What virtual reality is like: Novice plays Hulk in Oculus game – CNBC

After 15 minutes of much-needed rest, I was ready to try the beta version of Marvel Powers United VR, which is not set for release for many months.

By this time, I had figured out the Touch hand controllers a key technology improvement that helps players take better advantage of what's known as a "mixed reality" environment.

Such an environment allows players to not only use their hands in the game but also to see them, as well as having multiple points of view from within the game, said Jason Rubin, vice president of content of Oculus, during the presentation by him and Mitchell prior to the demo.

"Games have had just one camera," Rubin said.

"Now, we've put the camera in the game," he added, which was no small engineering feat. "Mixed reality took a lot of work."

It also produces a lot of fun.

Thanks to some more expert instruction, my virtual Incredible Hulk character learned to bring his huge fists together to generate energy. That energy glowed in front of me the Hulk as I stood in a gigantic room the size of a warehouse.

Enemy characters moved around me at the edge of the room, or ran along a catwalk above it.

By swinging my arms down violently, I was able to unleash that energy, which rippled across the floor of the room like an earthquake tearing up asphalt.

Soon I was able to target these energy blasts, known as "Thunderclaps," at my virtual foes with deadly accuracy.

At other times I hurled their bodies across the debris-filled room with a move known as a "Seismic Toss," according to my game guide.

Although I had largely missed out on the action in the first game, in Marvel Powers United I was able to protect my teammates, including a wise-guy raccoon called Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

He, in turn, saved my virtual, green, hulking self from laser gun fire on multiple occasions.

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What virtual reality is like: Novice plays Hulk in Oculus game - CNBC

Doctors are saving lives with VR – USA TODAY

Jennifer Jolly/ Special for USA Today Published 8:00 a.m. ET July 28, 2017 | Updated 11:54 a.m. ET July 28, 2017

Jennifer Jolly takes us inside the Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, where a groundbreaking new VR simulation is helping train doctors to better save the lives of children. It's part of Facebook's Oculus for Good program. Jennifer Jolly/Special for USA TODAY

Jennifer Jolly practices hospital life-saving techniques using Oculus Rift.(Photo: Roddy Blelloch/Special USA Today)

Earlier this year, inside a cramped, windowless corner office at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, I put on a virtual reality headset and tried to savea little girls life.

It wasnt real, of course, but it sure felt like it was. The blotchy, wheezing, seven-year-old struggling to survive while suffering from anaphylactic shock was nothing more than a bunch of digital polygons. Still, the experience triggered every real human reaction youd expect, flooding my brain with fear, stress, and anxiety.

Once I slipped the VR goggles off of my head, one other emotion struck me too: excitement. After a few tough years for the virtual reality industry, a wave of medical VR programs are breathing new life into this cutting-edge technology.

Patient in Oculus Rift simulator.(Photo: Oculus Rift)

Just this past week, VR made headlines for helping surgeons separate conjoined twins in Minnesota. The National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center uses it to find weak spots on viruses. Virtual realityalso made remarkable headway treating PTSD in soldiers, educating pediatric heart patients and their families, and speeding up rehab in stroke victims.

The medical uses are pretty amazing, says Unity Technologies Tony Parisi, one of the early pioneers of virtual reality. Were seeing the perfect confluence. Anything you can do to train people more quickly, effectively, and cheaply is a boon to the healthcare industry. VR is a rapidly evolving technology that solves a lot of problems here.

Virtual reality tested by NFL as tool to confront racism, sexism

VR has yet to find the right problem to solve for mainstream consumers, and has suffered for it. The technology that powers high-priced headsets like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and even portable VR gadgets like Googles DayDream and Samsungs Gear VR is undeniably impressive, buthasnt lived up to the hype.

In 2016, analysts at Super Data Researchpredicted as much as $5.1 billion dollars in sales of VR hardware, software and accessories for the year. The reality was actually around $1.8 billion. Even those companies that bet big on virtual reality have recently slashed prices, too, throwing in freebies, and doing just about anything to get VR gadgets off the shelf and into the hands of everyday people.

Using an Oculus simulator, a doctor checks the pupil of a virtual girl undergoing anaphylactic shock.(Photo: Oculus Rift)

Does that mean VR is a flop, akin to Google Glass? That augmented reality predecessor to VR was met with jeers and criticism by the general public, and Google shelved the product before announcing its reboot as a business device earlier this month.

Not a consumer flop, saysTirias Research principal analyst Kevin Krewell, but rather "over-inflated and over-hyped."

"When Facebook bought Oculus for two billion dollars everyone said, Mark Zuckerberg just bet two billion on it, Oh, this is going to be huge,'" Krewell notes.

"It will be, just not overnight.

VR gadgets such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Sonys PSVR are well liked, and receive positive reviews from the tech community. Yet they've yet to strike a nerve with the masses, likely due to a combination of cost, content and comfort.

The deep-pocketed backers of virtual reality have faith it will happen. Until then, it's gaining momentum in business and science applications.

The heart is a complicated three-dimensional organ, and its really hard to describe whats going on inside of it especially when something is going wrong, says David M. Axelrod, MD. The clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicineis spearheading the development of a new virtual reality program called Stanford Virtual Heart.

Dr. Joshua Sherman, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, has been using virtual reality simulations to prepare for real-life medical emergencies.(Photo: Roddy Blelloch/ Special for USA Today)

Through a VR headset, the program gives medical trainees the freedom to explore and manipulate a lifelike human heart as it hovers in front of them, spotting defects and becoming more familiar with the issues heart patients experience. Virtual reality eliminates a lot of that complexity by letting people go inside the heart and see whats happening themselves its worth way more than a thousand words.

The freedom that VR affords is priceless, but its also helping to reduce cost. At Childrens Hospital L.A., doctors are trading high-priced training mannequins for VR headsets, ditching the cost of purchasing and maintaining plastic models, which can top $430,000 every year, and adopting a virtual trauma center where lifelike virtual patients are fighting for their lives.

The VR patient changes color of skin, monitor changes, the sound of the monitor changes, those are all cues to us that okay, I have to do this now or else Im going to be in trouble, Dr. Joshua Sherman, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at CHLA, says. And when you make that action, you watch it change and that gives you positive reinforcement that you did the correct thing, or the incorrect thing, if the situation gets worse. VR is amazing for that.

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at jj@techish.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenniferJolly.

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Doctors are saving lives with VR - USA TODAY

VR technology for new Bears QBs? It’s a virtual hit – Chicago Tribune

Mike Glennon and Kevin White high-fived as they jogged back to the Bears' huddle early on the first day of training camp, satisfied they had just taken a baby step forward in the offense's evolution.

Glennon had zipped a pass smoothly over the middle. White was open and caught it in stride, just as the coaches drew it up. It was the type of play the Bears need to make more often to pull the parachute cord on their NFL plummet.

And they now have a new tool in that quest.

Ten yards behind the line of scrimmage for that play and most others this summer, there's a 360-degree video camera perched atop a skinny, 8-foot pole.

That addition to Bears practices this year marks their entry into the realm of virtual reality. As the latest NFL team to invest in the burgeoning video technology, it could help thrust them upward as they start a chapter defined by their quarterback overhaul.

The Bears mainly hope it will help them overcome the shortage of practice repetitions for Glennon, second-overall pick Mitch Trubisky and veteran Mark Sanchez. There's also an evaluative component that's different from conventional overhead video.

Trubisky, for example, can strap on a VR headset in the comfort of a classroom and see and hear exactly what Glennon did as he dropped back on that crisp completion Thursday.

"I'm really surprised what that technology has allowed us to do," Trubisky said. "Especially calling plays in the huddle I call the play, go out and practice it, and Coach can see on the screen where my eyes are going. So it has helped me with progression and timing without actually going onto the field and having to do it."

General manager Ryan Pace began exploring the use of VR in 2016 as part of his priority to push the Bears into fledgling areas of sports science and technology. The clarity and processing time in VR technology has continued to improve, and the Bears' quarterback changes this offseason increased its value to the franchise.

After a tryout period in the spring with STRIVR Labs, a Silicon Valley-based company with roots in Stanford's football program, the Bears finalized their deal before training camp. They're the seventh NFL team to partner with STRIVR, joining the Cowboys, Cardinals, 49ers, Vikings, Bills and Jets.

"I'm excited about it," Glennon said. "It gives a unique perspective on how you see things. Sometimes you may see something on the field, and that's not exactly how it looks on the (All-22 overhead) film. But when you watch it on the virtual reality, you're like, 'OK, I was right.'"

Here's how it works:

The 360-degree cameras are placed around the field during practice. For the quarterbacks' sake, they're in the backfield.

After practice, memory cards are plugged into a computer, and the footage is uploaded in about 45 minutes. STRIVR software then divides the video into individual plays and classifies it per team specifications.

Then it's ready for the Bears' quarterback meetings with offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and position coach Dave Ragone. One quarterback puts on the VR headset over his head and eyes and holds a small controller, actually an Apple TV remote, Glennon said. He runs through plays that either he or one of the other quarterbacks actually ran in practice.

What the player sees inside the helmet is displayed simultaneously on a laptop or big screen for the others in the room. From there, collaborative evaluations begin.

Said Sanchez: "If I'm looking left and I'm supposed to look right, Dowell can pause it and say, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not what we want. Remember, on this concept versus this specific look, see the corner, see the leverage boom we want to look right.'

Sanchez finds VR particularly helpful for throws over the middle or throws affected by something flashing directly in front of him, like a cornerback's angle defending it. Factors that the overhead video doesn't show clearly. And it helps for quarterback coaches to see through the passer's eyes.

"When you're (watching) the big eye in the sky, All-22 film, it's easy to say, 'Throw it to that guy,'" Sanchez said. "Well, in the pocket you can see a little more if a guy is breathing down your neck. That's why I dumped it down to the back or that's why I threw it away."

STRIVR has evolved quickly since CEO Derek Belch was a graduate assistant on Stanford's coaching staff in 2014. The former Stanford kicker developed the technology as part of his master's thesis, then left coaching to build the company full-time on the advice of head coach David Shaw. In addition to expanding in the NFL, they have branched out to help companies such as Wal-Mart train employees.

"The Bears are very, very much on the leading edge, even though we're in Year 3 as a company," Belch said. "This is still something that scares people. It's still something that's going to take time to permeate every part of the NFL. Chicago is one of the teams diving in. It's a perfect storm with the quarterback situation, but it's going to be so much bigger there."

Indeed, the Bears are starting out slowly with the technology. Although VR can serve other decision-making positions like safety and linebacker, the Bears are applying it only to their quarterbacks for now. If all goes well, they eventually will expand it and apply the data analysis component Belch's company continues to advance.

In the meantime, the quarterbacks are using it daily in training camp. It doesn't replace conventional film study, but it augments it in a way that has quelled any skepticism among them and energized the entire group.

"Experience is worth its weight in gold, right?" Sanchez said. "That's the ultimate idea, and this is trying to get you close to that."

rcampbell@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Rich_Campbell

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VR technology for new Bears QBs? It's a virtual hit - Chicago Tribune

Herbs & Alternative Medicine | Alternative Medicine | eHow

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Food & Supplements – Tortoise Food – The Tortoise Shop Ltd

We always want the best for our family pets and the best in this case is a natural diet along with a little help with selection of supplements.

Within this category you will find a weed and flowers seeds which will allow you to grow your own tortoise food at home, if cultivated correctly you could all most have an endless supply.

You will also find available a selection of diet supplements including Vitamins & Calcium, which help your pet tortoise fight against the signs of MBD.

All food sources on our website are suitable for the Mediterranean breeds.

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Dietary supplements linked to more calls to poison control – Heber Springs Sun-Times

Dawn Teer

In a recent American Medical Association newsletter under the Leading the News headline were these three news links on the results of studies on energy supplements such as the ones reported on recently in The Sun Times.

ABC News (7/24) reports on its website that calls to poison control centers in the US caused by exposures to dietary supplements rose by nearly 50 percent between 2005 and 2012, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Toxicology. The study said that a majority of those calls involved children, and the authors support increased FDA regulation for certain supplements that were associated with high amounts of toxicity.

This is the article in its entirety. A new study found calls to poison control centers in the U.S. due to exposures to dietary supplements rose by nearly 50 percent between 2005 and 2012, and that a majority of those calls involved children being exposed to supplements. The report, published Friday in the Journal of Medical Toxicology, called for an increase in regulation by the Food and Drug Administration for certain supplements that were associated with high amounts of toxicity. Researchers combed through all calls that were made to poison control centers in the U.S. related to dietary supplement exposure between 2000 to 2012, and also found that the majority of supplement exposure calls (70 percent) involved children 6 years old and under. Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News' Chief Women's Health Correspondent shared some tips on "Good Morning America" today to help keep your children safe from accidental exposures to dietary supplements, advising parents to treat supplements like prescription medicines, and keep them far away from children. She adds that you should never assume that just because something is "natural" that it is safe. Ashton recommends keeping a poison control center phone number handy in your home, and if you do suspect your child has accidentally ingested supplements, to never induce vomiting without speaking to poison control authorities first.

CBS News (7/24, Welch) reports, Seventy percent of the calls involved children younger than 6 years old, and the majority of cases were unintentional, occurring when children swallowed supplements they found at home. Additionally, approximately 4.5 percent of the time more than 12,300 cases serious medical complications occurred. NBC News (7/24, Charles) reports researchers singled out yohimbe tree bark extract as the latest in a long list of dangerous substances that children are accidentally ingesting. It is noted as being particularly dangerous because it had the largest proportion of serious outcome and has been found to cause heart beat rhythm changes and kidney failure in children. Yohimbe is most often used to treat erectile dysfunction in men and low libido in women, even though there is scant evidence that it works. The FDA has received reports of seizures and kidney failure associated with yohimbe consumption.

CNN (7/24, Knight) reports that ma huang, yohimbe, homeopathic agents and energy drinks were found to be the most dangerous supplements.

These stories seem to support the recent stories Jacque Martin has been reporting on in The Sun Times regarding a student who was given an energy product without knowledge or consent from the students parents.

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Dietary supplements linked to more calls to poison control - Heber Springs Sun-Times

Foods or supplements for maximal health? – News – fosters.com … – Foster’s Daily Democrat

By Pam Stuppy

The supplement market has expanded in leaps and bounds over the past few decades as consumers search for magic bullets toward better health. Glimpses of possible health contributions from assorted substances have led to more and more supplemental products, each promoting their contribution towards a potentially better quality of life and/or greater longevity. This market expansion and the health messages provided by supplement manufacturers have resulted in greater consumer confusion about the need for supplemental products.

Some of the vitamins and minerals that appear in supplemental products have been studied over a number of years for their benefits to our bodies. What researchers are exploring currently, however, are numerous other substances found in plant-based foods that work alone or more often synergistically with each other and/or vitamins and minerals. Think of it as a team working for your health. You may see terms such as phytonutrients or phytochemicals to describe these substances.

Whereas supplements contain limited numbers of nutritional substances, less processed food sources contain thousands of these phytonutrients, and there are probably many more we have yet to discover. One of the largest categories of phytonutrients is flavonoids. More than 6,000 different flavonoids have been identified to date.

Phytonutrients are found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and some beverages. A few examples of their potential benefits would be protecting our bodies from tissue damage, reducing the risk of chronic diseases and promoting maximal body functioning.

Another point of confusion for consumers is the marketing of some food products. Because we are learning that phytonutrients are important for health, some foods are being promoted as superfoods. Measuring the antioxidant capacity of foods (as in the ORAC system) has been one way of establishing a hierarchy of foods. Such criteria are often the rationale behind the promotion of some known and also exotic foods.

These laboratory assays can give us a little information about a foods health benefits, but antioxidant capacity is only one of numerous possible functions of the broad range of phytonutrients. We need to also look at how these substances operate in a body rather than just in a test tube and research has a long way to go before we have these answers. Until then, consuming a wide variety of plant-based foods would be a good goal.

Does this mean that supplements should not play a role in our health? Yes and no. We know that supplements are not a replacement for a healthy diet. A poor diet with added supplements can still result in poor health. That being said, individual vitamins and minerals may be warranted for people with certain medical issues, those who have had surgeries related to the intestinal tract, those taking medications that interfere with nutrient uptake, or people who are otherwise unable to consume adequate food intake.

When it comes to most nutrients, there is a window of benefit between consuming too little and too much. We know that deficiencies can cause problems but in some instances so can overconsumption. A UL (upper tolerable limit) has been established for most of the vitamins and minerals. Above this amount, there is concern for some negative side effect. Between supplements, fortified foods and beverages and other sources, consumers may be exceeding the UL.

Be aware that the supplement market is not tightly regulated. Some products may contain contaminants, may not contain what they say they contain on the label, may not dissolve appropriately, may contain excessive amounts, may promote unproven benefits and are often costly.

Some vitamins and minerals when consumed at the higher supplemental doses also compete with each other for uptake into the body. They may also interact with or interfere with certain medications. The level of nutrients available in foods is rarely a concern, however.

Some supplements that may be helpful to certain individuals might be vitamin B12, iron, vitamin D, magnesium and calcium. Dietary B12 requires acid in the stomach for availability but the supplemental form does not. Older adults who may have lower stomach acidity or people taking medications that lower stomach acid may want to take B12.

People with iron deficiency anemia could benefit from an iron supplement but this should be monitored because excessive iron is detrimental. Intake of supplemental iron and calcium should be separated by at least four hours.

A supplement of vitamin D may benefit those who get limited sun exposure (such as people living in northern latitudes, those with limited time outdoors or who use sunscreen, people who are overweight, and those with darker pigmented skin). A blood test can determine vitamin D status.

Most people should be able to consume adequate calcium and magnesium for bone health from a healthy diet. If not, the dose of the magnesium supplement should be kept to less than the UL of 350mg/day.

Note that the body cannot take in more than 500mg of calcium at a time, so doses higher than this amount should be split over the day. Calcium carbonate should be taken with meals due to the higher stomach acid needed for absorption. Calcium citrate does not require acidity so is the recommended form for older individuals with lower stomach acidity and for people taking medications that reduce stomach acid. Be aware that some studies of postmenopausal women showed an increased risk of kidney stones with calcium supplement doses over 500mg/day.

So, in answering the question as to whether foods or supplements are better for health, in some cases it may be a balance between the two. Ideally, a healthy diet made up of a variety of less processed foods, with special emphasis on those that are plant-based, should be the foundation for securing the wide range of nutrients needed for health.

Pam Stuppy, MS, RD, CSSD, LD, is a registered, licensed dietitian with nutrition counseling offices in York, Maine, and Portsmouth. She is also the nutritionist for Phillips Exeter Academy, presents workshops nationally, and is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics. Visit http://www.pamstuppynutrition.com for nutrition information, healthy cooking tips and recipe ideas.

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Foods or supplements for maximal health? - News - fosters.com ... - Foster's Daily Democrat

Silicon Valley looking to extend life | News, Sports, Jobs – The … – Tiffin Advertiser Tribune

So it was that Eos, goddess of the dawn, fell in love with Tithonus, a handsome young prince of Troy and, beguiling him with her beauty, brought him to her palace on Mount Olympus.

They lived happily for many years but, being mortal, age eventually overtook Tithonus. In her despair, Eos beseeched Zeus to grant her love immortality. Moved to pity, he granted her request but even the king of Olympus could not bestow eternal youth on a human for that would make him as one of the gods.

As one age passed into the next, Tithonus, withered and shrunken, cried incessantly for release from his torment but Zeus could not undo a wish once granted. It was Eos who eventually provided her poor lover a measure of relief by transforming him into a cicada. Now each summer he emerges from the ground with a fresh body to sing in eternal praise of his beauteous goddess. Or is it rather a lament over his crusted, hollow shell of a body?

Many of the myths and stories we have long told ourselves are cautionary tales against the dangers of hubris, our overconfident pride and arrogance before the gods. Divinity will mete out retribution to those who forget their place in the natural scheme of things. Chief among these absolutes of the human condition is our mortality; we all must die and woe betide any who would seek to have it otherwise.

But consider this statement from the website of the California Life Co. (Calico), a biotechnology firm established in 2013:

Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Executing on this mission will require an unprecedented level of interdisciplinary effort and a long-term focus for which funding is already in place.

The company is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., whose most famous other subsidiary goes by the name of Google. By 2016, Larry Page, Alphabets CEO (and co-founder of Google) had committed the company to contributing $240 million to Calico, with an additional $490 million should it be needed.

Calico is by no means the only Silicon Valley outfit investing big dollars in the life extension sciences field. SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) Research Foundation, founded in 2009, and Human Longevity Inc., founded in 2014, are two of its better-funded competitors but there are others.

Whats going on here? Lets start with some data. Since 1900, the average human life span has increased by 30 years. But with this, so have the rates of age-related health issues such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and dementia. In the U.S., up to age 44 the leading causes of death are accidents and violence. From there to age 65, its cancer and heart disease after that.

Medical advances are making significant inroads on each of these diseases and they may be conquered within your childrens lifetime. What then? Well, epidemiologists suggest a cure for cancer would only add 3.3 years to the average lifespan while the prevention of heart disease would tack on another four years. The elimination of all disease likely would only extend life into the mid-90s.

To go further, the aging process itself must be slowed. Even in the absence of disease, our bodies senesce as our organs, tissues, cells and macromolecules accumulate damage at an ever-increasing rate. Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging has observed that if you just kept aging at the rate you age between 20-30, youd live to a thousand. But at 30, everything starts to change. Thereafter your risk of mortality doubles every seven years.

Most longevity scientists are health spanners, seeking a healthier life with a compressed morbidity (i.e., a quick and painless death). But immortalists like SENS Research founder Aubrey de Grey and futurist Ray Kurzwell believe science can carry us much further. If aging is encoded in the DNA of our genes, they argue, there should be no technological reason why we couldnt identify and address those parts of our genomes that are responsible for senescence.

Like so much else in modern biology, medical research is increasingly becoming an information science. To find the genetic correlates of aging will entail the compilation and analysis of an almost unthinkable mass of biotechnical data. Who has the big-data skillset and financial resources to back such an undertaking?

Silicon Valley.

But what about the economics, ethics and religious implications of an immortality united with youthful vigor? Should aging be viewed as a medical disease to be treated as any other or are we just asking for it with such hubristic thinking?

Ken Baker is a scientist and a retired biology professor. If you have a natural history topic youd like the author to consider for an upcoming column, email your idea to rweaver@advertiser-tribune.com.

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In Appomattox, civilian side of the Civil War comes to life – Lynchburg News and Advance

APPOMATTOX Housewife, Lucifer, lucet circa 1865, each had special wartime meaning, and not necessarily what people expect in modern English.

The first term didnt denote a married homemaker; it meant a bundled cloth lined with buttons and sewing needles. The second did involve a fiery devilish figure, but in this sense, merely a match ready to strike.

And lucet? A handy tool dating to the Vikings that crafters in the mid-1800s still used to spin yarns into cord, a staple of the era.

All these now-outmoded items and a few others, viewed as key components of a soldiers haversack, are part of an often under-appreciated side of the Civil War: the civilian-driven supply chain.

In Appomattox, the birthplace of peace among the states, historical re-enactors in recent days showed visitors how many of these tools and supplies are used and made, hewing as close to the 1860s as possible a century and a half later.

It was all part of the yearly activities of the Pallas Athena Ladies Aid Society, a group devoted to serving Civil War soldier re-enactors through the parallel efforts carried on by civilians.

Volunteers, mainly from the mid-Atlantic and Florida, take part in battle re-enactments and living history presentations to keep detailed knowledge of the Civil War alive over the years.

Its an independent and neutral group composed of people of all age groups who distribute free comfort supplies to the acting soldiers. In the past week, the Civil War Museum on Horseshoe Road served as the venue for the supply chain re-enactment.

We love to do it. We are history nuts to begin with, Helga Torbert, who trekked from Tallahassee, Florida, to take part, said during Sundays event. To me the civilian activities are easy because I sew, I knit and do other sorts of needlework, so its a natural extension.

Accompanying her from the societys Florida group was Karen Kugell, who worked on rolling up housewives on the cabin porch outside the museum.

Around Kugell were various trappings from the Civil War era: bandages, handkerchiefs, candles, copies of the Soldiers Prayer Book. All of these would be sent alongside their gear to help soldiers make it through the harsh travails of war.

Ive been involved in historical re-enacting for many years more than 20, said Kugell, who was there for her second year.

She pointed out as a general rule, the societys re-enactors make their own clothes along with the soldiers supplies.

Its a love of history that keeps her coming back, Kugell said. Its enjoyable to present how people lived during the period of the Civil War, she added.

In the cabin, re-enactor Tim Dvorak, of Ruckersville, showed a skilled hand using the wooden lucet to turn string into tightly wound cords.

A good supply of cord played an essential part of comfort and survival in the woods and fields of wartime, he explained.

Usually Dvorak works on colonial-era re-enactments, so hes new to the Civil War unit.

I am in the future this weekend, he quipped.

Dvorak said he recalls a historian as saying living history is a societys collective heritage, and Dvorak believes events like the re-enactment preserve that.

My focus has been on the skills and crafts, he said.

Cord-making was a common activity of the 1860s, Dvorak said; so was making sashes and belts, as well as woodworking.

These are very basic skills then that most people have never heard of, he said.

Some crafters could even build chests without using nails, which are taken for granted today.

It goes back to an era when nails were too expensive and hard to come by, Dvorak noted. You have shortages and supply disruption, the blockade.

The same went for the things people wore, he said: You made your clothes last because you just couldnt replace them.

Along with interpreted supply displays, the Pallas Athena Ladies Aid Society provides soldier food and field cookery. Re-enactors offer history for children, a field hospital, textiles and dyeing, herbal medications for military pharmacies, a wagon train for refugees, and more.

The society has more events on tap in Virginia, including in October, re-enacting the Battle of Cedar Creek in Middletown.

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In Appomattox, civilian side of the Civil War comes to life - Lynchburg News and Advance

Ribbon cutting held for Fields Avenue extension – The Daily Citizen

In the spring of 2007, city of Dalton and Whitfield County officials met to discuss the possibility of a TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) program dedicated to improving the transportation infrastructure of the city and county. Working together, city and county transportation and administrative officials put together a project list which had more than 50 specific road and bridge improvement projects. Later that year, voters approved the TSPLOST.

One of the city's top three TSPLOST projects was the widening and extension of Fields Avenue from Underwood Street south to East Morris Street. This project had three main objectives.

Traffic congestion relief: This project gives an alternate north-south route to Glenwood Avenue, which is heavily congested during certain times of the workday. This project provides the last leg of a three-lane roadway beginning at East Morris Street and extending north to Cleveland Highway. A new traffic signal at MLK Jr. Boulevard and Fields Avenue provides a much safer intersection.

Quality of life: This project improves the quality of life for this area by providing sidewalks on both sides of the street. Since schoolchildren who attend either Blue Ridge Elementary or Roan Street Elementary who live within 1/2 mile of either school are not provided bus service, sidewalks will make their walk to and from school each day much safer. Biking and walking is also safer for everyone.

Economic development: The East Morris Street corridor is one of the fasting growing areas for startups of small businesses in the city. This new street provides greater connectivity for those businesses and customers.

Project facts

Project length was 3,650 feet (one-third of that was new location construction from Nelson Street to East Morris Street).

Construction contract: Just under $5.1 million and was completed by Northwest Georgia Paving Inc. of Calhoun.

Project involved widening Fields Avenue from two to three lanes from Underwood Street to Nelson Street and constructing three new lanes from Nelson Street to East Morris Street.

Two new traffic signals were constructed:

1. At East Morris Street and Fields Avenue/5th Avenue.

2. At Fields Avenue/MLK Jr. Boulevard (corrected an offset problem that traditionally had a high number of crashes).

MLK Jr. Boulevard was also widened to five lanes to accommodate left-turn lanes at Fields Avenue.

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Ribbon cutting held for Fields Avenue extension - The Daily Citizen

On the Internet, No One Knows You’re a Doghouse – E-Flux

What does it mean to speak of postinternet cities or postinternet architecture? To invoke any post- term (postinternet, postmodern, post-technological), especially in the context of that trusty binary of utopia/dystopia, we seem to have an a priori whiff of the future. And yet the word alone reveals the truth of its pointing to a post hoc condition; of reflecting on something that has already come to be status quo.

When I began using the term postinternet over a decade ago to describe my own art work and that of my peers that I wanted to support, I had no inkling that I was starting a controversial movement or coining a term over which others would fight about the provenance, insisting it must have been this or that man that actually said the word before me or knew better what he meant than I did. I could not project that Kanye West would come to call himself the Postinternet Disney and describe his wedding seating chart as arranged according to postinternet philosophy, or that Id one day open the catalogue for an exhibition I was in and find anonymously quoted London gallerists laughing around a far away dinner table about wanting to kill me for having coined the term.

Image from The New Yorker,cartoon by Peter Steiner, 1993.

As I feel Ive now had to repeat endless times over the last decade, only to constantly read that postinternet art has yet to be defined, or to endlessly see people compelled to place the words so-called before the term, I was simply doing two things in using the word Postinternet":

1. Describing my own work, which was a combination of art made online and art made offline, after the internet, i.e. immediately after logging off and in the style of the internet, both celebrating and critiquing itmuch as I also did online, independently and in my pro-surfer work as a founding member of the collective Nasty Nets;

2. Working at Rhizome, an organization then about to celebrate its tenth anniversary of supporting internet art, I wanted to expand the mission statement to address internet-engaged art that could be offline or online. At the time, it seemed radical to propose that a painter, photographer, or textile artist could be an internet artist and that these underdogs could use our support. Who knew postinternet was about to be the most common submission theme at the Frieze fair?

Both of these sentiments were informed by my having been a part of the new media scene since the mid/late-1990s. It all came out of a zeitgeist in which Id been influenced by the other artists I was seeking to champion (not to mention the thinking of much earlier artists like Nam June Paik, who said even in the late 1960s, Cybernated art is very important, but art for cybernated life is more important, and the latter need not be cybernated), as well as curators & critics like Sarah Cook, Steve Dietz, Josephine Bosma, Jon Ippolito, and Lev Manovich, whod all expressed related sentiments, including the fact that new media was not really new anymore and the novelty had worn off. In a sense, these were organizers shoring up and riding a line between utopia and dystopia: Whereas theyd once gone out on a limb to identify experimental forms and practices in art, those practitioners were now starting to feel ghettoized in the small niche expression zones painstakingly carved-out for those using technology to make art, whereas the rest of the world was using technology to do everything.

I summarize this old story here for those readers unfamiliar with it and to draw out a point I feel might be germane to the discussion of postinternet architecture. One small, yet often overlooked aspect of the postinternet movement is its social context. In a broader art world in which curators are controversially including their partners in biennials and nepotism abounds, social connections are often a dirty joke, if not a secret, but I think it behooves those with an interest in city planning, architecture, and broader concepts of world-building to consider these social aspects when they draw on networked culture and aesthetics to design for the social and emotional needs of communities that are increasingly defined by their relationship to digital media. I do not mean to imply that nepotism was the word of the day and that it should also drive architecture, but rather that sharing, social bookmarking, the old saw that information wants to be free, and a spirit of internet friendship were the guiding ethos behind the genesis of the movement.

Sondra Perry,Lineage for a Multiple-Monitor Workstation: Number One, 2015.Courtesy of the artist.

Much as I referred earlier to the late-90s dichotomy between what new media artists were doing with technology and how the rest of world related to it, the reason that the term postinternet now refers to a status quo is that, certainly for those who are reading and exchanging the word (those whom I presume to be literate Westerners with access to the World Wide Web), the internet is a given. We know what it is, what it looks like, what its aesthetics and many of its inside jokes are about, and were not surprised when we see its vapors offline: Yelp stickers on restaurant doors, emoji magnets, Tumblr aesthetic bedsheets, etc. In fact, we increasingly see very little difference between online and offline, because the internet keeps our calendar of events, GPS helps us arrive at destinationsmoreover, technology often helps us be in two places at once, we live-tweet and Instagram experiences (if only in our minds and conversations), we punctuate our downtime by checking our phones for emails and texts, and as we so often joke, we never log-off.

If there is any reason at all to have a word like postinternet (and at this point, it really could be any word), it is to have a placeholder to discuss the situation of network conditions. Feeling unable to unplug (due to the forces of capital, the infrastructural reach of the grid, family expectations, FOMO, etc.) is but one of many symptoms of network culture, which may also include the perversion of the notion of transparency in the slippage between surveillance and software lingo; the dismissal of failure and the abject along with a conflation of disruption and experimentation; a naivet as to the physicality of infrastructures and the spatial logic of the net; the ongoing veiling of physical, intellectual, and affective labor involved in the production and maintenance of network culture and its participants; an outdated assumption that technological determinism is somehow teleological; and finally two that relate most to our purposes here: an overarching internet centrism, a la Jaron Lanier's cybernetic totalism that casts an anthropomorphic lens on the net privileging a singularity in which nature and technology are fusing in a misguided assumption that technology and the net will solve all of our emotional problems; and lastly a kind of eschatological cynicism of the doomedness of the network (and hence human cultures) that has led to the misnomer (and subsequent criticism) that "post-internet" refers to the death of the internet, a fallacious techno-apocalypse.

All of that said, to imagine planning for the city of the future in the context of designing postinternet architecture is to imagine designing for the singularitya moment in which the intelligence, creative, and emotional capacity of humans is seen to merge with or be surpassed by machines. It should be pointed out that this concept is defined by its speculative nature, and that various writers have cast it as utopian versus dystopian. As an artist and cultural historian of technology, my interest lies in the perseverance of the theory, as an artifact, and the way that it reflects and even affects (as a phantasmatic byproduct of programmers and developers who subscribe to the ideal) the way that we share information across social networks and the public sphere writ large. After all, these are our commons and the spheres around which we bounce and mold our ideas of public and private. In fact, I would argue that the introduction of metaspheresof online and offline spaces that are both real and different worldshave bifurcated these concepts so that we have more than one notion of public or of private. There can be private acts in public space, public records of very private information, an insistence on privacy that stands parallel to a persistence in frequent public disclosure.

Installation view of Signe Pierce, Virtual Normality, 2017.

Its almost as if the more we try to push toward these binaries, the more tenuous they reveal themselves to be. To give in to them is to be locked into a kind of Althusserian subjectivity that queer theory has described all too well as a non-choice. If we try to persist with frameworks of proposed heterogeneity that really offer only a sequence of either/or choiceschoose your own adventure: public or private, inside or outside, utopia or dystopia, skyscraper condo or suburban duplexwe may in fact be both liquidating all fantasy potential from the concept of the utopic and overriding the greatest creative tactic at the disposal of the overall schema of postinternet art, which falls under the rubric of appropriation.

To speak first to the latter, I mean to say that whether a work of postinternet art is online or offline, in any medium or duration whatsoever, part of its distinction as such is its participation in conveying, critiquing, existing under or during the conditions of network culture. The work itself is somehow part and parcel of those conditions, and one likely would not have to look hard to see those symptoms. This ability to appropriate at a sort of constitutive, DNA-level blows open the shutters on discourses of relationality, binarism, perspectivalism, and either/or states of being. This is where postinternet meets sci-fi meets 17D-modeling.

This is where we meet fantasy and look back to the future. The literary and film theorist Jos Esteban Muoz wrote, in Cruising Utopia, "The here and now is a prison house. We must strive, in the face of the here and nows totalizing rendering of reality, to think and feel a then and there. Some will say that all we have are the pleasures of the moment, but we must never settle for that minimal transport; we must dream and enact new and better pleasures, other ways of being in the world, and ultimately new worlds. Muoz, a pioneer among queer theorists in arguing for a postbinary way of looking at the world, drew on close readings of multiple artists to expand the definition of queer to embrace a broad vision of an alternate reality: Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world."

I am not an architect, not a city planner, not even an engineer or psychic with a great sense of what the future holds. I am simply a city dweller. A resident. Ive called four countries home in my life, and numerous cities. Ive read and even taught all the great undergrad theories on the poetics of space and place, and their phenomenologies and semiotics too, but at the end of the day I find myself thinking more about Black Mirror and Tron and Tati than Bachelard or Merleau-Ponty when I think about the future and what I may or may not want in a living space. I think about FOMO vs JOMO (the Fear of Missing Out versus the Joy of Missing Out) while at home, isolating oneself from humans on a social network, and the relationship between windows in rooms and computer screen windows. I wonder about the smart devices were going to be living with and if they are going to be smart enough to trick us into actually going outside now and then, or to tell when were lonely or even dead, rather than just lying very still for a very long time, uploading and downloading material to and from our consciousness. I wonder how tall the buildings will need to be to accommodate our planets growing population, and sometimes I just imagine buildings like the ones we have now, copied and pasted many times on top of each other. I just wonder if we will be able to see this sky of ours that we keep polluting with new technologies and the factories that produce them in, and the server farms that run the social networks we use to organize our environmental protests on

But above it all I try to keep an open mind. I remember that those speculative forecasts about unregulated growth, the ones that would pitch our dwellings and computer brains into an endless scroll, are just speculation. Its not like we wouldnt be there to keep up with it. Its not like we wouldnt be participating in the design and appropriation, going along for the cruise. And its not like Im describing the status quo and not a future, right?

Post-Internet Cities is a collaborative project between e-flux Architecture and MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology within the context of the Utopia/Dystopia exhibition and Post-Internet Cities conference, produced in association with Institute for Art History, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and Instituto Superior Tcnico Universidade de Lisboa, and supported by MIT Portugal Program and Millennium bcp Foundation.

Marisa Olson is an artist, writer, and media theorist. Her interdisciplinary work combines performance, video, drawing and installation to address the cultural history of technology, the politics of participation in pop culture and the aesthetics of failure.

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On the Internet, No One Knows You're a Doghouse - E-Flux

Two steps to automation – iTWire

There are three main factors contributing to the increasing interest in intelligent automation (aka robotic automation) Avanademanaging director Sarah Adam-Gedge (pictured) told iTWire.

The digital transformation wave is continuing to break across most industries, organisations are getting better at handling their data, and they are hitting a productivity plateau after offshoring and industrialising processes, they need to find new ways to improve their competitiveness.

A related issue, she said, is that there are jobs that people are increasingly reluctant to do, as in the case of Woodside Petroleum's experimental use of a NASA Robonaut.

But despite those improvements in data management, data is still one of the biggest challenges to adoption, suggested Adam-Gedge. It is not enough to merely apply fresh technology to existing data, so the area is "very much a work in progress." Organisations should be thinking in terms of "big insights" rather than "big data.

Pegasystemsvice-president of robotics Francis Carden has a somewhat different view. He sees robotic automation as "tactically strategic" in the sense that it allows existing processes to be streamlined as a stopgap until they can be reengineered.

Customers are demanding "modern" interactions with organisations, and "you can't do that with all this legacy (software)", he told iTWire.

But what you can do is look for the frequently performed, time-consuming manual tasks required by legacy software and automate those. For example, a customer or employee onboarding process that involves multiple systems can be made much faster through the use of automation.

Such projects can be carried out very quickly as a stopgap, while new software is implemented on the Pegasystems platform. This approach is being used by the company's customers in the banking, financial services and healthcare sectors, Carden said, adding that Pegasystems' local customers include Telstra, Westpac and ANZ Bank.

Companies using dozens of applications won't be able to compete with those using newer and more streamlined systems, he suggested.

For example, a chatbot built using this sort of technology can work, but it doesn't learn in the way an AI-based bot does. However, such projects have very quick time to value and so are "truly as tactical as it gets".

Apart from any other considerations, legacy systems are becoming increasingly expensive to run, so organisations need to declare them end-of-life. But they need to bridge where they are to where they want to be.

"A large number of Pegasystems customers are doing robotics" and the technology is providing a pipeline of new customers, he said.

He doesn't recommend this approach for customer-facing systems. Established organisations face competition from new companies with low costs, that are "personable," and offer a good user experience (think in terms of some of the newer insurance companies). Robots don't change the experience enough, he said, so it is better to move to modern software more quickly.

People are realising that we are approaching a point where big improvements can be made quickly by replacing legacy software, Carden said. But for now, large numbers of applications have been deployed to fill the gaps in old-fashioned monolithic systems, and that provides plenty of opportunities to gain value through automation.

Robotics "has got to be part of something else", he said, "we're interested in customers who want strategic change".

Forrester has noted the way Pegasystems offers a range of business applications based on the same platform as its digital process automation suite which includes robotic process automation and other functions.

Growing awareness of machine learning will lead to increased attention being paid to data, said Adam-Gedge.

There are also organisational issues, so leadership skills are important. In particular, employees may be "culturally hesitant" about the introduction of automation, with concerns about whether such systems will eliminate jobs, and whether they will actually work in the specific circumstances.

An "HR bot" might be good for handling many routine inquiries such as questions about the annual leave policy, leaving staff to concentrate on issues around the employee experience, wellbeing and wellness.

Or a smart augmented reality system may improve the likelihood that field service staff will be able to fix faults immediately.

Carden seemed sceptical about suggestions that automation would merely free staff to do the more interesting tasks. Saving time will normally mean fewer staff, he said, unless there's a lot of work that's simply not being done at present. (Another possibility is that the improvement in productivity will lead to extra business, providing more work for the employees. But since that's unlikely to happen overnight, it seems probable that some will be retrenched and then other people hired as business picks up.)

Adam-Gedge also pointed to the way "machines are able to do things we never could do", such as using sensor data to drive predictive maintenance programmes that have the potential to save millions of dollars by extending the useful life of assets.

A recent survey of organisational leaders found that more than half of the respondents regard automation as a way of augmenting rather than replacing people, she noted.

But just because it is possible to do something, that doesn't mean you should. This is an "extraordinarily hot issue", she said. Technologists need to understand what is possible in regulatory as well as technical terms, and consider the position of stakeholders with regard to what they are trying to achieve with automation, and what is legal and ethical.

Organisations are spending more time considering such issues, said Adam-Gedge, and are "no longer just giving a set of requirements to a technologist".

Setting the right boundaries makes it possible to seek the benefits of automation while avoiding its bad side.

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Two steps to automation - iTWire

How Will We Deal With Workplace Automation? – The Good Men Project (blog)

Driverless semi trucks are expected to hit the road in full force as soon as 2020. While this will make the industry more efficient, the question over what happens to 3.5 million truck driving jobs remains.

We hear about the potential impacts of work place automation when it comes to trucking, manufacturing, retail and more. Right now there are 1.64 robots to every 100 employees in the U.S. and that number will likely only climb over time. Korea has 4.78 robots per 100 workers, Japan has 3.14 per 100 workers, and Germany has 2.92 per 100.

As the number of robots per worker grows, the cost of implementation for robots in the workplace will shrink. Eventually, it will become cheaper for technology to do the work that humans are currently doing.

Some of the top industries potentially impacted include:

Insurance underwriter

Farm laborer

Construction laborer

Fast food

Trucking

Mail curriers

A global average of 57 percent of jobs will be at risk to work place automation as the future grows. Its scary stuff. So the question becomes, how do we prepare for a future where jobs arent necessarily threatened by immigration, but by technological progression?

The struggle will likely be felt by millions of Americans. Strong political leadership can help smooth out the transition. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently spoke in front of the governors association, with the suggestion of legislating the upcoming artificial intelligence boom.

Its hard to look at a possible bright side when the scope of the jobs created by the automation process isnt immediately clear. There are entire industries now that revolve around technology that wasnt here 20 years ago (cell phones for example), and that trend will likely become more explosive. There will be new careers and new fields permeating the workforce as we enter into an even higher-tech world. Someone will need to make and maintain the technology used.

This list of the 21 hottest jobs of the future still holds several staples such as nurses and elementary school teachers, but it also includes software systems developers, research analysts, computer and information system managers, computer system analysts, software application developers and more. These are the fields that may be most spared by automation and also the jobs that will likely have a hand in shaping the future of the country and the world.

The people in industries most heavily impacted by automation will no doubt struggle. The more you understand about the potential risks you face now, the better. It will be a tough reality for people with 20-30 years experience in these industries.

If we do enter into a situation with millions out of work, how do we prop the economy back up? Thats where universal basic income comes into play. There are a lot of questions surrounding this debate that will need to be answered.

Will a universal basic income work?

Do we have the political will? Right now it seems the government is more interested in tackling an immigration problem.

How much would be given?

How much would it cost and who would pay for it?

What kind of exclusions would we make?

Could this lead to an explosion of creativity and entrepreneurship? Or would it kill productivity?

Can governments continue to afford this on a long term basis?

Avoiding the risk

The main factor for whether your job is at risk for automation is how routine your job is. Everyone in the American workforce will need to look at how vulnerable there industry and specific job is to automation. They might need to be looking at the emerging alternatives as well to determine how to create the most viable future for themselves.

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Photo credit: Getty Images

Matt Brennan is a marketing copywriter, occasional parenting writer, and journalist in the Chicago area. He is also the author of Write Right-Sell Now.

Original post:

How Will We Deal With Workplace Automation? - The Good Men Project (blog)

Trump’s comedy politics is distracting humans from the age of automation and looming job losses – South China Morning Post

The US presidential election last year was a choice between two second world war acronyms: snafu (situation normal, all f***** up) and fubar (f***** up beyond all recognition).

American voters faced a choice between a candidate who personified the political status quo, and a candidate who promised the disruption of that status quo. With Hillary Clinton, there was the certainty that nothing much would change. With Donald Trump there was the chance of quite a lot of change, but the risk was that it would be change for the worse. Twelve months ago, it was dawning on me that there might just be enough voters willing to gamble on Trump, knowing full well that the outcome might be fubar.

Since Trumps election, I have tried to swim against liberal opinion. The more commentators proclaimed the advent of tyranny and the end of the republic, the more I tried to argue that the Trump administration belongs firmly in the tradition of American populism. The more journalists cried Watergate, the more I tried to show that Trump isnt Richard Nixon: with his dynastic approach and louche personality, he more closely resembles John F Kennedy.

My goal has not been to defend Trump, but rather to expose the inconsistencies of his critics. However, the time has arrived to break the bad news to those who voted for Trump.

You wanted change. You got it. But the result is a political system that I can now officially certify as fubar. This is not politics. This is fubatics.

Seven months ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan was proclaiming the opportunity of a lifetime for Republicans. Having achieved unified government control of the White House and both Houses of Congress their party was poised to enact a transformative legislative programme: repeal and replace Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, comprehensive tax reform and a roll-back of economic regulation.

Yet,the Senate could not even agree on a skinny bill to repeal just parts of Obamacare. The same week, the Republicans abandoned all hope of passing the border adjustment tax, without which there can be no permanent cuts in corporate and income tax. As for deregulation, this was also the week when Steve Bannon, the chief presidential strategist, said he wanted to regulate Google and Facebook like public utilities.

Wait. Right now Google and Facebook are free. By contrast, I pay hundreds of dollars every month to the utilities.

Fubatics is to politics what comedy is to news. Ever since Americans began to get their politics from comedians such as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the danger was that the politicians would respond by providing their scriptwriters with material for gags. We have now reached that point.

Newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, last week told a New Yorker journalist that his colleague, chief of staff Reince Priebus, was a f****** paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac ... I want to f****** kill all the leakers and I want to get the presidents agenda on track. He took to Twitter to imply that Priebus was guilty of a felony in leaking details about his finances. By Friday, Priebus was gone. The previous weeks casualty was press secretary Sean Spicer. Next on Trumps hit list: Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Unified government? These guys are unified the way the cast of Reservoir Dogs were unified. Or maybe Goodfellas.

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, the plan to render most Americans, and most humans, unemployed goes forward. If you dont live in northern California, you tend to assume that it will be decades before self-driving vehicles are the dominant mode of transport.

Nearly half the jobs in America are at risk of being automated over the next decade or two

Michael Gove, the British environment secretary, announced that the sale of new diesel and petrol cars would be banned in the UK by 2040 to encourage people to buy electric vehicles. This surely underestimates Tesla founder Elon Musk, not to mention the car makers chasing him in the race to bring e-cars to the mass market. Goves worries about diesel fumes remind me of The Times 1894 editorial warning that by the mid-20th century every street in London would be buried under horse manure. Despite evidence of the accelerating pace of technological change, we humans remain chronically bad at making realistic projections about our economic future. The American Trucking Association says the number of jobs for truck drivers will be 21 per cent higher in 2020 than in 2010. Yet self-driving vehicles are already on the road in several US states.

There are 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the US. It is the most common job in most states. But they sit where drivers of horse-drawn carriages once were: on the brink of unemployment. Nor are they alone. Nearly half the jobs in America are at risk of being automated over the next decade or two, according to Carl Frey and Michael Osborne of Oxford University. Looking at global employment, the McKinsey Global Institute has concluded that half of todays work activities could be automated by 2055, but this could happen up to 20 years earlier.

Trump voters thought it was globalisation that destroyed the good jobs in American manufacturing. In reality it was globalisation and technology. Now technology is getting ready to destroy the not-so-good jobs too.

As an economic historian, I cling to the hope that predictions of the impending redundancy of humanity, like similar predictions at earlier stages of industrialisation, will turn out to be wrong. As a reader of Dostoyevskys Notes from Underground, I also expect bloody-minded humanity to put up more of a fight against the automation of the world than Silicon Valley expects. This is why Google and Facebook are the new targets of Bannons populism.

Yet, as I watched my son play gleefully with a toy robot called Robosapien, the Action Man we gave him for Christmas forgotten, suddenly I felt a sense of kinship with that poor, discarded doll.

The goings-on in Washington are the comedy politics of a distracted age. But the more attention we give @realDonaldTrump on Twitter, the less we pay to the economic revolution all around us. The future belongs to robotics, not fubatics.

Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford

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Trump's comedy politics is distracting humans from the age of automation and looming job losses - South China Morning Post

Abolitionists still have work to do in America – The Guardian

In this current moment, abolition is more important than ever. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

What does it look like to build a city, state or nation invested in communities thriving rather than their death and destruction? To ask this question is the first act of an abolitionist.

I am an abolitionist. What does this mean? Abolitionist resistance and resilience draws from a legacy of black-led anti-colonial struggle in the United States and throughout the Americas including places like Haiti, the first black republic founded on the principles of anti-colonialism and black liberation.

Black people and our allies fought for black liberation against slave societies and a slavery-based economy and in some cases, we won. Abolition sought to end slavery and white supremacy entirely and liberate black people as stolen people exploited on occupied lands.

However, abolition has yet to fully achieve a society and a world where black folks and our lives are recognized with equal value and where institutions have repaired the harm caused to our people.

The backlash to the abolition movement transformed slavery and its institutions. And, while we have seen some semblance of emancipation, we still live with the vestiges of slavery every day in this country.

The remnants of slavery are visible in the militarization of police, the expansion of the prison industrial complex, rampant Immigration and Custom Enforcement (Ice) raids and the Muslim travel ban in place in America today. They are reflected in the US invasions, occupation and war against communities of color domestically and around the world. If a state is the source of 36% of all military expenditures globally, then it is resisting abolition. And with the 45th president, this number is on the rise.

In this current moment, abolition is more important than ever.

The United States has more than 20% of the worlds prison population with only 5% of the worlds population. More than half of those incarcerated in the US are black.

Incarceration rates for black women are among the highest, with black women arrested four times more than white women. And across the nation, one in 35 adults are under correctional control (included but not limited to jail, parole and probation). We know this to be true and higher in black and Latino communities.

The cost of the prison system, militarization and this society weighed down by vestiges of slavery is great. A recent study found that in the US, the cost of prisons exceeds $1tn. This comes at the expense of families, children and entire communities. The same study determined that the US governments operational funds for federal and state prisons as well as local jails stands at $80bn.

On top of this lies the emotional, psychological and physical trauma associated with separation, constant policing, raids, arrests, incarceration and law enforcement killings. Black communities and other communities of color are visibly under attack in this country.

Abolition is necessary if we want to see these conditions change. We must commit to transforming these systems.

Were not just fighting against the prison industrial complex, criminalization of black people and other communities of color. We also want the right to determine how we live and build up our communities participation and conditions.

We must ask ourselves, how do we build an abolitionist framework and practice for our movements today?

Abolition pushes us to imagine. Abolition inspires us and abolition reminds us of who we can be.

Imagine a society dedicated to people and our collective wellbeing. What does it take to get there? What examples already exist that we can draw from?

With abolition, its necessary to destroy systems of oppression. But its equally necessary to put at the forefront our conversations about creation. When we fight for justice, what exactly do we want for our communities?

These are the fundamental questions that Black Lives Matter and other black liberation movements push ourselves to envision everyday. The Movement For Black Lives (M4BL) did just this when it gathered hundreds of black organizers to build a multi-faceted policy platform rooted in abolition. The policies range from economic justice to political power and reparations.

An abolitionist strategy must encourage social and financial divestment from the military state and its institutions to social welfare. Our communities must demand dignified housing, satisfying jobs and proper labor conditions, our educational system must be culturally relevant, multi-lingual and teach our histories. Our value should not determined by legal records.

Abolitionists today must challenge Jeff Sessions and his revival of the war on drugs and 1980s Reaganomics under the false pretense of fighting crime. We need to target campaigns against local, statewide and national investment in military, police and their associated structures.

Abolitionism is manifested in the LA No More Jails coalition, which works to stop the county that jails the most people in the world, Los Angeles, and the citys proposal for a $3bn expansion. The coalition calls for an immediate stop to jail construction in LA county and a reduction of the number of people locked up. LA No More Jails fiercely advocates that those same resources be redirected into community solutions.

The Anti-Police Terror Projects Defund OPD (Oakland Police Department) committee stands on a similar platform. Its mission is to reduce OPDs budget by 50% and reinvest money into non-police programming in the city.

According to APTPs research, OPD absorbs nearly 50% of the citys general fund. More statistics can be found here. OPD is committed to responding to the citys shameless excuse that theres no money, where do we cut? with concrete strategies that encourage community based initiatives instead of police response or engagement.

It costs $209,000 annually for New York City per inmate at Rikers Island prison. Around 89% of those incarcerated in Rikers are black or Latino. The #CLOSERikers campaign understands that the fight is not simply to close down the prison but also reduce the number of people arrested and fix the court systems.

This coalition of diverse New York-based organizations seeks to boldly reimagine the citys failed criminal justice system and focus on healing communities that Rikers has disproportionately affected.

Abolition goes beyond borders. When our ancestors fought against slavery in the US, they also aligned themselves with movements against colonialism throughout the world, such as the Haitian revolution and other black and indigenous movements across the Americas.

Abolition means fighting against the root causes of mass displacement and forced migration. It means taking on the US state and militarization abroad and ending US intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and beyond.

Abolition calls for an end to US funding and vetting of military and police across Latin America and the Caribbean. The Justice for Berta campaign, named after the indigenous leader Berta Cceres, who was assassinated in 2016, comes out of longstanding solidarity with Central America and the struggles of black and indigenous peoples.

The campaigns Berta Cceres Human Rights in Honduras Act demands an end to US funding and vetting of Honduran security forces and calls for investigations into the murders of movement organizers gone unsolved.

Abolition means standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their fight for liberation. My experience in Palestine radically transformed my analysis and practice of abolition. Sharing space with our Palestinian brothers and sisters made it clear to me that our movements must look at the international ramifications of the US state and militarization abroad. We must continue to participate and support the movement calling for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the Israeli state and corporations that support and enable the occupation of Palestinian land.

Our movements must deeply divest from prisons, policing and militarization and demand investment in our communities, our basic needs, services from education, housing and healthcare to reparations.

Abolition centers a call for genuine freedom and places black folks and our liberation at the center because when black people are free, we are all free.

The rest is here:

Abolitionists still have work to do in America - The Guardian

Thousands are trapped in ‘no man’s land’ over their pensions – Independent.ie

Thousands are trapped in 'no man's land' over their pensions

Independent.ie

The number of people forced to retire at 65 years of age - but not entitled to a pension until 66 - is soaring.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/thousands-are-trapped-in-no-mans-land-over-their-pensions-35983067.html

http://www.independent.ie/incoming/article35896701.ece/3b68b/AUTOCROP/h342/page12_pensions.jpg

The number of people forced to retire at 65 years of age - but not entitled to a pension until 66 - is soaring.

New figures show that 5,000 older people are now in this 'no man's land' when it comes to social welfare entitlements.

They are obliged to sign for the dole and formally pretend they are "available for work" until they qualify for the old-age pension 12 months after being forced out of the workplace.

Fianna Fil welfare spokesman Willie O'Dea says the numbers left in this position will continue to grow as the Irish population ages.

The problem will be compounded by the raising of the pension age to 67 in four years' time, and a further rise to 68 inside a decade.

Fianna Fil is now pushing for the abolition of compulsory retirement at 65, allowing people the option of working on if they wish and are able to do so.

Mr O'Dea argues this is part of an overdue multi-pronged approach to tackling Ireland's "pension time-bomb".

"It is high time for action on the pensions issue. There are many people in jobs where they would be willing and able to continue working after the age of 65. It would not suit everyone, especially people in labouring work, but it would be a fit for many people," the Limerick City TD said.

But Mr O'Dea condemned a recent report for the Government-backed 'think tank', the Economic and Social Research Institute, which recommended raising the pension age to 70.

It is now clear that the loss of taxes from people of working age, and the accompanying rise in the pension bill, will place a huge strain on the Irish economy.

Read More: Political parties are scared witless of upsetting the so-called grey army

The 2016 Census showed numbers aged over 65 had grown by 100,000 over the previous five years, to a total of 640,000. The current pensions bill is put at 7.2bn, or over one-third of the entire spend on social welfare.

In 2013 the formal pension age was increased to 66 years and the so-called "retirement pension", which bridged the gap for those obliged to quit at 65, was abolished.

Instead, people in that position are now obliged to sign on the dole. From 2021 the qualification age for the old age pension will increase to 67, going to 68 by 2028.

Mr O'Dea said it was disturbing to learn that there are now 5,000 people aged over 65 signing for either unemployment assistance or unemployment benefit.

"After years of work, retired people are entitled to their dignity and a feeling that they have earned a pension. It is entirely wrong that they are put in this bogus position by the social welfare system which is poorly thought-out and uncaring."

Meanwhile, Fianna Fil leader Michel Martin has said any suggestion he won't be seeking a rise in the State pension in the Budget is "disingenuous".

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he "absolutely" plans to hike the pension next year but Mr Martin told the 'Sunday Independent' he would not say "yay or nay" on the issue.

He said the Government should focus on the area of disabilities and carers.

However, he issued a statement yesterday denying there was any dispute over pensions between Fine Gael and Fianna Fil. He said the Confidence and Supply Arrangement provided for an increase in the old-age pension over the next number of years, and claimed credit for last year's 5 increase.

"Fianna Fil wants to see pensioners looked after in Budget 2018. However, no specifics have been discussed at this stage," he said.

Irish Independent

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Thousands are trapped in 'no man's land' over their pensions - Independent.ie

JLFW to host first Education Empowerment Series – WANE

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) For over 75 years, the Junior League of Fort Wayne has been committed to improving the lives of women and children through volunteer leadership in the community. And they have a new series coming up focused on issues, activates and education to help kids get ready for school.

Kelli Packnett, Community Vice President for Junior League of Fort Wayne, shared all about it on First News Sunday.

On Saturday, August 5, the Junior League of Fort Wayne (JLFW) will host their first Education Empowerment Series event, a new fundraising model for the League.

It will feature speaker Amy Speidel. She is a national presenter and a certified Parent Coach. She is a birth parent, an adoptive parent, and has been a foster parent. Speidel brings a humorous and insightful perspective to her presentations by sharing many personal insights about the challenges and the delights of children. Her message is one of hope that transforms educators and parents who yearn for a better way, a more conscious way. to discipline their children and themselves.

High-caliber speakers from highly regarded educational and leadership organizations work with the Education Empowerment Series to teachers, parents, daycare owners/employees, and leaders in Northeast Indiana.

Read more:

JLFW to host first Education Empowerment Series - WANE

RadKIDS combines safety and fun | K-12 Education … – Columbia Missourian

COLUMBIA One by one,kids sat in the middle of an open room with helmets strapped under their chins and decked out in training pads.

Either Deputy Eli Burkholder or Detective Cody Bounds, wearing full RedMan training suits, would approach them and feign abduction. Each kid would punch and kick their way free from the officer and run to safety on the other side of the room.

The scene sounds bizarre, but its part of routine training for the Boone County Sheriff's Departments radKIDS program. The program, which stands for resisting aggression defensively, took place Saturday at the department building.The program is a personal empowerment and safety education program for children ages 5-12, according to the department website. The Saturday session was for kids ages 9 to 12.

RadKIDS is a national program that was started in 2000. The program that the Sheriffs Department currently uses, which includes more about internet safety for the modern generation, began in the spring of 2015 when Captain Martina Pounds from the Boone County Fire Departmentgot involved.

The program starts with what Pounds described as classroom time, where she and other instructors talk to the kids about general safety and the difference between good and bad people. Pounds said the class doesnt like to use the word stranger.

Just because theyre a stranger doesnt mean theyre bad, but just because you know them doesnt mean theyre good," she said.

Pounds said they stress that potential predators can be people the kids are already familiar with even family.

Unfortunately, most crimes against children are from people they know, she said.

After classroom time, the kids get a hands-on experience to practice the defensive techniques they learned against Burkholder and Bounds, volunteers to be punched, kicked and yelled at.

In the practice situation, Detective Andy Evans, another instructor, gave each kid an everyday scenario they may be in when an adult shows aggression towards them. When either Burkholder or Bounds approached them or grabbed them, the kids demonstrated techniques like a hammer fist or a heel kick to fight back against their fake attacker.

A tactile experience with that kind of a situation is something that Kirk Wing of Columbia wanted his sons, Bruce, 9, and Henry, 7, to have. That desire came from his own experience learning self-defense.

Me and their mother both took the self-defense course offered by (MU) and we found great value in the techniques we learned to deal with attackers and such, Wing said. I wanted them to get the same type of experience, including the simulation, that I did so theyll be better prepared for whatever they come across.

Despite the real problems theyre learning to defend themselves against, the kids have fun with the demonstration part of the class. Pounds said their enjoyment helps then learn.

Kids tend to remember better when its fun, she said. We try to make it fun for them, but on the other hand we try to make them understand, hey, if youre ever in this situation, you need to know how to defend yourself.

Wings sons now have a foundation of knowledge they can rely on if something were ever to happen.

Weve talked to them about these kinds of situations before, but it never went beyond telling them to avoid situations. This (training session) was unique because this taught them that in a time where they wouldnt be able to avoid it, how do you deal with it? he said. Nine out of 10 times theyre not even going to get in this type of situation because theyll know how to avoid it, but this covers the other 10 percent, so I really feel like theyre well-suited to deal with the situation.

Pounds has found that repetition helps to reinforce the ideas and the simple techniques in kids minds. RadKIDS is also a program implemented in elementary schools, usually in third or fourth grade.

We like doing it in the schools because we have the kids over eight weeks, she said. When you have the kids once a week over eight weeks, you really see them developing a confidence and seeing, oh yeah, I can do this.

They can also repeat the weekend class if they want to, as both the classroom time and the demonstration help to reinforce the ideas. Pounds said the kids are receptive to how important the material theyre learning is.

These guys understand that it could save their life, she said.

Supervising editor is Hannah Black.

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RadKIDS combines safety and fun | K-12 Education ... - Columbia Missourian

Q&A: New YWCA CEO Vanessa McDowell emphasizes empowerment – Madison.com

A few weeks ago, Vanessa McDowell made the news when she was named the first African-American CEO of the YWCA Madison, which has been around since 1908.

But as the former interim CEO at the Y, McDowells not new to the job, and shes not new to the city, either. She grew up in Madison and is a longtime member, volunteer and former employee of Mount Zion Baptist Church and an active member of the Madison Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, where she currently serves as the chaplain. Plus, shes a DJ on the side, and mixes music around town at parties and events like Dane Dances.

Now, as CEO, shes on a mission to make sure that the community understands the YWCAs mission (like that it has nothing to do with the YMCA) and to empower the populations the Y serves.

As the first African-American CEO of the YWCA in Madison, youve said theres a banner that I carry with it, but also a weight that I carry with it. Can you explain that?

One of the great things about right now is I have a lot of support from the African-American community. Its like carrying this banner of victory, like Yes, were here, were doing it together! But with our mission to eliminate racism and empower women, to be in 2017 and this is just happening is kind of a weight, too. So weve come a way, but we still have a long way still to go.

With the emphasis on being the first African-American CEO, do you think that at all takes away from your personal accomplishments?

Not at all. I mean, for me, this is really not about me, per se. I just happen to be the vessel being used at this time. So I dont really take into account me personally, my accomplishments or things like that. To me, Im a believer in God, and I just believe that God positioned me at this time to carry this banner and take the baton during this part of the race.

What does it mean for African-Americans to look at a CEO and see someone who looks like them?

I think that makes a world of difference. Just like anything, if you dont see yourself represented somewhere, it makes you feel like you dont belong there. For me, its an opportunity that the door has been opened to say, "you belong here." Were able to get into different communities of color in a different way than we have in the past.

One of your focuses is moving from a charity model to an empowerment model. Some people might think, whats wrong with charity?

I think that model is problematic because it comes from a lens that I know better than you what you need. There is no real engagement with the person, its just kind of throwing this program at you and throwing this money at you, take it. Instead of, Let me walk alongside of you and see what it is that you need from me.

Can you give me an example of empowerment on an average day at the Y?

I think specifically about our YWeb Career Academy. The goal is to get women and people of color into the IT field that is currently predominantly white and male. I get to meet them at the beginning, and theyre all nervous and not sure about this. Like, Okay, Im committing 15 weeks of my life here to very intense training and hoping to come out on the other side. But by the end when they get to graduation, they have the ability to really change their lives forever, because the IT field is pretty lucrative. If you go from not really having much, to now youre able to make a family-sustaining wage, thats a major accomplishment. Thats empowerment.

It started in the home. I have phenomenal parents who have been advocates and community leaders here in Madison and have really done some trailblazing work. My mom was the first director of the Multicultural Student Center on campus.

It was huge, because they didnt really have anywhere for students of color to have a place on campus. She provided a lot of support to students of color who still call her mom. One of the inspiring things for me is that she was 36 (when she became director), and Im 36, so its like this whole legacy feeling.

What are your priorities as CEO, and have they changed at all from your time as interim CEO?

Were still working on those three areas I had in my interim: staff development and morale, building nontraditional partnerships and building an empowerment model, and theyre longstanding goals. It's not like magic happens and you're done with them. But my overall vision for YWCA Madison is that whatever touch you have with us, is an empowering touch that inspires you and uplifts you in some type of way. Whether if thats just you surfing our website, you should be empowered by that website. Things that seem small, they still have a way to touch you.

Is there something that you want the Madison community to better understood about your work at the Y?

One of the things that were working on particularly is making sure that we do tell our story better in the community, just by our social media and things of that nature. And then were also trying to make sure we dont get confused with YMCA, which happens a lot. We have two very different missions; we have no affiliation, even though theyre great. Our focus is really on eliminating racism and empowering women. We dont have a gym.

How did you get into DJing?

I grew up in a musical family. The story of my house is kind of that on Saturday mornings, youre doing cleanup and the musics going, you listen to '70s music, '80s music. Probably about seven years ago now, I was always bringing a little iPod to parties. Everybody was like, Vanessa, bring the music! The a light bulb went off, and I was like, I could probably be making a little money, because I just have this belief that everyone needs a side hustle. (Laughs.) So I invested in some equipment, taught myself the software and the rest is history.

I feel like when you picture the CEO of a major nonprofit, and then a DJ, youd think, oh, that couldnt be the same person.

Ive had people run into me, and its almost like theyre scared to ask me, Are you DJ Ace?

Is there anything else you want to add?

I think we are in a pivotal time right now, not only as far as our country but our city. Theres this kind of glossing over sometimes of the tale of two cities here. Race to Equity really brought up a lot of conversation, a lot of discussions, which was good. But now I feel like were at a pivotal place where we can actually figure out a plan to get rid of these disparities. The question is, are we going to rise to the occasion?

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Q&A: New YWCA CEO Vanessa McDowell emphasizes empowerment - Madison.com

Sowing education and empowerment with needle and thread – The San Diego Union-Tribune

As a girl growing up in a city in northern Togo near the Burkina Faso border in West Africa, Lili Klu figured out that a conventional education really wasnt for her. At 15, she decided to learn a trade: sewing. She turned out to be such a natural that she was able to complete the three-year program in one year. When she moved to San Diego with her husband in 2000, she opened L.K. Fashion Boutique on El Cajon Boulevard and has recently started a non-profit program, Lilis Fashion Academy, to teach sewing and the business of fashion design to women.

I love the creativity (of sewing and fashion), the appreciation on a clients face and that I could educate and empower women, she says. Fashion is always about risk, and one of the biggest aspects of creativity is risk. You need it if you want to be successful in the fashion industry. Risk will set you apart from all the designers, and for me to become a designer speaks to my love for fashion and sewing.

Klu, 41, lives in the Grantville neighborhood with her husband and two sons. She took some time to talk about her new non-profit program, her favorite African fashion designers and her inspiration when creating clothes.

Q: Tell us about Lilis Fashion Academy.

A: Its an educational sewing institute that focuses on teaching the skills needed to master sewing with a variety of techniques needed for a successful career in sewing. Sewing machines helped to emancipate women as it gave them a commercially marketable skill. We believe that as our students learn how to sew for themselves and others, they will obtain these marketable skills that will encourage them to become entrepreneurs and financially support themselves, their families, and supply jobs for people in their community.

The program will develop each participants employment readiness because sewing is a window into history, sociology and economics. This class is designed to get students to complete the program knowing the basics of threading the machine, working the controls, selecting stitches, sewing straight lines and curves, and sewing basic seams while pushing them to specific sewing techniques.

Q: How does the academy work?

A: New students will register and pay a $100 registration fee and get an introduction to the program. Then, theyll start lessons that I teach. To successfully complete the year-long program (which requires no other payments beyond the registration fee), students are required to complete an eight-week capstone project. The project consists of students designing their own fashion concept to fit a specific model. This will be a platform where students take what they learned throughout the course of the program and apply it to examine a specific idea around a model. Each student must make five outfits for five models for their graduation fashion show. On graduation day, the students receive a certificate of completion, and owners of fashion businesses in San Diego will be invited to attend the fashion show to see the skills of our students and to offer them future employment.

This is the first year of the program and we currently have eight students who will graduate next March.

Q: How would you describe LK Fashion Boutique?

A: Our mission is to provide men and women with an upscale selection of African clothes and exists to not only attract and maintain customers, but to spread sophisticated fashion and instill confidence with folks in the West. I moved to San Diego in 2000 and started working as an independent designer for the African community in San Diego.

Its a good place to live and raise a family.

Q: Are there meanings or traditions behind different prints?

A: Yes, theres a lot of meaning and tradition behind African prints, lots of hidden meanings. For example, the kente come from west Africa, specifically Ghana. The kente is a vibrant fabric and the pattern and design represent common African motifs, like religious beliefs. The colors on all African prints have a meaning. For example, red symbolizes death, green means fertility, white expresses purity, and blue signifies love.

Q: Whats your opinion of the fashion scene here in San Diego? How would you describe it?

A: San Diego fashion is very laid back, but the casual sweatpants and sandals every day and for every occasion is not cutting it. We need to spice it up little bit.

Q: What do you get the most requests for?

A: Dashiki prints and actual dashikis are the most popular.

Q: How would you describe your personal style?

A: Simple but still elegant.

Q: Who are some African fashion designers youre a fan of?

A: Kofi Ansah, whos from Ghana but based in London. I think Kofi is really one of the first African designers who brought modern African style and design to another level. He gave the fashion industry a new type of style with graphics and new shapes. Theyre not just clothes that you wear; theyre more than that. Theyre visual, theyre art and each pattern has a story. When you think about modern African style, you think about Kofi first. Hes a pioneer.

Deola Sagoe is an African designer whose work I find to be so creative, and who put Africa before fashion success. I admire Deola because shes an African woman who made it in an industry first ruled by men, and because shes African. Lets be real, female fashion designers are still in the minority. Can you believe that out of the 50 major fashion brands only 14 percent are run by women? Daola is an entrepreneur. When it comes to her work, I respect the fact that she could transform traditional Nigerian designs into contemporary designs. Today, shes well-known for her unique style and most of her creations are made with Komole Kandids motifs. Theyre gorgeous and elegant. I want to have my own signature and be well-known in the industry just like her.

Q: What inspires you when youre creating your clothes?

A: African culture. African wax is a unique textile. The simplest dress can be made with African wax and it will look 100 times better than a regular, plain dress. The pattern is what makes the difference. To create an outfit with this type of fabric is an art because of the bright colors and patterns. You need to find the right balance. Its always difficult for me to work with other types of fabric. I love using African wax because it shows who I am, its my identity. Each pattern has a story and each represents a part of Africa.

Q: Whats been challenging about your work with your fashion business and with your new non-profit academy?

A: It hasnt really been challenging at this point. I love what I do and I love empowering women to become fashion designers.

Q: Whats been rewarding about it?

A: Helping and empowering women.

Q: What has it taught you about yourself?

A: Leadership, teamwork and humility.

Q: What is the best advice youve ever received?

A: Love yourself first and make sure you learn something that you really love.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: I would love to work with Versace or Calvin Klein one day.

Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: Opening the boutique on Saturday and then spending Sunday at church and then at home with my family.

Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @lisadeaderick

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Sowing education and empowerment with needle and thread - The San Diego Union-Tribune