#What even is a ctap

[dorenarox]

Some people in TF2 are ridiculously easy to piss off...

[onlinebankinginyork]

The Greatest Guide to Online Banking in York

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[waterwindow]

You probably get this question a lot but how long did it take you to learn how to rocket jump? I've only been at it for a few months but with all the times I have to step away. Especially with school now, I'm just a little worried it'll set me back and/or all lose the very little that I do know lol

Hmmm not really- So no worries. I’ve been jumping for about a year. Everyone’s progress is different. There’s some people who take to it like a bird and other people struggle for a long time before it starts to sink in bit by bit. I wouldn’t really worry or compare yourself to other jumpers (unless you find the rivalry-aspect fun/inspiring. Just make sure the guy you’re competing with is alright with it i guess? asdfsdfsd but i digress. I have a few of those so I don’t wanna leave that off the table entirely cause i’d be a big fat hypocrit.)

  The experience is really almost the same for every skill level of jumper, there’s things you know and then there’s things you’re just UGHHGHG. Even amazing yeeters (not me by a long fucking shot) but even they get to a thing and they’re like ‘oh great’ and then they grind. The skill ceiling is insanely high and they’re not really better off than you, they’re also tryin their asses off. Just... further ahead in the map. Or in an advanced server. Or they’re speedrunning or nofragging or racing or teaching or whatever- point is there’s always demons and there’s always another jump.

  What I’m trying to say is that don’t worry about how long it takes to get “Good” If you’re worried about being ‘Good’ for Pubs or Competitive or maybe you got big Gardening Dreams. All of the Easy courses at Jump Academy 2 is all you really need to know.

   That’ll help build the skill you’ll need to complete most jumps that are possible/practical in official tf2 maps, even the fancy rollout on Process (which is a wall launch into a skip into a ramp). Or that ridiculously Extra(tm) triple-sync-ctap on Hightower (the one where you strafe around the building out over the cliff and then come back in the other side, cause u REAL fancy.) All of that stuff is in the Easy courses, if that’s all you want to know then that’s all you really need. (and practicing the timing on shovel swings but there’s gardening arenas for that or walkway or mge or whatevs)

But if you wanna keep going? Really honestly don’t stress about it too much, just enjoy the process of learning and improving at your own pace. Jump a lil bit if you take a while to queue or jump a lil bit if you don’t feel like fighting. You’ll get there! And even if you have to take a break- sure you’ll get rusty for things you might’ve been shaky on before, but some things are so technical, it’s like riding a bike honestly. You’re not gonna suddenly forget how to Pogo just cause you took a month off.

You’re doing fine, I promise.

[lozza-85]

The Most Unique Strike In History

THE MOST UNIQUE STRIKE IN HISTORY? In December 2020, the GMB union balloted British Gas field engineers for the right to strike against the Fire and Re Hire the Senior Management have been threatening us with since June2020. 89% of ballot returns voted in favour of industrial action. That is around 5,000 engineers. The company is leading people to believe that over 80% of its employees have already signed up to its new conditions so there is nothing wrong with them. The details they have not included is that the ones who have are Office staff and Contract employees on completely different contracts then the field staff. A good majority of these are receiving small improvements and only the long-term employees that are the minority are losing out. What makes this vote unique is that we are not asking for anything extra from the company. All we want is for them to remove S188 Fire and Re Hire and continue negotiations with the Union. The company have point blankly said they will not engage in any further talks and the clock is ticking until a legally approved final date is issued. So far it has been moved from January 2021 and we believe they will be issuing our new contract to sign on the 31st March2021 with two options. Sign the contract or leave the business. No redundancy as the role is and has been understaffed for years. A huge number of these engineers have only ever worked as an engineer for BG since leaving school and have always envisaged it to be a job for life. Two years ago, the company managed to get through a change to our Final salary pension seeing it cut in half moving forward. Yes, it was a good pension in today’s market, but this was one of the major factors in people staying with the company as it had already been removed to new entrants years ago. I believe they got the numbers required in the vote on this due to a £8k one of payment before tax and NI. Personally, it has reduced my pension by around £11k a year so not great. Unfortunately, many had already become disillusioned with the way the company was going and could not foresee staying until retirement. Senior Management must have seen this as a huge win and I believe this started the wheels in motion for what we are being faced with today, after working through the biggest pandemic in centuries, constantly entering and working in people’s houses and even ones who had tested positive. As a leaked clip recently shows a Senior manager is in tears early on in this pandemic because of what the company is asking us to do for its customers. This has been followed by another leaked clip of various senior managers gloating over the fact that the pandemic and recent events in America have managed to keep the strike almost completely out of the mainstream media. Just Before Christmas 2020 they constantly contacted us which some have seen as bullying and intimidation to pre sign a copy of intent to sign the contract in February. For this you got a sweetener or as they called it a transition payment of either £1k or £2k depending what part of field services you worked in. Also enhanced benefits of extra holiday that was being taken away under the new terms and enhanced bonus scheme that has not even been trailed yet to show if fit for purpose. Those receiving London Weighting or those set to lose it under the new agreement also got this for a few extra years, for some up to £5k. I will now try and summarise the changes I have managed to understand under the new contract for a service and repair engineer. I am still yet to find a single positive for the employee. 1. The average engineer will be losing 4 days annual leave and around 10 rest days. 2. Those who receive London weighting (up to £5.2k) will either loose it completely or see it dramatically reduced. 3. We have been told we earn above market average for our role so will receive no pay rise for a minimum of 3 years guaranteed and could be between 5-10 years without a rise. 4. Our 37-hour week will increase to 40 hours, you will not see an increase in your base pay for these hours so will be effectively taking a pay cut as your hourly rate will reduce. The companies new bonus scheme (CTAP) could if you exceed targets pay for these hours. 5. CTAP the new bonus scheme has not been trailed or tested to see if it is fit for purpose. 6. The sharesave scheme will no longer be available. 7. Being forced to pay for private health insurance otherwise you will only receive statutory sick pay. Also 6 months full and 6 months half pay will change to 3 months at 100% and 9 months at 66% 8. Core hours will change Currently Summer Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm. Winter Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm. Saturday 8am to 6pm and Sunday 8am to 5pm. All days will be 7am to 9pm. 9. No caps on weekend working, Sundays are currently 1 in 6 max. 10. No weekend payment currently around £26 Saturday and £40 Sunday. Depending on roster frequency a loss of just over £1k 11. Start time, at present need to be at collection point or on patch en route to 1st job. New contract you will need to be on your 1stjob at start time and should be within 30mins from home. So technically 30 mins of unpaid hours. You will be told by the system when to collect your parts and allocated the travel time for this. 12. Overtime rates will all be at 1.33% of hourly rate. Currently from 1.25 upto 200% 13. EA (Emergency call out throughout the evening and night) is the biggest hit as going from 200% to 1.33%. 14. Will now be rostered to work on bank holidays and apart from Christmas, Boxing day and NYD will attract no extra payments. 15. Current 6 monthly roster will change to 6 weeks rolling roster making planning your outside time a lot harder. Also, any holiday booked outside the 6-week window will be at 40 hours regardless of what that future shift time will be. 16. Loss of 28/45 hour summer and winter shifts replaced with 32/44 min and max depending on workloads and not summer and winter. 17. Our managers will remain on a 37-hour week and these extra hours will I assume only be covered by a duty manager if they decide to answer the phone. Good luck at 7am and up to 9pm 18. Loss of 3-day weeks in summer when work loads are low. Minimum will be a 4-day week. 19. Work systems are old, and the company have stated that these needs updating to accommodate todays demands. New contract relies on these but no commitment or time scales as to when these will be updated. 20. If an engineer’s performance is below the required new untested target, then a new untested performance management will be used and could result in dismissal within 3 months. 21. Overtime will only be paid once your CTAP balance is positive so could be doing OT just to balance the books. 22. No confirmed details to say if consolidating London weighting will affect pension cap. 23. You will only receive time credits whilst working or if waiting for a job. So, if you have 20mins left on shift and do not want a job then you loose 20mins from CTAP. Also, if you request a job in this time anything could come down and you will be forced to take it and work OT or loose the wait time. 24. QDOS will be no longer so no more payments for selling products and upgrades. You will be allocated a set time into CTAP for this. 25. No commitment to stop contractors picking the best jobs and travel plans. All the company have committed to is looking at this later. Means they get better pay and we lose out n CTAP. 26. Job Recall time currently at 10 days will change to 28 days even if it unrelated. 27. No travel time will be credited if you need to pick up parts from another engineer. So, you will be penalised for doing the right thing for our customer. 28. No more quarterly bonus. 29. Rest day working will only be paid if you have a positive balance in CTAP 30. Business have agreed some long duration time takes a lot longer than the time allocated. Again, no change of this and hopefully something they will look at later. 31. All Training roles have gone and manager/CDMs will coach engineers even though many have been off the tools for ages. 32. If you log a lead and that goes ahead you will still get a recall if we need to go back within 28days. Even if the installer is at fault and not the engineer. 33. CTAP is not in your Terms and Conditions so no collective agreement for the future of this. 34. Some current work tasks will not be left to an engineer’s judgement rather than credit the relevant time to these and protect safety. 35. No longer be able to carry over or sell holiday entitlement. 36. April 2019 the company made a commitment in the pay agreement to 400 new apprentices by 2023, only 48 so far to date. Half the time gone and only 10% of this has been fulfilled.

[un-enfant-immature]

FDA introduces a new program to expedite deployment of potential coronavirus treatments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new program today that’s designed to foster close collaboration between public and private organizations in order to “bring coronavirus treatments to market as fast as possible,” according to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in a press release. The program, dubbed the “Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program, or CTAP, will see the FDA redeploy resources and personnel with an eye towards providing private companies, researchers and scientists with “regulatory advice, guidance and technical assistance as quickly as possible.”

Based on the information provided by the agency, it sounds like CTAP is a formalization of a lot of the work that was already being done within the FDA to reduce the burden placed on companies and scientists looking to field trials and take the steps required by the administration to qualify new treatments and therapies for use.

In real-world terms, the FDA says that means it’s turning things around much more quickly, reviewing protocols for many freshly-submitted clinical studies within 24 hours, and also turning around single-patient requests for expanded access to some therapies granted under compassionate or investigate use “generally within three hours.” The FDA is also looking at how it can build out streamlined protocols that can apply across use by different institutions and for different programs wherever possible to further limit processing time through templated strategies.

Internally, the FDA has re-arranged staffing resources to help make this possible, putting medical and regulator staff that otherwise be focused elsewhere on teams dedicated to COVID-19-related reviews.

There’s likely to be some debate about the implications of the introduction of a program like this. On the one hand it should help novel approaches and even startups in the biotech space with unproven, but promising technologies in development to work hand-in-hand with the FDA on potential solutions. On the other, the administration has already been criticized for some of its more aggressive decisions regarding COVID-19 therapeutics, including the Emergency Use Authorization ordered for anti-malarial hydroxychlroquine earlier this week.

While small scale studies have shown that the drug could offer some benefit in treatment of COVID-19 patients, the key word there is ‘could,’ and other small-scale studies have shown that standard anti-viral treatments are just as effective. The bottom line is that there isn’t enough data available to say anything definitively either way, and this particular EUA means that efforts to stockpile the drug could make it less available to those who use it for another of its common purposes: treating chronic rheumatoid arthritis, which can be debilitating in its severity.

The current coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented in terms of its spread and impact, at least in terms of viral outbreaks during the modern medical era. The FDA definitely needs to address the situation in a unique manner as a result, but critics and observers will definitely be watching to see what results from increased pressure on the agency to cut red tape.

[pleasedotheneedful]

Intern year, T+35

holy fuck that was a long day for only having two patients under my responsibility

my attending pretty much gave me free reign with them, which was both empowering and frightening, and not without some mistakes. on the one hand, I was placing orders, calling for labs, meds, having serious discussions with family. for about 2/3 of the day I was on my shit.

then as one of my patients got more complicated I started taking consults requests and the inclusive information at face value, which made me look like an asshole repeatedly to the other consultants:

the worst one I took was when radiology told me they couldn’t see the gallbladder on the ultrasound, and when I asked if they had thoughts on CT they said “well, she definitely has a small bowel obstruction. we know the patient well, they have recurrent obstructions. I guess I don’t know what the CT will tell you that you don’t already know.”

which then lead to one of my dumber calls to her oncology team. I called asking about pain control suggestions since they handle her home pain management and nothing we gave her seemed to be offering more than transient relief... so I stumble through my presentation and ask, and he says “well, what’ve you given so far?”

“4 of morphine and replaced her fentanyl patches--”

“that’s it? you need to give her more than that, that’s ridiculous. the woman needs pain control, that morphine alone isn’t gonna touch her--”

“she appeared to be doing okay for a while when we replaced her patches--”

“those won’t take full effect for hours, she needs something now!”

“I put in an order for titrated dilaudid right before I--”

“have you done any imaging yet?”

“I got an ultrasound of her RUQ, as again, she had sharply elevated liver enzymes but radiology told us the study was inconclusive as the stent obscured her gallbladder.”

“she gets recurrent SBOs, have you done any imaging for it? how about an abdominal series?”

“I had not ordered that, I talked to radiology and they said--”

isn’t there an attending who’s supposed to be helping you?”

“yes sir”

“well, he’s not doing very well. you’re new, someone’s supposed to be helping you.”

“I agree”

“well, get some imaging, and do something for her pain. thank you for calling me.”

“I’ll get some films and make sure we get something more appropriate for her pain. thank you.”

that could’ve been a lot worse had he not taken pity on the intern but I could hear the fed up-ness in his tone.

I turned to my attending and go “uh, not one of my better phone calls.” “eh, you’re fine don’t worry about it”

the next call was a lot shorter but arguably worse. we ended up agreeing on a CTAP with contrast, radiology wanted oral contrast but she wasn’t tolerating much PO. so I talked to the team and we wanted to figure out if her G tube could be used. nursing told me it was drainage only, so my attending told me to talk to the surgery team that placed it about having them check for patency and appropriateness for contrast infusion. first of all,

[page] “if you page someone and they get a busy line you are unlikely to get a response. -surgery res on duty [pager number]”

I did the faux pas and paged two people to one phone. and then I presented the patient on the return call, and said we wanted them to come down and check the tube.

“okay, did you flush the tube?”

[pause, light bulb comes back on, turns to nursing] “uh, hey did we flush the tube in [pt room]?”

“no, but we can!”

“that would be great thanks!”

[back to phone] “uh negative on the flush. we’ll get that done.”

“*chuckles* yeah, flush it, and let us know if you need us. thanks.”

I again turned to my attending and said “I think my consult calls are getting worse.” more reassurance. turns out the tube is for drainage but she’s gotten some contrast through it before. both of those phone calls could have been avoided with a little more confidence in plans and some sense.

then the medicine res on duty calls and says we’re changing plans, not admitting because she needs a procedure we don’t have, so she needs antibiotics and a transfer. a stack of transfer paperwork lands in my lap 30 minutes before the end of my shift. I cancel the CT as directed so as not to impede her transfer. I engage with the medicine team like six more times, they tell me they still want the CT after all. by now I realize I meant to poop like 3 hours ago, so I get up and take a walk, I am mentally taxed trying to keep everything in line. an hour and a half after my shift the night attending says I can document a transfer of care to her and go home.

there’s one more thing on my checklist: update the patient’s son. I call him, let him know about the transfer, answer all his questions, tell him we’re doing a shift change so he may not be able to reach me but the night shift ED doc can help him. honestly one of my best phone calls today, second only to radiology telling me my classic anginal chest pain guy has a clean CT angio. I was so desperate for some uncomplicated good news that I threw my hands up in the air, because I knew I could discharge him which is what we both wanted, but there was talk of admitting him if we couldn’t get his heart rate down per CT protocol before the radiologist went home. gave the whole spiel about follow-up, return if, and what it all means.

wasn’t even as long as my last ICU shift but way more mentally straining.

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Google Security Author: Sarah O’Rourke

Posted by Dongjing He, Software Engineer and Christiaan Brand, Product Manager  Passwords, combined with Google’s automated protections, help secure billions of users around the world. But, new security technologies are surpassing passwords in terms of both strength and convenience. With this in mind, we are happy to announce that you can verify your identity by using your fingerprint or screen lock instead of a password when visiting certain Google services. The feature is available today on Pixel devices and coming to all Android 7+ devices over the next few days.

Simpler authentication experience when viewing your saved password for a website on passwords.google.com

These enhancements are built using the FIDO2 standards, W3C WebAuthn and FIDO CTAP, and are designed to provide simpler and more secure authentication experiences. They are a result of years of collaboration between Google and many other organizations in the FIDO Alliance and the W3C.

An important benefit of using FIDO2 versus interacting with the native fingerprint APIs on Android is that these biometric capabilities are now, for the first time, available on the web, allowing the same credentials be used by both native apps and web services. This means that a user only has to register their fingerprint with a service once and then the fingerprint will work for both the native application and the web service.

Note that your fingerprint is never sent to Google’s servers – it is securely stored on your device, and only a cryptographic proof that you’ve correctly scanned it is sent to Google’s servers. This is a fundamental part of the FIDO2 design.

Here is how it works

Google is using the FIDO2 capability on Android to register a platform-bound FIDO credential. We remember the credential for that specific Android device. Now, when the user visits a compatible service, such as passwords.google.com, we issue a WebAuthn “Get” call, passing in the credentialId that we got when creating the credential. The result is a valid FIDO2 signature.

High-level architecture of using fingerprint or screen lock on Android devices to verify a user’s identity without a password

Please follow the instructions below if you’d like to try it out. Prerequisites

Phone is running Android 7.0 (Nougat) or later

Your personal Google Account is added to your Android device

Valid screen lock is set up on your Android device

To try it

Open the Chrome app on your Android device

Navigate to https://passwords.google.com

Choose a site to view or manage a saved password

Follow the instructions to confirm that it’s you trying signing in

You can find more detailed instructions here.

For additional security Remember, Google’s automated defenses securely block the overwhelming majority of sign-in attempts even if an attacker has your username or password. Further, you can protect your accounts with two-step verification (2SV), including Titan Security Keys and Android phone’s built-in security key.

Both security keys and local user verification based on biometrics use the FIDO2 standards. However, these two protections address different use cases. Security keys are used for bootstrapping a new device as a second factor as part of 2SV in order to make sure it’s the right owner of the account accessing it. Local user verification based on biometrics comes after bootstrapping a device and can be used for re-authentication during step-up flows to verify the identity of the already signed-in user.

What’s next

This new capability marks another step on our journey to making authentication safer and easier for everyone to use. As we continue to embrace the FIDO2 standard, you will start seeing more places where local alternatives to passwords are accepted as an authentication mechanism for Google and Google Cloud services. Check out this presentation to get an early glimpse of the use cases that we are working to enable next.

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Go to Source Author: Sarah O’Rourke Making authentication even easier with FIDO2-based local user verification for Google Accounts Original Post from Google Security Author: Sarah O'Rourke Posted by Dongjing He, Software Engineer and Christiaan Brand, Product Manager 

[ondrewsgroupie]

WhY did I even make this blog?

Maybe I'll change this into the NSFW blog and change my URL on CTAP to what I have here ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Or maybe not.

[thehungrykat1]

Leave Boring Behind and Explore Manila in a Different Light With Hotel Jen

Travelers can be classified into two different groups. The first group likes to go to hotels or resorts and just spend the entire day inside their rooms or make use of the hotel facilities. The second type of traveler likes to go to a new places or countries to explore the sights and to dig deeper into specific local experiences that the guidebooks don’t necessarily show. This is the type of traveller that Hotel Jen Manila is targeting as it encourages its guests to Leave Boring Behind and explore Manila in a different new light.

The Hungry Kat was invited to a special dinner at Windows By The Bay in Hotel Jen Manila where the hotel would be showing off its new campaign to its media friends. When we travel to other countries, we often need to have a guide to show us around the places and to give us better local insights compared to the usual tourist books. During my last trip to Singapore, I was fortunate to have a friend there who was able to show me around the neighborhood. Not everyone has that luxury when they travel, but with Hotel Jen, you now have a very special friend who can lead you to discover new places and experiences you would not have thought of before. 

Hotel Jen Manila is the four-star sister brand of Shangri-La Hotels which caters to a wider range of guests and travelers. Catering to urban adventurers, the Hotel Jen brand delivers quality, comfort and value with a playful twist and friendly service. Windows By The Bay is located on the topmost 19th floor of the hotel, offering majestic views of the city especially at night. This is actually the hotel’s Club Lounge where guests booked at the Club Rooms have access to all-day refreshments with Afternoon Tea and Evening Cocktails (Read about my Club Room stay here). But from 7:30pm to 11:00pm, it transforms into Windows By The Bay which is open to the public. Here, diners can enjoy dinner or bar chow paired with cocktails and refreshments while looking over the busy streets of Manila.

Hosting us that evening was the very accommodating General Manager of Hotel Jen Manila, Mr. Edward Kollmer. I told him about my recent adventure at three different Hotel Jen properties in three countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines) over a span of two weeks. He mentioned that he used to work at Hotel Jen Puteri Harbour before, which is where I stayed during my visit to Malaysia and Legoland. Hotel Jen properties are always located in very convenient areas with much reasonable rates which is why I always choose them for my foreign trips.

Ms. Twinkle Lacsamana, the new Marketing Communications Manager of Hotel Jen Manila, welcomed everyone to the event and introduced the Leave Boring Behind campaign which aims to give guests a deeper and more engaging experience during their stay. She discussed the hotel’s desired Passion Points which include Get.Set.Eat, a program to move away from the generic pre-packaged hotel food to championing local flavors and homegrown food producers. She also introduced us to the hotel’s talented in-house mixologist, Rick, who will also be showing us a few of his specialties later on.

We were treated to an enchanting five-course dinner at Windows By The Bay courtesy of Hotel Jen Manila’s Executive Chef Sonny Almandres. For Get.Set.Eat, five Hotel Jen properties have prepared a special local dish which will be featured in tonight’s dinner. Recipes were also included so that we can replicate these dishes ourselves at home.

The first dish is from Hotel Jen Tanglin Singapore’s poolside restaurant, Ah Hoi’s Kitchen. The Chilli Crab Fondue is Singapore’s iconic chilli crab served with a twist. It comes in a bread bowl and is served with shrimp and vegetables. Dip the shrimp or pieces of bread into the spicy sauce and it creates a whole new way of eating this Singapore favorite. 

From my hotel in Johor, Malaysia, Hotel Jen Puteri Harbour comes the Laksa Johor Slider which is inspired by Sultan Abu Bakar’s visit to Italy in 1866. The laksa is prepared with spaghetti which the locals usually eat with their fingers. This version turns it into a crispy mini burger with a fish patty that you can also eat by hand. That’s a fun and creative take on this local specialty.

Next up was the Smoked Pulled Lamb Pongteh from Hotel Jen Penang with a sweet nyonya-style soya bean paste. Pongteh is a classic Peranakan dish from Penang and this rendition is inspired by the hearty barbecues in Southern America. It is also served with focaccia bread and potato wedges with Chinese five-spice powder.

The highlight of our five course Get.Set.Eat dinner was the Laksa Lemak Singapura or Laksa Fried Rice from Hotel Jen Orchardgateway Singapore. This is the hotel I stayed in during my trip to Singapore last month and I would have ordered this there if I had known about it. This is an alternative take on the classic Perenakan laksa dish from Singapore. The wok-fried rice is infused with spicy aromatic laksa broth but what I really enjoyed was the huge prawn sitting on top.

Of course, we saved the best for last because our very own Hotel Jen Manila came out with the Ginataang Turon. This sweet dessert combines two popular Filipino snacks - Ginataang halo-halo with glutinous rice balls, tubers and tapioca pearls in coconut milk, plus turon or banana fritters. The combination works magically and this is the best way to end or five-course meal. These dishes are available only at the respective hotels but you can order the Ginataang Turon at Hotel Jen Manila’s in-room service or at the lounge.

Aside from Get.Set.Eat, Hotel Jen wants to uplift their guest experiences After Hours with a new innovation, the Night Light Map. Instead of the usual boring guidebook with static recommendations, the Night Light Map is an interactive and “living” map which continuously aggregates data from social check-ins and selected hashtags to present alternative city experiences and hotspots from sunset to sunrise.

It is so easy to use the Night Light Map and After Hours city guide to explore Manila After Dark. All you need in a wifi connection, which comes free whenever you step inside Hotel Jen Manila. Type www.hoteljen.com on your phone or laptop’s browser and see the city in a different light. The guide is available for specific cities only so select your own city from the list. Take note that the guide will only work after hours from 6:00pm to 6:00am in the morning so come back later if it is still too early.

Hotel Jen encourages travelers to not just follow the crowd but to go where the locals go after dark and discover new exciting experiences. The Night Light Map shows a real-time map with certain spots highlighted by three kinds of filters. Touristy Things are the usual activities that tourists often go to. Local Hangouts are the more uncommon places where only the locals stay, while Jen’ Picks are the top places recommended by a select group of local influencers called “Jensetters” who share their insider knowledge with a focus on the home-grown art, cultural experiences and local flavors.

You can ctap on the three filters to remove or include them on the map. The places with the big J’s are the ones from Jen’s Picks while the pink stars indicate Local Hangouts. 

Tapping on one of the Local Hangouts will reveal destinations that you do not often hear about from tourists. An example would be this suggestion to visit the National Museum which is just a few minutes away from Hotel Jen Manila. Tourists can see the city through local eyes as the content will be provided from Instagram posts containing local knowledge. I think I should schedule a visit to the museum myself.

I also tapped on the Hotel Jen Manila icon and was surprised to see my own Instagram post from the previous week on display in the Night Light Map. I recently had a buffet at Latitude, Hotel Jen Manila’s all-day dining restaurant, and since I am one of the “JenSetters,” it ended up as one of the recommended activities. The content refreshes constantly so keep coming back for more local insider information. Every week, each Hotel Jen also offers activities at the hotel or around the city allowing guests to observe local pastimes first-hand or discover the destination from an alternative angle.

One other very fun night spot to visit is Windows by the Bay itself at Hotel Jen Manila. We were also treated to some of the new specialty cocktails from Rick’s Mix which were prepared by the bartender Rick himself.

This is the Mandarin Magic which comes with Vodka, lime juice, triple sec, cranberry juice, orange juice, plus a few drops of Tabasco and topped with whipped cream. The deliciously refreshing cocktail gives a little spicy zing on your throat but not too much to handle.

Rick also gave us a demonstration of his mixing skills which is a performance in itself. Guests can request whatever beverage they want and Rick will do his best to concoct a cocktail most suited for you. 

He prepared this sweet cocktail for me with Elderflower Vodka, lime juice, and a few other ingredients I could not remember but it was fantastic. Imagine having these cocktails while gazing at the busy city lights below.

A couple of items were also passed around during our cocktail session like these Scallops with apple and mango barbecue sauce. I also had some of these Parma Ham with Melon to go along with my drinks.

Rick really does perform on a different level and he even gave us his best #SugarBae impersonation by adding the finishing touches of brown sugar on his Chocolate Samba. This signature cocktail combines the flavors of chocolate and red wine together into a beautiful pair. Top it with whipped cream and it becomes even more delightful.

Hotel Jen Manila is making life so much easier and interesting for travelers who wish to see Manila in a different light. Having the Night Light Map on their mobile phones makes it seem like they are traveling with an insider friend who will gladly show them around all the local hotspots in the city. So get ready to have more fun because the night will always be young at Hotel Jen Manila!

Windows By The Bay at Hotel Jen Manila

19/F Club Lounge, 3001 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

795-8888 www.hoteljen.com/manila www.facebook.com/HotelJenManila