-based storytelling ideas and they'd kept it so that a corrupted wanda were the villain of the next two avengers movies and they ended with a reverse m-day, with her bringing mutants into the mcu

what if they'd let elizabeth olsen and benedict cumberbatch slowly show their characters being driven crazy by the darkhold over the entireties of phases 4-5-6 instead of suddenly doing an about-face from the end of wandavision, the best thing they've made since catws

what if they didn't panic about spoilers so much that they ralph bohner'd us in the first place, instead allowing evan peters!pietro to be the first sign of the multiverse for a wanda searching forever for a way to bring her children back and seeding the idea of mutants

what if they made a fucking second shang-chi movie and tied his ten rings to the goddamn eternals via phastos and then to angelbaby kamala, which would have made eternals actually matter to the mcu and introduced an origin for superpowers besides Science and Infinity Stones and setting up for a dichotomy with Mutations

what if they had actually released their projects in phases 4-5 in the order the story intended, so the marvels came out BEFORE secret invasion, which would have made secret invasion make at least a modicum of sense (but still not really because HOW DO YOU DO SECRET INVASION WITHOUT ANY OF THE SUPERHEROES IN IT THAT'S THE POINT)

what if they didn't fridge maria hill

what if they could decide whether they want casual normies to be the audience of their extremely dense superhero lore or are okay with geeks being the audience for their lore-based extremely dense 90-year-old continuous franchise of facts and figures and soap opera level interconnectivity of relationships

what if steve's ending were good and made any sense at fucking goddamn all

"what if" indeed

[bomber-grl]

if it's cool with u, make more nico di angelo x son of hecate reader stuff, pleaseee

just like one-shots with any kind of plots, honestly

going on quests, angst, fluff—anything, reallyy

When Trying Something New Goes Totally Wrong

- not proofread, might not be good.

-

Today was a new day and especially one you looked forward to. Someway, somehow, you had managed to convince Nico to try out new things.

He groaned and grumbled all throughout your 20 slide PowerPoint presentation but it was all worth it in the end once you heard the words “fine” uttered from his mouth.

You dragged his usually tired self through a random library in New York and sat him down at a table.

He sighed and looked at you, “so I’m learning to read? Unfortunate for you since I already know how.”

You tutted at him and shook your head, “Nope, good guess though” you could’ve sworn you saw his soul leave his already withered self. “I’ll be giving you books based on history, math, science. You tried your best to make it look appealing.

Nico sighed, “yay.” You stifled a laugh and commented, “I love how happy you are to be here.” And went on your merry way to search for some interesting books.

Despite his less than enthusiastic self, Nico still chose to read what you brought him. For the next 4 hours. He’d never say it out loud but at that point he’d just pick Tartarus over whatever torture that was.

From then on, whenever you two weren’t being completely and utterly jumped by random monsters, you’d introduce him to doing something new. You didn’t need to but you figured you might as well since boredom was rather common amongst you two.

To your surprise, he actually did quite well in a handful of these skills or hobbies- whatever they’re called. He enjoyed reading but then deemed it time wasting, did okay-ish in learning to sew, same with when you showed him to paint, sculpt, and play the kalimba.

Honestly became a game of you trying to see if he could fail at something, as terrible as that sounded.

You were laying down in the strawberry fields, ranting to a friend, a Demeter kid, about how you’ve ran out of ideas. I mean these little days of showing Nico new and outlandish things became your thing and now you were ran through.

Your friend sighed as she plucked a strawberry into her basket, “why haven’t you tried showing Nico how to do magic? I mean it’s kind of your thing, right?

You abruptly sit up and turned to her, “you think so?! Really?” She seemed mildly taken aback by your enthusiasm but shook her head and chuckled as she gave her basket off to a passing saytr.

“Well yea, could be a bonding experience don’t you think?” Your heart was pumping and you began trying to come up with where Nico could be right about now.

Your excitement died down almost immediately, you sagged and laid back down. Your friend turned to you, “what’s the issue now? I thought I gave you a pretty good solution.”

“Well.. yea! You did but what if..” you could already feel her judgmental stare before you spoke your feelings.

You continued, “what if he doesn’t need me, I mean he’s been pretty good at everything- or atleast decent- with what I’ve presented him.”

She spoke up, “that all? I can sense you aren’t telling me everything.”

You laid there silently before speaking up again, “is it bad that I want to see him fail at something?”

She looked taken aback and then sighed, “Go show him magic before I ban you from coming to the fields again.” You were about to say something nasty but you knew not to test her.

Off you went.

You found Nico being held hostage by your sister, Lou Ellen, near the arts and crafts and luckily for him, came to his rescue.

The two of you walked hand in hand towards the forest, he bumped your side and spoke in a sarcastic tone, “what can I do for my savior?” You smirked, “I have a thing or two in mind… that involves something you’ve never tried before-“

Nico groaned and raised an eyebrow, “really?” You raised your eyebrow in much the same way, and mockingly stuck your hip out, “really”

Nico just laughed exasperatingly and followed you, not like he had anything else to do but brood, brood, and did I mention brood? Yea.

You brought him to the part of the forest where most capture the flag games took place and sat down alongside him on a rock.

“So? What’s the lesson today?” You stood up in front of him and happily exclaimed, “magic!”

He looked taken aback, and then the skepticisim settled in,”magic?” You confirmed, “magic!”

His demeanor was very much not enthused, “ok…”

“What? What’s so bad about magic?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing, I just haven’t considered it.” Nico shrugged. “Well you will now! Cmon let me show you some basics.”

You spoke, drew and did your best to channel the magicalness that comes naturally to you into Nico, but to no avail.

It’s not like spells that delt with elements other than death weren’t working- it just wasn’t working point blank and you needed to find something that’d make it easier.

Nico lounged against the rock while absentmindedly playing with the dirt with his sword until you spoke up.

“Maybe we should focus on necromancy- I mean it is your specialty.” Nico perked up, “necromancy?”

You nodded excitedly, “yup! I mean it’s similar but not exactly.. this one I’m gonna show you is just controlling a corpse.”

Mostly since actually reviving someone would bring trouble with a god you’re both more than familiar with.

Nico spoke up, “how’s that any different than when I control bones?” His question was genuine.

You were about to speak about how they’re different then paused, yup he’s actually right. “Well it’ll be a way to do it without using your natural born power?”

He wondered for a minute, “why’d you recommend it? You’re acting like it’s all I know.”

You paused and looked away, “I mean… is it not?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Nico deadpanned. One might’ve thought you offended him but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“You know there’s a lot more to you than necromancy. I know there is” there was sincerity poured into the last bit and Nicos demeanor relaxed. “You could also try a bit of light magic in hopes of making this work if you’re insistent. Not to mention that It might do wonders for your mood.”

Nico groaned, rolling his eyes. “You just want to see me fail at something new, don’t you?”

“No,” you said with a laugh, “I just want to see you smile. Seriously, Nico. You’re too good at being miserable.”

“Not like this attempt at teaching you magic needs my interference for it to be a failure anyway..”

Nico perked up, “what’d you say?”

You dismissed his suspicion with your hand “Oh nothing, let’s focus back on this.”

You honestly don’t know how long it was before the spell you had been attempting with Nico finally worked, just.. that there was a catch.

“We’re so dead” you looked towards the patch of trees that your spell had totally and utterly destroyed.

Nico shrugged and turned your way, “could’ve been worse.”

-

Luckily none of those trees were dryads and you managed to regrow the trees (albeit more shriveled up and getting some laughter out of Nico) before you went back to camp.

It was a secret for just you two, and whatever unfortunate soul would wander into the place of the crime scene.

[randomnerdyfan]

A question I can’t get out of my mind lately: where did Spider get his nickname? (A short analysis)

As we all know, his actual name is James Webb. Webb is an old Middle English surname meaning „weaver“ and was usually given to those who worked with cloth and their descendants, it’s not an uncommon name, and James is one of the most popular English first names, so nothing special here. Though it’s not unlikely that Mick Herron (and perhaps Spiders parents) took inspiration from James Webb, a nasa engineer (the one the telescope is named after) and public figure.

Sidenote: Jim Webb, who Spider introduces himself as to Pashkin, is a side character in the UK soap opera Family Affair, which fits just wonderfully in the narrative of Spider trying to keep up with pop culture.

Now, it’s obvious that „Spider Webb“ is a play on words, and that alone is enough for a nickname to stick around for a lifetime. But because of this, there’s been a couple of people, more or less famous, (nick-)named Spider Webb, including some fictional characters.

(Keep reading)

The first one who comes up is a well known American tattoo artist who passed in 2022, and it’s very unlikely he had any sort of relevance here - except for his inspiration for the name, which I‘ll get to in a bit.

Also irrelevant are, most likely, Graham „Spider“ Webb, an Australian TV broadcaster; Travis „Spider“ Webb, a racecar driver, Ellsworth „Spider“ Webb, a professional boxer, as well as a jazz musician who went by Spider Webb as a stage name.

But there’s also been some pop culture influence that Mick Herron might have been inspired by.

Alyosius „Spider“ Webb is the main Protagonist in K.A. Bedfords „Spider Webb“ science fiction novel series. The author is well known for his humor and detective and mystery elements in his novels. In „Time Machines repaired-while-u-wait“, the ex-cop Spider makes a living by repairing time machines, until one day he discovers a corpse in one, which lands him in the middle of an investigation of the department for time and space. In „Paradox Revolution“, he has to retrieve a stolen Time Machine for the owner of the while-u-wait repair shop. (Sounds interesting by the way! Might give it a try!)

Now, back to the aforementioned tattoo artist. His legal name was neither Spider nor Webb, but he picked this name as an artist, inspired by the 1937 film „Tim Tyler’s Luck“, and this is where it gets a little more interesting.

Tim Tylers Luck is a 12 Part jungle adventure serial that follows a young boy (Tim Tyler) who goes to Africa to search for this father. On his journey, he’s joined by Lora. She is chasing a criminal named Spider Webb, who’s responsible for her brother’s imprisonment because he framed him for something he didn’t do. Furthermore Spiders appearance is described as a „sarcastic sneer and a confidently arrogant manner“.

That does ring a bell, doesn’t it?

Now, I‘m aware this old movie is a very niche thing and we don’t know where Herron drew his inspiration from (if any at all - maybe he just went with the good ol‘ „hm, that one has a nice ring to it!“), but it’s incredibly interesting to see what kind of character the name Spider Webb is associated with, because there’s definitely recurring character traits in every portrayal.

But this still leaves us with the question: where did Spider get his nickname? We know it’s a well-established name that almost everyone at Slough House, including Lamb, knows, as well as a large group of people at the park. Mick Herron mentions it in the first book, where he says Spider Webb, whose futile mission in life was to dissuade people from calling him Spider, was in his office. In the series, the first mention of the name is in the scene where River and him meet in his office, and he replies that he doesn’t go by this name in this professional work environment anymore. Based on that information we know for a fact he had this nickname at least throughout basic training, but most likely throughout his entire life. It stuck with him, and he can’t get rid of it, much to his dismay. And knowing how adolescent middle schoolers think when it comes to creative names and insults, we can come to the conclusion that - most likely, it really is just the plain and simple play of words and nothing more behind it.

That was a whole lot of research for that realization.

BUT! It really proves how brilliant Mick Herrons character concepts are. The name tells you exactly who this character is and how he’s like, you don’t even have to know him. And you know there’s something behind it, some meaning and some backstory, but it’s an inside joke between characters, a joke that you’ll never fully get, you just have to go along with it. The name Spider Webb is a very skillfully used tool to paint this character and to show us as readers he’s a bitch with a backstory. He has a life, went to school and Uni, earned this nickname somewhere along the way, has an apartment he comes home to, he exists outside of the narrative, outside of the story, he’s not a plot element, he’s a human. A human with a so brilliantly curated name you don’t even have to know him to know what kind of human he is.

Mick Herron is a genius.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Researchers improve chaotic mapping for super-resolution image reconstruction

Super-resolution (SR) technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of images. SR reconstruction aims to generate high-resolution images from low-resolution ones. Traditional methods often result in blurred or distorted images. Advanced techniques such as sparse representation and deep learning-based methods have shown promising results but still face limitations in terms of noise robustness and computational complexity. In a recent study published in Sensors, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed innovative solutions that integrate chaotic mapping into SR image reconstruction process, significantly enhancing the image quality across various fields. Researchers innovatively introduced circle chaotic mapping into the dictionary sequence solving process of the K-singular value decomposition (K-SVD) dictionary update algorithm. This integration facilitated balanced traversal and simplified the search for global optimal solutions, thereby enhancing the noise robustness of the SR reconstruction.

Read more.

[desertdollranch]

Opening my Amy Elise doll

Meet Haley!

So I'm sure you all know I love rare and discontinued 18 inch dolls. It's a lot of fun finding out that they exist, hunting them down on the secondary market, receiving them in the mail, introducing them into my collection, seeing my collection become more diverse, and knowing that I'm one of the very few people who owns them. I also think it's fascinating to observe the individual differences between brands. While my 18 inch doll collection started with American Girl dolls, it certainly won't end there.

Haley was no exception to that. I first noticed her while searching for another brand of rare dolls. I stumbled across her listing, tried to research but couldn't find much about her, and so decided to think about it for a few weeks. She was so inexpensive (less than the price of a new Our Generation dolls) and yet looked like she was lovingly made with high quality materials. The mystery around her was so intriguing that I went ahead and bought her.

When I received her, the box gave me the URL of the now-defunct Amy Elise brand, and so I was able to plug it into the Wayback machine and see the site as it appeared when it was active. I also noticed the box refers to Amy Elise as "books and dolls with a purpose". What purpose could that be? I wondered if, based on Haley's lab coat and clipboard, that maybe these dolls encouraged young girls to consider careers in science. I didn't receive a book with my doll, so I could only speculate.

The lab coat was featured on Hayley's profile on the Amy Elise website, which was archived by the Wayback machine from 2007 to 2009.

The other available doll, Marissa, is a young detective who likes to solve mysteries. A good start to a later career in forensics, I guess?

But if you read the introductions closely, each mentions learning lessons about faith. And if you look closely at the pictures of the two dolls, you can see the golden cross necklace each of them is wearing.

I was way off in my assumption. Rather than being science-focused, Amy Elise was one of the many Christian alternatives to American Girl that began popping up in the 1990s. That's still happening today, although it's becoming less common as smaller brands realize how hard it is to compete with American Girl's massive advertising budget, as well as more budget-friendly alternatives like Our Generation. For that reason they tend to quietly go defunct within a few short years.

I think this calls for a deep dive into this small, obscure brand.

The Wayback machine doesn't always archive the complete sites, and especially not the pictures, but it seems to have gotten a pretty comprehensive shot of the site.

Here is the mission statement and letter from the CEO of Amy Elise.

Fortunately this statement manages to convey their purpose without insulting American Girl, or referring negatively to non-Christian girls. I also did Google the CEO's name to see if she's still involved in doll production of any kind, and I can't find evidence that she is.

Elsewhere on the site, there are a few other faith-related products sold separately from the dolls.

The images here are broken because they were not archived.

There are a few other outfits and accessories for Haley and Marissa as well. Larger images weren't archived. None of the outfit descriptions give any sort of link to the characters' stories.

That's about all that's interesting about the site. The author's blog is more of a journal of her life and thoughts. Only the first page was archived and nothing in it is related to the dolls or their stories.

So let's open the doll. (You might have already spotted her a few weeks ago when I made a post about my dolls visiting a pumpkin patch--Haley was there. I actually got her in October and just haven't gotten around to posting this until now, mid-December.)

Haley was never removed from her box, so she's in flawless condition. She came with a pretend clipboard, pretend pen, and a cross necklace.

Her outfit underneath the lab coat is very cute.

Everything fastens with snaps instead of Velcro.

Her shirt has buttons on the left shoulder.

Her jeans have snaps and a zipper.

Her wig is one of the nicest I've ever encountered! It's soft but not slippery, and feels very realistic.

It did come off pretty easily when I tugged on it, so I moved it over to give her a side part, which I think makes her look a bit younger than she does. To me she doesn't look ten years old like her book says. She definitely has a more mature look to her face.

Overall I'm really impressed at her high quality materials. She's made of vinyl, but it does look like porcelain. She has a cloth torso and the standard articulation at the hips, shoulders, and neck.

She fits nicely into American Girl clothes, despite being just a little bit slimmer.

She fits into Maplelea clothes too, and this robotics club outfit looks perfect on her. I like the pink and purple hair on her but I don't think this wig change will be permanent.

Her feet are slightly bigger than AG doll feet, as seen on the left. I tried Haley's shoes on my Maplelea doll Léonie, and they were a much better match!

[binaural-histolog]

Storytelling Is Too Effective

There's a podcast I listen to, If Books Could Kill. Every episode, they review a book -- usually popular science or psychology, but sometimes political -- and they poke holes at it. They go back to the original papers that the book cites, they cross reference claims made between chapters and point out inconsistencies, and they draw from other studies and theories to provide contrast and context. It is entertainment, but it's also an appeal to critical thought.

One great thing that the podcast does is to track down anecdotes back to the original newspaper articles, and then point out how the book misquotes or misconstrues the event to serve the narrative. It can be jaw-dropping to hear what some books do with their source material. And yet, this is believable. These books, and these stories, are believed.

But I'm only talking about popular science books that present studies and supporting anecdotes as the truth. There's another category of book, the books that present the argument purely as story.

Who Moved My Cheese is a popular book about workers who have to deal with organizational change, including layoffs and cost-cutting measures. It was famous at the time, and consists almost entirely of made up conversations between mice, detailing how the mice should think about these changes. The podcast takedown is brutal and recommended.

Part of the reason that the book is so effective is that it's entirely story. The mice say what they're told to say, and the arguments are set up to make the right mice look smart and the wrong mice look dumb. The book wants you to engage and believe the argument even though the support is entirely illusory or relies on social pressure. And people believed it.

I think there's a natural tendency for people to believe books when they are storytelling -- either as stories or narrative as dialogue. The mortar that holds storytelling together is belief, and belief by its nature is credulous. You are not invited to review the raw data of a story, or examine the statistics for data dredging. You can't reproduce the results in a double-blind experiment. Story is story: you either believe it or you don't.

And that made me wonder.

What would If Books Could Kill say about Frogs into Princes or My My Voice Will Go With You?

Frogs into Princes is a dialogue about NLP. It's supposedly a transcript from a seminar. It's super effective.

The dialogue based format is effective in part because it's off the cuff --it doesn't come with footnotes or cite references, because who does that in the middle of talking? No-one in the seminar calls them out or challenges them on where they got their results or their thinking. Bandler talks about a therapist repeatedly removing and putting back back a phobia in a single session. Terms like "transderivational search" are dropped in (even though the word "transderivational" is a linguistics term) and no-one blinks an eye. The concept of preferred representational systems (PRS) is introduced, which even Bandler revised as no longer considered an important component in 1986. The audience believes all of this. You are expected to believe all of this.

And yet, if you dig into NLP and Bandler more specifically you find that much of this doesn't actually work and PRS is invented from whole cloth, with no linguistic evidence behind it.

According to Weitzenhoffer, "the major weakness of Bandler and Grinder's linguistic analysis is that so much of it is built upon untested hypotheses and is supported by totally inadequate data."[24]

But the point isn't truth. The point of NLP is to sell NLP, and it does very well at that; the conferences are very successful and disturbing to attending journalists.

My Voice Will Go With You is slightly different. It is the teaching tales of Erickson, written by Sydney Rosen. Erickson presents a series of stories showing how he solved a patient's problems using hypnosis and metaphor. Erickson was a natural storyteller, and because of that, the books present him as a protagonist.

But if you look at Erickson as a whole, his methods and philosophy are not about truth -- Hilgard gives several examples. Erickson never cared about truth. He cared about belief.

His habit of utilization meant that he would not only utilize behavior to point out that they were going into trance. He would utilize any improvement in his patients lives to point out his successful intervention. He was clear that he would lie to his patients for the sake of the case, and it's pretty clear he was lying or exaggerating some of his cases. He projected an image, and his image was so effective that it meant people would uncritically repeat what he said and fail to check and verify his accounts.

Cardena even called out Erickson's approach.

To muddy the waters even more, why have not some of the followers of a therapist known to fabricate false past stories to achieve therapeutic goals wondered whether he used that same technique in his writing and teaching?

And the problem is, some of it appears not to work for anyone else.

The research reviewed simply does not support long-held beliefs by Erickson or those who practice Ericksonian approaches to therapy. [...] Although there are impressive and dramatic clinical anecdotes cited in the literature about Erickson and his work, there is no compelling need to invoke any sort of special curative processes active in Ericksonian approaches beyond those already documented as active in any form of effective psychotherapy (e.g., relationship, expectancies, construction of a compelling narrative, active client involvement). Unlike hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is not clear that hypnosis adds anything to this approach.

When indirect suggestions are tried in experimental hypnosis, they don't work as well as direct suggestions.

The best controlled studies provide no support for the superiority of indirect suggestions, and there are indications that direct suggestions are superior to indirect suggestions in terms of modifying subjects’ experience of hypnosis. Nevertheless, the overriding conclusion is that differences between a wide variety of suggestions are either nonexistent or trivial in nature. (p. 138)

The reason that people still believe in Erickson and in NLP is because the way that the books present the argument is through storytelling. Storytelling requires belief and inhibits critical thought. We are set up to believe: hook, line, and sinker.

[theaddictedwatcher]

Hello everyone!

The series I'm going to introduce to you today is very close to my heart, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to tell you all about it. A science fiction series produced by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett for BBC America, its first season was released in 2013. It consists of five seasons of 10 episodes each, and last year saw the birth of its spin-off. Today, I'm going to talk to you about the Orphan Black series!

As always, let's start with a synopsis that's a little longer than usual: Sarah Manning, a young thief in her twenties, orphaned and penniless, witnesses the suicide of Detective Beth Childs, who looks exactly like her. She decides to assume her identity while erasing her own existence by pretending to have taken her own life. Sarah is also the mother of a little girl, Kira, who is being looked after by Sarah's adoptive mother, Mrs. S. The latter agrees to give her back to her on condition that Sarah can prove that she can be a worthy mother, by bringing in a sum of money to support them. Through Beth's investigations, Sarah learns that they are not just twins and that there are a number of them in North America and Europe. She meets Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics, and Alison Hendrix, a stay-at-home mom living in a comfortable suburb, whom she assists in learning more about their origins. In the course of her investigation, Sarah finds herself in the crossfire between two entities: the Dyad Institute, a powerful biotech consortium; and the Proletians, a sectarian movement convinced that they are abominations and which is behind the hunt for them. The two entities step up their hunt when they learn that Sarah, who has escaped their supervision, has a baby daughter - theoretically impossible since they are supposed to be sterile. Sarah, and those she now considers her sisters, are sometimes on the run from these organisms, sometimes fooled by their manipulations, all the while searching for their origins. And now, a short technical presentation: - Created by: Graeme Mason and John Fawcett - Music by: Trevor Yuile - Main cast: Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Hanchard, Michael Mando, Evelyne Brochu, Kristian Bruun, Ari Millen, Josh Vokey.

PRESENTATION

It's going to be pretty difficult to talk about the series without spoiling anything, so I apologize in advance for the slight spoilers present in this article. I'll try as far as possible to limit them or point them out if they're unavoidable, but the main spoiler I can't avoid is the main subject of the series.

As you'll have gathered from the summary, one of the main subjects of the series is human cloning. Indeed, Sarah, Beth, Cosima, Alison, and all the others - all played by Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk, Chronicle of the Living Dead, The Listener)- are not mere twins, but clones. That's why the Dyad Institute and the Proletians are looking for them, although they don't have the same intentions for them if they find them.

SPOILER + In the final episode of season 1, Cosima discovers that each clone has a different DNA tag based on ASCII-coded base pairs. In addition to the identification code, there is the text "This organism and its derived genetic material are restricted intellectual property." followed by a series of patent numbers. Sarah receives a photograph whose caption suggests that the cloning project that produced it was called "Project Leda". SPOILER END

But that's enough spoilers for now, we can finally start the analysis!

CASTING

At the end of the first season, ten clones of different nationalities and social backgrounds are revealed. Other clones gradually emerge in subsequent seasons. In episode 8 of season 2, Tony, a transgender clone, is introduced. All are played by Tatiana Maslany, who alone plays a good third of the show's characters. Often praised by the press for her acting and the complexity of her roles, it was several years before she received any awards for the series, much to the dismay of fans and the press who couldn't understand why.

In Tatiana Maslany's portrayal of the eight main clones, she was aided by Kathryn Alexandre (Darknet, Saving Hope, Designated Survivor), who acted as her understudy and acted in scenes where several clones interacted. Although she was not credited in the first season's episodes, she was present throughout the series. She doesn't appear on screen as the clones in any of the broadcast episodes, but motion capture and post-production compositing were used to replace her on-screen with Tatiana Maslany's performance. I'll come back a little later in the SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SHOOTING ANECDOTES section to explain how the footage was prepared to facilitate the work of the actresses and the editors. Tatiana Maslany said of Kathryn Alexandre's performance: "She's so incredible. She memorizes all the lines, all my blocks, all her blocks, my mannerisms, my impulses; she somehow memorizes it all and gives it back to me in a performance that I can build on." Kathryn Alexandre had worked as an actor's reader during the casting auditions for the initial production of Orphan Black. She then auditioned for the role of Tatiana Maslany's understudy and won the spot because the producers were looking for, in Kathryn Alexandre's words, "an actor rather than just an understudy".

KNOWN CLONES (SPOILER)

Throughout the series, each Project Leda clone has its own existence and therefore its own relationships. Early on in the series, we meet Alison Hendrix, mother of two and housewife, and her husband Donnie, as well as Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics. Both of them - played by Tatiana Maslany - and the relationships they develop over the series are key elements of the story.

We also encounter other cloning projects with Project Castor. It's revealed that the original samples from the Castor and Leda projects were brother and sister, making all clones genetic siblings. But there's an even stronger link between the two genomes: a single woman, Kendall Malone - played by Alison Steadman (The King's Man: First Mission)-, is in fact the original of both clone lines, as she is a human chimera. We later learn that, in addition to being the donor of the genomes' DNA, she is also the biological mother of Siobhan Sadler - played by Maria Doyle Kennedy (Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case, Outlander, The Tudors)- Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's guardian.

Unlike the Project Leda clones, all Project Castor clones are aware of their cloned nature and have been raised together by Dr. Virginia Coady -played by Kyra Harper (Warehouse 13, The Dresden Files)- in a military setting.

As with Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen (My Life with John F. Donovan, The Expanse), who plays the Project Castor clones, was supported by Nick Abraham as his understudy when necessary.

Other key clones in the story are also introduced in the course of the series, whether allied or not, but I've already told you a lot and wouldn't want to spoil the whole story for those of you who want to watch the series. I'll just end this part by pointing out that the final episode of the series gives us a glimpse of a worldwide count of 274 Leda clones…

OVERVIEW

I'd like to pay tribute to the titanic efforts of the production team, Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen, and their understudies to achieve such fluidity in the transitions between the various shots and the many (very many!) roles played by the actors. On a personal note, I have to admit that, over and above the story and the investigative aspect, it was Tatiana Maslany's acting that won me over so quickly to the series. What a performance, to know how to nuance her acting to interpret seventeen characters and make them all different and identifiable. Of course, she didn't do it alone: the writing of the story, the artistic team, and the technical team all contributed to this success.

I'd also like to salute the work of Evelyne Brochu (Tom à la ferme, Café de Flore, Paris Police 1900), Jordan Gavaris (Degrassi: Nouvelle Génération, Take Two), and Kevin Hanchard (Suicide Squad, The Expanse, Hudson & Rex), who were great discoveries or rediscoveries for me, giving this series a warm, familiar feel.

The role played by Matt Frewer (Watchmen, Supernatural, Hercules) is also very important, bringing an extra shade of toxicity to this morally dubious universe.

THEMATICS

While we're on the subject of this series' morals, and in particular those of its characters, I'd like to take a moment to focus on certain themes that I feel the series highlights, to open up a dialogue in the viewer's mind about these subjects.

One of the first themes to emerge in the first few episodes is the questioning of patriarchy. Between Sarah's toxic relationship with her drug-dealing ex-partner Victor, and Beth's relationship with Paul, who not only is her partner but also spies on her for the Dyad Institute, the depictions of couple relationships in the very first episodes of the series are very much in favor of patriarchy. These are situations in which the man in the relationship tries to control his partner's every move, but also to control her mentally by exerting moral pressure. What's interesting for me, beyond this faithful depiction of toxic relationships, is that not only did they not stop at showing this pattern in couple relationships, they extended this possibility to professional and family relationships as well, and, throughout the series, deconstructed these patterns by allowing the female characters to free themselves from these holdings, albeit sometimes with very heavy blows, to regain their independence and find themselves again and not the version altered by the male figures in their environment.

What's more, the very existence of clones means that the series tackles the subject of the exploitation of the body, particularly the female body. SPOILER Between the fact that the stem DNA used to create the two clone families comes from one and the same woman, Kendall Malone, and the fact that they're looking for Sarah and Helena because they're the only two clones with the ability to give life (ndlr. Alison and Donnie's children are adopted), something that until now was not possible in experiments, the female body is used as a tool to satisfy unhealthy research carried out by scientists who have no respect for human existence as we know it. END SPOILER

The series is full of strong female characters, from the clones played by Tatiana Maslany to Mrs. S -Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's caretaker played by Maria Doyle Kennedy - and Dr. Delphine Cormier - played by Evelyne Brochu - and it's a great way, in my opinion, of popularizing in viewers' minds that deconstructing patriarchy isn't a bad thing and won't lead to the end of the world, as some people seem to think… An evolution, be it moral, sociological, scientific, or other, is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must welcome it and try to understand it before directly considering it as a danger to be eradicated.

But beyond this aspect, for me, there's a real questioning of the capitalist world, which is ready to tolerate or even encourage any experiment as long as it's profitable. Long before Elon Musk and his Neuralink launched in 2016, the series had already understood and set out to denounce the potential excesses of technological developments in the medical field. I'm not saying that there aren't advantages to such advances, particularly if they help to improve or save lives, as long as they are governed by strict rules, particularly concerning experimentation, whether animal or human, as was the case with Project Dolly in Scotland in the late 90s, to which the very theme of the series refers.

For those of you who don't know, Project Dolly is a sheep famous for being the first mammal clone in history, obtained from the nucleus of the mammary gland of an adult sheep. The nucleus of this cell, containing the entire genetic make-up, is injected into the egg cell of another ewe, from which the original nucleus has been removed. In this way, the nuclear DNA of the first ewe replaces that of the second in the latter's egg cell. 277 egg cells are created, giving rise to around 30 embryos. Only one of these develops into an adult. For the first time, a viable being resulting from this cloning technique survives. Scottish scientists named the sheep "Dolly" after the American singer Dolly Parton, renowned for the generosity of her breasts because the cloning was carried out using mammary gland cells.

The media hype surrounding this project has given rise to the misconception that a clone is a carbon copy of another individual. The identity is that of the nuclear DNA, which implies that the clone is neither genetically identical to another individual, since the genetic heritage is made up of the nuclear DNA contained in the nucleus of the organism's cells and the mitochondrial DNA contained in the cytoplasm of the ovum (and therefore also in the enucleated ovum); nor an identical physiognomy as a result of the role of the environment in which the DNA is expressed, and even if a great resemblance exists, it is ultimately less than that which exists between homozygous twins.

Cloning from differentiated cells of an adult organism represents a major breakthrough in the scientific world. It proves that the regulation of gene expression is reversible, and opens the door to the production of transgenic animals (with extra genes, such as those encoding human proteins used for medical purposes) or animals with special qualities. This could be an interesting technique for safeguarding endangered species.

The same Scottish team cloned 13 ewes, including 4 in 2007 (Debbie, Denise, Diana and Daisy) from the mammary gland cell line that gave birth to Dolly 10 years earlier. Unlike Dolly, these ewes show no signs of accelerated aging. While less than 3% of cloned embryos were born healthy in 1996, this proportion has risen to over 20% for the cohort of ewes in 2016.

To my mind, the potential scientific aberrations of such discoveries are one of the things the series wants to warn us against, and it's all to its credit when we see in the media today all the madness that laboratories are capable of producing under cover of private funding… All progress is good to take as long as it's useful for improving the comfort of life for everyone, but also as long as it's accessible to all and not reserved for a privileged class who has the financial means to afford it. Here's a link to an article that goes into more depth about the biomedical criminality present in Orphan Black.

Finally, I'd also like to talk about representation in this series. With a predominantly female cast thanks to the various clones played by Tatiana Maslany, the series offers a very diverse range of female characters, but not only. It also offers a fine representation of LGBT characters that I won't name to keep you surprised. Whether it's several lesbian couples, gay encounters, or even a transgender character, the series gives pride of place to this community which, for once in a time, is represented outside the clichés. Indeed, they are portrayed as any heterosexual or cisgender person (cisgender: a person in agreement with his or her birth gender, the opposite of transgender) and it's refreshing not to find the scenarist facilities too often used or to have characters portrayed as excessive, "freaks". Whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity, everyone is entitled to self-respect, and it was a real balm for me at the time to see such characters on my screen.

PRODUCTION

Casting for the lead role was announced on September 17, 2012. Although Canadian actor Elliot Page was considered for the lead role, Susan and Sharon Forrest, in charge of casting the series, chose to give the role to another Canadian, Tatiana Maslany. The rest of the main cast was announced at the end of October 2012 as filming for the first season began in Toronto.

In March 2014, BBC Worldwide North America signed an agreement with Amazon for exclusive broadcast rights to the series on Amazon Prime Instant Video. The quality of the series, which is worth watching in one sitting, was cited as one of the main reasons for Amazon's interest. In April 2014, the airing of the first episode of the series' second season recorded a 91% audience increase in the 18-49 age group in cumulative TV broadcast audiences plus Amazon Prime Instant Video. In fact, this increase can be explained by the possibility of viewing the episode after it has been broadcast, which makes it easier for viewers to watch. This is the biggest increase for any first-run drama series on cable this season.

In April 2014, writer Stephen Hendricks sued the BBC and Temple Street for $5 million, alleging that they had stolen the idea for Orphan Black from him. He had submitted a script written in the late 1990s, entitled Double Double to Temple Street in 2004, who then considered and ultimately rejected it.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND FILMING ANECDOTES

Scenes in which Tatiana Maslany has several simultaneous roles were filmed several times using carriage-mounted motion control cameras that reproduce the movement between each take. This device, the Technodolly, is referred to as the "Time Vampire" on the Orphan Black set because of the length of time several clone scenes take in the production schedule. In these scenes, Tatiana Maslany first plays the scene with her understudy Kathryn Alexandre in the alternate clone role, then alone in the same clone role, then alone in the alternate clone, then a fourth time with the scene filmed with just the camera movement for a background plate. Suspended tennis balls help the actress maintain appropriate sight lines. In post-production, Kathryn Alexandre and the tennis balls are replaced by Tatiana Maslany's footage from alternative shots, allowing for more action in the scenes where she interacts with herself. In the season 2 finale, when one scene required the presence of four different clones, two days of shooting and several additional body doubles were used to create the effect, and the post-production work of Geoff Scott and his team at Intelligent Creatures VFX would have taken hundreds of hours to complete.

Tatiana Maslany created different music playlists to help her distinguish the many clone personalities she embodies. She also used dance to develop the physicality of the characters, including their postures, gestures, and movements and drew on her experience in improvisation to develop the characters more fully.

The character of Cosima is named after science historian Cosima Herter, a friend of showrunner Graeme Manson, and a scientific consultant on the series. Cosima Herter works with the writers to ensure the plausibility of cloning and other scientific aspects of the series, as well as the complexity of the philosophical and ethical concerns it raises.

Make-up artist Stephen Lynch, hairstylist Sandy Sokolowski, and wardrobe supervisor Debra Hanson are instrumental in creating the visual differences needed to distinguish each clone. Indeed, their work is often used to develop the characters' personalities before lines of dialogue are even written. The screenwriters use the character of each personality as reflected in their physical appearances and clothing to refine the moods and nuances of the characters.

The drawings of Sarah's daughter Kira in the series are created by Sash Kosovic, a member of the art department.

In season 4, a reference to the scientific cloning of Dolly the sheep is made through a sheep's head mask worn by a character to keep his identity secret.

SHOOTING LOCATIONS

Orphan Black was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, but it's not specified whether the series was set in Canada. Graeme Manson said in 2014 that the setting was deliberately ambiguous: "It's supposed to be Generica. It's part of the price you pay for this kind of co-production.". John Fawcett agreed, saying "to be honest, we don't want to say we're American and alienate Canadians, or say we're Canadian and alienate Americans. The fact is, we're one big happy family. We're just a little further north than you are. Grantland's Tara Ariano argued that this ambiguity is "a bold new way for a producer to work within the restrictions of CanadaCon: place your show in Canada (technically), employ a Canadian crew, air it on a Canadian channel… and make room for recurring guest stars like Maria Doyle Kennedy… by casting a Canadian in nearly a dozen roles.".

But beyond that, the Canadian location was apparent through details such as Ontario license plates, Beth and Mrs. S.'s Ontario driver's licenses, the currency used, scripted references to the Ontario suburb of Scarborough and Toronto's Parkdale, and a plane ticket in the pilot episode identifying Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Bridgepoint Health and Toronto's Don Jail are stand-ins for the exterior of the Dyad Institute. Scenes set in the Scarborough suburb where Alison lives are actually shot in Markham, Ontario, a suburb immediately north of Scarborough. However, details are often deliberately obscured; American pronunciations of words like "lieutenant" are used.

The co-production also influenced another important aspect of the series: Sarah's British accent and origins. John Fawcett explained that BBC America had asked them to make the main character British, which she wasn't originally, to better match the BBC brand. John Fawcett, however, saw this directive as an advantage, as it made it easy to differentiate Sarah from the other clones and broaden the geographical scope of the series' plot.

OTHER MEDIA

COMICS

In July 2014, a comic book series published by IDW Publishing was announced. The series, whose first issue was released in February 2015, is co-written by series creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson. A new issue was published monthly until July 2015, when the last of the five contracted issues was published. The issues in order feature Sarah, Helena, Alison, Cosima, and Rachel.

The comic book miniseries was conceived as a way of conveying information about the clones' past and childhood without interrupting the fast-paced TV series. It is presented as an extended universe featuring off-screen events not shown in the episodes. The comics are directly linked to the events of the first season of the series, to anchor the comics in the already established universe. The mini-series offers audiences the opportunity to better understand the emotions, thoughts, and feelings underlying the characters in the TV series.

In August 2015, the comic's conclusion revealed another self-aware clone: Veera Suominen. She was thought to be one of the clones executed in Helsinki, but she survived. The next comic, Orphan Black: Helsinki, published in November 2015, expanded on her character.

AUDIO SERIES

In June 2019, a 10-episode audio series entitled Orphan Black: The Next Chapter was announced, with Tatiana Maslany reprising her role. Serving as an official continuation of the series, it takes place eight years after the series finale. Malka Older is the showrunner with Mishell Baker, Lindsay Smith, Heli Kennedy, Madeline Ashby, and E.C. Myers as writers.

The series is broadcast via the Serial Box platform and the first episode was made available on September 12, 2019. Since then it can be found on YouTube via the link above, or on Spotify and Audible.

A second season aired in October 2021, co-produced by Realm and AMC Networks, adding original cast members Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun, and Evelyne Brochu to the cast.

MUSIC

In May 2015, two compilations of the series' soundtrack were released by Varèse Sarabande Records. These two compilations include music from seasons 1 and 2 with compositions made by Trevor Yuile for the series but also music made by other artists such as Tears For Fears and featured in Orphan Black.

The series' main theme, Theme From Orphan Black, is composed and performed by Two Fingers, a Brazilian musician-composer and producer of electronic music, and features on both compilations.

As usual, I'm also attaching the link to listen to the entire series soundtrack. Just as Tatiana Maslany has done to immerse herself in her characters, I find that the soundtrack not only perfectly reflects the different personalities of the clones, but also underlines every aspect of the plot's stakes.

SPIN-OFF

In March 2019, it was announced that a new series set in the Orphan Black universe was in development at AMC, to be produced by Temple Street Productions just as Orphan Black had been. In February 2022, it was announced that Anna Fishko would be the writer of this new story set thirty-seven years after the end of the original series.

Entitled Orphan Black: Echoes, the series follows Kira Manning -played by Keeley Hawes-, now an adult turned doctor, and her wife Eleanor -played by Rya Kihlstedt, as they try to help a woman named Lucy -played by Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones, Don't Trust the B*tch in Apartment 23)- who has become amnesiac following a surgery she underwent.

A ten-episode first season began its run in June 2024 and, so far, we don't know if the series will be renewed for a second season as Season 1 airs until the end of August in the US. Series creator Anna Fishko has revealed, however, that she has the entire storyline already planned and is ready to continue the project if the series' ratings allow. Only time will tell, then, whether we'll get the rest of this adventure... 

Returning from the original series are Jordan Gavaris who played Felix, Sarah's adoptive brother and therefore Kira's uncle, and Evelyne Brochu who played Dr. Delphine Cormier, Cosima's partner and genetic researcher. The original series theme composed by Two Fingers is also used as the closing credits for the spin-off.

CONCLUSION

And that's it for this series! Sorry again for the delay, it was a big piece for me to write. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all, and that I've succeeded in making you want to watch the series.

I'm aware that some of the scenes in the series may be difficult for some people to watch, because the subjects it tackles are very real, and I find it easy as a viewer to identify with some of the characters, or at least to sympathize with the ordeals they go through.

I really enjoyed discovering it when it first came out, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to watch it again with more experienced eyes, given the themes it tackles.

As for the comics, the spin-off, and the audio series, I haven't yet had the chance to delve into them, and although I'd like to, I'm afraid it would spoil my fond memories of the series. But never say never, so why not maybe one day...

On that note, I'll leave you after this far-too-long article!

As always, I wish you a wonderful week and good viewing, and I'll see you next time!

Eli

[sumaya432]

Building the World’s Greatest Companies

WE PROPEL THE WORLD’S BEST COMPANIES WITH DATA ENGINEERED TO DELIVER THE ABSOLUTE HIGHEST PERFORMING C-LEVEL AND BOARD LEADERSHIP FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. Recognized for securing Rocketship CEOs for Tech Giants and many of Silicon Valley’s original unicorns, Christian & Timbers is now re-engineering the next generation of executive search. Introducing Science Based Search For the first time the data transparency to know you will be selecting from the absolute best, highest performing Rocketship Leaders within days not months of initiating the search. TALENT MAPPING → TALENT PIPELINING Knowing the complete competitive candidate ecosystem at launch allows you the business intelligence and talent pipelining to always execute the optimum search strategy. PREDICTIVE LEADERSHIP - PROPRIETARY OUTREACH Our brand, command of language and multi-tiered outreach engines assures leadership trusted to deliver our client’s most critical high-performance business outcomes. UNCOMPROMISING LEADERSHIP HIRING MODEL Capturing the complete candidate universe, KPIs and an Uncompromising Leadership Hiring Model gives you the data transparency to always hire the absolute best. Winning the war for talent for over 40 years

Our experience, global reputation and deep relationships with the best leadership gives us access to the most sought-after Rocketship Talent around the world. The industry’s most advanced Talent Map Engineering adds to our expertise in every specialization.

We first specialized in Robotics, then semiconductor, becoming market leaders in every sector of technology. We are experts in each sector we focus today.

[engineer-gunzelpunk]

The Daemonic Theory Of Engine Sentience: The Hermetic/Alchemical School

Now I introduce everyone to the schools of thought of engine animation. The introduction to the Daemonic Theory of Engine Animation is here

The first of these ideas is the Hermetic school:

“Hermetic” is derived from the idea of Hermeticism, a branch of mysticism said to be derived from the archetypal magician, Hermes Trimagistus and the works and writings attributed to him, which posits a very strongly ordered, top-down cosmos generally, where humans can achieve unity with the Godhead through the magical arts. One way of doing so is the mastery of the art known as “Alchemy”. 

Popularly understood to be the pursuit of vulgar material wealth through the transformation of base materials into gold, the true quest (Great Work) is to create the Philosopher’s Stone, that Holy Grail said to be the key to eternal life, perfect health, enlightenment and happiness.

Implicit in this philosophy is the idea that it is to service mankind, not reserved greedily for oneself; but it is not for everyone to pursue.

The Hermetic theory of engine animation posits that an alchemical, metallurgical process is the channel that brings the Fire down into the locomotive’s shell and brings it life and sentience. The base iron, copper and brass is transformed through the medium of the Divine Fire into a living, thinking being. Through the manipulation of chemical and metallurgical elements, the achievement of the Philosopher’s Stone, or in this case, real sentient artificial life, is sought after.

The real challenge is not so much that it happened, but the study as to why it worked, in this space and time. Of the three strands, the Hermetic strain is probably the most self-reflective in its study as to why.

This theory bears some sympathy to Tanzig’s First Theory of Machine Sentience, in that life is created through the manipulation of material elements; in this case, the old art of alchemy meeting the new science of metallurgy.

Whats more, it that non-faceless vehicles all being created and rapidly appearing at the same time is the culmination of decades, centuries of work in such arts parallel with the development of the machine (which sort to liberate humanity from toil, alas such an aim has not been achieved…).

If mankind is creating actual artificial living creatures that aren’t simply automata on a regular basis, then a kind of spiritual evolution of mankind must have taken place for it to be even possible. Humans being able to achieve true sentient life reflects such a shift in spiritual consciousness.

This can even be reflected in the locomotive evolution themselves, in the further improvement of the form; and whats more, such sentient artificial life can learn and grow too in intellect and understanding.

Of the locomotives on Sodor, it is ex-Furness Railway NWR #2 Edward that demonstrates this evolution, from arrogant hot-blood (red) to venerable elder of the NWR(blue), and somehow he has achieved Eternal Youth in appearance and in his personality.

Some of the greatest theoreticians of natural philosophy and science like Sir Issac Newton were keen alchemists and this was the state of things until the rise of modern science.

Like the other theories, it can show flaws; namely that it seems to have an over-emphasis on a kind of overarching meta-theory, and forget that the creation of locomotives with sentience isn’t some byproduct of man’s search for divinity… but the entire point. The true question is why, and how.

***

Locomotives associated with this tendency may be called Terrestrials. The link with the Earth and its natural elements may have them manifest either a certain balanced serenity or a wild, impish, Fae-like tendency. A lot of them can be quite wild at heart and even a bit scary.

Genius Loci, Fae, and Elemental daemons can give rise in some locomotives; like the mysterious Proteus, who seems very Fae-like in his mannerisms.

[govindhtech]

Google Cloud’s BigQuery Autonomous Data To AI Platform

BigQuery automates data analysis, transformation, and insight generation using AI. AI and natural language interaction simplify difficult operations.

The fast-paced world needs data access and a real-time data activation flywheel. Artificial intelligence that integrates directly into the data environment and works with intelligent agents is emerging. These catalysts open doors and enable self-directed, rapid action, which is vital for success. This flywheel uses Google's Data & AI Cloud to activate data in real time. BigQuery has five times more organisations than the two leading cloud providers that just offer data science and data warehousing solutions due to this emphasis.

Examples of top companies:

With BigQuery, Radisson Hotel Group enhanced campaign productivity by 50% and revenue by over 20% by fine-tuning the Gemini model.

By connecting over 170 data sources with BigQuery, Gordon Food Service established a scalable, modern, AI-ready data architecture. This improved real-time response to critical business demands, enabled complete analytics, boosted client usage of their ordering systems, and offered staff rapid insights while cutting costs and boosting market share.

J.B. Hunt is revolutionising logistics for shippers and carriers by integrating Databricks into BigQuery.

General Mills saves over $100 million using BigQuery and Vertex AI to give workers secure access to LLMs for structured and unstructured data searches.

Google Cloud is unveiling many new features with its autonomous data to AI platform powered by BigQuery and Looker, a unified, trustworthy, and conversational BI platform:

New assistive and agentic experiences based on your trusted data and available through BigQuery and Looker will make data scientists, data engineers, analysts, and business users' jobs simpler and faster.

Advanced analytics and data science acceleration: Along with seamless integration with real-time and open-source technologies, BigQuery AI-assisted notebooks improve data science workflows and BigQuery AI Query Engine provides fresh insights.

Autonomous data foundation: BigQuery can collect, manage, and orchestrate any data with its new autonomous features, which include native support for unstructured data processing and open data formats like Iceberg.

Look at each change in detail.

User-specific agents

It believes everyone should have AI. BigQuery and Looker made AI-powered helpful experiences generally available, but Google Cloud now offers specialised agents for all data chores, such as:

Data engineering agents integrated with BigQuery pipelines help create data pipelines, convert and enhance data, discover anomalies, and automate metadata development. These agents provide trustworthy data and replace time-consuming and repetitive tasks, enhancing data team productivity. Data engineers traditionally spend hours cleaning, processing, and confirming data.

The data science agent in Google's Colab notebook enables model development at every step. Scalable training, intelligent model selection, automated feature engineering, and faster iteration are possible. This agent lets data science teams focus on complex methods rather than data and infrastructure.

Looker conversational analytics lets everyone utilise natural language with data. Expanded capabilities provided with DeepMind let all users understand the agent's actions and easily resolve misconceptions by undertaking advanced analysis and explaining its logic. Looker's semantic layer boosts accuracy by two-thirds. The agent understands business language like “revenue” and “segments” and can compute metrics in real time, ensuring trustworthy, accurate, and relevant results. An API for conversational analytics is also being introduced to help developers integrate it into processes and apps.

In the BigQuery autonomous data to AI platform, Google Cloud introduced the BigQuery knowledge engine to power assistive and agentic experiences. It models data associations, suggests business vocabulary words, and creates metadata instantaneously using Gemini's table descriptions, query histories, and schema connections. This knowledge engine grounds AI and agents in business context, enabling semantic search across BigQuery and AI-powered data insights.

All customers may access Gemini-powered agentic and assistive experiences in BigQuery and Looker without add-ons in the existing price model tiers!

Accelerating data science and advanced analytics

BigQuery autonomous data to AI platform is revolutionising data science and analytics by enabling new AI-driven data science experiences and engines to manage complex data and provide real-time analytics.

First, AI improves BigQuery notebooks. It adds intelligent SQL cells to your notebook that can merge data sources, comprehend data context, and make code-writing suggestions. It also uses native exploratory analysis and visualisation capabilities for data exploration and peer collaboration. Data scientists can also schedule analyses and update insights. Google Cloud also lets you construct laptop-driven, dynamic, user-friendly, interactive data apps to share insights across the organisation.

This enhanced notebook experience is complemented by the BigQuery AI query engine for AI-driven analytics. This engine lets data scientists easily manage organised and unstructured data and add real-world context—not simply retrieve it. BigQuery AI co-processes SQL and Gemini, adding runtime verbal comprehension, reasoning skills, and real-world knowledge. Their new engine processes unstructured photographs and matches them to your product catalogue. This engine supports several use cases, including model enhancement, sophisticated segmentation, and new insights.

Additionally, it provides users with the most cloud-optimized open-source environment. Google Cloud for Apache Kafka enables real-time data pipelines for event sourcing, model scoring, communications, and analytics in BigQuery for serverless Apache Spark execution. Customers have almost doubled their serverless Spark use in the last year, and Google Cloud has upgraded this engine to handle data 2.7 times faster.

BigQuery lets data scientists utilise SQL, Spark, or foundation models on Google's serverless and scalable architecture to innovate faster without the challenges of traditional infrastructure.

An independent data foundation throughout data lifetime

An independent data foundation created for modern data complexity supports its advanced analytics engines and specialised agents. BigQuery is transforming the environment by making unstructured data first-class citizens. New platform features, such as orchestration for a variety of data workloads, autonomous and invisible governance, and open formats for flexibility, ensure that your data is always ready for data science or artificial intelligence issues. It does this while giving the best cost and decreasing operational overhead.

For many companies, unstructured data is their biggest untapped potential. Even while structured data provides analytical avenues, unique ideas in text, audio, video, and photographs are often underutilised and discovered in siloed systems. BigQuery instantly tackles this issue by making unstructured data a first-class citizen using multimodal tables (preview), which integrate structured data with rich, complex data types for unified querying and storage.

Google Cloud's expanded BigQuery governance enables data stewards and professionals a single perspective to manage discovery, classification, curation, quality, usage, and sharing, including automatic cataloguing and metadata production, to efficiently manage this large data estate. BigQuery continuous queries use SQL to analyse and act on streaming data regardless of format, ensuring timely insights from all your data streams.

Customers utilise Google's AI models in BigQuery for multimodal analysis 16 times more than last year, driven by advanced support for structured and unstructured multimodal data. BigQuery with Vertex AI are 8–16 times cheaper than independent data warehouse and AI solutions.

Google Cloud maintains open ecology. BigQuery tables for Apache Iceberg combine BigQuery's performance and integrated capabilities with the flexibility of an open data lakehouse to link Iceberg data to SQL, Spark, AI, and third-party engines in an open and interoperable fashion. This service provides adaptive and autonomous table management, high-performance streaming, auto-AI-generated insights, practically infinite serverless scalability, and improved governance. Cloud storage enables fail-safe features and centralised fine-grained access control management in their managed solution.

Finaly, AI platform autonomous data optimises. Scaling resources, managing workloads, and ensuring cost-effectiveness are its competencies. The new BigQuery spend commit unifies spending throughout BigQuery platform and allows flexibility in shifting spend across streaming, governance, data processing engines, and more, making purchase easier.

Start your data and AI adventure with BigQuery data migration. Google Cloud wants to know how you innovate with data.

[traeuthaeou]

WALLWAR

Wallwar is simple Game and educational showing of character and fact it's in fact A science , A science of Humanoid Biped Behavior and fortitude courage in discomfort or adversity. , It's All war and A Physical contact Sport , Injuries May Occur as well one may Receive A Purple Heart for Being Injured During time at war. It's Simple as A Team Sport and Every one is engaged in A what we call Clash and Stalemate , Clash is the Beginning of the time of your Vitality on this Planet , Clash is Based Upon The Center Line and Two Walls The Objective is One Member or Every Member touches the Wall First to touch the Wall Earns Team Victory. To say One person won the War and Those all remembered are the people with and the winning team or side if it be. The Stalemate is every one is downed and rest or people are not able to continue forward in tussle. Downed is the Physicality of the Game every one best way of downing A person once downed you are inactive and not allowed to vertical to one's feet leaving only the standing in War to Fight on and continue until one reaches the wall and earns victory for the winning team. Self Downing penalty is removed from play down to long to motion to feet yes the Interesting Most Valuable Player Downs the most members of A Rival Team in Clean Sport with Sportmanship .

Necessities

People

Gear

Wall

A Center line ..

All you need to play

Mats and other safety security if so .

traeuthaeou

18h

Coded | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

8 notes

Email_@ | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

9 notes

SEARCHING FOR PARADISE . | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

12 notes

LOVE BY NUMBERS | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

9 notes

A Message | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

7 notes

A Masssage | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

6 notes

MessageS | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

8 notes

God & Goddess | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

9 notes

Redlight Yellowlight Greenlight | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

9 notes

Love Notes | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

8 notes

Currency | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

8 notes

Holy Emporer | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

9 notes

God | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

12 notes

)0 QUESTION 'S 0( | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 11, 2020

8 notes

ホーキンス対京都大学 | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

5 notes

ホーキンスと東京大学 | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

6 notes

Hawkins Vs Hopkins 2 | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

2 notes

Hawkins Versus The University of Tokyo | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

1 note

Hawkins Versus Kyoto University | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

1 note

Hawkins Vesrus Yale | Facebook

facebook.com

Feb 10, 2020

3 note

Blaze

BALTIMORE SPRING FLING FESTIVAL

BALTIMORE SPRING FLING FESTIVAL is Spring Celebration Tradition of Unity and Formed in Barclay School Johns Hopkins Community , Halloween Fling ? A Tradition to introduce coming Fall Celebration Charting out side of the Johns Hopkins Hommewood Campuss Community , As Children in the 1990s Our Tradition began with simple Raffles Tickets and Community Donations trying to keep out Corporate Business and Donations among our Blue Chips and Chips. Children or Students whom already have business wealth and inheritance but A Chip is A Business Owner and Major. The Baltimore Interest in Chip Corporation Donations will Increase the Quality but shut out the community in donation and ability to entrain mass through produce and charity and what Business and Corporation. Working to Together We Can Create Unified City Wide Event and Attraction for the Masses Sponsored Supported Brought to Your By The City and People and Better Business of Baltimore A Celebration of Spring and Vibrancy with Unity For Adults and Children.

Terry Founder

traeuthaeou

64.media.tumblr.com

BALTIMORE SPRING FLING TRADITION BARLCAY 33RD TO PRATT STREET

traeuthaeou

2m

BALTIMORE & BUSINESS GOD & GODDESS SECURITY

YORK COUNTY PA FOUNDED COCAINE COLOVENE CO IT WILL WORK IN BALTIMORE

Founder Terry.

Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins

Terry Lee Hawkins Jr.

traeuthaeou

ALLAHTREU TREUALLAH TRUE SCRAMBLED LANGUAGEOLOGIST

Founder Terry.

Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins

Terry Lee Hawkins Jr

Blaze

Johns Hopkins Homewood Neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland The prestigious and sprawling Johns Hopkins University campus in Homewood is home to tree-lined paths, traditional redbrick architecture, and a landmark clock tower. The campus features the Shriver Hall Concert Series and the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as popular Wyman Park, Wyman Park Dell, and Stony Run Trail. The surrounding area has many taverns and casual eateries popular with students.

Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling blessed with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 3 mins · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling blessed with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 11 mins · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling professional with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 1 min · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins 4 mins · RAVENDOVE Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins was RavenDove - yin yin / yang RavenDove - yin yin / yang - COLD NUMB AND (LOVIEY DOVIEY) CALCULATED SPELL IT D or L Dove or Love maybe L or D Lover or Dover pythagorean numerology ABC123 Kauffman-Hawkins-Hawk or Hopk -H__kins aw or op and Hopkins signed Booper or just Boop not Book BUT LOKI OR BOOPER SAN with Blaze Pascal. with Terry Lee Hawkins ( male ) @ikigami shinigam HAWKINS HOKINSU/HOKINZU https://www.facebook.com/notes/terry-lee-kauffman-hawkins/bac-formula-racing-f3-series-bac-mission-statement/2296158727310875/ — feeling professional with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. YES=Y=YES / NO=N=NO

Blaze

India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country from June 2023 onwards; and since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Wikipedia

Blaze

Johns Hopkins Homewood

Neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland

Blaze

traeuthaeou

5m ago

YORK OR WORK HOSPITAL Y LETTER 15 W LETTER 23

The University of Maryland, Baltimore is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1807, it is the second oldest college in Maryland and comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States. Wikipedia

Avg cost after aid

––

Graduation rate

95%

Acceptance rate

––Graduation rate is for non-first-time, full-time undergraduate students who graduated within 6 years. They were the largest group of students (75%) according to the 2022–23 College Scorecard data ·more 

From US Dept of Education · Learn more

Address: 

620 W Lexington St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Address: 620 W Lexington St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Phone: (410) 706-3100

Blaze

0 notes

Blaze

0 notes

Blaze

0 notes

traeuthaeou

2m ago

ALLAH STEP ONE .. GOD TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE NOT A TWELVE STEP LETTER A TO L PROGRAM AT JOHNS HOPKINS AND GOD OR DOG . CHIP HOUSE HUOJINSEN YOU AN ADULT I AM REPORTING TO YOU. H O U S E - H U O J I N S E N . HAWKINGSON TERRY LEE - SOBRIQUET BOOPER BOOPPER THEOS LOKI TEREMY

Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins

is with

Terry Lee Hawkins Jr.

May 9 at 4:48 PM

·

Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling blessed with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 3 mins · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling blessed with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 11 mins · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins is feeling professional with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. 1 min · Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins 4 mins · RAVENDOVE Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins was RavenDove - yin yin / yang RavenDove - yin yin / yang - COLD NUMB AND (LOVIEY DOVIEY) CALCULATED SPELL IT D or L Dove or Love maybe L or D Lover or Dover pythagorean numerology ABC123 Kauffman-Hawkins-Hawk or Hopk -H__kins aw or op and Hopkins signed Booper or just Boop not Book BUT LOKI OR BOOPER SAN with Blaze Pascal. with Terry Lee Hawkins ( male ) @ikigami shinigam HAWKINS HOKINSU/HOKINZU https://www.facebook.com/notes/terry-lee-kauffman-hawkins/bac-formula-racing-f3-series-bac-mission-statement/2296158727310875/ — feeling professional with Terry Lee Hawkins Jr. YES=Y=YES / NO=N=NO

Blaze

0 notes

Blaze

0 notes

Blaze

0 notes

Enoch Pratt Free Library

4.6301 Google reviews

Public library in Baltimore, Maryland

Website

Directions

Reviews

Save

Share

Call

Description

The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block ... Wikipedia

Departments: Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled

Address: 400 Cathedral St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Architect: Edward Lippincott Tilton

Hours: 

Open ⋅ Closes 8 PM · More hours

Opened: 1882

Phone: (410) 396-5430

Branches: 22

Director: Chad Helton, President and CEO

Johns Hopkins Homewood

Neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland

0 notes

Johns Hopkins Homewood

Neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

4.542 Google reviews  Business school in Baltimore, Maryland

Website

Directions

Reviews

Save

Share

Call

Description

The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is the graduate business school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It was established in 2007 and offers full-time and part-time programs leading to the Master of Business Administration and Master of Science degrees. Wikipedia

Located in: Legg Mason Investments (Division of Franklin Templeton)

Address: 100 International Drive, Baltimore, MD 21202

Undergraduate tuition and fees: 42,000 USD (2013 – 14)

Founded: 2007

Endowment: More than $50 million

Dean: Alexander Triantis

Campus: Urban

School code: E02145 jhu.edu

School types: Business school, Private school

Parent institution: Johns Hopkins University

Phone: (410) 234-9220

Blaze

Blaze

Blaze

0 notes

64.media.tumblr.com

64.media.tumblr.com

64.media.tumblr.com

Blaze

0 notes

[firsttumbleracct]

Blog Post Due 4/10

In what ways have hashtags been used to help racial injustice? 

Hashtags have been used commonly throughout the online world, but in black Twitter they mean something completely different. Laytoya Lee’s article Black Twitter: A Response to Bias in Mainstream media, explains how organized groups in the black Twitter community use hashtags like #AliveWhileBlack, #ICantBreathe, or #APHeadlines were used in order to demonstrate online activism and support to protests happening at the time. Additionally, by using the hashtags or what Lee refers to as “blacktags” they can be used like a search engine, in order to see specific posts/news for the related event. The black tags were created in response to Black Lives Matter protest, the killing of innocent black people from police brutality, and to raise awareness of events in the black community. 

How did social media play a role in the #NoDAPL movement?

Deschine Parkhurst explains in her article that when the #NoDAPL movement first occurred it hadn’t really received any mainstream coverage from national news sources like NBC, CBS, or CNN. While the protest did have citizen journalists, independent media, and posts being made there was no mainstream news coverage about what exactly was happening during the movement. Until a facebook live streaming of militarized police using excessive force on Water Protectors helped gain national attention for the cause. The live streaming was the gateway for the #NoDAPL movement to get the attention that they needed and deserved. Social media was used to amplify, spread the word, and for people to create a community of support for the movement. 

What is online activism? 

In the article, Classifying Forms of Online Activism by Sandor Vegh, the author introduces the term “online activism”. In which they describe as “a politically motivated movement relying on the Internet”. In other words, using the internet as a tool in order to help give political protests, events, or movements gain attention to have more people support their cause. 

What are some forms of online activism? 

Andor Vegh’s article goes into detail about the many ways that online activism can take place. A quick overview of the forms is awareness/advocacy, organization/mobilization, and action/reaction. 

First off, awareness and advocacy is used to inform other people about what is happening. This form is created by accessing relevant websites and news information, which can be provided by the individuals or independent organizations involved with the event.  

Moving on, organization and mobilization is the physical action taken for the protest or movement. While this form still uses the internet to spread word about plans or offline events, it is mainly just used as a messenger to coordinate large gatherings. Additionally, organization and mobilization utilities emails, website postings, or contacting government officials to help stand with the cause at hand. 

Finally, action and reaction is based on the internet only. This form is used in a way such as spam email or messaging to overrun servers. The goal of this form is to overwhelm the response capacity or stop servers from properly working. 

In all, each of these forms of online activism utilize the internet in different ways. Whether that be news coverage to spread the word about the event or planning physical meetups to show support for certain causes. Online activism has many forms for people to participate in protests or political movements. 

Lee, L. A. (2017). Black Twitter: A Response to Bias in Mainstream Media. Social Sciences, 6(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6010026

ReferencesParkhurst, D. (2021). 2. From #Mniwiconi to #StandwithStandingRock: How the #NoDAPL Movement Disrupted Physical and Virtual Spaces and Brought Indigenous Liberation to the Forefront of People’s Minds. Rutgers University Press EBooks, 32–47. https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978808812-003

Vegh, S. (2003). Classifying Forms of Online Activism . 

[evidence-based-activism]

feminists are trying to defend Lucy letby the vile woman who killed babies, too bad for you she has been found guilty. https://apple.news/AYaBFIXxAQ1KtwSC2w-84kA

Hello Anon -

I'm going to answer this in parts:

Are feminists trying to defend Lucy Letby?

I searched for any evidence of this and found none. If you have any evidence that this is occurring you'll have to provide sources for it. However, I've searched for news articles, organization statements, and social media posts and found absolutely no evidence of this. (The link you provided is just to a generic news article on the topic. Nothing about a feminist defense on the topic.)

Is anyone trying to defend Lucy Letby?

There are some people saying that a "miscarriage of justice" has taken place. However, they're explicitly indicating that they don't know if Lucy Letby is innocent. They have an issue with the way the prosecution used statistical and scientific evidence, and with the defense's inadequate response to this misuse of evidence.

Essentially, they are saying that - regardless of Letby's innocence or guilt - she received an inadequate defense and should be retried. (This article (archived link) introduces the arguments, although its tone suggests the arguments lack merit.)

I'm not going to go into the problems they've identified (with one exception, which I'll address next), but if you're interested in a breakdown of the issues an article by The Guardian (archived link) and another by The Telegraph (archived link) discuss the identified problems with the case's statistics/science (and some counter-arguments). The first is from a left-leaning source and the second from a right-leaning source, but they essentially address the same information.

One of the primary points behind this argument is that the prosecution misused statistical data. One of the primary advocates is Statistician Richard Gill. An important note about him, is that Letby is not the first person he's made this argument for. From the first article:

Seven years before anyone had heard of Letby, Gill successfully campaigned for the retrial of Dutch nurse Lucia de Berk. De Berk stood trial for serial murder in 2003 and was convicted of four murders and three attempted murders. In 2010, after a campaign led by whistleblowers and statisticians including Gill, the case was sent back to court. De Berk was exonerated; her case is now considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Dutch history. (Emphasis added.)

This same issue has apparently arisen frequently enough that the "Royal Statistical Society" wrote and published a report ("Healthcare serial killer or coincidence? Statistical issues in investigation of suspected medical misconduct.") on the topic, which essentially advised people to consult a statistician before using statistics for a criminal case. Neither the prosecution or the defense followed this recommendation.

That doesn't necessarily make these arguments correct ... just because he's been right before doesn't mean he's right this time. There's room for doubt in almost any type of evidence (hence why the juries are asked to consider "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" instead of "absolute certainty in guilt").

All in all, some field experts are indicating they believe the prosecutions evidence was flawed and the defense's response failed to address these flaws in Letby's defense. As a result, they believe Letby should be retried. Notably, they are not suggesting she be immediately exonerated or released.

Importantly, this argument is not based on feminism or Letby being female. It's specifically a scientific/statistical argument. As such, your assertion that "feminists are trying to defend Lucy Letby" is still incorrect.

Bonus: general serial killer statistics.

To try and keep both posts a reasonable length, I have made a separate post about Sex Differences in Serial/Mass Murder.