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Daily Archives: August 6, 2022
Explosive growth of faculty, courses and research signal new era for Computer Science at Yale – Yale University
Posted: August 6, 2022 at 7:47 pm
With numerous new courses, new faculty members, and a wider range of research fields, Computer Science (CS) at Yale is better positioned than ever to take on emerging challenges, and to meet the needs of students, interdisciplinary research on campus, and industry.
The CS department has recently hired nine tenure track faculty members and four teaching track lecturers to its ranks. These hires are in addition to an earlier round of 11 new tenure track faculty members and two lecturers hired in the last few years. The boost in hiring accomplishes a number of long-term goals, including expanding the department's areas of expertise. Also, as Computer Science has emerged as the second-most popular major (just behind economics) at Yale, it will go a long way toward meeting students' curriculum needs.
"Our new faculty members were chosen for the excellence of their research, as well as for their fields that they represent, all of which have been in high demand by both our students and faculty on campus as well as the industry," said Zhong Shao, the Thomas L. Kempner Professor of Computer Science and department chair. "The range of their expertise addresses some of the most critical challenges that we face today."
SEAS Dean Jeffrey Brock said the new faculty will be critical to realizing the ambitious goals set out in SEAS' Strategic Vision, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence and robotics, while building in key areas like cybersecurity and distributed computing.
"This exciting cohort of new faculty stands to transform our CS department," Brock said. "During our recruiting season, they sensed Yale's momentum in CS and in engineering, ultimately turning down excellent offers at other top schools to join our faculty. Their presence will allow Yale CS to expand their course offerings, as well as to establish critical mass in core and cutting-edge research areas."
Many of the new faculty members, like Fan Zhang, cited the department's "fast growth in recent years." Others said that they were drawn by the collaborative environment at Yale, especially considering that Yale is ranked at or near the top in numerous research areas. Daniel Rakita, for instance, said he's looking forward to working with the Yale Medical School to see how his lab's robotics research can assist in hospital or home care settings, as well as working with the Wu Tsai Institute on Brain-Machine Interface technologies.
"Many people I spoke with indicated that there are no boundaries between departments at Yale, and interdisciplinary research is not just encouraged here, but is a 'way of life,'" Rakita said. Many of the new faculty have already engaged with key academic leaders around the campus, from medicine, to economics, to quantum computing.
As part of this boost in hiring, the department strategically targeted certain research areas, including artificial intelligence, trustworthy computing, robotics, quantum computing, and modeling.
The nine new tenure-track faculty hires, and their areas of research are below.
[We spoke to these new faculty members about their research, their motivations, potential collaborations, and much more. Click here to learn more about each of our latest faculty]
The four new teaching-track lecturer hires, and their areas of research are:
This hiring season marks the first since the changes in structure that made SEAS more independent, granting more faculty lines for growth.
"Our independence and ability to be opportunistic were key elements in our ability to realize this transformational growth of Computer Science at Yale," Brock said. "As CS plays such a critical role in an increasingly broad range of disciplines, the size and breadth of CS is critical to our strategy for SEAS. I'm thrilled to be able to take the first step in realizing that vision for a SEAS that is well integrated within its host University and aligned with its mission."
SEAS became independent from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in July of 2022.
A curriculum to meet the needs of students and industry
Increasing the department's curriculum has also been in the planning stages for a while, a goal made possible by the recent hires of new faculty and lecturers. Shao said there was a concerted effort to meet the high demand in areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, introductory programming and CS courses for non-majors.
"This has been on the to-do list for the department for many years, but we just didn't have the manpower," Shao said. "And finally, with the new faculty hires, we can actually offer these courses."
Ben Fisch, for instance, will be teaching a new course on blockchains for both graduate students and advanced undergraduates in computer science. Tesca Fitzgerald will introduce a new graduate-level seminar on Interactive Robot Learning. And Katerina Sotiraki will teach classes in theoretical and applied cryptography, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. These are just a few of the new courses that will be available.
Responding to industry needs, the department has also added courses focused on what's known as full stack web programming - that is, the set of skills needed to develop the interface as well as the coding behind building a complete web application. One of the department's most popular courses, on software engineering, will now be offered for both semesters of the year, instead of one. Both, Shao said, are specifically aimed at the needs of industry and students.
"As new challenges emerge, Computer Science at Yale will continue to adapt," Shao said. "We're excited about the future of our department, and these new additions to our faculty and our curriculum are going to be a major part of it."
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CXL Brings Datacenter-sized Computing with 3.0 Standard, Thinks Ahead to 4.0 – HPCwire
Posted: at 7:47 pm
A new version of a standard backed by major cloud providers and chip companies could change the way some of the worlds largest datacenters and fastest supercomputers are built.
The CXL Consortium on Tuesday announced a new specification called CXL 3.0 also known as Compute Express Link 3.0 that eliminates more chokepoints that slow down computation in enterprise computing and datacenters.
The new spec provides a communication link between chips, memory and storage in systems, and it is two times faster than its predecessor called CXL 2.0.
CXL 3.0 also has improvements for more fine-grained pooling and sharing of computing resources for applications such as artificial intelligence.
CXL 3.0 is all about improving bandwidth and capacity, and can better provision and manage computing, memory and storage resources, said Kurt Lender, the co-chair of the CXL marketing work group (and senior ecosystem manager at Intel), in an interview with HPCwire.
Hardware and cloud providers are coalescing around CXL, which has steamrolled other competing interconnects. This week, OpenCAPI, an IBM-backed interconnect standard, merged with CXL Consortium, following the footsteps of Gen-Z, which did the same in 2020.
CXL released the first CXL 1.0 specification in 2019, and quickly followed it up with CXL 2.0, which supported PCIe 5.0, which is found in a handful of chips such as Intels Sapphire Rapids and Nvidias Hopper GPU.
The CXL 3.0 spec is based on PCIe 6.0, which was finalized in January. CXL has a data transfer speed of up to 64 gigatransfers per second, which is the same as PCIe 6.0.
The CXL interconnect can link up chips, storage and memory that are near and far from each other, and that allows system providers to build datacenters as one giant system, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.
CXLs ability to support the expansion of memory, storage and processing in a disaggregated infrastructure gives the protocol a step-up over rival standards, Brookwood said.
Datacenter infrastructures are moving to a decoupled structure to meet the growing processing and bandwidth needs for AI and graphics applications, which require large pools of memory and storage. AI and scientific computing systems also require processors beyond just CPUs, and organizations are installing AI boxes, and in some cases, quantum computers, for more horsepower.
CXL 3.0 improves bandwidth and capacity with better switching and fabric technologies, CXL Consortiums Lender said.
CXL 1.1 was sort of in the node, then with 2.0, you can expand a little bit more into the datacenter. And now you can actually go across racks, you can do decomposable or composable systems, with the fabric technology that weve brought with CXL 3.0, Lender said.
At the rack level, one can make CPU or memory drawers as separate systems, and improvements in CXL 3.0 provide more flexibility and options in switching resources compared to previous CXL specifications.
Typically, servers have a CPU, memory and I/O, and can be limited in physical expansion. In disaggregated infrastructure, one can take a cable to a separate memory tray through a CXL protocol without relying on the popular DDR bus.
You can decompose or compose your datacenter as you like it. You have the capability of moving resources from one node to another, and dont have to do as much overprovisioning as we do today, especially with memory, Lender said, adding its a matter of you can grow systems and sort of interconnect them now through this fabric and through CXL.
The CXL 3.0 protocol uses the electricals of the PCI-Express 6.0 protocol, along with its protocols for I/O and memory. Some improvements include support for new processors and endpoints that can take advantage of the new bandwidth. CXL 2.0 had single-level switching, while 3.0 has multi-level switching, which provides more latency on the fabric.
You can actually start looking at memory like storage you could have hot memory and cold memory, and so on. You can have different tiering and applications can take advantage of that, Lender said.
The protocol also accounts for the ever-changing infrastructure of datacenters, providing more flexibility on how system administrators want to aggregate and disaggregate processing units, memory and storage. The new protocol opens more channels and resources for new types of chips that include SmartNICs, FPGAs and IPUs that may require access to more memory and storage resources in datacenters.
HPC composable systems youre not bound by a box. HPC loves clusters today. And [with CXL 3.0] now you can do coherent clusters and low latency. The growth and flexibility of those nodes is expanding rapidly, Lender said.
The CXL 3.0 protocol can support up to 4,096 nodes, and has a new concept of memory sharing between different nodes. That is an improvement from a static setup in older CXL protocols, where memory could be sliced and attached to different hosts, but could not be shared once allocated.
Now we have sharing where multiple hosts can actually share a segment of memory. Now you can actually look at quick, efficient data movement between hosts if necessary, or if you have an AI-type application that you want to hand data from one CPU or one host to another, Lender said.
The new feature allows peer-to-peer connection between nodes and endpoints in a single domain. That sets up a wall in which traffic can be isolated to move only between nodes connected to each other. That allows for faster accelerator-to-accelerator or device-to-device data transfer, which is key in building out a coherent system.
If you think about some of the applications and then some of the GPUs and different accelerators, they want to pass information quickly, and now they have to go through the CPU. With CXL 3.0, they dont have to go through the CPU this way, but the CPU is coherent, aware of whats going on, Lender said.
The pooling and allocation of memory resources is managed by a software called Fabric Manager. The software can sit anywhere in the system or hosts to control and allocate memory, but it could ultimately impact software developers.
If you get to the tiering level, and when you start getting all the different latencies in the switching, thats where there will have to be some application awareness and tuning of application. I think we certainly have that capability today, Lender said.
It could be two to four years before companies start releasing CXL 3.0 products, and the CPUs will need to be aware of CXL 3.0, Lender said. Intel built in support for CXL 1.1 in its Sapphire Rapids chip, which is expected to start shipping in volume later this year. The CXL 3.0 protocol is backward compatible with the older versions of the interconnect standard.
CXL products based on earlier protocols are slowly trickling into the market. SK Hynix this week introduced its first DDR5 DRAM-based CXL (Compute Express Link) memory samples, and will start manufacturing CXL memory modules in volume next year. Samsung has also introduced CXL DRAM earlier this year.
While products based on CXL 1.1 and 2.0 protocols are on a two-to-three-year product release cycle, CXL 3.0 products could take a little longer as it takes on a more complex computing environment.
CXL 3.0 could actually be a little slower because of some of the Fabric Manager, the software work. Theyre not simple systems when you start getting into fabrics, people are going to want to do proof of concepts and prove out the technology first. Its going to probably be a three-to-four year timeframe, Lender said.
Some companies already started work on CXL 3.0 verification IP six to nine months ago, and are finetuning the tools to the final specification, Bender said.
The CXL has a board meeting in October to discuss the next steps, which could also involve CXL 4.0. The standards organization for PCIe, called the PCI-Special Interest Group, last month announced it was planning PCIe 7.0, which increases the data transfer speed to 128 gigatransfers per second, which is double that of PCIe 6.0.
Lender was cautious about how PCIe 7.0 could potentially fit into a next-generation CXL 4.0. CXL has its own set of I/O, memory and cache protocols.
CXL sits on the electricals of PCIe so I cant commit or absolutely guarantee that [CXL 4.0] will run on 7.0. But thats the intent to use the electricals, Lender said.
Under that case, one of the tenets of CXL 4.0 will be to double the bandwidth by going to PCIe 7.0, but beyond that, everything else will be what we do more fabric or do different tunings, Lender said.
CXL has been on an accelerated pace, with three specification releases since its formation in 2019. There was confusion in the industry on the best high-speed, coherent I/O bus, but the focus has now coagulated around CXL.
Now we have the fabric. There are pieces of Gen-Z and OpenCAPI that arent even in CXL 3.0, so will we incorporate those? Sure, well look at doing that kind of work moving forward, Lender said.
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CXL Brings Datacenter-sized Computing with 3.0 Standard, Thinks Ahead to 4.0 - HPCwire
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Opinion: How ‘own nothing and be happy’ sparked a misinformation campaign that targeted the World Economic Forum – The Globe and Mail
Posted: at 7:46 pm
Adrian Monck is the managing director of the World Economic Forum.
Own nothing, be happy. You may have heard the phrase. It started life as a screenshot, culled from the internet by an anonymous antisemitic account on the image board 4chan. Own nothing, be happy The Jew World Order 2030, said the post, which went viral among extremists.
How did a years-old headline turn into a meme for the far right and a slogan picked up by mainstream conservative politicians? And whats the truth behind that headline?
The story begins in 2016 with the publication of an opinion piece on the World Economic Forums Agenda website by Danish MP Ida Auken under the headline Welcome to 2030: I own nothing, have no privacy and life has never been better.
It was part of an essay series intended to spark debate about socio-economic developments. This was the time of the booming app economy, and the commissioning editor had previously worked for conservative British newspaper The Telegraph. The piece gained a respectable readership and lived quietly on the website for a number of years.
Fast forward four years to 2020. The world looked very different. A pandemic was raging, and the World Economic Forum launched The Great Reset, promoting the idea of building back better so that economies could emerge greener and fairer out of the pandemic.
The pandemic magnified many societal ills. The mistrust in governments and leaders that had been building before the health crisis played into the hands of both fringe groups and state-sponsored actors looking to undermine and weaken rivals. Both came together on the anonymous dark web in places such as 4chans politically incorrect image board.
The board, which is completely unmoderated, was also used by operators of a Russian propaganda campaign. The intent was apparently to spread disinformation in a bid to stir far-right outrage about COVID-19 and perpetuate domestic extremism. The means was often via bots that would push far-right conspiracy theories to communities on boards such as 4chan.
Recent analysis explains how this context brought extremists together using rhetoric that trivialized National Socialism and the Holocaust. This same far-right, Holocaust-denying cohort latched onto the Great Reset, claiming that the Forum was part of a group that orchestrated the pandemic to take control of the global economy.
A number of threads appeared in this vein. One such 4chan thread linked the pandemic and the alleged nefarious control the Forum exercises over the global economy with the idea that youll own nothing and be happy.
It went truly viral, capturing the warped imagination of conspiracy and fringe groups. One neo-Nazi and white-supremacist website claimed the Great Reset was a response to the coronavirus faked crisis and would usher in global communism to ensure no one will be able to own anything.
Its popularity also saw more mainstream figures dog-whistle the phrase while ignoring its antisemitic and far-right origins. Threads proliferated, the catchphrase own nothing, be happy snowballed, and even more mainstream news sites, including Fox News and Sky News Australia, embraced it.
Actor and comedian Russell Brand talked about it in a video that received more than 1.8 million views on Facebook. Pierre Poilievre, currently running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, used it to discredit Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government, giving rise to a national movement.
Even though Reuters Fact Check concluded in February, 2021, that the World Economic Forum does not have a stated goal to have people own nothing and be happy by 2030, the trolling continues.
Users on Twitter and Facebook, for instance, have spread doctored content to promote the falsehood that, through the Great Reset, the Forum is advancing pernicious depopulation efforts. These include racist conspiracies that claim white people are the primary target for depopulation. Bad-faith actors have also targeted the Forums coverage of the circular economy (economic systems that aim to eliminate waste by reusing raw materials rather than disposing of them), decrying it as a top-down agenda coming from unelected globalists looking to reshape the world in their image. These are just some examples among many.
As far back as 2013, the World Economic Forums annual Global Risks Report flagged misinformation as a concern, warning then that it could spark digital wildfires in our hyperconnected world.
Today, that warning has largely been borne out. Misinformation is a serious challenge for regulators, a minefield for individuals who seek the facts, and a barrier to governments and organizations wanting to disseminate important information.
The consequences of unabated misinformation are dangerous. Misinformation concerning COVID-19 and vaccines cost lives during the pandemic. The revelations around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot reveal how false information about elections can threaten the foundations of democracy. And 68 per cent of Americans agree, saying made-up news is detrimental to the countrys democratic system.
Moreover, the amount of data now being generated, predicted to almost quadruple by 2025, makes it easier and cheaper to use algorithms for malicious or manipulative purposes with unprecedented efficiency, speed and reach.
It is important to recognize that misinformation/disinformation is a tactic used to support an oftentimes political strategy. There are a variety of ways that bad information circulates for political gain. A classic example is for an actor to intentionally disseminate false, inaccurate or misleading information that inflicts demonstrable and significant public harm, said Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Another set of tactics involve trolling and harassment, probably the most common form of misinformation directed against the Forum. Trolling and harassment entail deliberately posting offensive content online in order to provoke or disrupt conversations.
The story of youll own nothing and be happy is anything but trivial and offers valuable insights into how misinformation is created and why its essential not to perpetuate its spread.
It also highlights how misinformation derails free speech. At the request of Ms. Auken, the Forum removed all media around her piece because of the online abuse and threats she had faced. Action to prevent lies being accepted as truth can help avoid similar situations and promote genuine free speech, allowing us all to freely exchange ideas and opinions.
In a world where the trolls often win, more forward-thinking conversations like the one Ms. Auken tried to initiate will be tarnished.
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Opinion: How 'own nothing and be happy' sparked a misinformation campaign that targeted the World Economic Forum - The Globe and Mail
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How the woke left learned to love Big Brother – Spiked
Posted: at 7:46 pm
The British left or what passes for it today briefly pretended to care about free speech this week. Which was kind of cute. It was all sparked by Tory leadership no-hoper Rishi Sunaks bonkers suggestion that people who vilify Britain should be put on the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme, alongside all the Islamists and fascists. Who are the real snowflakes?, thundered one left-wing commentator. Fascism creeps ever closer, warned Richard Murphy, a one-time adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, as he wondered out loud if he might soon end up in some camp of Sunaks choosing for re-education.
Such principled expressions of horror, over an insanely authoritarian policy that almost certainly will never be implemented, might have had a bit more weight had the exact same people not studiously ignored a very real incident of state censorship and attempted re-education that went viral last week. Im referring, of course, to Hampshire Polices arrest of 51-year-old army veteran Darren Brady, all because he posted an offensive meme, which arranged four Progress Pride flags to resemble a swastika a clumsy commentary on the authoritarianism of the contemporary LGBT movement.
The details chillingly echo Richard Murphys tweeted fever dream. Reportedly, the police had visited Brady 10 days before they tried to arrest him, informing him that he had committed an offence by posting the flag meme. They offered him a deal: pay for a 60 community-resolution course and theyd downgrade his offence to a non-crime hate incident, which would still appear on an advanced background check. Brady refused and contacted Harry Miller, leading campaigner against thoughtpolicing, who was present at the arrest and spent a night in the cells himself for trying to obstruct the cops. Going by the footage, now seen around the world, the (several) officers who attended Bradys home had no idea what offence he was supposed to have committed, saying only that he had caused anxiety.
So, state censorship? Yep. Threats of re-education? Yep. The police showing up at someones door for no other crime than expressing an opinion? Big yep. Just because it was done in a Keystone Cops sort of fashion doesnt make the treatment of Brady any less sinister. And yet there hasnt been a peep of protest from the left-leaning intelligentsia. The armed wing of the state is going about harassing and arresting people purely for upsetting someone on the internet. And yet the people who pass themselves off as liberal, progressive, radical even, are clearly not the tiniest bit bothered about it.
Brady isnt an isolated case, either. Britain is fast becoming a warning to the Western world about caring censorship, about trying to quite literally police hurtful speech. According to one investigation, nine people a day are arrested in the UK over offensive things they post on the internet. On top of that, more than 120,000 people have had so-called non-crime hate incidents recorded against their name. These alleged incidents neednt be investigated or even be credible to be recorded. So much so that an Oxford professor once managed to get a hate incident recorded against then home secretary Amber Rudd, for a speech she gave about immigration that he later admitted he hadnt even listened to, let alone witnessed in person.
There has been significant pushback against all this in recent years, the absurdity of it all brought into sharp relief by the polices failure to get a grip on violent crime. But the problem remains deeply entrenched. Tory ministers have repeatedly slammed the thoughtpolice, but have done nothing to stop them. The governments Online Safety Bill, alongside other censorious provisions, plans to change the notorious Section 127 of the Communications Act, which criminalises grossly offensive online speech, only to replace that prohibition with a harmful communications offence, criminalising those who send a message that is intended and likely to cause serious distress. This is more of an exercise in rebranding than reform.
Whats more, non-crime hate incidents continue to be recorded despite a series of successful legal challenges against them. Harry Miller, who in 2019 was visited by the police over his own gender-critical tweets, successfully took the cops to court. A High Court judge ruled that Humberside Police unlawfully intervened in Millers freedom of expression when they logged his tweets as a hate incident, called him up to check his thinking and showed up at his place of work. The Court of Appeal later ruled further in Millers favour, slamming the existing College of Policing guidance on hate incidents as unlawful. But the judges didnt rule out the practice per se and so they stagger on.
Last week, the College of Policing issued new guidelines in response to these rulings, insisting that non-crime hate incidents should not be recorded where they are trivial, irrational or if there is no basis to conclude that an incident was motivated by hostility. The guidelines also seek to exempt those who are commenting in a legitimate debate and ensure that, when they are recorded, incidents are recorded in the least intrusive way possible. But this of course still gives the police a wide latitude to interpret what speech is and isnt trivial, irrational, baseless or legitimate. As ever with freedom of speech, the question is who decides?, and the answer is the same police who thought investigating Millers gender-critical Twitter limericks was a legitimate use of their time and resources.
The rise of Britains thoughtpolice is not just about the letter of the law. Indeed, non-crime hate incidents were introduced by the College of Policing in 2014 in response, it says, to the recommendations of the Macpherson report. And so tens of thousands of people have been quasi-criminalised without an act of parliament being passed. The job of policing speech, especially that which is presumed to offend minorities, is a role the police have embraced with gusto. Desperate to overcome a history of discriminatory behaviour they have ended up not only cracking down on genuine bigots which would be illiberal in itself but also those merely airing views that dissent from the elite orthodoxy on issues like gender or immigration.
We saw that in Bradys viral arrest. The officers werent at all clear on what law they were supposed to be enforcing. The point was that someone had been caused anxiety by an anti-woke meme and so something had to be done about it. Last year, officers from Merseyside Police set up an electronic billboard outside an Asda, declaring that being offensive is an offence. After a backlash, superintendent Martin Earl had to put out a statement clarifying that this isnt actually the case. This authoritarian freelancing on the part of the cops shows how entrenched censorious woke orthodoxy is within the British state, even the more traditionally politically incorrect section of it.
Which brings us back to the deafening silence of the left. Leftists insist there is no free-speech crisis. They dismiss cancel culture as a myth, while tacitly supporting it. They call it a right-wing confection, even though gender-critical feminists are one of the primary targets of it. They argue No Platforming on university campuses isnt censorship because only the state can censor. Meanwhile, they completely ignore the vast apparatus of state censorship that has emerged in recent years a system which has, quite possibly, given the endlessness of the internet and the broad scope of our speech laws, led to more Brits being criminalised for speech than ever before.
The reasons for this blind spot are as obvious as they are pathetic. These supposed radicals are quite comfortable with police officers harassing people so long as those people hold the wrong views. This is why they only ever complain about censorship on the rare occasions one of their own is targeted by it. This is utterly misguided, of course. As Thomas Paine put it: He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. The lefts complacency speaks to how tame and in line with the establishment many supposed leftists are today. They dont fear censorship or re-education. They already love Big Brother, which is perhaps the most damning indictment of all.
Tom Slater is editor of spiked. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Slater_
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How the woke left learned to love Big Brother - Spiked
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Review: FOX-LIGHT, The Hope Theatre – Broadway World
Posted: at 7:46 pm
Paul Czanne said that the most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist himself. Barnaby Tobias's Fox-Light should be an all-consuming, intoxicating picture of the magnetism and irresistibility of two young artists in love with each other and art itself. Unfortunately, that's not it and it isn't the most genial of playwriting debuts. But this is what Camden Fringe festival is for. It allows artists the space to develop and grow.
There is no research on the meaning - or necessity - of art in this debut play; there is no deeper exploration into the human experience; mostly, there is very little appeal in these insufferable, self-important art school snobs and their story. There is no reason why we should follow them from Jay's house party to their unnecessary deaths - except for morbid curiosity.
In 90 never-ending and eye-rolling minutes of stark, unfeeling, pretentious gamourisation of toxic behaviours, Tobias introduces gorgeous, horrible, well-spoken people with a god complex each who talk about nothing. They're essentially the same concept of a person actualised in two genders. No nuance, no introspection.
Jay (portrayed by Tobias himself) is a cocky and vain man whose ambition rules every aspect of his life. He takes pride in his sexual conquests and relishes in being politically incorrect. He also desperately wants to be counterculture, but doesn't have the depth for it. Tess (Martina Rossi) is a posh, snooty, waif-like foreigner who looks down on everything and everyone. They are walking red flags ready to wave in the wind.
Directed by Simon Usher with simplicity and restraint, they address the audience in long streams of consciousness that interrupt one another. Their prose is bleak and cruel, lacking in artistic beauty for most of the show but for rare glimpses of famous poetry and a few brilliant turns of phrase by Tobias.
The main issue we find in Fox-Light is that the playwright tells a lot but shows nothing. He uses language for its shock value devoid of any real content, offering a cynical and frankly pointless story. They feed off of each other's purpose and darkness with a sex-drugs-and-rock'n'roll approach to life until Jay's needs take over and Tess becomes a lifeless sex object.
Orgasms become currency in their relationship and their self-destruction reaches its climax. It's unfortunate how numb and aimless this piece is. Described as a "tar-black dramedy", it sadly lacks humour and the quality of the narrative is the only tragedy in it. It's a first play and definitely not a death sentence, so onwards and upwards.
Fox-Light runs at The Hope Theatre until 7 August as part of Camden Fringe.
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Michael McKean and Annette OToole Have Spent the Past 23 Years Reading to Each Other – Vanity Fair
Posted: at 7:46 pm
OToole: And neither one of us had read it. Thats one of the things we look for; something neither one of us has read, like a classic we missed or a genre weve never read. It was such a wonderful experiment. Michael has a very mellifluous voice. I get up really early in the morning, so, Im really tired by the end of the night, and his voice completely puts me to sleep, not because Im bored, but because its so soothing. When were trying to remember who read last and he says its in the middle of the chapter, that means I must have read last, meaning I fell asleep.
Once youve started a book, have you ever abandoned it?
OToole: We got halfway through Gone with the Wind. I had read it when I was 14 but he had never read it, and I didnt remember a lot of it. It became unbearable. Did we abandon End of the Affair by Graham Greene? Its one of those very intimate stories you need to read on your own.
If I may ask, how do you handle sex scenes in a book?
McKean: There was this one Jack Reacher book by Lee Child that was a flashback to his Army days. He and his girlfriend liked to do it when the train came a-rumbling by. There were a couple of really purple chapters in there. It was fun.
Do you have a favorite among the books youve read to each other?
OToole: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It was so powerful and so beautifully written. I read the chapter about the Christmas tree. I was weeping so hard, I could barely get the words out.
McKean: Quest of the Sacred Slipper by Sax Rohmer. So much fun to read. He never saw a paragraph he couldnt turn into a sentence. The guy never punctuatesYes, keep rolling on this. And so politically incorrect. One of the toughest [to read] was There There by Tommy Orange. Its about an Oakland pow wow that goes horribly wrong. The characters became so important to us. You get to know these people and wed come to the end of the chapter, and we would fret about them.
Do you discuss the books either while reading them or afterward?
OToole: The first birthday gift I ever gave Michael was a book. We were working together (on Final Justice). It was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. We still have it downstairs.
McKean: She said, Tell me when you finished the book. By this time, we were emailing pretty regularly. I finished it. I thought it was really wonderful. And then she expressed her outrage at the books ending.
OToole: Well, we become so invested in our hero and heroine trying to get to one another and then once they do, he dies in her arms. I wanted them to be together they earned it! And sure, he lives on in the daughter, but couldnt Frazier have given them a YEAR or something? I always prefer a happy ending.
What tips can you offer couples who want to give this a try?
McKean: Know when to fold em. Get to an agreement pointIf were 25 pages in and were, like, meh, then bail. It cant be adversarial.
OToole: Start with something with short chapters in a genre you both know you like. You know what we cant do? True crime. I read them on my own, but I can only take so much.
Do you always read at bedtime or do you read at different times of day?
OToole: Reading is always correct. Like pearls.
McKean: Or M&Ms.
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Public Schools Are ‘Hemorrhaging’ Students in Major Cities. Here’s Where They’re Going | Kerry McDonald – Foundation for Economic Education
Posted: at 7:46 pm
The new academic year hasnt even begun and public school enrollment is already not looking good in some parts of the country.
Seattle Public School fall enrollment is projected to be down to its lowest rate in a decade, declining even further from last years significant drop. Similarly, the New York City public schools shared data last week suggesting a continued dip in public school enrollment, with more than 28,000 fewer students expected to attend a district school this fall.
We have a hemorrhaging of families that are leaving the city, leaving the school system, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The Seattle Times editors seemed slightly perplexed by the drop in their citys public school enrollment. According to their recent editorial: But even more concerning is that Seattle and some other districts enrollment continue trending downward even as statewide enrollment slowly recovers.
They shouldnt be surprised. The American Enterprise Institute analyzed extensive data in the spring showing that school districts that remained remote or that imposed ongoing school mask mandates continued to lose students in the 2021/2022 academic year, while those districts that reopened more quickly and avoided restrictive virus policies saw public school enrollment rebound from the 2020/2021 academic year slide.
Major cities such as Seattle and New York City stayed shuttered longer and reopened with Covid policies that many families found unappealing. So families fled, either moving to freer states or choosing private schools, Catholic schools, charter schools, homeschooling, microschools, and other schooling alternatives.
With cities such as San Diego reinstating a school mask mandate this summer, and Los Angeles considering bringing back its indoor mask mandate, it is likely that public school enrollment in those cities will continue to decline.
Indeed, San Diego Unified Board President Sharon Whitehurst-Payne said this week that if students dont want to wear a mask at school, they should just not return.
Los Angeles lost 4.8 percent of its public school students in 2020/2021 and another 6 percent in the 2021/2022 academic year, despite schools reopening. San Diego public schools experienced a similar enrollment drop over the past two years. These enrollment declines outpaced earlier projections of declining enrollment due to demographic changes.
The good news is that coinciding with the drop in district school enrollment is the proliferation of a diverse assortment of accessible learning models, including low-cost microschools, learning pods, virtual platforms, and homeschooling collaboratives. Parents and teachers have more education options today than ever.
For Mercedes Grant, opening a new microschool is all about meeting growing demand for more transparent, personalized learning opportunities for children. A certified special education teacher, Grant taught in public middle schools in several states before deciding to launch her microschool, Path of Life Learning, in Yorktown, Virginia this fall.
The public education system is failing our students academic and social/emotional needs due to overfilled classrooms, watered-down content, and less individualized student focus because the curriculum is the priority over student mastery, she told me in an interview this week.
Microschools are typically small, multi-age learning communities that gather in private homes or local commercial spaces, often with hired teachers who facilitate a mastery-based curriculum. Microschools were gaining traction prior to 2020, but their popularity has surged over the past two years amidst the widespread education disruption caused by the pandemic response.
Microschools are offering us a way that our students can get a more authentic learning experience in a much smaller setting where the adults involved have a true passion for teaching in ways that are best for students rather than being bogged down by pacing guides, student behaviors, and curriculum constraints, said Grant.
Parents are also welcome members of most microschooling communities, something that can set these emerging learning models apart from school systems, which tend to be centralized and bureaucratic. Parents know they are valued instead of treated as the enemy, Grant added.
Her microschool, like most others that are sprouting nationwide, is a low-cost education option, with tuition rates that are far lower than other local private schools. Many microschools also try to offer sliding scale tuition and scholarships to reduce costs even further, or encourage families to take advantage of various school choice policies, such as education savings accounts, that make microschools and related learning models more accessible to more families.
As many families consider, perhaps for the first time, other education options beyond their local public school, they may be surprised to discover the variety of new learning models available to them. They may even discover, as more and more families have, that they prefer these education options far more than their government-assigned one.
This article first appeared in The Epoch Times.
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A record amount of seaweed is choking shores in the Caribbean – NPR
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Seaweed covers the Atlantic shore in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts and Nevis, on Wednesday. A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados. Ricardo Mazalan/AP hide caption
Seaweed covers the Atlantic shore in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts and Nevis, on Wednesday. A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados as tons of brown algae kill wildlife, choke the tourism industry and release toxic gases.
More than 24 million tons of sargassum blanketed the Atlantic in June, up from 18.8 million tons in May, according to a monthly report published by the University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Lab that noted "a new historical record."
July saw no decrease of algae in the Caribbean Sea, said Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanography professor who helps produce the reports.
"I was scared," he recalled feeling when he saw the historic number for June. He noted it was 20% higher than the previous record set in May 2018.
Hu compiled additional data for The Associated Press that showed sargassum levels for the eastern Caribbean at a near record high this year, second only to those reported in July 2018. Levels in the northern Caribbean are at their third highest, following July 2018 and July 2021, he said.
Scientists say more research is needed to determine why sargassum levels in the region are reaching new highs, but the United Nations' Caribbean Environment Program says possible factors include a rise in water temperatures as a result of climate change and nitrogen-laden fertilizers and sewage waste fueling algae blooms.
Long Beach is covered with sargassum in Crest Church parish along the south coast of Barbados on July 27. Kofi Jones/AP hide caption
Long Beach is covered with sargassum in Crest Church parish along the south coast of Barbados on July 27.
"This year has been the worst year on record," said Lisa Krimsky, a researcher and faculty member with Florida Sea Grant and a water resources regional specialized agent at University of Florida. "It is absolutely devastating for the region."
She said large masses of seaweed have a severe environmental impact, with decaying algae altering water temperatures and the pH balance as well as leading to declines in seagrass, coral reef and sponge populations.
"They're essentially being smothered out," Krimsky said.
The "golden tide" also has hit humans hard.
The concentration of algae is so heavy in some parts of the eastern Caribbean that the French island of Guadeloupe issued a health alert in late July. It warned some communities about high levels of hydrogen sulfide emanating from huge rotting clumps of seaweed, which can affect people with respiratory problems including asthma.
The Biden administration declared a federal emergency after the U.S. Virgin Islands warned last month of "unusually high amounts" of sargassum affecting water production at a desalination plant near St. Croix that is struggling to meet demand amid a drought.
"We're consuming as much as we can produce right now," said Daryl Jaschen, director of the islands' emergency management agency. "We're very concerned about that."
In addition, the U.S. Virgin Island's electricity generating station relies on ultra-pure water from the desalination plant to reduce emissions monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The loss of such water would force the government to use a type of diesel fuel that is more expensive and in limited supply, officials said.
Experts first noted large amounts of sargassum in the Caribbean Sea in 2011 that Hu and other scientists think were created by stronger than normal winds and currents. The problem has worsened as clumps multiplied, fueled by nutrients and strong sunlight.
"In the tropical Atlantic, everything was right," Hu said. "Everything grows fast."
Lakes Beach is covered in sargassum in St. Andrew along the east coast of Barbados on July 27. Kofi Jones/AP hide caption
Lakes Beach is covered in sargassum in St. Andrew along the east coast of Barbados on July 27.
Sargassum in moderation helps purify water, absorb carbon dioxide and is a key habitat for fish, turtles, shrimp, crabs and other creatures. But it is bad for tourism, the economy and the environment when too much accumulates just offshore or on beaches.
A carpet of brown algae recently surrounded an uninhabited island near the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin that is popular with tourists, forcing officials to suspend ferry service and cancel kayaking and snorkeling tours. The normally translucent waters around Pinel Island turned into a prickly brown slush.
"This is the worst we've ever seen it for sure," said Melody Rouveure, general manager for a tour company in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten, which shares an island with St. Martin. "It did ruin my personal beach plans."
On Union Island, which is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the seaweed invasion has forced some resorts to close for up to five months in the past.
Masses of sargassum also have strangled the Caribbean's fishing industry. It damages boat engines and fishing gear, prevents fishermen from reaching their boats and fishing areas and leads to a drop in the number of fish caught. Barbados has been especially hit hard since flying fish make up 60% of the island's annual landed catch, according to the University of the West Indies.
An overabundance of sargassum was blamed for the recent deaths of thousands of fish at the French Caribbean island of Martinique. It also has activists concerned about the plight of endangered turtles, with some dying at sea entangled in seaweed or unable to lay their eggs given the mat of algae covering the sand.
In the Cayman Islands, a thick carpet of sargassum had prompted officials to launch a trial program in which crews pumped more than 2,880 square feet (268 square meters) of seaweed out of the water. But on Tuesday, the government announced it suspended removal efforts because the level of decomposition made it impractical.
"The sargassum stranding in the North Sound is unlike any we have experienced previously in terms of its location, weather conditions and scale," officials said.
Other island nations have opted to use heavy machinery to remove seaweed from the beach, but scientists warn that causes erosion and could destroy the nests of endangered turtles.
Attempts to use sargassum as fertilizer, food, biofuel, construction material or medicinal products continue, but many Caribbean islands are unable to remove the vast amounts of the seaweed because they are struggling financially and have limited resources.
Gov. Albert Bryan of the U.S. Virgin Islands said he asked President Joe Biden to declare a federal emergency for the entire three-island territory, not just St. Croix, but that didn't happen. Bryan said he is now trying to find local funds to clean beaches, "but a lot of things need money right now."
Since 2011, large amounts of sargassum have invaded the Caribbean every year except 2013 an anomaly that scientists believe may have resulted from a lack of nutrients and a change in wind strength and direction. And the record amounts reported in recent years are even more concerning for scientists and island governments.
"We don't know if this is a new normal," Krimsky said. "This has been devastating for over a decade."
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The Caribbean Is More Than Just Beaches, Experience It Through These Cultural Tours – TheTravel
Posted: at 7:45 pm
The Caribbean is a culturally diverse region with a rich history. There is much more to the Caribbean than all-inclusive resorts, stunning beaches, and luxury cruises. The Caribbean is a mosaic of independent countries and territories; there are 30 sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. Many of the islands of the Caribbean are still dependencies or territories of other countries.
One of the best ways to explore the "real" Caribbean is with a cultural tour - there are far too many tours to do justice to, but there is a selection of a few of them. There are many destinations (both major and unknown) in the Caribbean; tours are a great way to explore both popular and off-the-beaten-path destinations.
This 8-Day tour of Jamaica enables visitors to get a much better feeling of Jamaica. This tour delves into the Jamaican culture, as well as the island's breathtaking landscapes, native food, and unique history.
There are many concerns about the safety of visiting Jamaica outside the all-inclusive resorts. Such tours like these help people to discover and unlock rich and rewarding places with a much greater sense of security.
The tour is an overland expedition through Jamaica with a private tour guide. Visitors will get to see the best the island has on off and the countryside that beach-hugging tourists rarely get to see. Discover the Jamaican capital of Kingston, the UNESCO-listed Blue & John Crow Mountains, the best beaches on the North Coast, local seaside towns, and more.
Accommodation is in comfortable Jamaican hotels.
Destinations:
The tour includes airport transfers, admission fees, accommodation, local tour guides, and more.
The tour does not include international to and from Jamaica flights and some meals (many breakfasts and lunches are included). They advise budgeting for another $100-300 for meals and personal expenses outside what's in the itinerary.
Related: 20 Caribbean Destinations Where It's Better (And Cheaper) Not To Stay At An All-Inclusive Resort
Haiti is a country few people get to really explore - and is a country people are generally advised not to travel to. For those set on exploring the country, then the best way may be with an organized tour. This 7-day tour of Haiti offered by Bella Vue Tours is an all-inclusive tour of the Caribbean nation.
Discover the best of Haitian culture and cuisine with this tour, where guests participate in rich gastronomy events.
The tour starts at the Cap-Haitien International Airport and then proceeds to one of the most prestigious hotels in the city. On tour, guests will discover Place d'Armes, local homes, the history of the country, historical sights, sample local dishes, and more.
Activities include relaxing on the tropical beaches, hands-on cooking classes, and going horseback riding.
Related: Trinidad & Tobago: What To Know About Visiting Both
Not all tours of the Caribbean tour need to be multi-day tours. There are also many day tours to choose from. One example of a day tour in Trinidad (the main island of Trinidad and Tobago) is the Eco-Cultural Experience. The tour explores the main city - the Port of Spain, the Maracas Bay, and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary.
On tour, one will see flocks of the Scarlet Ibis birds at sunset as well as the opportunity to sample pineapple chutney (a Caribbean treat). Guests will be able to admire many historic buildings, colonial-style mansions, and more.
Price:
Enjoy a crispy shark sandwich and relax on the beaches that are surprisingly quiet during the weekdays. At the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, explore the wetland and its many birds with a large flat-bottomed boat and see the mangroves, waterways, non-venomous snakes, and the vibrant Scarlet Ibis.
Attractions:
Island Experiences lists many other day tour options to pick from in Trinidad. There are many tours in every Caribbean country that offers guided tours that delve into the culture and history of the island.
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The Underrated Caribbean Island That’s A Cultural & Wellness Treasure – The Zoe Report
Posted: at 7:45 pm
Many sun-seeking travelers are familiar with tourist-friendly Aruba. But those looking for a more relaxed, lifestyle-focused island where they can experience cultural heritage, wellness, and outdoor adventure without being overwhelmed by cruise ships and crowds are sure to love its underrated (and stunning) neighbor, Curaao the C in the so-called ABC Islands just off the coast of Venezuela. (The A stands for Aruba and the B for Bonaire.) While the entire trifecta remains part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, its Curaao that packs the biggest cultural punch. And its apparent everywhere you look.
Our island is colorful and so are our souls, says Dewi Pomario, a Curaao tourist board guide. The people of Curaao are so proud of our culture, our traditions, our food, and our relaxed way of living.
Best suited for travelers who arent content to spend their entire vacation at the pool, Curaao offers an off-the-beaten path alternative that trades casinos, all-inclusive resorts, and restaurant chains for a more intimate, authentic experience.
The capital of Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage site, serves as the center of Curaaos fascinating multi-ethnic culture, a rich mix of European and Caribbean influences with a celebrated artist community. There, travelers venture beyond their hotel to explore incredible natural sites like rocky coves and salt flats, local restaurants serving delicious fusion specialities, and wellness traditions at Den Paradera Herb Garden.
From swimming with green sea turtles and getting painting lessons with a resident street artist to sipping cocktails in the trendy Pietermaai district and visiting healing salt flats, here are some of the best ways to feel Curaao's magic.
Filled with quaint colonial buildings arguably the best surviving examples of European architecture in the Caribbean Willemstad could easily be confused for a Dutch city if it werent for all the cheerful, candy-colored paint. Check out the sites on a Green Wheels scooter, an eco-friendly and convenient option for those looking to see and Instagram as much as possible. Be sure to stop by Wilhelmina Plaza, the Governors Mansion, and the bright yellow Penha Building. No trip to the island is complete without strolling across the gently swaying Queen Emma Bridge. Built in 1888, it ranks as one of the oldest wooden pontoon bridges in the world. But be on alert: A siren announces when the bridge is about to swing open to allow boats to sail through, and you dont want to get stuck.
In addition to its cultural past, Curaao boasts a vibrant street art scene that stretches throughout Willemstads charming neighborhoods, from the famed Colorful Steps in Otrobanda to kaleidoscopic paintings in Scharloo Abou. In fact, the islands electrifying vibe can be felt just about everywhere you go, thanks to its dynamic, warm residents. I believe it's not only the artist community that contributes to the atmosphere of the island, says Francis Sling, a popular street artist. A large part of the people living here are creatives in their own way. It's as if you're walking in a huge play.
While its certainly possible to explore Curaaos art on your own, walking tours like Dushi Walks and Art Tours Now, founded by artist Avantia Damberg, lend context to everything you see. For an even more hands-on experience, attend a painting workshop by request at the studio of Francis Sling, whose larger-than-life murals are beloved throughout the island. Looking to bring home a bit of Curaaos creative spirit? On narrow Windstraat, a de facto art alley in the Punda neighborhood, youll find a treasure trove of galleries and arts and crafts boutiques, including Serenas Art Shop, famous for its Curaao Chichi figures hand-painted by local female artists.
Want to get away from it all? Discover some of the most stunning scenery in the entire Caribbean on the rural west side of the island. Located along the protected Curaao Underwater Marine Park, many of Curaaos beaches, such as Playa Kenepa Grandi and Playa PortoMari, offer bright, clear water and healthy coral reefs near the shore, making them ideal for an afternoon of swimming and snorkeling. One of the best ways to experience as many as possible (Curaao has 38 in total) is by zipping around by jetski with Tourrific Curaao.
Get your adrenaline going by cliff jumping at Playa Forti and swim with green sea turtles at Playa Kenepa Chik. If you feel the need to go deeper (literally) Curaao offers some of the best scuba diving in the world with top-notch outfitters like Ocean Encounters. From a tugboat wreck in only 15 feet of water to a thrilling drift dive with sharks and rays, this is the place to hit the water, whether its your 500th time zipping up a wetsuit or youre first.
On some Caribbean vacations it might be tempting to take full advantage of the resorts all-inclusive meals. But Curaao has a thriving food culture that should be explored. No better place than at Bario Urban Street Food, a bustling food court style restaurant popular with travelers and locals alike. Each window or snek stand a type of to-go cafe serves its own curated menu of tropical cocktails, desserts, vegan food, or street food. Dine on specialties like chicken satay, stoba fries (fries topped with a traditional beef stew), roti, ceviche, and bolo di cashupete, a cashew cake typically reserved for festive occasions, while listening to live music. Afterward, have a nightcap at the newest addition to the trendy Pietermaai district, Ochenta Cocktail Bar, where bartenders mix drinks using the freshest ingredients and local brands, including authentic Blue Curaao made of the peels of the native bitter Laraha orange (something thats near to impossible to get outside of the country).
Curaao offers a wellness culture all its own in addition to the expected poolside massages and lavish facials. Once used by the Dutch for salt mining, the islands precious salias, or salt flats, are now designated nature reserves. But that doesnt stop some locals from sneaking in to bathe in the mineral-rich waters which are said to boost skin health. If what ails you is more than skin deep, stop by Den Paradera Herb Garden where you can learn about herbal healing and wellness from legend Dinah Veeris. Decorated by the Dutch Royal Family for her contributions to the community, Veeris invites people to stroll through her calming oasis and offers holistic health advice and products such as immunity-boosting tea and salves for bug bites. The traditional medicinal plants of the island of Curaao is a culture, a knowledge that we must preserve, says Veeris. Nowadays you see that so many people want to go back to nature and want to live a healthier life. The traditional medicinal plants have so much to offer us.
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