#these were our standard car entertainment for years and years | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

therecordchanger62279 · 5 days

Text

"I Drove Slash To the Car Show"

(or "It Seemed Like A Big Deal At The Time")

I suppose we could file this post under autobiography. I don’t really do that here as a rule. Whatever I choose to reveal about myself slips out in bits and pieces in the context of other subjects. But I worked in the retail record business for close to 30 years, and my first job out of high school was as a disc jockey at a small radio station in Ohio. The radio gig was ironic, really, because I don’t have the kind of personality where I would ever want to be in the spotlight. I picked radio because I loved music, and enjoyed playing it for people. But that’s not what radio is about – certainly not now, and it really wasn’t then either.

After about 9 months, I jettisoned my radio career for retail – specifically, the records side. I worked nearly 30 years either in record stores, or in record departments of big box stores. And in the course of doing that, I had several memorable brushes with celebrity. So, I thought I’d collect them all (or as many as I could remember) in this post. After all, this is my blog, and it’s probably going to be the only thing that survives me after I die. So why not get it on the permanent record?

I should say, first, that I never worked in a big city, so the celebrities here were not always household names. But there were a few who are or were at the time. My instructors at radio school were all local disc jockeys who had programs at stations in Dayton, Ohio where I attended school. Most are likely forgotten today. But before we graduated, the school brought famous Cincinnati Reds pitcher and broadcaster Waite Hoyt in to speak to us. He entertained us with stories from his long career in baseball and radio. And we shook hands before he left.

The next name was someone I actually worked for. The radio station where I was a disc jockey was WMVR AM/FM in Sidney, Ohio. That station was owned by an Ohio native, actor Dean Miller who was a member of the cast of a popular TV series called December Bride that ran from 1954-1959. I only met the man one time, and that came near the end of my tenure at the station. He showed up one morning for a staff “pep talk” designed to scare all of us into doing our jobs better so the station could be more successful. But it was the only station in a small town, and nobody was ever going to get rich from it – not the owner, and certainly not the employees. A DJ’s pay was beneath poverty level – even by the standards of 1976. In any case, his attitude towards all of us put me off, and as I’d already been considering leaving the radio business, I figured that might be the time to make my exit. Before the month was out, I moved on.

By 1982, I was an assistant manager for the National Record Mart chain in Toledo, Ohio training at the North Towne Square Mall location. There was a musician I worked with there for just a few weeks before he exited for a very successful career as a New Age musician. His name was Tim Story, and he left the same year he released his In Another Country album for a small independent label. Five years later he was recording for New Age giant Windham Hill Records. He's still active today, has a website, a social media presence, and his discography lists 50 titles to date. I didn’t know him well, but I do remember he was a really nice guy, and I enjoyed working with him. I’m happy he was able to make a career making music.

In 1985 I became the store manager at a National Record Mart store at the Salem Mall in Dayton, Ohio. There were two factors that were key to my several encounters with musicians while I was there. First, there was a very popular concert venue just up the street from the store named Hara Arena. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, most of the biggest names in Rock played there when they toured the country. The other factor was that several months into my tenure there, our store became a Billboard Reporter. What that meant was that Billboard magazine called the store weekly for a list of our best-selling albums, and singles. This was during the dark ages before Soundscan was introduced, and tracked sales electronically. We got sent all the new releases, and I spoke with countless marketing companies, and record label people each week about how their product was selling.

In the course of doing that I spoke on the phone with Ozzy Osbourne. He was calling stores to promote his live Tribute album to the late guitarist Randy Rhoads. At first, I was sure someone was pranking me, but it didn’t take long to realize it really was Ozzy on the line. (He was slurring every word.) It was brief. We exchanged pleasantries. He thanked the store for its support, and I told him we all loved the album, and played it daily in-store. I also spoke on the phone several times with singer-songwriter, guitarist Carla Olson who was working a part-time gig for an L.A. marketing company while recording, and touring with her band The Textones. I’d spoken to her a couple of times before she mentioned she was a musician, and when she told me her last name, I couldn’t believe it. She was very surprised that not only did I know her name, but I already owned her band’s first album. When the second was released, she autographed a copy, and sent it to me. She later went on to a solo career, working with both ex-Byrd Gene Clark, and ex-Stone Mick Taylor. She’s still touring, and recording today. Wonderful lady.

Dayton is famous mainly as the birthplace of The Wright Brothers. But Dayton also birthed some of the best, and most famous Funk and R&B musicians in the world. I was working at the store one morning in 1986 when Shirley Murdock walked up to the counter to buy some albums. I recognized her immediately because her debut, self-titled album on Elektra was one of our best-sellers. I confess to being a bit star-struck in the moment. Not only did we play her record in-store all the time, and loved it, but she was stunning to look at. I remember saying to her, “You’re Shirley Murdock aren’t you?” She shyly nodded she was, and I told her how much we all loved her record, and how well it was selling. She thanked me, and shook my hand. She couldn’t have been sweeter, and more unassuming. No star trip happening, and no ego either.

We had company conventions every summer in Pennsylvania, and there were always acts booked to play, as well as “meet and greet” sessions with musicians promoting their latest records. I met a number of them, of course, but the two I remember very well were Lyle Lovett, and Roy Buchanan. Lovett was there for his first album release on MCA. He was very shy, and I shook his hand, and told him I knew the album would do well. He asked me if I’d heard it already, and I had because the MCA rep in our area was promoting it as if Lovett was his best pal. He was surprised, and very happy to hear that.

Roy Buchanan was signed to blues label Alligator Records, and he’d been booked to play our convention to promote his When a Guitar Plays The Blues, his first album for Alligator. I didn’t actually meet Buchanan, but I was at a party the second night of the convention, and the managers were all mingling and trading stories with one another when Roy popped his head in, and asked, “Anybody got any blow?” You could’ve heard a pin drop. This wasn’t the NY or L.A. crowd. This was a group of managers from a Midwestern record store chain based in Pittsburgh. When he realized there was none of that particular drug to be had, he quickly ducked out. Played a great set, though. Maybe he found some after all?

In the summer of 1987, the best-selling album at the store was the second album, Pride, by the American-Danish hair metal band White Lion. Their label, Atlantic called to tell us the band would be in town to play Hara Arena, and asked if we would do a wall display to help promote the record, and the show. None of us were White Lion fans, and one evening I was working with one of my part-timers, and I put up the White Lion display behind the counter. The show was the next evening. Atlantic hadn’t given us much notice, and the part-timer I was working with objected to a display for such a second-rate, no talent hair metal band. But I told her we were doing the label a favor. Business was slow that night, and she was bored, and asked me if she could deface the poster? I said no, but after she told me what she had in mind, I let her do it. The poster was a B&W photo of the band with the name, and album cover in the corner. She took a black magic-marker, and painted each member with a lion’s nose, and mouth that aped the sketch on the album cover (Google it.) It looked great, and everybody got a good laugh out of it. But about an hour later in walked two guys who were certainly musicians, and as it turned out, were members of White Lion who were already in town. Bass player James LoMenzo, and drummer Greg D’Angelo spent some time browsing, and when they came to the counter, LoMenzo spotted the poster, and said, “Hey, why’d you guys mess up our poster?” And D’Angelo started laughing, and pointed out to LoMenzo that our in-house artist had made Lions of them. The lightbulb went on over LoMenzo’s considerable mane of hair, and both musicians thought we were paying tribute to them, and thanked us. Then they had the nerve to ask us for a discount! I told them that I wasn’t allowed to do that, and since their album was in the Top 10 nationwide that I was pretty sure they could afford them without the discount.

The next act of note at the venue up the street was the latest edition of Chrissie Hynde’s Pretenders. They were touring their Get Close album, and Hynde was making headlines for firing band members. By the time they played Dayton, a couple of them had been sacked already. Again, as was our custom, we put a display behind the counter to help promote the show and the record, and pacify the label. Feeling ornery one evening, I took a paper shopping bag from under the counter, got the scissors, and cut out small paper bags, and taped them over the heads of the two members depicted on the poster who’d gotten sacked. I was pretty certain Chrissie would not be visiting our store before the show. She was probably busy learning the names of her new bandmates. But a pair of Pretenders roadies did come in the night before the show, and spotted the poster. They both cracked up laughing, but warned us that if Chrissie did happen to stop by, she wouldn’t find it at all amusing. I left it up, and we never saw her. Good thing, too. My wife and I attended the show, and Iggy Pop opened. Pretenders came on, and someone spit on the stage and just missed Chrissie. She warned those down front that there’d be no more of that, or else. I always thought Chrissie Hynde could best even a killer one-on-one. I’m glad I never tangled with her.

Before I left NRM, I was given tickets from the Columbia Records rep to see ex-Bangle Susanna Hoffs open for ex-Eagle Don Henley at Riverbend in Cincinnati. There was a post-show “meet-and-greet” arranged, and I took a couple of CD booklets to have autographed. I did meet her, and spoke briefly with her. She signed the booklets, and then another fan snapped a photo of me with my arm around her waist (she was so tiny, my arm went almost completely around her). He told me to give him my address, and he’d send it to me after he had the roll developed. Of course, I never got it, and I’m sorry I didn’t take a camera along. She was gorgeous, and I’m still a fan all these years later.

By 1991, I was already working for a small indie shop in Dayton called Gem City Records. One Sunday morning I drove to our main location downtown for some supplies before we opened, and as I was leaving, Slash from Guns ‘N’ Roses came walking into the parking lot with a female on his arm, and he asked me, “Hey! Is the store open yet?” I turned to the store manager, and said, “Dale, Slash wants to know if the store is open yet?” Dale thought I was kidding until he saw Slash come walking up. Of course, he invited him in before opening so he could shop privately. Slash asked for a particular album, and Dale told him his store was out of stock, but I mentioned my store had it, and I offered to drive to get it for him. I was back within the half-hour, and a grateful Slash signed a copy of Use Your Illusion II for me. I was just about to leave when he asked me if I knew where the car show was being held. I said it was at the Convention Center a couple of blocks over, and as I was going that way, I’d be happy to drop him, and his lady friend. He thanked me, we got in, and I drove them to the car show. That night Guns ‘N’ Roses played The Nutter Center in Dayton. I was home. I didn’t hit him up for tickets. I wasn’t really a G ‘N’ R fan, but Slash was a good guitarist, and a very nice guy. And until I sold my maroon Mazda, from that day forward, I called it “The Slashmobile.” (A postscript to the story: when Dale ran Slash’s credit card for the stuff he bought, the card was declined. But he ran it through again a few days later, and it was approved. I guess his business manager was late paying the bills. And Slash’s real name is Saul Hudson. That wasn’t common knowledge at the time.)

In 1992, Mick Fleetwood was on hiatus from Fleetwood Mac, and he put a band together with Billy Thorpe, Billy Burnette, and Bekka Bramlett called The Zoo. They played a small club here in Dayton, and I went with a friend of mine. We took CD booklets for autographs, but weren’t certain the band would be available after the show. As it happened, though, Mick, and Bekka did come out and sign autographs, and posed for pictures. (I’d have posted them here, but I don’t have digital copies.) Mick was a real gentleman, and shook my hand, and thanked us for coming. One of the CD booklets I’d brought was an early Fleetwood Mac album with Peter Green. He was delighted to see that. Bekka Bramlett was a real sweetheart, signing autographs, and posing for pictures as well. Of course, she later was a member of Fleetwood Mac for one album. And, like her mother Bonnie, she was a belter, and could really sing.

I had a couple more surprises when I managed the music department at Borders Books and Music here in Dayton. We were getting ready to open the store by September, and a couple of weeks before, we were putting the finishing touches on things, and trying to get all the stock to the sales floor. The lady corporate had sent to supervise this process (called “the sort”) was named Jill Lyon. My boss happened to mention to me that Jill’s husband was coming to town to see her, and to be sure I had everything looking good in the record department. When I asked why he mentioned that, he told me he was sure Jill’s husband would want to do some browsing. I said, “Her husband? Who’s he?” And he told me her husband was Southside Johnny Lyon of Asbury Jukes fame. I was stunned. I had no idea our Jill Lyon was Johnny’s wife. I was a huge fan of The Jukes since their debut album nearly twenty years earlier. I had all their records, so this was a big deal to me. I did, indeed, get to meet him that day, and told him how much I loved his music, and that I’d been a fan since the beginning. He was very gracious, and friendly, told me my department looked great, and wished me well.

About a year later, still managing the records department at Borders, the store featured live music in our café every Friday night. As music manager, and manager-on-duty on Friday nights, it was my job to see to it that everything went as planned. The store’s manager in charge of planning those events had arranged for Randy Newman to appear as he was on the road doing a tour of retail stores promoting his Faust album. The rider in Randy’s contract had some pretty outrageous demands. It said we had to provide a small table with cheese and crackers, and some veggie snacks as well as bottled water for him! Oh, the horror!! No star trip for Randy Newman. No bowls of cocaine, or brown M&M’s removed from the M&M’s bowl. Just cheese and crackers, veggies, and water. Randy played a great set, sat at a table, and signed autographs, and there is a photo of me shaking his hand (again, no digital copy), and getting my Land of Dreams LP signed. He was surprised to see that, and said, “A vinyl record! Don’t see these much anymore. I miss vinyl.” And he graciously signed it.

My last encounter with a celebrity came once again by phone, and happened in 2003 when my record store days were nearly at an end. I was back at Gem City Records at the downtown store here in Dayton, and due to some turnover of personnel, I was now overseeing our Jazz department. As I was doing some of the buying for that department, I would often talk either with label reps, or promo guys about new releases. One day the phone rang, and the caller asked for our Jazz buyer. Dale handed me the phone, and the voice on the other end introduced himself as Joel Dorn, founder of the Jazz label 32 Records. I said, “Wait a minute. Are you the Joel Dorn?” And he said, “I am. Have you heard of me?” And I replied, “Of course. There isn’t a serious Jazz fan in the world who doesn’t know your name or your work.” He thanked me, and then proceeded to tell me about the new releases his label was releasing. It was a genuine honor to speak with this legend who’d worked with The Allman Brothers Band, Bette Midler, Max Roach, Herbie Mann, Mose Allison, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk among others, and won two Grammy Awards for his work with Roberta Flack. I was genuinely saddened when I heard he’d passed away just four years later.

All of these encounters were memorable ones, and nearly all of them make nice memories. I miss the record business. It was a great job while I had it, and I shudder to think what kind of drab work history I might’ve had if I’d gone down a different road. I guess I should’ve had kids so I’d be able to tell my grandchildren that I drove Slash to the car show.

#celebrity encounters

3 notes · View notes

bigtimesinsmallspaces · 2 months

Text

Post 6: A Tale of Two Zephyrs Part One

Even the word Zephyr sounds beautiful, and has a poetic meaning of “gentle winds”. Boarding this train FELT poetic and momentous. We had worked hard to get here. This was also the one segment of the trip that we had booked outside of our Rail Pass and upgraded to an actual sleeper. So for 24 hours we would be living the life of luxury, in our own roomette, with meals in the dining car. I was ready to sleep laying down on the train!!

The #6 California Zephyr originates outside of San Francisco. Boarding two hours down the line at Sacramento (after that razzle dazzle to get us to the train on time) we would travel eastward for the next 24 hours through Truckee, Reno, and Salt Lake City, to our next stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Shortly after getting on the train we were slowly climbing in elevation. Soon we would be riding through Truckee and the Sierra Nevadas. Truckee is a snowy, cold ski and recreational town. The Donner Pass is here and you can Google the details. Suffice it to say I would not wish to be in a wagon train stuck for the winter of 1846 at Donner Pass. At over 7,000 feet this was also the only area where I felt the impact of high elevation— slight nausea and a bit breathless. This quickly subsided as we came down out of the mountains and later had a stop at Reno.

Having access to the dining car and full meal service was a real treat after many days of picking through our bag of snacks and eating cafe food. The dining car may not meet the standards of those who reminisce about the grand ‘ole days on the train (yes, I do own some china once used on the Norfolk and Western Line) but it was top notch to me. I’ll do a separate blog later discussing in greater detail the logistics of what it’s like to live on the train for nine days. For now I’ll just say that in this 24 hour segment we had some good food.

We met some very nice people along the way, as well as many wonderful Amtrak employees. But an interesting aspect of the dining car is that Amtrak must maximize its dining capacity, and therefore enforces community dining— that is, there are no tables for one or two. You are seated with other passengers. On this segment we were “matched with” a young woman for both our lunch and dinner. She was traveling from Florida in between jobs and happened to have gone to college near where I grew up in Virginia. I say “matched with” because the dining room attendant, Drew, entertained us (past the dinner hour) with stories about his job. He said he literally did try to match people up in the seatings. In fact he said he matched a couple who returned to the train a year later to be married (while the train was in the Moffet Tunnel no less) and he served as the officiant. At breakfast we were “matched” with a retired gentleman who happened to live in the neighborhood outside American University where Allison went to school. It was interesting to share our excitement and experiences with others.

After an oversized dinner dessert we were ready for our undersized bunk beds in our even more undersized 22 square foot roomette (that is NOT a typo) with equally unimpressive two inch mattresses. Regardless, we were in HORIZONTAL heaven!! We slept beneath some battery operated Christmas lights we strung up for ambiance or just in case we lost power in a tunnel (hey, after reading about Donners Pass some lights and a plethora of snacks seemed like a minimal effort). Let me say, regardless of how it’s done, there is just nothing like sleeping (or trying to sleep) on a train. The sound of the whistle throughout the night, along with the rocking of the train, and the sense of catapulting through space is absolutely mesmerizing. For me it’s often trying to sleep, it’s just so wonderful I don’t even want to miss a minute!

The next morning we were greeted with a pot of coffee right outside our room. While we were at breakfast our wonderful car attendent LaShonda transformed our tiny beds back to seats as we enjoyed the beautiful ride into Utah.

Pictures below: At the Sacramento Station preparing to board the Zephyr, scenes from the Sierra Nevadas and Donner Pass, Dinner in the dining car with Drew, the 22 sq ft roomette at bedtime.

#amtrak #california zephyr #trains #train #empire builder

3 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 11 months

Text

Five months into my eight-month solitary confinement and right before the Persian New Year, Nowruz, the guards put me in a new cell at the other end of the Evin prison high-security facility in Tehran. Measuring 3 by 3 meters, it was much larger than my old cell, which meant I could walk in a figure eight across the corners. In the absence of anything else to do, continuous walks were my sole routine, and they quickly became an addiction.

I walked and walked. Remembered and imagined, anticipated and planned for all possible scenarios, and often conversed with myself out loud, in any languages I had any knowledge of. During these figure-eight walks, I faced the windows or the half-marble-covered walls. Sunlight seeped into the room, tracing paths of gold over the floor, then scaling the walls. It danced, warmed, then vanished, promising to return tomorrow. The marble canvas revealed images: the curved, nude back of a seated woman, surrounded by profiles of faces and clouds.

Deprived of sights, I sought refuge in sounds. The new cell received less light due to the tall, gorgeous plane and mulberry trees right outside. but it was right next to the main entrance and thus, within Evin standards, more eventful and entertaining—even if only through hearing. I could hear when the bored guards gossiped about their shift supervisors at the end of the hall, or when they responded to other inmates' requests, or when they watched football or drama on state television. (I never heard any news, since they were strictly advised not to watch the news.) Once, a few seconds of an instrumental version of Radiohead's “A Punch Up at a Wedding” on a stupid TV commercial made me cry my heart out. I wasn’t sure which I craved more: hugs or books. I suspect it is very rare to be deprived of both at the same time.

My only comfort came from our equality in this misery, or at least the perception of it. The guards and interrogators had always said no one was given books or newspapers in our ward. I had believed them, because I had seen no sight (nor heard any sound) of them.

One afternoon, though, I heard something that shattered this tiny comfort. Four pairs of slippers had appeared outside a cell two down from me, hinting at four inmates who most likely had just come out of solitary to be kept in a large cell together. A few hours later, through the ventilation shafts that connected the cells, I heard newspaper rustling. It broke my heart, truly. That common shaft and what I could hear through it deeply unsettled me for the next three months. Of all the injustices of a high-security prison ward, from the blindfolded walking breaks in the yard to the awful gray polyester uniform and the cheap blue nylon underwear, this one felt the harshest.

But what if there were no shared ventilation shafts between cells via which I heard the other cell? What if the ward were so vast that we never felt the presence of others? What if they could make us deaf as they made us blind? What if they could enclose our senses as they trapped our bodies? Broader questions emerge: If we know nothing about our colleagues’ salaries or where and with which standards they live, can we even know if we are treated fairly? Can injustice be felt if there is not a shared space where we can see and learn about others’ lives?

The rare blend of physical and cognitive isolation that I experienced in prison was an exaggerated version of the social fragmentation that is quickly becoming reality for many people in more developed urban areas around the world. The pandemic somewhat accelerated that reality. Many of us stopped going to the office, to events, shops, cafés, and restaurants. We drove cars or bicycles and avoided public transport. Face masks and other physical barriers shielded us from other people. Nearly all public or shared spaces where we were able to interact or even gaze at strangers had vanished, turning our lives into real physical cocoons, not metaphoric cognitive ones that we long feared.

I call this blend of material and cognitive isolation in everyday life mass personalization of truth. This is a much broader argument than the infamous “filter bubble,” which only focused on cognitive or information filtering.

Platforms are quickly becoming social institutions with deep and extended embodied, as well as cognitive, impact on our lives. Near-future technologies such as self-driving cars, mixed-reality headsets, and drone deliveries will turn the isolation we experienced during the pandemic into a permanent, everyday reality. Our chance to meet or interact with anyone that we don’t already know will dramatically shrink, because the shared spaces for these interactions will diminish or our access to them will be limited. They affect our mental as well as material life somewhat similar to how our bodies and minds are controlled in prison.

Society of One

A “market of one” used to be the dream of marketers and manufacturers around the world. If you are certain about someone’s unique and vital needs, you have already sold that product before making it. This ultimate form of personalization is where consumption and production become one.

Before the era of AI and machine learning, it was difficult to imagine personalization on a massive scale. But with big digital platforms like Google or Facebook, mass personalization has finally emerged: the automated, continuous process of hyper-fragmenting consumers and predicting their needs or desires based on massive data surveillance and complex technologies of classification. From Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds and their embedded adverts, to Amazon and Netflix recommendations and Spotify’s Weekly Discover playlist, companies use statistics and probability to quickly learn what kind of things we may need or desire and nudge us toward them accordingly.

The question now is: What if the market of one is expanded to other zones of life and turns into a society of one?

When mass personalization extends beyond feeds or ads, it becomes an entirely different thing: mass personalization of truth. “Truth” here refers to long-term, embodied, lived experiences, and to the practical as well as instinctive knowledge every individual has about the outside world.

Think about how platforms could control our bodies and material experiences instead of just our cognitive experience. They could navigate us in self-driving cars, selecting routes where we'll shop for things we don’t need; they could choose what events to take us to and which people to expose us to, perhaps with visual cues above their heads indicating who to approach or avoid; they will order things they decide we will not return, with personalized prices for us; they will decide who we date and mate and reproduce with. They may fail to confine our minds, but they are fully able to govern our bodies—and our minds will eventually follow where our bodies go.

A society of one means we will live by different personalized truths in both the mental and physical worlds, with little chance to experience the truths of others. This can work two ways. As I discovered in solitary, through the little shared space of an air shaft, that some inmates had access to newspapers, justice cannot even come to be realized without a form of collectivity (or shared space). Research has also shown that when poor kids befriend wealthier ones, they are significantly more likely to finish high school and will later earn on average 20 percent more as adults. It is no secret that segregation deepens inequality.

Not only justice and equality but democracy will also suffer from mass personalization, because it undermines autonomy, a prerequisite for any notion of citizenship. Imagine how a politician can run a simultaneously racist and anti-racist election campaign, and even win, if people are not exposed to each other’s lives or embodied “truths” in shared public spaces. Even after their victory, the politician can continue to manipulate voters by different selection and framing of their plans and achievements, while people have less and less meaningful interaction with those they don't know.

This was a common tactic by interrogators in prison. They told prisoners different stories about their ethnic background and their politics. Only if inmates were transferred into public wards or found a way to cross-examine the interrogators’ accounts would they be able to know they were being manipulated.

Trust is also threatened by mass personalization, because it is only formed in collectivity. Who wants to fly in an empty plane of an unknown airline? A very disturbing aspect of my time in solitary was that I wasn’t able to trust any facts they gave me about the outside world. It was a constant belief that every piece of information they shared with me was intended to manipulate me into confessing things they thought I was hiding.

For example, because I was arrested a few months before the very tense 2009 elections, I didn’t believe a single thing they said about which candidates had begun their campaigns. The mistrust even applied to mundane facts such as who was appointed to be head coach of the Iranian national soccer team. Only months later, when I met other inmates in a shared space, did I realize they had not lied.

Platform Neutrality

A society of one may, in 2023, still sound like an impossible dream (or nightmare, depending on who you are)—but so was the market of one before the blend of big data and machine learning led to the emergence of giant digital platforms.

There is still time to preempt the dark consequences of mass personalization. One concrete policy idea I’ve been promoting since 2018 is something that I call “platform neutrality”: regulating platforms to unbundle their AI models or algorithms from their core code, thereby creating a free market of third-party algorithms and models that users can buy and install on any given platform.

Think of installing a third-party AI model on Google Maps that replaces its default one and allows you to avoid chain cafés or businesses with racist or polluting tendencies. Imagine if you can buy and use a third-party algorithm on Instagram that will protect teenage girls from bullying or self-harm. Or think about a third-party Tinder plug-in that makes your profile invisible to your colleagues or family or ex-partners.

At the very least this will make AI models and algorithms more transparent and more accountable.

Another solution may be what I did during my solitary detention. Using a pen I once stole and took to my cell, I kept writing short sentences in fine letters right along the natural lines on marble stones on the walls. My situation, stupid things interrogators said or asked, what I had missed most, words of song lyrics, advice for other prisoners, and so on. And I signed them all with a date. I kept doing that in all the three or four cells I was kept in during my eight months of solitary, and I continued it afterwards.

To this day, dozens of people who spent time in those cells have seen my words, learnt from them, sang and danced to them. This is how I managed to disrupt their personalized embodied truths.

The primary danger of mass personalization doesn't lie in its effects on our minds, but rather on our bodies. As most Asian civilizations have long ago figured out, the body is not separate from the mind, and it is often through the body that the mind shifts, not the reverse.

5 notes · View notes

revengemode · 1 year

Note

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I don’t know anything about entertainment. How do you know that you are being blacklisted when someone does not like you ? Do you have any recourse or body to complain too if you can prove it was unfair ?

Not dumb at all. I have never been blacklisted (✊🏾🪵) but I’ve had many times where kicking it with an exec bumped us up tremendously.

Story time (it’s long):

The traditional way to get your work seen by these labels and getting a chance to work with their artists is to submit your video reel (your portfolio if you will) to their video commissioners.

If your work is decent, they will add you to a list and send you songs with a brief (summary of the artists vision + budget) so you can submit your treatment (storyboard) for the music video.

We started in a non traditional way and only started sending our work to commissioners in my 3rd year. One commissioner in a Warner Bros backed label would only send us videos in the $10K-$15K range (below our standard budget at the time).

Fast forward a 2-3 months, the director I work with the most gets invited to a videoshoot for a rapper who featured an African artist and a pop singer (now a huge popstar). The director I work with invites me as it’s the first time we would be on a set of an American record label backed music video ($100K budget). Great opportunity to learn how they run those sets, network, etc… Mind you this is NOT our video so when I say the director I work with, I don’t mean the director of this video 😂 .

We pull up and it’s a mess. They’re behind on time because the set is not ready and the African artist never showed up… as in he is not even in the same state the day of the shoot (a madness 😂). The rapper is rightfully pissed because it’s his big single’s video shoot. To add insult to injury, the stylist they booked is not on set either, they sent in their assistant with the wardrobe picked by the stylist. The rapper doesn’t like any of the clothes selected

The rapper thought he was getting played and told the label exec (working at the same Warner Bros backed label as commissioner I was talking about earlier) that he was not shooting today. The exec was PANICKING because they already dropped a bag on the shoot. Mind you, we are all in the RV while this is playing out. We all leave the RV to let him decompress. The director I work with (who has a previous relationship with the rapper) stays behind and talks to the rapper.

I kick it with the exec nearby who is trying to figure it out with her right hand man and the actual director of the music video (who is a great guy and didn’t deserve this bs at all). Next thing we know, a PA tells us that the director and rapper are leaving to buy some clothes. We see them hop in a SUV and dip. I call the director who tells me whats going on and jump in my car. The exec and their right hand man hop in with me. We find them at the mall and they buy some shit picked by the director I’m with. The whole time I’m helping the exec cool down and we are chopping it up.

We pull up on set an 1h30 mins, they shoot the video with the rapper and the pop singer (the singer and their team were humble af and amazing throughout that whole shit). Throughout the video the label exec often comes up to the director I’m with and myself to get some advice on the direction of the shoot and what not.

Long story long… we end up helping them wrap up that video (and some more stuff but I’m tired of typing 😂). We exchange numbers and not even 2 weeks later, the commissioner of the label puts up in the $40-$50K tier.

It’s literally about who you know because our portfolio didn’t change in that timespan. We got the super bump because we pulled an Ethan Hunt and basically “saved” that video. Its not really a merit based industry. They’ll boost you if they fuck with and cut you off if they don’t.

There’s no checks and balances when its literally one person making those decisions.

7 notes · View notes

a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives · 2 years

Text

The law in language: Rarriwuy Hick's groundbreaking TV role

Despite over a decade in the entertainment industry, 'True Colours' is a career first for Yolngu woman Rarriwuy Hick who plays bilingual Arrernte detective Toni Alma.

Actor and activist Rarriwuy Hick loves language.

But in her 13 years on screen, Ms Hick has never actually spoken language. Until now.

The Yolngu woman takes on the role of Toni Alma in NITV’s upcoming drama series True Colours.

Alma, an Arrernte detective is sent to the fictional community of Perda Theendar in the Northern Territory to investigate the death of a young Aboriginal girl in a suspicious car accident.

Learning language

The series sees Ms Hick and other cast members move freely between Arrernte and English.

Flying to Alice Springs a month before filming, Ms Hick was taught language by Arrernte and Warlpiri woman Marie Ellis.

“She is fierce, cheeky and funny. But not afraid to growl at me. What you need in a teacher, just that real aunty energy,” laughed Ms Hick.

"She was so generous, she just wanted to best for me and believed in me. It was so hard and even in times when I was worried I'd get it wrong or screw up, she always reassured me.

"She was my rock, and when either of us became overwhelmed with it – we had each other to get through.”

Ms Hick speaks her own language, Yolngu Matha, which helped her grapple with learning Arrernte.

"We didn't really use much English in that space,” she told NITV.

"You can't use English words for Aboriginal language sometimes, it's hard to translate that. I just couldn’t feel it in my spirit.

“So, there was a beautiful exchange happening. When she was teaching me Arrernte, I would translate it to Yolngu Matha.

"By the time we were filming, I felt like a desert girl. I was speaking Arrernte whenever I could because I wanted to, it's a beautiful language to listen to, it's a beautiful language to speak.”

Rarriwuy Hick (right) with True Colours series creator Erica Glynn (left) on set.

A Territory girl's dream role

For Ms Hick, the day producers called about True Colours was a dream come true.

"I'm an NT girl and have been acting for 13 years now. I have been dying to do a job in the Northern Territory. This opportunity came up and I knew I was in,” she said.

"This is the first time in Australia we're going to see on the screen a bilingual Aboriginal female detective."

Detective Alma is sent back home to investigate the girl's death. What follows is a complex mix of culture, identity, and the hardships of living in two worlds.

"You'll see Toni be challenged and sometimes frustrated with being a Blak woman in a very white space," she said.

“Whether that is being a detective and finding the challenges of how complex our families can sometimes be and the issues that surround the relationship between police and Aboriginal communities.”

Culture and community on-screen

The series delves into cultural customs and law.

"It's so important that we finally have these opportunities to talk about our very old and ancient laws... There are so many layers to our law, to our culture and custom,” said Ms Hick.

“It’s a complex system. I’m really excited to showcase that and see that portrayed on screen.”

While she has over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, many of those cast alongside her made their acting debut in the series, including many Alice Springs community members and Arrernte people.

The cast includes Senior Arrernte Elder Sabella Kngwarraye Ross Turner, Arrernte woman Natalie Pepperill, 18-year-old Arrernte and Waayni woman Janaya Kopp, Arrernte man Grant Wallace, Siobhan Breaden, Kurt Abbott and Arrernte man Warren H. Williams.

Rarriwuy Hick plays Toni Alma, alongside co-star Luke Arnold as Nick.

Setting a standard

Country music star and radio personality Warren H. Williams co-created True Colours alongside writer and director Erica Gylnn.

The series was a ten-year labour of love, and, according to Ms Hick, sets a new standard on how to incorporate Indigenous people, perspectives and practices into filming.

"This story belongs to Arrernte people, it's their story,” said Ms Hick.

“There were Blackfullas everywhere, in every single department. That in itself was really important.”

Ms Hick said that in the creation of the series, culture was prioritised and respected.

"There are complex kindship systems within the show but that was present offset as well.

"Making sure that there were the right actors in roles, there are some people that Warren H. Williams couldn't speak to so they had to cast someone who he could, culturally, speak with,” she explained.

"We're bringing in cultural custom into a film industry environment. It's the first time in my 13 years of acting that I've seen that.

"That was exciting to know that we can actually do that. It is possible that we can work in both worlds and have our culture in these different spaces.”

Ms Hick said it set a precedent for how the industry can move forward and continue doing things “in culturally, the right way”.

Date to debut

True Colours is a co-commission by NITV & SBS – the perfect home for the series, according to Ms Hick.

“You know how they have Netflix Originals, this is an NITV Original... I love NITV, my family and I are always watching it and I’m really excited that this is going to be its home,” she said.

Ms Hick hopes that the show can not only showcase the importance of daily cultural practice, but the “struggles we face trying to live in two worlds that are so different to each other”.

"For Arrernte people, I hope that they watch it and are proud to see their families on screen, their stories being told and hearing their language," she said.

“One of the biggest things I’ll take away from True Colours is the talent we have here in Australia...

"I hope the world gets to see that, and all of Australia. We need to keep encouraging our stories, and especially First Nations stories.”

Rarriwuy Hick with co-star Luke Arnold on set in Central Australia. Source: NITV/SBS

True Colours premieres Monday 4 July at 8.30pm on NITV & SBS

#luke arnold #rarriwuy hick #black sails #true colours #true colours sbs

14 notes · View notes

stories-from-peter · 3 months

Text

Walking To St. Helen's Island

I lived in the Montreal Home For Boys (Weredale) for a few years and made a few good friends while I was there. On weekends I would visit my mother, as did most of the other boys with their families. My mother was transferred to Vancouver by her employer so that left my weekends mostly free.

One weekend I found myself and my buddy Bob Campbell with nothing to do but hang around together. We were both about 14 or 15 years old so we had a lot in common. All the boys got a weekly allowance of 50 cents so Bob and I had a whole dollar to spend on whatever we wanted. We headed off to the corner store to buy candy and comic books to keep us entertained all day Saturday. That took care of half the weekend. Sunday would find us floundering.

On Sunday Bob and I realized we had blown our entire fortune on candy and comics and now we were stuck with nothing to do. Bob had a brilliant idea, or so he thought. “Let’s walk to St. Helen’s Island!” was Bob’s suggestion. “That’s a long hike and we have no money for the bus.” I said. “We’re young and strong.” Bob insisted. Off we went through the streets of Montreal, heading for the Jacques Cartier Bridge that passed over the island with its popular park. There was a causeway near the middle of the bridge that allowed access to the island. We would have to walk more than a kilometer from the end of the bridge to reach the causeway. The distance was more than 6km from home to the island.

At this point I need to explain some of the culture of the province of Quebec. Bob and I were part of the 5% of the population who spoke English. We could also speak French if we needed but it was obvious to everyone which group you belonged to. The language groups did not shop at the same stores and did not wear the same clothes or even carry their books to school the same way. We had to choose our route carefully to avoid being caught in a French part of the city. We managed to reach the bridge without incident.

There was a walkway on one side of the bridge that handled pedestrian traffic in both directions. We set off toward the middle of the bridge and the beautiful park. We appeared to be the only pedestrians on the walkway which swayed in the wind and vibrated with each of the cars and trucks that passed by. If you looked down there was a long way to fall into the St. Lawrence River. At this point the river seethes and boils like a witch’s cauldron and is quite fearsome. We were about half way to the island when we noticed 3 boys heading toward us. It was clear to us they were French, even from hundreds of meters away.

Bob was a kind and gentle soul, a couple of inches taller than me, but he did not exude an air of masculinity. He was not gay but his gentle side was clearly presented to the world. I began to worry if the French boys might cause us a problem. I had never seen Bob fight or even heard of him being in a fight. I had lived in some rough places and had to defend myself on many occasions. I also played football, floor hockey, and ice hockey so I was used to the rough and tumble of contact sports. I needed a plan.

As the French boys came closer I could see they were all wearing shorts, t-shirts and unbuttoned flannel shirts on top. Bob and I wore jeans and t-shirts. All standard attire. I decided to take an aggressive stance if the boys were looking for a fight. I would keep Bob behind me and then step away so they could see he was bigger than me. As the boys got closer I could see I was bigger than them, but not by much. At this point any small advantage could be useful.

Pretty soon the two groups were almost face-to-face on the swaying walkway. I looked down at the swirling water. My plan was to pick up the first boy and try to push him over the rail. Hopefully, his friends would panic and quit rather than see their friend fall. The first French boy crouched slightly, with his fists in front of him and growled “Nous sommes trois et seulement deux.” (There are 3 of us and only 2 of you.) I made a fist with my right hand and held it up where they could see it. I motioned with my left hand that I wanted them to come closer. In my best slang French I told them “Come here little girls.” At that point the demeanor of the leader changed. He could see I was ready to fight and showed them no respect. Bob was clearly bigger than me so they decided discretion was the best choice. Their fists went down and they motioned that they wanted to pass by. Bob and I moved just far enough to let them get by.

Bob and I watched as the French boys slowly disappeared toward the end of the bridge. Bob and I stood in silence for a few minutes. Finally Bob said “Let’s go home.”

0 notes

selflessanatta · 4 months

Text

Floating Through the Mind: My Journey of Self-Discovery in a Float Tank, https://selflessanatta.com/floating-through-the-mind-my-journey-of-self-discovery-in-a-float-tank/

New Post has been published on https://selflessanatta.com/floating-through-the-mind-my-journey-of-self-discovery-in-a-float-tank/

Floating Through the Mind: My Journey of Self-Discovery in a Float Tank

How I came to spend several hundred hours in a float tank practicing Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim.

A personal journey

From the time I was very young, I observed the activity of my mind.

When I was three or four years old, I remember several occasions when I lay in bed and noticed this odd feeling of existential angst. I noticed that I had a body; it limited me and defined me. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling like I joyously figured out who I was. It was unsettling because I had an intuition that I was something more.

As I grew and developed, I displayed certain advanced skills. I was highly physically coordinated, and I scored in the 99th percentile on standardized tests.

My family liked playing games, and I found I could focus concentration for very long periods, obsessively at times.

I was not unusual in that respect. Many children can control their mental focus and sustain it for long periods when they are fascinated by some activity. Even my autistic son has mastered many video games and exhibits these traits.

I found it satisfying to master games, but I often quit playing them after achieving mastery. When I was nine years old, I discovered a game I couldn’t master: golf. I’ve been playing it ever since.

Golf is Life

I love Golf.

My father set me loose to wander the Sacred Links at age 9. My grandfather maintained the grounds.

Golf intrigues me because it’s a rare competitive sport where the actions of your opponent don’t impact your outcome. It isn’t a miniature simulation of war, like most of our popular entertainment.

Golf is you against yourself.

It’s a perfect mirror of your inner life.

Over the years, it became a disciplined part of my spiritual practice.

If you want to know a person’s character, observe them for a round of golf, and all will be revealed.

Pilgrimage to Pebble Beach Golf Links in 1997

The world is not enough

When I was 18 years old, in the spring semester of my senior year, I only attended classes in the morning. My afternoons were free to play and practice golf, which I did every day.

I distinctly remember one afternoon, after practicing and playing nine holes, I sat in my car and looked out at the links, feeling empty and dissatisfied.

By all standards, I should have been ecstatically happy. I was playing the best golf of my life, I was about to graduate high school with honors, I had been accepted to a variety of colleges with many scholarship opportunities, and my personal life was full of friends, fun, girls, and good times.

There was no reason at all that I shouldn’t have been experiencing complete bliss and fulfillment, yet I wasn’t. I knew I could get better at golf, I noticed my financial circumstances weren’t as affluent as others, I had endless drama with girlfriends, friends, and family, and I had anxieties about the future.

My mind was powerful, and I had developed the ability to concentrate intensely, but my mind not disciplined in any meaningful way that provided peace, contentment, and happiness—and I knew it.

What was worse, I had no idea how to overcome it.

Failure of Religion

I was raised a Roman Catholic, but like many others, I found the faith overly focused on control and compliance and lacking in any spiritual meaning, so I rejected it all and considered myself an atheist for many years.

My family moved to the fringe of the Bible Belt when I was eleven years old, and I was exposed to Evangelical denominations that I found even more spiritually vacuous. It convinced me that organized religion, particularly Western religious traditions had no answers for me.

If I were to solve my mental and emotional problems and find true and abiding happiness, I believed I wasn’t going to find it in religion, particularly Western religion.

Philosophy and “The Answer”

I became interested in philosophy and debate, taking college courses on the subject and thinking about these issues. Like many others, I pursued the Holy Grail of instant enlightenment, as if a single thought or realization, perhaps found in a book, could relieve me of my emotional struggles.

If I could only find that one fact, I would be cured, made whole and happy, or so I thought. I applied my intellect to the problem and looked fruitlessly for answers.

I realized philosophy posed many questions, but it was always light on answers. I learned many arguments for and against God, religion, the afterlife, and so on, but each time I reached a conclusion, I knew it was wrong or incomplete.

Like most people, I had heard about Buddhist Enlightenment—and like most people, I had no idea what it was or how to achieve it.

It suggested to me that there was a specific epiphany, a moment of clarity caused by a single thought or idea. If I could only find “the secret,” I could be permanently happy and completely fulfilled all the time.

It was like reading E=MC2 and believing I somehow would understand all the physics that equation represented.

It never occurred to me that the Buddha’s enlightenment came after years of focused meditation practice and required numerous other realizations and mental disciplines to attain.

In my opinion, many New Age seekers carry the same erroneous belief that a single fact or realization can erase dozens of deeply engrained poor mental habits permanently—instant enlightenment. It doesn’t work that way.

I found Eastern thought fascinating, particularly Zen Buddhism and Taoism, because the writings were enigmatic, suggesting the answers were inside of me, somewhere already buried in my mind.

I turned to meditation to explore my mind to see if I could somehow gain control of it and tease out the answers for myself.

I was finally on the right track, but I had no idea how much work it would take or how long it would be before any meaningful results would become apparent.

The call of the mystic

When I was in my early teens, I watched the movie Altered States, a horror film based loosely on the life of John C. Lilly, who, among other accomplishments, invented the floatation tank to explore consciousness in complete sensory deprivation.

youtube

This scene was inspiring to me.

I’m naturally inclined to adventure. I explored uncharted caves as a teenager, took off on aimless road trips, and experimented with psychedelic drugs, marijuana, and anything else that looked exciting and perhaps a bit dangerous.

Star Wars excited me because it posited the idea that people could develop special skills based on their mind and mental focus. When the lead character in Altered States regressed to a dangerous primal state, I found it piqued my curiosity even more rather than deter me as a cautionary tale.

At a deeper level, I wanted to understand my “self,” and who I was; I believed my pathway to understanding was through studying the mind. I still do.

Years later, a float tank center opened near my house that offered an unlimited membership. I scheduled daily float sessions at 6:00 AM to meditate for one hour in total sensory deprivation before going to work.

I didn’t know what I would encounter there, but I believed I would learn something about my mind and about myself.

I wasn’t disappointed.

youtube

Meditation and Monkey Mind

Before I embarked on my journey into my mind, I had experience with meditation. I didn’t have a periodic or committed practice, but over the previous years, I had learned basic techniques and knew what to expect during a mediation session.

Unsurprisingly, I experienced the cacophony of thoughts known as “monkey mind.”

Ordinarily, monkey mind is one of a range of distractions during meditation, but in sensory deprivation, monkey mind takes center stage, and like the star of the show, it grabs a microphone and loudly announces itself.

Monkey mind is not a real problem or a special phenomenon. In reality, monkey mind is the result of an increased awareness of the cacophony of thoughts continuously and simultaneously being processed by the mind all the time.

Mostly, mental processing occurs beneath the level of conscious awareness and direct attention. Conventionally, we refer to this as the subconscious mind. The only reason it’s subconscious is because our attention is generally focused on only one of these thoughts, and most people exercise little control over their attention.

The stream of consciousness is like riding a wild horse that’s difficult to tame or direct in a focused way. The mind’s attention diverts from one thought to another, one feeling to another, without being aware of all the other thoughts and feelings occurring at the same time.

Monkey mind is the competition among thoughts for conscious attention. Meditation is often on an object the mind doesn’t consider important, like the breath. While breathing is obviously important, the body does this autonomically, so the mind has no need to pay attention to it; thus, the mind is easily distracted by thoughts deemed to be more important.

Monkey mind is overcome in meditation through conscious effort. Basically, my determination to focus attention on the breath is deemed most important, and my unruly mind is forced to keep attention on it. The more I practice this, the more cooperative my mind becomes, and monkey mind is less of a problem to control.

After pushing through the distractions of Monkey Mind, I found a space of quiet where I could detach from the thoughts and observe them from afar.

A higher level of consciousness

I could observe a thought, like a cloud passing across the sky. In that state of observation, I realized I did nothing to generate that thought.

I couldn’t start it, stop it, or control it. The thoughts and feelings in my mind seemed to operate on their own, outside of my direct control.

People tend to believe they control their thoughts and rule their own minds because they can, to some degree, control their attention. But anyone who practices mindfulness meditation quickly comes to realize they can observe their thoughts, and direct their attention to some degree, but they have little or no control over what they actually think or feel.

We are not godlike rulers over our own mental domain. We are more akin to a Prime Minister trying to manage a Parliament of unruly representatives, each championing its own agenda.

As I reflected on this observation, I felt a sense of detachment from my thoughts and feelings. I was able to observe them from afar without identifying with them. I realized I was not my thoughts or my feelings but an observer of them.

The viewpoint of the observer of mental activity is one level removed from the activity itself. I had found a higher level of consciousness. Not in an intellectual, conceptual way, but in my direct experience.

Some meditators seek to observe the observer, and even observe the observer who observes the mind, and infinite regression seeking higher and higher levels of consciousness.

youtube

Some meditators attempt to observe the empty space of awareness itself where this activity takes place. The analogy is that thoughts and feelings are like clouds crossing the sky, and the task is to observe the sky itself to understand the nature of the empty space in the mind.

Perhaps these are mental mind games, products of an overactive imagination, but when I explore these states, I find a palpable feeling of understanding and intuition that leads me to believe I am experiencing something fundamental, as if there is something important in that nothing.

Words fail to capture these states. The only way to know them is to experience them for yourself.

youtube

Suppressing thoughts

In the few years prior, I spent much time listening to Eckhart Tolle on my daily commute, so his teachings influenced me to reduce or avoid conceptual thought.

I tried to suppress monkey mind, and I became convinced that it couldn’t be done.

Thoughts can be suppressed for a time, but it’s a constant and neverending battle that takes all my concentration. Suppressing thought is a meditation on itself, and I only really felt that I was ignoring thoughts rather than preventing them from arising.

Invariably, quiet thoughts would creep in.

I would notice I had suppressed thought, which was a thought.

I would congratulate myself for suppressing thought, which was a thought.

I would comment on my observations, rather than observe them.

The thought would arise, your mind is so quiet.

No matter what I did, the thoughts would keep coming. If there was a method for quieting my mind, suppressing thoughts was not it.

Further, while I felt a bit more peaceful without so many disturbing thoughts, in reality, I hadn’t done anything to clean up my mind.

The disturbing thoughts were still there, buried in my subconscious mind, outside of my awareness, where they still arose when triggered.

I was not liberated from my troubling thoughts; I had made no changes to my psychology; In short, I accomplished nothing.

Perhaps someone with many more years of thought suppression may report significant changes, but I became convinced it was a spiritual dead end.

In my opinion, a quiet mind is a side effect of a pure mind. As I became more advanced in my meditation practice, my mind certainly became less raucous, quieter, and more peaceful—not because I suppressed thoughts, but because I learned to ignore the unimportant ones, and they finally stopped arising on their own.

I have come to believe that learning how to devalue thoughts, judgments, and opinions is the essential step toward quieting the mind and reducing anxiety. Disturbing thoughts have the power to disturb us because we imbue them with truth and certainty.

It’s preferable, and easier to undermine a disturbing thought rather than ignore it or suppress it.

Let me provide a simple example to illustrate and make this abstract concept more concrete.

Think back to an incident where a driver cut you off in traffic, nearly causing an accident. These incidents trigger primal protective scripts that will disturb your mind no matter how advanced your spiritual practice. The key is what you do next.

Trying to determine the “truth” of the driver’s motivations is irrelevant. Making a judgment and becoming certain that your judgment is absolutely correct is counterproductive. The goal is not to become God and dispense righteous judgment. The goal is to reinstate your peace of mind.

An undisciplined mind will take this initial incident and react angrily toward it. The driver will be characterized as a rude and inconsiderate asshole with no redeeming value. This will make the person angrier, and then they will want to retaliate, flip the bird, or go full road rage and desire escalation to violence.

A disciplined mind will find ways to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. Perhaps the driver was merely unattentive or distracted by something else. The incident could have been due to ignorance rather than malice. Even if the driver was a selfish and inconsiderate ass, then they are suffering from their delusions, and we should feel compassion for their negative state of mind.

An undisciplined mind will take small disturbances and make them larger ones. A disciplined mind will squelch small disturbances as quickly as possible. An undisciplined mind is a disturbed mind. A disciplined mind is a peaceful one.

Suppressing the disturbing thoughts won’t make them go away. It may stop the escalation, but the disturbance remains. Undermining the disturbing thoughts ends the disturbance permanently.

Parallel versus Serial processing

Your brain is a powerful parallel processor.

It processes thousands upon thousands of feelings and thoughts simultaneously, all day, and all night when you are not in Delta sleep.

Your consciousness is a serial processor working on top of the parallel one.

Consciousness presents the most important (highly emotionally charged) of these parallel ideas to the perceptual field that “You” identify with.

This presentation is sequential; thus you experience a “stream of consciousness.”

youtube

Why is this important?

Because 99% or more of your mental activity is happening behind the scenes, beneath the level of your conscious awareness.

These feelings and thoughts motivate most of your behavior and determine your moods.

It’s perilous to ignore what’s happening in your subconscious mind.

Moody Blues

Your mood is the sum total of the feelings being generated by your mind’s processing every thought, simultaneously, all the time.

If your mind is full of negative thoughts generating disturbing feelings, it drags down your mood.

It can make you feel terrible.

Have you ever been in a funk where you seem to emotionally vacillate between feeling a bit down and feeling really depressed?

Woody Allen said, “Most of the time I don’t have much fun. The rest of the time I don’t have any fun at all.”

That pretty much sums it up.

That is the ordinary existence for anyone who doesn’t employ mental rituals to alter their mood.

Weeding the garden of my mind

When I first started meditating in the float tank, I had no particular agenda other than to see what would happen, similar to John C. Lilly, the inventor of the float tank.

What I discovered frightened me.

There is an unfathomable amount of garbage fermenting in the subconscious mind.

When I discovered the reality of my own mind, I became motivated to clean it up. Once I realized I had thousands of poisonous thoughts taking root in my mind, I knew I had to do something.

Fortunately, I had been previously exposed to Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim, so I knew of a method for weeding my mental garden.

I devoted several hundred hours to practicing it.

It works.

The Voices in My Head

In the many, many hours of practice and focused awareness, I learned to parse the feelings in my subconscious mind and hear their voices. A casual reader might conclude I am psychotic, hallucinating my reality.

I am.

The consensus of modern neuroscience says I’m hallucinating Me.

youtube

This video is worth watching all the way through, many times over, to absorb its Truth.

When you read my descriptions of voices in my mind, these aren’t the loud, insistent voices of schizophrenia.

The mind processes feelings more than thoughts.

These feelings can be associated with voice, but often, it takes concentration on aptness to match voice to feeling. It’s like consulting a thesaurus. I know the right words when I feel them.

I can give voice to feelings if I can parse their effect from the chorus of feelings and thoughts in my mind.

It takes careful, mindful observation.

But I have no special gift. Anyone can learn this with enough time and focused concentration.

Existing as a disembodied mind in a float tank free from distractions certainly helps.

Me, Myself, and I

I no longer identified with my feelings and thoughts, but this realization only took me so far.

I knew what I was not, and that’s helpful information, but it didn’t really show me who or what I feel I am.

What made me, me, and not someone else?

youtube

The Act of Selfing

The conventions of English fail us in this area. Our minds are taught to instinctively think in terms of actors and actions, nouns and verbs.

For every act, there is an actor; for every effect, there is a cause; so the mind conceives of the “I” as something real and substantial, a detectable nugget that might show up in a science experiment.

That isn’t how I exist. There is no substantial self.

This may come as a shock to you, but you don’t exist in a substantive, “real” way at all.

In English, when we refer to an action as an actor, we use Gerunds.

We take an action, a verb, and we press it into service as an object, a noun.

That’s what you are: an action, a process, a construct of your mind.

You’re a Gerund.

You’re Selfing.

youtube

This video is quite long, but it will explain to you exactly how you exist, grounded in modern neuroscience.

You and I exist as a field of perceptual awareness created by our brains and bodies.

Our body’s central nervous system sends signals to our brains, where it’s brought together as a real-time simulation, or best guess at conditions in the outside world.

It feels like the Inner Theater, but no Homunculus spoils the party.

Binding Action in the Brain

In an evolutionary environment where split-second decisions determine life and death, the mind can’t take time to hold a committee meeting to determine a course of action all our senses can agree upon.

If you were a mouse that needed to avoid a silent owl gliding through the sky, it would be life-ending to have the mind get a signal from the eyes that says “run” and a signal from the ears that says “no worries, keep eating” with no way to sort out what to do.

A creature without binding action would constantly respond to false signals from every sense, expending needless energy.

The calorie cost would likely result in starvation and death.

Binding action in the brain creates our subjective experience. It’s a necessary evolutionary reaction that allows organisms to make speedy reactions to environmental stimuli with a minimum of energy wasted on unnecessary actions.

The perceptual field of awareness

The binding action in the brain creates a perceptual field of awareness that encompasses all your sense data, with the gaps filled in by your mind’s expectations.

It’s rather astonishing to realize that most of our experience is not produced by the environment as we perceive it. Our brain takes a small amount of sensory information and fills in all the gaps with expectations based on prior experience. Our minds literally do create our reality.

youtube

This video details modern neuroscience’s understanding of how the brain creates our reality.

Most people identify with their perceptual field as the self.

My perceptual field is me.

Your perceptual field is you.

When that information goes in and generates that perceptual field, the information flow is only one way.

You and I can’t share perceptual fields. I can’t directly know your experience.

My mind is unknowable to you. An Ultimate Divide exists between our subjective experiences and the outside, objective world.

Subjective experience can never be shared. You can’t know What it’s like to be a bat or another human being.

It’s like the information event horizon of a black hole; data only goes one way.

At the information event horizon of a black hole, whatever enters never returns.

We have no possible way of testing what happens beyond this barrier because no matter what test we run, no information to gather and analyze is ever forthcoming from the other side.

A bit like death.

Stop Selfing. Game Over.

You are in every way dependent upon your brain and body for your existence. Without them, no perceptual field is generated, and no selfing occurs.

Buddhists call this dependant arising.

This has a profound implication: Selfing doesn’t occur forever.

Selfing requires a brain and body in order to exist. When your body and brain fail, you cease to exist.

For an afterlife to be real, the ghost in our bio-machine must persist in some form that simulates body consciousness after death.

Which body do you get? A healthy, robust one of your youth? A decrepit and deteriorated body of old age? If you die in pain, do you experience that pain for eternity?

Your perception of reality depends on the brain and body, and at death, you no longer have either one.

This idea frightens some people, but if you reflect on it more deeply, it shouldn’t be so troubling on a personal level.

When my brain no longer generates consciousness, I am dead — but I won’t know it.

If it’s cold in the grave, I won’t be there to feel its sting.

I will no longer exist.

Selfing stops.

No lasting weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Some people become really distressed about this, believing it is contrary to their spiritual or religious beliefs, but I find it comforting.

There is an end to suffering—at least in this life.

I hope you find comfort in that too.

Relief of Emotional Pain and Suffering in This Life

My exploration of the mind and subsequent meditation practice have convinced me that we can achieve a significant diminishment of suffering in this life.

I am certain that the mind can be made more peaceful, which leads to greater joy and happiness.

The method I selected is the Buddhist meditation practice, specifically the Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim path. There may be other paths to salvation or cessation of suffering, but I can only attest to this one.

Suffering and Salvation: Understanding the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

~~wink~~

Anatta

0 notes

junaid122 · 4 months

Text

The Development of Vehicles

Vehicles have grown to be an integrated element of modern society, revolutionizing transportation and surrounding just how we stay our lives. From the modest beginnings of the horseless carriage to the sleek, high-tech vehicles of nowadays, the evolution of cars is a fascinating trip noted by advancement, creativity, and scientific advancements.

Early Developments in Automotive Technology

The history of cars times back again to the late 19th century when leaders like Karl Benz and Carol Honda presented the entire world to the thought of motorized vehicles. These early automobiles were ancient by today's standards, with basic engines and limited capabilities. However, they laid the inspiration for future developments in automotive engineering, paving just how for the modern cars we realize and love.

Key Milestones in the History of Vehicles

On the decades, cars have undergone significant transformations, with each time taking its set of breakthroughs and innovations. From the bulk creation practices pioneered by Honda to the release of features like power steering, ac, and ABS brakes, cars have developed in leaps and bounds, getting safer, more efficient, and more confident with each passing year.

Affect of Technological Advancements on Car Style and Operation

Advancements in engineering have played an essential position in surrounding the look and efficiency of cars. Today's vehicles are designed with an array of cutting-edge features, including advanced safety techniques like adaptive cruise get a grip on, lane departure warning, and computerized crisis braking. Infotainment techniques with touchscreen shows, smartphone integration, and style acceptance have also become typical cost, letting individuals to remain attached and entertained on the road.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cars have come a considerable ways since their inception, developing from easy mechanical contraptions to superior marvels of engineering. With each passing year, we continue steadily to experience new developments and improvements that force the limits of what's possible. From electric and autonomous vehicles to eco-friendly alternatives and smart freedom solutions, the continuing future of cars holds countless possibilities. As we navigate the streets forward, one thing is certain: the trip of the car is definately not over.

0 notes

rhonddaandallaneuro · 6 months

Text

Cruising is hard to take but someone has to do it.

At sea it was really calming and we basically spent the day trying to understand exactly what the cruise has to offer. Not being rude but we played ”spot the Aussie” through a multitude of nationalities. Everyone is very polite and the different people we have shared time with very interesting. We love seeing the Japanese in their traditional Kimonas. They are elegant to say the least and the people so soft and polite.

The entertainment on the other hand is far from an expectational standard and while the Japanese clap at everything in Australia they would not get work. Even gave the third night a miss preferring to just drink. Haha

On Thursday we visited the port of Kagoshima where we visited the local Senganen gardens, which has a huge display of ornamental flower arrangements and travelled over to Mount Sakurajima which is an active volcano. Great experience to see the ash shelters and massive man made lava flow channels.

Throughout the bus travel we saw streets completely trash free and saw petrol stations where the pumps hang from the ceiling to create more space for cars. How you know what you have spent I do not understand. Over here housing is for existence not about image but more practical.

From here we were taken to have an authentic Japanese banquet. Food was beautiful but one would hate to do the washing up afterwards. Every placing involved thirteen pieces of cutlery and plates. Worth doing though.

Back on board we did the cruising thing watching the sun go down from the eighteenth deck listening to live classical music. Very calming and beautiful.

Today we visited South Korea through Bosan and what an experience. This place is beautiful and a “must see” location. Basically established through the Korean War the stories told by our guide were amazing.

First stop was the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple where you need to climb down 108 steps (same steps back up) on a steep cliff face to reach the temple itself. Stunning views and ancient skills in abundance. So proud of Rhondda doing the steps. They were really old steep and worn form the thousands of tourists and worshipers who make the trek.

From here we headed to Nurimaru APEC House which was used to establish the first free trade agreement for the Pacific region. This place has been set aside as a respect for the role South Korea played in unifying the region. It is a modern museum of history.

We kept on walking and came to the local beach which is about 400 metres long, which in tourist season (late July to second week of August) over 1,500,000 visitors. Not my cup of tea.

Back on the bus we drove to Gamcheon Culture Village which was where 14,000 residents from Seoul where displaced to from the war in an emergency evacuation. The shacks became home to so many and still are resided within today.

This area is in total contrast to the modern Bosan which has huge high (100 stories) rises constantly replacing what were once only 40 storey buildings. The guide explained that they believe building are only built to last 40 years and only natural to build bigger to cater for growth in citizens. The work ethic and future commitment here is something our politicians could learn a lot from.

The region has a South American feel with houses painted bright colours with small lanes. UNICEF has heritage listed the housing.

Sadly out time was done here as headed back to our ship.

1 note · View note

midnight-star-world · 7 months

Text

#CountryMusic

57th Annual CMA Awards/16th Annual Academy OF Country Music Honors/People's Choice Country Awards

So today on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would like to talk about the latest edition of the CMA Awards (This time the 57th Annual). They originally aired on Wednesday November 8th, 2023 at 8pm EST (Eastern Standard Time) on ABC. And they were co-hosted by Luke Bryan & Peyton Manning. Let's first see what they played for us on this night.

Performances (Who played and what they played for us). Jelly Roll featuring Wynonna Judd - Need a favor. Luke Bryan performing a medley of hits - Huntin', fishin' and lovin' every day -> One margarita -> That's my kind of night -> Play it again -> Country girl (Shake it for me). Ashley McBryde - Light on in the kitchen. Cody Johnson - The painter. Morgan Wallen & Eric Church - Man made a bar. Luke Combs - Where the wild things are. Chris Stapleton - White horse. Jordan Davis - Next thing you know. Lainey Wilson - Wildflowers and wild horses. Dan + Shay - Save me the trouble. Kelsea Ballerini - Leave me again. The War and Treaty - That's how love is made. Tribute to Jimmy Buffett (Kenny Chesney & Mac Mcanally) - Mother Mother Ocean. Tribute to Jimmy Buffett (Zac Brown band & Alan Jackson) - Adios my friend. Tribute to Jimmy Buffett (Alan Jackson & Zac Brown band) - Margaritaville. Old Dominion & Megan Moroney - Can't break up now. Carly Pearce with Chris Stapleton - We don't fight anymore. Tribute to Joe Diffie (Hardy & Morgan Wallen) - John Deere Green. Tribute to Joe Diffie (Hardy, Morgan Wallen, & Post Malone) - Pickup man. Little Big Town (LBT) with Tanya Tucker - Delta Dawn. Jelly Roll with K. Michelle - Love can build a bridge (Judds Tribute).

And who won what awards and who according to MY MSR (Midnight Star Report), who should have won. Single of the Year goes to Luke Combs - Fast car (Good choice, could have also gone to Jordan Davis - Next thing you know). Song of the Year goes to Tracy Chapman - Fast car (Another good choice for this). Vocal duo of the Year goes to Brothers Osborne. (This one should have gone to Dan + Shay). Vocal group of the year goes to Old Dominion (No competition this year). Music video of the year goes to Hardy & Lainey Wilson - wait in the truck. Musical video of the year goes to Hardy & Lainey Wilson - wait in the truck. New artist of the year goes to Jelly Roll (The only competition for him would be Parker McCollum). Album of the year goes to Lainey Wilson - Bell bottom Country. (This should have gone to Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen). Female vocalist of the year goes to Lainey Wilson. She had the most success of any of the female singers this year. Male vocalist of the year goes to Chris Stapleton. This should have gone to Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen. Entertainer of the year goes to Lainey Wilson. This should have gone to Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen.

And that's a wrap for the Show. And on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would give this show a 3 out of 5 stars. There was a lot of people that probably should have won or shouldn't have won as usual. And they don't seem to let as many people perform their songs during their show. Now we need to bounce on to our next award show we will be reviewing. And that will be the 16th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors.

16th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors

This show was hosted by Carly Pearce on Monday September 18th, 2023. The show originally aired on Fox at 8pm EST (Eastern Standard Time). Now the awards and performances will be combined for this.

ACM Lift Every Voice Award goes to Breland. ACM Service Award goes to Charlie Cook. Chris Janson - Good vibes. ACM Spirit Award - Charlie Daniels. Billy Ray with Firerose & Travis Denning - Long haired Country Boy. ACM International Award - Kane Brown. Lee Brice - Like I love Country Music. ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year goes to Hardy. Bailey Zimmerman - Signed, Sober you. ACM Lifting Lives Award goes to Troy Vollhoffer. Dennis Quaid - Fallen. ACM Icon Award - Mike Dungan. Jordan Davis - Buy dirt with Anne Wilson. ACM Poet's Award - Clint Black. Lady A - A bad goodbye. ACM Poet's Award - Mary Chapin Carpenter. Trisha Yearwood - This shirt. ACM Poet's Award - K.T. Oslin. Brandy Clark - 80's Ladies. ACM Service Award - Bill Mayne. Sara Evans - Born to fly. ACM Songwriter of the Year goes to Ashley Gorley. Carly Pearce & Emily Shackleton - What he didn't do. ACM Icon Award - Tim McGraw. Brett Young - Don't take the girl. Nelly - Over and over. ACM Triple Crown Award - Chris Stapleton. The War and Treaty - Cold. Hailey Whitters - Everything she ain't.

And this show with the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would give this show a 2.75 out of 5 stars. There were a lot of people who got awards that I don't really know about. But it was a short show to highlight some careers in Country Music. And onto the first ever People's Choice Country Awards.

People's Choice Country Awards

This is the 1st ever People's Choice Country Awards and this time hosted by Little Big Town (LBT). And this originally aired on Thursday September 28th, 2023 on NBC.

Little Big Town - Boondocks. The Female Artist of the Year goes to Lainey Wilson. She has had a pretty big year Chartwise. Kane Brown - Bury me in Georgia. Carly Pearce - Country Music made me do it. Group/Duo of 2023 goes to Dan + Shay. Could have also gone to Old Dominion or Parmalee. Blake Shelton covering Toby Keith's Who's your daddy? Country Music Icon - Toby Keith. Toby Keith - Don't let the old man in. Hardy - Truck bed. Collaboration song of the 2023 goes to Save me from Jelly Roll featuring Lainey Wilson. This should have gone to Kane Brown & Kaitlyn Brown - Thank God. Social Country Star of 2023 goes to Blake Shelton. Kelsea Ballerini - Over for me or A mountain with a view. Country Champion - Wynonna. Wynonna - I saw the light in your window tonight -> How'd you get to me? Music video of 2023 goes to Hardy featuring Lainey Wilson - wait in the truck. Dan + Shay - Bigger houses. Male Artist of 2023 goes to Jelly Roll. Could have gone to Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, or Kane Brown. Jelly Roll wins New Artist of 2023. Song of 2023 goes to Jelly Roll - Save me.

And that's a wrap for the first ever People's Choice Country Awards. This one I would give a 2.5 out of 5 stars. This one, they really could have gone without even doing the award show. There is already a lot of Award shows out there. Thanks for taking the time to read all this reviews for 3 award shows. See ya all next time.

0 notes

bryonyashaw · 7 months

Text

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lifestyle | Foodie | Family | Bryony (@bryonyannie)

instagram

𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺! 🎃

The kids and I were lucky enough to enjoy the evening picking Pumpkins (under a full moon), toasting marshmallows over a fire, seeing/feeding adorable farm animals and going feral in the play areas! My children were literally so excited, you would've thought they'd never left the house before so could be seen running all over!

We were kindly invited by @randfarmpark as part of their new evening event where families and people on date night alike could go and enjoy a friendly atmosphere (plus with it being in a field, plenty of space for people) I thought the whole aesthetic was awesome - from the Marshmallows to the licensed open bar to the animals. The booking system was easy - with a paying ticket you get tokens to hand in at each station - which also there was lots of areas to wash your hands.

Available:

• Visit the Pumpkin Patch

• Free parking

• ‘Gourd’-geous photo ops

• Toasting Marshmallows

• Actor Entertainment

• Live Music

• Access to food and drink in the pumpkin patch

• Meet the animals on the farm

• Meet the small animals

The staff were incredibly friendly and when my friends car battery died, someone came out to help (about 10pm) to help jump start the car.

They have Day time and Toddler Pumpkin Picking too, plus every paying child receives a free standard sized Pumpkin! You can buy tickets online

In regards to the Farm itself - I was impressed with the many updates since our last visit and I think the interactive tables (supervised) with the smaller animals a lovely idea.

In the day time you can take a tractor ride, meet the animals on the farm, bottle feed a calf, and also play in the indoor and outdoor play areas!

📌 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙍𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙣 𝙇𝙉8 5𝙉𝙅

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺

In 1996 17th February, the Farm Park opened their doors for the first time - welcoming 110 visitors, although many were family and friends!

There have been many changes over the years, from an original pig farm to the Family Attraction of today but the ethos remains the same – “to offer a fun, educational but good value for money day out for visitor of all ages & abilities.”

1 note · View note

tatatechnologies · 10 months

Text

Reshaping interiors to meet evolving customer desires in the EV landscape

The current and upcoming generations might be the first since affordable passenger vehicles were introduced to not aspire to car ownership.

Green, clean, sustainable, efficient, reliable, comfortable, practical, convenient, affordable, and connected — these are all aspects customers expect from their vehicles, and all these elements impact the living room space of vehicles.

It could be argued that since the advent of passenger ICE vehicles, there has been little fundamental change to the offerings OEMs provide customers, outside of improvements to comfort, affordability, reliability, and efficiency. Entertainment and connectivity would have been limited to a radio or, if you were lucky, a DVD player, perhaps with a USB port for connecting to a media player.

Driving the change forward

The advent of Electric Vehicle technology into mainstream automotive passenger vehicles, coincided with a fresh customer base. This provides the catalyst for change in a space that has remained constant for many years. The interior environment of new vehicles needs to offer lightweight materials that support vehicle efficiency (mass for range), while being sustainable and durable, addressing customer expectations and environmental needs within a practical and convenient space with ever-higher customer expectations of convenience, connectivity, and entertainment.

Instrument panels are becoming sleeker and more minimalist in design, with vital information and functions for the driver managed and conveyed through touch-screen infotainment technology. Screens are extending into the passenger environment, providing interactive entertainment and connectivity opportunities. Smart surfaces are eliminating visible switches and the need for mechanical switchgear.

Controls and functions are managed through smart surfaces, providing haptic and illuminated feedback to the operator. Touch controls and smart surfaces will be a growing area in the coming years. Voice command is improving, but limitations remain, potentially introducing frustration to the driver and raising safety concerns through operational frustration. Touch, as our most intuitive sense learned from early life experiences, provides robust interaction for critical functions.

Ownership change

All these HMI developments also need to align with the green expectations of the cabin environment. Recycled plastic bottles, sustainable rattan, and plant leather from diverse vegetation sources are being developed and introduced on a growing basis. These products not only address the green aspect but also contribute to the lightweighting of vehicles.

As we move towards more connected and sustainable vehicles in terms of HMI functions and materials, What about owner expectations of these vehicles? With this new generation embracing Electric Vehicles, there’s a philosophical shift in car ownership expectations. The current and upcoming generations might be the first since affordable passenger vehicles were introduced to not aspire to car ownership. Direct vehicle ownership will decline, but vehicle usage will increase. This non-vehicle-owning customer base will demand vehicle hire and hailing services for specific uses such as final mile services, weekend vacations, and family transport.

This ownership shift will change the expectations placed on OEMs. Customers will request ‘fleet’ vehicles to support various hire and hailing services across international markets. This opens up modular Interior ‘Install and go’ solution opportunities that provide different cabin configurations. Modular systems compatible with a standard base vehicle will offer flexibility for fleet and hire operators to mix configurations swiftly in response to vehicle application needs.

Urban ride-hailing services in different markets will have varying customer expectations of trim, reflecting convenience, comfort, and luxury. Modular systems introduce flexibility to the cabin, including consoles, finishers, surface treatments, and lighting, allowing agile solutions for specific country and city markets. This approach provides service operators with a flexible product capable of quick adaptation and deployment to specific markets.

Modular trimming allows service operators to agile fleet management across markets, deploying vehicles rapidly to specific content by reconfiguring the modular interior. End users hiring for longer than final mile needs may request a cabin with maximum storage and require only one seat, while others may need maximised seating with optimised storage for four occupants with luggage.

These agile modular vehicle cabins enable OEMs to provide a base one-vehicle solution that offers the flexibility service providers demand to meet optimised end-user expectations across varied markets. With the development of smart surfaces, new HMI experiences, and modular system solutions, combined with a shift in end-user vehicle ownership aspirations, a more cross-functional symbiotic relationship between OEMs, trim suppliers, and service providers will evolve.

Conclusion

End users will have varied expectations of cabin trim functions across markets, whether in city, country, or global settings. To meet these demands effectively, the introduction of modular interior systems will grow. Base vehicles, which can have modular interior content tailored to specific markets, cities, and individual customer preferences, will become an increasing market.

This marks a return of the coachbuilder in a sense, with the coachbuilder being the service provider of trimmed vehicles to specific customer requests and expectations on a subscription/demand basis.

Original Source: https://www.tatatechnologies.com/media-center/reshaping-interiors-to-meet-evolving-customer-desires-in-the-ev-landscape/ About the Author Alun Jones, Domain Leader — Interiors, Tata Technologies

#tata technologies #electric vehicles #vehicle interiors #electric cars

0 notes