#and having a major voice in shaping how services for this group of survivors are provided & expanded

[chthonic-cassandra]

Promotion is actually being made official, after months of (expected and unavoidable) delays related to things like waiting to hear back from grants and (less expected and more avoidable) sorting out internal organizational politics stuff (ugh). I am torn between wanting to dismiss it as expected and not a big deal and wanting to actually celebrate it and be celebrated.

[movie-magic]

Loki: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 1

Loki has officially begun on Disney+, and Tom Hiddleston comes bearing plenty of Marvel Easter eggs in the premiere episode. Here's what we found.

The premiere episode of Loki is burdened with glorious Marvel Easter eggs, from potential future villain teases to skulking Skrulls. Even before the considerable success enjoyed by WandaVision and Falcon & The Winter Soldier, MCU fans were eagerly anticipating Tom Hiddleston's return as the God of Mischief. Now blessed with his own Disney+ solo series, Loki has all of time and space to bother, and the premiere wastes little time throwing Hiddleston from the Avengers' frying pan into the TVA's fire.

After using the Tesseract to escape The Avengers in Avengers: Endgame, Loki is swiftly picked up by the Time Variance Authority - a seemingly omniscient organization overseeing the entirety of time and space. Evidently not ones to take prisoners, Loki's fate at the TVA looks grim, but Owen Wilson's Major Mobius intervenes, handing the silver-tongued variant a reprieve. In the opening episode, Mobius successfully digs to the root of Loki's dastardly ways, breaking him down to (presumably) build him back up, all with the aim of enlisting Loki's services as an ally to hunt down an especially vicious variant murdering the TVA's Minute Men.

Loki's premiere is predictably heavy with exposition, and relatively limited in scope, mostly taking place within the walls of TVA HQ. Nevertheless, Michael Waldron (creator) and Kate Herron (director) pepper the 50-minute installment with an array of references to the Marvel comics, MCU history callbacks, and hints of the multiverse madness to come. Here's every Easter egg we discovered in Loki's "Glorious Purpose."

The Avengers Intro Sequence:

Loki's introductory scene is somewhat of an Easter egg itself, retelling the famous Tesseract heist from Avengers: Endgame. Much of the footage here derives straight from the 2019 box office behemoth, meaning no other MCU stars filmed additional footage or recorded new dialogue especially for Loki. With that said, a few extra Tom Hiddleston moments are spliced into the existing footage to show events entirely from Loki's point of view. The villain's Steve Rogers "search and rescue" gag is zoomed-in, and there's a closer shot of Loki waving goodbye to Hulk in the elevator, as well as fresh reaction shots during the Stark scuffle in the lobby.

An Iron Man Callback:

After commandeering the Tesseract in New York, Loki finds himself falling from the sky above Mongolia's Gobi Desert, landing unceremoniously in the sand below, and this scene might trigger a sense of déjà vu for longtime MCU fans. In 2008's Iron Man, Tony Stark escapes capture by creating a rudimentary suit of hi-tech armor. Flying to safety, the genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist also lands roughly in a remote desert. There's a symbolic correlation in how Iron Man marked the beginning of the MCU, while Loki is now ushering in a whole new chapter, and both begin with their protagonists in matching predicaments. Both characters also crash while evading incarceration, though only Loki immediately finds himself in chains once again.

"Burdened With Glorious Purpose":

As a man who rarely shuts up, Loki has plenty of wry MCU catchphrases, and one of his most famous would be "I am burdened with glorious purpose" from The Avengers. Disney +'s Loki premiere leans heavily into the line's popularity, with Tom Hiddleston repeating the quote on several occasions throughout the episode, the phrase becoming less sinister with every utterance.

The TVA:

The addition of the TVA to MCU canon was confirmed ahead of time via Loki's trailer and, sure enough, the paradoxical pen-pushers play a prominent part in the premiere. Although their motivations and methods are somewhat altered from the source material (as well as their aesthetic, which now sits closer to The Umbrella Academy's Commission), the TVA hails directly from the Marvel comic books. They were introduced by a 1986 issue of Thor that featured several time-hopping agents, one of which picked a random Earthling up for jaywalking.

A Skrull At The TVA:

Given their propensity to shape-shift and assimilate the forms of other races, it's not surprising that a Skrull might be lurking around the TVA's front desk. One of the MCU's green aliens can be spotted in the background as Loki gets marched in, and though it's not clear why the Skrull is present, the distinct lack of guards would suggest they aren't a variant. A timely reminder that Secret Invasion is right around the corner.

The Time Twisters:

As you'd predict, Loki tries running away. With minimum effort, Hunter B-15 (played by Wunmi Mosaku) clicks a device, and Loki is pulled back to where he stood moments earlier, effectively making escape impossible. These time twisters appear to be standard issue at the TVA, and have a vaguely similar counterpart in the Marvel comics called the Retroactive Cannon. Far more lethal than Loki's little clickers, these devices would rewind a person completely until they were unwritten from history. Like The Algorithm in Tenet, but less confusing.

Life Model Decoys:

For someone who spent many, many years unaware he was actually a Frost Giant, Loki probably shouldn't be shocked that some people don't realize they're secretly robots. Heading through the TVA's airport scanner, Loki passes the test with flying colors, though he remains perplexed by the idea someone could be unknowingly cybernetic, Loki's line is a nod to Life Model Decoys, which have appeared in both the Marvel comics, and Agents of SHIELD. These lifelike androids can mimic mankind so perfectly, the LMD itself isn't always certain of the truth.

Secret Wars?:

Whether you've accidentally arrived late for work, or just escaped a group of costumed vigilantes by seizing a glowing blue cube from the beginning of time, being labeled as a variant is confusing stuff. Luckily, the TVA has put together a short animation to fill quantum criminals in on the basics. The helpful Miss Minutes finally provides an explanation of the MCU multiverse, revealing how, long ago, separate timelines fought an inter-dimensional war for supremacy that almost resulted in total annihilation. Since then, the TVA has strictly maintained one single reality - the Sacred Timeline *echoes*. The history lesson bears some similarity to 2015's Secret Wars comic event, in which conflicting universes came together in Battleworld (the setting of the original Secret Wars), and attempts were made to streamline Marvel's sandbox.

The Time-Keepers:

The TVA's infomercial also confirms the organization are led by three Time-Keepers, who oversee the combined reality and dictate the proper flow of history. This big-faced trio were first introduced in the late 1970s, created from the sole remaining survivor of the previous universe's destruction. The mysterious overlords performed much the same function in the comics as they do in Loki, and possessed virtually complete mastery over time.

Kree And Nova's Attack On Titan:

As the animated exposition rumbles on, Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) uses "starting an uprising" as an example of something the TVA might potentially frown upon. The corresponding image shows two armies clashing, with the blue folk on the left appearing to be Kree, and the force on the right possibly the Nova Corps. Based on the spiky ruins in the background, the battle is taking place on Thanos' home planet of Titan. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan confirmed the Kree and Nova Corps were at war for 1000 years - was the TVA involved somehow?

Nexus Events:

This week's lesson from Miss Minutes explains how stepping off one's designated path can create a "Nexus event," and spiral out of control to spawn countless alternate timelines that trigger another war. This word has cropped up several times in the MCU, first as an internet facility in Oslo (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and then as an antidepressant drug during one of WandaVision's fake commercials. The latter was most likely a reference to the Nexus of All Realities from the Marvel comics, which is essentially a gateway between every possible timeline. The TVA's Nexus events could take their name from the very same source.

The Timeline Diagram:

Throughout Loki's Disney+ debut, the TVA repeatedly use diagrams of a single flowing timeline with branches shooting off to represent unwanted deviations. MCU fans might recognize this from Avengers: Endgame, where the Ancient One drew something extremely similar while explaining the consequences of time travel to Bruce Banner. Perhaps Ms. One has visited the TVA herself once or twice?

Devil In The Church:

MEPHISTO. There, we said it. When Mobius asks a young girl who committed time crimes in 16th century France and the child points to a stained glass window depicting the Devil, Loki knew exactly what it was doing. WandaVision dropped several hints that Marvel's own Satan would appear, all of which proved fruitless, and Loki seems to be heading down the same hellish vein. Alas, there could be a simpler explanation. Mobius claims to be chasing an alternate version of Loki, and it's highly likely the child has mistaken the God of Mischief's famous horned helmet for the demonic horns of Lucifer.

Ravonna Renslayer:

Though her name isn't mentioned in Loki's premiere, Gugu MBatha-Raw's TVA judge is actually Ravonna Renslayer, who made her debut in a 1965 Avengers issue. In the comics, Renslayer is a human from the far future, most often a villainous figure associated with Kang the Conqueror. She certainly isn't a legal official sat behind a desk. One would imagine Marvel Studios has something more interesting in store for Renslayer further down the line.

Explaining Endgame:

During his TVA interrogation, Loki quite rightly points out that it was not he who meddled with the timeline. T'was those pesky Avengers who penetrated the Quantum Realm and disrupted the natural course of events in the aftermath of the Battle of New York; Loki merely picked up the Tesseract that fell at his feet. Unfortunately, this excuse falls on deaf ears, as Gugu MBatha-Raw confirms the Avengers' ambitious time heist was entirely sanctioned by the Time-Keepers. This exchange more or less clears up every single timeline wrinkle in the MCU, including Steve Rogers' reunion with Peggy, and Gamora from the past staying in the present. It's not altering time that irks the TVA; it's altering time in a manner the Time-Keepers haven't permitted.

Loki's "Wooing":

After Owen Wilson saves Loki from being "reset," the pair sit down for a more friendly conversation, but when Loki warns Mobius that cooperation isn't an option, the TVA officer retorts with, "even when you're wooing someone powerful you intend to betray?" Loki has betrayed a fair few people during his time, and Mobius' accusation could easily apply to Odin or Thor. Most likely, however, Mobius is alluding to Thanos here - a powerful figure Loki tried buttering up with intent to usurp him once the universe was brought to its knees.

Josta:

While not strictly a Marvel reference, it's worth noting that Mobius is a big fan of an ice cold Josta. Viewers of a certain age might not recognize this soda brand, but Josta is a genuine Pepsi product that was available in the late 1990s before being discontinued. An early variety of energy drink, there's evidently a few perks to hunting down timeline criminals. In Mobius' case, this includes sugary contraband.

Loki's Greatest Hits:

In a twisted version of It's A Wonderful Life, Mobius tries to change Loki by examining his choices in the past, present and future. Unlike the jaunty 1946 holiday classic, Mobius has access to a handy hi-tech screen which displays Loki's "greatest hits." The footage begins with the God of Mischief's defeat and arrest in 2012's The Avengers - perhaps not an entry Loki himself would've picked for the highlight reel. The screen next switches to Phil Coulson's death (which Loki definitely would pick), before moving on to images of civilian deaths from the Battle of New York, the gala eyeball removal scene, and the dictator speech, all from The Avengers.

D.B. Cooper:

More an Easter egg from real-world history than Marvel lore, Loki reveals the truth about D.B. Cooper - it was Agatha Loki all along! In 1971, an as-yet-identified man boarded a Boeing 727, held the aircraft ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out with the cash. Mobius' dive into Loki's past reveals that, thanks to a lost bet with Thor, the God of Mischief descended from Asgard to pull the plane heist himself as some kind of stunt. From Loki's hairstyle matching the real D.B. Cooper artist's impression to the smattering of bank notes left behind, there's an impressive attention to detail in this scene.

Infinity Stones In The Desk:

The Infinity Stones... Thanos would give his own daughter just for one. Entire worlds brought to their knees by their power. Humans turned into Gods at the merest touch. Gary from the TVA's HR department using one as a paperweight. Threatening Casey with a fishy demise, Loki finally gets his hands back on the Tesseract, only to discover even Infinity Stones are useless within the TVA's jurisdiction. To Loki's immense surprise, Casey's desk draw is chock-full of discarded Infinity Stones, most either of the Time or Reality variety (no surprises there). The scene essentially confirms that the power of these fabled jewels has led to more than a few timeline variant incidents over the years, but perhaps also undermines the once-unstoppable power of the Infinity Stones. Well, the Infinity Saga is over.

A 3rd Millennium Kang Hint?:

In its final scene, the Loki premiere might just be hinting at the future villain of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. The MCU will soon introduce Kang the Conqueror, a major comic book baddie played by Jonathan Majors, and "Glorious Purpose" could represent the first step toward his arrival. Called out to 19th century Oklahoma, TVA agents find a piece of technology hailing from the 3rd millennium. Though it might be a coincidence, Kang hails from the 31st century, and is known for using advanced tech in his dominion of the timeline. The mysterious hooded figure is more likely a Loki variant than Kang himself, but since Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki both deal in temporal themes, it wouldn't be strange for the Kang foundations to be laid on Disney+.

- Screen Rant

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

[askovertherainbowblog]

Do you ever feel like your government is actively working to institute a theocracy right under your very nose, and all anyone can seem to do is tweet? (I’m not knocking the art of the well-placed tweet, by the way. Case and point the account pictured above.)

Here’s what’s going on in my part of the world, which is Alberta (Commonly known as the bible belt of Canada):

The recently elected UCP (United Conservative Party #UnderHisEye) has, by its inaction, effectively canceled a work group dedicated to eradicating the insidious and abusive practice of “reparative” therapy for LGBT+ persons. Minister of Health Tyler Shandro has claimed on twitter that he told the group they were welcome to continue meeting. However, according to Emma Graney of the Edmonton Journal, his office released a statement that “The working group has disbanded with the change in govt.” AKA, they’re pretending the group (which included a survivor of conversion therapy) doesn’t merit focus because conversion therapy/torture “doesn’t happen here.”

If you dig a little deeper, you’ll see this simply isn’t true. Of course, nobody is coming right out and calling their services conversion therapy. That would be bad PR. The practice is couched in the language of soul-searching, healing trauma, and respecting individual faith. Alberta survivor Kevin Schultz was undergoing private faith-based counseling to realign his sexual orientation as late as 2007. Journey Canada, formerly Living Waters, which claims to help folks “experience Jesus in their sexuality” (kinky?) still operates across Canada.

If anyone is in doubt, the Human Rights Campaign and the Canadian Psychology Association can shed light on why conversion therapy/counseling of any kind is deeply damaging and can even be life-threatening.

The previous NDP government at least gave the appearance of caring about the LGBT community. The UCP gives the appearance of wanting to give the appearance of caring. In any case, I kind of wonder, why not just oh I don’t know BAN CONVERSION THERAPY AS IF WE WERE A CIVILIZED 21ST CENTURY SOCIETY? The UCP certainly hasn’t shied away from taking bold action on controversial issues (eg. lowering minimum wage for minors like a bunch of literal cartoon Scrooge McDucks).

This conversion therapy fustercluck is one move in an alarmingly swift series of policy change plans the UCP has begun rolling out since April of this year. They have also pledged to remove key protections afforded to GSA’s (Gay-Straight Alliances, common “safe space” organizations for LGBT students found in secondary schools). This means teachers could, at their own discretion, be permitted to notify parents if their child joins a GSA. This would obviously defeat the whole purpose of GSA’s and put children at greater risk of abuse at home.

When urged to consult experts on why this was such a monumental mistake, and questioned about the purpose of his party’s decision, premier Kenney had this to say:

"I think it would be very rare [for parents to be notified]," Kenney said. "Probably only [when] dealing with very young kids or kids with unique emotional and mental health challenges."

AKA, he has no idea what the repercussions could be and is speaking in “likelihoods” like some kind of fiendish gremlin under a bridge, desperate to grant you three wishes whose loopholes will ruin your life. (PS: Back in 2006 Kenney bragged about working to repeal a spousal law that allowed gay men to visit their dying partners in the hospital during the AIDS crisis. So that’s the attitude we’re dealing with here.)

If you’re curious about what other draconian policies the UCP has lurking just around the corner you can read up on their full platform, which includes such gems as scrapping the carbon tax, pausing the K-12 curriculum review, pushing for more private health care options, and something ominously called the “climate war room.”

If you, like me, are having some serious Handmaid’s Tale flashbacks right now, you’re not being overdramatic. The erosion of minority and women’s rights at the hands of backsliding democracies worldwide is not some fad. It’s a real thing that is happening all around us while shiny apps are being pelted at us as a distraction.

So let’s move on to what can actually be done. Before I list some ideas, I want to cover a few key points. We’re often advised, as constituents of a district or riding, to take action by writing to our political representatives! Here’s why I think that’s a waste of time: the current political climate is extremely polarized. It’s a buzzword because it’s true. If your MLA is conservative, and you write them a letter urging them to see things your bleeding-heart liberal way... well, why would they care? You’re not even a part of the voter base they’re targeting, and they know it. They don’t need your support. Alberta voters skew overwhelmingly right-wing already.

My advice is to follow the money.

A PAC (Political Action Committee) is an organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates them to campaigns for or against candidates or legislation. Shaping Alberta’s Future is a PAC whose stated aim is to promote a conservative Alberta with Kenney at the helm. In 2018, they raised a whopping $170,000 in two weeks to fund UCP ads. Their financial disclosure documents are pretty lengthy and can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That’s why I’ve broken down the info into a list of the major 5-figure contributors, all (you’ll be bowled over with shock to learn) men, most of them members of the Motor Dealership of Alberta for some reason.

For those of us who live in Alberta/Canada, that means we can do the following:

HERE is a link to a form letter addressing major donors to Shaping Alberta’s Future, politely urging them to bring matters of LGBT youth safety to the government’s attention.

HERE is a link to a list of specific donors, their contact information, and contribution amounts. This info can be filled into the indicated sections on the above letter.

Simply print, sign, and mail the letters to the addresses provided. Postage should be fairly inexpensive but if it’s an issue, take a photo of your signed letter and Canada Post receipt and I’ll etransfer you the value of your postage (within reason, guys!). If you can’t access Google drive, I’ll copy the letter to you by whatever method you prefer.

If you’d like to add information to the above list, or offer a correction, please message us or email askovertherainbowblog@gmail.com.

Additional things you can do (from anywhere):

Spreading the word always helps. Set up an email list or reddit thread. If you’re Albertan, print ten extra letters and ask a few friends to sign them. Pride month is just around the corner: bring a sheaf of letters with you to a parade and throw them in the air like confetti. (You’ll probably get some free condoms for your trouble; nice!)

Donations are not possible for everyone but if they’re possible for you, Youthsafe.net has a list of organizations that could use your support.

Stay vigilant. Read full articles covering both sides of the issues you’re investigating, and investigate in turn the veracity of your sources. Read posts from people you don’t agree with and, as infuriating as it is to have your person-hood invalidated by pseudo-scientific doctrine, pause to digest other points of view before formulating a vitriolic response. I’m not advising moderation (fuck moderation) but I am advising strategy.

Pursue local involvement. It’s tough to sit in front of a news cast in rural Canada and watch women in Alabama have their reproductive rights stripped from them, knowing a small donation to the ACLU is probably the most you can do short of upending your life to go on a march, and that won’t even move the needle much. But everyone, everywhere where voting happens, can march into a town hall and make their voice heard when it comes to the bullshit in their own community. The people around you want to get involved; they’re just not sure how to do it. Give them a means and they’ll stand beside you!

xoxo

[starswallowingsea]

Growing Up

Fandom: One Piece 

Word Count: 3797 

This easily marks the longest fic I’ve written and I really enjoyed it. The premise is an alternate AU where Nami, Nojiko, and Law all grew up together as adopted siblings at Cocoyashi, ending with a reunion of Law and Nami at Punk Hazard. I do hope to create at least two more works to go along with it, which hopefully you can figure out what I want to write once you get to that spot in the work. This can also be found on my AO3 under the same name! Enjoy! 

Major Character Death CW

Bellemere was walking through the remnants of the village that had burned down during the battle, where ashes covered the ground and polluted the air. Here she had found two children a few days ago, separated from their parents who were probably dead anyway. She was looking for any human remains that might need to be identified and interred properly, and maybe she’d find the kids’ parents to give them some sort of a proper funeral.  

She didn’t expect to find anyone alive out there. 

There was a tall, blond man staggering through the ashes with a child in tow, not much older than five. The man didn’t look like he was in good shape, stumbling over everything around him, but as it was a village in shambles Bellemere didn’t think much of it. Most of the civilians were injured as it was. She ran over to try and help them get to the field hospital set up for survivors. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. 

The man fiddled with his hands, sign language she assumed, as the child translated for her. 

“We were running away from someone and had to stop here to get more food and water. We don’t know what happened to the city here but Corasan needs help!” he said, voice cracking as he finished. 

Bellemere lifted the child onto her back despite the pain screaming at her to keep him on the ground, and took the man, Corasan as the child had called him, and put his arm around her and the child to help balance him until they got to the hospital. 

“What are your names?” She asked through gritted teeth. The hospital would need to know anyway and she didn’t know how long they would be able to stay awake. 

“I’m Law, and that’s Corasan.” The child said, and the man nodded in agreement. 

“Okay. I’ll make sure you don’t get separated at the hospital. My name is Bellemere and I promise you’ll be okay.” 

But she couldn’t. There was no way she could predict the future and she knew that if something happened and made her words empty, she could never live with herself for lying to a child. Not when she had just saved two children a few days earlier who knew better than to believe that. 

The three of them made it to the tents set up at the edge of the rubble and Bellemere made sure that they would stay together through recovery help before she was ushered off to see another doctor who would scold her for overexerting herself after almost dying just a few days before. 

Bellemere didn’t expect to see them again. The doctors insisted that she remain in the hospital under supervision so she wouldn’t accidentally kill herself by trying to help others. The two girls that she had found were near her make-shift bed and she talked with an official to let her take them back to her own island of Cocoyashi. They already knew her, she said. They would trust her more than a stranger. 

So she took the little girls back to her island. While they were boarding her ship, someone bumped into her and she stumbled forward, almost dropping the orange-haired baby into the water. 

“What the hell was that?” She exclaimed, turning around to slap whoever had run into her. 

Unfortunately for the man behind her, Bellemere’s hand reacted quicker than her brain, and she slapped his face, causing him to stumble backwards. 

“Hey watch it!” Shouted a tiny voice from next to her. Bellemere’s eyes went wide as she realized who it was. 

“What are you two doing here?” She asked, looking down at the boy, getting a better look at him now. He had tan skin covered in pale blotches and looked almost sickly but fighting. His clothes were ragged and his hat looked like it should be white fur with brown spots, but it had been soiled on his journey, she assumed.  

“They asked us if we had anywhere to go and Corasan said we should go with you to wherever you’re going.” 

Bellemere stared at the child, processing what he had just said. She thought that she had seen the last of them after helping them to the tents set up in the field. 

She finally started nodding, saying “Okay, okay. I just want to know one thing, who, or what, are you two running from?” 

Law turned to look at Corasan, signing back and forth for a few seconds before turning back to her and saying “It’s a long story, we can tell you on the way. Where are you going anyway?” 

“I’m going home.” 

---

It took about a week for their ship to pull into port at Cocoyashi, and by that time Bellemere had learned of the threat following Law and Corazon, which she had finally realized was his name. Corasan was just how six-year-old Law pronounced it. 

The pair had hoped that by leaving North Blue they would have time to figure out what to do about the man that was chasing them. A small island in East Blue was the perfect hiding spot they said. 

During the journey, Bellemere also realized that the two girls she had saved from Oykot didn’t have anywhere to go, and she didn’t want to put them up for adoption. She didn’t want them to be separated from each other. 

However, the day before they docked it began storming, and bad. Nojiko and Nami had fallen ill and she needed to get them treated by the doctor in her village. 

As soon as she could, Bellemere sprinted through the pouring rain, using only her officer’s jacket as protection for the girls, and made her way into the village. 

Law and Corazon couldn’t keep up and waited on the ship for the weather to clear up. 

--- 

“I’m adopting them.” 

“Aren’t you too young to be a mother? And reckless too if I may add.” 

“I think I can be a good mom to these girls. I don’t want them to feel alone in the world.” 

“But the orphanage would take much better care of them, don’t you think?” 

“My mind’s made up. I want to adopt them as my own daughters and you won’t change my mind.” 

--- 

Bellemere had invited Corazon and Law to live with her and her daughters. 

Daughters, she thought. Mom would never believe that I have two girls of my own now. 

Corazon and Law signed for a minute before Law said they accepted. 

--- 

The house wasn’t big, but it felt like a home. They had to make another mattress and money was tight, but it was home. 

--- 

It went like that for a few years. Law had been about six years old when he had moved in, and now he was about 12. Nojiko was eight and loved to chase her older brother around the house while Nami, now six, threw overripe tangerines at them.

Just kids being kids. 

This was one of the few moments where Bellemere felt content with herself, watching the children she had worked so hard to raise run and play with each other without a care in the world. It had been hard trying to raise three kids with a clumsy deaf man. Although communicating with Corazon had become easier over the years, there were still a lot of miscommunication between them. 

Are you hungry? Bellemere had meant to ask one day. 

Corazon looked shocked as Bellemere asked if he was horny. 

Why are you asking in front of the children? 

What do you mean? 

Corazon signed horny again, then tried his best to mime what it meant to her. 

Bellemere went red realizing her mistake, both in embarrassment and at the implications it had about their relationship.

HORNY! Damn, guess I should watch my language huh. 

--- 

The week after that Law told Bellemere that he and Corasan had to leave. The man chasing them was sure to find them soon. It had been too long since they had seen anything from him and they didn’t want to risk dragging everyone else into it. 

He said to tell Nami and Nojiko that they were dead. 

--- 

After they had left that night, Bellemere broke the news to her daughters. She told them that Law had gone swimming with Corazon and a rip current had taken him too far out to sea. Corazon went out to try and bring him back, but he also got carried away. They both drowned. 

The whole village held a simple funeral service for them, using makeshift gravestones placed atop a cliff overlooking the sea, Law and Corazon’s favorite place to relax. 

--- 

It never felt the same in the house after that. Nami and Nojiko felt the emptiness in their home now, missing the two presences that they had grown up around. It took months for a feeling of normalcy to come back. 

Nojiko would chase a stray dog around the tangerine bushes while Nami tossed tangerine peels at her and ate the fruit. 

--- 

Four years later, Nami now 10 and Nojiko 12, there was a group of pirates that invaded the island. Nami had yelled at Bellemere over getting hand me downs from Nojiko, said that she didn’t think Nojiko was her real sister because they weren’t related by blood, even though she had never had an issue saying that before.  

She regretted saying that now. 

She had seen the pirates terrorizing the town around her, and she saw the smoke from Bellemere’s tangerine fields, where their house was, and she knew that they didn’t have the money the pirate captain was asking for to keep all three of them alive. 

Nami ran back to the house, screaming for her mom with Nojiko right behind her. They had to make it, they had to. She couldn’t lose her mom too. 

Nojiko pulled Nami behind one of the tangerine bushes as they watched Bellemere hold a gun to the captain’s mouth. 

And in the blink of an eye, the scene was reversed. Bellemere was standing with a gun aimed at her head. 

Time seemed to slow down as Nami watched the fish-like man pull the trigger. Bellemere fell to the ground with a thud as Nami and Nojiko ran out to try and save her. 

I’m sorry.

I love you. 

--- 

Although Law had gone through a lot to get rid of his disease, something he had barely thought of while he was on Cocoyashi, there was only so much he could do to keep the symptoms at bay. 

When he and Corazon left, he had guessed he had maybe a year left to live. If he was lucky. If he wasn’t he could be dead in a matter of days. 

He thought back to Nami and Nojiko, who he had considered sisters now, and he missed them greatly. He wondered what they thought of him now that he was “dead”. 

Dead. 

He didn’t want to think about it. Law would rather have them be angry at him for lying than to actually die and have them unaware of his real death. Dying at sea was the last way he wanted to go. 

He put his head in his hands and let out a sob. Then another, and another. And another. He cried until he felt like he couldn’t anymore.

---

Corazon had finally found the fruit that he had been researching for years. The Ope-Ope fruit would allow Law to remove the harmful Amber Lead from his body and keep it from shutting his organs down. He just had to pray that his brother didn’t find it first. 

--- 

Corazon barely made it back to the makeshift raft where Law was waiting. He had managed to get the fruit but at a huge cost to himself. He knew he probably wouldn’t make it another week with the wounds he had, unless Law learned quickly enough to get a grip on the powers he would get from the fruit. 

He just had to hope. 

Law woke up from his nap, one of the ways he tried to save energy now that his body was slowly shutting down, and hugged Corazon’s legs. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his body killed him if they didn’t find this fruit. 

Corazon bent down and held the fruit out for Law to take, which he did. He took a few bites, forcing the bitter fruit down his throat. 

When it was finished, he felt a difference in his body, but he couldn’t figure out how to control it. 

--- 

Corazon collapsed in front of him and asked Law to deliver a letter to a marine on the island. Tell them the mission was done and he wasn’t going to make it much longer. 

There was a second letter, addressed to Cocoyashi village.  

---

That same day, the man Law delivered the first letter to came to their raft. Corasan hid Law in a chest and used the last of his strength to hide the boy. 

The last thing Law saw of his father was a smile, and the last thing he heard was a gunshot. 

--- 

It would be eight years before Law and Nami would see each other again. Law was 24 now and Nami was 18. 

Nami had always kept Law at the back of her mind, wary of the sea that she believed had stolen his life away too early. Law thought of Nami and Nojiko often too, wondering how they would react to him still being alive. He kept a copy of Nami’s wanted poster in his personal room on his ship. He knew they would run into each other at some point, and he wanted it to be soon but also never. 

--- 

The Thousand Sunny pulled into port at the Sabaody Archipelago after a long year of travelling the Grand Line. They were almost halfway done with their journey now. They just had to get their ship coated with the tree resin and restock on provisions. 

Nami divided up the beli that they had earned amongst the crew. Sanji got more than the others to buy food, and someone had to make sure Luffy and Franky wouldn’t buy something absolutely idiotic like the last time, where they had gotten scammed out of thier beli for a piece of paper with their names on it. 

Nami walked around the archipelago, looking for anything that would catch her eye: clothes, jewelry, food, cartography supplies. And she saw something white with black spots float above the crowd. 

Could that be…. No. He died years ago, right?

--- 

Law was walking around the archipelago, looking for Nami. He knew she was here, he had seen her crew’s ship pull into port, and it was hard to miss the Thousand Sunny. He was looking for her bright orange hair, hoping she still smelled like the tangerines he had grown up around all those years ago. 

--- 

Nami saw the white and black spotted hat a few times before she decided to track it down. There was no way it could all be a coincidence. She hadn’t seen that hat in over ten years, but she would recognize it anywhere. 

--- 

Law caught a fleeting glance of Nami before she turned around and got lost in the crowd again. 

Dammit, he sighed. I might not get another chance if I miss it now. 

He followed where he thought she was going, watching her go from shop to shop, until she turned around and her eyes met his. 

--- 

Nami’s eyes locked onto Law’s, and she knew it was him. She pushed her way through the crowd, not caring who was in her way. 

--- 

Law stood still as he watched Nami run up to him through the crowd. 

---

“I thought you died!” 

“I….” 

Nami slapped him across the face before pulling him into a hug. 

“We missed you, a lot.” 

Law stood in shock for a second before wrapping his arms around Nami. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Bellemere is dead.” 

“Corasan died.” 

They said it at the same time, pulling away from each other, watching tears form in their eyes before pulling back into an embrace they hadn’t felt in over 10 years. 

“I can’t believe you’re still alive.” 

“I’m sorry for lying to you. We didn’t have any other choice.” 

“I know, but it still hurt to think you were dead for over ten years, and then losing Bellemere too….” 

They stood in silence for a minute. Then two, three, four minutes. It wasn’t until they were forcibly ripped apart that they let go. Law’s crew dragged him away to go do something else, and Sanji had appeared out of nowhere to pull Nami away into his own antics. 

But they didn’t mind. Knowing each other was alive was all they needed.  

---

After Luffy had announced his change of plans for the crew, Nami, who had ended up on a sky island, couldn’t stop thinking of Law. 

She wanted so desperately to catch up with him on the last 10 years of their lives, to know what adventures he had gone on, what powers his devil fruit gave him, what happened to Corazon. 

The first few days afterwards were the hardest. Nami sat with her head in her hands for hours, crying and thinking about Law and Nojiko and Bellemere and Corazon and what could have been and what would happen now and and and. 

And what? She couldn’t get stuck in the past and she had to move forward. Maybe writing a letter or two that could get delivered to Nojiko and Cocoyashi would help her move on. 

--- 

Law flipped through the newspaper, thinking about Nami and how nice it was to see her again. She still smelled like tangerines and he loved how she had grown so much and wished that they could have been together for it. Maybe everything would be different if he hadn’t left Cocoyashi or if he didn’t have Bellemere lie that they were dead or if he had left a letter or something for Nami and Nojiko to find or or or. 

He too, was stuck in the past and needed to do something about it. Law put the newspaper down and grabbed some paper and a pen and started to write. 

--- 

Two years. 

Two whole years. 

That’s how long it was before they saw each other again. Law had moved to Punk Hazard during that time, after becoming a warlord and beginning a very long and tedious plan to take down not only Doflamingo, but also Kaido. 

He never forgot about Nami in those two years and he still didn’t know how much he wanted to let her back into his life. Would she still accept him after knowing his whole story? Did he even know hers? He left when she was still young, there’s no way he could know everything that had happened to her in the last 15 years. 

And then Ceaser talked about seeing her crew’s ship on the other side of the island and he knew that he had to make a decision soon. 

--- 

After Nami woke up from the gas attack, she had no idea where she was. The others were laying on the floor around her, except for Brook? She could figure that out later but she needed to find a way out and soon. There was no telling what could happen to them if they stayed. 

Nami started waking the others up and as soon as they were all awake, Franky blasted a hole through the door allowing them to escape. 

Five minutes later they ran into what looked like a daycare center full of giant children, regular sized children, and every size in between. What the hell was going on here. 

--- 

There was a commotion going on outside, the navy had arrived and wanted to ask some questions. Law knew that he had to lie to keep them from investigating any further. He didn’t really know what Caesar was doing but if he wanted to keep working on the island, the navy couldn’t find out about the experiments Caesar was conducting. Those were hidden even from Law. 

He had fought navy admirals and vice admirals before and survived, so he wasn’t too worried about that. His powers would distract most of the other soldiers and keep them from fighting at their best. 

While he was fighting after an interrogation gone wrong, there was a sudden loud noise behind him followed by shouts encouraging an escape. 

Her long, orange hair drew his attention for a brief second, wondering what she was doing here before he returned to the fight. 

Nami paused for a moment, taking in the scene around her.

“We need to talk later, Law!” She called out to him as she and the children ran back inside. 

“Shambles.” He said, switching all of her crew into different bodies, ensuring that they would have to speak later. 

--- 

Nami felt like she was a ghost for a second while they were running back into the lab, before she came back to her senses. But her body didn’t quite feel right, it was much bigger than she remembered and…. Metal?? 

“Fuck you, Law.” She whispered under her breath. 

---

A day passed before she saw him again and while she was no longer in Franky’s body, she still wasn’t in her own and that was an issue. Sanji’s body was better than Franky’s she supposed. 

“We need to talk.” 

“I know. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.” 

“I spent 12 years thinking you were dead and you show up one day and you suddenly aren’t? You better have a good explanation for that.” 

“I do,” He said, taking a deep breath before filling Nami in on the last decade of his life. 

---

Nami couldn’t stop her tears and Law looked like he was close to letting them fall too. 

“I would say it’s okay but it isn’t and you don’t need to hear that right now.” 

Law pulled Nami into a hug, much like the one they shared at the Sabaody Archipelago two years ago. 

“Bellemere died... while protecting me and Nojiko. We watched her get shot and….” She let the tears fall freely, sobbing into Law’s chest as he tried his best to comfort her. He’d never been good at that even when they were kids but it felt good to have someone to hold on to, even if it was while they were both crying and trying to talk but unable to form the right words. 

And it was nice. 

They stayed like that for a long time, rocking back and forth, not really talking. Just taking in each other’s presence. 

“Thank you, for not being dead.” 

[classyfoxdestiny]

Enabling evidence-based policy for a more resilient society

Enabling evidence-based policy for a more resilient society

In 2016, the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation estimated that approximately 40 million people around the world were subjected to a form of modern slavery. In addition to the immense personal suffering represented by this estimate, the shared tragedy is that nobody really knows the true extent of human trafficking. Without a strong foundation of data standards and data sharing that show the true nature and scale of the problem the collective action needed to eradicate all forms of human trafficking and exploitation will remain elusive.

Today, IOM is releasing the first ever synthetic dataset of individual survivors of trafficking. The dataset is the largest collection of primary human trafficking case data ever made available to the public. It represents victims identified by IOM and major anti-trafficking organizations around the world, including Polaris, Liberty Shared, OTSH and A21. No combination of attributes in the released data can be used to isolate and identify any individual, or even a small group of individuals, which is paramount to the protection of vulnerable populations – including victims of trafficking. This dataset promises to give policymakers around the world detailed insight into how trafficking affects their countries to help build understanding, inform policy decisions and direct assistance and prevention resources more effectively.

This data release was made possible by Synthetic Data Showcase, a new open-source tool from Microsoft, developed with IOM as part of Tech Against Trafficking – a coalition of technology companies co-founded by Microsoft in 2018. Synthetic Data Showcase is one of several open-source software tools and infrastructure being developed by the Societal Resilience team within Microsoft Research aimed at empowering non-technical experts to address challenges that accompany crises, from global pandemics and climate change, to corruption, cybercrime, misinformation and human trafficking.

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The Societal Resilience team takes a new approach to science and research that’s tuned for a post-pandemic, post-carbon world of frequent and severe crises – and is guided by a mission to build the open-source software tools to enable reusable, community-oriented and multi-stakeholder collective problem solving needed to create a more resilient society.

Roots in the deep and dark web

My work in this area dates to the early and mid-2010s, when I was a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) leading a program called Memex. As part of the program, we built software tools to conduct domain-specific searches on the deep and dark web – the parts of the internet that are not indexed by commercial search engines such as Bing, Google and Yahoo – and to create visualizations and machine-learned models that can show connections between disparate data points.

In collaboration with law enforcement agencies and human rights organizations, we applied these tools to start collecting – and connecting – the “dots” that allowed us to build a rich and detailed view of organized, criminal sex trafficking networks. For example, the tools revealed connectivity between seemingly disconnected websites that advertised sexual services, including the same telephone numbers and email addresses. This allowed law enforcement agencies to find evidence of human trafficking networks, leading to order-of-magnitude increases in trafficking prosecutions and even large international network busts.

We found that these tools were effective in revealing the size and degree of organization of a form of human trafficking happening online. This understanding of the scope of the problem led us to shift toward a market-oriented approach. We asked, “How can we start to understand the way that prices, advertisements and policies influence this area of activity as if it were a market?”

For example, when the U.S. passed legislation that made it illegal for platform companies to provide content that could be related to human trafficking, this content disappeared from websites like Backpage and Craigslist. We could check the impact of the policy by asking questions like, “If the platforms can’t host these advertisements, does that change whether and how sex trafficking occurs?”

Elisabeth tells her story of how she was trafficked at age 12. Photo courtesy of United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM)/Lauriane Wolfe

Over time, the market-oriented approach to the problem of human trafficking has evolved into a policy frame. At the same time, the problem of human trafficking has continued to grow in response to crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events that disproportionately disrupt and force migration of the world’s most vulnerable people. Now we’re asking if we can inform evidence-based policies that bring new levels of support to affected populations – and whether the technologies that help us in this process might also enable a new kind of science. Can we use data and software to help societies survive crises?

Synthetic data showcase

We know that the basis of evidence is data, and that data on real-world problems can be highly sensitive – especially if it relates to vulnerable individuals. However, to shape and inform policy this data needs to be shared. This requires technology that preserves the privacy of individuals represented in sensitive datasets, while also retaining the structural and statistical properties of those datasets. Microsoft’s Societal Resilience team worked in collaboration with IOM to create a dataset – the Global Human Trafficking Synthetic Dataset – that is full of the type of vital, sharable and privacy-preserving real-world evidence needed to inform policy.

The dataset was created with Microsoft’s open-source Synthetic Data Showcase tool and released today through the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative – the first global data portal on human trafficking.

The downloadable dataset represents data from more than 156,000 victims and survivors of trafficking across 189 countries and territories. It provides first-hand, critical information on the socio-demographic profile of victims, types of exploitation and the trafficking process, including means of control used on victims – all vital information needed to better assist survivors and prosecute perpetrators.

Strong privacy guarantees that preserve the anonymity and safety of victims and survivors is key to the success of the dataset. That’s because, while the data is essential for evidence-based policy, publishing the data directly risks revealing the presence of individual victims to their traffickers. If traffickers believe a victim has received assistance, they may assume that this implies collaboration with law enforcement and initiate retaliation against the victim, their friends, family or community.

Synthetic Data Showcase generates synthetic, aggregate and anonymous data for sharing in place of actual sensitive data and brings it together in an intuitive interface that enables privacy-preserving exploration. By making every effort for this information to be openly and safely available, IOM and Microsoft hope to ensure the voices of victims and survivors are heard and protected while empowering governments and other stakeholders to take progressive and collective action to end this crime.

Societal resilience

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues in Microsoft Research were working on and exploring the potential impact of open-source software tools like Synthetic Data Showcase – the pandemic accelerated the effort. We realized that the world was forever changed and our role as computer science researchers needed to change with it. To be relevant today, we need tools to practice science at the pace of a crisis. To deliver results that matter, we need to adopt a mission-oriented mindset to research that focuses on durability instead of efficiency, emphasizes a community-oriented perspective and leverages a collective problem-solving approach.

At the outset of the pandemic, I was surprised to learn how different institutions make decisions – what kind of evidence leads them to start a clinical trial, fund medical research or change public health policy. The differences I observed highlighted an urgent need for tools to collect and understand real-time data to inform decision-making, especially in scenarios where established methods like randomized controlled trials and A/B testing are unavailable. For example, as people across the globe were getting sick, could we examine the differences between those getting more or less sick? By doing so, could we learn how to improve outcomes in the immediate term?

For this crisis-oriented science, we need to measure what’s happening in real-time, observe things as they unfold and gather enough evidence, with enough justification to determine the answers to important heath or policy-oriented questions. Prior to the pandemic, the computer science and machine learning community had not always emphasized the importance of real-world evidence. The pandemic forced us to prioritize turning observations of activity into the kind of evidence that individuals and institutions can have confidence in, whether making a medical decision, allocating resources around healthcare or creating a policy response to human trafficking.

The pandemic also revealed the need for a new, mission-oriented perspective on research. To be useful in a rapidly changing context, our software tools must have the ability to flex, scale, adapt and generalize. When creating software to address shifting, ill-defined, global problems like COVID-19, we must focus on robustness and reuse rather than on efficiency that can lead to isolated and brittle systems. To build these kinds of tools, we must combine individual expertise with a collective problem-solving approach. We’ve seen how emerging threats disproportionately affect those with the fewest resources to address them. Solving problems for society means that we have to build multi-stakeholder relationships with individuals, institutions, governments and communities to develop technologies that serve their needs.

As COVID-19 tore through communities, we raced to acquire the medical knowledge needed to make policy decisions about treatment and prevention. We learned that addressing real-world problems is messy. You don’t have the same control that you have in the normal scientific process. Data is incomplete and constantly evolving, and the coordination between different groups who need access to data is complex. We realized that a policy ecosystem grounded in science requires tools built for the speed and scale of a crisis, such as open-source platforms that uphold the privacy, accessibility, interoperability and validity of data.

Evidence-based policy

The Societal Resilience team is creating software tools and infrastructure aimed at empowering non-technical experts, but experts in their domains and subjects such as human trafficking, medicine and policy. These tools will allow subject matter experts to organize their data and leverage real-world evidence to engage in real-time causal analysis, and share insights with others for decision-making that is grounded in real information.

For example, ShowWhy, another open-source software tool developed by the Societal Resilience team, uses an intuitive interactive visualization interface to guide users through the causal inference process. Our team will use it to explore air quality data collected as part of Project Eclipse, an innovative collaboration in Chicago among community groups, private businesses, environmental justice organizations and local government agencies to measure neighborhood-scale air quality with a network of low-cost sensors deployed at bus shelters throughout the city. This collaboration shows the power of community-engaged technology development and deployment to incorporate local knowledge and subject matter expertise to inform sensor placement and hypothesis formation. For example, data collected by the sensors can be analyzed with ShowWhy to illustrate how pollution from specific locales leads to degraded air quality in specific neighborhoods.

Installing Project Eclipse on bus shelters across Chicago for air quality monitoring. Photo courtesy of Ben Ericson/MSR Media

One of the greatest levers we have to achieve societal impact at scale is policy as policy can determine allocation of money, people and other resources. We believe that evidence-based policies are more likely to have beneficial impact than those focused on assumptions. That’s why, in addition to building technologies that offer direct assistance in times of a crisis, (for example the Vaccine Eligibility Bot) the Societal Resilience team is focused on building a class of tools and technologies that operate at higher level of evidence-based policy.

Only through policy can we improve the condition of the most vulnerable in society, and it is the condition of the most vulnerable that truly defines societal resilience. By partnering with frontline organizations to elevate the resilience of such groups, we have a direct path toward elevating the resilience of society as a whole – whether by combating crimes like trafficking and corruption, or learning to live in a post-pandemic, post-carbon world.

All of these issues require new kinds of technology, and a new kind of science. However, we’re unlikely to make meaningful progress without thinking deeply about what it means to research and design for societal resilience. Technology alone is never the solution and many societal resilience problems can never truly be solved. Instead, it’s about bringing together the right kind of technology expertise, social science expertise and frontline expertise that can fundamentally transform real-world practice for the better – one day at a time.

Why Microsoft Research?

My personal motivation has always been problem solving, empowerment and enabling the voices of others. It’s exciting to be a part of a company and an industrial research lab that has the same mission orientation. With our global scale and access to computer science talent, we have the resources and opportunity to focus on solving problems that are relevant for society at scale.

The society we are seeking to empower is global. This investment isn’t about revenue; it’s about societal maintainability, human rights and corporate responsibilities. We can’t build and promote technological solutions that are only affordable to a select few individuals, organizations or countries. The only way we can do this is by building tools that enable affordable access to capabilities that may otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible.

The open software approach also aligns with Microsoft’s business. When the world succeeds, Microsoft succeeds. With our scale, open technology and collaborative ecosystem, we can have real societal impact that advances Microsoft’s mission to empower every person on the planet to achieve more. What is more aligned with this than to help every person on the planet survive crises better? And how better to prepare for these crises of the future than to start developing today the technology, evidence and policy that we’ll need to make a difference.

Related resources

Top image: Chris White, the managing director of Microsoft Research Special Projects, is leading a team that is developing open-source software tools and infrastructure that empower non-technical experts to address challenges that accompany crises. Photo courtesy of John Edwards / TriFilm

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[nrsranger]

4.4

Bemorsby System

NSR Theed

Bridge

11:48 hrs

Captain Violet always prided herself on never refusing a mission, when her orders came, she would see that they were always carried out. Even though she sometimes had a bad feeling before every mission where her people got hurt, the most recent experience was before the war when a suicidal pirated gunship crashed into the Theed, killing four and injuring 19 more but that feeling did not hold a candle to what she was feeling now. She went over her mission details again and again. Seek and destroy any and all First Order targets before they strengthen their position. Thadmin, made it clear how pivotal this sector here was, from here the First Order had a clear hyper lane straight to Raysho station and the Midpoint Moon Base and station. She agreed to the mission excited to be part of the first major offensive action of the war. It was only after she left Thadmin’s briefing that the bad feeling washed over her and began to drown her. The only confort she dared use to sooth her fear was that she had the NRS Scariff, straight out of the dry docks of Mon Calamari. There was little time to out fit it with a fully trained academy crew, so most if not all of the ship's crew were Mon Calamari civilian crew volunteers.

The bridge was mostly silent except for a few low whispers exchanged by the on duty crew. Captain Violet walked over to the bridge view port and squinted off the Theed’s starboard bow, she tried spotting the the Scariff’s task force in the great darkness if she squinted really hard she could just barely make out the outline of the Mon Calamarian Corvettes and light cruisers, prudence had each task force to separate but still be within range to lend aid in a pinch.

Commander Yash Valk walked up to Captain Violet and said “Captain, we have received word that Alroc has fallen, Bemorsby is now the only other planet in the system, they would be heading here”

“Good commander, the enemy does not know we are here, but now we know approximately where they are” As she said this she began to walk out of the bridge and into the Command Information Center or C.I.C. When she reached the C.I.C she entered and addressed the holo map that was commonly referred to as the threat board.

“Captain on deck” A crew mate shouted causing all the crew to come to attention

She waited one second to look around the room and admire the duty and excellence of her crew, then she said “At ease”

The officer who monitored the threat board then addressed her in a low toned voice.

“Our fighters have been flying recon flights, for the last hour and have not seen anything”

“I have just received word that the First Order has taken Alroc” Violet said motioning to one of the outer planets in the system “now this will be their next target” she said pointing out the prime planet in the system and the system's name sake Bemorsby.

“Interesting,” The Threat board office said “it is odd, how they attack the outer planets first, this shows a break from Imperial Military Doctrine,” he said under his breath but loud enough for Captain Violet and Commander Valk to hear. But then louder he said “there are only three corridors that provide access from the outer system to the inner system, my suggestion would be to retask our recon flights to patrol these three corridors” he said highlight three lines that lead from the eighth planet of the system to the second planet of the system. “Then when we know which corridor they are coming from, we can send the rest of our fighters to knock it out,” The officer said.

“Very well, C.A.G” she addressed a tall slender man in a Star Fighter corp uniform “return your fighters to the Theed to be outfitted with anti-ship weaponry, then send the Berrling Star, Haag’s Flame and The Slicer to the three corridors, and when they have the enemy ships on scanners have them report back and we will send in our bombers” Captain Violet politely ordered.

After brief exchanges over the comm Violet observed the threat board, many of the smaller groups of blue arrow wedges, began to return to the Theed and three corvette analog keys which had the basic outline of a CR-90 left the circle of the task force, as they moved further away from the Theed the names began to pop up under the wedge. The Berrling Star was a standard CR-90 which had better sensors than most other ships currently on the market or in service it was assigned to the furthest port side corridor. The Haag’s Flame a Marauder Mrk IV-class corvette was assigned to watch the center corridor the Mark IV was the newest generation of light corvette in service, it had the basic shape of the original Marauder but it was 50 meters longer had two point defence cannons symmetrically laid out every 60 meters and it had the newest sensor array commissioned by the New Republic. Watching over the Starboard side corridor was The Slicer, a Sphyrna-II class Hammerhead corvette, it was one of the older support ships the Theed’s task force used but it had a black market sensor system that outmatched the military grade sensors of the New Republic and First Order. Besides the three Corvettes watching the possible incoming vectors the Theed’s task force also had two other standard CR-90’s and Nebulon B, B2 and C frigates. The complementing task force centered by the Scariff was smaller, as it only had three MC40D Light Cruisers the D varied from the A, by removing it’s hanger and shortening it to 400 meters. While the Scariff’s task force had fewer ships, the quality of the ships and Mon Calamari engineering made it stronger than the Theed’s task force.

Several minutes passed, the low C.I.C ambiance only making Violet’s bad feelings worse then one of the technicians said

“Enemy spotted, central corridor, 7 to 8 medium transport ships, Haag’s Flame is keeping distance and staying outside of Terick’s range”

Violet looked up on the threat board displaying the scene now the Haag’s Flame began to pull back slowly as the 8 Tericks, which referred to any craft that is not friendly, lit up and advanced slowly but surely in their direction.

“Commander, launch fighters and go to red alert, ” Captain Violet said firmly.

Commander Valk nodded and gave the order to launch fighters then picked up the intercom system and said “Attention, Attention, this is Commander Valk Enemy spotted, go to red alert, set battle condition throughout the ship”

The siren blared and the red alert lights spun up their red tinted lights. Violet disregarded the distractions and only paid attention to the small fighter marks appearing on the threat board heading toward the eight Tericks.

“Any sign of the Star Destroyer?” Commander Valk asked the Threat Board officer.

“Not yet, but we have intercepted some chatter that it was still engaged with the local System Defence Force. The defence force is composed of six cruisers and one Clone Wars era Grand Cruiser. We don’t expect them to last long” L.t Dashin, the Threat Board officer said.

“Let’s knock out their support ships before they can engage their Star Destroyers.” Captain Violet said feeling her Togruta lekku nervously.

As the fighter line extended out from the Theed every eye in the C.I.C looked toward the Threat Board, the eight red analogs began to blink out, one by one. Two or Three X-wings disappeared as well as their last screams were broadcasted on the C.I.C’s comm unit.

Violet bowed her head as each pilot made their last transmissions. Violet kept a silent count of each pilot. Jamming, Roger and Utilli. The next time she lifted her head only two transport remained, they both fizzled out at the same time, in exchange Pudding and Wrenslayer’s Y-wing disappeared.

Violet thought that the best part of being in the C.I.C durring combat is that she never had to see any of the people she is responsible for die. But she could still hear them scream. She could not think about this right now, her first priority is to minimise casualty then mourn.

“Squad leader, to CAG” A Pilot said

The CAG tapped his head set, “Go for CAG”

“Our scanners are picking up, incoming cruisers” The Squad Leader informed

“What’s the ETA and Threat level?” The CAG asked

“4 cruisers, coming in at top speed, ETA 2 minutes” the Squad Leader said.

“Survivors from the Defence Force?” Commander Valk asked

“I doubt it, a Star Destroyer wouldn't leave any alive” The Threat Board analyst.

“True but, if those cruisers are looking for allies, the Galactic Alliance could certainly use them, even if they are battered old Clone War wrecks” Captain Violet said “CAG, have your fighters make contact with the cruisers, then let’s start hunting for that Star Destroyer, I want to find it before it finds us”

“Captain, I highly discourage this course of action, I believe it to be a decoy” the Threat Board Officer said.

“L.t Dashin” she said reading the Threat Board Officer’s name tag “thank you for your advice” Captain Violet then returned to the CAG and said “and CAG, have your fighter approach with extreme caution”

“Yes, ma’am” the CAG said.

“Thunder, please be advised, approach with extreme caution” the CAG said

“Possible Tericks, sir?” Thunder asked.

“Unknown” The CAG said

“Understood” Thunder said “Blade, 4, Blade 7 Blade 8, Womp Rats, 3, 6, 11 follow my lead, approach cruisers with extreme caution”

The Four X-wings from Blade Squadron and the three Y-Wings from Womp Rat squadron blazed a trail to intercept the cruisers.

“Captain, I think this is a bad idea, we destroyed the force headed, toward Bemorsby our mission is complete, let’s recall our fighters and return home” L.t Dashin said more fervently, only causing Violets bad feelings to intensify but she pushed them off and said

“It’s not very often that we can fight a Star Destroyer on even ground, let alone outnumber them two to one, we have to take this opportunity now!” Captain Violet said. Then as an after thought she added “if we are going to win this war, we need to start neutralising, these Destroyers”

“Understood, Captain,” L.T Dashin said and went back to the threat board just in time for all hell to break loose.

“Blade 7 to Blade 8; that's gotta be the weirdest ship profile I have ever seen”

“Roger Blade 7; what are those little humps?”

“Rat, 6 to Blade 8, probably some sort of solar farms”

“Negative Rat 6; they seem to be too small to power the whole ship”

“Blade Leader to Blade 7, Igloo follow me for a close pass, rest of flight, hold position here”

“Roger Blade Leader; take the lead”

Silence then followed for a few seconds.

“What are thos---Blade 7 break off!!!!” Blade Leader shouted “Flight Fall back, FALL BACK!!!!!”

“CAG to Blade Leader, please advise, what is the threat?”

“CAG” Blade Leader’s voice came in shaky “Fighters!, they docked TIE Fighter’s to their hull”

Then if on cue, each two dozen TIE fighters lights powered on next to the four cruisers.

“Dang Farrik!” Commander Valk said. But before he could get the last syllable out, a technitin shouted.

“Incoming Terick out of hyperspace, vector 90. Mark 00, It’s a Star Destroyer! It is engaging the Scariff’s task force!”

Just to confirm what she was saying a large red triangle appeared a few kilometers from the Scariff and her task force. Then the same technicians voice shouted

“They're launching fighters!”

“CAG, GET ME EVERY FIGHT BACK HERE NOW!” Captain Violet said.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: The Stories of Asian American Activism in 1970s LA

Installation view of publications in Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968–80s at the Chinese American Museum (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

LOS ANGELES — “Instead of going to class, I’ve been working with the Asian Student Mobilization Committee,” a college student wrote in a letter to their mother in 1972. “If nothing else, the events of the past week have convinced me … that prolonged struggle and political education are necessary to effect change.” So begins one young person’s politicization, borne out of opposition to the US wars in Southeast Asia and galvanized by the sight of “friends and fellow students getting their faces smashed with night sticks.”

The letter is one snapshot of Asian America contained in the Chinese American Museum’s Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968–80s. Through books, posters, films, and music, the exhibit brings together varied local histories of movement building by Asians and Pacific Islanders, from anti-gentrification protests in Chinatown to Samoan community organizing in the South Bay. It’s a timely look at the shapes and forms of resistance that can inform today’s political struggles against an emboldened front of white supremacy and xenophobia.

Come-Unity newspaper (May 1972), published by the Asian American–led organization Storefront, which created grassroots programs for the mostly black residents in its neighborhood

According to the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, hate crimes against Asian Americans tripled in the US in 2015 as part of an overall growing rate of violence against people of color; one civil rights organization recently responded by establishing the first tracker of hate crimes against Asian Americans. After Donald Trump’s inauguration, the White House website was changed to remove all references to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), which had previously worked to increase AAPI access to federal programs, and no longer mentions Asian Americans, or any other minority group, as a policy focus. Since Inauguration Day, 16 of 20 members of the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs, among them prominent community leaders and public figures, have resigned in protest against the Trump administration’s discriminatory actions.

The hard-won gains of past activists, whether the establishment of ethnic studies departments at universities or social services for immigrant communities, now face threats by exclusionary policies that are nothing new to the US. But what has also not changed is the potential of self-organized communities to wrest power and resources away from oppressive institutions. The stories presented by Roots give a sense of how the early Asian American movement sought to overcome atomization and define itself. Importantly, it was not exclusively preoccupied with the struggles of its own members — solidarity with Latinx, Black, feminist, and third-world movements was a foundational and evolving part of its activism, one that defined liberation as social and economic justice for all, not just some, groups of people.

Installation view, Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968–80s

The Vietnam War was the major crisis that politicized Asian Americans, but events at home also became key battles that forced them to think of foreign and domestic policies as a unified attempt to disenfranchise people of color. Resembling the graphic illustrations of Black Panther artist Emory Douglas, a poster by artist Leland Wong celebrates 1971 as the “year of the people” and depicts armed resistance against police brutality. A 1970 newspaper, echoing today’s gentrification struggles, commemorates the effort to preserve low-income housing for the elderly Chinese and Filipino residents of San Francisco’s International Hotel. Another poster, from 1982, calls for medical aid to survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, with additional demands for an end to US military interventions abroad as well as racism within the country. These examples emphasize how Asian American activists perceived violence in and outside of the US as connected: calling for an end to one necessitated calling for an end to the other.

Clockwise from left to right: Poster for poet Lawson Inada’s performance in Los Angeles (1971), image of playwright Frank Chin speaking at the University of Southern California (date unknown), and photograph of silkscreening workshop (date unknown)

Art became a significant outlet for writers, musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers seeking to voice their identities and political struggles. The Amerasia Bookstore in Little Tokyo, which operated from 1971 through 1992, served as a hub for movement publications and writers like Lawson Inada, a Japanese American poet who spent part of his childhood in an internment camp during World War II. Inada, playwright Frank Chin, and others would go on to publish Aiiieeeee! (1974), the first major anthology of writing by Asian Americans. In her book Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties, which is an indispensable companion to the Roots exhibit, writer and filmmaker Karen Ishizuka says:

The arts of activism intersected the lives of those touched by them, creating meaning, defining purpose, and acting as a catalyst for change. The preponderance of creative expressions alongside critical analyses of U.S. imperialism and manifestos of anti-racist programs attests to the cultural as well as political revolution that gave birth to Asian America.

As continues to be true today, these artists of color created work both in response to political currents and out of personal necessity, telling stories that were otherwise not being told. Los Angeles collective Visual Communications (cheekily abbreviated VC) produced independent films documenting the lives and histories of Asian Americans that served as a counterpoint to the villainous or reductive stereotypes of Hollywood. Some of those films are on display in Roots: the cross-cultural and transpacific sounds of Japanese American jazz band Hiroshima is the subject of VC co-founder Duane Kubo’s “Cruisin’ J-town” (1975), while Linda Mabalot’s groundbreaking “Manong” (1978) portrays the labor struggles of Filipino farm workers in the Central Valley.

Also on view are several editions of the newspaper Gidra (1969–74), which served as the major communications arm of the Asian American movement. Founded by UCLA students and run entirely by volunteers, the publication produced political analyses, satirical cartoons, and other coverage of everything from the Vietnam War to global capital to cultural stereotypes. Visually rich and politically incisive, the newspaper’s articles and illustrations suggest a patchwork of perspectives and identities that comprised 1970s Asian America.

A section of the exhibit titled “Feminism and LGBTQ Movements” features the January 1971 edition of Gidra, whose cover announces it as a “special women’s issue.” The need for a special issue suggests that women’s voices had not been centered or recognized to the degree they should have been. Two photographs depict Gidra volunteers — all female — in the midst of one of several “wrap sessions” that led to the creation of the women’s issue. Despite the radical claims of the movement, Asian American artists and activists had plenty of blind spots, as the exhibit takes pains to demonstrate. Many of the leading members skewed male, cisgender, and heterosexual, with identity politics based on an opposition to “feminized” or “emasculated” personas (the editors of Aiiieeeee!, for example, defined “feminine” writers as not being “truly” Asian American). Facing these limitations, feminist and queer activists organized to create their own support systems and platforms that centered labor, health, and other issues that did not always find a home in the larger movement.

Newsletters published by the Asian Women’s Center

In a part of the exhibition, visitors are invited to write on Post-it notes in response to a series of guiding questions, one of which asks, “What does Asian American mean today?” Implying that present Asian American discourse is at odds with its radical past, one note lists “silence,” “anti-blackness,” and “white assimilation,” while another names “complacency” and “ignorance.�� These seem to be responses to the historical amnesia and political atomization that have led to Asian Americans demonstrating on behalf of someone like Peter Liang, the Chinese American cop who murdered an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, in 2014. That was a far cry from 1975, when thousands of Asian Americans packed the streets of New York’s Chinatown to protest for Peter Yew, a young engineer who was brutally beaten by police, and against all forms of oppression and discrimination. “Asian American” was once a radical marker of identity, yet today it can feel like a rather innocuous or less meaningful designation. It can even seem conservative or reactionary.

Growing up in Southern California during the ’90s, I recall the fear and anxiety of the local Korean community during the LA uprising, when many Korean-owned businesses at the epicenter went up in flames. I was too young to grasp the root causes of the riots, but old enough to understand that the video of the four cops beating Rodney King (which was played ad nauseam on television) had something to do with them. What I didn’t know at the time was the name of Latasha Harlins, the African American teenager murdered, just a year before the uprising, by a Korean shop owner who suspected her of stealing a bottle of orange juice. Some Korean Americans recall how the community came together to defend itself and rebuild what was lost, but I have to wonder exactly whom they were defending against and who was being left out in the first place.

Although social movements like the early Asian American one do eventually reach their terminus, the story of Asian America — as vast and nebulous as it has always been — doesn’t end with the 1980s. The objects in the exhibit comprise a vibrant history of uprisings, provocations, and world building, but how do we avoid relegating resistance to the past? Today, although they may not always be visible to the mainstream, many young Asian Americans have taken up the mantle of political struggle, continuing where earlier movements left off and expanding the fight to include intersectional identities and solidarity. Whether it’s queer diasporic Koreans showing up for Black Lives Matter or anti-imperialist Filipino activists marching against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Los Angeles remains home to many Asian American activists of multiple generations. Roots will hopefully not be the only attempt to present stories of political activism and movement building by Asian Americans, whose work seems more urgent and vital than ever.

Installation view, Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968–80s

Gidra (February 1973)

Installation view of ephemera from Filipino American activist movements

Alan Takemoto, poster marking the 10th anniversary of the annual pilgrimage to Manzanar (1979)

Installation view, Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968-80s

Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968–80s continues at the Chinese American Museum (425 North Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles) through June 11.

The post The Stories of Asian American Activism in 1970s LA appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[classyfoxdestiny]

Enabling evidence-based policy for a more resilient society

Enabling evidence-based policy for a more resilient society

In 2016, the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation estimated that approximately 40 million people around the world were subjected to a form of modern slavery. In addition to the immense personal suffering represented by this estimate, the shared tragedy is that nobody really knows the true extent of human trafficking. Without a strong foundation of data standards and data sharing that show the true nature and scale of the problem the collective action needed to eradicate all forms of human trafficking and exploitation will remain elusive.

Today, IOM is releasing the first ever synthetic dataset of individual survivors of trafficking. The dataset is the largest collection of primary human trafficking case data ever made available to the public. It represents victims identified by IOM and major anti-trafficking organizations around the world, including Polaris, Liberty Shared, OTSH and A21. No combination of attributes in the released data can be used to isolate and identify any individual, or even a small group of individuals, which is paramount to the protection of vulnerable populations – including victims of trafficking. This dataset promises to give policymakers around the world detailed insight into how trafficking affects their countries to help build understanding, inform policy decisions and direct assistance and prevention resources more effectively.

This data release was made possible by Synthetic Data Showcase, a new open-source tool from Microsoft, developed with IOM as part of Tech Against Trafficking – a coalition of technology companies co-founded by Microsoft in 2018. Synthetic Data Showcase is one of several open-source software tools and infrastructure being developed by the Societal Resilience team within Microsoft Research aimed at empowering non-technical experts to address challenges that accompany crises, from global pandemics and climate change, to corruption, cybercrime, misinformation and human trafficking.

YouTube Video

The Societal Resilience team takes a new approach to science and research that’s tuned for a post-pandemic, post-carbon world of frequent and severe crises – and is guided by a mission to build the open-source software tools to enable reusable, community-oriented and multi-stakeholder collective problem solving needed to create a more resilient society.

Roots in the deep and dark web

My work in this area dates to the early and mid-2010s, when I was a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) leading a program called Memex. As part of the program, we built software tools to conduct domain-specific searches on the deep and dark web – the parts of the internet that are not indexed by commercial search engines such as Bing, Google and Yahoo – and to create visualizations and machine-learned models that can show connections between disparate data points.

In collaboration with law enforcement agencies and human rights organizations, we applied these tools to start collecting – and connecting – the “dots” that allowed us to build a rich and detailed view of organized, criminal sex trafficking networks. For example, the tools revealed connectivity between seemingly disconnected websites that advertised sexual services, including the same telephone numbers and email addresses. This allowed law enforcement agencies to find evidence of human trafficking networks, leading to order-of-magnitude increases in trafficking prosecutions and even large international network busts.

We found that these tools were effective in revealing the size and degree of organization of a form of human trafficking happening online. This understanding of the scope of the problem led us to shift toward a market-oriented approach. We asked, “How can we start to understand the way that prices, advertisements and policies influence this area of activity as if it were a market?”

For example, when the U.S. passed legislation that made it illegal for platform companies to provide content that could be related to human trafficking, this content disappeared from websites like Backpage and Craigslist. We could check the impact of the policy by asking questions like, “If the platforms can’t host these advertisements, does that change whether and how sex trafficking occurs?”

Elisabeth tells her story of how she was trafficked at age 12. Photo courtesy of United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM)/Lauriane Wolfe

Over time, the market-oriented approach to the problem of human trafficking has evolved into a policy frame. At the same time, the problem of human trafficking has continued to grow in response to crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events that disproportionately disrupt and force migration of the world’s most vulnerable people. Now we’re asking if we can inform evidence-based policies that bring new levels of support to affected populations – and whether the technologies that help us in this process might also enable a new kind of science. Can we use data and software to help societies survive crises?

Synthetic data showcase

We know that the basis of evidence is data, and that data on real-world problems can be highly sensitive – especially if it relates to vulnerable individuals. However, to shape and inform policy this data needs to be shared. This requires technology that preserves the privacy of individuals represented in sensitive datasets, while also retaining the structural and statistical properties of those datasets. Microsoft’s Societal Resilience team worked in collaboration with IOM to create a dataset – the Global Human Trafficking Synthetic Dataset – that is full of the type of vital, sharable and privacy-preserving real-world evidence needed to inform policy.

The dataset was created with Microsoft’s open-source Synthetic Data Showcase tool and released today through the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative – the first global data portal on human trafficking.

The downloadable dataset represents data from more than 156,000 victims and survivors of trafficking across 189 countries and territories. It provides first-hand, critical information on the socio-demographic profile of victims, types of exploitation and the trafficking process, including means of control used on victims – all vital information needed to better assist survivors and prosecute perpetrators.

Strong privacy guarantees that preserve the anonymity and safety of victims and survivors is key to the success of the dataset. That’s because, while the data is essential for evidence-based policy, publishing the data directly risks revealing the presence of individual victims to their traffickers. If traffickers believe a victim has received assistance, they may assume that this implies collaboration with law enforcement and initiate retaliation against the victim, their friends, family or community.

Synthetic Data Showcase generates synthetic, aggregate and anonymous data for sharing in place of actual sensitive data and brings it together in an intuitive interface that enables privacy-preserving exploration. By making every effort for this information to be openly and safely available, IOM and Microsoft hope to ensure the voices of victims and survivors are heard and protected while empowering governments and other stakeholders to take progressive and collective action to end this crime.

Societal resilience

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues in Microsoft Research were working on and exploring the potential impact of open-source software tools like Synthetic Data Showcase – the pandemic accelerated the effort. We realized that the world was forever changed and our role as computer science researchers needed to change with it. To be relevant today, we need tools to practice science at the pace of a crisis. To deliver results that matter, we need to adopt a mission-oriented mindset to research that focuses on durability instead of efficiency, emphasizes a community-oriented perspective and leverages a collective problem-solving approach.

At the outset of the pandemic, I was surprised to learn how different institutions make decisions – what kind of evidence leads them to start a clinical trial, fund medical research or change public health policy. The differences I observed highlighted an urgent need for tools to collect and understand real-time data to inform decision-making, especially in scenarios where established methods like randomized controlled trials and A/B testing are unavailable. For example, as people across the globe were getting sick, could we examine the differences between those getting more or less sick? By doing so, could we learn how to improve outcomes in the immediate term?

For this crisis-oriented science, we need to measure what’s happening in real-time, observe things as they unfold and gather enough evidence, with enough justification to determine the answers to important heath or policy-oriented questions. Prior to the pandemic, the computer science and machine learning community had not always emphasized the importance of real-world evidence. The pandemic forced us to prioritize turning observations of activity into the kind of evidence that individuals and institutions can have confidence in, whether making a medical decision, allocating resources around healthcare or creating a policy response to human trafficking.

The pandemic also revealed the need for a new, mission-oriented perspective on research. To be useful in a rapidly changing context, our software tools must have the ability to flex, scale, adapt and generalize. When creating software to address shifting, ill-defined, global problems like COVID-19, we must focus on robustness and reuse rather than on efficiency that can lead to isolated and brittle systems. To build these kinds of tools, we must combine individual expertise with a collective problem-solving approach. We’ve seen how emerging threats disproportionately affect those with the fewest resources to address them. Solving problems for society means that we have to build multi-stakeholder relationships with individuals, institutions, governments and communities to develop technologies that serve their needs.

As COVID-19 tore through communities, we raced to acquire the medical knowledge needed to make policy decisions about treatment and prevention. We learned that addressing real-world problems is messy. You don’t have the same control that you have in the normal scientific process. Data is incomplete and constantly evolving, and the coordination between different groups who need access to data is complex. We realized that a policy ecosystem grounded in science requires tools built for the speed and scale of a crisis, such as open-source platforms that uphold the privacy, accessibility, interoperability and validity of data.

Evidence-based policy

The Societal Resilience team is creating software tools and infrastructure aimed at empowering non-technical experts, but experts in their domains and subjects such as human trafficking, medicine and policy. These tools will allow subject matter experts to organize their data and leverage real-world evidence to engage in real-time causal analysis, and share insights with others for decision-making that is grounded in real information.

For example, ShowWhy, another open-source software tool developed by the Societal Resilience team, uses an intuitive interactive visualization interface to guide users through the causal inference process. Our team will use it to explore air quality data collected as part of Project Eclipse, an innovative collaboration in Chicago among community groups, private businesses, environmental justice organizations and local government agencies to measure neighborhood-scale air quality with a network of low-cost sensors deployed at bus shelters throughout the city. This collaboration shows the power of community-engaged technology development and deployment to incorporate local knowledge and subject matter expertise to inform sensor placement and hypothesis formation. For example, data collected by the sensors can be analyzed with ShowWhy to illustrate how pollution from specific locales leads to degraded air quality in specific neighborhoods.

Installing Project Eclipse on bus shelters across Chicago for air quality monitoring. Photo courtesy of Ben Ericson/MSR Media

One of the greatest levers we have to achieve societal impact at scale is policy as policy can determine allocation of money, people and other resources. We believe that evidence-based policies are more likely to have beneficial impact than those focused on assumptions. That’s why, in addition to building technologies that offer direct assistance in times of a crisis, (for example the Vaccine Eligibility Bot) the Societal Resilience team is focused on building a class of tools and technologies that operate at higher level of evidence-based policy.

Only through policy can we improve the condition of the most vulnerable in society, and it is the condition of the most vulnerable that truly defines societal resilience. By partnering with frontline organizations to elevate the resilience of such groups, we have a direct path toward elevating the resilience of society as a whole – whether by combating crimes like trafficking and corruption, or learning to live in a post-pandemic, post-carbon world.

All of these issues require new kinds of technology, and a new kind of science. However, we’re unlikely to make meaningful progress without thinking deeply about what it means to research and design for societal resilience. Technology alone is never the solution and many societal resilience problems can never truly be solved. Instead, it’s about bringing together the right kind of technology expertise, social science expertise and frontline expertise that can fundamentally transform real-world practice for the better – one day at a time.

Why Microsoft Research?

My personal motivation has always been problem solving, empowerment and enabling the voices of others. It’s exciting to be a part of a company and an industrial research lab that has the same mission orientation. With our global scale and access to computer science talent, we have the resources and opportunity to focus on solving problems that are relevant for society at scale.

The society we are seeking to empower is global. This investment isn’t about revenue; it’s about societal maintainability, human rights and corporate responsibilities. We can’t build and promote technological solutions that are only affordable to a select few individuals, organizations or countries. The only way we can do this is by building tools that enable affordable access to capabilities that may otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible.

The open software approach also aligns with Microsoft’s business. When the world succeeds, Microsoft succeeds. With our scale, open technology and collaborative ecosystem, we can have real societal impact that advances Microsoft’s mission to empower every person on the planet to achieve more. What is more aligned with this than to help every person on the planet survive crises better? And how better to prepare for these crises of the future than to start developing today the technology, evidence and policy that we’ll need to make a difference.

Related resources

Top image: Chris White, the managing director of Microsoft Research Special Projects, is leading a team that is developing open-source software tools and infrastructure that empower non-technical experts to address challenges that accompany crises. Photo courtesy of John Edwards / TriFilm

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