#this was for a 3-week (? i think) course related to the environment sector

[fungus-gnats]

Some pics from my visit to an urban farm :)

Showcasing aeroponics + aquaponics (first 5 pics) and hydroponics (last pic) -- sustainable food production methods and alternatives to traditional farming!

A little presentation my group made about it, under the cut:

(company name censored oop)

For the DIY Hydroponics - I have a mint plant growing in water (+ nutrient solution, the hydroponics system) at home now :D

[faecaptainofdreams]

Decided to re-invigorate myself a bit by indulging in a cute crossover...because Tom Holland <3 This goes way off course from Marvel/the MCU, because...again, this is for me and i like simple and colorful. Whatever, ENJOY. Here's his OG head canon, everything follows almost the same but you may need it for context: www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo… ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In this universe, superhero-type people aren't overly uncommon, though rarely they actually get the opportunity to use their powers in a work-related sense. It's almost always an accident, and those who intentionally mutate themselves for one reason or another often face a prison sentence due to the dangers to themselves, others, and their disregard for consequence. And yes, there have been many cases where mutations both intentional and accidental have been fatal or severely damaging mentally and/or physically. At the H.T.U.V., there is a special sector of labs dedicated to studying dangerous materials, as well as creatures that accidentally are harmed or mutated by certain substances. With the environment being more heavily prioritized in the world of SiD, the government is very careful to regulate chemicals and try to keep toxins at a minimum. But even in a government agency, there are bound to be people with conflicting morals and human-based error in thinking. ~~Mutation~~ Everything in Walter's life carries out as normal until the Summer when he's 18. With him having barely been working at the agency for a year, but getting pushed more and more aside, the lead scientist in the toxins lab, named Theo Rupert, became curious about Walter. He figured if Walter was so useless in the gadget lab, maybe he had untapped potential for something else, and thus privately invited him to miss a day of work in order to visit the toxins lab. They told him they wondered if he would be interested in this field. Due to his love of animals, his biomechanical genius and natural gifts as a whole, he actually began to consider the idea of working to help save these animals and find healthy ways to eliminate dangerous substances. This conflicted with his current dream job, however, as he ultimately wanted to help people and potentially influence the way the agency did things. During his tour of the labs, Walter felt a small but sharp sting on his neck, but found nothing there. He assumed it was just him being sensitive, or a casual bug bite and moved on. Later that night, the bite became painful, swollen, and grey, disturbingly. Fearing necrosis of his skin and wondering if he really was bitten by something dangerous in the toxins lab, Walter called the lead scientist and told him what he was experiencing. Theo instructed Walter to apply a cold compress to it, and then accept a referral at work the next day to go back to the toxins lab and see him. He also instructed Walter not to tell anyone about the bite until further notice. Walter obeyed, but had a bad feeling. ~~Illegality~~ The next day, Walter did not show up at work. Rather, he had fallen ill -- so much so that he actually called in. Seeing as how he wasn't showing up, a nervous Theo called Walter and asked why he hadn't shown up. Walter answered drearily with "I can't move." Theo and his team of four packed up a suitcase of medical equipment and lied that they had been called out to inspect potentially hazardous material elsewhere in the city. They left in two of their own cars, and switched their cars out before heading to Walter's house so as not to be recognized. When they got there, Walter had made it to the couch, still in his pajamas, and with young Lovey out and about. He had managed to feed her, and that was it. He couldn't even answer the door, so the team (dressed in civilian clothing and acting as though they were friends of his over for a visit) gently picked the lock on the door and let themselves in. What they found was alarming. Walter was deathly pale, running a fever and showing flu-like symptoms, minus sinus issues. His body ached and felt tingly all over, and he was nauseated. The bite on his neck was still a grey whelp, and now was developing markings around it. Another new development was two lumps on the undersides of his wrists had appeared, also swollen, sore and grey, just like the bite on his neck. Theo and his team drew blood from Walter and quickly ran it through one of the small machines they brought (super scientific world, shit gets done faster). After a few minutes, the test results revealed that there was indeed, a toxic substance in his system, but it was mixed with the venom of a jumping spider. As it is, jumping spiders are relatively docile and their bites are almost never problematic, let alone potentially fatal, but the team was scared stiff. They revealed to Walter right then and there that he was bitten by one of their animal subjects -- an aggressive, mutated jumping spider, that had gotten loose in the lab the day Walter visited. They explained that they didn't even know it had gotten out until a little while after Walter had gone home when they found it wandering about, caught it and put it back in its enclosure. Walter asked what was going to happen to him, and they reluctantly said they weren't sure. Theo and the other scientists huddled in the kitchen and quietly debated what their next move was. They had to either come clean to the agency and its directors about what they had done and how they messed up, possibly facing federal jail time for carelessness/endangering someone, or try to brush it under the rug. Panicked, they decided to try and hide their mistake. They came back to Walter and told him he was going to be fine (which was a lie, as they really didn't know), and that news of this needed to stay under wraps. Theo told him that higher-ups would know about it, but would deny they did if asked about it, as goofs like this were critical to be kept secret in order to conceal it from potentially getting out to the public. They even typed up a fake document for Walter to sign, swearing him to secrecy. He was told to never speak to anyone of what happened, both in and outside of work. Given he had no friends and no remaining family, Walter nervously agreed, still wondering if he would die. As Theo spent time cleaning up his mess, he and the team stayed to monitor Walter's condition. Over the course of the next two hours, Walter managed to break his fever, but his temperature suddenly dropped drastically, as did his heart rate and blood pressure. If he died, the team knew they were in deep, deep trouble. They used what little they had to try and keep him somewhat stable and monitor his vitals. Miraculously, an hour following, the symptoms began to lesson. Blood pressure, heart rate and temperature came closer to being steady again. By 2 in the afternoon, Walter had overcome most of his symptoms. He was a little dizzy, his body still felt tingly and the whelps were still swollen and sore, but it seemed he would be all right. They encouraged him to drink some water and eat a couple crackers to test his stomach, and that turned out to be fine as well. The ordeal left him exhausted and under the weather, but he figured he might be able to return to work the next day. Like the night before, Theo told him to take a referral to the toxins lab when he clocked in and check in with them. They left, but stayed in close touch with Walter up until work time. ~~Suppression~~ With the bite and wrist whelps still inflamed and grey, Walter wore his jacket to conceal them. When he arrived in the toxins lab, he was still ragged out, but completely stable. He complained of soreness in the whelps, and explained that there was a more persistent, widespread ache in his wrists extending into his arms. His palms and the bottoms of his feet also felt very tingly still. Theo checked the sites out, and it was revealed that Walter now had much more significant markings that were a mixture of grey and iridescent pink. Going off of evidence from other people who'd experienced mutations around the world, Theo concluded that certain parts of Walter's body were developing spider-like qualities, of which he wasn't sure yet. He explained that Walter very nearly met death the previous day due almost exclusively to the dangerous toxin that had been injected into him, but the spider's venom had neutralized a certain compound in it just enough to keep him alive when it counted. This, he explained, was how the spider itself had survived the toxin. He allowed Walter to see the spider. Given his symptoms were not getting much worse, aside from some persistent tingling and aching, Theo told him they would be in regular contact. Until this settled down, he was to visit the toxins lab multiple times a week. For once, Walter being neglected in the gadgets lab -- and by the agency as a whole -- served a purpose, as all the referrals to the TL were not questioned. And despite months of visitation to the TL, Walter still didn't make any friends. There was a slight fondness that Theo had for him, but he remained professional and determined not to get attached. A couple weeks after the bite, the whelps finally laid flat, and the bite wound was all gone. Intricate markings were all that was left, and one tiny little bump on the underside of each wrist. Whenever Walter would go down to the labs, Theo and his private team ran small medical tests. They sampled blood, very modest traces of tissue, and took his vitals. The medical records and each find was documented quietly and hidden in a remote file. Still, Walter believed it wasn't a true secret, and became gradually more comfortable. Eventually, they all realized that Walter's hands and feet gained him the ability to cling to most surfaces when he desired, and the whelps on his wrists were actually spinnerets. He produced webs from his wrists, could jump several times the length of his own body, and was sensitive to vibrations, certain touch, and somehow was able to predict danger coming towards him just before it could actually reach him. Thankfully, as x-rays and sonograms showed, he didn't develop any new or strange organs, didn't lay eggs, didn't have an appetite for insects and best of all, did not need to molt. Studies on him went on for months before it seemed every secret had been uncovered. But because of the nature of it all, Theo told Walter he needed to suppress his abilities. No shooting webs, no jumping super far, no wall climbing. He was saddened by this, but again, he obeyed. For the next two years, Walter Beckett stifled everything as he had grown used to doing as it was, and went on with life. When someone asked him about the markings, he said they were tattoos, and that their meaning was "personal." A final consequence of this was Walter was no longer allowed to potentially work in the toxins lab. ~~The Movie~~ Everything played out as usual in the film, but with Walter having markings and simply not even thinking to use his abilities even in dangerous situations. ~~Post-Movie~~ Everything went along as normal (see the HC sheet). While Walter was living with Lance, the closer he got to him, the more he wanted to tell his secret, but he kept quiet. Knowing he was about to be a real agent and the man's partner, though, he figured it would have to come up at some point. Walter got his chance to talk when Lance drove him to the H.T.U.V. on one of their days off to meet with Marcy and Joy to address his issues with compromise and direction. Everything there went as normal, but when it was over, Walter asked to stay back and talk to Joy alone for a bit. Lance and Marcy waited outside, not too far away, and Walter approached Joy. A conversation like this ensued: ------- "Walter: Sooo, now that I'm gonna be an agent, I guess it might be okay to finally bring up the ah... "spider thing"? Joy: ...The what. Walter: You know...! (He shows her his wrists.) Walter: These? Joy: *looks at the marks* ... *looks at him and raises a brow* If...yer askin' if it's all right to have tattoos, the answer is yes... Walter: Hah, wow, when they said you'd deny it, they really meant it! Joy: *more annoyed* Who said I would deny what??" ------- By this point, Walter suddenly understood that she really was oblivious. He hoped she was the only director or higher-up that was in the dark about it. Distressed at having broken the strict rule he was given and almost panicking, Walter had to be re-focused by Joy and calmed enough to nervously explain to her vaguely what happened to him two years prior, and why he never spoke of it. Furious, Joy brought Lance and Marcy back in and briefly explained that she'd just learned about Walter's mutation, and thus he had to explain it a little, too. Naturally, they were shocked and confused, but Joy apologized to Marcy while requesting that she gear up and help her potentially make some arrests. Lance was allowed to come too, just in case he might be needed. ~~Caught~~ Joy and Marcy's team stormed into the toxins lab and confronted Theo and gathered his team. Walter was confused and scared out of his mind. When Joy interrogated them, it didn't take long for them to break and confess everything right then and there. They even gave up the secret files documenting the event and all the recordings since, including Walter's visitations and the dates. The files were seized, and Marcy's team arrested Theo and his close co-workers. Walter felt terrible about the whole thing, but once again, he had managed to evade prison simply due to his innocence and naivete. At the very least, no longer having to hide everything was a monumental, if not somewhat thrilling relief. He was asked to come back later in the week after work one day and recount everything he knew, and the entire encounter to Joy and a few of her subordinates. Theo and his team faced 20 years in federal prison, but a plea deal was set to lesson it to 10. They eventually settled for 15. By this point, the spider that bit Walter had long since died. ~~"Special" Agent~~ When Walter trained for his more serious partnership with Lance, he was encouraged now to use his abilities and figure them out. There was a lot of falling, swinging too far, miscalculated/premature web fires, and over-estimated jumps, but as Walter gained more confidence, it showed in his training. Practice and patience made him keen, and now he had one more thing to tack on to his list of oddities. With help from suit designer experts from the gadgets lab, a team helped Walter put together a breathable, slim-fitting suit that would compliment all of his abilities. The gloves even have an opening for his spinnerets. ~~Today~~ Walter doesn't often have a need to wear his suit outside of fun and training, oddly enough, but it has and continues to prove useful on the field. Certain missions may require it, so he packs it on every mission just in case. Either way, he can still mostly use his abilities in regular attire, though his feet don't stick to surfaces with his shoes being on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[newstfionline]

Sunday, April 25, 2021

San Francisco Contends With a Different Sort of Epidemic: Drug Deaths (NYT) The drugs killed them in plain view—in front of the public library, at the spot on Powell Street where the cable car used to turn around. Others died alone in single-room apartments or in camping tents pitched on the pavement, each death adding to an overdose crisis that is one of the worst in the nation. Drug overdoses rose across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. But in San Francisco, they skyrocketed, claiming 713 lives last year, more than double the 257 people here who died of the virus in 2020. For officials in San Francisco, the epidemic of overdose deaths has been both humbling and alarming. Many believe that the city’s preoccupation with the pandemic has eclipsed concern over the drug deaths and blunted the urgency of the moment. “I can say for sure that what we are doing is not working and that it’s getting worse every single day,” said Matt Haney, a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors who represents the Tenderloin, a district of low-income housing in the heart of the city that has seen the most overdoses. “I get offered drugs every time I step outside. It’s overwhelming.”

In historic move, Biden says 1915 massacres of Armenians constitute genocide (Reuters) U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday said the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, a historic declaration that infuriated Turkey and is set to further strain already frayed ties between the two NATO allies. The largely symbolic move, breaking away from decades of carefully calibrated language from the White House, will likely to be celebrated by the Armenian diaspora in the United States, but comes at a time when Ankara and Washington have deep policy disagreements over a host of issues. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey “entirely rejects” the U.S. decision which he said was based “solely on populism”. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over issues ranging from Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems—over which it was the target of U.S. sanctions—to policy differences in Syria, human rights and legal matters.

Ravaged by Covid, Brazil Faces a Hunger Epidemic (NYT) Rail-thin teenagers hold placards at traffic stops with the word for hunger—fome—in large print. Children, many of whom have been out of school for over a year, beg for food outside supermarkets and restaurants. Entire families huddle in flimsy encampments on sidewalks, asking for baby formula, crackers, anything. A year into the pandemic, millions of Brazilians are going hungry. The virus is ripping through Brazil’s social fabric, setting wrenching records, while the worsening health crisis pushes businesses into bankruptcy, killing jobs and further hampering an economy that has grown little or not at all for more than six years.

Baltic states join NATO allies in kicking out Russians for spying (Reuters) Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Friday joined a fast-growing list of NATO and EU members demanding the removal of Russian diplomats for alleged spying, in actions that have infuriated Moscow and look certain to provoke further retaliation. A spate of tit-for-tat expulsions has plunged ties between Russia and countries of the former Soviet bloc to their lowest point since the fall of Communism, prompting Moscow to accuse at least two of them of deliberately wrecking relations. Lithuania said it was sending two diplomats home and Latvia and Estonia one each. “The EU should have less undercover Russian spies,” Lithuanian foreign affairs minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters.

Cashlessness may have gone foo far in Norway, government warns (Bloomberg) Norway’s government wants to make sure banks don’t stop providing cash, as the country becomes the world leader in abandoning physical notes and coins. The Finance Ministry has told the Financial Supervisory Authority in Oslo to put together a plan that will ensure banks continue offering cash services, according to a statement on Friday. That’s after the FSA’s own survey found that a number of Norwegian banks “claim that they are not responsible for offering cash services.” Banknotes and coins are used in only 3-4 per cent of all transactions in Norway, the lowest level of cash usage in world, according to calculations by Norges Bank. Neighbouring Sweden, another nearly cashless society, has also sounded the alarm amid concerns that the complete disappearance of paper money would pose a number of risks.

Italian Police Accuse Man of Getting Paid for 15 Years While Skipping Work (NYT) A hospital in Italy’s southern region of Calabria fired Salvatore Scumace for not showing up to work. For 15 years. Mr. Scumace, 67, was fired last year from the Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital in the city of Catanzaro, but the news made headlines in Italy this week when Italy’s financial police announced their investigation into his remarkable record of absenteeism. His case was uncovered as part of a wider investigation into absenteeism by public workers. Mr. Scumace is accused of earning an estimated 538,000 euros, or more than $645,000, for a job the police say he never performed over the course of his long and less-than-productive career as a hospital fire-safety employee. A chronic problem in some public sector jobs, the Italian police have cracked down in recent years on no-show employees, investigating dozens of cases around the country.

Coronavirus: India’s daily cases climb to new world record as hospitals overwhelmed (NBC News) India’s coronavirus infections set a new world record for the third consecutive day rising by 346,786 overnight, the health ministry said on Saturday, as overwhelmed hospitals in the densely-populated country begged for oxygen supplies. India is in the grip of a rampaging second wave of the pandemic, hitting a rate of one Covid-19 death just under every four minutes in Delhi, as the capital’s underfunded health system buckles. The government has deployed military planes and trains to get oxygen from the far corners of the country to Delhi. Television images showed an oxygen truck arriving at Delhi’s Batra hospital after it issued an SOS call saying it had 90 minutes of oxygen left for its 260 patients. India surpassed the U.S. record of 297,430 single-day infections anywhere in the world on Thursday, making it the global epicenter of a pandemic that is waning in many other countries. The Indian government had itself declared it had beaten back the coronavirus in February when new cases fell to all-time lows.

Debris From Indonesian Submarine Is Found, Ending Hopes of Rescue (NYT) Debris from an Indonesian Navy submarine that disappeared this past week with 53 people aboard has been found deep in the Bali Sea, confirming fears that the vessel sank and cracked, the navy’s chief of staff said on Saturday. The submarine, the KRI Nanggala-402, disappeared early Wednesday off the Indonesian island of Bali while conducting torpedo drills. Emergency signals to the vessel after it failed to make contact went unanswered. The Nanggala was built to withstand pressure of up to 500 meters deep, but sonar seemed to indicate that the submarine sank to a depth of about 850 meters, well below what is referred to as “crush depth.” At that depth, even the steel hull of a submarine would almost certainly fracture from the pressure.

Jerusalem tension triggers Gaza-Israel fire exchange (AP) Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired some three dozen rockets into Israel overnight Saturday, while the Israeli military struck back at targets operated by the ruling Hamas group. The exchange came as tensions in Jerusalem spilled over into the worst round of cross-border violence in months. The barrage of rocket fire came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in east Jerusalem. The clashes, in which at least four police and six protesters were injured, have become a nightly occurrence throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and show no signs of stopping. Jerusalem, home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2014, similar tensions erupted into a 50-day war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group.

60% of the world is online (TNW) The new Digital 2021 April Global Statshot Report—published in partnership between Hootsuite and We Are Social—reveals that more than 6 in 10 people on Earth now use the internet. Internet users have grown by more than 330 million over the past year, reaching a total of more than 4.7 billion at the start of April 2021. There are 5.27 billion unique mobile users around the world, which means that more than two-thirds of all the people on Earth now have a mobile phone.

Can We Learn to Live With Germs Again? (NYT) For more than a century—since scientists first learned that unseen germs cause infection and illness—we’ve tended to think of sterile environments as the safe ones. And at the start of the outbreak, when we didn’t know any better, it was sensible to disinfect as much as possible, including our groceries, clothing and personal spaces. It took time for coronavirus researchers to figure out that the risk of surface transmission is low—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only recently pegged it at generally less than one in 10,000. Despite the now consensus recognition that air transmission, not surface spread, is more important, most pandemic sanitation practices have continued. We continue to annihilate every microbe in our midst, even though most are harmless. The New York City subway, for example, has been undergoing a 24-hour cleaning protocol that includes ultraviolet light and a variety of disinfecting solutions.      But some health experts are watching this ongoing onslaught with a mounting sense of dread. They fear that many of the measures we’ve employed to stop the virus may pose a threat to human health in the long run if they continue. Their worries center on the human microbiome—the trillions of bacteria that live on and inside our bodies. They say that excessive hygiene practices, inappropriate antibiotic use and lifestyle changes such as distancing may weaken those communities going forward in ways that promote sickness and imperil our immune systems. By sterilizing our bodies and spaces, they argue, we may be doing more harm than good. “We’re starting to realize that there’s collateral damage when we get rid of good microbes, and that has major consequences for our health,” says B. Brett Finlay, a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of British Columbia.

[the-numbers-game]

life update - long ramble

readmore

in less than three weeks, i will have finished my postgrad. it’s been a hecking fast course, and very intense at times. like most things im a bit gutted at myself for not trying as hard as i can. but i’ve done mostly okay considering my efforts. a range of grades. i was gutted last term that i got a c in my criminal litigation class just due to my nerves. all my content was perfect, i was just shit scared of public speaking. i bombed conveyancing cos that class was shit. but i did good in my other two and i’ve got good grades this semester so far. but i’ve also missed more classes, and i think i bombed my oral last week, and i’m bound to bomb my oral this week too.

idk how i will adjust to being not-in-education for the first time since i was 5 (3, if you include preschool). tbh, if i dont get a traineeship i may go back in 2021 or 2022 and do a masters. something on the constitution and human rights. maybe i’ll write about labour again.

 i’m gonna chill for a month or so, working my 2.5 days at work whilst i still have my student loan rolling in (LOL, i get hardly anything cos i’m a pg and most of it is gone in the repayment of the personal loan i took out to do this course). then, i’ll increase my days to 4. i can live off 4 days, and it means i can still count this job as not being my life whilst i hunt for a traineeship, and failing one that starts pretty soon, another job. i’m fixed term, and i was lucky in i got a promotion, but the promotion was also for a fixed term position. 

i hope my contract is extended, i put my face out there a lot at work primarily for that reason. i go on training courses and sit on committees, partly because i get away from my desk but also because it makes me look like i care about my job. i’ll mainly look at the public sector, as i feel like i belong there, i like flexible working and having an interesting caseload. and then law firms, as maybe if i get an admin job at a firm they will take pity on me and recruit me. failing those two, i will look charities/trade unions/politics before resulting to texting someone at my old work and begging for a job back. or maybe i’ll do agency work. fuck idk. i shouldn’t worry about it. i’ll get a job, right? 

i do hear back this week regarding a traineeship. i’m not hopeful. i never am. but the interview did go really well. i didn’t stammer, i spoke freely, we spoke a lot about unions and the labour party and i felt like they liked me. they only interviewed 6% of applicants, so i’m lucky to get through and even if i don’t get it i know i’ll be less anxious about interviewing for traineeships again because i know it can go well(ish). if i do get it i’ll be over the moon, it’s not human rights and it’s not public law but they do a lot of union work and pro bono, and that’s good enough for me. 

over the years, the way i experience anxiety has changed, dramatically.  for a while, i had quite a good support network of ‘safe adults’. like my friends, past and present, and callum, have all been remarkable, but i think being able to relate to adults/people in authority when you’re not quite an adult yourself is good for validation. it didn’t last long and friendships and ‘drama’ started to consume my life. when i finally moved out of retail into an office environment, a lot of my anxiety, especially the physical stuff, shifted. i shit you not, i would physically throw up before many of my shifts in retail. so again, i thought i was coping as things weren’t as bad as they were back then. especially when it came to depression, as i actively removed myself from the main environmental factor causing me to have low moods. 

i was dumb, cos of course i still had sadness and anxiety. it was just different, and because i channeled a lot of stress into uni, being new at my job, and being skint, it felt like there was always an excuse it wasnt anything about me,it was xyz and hey fuck look at least im not barthing and crying every morning yeah?

but 2019, whilst being a year of several incredible highs and generally being a good year was full of anxiety and due to me doing such an intense course with lots of orals, i realised, yes, i may not be taking as many panic attacks as i took when i was 18 but i felt as bad, fuck, even worse socially and internally, than i did back then. so i went to the doctors just before the new year, and got put on drugs. 

that was a big step, as i always have a fear about the doctors but i have a really good gp surgery, my main doctor is a bit odd but really helpful. one of the other doctors did a whole law degree and the diploma before deciding it wasnt for her and she wanted to go to med school, so shes a really good person to turn to. the reception staff are kind (and you can book appointments online too, which i find really helpful). i think as well, i always viewed my anxiety as mild, and in a way, it is, but in a lot of ways, it is not. medication has certainly helped. i take antidepressants and beta blockers and whilst im not a super happy confident girl, i can cope a lot better. i’m no longer physically anxious (if you know me irl you know i am a shaky bastard) and my brain doesn’t run through the same STRESS as it did. so im grateful. i know meds dont work for everyone and that it takes people years to find something good for them, esp for people with a lot more complex mental health issues than me and my anxiety but i found ones that seem to be working, at least for now.

this year, i’ve tried to look after myself more. i’m saving for a house after opening a help to buy isa last year. i noticed my vision was being a bit blurry from time to time and that my eyes felt really strained when looking at the computer. so i booked an eye appointment and it turns out im short sighted. wearing glasses, as well as fulfilling 12 year old me’s fantasy, has massively helped my general fatigue. i’m gonna book in for physio at my gp, cos i have a dodgy shoulder, and due to general stress, both the dodgy one and the other are in a lot of pain constantly. i try and do a proper skincare routine in the mornings and at night. i’ve always loved skincare but usually just take what i’ve been gifted but i’ve had fun exploring brands and building a collection. i’ve asked for extensions at uni when i’ve needed them, and took time off when appropriate. i’ve been meeting friends more, and not patching messages. 

right okay- i’m falling asleep now but this has been a ramble which probably makes no sense but if we are mutuals or whatever i appreciate you and thanks for dealing with my bs.

tldr - finishing uni soon, probs gonna be looking for a job, doing better in life and with my mh. 

[trayvonfleary-blog]

General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive

Hello All, instead of posting my normal content relating to cars and/or trucks, I will be taking a deeper dive into my daily life, particularly regarding the software engineering immersive program that I am currently undergoing, which is a technology bootcamp. For a couple of months, I am going to sway away from discussing different sectors within the automotive industry while I focus strictly on technology, but automotive is not going anywhere so stay tuned for big announcements following;)

What Is It?

Currently I’m completing General Assembly’s Software Development Immersive, which is a “12 week award-winning program that has expert instructors and career coaches, and connect graduates with 19k+ hiring partners to get them jobs at A-list companies.” It is slated as your best course for career transformation. The company boats 9,000+ hires, as it states that they are the leader in placing their grads into high-growth, and high-pay tech jobs. Yes, this is all accomplished within 12 weeks. I’m sure you’re asking, “Are these jobs guaranteed?” Of course not, but the company is quite confident. Continue reading as to “why?” after this quick infographic below illustrating what you can expect from this program.

Im currently entering into my 5th week of this program. On our first day, a General Assembly employee bursts in our classroom, after getting another graduate hired, and asked, “Did you guys here about our last cohort?”, which had ended a couple of months prior. We had no clue what she was referring to but then she claims that their last cohort had a 93%+ hire rate. Impressive right. Thats a way to bring some motivation if you had any doubts before. Who knows if this was the truth, but they were all very excited and I have personally heard from some earlier attendees about the jobs that they received after the course and some even during the last week or 2 of the course ending. Before this starts sounding like a fantasy world where you can spend the 3 months and someone else can spend 4-5 years getting a computer science degree and you both end up with the same job (very possible), I’m going to break things down a bit.

Tuition Options?

First, starting with cost, I feel that the tuition share agreement is the best payment option and allows many people who can’t afford it to have a chance at something that can be life changing. It is not yet available in all states, but it’s a great option if you are not trying to pay $14k(approximate tuition cost) out of pocket and upfront(or in a few payments).  Focusing on the $0 upfront income share agreement, it is structured very fair in my opinion. You are only required to pay an upfront $250 deposit until you land a software engineering job (ex: web development, full stack, etc) and depending on your location, entry level is probably hovering around $60k and above.

So if you don’t land a job, you are not at the hands of a huge loan that you cannot afford and most importantly, you’re not out of $14k+ that many pay to take the program. If you have additional experience in UX/UI design, and/or other skills for that matter, your pay can be a lot higher.

Income Share Agreement?

As far as General Assembly not offering the income share agreement not being offered in all states, specifically New York at the moment, I believe that it has to do with the amount of jobs being offered and the amount that are vacant. Here in the Greater Atlanta Area, the tech scene is taking on massive growth along with an abundant amount tech jobs that have yet to be filled. Whether it’s startups, fintech companies, or larger corporations, there is a massive demand for tech jobs in many industries here. I’m not sure of the availability in other cities and states in respective to the amount of tech workers seeking employment.

Adding to the tuition share agreement option, applicants are also subject to a more strict batch of pre course work, along with an evaluation to see if you are prepared and can be successful at this program. My pre course work (estimated to take 40 hours if you have prior knowledge) took me at least 60+ hours, and thats literally. Going through the pre course work, I decided to take notes and continue to reference them even when the program started so that I could truly retain the information, just as I would with another language until I could demonstrate it effortlessly.

Negatives?

The only negative to this income share agreement is that the total amount paid for the course increases to approximately $20,000, instead of the $14,000 that you could sign up for up front after getting accepted. Although this $20,000 will be paid for over a multiple of years (small monthly payments ranging from $300-$800 per month), depending on how much income you are making per year with the lower end being around the $50k end and the upper being $100k+ end.

That is where the trade off comes in, as you decide whether you would want to pay $14k up front or $20k over a multiple of 3-5 years. Simply put, both options come with what some will see as a hefty price but when compared to the average college tuition for 3-5 years, it is significantly less. So is it worth it?  My simple answer: Yes, but its not for everyone and also depends on how much time you willing to dedicate!

What does it take?

Personally, as I’m approaching week 5 in the 12 week program, I would say that it is well worth it. This may not be the same for everyone else. There are so many factors that go into this decision and realizing if it is worth it for you or not. First off, the program is 12 weeks long and runs on a very strict schedule, from Monday – Friday (9am-5pm). All of my cohort(class) had to quit their jobs, and/or whatever else they were doing including school, etc. This IS NOT just a 9-5 job for three months. Ample time is required outside of class for this program to be worth it. You get what you give. Currently, it is very normal for me and my “codemates” to spend another 20-40+hours outside of class per week, on top of our current 9-5 days.

Being Prepared?

Handling this amount of work in such a short period of time is life changing mentally, physically, socially, and financially of course. Savings is required as it’s almost impossible to take on a full time job during this time. Knowing how to handle stress and pressure is also very important, as there will be a lot of ups and downs during the course. Another importance is your family and support. Your time will be very limited during this time, so just be prepared to be a bit disconnected during this time.

For me, personally, I had no real coding experience before starting the pre work for this program, but doing a lot of studying in the year prior to signing up for the program certainly helped with knowing different technologies and frameworks, and what they were used for. Regardless, free time gets pretty scarce during this time of development. It is extremely tough to stay consistent with a certain level of focus each and every day in this program, as it’s basically like learning a new language. So, being prepared is very critical.

The Daily Grind?

Each and every day has a structured schedule that we are given at the beginning of the cohort. The days normally start with lecture, or a quick meeting if it’s project week. Throughout the day, we go through enormous amounts of material, but it’s never just a lecture. Practice, practice, and more practice! Daily learning on how to structure, develop, and implement responsive webpages and applications from the ground up. This is where General Assembly separates itself from just trying to read and learn to code online, or even while pursuing a 4 year computer science degree while spending meaningless time on classes and material that you don’t need or ever use again.

As the saying goes, if you want to learn Chinese, the fastest way is to get dropped directly into the middle of China! This is the exact same. You’re being thrown right into the programming fire everyday, but in a good way. All of the new information learned is always directly followed by practice, as you jump right into the CLI(command line interface) and your IDE(integrated development environment). HTML, and CSS fly by within the first couple of days and then you will be jumping directly into Javascript. After that, you are off and running, and thats when the real challenge starts and the bulk of the course begins.

Is It Really Worth It?

All in all, I think it is definitely worth it if you have a passion to work in tech, whether to create your dream company or to work for another. This is the case, but this immersive program is not something that you spend a little time on and make it into a small side gig. If that’s what you’re looking for, then programming may not be ideal for you. It takes intense focus and dedication to be successful in the field. One mistake can crash an entire program, or maybe even delete an entire database and cause the company to crash. What if someone deleted the entire database of Uber drivers because they told the computer an incorrect command? Of course this would not happen, as their infrastructure has too much sophistication for that to happen, but the company would literally be out of operations for who knows how long and this would cause the end of one of the biggest companies that the world has ever seen.

If you’re not passionate about it, and that goes for anything in life, then you shouldn’t waste your time and/or money. It is also only worth it if you have time. This point needs to be emphasized. For example: If you have a family and can’t afford to quit your full time job, this is not a good idea. I’ve found that many who go through these programs don’t have many responsibilities at the moment, or they have wonderful supporters around them who help them throughout the duration. The immersive is very time consuming, and some may find it easier than others, but the amount of time that has to be put in is undeniable.

In a quick rundown, within 5 weeks, I have learned HTML, CSS, Javascript/jQuery, started creating our own servers, learning node, express, mongoDB, certain data structures and science, and so much more underlying information. This is not everything, and has taken massive work outside of class along with in class work and lecture. Just 5 weeks ago, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Why Would You Put Yourself Through Such a Daunting Task?

For me, taking this leap was about being creative and bringing my ideas to life, as I push to provide immense value to this world for decades to come. My friends have always told me that I have all of the ideas, but to me they meant nothing if I could never bring them to life. I avoided obtaining these skills for the simple reason of believing that they were too time consuming, or that it was too old to start now, or simply because of me believing that I didn’t belong in that time of environment (the common imposture syndrome). Whether you’re a cook, waitress, sales associate, truck driver, garbage truck operator or whatever it may be, you can be successful not only in this program, but in this career field as a whole.

All of these technologies are fairly new, relative to our society, and if you spend 10+ hours a day on something while someone else maybe spends a hour every few days, you will be amazed at how far you can go. If you are thinking of a career change, or simply love the tech field and need this sort of structure to learn, I will highly advise taking General Assembly’s Software Engineering Immersive if time and your situation persists. You will also hear the phrases “Web Developer”, “Full Stack Developer”, etc associated with software engineering as a lot of the knowledge intertwines.

Youtube Series Update?

Last but NOT LEAST, stay tuned as this will be just an intro to these blog and content posts regarding my Software Development journey. I aim to produce this content for the remaining 7-8 weeks in the course, while also producing content beyond the program as I work on different projects and aim to connect with like minded people in the industry. In the upcoming posts, I will link a youtube video that goes into depth about my particular General Assembly Immersive location, in the Greater Atlanta Area. Stay tuned, and be blessed!

[transhumanitynet]

ZS2.0: The Zero State Reboot [⅔]

This is Part 2 in a 3-Part article series, which briefly examines a number of ideas related to the “ZS Reboot”, and our current transition from establishing a firm theoretical basis to developing active project groups. You can find Part 1 here.

300 Social Futurism

301 Artificial Intelligence & Means of Production

Social Futurism is of course defined by the Social Futurist Principles, which demarcate the basic worldview of all Social Futurists, but that leaves a lot of room for additional ideas and approaches to solving the world’s problems. The world’s political-economic positions have been dominated by the poles of Capitalism and Socialism over the last two hundred years, and the heart of that distinction is a difference of opinion over how society’s Means of Production should be managed. Within the Capitalist system, production resources are owned by people with money to invest (or more accurately by companies on their behalf), who pay workers a relatively minimal amount and use their own profit to re-invest in the system. That system inevitably creates a cycle of increasing inequality between workers and investor/owners, along with other problems such as exploitation of workers, and of consumers, and of the environment as a whole (often referred to in corporation-speak as “externalities”; i.e. factors external to profit). Socialist/Communist systems after Marx tend (or at least claim) to impose some form of worker ownership of the Means of Production (albeit usually channelled via some State or Party apparatus), but they have a tendency to resort to extreme violence to maintain that system, while establishing new forms of radical political-economic inequality to replace the old ones. It should be no surprise that I propose balance rather than adopting either of these systems, but the most common “Third Way” solution seen over recent decades has been a very simplistic one which has created new problems of its own. The moderate-centrist position usually called ‘Liberal Democracy’ or ‘Social Democracy’ is essentially a kind of watered-down Capitalism, in which there are State-controlled and Private sectors, and (in theory at least) political and economic safeguards against extremism which favours one too far over the other. The problem with that milquetoast compromise is twofold. The lesser problem is that this “solution” naturally does not satisfy many of the more radical Capitalists and Socialists, who don’t like ongoing state control or problems caused by private companies (respectively). They can, essentially, never be satisfied by any simple compromise. Such people can be controlled, however, as long as things go well for society as a whole. The greater problem is (ironically) that this system has more or less worked since WWII, which should be a good thing, but it has allowed time enough for even larger, civilization-threatening problems to gestate. Those problems include nuclear proliferation, new technological risks (including societal disruption), resource depletion, climate change, economic instability, & resultant civil and international tensions.

In other words, we are rapidly heading toward Singularity, in the broader sense of the term. Things will come to a head by the mid-late 21st Century, if we are visionary, hardworking and lucky… which is to say that we have a chance to reach a higher civilizational level before the convergence would destroy us. If we are unlucky, or not visionary or hardworking enough, then that means that things will come to a head anyway, but we won’t be ready, and we will be destroyed.

So what solution do I propose? The need for an effective global solution exists on two levels. On the first and most pressing level, we need a dynamic balance which uses AI to balance Public and Private sector concerns on a case-by-case basis while assessing the overall health of the system, rather than deciding these things on a one-size-fits-all ideological basis. The second level is about the “big picture”, which is to say solving the serious problems which have accumulated over decades of political-economic incompetence. Once a new AI-based paradigm has solved the fundamental problem of socio-political-economic imbalance, its next step will be to solve the array of secondary problems facing humanity. To cleanse the human corpus of accumulated detritus, opening the way for it to evolve to a higher level of existence.

302 Automation, Employment, & Social Issues

Within the Capitalist system, the key theoretical issue is ownership of the Means of Production (as discussed above), but the Capitalist status quo is of course one that people are thoroughly used to. Most people don’t think about social issues on an abstract economic level. The more pressing concern for most people (who have any concerns about the system) is unemployment, and of course technological unemployment is a matter of concern to all Social Futurists.

The key questions are (1) whether the advantages of new technologies can be made to outweigh the problems caused by societal disruption, and (2) more broadly what changes must be made to our current socio-political-economic paradigm in order to integrate a revolutionary wave of technology without causing great pain to the majority of the population. In short, right now our society is simply not ready for a massive wave of technological disruption, and yet one is on the horizon. We must become ready. For more on the Social Futurist approach to technological unemployment and related issues, see my Transhumanity.net article “Social Futurist revolution & toolkit”.

303 Principles & the Social Futurist Party

As previously mentioned, Social Futurism has been defined by the Social Futurist Principles since 1st May 12011. Although ZS was officially founded with the release of those Principles, it should be remembered both that ZS existed for years beforehand, if not in name then in the form of various small precursor groups, and that ZS is not the official vehicle of Social Futurism. That organization is the Social Futurist Party (SFP), which represents the basis of an international alliance of Social Futurist groups, all cooperating and working in parallel toward the same goals.

Principles are important not only because they give us a consistent moral/ethical centre, but also because they allow a mass movement to operate in unison without centralized control. In other words, you don’t need centralized command & control when the organization/network can act flexibly as a distributed “swarm”. There is no need for direct, rigid, or hierarchical relationships between different Social Futurist groups, because each group must work according to the same Principles if they are to be considered Social Futurist, and thus will cooperate and adapt as necessary to that end.

400 Commitment and Stakes

401 Ideals and Goals

So, having considered the question of unifying Principles and goals, now we must ask ourselves what immediate ideals and goals ZSers should be focussed on. Our long-term goal is of course to establish the Zero State, from which we have already inferred certain mid-term goals. As I’ve explained elsewhere, we are currently working on the development of a small local community in Stuttgart (where I live), with an associated online community of 8,000 people by the end of 12019. Other small communities developed simultaneously will benefit from the template we develop over the course of the coming year.

In order to reach our goal for 12018-19, we need an online community of 2,000 members by the end of 12018. As I explained in Part 1 of this series, our chosen approach is to develop a small core community of no more than a few hundred members, all focussed on the development of technological tools. Those tools will later be used to reach out, to find new recruits and establish the Zero State, both within developing ZS communities and across society more generally. I will be posting about our initiatives to develop project teams over the coming weeks.

402 Inflection Points and Serious Games

Exponential processes are characterized by an “inflection point” in their curves, which is to say a point at which the nonlinear nature of the curve becomes apparent. In the case of accelerating change, we should expect an inflection point inside the next two decades, which is to say a point at which the acceleration has become obvious to all. Up until that point people could imagine that the amount of change might be increasing, but they wouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to conclude that if it continued this trend was leading toward some kind of total convergence or paradigm shift. After the inflection point, that kind of conclusion would be inevitable. In a world of accelerating change, work to survive and thrive comes with high stakes, and the timing of goal-deadlines becomes a complex matter. The stakes are high because a society-transforming wave of change removes many (if not all) certainties, and so failure to prepare as well as possible could potentially be a lethal error. Of course, knowing how to prepare amid accelerating change is itself difficult, and plans must be updated periodically in light of changing circumstances. Furthermore, the intervals at which you must review circumstances and meet critical deadlines become shorter and shorter over time, as roughly the same amount of change is packed into shorter and shorter time-frames.

Part 3 of this article series will now begin laying out ZS’ short-term plans, in light of the ideas briefly examined in Parts 1 & 2.

ZS2.0: The Zero State Reboot [⅔] was originally published on transhumanity.net

[warninggraphiccontent]

6 August 2021

The sun is shinin', come on get mappy

Ever found yourself floating aimlessly around the alphabet soup of UK government departments doing data, wondering who's responsible for what? Or lost track of all the interesting initiatives that you might be able to get involved with or learn from?

I'm delighted to be running a new project with the ODI that tries to help with that. We're mapping data responsibility and initiatives across the UK government here, so please do tell us what we've missed and comment on what we've already got. It'll be open for comments until Friday 10 September, so you have all summer to contribute.

There's a launch page explaining everything here, and we're also going to be publishing a blogpost a week focusing on a particular area of the ODI manifesto. This week is infrastructure week. Keep an eye on the ODI blog for future ones.

In other news:

A date for your diary - the 22nd Data Bites will be taking place on Wednesday 8 September at 6pm, thanks to ADR UK and the ESRC. Details will appear here in due course - which is also where you can catch up on the previous 21 events.

I'm also chairing an event for IfG at this year's Labour Party conference - more here.

I'm really sad to see this news about Understanding Patient Data (full disclosure - I'm doing some work for them at the moment). Natalie has done a terrific job, and I really hope their work is able to find a home elsewhere - it's more important than ever, given recent events.

Nick Timmins' new report on how the Department for Education handled the pandemic is well worth a read. Warning: contains mutant algorithms. Diginomica pull out some lessons on those here; my piece from last summer on that is here; and there are more links below.

If you enjoyed this account of what allegedly happened to that Spectator piece on Marcus Rashford (h/t Alice), pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy this story of something similar from my time at the Media Standards Trust.  

I did it - my first half marathon since 2019. There's still time to sponsor me and donate to the excellent Tommy's, here.

Warning: Graphic Content will now be taking a break until September. I'll be posting some things on Medium as well as on Twitter in the meantime, so do follow me there. If you need some other data-related newsletters, podcasts or event series to tide you over, there's a list for that. And if you know anyone else who should subscribe, encourage them to start the new school/parliamentary term in September the right way by signing up.

Enjoy the summer, thanks for subscribing, and see you in September

Gavin

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Graphic content

Tokyo shift

Olympic records are being broken at a record pace* (The Economist)

How the Olympics became bigger and more diverse* (The Economist)

What the Tokyo medal table tells us halfway through the Games (BBC Sport)

Russia and Kenya take the podium in the athletics doping contest* (The Economist)

Tokyo Olympics: Will Team GB beat its record-breaking performance in Rio? (Sky News)

20 Chinese gold medal contenders at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (South China Morning Post)

Olympians are probably older — and younger — than you think* (Washington Post)

The Fastest Men In The World Are Still Chasing Usain Bolt (FiveThirtyEight)

Here's how Sydney McLaughlin of the U.S. won the 400-meter hurdles at #Tokyo2020, breaking her own world record (New York Times - more here)

Katie Ledecky's historic week, day by day* (Washington Post)

The Climber: Adam Ondra | The Hurdler: Dalilah Muhammad | The Gymnast: Sunisa Lee | The Swimmer: Simone Manuel (New York Times)

Viral content

Why are Covid cases falling in the UK?* (FT)

Excess deaths in your neighbourhood during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (ONS)

COVID-19: Sewage surveillance reveals 'widespread increase' of coronavirus in England last month (Sky News)

Covid travel: which countries are on the green, amber and red lists? (The Guardian)

Tim Spector: the data explorer who uncovered vital clues to Covid* (FT)

Which Americans are against the jab?* (The Economist)

Chart: Less than 0.1% of vaccinated Americans tested positive for COVID-19 (Axios)

America is plummeting down the global vaccination league table* (The Economist)

Florida’s hospitals set a bleak pandemic record* (FT)

How Europe, After a Fumbling Start, Overtook the U.S. in Vaccination* (New York Times)

Side effects

Why the pandemic is not making your rent cheaper* (New Statesman)

New York City Homebuyers Are Back, and They’re Looking for Deals* (Bloomberg)

Net worth

How Google quietly funds Europe’s leading tech policy institutes* (New Statesman)

Explore different settlements on the balance of power and what they mean for the future of the Internet (Demos)

Ransomware attacks rise despite US call for clampdown on cybercriminals* (FT)

Environment

Planetary ‘vital signs’ show extent of climate stress — and some hope* (FT)

How heat dome has sparked worst wildfires in a decade across parts of Southern Europe (Sky News)

Beyond human endurance: How climate change is making parts of the world too hot and humid to survive* (Washington Post)

Race

The 'ethnic data gap' on voters - and why it matters to parties and pollsters (Sky News)

Hollywood reaps the rewards of becoming more diverse* (The Economist)

UK

The first ever machine generated map of the @UKParliament treaty procedure (UK Parliament)

Favourability towards Boris Johnson falls to lowest level since October (Ipsos MORI)

Productivity: firing on all cylinders (IfG)

Mathematician Hannah Fry: ‘I’m sure there’s lots of tutting — but not to my face* (FT)

Everywhere else

‘It’s Huge, It’s Historic, It’s Unheard-of’: Drug Overdose Deaths Spike* (The Upshot)

Elon Musk’s Outrageous Moonshot Award Catches on Across America* (Bloomberg)

Police shootings continue daily, despite a pandemic, protests and pushes for reform* (Washington Post)

People in the West are least worried about hurtful speech* (The Economist)

An Inca highway still benefits people living nearby* (The Economist)

German election 2021: The New Statesman’s poll tracker* (New Statesman)

Meta data

Information health

Statistics informing quarantine requirements for arrivals to England (Office for Statistics Regulation)

Review of NHS Test and Trace (England) and NHS COVID-19 app statistics (Office for Statistics Regulation)

What we mean by trustworthy use of patient data (Understanding Patient Data)

The future of Understanding Patient Data (Understanding Patient Data)

Lord Bethell’s new phone (Good Law Project)

UK government defends deleting all trace of job vacancies after appointing Matt Hancock's lover to health department board (Business Insider)

Education, education, education

Schools and coronavirus: The government’s handling of education during the pandemic (IfG)

The UK A-Level ‘COVID-19 algorithm fiasco’ and lessons for the enterprise (diginomica)

Four things government must learn from the A-level algorithm fiasco (me from last year for IfG)

More from last summer (W:GC)

Even more from last summer (W:GC)

Ensuring statistical models command public confidence: Learning lessons from the approach to developing models for awarding grades in the UK in 2020 (Office for Statistics Regulation, from March 2021)

AI got 'rithm

Hundreds of AI tools have been built to catch covid. None of them helped.* (MIT Technology Review)

I’m sorry Dave I’m afraid I invented that: Australian court finds AI systems can be recognised under patent law (The Guardian)

Bias in Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Magazine)

The ethics of recommendation systems in public-service media (Ada Lovelace Institute)

Britain can set 'gold standard' in ethical artificial intelligence - industry report (BCS)

ICO baby

The Information Commissioner's Office is letting us down*  (Telegraph)

Response: ICO’s priorities and impact of our work (ICO)

New guidance on direct marketing and the public sector (ICO)

Thread (Tim Turner)

Information Rights Strategic Plan: Trust and Confidence - annual tracker (ICO)

UK government

Introduction to Data Quality course launched (Government Data Quality Hub)

A new model for modelling (Actuaries in government)

Six reasons why digital transformation is still a problem for government (NAO)

govcookiecutter: A template for data science projects (Data in government)

Radar – more than just wave detection (Defra digital)

Driving technology convergence and reuse in our Future Borders and Immigration System (Home Office Digital, Data and Technology)

The longlist (Civil Service Data Challenge)

Cabinet Office eyes ‘geographical capability map’ for civil servants (Civil Service World)

Next step in plans to govern use of digital identities revealed (DCMS)

Building a single sign-on for government: What we’ve learnt so far (Services in government)

ESRC launches opportunity to inform data infrastructure strategy (UKRI)

Keeping old computers going costs government £2.3bn a year, says report (BBC News - CSW had this last week)

2021 Deane-Stone Lecture: Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive and Sustainable: How a National Statistical Institute evolved through Covid-19 (Sir Ian Diamond for NIESR)

Taking the wiki

Left-leaning Wikipedia is no match for my shelf of dictionaries* (Telegraph)

There are 11,656 athletes at the Olympics. Guy Fraser wanted them all on Wikipedia (The Guardian)

A sense of place

‘X’ Marks the Spot: Officials Map a Route Out of the Pandemic* (New York Times)

What 3 Words is a Mess

Dis and that

Disinformation: It’s History (CIGI)

Why Generation Z falls for online misinformation (MIT Technology Review)

It's a jungle out there

Why Amazon’s £636m GDPR fine really matters* (Wired)

The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream* (Wired)

Open for the best

Natalia Carfi to carry the torch of openness (Open Data Charter)

Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall (The Register)

The promise of open-source intelligence* (The Economist)

Private parts

Estonia says a hacker downloaded 286,000 ID photos from government database (The Record)

Here’s how police can get your data — even if you aren’t suspected of a crime (Recode)

Everything else

The social value of data (Bennett Institute)

BIG TECH’S DUTY OF CARE (New Economics Foundation)

Inequality just went stratospheric. Can we bring it down to earth?* (Prospect)

A New Tech ‘Cold War?’ Not for Europe. (AI Now Institute)

THE TIME TAX: Why is so much American bureaucracy left to average citizens?* (The Atlantic)

Can data cooperatives sustain themselves? (LSE Business Review)

medConfidential note on the PRUK green paper and DARE project (medConfidential)

Measuring internet poverty (Brookings)

Data don’t lie, but they can lead scientists to opposite conclusions* (The Economist)

Opportunities

JOB: Head of Digital Data & Digital Democracy (London Borough of Newham, via Martin)

JOB: Executive Director (Digital Freedom Fund)

JOB: Senior Data Analyst (Common Wealth)

JOB: Visuals Project Editor - Visuals (The Guardian)

JOBS: Data for Science & Health team (Wellcome Trust)

JOB: Data Journalist (Tech Monitor, New Statesman Media Group)

JOBS: Data and Digitalisation programme (Ofgem, via Owen Boswarva)

JOB: Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (DCMS)

JOBS: Economic Advisers - The Digital and Tech Analysis team (DCMS)

JOBS: Modelling Hub Analyst Roles, Data & Analytical Services Directorate (MoJ)

JOB: Director of Analysis (MoD)

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP: Data, Visualisation and Storytelling (The National Archives)

JOB: Product Manager - Data (BBC, via Jukesie)

And finally...

Vennerable

In celebration of John Venn's 187th birthday today, here's a poem in the form of a Venn diagram. (Brian Bilston)

*whispers* that's not actually how they work, but fine, it's funny (@StandingHannah, via David)

[crookedtreepoetry]

Data Science Programs

You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you'll be able to audit it to view the course materials at no cost. When you subscribe to a course that's a part of a Certificate, you’re automatically subscribed to the total Certificate. Here, we’ll familiarise you with the basics of Data Science, MS Excel and other relevant ideas. We additionally offer a complimentary Python Programming Bootcamp and a profession important gentle expertise program with this course. Our course’s ultimate section introduces you to superior knowledge science concepts and covers topics similar to business intelligence, natural language processing, information engineering, and so forth.

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Students are properly prepared for getting recruited by the top corporations and work efficiently with different job profiles in Data Science. Subjects such as Analytics and Data Science have emerged as the most important needs of every company everywhere in the world. For every exercise that a business performs must be later analysed by information science professionals to extract valuable info. Jain University Entrance Test– This widespread entrance examination is carried out by Jain University, Bangalore to confess students who're excited about pursuing a bachelor’s diploma in information science. Data Science could be outlined as a mixture of implementing varied scientific activities corresponding to mathematics, calculus, graphs, charts, algorithms, computer packages, and much more.

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You will get job alternatives as soon as they're posted, recommendations to apply matched on to your skills and pursuits, and tips and tips that will help you stand other than the group. Each course sometimes incorporates 3-6 modules with a mean effort of 2 to four hours per module. If learning part-time (e.g. 1 module per week), it might take 6 to 12 months to finish the complete certificate. If learning full-time (e.g. 1 module per day) the certificates could be accomplished in 2 to 3 months. This Specialization is for software engineers, college students, and researchers from any subject, who are excited about machine learning and need to understand how GANs work.

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[ericvick]

A Q&A with Kaitlin Passafaro, the city’s new director of Intergovernmental Relations

Earlier this thirty day period when Mayor Walsh introduced the changeover of several City Hall staff members into new leadership positions in his administration, Kaitlin Passafaro, a lifelong Dorchester resident, was named director of the business office of Intergovernmental Relations, which coordinates interactions amongst municipal, point out, and federal governments, assists Town departments with advocacy and prospecting for community and non-public grants, and can help determine the mayor’s legislative agenda. 

Passafaro, the daughter of previous District 3 City Councillor Maureen Feeney, most lately served as director of policy in Walsh’s Place of work of Economic Development. She commenced operating at City Hall in 2010 as a correspondence and progress assistant in the mayor’s business. She is a graduate of Boston Latin University and holds a bachelor’s diploma from Boston School and a master’s from Suffolk College.

Passafaro sat down for an job interview with the Reporter final week. Excerpts from that dialogue stick to:

Q. How did you get associated in nearby federal government? 

A. “I grew up in a incredibly civically engaged family. My mother and father and grandparents grew up in Dorchester. From a quite early age I was at Cedar Grove Civic Affiliation meetings and working the polls for distinctive candidates down at Florian Corridor while included in pins and bumper stickers. Both equally of my mothers and fathers also spent their careers in general public provider, so for me it was anything that was a really all-natural fit. When I graduated college, I wasn’t totally absolutely sure what I wanted to do but offered my appreciate for this metropolis and how essential it is to me, I realized that I wished to go into govt in some condition or form. I’m now 34 decades aged and City Hall is the only position I’ve at any time labored write-up school. … This is the metropolis that I grew up in and that I’m boosting my personal family in. I come to feel like it is ingrained in me.

Q. You have worked as the mayor’s liaison to the metropolis council. What did you study by way of facilitating that sort of coordination? A. “I arrived in emotion like I knew the town so properly. I know all the streets and I was familiar with the neighborhoods. But I was extremely fortunate since I was able to see it in distinctive methods. I would stop by neighborhoods that I realized, but hadn’t spent a great deal of time in. It was all so eye-opening to me and it gave me a really various standpoint on the vibrancy of the town and how dynamic its neighborhoods are. 

“I consider I came into the position with an understanding of the distinct districts and an being familiar with of the council, and then also the dynamic of getting a respect for the entire body, supplied that my mother spent so considerably of her time there and that it was  a massive aspect of our lifestyle for so extensive. It was a minimal bit of a surreal instant to consider ‘I’m now in the hallways that I utilized to run all over in as a child when my mom was doing the job, and I’m not lobbying, possessing conversations, and shaping plan.’

“When I went into that role, I also obtained a new point of view, coming in from the govt branch aspect and operating with the council.” 

Q. You moved on to operate in condition relations and then as the director of community plan in the Office environment of Economic Development. Can you communicate a very little bit about that evolution for you? 

A. “I gained a good deal of practical experience on the town side of factors. I experienced a truly good perception of municipal insurance policies and the procedures below, how issues operate, and how to be a component of great governing administration. Point out relations is comparable to do the job with the council, but performing every thing at that distinct stage, doing the job on filing the mayor’s state legislative priorities and advocating for the city in terms of the price range and various policy places.” 

“The transition to financial development was an fascinating just one mainly because, obtaining spent most of my job in intergovernmental relations the place you are concerned in a large amount of different matters, going into a particular department and operating on coverage gave me yet another intriguing standpoint.  It was seriously about diving in and seeing the coverage staying designed and remaining element of the origin and the authentic discussion to appear up with ideas and achieve the mayor’s ambitions. I acquired a ton under Main John Barros the perform that that section does is so exceptionally crucial in lifting persons up and developing a much more equitable metropolis.”

Q. Are there any concerns or aims that come to intellect in terms of pinpointing the future legislative objects for the city? How does that course of action work? 

A. “The Legislature operates on a two-12 months session, and in ordinary circumstances it would’ve by now ended at the finish of previous July. Simply because of Covid it has been prolonged until the stop of the 12 months. Ideal now we are in the procedure of working with each individual metropolis section, having an evaluation of policy priorities for each and every section to establish what we require to get carried out at the condition amount in order to realize Mayor Walsh’s goals and then we release a packet of payments in January.

“We’re sort of smack in the middle of that system right now. We function with legislators to get expenditures filed and it’s a little something that the mayor requires a good deal of pleasure in and that deal is kind of his roadmap at the Point out House for the next two years.”

Q. What forms of factors do you visualize in partnership with state and federal systems, specially coming out of the pandemic?

A. “Broadly speaking, I think the Mayor has been pretty apparent on his advocacy to each point out and the federal governments that we have to have aid now. Particularly in phrases of economic development – our modest corporations, cafe sectors – there needs to be action now.

“The mayor has been pretty robust on advocating for that specially on the federal amount. There are ongoing negotiations in D.C. now, and, rather frankly, we do not have time to wait. We’re wanting forward to the Biden- Harris administration and operating with them but even in the interim we have to have anything. I definitely feel that coming out of Covid, we want to concentration on peoples’ livelihoods and how to shield them and our general public overall health. There requires to be reduction for our companies and for persons. Not enough has been performed.” 

Q. With the pandemic forcing so numerous workplaces to pivot, what has it been like for you as you seem for new methods to coordinate and get things performed?

A. ‘I’m a massive communicator and I’m also a people human being. I prosper on jogging into men and women in hallways. A good deal of matters can get done when you just have individuals in-person discussions, just obtaining lunch, or passing an individual throughout the day. There is the challenge of that isolation as the pandemic goes on and just hoping to determine out how to navigate that and sustain associations and communication. On the bright side, it has given me some new capabilities and I’ve uncovered that issues can get finished in new methods. I’m realizing that flexibility is a superior point and can aid you realize new plans.” 

Q. What are you the most fired up about wanting forward?

A. “I’m enthusiastic and so very honored that the mayor trusts me to do this do the job for the reason that it is so essential. The coverage function that we do at the town condition and federal stage has a tremendous impression on the everyday life of our people. Municipal government is closest to the men and women and I’m really enthusiastic to be component of it it’s truly humbling. 

“I have two infants – just one is 3-and-a-half, the other 16 months – and element of my enthusiasm for this and doing the job for the mayor is because he is prioritizing the appropriate matters and building a city for them that is superior than the a person I grew up in. Feeling that I’m section of producing a compact change is these kinds of an incredible honor, and becoming a woman in this business, I simply cannot pressure adequate the aid it is to be a mom of two younger youngsters and to experience supported in that there’s an knowing from major down of what it implies to be a parent, especially in the time of Covid. 

“Not only does the mayor enjoy that, but he also lifts it up. He sees the value of getting me at the table with my viewpoint, currently being a lady and getting a mom. I’ve generally felt that it is these an amazing practical experience. But in transiting into this new job and owning expanded duties although feeling so supported and valued as a woman and a mom has been awesome.”

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[alishbakhanus]

The Story of a Wedding Planner Planning Own Wedding.

So, what did you pay attention to most when deciding on your wedding venue?

As we started planning our wedding organization, we had two alternative venues in mind that would suit our style, my wife and I never wanted a hotel wedding or a ballroom wedding. There were two options for us that we could meet these criteria and be comfortable with for this reason, Çubuklu 29 has become a reason for preference for us, especially in terms of its atmosphere, texture, food taste and service quality.

“Ralph Lauren Home style, colors and textures inspired us a lot.”

Can we get some information about the decoration of your wedding? As a wedding planner, what kind of path did you follow in determining the theme of your wedding and what were your inspirations?

I can say that I was really amazed even to myself in this regard. :) Because you can guess that we have done a lot of wedding organizations. I had beautiful experiences in different cities, different countries, and different themes. Therefore, I always worried that I would be indecisive. :) But frankly, it never happened. From the very beginning, the style of the wedding was very clear to us, as a couple we especially like elegant and simple decors.

We both love the Ralph Lauren brand. Ralph Lauren Home style, colors and textures inspired us a lot. We preferred white and navy blue colors because we wanted both summer and open air weddings. For us, the nobility and simplicity of white flowers has always been one step ahead. White peonies, white hydrangeas, white tulips and abundant greenery also made the place enchanting.

And of course, we have included our navy blue-white bleu Blanc vases both on the tables and in our environmental decoration, we can say that they are indispensable accessories that I always suit every environment.

"We planned our entire wedding organization in a period of approximately 3-4 months in total."

Again, as a wedding planner, what advantages did you have in planning your own wedding? How long did you plan your wedding from start to finish?

Of course, it was a great advantage that I knew everyone I needed and had experience in everything necessary for a wedding organization. :) Knowing the venues, solution partners, organizational structure, and knowing what and when I can procure it was of course a great comfort and a great advantage in terms of time.

First, we decided on the place where the wedding would be held, and then I started researching wedding dresses.

In the last two months, we worked on decoration details, such as visual research, technical drawings, invitation cards, sample collection, productions.

In the last month, we decided on other details of the organization (such as music, food tasting, and flow of the organization day).

We planned our entire wedding organization in a period of approximately 3-4 months in total.

"The most difficult and tiring part for us was our busy schedule."

Let's also talk about the difficulties. What were the most difficult points in planning your wedding?

The most difficult and tiring part for us in this regard was our busy schedule. Because we were going to have a summer wedding and summer periods are the busiest periods for us. It has always been very difficult for us to spare time for our own private business during our busy business periods.

Obviously, we were at a disadvantage compared to other brides and grooms, we could not spare enough time for the preparation of our own organization.

In fact, we had two very large wedding organizations 3 days before and 1 week after my wedding and therefore I had to work until the last day. :)

Let's get to your wedding dress. Which brand bears the signature of your wedding dress; is it custom made or ready to wear?

My wedding dress was Paranoias brand, I got it from Akko. Since I am meticulous about wedding dresses, it was always more guaranteed for me to try and buy a wedding dress that I saw and liked. That's why I chose a ready-to-wear wedding dress.

Were there any details that you said should be like this in your wedding dress, or did you proceed more spontaneously?

I was absolutely spontaneous, I had no particular pattern in mind. But a wedding dress is a really different feeling because a wedding dress that you have in mind or that you like may not suit you or you can wear a wedding dress that you say no, this is not possible. :)

For example, when I was thinking that I could wear a narrow and embroidered wedding dress, I preferred a plain fabric and wore a more fluffy wedding dress. :)

"It was a simple style that was not far from natural, which I paid attention to in both hair and makeup.

What kind of style did you prefer in your hair and makeup and what did you pay attention to?

I had two friends who I trusted very much in this regard. Hasan from Bebel Erbil Coiffeur and in makeup. In daily life, Hasan does the procedures related to my hair, so I can say that I left it completely to him. When it comes to make-up, Melisa was always a friend of mine whose style I liked very much and I worked with. I can say that I left the rest to his experience by giving a few details that I think do not suit myself. It was a simple style that was not far from natural, which I paid attention to in both hair and makeup.

"I think one of the things I was lucky enough to be was music."

Let's talk a little bit about wedding music. What kind of stream did you watch as music? Also, can we learn your wedding music and first dance music?

I think one of the things I was lucky enough to be was music. :) Because my wife is also in the organization sector; He is a partner of a company specializing in sound, lighting and music systems as well as entertainment management. For this reason, we got over this part of the wedding very easily.

We have worked with people we know and love for many years and had a very enjoyable night.

Ata Marin Band took the stage during the cocktail time and it was a performance that everyone really liked. It was one of the details that everyone asked us after the wedding.

Took the stage during the dinner. Tarık Abi was already a veteran name that we trust very much in terms of music quality, he did not need to say anything but a few details.

Ayla took the stage at After Party and we can say that she entertained us with her usual dynamic scene.

Finally, if you need to give a suggestion to those who are preparing for marriage based on your own experience and professionalism, what would it be?

First of all, I can say that perhaps the most beautiful and exciting times of their lives.

That's why I recommend them to enjoy these beautiful periods as much as possible, I suggest them to continue their preparations by not putting too much stress and programming the process correctly.

Courtesy: best marriage halls in Lahore

[scrambledgegs]

Lives vs Livelihood Tradeoff?

#SOanoNA?

    Just a few Mondays ago on July 27, 2020, President Duterte delivered his 5th SONA, and to no one’s surprise, it was composed of nothing but his usual angry tirades, off-tangent, incomprehensible ramblings and violent threats. His SONA has confirmed again – that apart from lockdowns, he still has no clear, feasible battleplan to counter this crippling pandemic.

     Much can tirelessly be said about his SONA, but one statement that I found satirically amusing was when he admonished the telco industry to strengthen their connectivity so that he jokingly, would be able to call Jesus in Bethlehem. I found myself actually wondering humorously, would Jesus even take his call?

Perhaps Digong wants to make an attempt at a lifeline call because where he knows he is eventually headed, I doubt there is reception down there, nor is there any broadcasted television shows, by his own special request.

On the 5th Month of Lockdown

    Less than a week after Duterte’s SONA, on August 1, 2020, the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), through a signed letter, expressed their clamor for a revert to ECQ for the whole “Mega Manila for a period of two weeks, from August 1 to 15,” the same measures that were imposed beginning March 17, 2020 which was extended to May 15, 2020.

     Well-intentioned as these pleas were, and indeed, a validated cry for help, due to hospital over-congestion and the government’s weak response; I could not agree with the recommendation of another blanket ECQ, for we’ve already witnessed how the national government has made a mess of things. We all know what improvements happened during the first ECQ – absolutely nothing. I am no expert, but it seems that a better scenario would be for Manila to stay at the most, a GCQ environment and isolate specific at-risk areas.

    Let me start by first saying that do not get me wrong; I have the utmost respect and gratitude towards our doctors and members of the medical field. Enough cannot be said about what our medical frontliners have been doing for the country – the bouts of hardships they undergo everyday – physical and emotional battles that we as members of the non-medical sector would never truly understand. They are indeed heroes, and they are dealing with the ugliness of this pandemic on a whole other level. It would also be hypocritical for me to say that truly I understand what they are going through because I am not a medical frontliner, or even any kind of frontliner.

     However, as much as I stand with our medical frontliners, I also stand for an optimal mix of health/medical and economic initiatives, led by fact-based, scientific approaches to combat our relentless problems. Of course, we all know this is easier said than done.

In the words of another Filipino physician, “Whatever type of lockdown we impose – ECQ, MECQ, GCQ – we will not beat the pandemic without a comprehensive, scientific and systematic policy” (Alliance of Health Workers, National President, Taken from ANC, August 3, 2020).

  NO to ECQ, but a resounding YES to a better Health response by the National Government

    I agree that COVID-19 began as first and foremost a health problem and should have been dealt with as such, but now on our 5th month of community quarantine and entering a recession, the problem has snowballed into a socio-economic and political fiasco. In my Facebook feed, I read a post by the honorable Congressman Toff de Venecia who, in the context of the Lower House proposing a comprehensive Php1.3 Trillion stimulus package, stated that:

“Cong. Stella Quimbo, one of our fiercest lady legislators and a top economist in the country, has estimated that the Philippine economy will be losing 12 billion pesos a day for every day that we're on a two-week lockdown. That's a cumulative amount of 168 billion lost to our economy.”

 The post was referring to the country’s current state, as the government has reimplemented stricter lockdown measures: MECQ from the previous GCQ, beginning August 4, 2020.

     Yet, imagine, what will be further lost if an actual ECQ is imposed? These frightening numbers represent industries, companies, SMEs, employees, daily wage earners, sole breadwinners, etc directly and indirectly connected to businesses and counterparties that will not be allowed to operate during ECQ. Whatever was salvaged by easing restrictions, will be killed off or reduced to morsels by a second ECQ. Tip of the iceberg scenarios are: Life-savings of smaller-time entrepreneurs (who make up more than 90% of the country) will be wiped out, and they will have no means of financing, as banks and microlenders are understandably practicing austere and conservative lending measures right now. With continuous rock-bottom revenues, mass layoffs will increase and companies could default on their existing loans, and as a result, smaller banks may shutdown. Many could literally die before COVID-19 even finds its way to them, and as we know, ECQ does not allow for family members or loved ones to be present at their burial.

     To impose ECQ at this point in time with NO other moving parts or ongoing strategies in place to supplement it, is a futile attempt. It is a jab in the dark, band-aid and short-term solution at the cost of staggering resources and lives. We will have both rising COVID-19 cases and a dead economy.

     Furthermore, strict lockdowns, such as ECQ, are convenient tools that the administration utilizes to divert attention away from the real problems and boost their own agendas, through authoritarian and militaristic approaches.

In an article from The Economist (July 11th-17th 2020), entitled “Four months and counting, A ferocious lockdown lingers on, despite uncertain benefits,” the author writes: “On July 3rd [Duterte] signed into law a sweeping anti-terrorism bill which, among other things, allows suspects to be detained without a judge’s approval for up to 14 days. How this will help the Philippines through its current trauma is anyone’s guess” (The Economist, July 2020).

  “WE are in a losing battle against COVID-19, and we need to come up with a consolidated plan”

     These were the words written in the PCP’s letter. To supplement their ECQ recommendation, they have proposed seven (7) points in the letter. Below is the copy of the letter:

Multi-dimensional Problems

     Nobody in the right mind would disagree that there is a case for this letter; these are reasonable points that truly warrant immediate and swift action, but I also wonder if the physician writers of this letter consulted with experts or consultants from the economic sector and related fields? It is not my intention to pit industries against each other. In fact, how I wish these points would be granted. Yet these lofty recommendations sound more idealistic than feasible, and may possibly further handicap the health sector.

     I DO agree that this letter identifies specific gaps and presents a guiding framework on what needs to be prioritized pronto. I however have comments pertaining to numbers 4, 6 and 7:

#4. On Transportation safety

But how about Public Transportation?

    In the event of another ECQ, one concerning aspect is that all modes of public transportation are to be firmly suspended. Again, how will commuting medical frontliners, not to mention employees of “essential services” get to work? In a Manila Times article written last April 4, 2010, which was during ECQ, business columnist Robert Siy wrote:

“Frontline workers are suffering from the shortage of public transport services. My estimate is that 2/3 of these workers are seriously affected — they are either unable to get to work or experience serious difficulty in reaching their destinations (e.g. having to walk over an hour each way). In supermarkets and groceries, lines at checkout lanes are long because many cashiers have not made it to work. Those who do are already weary by the time they get to their posts then they have to carry the load of those unable to get to work. A similar story is playing out in hospitals and clinics” (Siy, April 4, 2020).

    It must be highlighted that government departments such as DOTr and the AFP during ECQ made some commendable initiatives too like by chartering over 100 vehicles to transport medical frontliners to and from work. However, this number, including other factors such as, the way our roads are built, limited bus routes and strategic drop-off/pick-up points, “are reaching only a small fraction of those in need.”

     “As of March 24, when there were 72 buses fielded on 14 routes, only 1,113 workers were served. On March 27, the DoTr and other agencies fielded 106 buses on 18 routes; these buses collectively carried only 1,402 health workers that day — an average of just 13 passengers per bus for the entire day” (Siy, April 4, 2020).

     Since no tricycles or jeepneys will be allowed to operate during ECQ, this leaves medical frontliners still having to walk great distances to get to and from drop-off/pick-up points, and of course feeling exhausted and fatigued by the time they get to work and thus, further increasing their likelihood of getting sick.

     This type of free shuttling service is also not economically sustainable, unless the private sector gets more heavily involved. For them to be able to stay involved, is that they need revenues – which they will not be able to achieve with ECQ.

#6: On Public compliance with self-protection

But how about the revival of the economy, Mental Health and well…Hope?

I somewhat agree with the PCP’s statement that “The progressive lifting of quarantine has sent a public message that the pandemic is getting better. It is not.”

     However, I’d also like to think that there are many well-informed Filipinos who know that the number of COVID-19 cases have escalated (now more than 119,000), and perhaps it was not the intention of (at least some officials) to convey this message of false hope. The rationale behind easing community quarantine restrictions was to slowly resuscitate the dying economy.

      Under GCQ for instance, I recognize that while some are able to practice “voluntary ECQ” or strict social-distancing and stay-at-home measures because they can afford to, many more cannot afford this luxury. I can see why a direct and definitive ECQ proclamation seems like the only way to really enforce these critical daily practices. However, like earlier mentioned, at destructive socio-economic costs.

     Moreover, let us not forget that the Philippines holds the record for having the longest lockdown in the world, but we as a sociable and gregarious culture, also have the strong need to be with other people. Naturally, nobody can really withstand being alone and forever cooped up, and indeed, a social facet of a prolonged lockdown are detrimental effects on mental health. Mental health problems are very real and present, and should not be taken lightly. All of us have been directly affected in one way or the other, and we all by now have felt the pangs of hopelessness and anxiety creeping up from time to time. Some days are better or worse than others.

#7 On Social Amelioration

But what are to become of the deemed “non-essential” industries and the services sector?

     The PCP letter also sought to “ask your good offices to reconsider the pronouncement of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regarding the approval to reopen businesses such as gyms, fitness centers, tutorial services, review centers, internet cafes, pet grooming services, drive-in cinemas previously closed.

     Again, I am of mixed feelings about this statement. The Philippines can be described as a consumption-driven economy, and as such, it only follows that the Services sector makes up 56.2% of the Philippines’s GDP, well at least as of FY 2018. Prior COVID-19, services consistently posted an average growth of 6%-7%, leading the pack among the other economic sectors    

     Indeed, “Healthy people to reinvigorate the economy” are of course needed to win this battle, but the country also needs the wheels of business and commerce to keep going on, in order to keep healthy people healthy and pump monetary fuel into the economy.

Recalibration

     In no disrespect, perhaps the medical industry can recalibrate their efforts to collectively clamor for such above (7) points, together with a meeting of minds from the economic sector and related fields, but remove ECQ from the equation. It is a hard reality that the loss of lives and livelihood is tragically inevitable, but it does not have to boil down to a stark “lives vs livelihood” tradeoff.

Our health sector have their countrymen’s support, and only a tyrant would dismiss this alarming distress call.

And indeed, after above PCP letter was made public, President Duterte was again all over the news lambasting our health workers and goading them to indeed start a revolution, even if none of that was remotely articulated in the letter. However, now that I think about it, perhaps his pre-emptive taunts for one may be what needs to be done, at least in our own way for now.

[wishforwash]

5 Reflections after 5 Years of Leading the Social Impact Organization Wish for WASH

ODecember 12, 2019 by Jasmine Burton

Still reeling in the surreal. I was on stage with two other Georgia Tech women in STEM, wearing colorful dresses and talking about toilets. It was 2014, and we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed undergraduates from one of the best colleges in the world. And we were driven by a mission — to bring innovation to sanitation with a gender equity and design thinking lens.

Then following the pitch, which I had overhauled a few hours before based on some last minute, deeply critical feedback, Emmy Award Winning CBS Contributor Faith Salie shouted our names on stage and on live TV that was being streamed across the state of the Georgia. We had won both the People’s Choice Award and the First-Place Award at the Georgia Tech Inventure Prize Competition, making us the first all-female team to win the largest undergraduate invention competition in the United States.

And from that moment on, I have continued speeding ahead full throttle across 10 countries, in the public, private and social enterprise sectors, and all in the name of inclusion and innovation in the sanitation sector. Still reeling in the surreal.

Six weeks after our astounding win, our team experienced our first “glow up” where we progressed from the on-stage foam prototype to nearly a dozen manufactured toilets which were shipped to a refugee camp in northern Kenya. Here, under the auspices of the sanitation enterprise Sanivation, we participated in our first usability pilot.

Our journey was launched in a beautiful display of love and community when our Georgia Tech peers, professors and individual families (Shout-out to the best parents and sister in the whole world!) hustled to help us. They helped us manually pull plastic toilet molds at strange hours in the Georgia Tech design shop, shipped the parts and construction materials to the refugee camp, and provided an enabling environment in which we could grow and thrive.

We concluded the summer with a series of learnings about how to improve our toilet based on user feedback, and we sought to iterate it in the name of design thinking, which has been integral to our work from the start. In the fall of 2014, I founded Wish for WASH, and I have grown by its side over the past 5 years.

While in this season of thanks, as I marinate and meditate on musings that are the Wish for WASH story, I want to share 5 notable reflections that are top of mind.

1. Defining What It Means To Be an Expert

I have frequently asked the people in my immediate spheres of influence about ‘what it means to be an expert’. Do you just wake up one day and feel that you have now absorbed enough knowledge in your interest area to claim the status of ‘expert’? Or do you immediately become an expert the day that you complete a degree or certificate program? Or if enough people call you an expert, is that when you become one?

I began grappling with this issue over the course of the past 5 years as I have increasingly been labeled as an expert when I myself had not yet claimed that professional status. Beyond talking and processing with my communities of support about this, I have also begun defining what ‘being an expert’ means to me and what things I will align with as well as what I will not align with.

For instance, my 5+ years of work in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector in primarily the innovator, researcher, and communicator functions does make me a relative expert in a host of roles within the WASH space. However, while my extensive work in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 5 years gives me a more realistic and nuanced picture of the realities of WASH-related work within the region compared to others who have not worked in the region as long, it does not, by any means, make me an ‘African expert’, which is a label that has been given to me quite a few times over the past few years.

I have come to align with, and increasingly claim, my growing expertise in my technical area of interest (WASH); however, I do not subscribe to the notion that non-African nationals can be ‘African experts’ as I believe that reinforces a pervasive neocolonial narrative and silences the voices of the brilliant minds that are actually from the region. These definitions that I have outlined for myself have helped me in both my personal and professional development, as I strongly believe that words matter.

2. The Importance of Claiming Your Space

Similar to my personal journey with the term ‘expert’ as described previously, Wish for WASH as an organization has experienced a bit of mission drift as we sought to find our niche within the WASH sector. We started as solely a product company and then pivoted to include research and education, which has been an incredible adventure in finding a way to have sustainable impact through a mission-oriented organization.

Due to high manufacturing costs and the complexity of overall logistics, with the support of our organizational advisors and my individual mentors, we have needed to redefine ourselves several times over the past few years. But while that process was often ambiguous, for me as the lead, it is really amazing to reflect back and see where we are today: a network of 100+ young and diverse professionals, all under the age of 30, who have been a part of the Wish for WASH journey since 2014.

And we now can claim our space as our growing mission is to bring more diverse minds, talent, and innovation to the problems of global health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) through the lens of research, design and education because #everybodypoops. With this change of our mission statement, it is clear that our organizational impact is no longer tied to the impact of a single toilet design, but it is captured by the youth-led and women-led movement that we have created to help the world reach the 6th Sustainable Development Goal. Claiming this space has enabled us to be more clear internally as we seek to grow in the future. I am incredibly grateful for the people who walked with me through all of these iterations and helped us reach this point of clarity and purpose.

3. Applying a Design Thinking Iterative Approach To Yourself

As a product designer with deep professional roots in the Design Thinking Methodology, I am quite familiar with the concept of not being married to any professional products that I create but being married to the process. The goal of approaching work in this way helps me to reframe ‘failures’ as just a part of the process of iteration and implementation until the output (be it a piece of design work, a research proposal, a manuscript, communications strategy, etc) best meets the needs of the end user or audience.

However, over the past few years growing as the leader of Wish for WASH, I have realized the importance of internally applying these same principles to myself. As a human-being who happens to be occupying a leadership role, I do make mistakes. And for me, some of those mistakes have hurt and felt more personal than others.

I am still working on truly internalizing this reflection into my life’s practice. However, I think the idea of approaching personal or leadership ‘failures’ as parts of the journey (and reframing them as opportunities to iterate and continue to grow) is a healthy way to strive to be both a responsible and servant leader. And in this increasingly polarized world, I have a deep respect for those who strive to lead with these leadership approaches.

4. The Need for Leaders to Lift As They Climb

Over the course of the past 5 years, it has become increasingly clear to me that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. I have been blessed with incredible communities of support that have enabled me to grow and thrive as blossoming innovator and thought-leader in the WASH sector.

The opportunities that have been afforded to me by my communities of support have given me a platform to better advocate for increased representation of diverse voices in the WASH sector with a particular focus on women, youth, and people of color. I firmly believe in the notion that responsible and servant leaders seek to lift as they climb to amplify not only underrepresented voices in the sector, but the voices of their team to ensure their professional development and ownership of products.

The decentralized and remote nature of Wish for WASH has facilitated an environment where our team members have had the opportunity to own products and processes rather than having it all led directly by me. While there have been some logistical challenges, overall, our 5 Year Wish for WASH Impact Survey revealed the value of the professional development opportunities and autonomy afforded to our team members.

5. Family Over Everything

And last but not least — family. As a person of faith, this mantra has always been central to my ethos, and as a young and growing leader, I could not align with it more. For those who know me personally, you know that my family is my rock. They are my biggest cheerleaders, support system and enablers, despite how crazy my ideas may sound. My family is always there for me, no matter what the topic is or which time zone I am based in. And as I have gotten older, this blessing is not lost on me and I am so thankful for it.

Because of this, I have sought to create a family environment within Wish for WASH. While not completely successful and with room for improvement, I do think that my team members feel seen, heard and valued. The work that we do is important, but the people doing the work — and their stories, visions, and needs — are equally as important.

My biggest realization over the years is the value of loving your people. Seek to love your teammates, your co-workers, your supervisors. Despite hardships, obstacles and differences. Show up for them. And approach them with respect and grace. It is not always easy and is a space where I am excited to continue growing. But overall, family — no matter how you define it — is everything.

So with that, I am ecstatic to still be reeling in the surreal. It has been 5 years and we are just getting started. Happiest Birthday, Wish for WASH! I am forever grateful for the person you have inspired me, and continue to inspire me, to become and the amazing people that I am blessed to work and grow with.

Onwards and upwards. The best is yet to come.

To learn more visit our website here and subscribe to our newsletter here.

Original post can be found here. 

[rene453blog-blog]

SuperEasy Means To Learn Anything About SPORT

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[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 6/20/2019

Good MORNING  #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Thursday 20th June 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT), Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

ALL HANDS IN FIRE FIGHT –The fire that engulfed the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre (SBRC) on Tuesday is no longer a national threat, but it is a major concern for Government and a nuisance to residents. An inter-ministry approach has been undertaken to bring operations back to normal at the Vaucluse, St Thomas recycling plant. Yesterday, Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod met with Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, representatives from the Disaster Emergency Management, Environmental Protection Department, Ministry of Health, Sanitation Service Authority (SSA), Waste Haulers Association, SBRC and Chief Fire Officer Errol Maynard to address the situation. “Although the responsibility is SBRC’s, the only way we could resolve the issue is through concomitant representation,” Prescod told the NATION after meeting with officials at the nearby Central Country Club ground pavilion in Vaucluse. (DN)

SHORT-LIVED SCHOOL MEALS ACTION – Staffers at the School Meals Department at Lancaster, St James, were off the job again yesterday. However, this time it was not from the heat in the kitchen. Some employees began wildcat industrial action, but were back at their stations less than an hour later, after a visit by their representative, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW). Assistant general secretary of the NUPW, Wayne Walrond, told the NATION the decision to strike was based on what they thought was a supervisor being passed over for promotion. “The workers were back on the job quickly. There was a miscommunication which led to them thinking a supervisor had been bypassed for promotion, but that was quickly clarified and they returned to work. (DN)

RETRENCHED PUBLIC WORKER AMONG PRIZE-WINNING UWI ENTREPRENEURS –A business idea from a former public sector worker who was retrenched last year is among winners of a University of the West Indies contest to find viable startups by UWI students. Five ideas made the final cut in the Student Entrepreneurial Empowerment Development (SEED) competition, who were presented with seed money in a ceremony attended by the Minister for Entrepreneurship Dwight Sutherland at the 3Ws Oval at the UWI’s Cave Hill campus. And even as the student-entrepreneurs were being toasted by the university, Sutherland called on the UWI to play a greater role in developing entrepreneurship in Barbados and the region. Winners of the competition were Mikhail Eversley and Kemar Codrington of Oasis Laboratory and Franz Harewood-Hamblin from Grow Smart Youth Farm. Over 60 businesses have been created out of the SEED programme over the years with the contribution of over $180,000 from the CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank. Sutherland said it was about time higher education institutions make every effort to “resist any temptation to be stymied by intellectual loyalty” and instead “reinvent” so that they could help individuals turn their ideas into viable businesses. He said it was important that regional universities foster entrepreneurial development by focusing on courses that place emphasis on creating new enterprises, provide positive role models in teaching and intensify experiential learning and real-world experiences. The Minister said: “You must see yourselves as an integral source of talent and ideas as you serve as economic magnets for investments, entrepreneurs and talent in the region. “Further, your role in economic development must continue to be increasingly magnified, given the fact that there is considerable leverage that can accrue through your agenda of core education, research and development, and other critical spillovers. “Your remit must, therefore, be to create the type of entrepreneurship education that causes those who graduate in the past to also become interested in up-to-date and transferable entrepreneurship programmes.” Sutherland said he saw the university playing a critical role in helping to develop the blue economy in the Caribbean as Barbados and the rest of the region continue to grapple with economic development issues. (BT)

ALL LOCAL ONIONS ON THE MARKET – Barbados is set to save US$1.5 million in foreign exchange this year from not importing onions. Board Member of the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), Peter Chase told members of the media today that BADMC would not be importing onions any time soon, since local farmers have been able to produce a phenomenal onion crop of close to 300 000 pounds, that would last an estimated six months. “It is a major crop and a major savings for Barbadians. The crop was fantastic. We still have farmers coming in and for the last three months we have not imported any onions,” he said. Chase said farmers started reaping the five-month crop in April, a process, which he said, should be completed by July. Chase noted that currently, all onions being sold in supermarkets were locally grown. (BT)

HEALTH SECTOR TO GET BOOST FROM CUBA – For the second time in a matter of days, the health sector is set to benefit from a bilateral arrangement. This time the help is to come in the form of access to medical training and technology from Cuba. The revelation came from Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, following recent talks with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez Parilla. Senator Walcott said that Barbados and Cuba have had a long history of collaboration and the visit from the Cuban foreign Minister allowed for further discussions on how this collaboration can be built upon in the current era. The move comes just days after Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced plans to augment chronic nursing shortages, with 400 nurses from Ghana, following the visit of President Nana Akufo-Addo. Said Senator Walcott of the bilateral talks with Cuba: “We spoke of the need to go into different areas in terms of specialist nursing, in terms of nurses being trained in oncology. We also dealt with the issue of pharmaceuticals.”  Speaking at a press conference at Accra Beach Hotel, Senator Walcott, himself a medical doctor, noted that he was especially excited about gaining access to Cuba’s technology on treating leg ulcers on persons with diabetes. “Cuba has some revolutionary techniques as it relates to diabetes in terms of the management of leg ulcers which is a scourge of diabetes in Barbados. They [Cuba] have done some very good work and we are looking at trying to get access to some of the drugs and methods. “We want our professionals to be trained in treating leg ulcers and the diabetic foot and we have had discussions on how this can become available to us.” The Foreign Minister noted that Cuba has done extensive work in the area of microbiology and vaccines, which are of significant interest to Barbados. “Many of you might not know that the vaccines for yellow fever was in fact discovered in Cuba. More recently they have discovered vaccines for certain types of cancers such as those that affect the head, neck, lungs and liver. These are areas that we can certainly work collaboratively.” But he noted that the health sector was not the only beneficiary of the exchanges with Cuba, as education, culture and sports, will also receive a boost as a result of the closer ties. “As it relates to education, we spoke about the need to widen this system of foreign languages. Cubans will be exposed in terms of training in English and we benefit in terms of Spanish training. “There is a MOU which is being reviewed by the Ministry of Education and we hope that this will roll out in the not too distant future.” (BT)

NURSES, MINISTRY SET FOR FRESH CLINIC TALKS –Despite Government’s insistence that 24-hour polyclinics will open in a matter of weeks, it is unclear if the middle ground could be reached over the issue of the nurses’ refusal to work the shift system. A meeting is set for Friday between the Ministry of the Civil Service and the nurses who will staff the clinics in another effort to break the deadlock.    Nurses from the two polyclinics earmarked as the pilots of the programme, the Winston Scott and David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, met this afternoon with the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) to strategise for the meeting. The Ministry of Health is also expected to outline Cabinet’s decision on the matter. Earlier this week, Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told Barbados TODAY that last Thursday, ministers greenlighted the round-the-clock care plan and that it was just a matter of informing the unions of what is to come. Lieutenant Colonel Bostic said: “As a result of a decision taken at Cabinet on Thursday, I can tell you that we will commence the service within the coming weeks. “I don’t want to go into the specifics at this stage because I want to first share that information with the unions and with the staff before going public. “We had called a meeting with the unions on Saturday, but they were unavailable, so we have scheduled a second meeting to articulate what we are going to be doing going forward.” But following today’s two-hour meeting, which began at 3 p.m. at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic, NUPW acting General Secretary Delcia Burke, insisted that the matter was not going to be solved by ministerial directive. She told Barbados TODAY that although Government has not yet indicated what the new position is, union members were prepared to respond to most eventualities. “The nurses communicated their position to us and we would prefer to say it to the meeting first on Friday. “The Minister of Health did say that the 24-hour polyclinics will commence but he did not say when. It might move along but not with the nurses because there certainly aren’t enough nurses for the project. “It really now depends on what Government’s position is because the nurses have opted not to work the 24-hour clinics and nobody can’t make them change that if they don’t want to. So we will really have to see now what they are telling us.” The trade unionist also told Barbados TODAY that members had no problems with Goverment’s plan to bring nurses from Ghana, suggesting that the recruits could man the round-the clock facility, providing they met certain conditions. The NUPW acting general secretary said: “I believe that the nurses from Ghana will sort out this issue with the polyclinics but first we have to be sure that they can speak in a way that the average Barbadian can understand. “We have to also be sure that they are properly trained, and they would have to do the regional exams that our nurses are required to do. As long as they can meet those three criteria then we have no problem at all.” Earlier this week, the Health Minister said that he has looked into all of the nurses’ concerns and he is satisfied that the majority of them have been resolved. “Contrary to what has been said in the press by some people, the 24-hour polyclinics is not a proposal, it is documented Government policy. “For the last several months, the unions and staff have raised several issues and one by one we have solved those issues. “From transportation to security as well as appointment of nurses, we have dealt with all of those issues,” Bostic said. He declared that he was taken aback by the nurses’ security concerns, as this was a matter which, he said, he used his military expertise to address. “We have certainly done everything possible and that ranges from electronic security to human resources as well as protocols and procedures with the Royal Barbados Police Force. So, I am satisfied that we have done everything that was asked of us and we are ready to commence the service.” The Minister insisted that the start of the round-the-clock clinics was vital to Government’s plans to improve the health service and therefore nothing was going to derail it. “This is a service that is vitally important not only because it eases the situation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency [Department], but more importantly it gives this country greater capacity in terms of responding to national emergencies, so that we don’t have everything centralised within Bridgetown.” (BT)

TOUGH TALK – The Prime Minister yesterday used a global labour forum to denounce a “racist and xenophobic” world order, in which large and powerful nations contribute to the downfall of “dispensable”, small ones. Before the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, the PM pleaded with world leaders to guard against a “multipolar” system, in which power and influence are confined to the hands of a few. Referencing the current wave of migration confronting rich nations, she accused unnamed world leaders of practising hypocrisy. “The world has made a pact that it is not prepared to protect those that are most vulnerable among the global community of nations. “It is unfortunate because it reminds us of a world that was not prepared to see the most vulnerable of human beings a hundred years ago, namely the workers. “It is also the global insecurity, the continued willingness to believe it is okay to move capital, but it’s not okay for people to move and hence mass migration of labour is unacceptable to a world whether for xenophobic, racial or other reasons,” she said. Aiming at the threat posed by climate change, Mottley predicted that if the world failed to take note, developed countries could be further bombarded with “climate refugees”. She declared: “Within our own region, we have seen more than two-thirds of the population of Montserrat leave because of a volcano. “Two years ago we saw the whole island of Barbuda evacuated because of a hurricane. We have seen the country of Dominica lose 226 per cent of its GDP and significant dislocation of its population due to two hurricanes two years ago. “We speak from event to event and from institution to institution and even though politics is the art of repetition, it appears that neither politics nor morality is having any meaningful impact on those whose actions and voices can make that significant difference to the climate difficulties that we did today.” Mottley said she could not support a world, which is only prepared to protect the most powerful countries. She contended that core values of equity and justice were being eroded. She said: “In spite of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in spite of all who have died and all that we have fought for, that we should continue to think that it is okay to view a group of nations as dispensable or worse still, not to view them at all against the very threat that is perhaps the greatest threat since mankind has ever inhabited this earth.  It is perhaps the greatest, most unfortunate aspect of our global affairs today.” (BT)

TAKE UP HYATT CAUSE! –Social activist and Ambassador to CARICOM David Comissiong is willing to fight any new application for a differently designed Hyatt on a bigger piece of land at Bay Street, The City. But he would like some other activist or any other institution to take up the mantle for such environmental matters. “The people of Barbados have to take an interest in environmental matters of this nature. This should not be seen as David Comissiong’s issue,” he said yesterday. “I am sending out a message to this society, to all of the relevant institutions – do your duty.” Comissiong singled out the Barbados National Trust, which he said “apparently dropped the ball” when it came to last week’s demolition of the home of National Hero Samuel Jackman Prescod. (DN)

BUSINESSES HELP REOPEN POLICE POST – The Police’s community outreach in The City has received a boost from corporate Barbados. Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams today unveiled a reactivated police outpost at Lakes Folly which was refurbished by members of the business community. In praising the initiative, Abrahams said: “Time and time again it has been said that the Government cannot do it all. So, we are therefore heartened by this initiative and the continued commitment by corporate Barbados to assist law enforcement.” The Minister urged others within the private sector to follow this example, suggesting that the outpost at St Lawrence Gap could benefit greatly from such a private-public partnership. Abrahams said: “Other persons in the private sector should be saying to themselves that they too want to make a difference in their community. “There is one outpost here and there is another at St Lawrence Gap that could use this type of assistance. “However, there is no good reason why we should not have police outpost, not just in the areas that already desperately need them, but in areas where we can. This would prevent those areas from becoming areas that desperately need police presence.” The acting attorney general pointed out that community policing has always played an integral role in tackling crime and said the time had come for the return of this type of interactive policing. He declared: “When I was a child, we knew all of the police officers at these outposts by name. These officers were not fear figures, but they became extended members of the family. “We had incidents where parents turned up at the school with a collins (cutlass) for the teacher and the police were always able to respond quickly because they were always in the area. So, the presence of community police officers significantly aids the police in their rapid response.”  (BT)

DISMISS THE CASE! – The fact that five young men have been languishing in jail for the past four years without a file being presented cannot be justice, charged attorney Angela Mitchell-Gittens. And despite an impassioned submission by her for the matter to be dismissed in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today, magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant denied the request. The five young men are among a group of eight charged with the August 6, 2015, murder of primary school teacher Dwight Holder. Rasheed Jabar Gittens, 20 and Akeem Adrian Gittens,19, both of Belleview Gap, Station Hill; Ayo Prince Bascombe, 24, of Headleys Land, Bank Hall; Adrian Antonio Watts, 41, of Windsor Road, Bank Hall; Brandon Damon Joseph, 22, of Beckwith Street, the City; Kemal Mario Straker, 20, of #15 Clapham Park, Nicholas Ricardo Clarke, 19, of 2nd Avenue Godding or Gooding? Road, Station Hill; and Rio Richian Jelani Benn, 23, of Upper Dukes Alley, Vine Street, The City, all in St Michael, have been charged with Holder’s murder. Rasheed Gittens, Benn and Bascombe have all been granted bail. When the men appeared in court today, prosecutor acting Assistant Superintendent Trevor Blackman said a voluntary bill of indictment was scheduled to go before Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. But an irate Mitchell-Gittens – who is representing Straker, Joseph and Rasheed Gittens – did not take kindly to the news, saying it was unacceptable that four years after her clients had been charged a file was yet to be presented. Furthermore, she contended that the prosecution had repeatedly offered up the voluntary bill as an excuse. “I would be comforted by those words except for the fact that I have heard them said many times before. “August 6, 2015 Dwight Holder lost his life. We are now in June of 2019. Apart from putting charge sheets in the hands of eight young men, nothing else has been done in this matter. His family must be wondering what is the state of justice in this matter,” Mitchell-Gittens pointed out. “And people want to know how people get bail for murder? This is how because we can’t charge people, send them to prison, forget about them and do nothing four years later.” The prominent lawyer said the long delay was not fair to either the deceased man’s family or the accused. “Your order on the last occasion was for the file to be brought here. You didn’t ask for a message, you asked for the file to be brought here. There is no file …no disclosure, but you charge eight young men with murder. Some of them are still in prison because we know how onerous High Court bail conditions are. They have spent four years in prison and not even the courtesy of an album, not even the most non-contentious statement has been served in this matter. That is the state of justice in Barbados,” Mitchell-Gittens said. “There is no justice for anybody to be had here, not for Dwight Holder’s family and not for these still in prison. I am inviting you to dismiss this case for want of prosecution. After four years, enough is enough, whatever the charge is…There is no justice in this matter for the deceased or his family. There is no justice for these eight young men, several of them have been incarcerated for the last four years and can’t get back any part of their lives that they spend in prison. “This is disrespectful behaviour, this cannot be the state of justice in the country. Where is the file, why have no documents been served?” she further questioned. Mitchell-Gittens reminded the court this was the fourth occasion she had asked for the matter to be dismissed. She maintained that while the charge was a serious one, it was unfair to expect accused persons to sit in jail until whenever the prosecution deemed it fit to present a file. “I am inviting you to dismiss this matter, let the public see what happens in Barbados. Let us see what happens to eight young men, black people children in this country, put a charge sheet in their hands and four years later, nothing. But the charge is murder so we must lock them up forever and when they come out, they come out. Nobody don’t care because once the police charge you that is the end of that,” Mitchell-Gittens proclaimed. “The time has come for you to dismiss it for want of prosecution and let the DPP, the police and whoever else do their jobs. When you charge people prepare the file, serve pre-trial disclosure in a timely manner.” After listening to her seven-minute submission, the magistrate ruled in favour of the prosecution and adjourned the matter until July 2.  (BT)

PRISONERS’ WISH – Six murder accused went before the High Court today wanting to plead guilty to manslaughter. Included were three charged with two separate murders who now want to plead guilty to the lesser count. Murder accused Applon Ishmael Ithamar Parris, 27, of Taitt’s Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael who is charged with the March 26, 2018 stabbing death of Police Constable Shayne Welch told the court he was among those ready to admit to manslaughter. Brothers Chris Amal Lorde, 31, of No. 31 Newton Terrace, Christ Church and Eddisa Deon Mitchell, 23, of 2nd Avenue, Thomas Gap, President Kennedy Drive, St Michael, accused of the death of businessman Colin Forde, 50, who was gunned down on May 10, 2016 on the steps of his business at Baxter’s Road, The City also want to go a similar route. The three made their intentions known in the No. 2 Supreme Court this morning as the status hearings for inmates on remand at Dodds continued before Justice Randall Worrell for the second straight day. The men were among 20 who appeared at the Whitepark Road, St Michael court complex today. In Lorde and Mitchell’s case, Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis informed the judge that the brothers were scheduled to be arraigned to plead before the No. 5 Supreme Court on June 28 and she was preparing to indict their case. The men, who have Safiya Moore as their legal counsel, stated that they wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter. Applon meanwhile, told Justice Worrell his file was at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions but he wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter. He also questioned whether he could plead to a serious bodily harm charge, which was committed to the High Court from the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court last year. In that case he is accused of causing serious bodily harm to Antonio Coco Todd on February 15, 2017 with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to cause some serious bodily harm to him. He will get another status hearing on July 31. Three other murder-accused also signalled intentions to plead guilty to manslaughter. Seventy-five-year Sylvester Nelson, who previously resided at a senior citizens home in Vauxhall, Christ Church told the High Court judge: “I am guilty for what I have done and I would like you to sentence me today.” However, he was informed that his matter needed to follow procedure in the form of an indictment. Attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who is representing the accused as a friend of the court, informed Worrell that there was no file in Nelson’s matter and he would need to get legal aide. Meanwhile, there is an indictment in the capital case against Emmerson Hurdle, 46, of Gall Hill Land, St John, who says he has been on remand for the past seven years. “I would like to plead guilty to get it over it,” Hurdle stated but the judge made it clear “this was not a get over with it court”. Murder accused Floyd Leacock, 47, of Clifton Hill, St James was only charged in February this year and wished to plead guilty to manslaughter. However, his attorney Marlon Gordon informed the judge that his client’s case was still before the magistrates’ court at the sufficiency hearing stage. Gordon said now that he knows of Leacock’s intentions: “I will make every effort to have that facilitated”. Thirty-three-year-old Shane Ifill, of 4th Avenue New Orleans, St Michael who says he has been on remand for almost six years declared “I come here to plead guilty now sir”. He is on firearm and violent disorder charges. Three non-nationals were also among today’s group of 20. Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas was the second prosecutor at the sitting. However, 33-year-old Jamaican Bassonia McDermoth, who is charged for having counterfeit money, has already pleaded guilty and was just waiting on getting a pre-sentencing report done. Thirty-year-old Guyanese Andrew Mullins, who is facing cannabis charges, is in the same situation as McDermoth while Dave Peters, a 27-year-old from Arima, Trinidad who has been on remand for the past two years says he wants to plead guilty to drug charges. So far Justice Worrell has gotten information from 37 inmates and is getting ready to hear the status of the cases against 17 more tomorrow. (BT)

CONVICT PUT ON PAYMENT PLAN – A 19-year-old has been given eight months to pay back a woman for the damage he caused to the bonnet of her car. Not only that, Bridgetown Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant has allowed for Kevon Odane Forde, of Upper Collymore Rock, St Michael to pay Clydette Jordan in instalments, the $1,635 in damages he caused. The unemployed teen must return to the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court every month to pay $137 until the payment is completed. He is to reappear before the magistrate on July 19 to honour the first payment. Forde has been warned that he will spend 12 months in prison if he fails to pay the money for damaging the car on May 28. (BT)

GUILTY PLEA – A St Michael man owned up to a robbery charge in the High Court today after maintaining his innocence for the past four years. London Bourne Towers, Bay Street resident, Demareco Rico Murray had been adamant that he did not “rob nobody” even after the complainant had recognised him and picked him out of a police line-up. However, when he appeared before Justice Randall Worrell today he admitted to robbing Sherene Mussenden of a chain, a cellular phone and a handbag totaling $1,120 on June 2, 2015. Mussenden was walking home in the company of a male friend around 1a.m. along Beckles Road, the City when she looked back and saw three men running towards her, one holding a gun and wearing a mask, while the other two were crouching. They pounced causing her and the friend to run. One of the men grabbed her from the back, while the masked gunman put the weapon to her stomach and robbed her of her belongings. Mussenden contacted police after escaping into a neighbour’s house, Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas told the judge in outlining the facts. The prosecutor also revealed that Murray turned himself to police and was told about the robbery. “I ain’t know about nothing, I ain’t do nothing . . . I ain’t rob nobody,” he told police when questioned four years ago. He also declined to give a written statement to police. Thomas said none of the property was recovered. Attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who represented Murray as a friend of the court, requested that his time on remand be read in and a probation report be compiled in preparation for sentencing. The judge agreed and made the order and Murray, who is not known to the court, was told to return before the No. 2 Supreme Court on September 20 when the sentencing phase of his case will commence. (BT)

WORRELL PLACED ON BOND – A general worker who pleaded guilty to criminal damage has been ordered to be on his best behaviour for the next 18 months. The bond was imposed on Junior Ricardo Worrell, of Odessa McClean Drive, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael today in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court. If he breaches the order he will spend 12 months in prison. The 50-year-old admitted before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant to damaging a camera and window belonging to Sunshine Early Stimulation Centre on May 26. Prosecutor Kenmore Phillips told the court workmen were on the job at Perry Gap, St Michael when they noticed that the camera and window were damaged. A check was made of the CCTV footage and Worrell was seen hitting the property with a stick. The matter was reported and he was arrested. Asked if he had anything to say in his defence, the convicted man replied that he had already spoken to the owner who agreed to accept compensation. Worrell must pay the money by next Thursday.  (BT)

SIR VIV BLASTS WINDIES – Iconic former captain Sir Vivian Richards has criticised West Indies’ “one dimensional” approach to their World Cup campaign and has slammed the lack of intensity shown in their defeat to Bangladesh last Monday. West Indies went down by seven wickets to Bangladesh in Taunton to suffer their third defeat in five matches, and remain on three points in seventh spot in the 10-team table. Their lone win came against Pakistan in their opener three weeks ago. The Caribbean side copped criticism for their persistence with the tactic of short-pitched bowling, which worked well against Pakistan and Australia but backfired against the Tigers, who completed their highest-ever run chase of 322 to win with 51 balls remaining. “There didn’t seem to be any planning where if this particular plan isn’t going to work then what about the plan B, plan C or whatever the case is. We are too one dimensional,” Sir Viv, who never lost a Test series as captain, told the Observer here.  (DN)

NEW ZEALAND DEFEAT SOUTH AFRICA BY FOUR WICKETS – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson played one of the great World Cup innings to steer his side to a tense four-wicket victory over South Africa. Needing eight to win from the final over, Williamson swept the second ball for six to complete a majestic century. And he sliced the next away for four to see the Black Caps past their target of 242 with three balls to spare. He was aided by Colin de Grandhomme's superb 60 off 47 balls after the Kiwis had slipped to 137-5. South Africa squandered chances to remove both during an absorbing finale, including failing to ask for a review before replays showed Williamson had nicked Imran Tahir behind to Quinton de Kock on 76. De Grandhomme was caught at long-off trying to hit the first ball of the penultimate over for six but the unflappable Williamson took his side home, ending unbeaten on 106. With the match reduced to 49 overs per side because of a wet outfield that delayed the start of play by 90 minutes, South Africa posted 241-5 following Rassie van der Dussen's 67 not out and Hashim Amla's scratchy 55. Their circumspect approach on a tricky two-paced pitch was not quite enough though, with a fourth defeat in six matches effectively eliminating South Africa from semi-final contention. New Zealand remain unbeaten, with four wins and a no result in their five games so far, and move back to the top of the table. (DN)

PRIMARY STARS – The girls of Wesley Hall Primary and the boys of Ifill School jumped for joy as they celebrated as first-time winners of the second annual National Primary Schools Volleyball Competition played this afternoon at the Wildey Gymnasium. Wesley Hall Primary won the two best of three final 15-12 and 15-12 against Deacons Primary who fought well but were unable to stop the King Street, St Michael school led by most valuable player Theanny Herbert-Mayers. He will be attending Christ Church Foundation in September and is certain to add to that school’s sports programme. Rajae McCollin of Ifill School was adjudged most outstanding male volleyballer as he piloted his team to a 15-9 and 15-10 victory in the best of three sets showdown. (BT)

BASHMENT SOCA FINALISTS ANNOUNCED –There is no Stiffy and no Scrilla but there are eight new artistes, three females (Mara Rose, Sita and SugahRhe) and Guyana, St Lucia and St Vincent are represented. The Yello International Bashment Soca Monarch Competition had 25 semi-finalists who received 98 000 online votes. “These votes, added to the judges scores shows we are in for the biggest Bashment Soca competition ever”, said 4D Entertainment, producers of the event which takes place on July 6 at Pirates Cove. The voting took place over five days. In the finals are Blaze Anthonio (Guyana); Sita The Lyrical Diva (St Vincent); Subance & Mighty (St Lucia) and from Barbados are – Jagwa The Champ, King Bubba FM, Mara Rose, Marz Ville, Mole,  SK, SugahRhe, UndaDawg and Walkes. The 2019 monarch will receive $60 000, which is $20 000 less than last year’s cash prize of $80 000. However, for the first time, there will be second and third place prizes in the competition, now in its fourth year. The second-placed artiste will receive $15 000, while the third will take home $5 000. The winners will all receive additional prizes and everyone who enters the competition will receive a performance fee. (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 195 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[helshades]

Thank you for this beautiful answer! Evidently, it inspired me a few things, gathered thereafter if you feel like having my opinion. It remindeed of multiple aspects of the red cap crisis that I had forgotten, eg. the start of it on a (kind of) fuel protest, as with the current protests. I want to underline that you mark the beginning of the movement on the June 18th. As I remembered, there was protests before that and the free distribution of headwares by Armor Lux. Concerning that, ---

I think that it provided mainly free Mützen, which is an offer few are able to turn down =) Anyway, I didn’t feel that the implication of company leaders was felt like a more decisive factor than a welcome but potentially uncomfortable support to the protesters, particularly the slaughterhouses employes and FO. So as usual there, it’s a awkard alliance between regoinal politics, laborers forces, and capitalists interests. Personnaly, I wasn’t more thrilled by the quite anti-eco mindsetsthan I’m now. I’ve no sympathy for the mass-producing low-quality FNSEA. If they’re backed into a corner, too bad. Yes, I lament the loss of the eco-tax because of it.

However, at this point of the text, I feel the need to tell that I’m breton. However, I won’t tell you a thing more, please imagine yourself how I reacted to what you wrote. If we thought we’re Wales politically, what does it have to do with the language? By the way those 3 are brythonic celtics, as close as french anditalian. No, we mainly don’t dream of independence. Now sadly I see in your text the old mindset, “province is a playground of aristocrats/medef since they can’t think of what is good for them i.e. the nation.” Of course these forces try to play on other interests. Maybe the difference is that in Brittany we are ready/forced to ally with unsavory characters to advance our (whatever) goals. It’s always like that. Melenchon has good points here. Comparing with today, I agree that the reforms are now not at all emerging from a deputies consensus unlike in 2013. But in Quimper protested far-left independantists and not far-right. Troadec is not far from being a Melenchon twin. He ends on a dismissal though, as he doesn’t see the compromises that are in place. So who have a less popular basis?

I didn’t speak about legality of protest. Nationalist as in considers the nation as it’s defined by it’s ideology and I’m sure you now how the french nation is defined. And why care about the upper echelons, nation or federation of nations, as long there’s a reasonnable say on a smaller scale. France is not a more logical/natural/whatever structure of control that the EU is.  From Brittany, Marseille isn’t more local than Frankfurt is. Well, consider the french institutions as supranational and they indeed decide globally, removing power from the populations. Is it a good or a bad thing? If only it could allow a differentiated application of the eco-taxEU institutions let differentiation happens all the time. Only time will tell how it turns out. Sorry for the discombobulation and thank you for your time.

P.S.: I saw your addndum and understand. You correctly pointed at the differences between the two movements and have been of great assistance to help me refine my thoughts on these subjects. Thank you again.

Thank you! It was a good exercise to brain this, considering I hadn’t given enough thought to the bonnets rouges in a while either, which was a mistake. We shouldn’t let comparisons like this slide when they are being made by politicians such as Édouard Philippe, who I suspect is less politically clueless overall than Emmanuel Macron himself.

Concerning the intent behind the 2013 protests, I think protesters who came to demonstrate freely to defend their rights cannot be held responsible for unsavoury groups joining the free cortège. Manipulated or not, the protesters in 2013, with or without a red cap, were sincere, and I’d wager there were many more ordinary citizens than big business honchoes demonstrating. And they were making many salient points. Where I get Mélenchon’s probable frustration is that ‘awkward alliances’ have historically hurt the French Left quite a bit, and it always takes a lot of time to reconstruct.

I tend to approach the eco-tax issue more from an economic and political perspective than from an environmental one, I’ve come to realise. I didn’t translate it in my previous post but Mélenchon in the same text I quoted (‘The bonnets rouges farce’) made a few crucial remarks about the tax itself:

‘Let us observe the facts. The contract is allowing for proper plunder of the State, which has committed itself to pay [private company Ecomouv] a monthly rent of over 18 million euros a month, starting from 1st January 2014. This makes 20% of the expected takings of the eco-tax, around 85 millions per month. 220 millions a year! And that rent must be paid even during the ‘suspension’ the Prime Minister announced, whereas the State will not perceive a penny. Customs officers have explained they would have been able to set up and manage the very same tax with 5% management fees at best. Resorting to the private sector will therefore cost 4 times more, at least, than public service!

Considering the 650 million initial investment, after 14 years, the pick-up would have been especially costly. Ecoumouv would have collected 3.2 billion euros. In other words, all expenses paid, a total return of 2.5 billion euros! A complete scandal! From now on, it goes with another one, just as insufferable: were the government to suppress this tax altogether, it would have to pay the company 800 million euros! What are François Hollande & friends waiting for to demand a judicial inquiry or to create some parliamentary commission? A flock of bleating sheep is governing the country!

This week, Marianne published a column which I co-signed with other elected representatives, against the pillage that the privatisation of motorways by the Villepin government constituted. The eco-tax is another example of State looting. Both subjects are related. The main goal of the eco-tax was to generate takings that could help finance transport infrastructures. Why is that? Because privatising motorways effectively reduced the takings previously destined to do so! The benefits that [private companies] Vinci or Eiffage are making from the French motorways are as much money as could have either remained in the motorists’ pockets or gone to finance road infrastructures. Once again, here is proof that privatisation is a foe to the general interest. Liberalism doesn’t work when it comes to run any civilised society with a taste for efficiency. Liberalism costs much to society, and nothing works well.’

On a side note, I did mark the beginning of the movement as 18th June, which had me hesitate for a while, actually; not that I elected to ignore, notably, Christian Troadec’s involvement, but I had decided to focus on the 2013 movement only because it was at once what made the government back down and what prompted Mélenchon’s ire.

Now, let us clarify the ‘Welsh’ comment, shall we?

That paragraph was mostly fond irony, in the hope that some Bretons would be reading and get entertainingly titillated. ‘They believe they are Wales’ was a jibe aiming at the independent-country-within-a-country vibe, also based on, precisely, the linguistic relationship between Welsh and Breton, and their foreignness to, respectively, English (a Germanic language with heavy Latin influence) and French (a Latin language with heavy Germanic influence, and some very moderate Celtic influence as well).

On the subject of language—of Brittany being incapable to masquerade as Wales because of its Brittonic language—I was mostly drunk on fatigue and concluding in another window another post on etymology, which led me to write probably the obscurest linguistic reference I have ever made on this blog: linguistically speaking, Breton and Cornish are more closely related than they both are to Welsh. They still pertain, all three of them, to the Brittonic branch of the Insular Celtic languages group—except Welsh has a name that literally means ‘Gaelic’ and this is, like, super annoying. It is, also, completely England’s fault (when is it not) since the actual name of Wales is Cymru. But there you go: you know it’s a Germanic root when English writes it with a [w] but French writes is with a [g].

On the subject of regionalism… It might surprise you, but I’m actually quite divided on this. On the one hand, there are my personal Robespierrist inclinations, and also, mostly in fact, my being the daughter of a History teacher and being a, erm, language specialist, with a certain attachment to the Idea of France as a historic entity because… well, it is the result of centuries of events that cemented our regions into a political unit…

On the other hand, well, half of me is from Isère with strong ties to Lyon, and the other half is firmly, ferociously ardéchoise. From the south. In the mountains. I know very little about pig farming but I’m pretty sure I’m related to at least a couple goats—and, much more seriously, I have always been torn on the question of regional identity because it is of great importance in my family, not least of which because I come from two endless lines of peasants. I have a notion of family roots that is pretty literal, in fact. And, technically, I ain’t French, on either side. My grandparents learnt French in school; it was my parents’ generation that grew up hearing patois at home and speaking French at the same time.

And Ardèche is a very beautiful, but very poor region. I have always been divided, without too much fuss to be honest, between it and Lyon, and I am very well placed to know how unequally financial resources are shared—and, incidentally, the harm it does to the environment, as righteous city-dwellers are rather prone to ignore the fact that most farmers have been constrained to productivism in the first place, expected to feed an ever-growing urban population…

I am, anyway, in favour of a greater, if relative, autonomy for regions, and I’m not necessarily talking about the ginormous, meaningless ensembles that were reinvented recently. I do believe that national institutions are paramount, because they allow us, quite simply, to set up a functioning national insurance system to finance public infrastructures and services for all. However, I may be much of Republican, and I may truly dislike communitarianism under all its shapes, I think we must address Parisianism for what it is.

[georgecmatthews]

Three reasons why this isn’t another ‘tech bubble’

It feels like investors have been on a wild ride over the past week as tech stocks plunged, dragging down major global indexes with them. A few factors contributed to the fall: The first was Senator Mitch McConnell’s comments that a US fiscal stimulus deal may not come to fruition in the next few weeks. Then, concerns rose about the potential for a contested election in the US presidential race if no clear winner is declared on election night. Add to that concerns about frothy valuations in the tech space — the result was a very substantial sell-off for tech stocks with reverberations in global markets.

Some are suggesting this is the start of another dramatic sell-off, similar to the spring of 2000 when the “tech bubble” burst. I highly doubt that. Yes, this sell-off was significant, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it continue over the coming days. However, I warned just a few weeks ago that we should be prepared for the possibility of a sell-off after such a strong rally. I think of this rout not so much as a correction, but as a digestion given that the NASDAQ Composite rose more than 60% from its March bottom in the course of less than six months.1 All In all, I think this is a healthy period of consolidation after a dramatic run-up.

Below are three reasons why I believe that tech stocks are not experiencing another bursting bubble:

1. Today’s interest rate environment is much different

First of all, the interest rate environment is very different in 2020 than it was in 2000. Recall that in the summer of 1999, the Federal Reserve (Fed) began raising rates. By March 2000, the effective fed funds rate was 6.17%.2 After stocks began falling, the Fed kept raising rates. By June 2000, the effective funds rate was 6.86%.2

By contrast, the effective fed funds rate in August 2020 was 0.10%.2 And we just heard from Fed Chair Jay Powell in his Jackson Hole speech that the Fed is changing its inflation targeting policy to be even more accommodative. In other words, this is a very different monetary policy environment than what we saw in 2000 when the tech bubble burst.

2. Key themes may support long-term tech growth

The technology sector has been benefiting from several key themes that have emerged in the pandemic, and I believe many of those themes are likely to be enduring:

“Be at Home” theme. Spending more time at home is perhaps the most obvious theme that has emerged in the pandemic. This includes those people who are working from home, being educated from home, and/or exercising from home. I think of it as a much larger version of the “nesting” theme experienced in the United States after 9/11, when many Americans were fearful of traveling due to terrorism and spent far more time at home. Today, many people around the world are spending money to renovate and retrofit their houses to their needs, and companies are spending more on technology to ensure employees can work efficiently from home. In my view, beneficiaries have included a variety of technology companies — especially software, storage, and security — as well as home improvement companies, online education companies, and digital health companies. All these themes should endure post-pandemic, in my view, although with varying degrees of popularity (online education being the least popular given the difficulties associated with at-home learning for children; I can vouch for this conclusion personally).

E-commerce. Purchasing goods online is a long-term trend that accelerated dramatically during the pandemic for obvious reasons. The safety and ease of pressing a button at home and having goods delivered to one’s doorstep has proved indispensable during the pandemic. We expect the types of goods and services sold online to expand as the pandemic continues. Even when the pandemic has ended, e-commerce retailers are likely to retain a much higher share of overall retail sales than pre-pandemic. (Read more about the retail space in Invesco’s new “Imagine the Possibilities” series.)

Artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a powerful innovation, and in my view, demand for it has only accelerated in the pandemic. For example, imaging methods and tools that utilize artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly useful in the detection and treatment of COVID-19. More generally, artificial intelligence is helping many businesses become more efficient and work smarter in this difficult environment. Natural language processing (NLP) is a subset of artificial intelligence that is specifically concerned with the interactions between human linguistics and computers, such as speech recognition. Artificial intelligence has the potential to dramatically enhance productivity, and so I believe it may be a powerful trend that has staying power beyond the pandemic.

Automation — drones and robots. The pandemic has underscored the need for robots and drones to perform essential tasks without the possibility of catching or spreading the virus. For example, the more robotics on an assembly line, the less vulnerable it is to closure because of COVID-19. Similarly, drones are being developed to deliver goods, which would also help to reduce the vulnerability of an essential service during a pandemic. Beyond the pandemic, automation is likely to accelerate even further because of the productivity enhancements and cost efficiencies it provides.

Financial technology. Another trend that has received increased attention during the pandemic is cashless payments. The spread of COVID-19 has decreased the use of cash because of concerns that the physical exchange of money could spread the virus. A number of financial technology (fintech) companies have benefited from this trend, which is likely to continue post-pandemic. In my view, one notable fintech beneficiary of the pandemic should be blockchain, which has applications in many different industries and can help facilitate commerce without physical contact. For example, public land records can be digitally recorded via blockchain, reducing the need for physical record examinations as part of a title search. While this is particularly helpful in a pandemic, it may also be more efficient, which means it is likely to be a trend that has staying power. Interest has also been growing in tokenization and distributed ledger technology.

3. Progress is being made in the fight against COVID-19

No, I’m not one of the bright-eyed optimists who believes a vaccine will be available for distribution on Nov. 1 (my assumption is that an effective vaccine will be distributed by next summer). However, progress is certainly being made on therapies to reduce the severity of the novel coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) made an important announcement last week based on evidence from several recently published clinical trials. The WHO recognized the efficacy of steroid drug use in reducing the severity of COVID-19, and it recommended that doctors use steroid drugs to combat the virus in severe cases.

In general, doctors and hospitals have learned much from fighting the virus thus far, and those learnings have already reduced mortality rates — just consider how much higher the mortality rate was in the Northeast US this March and April versus the mortality rates in other parts of the US in the late spring and summer. In my view, that should be positive not only for the economy, but for stocks in general.

Conclusion

In summary, there are important reasons to be positive on the tech sector, in my view. That doesn’t mean there won’t be more down days or higher volatility, but I believe in the longer-term prospects for the sector. And I believe the bias remains upward for risk assets in general because of extremely accommodative monetary policy by central banks around the world, but most especially the Fed.

Footnotes

1 Source: Bloomberg, L.P. From March 23 through Sept. 2, 2020

2 Source for all fed funds rate numbers: Federal Reserve Economic Data

Important information

Blog header image: David Malan / Getty

All investing involves risk, including the risk of loss.

The NASDAQ Composite Index is the market capitalization-weighted index of approximately 3,000 common equities listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The federal funds rate (or fed funds rate) is the rate at which banks lend balances to each other overnight.

Many products and services offered in technology-related industries are subject to rapid obsolescence, which may lower the value of the issuers.

Risk assets are generally described as any financial security or instrument, such as equities, commodities, high-yield bonds, and other financial products that carry risk and are likely to fluctuate in price.

The opinions referenced above are those of Kristina Hooper as of Sept. 8, 2020. These comments should not be construed as recommendations, but as an illustration of broader themes. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions; there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations.

from Expert Investment Views: Invesco Blog https://www.blog.invesco.us.com/three-reasons-why-this-isnt-another-tech-bubble/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=three-reasons-why-this-isnt-another-tech-bubble