Empty shelves at the store? Extension webinar to focus on where to find food – bedfordgazette.com

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The novel coronavirus has changed many facets of everyday life, including how families shop for food. Many consumers are facing limited hours and product shortages at their neighborhood grocery stores and naturally are worried about the availability and safety of their food.

A Penn State Extension webinar planned for noon to 1 p.m. May 14 will address these concerns, as well as provide suggestions on alternative places and methods for sourcing food.

COVID-19 has created vulnerabilities and bottlenecks in the food supply chain, and consumers have questions about what is happening, noted Benjamin Bartley, an extension educator specializing in food systems and local food development.

It can be confusing when consumers experience product shortages in the stores while hearing about dairies having to dump milk or vegetable producers plowing under a crop that is ready to harvest, he said. During this time of uncertainty, we want to reassure folks, answer their questions and highlight the various ways they can access food, including locally grown foods.

Bartley, Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems, and Brian Moyer, extension education program associate, will host the webinar. They will explain what is happening in the food supply chain, share tools and resources for how and where to buy food from Pennsylvania farmers, and discuss what local producers and markets are doing to operate safely during this pandemic.

There are many ways to access local foods, and local farmers are adapting quickly to the new realities of serving the public during a pandemic, Bartley said. Its important to highlight the states farmers markets, on-farm retail markets, community-supported agriculture and food businesses providing online sales and home delivery. Equally important are the emergency food relief options for families in need and how customers can use their federal food assistance benefits at these various outlets.

For more information or to register for the free webinar, visit https://extension.psu.edu/empty-shelves-at-the-store-food-system-disruptions-and-covid-19 or call 877-345-0691.

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Empty shelves at the store? Extension webinar to focus on where to find food - bedfordgazette.com

Life insurance policy: Grace period for premium payment extended further – Livemint

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NEW DELHI :Irdai, the insurance regulatory body, on Sunday said it has decided to further extended the grace period for renewal of life insurance policies whose premium was due in March till May 31 in wake of the extension of lockdown to fight spread of coronavirus.

"On a review of the recent situation of lockdown resulting from global pandemic of Covid-19 across the country and representations received, it has been decided that, for all life insurance policies where the premium falls due in the month of March 2020, the grace period shall be allowed till 31st May 2020", Irdai said in a statement.

Earlier, on March 23 and April 4, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority had announced additional grace period of 30 days for policies where premium fell due in the months of March and April.

This was done to provide relief to life insurance policyholders in wake of the unprecedented lockdown situation as a result of coronavirus pandemic, the insurance had said.

Now as the lockdown has been further extended up to May 17, 2020, the insurance regulator has extended the grace period up to May 31 for all life insurance policies whose premium was due in March keeping in view the difficulty faced by some policyholders to renew the policies in time.

All policyholders are requested to note that the objective of grace period allowed is to pay all the premiums due within that period so as to keep the policy coverage in force, Irdai further said.

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Life insurance policy: Grace period for premium payment extended further - Livemint

Life, death and a wedding: Hyderabadis narrate stories of COVID-19 lockdown crisis – The New Indian Express

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Express News Service

Evenduring regular days, childbirth is a stressful time and you can imagine what it would have been when the lockdown extension was announced and my wife Chanchal Jains expected date of delivery was April 4.

Her gynecologist Dr Anitha of Anitha Nursing Home in Malakpet advised her to go for a Caesarian section on April 1 when all the speciality doctors were available and we did not want to take a risk. So we decided to follow her instructions.

Only Chanchals mom was allowed to stay with her. Except for the emergency ward, nothing in the hospital or around it was open. So providing meals, that too a vegetarian no-onion, no-garlic meal made fresh was getting difficult as we were not allowed to ply on the roads after 5 pm. Although I live in a joint family with many experienced and wise senior citizens, we could take anyone to the hospital to oversee the new mom and baby due to the lockdown rules.

Our elder son Yuvan Jain, who is three-and-half years old, had to wait until his younger sibling came home after a week. The 21st day rasm, a big ritual for Jains, had to be a Zoom meeting and virtual asheervad.

Being a large family, nobody could control the excitement of meeting the newborn and take him into their arms. This was a huge challenge for us in the current pandemic. I filmed my doctors advise (dos and donts) and broadcast it in our family WhatsApp group and made the elderly in the house heed to it. They say one must always see the silver lining.

As the founder and CEO of a wedding and event planning firm, May and June are the most hectic months with weddings lined up. But this time, I had all the time in the world to take care of my baby. I dont see any big events happening until October. So I am prepared to spend over six months at home, to see my little one grow, one day at a time. Thats not bad, right?

Vardhaman Jain, Founder & CEO- Shooting Starz Events

I Believein time, in muhurta balam and therefore, I never had second thoughts about going ahead with my sister Alladi Sharanyas wedding with Rajesh. They got engaged on March 13, a few days before the lockdown and though most of our folks expressed their apprehension about her wedding on April 6, the peak of Covid-19, my brother and I decided to go ahead.

We lost our parents and seeing our sister get married was important for us. Originally, we had booked Krishna Reddy Function Hall near Sriramana Theatre in Amberpet and had expected to invite over 1,000 guests. Eventually, we had to perform her wedding at a local temple at Ashok Nagar in Golnaka.

We chose the temple as it had big premises and our 18 guests we had including the bride and groom and the pandit would have space for social distancing. We believe in traditions and rituals. So although we knew things would not be extravagant and will have to be conducted without many of our loved ones, we did not want to compromise on the rituals.

We did inform the local police station and followed all the norms set down. As planned, the wedding commenced with a few select family members and friends at 8 am. A close friend who is a florist arranged a small pandiri for us at the entrance of the temple. We used sannayimelam from YouTube for the music. The lunch, a feast nevertheless, had all that you would expect at a Telugu wedding from pulihora to laddu to bakshyam.

Again, a friend who runs a catering unit and his mom prepared the feast and sent it across just around noon. Luckily, my sister had picked an extra saree for her engagement ceremony and she could use it for the wedding. Our neighbour runs a bangles and fancy store at Ramantapur. So we went there during the mandated hours to buy bangles, pearls and thermocol balls, the typical paraphernalia for a wedding, from his shop.

This friend connected us to a steel shop owner who provided us with traditional cauldrons such as taambaalam etc. While we are brainstorming about how to get a rokali for the pasupu kumkuma ceremony, we remembered that one of our family friends had recently got their daughter married and they had the set. So we went to their place and picked it up.

We have a provision store and we could pick up the navadhyanalu etc from our own storeroom. At 12 noon, we finished the rituals, photographs (removed masks for a few seconds for the click) and lunch. The u-shaped courtyard came in handy. We arranged for 10 chairs on each side of the U while the bride and groom sat in the middle.

Our budget was around Rs 6 lakh and we spent about Rs 60,000. While we feel sad that we could not invite our loved ones for the only girls wedding in the family, we are happy that we could give her a couple of lakhs that we saved on the wedding expenses. The caterers and the wedding hall manager told us they would refund our money in three months after their business picks up. We hope to direct that to our dear sister. It was a simple, yet sweet marriage. Nothing over the top. It was an intimate and memorable wedding. Its all about how we make the best of things we have.

Alladi Ravi, Executive Auditor, Chroma Electronics

My 64-year-old aunt, who was suffering from cancer, passed away on April 28 and as the only youngster in the family, I had to travel all the way to Adilabad, driving overnight from Hyderabad in my car for about eight hours while she was laid down in the ambulance.

I had to rush at short notice and did not even find lunch anywhere. I bought 10 packets of processed chips, a few soft drinks, a bottle of water and started off. There were about 10 checkpoints and it meant, downing the car windows, displaying the permission letter, and explaining the situation over and over again.

Finally, when I did make it to my destination, the usual problems such as waiting time to get space in an electric crematorium, having to find cash at the last moment as they wouldnt accept Google Pay etc. Finally, when we went back home, we had to wash the premises ourselves and a friendly neighbour arranged a hot, fresh meal.

Then I had to rush back to the city and head to work the next day. There was no time to mourn and nobody to share the grief except the immediate family. During such testing times, its not just life, but death too, looks weird. Ah well, things happens when they have to happen and life goes on.

Pariskhit Reddy, Owner of Ridhima Boutique

Just staying at home seemed like a big hassle for many of us when the lockdown was announced. Eventually, we all learnt to accommodate the new normal called social distancing and homeisolation in our lives. While we cribbed and complained, three citizens handled three important miles of their lives with grace and dignity. We bring you those heart-touching tales here

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Life, death and a wedding: Hyderabadis narrate stories of COVID-19 lockdown crisis - The New Indian Express

NLC India TPS II, all about the company where boiler blast occurred in Neyveli – Zee News

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New Delhi: Eight workers of NLC India Ltd were injured and hospitalised in a boiler blast at NLC India Limiteds thermal power station (TPS) II in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

The power stations of the integrated mining-cum-power generating company are located at Neyveli in Cuddalore.

Here is all you need to know about at NLC India Limiteds thermal power station (TPS) II in Neyveli, the company where the boiler blast occurred.

Neyveli Thermal Power Station-I

The first unit of the 600 MW Neyveli Thermal Power Station-I was synchronized in May 1962 and the last unit was synchronized in September 1970

The 600 MW Neyveli Thermal Power Station-I consists of six units of 50 MW each and three units of 100 MW each.

The Power generated from Thermal Power Station-I is supplied to TANGEDCO, Tamilnadu which is the sole beneficiary.

Due to the aging of the equipments / high pressure parts, the Life extension programme has been approved by the government in March 1992 and was successfully completed in March 1999 thus extending the life by 15 years, the company profile reads.

This power station is being operated after conducting Residual Life Assessment (RLA) study. Government has sanctioned a 2x500 MW Power Project (Neyveli New Thermal Power Plant NNTPS) in June 2011 as replacement for existing TPS-I, it adds.

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NLC India TPS II, all about the company where boiler blast occurred in Neyveli - Zee News

Most have adapted to new life under MCO – The Borneo Post

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Abdul Rahman Ibrahim

Kairulnieza Waynie

Tuah Jili

Mohamad Salman

Bilong Siting

BINTULU:Most people have adapted to the new life under the Movement Control Order (MCO) since it took effect on March 18.

Therefore, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassins announcement about the extension of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) until June 9 yesterday was not really a surprise to them.

Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, 51, regarded the CMCO as one of the ways to guide the people on the new norms post Covid-19.

Under the CMCO, there is more flexibility with the reopening of economic activities in most sectors, enabling the people to generate incomes, he said.

He said those with fixed salaries might not be affected by the CMCO, but workers in the private sector especially in the services industry that depended on customers had been suffering because of the restriction in peoples movement and also lesser spending.

This has affected their incomes not all people received the assistance from the government; there are those who are not entitled for the aid, but in reality, they really need assistance during this trying time, said Abdul Rahman.

Kairulnieza Waynie, 47, was glad that the situation in the country had been improving and the spread of Covid-19 infection had been contained.

However, we are facing a difficult and challenging economy, even with economic stimulus packages being implemented in phases. The unemployment rate has increased up to four per cent and the social impact is very worrying, he said.

He viewed the extension of CMCO as a realistic move.

The people have to live with the new norms and the standard operating procedure (SOP) it may seem awkward at first, but people would get used to it gradually, said Kairulnieza.

For singer Tuah Jili, 50, Covid-19 and the MCO had affected his life in many aspects.

Financial-wise, now we dont get any payment for entertainment jobs as we used to have as side incomes, which have helped me a lot although I do have a fixed salary, he said.

He said full-time singers had been adversely affected, since most activities planned earlier had to be cancelled or postponed.

Hari Raya and Gawai Dayak this year will not be celebrated as usual; they will not be as joyful as they were before, lamented Tuah, who has been stranded in Kuching since March 15.

Mohamad Salman Mahli, 37, agreed with the extension of CMCO.

Now we have to live with new norms, and emphasis on our personal hygiene and social distancing we have to get used to all these changes. Take this fasting month, for example theres Ramadan bazaar and no tarawih (mass nightly prayer during Ramadan). There will be no Raya prayer, and even Raya visiting will be limited.

Hopefully, people would be able to adapt to these changes and in terms of our occupation, we have to adapt to new ways to stop the transmission of the coronavirus, said Salman.

Meanwhile, Bilong Siting felt that the CMCO had been affecting everyday life and religious obligations.

Big families in the longhouse cannot get together to celebrate Gawai; the church activities are restricted, he lamented.

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Most have adapted to new life under MCO - The Borneo Post

This kitchen extension in Foxrock pulls out all the stops – image.ie

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Glass box extensions get a bad rap, but here's how to pull one off with panache - this sophisticated South Dublin home has truly been opened out to the garden. We look back on the kitchen extension that featured in a 2016 issue ofImage Interiors & Living.

Looking at this South Dublin extension, we adore the additional glass box that houses a mini table and chairs. Architect Declan O'Donnell ofODKM, alongside MSVI Contractors, was tasked with bringing the client's brief to life.

"This is a semi-detached, Victorian house dating from the 1840s," begins Declan. "The owners wanted a single-storey extension and refurb to achieve a larger, brighter kitchen with informal and formal dining."

The site posed a bit of challenge for him to work around. "With a narrow plot built up on both sides, pulling in light from above was key."

Other significant hurdles included underpinning the rear three-storey return and dropping the floor level to link to the existing rear formal dining area in the centre of the house.

"We wanted to make a seamless connection to the rear garden, getting good vertical light into a tall north-facing rear garden property with large neighbouring properties either side." A conservationist at heart, Declan reused much of brick from the older structures in the new walls, complemented by glass, concrete and ceramic composite.

The floors are power-floated concrete, which is both cost-effective and hard-wearing in this busy kitchen. Thebespoke aluminium doors are powder-coated and the tops and gables were mitred for a seamless finish. The bespoke kitchen is by Dean Cooper.

As Declan explains, "we created a conversation between old and new by using salvaged materials in conjunction with the extension, and rationalised the flow and function of the ground-floor areas, cascading roof light from above."

Read more:An architect's advice on getting small spaces right

Read more:This terraced home in Irishtown is flooded with light, thanks to a central axis

Read more:This waterfront house with its own jetty in Baltimore, Co Cork is on the market for 1.5 million

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This kitchen extension in Foxrock pulls out all the stops - image.ie

Virtual events for the week of May 11-17 – Tampa Bay Times

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Wildlife of Florida: A Webinar Series: Join UF/IFAS Extension agents Shannon Carnevale and Lara Milligan for a series of webinars on Floridas diverse wildlife and ecosystems. This week, participants learn about the biology and behavior of bats. Registration required at bit.ly/wildlife-of-florida. Free. 2-3 p.m. Monday.

Tales Under the Trees: Readers from the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature take a book, and their children, outside for story time in the shade of trees. Each week features a different childrens book. Find it on the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature Facebook page. Free. 3 p.m. Saturday.

Florida Supernature: Join UF/IFAS Extension specialist James Stevenson for a series of webinars exploring the wonders of plants and animals in Florida. This week features Life of Lichen. Registration required at bit.ly/flsupernature. Free. 2-3 p.m. Wednesday.

Dead and Company: The group rebroadcasts video from a different concert every Saturday night during national social distancing. Watch it on the Dead and Company Facebook page. Free. 8 p.m. Saturday.

Florida Orchestra: We cant go to concert halls, so the Florida Orchestra comes to us in weekly radio shows. This week features Rachmaninoffs Piano Concerto No. 3. Tune in at WSMR-FM 89.1 and 103.9 FM radio or online at WSMR.org. Free. 7 p.m. Thursday.

Play It by Ear: Cirque du Soleil presents musical scores from numerous shows. Go to CirqueConnect at cirquedusoleil.com and play them on YouTube. Free. Anytime daily.

Arts In Music: Arts In is a new online video platform that makes arts and cultural experiences accessible from everywhere. Watch new music performances and moments from past music festivals weekly at creativepinellas.org/artsinmusic/. Free. Anytime daily.

Stonewall Programming: Scholar, educator and curator Jonathan David Katz will talk about works of art made in the 1980s and 90s during the height of the AIDS crisis and how they relate to the coronavirus pandemic. A question-and-answer session follows. Register at stonewall-museum.org under public programming for a Zoom code. Free. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Emerging Artist Exhibit Opening: Creative Pinellas curator Danny Olda hosts a virtual gallery opening of the Emerging Artist Exhibit live on the Creative Pinellas Facebook page. Artists include Patricia Kluwe Derderian, Lynn Foskett, Steph Hargrove, Mark Mitchell, Zoe Papas, Gianna Pergamo, Kodi Thompson, Judy Vienneau and Angela Warren. Free. 7-8 p.m. Thursday.

Dali Homeschool: The Dal Museum offers age-appropriate homeschool lesson plans and art projects for grades 3 through 6 and 6 through 12. To find them, go to lesson plans at thedali.org. Free. Anytime daily.

Typewriter Talks: Keep St. Pete Lit shares interviews with and readings of works by area authors. See them at Stories and Words on CreativePinellas.org. Free. Anytime daily.

FRIENDS Virtual Dance Party: Special needs families can burn some energy with a virtual dance party via Zoom. Disney attire is encouraged. Join at zoom.us/j/288231758. Free. 7-9 p.m. Saturday. (813) 245-2782.

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Virtual events for the week of May 11-17 - Tampa Bay Times

‘I’m just ready to know where we’re going’ | News, Sports, Jobs – Marshall Independent

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Ogden Newspapers

When it comes to responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has been one of the nations strictest, most vocal leaders. Thats why when he announced Wednesday that the state could potentially lift its stay-at-home order beginning next week, it marked a sign of optimism to those growing impatient for a return to normal.

It is thanks to all of you and your incredible sacrifices that we are making great progress, Hogan said. We are flattening the curve and we are preparing to launch our reopening plan.

Before the state does just that, however, Hogan announced that beginning on Thursday, Maryland would lift restrictions on a slew of outdoor activities including golfing, fishing, tennis, hunting and boating, among other things. The easement announcement was met with welcoming, open arms by some.

I kinda/sorta am excited, said Gail Mann, who works in the heart of downtown Frederick, Maryland, at Radcliffe Realty.

Having spent nearly two months practicing strict social distancing guidelines, she acknowledged that shell be taking baby steps toward getting back to life the way it was.

And shes not the only one. Residents in five states this week discussed how they feel not only about their states decisions related to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, but also what its been like to be cooped up inside their homes for weeks on end.

Pennsylvania

Gov. Tom Wolf plans to reopen the state through a three-phase system, which labels counties as red, yellow or green.

In the red phase, where case numbers and risk are still considered high, social distancing and business and school closures are being maintained. In the yellow phase, some of those restrictions have relaxed, with limits on large gatherings. The green phase, meanwhile, would lift the stay-at-home order and reopen most businesses, allowing the state to return to a new normal, according to the governors website.

Across Washington County, Pennsylvania, feelings about the state reopening have been mixed. While many want to get back to work, residents want to do so safely.

Bob Willard, of Washington County, said that as a casino worker, hes exposed to crowds in his work environment.

Were probably more worried about it than most, he said. But if people wear masks, I dont see why we couldnt open back up.

Kathy and Clyde Haught, of Washington, are glad that outdoor recreation has been encouraged during the pandemic, as the retired couple has been spending nice spring days in Washington Park. But when it comes to businesses opening back up, Kathy said she believes a lot of places just arent ready.

Clyde said hed like to see the number of new COVID-19 cases drop before the state reopens.

There are people who need to go back to work to feed their families, but we have to do it safely, Kathy said.

West Virginia

The Mountain State entered the second week of its West Virginia Strong: The Comeback plan, as small businesses with 10 or fewer employees, barbershops and hair salons, restaurants with outdoor dining and more allowed to reopen starting this past week. Gov. Jim Justices stay-at-home order transitioned to a safer-at-home directive, under which people are strongly encouraged to stay home except for essential activities, but they are no longer required to do so.

Parkersburg resident Steve Nichols said hes pleased with how Justice has handled the situation, gradually allowing businesses to reopen, with precautions remaining, based on the states COVID-19 numbers.

If it spikes, then theyve got to kind of recalibrate it, Nichols said.

Nichols said hes been shopping but is in no hurry to go back to restaurants.

Im probably going to wait a while to let them figure out the process, he said.

Since Justice announced the comeback plan in late April, Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said hes noticed a definite increase in daytime traffic. When the statewide stay-at-home order was issued in March, daytime traffic decreased to evening levels, he said, while our evening traffic was more like nighttime traffic.

Vienna resident Cheyanne Moyers took her almost-2-year-old daughter, Everleigh, to Parkersburg City Park Thursday while her car was being worked on, the first such venture theyve made out in more than a month.

Its been very hard, sitting at home all day, not doing my normal life routines, said Moyers, a retail supervisor who has been furloughed from her job. I just wish that the world would open back up.

Moyers said this feels like a good time for the process to start.

If people use their common sense, then I think that everything would be all right, she said.

Ohio

Megan McDonald, a small business owner in Milan, Ohio, said she is ready for the state to move forward.

I feel like (progress is) very slow, she said. Im ready to just know where were going. It seems like theres a change every single day and its like whiplash. We hear one thing and we think were going this route and then we hear something else and its going a different route. With owning a business, its a lot of whiplash, a lot of back and forth in my opinion.

She said she and her family talk often about everything getting back to normal, but she is starting to realize that there will be a different normal.

I think that were entering a new normal one where masks are going to be required, she said. I think that moving forward, its going to be a long time before we can have our full capacity of people in here, or anywhere.

I think theres always going to be a limit for a really long time going forward, she then added, referring to capacity in restaurants and other businesses.

While keeping up with running her own business, McDonalds day to day life hasnt changed drastically, but even so, she has been trying to stay away from the news.

I just want to keep my head down and do what I can for the community, she said. I think that (politicians) all have a job to do, whether I agree with it or not. I think that theyre doing their job. If they tell me to wear a mask, Im going to wear a mask. It just is what it is. I just keep my head down.

Kansas

On the main street of Lawrence, Kansas, Thursday afternoon, Karina Critten walked down Massachusetts Street with a friend from out of town.

Im definitely ready for things to open back up, she said.

Shes concerned about the fate of the many locally owned restaurants and stores on Massachusetts Street, and said she hopes landlords will be merciful on rent.

Critten said she thought Douglas County, Kansas has done a good job of being cautious, but also noted that she expects the virus will eventually infect most of the population. She suggested that she would like to see hand sanitizer dispensers outside all businesses.

Despite Kansas beginning phase one of its reopening plan this past Monday, many businesses in Lawrence remained closed as of Friday.

Douglas Countys health department, meanwhile, took a more stringent stance on reopening. While the states stay-at-home order was lifted and dine-in restaurants were able to open back up with strict social distancing guidelines Douglas County ordered dine-in restaurants to remain closed through May 17.

Yen Tran, also on Massachusetts Street Thursday afternoon, said shes totally fine staying home. She wants the state to take a slower approach to opening back up, and feels like COVID-19 cases are still on the rise.

As of Thursday, the county had 56 positive cases, and a member of the local hospitals pandemic response team said the county was in the middle of a plateau of cases, which he anticipates could trail off next week.

Michigan

In Alpena, Mich., some residents support Gov. Gretchen Whitmers extension of the Stay Home, Stay Safe order, which she announced on Thursday, extending the restrictions until May 28, while others are tired of staying cooped up and think its time to lift the mandate.

Under Whitmers order, some sectors are now open, including construction and manufacturing, but the general public is urged to stay home unless they need to leave the house for grocery items or to go to work as an essential worker.

Lynn Edmonds said the stay-home order has done what it is supposed to do, which is control and limit the spread of the coronavirus.

I do think overall, things have been handled well, Edmonds said as she walked her dog on Thursday afternoon. I do think some people are naive, as far as risky behavior, but it doesnt really affect me because Im doing what Im supposed to be doing.

Still, she said she doesnt feel comfortable going to stores right now and she tries to avoid it if she can. The hardest part about the quarantine period has been not seeing family, she added. She has siblings in the healthcare field and her mother is over 60, so they have not been interacting in person to ensure everyones safety.

Her main concern is how to transition back into normalcy. Another fear for her is that the virus may come back in the colder months.

Theyre predicting three waves of it, Edmonds said. Weve got people relatively safe at this point in our county, but how long can we do that for?

Alysha Rogers watched her young daughter and cousins playing with sidewalk chalk as she talked about the stay-at-home restrictions on Thursday. She agreed that the restrictions have been working, but she thinks its time to open back up, and she was not pleased with the governor extending the order past Memorial Day.

Numbers arent really rising like they used to, and I work at the hospital, so its just now hitting here, but I feel like the majority of the numbers are at least confined, Rogers noted, referring to the nursing homes being hit hardest. Its not like everybody went to Walmart and now, random miscellaneous people are infected.

Rogers assumed Whitmer would extend the order, but she said she worries about the kids being stuck at home with nothing to do. She also worries about the toll that is taking on their mental health.

Im not surprised she extended the order, just because she just keeps extending it, Rogers said. I think Im just now getting used to it. But theres only so much that kids can do before they start to get bored.

Rogers, hanging out barefoot in the front yard, said now that the weather is improving, people are ready to get back into the activities they have been missing.

Its getting rough, and I think its really affecting a lot of peoples mental health, Rogers said, adding of the order, I mean, Im against it, but theres nothing that I can do about it.

Laura Smith said she understands the idea behind the orders but she doesnt think the restrictions are completely effective. One of the precautions she questions is wearing a mask. She said although people are wearing the cloth masks, they touch them with their hands all the time and go in and out of stores and public places, and so in her mind, people probably dont wash them enough for them to be effective.

Ogden staff writers Katie Anderson, Evan Bevins, LynAnne Vucovich, Lauren Fox and Darby Hinkley contributed to this report

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'I'm just ready to know where we're going' | News, Sports, Jobs - Marshall Independent

Archer to work alongside IBM in progressing quantum computing – ZDNet

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Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair and quantum technology manager Dr. Martin Fuechsle

Archer Materials has announced a new agreement with IBM which it hopes will advance quantum computing and progress work towards solutions for the greater adoption of the technology.

Joining the IBM Q Network, Archer will gain access to IBM's quantum computing expertise and resources, seeing the Sydney-based company use IBM's open-source software framework, Qiskit.

See also: Australia's ambitious plan to win the quantum race

Archer is the first Australian company that develops a quantum computing processor and hardware to join the IBM Q Network. The IBM Q Network provides access to the company's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud.

"We are the first Australian company building a quantum chip to join into the global IBM Q Network as an ecosystem partner, a group of the very best organisations at the forefront of quantum computing." Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair said.

"Ultimately, we want Australian businesses and consumers to be one of the first beneficiaries of this exciting technology, and now that we are collaborating with IBM, it greatly increases our chances of success".

Archer is advancing the commercial readiness of its12CQ qubit processor chip technology towards a minimum viable product.

"We look forward to working with IBM and members of the network to address the most fundamental challenges to the wide-scale adoption of quantum computing, using our potentially complementary technologies as starting points," Choucair added.

In November, Archer said it was continuing to inch towards its goal of creating a room temperature quantum computer, announcing at the time it had assembled a three qubit array.

The company said it has placed three isolated qubits on a silicon wafer with metallic control electrodes being used for measurement. Archer has previously told ZDNet it conducts measurements by doing magnetic fields sweeps at microwave frequencies.

"The arrangement of the qubits was repeatable and reproducible, thereby allowing Archer to quickly build and test working prototypes of quantum information processing devices incorporating a number of qubits; individual qubits; or a combination of both, which is necessary to meet Archer's aim of building a chip for a practical quantum computer," the company said.

In August, the company said it hadassembled its first room-temperature quantum bit.

Archer is building chip prototypes at the Research and Prototype Foundry out of the University of Sydney's AU$150 million Sydney Nanoscience Hub.

2020s are the decade of commercial quantum computing, says IBM

IBM spent a great deal of time showing off its quantum-computing achievements at CES, but the technology is still in its very early stages.

What is quantum computing? Understanding the how, why and when of quantum computers

There are working machines today that perform some small part of what a full quantum computer may eventually do. But what are the real-world applications for quantum computing?

Quantum computing has arrived, but we still don't really know what to do with it

Even for a technology that makes a virtue of uncertainty, where quantum goes next is something of a mystery.

Quantum computing: Myths v. Realities (TechRepublic)

Futurist Isaac Arthur explains why quantum computing is a lot more complicated than classical computing.

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Archer to work alongside IBM in progressing quantum computing - ZDNet

Quantum AI in the 2020s and Beyond: What IBM Is Doing – RTInsights

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The most important investments that IBM is making in quantum AI is to build out its developer and partner ecosystem and to provide them with sophisticated tools, libraries, and cloud services.

Quantum computing promises to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) faster than the speed of light. But first, this futuristic technology must prove its worth as an alternative to more mature, traditional approaches to process data-driven statistical algorithms.

IBM continues to take a leadership position in quantum computing. Among other efforts, it is evangelizing quantum computing to developers of AI, deep learning, and machine learning applications.

Quantum computing might be capable, in its current form, of performing feats that are practically impossible for computers built on traditional von Neumann architectures. However, that has not been proven, and IBM isnt making this claim, often known as quantum supremacy, pertaining to its own quantum R&D efforts.

See also: Corner the Market: How AI and Quantum Computing will Revolutionize the Speed and Scale of Trading

In fact, IBM has taken a practical approach that keeps expectations for the technologys prowess in check. It has also been in the vanguard of debunking claims of this nature by other tech vendors. A recent case in point was Googles claim in fall 2019 that Sycamore, its 53-qubit quantum hardware platform, had completed a calculation in a few minutes that would have taken 10,000 for the worlds most powerful existing supercomputer, IBM Summit.

Googles benchmark didnt fall into any of thecore use casesincluding AI, optimization, simulation, or even cryptographyforwhich quantum computing might some day hold an advantage over classicalarchitectures. The proof of the pudding for AI is whether a computerbuilt on quantum principles can do data-driven algorithmic inferencing fasterthan a classical computer, or optimistically, faster than the fastestsupercomputers currently in existence.

For its own R&D efforts in this field, IBM is merely aiming at the more realistic goal of quantum advantage. This refers to any demonstration that a quantum device can solve a problem faster than a classical computer. Considering the range of commercial activity in this field, the likelihood that quantum architecture will soon show a clear performance advantage for core use casesespecially AIgrows by the day.

In that regard, we should the range of recent quantum productannouncements by IBM and other leading tech vendors all focus on AI use cases:

All of these vendors are building developer ecosystemsaround their various quantum computing platforms.

In January, IBM announced the expansion of Q Network, its 3-year-old quantum developer ecosystem. To encourage the development of practical quantum AI applications, IBM provides Q Network participants with Qiskit; IBM Quantum platform, which provides cloud-based software for developers to access IBM quantum computers anytime; and IBM Quantum Experience, a free, publicly available, and cloud-based environment for team exploration of quantum applications. Many of the workloads being run include AI, as well as real-time simulations of quantum computing architectures.

Another key industry milestone came in March when Google launched TensorFlow Quantum. This new software-only framework extends TensorFlow so that it can work with a wide range of quantum computing platforms, not limited to its own hardware, software, and cloud computing services.

As quantum techniques start to prove their practicality on core AI use cases, they will almost certainly be applied to AIs grand challenges.

At the level of pure computer/data science, AIs grandchallenges include neuromorphic cognitive models, adaptive machine learning,reasoning under uncertainty, representation of complex systems, andcollaborative problem solving.

We expect that quantum AI developers in the ecosystems ofIBM and its rivals will tackle all of these grand challenges using theirrespective quantum AI tools, libraries, and platforms.

The most important grand challenges for quantum AI will have compelling practical applications. Chief among these is trying to mitigate a key risk that quantum technology has itself unleashed on the world: the prospect that it might break public-key cryptography as we know it. Fortunately, IBM and others are making progress on developing quantum-resistant cryptographic schemes.

Though its not clear how much IBM is investing in the R&D needed to combat the technologys more malignant misuses, you best believe that they are deeply enmeshed in some fairly secretive projects in these domains.

Developers are everything to the future of quantum AI. Themost important investments that IBM is making in quantum AI is to build out itsdeveloper and partner ecosystem and to provide them with sophisticated butconsumable tools, libraries, and cloud services.

Among commercial solution providers, IBMs quantum developer ecosystem, Q Network, is the most mature and extensive. Lets hope that sometime this year IBM begins to support TensorFlow Quantum within Q Network and integrates it seamlessly into IBM Quantum Experience.

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Quantum AI in the 2020s and Beyond: What IBM Is Doing - RTInsights

From 47,000 annually to 2 lakh daily, PPE production skyrockets – The Tribune India

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 10

There has been a massive spike in production of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits in the country following outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. From just 47,000 kits being produced annually, the output has gone up to about two lakh per day.

Stating this here today, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said Covid-19 has provided a lot of opportunity for research and development and industrial production, but cautioned that delays in development is of no use.

He was addressing scientists and staff at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, via video-conferencing on the occasion of the centers 32nd foundation day. Directors and scientists from various laboratories of the DRDO, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and other institutions also participated in the conference.

He also spoke about medical ventilators produced by the industry with assistance from the DRDO, which costs from Rs 1.5 to 4 lakh and have export potential.

Dr Reddy said the C-DAC, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will be considered as an extended arm of the DRDO for undertaking applied research.

Lauding the role of the Mohali center in research and development in electronics and information technology, Dr Reddy said artificial intelligence tools developed by it would be required in all most every field.

Dr PK Khosla, Director, C-DAC, Mohali, gave an overview of the work done in the organisations four verticals healthcare technology, cyber security, e-governance and education and training. He also spoke about four new areas under focus, including artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, robotics and quantum computing.

Dr Hemant Darbari, Director General, C-DAC, spoke on e-Sanjeevni OPD, a recently launched national level telemedicine project rolled out by the C-DAC, Mohali. It has been extended to 15 states within three weeks and provides access to over a thousand doctors.

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From 47,000 annually to 2 lakh daily, PPE production skyrockets - The Tribune India

Review – Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet – Cointelegraph

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Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet is filmmaker Torsten Hoffmanns follow up to his award-winning 2015 documentary Bitcoin: The End of Money As We Know It.

His first film looked at the history (and failings) of money and the financial system, and how Bitcoin was poised to revolutionize and solve many of its problems. Now, Cryptopia brings us up to date with the current state of play in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

The documentary is split into three acts.

First we get an introduction to the fundamentals of Bitcoin, recapping the problems with traditional finance from the earlier film and highlighting Bitcoins initial stated purpose as peer-to-peer digital cash.

Hoffmann talks about the benefits of Bitcoin with a veritable whos who of industry figures, from Wences Casares, to Andreas M Antonopoulos and Laura Shin. We also see how and why big banks and governments have kicked back against the top-ranked cryptocurrency.

We then move on to Bitcoins explosive growth in value since the first film, and repositioning from digital cash to digital gold.

Hoffmann revisits Roger Ver, who had previously espoused Bitcoin as a fast and cheap method of moving money around the world, to investigate the block-size debate and eventual fork of Bitcoin Cash.

He also speaks to Blockstreams Samson Mow, for his take on the split, along with Charlie Lee, founder of Litecoin.

The film then moves on to tackle the move from one blockchain to hundreds of blockchains. Hoffmann explains the concept of smart contracts and the Ethereum network, speaking to Vitalik Buterin, Vinny Lingham, and Tone Vays for their opinions, both positive and negative.

Hoffmann takes a look at the initial coin offering, or ICO, phenomenon, bringing blockchains and currencies for every conceivable purpose, along with a wave of scams and fraudsters into the space.

We see how big business and finance is co-opting blockchain technology, sometimes through the use of private centralized networks. We see the tokenization of traditional securities and totally new forms of assets.

Through looking at the examples of the development of the motor car and the early internet, Hoffmann highlights similarities with todays blockchain industry.

He notes the rise of internet censorship in certain jurisdictions, and discusses the potential of blockchain to overcome this. We also consider the hegemony of tech giants and their control of our information and identities, looking at the possibilities of decentralization to overcome this.

To round up, the film considers the possibilities of Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, although notes the controversy created following the DAO hack and subsequent rollback of the Ethereum blockchain.

Hoffmann finally talks to Craig Wright (who behaves exactly as expected), touching on the Bitcoin Cash/Bitcoin SV split, and finally coming full circle to Satoshis disappearance and how this has worked for Bitcoin.

The film has been professionally researched, shot, and put together. It assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and follows a well structured story, making it accessible to all.

Hoffmanns style and delivery works well. He is authoritative yet friendly and open, being unafraid to challenge or poke fun at characters like Craig Wright, while always being even-handed and letting people speak.

Sure, for those who are already invested in the industry and technology, there is little new to learn here, but for the uninitiated it is an excellent primer into a world that they may have heard about, but not really understand.

For me personally, both this film and Hoffmanns previous documentary made me incredibly proud to be part of this movement that is literally changing the world.

My only criticism (and it is a minor one) is the song which plays out over the credits. Penned by Hoffmann himself and Malaysian singer, Prema Yin, it is a powerful, soulful number, rousing the spirits until you listen more closely and realise that it is about cryptocurrency.

To be fair, it is probably the least cringe-inducing cryptocurrency-related song that Ive ever happened across, with intelligent lyrics and a proper decent tune. However this is a bit like being the least cancerous case of sunburn; the end consequence still consists of a pair of bright red cheeks.

Sorry, and maybe this is just me, but the worlds of cryptocurrency and music (both of which I love individually) should never cross paths.

However, I have no hesitation in recommending this film, which is available to stream now at cryptopiafilm.com for a price of just under 9 Australian dollars ($5.88)... and you can always make a cup of tea when it gets to the credits.

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Review - Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet - Cointelegraph

Why Entrepreneurs Should Choose Insights Over Instincts – The Advocate

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Photo: Westend61 | Getty Images

Why Entrepreneurs Should Choose Insights Over Instincts

In 2017, humanity generated more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data by the day. According to the minds at Harvard Business School, its never been easier for businesses of all sizes to collect, analyzeand interpret data into real, actionable insights. Companies wanting to successfully scale their operations should make the effort to understand that data on a much deeper level.

Related:The Insane Amounts of Data We're Using Every Minute (Infographic)

Fully understanding the needs of your consumer enables you to provide them with the specific products and services they may be looking for, resulting in optimal business decisions surrounding exactlyhow, whenand what to sell them. This is a fundamental aspect of creating and operating a business. Data-driven decision-making is simply focusing on the needs of your target market and executing on those requests before they are made.

I think people just dont understand the value in qualitative research, says Lynzie Riebling, vice president of insights and strategy at RevoltTV. Riebling, whose background is in psychology and marketing, explained to me the level of "quant bias" she's seen in the entertainment industry. We are programmed as humans to think if something is quantified it has to be accurate, she says of how we tend to view the numbers gained from research. You dont know how that survey was programmed, you dont know who they spoke to, you dont know if that was a survey of five people or 5,000 people.

Related:Why Your Startup Needs Data Science

Acting as the middleman between brands and consumers, Riebling has spent more than a decade understanding the perspectives of target audiences and reporting that information back to the leadership of notable brands including Nike, Google/YouTube and MTV. By reading between the lines in data findings, she has helped countless executivesmake decisions tocreate with their audiences in mind. I always say insights are your closest thing to a crystal ball, says Riebling of the significance of her field. If we do our work properly, we can tell you based on human behavior what is likely to happen next.

The data of today is more detailed and varied than ever before, but theres no need for entrepreneurs to get overwhelmed by the numbers. Though data has gotten bigger and better with time, success is not contingent upon harnessing the power of big data.

I think people get wrapped up in this idea that you have to do something statistically sound, mentions Riebling of the DIY role her job often assumes. Ive legitimately gone into a skate park and bought a pizza and said Hey, do you guys want to hang out and eat pizza? It might sound a bit creepy, but it worked. Riebling believes that even small businesses can do their own insight-scraping and data-reporting with limited friends, supporters or colleagues. As humans, we can just have conversations with people and that is research and validation in itself."

Doing independent research is costly and time-intensive, but data doesn't necessarily have to come from research done on behalf of your company alone. The creation of the platform Audiomack is aprime example of what can be accomplished by using known research and applying that knowledge to your target audience. In 2012, the founders of the music streaming service decided to launch their business from their own perspectives as hip-hop fans, noticing the genres growing reach at the time.

Audiomack was built on providing those hip-hop artists who couldnt yet afford the fees often required by distribution companies and other streaming platforms with a free and unlimited way to upload their music. Understanding the nature of the hip-hop creative process and the challenge of getting past industry gatekeepers, the founders gave artists a chance to put their music directly in front of the right fans. By also catering to listeners who are specifically looking to stream underground hip-hop content that cant be found in places like Apple Music or Spotify, today Audiomack attracts 14 million daily active users.

I recently spoke with David Ponte, co-founder and CMO of Audiomack, who explained how the companys Creator Dashboard is helping artists turn the data from the services platform into actionable insights. That type of specific data is going to help you understand where to push your resources, Ponte says of the dashboards geo-location and engagement metrics. If youre an emerging artist, you want to be able to determine where you might want to contact booking agents. You can see, Are people coming back to play a song or are they just playing it because its in a big playlist? Those answers are going to help you determine how to spend your money and your time moving forward.

When used correctly, carefully mined data can help a company determine which path to take. Better data leads to better decision-making and more efficient selling strategies, both of which are key to profitability.

Related:4 Ways Data Is Driving Conscious Capitalism

Related:Why You Should Use the Extra Time You Have Now to Confront Problems You've Been AvoidingTaking The Right Steps Forward (As A Business Ecosystem)Why Entrepreneurs Should Choose Insights Over Instincts

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Why Entrepreneurs Should Choose Insights Over Instincts - The Advocate

5 ways to replace stadium atmospheres as football goes behind closed doors – Paddy Power News

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The current conversation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic is geared around preparing the population for the new normal in society and football is no exception to that.

Its looking increasingly likely that footballs reintroduction behind closed doors will be for the long-term, with the Premier League reportedly planning for the entirety of the 2020/21 season to be played in empty stadiums.

Such a decision would have major repercussions throughout the game on clubs, broadcasters, sponsors, and of course supporters themselves, who will be barred from the spectacle they help create. Think of the poor Arsenal fans in particular: if they cant turn up and pay good money for the privilege of booing their own players, what else is there to do on a weekend?!

This is the reality were likely to face however, so we better make the best of this bad situation. So to try and counter the fact games will soon be unfolding in soulless stadiums, weve come up with five ways to try and help replace the atmosphere well be losing

An approach pioneered by Taiwan and South Koreas professional baseball leagues in recent weeks, filling stadiums with cardboard cutouts of fans at least makes the stands look a bit more lively and colourful, as opposed to a sea of faded plastic seats.

Well soon be able to see what impact this has a bit closer to home, with Borussia Mnchengladbach fans given the ability to upload their own pictures onto cutouts to occupy what would have been their matchday pew.

There are, however, two drawbacks to this approach. One: They dont make any sound (although thats not a problem for any games staged at Old Trafford). And two: Given it relies on fans sending in their own picture, its open to abuse. All it takes is a few pro pranksters to unite, and suddenly youd have an entire stadium packed to the rafters with portraits of Joe Exotic.

Actually, wed tune in to see that.

This method draws on inspiration from Arsenal in the early 1990s, when reconstruction work on Highburys North Bank was masked by a giant mural of supporters.

Keeping in mind the game is about nothing but money these days (why else are we rushing the sport back?!), the one major benefit to the murals would be the ability for clubs to splash sponsors logos all over them.

Plastering your stadium with a giant, beautifully hand painted advertising hoarding thats 100 times the size of a normal one is a great way for clubs to earn some much needed coin. We bet perennial football advertising partner Rainham Steel wouldnt believe their luck.

Ah, FanZone. Who else remembers bearing witness to this behind Sky Sports red button, an intoxicating mix of pillocks shouting into microphones 200 miles away from where their team is actually playing?

Despite its lunacy, it proved to be annoyingly addictive viewing. So lets bring it back, only this time live in the stadium so long as both fans are kept a safe Peter Crouch-length distance apart, of course.

Itd amuse the listening fans at home far better than the eerie silence of a training ground-style atmosphere and pumping the audio into the stadium speakers would put the players at ease. After all, thered be occasional chanting, cheering at goals and merciless abuse from their own supporter everything the modern player has come to expect!

This is a practice already adopted in some clubs stadiums, naming no names (*cough* Chelsea, *cough* Spurs) even when playing in a sold-out stadium. Thus it doesnt take a giant leap of imagination to picture it being an option genuinely taken up by the Premier League.

Combining it with cardboard cutouts in the stands wouldnt actually be that bad considering the circumstances, but crucially broadcasters would have to make it realistic. That includes the occasional colourful language being picked up on a rogue microphone that Martin Tyler has to apologise for, and deafening anti-Mike Ashley chants up at St James Park.

Recording every word said to and by a referee la rugby union is something that has long been called for in football. And its always been rejected, mainly because the bleep button for the live coverage would wear out far too quickly.

Now is the time, though, to offer people the option to listen in if they want. Grown adults should be granted the option of tapping the red button to hear players call Mike Dean a cheating pr*ck (theyre living our dream!), purely for the additional entertainment it would provide.

Just look at how insightful it was the only time fans have previously been allowed to hear what was being said, way back in 1989 during a clash between Millwall and Arsenal. Were missing out!

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5 ways to replace stadium atmospheres as football goes behind closed doors - Paddy Power News

‘I Am Doing My Best’ – Teaching Math During the School Closure Crisis – Education Week

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(This is the final post in a four-part series. You can see Part One here, Part Two here, and Part Three here.)

The new question is:

What does math instruction look like in the age of the coronavirus?

The first and second posts in this series featured commentaries by New York City high school math teachers Bobson Wong and Larisa Bukalov. They are authors of The Math Teacher's Toolbox (Jossey-Bass, 2020) and recipients of the Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship.

In Part Three, Cindy Garcia, Shannon Jones, Elissa Scillieri, Ed.D., and Beth Brady shared their experiences.

Today, Sally Boerschig, Katie Kenahan, Avery Zachery, and Bonnie Tripp contribute their commentaries.

It isn't "perfect"

Katie Kenahan is the Riverside Middle School math department coordinator and an 8th grade teacher in East Providence, R.I.:

It was around 1:45 p.m. on March 13th, and we had just finished celebrating Pi day (one day early). I was cleaning up the remnants of Table Talk pie crumbs in my classroom during my planning period while chatting with coworkers about the possibility of school being canceled for a week, maybe two, and how surreal the idea of that was. We were so naive...

Fast forward six weeks later, and here we are. As an educator, this has been the most challenging obstacle I've had to tackle during my career. Not only is it my task to remotely teach my 8th graders the math we had left to cover this year, content they need to be successful with high school material, but to also heal their broken hearts and comfort them through a computer...which is not an easy feat.

I continue to teeter between the importance of delivering the content and the emotional well-being of my students. I have a unique perspective from teaching PSAT/SAT prep classes...seeing just how much the content builds and how important grade 8 math is to their base of knowledge for algebra and geometry. On one hand, I am trying to hang on dearly to the contentproviding as many meaningful lessons, videos, practice activities, and one-to-one help as I can. On the other hand, I see my students hurtingmissing their friends, their teachers, and coping with the loss of the end of their 8th grade year and all of the celebrations that go with it.

So what am I saying? I am saying it is a tricky balance. We are flying the plane as we build it and we are doing the best we can to provide structure and stability while continuing to give our students the chance to learn. While I don't believe one approach is more correct than another, what has worked for me are playlists. I have created playlists each week that incorporate fun check-ins that allow me to connect with my kids on a personal level and then a task for the day that covers the content they need. I've used Flipgrids for my check-ins each day and then an assortment of different websites and apps to keep our lessons fun and interesting every day. I do not post my entire playlist on Monday. I post the template on Google classroom on Monday, with Monday's assignment, and then add to the live document each day of the week. That way, students are only introduced to one new activity a day. This still overwhelms a small percentage of my students, so I set the playlist due date for Sunday night of the next week at 8 p.m....instead of Friday afternoon, giving my students who need to move a little slower, or focus on other contents first, the time and flexibility to do so. I also make myself available on Google meet for help at least three times a week.

Typically, I have begun each week with a new concept. For example, last week we began our introduction to our unit on transformationsstarting with translations. On Monday, my students were asked to complete a Flipgrid check-in and then watch an Edpuzzle I created from a Screencastify of me taking notes. I gave the students the video and the copy of the notes in case they wanted to create their own version but found that Edpuzzle forces them to actually watch the notes and answer the questions...which many students need to stay focused. On Tuesday, my students were asked to complete a daily check-in and an IXL assignment. Wednesday was another silly question check-in, and a wizer.me assignment. Thursday they completed a check in and a quizizz review, and on Friday, they had a check-in, of course, and a quiz on Edulastic.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I probably send 500 emails a week right now, and I have a headache every day by 4 p.m. from staring into my computer screen. But I am doing my bestwe all areand that is all anyone can ask.

Giving choices

Sally Boerschig teaches 2nd grade at Evergreen Community Charter School, an EL Education network school in Asheville, N.C.:

Before COVID-19, this is what my 2nd grade math class at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, N.C., looked like: Students used manipulatives to move from concrete examples to abstract generalizations and equations. They played games and discussed their strategies with their tablemates. Activities were differentiated. I circulated among the tables, continually assessing their work to gauge each student's understanding. The other teachers on my team and I often formed ad hoc, flexible groups to support those students who needed it with extra skills practice. My classroom hummed with collaboration, grappling, and determined engagement in the "business" of learning.

Enter the Coronavirus, stay-at-home orders, and virtual school.

Now my students, all learning at home, do not have access to the high-quality, high-priced math manipulatives that accompany the curriculum. Most cannot independently read the instructions, gather the materials needed, or complete the assignments on their own. I no longer get daily or even weekly feedback. They turn in assignments, but I don't know how much their families helped them to complete it.

I know there are great disparities among my students in parental support, materials on hand, time spent each day on school, and access to technology (the school has enabled all to have online access with a computer, but many don't have printers). To address those disparities, I hold virtual office hours so students can receive one-on-one help, get extra practice with a teacher, or simply chat.

In one such session, a student described her experience learning math at home this way: "It's like that game we played earlier in the year when we weren't allowed to ask questions. And we kept failing at making our buildings match." She was referring to a game where two students have the same number, shape, and color of building blocks but can't see what each other is doing. Student A builds a structure and describes the structure to student B, while student B tries to replicate it. The first go-round, student B can only listen and not ask questions. With these parameters for communication, their buildings looked nothing alike.

With "school at home," I am trying to replicate the second go-round of that game where students are allowed to ask questions in order to improve their chances of replicating the building. My instruction, based on collaborative virtual planning with a team of teachers including assistants, special educators, and the academically gifted teacher, now prioritizes flexibility and choice.

So that students and working parents can have flexibility, we send out assignments for the week, not the day. One family with a working single parent does almost all of the school work on the weekend. Another family follows our suggested daily schedule exactly. When needed, we provide links for students to create their own manipulatives (i.e., building a meter stick) or give instructions to create items at home (i.e., dice with multiples of 5). When we asked them to build structures in order to practice counting in equal groups, we gave them suggestions of household items to use, such as Legos, building blocks, or even canned goods.

We also give choices: Students can solve problems through worksheets, games, or online activities. One student refuses to do any worksheets but will readily play the games or do an activity with the parent. Another student only is able to do the worksheets. We embed short videos in the instructions so students see us doing the activity. We offer tiered options, so all students can find their challenge. Our academically gifted specialist has access to our weekly virtual assignment and can embed activities directly into that document.

I have one Zoom session daily, but only one of these per week is direct math instruction. Again, to be flexible, these are recorded and made available for any students who miss the Zoom. Again, to offer choices, I help students through their individual struggleswith math or with being lonely and boredin the virtual office hours. Simply having a conversation with someone outside their household may be the thing they need most at that time.

With all that we are doing, do I know if my students are growing as mathematicians? No. What I do know is that in this moment of global crisis that demands all of us learn in new ways, unless we take a whole-child approach, and support them as needed with flexibility and choice, they have little chance to grow as mathematicians. I hope that by offering flexibility and choices, students are finding a way to practice math skills and some students are deepening their mathematical knowledge. Most importantly, however, I hope this moment is enabling me and my students together to build greater self-awareness, resilience, confidence, and courage, which are essential markers of student achievement no matter the circumstances of learning.

"A new look"

Avery Zachery is a 4th grade math teacher at Winston Elementary School in Winston, Ga.:

In the age of the coronavirus, education as a whole has taken on a new look. I have given math instruction a face-lift in order to accommodate learning during these unprecedented times. Math instruction prior to the shutdowns of schools was student-centered, which provided repeated exposure to content and opportunities to explore mathematics in a variety of ways, which included the use of manipulatives, digital components, performance task, and partner or group work.

During the age of the coronavirus, I have had to completely change many aspects about my teaching. First, I needed to continue to provide quality instruction through digital means. I conduct math lessons on Tuesdays. My students have a designated time (12:20) every day to log into Google Meet for the lesson. Every lesson starts off with a roll call. My students received digital learning norms prior to teaching digitally. So every student is called on to unmute their microphone to say hello. I use the roll call as a means to take attendance. After the roll call, I review topics taught last week to bridge the concepts that students are about to learn.

I always start the lesson with an activator such as a video, game or use of math manipulatives. During this time, I continued this practice to introduce content by using the present features within Google Meet, which allows students to see my screen. Then the lesson progresses through modeling the content using Activ Inspire software with the Activ Slate. I use these items to be able to teach as I would in a classroom setting. They allow me to manipulate the content presented and annotate over documents, slides, and flip charts. Being able to work out problems for students to see has really revolutionized how I thought digital learning would be. Instead, I am able to keep digital learning very close to traditional learning in a classroom.

In order to keep the lesson engaging, to see who is participating, and administer formative assessments, I have students use the chat features within Google Meet frequently. Allowing students to chat helps to foster an environment conducive to learning but also one that encourages students to communicate about math. Throughout the lesson, students use the raise-hand feature to ask questions or make statements. My co-teacher mans the chat thoroughly. At the conclusion of the lesson, I explain each assignment which is compatible with Google Classroom (Google Slides, Google Forms, BOOM Cards). After completing the lesson whole group, I devote time to my students for further questions and guided groups in Google Meet.

Some students are encouraged to stay in the Google Meet for more time in which we complete guided math activities. My co-teacher and I help our students understand the assignments and give more individual time to meet their needs, which usually does not occur within a whole-group setting. This guided time allows us to pinpoint which parts of the lesson the students are struggling with and which parts they have full understanding. Many of our students like to stay in the Google Meet and receive more individualized instruction. It helps them to feel more confident about learning, especially learning digitally at home without our present support. After guided groups occur, all students work to complete the assignments. During this time, I am available to field questions within the Google Classroom Stream. Students send their questions, and I respond within a timely fashion to assist them in working out problems. If students need to meet one on one, I send that student a request to meet in Google Meet to give assistance. My students have fully used me as a resource during this time of digital learning.

Teaching math digitally has definitely changed in many ways; however, my heart for reaching my students and making learning mathematical concepts fun and engaging has not. Teaching digitally has its own set of challenges, but for the most part, it has afforded me the opportunity to continue to teach quality lessons to my students from afar.

Synchronous sessions

Bonnie Tripp has been an upper school mathematics educator and department chair at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla., for 35 years:

Asynchronous, Synchronous, Canvas, Explain EDU, Texas Instruments Teacher Software, Zoom, YouTube, upload, download, save as Pdf, and on and on! Math instruction in the age of coronavirus is interesting to say the least! I don't think I have ever worked harder in my life. However, I might need to work smarter. Still working on that one.

However, I am lucky to work at a school that helps prepare us to undertake this task. They give us a tremendous amount of support to help navigate this online experience to help us help our students. The math department meets weekly to help and support one another. But, getting back to the question. I have synchronous sessions with each of my classes every week. The main objective here is to check in and make eye contact with each student much like I would have done before the coronavirus changed our lives. It is much like a well-being check. If a student doesn't show up at these sessions, they are emailed, and if necessary, the parent is contacted. I am also planning on asking content-type questions and have them write down and hold up their answer. This will let me know if I need to set up a one-on-one video conference with that student.

Also, I have synchronous office hours three times a week. These are optional sessions that the students can come and ask questions to me directly, instead of in an email. Originally, all of this was overwhelming for both me and my students. We have somewhat of a routine now. To actually teach the content, I make videos of me teaching each section, just as I would have during class. The students are supposed to take notes as they watch the video, much as they would of in our other life. They complete their homework and then can post discussion questions on the problems they had. I then make another video explaining those specific problems. Before assessments, they upload their homework.

Authentic assessments can be tricky. I am still learning what works best. I have had them write their own test with answers to each. But the most important part of this is that they must supply a step-by-step process they used to get that answer. I have also made online tests that are immediately scored. Here I have learned from others that the last question on the test should be for the student to upload all their work for each problem in order to receive credit. This might help with knowing that it is their own work. For future assessments, I am also planning on having them make videos explaining the step-by-step process needed to solve that problem. I think this would be very useful when verifying trigonometric identities. So, math instruction in the age of the coronavirus is in a constant state of flux, but teaching and more importantly, learning, are still going on. But I really miss my students!

Thanks to Sally, Bonnie, Avery, and Katie for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

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Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titledClassroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

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'I Am Doing My Best' - Teaching Math During the School Closure Crisis - Education Week

View: The price of Covid freedom may be eternal spying – ETTelecom.com

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By Andy Mukherjee

Much of our pre-coronavirus lives may be reclaimable with some modifications around how we work, socialize and travel. In one crucial way, though, the post-pandemic landscape will be very different: The individuals autonomy over her data may be lost forever. Our mobiles will keep us safe by spying on us.

This will have important consequences for the relationship not just between citizens and governments, but also between consumers and businesses.

Blame the coming end of privacy on success. South Korea and Taiwan have won acclaim for flattening the Covid-19 curve by digitally tracking infected persons. As my colleague Anjani Trivedi described in March, no government was using dispersed databases as extensively to fight the spread of the disease as Seoul. Before an explosive outbreak in its worker dormitories, Singapore earned praise for TraceTogether, which claims to be the first Bluetooth contact-tracing app covering an entire nation. The 1.4 million users represent roughly a fourth of the islands population.

But while cultural differences can help explain the beginning, the end game may be more universal: power and profit. Safely restarting economies will require governments to restore trust in people mingling in factories, offices, cafes and trains. It can supposedly be done with data more granular than what can be obtained from cellphone networks. Hence states want access to phones, with or without informed consent. Turning the clock back will be hard, if not impossible.

Take Indias Aarogya Setu, or Bridge of Health, Covid-19 contact-tracing app. Its got privacy warriors worried because the country lacks a data protection framework. Among other things, activists want the government to ensure that any data collected in an external server is designed to be deleted and that it wont be integrated with other databases, according to a working paper by the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation. For now, there are only assurances that the app will wither away once the outbreak is contained, but no legal guarantees.

The Singaporean app records physical proximity in an anonymized form on smartphones. Minimal data is stored on servers. Only if a user falls sick are his contacts tracked and alerted. Given that its been less than two years since the revelation that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs health records were hacked, Id hesitate to brand the experiment as foolproof. But its at least a voluntary exchange. Indias app is anything but. As the country tentatively reopens after a 43-day lockdown, its been made mandatory first for public-sector employees and now for private-sector workers. Company bosses are liable to ensure their workers download the app, though nobody is accountable for misuse of data.

TraceTogethers building blocks are in the public domain. The source code of Aarogya Setu is yet to be opened. The Indian government recently denied a French security researchers claim that the privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Hours later, the so-called ethical hacker who goes by the name of Elliott Anderson tweeted that five people were feeling unwell in Prime Minister Narendra Modis office.

Where boundaries between private and public are thin to begin with, a pandemic can make them disappear. A New York Times analysis of Chinas Alipay Health Code software, which mixes a cocktail of data to color-code a persons health status, found that some information is shared with the police. The digital prowess of Alibaba Group Ltd. or its rival, Tencent Holdings Ltd., has no match in India. But firms are eager to harness the online footprints of the countrys 1.3 billion people. Covid-19 might give those plans a fillip.

Just as the Sept. 11 attacks irrevocably shrank personal freedoms as security-at-all-costs became a policy driver, Covid-19 will erode privacy in the name of public health. The potential market is immense for instruments far more intrusive than Big Brothers telescreens. Richard Brooks, a computer engineering professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, told Bloomberg News: If the ability to track social contacts exists to stop a contagion, I can guarantee you it will be used to track the spread of dissent.

An Israeli court verdict that banned Shin Bet, the internal security agency, from using its Covid-19 tracking app shows the discomfort societies have with handing over a shiny, new lever of control to governments. Europes data protection laws will try to ensure that the emergency collection and processing of personal information is conducted with accountability, and for a limited purpose. The British parliaments human rights committee says it isnt convinced that the National Health Services proposed tracing app protects privacy.

Tracing in Korea went overboard in the early days, when the authorities released so much data that anonymous patients became identifiable and got harassed. A strong data protection law forced Korea to limit disclosure.

The bottom line: Where they exist, robust institutions could still offer resistance. In most other places, the individuals autonomy has already become a virus casualty. Poorer countries where consumers have only recently started going online will see states insist on devices that come with pre-loaded tracking apps. More information will reside on central servers than epidemiologists have asked for or need. But who will stop the juggernaut?

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How to rent a property during the circuit breaker: Tips for landlords – AsiaOne

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The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly all aspects of life. This is especially true for those dealing with property matters, as the Circuit Breaker represents a significant obstacle to the real estate industry.

As we are in temporary lockdown mode, property viewings are halted and supporting businesses, such as property agencies, are also harder to engage.

However, it is not impossible to fulfil rental needs at this time. This article aims to provide simple tips that can help landlords secure leasing contracts with ease and maximise their returns.

Interestingly, despite the Circuit Breaker, there appears to be increased demand for rental properties. For example, the number of rented units increased by 10.8per cent for private apartments 10.8per cent and by 15.4per cent in the HDB sector, as compared to the previous month.

The increase in demand may have been driven by the uncertainties that are brought about by the novel coronavirus.

For example, many tenants may choose to stay put in their current properties instead of relocating to avoid any inconvenience that may arise from the Circuit Breaker. Furthermore, minimising movement will also decrease their chance of contracting the virus.

Also, due to the sudden lockdown by the Malaysian government in March, many Malaysian workers may have opted to rent a property in Singapore because they were unable to return to their hometown for at least a month. Either way, this may actually be a good time to consider renting your property.

Being a landlord can be tricky in good times, let alone during a global pandemic. In this section, we aim to provide useful information for those hoping to lease their property.

Bridging the gap between landlord and tenant with effective communication is essential for ensuring that both parties are clear about their expectations and deliverables.

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It is important to make sure to clearly list all terms and conditions in writing and ensure that the tenancy agreement captures all the necessary details. Additionally, it is important to verify all supporting documents.

When in doubt, we recommend calling your agent or prospective tenant to clarify any details, before signing on the dotted line. Since you are unable to meet in person, it is important to be thorough during the application process.

You may also be heartened to learn that lease signings can happen remotely. According to the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) , digital signatures are deemed valid for executing property transaction documents such as tenancy agreements.

This implies that there is no need for a physical meeting to sign on the agreement, all you need is the digitally signed documents to validate the authenticity of the contract.

Given that property viewings are an impossibility for most landlords and prospective tenants, you will need to get creative. We recommend leveraging technologies to facilitate viewings, meetings and communications.

For this period, virtual or live-streamed viewings may have to suffice. To make the most of these "tours", it is important to make sure your property is organised, clean and well lit.

If a real-time virtual tour is too challenging to handle, it is best to take multiple, high resolution photos from different angles of the property, as well as to shoot a video with your smartphone while you walk through every corner of the premise.

It is important to be as clear as possible because missing out on any details may just lead to disputes when the tenant moves in. To share these videos and photos, simply upload them on sharing platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Even as the Circuit Breaker measures begin to ease off, property-related businesses are still likely to be restricted, this implies that it is still best to defer any physical move, in-personal take-over or handover until the Circuit Breaker period is over.

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However, as stated in the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020, it is not illegal to make a house move at this time. Landlords can still proceed with the transaction but there are some precautions that they have to take.

For example, if landlords need to conduct maintenance on the property before renting it out, ensure to keep these works to emergency household services, such as plumbing, electrical works, locksmiths, repair works pest control and fumigation that are classified as essential services.

Non-urgent works should be deferred until this period is over. Also, it is prudent to advise your tenants who are hiring movers or transportation companies to assist in the move to obtain a permit from Covid-19 dedicated business site before the move.

The assisting staff will also be required to wear gloves and masks and exercise the one-metre safe distancing guideline.

If you have an outstanding mortgage associated with your property, it is worth considering refinancing as a way to reduce your rental expenses.

Doing so can save you hundreds of dollars in monthly mortgage payments and thousands of dollars over remaining years of your loan.

If you're a candidate for home loan refinancing, just make sure to look into any fees associated with refinancing your existing loan or applying for a refinanced loan. In some cases, your current or future lender may impose fees that effectively reduce the value of refinancing in the first place.

It is not entirely impossible to lease a property at this time, there are just more precautionary measures that landlords need to adhere to and more planning required.

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It can be cumbersome to follow through with all the measures but the Covid-19 pandemic is no laughing matter, it has infected over 3.5 million people worldwide and the number is still growing.

This is why we should all be doing our part to prevent its spread. Being willing to take the extra steps will help the community tremendously at this time.

If possible, why not defer the transaction until after the Circuit Breaker period when everyone will have peace of mind and handle the logistics with a bit more ease.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visithere.

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How to rent a property during the circuit breaker: Tips for landlords - AsiaOne

Bringing Back Blogs in the Age of Social Media Censorship – WP Tavern

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Youve probably never heard of Robert B. Strassler. Thats OK, youre not alone.

Early in his career, Strassler worked in oil fields, but he always had an interest inthe classics(the formal designation for the studies of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations). Eventually, Strasslers hobby became an obsession. He went so far as to author his own translation of Thucydides, the Athenian historian of the Peloponnesian War.

The problem was nobody wanted to read Strasslers book. This was in the 1990s. It was more difficult to publish to the web and there was no social media. Strassler approached every Ivy League institution he could find. Nobody was interested in reading a manuscript about Thucydides penned by an oilman with no formal credentials. That was the situation until Strassler contacted Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist professor in Fresno, California. Hanson agreed to look at the manuscript and was astounded by Strasslers work: a brilliant, highly readable translation of Thucydides including maps, diagrams, and charts. Hanson helped the disconnected oilman get in touch with a literary agent. Strasslers landmark edition became the standard translation of Thucydides. Still read today, The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War is as successful as any book on the classics can bein the age of Twitter.

Those of us who take the idea of democratic publishing seriously rejoice at how the field has opened to include anyone who has something to say and is willing to write it down. Thats why we should be more alarmed when we see social media companies crowd the spaces once occupied by blogs and do-it-yourself content creators. We see a decline in diverse opinions as the web quickly becomes less free and more autocratic.

How many Robert B. Strasslers are being stifled today by biased algorithms and arbitrary community guidelines?

In March, as COVID-19 exploded into a worldwide panic, the web gatekeepers weve come to rely on quickly massed around a singular interpretation of events andstifled dissenting voiceseven mild ones.

YouTube, the second largest search engine in the world, demonetized all videos that mentioned COVID-19, Coronavirus, or any term related to the pandemic, and herded viewers away from content creators and toward the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the sameCDC that first advisedagainstwearing masks. Even medical practitioners who deviated slightly from the prevailing visionwere removed from the platformafter gaining millions of views.

Experienced journalists who questioned official decrees (surely, the role journalists are expected to perform) were targeted with hit pieces and character assassination by their own peers.

As author/professor Cal Newport noted in anop-ed forWired, much of the dissenting viewpoints and on-the-ground data have become part of the mainstream conversation even after being suppressed by a small group of decision-makers:

We dont necessarily want to trust engineers at one company to make the decisions about what topics the public should and should not be able to read about.

How many times have you clicked on a link in a tweet and received a message as shown in the following screenshot?

Adults should be trusted to determine what kind of content is harmful (if such a thing exists) without the assistance of Twitter employees and their partners. And, are these warnings actually meant to protect people or simply to shield Twitter from corporate liability? I think we can guess what the answer is.

Its not only those without official-sounding credentials who are being barred from sharing content. Creators who clearly have experience in their fields of study are also facing arbitrary censorship.

The Great Courses Plus, a streaming service that produces college-level video courses taught by actual professors, was threatened with a ban from Google if they did not remove COVID-19-related content from their app. In an email to subscribers, the team wrote:

Google informed us they would ban The Great Courses apps if we continued to make [Covid-19] in-app content available. We are working with Google to ensure that they understand our content is factual, expert-led, and thoroughly vetted, so that we can remedy this misunderstanding as soon as possible.

The videos in question included content from Dr. Roy Benaroch, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine; Dr. David Kung, Professor of Mathematics at St. Marys College of Maryland; and Dr. Kevin Ahern, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University. How or why these scholars were found unworthy of Googles imprimatur is a mystery. As the public does not presume to give Google programming advice, perhaps Google could return the favor by not pretending to be experts on epidemiology, immunology, and virology.

The only way to see these offending videos is on the Great Courses website, where Googles authority is not absolute. It happens to be a WordPress-powered site. For intellectuals and laymen who value free expression, having your own website is becoming the only way to make sure you can keep it.

The problem of pitting credentials against experience in a zero-sum conflict is fixable, and WordPress is a big part of the solution.

WordPress allows capable scientists, economists, and medical professionals in other fields to write at length about their ideas without fear of being blocked by arbitrary restrictions. Also, the five-minute install (which does take a little more than five minutes for many people) imposes enough of a barrier to entry to discourage cranks.

We like to think of the internet as a true egalitarian system, where every voice is given equal consideration, but deep down we know thats not exactly how it works. Network effects tend to form hubs of concentrated influence around a handful of websites. This isnt always a bad thing. A recipe blog with poor taste and no pictures deserves fewer readers than a blog with great-tasting recipes and high-resolution images.

There is still room enough in the network for certain nodes to grow in size and influence based on the quality of their content. A node with enough backlinks, good organic search rankings, and high-quality content will gain an audience, and be able to keep it, without fear of corporate reprisals or aggressive algorithm updates.

If we really care about democratizing publishing, we wont always like what we read. There will be disagreements, but democracy requires a literate population eager for debate. We can challenge, discuss, and learn.

There are a lot of Robert B. Strasslers out there in the network, waiting patiently to be heard.

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Bringing Back Blogs in the Age of Social Media Censorship - WP Tavern

#MeToo in the land of censorship – Human Rights Watch

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Screenwriter Zhou Xiaoxuan speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at her home in Beijing, China, on January 16, 2019, detailing her involvement in China's #MeToo movement.

Two years since the #MeToo movementtook offin China, Chinese feminists are battling headwinds in a political environment where the ruling Communist Partys control over the Internet, media and independent activism is tighter than it has been in 30 years.

Chinas party-state has zero tolerance for collective actions, so the countrys #MeToo movement has never been able to manifest in mass street protests. But individual victims have taken their cases to court, demonstrating extraordinary determination and resilience.

Facing intense slut-shaming on Chinese social media platforms and censorship of discussions of her case, University of Minnesota student Liu Jingyao who is suing, in a Minnesota civil court, Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong for an alleged rape vowed tonever settleor sign a nondisclosure agreement (prosecutorsdeclined to charge him in the case, and he maintains that the sex was consensual). Similarly, screenwriter Zhou Xiaoxuan who is suing, in a Beijing court, famed state media anchor Zhu Jun for alleged sexual harassment and assault, which hedeniessaid, Even giving me 100 million [yuan], I wouldnt settle.

Under pressure, the Chinese government has made limited improvements. In December 2018, the Supreme Courtadded sexual harassmentto the list of causes of action, making it easier for #MeToo victims to seek redress. Yet China still lacks robust laws against sexual harassment.

Silenced in their home country, Chinese feminists have increasingly found footingoverseas. Utilizing the relatively free and safe space in Western countries, #MeToo activistshold protests, discussions and trainings, and provide support to their counterparts inside China.

In late 2019, authorities detained Huang Xueqin, a journalist and leading figure in Chinas #MeToo movement, for three months for unknown reasons.Upon release, Huang reportedly wrote: This is Xueqin, and Im back. One second of darkness doesnt make people blind.

Amid the vast darkness, nevertheless, Chinese feminists persisted.

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#MeToo in the land of censorship - Human Rights Watch

The people have cancelled… there’s a new kind of censorship in town – Independent.ie

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Covid-19 is playing havoc with the publishing schedule - Roddy Doyle, Ottessa Moshfegh and David Mitchell are just some of the bestselling writers whose book launches have been pushed back from spring to late summer or autumn. Online book sales have gone up during lockdown, but without tours, readings, signings and festivals, it's hard to get attention for new books. Come September, we'll be facing a glut of new titles in what is already the busiest publishing month in the calendar. Unless we're back in lockdown and the new releases are pushed back till next year...

The vista is gloomy for publishers and authors, unless you have a controversy on your hands. Turns out this is the perfect time to publish a 'cancelled' book, as independent US publisher, Arcade, demonstrated when they fast-tracked Woody Allen's memoir, Apropos of Nothing, for release on March 23. That memoir came with more baggage than a jet-setter. On March 2, Hachette announced that it had acquired the book and would be publishing in April. Cue a Twitter storm fuelled by two of Allen's children - Dylan Farrow, who accuses Allen of molesting her when she was a child; and Ronan Farrow, scourge of Harvey Weinstein, and stout defender of his sister's right to be believed. Farrow is also an Hachette author for his bestselling Weinstein expose, Catch and Kill.

Since the Farrows' position on Allen is long-established, Hachette had presumably factored in the backlash and decided to weather it. What they didn't factor in was a hundred or so of their employees striking in solidarity with Dylan and Ronan. This caused Hachette to cancel the memoir, just four days after they'd announced its acquisition. Stephen King tweeted that this made him "very uneasy. I don't give a damn about Woody Allen. It's who gets muzzled next that worries me".

Arcade, who have published Beckett, Tolstoy and Octavio Paz, spotted the chance to pick up a household name while standing up for freedom of speech, with founder Jeannette Seaver emphasising: "We as publishers prefer to give voice to a respected artist, rather than bow to those determined to silence him." And they were lucky with timing - the memoir appeared the day after New York went into lockdown over coronavirus. No bookshops, signings, book tours or festivals, and no gatherings of more than four people, means no opportunities for protests and placards. The Twitter trolls who love to insult and threaten publishers and bookshops into cancelling tours and signings lost traction. Preventing a book being ordered online appears to be beyond their powers.

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The religious right in the US tried to get JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series banned from libraries because of Satanism

Samir Hussein/WireImage

Flatiron, an imprint of Macmillan, may have looked on enviously. In January, they published Jeanine Cummins's migrant novel, American Dirt, initially to rave reviews and entry into Oprah's Book Club; then a savage online review by Mexican-American writer Myriam Gurba, entitled 'Pendeja [Bitch], You ain't no Steinbeck' went viral; the hashtag #culturalappropriation started trending; bookstores started cancelling signings and on January 29, Flatiron cancelled Cummins's national book tour and admitted "we made serious mistakes in the way we rolled out this book".

Cancel or gaslight? Censorship, in today's democracies, isn't a state instrument. It doesn't depend on a national censorship board like those that operated in Ireland and the USSR through the 20th Century. Now it's about particular groups coordinating protests to get books 'cancelled'. The 'no-platforming millenials' are one particularly vocal group. Another - diametrically opposed in their world view, and employing different methods, but identical in their aim, eg to stop us reading the books we might want to - are the religious right.

Every year since 2001, the American Library Association (ALA) has published its list of frequently challenged books - the ones that individuals, schools or churches try, with varying degrees of success, to get removed or restricted from libraries. The list demonstrates that millennials have no interest in influencing library reads, but it's the battleground for the religious right. Across the past two decades, almost all the challenged books are children's and YA (young adult) books.

At the start of the millennium, Harry Potter (reason: satanism/occult) and Catcher in the Rye (offensive language) were in the top 10 most challenged, but they've since been edged out by And Tango Makes Three (a picture book featuring a same-sex relationship), David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing (self-explanatory for some) and Alex Gino's George (includes a transgender character).

Since most schools and libraries resist removing the books, these efforts of parents and churches aren't greatly successful and are easy to mock as illiberal and anti-First Amendment rights. The same goes for millennials no-platforming, cancelling and trolling. Using death threats to get Cummins's book tour cancelled (Gurba also received death threats following her review) isn't a good look, and Farrow's show of muscle was a mistake. The accusation against Allen was investigated at the time. New York State child-welfare investigators found "no credible evidence" to support the allegation (although Justice Wilk refused to grant Allen custody), and the Farrow-Allen family rift predates the alleged incident.

Having taken sides so publicly (his mother's), Farrow, as a good journalist and lawyer, should have known to recuse himself. Censorship is never a good look. Whether it's the State operating a draconian censorship board, or the religious right trying to strong-arm libraries, or millennials taking to Twitter to 'cancel' and 'no-platform', the methods seem crude, and the aim ('we get to say what you read') offensive.

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Stephen King has voiced his concern about 'cancel culture'

NY Daily News via Getty Images

Woke millenials are at their sophisticated best when they move away from no-platforming and start gaslighting. If you want to cancel a book, it's much smarter to undermine, than ban it. The aim is to pull off the trick of the tailors in the Emperor's New Clothes - eg make the reader doubt their own taste and opinions. The insults deployed in the Cummins row - 'cultural appropriation' and 'check your privilege' - are the perfect weapons to discombobulate the average novel-reader, so liberal, so middle-class and so desperate to be right-on (by the way, the furore didn't harm Cummins's sales - American Dirt is a bestseller in the US and Ireland - but her critics successfully changed the discourse so that the next person writing outside their cultural experience will find it harder to get published). In the same spirit, Ronan Farrow would have done better to give Woody enough rope - reviews are resoundingly hanging the memoir on its tone-deaf attitude to women.

Home fires

In Ireland, we don't need persuading that cancelling and no-platforming are counter-productive. Irish libraries don't publish lists of challenged books, but the memory of 20th Century State censorship has left us with little appetite for book banning. Liberals have a knee-jerk reaction and conservatives fear the backlash when the censor goes in too hard. It's now almost impossible to get a book banned in Ireland (the only one since 1998 is Jean Martin's astonishingly titled The Raped Little Runaway in 2016).

The books that have been most likely to stir controversy in Ireland in recent years are memoirs. In 2006, Kathy O'Beirne's siblings called a press conference to dispute her account of her upbringing in the bestselling Kathy's Story, in which she alleges an abusive home life, followed by further abuse in religious institutions. (The press conference was a familiar scenario, recalling Limerick DJ, Gerry Hannan's attack on the veracity of Frank McCourt's memoirs, Angela's Ashes, in two ripostes, Ashes and Tis In Me Ass). A journalist, Hermann Kelly, wrote a riposte, Kathy's Real Story, rejecting O'Beirne's version of events. However, O'Beirne's original publishers, Mainstream Publishing, stood by her robustly, as did her ghost-writer, Michael Sheridan. Her first (and only) book is still available on Amazon, without a disclaimer.

Can you 'cancel' memory? In 2005, Augusten Burroughs and his publisher, St Martin's Press, were sued in Massachusetts by the Turcotte family for "defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress" over their depiction in Burroughs' bestselling memoir, Running with Scissors. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum and Burroughs agreeing to recognise on the acknowledgements page that the Turcottes' "memories of the events described in this book are different than my own".

Also in 2005, there was uproar - played out on Oprah, of course - when James Frey was found to have fabricated sections of his bestselling addiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces. His publishers, Random House, offered a refund to readers who had bought the book. The controversy put the onus on future US publishers to comprehensively fact-check all memoirs (a surely impossible task, recalling Lloyd's George's description of arguing with De Valera: like trying to pick up mercury with a fork).

Underlying neuroses

If you want to know what a society fears, look at what it seeks to restrict, ban or cancel. In the 20th Century, Soviet Russia banned, inter alia, Orwell's Animal Farm and Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago; Ireland banned Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls and Marie Stopes's Married Love; Pakistan, India and most of the Middle East banned Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. It's clear what each feared: politics, sex, and religion, respectively.

So what does the current situation with regard to cancelling/challenging books tell us about what our contemporary societies most fear? The answer is quite surprising - we seem to fear ambiguity and to crave absolute certainty. The religious right fears sexual and gender ambiguity and craves biological certainty; the woke no-platformers fear narrative ambiguity (only write what you know) and crave moral certainty (the Great Artist has to be a Good Person); and every reader who dishes out 15 for a memoir wants legal reassurance that it happened in just the way the author says it did.

But boys will be girls, great writers will be assholes, and memory will always play us false. Now that the world has gone so spectacularly beyond our control, we may as well relinquish the illusion that we have any control over the narrative. And if you're a publisher with a book that offends against absolute certainty and seems likely to provoke dissent, now is a good time to get it out. Coronavirus has cancelled the cancellers.

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The people have cancelled... there's a new kind of censorship in town - Independent.ie