text:
Dentsu and Bang TV Create Action-Packed Car Chase for Lexus
18 November, 2016 2 June, 2019 by Liliana K
Bang TV's Lino Russell directs high-octane pursuit as car-maker launches new IS model
Bang TV has teamed up with Dentsu to create an action-packed campaign for the launch of Lexus' new IS model.
The campaign, directed by Lino Russell, showcases the luxury car maker's new model by sending it on a high-octane car chase through a working port and is the type of car commercial everyone wants to do but advertising rules never allow it – not so in Japan.
Shot in Rijeka, two hours from Zagreb on the north coast of Croatia, the film sees the hero car speeding through the port with a menacing motorbike in hot pursuit. Whilst the motorcyclist is doing his utmost to catch the car, the Lexus driver retains control throughout, demonstrating the car's manoeuvrability as he outwits his pursuer. With its massive ships, the backdrop of the busy container port adds to the film's blockbuster action movie feel.
Packed with hair-raising stunts and extraordinary precision driving, Bang TV called upon the services of two of the world's best stunt men to drive the vehicles; Sam Hubinette, aka The Crazy Swede ("Fast & Furious" and "Knight and Day"), and Lee Morrison, the driver from the opening motorbike chase sequence in Skyfall. Stunt co-ordination and additional driving was carried out by Martin Ivanov, a veteran of countless Bond and Bourne features.
"Lino was adamant from the start that the action had to be 'balls-out'. Whilst the car was the star, the bike had to be ridden in an aggressive, threatening way to justify the chase. For one of the set-ups there was a serious risk of taking the car's roof off as it dodged under a moving four ton container! Fortunately, we had world class drivers, able to get the right balance of safety and excitement," says Tom Whitehead, Producer at Bang TV.
Shooting the film in a fully operational container port posed a number of challenges and potential hazards. As well as health and safety issues thrown up by having a crew over a hundred-strong on set, there were all manner of logistical problems to manoeuvre, leading to the creation of a tightly timed schedule.
"We were fortunate to have a long lead in time on the production, which enabled us to build a relationship with the people at the port," says Tom. "We have amazingly resourceful contacts out there thanks to our decade-long relationship with BAS Productions, and they pulled out every stop to make a viable plan for us, including three days testing and rehearsal on location. By the time we were ready to go, they had agreed conditional access to the whole port, carefully worked around the shipping schedules. Our plan was as tight as a drum – and then, the day before everyone arrived on location, the shipping schedules changed and the plans were in tatters."
Tom comments: "I honestly think anywhere else in the world, if we hadn't had the time to build the relationship with them, they would've said 'Sorry guys, can you come back next week instead' which of course by that point we couldn't do."
Fortunately, by this point the key representatives at the port were totally committed to the project and bent over backwards to offer solutions. "Lino's a very passionate and painstaking director," adds Tom, "but he's also very pragmatic, and he knows how to shuffle the deck without compromising on the intensity of the action."
"The re-jigged schedule was a masterpiece, but it didn't leave any room for faffing about, so we ended up with seven cameras," says Tom. "As well as a Russian arm and a drone, the crew had cameras on remote controlled cars, a KTM motorbike and even a forklift truck. If it moved, we rigged it and ran it past, over or under the hero car at some point."
Russell collaborated with DOP Ekkehart Pollack to create a fabulously kinetic sequence that contrasts the smooth precision of the Lexus IS with the aggressive power of a fabulously evil looking biker.
"The agency was deeply involved from day one and we worked very closely with them to develop the stunts and the very tight storyboard," says Jeremy McWilliams, Exec Producer at Bang TV. "It's a big number to squeeze all five stunts into a 30 second action chase commercial. The level of precision required needs to be balanced with safety concerns and, of course, we still need to get the dramatic shots that Lino wanted."
Tom concludes: "The shoot was an awesome experience, and that definitely comes across in the finished edits. Pre-production time is so often short in commercials, but on this job it enabled us to build a strong collaborative relationship with the port representatives, so that when things went somewhat bandy, they were determined to help us get back on track. And for the record, no-one was hurt. Except that one guy."
Agency: Dentsu
Production Company: Bang TV
Director: Lino Russell
Producer: Tom Whitehead
Exec Producer: Jeremy McWilliams
DOP: Ekkehart Pollack
1st AD: Ina Luders
Service Production: BAS Production
Line Producer: Andrej Caruso
Offline Editor: Denis Marx
About Bang TV
Believe in: wildly entertaining storytelling that works.
Adore: hard work, leading edge technology and trying anything new.
Need: creative collaboration with intuitive, like-minded freethinkers.
Generosity: Tons of production experience to share freely and liberally.
Commercials, Interactive, App Developments & Design, Mobile.
Posted in International marketing
Tagged Auto, campanie, comunicare, comunicate, comunicate de presa, evenimente, imagine, marketing, promovare, relatii publice, stire, stiri
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The Minister's 5th December reply in the Belfast Telegraph to Mr McCartney's letter shows her lamentable grasp of the issues. In the article she cites no evidence for her "model" of education, but simply offers her opinion. Two of the most highly regarded studies in the history of education research prove that she is wrong. The Revised Curriculum, together will "election" at 14 via a Pupil Profile will damage profoundly the life chances of the poor. The evidence is unequivocal that underachievement will dramatically increase if the Minister's ideas are implemented.
"Project Follow Through" is arguably the largest and most sophisticated educational project ever undertaken to discover, once and for all, the type of curriculum that maximizes the academic achievement of the poor. To give a sense of the scale of this study, it lasted 20 years, cost a billion dollars to fund, and involved 79,000 children from 180 low-income American communities living in poverty. The conclusion was that the curriculum which helps children out of poverty is a traditional curriculum in which the teacher determines what is to be taught and children work in learning environments which are orderly and highly structured. (The reader can find details of this study by "googling" the words Project Follow Through.) Curricula of the type the Minister is currently demanding that all primary school children follow were shown to be damaging to the development of the numeracy and literacy skills of disadvantaged children. A Minister who expresses concern for children being failed by Northern Ireland's education system is promoting a curriculum that will increase that underachievement. The evidence that curricula of the Revised Curriculum type push the poor deeper into poverty is overwhelming.
As with all her pronouncements to date, her romantic notions of how one enhances the academic attainment of vulnerable children are entirely at odds with the evidence. The Minister therefore needs a mechanism to impose an incoherent damaging education model on our children. That mechanism is the new Education and Skills Authority (ESA) to be headed by Gavin Boyd, the man whose Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) developed both the Revised Curriculum and the Pupil Profile. Mr Boyd's approach to curriculum was tried out on the children of the Greater Shankill. The evaluation report concluded that in academic terms, the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. Few parents in Northern Ireland are aware that Mr Boyd's educational ideas have already been tried out and found wanting. Research carried out on behalf of CCEA demonstrated that the model of education he advocates is damaging to the life chances of the poor. The Shankill study replicates high quality international research on the impact of innovative curricula on the poor. The Shankill study (which refutes in every detail the case set out by the Minister in her reply to Mr McCartney) is rarely mentioned by the Minister, Mr Boyd, CCEA, the Department of Education, the Education and Library Boards or the media. The Minister's support for ESA, with Mr Boyd at its head, will serve to entrench and deepen underachievement and is damaging to already vulnerable children.
The really curious development is that the DUP have joined the Minister in endorsing Gavin Boyd's ESA. Thanks to the DUP Mr Boyd's contribution to the current mess we find ourselves in, is to be rewarded by assigning all aspects of our children's education to his care. Rather than setting up an enquiry in which Mr Boyd might be asked to provide the evidence base for his ideas, Mr Boyd's capacity to undermine a world-class education system is to be enhanced. The framework for such an enquiry already exists in the ten "features" of good policy-making developed for the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Mr Boyd should be asked to evaluate his history of education policy-making against each of the ten features.
This sets the context for where we now find ourselves. This document aims to set out what the DUP must now do to protect standards of education in Northern Ireland in general, and lever up the basic skills of underprivileged children in particular. The DUP have highlighted their concerns for primary six children, and the plight of these children will be of particular concern in what follows.
The DUP must insist that schools should be free to ignore the Revised Curriculum because of its pernicious effects on the achievement of poor children. DUP politicians should be aware that there is peer-reviewed evidence that the scientific basis for the Revised Curriculum is non-existent.
Why should schools adopt a curriculum whose scientific basis has been refuted and which is damaging to the education of underprivileged children?
It is a measure of the depth of the chaos into which we've descended that the Minister has threatened to use the law against primary schools who privilege traditional teaching and learning over the Revised Curriculum. Indeed, in this brave new world in which Sinn Fein seem ready to use the courts against law-abiding schoolteachers, curriculum documents on the assessment of cross-curricular skills begin not with a rationale for such skills, but with a statement of the legal requirements on the teacher. Under Ms Ruane the law is being invoked to deliver what educationalists call the "Matthew Effect" whereby the rich get ricer and the poor get poorer. This from the avowed champion of the poor and underachieving!
It is important to reflect on the educational model which existed prior to the Revised Curriculum and to which schools could return if the Revised Curriculum were rejected. Mr Boyd's own CCEA described the model which pre-dated the Revised Curriculum in these terms: "Education in Northern Ireland has an excellent reputation. In fact it's no exaggeration to say that teachers here are regularly achieving results that are the envy of many other areas of the UK." Who wouldn't want to return to an education system described in these glowing terms? In addition, any move away from the Revised Curriculum is likely to free up much-needed finance for use elsewhere in education.
(iii) preparing children for unregulated tests (whether the AQE achievement tests or NFER's "intelligence" tests favoured by at least one Catholic grammar school).
The most effective way in which the DUP can bring the misery of primary six children to an end is to take a clear stand on the Revised Curriculum, Pupil Profile and InCAS, leaving schools free to return to a model of education which focuses on maximising the literacy and numeracy skills of children, poor as well as rich. There can be no doubt that the DUP's failure to take a firm stand in respect of the Revised Curriculum is contributing to the chaos in primary six classrooms.
If the DUP were to highlight the fundamental shortcomings in the Revised Curriculum (of which InCAS is a part), primary six teachers could engage those who demand that they emphasise cross-curricular skills at the expense of literacy and numeracy, with much greater confidence.
· require the designers of the Revised Curriculum to explain why they've pressed on with a discredited curriculum framework in the teeth of compelling evidence from the Greater Shankill study and Project Follow Through.
SIR Jim Rose's plans for the primary school curriculum have been billed as the most fundamental change since the national curriculum was introduced 20 years ago. That much is true.
His most radical shift is away from subjects and towards a curriculum based on "areas of learning". But three items of recent evidence suggest that the approach being adopted by Sir Jim – the Government's top adviser on primary schools – is fundamentally wrong.
First, last year's national test results for 11 year-olds showed that almost 50,000 bright children failed to reach an acceptable standard in English and 30,000 failed to demonstrate a solid grasp of maths.
Second, this year's annual examiners' report from exam board Excel pointed out that one in five teenagers believe that the Sun orbits the Earth. One in 10 did not know that a rechargeable battery could be used more than once.
This came only a few days after the third shock: Psychology professor Michael Shayer, of King's College, London, found that the high-level thinking skills of today's 14-year-olds are now on a par with those of 12-year-olds in 1976.
Prof Shayer blamed too much time spent on computers for this decline. Others have noted that today's youngsters cannot distinguish properly between the real world and the virtual world of cyberspace.
Sir Jim's solution is increased use of computers in primary schools and less emphasis on a structured curriculum.
But how can children make the best use of computers if they haven't already grasped the basic foundations of English, including its grammar and literature, and maths and science?
Sir Jim argues that the current curriculum is overcrowded.
social and environmental understanding" and "physical health and wellbeing".
The theory is that children will learn essential knowledge – physical geography, for example, which gives us a sense of place, and chronological, fact-based history which gives us a sense of time – within six "areas of learning".
As a former school inspector, Sir Jim should know that once subjects become integrated, they lose much of their content, knowledge and structure, from which young people make sense of them – and learn to think logically.
To be fair, these proposals only reinforce what is already happening in many schools, primary and secondary. The danger is that "progressive" ideology, which wants teachers of subjects to become social workers and pedlars of politically-correct values, will now be formalised and spread down through the system.
Here is one example. Richmond upon Thames is not a local authority where anyone would normally look for "progressive" ideology. But Christ's Church of England School, in Richmond, has almost abolished subjects for at least one year group.
11-16 comprehensive. Last year, 70 per cent of 16-year-olds achieved five or more grade A*-C GCSEs, though that drops to 53 per cent when English and maths are included. This is above the national average, but is certainly not impressive.
Where the school does stand out is that it has introduced an integrated, theme-driven curriculum that emphasises skills, not subjects. Instead, the school teaches a Personalised Alternative Curriculum Experience (PACE).
Pupils' weekly timetables include 11 periods of Performing Arts (apparently a misprint as even the staff didn't know what PACE stood for) and only three of maths and two of science. No identifiable geography, history or religious education at all.
PACE, apparently, is based on the "Opening Minds" curriculum produced by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). This is now being tested in more than 200 schools around the country.
Meanwhile, the RSA, which is headed by Matthew Taylor, the former boss of Tony Blair's No 10 Policy Unit, has opened a new academy in Tipton, West Midlands. The RSA Academy will not only follow the Opening Minds curriculum, it will also train teachers from other schools to do the same.
As yet, no-one seems to have published any objective evidence to prove that PACE or Open Minds raise standards. It is claimed that pupils enjoy the lessons and they have the approval of Ofsted – but didn't Haringey social services get a clean bill of health from Ofsted, too, before the Baby P tragedy came to light?
Commenting about such changes to the national curriculum, Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools, wrote recently: "Academic standards? What a quaint, anachronistic ideal.
"This is a curriculum alive with real world topicality. 'Cross-curricular dimensions' such as cultural diversity and sustainable development, are deemed to be more important than traditional subjects, such as history or science.
"Indeed, in this curriculum, subjects have become vehicles for politically correct values… The idea seems to be that learning how to learn is more important than learning anything specific.
Sir Jim's proposals. Parents, surely, should be very afraid.
The Northern Ireland Revised Curriculum has moved away from in-depth subject based teaching towards a skills based approach claimed to be suitable for the 21st century. However recent evidence shows that students today have only a superficial understanding of many areas.
While the Northern Ireland Minister for Education, Caitriona Ruane and her band of spineless bureaucrats push on in the direction of imposed comprehensives the evidence from elsewhere shows the folly.
See also Three Cheers for Selection.
Both publications are downloadable at no cost.


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Tony and Tina are from the Bronx!
Last Saturday Grandma Nunzio led the cast and crew of Tony n' Tina's Wedding around Arthur Avenue. I love when the whole Tony n' Tina's tribe, thirty of us, descend upon a place. It's an instant wedding wherever we go. We stay in character. On this particular day, when my grandson son Johnny (the fierce and amazing Chris Lazzaro) got lost in the church alleyway, I yelled at him like Grandma Nunzio would. So, this being the Bronx, a lady across the street screamed at me, "Don't curse in front of the church!" I didn't even know I had cursed. I didn't know what came out of my Grandma Nunzio mouth. All I knew was my grandson Johnny was locked in the alley behind wrought iron bars.
We made our way to Casa Nunzio - a house on Hughes and Ahun-Eighty-Sixth across from the Enrico Fermi Library. I picked this house to be the residence of our Nunzio family -- cause I love this house -- it exemplifies everything the Belmont neighborhood has been for the past hundred years to the diaspora of Italians. At this house you're not in America. Let me explain. I performed in this house in 1996 when on the balcony, I asked the woman whose house it was back then, "Puppetta, what country do you live in?" Puppetta was a local resident I had met in the market, --the Arthur Avenue Retail Market. She came to my stand back then when I brought a piano into the market, rented a stall, and set up a two-year artist residency for my project "aSchapett!" I had a commission from Dancing In The Streets, to make site-specific community-based performance. Puppetta would sing and cook with us, and jump into improvisations I staged with artists, merchants, and residents. When I asked Puppetta what country she lived in, and gave her the microphone, to the hundreds of people that crowded her street corner for our show, she said, "Ahun-Eighty-Seventh Street." Puppetta has long moved on. But there was her balcony across from the library and bakery, and here we were, thirty of us, the cast and crew, animating a bit of her history.
We entered the market through the back end on Hughes Ave, and right away Dave Greco, master chef of Mike's Deli, greeted and fed us. Hot mozzarella made that moment was plated for us by Dave and his guys. Dave in his generosity sat us down, gave us a good Bronx talking to, and fed us to our hearts content. Capicola, mozzarella fresca, broccoli-rabe, melanzane, carciofi, salami, provolone... It was emotional for me walking into the market, a story too long to tell, but one that involves generations of my family. Suffice it to say, that in 1996, I had my Grandma Rose, who was 96 years young at the time, performing at the market "How to Make Cavateel" while my opera singers sang, and actors improvised with shoppers and merchants. Dave Greco told the cast how I had an acrobat stretch muzzarell' across the aisle with him, ten feet long, over the audience. Arthur Avenue is a place of memories and nostalgia. An overwhelming amount of nostalgia.
Here we were, I with my new family, Tony n' Tina's Wedding. The twenty-five year legacy of Tony n' Tina's Wedding met the legacy of the Bronx head on. I felt like a true old timer -- saying to the crowd "the chicken market used to be here" and "this is where the pushcart peddlers sang their wares" and "the market was constructed in 1939 -- when Fiorello La Guardia wanted to clean up the streets and get all the hawkin' and squawkin' peddlers inside." I remember being younger, and the old timers tellin' me "I wish you could have seen it when I was young…" Bah! Now I'm the old timer! "Grandma Nunzio!
We ended our tour at a three-story outcropping of Bronx Gneiss, jutting up outta the sidewalk on Ahun-Eighty-Eighth Street. This rock is a billion years old. Granite. I brought the cast up a pile of snow to touch the rock - to touch the billion years. To know where we are, where we've been. That's where we took photos. At the billion year mark. At the rock.
Tina (the gorgeous Marilia Angeline) picked out Casa Vitale up the street on Hoffman -- a pink two-story family house with friendly plaster animals and chairs off the stoop. We were done for the day, a well-fed sated cast celebrating a twenty-five year old phenomenal show – in the billion year old Bronx, to a billion years of Tony n' Tina's Wedding! Touch Gneiss! And remember your grammar: i before e, except in the Bronx.


text:
To prevent them from being cut down .. Watch: Dozens of women in Britain marry trees
In an unusual event, dozens of women in Bristol, Britain, chose to marry trees after deciding to cut down a number of trees to build housing units.
And has more than 70 women in Bristol to "pairing" with dozens of trees at a wedding hosted by one of the priests, Mstlhmat this idea of women in India who have thrown Bodhirahn around trees to protect forests from destruction, according to " Bristol 247 " Bristol247.
The event, which was held in Caravan Park overlooking the "Fluting Harbor" area, aims to highlight plans that could see the felling of trees and the construction of 166 new apartments by the "Gurram Homes" company owned by the city council.
The brides at the ceremony wore wedding dresses from different global cultures, with event organizer Siobhan Kerns saying she hopes the event will show that "trees are our partners for life."
Video clips, and pictures circulating on social media platforms, showed dozens of women wearing wedding dresses and carrying pictures of trees, as a step to discourage the authorities from moving forward in implementing its decision to cut trees.
Siobhan Kearns wrote on a page dedicated to protecting these people titled "Save Baltic Wharf Trees" The council's Baltic Wharf Park is the only green space on the port side. Rather than cherishing this refuge for its importance to wildlife and people, the council's developers plan to dispel this vital ecological link by building high-density, high-rise apartments, which will result in the loss of 74 mature trees.
"We all know the value of trees in tackling global warming and giving us the oxygen to breathe, but urban trees give us so much more. They:
Clean polluted air by absorbing pollutants
Protect us from floods
Reduce traffic noise
Improve mental health
Supports thousands of species of wildlife
And decisively limit dangerous overheating in cities.
Source : Websites + Social Media + Sanad Agency
Tags: Education Funny safety

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: MAGMA-question concerning the multiplicity of indecomposable $kG$-modules in a decomposable $kG$-module Let $G$ be a finite group and $p$ be a prime.
Moreover, let $k$ be a finite field of characteristic $p$, such that $p$ divides $|G|$. Furthermore suppose that $k$ is a splitting field for $G$.
Suppose that there is already stored a finite list $L=[N_1,... ,N_s]$ of indecomposable $kG$-modules, such that they are all non-isomorphic to each other.
Let $M$ be a new decomposable $kG$-module.
I know a priori that $M$ decomposes as a direct sum of indecomposable $kG$-modules $M\cong \bigoplus\limits_{i=1}^{n} {M_i}$ such that

*

*$M_n$ is a new $kG$-module I know nothing about (except that it is indecomposable)

*all other $M_i$ are isomorphic to a module $N_j$ (for some $j$) occurring in the list $L$ from above.
Example:
$M\cong M_1\oplus M_2 \oplus M_3 \oplus M_4$ and $M_1\cong N_5$, $M_2\cong N_5$, $M_3\cong N_7$.
$M_4$ is the new module I know nothing about.
Also, I had to test with the MAGMA command "IsIsomorphic" which modules of the list $L$ my direct summands $M_1$, $M_2$ and $M_3$ of $M$ are isomorphic to.
Question:

Is there an easier way to chop the modules $N_j$ off the module $M$ (with noting the multiplicities) than to decompose $M$ into all its indec. dir. summands
  and to test  with the MAGMA command "IsIsomorphic" for every $M_i$ and $N_j$?

I'm asking this, because it costs a lot of time and memory, if $M$ is very big.
Thank you very much for the help.

A: Here's an idea that I've used, in an ad hoc way, in similar situations. I think it helped, although I can't claim to have rigorously tested how much more efficient it is.
Suppose an indecomposable module $N$ is isomorphic to a direct summand of a module $M$. Then if you choose random homomorphisms $\alpha:N\to M$ and $\beta:M\to N$, there is a reasonable probability (at least $(|k|-1)^2/|k|^2$) that $\beta\alpha$ is an isomorphism, in which case $M\cong N\oplus\ker(\beta)$.
So you could try to make $M$ smaller by randomly splitting off summands that are isomorphic to the indecomposables $N_1,\dots,N_s$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Q: Creating a new variable based on numeric differences between two other variables in r Here's an example dataset.
structure(list(vector1 = c(1, 4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 5,
5, 1, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2, 5), vector2 = c(4, 2, 3, 5, 3, 5, 2, 2,
3, 3, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2)), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA,
-20L))

Basically what I'm trying to do is create a new variable 'Direction' based on differences between these numbers. I want to say something like:
if vector2 == vector1 or vector2 == vector1 +/- 1 than Direction == 'NS'
if vector2 < vector1 -1 or if vector 2 > vector1 + 1 than Direction == 'EW'
Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks!

A: you can try this
df <- structure(list(vector1 = c(1, 4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 5,
                       5, 1, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2, 5), vector2 = c(4, 2, 3, 5, 3, 5, 2, 2,
                                                            3, 3, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2)), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA,
                                                                                -20L))

df$direction <- with(df,ifelse((vector2 == vector1) | (vector2 == (vector1 + 1)) | (vector2 == (vector1 - 1)), "NS",
                   ifelse(vector2 < (vector1-1) | (vector2 > (vector1 + 1)),"EW", NA)))

A: A similar solution is this (slightly simpler):
Data:
df <- data.frame(
  vector1 = c(1, 4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 5, 5, 1, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2, 5),
  vector2 = c(4, 2, 3, 5, 3, 5, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2)
)

Desired new column:
df$direction <- ifelse(df$vector1==vector2 |
                         df$vector1==vector2 + 1 |
                         df$vector1==vector2 - 1, "NS","EW")

Outcome:
df
   vector1 vector2 direction
1        1       4        EW
2        4       2        EW
3        4       3        NS
4        2       5        EW
5        1       3        EW
6        3       5        EW
7        2       2        NS
8        3       2        NS
9        4       3        NS
10       5       3        EW
11       3       4        NS
12       5       1        EW
13       5       4        NS
14       1       1        NS
15       4       2        EW
16       2       1        NS
17       4       2        EW
18       5       1        EW
19       2       1        NS
20       5       2        EW


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Article: Big Data: Bigger performance – biggest delight
AUTHORVisty Banaji
FRIDAY14JAN 2022
Big Data: Bigger performance – biggest delight
Technology allows us to recommend the right mix of work, development and compensation choices for each individual employee. How can we use this micro-targeting to raise people's performance and happiness?
On the dashboard of every HR professional there should be at least three dials. The largest one should indicate the results achieved by HR for the people of the organisation. Then there should be a measure of the creativity and path-breaking programmes used for getting those outcomes. The third dial should show how far fast-progressing information technology has been harnessed by HR so that the innovations are realized in the service of the results. What is it that impedes the average HR department form substantially improving its dashboard readings?
We can safely assume readers of this column are (or, at least, should be) committed to raising Aggregate Long-term People Happiness (ALPH). But how? Grandiose goals always carry the sobering fear that there is no practical way to attain them. In the case of the first dial, when the aggregate is made up of both Socrates' and pigs, the possibility of figuring out what will maximise utility for each individual and then actually delivering it seems to be well beyond HR (Human Reckoning).
Perhaps there is no other glamour-domain than innovation that HR not only talks about but stakes a claim to own within the corporate landscape. While we cannot own Big Data so exclusively, we are not behind any other function in describing it as the next big opportunity. The small inconvenient fact, which keeps the second and third dials low, is that HR is rarely seen as particularly innovative by employees and the little it uses Big Data is imitative of other functions rather than original. HR, of course, is not the only late adopter in the behavioural sciences. "The capacity to collect and analyze massive amounts of data has transformed such fields as biology and physics. But the emergence of a data-driven 'computational social science' has been much slower." Social scientists have begun to catch up fast. HR practitioners need to do the same.
This column seeks to nudge the needles on each of our three dashboard dials. To maximize the ALPH bang for the resource buck we need to tailor our opportunity and benefit delivery to each person's personality and preferences. For the first time, data analytic tools have made it possible to permit substantive, individualized need choices with a virtually unlimited flexibility palette. We have to realize, though, that we shall no longer remain in the realm of the anodyne technologies that we have been used to but are on the verge of acquiring lethally abusable capabilities. Hence the checks governing them must be an integral part of their deployment. We shall examine the use of big data to determine individual inclinations, the infinitely flexible choices employees can exercise and the safeguards that must accompany this radical programme.
Taming the Genie to Tell Me What I Need
Data analytics and individually targeted communication caught public attention when it was used to influence the outcome of critical elections. That doesn't mean, however, that responsible wizards can't put the genie back in the bottle and channel it to work its magic only for the benefit of people. Several of the technologies most beneficial to mankind emerged from the desire to gain an edge in situations of competition and conflict. Data analytics directed towards understanding and satisfying people could prove no less useful.
How could we enlist the big data Goliath in the service of ALPH and better people performance? Very simply put, we need to extract individual personality and preference markers from the waves of data swirling around us and use those to construct work and benefit choices that will prove to be the most satisfying in each case. All of us leave digital footprints when we access the internet depending on the searches we make, the websites we visit, the profiles we create, the comments we share and the 'likes' we click on. Every one of our cyber steps is grist to the big data mill and can be used to create a passable personality profile. 'Passable' is something of an understatement since "a user's personality can be accurately predicted through the publicly available information on their Facebook profile." And that's before we account for the bias and faking that go into the self-report personality inventory that is usually used for personality assessment. As Seth Stephens-Davidowitz puts in the title of his bestseller: Everybody Lies. Tracking internet use and analysing the language used on the cloud permits us to circumvent the myriad deceptions we use to veil our true selves. Best of all, the big data method will go on improving in accuracy – limited only by the robustness of the personality models themselves. The additional information available (with agreement and safeguards) from e-communications and other traces created by employees within the corporation can enable us to be far more accurate in understanding their needs than simply accessing their non-work social media presence would.
What'll Make Me Happiest: Unlimited Choices
There is no doubt, then, that we can build extremely effortless, insignificantly intrusive (see next section) and adequately accurate personality profiles for employees. Where does that take us? Why could it revolutionise the way we manage people for their own and their organisations' greatest benefit? To unravel the possibilities, I find it useful to use the 5G framework for transactions between employees and the organisation. The first two Gs are what the employee Gives to the company and, in return, what s/he Gets from it. The other three Gs could be force-fitted into these two but I find it more useful to examine Growth, Guidance and Gifting separately. Space here will only permit me to give illustrative ways in which our big data-driven personality judgements can make important differences in the 5G. Your ingenuity can find many more solutions, better suited to your situations.
The most basic things an employee Gives to the organisation are availability and time. During the period of presence, the skill and commitment s/he brings to bear determines the person's value to the company. We can expect both capabilities and engagement to improve if there is a better fit between temperament and task (as also the other ALPH accreting measures touched on in this section). But let's just start with touch time at work. After the Covid crisis, both physical presence and time have become variable in a way no one could have imagined or permitted earlier. As we limp back to normalcy the buzzword is 'hybrid' – which is another way of saying, "We don't know what to do, so we'll just muddle along". We know there are personality types that flower in the isolation of their homes and are able to cocoon themselves from domestic disturbances. On the other hand, there are those who feed on and reciprocate the energy released by physical proximity. People also have varying Circadian rhythms (also traceable through their net activity) and preferences between shorter (or longer) workdays and shorter (or longer) workweeks. There is no question that on this (as well as all the other measures of flexibility we shall consider) the final agreement or veto depends on the employee. However, most employees, even if they have some inkling of their personality type, are unaware of the work pattern that would generate most productivity and ALPH for that type, and could make far more informed decisions with such inputs.
Everyone accepts that what people Get from the company extends far beyond monetary compensation. Not all of these are fungible or variable but quite a few are. For instance, differences in short-term versus long-term preferences could be allowed to manifest themselves in benefit and welfare choices within a Cost To Company (CTC) bucket. With the advent of Gig-supporting systems, we can also accommodate those who genuinely prefer part-time or part-year working and are willing to let the CTC drop accordingly. While not tradable against CTC, the team assignment, work allocation and longer-term career direction of individuals can all yield a larger proportion of hits and happiness if they are guided by personality insights.
Growth and the Learning that precedes it is a major part of both Give and Get. The manner of communication and, hence, the type of pedagogy and training varies in effectiveness depending on the personality of the recipient. The choice along each career fork (functional fit, specialization versus being a generalist, highly interactional or inward-looking role, just to name a few) can also be greatly benefited by a knowledge of the personality profile of the employee facing the choice.
Despite being a longtime votary of Situational Leadership as a means of providing the appropriate level of supervisory Guidance, I must admit to being less than satisfied about using maturity as the sole independent variable for making leadership style choices. How much richer our choice palette would be if, in addition to using the competence gap, we could guide supervisory style choices using all the colours of the person's personality?
Gifting is removed from the transactional nature of the Give-Get equation. It comes in many varieties, ranging from the citizenship behaviour of the employee to the servant leadership of the supervisor. However, simply because something is a gift doesn't absolve the giver from trying to divine what the recipient desires. That, of course, is easier said than done, as evidenced by the tearful openings of Christmas day presents and the endless circulation of tea-sets given as wedding gifts. Simply being beyond the call of obligation doesn't make a gift valuable. Insight into employee make-up can enhance the warm glow elicited by a selfless gift into ALPH.
Untouched by Human Hands – Unseen by Human Eyes
Data privacy for employees has been a concern for this column long before the equine offspring of Medusa invaded our cyberspace. While those checks are adequate for organisations with conventional HR systems, we are now seeking to extract enriched information and, like all enrichment devices (whether investment banks or uranium centrifuges), this one too needs special safeguards. Fortunately, these are simple both in concept and implementation. The test is only to ensure they are not delayed or circumvented.
The first and most basic guard is the unpressured choice given to each employee to say 'no' to the personality information-yielding data analytic engines. This choice should be permanently available and accompanied, for people who exercise it after joining the data collection process initially, to have their information and identities wiped out and forgotten by the system, on demand. Being removed from the personality profiling processes, of course, wouldn't deprive the individual of exercising the 5G super-cafeteria mentioned in the previous section. However, the personality-based prompts would be missing and the employee would be left to make the choices based on personal judgement, whim or what the person at the next work-station is doing. Votaries may point out that such a refusal would be akin to choosing medical treatment without undergoing any diagnostic tests. But that is the individual's decision. To the extent the negative decision is informed by worry that the data gathering and analytics may be used by the organisation to snoop, the following two checks should be reassuring.
Both the data gathering for personality projections as well as the 5G choice prompts would be automated. While the algorithms inside the black box would be intensively tested and periodically reviewed for continuing validity, the actual profile and suggestions would be visible to the individual alone. Once people are assured of the security of the information gathering and analysis and the helpful pointers it yields, they may well be inclined to permit access to their non-work social media (e.g. Facebook) as well, in return for getting get a still better fit to their needs and aptitudes.
Lastly, there will need to be an impermeable barrier separating the personality perceiving and 5G option prompting system from the performance and potential evaluation systems and from anyone associated with the latter. HR would, of course, be able to access information on an aggregate basis and it would prove a rich treasure trove for improving policies, recruitment choices and monitoring change management initiatives.
Breakthrough Engagement
There are several very good reasons why this is an opportune moment for making this investment in our way of managing people. For the first time, technology has reached a level of sophistication where we can make non-intrusive personality projections, use them to guide an unprecedented and increasing array of 5G choices while fully protecting the privacy of the individual. First movers should enjoy an engagement, retention and cost-efficiency advantage over slower-adopting competitors.
Apart from technical feasibility, we have an openness to considering many options of 5G (heretofore cast in stone) as 'choosable'. For instance, CEOs and line leaders have adjusted with great success to the new ways of working that Covid forced upon us and are quite willing to experiment further. How long this flexibility about work arrangements as radical as the ones that have already been effectively used will continue, is anyone's guess. But memories can be short. The time to use big data for bigger performance and biggest delight is now.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune…
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.
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1 Visty Banaji, HR's business should be happiness raising, 24 September 2019,(https://www.peoplematters.in/article/life-at-work/hrs-business-should-be-happiness-raising-23175).
2 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Utilitarianism, Bantam Classics, 1993.
3 David Lazer, Alex Pentland, Lada Adamic, Sinan Aral, Albert-László Barabási,Devon Brewer, Nicholas Christakis, Noshir Contractor, James Fowler, Myron Gutmann,Tony Jebara, Gary King,
Michael Macy, Deb Roy and Marshall Van Alstyne, Computational Social Science, Science, 6 February 2009, Vol. 323, Issue 5915, 721-723.
4 Christopher Wylie, Mindf*ck: Inside Cambridge Analytica's Plot to Break the World, Profile Books, 2019.
5 Becky Little, 6 World War II Innovations That Changed Everyday Life, History Stories, 26 April 2020, (https://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-innovations).
6 Michal Kosinski, David Stillwell and Thore Graepel, Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013.
7 Jennifer Golbeck, Cristina Robles and Karen Turner, Predicting Personality with Social Media, CHI '11 on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2011.
8 Wu Youyou, Michal Kosinski and David Stillwell, Computer-based personality judgments are more accurate than those made by humans, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015.
9 Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are, Harper Collins; 2017.
10 Jacob B Hirsh, Sonia K Kang and Galen V Bodenhausen, Personalized Persuasion: Tailoring Persuasive Appeals to Recipients' Personality Traits, Psychological Science, 23(6) 578-581, 2012.
11 Visty Banaji, Brave new corporate world: On employee data protection and privacy, 17 April 2018, (https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-relations/brave-new-corporate-world-on-employee- data-protection-and-privacy-17999?media_type=article&subcat=life-at-work&title=brave-new- corporate-world-on-employee-data-protection-and-privacy&id=17999).
12 Stephen Fry, Heroes: The myths of the Ancient Greek heroes retold, Michael Joseph, 2018.
13 William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act IV Scene 3.
Topics: Strategic HR, Performance Management
Visty Banaji
Visty Banaji is CEO of Banner Global Consulting
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Coconut oil comes from Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa and Central America: where coconut grows naturally. A coconut tree produces 50 to 150 fruits a year and it takes 11 to 12 months for the fruit to mature.
The oil comes from the mechanical pressure of the coconut fresh flesh, which explains why it has a small subtle taste that perfumes dishes when used. It is said that it is virgin coconut oil. It should not be confused with copra-which is made from the dried flesh of the nut and undergoes a very different treatment: it is bleached through carbon filters, refined-for eliminate bacteria and molds that have formed during drying in places where it is wet and hot- and finally deodorized. As this oil is mostly hydrogenated, its Trans fatty acid content makes it less favorable for the body and the process of refining makes it lose its nutrients. It is used by the food industry for industrial pastries, confectionery and fried foods.
The body immediately uses the fat reserves, without storing them. No risk of deposits that could ultimately clog the arteries. Finally, the traditional use of this oil in many countries – such as in India – since the coconut oil antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. Lauric acid in particular, present at 48% in coconut oil, would be effective on outbreaks of the herpes virus.
It can be cooked at high temperature without denaturing (unlike polyunsaturated oils, such as linseed oil or nuts, which are very fragile and should not be used for cooking) and therefore rehabilitates the frying, which is a rather enjoyable news. Its ease of absorption by the intestines and then used by the liver makes it a product of choice for people wishing to set up a ketogenic diet. The latter aims to allow the body to produce its own energy without depending on external contributions of glucose. A metabolic mechanism that occurs naturally during a fast. Able to produce the same effects, without stopping to eat: it is another paradox that makes the success of this oil. Coconut oil is also a real asset for vegetarian and vegan people (diet without products and animal by-products) because it substitutes perfectly for butter: it is thus possible to make pastries or pasta pies too easily using butter.
In the case of a balanced diet, without excessive calories, coconut oil is said to have the capacity to increase the activity of the cells – hence the expenditure of energy – to assimilate the food. This principle is called thermogenesis. Each food induces a different one. Thus, the proteins increase it, which explains among other things that meat often occupies a place of choice during a diet. Coconut oil seems to burn more calories than any other source of fat. However, few studies confirm that it helps slim down. Only one Canadian study in 2003 reported a loss of 500 grams after one month of consumption, with a stabilization of thermogenesis after 28 days. In summary, if coconut oil increases the caloric expenditure of the body, its effect lasts only one month, beyond which time the body becomes accustomed and stops losing weight.
Like avocado oil, coconut oil can migrate from the kitchen cupboard to the bathroom cupboard. Practical when the pot of moisturizing cream is empty, this one has more at hand as a makeup remover (even for waterproof mascara), it is also convenient when someone wants to take care of their hair and moisturize their nails. Coconut oil smells good and nourishes the skin. True aficionados even use it to make toothpaste or mouthwashes because it has the reputation of maintaining a beautiful dentition and whitening teeth.
A reasonable daily intake (one to three tablespoons) does not pose a health risk when the oil is virgin, ie not hydrogenated, and contains no preservatives. People allergic to nuts do not have to worry because the name is misleading: coconut is not a nut. It is possible, however, that allergies are triggered as with any other food.
The cultivation of coconut does not require the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The main disease of the coconut tree – the fatal yellowing – is fought by an antibiotic that acts as a preventive, but its use is absolutely not generalized: only plantations in Florida benefit from it. Only the mode of extraction is likely to modify the quality: it is preferable a coconut oil extracted by cold pressure which keeps the fat in good quality. The coconut production method seems sustainable, unlike its palm oil cousin, which is the cause of massive deforestation. The environmental cost is however not neutral, since, produced in the islands, it is necessary to transport the coconut oil to the non-tropical regions.
As a matter of fact, the cultivation of coconut does not harm the environment but there is however a cost since it has to be transported from tropical to non-tropical areas. Despite all of this though as researched so far has proved, the latter can prove to be a valuable asset to have at home. Although can be used from diet to applying on burns. It is also used in cooking since it fries the meat better and is not absorbed as much. Finally it is one of the best things there is for vegans this it is not an animal by product meaning they can use it with their everyday dishes as substitute for oil or butter.
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The Berkeley Team, leaded by Hugo Destaillats, are environmental chemists working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California (USA), interested in understanding the composition of the vapor inhaled by users and released to indoor environments, as well as its potential health effects.
The Vaping Post: Now we are in 2017, what do you retain from the year 2016?
Lawrence Berkeley Team: As vaping became more popular and raised its visibility, this past year we have seen that interest in the scientific community continued to grow, leading to an exponential number of studies being published in the literature, special workshops and symposia, etc. Also, funding agencies are assigning more resources to studies on e-cigs, which in turns drives even more attention from scientists. As a consequence, there is now much more information available, and a more complete picture is developing. New scientific information spans from basic technical aspects such as the composition of e-liquids and vapor (our field of research) to behavior, health effects and policy. At the same time vaping technologies and formulation of e-liquids continue to evolve, making some of the early findings partially outdated in a very short time.
Something to retain from 2016 is the decision by the FDA deeming e-cigarettes to be subject to the agency's regulatory purview. The State of California has also enacted several new tobacco-control laws in 2016, which among other measures regulate e-cigarettes as a conventional tobacco product, raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21 and expand smoke-free workplaces and schools. All these actions are supported by a body of research that, in the case of e-cigarettes, was in most cases produced in the past 3-5 years.
From our own research and other studies we have learned that heating the e-liquid generates volatile aldehydes such as acrolein and formaldehyde, among other compounds, which can be harmful to vapers and to those exposed passively. These chemicals are byproducts of the thermal decomposition of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin (VG), the two main constituents of most e-liquids. The process by which these compounds are formed depends critically of four factors: the design of the vaporizer, the battery power applied, the composition of the e-liquid and the patterns of use. The first three are potentially subject to regulation, and require effective methods and metrics that are only now being developed. In addition to those decomposition byproducts, other studies have shown that many flavoring compounds present in e-liquid formulations are also mucosal irritants. There is also growing concern about impacts on the cardiovascular system via oxidative stress.
The Vaping Post: What would be your expectations for this year 2017?
In California, a $2 tax increase on all tobacco products may contribute to lowering the prevalence of smoking and boost funding for future tobacco control and research.
The Vaping Post: What are your main concerns going forward?
Lawrence Berkeley Team: One of our main concerns is the impacts on adolescents and young users. This is a particularly susceptible population which is usually targeted by e-cigarette and tobacco advertising, and is prone to engage in more risky behaviors. The health effects associated with extreme vaping such as "cloud chasing" and "sub-ohming" have not been sufficiently studied. Despite the proliferation of websites and blogs addressing this audience, there are very little resources available online with serious information about risks.
The Vaping Post: What did you learn from your international perspective on vaping?
Lawrence Berkeley Team: If we look beyond the US, it is interesting to see how public health authorities in different countries adopt completely different policies: from directly encouraging the use of e-cigs by current smokers in the UK, to outright banning their commercialization in several countries (e.g., Argentina).
In Europe, the EU Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) regulating e-cigarettes and other nicotine vapor products entered in force in May 2016. The new regulation aims to improve safety and quality requirements for e-cigarettes and to protect the public's health. Some of the new rules include: maximum nicotine concentrations (20 mg/mL) and maximum volumes for cartridges (2 mL), tanks and nicotine liquid containers (10 mL), child proof packaging, prohibition of e-cigarettes promotion and cross-border advertising as well as mandatory health warnings and listing of all ingredients on packaging. All these different measures reflect the diversity of issues and concerns raised by public health advocates.
In Argentina, a 2011 resolution from the National Administration of Medications, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) and the National Law N° 26.687 prohibit importing, distributing, marketing and advertising of e-cigarettes. This decision was recently ratified in December 2016 by the ANMAT, concluding that there is no evidence that e-cigarettes present a better alternative to quit smoking than traditional cessation products. As a consequence, availability of e-cigarettes through informal commercial routes is limited, and prices relatively high.
Dr Nahuel Montesinos, PhD, Scientist at Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica & CONICET, Argentina.


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Ptahemwia or Ptah-em-Wia (Ptah in the barque) was an Ancient Egyptian official who lived under king Ramses II in the 19th Dynasty, around 1250 BC.

Ptahemwia had several titles, providing evidence for his positions mainly at the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Ramses II. These include king's scribe, Great overseer of the cattle in the Temple of Usermaatre-Setepenre in the House of Amun and overseer of the treasury of the Temple of Million of Years of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Usermaatre-Setepenre in the House of Amun in Memphis.

Ptahemwia is known from a number of objects. In 1859 Théodule Devéria photographed the decorated doorway, later lost, of his tomb chapel at Saqqara; the names and titles of Ptahemwia are mostly still readable.

Ptahemwia is also known from some other objects. There is a pyramidion found in 1860 at Saqqara showing Ptahemwia in front of different gods, inscribed with his names and titles. A statue without head was found at Abydos in 1902, showing Ptahemwia with a smaller statue of Osiris in front of him. It is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The titles listed on the statue (according to Kitchen) include overseer of Cattle, overseer of Cattle in the Temple of Usermaatre-Setepenre in the Estate of Amun, and king's scribe of Sacred Offerings of all the gods.

Ptahemwia's tomb was rediscovered at Saqqara in 2021. A 'cemetery-temple', it was mostly looted in the 19th century. It comprised an entrance, several courtyards and a temple at the western end that would have held deities, crowned with a pyramid. Paintings in colour of people with offerings and a calf slaughter were found in the first room, while the second, containing pillars, appeared to have a burial well. In 2022 Ptahemwia's sarcophagus was found at the tomb site in a burial chamber at the bottom of a vertical shaft.

References

Officials of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ancient Egyptian overseers of the cattle

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
10 observations: It's a long shot, but Bears need Harbaugh to fix this mess
By Mark Potash Dec 22, 2014, 4:39pm CST
Share All sharing options for: 10 observations: It's a long shot, but Bears need Harbaugh to fix this mess
Jim Harbaugh to the Bears? We'll have to see it to believe it.
Fox Sports 1 insider Jay Glazer reported Sunday that the Bears could be a player in the Harbaugh sweepstakes. But it's still a long shot. With teams already lining up behind the University of Michigan and its reported $8 million-a-year offer, the Bears would have to move quickly and break the bank — two things the McCaskeys don't do well. But if they're interested in proving to Bears fans they are serious about getting this thing right, going for Harbaugh would be one way to do it.
Harbaugh is an acquired taste personally and professionally. And he has a short shelf life — as reports of Harbaugh's impending divorce from the 49ers have picked up steam, the 49ers have struggled throughout the season, and are skidding to the finish with four straight losses.
But the Bears would be remiss to not go all out to hire him when he becomes available. Harbaugh provides what the Bears need most: an infusion of direction, focus and intensity. He has an odd manner but in a way that players respond to. He has a record of player development at the University of San Diego and Stanford. Until this season, his 49ers teams played at a level of intensity eclipsed only by the Seahawks and Patriots.
2. When Marc Trestman argued that a quarterback's career might be "revived" after a dose of reality like a benching, he probably didn't mean one week. Still, while Jimmy Clausen didn't put up prolific numbers against the Lions, his efficiency in running the offense helped keep the Bears in the game — avoiding sacks, big hits and turnovers that have doomed Cutler.
Any chance that risk-averse approach had an impact on Cutler?
"I think Jay's always going to try to do that," Trestman said. "He's an experienced quarterback, but he is very observant. He watches everything.
"It's been a very, very tough year for him in terms of playing at a consistent level, but I've seen this before and I have faith that he's going to return. He'll go to work this week … and take the things out of the game last week that he could have learned by standing and watching and observing the continuity of the game."
3. Some guys get all the breaks: Cutler can only hope for some of the good fortune that gave Clausen a helping hand against the Lions.
False starts have hampered the Bears offense under Cutler all season. On Sunday, Michael Ola's false start turned to gold: it forced the Bears to punt on fourth down — leading to a muff by the Lions' Jeremy Ross that Sherrick McManis recovered. Clausen threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Matt Forte on the next play.
In the third quarter, Pat O'Donnell's Academy Award-winning acting job earned a roughing-the-kicker penalty that not only wiped out a 19-yard net punt, but led to the Bears' second touchdown — Clausen's 20-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery.
O'Donnell was roughed one other time this season — against the Buccaneers at Soldier Field — but Cutler wasn't as fortunate. After regaining possession, Cutler was sacked twice, losing a fumble on the second one to set up a Buccaneers touchdown drive.
4. Last week, ESPN's Jon Gruden called for Jimmy Clausen to replace Cutler. This week, Fox analyst Troy Aikman took his shot.
"I think [Cutler's benching] goes beyond performance," Aikman said on the Bears-Lions telecast, "and is real reflective of whatever Jay Cutler is or isn't as a leader or someone who inspires the play of those around him."
5. Matt Forte's once-formidable pass-blocking has suffered lately. According to Pro Football Focus, Forte has a minus-9.2 pass-blocking rating in the Bears' last eight games. He was a plus-1.5 in the first seven games. The same thing happened last year when Forte had a minus-4.6 pass-blocking rating in the second half after a plus-0.5 in the first half.
6. It's One of those Years Dept.: Defensive end Willie Young, having a career year with 10 sacks, suffered a torn Achilles tendon that will require surgery and could impact his 2015 season.
"That's a tough one," Trestman said. "He has kind of been an inspirational leader. He's a charismatic guy. He keeps people up. He's fun to be around. He's always up and around the building and has played well and gotten better throughout the season.
6b. Another team MVP candidate, tight end Martellus Bennett, avoided injury but had a difficult game, with one reception for no yards, a drop on Clausen's first pass of the game, a pass interference penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing the pass interference penalty.
7. Kudos to Willie Young — a huge addition on the field and in the locker room — for remaining the same upbeat guy he's been all season, even in the face of a devastating injury. Wearing a walking boot, he still held court in the locker room after the game.
"Very impressive performance … I saw a lot of growth [Sunday]," Young said. "We've got some leadership, got some veterans, but at some crucial positions we have younger guys and I saw a lot of growth in those guys.
"The stuff that's been thrown at them all year, the way they've responded to adversity and with everything that's being down and the way things are going, I'm impressed."
8. On the other hand, Jared Allen took no solace in what seemed like an encouraging performance against the Lions.
"No. We lost," Allen said. "Are we really to the point where we're going to get excited about close losses? If that's the case, I don't want to be a part of that. I want a team that hurts after losses. I don't want to be a team that's OK with losing close games. We've got to fix mistakes. We've got to get better."
9. Ex-Bear Player of the Week: Eric Weems, a special teams stalwart who was cut in the preseason, caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan with three seconds left in the first half to give the Atlanta Falcons a lead they would not lose in a 30-14 victory over the Saints in the Superdome. Weems also had a team-leading 11th special-teams tackle.
Weems has 10 receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns this season. Devin Hester had two receptions for 25 yards and has 34 catches for 472 yards (13.9 yards per catch) and two touchdowns. The Falcons play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at the Georgia Dome for the NFC South title and a playoff berth.
10. Did you know … the Bears are the only team in the NFL that has not played a road playoff game since 1995? That's because they never sneak into the playoffs. They have been a No. 1 or 2 seed in each of their four postseason appearances since 1995: 2001 (13-3), 2005 (11-5), 2006 (13-3) and 2010 (11-5). Whenever they're close, they miss. That's particularly unfortunate considering four of the last seven Super Bowl winners have been seeded fourth or lower.
Next Up In Bears
Why Bears chairman George McCaskey must focus on offensive-minded candidates
Bears catch Bills fever, interview Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll; Leslie Frazier next
Bears interview Jim Caldwell, Nathaniel Hackett for coaching job
Polling Place: Belief in George McCaskey and the Bears this offseason is … not very strong


It is with profound sadness that we share the untimely and sudden passing of Deborah "Just Deb" Calviello (56) of New Glasgow, PE. Deb passed away Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. A special thank you to the doctors, nurses and staff at QEH for all of their efforts and of course to R & J, who surrounded her with love until I could get there. Beloved wife of Elaine Rosenfeld, mom to Jersey and little Nutmeg, niece of Sister Theresa Calviello, daughter-in-law of Anita (Carl, deceased) Rosenfeld, "Aunt Deb" to Michael and Michelle, the fun cousin and a treasured friend to so many.
Deb and her partner immigrated to Canada and called PEI home almost 10 years ago. The beauty of the Island extended to the beauty of the people here and amazing friendships have grown over the years. The love and support shown during this devastating time is overwhelming. In the short time here, Deb touched so many lives with her humor, honesty, dedication to helping others and finding ways to show she was worthy of the blessings she had. In her most recent role as Executive Director of the Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC) of Central PEI, she was so excited to be able to help others achieve their dreams as she had achieved hers.
Resting at the Belvedere Funeral Home for visitation Tuesday 4-7pm and funeral Wednesday at 10am. The family requests no flowers, rather memorial donations may be made to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation or the Prince County Hospital Foundation as a way to pay forward the kindness, caring and compassion Deb always showed for those around her. She touched the lives of so many and there are no adequate words to describe our heartbreak and loss.


Dr. Jeffrey Knemoller stays open late evenings and Saturdays, Book online or Call (212)385-0801.. He is a 20 year experienced podiatrist treating patients in New York, and the surrounding communities. His goal as a practitioner is to ensure that each of his patients receives the highest standard of medical care. Dr. Knemoller is also a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Patients visiting Dr. Knemoller can receive a full range of podiatric services. We provides x-ray imaging, toenail removal, filler treatment, general consultations, and evaluations. Treatment is available for issues including corns, arthritis, bunions, foot pain, psoriasis, gout, and walking problems. Book online or Call (212)385-0801. Dr. Jeffrey Knemoller stays open late evenings and Saturdays.podiatric care.
Dr. Knemoller is very careful in examining my condition.
Discuss my bunion surgery in details. Will recommend any one that have this issue to see him.


It seems that Chocolate Almond Thumbprints have always been popular as a traditional Christmas cookie. They can be filled with any favorite kind of jam, and, when packed between layers of parchment paper or waxed paper, can be made several months before the holidays and stored in the freezer. The following recipe is quicker than most since it starts with the versatile Basic Sugar Cookie Mix. The balls of dough are scooped with a tablespoon-size scoop which saves loads of time; a quick roll with the hands makes uniform balls.
Once the balls are quickly formed, they are rolled in a beaten egg, then in finely chopped almonds. After placing them on the baking sheet, an indentation is made and filled with jam. The rich chocolate and fruity jam are a wonderful combination and make these cookies good all year long. It is a good idea to double the recipe, not only because they are easy to make, but also because they are easy to eat.
Combine the cookie mix, cocoa, butter, egg, and vanilla until well mixed.
Scoop tablespoon-size balls of dough and roll each into a ball.
Roll each ball in the beaten egg, then the chopped almonds.
Place each cookie on a parchment-lined baking sheet and make a deep indentation with thumb.
Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon jam into the indentation.


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Home > Resources > Articles > Content Marketing in the Entertainment Industry
Content Marketing in the Entertainment Industry
Web content is no longer a mere help to the entertainment industry. Rather, it has become the lifeblood of this field. Many people now learn of the latest movies, cable television shows, video games, and social media apps through online searches and web surfing. To reach this massive customer base, then, you must routinely post content that draws people in, items that they also feel compelled to share.
Digital Legends Entertainment
Digital Legends Entertainment (DLE) is one of the world's leading high-end mobile game developers. The company delivers superb gaming experience to smart phones, tablets and connected TVs across all operating systems powered by his propietary Karisma Technology.
Why video streaming needs to stop fighting the last consumer war
Video streaming services have achieved mainstream engagement, with binge viewing now eclipsing linear TV viewing as the leading form of TV show consumption. While the digital disruptors may revel in their newfound status as the masters of TV consumption, and the TV and film industry are forced to adapt to this new reality, a subtler shift in mindset needs to occur. Streaming services, led by subscription video on demand (SVOD) hegemon Netflix, still operate in the mindset of having a digital native consumer base. For these streaming incumbents, the success of SVOD still rests upon their ability to appeal to younger consumer bases who have a) grown up in a digital environment, and b) are by definition young and eager for new and constantly evolving consumer experiences. Add to this the post-second world war presumption that popular entertainment should always be youth-centric focused, and streaming is still de-facto a youth-orientated proposition.
Games video creators can help attract new audiences to esports, if rights holders empower them to
Those who have been following MIDiA's games coverage for a while will have seen our posts about the growth problem of esports and suggestions around putting focus on the entertainment angle, rather than just on the sports angle, in order to most effectively capitalise on the opportunity. We have known for a while that esports viewers are only a subset of the broader games-related video viewing audience.We also know that esports audiences enjoy live entertainment in general, more so than many other entertainment consumer segments. MIDiA's Q1 2021 consumer survey enabled us to dive deeper into how this opportunity can be approached. As a part of our upcoming Esports Viewer Dossier 2021 update, we have looked at the esports viewers, in comparison to consumers who say they watch games-related videos but not esports. The former represents the current state of play, while the latter represents esports' potential audience growth opportunity.
4 Stocks To Buy To Invest in Virtual Reality
The virtual reality market has been hailed as the "next big thing" for decades, but VR has repeatedly disappointed consumers with mediocre hardware products and software experiences. But in recent years, a wave of refined devices narrowed the gap between consumer expectations and reality. The VR market's future has yet to be written, but investors who believe in this budding market should consider buying these four tech stocks. Sony's PlayStation VR is the best-selling VR headset in the world with over 5 million shipments since its launch in October 2016. That only represents a sliver of Sony's installed base of 110 million PS4s, but that foothold has encouraged developers to produce more stand-alone VR games and add-on experiences for PS4 games.


The National Science Foundation had 1,382 employees in 2015 with an average pay (base salary + bonus) of $102,179.15. The most common occupation was miscellaneous administration and program, followed by management and program analysis. The most common payscale is General Schedule.
The most common payscale is General Schedule, which pays 55.28% of the employees in the National Science Foundation. General Schedule is followed by Administratively Determined Rates, Not E, which pays 33.79% of employees.


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Photo Copyright 2015 LuxNiseko
NIKKA WHISKY DISTILLERY, YOICHI HOKKAIDO JAPAN
Back in 1920 Yoichi was a northern town not quite on the coast and of seemingly little importance to mainland Japan. Where most see nothing though, sometimes one will see opportunity. Today Nikka is recognized by whisky connoisseurs for both its rising stature as a producer of one of the world's finest whiskies and as a producer with deep roots connecting the Northern island of Japan to the Scottish Isles. How this came to be is the remarkable story of how luck, self-belief and an artisan's vision melded together to create an extraordinary success story. This is Masataka Tetsuru's story which is also the story of the birth of Japanese whisky.
The father of Japanese whisky was not born with the olfactory sensory gifts one may associate with a producer of exceptional tastes- this would come about later in his life and by chance. At the age of 8 he fell down the stairs, breaking his nose. The injury required seven stitches but once healed, had left Masataka with a heightened olfactory sense. A random act of the universe had given him a new sensory skill that would alter his life course in an extraordinary way.
Born in 1894 as the third son of a Hiroshima saké brewer, Masataka became well-versed in devotion and energy required to operate the family sake business. While studying at Osaka Technical School (now Osaka University) under Dr. Sentara Tsuboi he took a course in zymurgy – a branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation processes, as in brewing. Masataka's gaze slowly drifted away from the more traditional sake and into the new and excting market for western-style drinks before being drafted.
It was an interest he shared with Settsu Shuzu, a liquor company with big dreams including producing the first Japanese whisky. Introduced to Settsu Shuzu President Kihei Abe by a school alumunus they hired Masataka. Since the secrets of great Scotch were not something to be found within Japan – in 1918 the company sent Masataka overseas to gain this knowledge at the Glasgow Royal Institute of Technology. Studious and fully engaged he was meticulous in his note-taking. Following university study Masataka completed his mission with on the job training in the art of whisky blending and distilling. It was these notes that would eventually become the blueprint for the future of whisky making for all of Japan. A detailed and enjoyable visual display of all historical records – both written and photographic – is available for viewing in the Nikka Distillery Museum in Yoichi.
MEETING RITA COWAN
Masataka Taketsuru had come to Scotland to study the art of whisky-making, majoring in chemistry at Glasgow University before becoming an apprentice at Longmorn Distillery in Speyside and later at Hazelburn Distillery in Campbeltown. In 1919 Masataka took up lodging in the village of Kirkintilloch, Scotland where he crossed paths with a local girl named Rita Cowan. Rita was a sensitive soul, enchanted by poetry yet with the strength of character that one is forced to develop in the rugged Northern climate of Scotland. Their mutual attraction grew through socializing and playing music together. Masataka was invited to spend Christmas dinner with the Cowan family. The meal ended with the serving of a traditional Christmas pudding that held fortune-telling gems within its moist-cake exterior. In Masataka's slice of cake was a six pence coin, a symbol of a prosperous future. Rita received a silver thimble indicating she would soon become a bride. Within a year they were engaged though her family objected to her marrying Masataka. Unperturbed, Masataka and Rita married in a simple ceremony at the local registry office. It was a love story of two souls born at distance but bonded by a common thread. Together they cast aside family resistance and set forth on an improbable journey that would change one culture forever. Despite not speaking a word of Japanese and her poor health the pair left Liverpool by ship for Japan in 1920.
Without her, I don't think he would have achieved what he did and would not have built his own distillery…. she helped him a lot both practically and emotionally
Masako Udo, Author of The Scottish Whisky Distilleries
LIFE AFTER THE WAR
Upon arriving Rita launched herself into Japanese culture speaking only Japanese and following local traditions, but her life was to change for the worse during World War Two. Kept under surveillance as an enemy alien she was unable to move about freely. According to Urs Matthias Zachmann, head of Asian Studies at the University of Edinburgh "Their house was searched because they had an antenna on the rooftop and the special police thought that she might be a spy, contacting British or Russian forces. Rita endured and soon enough the Yoichi distillery began to prosper as Japanese consumers' demanded for genuine whisky grew as a result of a wartime import ban. Rita died at the age of 63 in 1961 but her legacy as the pillar of strength that allowed a single-minded artisan's dream to bloom lives on. Today the main street in Yoichi is named Rita Road.
BIRTH OF OF JAPANESE WHISKY
YAMAZAKI DISTILLERY, OSAKA
His stay in Scotland had taught Masataka the secrets of making whisky successfully however, during the two years since Masataka departed to Scotland the Japanese economy had fallen into recession. Financial hardships weakened Settsu Shuzu leaving their ambitious plans for branching out into whisky in the dust. His position within the company now weakened, Masataka left the company. In the in term he taught applied chemistry at a junior high school while Rita helped support Masataka by teaching the piano and English to friends made through at church.
In 1923 Kotobukiya Company sent a letter to Scotland requesting for an expert in distilling whisky to be sent to their Kyoto-based headquarters. The letter received a reply: "that person is already in Japan – His name is Masataka Taketsuru". Soon after a visit from the President Masataka received an offer from Kotobukiya, a company which would later evolve into modern liquor giant Suntory and Japan's first malt whisky producer. Its President, Mr. Shinjiro Torii set forth plans to produce a Scottish style of whisky with a unique Japanese flavor. Masataka was tasked with finding a site on which to build Japan's first whisky plant. Yoichi was his recommended choice but it was over ruled by the President. Instead, Yamazaki – located between Osaka and Kyoto – was chosen for the obvious financial benefits of being closer to the larger cities. Naturally this did not sit well with Masataka given his artisan approach to whisky production that placed a higher value on quality than convenience or financial gains. Having grown in a family sake business such values were perhaps difficult to displace.
A second source of friction arose when the idea of fusing Scottish traditions to Japanese taste rubbed the puritanical tendencies of Taketsuru the wrong way. He preferred to remain consistently faithful to the Scottish techniques he had studied in detail and was particularly unimpressed by the imitation liquors that dominated the current Japanese market. Although the financial results of the Yamazaki Distillery proved it was a success , the philosophical rift between Mr. Torii and Masataka had soon made their partnership untenable. Masataka left the Yamazaki Whisky Distillery with the ambition to begin his own whisky production in Yoichi. It was time to pursue his dream uninhibited.
BIRTH OF NIKKA DISTILLERY
Yoichi was a world away from the bustling urban city of Kyoto. Based on the northernmost main island of Japan, Hokkaido, it offered a much more isolated way of life. Living conditions were secondary for Masataka though as he saw Yoichi as the perfect location to build a distillery given its climate and geography. Yoichi is a small eponymous coastal city benefiting from a variable and humid climate. Yoichi is located 50km west of Sapporo, and is well known for its snow festival. As Masataka had identified earlier in his career, Yoichi was ideal site for the construction of his dream. It was to be a distillery built in the purest Scottish tradition with slower heating coal-fired stills. The local peat bogs would be the original source of Yoichi's subtle smoky notes which, combined with the wisping sea air imprints an identifiable original character on Masataka Taketsuru's whiskies. Hokkaido spring water is also exceptionally pure and imparts both purity and sensuous texture distilled and brewed beverages.
"He chose Yoichi because it looked a lot like Scotland, felt like Scotland and the temperature was much the same as here."
COLIN ROSS, BEN NEVIS DISTILLERY
In 1934, Masataka established the Great Nippon Juice Company together with investment from acquaintances Yasue Yanagisawa, Matahiro Shibakawa and Shotaro Kaga. Normally two pot stills are required for distilling whisky but, due to a lack of funds, the first whisky produced by Masataka came from just one pot still. While the whisky matured the company survived the lean times by producing and selling apple jellies, juices and wines.
The inaugural vintage of Nikka whisky arrived six years after it began in 1940. Over time Japanese consumers began to develop a taste for the authentic and high quality taste of Nikka Whisky. The company first began to use the name Nikka Whisky in 1952. Combining NI-ppon and KA-ju. Its growing success allowed Nikka to establish a second distillery in 1969 on the main island of Honshu.
STEEPED IN TRADITION
To this day, the distillation process has remained very traditional. At Yoichi, the pot stills continue to be heated by coal fire, a practice which even the Scottish Whiskey makers have since given up as it is more challenging to control. Coal-fired stills supply very strong direct heat that slightly burns the contents resting on the bottom of the still. Controlled effectively it can give a whisky a powerful, even spicy character. The small onion-shaped stills have relatively straight sides, which combined with a descending neck, allows heavier elements to pass into the spirit. This unique attribute gives the Yoichi whisky a richness and unctuous texture and further definition of its style.
A SPECIAL TASTE
The success of any whisky is of course not in its history but in its tasting. Nestled among the buildings devoted to the various stages of whisky production on the Yoichi site, are several spots where the famous drink can be sampled. The most frequented of these would doubtless be the free taster bar, situated above the restaurant. This large sunny room offers a view over the surrounding landscape while providing visitors with a choice of whiskies, apple wine and juice.
However, to really sample Nikka's finest, it is worth stopping at the museum bar. It is here that shots can be purchased of the more specialised blends and malts. Nikka whisky has a strong peaty scent and a flavour that resembles the Islay malts of Scotland such as Lagavulin or Laphroaig. For those who appreciate the smokey taste, the first stop at this bar should be the 'Peaty and Salty' single malt. There are also the rarer 'single cask' malts available which consist not only of a single year, but are also drawn from a single barrel. Since every barrel lends a slightly different flavour to the drink, each single cask malt has its own unique flavour.
MUSEUM YOICHI
For a connoisseur the umbrella term "Japanese Whisky" does a disservice to Yoichi Whisky because it remains the only whisky with the soul a traditional Single Malt. Here we refer to a taste that goes beyond descriptions such as delicious, refined and pure. Yoichi whisky tells a story of a place and time – and a rich tradition with roots that run deep into the annals of human endeavour – that words alone cannot do just. In a twisted piece of justice it only seems fair that the only place to taste the very best Yoichi whisky is – Yoichi. It is a long way from major population cities in a country a long way from most others. But for the whisky connoisseur it ought to be a definitive stopover on their journey to experiencing the world's great whiskies.
VERY RARE WHISKY FROM YOICHI DISTILLERY
25 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT
25 year old single malt that is a never-ending deep bass note of marzipan, apricots & amber caramel lightly kissed by whispering smoke. A texture so velvety smooth one could be tempted to draw parallels to a ChevalBlanc 1990. A succulent finish of bitter orange dipped in salt caramel completed the experience.
1980'S BLEND
On the right a 1980's blend – representing each year of the decade. This is a miraculous savoury circus act that somehow maintains perfect balance throughout. Concentrated brown sugar nose gives way to a palate of remarkable grace & finesse. As you fall through the endless waves of unfolding butterscotch, dried fruit & smoke a barely distinguishable acidity refreshes and nudges your palate forward towards Valhalla. Only 6000 bottles made. Available only at Nikka Yoichi Distillery
The distinctive tasting Single Cask Malts are not easily found outside the Yoichi distillery whereas whiskies with the Nikka label have a more uniform tastel. Smaller volume bottles of these whiskies are available to purchase in limited quantities (1 or 2 botttles).
In the summer season more of the buildings involved in the total whisky production are open although the museum, bar, restaurant and gift shop are open year round. The museum contains information both in Japanese and English and the restaurant serves decent food at a reasonable price. Aside from the Distillery the town of Yoichi has the appearance of one is steep decline with many vacant stores and shops lining the main street. With this in mind consider planning for lunch a few stops away in Otaru where many restaurants and its famous fish market await a few blocks away from Otaru Station.
7-6 Kurokawa-cho, Yoichi-cho, Yoichi-gun, Hokkaido 046-0003
Opening hours : 10:00 ~ 17:00
Holidays : New Year (25th Dec ~ 7th Jan), factory & extra holidays
Massan, an upcoming TV series by Japanese national broadcaster NHK, will portray the life of Masataka and Rita, the couple who introduced whisky to Japan.


Comment: Especially Article II "Principles of the Cease-Fire" which guarantees the freedom of movement of civilians and goods, including humanitarian assistance. Furthermore, it prohibits the laying of mines, sabotage as well as all violence against civilians. See also Article III "Principle of the Agreement" which prohibits the laying of mines. The parties commit to mark and map danger areas and to facilitate the removal of mines. Furthermore, the parties agree to facilitate humanitarian assistance to displaced and affected persons.
Comment: Statement made during a meeting between the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) and the opposition movements in Darfur.


HighStreet5 Community: HighStreet 5 Now in OPEN BETA!
HighStreet 5 Now in OPEN BETA!
Oh yes folks! HighStreet 5 is now in OPEN BETA! The much-awaited day has finally arrived! Now now, don't worry, if you already have your avatars during our Premier Party, just log-in and you will find yourself the way you were.
Now that we are in Open Beta, we are going to have more activities and events that you will surely enjoy. You will also win fabulous prizes!!!
New accounts will get FREE 200,000 Score Points!
Get double the score and double experience when you play!
Dance showdown to the max!
GM will create a room named "BattleGM". Click on "Battle" in the top-right hand corner of your screen and enter the room in the "Battle" window.
The first 7 players who enter the room will qualify as the contestants for the battle.
Contestants have to click on "Ready" in the bottom-right hand corner upon entry into the room; GM will start the battle once all contestants are ready.
The winner of every single round of the battle will win in-game items.
Players are allowed to participate in this event ONLY ONCE a day.
Qualified players who ignores the invitation from the GM will be considered as backing-out from the competition.
Prizes will be delivered the day after the contest day via the in-game email.
The 50 players who accumulates the most log-in time will be rewarded with free in-game items. Winners will be posted in the website on August 7, 2008.
Enjoy and see you all in-game!!


Today's site update brings some improvements across the site as a whole. The update see's improvements to our sites layout allowing for much better scaling, that's right you can now view the entire site much better on your mobile and tablet devices.
We've also added a couple of changes to how channels now appear, you'll notice when the site update goes live soon that chat is now fixed to the right side of the screen while the player appears in a 16:9 resolution depending on how you've resized your browser.
You may also notice a new tab on channels "Games played" this feature is going to be expanded upon later allowing you to search for channels that play specific genres and more. Every time you've gone live since you've joined the site, we've collected a list of the games you're played.
Please note that we are currently going through and updating our games library with more information and correct game cases.
Using @ in your titles will transform into a link automatically to twitter via our site. For example "Battlefield 4 [PC] w/ @SweptSquash" will turn @SweptSquash into a link that goes directly to that person twitter profile.
Profiles have also been improved allowing greater customization than before, we will be expanding profiles later into your channels allowing a greater social experience with your community.
Our inbox system has also received an update, all messages are now encrypted.
Multi-stream setup will be returning in the near future, we are currently working on some improvements to make this experience enjoyable and easy to setup with existing site members.
And as always if you've got any ideas or feedback please reply, tweet or private message us on Facebook and let us know!