Daily Archives: December 17, 2019

‘It is time to do the right thing’: Tauranga Council gift land back to tangata whenua – RNZ

Posted: December 17, 2019 at 9:44 am

The Tauranga City Council has finally voted in favour of "giving some mana back to iwi" by gifting contested land back to tangata whenua after a year of going back and forth.

Photo: Google Maps

Cheers rang out in the public gallery as Tauranga City Councillors voted in favour of 11 Mission Street being gifted to the Otamataha Trust, to be perpetually leased to the Elms Foundation.

Councillors moved a resolution in September for the land to be given to a joint entity representing both groups.

That was put forward after public consultation in December 2018 showed 58 percent of people were against the land being returned, with some of the submissions opposing land being put back in Mori hands.

But a newly elected Tauranga City Council has now opted for the original proposal.

Three councillors voted against, including Andrew Hollis who accused those voting in favour of political correctness.

"If as councillors you decide to gift completely to Otamataha Trust, then you better look hard at yourselves and decide whether integrity truly matters, or whether you're operating within a framework of political correctness, putting some sort of virtue signalling ahead of the community as a whole."

But Mayor Tenby Powell, who voted in favour, said it wasn't about political correctness, but having "moral courage".

"I do believe it is time to do the right thing and to have the moral courage to do so, and to give some mana back to iwi and at the same time to bring the city together."

Otamataha Trust deputy chair Peri Kohu can't remember the last time a piece of land was gifted back to the hap.

He said tangata whenua have been pushed out of Tauranga for too long, but this has given them hope that they can have true partnership.

"The mayor is really encouraging with the krero that he's betraying because at least he's taking a leading role in bringing some of that together - we've been ready to do that for a long time, we've always been saying, "Where's the partnership?"

The Elms Foundation will lease the land from the hap, and build an education centre.

Chair Ian Thomas is relieved the council has finally made the right decision.

"So much time [has been] spent by Otamataha as well as us over the whims, the changing whims of the council which haven't helped anyone at all, their processes have been pretty poor really... but here we are, we've stuck with it."

He said the foundation will have regard for tikanga in all the work they do.

Next year, the trust will begin demolitioning the existing property at 11 Mission Street, and the connecting property at number 7.

Follow this link:

'It is time to do the right thing': Tauranga Council gift land back to tangata whenua - RNZ

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on ‘It is time to do the right thing’: Tauranga Council gift land back to tangata whenua – RNZ

Wheat Ridge Reads Features Flash Fiction – The Know

Posted: at 9:44 am

Perhaps nothing is stranger, more visually fascinating, than human deformities and abnormalities of nature. Before television brought everything into the home and political correctness made drawing attention to the out-of-the ordinary taboo, traveling shows filled with characters such as the four-legged woman, elastic man, Jo-Jo the dog-faced boy, and the albino family drew curious crowds of all ages.

Such is the world of Madame Velvets Cabaret of Oddities, Nancy Stohlmans flash-fiction novel that is this seasons Wheat Ridge Reads selection. A finalist for the 2019 Colorado Book Awards in Literary Fiction, the book alternatively amuses, shocks and challenges its audience.

The book requires the reader to be an active participant in the story, says Stohlman. Unlike a traditional novel, which takes its time unfolding, flash fiction requires one to be awake, pay attention, or it will fly right by you.

Stohlman discovered the emerging writing genre while attaining her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Naropa Institute a dozen years ago. She struggled with writing a novel of 80,000 words or so, and finding flash fiction was an enormous relief, she says. I can get rid of the part that Im bored to write, that connective tissue that is necessary to tie the long novel together. Now when I write, I think about what I can take out.

The technique also known as micro-fiction reduces a story to 1,000 words or less. Madame Velvets is a series of these stories carefully choreographed to make the whole, using white space as much as words.

Using white space is an intentional negative, letting what you have written resonate against what is not said, explains Stohlman, exhibiting a page where the written words take up less than a quarter of the space. Flash fiction gets at the essence of a story in a tight, hard-hitting, sharp, fast manner that is over quickly, she says.

Stohlman herself is larger than life when she performs. With her expressive eyes, bright red lips, and crisp, clear voice, she has a presence that commands the stage.

Her readings and discussions for Wheat Ridge Reads take place 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 15, at Swiss Flower and Gift Cottage, 9890 W. 44th Ave., and 9:00 a.m., Thursday, January 16, at Ye Olde Firehouse, 3232 Depew St. The events are free and open to the public. She will also be presenting to students at Wheat Ridge High School as part of the WR Reads program.

In addition to being an author, Stohlman is a lecturer in University of Colorados Program for Writing and Rhetoric and is the lead singer in the jazz metal lounge band Kinky Mink. She has published four books and her stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She leads writing retreats all over the world and is the creator and curator of The Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series at The Mercury Cafe.

Wheat Ridge Reads is a citywide book club sponsored by the Wheat Ridge Cultural Commission in partnership with the Wheat Ridge Library and Wheat Ridge High School. Presented annually, the program promotes literacy and a shared reading experience throughout the city. Complimentary copies of the book Madame Velvets Cabaret of Oddities are available at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center and Swiss Flower and Gift Cottage as well as Little Free Libraries throughout the city.

See the original post:

Wheat Ridge Reads Features Flash Fiction - The Know

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on Wheat Ridge Reads Features Flash Fiction – The Know

Jonty Pearce: Musings on the RNLI – Yachting Monthly

Posted: at 9:43 am

Jonty Pearce throws his support behind the RNLI as he reflects that 2019 has not always been smooth sailing for the charity

As I write my RNLI charity Christmas cards my day is darkened by the thud of a Self-Assessment Income Tax Calculation landing on the doormat.

We are all well accustomed to paying our taxes, be it willingly or under duress. The harvested money passes to the Exchequer, who we trust to spend our hard-won cash with care and diligence.

We are all different, with diverse priorities, and government expenditure might not always match up with our approval and preconceptions of fiscal prudence; such is life.

My attention was distracted from my card writing as I picked up the word RNLI on the radio. It was an appeal for donations, though unusually the words shortfall in funds were actually mentioned.

Now, charities come under a slightly different category to taxes in that our contributions, donations, and legacies are voluntary; we can pick and choose and opt for those we feel are the most deserving.

Any charity needs a management structure, and there is great responsibility in running such an organisation based on other peoples donated or willed monies.

The RNLI is facing a shortfall in its funds

All expenditure has to be justified, employment levels scrutinised, and the just causes supported need to be in line with the mission statement.

It is wise to keep politics, personal crusades, and correctness out of the planning process. It is a tough and winding path to follow, and it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time.

Occasional wobbles inevitably will occur. The RNLI appears to be under the spotlight for such a slight wobble from its traditional role.

On the back of crew suspensions and personnel tribunals its finances are reported to be stressed. As a result, some 135 employees have been given notice of redundancy. Is this exceptional?

Probably not, given the current pressures the world of business exists under.

What seems to have upset the apple cart is the expansion of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute into an international sphere.

Continues below

Jonty Pearce continues his cruise north of Ullapool and the Summer Isles in Scotland

Rounding the fearsome Cape Wrath in Scotland proves something of an anti-climax for Jonty Pearce as he cruises north of

We are told that this accounts for only for 2% of its expenditure, but hecklers have already called for the National part of its title to be changed to International. RILI does not trip off the tongue so easily.

So, what is this dastardly activity that has triggered this unrest?

The answer appears to be drowning prevention support in other countries. Now, while drowning prevention is unarguably benevolent, the overseas aspect is the nub of the unrest.

For an organisation whose mission statement (in 2013, anyway) used to be The Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways the addition of work in Mozambique and Tanzania seems outside the stated remit.

Im sure that the mission statement has, of course, been updated, but, as a long-term RNLI Offshore supporter, this fact had slipped under my own radar.

I must admit that I have more compelling concerns in my life, but this activity has upset others, and the fact that it came to the surface of public consciousness just as the charity announced a multi-million shortfall in its funding could be said to be unfortunate timing.

In 2018, the RNLI had a 6.3 million shortfall in funds and its legacy income fell for the first time in five years by 8.5 million.

With invested reserves also reducing by around 10 million due to the challenging economic climate, the RNLI was regrettably unable to keep a firm hold on spiraling costs; its spending increased by 4.5 million. Ooops.

To its credit, in response the RNLI has launched the Perfect Storm appeal to raise 1.8 million by mailshots, emails, and direct response TV and radio advertising such as the clip that caught my attention on Classic FM.

So, should we all just stand by and moan about this organisations manpower and wages bill and beef about overseas lifesaving activities even if they are not in the mission stations small print?

No! This worthy cause needs our support, and we should rally to uphold the worlds greatest lifeboat service.

And be assured, even a cursory glance at the RNLIs response to recent criticism shows that its eye is definitely back on the ball, and that all efforts are being made to restore the Royal National Lifeboat Institute back to its former iconic charity leadership position.

In response to mediaarticles criticising the charitys international work, the RNLI issued these questions and answers:

Why are the RNLI spending money on overseas projects while cutting 135 staff in the UK?

The RNLI has always been dedicated to drowning reduction. The World Health Organization estimates that 320,000 people drown each year worldwide and we believe that with others, we should use our lifesaving expertise to try and help tackle this. Our work so far has shown that simple, inexpensive solutions are very effective; a relatively low investment in overseas projects goes a long way and makes a big difference.

We currently spend less than 2% of the RNLIs total annual expenditure on our international drowning prevention activity and we actively seek donations specifically for this work, including the Isle of Mans International Development Fund and Department for International Development in the UK, both of which have made substantial donations to our international work this year. Providing the very best search and rescue service in the UK and Ireland remains our priority but we are also proud to use our expertise, knowledge and influence to help others save lives across the world, particularly in countries where drowning rates are high.

Since 2012 there has been a steady increase in international expenditure that reflects the increase in the number of projects the team are involved in. However, all areas of RNLI work including our international budget are being looked at and we are reducing costs wherever we can as part of an organisational wide programme of activity to get us back to living within our means

RNLI response to criticism that the charity has misled donors who thought they were donating to save lives in UK and are now surprised to learn that money is being spent overseas?

We greatly value our supporters and have not misled them. The RNLIs international work has been reported in detail in our annual reports going back several years and information is also available from the RNLI website and regularly reported elsewhere. The financial commitment to our international work is reported separately and there has been no sleight of hand.

The RNLIs priority is to provide the very best search and rescue service in the UK and Ireland, but we are also proud to use our expertise, knowledge and influence to help others save lives across the world, particularly in countries where drowning rates are high. Our founder, Sir William Hillary, had the vision that we should extend our views [of drowning prevention] from our own immediate coasts, to the most remote quarters of the globe, and to every neighbouring state. This remains relevant today.

Why are the RNLI involved in doing International work?

We dont operate RNLI lifeboat or lifeguard services overseas instead, we support the work of partners to build local capability. Our international drowning prevention work currently includes educating children in water safety and survival swimming; training personnel in lifeguarding, search and rescue and lifesaving leadership skills, and international advocacy to champion the drowning prevention cause at a global level. Our aim is to increase the number of people who can make a difference to the safety of others in their communities, and share their skills so the lifesaving legacy continues, as well as to call for greater awareness, resources and action at a global level. We cant do this alone, so are working in partnership with other organisations to increase our impact.

Why are the RNLI funding burkinis?

The Panje Project teaches women swim survival skills in Zanzibar. The burkini, which is a full length swim suit is an innovative (and cheap) way of enabling girls in strict Muslim countries, to get into the water without compromising their cultural and religious beliefs. The RNLI have been involved in the Panje Project with the majority of the RNLIs involvement funded by a donor who specifically wanted the money to go towards this project.

Why is the RNLI getting involved in creches?

The Creches for Bangladesh programme helps reduce childrens risk of drowning by ensuring they have close supervision throughout the day. Around 40 children a day die from drowning in Bangladesh.

Children are most vulnerable to drowning between 9am and 1pm when parents must work to feed their families, and are unable to provide close supervision. Community-based creche facilities provide a safe environment for children aged between 1-4. Run by local women, these facilities provide a secure place away from open water for children to play and learn important skills.

Access to a free creche place reduces a childs risk of drowning by an incredible 82%, as well as providing essential early childhood development. We work in partnership with the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB), who are experts in injury prevention and drowning prevention. Alongside CIPRB we have already helped to fund 10,000 creche places for some of Bangladeshs most vulnerable children. All public donations to our recent appeal were matched by the Department for International Development.

Are there any changes or cuts happening to the RNLIs international work in the current climate?

All areas of RNLI work are being looked at as part of our programme of activity to get us back to living within our means, this is underway and we cant confirm any details or figures at this stage.

The main priority is ensuring we can maintain our world-class domestic search and rescue service. Any work we do on top of this will not detract us from our core purpose.

Respond to criticism that the charity has become too hung up on political correctness

As an emergency service, the RNLI must adhere to the very highest standards of safety and behave in a way that meets the expectations of a modern emergency responder. And as a charity, we take our ethical and legal responsibilities very seriously. This means that we expect our staff and volunteers to behave appropriately towards each other, supporters and members of the public. We do not consider this political correctness. We are a charity that our volunteers, supporters and those we rescue can trust to do the right thing whether thats rescuing those in peril, keeping our volunteers safe or making sure anyone who is part of the RNLI feels welcome and valued. And were proud of our volunteers professionalism and our organisations commitment to being a modern emergency service and principled charity.

Read the original:

Jonty Pearce: Musings on the RNLI - Yachting Monthly

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on Jonty Pearce: Musings on the RNLI – Yachting Monthly

Top 10 comedy shows of 2019 | Stage – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:43 am

10

Its often said that Donald Trump is a gift to comedy. But few comics bother with him whats to add? and fewer still do so successfully. Among the best is Curb Your Enthusiasm star Wanda Sykes, the first half hour of whose London date was a concentrated howl of dismay at POTUS 45. It was salutary, it was cathartic and it couldnt sustain, as Sykes set devolved into good but less great material on LA life. But that opening sequence lingers in the mind: as fierce a blast as standup has yet administered to the Maga man. Read the full review.

The Boxer was an absolute gem of a show from one third of the sketch team Beasts, in which McNicholas tells the story of his grandad Terry Downes, a 1960s boxing champ. Cue faux-cockney accent, loving boxing-movie cliches and much self-mockery as McNicholass feeble life is contrasted with grandpas glory. But thats rope-a-dope stuff: theres nothing feeble about The Boxers closing rounds, which come out swinging with big laughs and lumps in the throat, too. Read the full review.

It hosted Michael McIntyre back in the day. But I doubt the mismatch between the size of the Pleasance Courtyards Attic and its performers potential was ever greater than when London Hughes performed To Catch a D*ck there this summer. This uproarious blue-humour hour advertised a personality that demanded attention and delivered it, with gloriously shameless tales of sex, dating and the lower rungs of celebrity. The roof was raised; the profile too. McIntyre-level stardom probably beckons. Read the full review.

Brookes lowered his sights this year, after experiencing burnout with 2018s hi-tech fringe show Bleed. Ive Got Nothing could not have been more low-fi: it featured Brookes on stage with no mic, no props and scarcely any prepared material. But his keen eye remained intact for the faultlines in standup convention and those unsettling areas where joking meets antisocial behaviour and he used it to ruthless effect in this part-improvised hour, which bagged him a well-deserved Edinburgh comedy award. Read the full review.

Steve Delaneys confused alter ego Count Arthur Strong might easily coast through this stage in his career: the popular sitcom is behind him; national treasure status is secured. But his senile, malapropping comedy gets more sublime in this touring show, in which the count bids to supplant Brian Cox as the nations astronomer-in-chief. He teaches us precisely nothing about the cosmos, of course but plenty about bats, Dustbin Hoffman and the Renaissance stargazer Gary Barlow. A tragicomic tour de force. Read the full review.

How do you follow the standup sensation of the decade? Aussie comic Hannah Gadsby would have been forgiven for not trying particularly given that the global Netflix hit Nanette was meant to be her comedy swansong. Instead, she returned with Douglas, cheerfully baiting her trolls, reflecting on a recent autism diagnosis and sending up her newfound prophet status with an audaciously cocky intro. She is, it turns out, in the big league for keeps. Read the full review.

Memories were stirred of the legendary Pappys: Last Show Ever by this big-hitting turn, in the same venue, from double act Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez. It likewise conjures big questions of friendship, young dreams and what they amount to as the duo tell the tale (in sketch, PowerPoint and multi-character fun) of Maxs efforts to reunite Ivans teenage band for the latters wedding. Under Kieran Hodgsons direction, Commitment delivers laugh after unexpected laugh and warms the heart, too. Read the full review.

Theres a particular and intense pleasure that comes from comedians who make you laugh in ways you barely understand. Step forward US standup Kate Berlant, who returned to the UK with another thrilling part-improvised hour. The joke is on Berlants preciousness and narcissism, as she congratulates herself on her brilliance, shows off her (questionable) ESP, and narrates, instant by instant, her experience of existing on stage. Its so in the moment, and constantly, surprisingly hilarious. Read the full review.

We waited almost three years for new material from the minence increasingly grise of alt comedy, and with two new shows, Tornado and Snowflake, either side of an interval Lee delivered handsomely. Exploring the twilight of political correctness and his own place in the entertainment firmament and biting chunks out of fellow standups, Bond movies and the cult of Phoebe Waller-Bridge the beady, ultra-ironic Lee was as funny (looser and more fun, even) than wed ever seen him before. Read the full review.

The Edinburgh fringe has introduced us to many a blazing comic talent from overseas in the past Bo Burnham, Hans Teeuwen and Tim Minchin among them. None made a more vivid first impression than this years dazzling import, Catherine Cohen. A 27-year-old native of Texas, Cohen is a comic cabaret artiste resident at Alan Cummings nightspot in downtown Manhattan. With her UK debut The Twist ? Shes Gorgeous this summer, she hit Scotlands capital like a hurricane, whipped up laughs and plaudits in abundance and left with a best newcomer award in her slipstream.

As with all great musical comedy, her two-for-the-price-of-one offer delivers great tunes and big laughs in equal measure. And these laughs knock the wind out of you. Cohens act is as a fellow comic described it pure id, the kind of Niagara of self-love, self-loathing and snark you get when a brittle, brilliant millennial turns herself inside out for you on stage. Sequins-and-smile fabulous, as sidekick Henry Koperski tinkles the piano stage right, Cohen trills about her ego, her weight, her dating life. Boys never wanted to kiss me, runs the signature lyric, so now I do comedy.

And she does it wonderfully. Every gesture, moue or flash of eye is engineered for humour. Her voice abstracted from words can be as funny as her choicest lyrics. So too her ad libs (after a burp: Im sorry. I literally cant stop creating content) and the detours her songs take into anecdote and confession. Each lead us deeper into the fragile ego of the modern twentysomething, where the strain of presenting a perfect face (or, at least, photogenic vulnerability) to the world threatens to bring the whole structure crashing down. Its monstrous, its ridiculous and, in Cohens hands, its showbiz. Shes a star in the making and the find of the year. Read the full review.

See the article here:

Top 10 comedy shows of 2019 | Stage - The Guardian

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on Top 10 comedy shows of 2019 | Stage – The Guardian

London comedy 2019: The best comedy shows of the year, from Hannah Gadsby to Tim Minchin – Evening Standard

Posted: at 9:43 am

Your guide to what's hot in London

Good lord, havent we all needed a laugh this year? Shout out to all the comedians who have kept us on the right side of despair.

Were paying homage to some of the best gigs of the year, from observational stand-up and big hitters to niche nonsense and newcomers.

These are Evening Standard comedy critic Bruce Dessaus top ten shows from 2019:

Bruce Dessau had his faith in comedy restored after watching John Kearns in his latest show. Distinctive, thought-provoking and steering stand-up into rarely explored waters, Double Take and Fade Away was leagues away from the comedy-by-numbers routines of some arena shows. One minute hes singing the praises of Leonardo Da Vinci, the next he is mocking him, noting that drawing helicopters is not the same as building them. Five stars for Kearnss humour with a philosophical garnish.

Nanette- which became a global smash hit after being picked up by Netflix - was a tough act to follow, but Hannah Gadbsy wasnt put off. If she has not topped Nanette, its sequel, Douglas, certainly matches its brilliance, said Bruce Dessau in his five star review. Douglas had less volcanic ire and more mischief in the show where every detail matters, from Wheres Wallyto mansplaining. Gadsbys masterpiece of a show was met with a well-earned standing ovation.

(Andy Hollingworth)

Tim Minchinsfirst UK tour in eight years saw the fiendishly clever comic deliver a show more music gig than stand-up set except that rock lyrics are never, ever this funny. From songs such as Rock n; Roll Nerd to a very curse-heavy F**k This, he had the audience in stitches all the way up to the rafters.

This is Lee the clever crowdpleaser, said Bruce Dessau in his review. Stewart Lee delivered two shows in one: Tornado, which stemmed from a Netflix listing error that confused his stand-up special with a shark Armageddon movie, and Snowflake, which plunges into the world of political correctness. Among teasing of Ricky Gervais and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, he was equally swift to mock himself. Although not all may agree with him, it is testament to his talent that he is even brutally funny when wrong.

Until January 25, Leicester Square Theatre, leicestersquaretheatre.com. June 27, 28, July 1-3, Royal Festival Hall, southbankcentre.co.uk

After a particularly well-received debut at Edinburgh Fringe, London-based New Yorker Janine Harouni bagged herself a Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nomination. A natural anecdotalist with a compelling story, Harouni had the right formula for a knock-out show, as she wove her relationship with her Trump-voting father into a wider fable of compassion, tolerance and reconciliation.

Until December 21, Soho Theatre, sohotheatre.com

(Idil Sukan)

Jessica Fostekew found her voice in Hench, a show about the tyranny of body image and her reaction to being called hench by a man in the gym. Another nominee for this years Edinburgh Comedy Awards this time for best show the voice she found is a loud and vital one. Bruce Dessau said in his review that the laughs flow thick and fast alongside the anger.

January 6-25, Soho Theatre, sohotheatre.com

Desiree Burchs compelling monologue explored race, relationships and identity through a story about her quest for sex at Burning Man festival. Desirees Coming Early is a near-perfect example of comedic storytelling, said Bruce Dessau in his review. Burch knows what she is doing. You will be hooked until the show reaches its, no pun intended, climax.

This consummate performance confirms that the Portsmouth-born comic has truly hit her stride, said Bruce Dessau about Suzi Ruffells show Nocturnal. It first debuted at the Fringe in 2018 (when it deserved an award nod), and saw the Portsmouth-born comedian talk about anxiety over everything from dating show Naked Attraction to internet trolls. She followed it up with Dance Like Nobodys Watching, where she showed that comedy doesnt need to come from misery. It has been a good year for Ruffell.

February 24-29, Soho Theatre, sohotheatre.com

(Matt Writtle)

Another comic who made an absolutely storming full-length debut at this years Edinburgh Fringe was Sophie Duker, with Venus. The Standards review called her so assured that she is surely heading straight to the top no exaggeration, as she was nominated for Best Newcomer. The title was inspired by the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman, an African woman who was regarded as a freak in the 19th century because of her buttocks, and led to a show about feminism, race and perception. While the subject matter might sometimes sound heavy, said Bruce Dessau. Duker has a tremendous lightness of touch.

January 13-18, Soho Theatre, sohotheatre.com

Sometimes silliness is what we need. Spencer Joness D-I-Y brand of Tommy Cooper-meets-Noel Fielding delivers it in spades, complete with googly eyeballs and no shortage of audience interaction. From the moment he walks on his funny bones make everyone laugh, said Bruce Dessau in his review. It is nonsense but brilliant nonsense.

January 11, Soho Theatre, sohotheatre.com

Ben Meadows

PA Wire/PA Images

Adrian Lourie

Tan Roberts

Matt Writtle

Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Dave

Idil Sukan

Josh Knox

Matt Stronge

Mark Dawson

Dave

PA

Matt Crossick/Empics Entertainment

Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Jiksaw

Getty Images

Ben Meadows

PA Wire/PA Images

Adrian Lourie

Tan Roberts

Matt Writtle

Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Dave

Idil Sukan

Josh Knox

Matt Stronge

Mark Dawson

Dave

PA

Matt Crossick/Empics Entertainment

Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures

Jiksaw

Getty Images

Click here to buy London theatre tickets with GO London Tickets

See the article here:

London comedy 2019: The best comedy shows of the year, from Hannah Gadsby to Tim Minchin - Evening Standard

Posted in Political Correctness | Comments Off on London comedy 2019: The best comedy shows of the year, from Hannah Gadsby to Tim Minchin – Evening Standard

AI R&D is booming, but general intelligence is still out of reach – The Verge

Posted: at 9:42 am

Trying to get a handle on the progress of artificial intelligence is a daunting task, even for those enmeshed in the AI community. But the latest edition of the AI Index report an annual rundown of machine learning data points now in its third year does a good job confirming what you probably already suspected: the AI world is booming in a range of metrics covering research, education, and technical achievements.

The AI Index covers a lot of ground so much so that its creators, which include institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and OpenAI, have also released two new tools just to sift through the information they sourced from. One tool is for searching AI research papers and the other is for investigating country-level data on research and investment.

Most of the 2019 report basically confirms the continuation of trends weve highlighted in previous years. But to save you from having to trudge through its 290 pages, here are some of the more interesting and pertinent points:

All this is impressive, but one big caveat applies: no matter how fast AI improves, its never going to match the achievements accorded to it by pop culture and hyped headlines. This may seem pedantic or even obvious, but its worth remembering that, while the world of artificial intelligence is booming, AI itself is still limited in some important ways.

The best demonstration of this comes from a timeline of human-level performance milestones featured in the AI Index report; a history of moments when AI has matched or surpassed human-level expertise.

The timeline starts in the 1990s when programs first beat humans at checkers and chess, and accelerates with the recent machine learning boom, listing video games and board games where AI has came, saw, and conquered (Go in 2016, Dota 2 in 2018, etc.). This is mixed with miscellaneous tasks like human-level classification of skin cancer images in 2017 and in Chinese to English translation in 2018. (Many experts would take issue with that last achievement being included at all, and note that AI translation is still way behind humans.)

And while this list is impressive, it shouldnt lead you to believe that AI superintelligence is nigh.

For a start, the majority of these milestones come from defeating humans in video games and board games domains that, because of their clear rules and easy simulation, are particularly amenable to AI training. Such training usually relies on AI agents sinking many lifetimes worth of work into a single game, training hundreds of years in a solar day: a fact that highlights how quickly humans learn compared to computers.

Similarly, each achievements was set in a single domain. With very few exceptions, AI systems trained at one task cant transfer what theyve learned to another. A superhuman StarCraft II bot would lose to a five-year-old playing chess. And while an AI might be able to spot breast cancer tumors as accurately as an oncologist, it cant do the same for lung cancer (let alone write a prescription or deliver a diagnosis). In other words: AI systems are single-use tools, not flexible intelligences that are stand-ins for humans.

But and yes, theres another but that doesnt mean AI isnt incredibly useful. As this report shows, despite the limitations of machine learning, it continues to accelerate in terms of funding, interest, and technical achievements.

When thinking about AI limitations and promises, its good to remember the words of machine learning pioneer Andrew Ng: If a typical person can do a mental task with less than one second of thought, we can probably automate it using AI either now or in the near future. Were just beginning to find out what happens when those seconds are added up.

Excerpt from:

AI R&D is booming, but general intelligence is still out of reach - The Verge

Posted in Superintelligence | Comments Off on AI R&D is booming, but general intelligence is still out of reach – The Verge

Playing Tetris Shows That True AI Is Impossible – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Posted: at 9:42 am

Hi there! I recently put together an electroencephalogram (EEG), or in normal words, a brain wave reader, so you can see what goes on inside my brain!

I received a kit from OpenBCI, a successful kickstarter project to make inexpensive brain wave readers available to the masses. Heres what it looks like:

Yes, it looks like something Calvin and Hobbes would invent.

Here is how it looks on my head:

A number of electrodes are touching my scalp and a wire is connected to my ear. The layout on my head looks like the following schematic:

The EEG is measuring the voltage between different points on my scalp and my earlobe. The positions on my scalp are receiving a current from my brain while my earlobe acts as the ground. The EEG is essentially a multimeter for my brain.

Brain waves are generated by ions building up inside the neurons. Once the neurons reach capacity, they release the ions in a cascade across the brain. This leads to the wave effect.

So can I see any connection between my brain waves and what Im consciously experiencing in my mind?

To test that, inspired by the EEG hacker blog, I generated a graphic known as a spectrogram of my brain waves across a set of activities.

The spectrogram shows the range of brainwave frequencies in my brain at a given point in time. In the following plots, the horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is frequency. There are some artifacts in the plots, such as a middle band and a big pink blotch, so dont take all patterns as significant. The important thing to note is the overall texture of the plot.

The greens and reds are low amplitude frequencies, and the blue and magenta are high amplitude frequencies, meaning those brain waves are stronger. The spectrogram is generated from the readings of the #1 electrode in the schematic above.

I performed three different activities to see how they affect the spectrogram.

First, I just absentmindedly tapped the Enter key on my keyboard. I did not focus on anything in particular, just pressed Enter whenever I felt like it. This is the EEG spectrogram that random tapping generated:

Second, I played a game of Tetris on very slow speed, using a Github repo.

Heres a video of the game speed:

This is the corresponding spectrogram:

Finally, I played Tetris much faster, and the spectrogram looked like this:

You can watch a video of the game speed here:

The big difference is that, as my activity became cognitively more difficult, the spectrogram became more blue and magenta, meaning that my brain waves became stronger.

What does this mean? It means that, at least at a high level. I can measure how cognitively difficult a mental task is.

Another interesting thing is the direction of causality. The intensity of my mental processing brought about an observable brain state. The causality did not go in the other direction; the magenta brain state did not increase my conscious process.

So my subjective mental experience brought about a change in my physical brain. In other words, my consciousness has a causal impact on my physical processing unit, the brain.

This type of observation causes a problem for those hoping to duplicate human intelligence in a computer program. This Tetris EEG experiment shows that conscious thought is essential to human intelligence. So, until we make conscious computers, which is most likely never, we will not have computers that display human intelligence.

Update: Someone online suggested it might just be my facial muscle tension. So, I tested out the idea by recording while I tensed my brow (where the electrode is placed):

The result looked no different than the tapping EEG, so I consider the just facial tension hypothesis falsified.

If you enjoyed this item, here are some of Eric Holloways other reflections on human consciousness and computer intelligence:

No materialist theory of consciousness is plausible All such theories either deny the very thing they are trying to explain, result in absurd scenarios, or end up requiring an immaterial intervention

We need a better test for AI intelligence Better than Turing or Lovelace. The difficulty is that intelligence, like randomness, is mathematically undefinable

and

Will artificial intelligence design artificial superintelligence? And then turn us all into super-geniuses, as some AI researchers hope? No, and heres why not

See the article here:

Playing Tetris Shows That True AI Is Impossible - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Posted in Superintelligence | Comments Off on Playing Tetris Shows That True AI Is Impossible – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Exploring the hidden politics of the quest to live forever – Stock Daily Dish

Posted: at 9:42 am

Transhumanists think that bodies are obsolete technology

Yves Gellie/picturetank

By Brendan Byrne

THERE was a lot of futuristic hype surrounding cryonics company Alcor. When Dublin-based journalist Mark OConnell travelled to its facility in Arizona, he found himself surrounded by corpses in an office park, between a tile showroom and a place called Big Ds Covering Supplies.

In his book To Be a Machine, new father OConnell invokes the twin spectres of death and child-bearing in an attempt to make sense of his subject but he also manages to be staggeringly funny. He explores the intersecting practices of body modification, cryonics, machine learning, whole brain emulation and AI disaster-forecasting.

The transhumanist world view, OConnell writes, casts our minds and bodies as obsolete technologies, outmoded formats in need of complete overhaul. He worries more about the collateral damage such a future will inflict, less on the world views of the supposed visionaries who supply the ideas. Not that the two can be separated.

Throughout the text, it is difficult to ignore Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and an adviser to Donald Trump. While Thiel, , is not featured directly, the longevity start-ups he funded are, including Halcyon Molecular, 3Scan, MIRI, the Longevity Fund and Aubrey de Greys Methuselah Foundation.

Another pervasive presence is Nick Bostrom, an Oxford University philosopher. But while Thiel wants to extend life, Bostrom is worried about its eradication. He is best known for his 2014 book Superintelligence, which brought thought experiments about AI security to public notice. OConnell finds it disquieting to see the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates effusing about this book. These dire warnings about AI were coming from what seemed like the most unlikely of sources: not from Luddites or religious catastrophists, that is, but from the very people who seemed to most personify our cultures reverence for machines.

attempts to address such existential threats by freely disseminating its research. This is meant to encourage the rise ofmultiple AIs, whose balance of power will keep any non-benign ones off-balance. While Bostrom agrees that this plan will decrease the threat from a world-eating singleton, that winning the AI race is incompatible with using any safety method that incurs a delay or limits performance. If basic information is made public, the race to achieve AI first will be tight, pushing corporations to disregard security.

Given Musks that he is trying to move Trump to the left, rumours that Mark Zuckerberg is considering a presidential run and the fact that many users are deleting the Uber app after the company broke the taxi strike at JFK Airport, Silicon Valley can no longer claim to be apolitical. And there seems to be something about transhumanism that draws out reactionaries. As OConnell observes, in one sense the whole ethos of transhumanism is such a radical extrapolation of the classically American belief in self-betterment that it obliterates the idea of the self entirely. Its liberal humanism forced to the coldest outer limits of its own paradoxical implications.

Thiel is strangely for a former libertarian a planner. In his 2014 book Zero to One, Thiel writes of the dot-com bubble as both a peak of insanity and a peak of clarity: People looked into the future, saw how much valuable new technology we would need to get there safely and judged themselves capable of creating it. Depicting how private enterprise failed to bridge the gap between aspiration and realisation, Thiel seems here to be arguing for total mobilisation of the state.

Thiel favours taking huge risks to achieve miraculous results. He champions the government-funded space race and rails against incrementalisation in scientific and civilizational achievements. At the time of writing, , the managing director of Thiels Mithril Capital, is one of Trumps main candidates to head the Food and Drug Administration. ONeill thinks that drugs should be approved not by safety but by efficacy. Thiel himself has criticised the FDA for being overly cautious, , I dont even know if you could get the polio vaccine approved today .

If the low-safety moonshot approach favoured by Thiel and the futurist frat houses OConnell describes is applied on a national level, and longevity research funded by a Silicon Valley billionaire does pay huge dividends, a new question emerges: immortality for whom?

Thiel is notoriously anti-competition, writing in Zero to One that only becoming a monopoly can allow a business to transcend the daily brute struggle for survival, since competitive markets destroy profits. A monopoly price for life extension suggests a future in which we will all be in monetary debt to mortality, working forever to pay off our incoming years.

During a recent public lecture, genomics pioneer Craig Venter discussed his new company that aims to use genetic sequencing to provide proactive, preventative, predictive, personalised healthcare. According to Venter, 40 per cent of people who think they are healthy are not they have undiagnosed ailments such as tumours that have not metastasised or cardiovascular conditions. And he says his method can predict Alzheimers 20 years before its onset, and a cocktail of soon-to-be-marketed drugs can prevent it. Thanks to this $25,000 genome-physical, Venter himself was .

Can any imaginable public healthcare provision pay for such speculative treatments? Or will there be a widening gap between those who can afford to stay healthy and those who will have to shoulder early-onset penury in the face of their time-limited humanity?

In response to questions about such inequality, Thiel offers little comfort. Probably the most extreme form of inequality, six years ago, is between people who are alive and people who are dead.

Jonathan Swifts satirical letter A modest proposal responded to an equally cold-blooded ideology, in his day. But a field whose pioneers sport names like T. O. Morrow (Tom Bells 1990s soubriquet), FM-2030 and Max More demands something different from OConnell an unexpected, often funny effort of restraint.

Mark OConnell

Doubleday/Granta

This article appeared in print under the headline In debt to mortality

More on these topics:

Continue reading here:

Exploring the hidden politics of the quest to live forever - Stock Daily Dish

Posted in Superintelligence | Comments Off on Exploring the hidden politics of the quest to live forever – Stock Daily Dish

Global Eczema Therapeutics Market 2020-2024| Evolving Opportunities with AbbVie Inc. and Bayer AG | Technavio – Business Wire

Posted: at 9:41 am

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technavio has been monitoring the global eczema therapeutics market and the market is poised to grow by USD 3.60 billion during 2020-2024 at a CAGR of over 9% during the forecast period. Request Free Sample Pages

Read the 152-page research report with TOC on "Eczema Therapeutics Market Analysis Report by Geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW), by Indication (Atopic dermatitis, Contact dermatitis, and Other indication), and Segment Forecasts, 2020-2024".

Factors such as high prevalence of atopic dermatitis and increasing healthcare expenditure are anticipated to boost the growth of the market.

Exposure to skin irritants including soaps or cleaners and allergens such as pet dander, pollen, or peanuts can lead to eczema. It is also caused by infections, dry skin, and stress. Atopic dermatitis is one of the most prevalent forms of eczema which requires multiple visits to dermatologists and numerous medications for treatment. China, India, and Japan are the three major revenue contributors to the market as these regions of Asia constitute a huge patient pool and consequently exhibit a high demand for eczema therapeutics. Thus, the high prevalence of atopic dermatitis is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period.

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

View market snapshot before purchasing

Major Five Eczema Therapeutics Market Companies:

AbbVie Inc.

AbbVie Inc. is headquartered in the US and operates the business under the segment, Pharmaceuticals. The company offers a Janus kinase 1 selective inhibitor, Upadacitinib to various end-users including hospitals and pharmacies.

Alliance Pharma Plc

Alliance Pharma Plc is headquartered in the UK and offers products through the following business units: International Star Brands and Local Brands. The company offers a range of products for different indications such as dry skin, eczema, and ichthyosis.

Bausch Health Companies Inc.

Bausch Health Companies Inc. is headquartered in Canada and operates under various business segments, namely Bausch + Lomb/International, Salix, Diversified Products, and Ortho Dermatologics. The company offers a second-line therapy, Elidel.

Bayer AG

Bayer AG is headquartered in Germany and offers products through the following business segments: Pharmaceuticals, Crop science, Consumer health, and Animal health. The company offers a range of dermatology products for skin care, eczema treatment, and sensitive skin.

Eli Lilly and Co.

Eli Lilly and Co. is headquartered in the US and offers products through the following business segments: Human pharmaceutical products and Animal health products. The company offers a small molecule Janus kinase inhibitor, Olumiant.

Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform

Eczema Therapeutics Indication Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

Eczema Therapeutics Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

Technavios sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavios report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavios comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Originally posted here:
Global Eczema Therapeutics Market 2020-2024| Evolving Opportunities with AbbVie Inc. and Bayer AG | Technavio - Business Wire

Posted in Eczema | Comments Off on Global Eczema Therapeutics Market 2020-2024| Evolving Opportunities with AbbVie Inc. and Bayer AG | Technavio – Business Wire

I started my coffee body scrub business with 450 now its turned over 15m and Maisie Smith is a fan – The Sun

Posted: at 9:41 am

11

GROWING up, Tasha Harris loved making her own skincare out of tea tree oils and other things her mum had lying around the house - but never in a million years did she think she'd one day be running her own beauty business.

The 29-year-old businesswoman, from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, first started making her own coffee scrubs out of leftover grinds, coconut oil and salt to treat her eczema in 2012.

11

Having experienced first-hand how well it worked on her own dry skin, Tasha began dolling it out to all her friends and family for free - and they were also blown away by the results.

After being inundated with requests for more of the scrub, Tasha - and her partner Lloyd - decided to turn it into a business and only spent 450 to start it up.

In their first three months, Grounded made an impressive 15,000 when they were approached by Dragon's Den producers - this amazing exposure took the business to a whole new level.

Tasha spoke to Fabulous Digital for our#BOSSINGIT seriesdevoted to ordinary women who have launched incredible businesses.

11

Describing her struggles with eczema growing up, Tasha said: "I used to get really bad eczema around my neck, my arms, and my mouth - but nothing would get rid of it."

As Tasha's school wouldn't let students carry lip balms or hand creams, she'd have sit and suffer with her itchy skin during lessons.

She added: "My doctors kept giving me steroid creams but it just made it more uncomfortable and horrible."

However, Tasha noticed that her skin would only ever improve when she was on holiday and had her first experience with coffee scrubs at a spa in Bali when she was 22.

11

"The only time my eczema would get better is if I went on holiday somewhere really hot with the nice salty sea," she said. "But it was always really, really bad."

Noticing coffee scrubs as an emerging trend abroad (and were already wildly popular in Australia), Tasha and Lloyd tried experimenting with their own at home using his family's leftover coffee grinds - but only ever intended for it to help with her own skin problems.

She recalled: "He went online and started researching ingredients and put in stuff that I'd already used on my skin - like coconut oil.

"But he also put in things that didn't feel nice, like olive oil which made it all greasy and horrible."

11

Whereas prescribed steroid creams often result in peeling, Tasha claims the scrubs nourish skin and leaves it soft and supple.

She explained: "With the coffee scrub, youve got coffee which helps blood circulation, then youve got salt which is anti-bacterial and then coconut oil which softens the skin and helps heal it.

"It also makes it really smooth so youre not itching it all the time."

After noticing a drastic difference in her own skin, Tasha - who was working at a local bank branch at the time - began giving her colleagues free samples of the scrub.

But it was only when she kept being asked for top ups that they started to take it more seriously.

11

Describing how she initially saw it as a hobby, Tasha said: "I was just going with the flow really but when people keep asking you for the stuff, you realise how good it is."

After being inundated with glowing customer reviews, the couple decided to take the plunge.

"We started the company with nothing," Tasha recalled. "We paid for the logo which was 350 and then we bought a box of bags for about 100. Everything else we needed to make the scrubs we already had in our kitchen."

In order to kickstart the business, Tasha created an Etsy shop where customers could shop the 13 coffee scrubs - which were still being made from her and Lloyd's kitchen table using leftover grinds.

Now that the company have their own in-house manufacturers, it costs them 1.50 to make a 200g pouch of coffee scrub - but when they were starting still out, it was originally 2.10.

11

On top of this, they also started travelling to shows across the country to promote Grounded and made themselves stand out from other brands by decorating their stalls with inflatable palm trees and vintage furniture borrowed from Lloyd's mum's store.

Ahead of each show, Tasha explained: "We'd spend 2,000 of our own savings on creating the product and then we'd put that straight back into the business.

"We made hundreds of coffee scrubs, put a bowl in the middle and got customers to test it out on their hands. We made 15,000 for three shows."

Unsurprisingly, the tropical (and wildly popular) stall caught the attention of a Dragon's Den producer who invited them in to interview for the programme - but their first reaction was to assume it was all just a big practical joke.

11

"We were just getting the stand ready with palm trees and stuff and then he went over to Lloyd and gave him his email," Tasha said. "They asked if we wanted to interview for the show next week but we thought it was just a lie though."

In 2015, the couple appeared on the hit BBC show and secured 30,000 funding from Sarah Willingham in exchange for a 15 per cent stake in the company.

After filming wrapped, Tasha got in touch with major retailers to get Grounded scrubs into stores - and three months before the show aired, Boots said they wanted to fast track the scrubs to hit shelves as soon as possible.

Delighted by the news, Tasha reached out to Sarah to get the funding and start making the 100k worth of product Boots has ordered - but was merely told "she couldn't do anything at all until after the show had aired".

11

In order to supply the enormous Boots order, the couple needed 20,000 and fast - luckily, they were able to borrow the money from Lloyd's mum's business.

As well securing the Boots deal, Tasha got the Grounded website up and running and the night the Dragon's Den episode aired in April 2016, they has 85,000 visitors to the site.

And it would be selling short to say the scrubs were an overnight success - in that first month, Grounded made a whopping 50,000 and Tasha and Lloyd were working all hours of the day to keep up with the orders on the website.

After being overwhelmed with orders, Tasha added: "We had to turn off our website and redirect it all to Boots because we didn't have any product left."

Over three years on, Grounded is now the UK's leading coffee-based beauty brands and they now count EastEnders' Maisie Smith among their thousands of fans.

11

11

Naturally, the packagaing has also had an Instagram-friendly rebrand.

Tasha said: "When we started off, everything was quite dark and dingy. In Dragons Den, everything was brown for grounded coffee.

"But we wanted to make it a bit brighter and fun so we introduced some colours and developed a new logo."

The company - which employs 30 people - now have their own manufacturers to make their products on site which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds - but it's worth it for Tasha knowing that all the scrubs are up to scratch.

Trying to keep up with beauty trends has been another challenge for Tasha - and the brand has brought out CBD face oils, charcoal toothpaste and anti-ageing eye creams over the years.

Although the brand now boasts 20 products across their hair, body and skincare ranges, it's their original coconut-scented scrub that continues to be a fan favourite.

In the past seven years, the brand has sold over half a million units of their best-selling coconut scrub - and now that microbeads are firmly out of fashion, Grounded shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Tasha's top tips for aspiring businesswomen

AMAZON-ING Mum 'traps' Elf On The Shelf inside Alexa - and he tells daughter to go to bed

THE PRICE BEFORE XMAS Single mum spends 400 on festive extras for son BEFORE Christmas

MY REGRETS My boy died of meningitis hours after docs said he was 'milking it'

PAINFUL TRUTH Graphic photos show what endometriosis would look like if the pain was visible

CLOSE SHAVE Mum shaves elf into back of teen sons head and blames it on Elf On The Shelf

NO SLEIGH Rich kid horrified when family fry their 15 Xmas dinner to save money on bills

For more inspiring Bossing It stories, Fabulous Digital spoke to the founder of Holly's Lollies who set up her 300k business from her kitchen table.

And we also spoke to Florence Ledwith - who moved back into her childhood bedroom to set up her dream shoe business and now makes 350k a year.

Plus Caroline Sims was too ashamed to let her boyfriend see her problem skin without make-up - now her skincare supplements are set to make 4m.

Go here to read the rest:
I started my coffee body scrub business with 450 now its turned over 15m and Maisie Smith is a fan - The Sun

Posted in Eczema | Comments Off on I started my coffee body scrub business with 450 now its turned over 15m and Maisie Smith is a fan – The Sun