text:
DySoC
Dysoc/NIMBioS Webinar Series on Cultural Evolution
Subscribe to be notified when new videos are posted
The Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis are happy to announce a series of free webinars on cultural evolution.
This series is one of the outputs of a grant "Dynamic Models for Basic Theory and Applications in Cultural Evolution" funded by the John Templeton Foundation (PIs Sergey Gavrilets and Peter J. Richerson) aiming to promote the Cultural Evolution Society. The grant has supported the development of online teaching modules on cultural evolution. Five modules have been completed and are currently available at http://www.dysoc.org/cesmodules. The modules were selected after an international competition organized by the CES Working Group for Education and Outreach composed of Drs. Louise Barrett (University of Lethbridge), Sergey Gavrilets (UT Knoxvlle), Russel Genet (California Polytechnic State University), Patricia Izar (University of San Paolo), Luke Matthews (RAND Corporation), and Peter J. Richerson (UC Davis).
The webinar series includes live presentations by lead designers of the five completed modules, an opening lecture by the first President of the CES and the lead PI on the proposal Peter J. Richerson (UC Davis), and a lecture by CES Working Group member Patricia Izar (University of San Paolo).
There are also invited lectures by Drs. Peter Turchin (Complexity Hub Science Vienna) and Ruth Mace (University College London). Besides running their research programs, Drs. Turchin and Mace are the founding editors of two important journals in the field of cultural evolution: Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution and Evolutionary Human Sciences, respectively.
Moderator: Sergey Gavrilets (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics, DySoC Director, NIMBioS Associate Director for Scientific Activities, University of Tennessee)
Watch recorded webinars online:
Outreach for the Cultural Evolution Society: Everybody needs to know a little bit about cultural evolution with Peter J. Richerson
How to teach modeling, or Thoughts on a pedagogy for cultural evolution, with Paul E. Smaldino
The discovery and reach of animal cultures, with Andrew Whiten
Cognitive biases in folklore: From fairy tales to fake news, with Joseph Stubbersfield
Cultural evolution in the field, with Adrian Viliami Bell
Modeling the dynamics of cultural diversification, with Bernard Koch and Erik Gjesfjeld
Cultural macroevolution: Understanding the rise of large-scale complex societies in human history, with Peter Turchin
The behavioural ecology of religious beliefs and practices, with Ruth Mace
The Impact of a tradition on the life of capuchin monkeys, with Patricia Izar
About the CES Learning Modules. Without the aid of mathematical models, human intuitions about dynamic systems of any complexity can be quite faulty. These online modules present many basic and applied issues in cultural evolution and introduce students to methods of dynamical systems theory as applied to the evolution of human systems. The module materials have been developed with self-guided study in mind, using a variety of online learning methods that allow students to work independently to gain both a theoretical understanding of the concepts and practical experience with modeling techniques. The modules could serve as a basis for intensive short courses, seminars, or as components of a regular quarter or semester course. It is our hope that they will facilitate interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations.
Outreach for the Cultural Evolution Society: Everybody needs to know a little bit about cultural evolution
Date: 11:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Speaker: Peter J. Richerson (University of California, Davis)
Topic: Outreach for the Cultural Evolution Society: Everybody needs to know a little bit about cultural evolution
Abstract: Biology education has a terrible problem. On the one hand it is a vast discipline webbed into all of natural science and mathematics. Specialization is a must, yet for any given specialty, any other specialty might become relevant. An ecologist might suddenly need to know molecular genetics. The US solution is to teach high school and 1st year college students a little bit about all of biology before they specialize. Practicing ecologists don't really have a working knowledge of molecular genetics but if an ecological problem presents itself for which molecular genetics might help, many ecologists will remember enough to head to the internet or down the hall to bone up. Biology is a successful mega-discipline in part because of those comprehensive if necessarily superficial courses. The human sciences, which really should be thought of as a sub-discipline of biology, have no such courses, and hence no good sense of how humans fit into the larger world. Cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution are topics which illustrate how humans are webbed into the natural world. For example humans make extraordinary use of culture, but we are among a large number of species for which it is important. Human cultural phenomena are intimately connected with the rest of human biology. The physiological imperatives of raising highly altricial young have driven the evolution of our family systems. A mission of the Cultural Evolution Society is to help every biology student, especially every student of humans, know at least a little bit about cultural evolution.
Bio: Peter J. Richerson Is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on the processes of cultural evolution. His 1985 book with Robert Boyd, Culture and the Evolutionary Process, applied the mathematical tools used by organic evolutionists to study a number of basic problems in human cultural evolution. His later books with Boyd include Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution, an introduction to cultural evolution aimed at a broad audience and The Origins and Evolution of Cultures, a compendium of their more important papers and book chapters. He has recently co-edited a book Cultural Evolution with Morten Christiansen reporting the results of a Strüngmann Forum. His recent publications used theoretical models to try to understand some of the main events in human evolution, such as the evolution of the advanced capacity for imitation (and hence cumulative cultural evolution) in humans, the origins of tribal and larger scale cooperation, and the origins of agriculture. He and his colleagues also investigate cultural evolution in laboratory microsocieties.
Watch recorded webinar on the CES Modules YouTube channel.
Introduction slides (pdf)
Webinar slides (pdf)
Some questions posed by webinar participants (pdf)
Cultural Evolution and Social Evolution, are these defining the same thing? or What are the differences?
Could you make a distinction between culture and social learning? It seems to me that social learning is necessary for culture, but not sufficient.
A Humanology 1 course is such a great idea – how to ovecome the lack of math background (and in many cases aversion to quantitative reasoning) among many humanities/social science students? Related to this, how can this goal overcome the handicap of social science and humanities students that results from a lack of funding and prestige when compared to STEM disciplines?
How do you define culture in rats and other animals? Is behavior the same thing as culture?
Please say more about the how and why of Humanology 1, particularly the role of the social sciences and humanities.
Is culture a "state" and learning a mechanism? And therefore, are they ontologically different and not comparable?
What are some of the pitfalls in translating the field of cultural evolution to policymakers and the general public? How can we diffuse publicly the idea that we can select for better cultural practices (as DS Wilson has described before)? and can this be done on multiple scales?
I'm on board with the bemused attitude of contempt towards traditional disciplines, and building more interdisciplinary programs - I was wondering two things:
1) Do you have any ideas that have proven particularly useful on how to sell this idea or operationalize it to get university administrators on board?
2) Do you have any thoughts about how to bring in and incorporate the humanities?
I'm interested in the applied sciences. Do you see practical applications of cultural evolution in dealing with cultural maladaptations?
Could you say something about the importance of wider public understanding of cultural evolution - what effects it might have and how it might be achieved?
You mention differential and difference equations. But if cultural evolution takes its cue from biologial evolution, then besides systematics the main methods used are optimization for evolutionary ecology (i.e. re physical environment and other species) and game theory methods for evolutionary socioecology (i.e. other members of the same population). No?
Cultural evolution theory attempts to understand the evolution of human societies, but how do we overcome the shadow of Social Darwinism?
For example, humankind created a ball and created and developed lots of games and game culture along with it. So can this whole process be considered to be a cultural evolutionary process?
How will evolutionary biology work to get rid of human exceptionalism, uniqueness and special creation? Why are there authors who don't bother about human exceptionalism while others are abolitionists, like those working with critical animal studies?
Where do you see cultural evolution going? What are the new/open questions?
How are the efforts of the THIRD WAY unifying the humanities and evolutionary biology working to avoid repeating the errors of "social Darwinism" in the past?
Something I think is important in terms of relations between science and humanities is that the underlying goals are different: in science, we try to work toward a comprehensive theory that is the best possible at the time. In humanities the idea is to continue discussion. There is no unique way to interpret Hamlet, for example.
Usage of the current terms can be confusing. Which term is more accurate to adopt in publications in the field of biology: humanimal, nonhuman animal, multispecies, or simply humans?
Selected questions are discussed in the Q&A session at the end of the webinar.
How to teach modeling, or Thoughts on a pedagogy for cultural evolution
Date: 11:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Speaker: Paul E. Smaldino (Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced)
Topic: How to teach modeling, or Thoughts on a pedagogy for cultural evolution
Abstract: The human sciences are fractured. Cultural evolution provides a unifying theoretical framework. Understanding human behavior and social change is hard. Formal models help by disambiguating meaning, specifying assumptions, and making clear qualitative predictions. Currently, there is neither a canonical set of models for understanding social behavior nor a standard way of teaching modeling to social scientists or biologists interested in human behavior. I will describe the 7-lecture tutorial on "Modeling Social Dynamics" in this context. This short course takes an interdisciplinary approach to modeling social behavior, drawing on insights from across the social sciences as well as from evolutionary ecology. I'll give an overview of the course, and comment more generally on how to establish a pedagogy for modeling cultural evolution.
Bio: Paul E. Smaldino is Associate Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at the University of California, Merced. An interdisciplinary researcher, he has degrees in physics and psychology, and has held postdoctoral appointments in departments of medicine, anthropology, political science, and computer science. He is known for his work on cultural evolution, on modeling scientific communities, and promoting and teaching formal modeling.
CES Learning Module description: Models of Social Dynamics: An Introductory Module. This module takes an interdisciplinary approach to modeling social behavior, drawing on insights from across the social sciences and evolutionary ecology. It focuses on constructing and analyzing simulations using the NetLogo programming language.
Module designer: Paul E. Smaldino (Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced)
Where do the arts fit in? Are the arts a form of inquiry that might be listed alongside all of the disciplines on Paul's multidisciplinary cultural evolution slide?
The problem with cultural evolution for me is to understand its exact defination. For example: humans invented a ball, and they created games that play with the ball. And some of these games survived and others failed. Surviving games help human to be fit, come together, and feel like warriors. And now we have football culture, which we play, watch and spend money for. Is that an example of cultural evolution?
Are social sciences inexact just by definition or just becuase there is arguably no good formal theory framework available yet to put it to the same level of exact sciences?
Can't social scientists just partner with a math whiz?
While more training in math is important for social scientists, a question arises about what sort of math beyond linear algebra, calculus and some dynamical systems? (They already have some training in statistics and probability.)
Paul, do you have any related materials using R?
How about Python?
We used NetLogo to build an agent based model on a small world network to study potential control measures for SARS-COV-2. The three control measures where shelter in place, contact tracing, and mask wearing (Braun et. al. 2020 PlosOne). We didn't program agent based models or network models before this. It is very accessible.
Hamilton's rule pays a core role in in explaining cooperation in microbes. In human social evolution many of the models developed made by Nowak have a strong opinion against inclusive fitness. Why do you think Hamilton's rule/Inclusive fitness are being so little used in the field of cultural evolution?
Thoughts about the role of major transitions in evolution? Cooperation in the human species is thought to be one, essentially going from one stable state to another (one adaptive peak to another). The question is how, of course, and whether models can help us confirm or deny.
What is a social norm? Is it the same as a cultural trait?
Do you know of any similar course taught in C++?
Any suggestion for a modeling book to accompany a grad level course (before yours is published)?
Should we also talk in such a course about connecting models and data (preferably historical data)? That is the aspect I struggle with when teaching these topics. Especially thinking of cultural macro-evolution.
I have a question for Paul about complexity theory and computational social sciences (CSS) as an alternative educational or methodological strategy to evolutionary theory and modeling to understand cultural evolution. Complexity theory focuses on non-linear systems with emergent properties. Complex adaptive systems "adapt" at near-chaos conditions and give rise to new emergent properties. CSS can measure big quantities of data and analyze through a holistic perspective which assumes that the observed phenomena are "emergent" (i.e. more than the sum of their parts). Are human socieities such phenomena? In other words, are most social processes phenomena emergent? Regardless, couldn't social phenomena (emergent or otherwise) be better understood through the reductionist study of individual motivations, especially if (individual motivations for) cooperation is the bedrock of human behavior?
What is the difference between social and cultural evolution?
What is your view of Dan Sperber's approach in terms of cultural attractors, and models based on that approach?
You should do it in Julia, Paul! As julia people advertise; as intuitive than python, but faster, which might be useful at some point in the future for more complex ABM models.
Perhaps a sub-unit about wotking in teams?
So, "you have to know and understand each other's skills" is part of the art of assembling a team?
Is it only social science that is inexact? Aren't even the ecological sciences and soil sciences or even aquatic sciences also inexact sciences? Any sciences about systems that involve biotic systems are inevitably inexact science, at the population level at least. What do you think Paul, about only social sciences being called the inexact sciences?
How to advocate for the importance and use of cultural evolution in public policies?
I've always thought the difference between the 'hard' sciences and the social sciences is that with the hard sciences we start from some physical thing that anyone born with a standard set of senses can agree exists. With the social sciences everything we study is imagined. We all interpret each others behaviour all the time. So really what are known as the hard sciences ought to be called the easy sciences.
Did I miss a discussion on whether cultural evolution = social evolution? Are they the same thing?
The discovery and reach of animal cultures
Date: 11:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Speaker: Andrew Whiten (University of St Andrews, UK)
Topic: The discovery and reach of animal cultures
Abstract: Culture was once thought a unique human attribute, but research in recent decades has revealed that social learning, traditions and culture are surprisingly widely distributed in the animal world. Research on these topics has particularly blossomed in the present century, producing a flurry of exciting new discoveries in species as diverse as primates, whales, birds, fish and even insects. In this lecture I offer a brief historical overview of how the field has developed to discover an undreamt-of richness in animal cultures, and I will highlight some of the most recent and fascinating findings. Implications of the discovery of animal cultures include their relevance for understanding the origins of our own distinctive cultural natures, extensions to the scope of evolutionary biology, and enhancement of efforts to conserve endangered species.
Bio: Andrew Whiten is Emeritus Wardlaw Professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology at the University of St Andrews, UK. He is an elected Fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy. His research interests span the ontogenetic development and evolution of social learning and culture, studied particularly in children and non-human primates, the latter both in the wild and in captive, experimental contexts. In recent years he has endeavoured to collate key findings illuminating the reach of cultural phenomena more widely in the animal kingdom, across behavioural domains and throughout animals' lifetimes.
Recent related reviews
Whiten, A. (2017) A second inheritance system: The extension of biology through culture. Royal Society Interface Focus 7, 20160142.
Whiten, A. (2017). Social learning and culture in child and chimpanzee. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 129-154.
Whiten, A. & van de Waal, E. (2017). Social learning, culture and the 'socio-cultural brain' of human and non-human primates. Neuroscience and Bio-behavioral Reviews (special issue, 'Primate social cognition') 82, 58-75.
Whiten, A, Ayala, F. J., Feldman, M. W. & Laland, K. N. (2017). The extension of biology through culture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114, 7775-7781.
Whiten, A. & van de Waal, E. (2018). The pervasive role of social learning in primate lifetime development. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. (special issue, 'An evolutionary perspective on the development of primate sociality') 72, 80.
Whiten, A. (2018). Social, Machiavellian and cultural cognition: A golden age of discovery in comparative and evolutionary psychology (themed section, Marking Machiavellian Intelligence: Contemporary comparative perspectives on cognitive and cultural evolution). J. Comp. Psychol. 132, 437-441.
Whiten, A. (2019). Conformity and over-imitation: an integrative review of variant forms of hyper-reliance on social learning. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 51, 31-75.
Whiten, A. (2019). Cultural evolution in animals. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 50, 27-58.
CES Learning Module description: Animal Cultures: Core Discoveries and New Horizons. This module offers an overview of core discoveries and new developments in the study of animal cultures. The significance of animal culture for evolutionary biology and ecology, understanding human cultural evolution, and conservation are highlighted.
Module designers: Andrew Whiten (University of St Andrews, UK)
Lucy Aplin (Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, Germany)
Nicolas Claidière (CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, France)
Rachel Kendal (University of Durham, UK)
Do the traditions come in "packages" or are each of them independent from the others? Is there a concept that reflects this measure?
Does in-group/out-group play any role in chimp inter-group cultural diffusion (rather than just learning opportunities)? What is your sense of the current evidence concerning whether or not non-human animal culture includes social norms, i.e. rules that are stabilized by enforcement (including crucially, third party punishment)?
What is your response to the argument by Hill (in Laland et al 2009, "Question of Animal Culture") that the bar for using the term "culture" needs to be set not just at social learning, but also require the existence of norms & ritual, namely (a) valued expectations of behavior whereby social groups adjust evolutionary payoffs by cultural means, and (b) symbolic performances that reinforce them? On this account, unless and until norms and symbolic performances are present, we could talk about "animal traditions" rather than "culture".
Alternatively, from the POV of cultural anthropology, one would reserve "culture" for social learning which relies on symbol systems employing arbitrary signs, such as language. Arbitrary symbol systems can easily refer to phenomena not immediately present (displacement), communicate about abstractions, and be used to generate new signs and combinations of signs with relative ease (productivity). As such, they could be expected to facilitate & co-evolve with cumulative cultural evolution. What, if any, research has there been in this direction?
Would the horizontal spread of cultural traditions occur so readily in the wild, where chimps do a lot of their foraging separately, than in research facilities? Do you think most chimp culture is spread vertically - from mothers to offspring?
I'm curious what you think of the "zone of latent solutions" hypothesis, that animals often have the prerequisite behavioral topographies in their behavioral repertoire, and that social transmission facilitates the use of these repertoires in a new situation? i.e., the behavior isn't being directly transmitted socially, but it's something else about social groups that lets behaviors spread?
Given the evidence of culture in primates as well as Neanderthals, what do you think of the argument that our species really took off through a major transition in cooperation? In this account, our form of cumulative cultural evolution is contingent upon new "sociological" arrangements (i.e. Boehm's "reverse dominance" hypotheses). Survival of the Friendliest by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods also points to self-domestication as the key distinguishing force between us and other hominum species.
The main difference between human and non-human culture seems to be the cumulative nature of the first. What could be the reason for that? Or is there cumulative culture among non-human animals as well?
One issue here seems to be how culture is defined. Is it only social learning and the transmission of behavior, or is there something else involve, more even than cumulative culture, that perhaps depends on things like the psychological capacities of individuals (such as the recognition of self as both a distinct identity and simultaneously a member of a social group)?
What is your sense of the current evidence concerning whether or not non-human animal culture includes social norms, i.e. rules that are stabilized by enforcement (including crucially, third party punishment)?
Can we have a word why 'peering' as discussed in Schuppli & van Shaik 2019 is insufficient for social learning on your view?
Given that culture is exceptionally advantageous in response to rapid environmental change, should we expect an explotion of animal cultures with the spread of anthropogenic climate change?
The concept of transmission seems to be used in two ways, to describe radiation, and to describe "heredity" in cultural evolution (animals and humans). But transmission of a cultural innovation doesn't seem to explain the creation of the innovation in the first place. How do you see the innovations occurring in the first place?
What do you think is the most basic mechanism for social learning? Mirror neurons and pattern habituation?
Andy, you jump from endothermic vertebrates 'down' to fishes. But what about reptiles (and even dinosaurs) and their role in the evolution of culture, since social learning has been demonstrated in several species of nonavian reptiles?
How could model-based social learning affect the formation or maintenance of traditions?
Two days ago, Tennie et al. published 'The zone of latent solutions [ZLS] and its relevance to understanding ape cultures.' Since the ZLS is becoming increasingly prominent in the literture and gains followers, what would you say will be its role in future research in the field?
Should we take "social learning" to be a basic/single psychological mechanism, or would it be fruitful to distinguish between different forms of social learning?
Additional responses from Andrew Whiten (pdf)
Cognitive biases in folklore: From fairy tales to fake news
Speaker: Joseph Stubbersfield (Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK)
Topic: Cognitive biases in folklore: From fairy tales to fake news
Abstract: Storytelling and narratives have played a vital part of human culture for millennia, and throughout this time stories have evolved shaped by the selection pressures of human minds and societies. Research on the cultural evolution of narratives has flourished over the past few decades, identifying and testing these selection pressures to better understand this evolution. In this webinar I focus on how cognitive biases for certain types of information content influence the social transmission and cultural evolution of a range of folklore narratives, from traditional tales, such as Red Riding Hood to, to more contemporary tales such as the urban legend of Bloody Mary and Fake News.
CES Learning Module description: The Neverending Story: Cultural Evolution and Narratives. This module explores the universal and uniquely human behavior of narrative and how cultural evolution theory has provided vital insights into the transmission and evolution of narratives and why some become culturally successful.
Module designers: Joseph Stubbersfield (Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK)
Jamie Tehrani (Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK)
Oleg Sobchuk (Max Planck Institute the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany )
Why can you view fake news as folk tales? How are they different?
What factors in a tale (its structure, internal relations, etc.) give it the power to possess a mind by tying into basic biological instincts?
To what extent would dream experiences be factors in MCI bias?
Do horror stories fall under the same category as folktales? The source of fear is often culturally specific.
What are the effects of emotions in content biases? Specifically, can we say something about specific emotions or types of emotions?
I'm curious if you know of any work on how such content biases have been exploited historically by groups with certain political goals? e.g., current disinformation campaigns aimed at creating discord? Does this work offer any suggestions about how societies can arm themselves against such campaigns?
How about a "cautionary tale" bias?
Can minimally counterintuitive bias also be based on pre-existing cultural references? So whether a narrative lives or dies depends on how well they resonate with existing cultural concepts, references, etc. If so, how do you factor that in?
So, when we talk about folktales, conspiracy theories and fake news, they all have different affordances to the humans partaking in the discussion in terms of the direct effect it has on their lives. Folktales are more abstract, conspiracy theories are more about real things around us but not necessarily affecting us and fake news has the possibility of direct impact on our lives. Does this play a role in the cognitive biases associated with each?
How can those cognitive "content based" biases be related to the "cultural-fitness" of a cultural artifact? It sounds like they could be the measure of the ultimate 'fitness' of a cultural artifact, though frequency-based mechanisms will interact with these cognitive biases and help or prevent the transmission of different variants. Would a 'utility' vs 'fitness' distinction help to separate different mechanisms?
Of the three 'genres' of folklore that you're mainly looking at (legends, urban legends, and fake news), is there any way to take into account differences in the *context* in which instances of each type are typically transmitted "in the wild"?
In real life people might have different intentions and goals when they pass along instances of each genre, and consume instances of each genre in different settings and with different expectations, e.g. have their xenophobic/group membership sensitivities primed (especially w/r/t fake news) or capacities for empathy primed (legends, etc.)?
Does the rise of counter-intuitive/complex science findings/theories (e.g. Quantum entanglement in physics ) and the concept of MCI explain some of the current perception of science perception to the general public?
Are there age differences in urban legends and fake news? For example between what teenagers transmit and what retired folk transmit?
Have you looked at "teaching stories?" (e.g., those collected and published by Idries Shah.)
There is evidence in the bilingual and second language processing literature that framing effects and emotional biases are attenuated in the non-native language - do these studies control for this?
So far the conspiracy theories and urban legends deal with non-human entities or threats, but what if they're conspiracy theories about specific groups of people? If you have to test social and survival info bias theories on conspiracies about groups of people, how can you do so without falling into the trap of reproducing Social Darwinist or racist tropes yourself?
To what extent has this work been looked at in terms of Sperger's cultural attractor theory?
Apart form the one you mentioned is there any cross cultural work on these transmission biases. Could such biases be the basis for cultural differences in responses to news events?
If you're studying transmission of larger, more comprehensive bundles of worldviews (religious, philosophical, and political ideas), how might studying those be similar or different than studying folk tales and conspiracy theories?
Is this a general issue? Transmission does not explain creation of new ideas in the first place.
As you age things become more threatening?
Do we know anything about the differential success of societies that do or do not rely on fake news?
Cultural evolution in the field
Speaker: Adrian Viliami Bell (Anthropology, University of Utah)
Topic: Cultural evolution in the field
Abstract: While my teaching module is about foundational theoretical models, I am primarily a fieldworker. In this talk I explain why I care about mathematical models even though my heart lies with having "boots (or sandals) on the ground." Along the way I highlight examples from other fieldworkers and their use of cultural evolutionary theory.
CES Learning Module description: Foundations of Cultural Evolution. An introductory guide to the body of formal theory in the study of the cultural evolution in humans and other animals, this module guides participants through the basic machinery of dynamic models and key results from a variety of cultural evolution topics.
Module designer: Adrian Viliami Bell (Anthropology, University of Utah)
Can you say something or reflect on how this (Cultural Evolution) outlook sits with the broader anthropology community, its values and traditions?
Do models support the classic saying that "necessity is the mother of invention," i.e. that individuals are more innovative in times of a crisis?
Can you say anything about the connection between this fieldwork approach and newer technological methods being used in various social science disciplines to carry out "experiments" (e.g. mechanical turk)? Are there people working on methods to take a mixture approach that uses both, or using one to estimate parameters in models and the other to evaluate the model results?
How does transmission explain the creation of innovations in the first place?
In a sense, any culture requires conformity if there is going to be any stability. But too much conformity fossilizes a culture so it will not be able to respond to new environmental conditions. Can you say something about cultural elements that encourage or at least allow for innovation (e.g., trickster legends)?
In terms of data collection in the field, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges for someone interested in understanding cultural change from an evolutionary perspective versus someone who does not subscribe to this framework? Do you have any advice for future fieldworkers on overcoming these challenges?
Can we say that a behavior is like an innovation? If so, can cultural evolution can be used to understand how behaviors arise, their modification and transmission?
Are modeling-driven questions in danger of leading to a neglect of social institutions? If not, how can they be handled appropriately?
The arrival of internet has been a classic and massive case of cultural evolution happening before our eyes. How can this be modeled or otherwise studied?
Modeling the dynamics of cultural diversification
Date: 11:45 a.m. EST Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Bernard Koch (Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles)
Erik Gjesfjeld (Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK)
Topic: Modeling the dynamics of cultural diversification
Abstract: The immense diversity of human culture presents one of the most conspicuous examples of cumulative cultural evolution. In the "Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification" tutorial, we introduce a suite of concepts and tools to explain the emergence, persistence, and extinction of cultural forms (e.g., art genres, technologies, organizations) over time. Our diversification rate approach allows the analyst to identify both major events and evolutionary mechanisms (e.g., competition, mass extinction) that have shaped the historical diversity of a cultural form. We find this framework useful for explaining long-term cultural dynamics where observed phenomena cannot be easily traced to individual-level mechanisms, and/or individual-level data may be incomplete. We demonstrate our theory and methodological approach through a study of the history of Metal Music over more than three decades, using a complete dataset of all bands active between 1968 and 2000. Over the course of its history, we find strong evidence that the genre has been fundamentally shaped by competition between ideas for the cognitive resources that actors can invest in learning about and reproducing this cultural form over time.
CES Learning Module description: Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification. This module trains researchers in a model-based Bayesian framework that allows them to estimate rates of cultural change, distinguish stochastic fluctuations from actual rate changes, and identify when major events, trends, or evolutionary mechanisms shaped the history of a cultural population.
Module designers: Bernard Koch (Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles)
Michael Alfaro (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles)
Jacob Foster (Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles)
Daniele Silvestro (Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
It seems to me that your definition of culture is lacking in that it doesn't seem to include overall idea systems that prescribe culturally appropriate behavior.
A place where there seems to have been a loss of diversity is in auto colors. Most today are black, white, silver or grey, with occasional blue or red.
How about reproduction of ideas?
Do lineages make up a cultural form, or are they the material and social manifestations of the cultural form as it exists in (has been indoctrinated into) individual minds?
Is there a difference between the way you think about "lineages" and the way other cultural evolutionary theorists (e.g. Morin) think about "traditions"? How are those concepts similar and/or different?
Erik & Bernard, in your study, which model of automobile changed the least / stayed stable the longest? (Like, say, sharks in biology) & does that mean its (that car's) cultural evolutionary niche stayed stable/viable? (or... were there other causal factors?)
I wonder whether we can (or should) distinguish between cultural microevolution vs macroevolution in this case. Diversification, origination, and extinction can be applied to analyze both cultural variants within a population, as well as examine lineages and different cultures (as 'species')?
How do you ensure the material cultural traits are mainly transmitted vertically and the evolutionary biology framework is applicable to these data?
. Louca and Pennell (2020)'s simulation showed we cannot estimate extinction and diversification rates in phylogenies, and there is an infinite number of different sets of these two parameters that are equally good at describing any particular outcome. What do you think of these findings?
Would this analysis generalize to other fads, fashion trends?
Does this provide a predictive model?
How might someone working in the history of ideas operationalize studying the growth and death of ideas? Must the study of ideas always be proxied through concrete material culture?
The color changes are not properties of the individual lineages, they are general trends... how to fit it in the model?
Cultural macroevolution: Understanding the rise of large-scale complex societies in human history
Date: 11:45 a.m. EST Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Speaker: Peter Turchin (Complexity Science Hub Vienna and University of Connecticut)
Abstract: Over the past 10,000 years human societies evolved from "simple"—small egalitarian groups, integrated by face-to-face interactions, —to "complex"—huge anonymous societies with great differentials in wealth and power, extensive division of labor, elaborate governance structures, and sophisticated information systems. One aspect of this "major evolutionary transition" that continues to excite intense debate is the origins and evolution of the state—a politically centralized territorial polity with internally specialized administrative organization. Theories proposed by early philosophers and contemporary social scientists make different predictions about causal processes driving the rise of state-level social organization. I use the framework of Cultural Evolution and data in Seshat: Global History Databank to empirically test predictions of several such theories. In particular, I analyze how the evolution of specialized governance structures was affected by such factors as social scale (population, territorial expansion), social stratification, information systems, intensity of warfare, and the productivity of agriculture. These empirical results support the idea that a major evolutionary force explaining the rise of large-scale complex human societies, organized as states, was Cultural Multi-Level Selection.
Watch recorded webinar on the DySoC YouTube channel.
Can evolutionary transitions happen in both directions and what happens if we go backwards, not forward?
Was the basic early driver warfare, or was it the struggle for survival in a harsh environment (also a form of competition between groups)?
You suggest that "the primary mode of competition ... was warfare." I am not so sure that other processes, such as disorganized occupation of territory for survival, forced migration without fighting, etc. played a major role. Warfare, of course, is the one best-documented.
Agree about warfare perhaps not being an initial driver. That raises the question of when in history it arose. My guess would be around 10K ago.
My guess regarding the rise of warfare as a driver is that when the first villages formed a division of labor arose between the better hunters and the agricultural workers, leading to a hierarchical structure arising in which the hunters also became defenders.
If group selection is a form of multilevel selection, can we assign a dimension value to it that is related to the number of levels?
Do your results on the spread of large scale societies replicate in the Americas? What percent of variance could be explained by an alternative model of diffusion (slow on land, faster on sea/rivers)?
(a) - What do you think of Yuval Harari's Evolutionary History work (e.g. the book `Sapiens' 2015). (b) - Would it be possible, using your agent-based model system, to use the theory of CMLS, regarding how Homo sapiens (maybe?) wiped out / warred against, the 5 (or so) other contemporary species of humans/Homo approximately 50k years ago (e.g. the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Denisovans, etc) ?
What's your view on the work of David Wengrow and David Graeber on social complexity?
Is there a systematic reason why you do not ask for decreasing size of polities after the 1940s? What is it about yardstick competition in which often small states like Singapore or Norway are role models?
With governance, you start with all the societies as points on an 11-dimensional hypercube. It's not obvious to me that summing the dimensions is the best way to collapse this onto 1 dimension. Do the societies appear to fall on some small subset of the full hypercube?
Is linear regression enough to explain the complexity of evolution in multiple systems and multiple scales?
Was the average size of foraging bands constant over time before agricultural communities emerged? Is there evidence of warfare causing an increase in the size of foraging bands before agriculture emerged?
Regarding the negative relation between government size and territory, does this potentially change or is it affected by the speed of information transmission?
How might your model account for alternative forms of polities that don't necessarily rely on formal bureaucracy (or evidence of bureaucracy no longer survives), such as nomadic confederations/empires? And might a database that looks only at the rise of states be blind to understanding the range of human experiments in governance, including paths not taken?
Is the argument that at a certain time hunter/gatherer groups came into increased conflict with each other, which increased the intensity of inter-group warfare?
How does the database take into account differences in governance within the same polity, like differences between metropole regions and frontiers?
Is it possible that competition is not required for biological or cultural evolution? Darwin pointed out that 'struggling against the drought' is not competition. Lewontin's (1970) often-used description of selection explains that competition is not needed. If competition were only one type of evolutionary driving force, would it change anything in your models?
Have you thought of treating natural disasters (major volcanic eruptions causing crop failures, years without summer, etc.) as natural experiments?
Any comments on the NY Times article on civilization collapse that presented your views, but also critics and alternatives?
How do you think about the ability to control spread of biological contagion? As population grows, the risk of pandemic disease increases. Are there societal structures that reliably do better or worse at containing the spread of disease (in the absence of antibiotics)?
How do you deal with the difference between absence of evidence and evidence of absence - a particular problem for the earlier archaeological (and sometimes historical) record?
It seems like the dynamics of cultural macroevolution are much different today compared to the period you've gathered data on (ancient to medieval). Are you interested in prediction, and if so could you elaborate a bit on the applicability of your conclusions to the modern world?
Did the black death stress society more profoundly than any war?
From your discussion, it seems to me like governance evolved to conquer rather than as a solution to human challenges. What is that driving ideology that has kept the evolution of governance?
Considering the complexity of your causal relationships of interest: How did you come up with the correct (presented) model specification? (e.g. I was surprised to not see any interaction effects.)
This might be a bit tangential, but I've always wanted to ask Peter what he thought of the premise of cliology in the science fiction novel In The Country Of the Blind (it inspired my PhD). More to the point, can this area of research not only help us to understand, but as The Evolution Institute has it, to improve the human condition?
Nowak's equations on evolutionary cooperation include: Kin, Direct Reciprocation, Indirect Reciprocity (reputation), Network Recip. (neighbors), Group Selection (benefit/cost = 1 + (max group size / number of groups). 1) Frame for Kinship and Reciprocal Altruism? 2) Group selection seems to select for smaller group elites. Any thoughts?
Do you think the rise of large-scale governments was inevitable? Is there something about human nature that causes human populations of a certain size to create polities? Or is it more of an intellectual endeavor / creation?
Is economic productivity measured in your database? Isn't creation as important as destruction of stuff?
You mentioned the importance of transmission of memories. Did you test this?
Your data suggest wars (or preparations for them) look like a major engine of human/social evolution. But common sense is to avoid wars (even arms races) by any means as a major destructive factor of human/social development.
How far can one push the analogy between biological and cultural evolution? Can one go beyond basic concepts like selection, competition and cooperation to more mechanistic principles?
Shouldn't the doctrine of mutually assured destruction make warfare as a selection mechanism unviable for the future?
How can cooperation be introduced to your models? It seems like a weak assumption to remove the evolved cooperative human nature when asking about the evolution of human societies.
The behavioural ecology of religious beliefs and practices
Speaker: Ruth Mace (Evolutionary Anthropology, University College London)
Abstract: Cultural transmission of religious belief has been suggested as something that may underpin everything from large-scale cooperation to the emergence of institutions through multilevel selection. The tools of behavioural ecology are now also being applied to study the evolution of religious beliefs and practices. Here I review three of our recent studies which use different empirical approaches to examine the role of religious beliefs in driving human behaviours that appear costly to individuals, but may benefit the wider community. Our studies include both microevolutionary and macroevolutionary studies on charitable and religious donations, after-life beliefs and revolution, and religious celibacy. Although relationships are complex and may work through a number of pathways, we find little evidence in our studies that religious beliefs are ultimately driving the behaviours of interest. We do find evidence that ecology and kin selection can underpin apparently costly behaviours and even the emergence of institutions.
What do you think of David Sloan Wilson's approach in his book Darwin's Cathedral ?
Do you consider the distinction in motive for religious donations between divine punishment and reputation to be exclusive? What about other motives such as a belief that a religious institution is serving a public good?
If religion is based on the cultural evolution of group-level traits, as Wilson, Smaldino and others have argued, and we can even identify phylogenetic trees, can we find replicators or heritable units which specify these traits?
Could apocalyptic beliefs be associated with group extinction because the apocalypse never happens, and the belief is abandoned? (Though this would counter other findings that the lack of a world-ending event often leads believers to double down on their beliefs, e.g., they were spared due to their piousness.)
Is the first or second son more likely to become a monk?
When you're doing studies in China, how do you control for changes to family structures and historical disruptions to monastic life (most obviously the Cultural Revolution, but also ongoing political regulations)? Do you have to control for this by studying, say, Tibetan diaspora populations in India?
Did you look at economic factors in households? — i.e. are wealthy households both more likely to be able to afford large families (their sons can have lots of kids) and they can afford to send one son to be a monk and support the monastery. So could monastic decisions be driven by competition for prestige positions among wealthy families?
Are richer families (larger donations?) more likely to send a son to a monastery?
These results look extremely similar to the modeling of the emergence of homosexuality through increased inclusive fitness: i.e. the non-reproductive sibling as a helper.
To what extent do you think that your diagram of religious beliefs, ecology, and behavior may show circular causation rather than be simply linear?
Isn't the time frame way too short for inclusive fitness to explain the phenomenon of celibate monks?
The phylogenetic approach doesn't work if the system is not neutral or if there is cultural migration or, as in the history of Gansu and neighboring Mongolia, there was a massive invasion by the Yuan empire about 900 years ago.
How do you take into account the concept of Exaptation in that these roles may not be for the reason that you are ascribing or that modern society ascribes to them?
Is the similarity between studying for a PhD and entering a monastery only superficial?
This inclusive fitness matter for families with monks reminds me about the issue of gay brothers being more likely to occur in a family with a high number of male offspring. It looks like, among other evolutionary implications, there is this lowering of competition and perhaps presence of some special talents in that homosexual brother.
How might the one child policy have impacted your results?
Can the one child policy affect the long term tradition of having your son become a monk?
How do benefits of female celibacy compare with male celibacy?
Does the model re monks make any predictions about the practice? Or is it just a demonstration that the trait can be maintained evolutionarily?
With regard to working through a tree of religious belief, are you familiar with the comedian George Carlin's routine where he starts off saying he saw a man about to jump off a bridge and tries to talk him down, working through their similar religious beliefs until they finally get down to belonging to two very similar but distinct splinter groups?
Do you think the monk's sisters would benefit more if inheritance were matrilineal?
The Impact of a tradition on the life of capuchin monkeys
Speaker: Patricia Izar (Experimental Psychology, Animal Behavior, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Abstract: The EthoCebus long-term research on bearded capuchin monkeys from Fazenda Boa Vista, Piauí Brazil has advanced our understanding of tool use by non-human primates and of how traditions might affect biological processes. In a series of experimental studies we demonstrated that nut cracking with stone tools affects cognitive processes such as perception, attention, memory, and learning. In behavioural studies, we showed that nut cracking with tools substantially increases energy acquisition and affects social patterns of bearded capuchin monkeys. Nut cracking on anvil sites generates a high level of direct competition among group members, increasing the steepness of the female dominance hierarchy. In addition, nut cracking affects the properties of association networks of capuchin monkeys: connectivity is lower when monkeys are cracking and eating nuts on an anvil than when they are performing other activities. In conclusion, the tradition of nut cracking with stone tools is a pervasive influence on the life of this population of bearded capuchin monkeys. This tradition is currently at risk due to a growing expansion of commercial agriculture around the capuchin monkeys' habitat in the region of Fazenda Boa Vista. We urge for the inclusion of animal traditions in conservation policies.
Have you considered putting an accelerometer in an artificial stone to measure forces involved in food opening?
Professor Izar, thank you for your talk. I know how hard it was to gather all those amazing research findings. Thank you for your enthusiasm. So, I'd like to ask you about the signs of tool use in archaeological sites. How can you tell the difference between human and monkey tool use signs in archaeological sites?
How about the personalities of the capuchin monkeys? Have you already conducted any study related to their personality and tool use style? If not, can you tell about the relevance of a study of personality and tool use in capuchins?
Wonderful talk! Do you think that female hierarchy is related with their performance in nut cracking?
Do the monkeys use the tools only for feeding, or do they use tools for other purposes, like a war between groups? Or maybe mating?
Is there any correlation between group size and the total number of traditions that groups have?
Regarding ontogeny studies. Can you tell about the infants, perhaps the age when capuchin monkeys begin to use tools to crack nuts? Also, can you tell how the nut-cracking behavior began in those populations you study?
Can you tell a little about the risks the capuchins face during the pandemic? Also, how do you plan to do the fieldwork with the capuchins in despite of the pandemic?
How big do you think groups have to be for such traditions to be maintained?
What is the relationship of the traditional local community with the capuchin monkeys?
Congratulations on this brilliant and so informative talk! Do you think "nut cracking" generates a positive emotional state in the monkeys? Is there any evidence of affective processing alongside with the practice of this activity?
I'm interested to hear whether the provisioning with water and coconuts has been observed to have any impacts on the communities. Relatedly, interested in knowing how the capuchins and local human communities interact. Is there provisioning? And have the agricultural incursions led to any negative interactions between the capuchins and humans. Thanks so much for your talk and research!
You really convinced me about the role of nut cracking tradition on the development and social relations of the group, but I would like to see some more evidence of its effects on their evolution. Could you talk a little more about this?
For questions, please contact DySoc Director Sergey Gavrilets at sergey@nimbios.org.
Contact DySoC
Sergey Gavrilets, Director
403B Austin Peay
FAX: (865) 974-3067 Email
Website: http://www.dysoc.org
DySoC is affiliated with The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and with
The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.
©2018-2020 Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity. All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Award-Winning 'America ReFramed' Premieres On WORLD Channel
America ReFramed, the award-winning documentary series dedicated to showcasing independent documentary films highlighting the mosaic of life and cultures in contemporary America.
America ReFramed returns for its eighth season at 8 p.m. EST on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, on WORLD Channel. The new season premieres with Where The Pavement Ends from filmmaker Jane Gillooly, a powerful and intimate examination of segregation and racial injustice in the neighboring towns of Kinloch and Ferguson, Missouri. Presented by WORLD and American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc), new and encore episodes of America ReFramed will air on Tuesdays throughout 2020.
For the first time ever, America ReFramed will also be debuting on Link TV (DirecTV 375 and Dish Network 9410), the independent non-commercial satellite TV network that connects U.S. viewers to the world. Starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT on May 8, Season 8 will begin to roll out weekly on-air and online. Earlier this year, Link TV and WORLD Channel announced a content-sharing partnership that would bring programming to more than 100 million homes. With a shared commitment to bringing the best in news, documentaries and fact-based information programming from around the world, the collaboration allows viewers of both networks to better understand perspectives and cultures around the globe while examining issues too often ignored by mainstream media.
Season opener Where The Pavement Ends transports viewers to Missouri towns Kinloch and Ferguson, examining the shared histories and deep racial divides affecting both. Through archival audio recordings, photographs and the recollections of residents from what was the once all-Black community of Kinloch and the all-white community of Ferguson, director Gillooly, a Ferguson native, draws parallels between a 1960s dispute over a physical barricade erected between the towns and the 2014 shooting death by police of Michael Brown which brought her town national attention. A haunting and mesmerizing look at the deep and lasting wounds of segregation and racial injustice, Where The Pavement Ends shines a light on the pride and tragedy of Kinloch while also reminding viewers of the countless American neighborhoods, separated by mere blocks, whose residents live worlds apart.
"The eighth season of America ReFramed is one of the strongest we've seen, continuing to showcase important stories that resonate with diverse audiences," said Chris Hastings, executive producer and editorial manager for WORLD Channel at WGBH Boston. "The films highlighted this season reflect not only the different cultures and lifestyles that make up modern-day America, but the many different ways in which people strive to obtain the American ideals of happiness, equality and freedom."
Season 8 continues on May 12, celebrating Mother's Day with Nadia Shihab's documentary Jaddoland, a co-production of the Center for Asian American Media and WORLD. An intimate portrait of the work and process of the director's visual artist mother Lahib Jaddo, Jaddoland offers viewers a fresh look at the immigrant story in America. Through an exploration of her mother's art and connections to her life in Texas, Shihab also drafts a unique picture of how art can help both the creator and the audience make sense of familial and cultural connections, loss, perseverance and life.
On May 19, WORLD Channel and America ReFramed will partner with the acclaimed PBS documentary series FRONTLINE and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization committed to covering the criminal justice system in the U.S., for the broadcast premiere of the film Tutwiler, directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Heroin(e), Recovery Boys) and reported and produced by The Marshall Project's Alysia Santo. Tutwiler offers a powerful and unforgettable window into the lives of incarcerated pregnant women — and what happens to their newborns. The documentary takes audiences inside Alabama's notorious Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and explores the Alabama Prison Birth Project, which aims to help expectant and new mothers learn childbirth and parenting skills while dealing with the pain of being separated from their children.
Following an encore presentation of Nailed It by Adele Pham preceded by 9-Man by Ursula Liang on May 26, the series celebrates Pride Month on June 16 with a new episode, Little Miss Westie from Joy E. Reed and Dan Hunt. A loving and insightful portrait of two transgender siblings — Luca and Ren — and their parents, the film is set in the changing social climate following the 2016 presidential election. Little Miss Westie takes audiences behind the scenes as the family navigates puberty, school, dating and more as the children begin living in their authentic genders and Ren participates in the Lil' Miss Westie Pageant.
The season continues with another episode recognizing Pride Month with Rodney Evans' honest and arresting documentary Vision Portraits airing on June 30 a co-production with Black Public Media. Acclaimed director of films like Brother to Brother and The Happy Sad, Evans takes viewers on a personal journey as he ponders how the deterioration of his vision will impact his life and work as a filmmaker. Interviewing blind and low-vision artists — a photographer, a dancer and a writer— Evans embarks on a quest to learn how other artists have continued to create art and how their journeys might serve as inspiration for his own.
"We are so proud to bring this latest collection of films to the American public. Particularly in this time of great uncertainty and challenges, these stories bring us together and remind us to seek courage and hope," said Justine Nagan, executive producer of America ReFramed and executive director of American Documentary.
All of the films of America ReFramed season 8 will also be available for streaming on worldchannel.org, amdoc.org, on LinkTV.org and the LinkTV app on Apple TV, YouTube and Roku platforms, and all station-branded PBS platforms including PBS.org, and on PBS apps for iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.
America ReFramed is a co-production of the WORLD Channel and American Documentary, Inc. The series curates a diverse selection of independent documentaries that brings to national audiences compelling stories which illuminate the changing contours of our ever-evolving country. Viewers will be immersed in stories that span the spectrum of American life, from the streets of towns big and small to its exurbs and country roads. The documentary series presents an array of personal voices and experiences through which we learn from our past, understand our present and are challenged to seek new frameworks for America's future. America ReFramed is the recipient of a Peabody Award and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism. The series has earned several Christopher, GRACIE, Telly and Cine Golden Eagle Awards, as well as multiple nominations for Emmy, Independent Documentary Association and Imagen Awards.
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia arts organization dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation. AmDoc is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. For more information, visit: www.amdoc.org
WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries, and fact-based informational programming that helps us understand conflicts, movements and cultures that may be distinct from our own. WORLD's original content examines issues too often ignored by mainstream media by telling stories for and with a diversity of voices. WORLD has won a Peabody Award, an Alfred I.
duPont-Columbia Award, a National News and Documentary Emmy Award and numerous national honors—including 1st and 2nd place Native Media Awards, an RTNDA Kaleidoscope Award, a Media for a Just Society Award, two Lesbian & Gay Journalist Awards, a Gracie, and an Asian American Journalists Award. WORLD is a growing platform carried by 173 partner stations in markets representing more than 70% of US TV households. It is also available on WORLDChannel.org and social media platforms. Funding for World Channel is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. WORLD Channel is produced by WGBH with the support of WNET and is distributed by American Public Television (APT).
Founded in 1999, Link TV is an independent viewer-supported media organization dedicated to providing programs that engage and inform its audiences with unique perspectives, and empower them to become involved in the world. Reaching more than 31 million U.S. satellite households nationally (DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410), Link TV connects American viewers with people at the heart of breaking events, organizations at the forefront of social change and the vibrant cultures of an increasingly global community. Select programming from Link TV is also available for streaming on Apple TV, YouTube and Roku platforms. For additional information about Link TV productions, web-exclusive content and program schedules, please visit linktv.org.
America ReFramed Series Credits
Executive Producers: Justine Nagan, Chris Hastings, Chris White
Supervising Producer: Carmen L. Vicencio
Follow America ReFramed on Facebook and Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/AmericaReFramed
https://www.facebook.com/WorldChannel
@americareframed
@worldchannel
Black Swan Records, The Legendary Harlem Jazz, And Blues Label, 1921
Harlem's Espaillat, Hawk And Others Praise Mayor Adams Working People Agenda
Shoot Her Down, She Won't Fall: M3gan Movie Review (Video)
Requesting Harlem Public Opinion Regarding A Cannabis Dispensary
Attorney General James Announces Nominee For The Commission On Ethics
Harlem Playwright, Friends Of Dee, Poitier, Belafonte, Abram Hill, 1910-1986
film, Harlem, TVAMERICA REFRAMED, Jane Gillooly, new, Where The Pavement Ends, WORLD Channel


text:
COVID-19: Incorporating the Student Perspective into Institutional Decision-Making
Emily Schwartz, Elizabeth Davidson Pisacreta
Over the past month, higher education has faced unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of colleges and universities–large and small, two- and four-year–and more than 22 million students are impacted in the U.S. alone. Many institutions have closed their campuses, moved instruction online, changed their admissions timelines, and modified their financial aid policies; they are now contemplating whether to invite students back to campus in the fall. Decisions already made and decisions to come will likely have an immeasurable impact on all aspects of students' college experience–their learning, their livelihoods, their housing, their future job prospects, and more.
Since the onset of this crisis, many college administrators have had to make rapid decisions about the appropriate response, often with imperfect information. The pace of these decisions and the lack of a clear roadmap meant that administrators were unable to follow typical decision-making processes, hear from affected constituencies, and ensure transparency and responsiveness, where appropriate. Student voices have been largely absent from the decision-making process, despite the students themselves bearing a tremendous share of the burden of those decisions.
In some cases, students have publicly pushed back on their lack of representation in major decisions. For instance, two Amherst college students wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post about the lack of student voice in decision-making, acknowledging that while Amherst certainly needed to make significant changes to respond to the crisis, the ultimate decision to close was made "without consulting the students themselves." Similarly, at UCLA, administrators reversed an initial decision to cancel spring 2020 commencement after intense student protest. These students, at some of the most selective institutions in our country, found other ways to make their voices heard. But, as is often the case, underrepresented students–lower-income students and first-generation students, and students of color–at selective and broad access institutions alike, may not have the same platforms and influence. Yet, these are the students who face the greatest challenges in light of this disruption.
College and university administrators, despite their past actions, must intentionally and thoughtfully include students in the decisions to come, and must pay particular attention to voices of students who are disproportionately impacted. Below, we've identified a few best practices for administrators to consider as they plan for the summer and fall:
Collect feedback and source needs through formal and informal channels: Ask faculty and staff to request that students submit feedback on specific questions or issues during their normal daily interactions with students (via zoom polls, chat functions, etc.) and that faculty and staff summarize and submit that feedback to a central location. Identify a central email address for faculty, staff, and students to submit their feedback directly, like Rutgers University and Northern Virginia Community College have done. To gather information about the experience and needs of the students most likely challenged by pandemic-related changes, have advisors and other administrators take on caseloads of students for direct outreach. Collecting feedback through a variety of channels will help reach the most students, as these recommendations from Baylor University echo.
Designate an equity-focused administrator: Designate a senior administrator as an "equity advocate," responsible for investigating the impacts on and representing the viewpoints of lower-income, underrepresented minority, and other students in policy decisions. Ensure that this viewpoint is represented in university decision-making by including this senior administrator in university task forces and seeking documented guidance, as provided by the University of California system's Council of Chief Diversity Officers.
Include leaders of equity-focused student organizations in the decision-making process. In addition to involving the student government, intentionally engage with the leaders of student groups who represent lower-income students, first-generation students, and students of color. These students can represent the interests of their constituents and surface issues and ideas that may not be immediately apparent to administrators. For example, Indiana University student body presidential candidates organized a virtual town hall that focused on issues like financial insecurity, student employment, and technology access; issues that all students, but particularly lower-income and other underserved students, are facing. At the University of Michigan, the first generation student group set up a resource page and messaging group for ongoing communication during the crisis.
Elevate and support students' grassroots efforts: At Middlebury College (and many other institutions since then), students launched a shareable spreadsheet for students to share their needs and community members to respond with available resources. Duke and Colorado State students, among others, generated petitions to advocate for future decisions, and Harvard students established a taskforce to centralize advocacy and resources from across the University.
Be responsive to nuances in the student experience: Despite having common attributes, students from similar backgrounds often have diverse and varying needs. Consider the student experience from multiple perspectives – by student major/discipline, job or work-study status, living situation, family structure, and more. For example, science labs have closed, forcing students to reconsider semester or years-long research projects. Many students with off-campus jobs may be out of work and need additional money in addition to their financial aid package. Students now living in a different time zone from their campus may have new challenges attending classes.
Plan ahead and course correct: Even if the pace of past decisions limited your ability to seek feedback, it is important to plan ahead for incorporating student voice into both rapid and expected decisions moving forward. Learn from the challenges that students have faced and incorporate those insights into future decision-making. Seek feedback from students now for decisions you expect in the future.
Have more recommendations to share, or strategies that you've found to be successful? Please comment below.
Ithaka S+R's surveys team is offering to field a COVID-19 student survey (covering the effectiveness of course formats, resources utilized, institutional communications, general wellness, and retention) at no cost for 20 institutions, with a nominal fee to cover costs if interest exceeds 20. Click here to learn more and sign up to participate.
Access to higher education
Educational Transformation
Student learning and outcomes
2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources | LJ infoDOCKET
Email Name Website
Emily Schwartz
Elizabeth Davidson Pisacreta
Associate Director for Policy and Research
Resources for Higher Education and Academic Libraries
Turning on the TAP
15 Best Practices for Basic Needs Data Collection and Management in Higher Education
Providing Library Services for Higher Education in Prison
A Sustainable Solution to Settle Students' Debt and Release Stranded Credits
Providing Library Services to the Incarcerated
We work with universities and colleges, libraries, publishers, cultural institutions, and foundations.
Ithaka S+R helps academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological, and demographic change. Our work also aims to broaden access to higher education by reducing costs and improving student outcomes.
Ithaka S+R is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.
©2000-2022 ITHAKA. All Rights Reserved.
6 East 32nd Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10016 212.500.2355 ithakasr@ithaka.org


text:
Royal Military College of Canada
Royal Military College of Canada's mission is to educate, develop and inspire bilingual, fit, and ethical leaders who serve the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada. It has chosen the strategic planning process, with its emphasis on assessing a current state, defining a desired future state, identifying the gaps between the states, and then addressing those gaps with action planning as the ideal tool for this purpose.
250 (cBT) , 600 (pBT) , 100 (iBT)
Aeronautical engineers work with aircraft. They are involved primarily in designing aircraft and propulsion systems and in studying the aerodynamic performance of aircraft and construction materials. They work with the theory, technology, and practice of flight within the Earth's atmosphere. Aeronautical Engineering is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacture of flight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft.
The program provides a general graduate education in management to students who are given specific knowledge in a variety of subject areas that combine the viewpoints of the military, government, and commercial sectors. The MBA curriculum is designed to accommodate the needs of any Military Occupation Classification or individual with resource management responsibilities.
The programme will provide the student with a basic understanding of certain core disciplines such as quantitative methods, economics and psychology. It will also provide the student with a basic understanding of each of the functional areas such as finance, accounting, human resources and marketing. Finally, it will include courses, which require integration of the functional areas. The overarching goal is to provide the student with a broad, well-grounded education in business administration.
The program will provide the student with a basic understanding of certain core disciplines such as quantitative methods, economics, and psychology. It will also provide the student with a basic understanding of each of the functional areas such as finance, accounting, human resources, and marketing. Finally, it will include courses, which require integration of the functional areas. The overarching goal is to provide the student with a broad, well-grounded education in business administration. This program offers honors on completion.
admissions@rmc-cmr.ca
https://www.rmc-cmr.ca/en
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) / Universities Canada


The Jolly Back PosturePad is a multi-function foam wedge for children and infants, developed by a Chartered Physiotherapist to improve healthy posture, motor skills development and concentration.
A larger version is also available for older children and those developing sitting balance who need their hands for support.
Wedge shape – promotes and supports a natural upright posture on the floor, bench and a chair. Active, "open and tall" alignment encourages back and core muscle strength and health spine development for children who can sit independently.
Sitting in a healthy position encourages optimum concentration and focus without distractions from being uncomfortable and off-task fidgeting. Children are calmer when using a firm base of support and can engage more fully in learning. They are also able to identify and keep to "their space" more easily and an effective habit of learning behaviour is carried though into other situations – helping to maximise teacher time and input.
The PosturePad can also be used by infants who are developing sitting balance (when awake and supervised) by actively increasing muscle strength and coordination.
For children who need to long sit to stretch tight muscles, the PosturePad and PosturePad Junior makes this exercise more comfortable and enjoyable by naturally titling the pelvis forward a little.
In addition to sitting, tummy time play and prone lying (when awake and supervised) are supported, enabling back and shoulder muscles development, encouraging movement and improving head control. Enjoyment of this important position is also increased.
Reflux can be eased (when awake and supervised) as infants are able to lie on their back with head raised up.
Seat size fits a standard primary school chair – enabling comfortable, healthy support when sitting on when sitting on a chair. This helps improve handwriting and fine motor skill. For best effect, use on a hard-surfaced chair and ensure children have their feet in contact with the floor.
Lightweight and portable – can be used and easily moved between classrooms at school, kindergarten, nursery, preschool, the hall, baby and toddler groups, outside and home for simple, effective support in numerous locations. Fits inside a standard book bag.
Waterproof, breathable and removable cover – hardwearing, durable and easy clean, perfectly suited for long-term use in demanding environments. Pleasant to use inside and out, ideal for outdoor learning. Available in a range of colours, mixed and single colour packs available.
Quality, firm foam – for genuine posture correction, provides a firm, stable base with comfortable support.
Stackable – for compact, easy access storage when not in use. Make great building blocks too!


text:
Q: how to make React.useContext work inside a SweetAlert 2 Modal? I'm using Sweet Alert 2 with https://github.com/sweetalert2/sweetalert2-react-content enhancer to create some modals with functionality in my app, but I've found that the only way to pass data into the swal modal is by using props:
    MySwal.fire({
      html: <SaveDialog schema={schema} reload={refetch}/>
    });

In the app I use a lot the useContext hook, in fact, those props I'm passing into the modal are already exposed in a context. When trying to use useContext on the react component rendered in the modal it won't get any of the values in the context because the swal modal is rendered outside of the react component tree, thus making the context provider higher in the tree unreachable within the modal component.
I know it's possible to wrap the component like:
<SomeProvider><SaveDialog schema={schema} reload={refetch}/></SomeProvider>

And that would work for things inside the modal itself, but that would be just another instance of the provider, that's not linked in any way to the previous instance, thus not having the right values either.
I also know that's not possible to render the swal modal as a child of a existing component in the tree (this has to do with the modal being a different ReactDOM.render). There is any way make the context provider reachable to the modal component?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Retail giant Walmart latest patent application has showcased how they are examining blockchain and new filling points to a focus on automated drone delivery.
The application was issued on 30th August, describing a system by which "autonomous electronic devices" communicate with each other remotely and pass transported items to each other following an identification process.
After one drone goes to a particular spot where another one located, they exchange verification signals utilizing 'blockchain keys' and if the first robot successfully identifies its 'co-worker,' it passes the package. Drones would depend on the database of delivery data stored on whichever blockchain the organization is operating.
As per the Patent filling, to recognize each other, robots can utilize a variety of means to send signals from one to the another including QR codes or ultrasound, RFID codes. Moreover, each of the delivery robots can be kitted out unique features to easily distinguished by other drones.
As per the filing, the implementation of automated drones is viewed as a means to decrease the times at which elements of the delivery process have to be 'trusted.' Certainly, Walmart contends that the facts that customers would have to trust the delivery of their goods to fly machines "increases challenges related to security" and needs a reliable system of identification for the drones.
The document says, and each node works on finding a difficult proof-of-work for its bloc. Smart contracts further can be built into this framework, as per Walmart's team.
Nishanth Shetty is a technical writer, author and a crypto-advisor working at Cryptofame. Based in the city of dreams, Mumbai, on the west coast of India. He holds a bachelors degrees from Mangalore University. Nishanth has a myriad experience of technical writings for tech brands. His interests include technology, travel, and food.
Monero becomes One of the Top Ten Cryptocurrencies.


Winning Horsemanship is a life-changing and informative book for horse riders that will help horse riders become champion horse riders and win every time and is a book that will hook the reader from start to finish. Winning Horsemanship written by the talented Joanne Verikios is one of the best horse riding resource books I have ever come across thanks to the premise as well as the easy to read format that will help riders become even better and win. As well as this the book is incredibly entertaining book lovers! You may be thinking "how can a book about horse riding be entertaining?!" but trust me book lovers when I write that it is a superb book that is full of many intriguing facts and tips and more that will make you feel pure enjoyment. Already I would recommend Winning Horsemanship to all of those that have an interest or currently compete but if you need more convincing then continue to read to learn more about the sensational Winning Horsemanship!
Winning Horsemanship is a sensational book all about horsemanship. The author Joanne Verikios is a horse riding champion as well as a judge, and in her excellent book she shares her wealth of expertise and knowledge and will help riders and aspiring riders. In her excellent book readers will learn seven proven steps that will help prepare your horse for competition, the psychology of confidence and also ring craft as well as so much more, so do not miss out book lovers!
Winning Horsemanship is a fascinating book written by the author Joanne Verikios and Verikios throughout her expertly written text, will take her readers on a journey of champion horse riding. Verikios is a talented woman and is the perfect person to share her tips with the community because Verikios has experience and knowledge not only as a horse riding champion but as a judge, and so she is well equipped to take us on a journey of riding, and she does this perfectly throughout Winning Horsemanship.
Joanne Verikios is passionate about horse riding and horses, and that is certainly clear in her literature because from beginning to end she enthusiastically writes about the topics and in turn it keeps the reader hooked from start to end. The knowledge laced throughout the book of Winning Horsemanship will fascinate readers and excite those in competition as well as those that are interested because these readers will be provided with a wealth of information that will intrigue as well as help readers from the very beginning. The topics explored will open readers eyes to the information but also about how important and fundamental it is to apply the information and knowledge to your work to become the best horse rider possible.
I expressed briefly that Joanne Verikios clearly knows a lot about the topics discussed throughout the book and she most certainly does because the knowledge laced through her writing is in-depth and well explained so that no reader, even beginners will be confused. Although the book is dense in text and has a lot of words that beginners might not understand, everything is explained well so I would find it hard to believe that a reader could get lost reading the book; and that is because Verikios perfectly guides her readers from beginning to end, informing and educating them every step of the way.
Winning Horsemanship is an outstanding book that is highly informative as well as engaging because even if you are not in some form of horse riding or competing, you will still find the book engaging thanks to the wealth of knowledge, research and the exceptional and positive attitude courtesy of the sensational author Joanne Verikios which will give everybody hope that they can be the best rider possible.
Joanne Verikios has managed to accomplish the almost impossible. She has managed to write a book that is not only informative and useful but also entertaining! I have to admit that I was surprised by just how enjoyable the book was; I believe this is thanks to Verikios's easy to read, fluent writing style and her ability to keep her readers engaged from the start with the discussion of new topics.
As I am a huge lover of this book and think not only the authors writing, but the wealth of information is incredible, I have no choice but to award this superb book a stellar five stars because it's utterly brilliant! If you are a reader who is interested in horse riding and competing, then I recommend that you read this book as it is remarkable and will keep you turning the pages for hours on end!
Thank you so much for reading book lovers! I appreciate it so much, I love discussing wonderful books with all of you so please comment below and let me know your thoughts on Winning Horsemanship. Do you see yourself reading this book? Do you love the genre? Please let me know your brilliant thoughts below and I will be sure to comment back. Thank you so much again for reading!


text:
FDNY: Person rushed to the hospital after being pinned under car in Flatlands
Thursday, June 27, 2019 12:55 PM EDT
FLATLANDS -
One person was rushed to the hospital Thursday after they were pinned under a car in Flatlands.
The FDNY says a person was pinned by a car at Utica Avenue and Avenue L just before 7 a.m.
News 12 is told there was a call for trauma.
Officials say the person was brought to Kings County Hospital in serious condition.
It's not clear what caused the person to be pinned or what their condition is.
Brooklyn Top StoriesTop StoriesMore>>
Police: Man wanted in connection to assault of 73-year-old man in Crown Heights
Police say a man is wanted in connection to an assault in Crown Heights Thursday.
Police: Man stabbed near 84th Street and 24th Avenue in Bath Beach
Police say a man was stabbed in Bath Beach early Sunday morning.
Brooklyn SlideshowsGalleriesMore>>
PHOTOS: Earthquake damage in Puerto Rico
Debris from a collapsed wall of a building litters the ground after an earthquake struck Puerto Rico before dawn, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020.
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico, killing one man, injuring at least eight other people and collapsing buildings in the southern part of the island.
Breaking news and headlines in your inbox. Sign up for News 12 email alerts!


The $2 million project is being implemented by the ministries of Education, Environment and Rwanda Meteorological Agency in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and hosted by the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology.
Speaking at the event Dr. Eugene Mutimura, the Minister for Education noted that the MEDUSA system has equipment installed on top of Mugogo Mountain in Nyabihu District, to measure Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that reduce the ozone layer. The equipment on the mountains will observe climate change in Africa, sense the sources and the amount of the gases being emitted in regional countries and inside Rwanda.
"This climate observatory project that set up the centre of excellence in Africa with air quality and climate lab will be informing policy makers on how to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Policy makers will be able to come up with measures to control car emissions, curbing deforestation and encouraging more tree planting, reducing use of fossil fuels, developing smart green cities and transport among many others," The Minister said.
He added that a group of Rwandan technicians who studied atmospheric sciences from MIT are implementing the project. Dr Jimmy Gasore, an atmospheric scientist and chief scientist of the climate observatory project said that with climate observation, the government can predict weather events for adaptation and mitigation measures.
Gasore added that the climate lab will also coordinate eight other air quality testing equipment across all provinces that monitor and show sources of air pollution in various parts of the country. He noted that the data from the system will also enable Rwandan experts during different negotiations on climate agreements.
The Minister of Education extended his thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through Professor Ron Prinn, for choosing Rwanda to be the location of the 13th Global Climate Observatory in their Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network which has been measuring the composition of the global atmosphere continuously since 1978.
The Minister of Education recalled that the Government of Rwanda demonstrates the significant importance that we place on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the development of our nation and the region and across Africa. He therefore greatly welcomed the partnership with MIT to establish the Global Climate Observatory in Rwanda which targets to develop high level skills in Atmospheric and Climate Science.


Another nice thing I have notices was, Camps in Germany are usually more German talks, but this was first camp where everyone was willing to talk/present share ideas discussion in English. I does not mean only English should be there but atleast I saw some respect of the audience.
There was also nice discussion panel instead of keynotes where 6, 7 people share best of their Knowledge.
The location was Perfect, I came by walk from Essen HBF in almost 15 to 20 minutes.
The building look wired to me at first sight "unperkthaus" but I spent 2 days, I really like it, Food was also very nice.
Overall I really like these camps in and around Germany.


It's been a big week for teen pop singer Avril Lavigne; first she garnered five Grammy nominations and now she has a virus named after her.
A new worm—going by various names, including Avril, Lirva and Naith—is infecting machines in the United States and abroad. In addition to forcing users to visit Lavigne's Web site, the worm continues a recent trend among viruses by attempting to disable various anti-virus and firewall products on infected machines.


Secondly, you're required to exchange information with the other driver. That can include driver's license information, insurance information, contact information, address, phone number that type of stuff. And it is also advisable that you call the police. If the police come, they can file a report, they can make sure that everybody is protected, and they can also do an investigation to make sure that the person who is responsible for the accident is identified.
If you don't call the police because no one is injured or it's a very minor accident you do have to file a report within 72 hours of the accident with the local law enforcement agency if someone's injured in the accident or if the damage exceeds $1,500.00. If the collision was called by someone else, you should contact an attorney to ensure that the result is the best result that is possible.


New from Fables, our Janet Top in a textured multi stripe is a beach babe's delight!! A highly structured bikini top with boning and light padding in the bust for that smooth silhouette shape, fully lined with back hook closure. The straps are adjustable and can be worn as back straps or criss-cross-applesauced!!


text:
Children's General Story Books
Mystery Books for Kids
Society & Social Issues
"when Did You See Her Last?"
4.08 (7,105 ratings by Goodreads)
All the Wrong Questions
By (author) Lemony Snicket , Illustrated by Seth
Hardback US$12.38
CD-Audio US$14.14
Before the Baudelaires became orphans, before he encountered A Series of Unfortunate Events, even before the invention of Netflix, Lemony Snicket was a boy discovering the mysteries of the world.
I should have asked the question "How could someone who was missing be in two places at once?" Instead, I asked the wrong question -- four wrong questions, more or less. This is the account of the second.
In the fading town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, young apprentice Lemony Snicket has a new case to solve when he and his chaperone are hired to find a missing girl. Is the girl a runaway? Or was she kidnapped? Was she seen last at the grocery store? Or could she have stopped at the diner? Is it really any of your business? These are All The Wrong Questions.
For ages 9-12
Publication date 18 Aug 2015
Publisher Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication City/Country New York, United States
Edition Statement Reprint
Illustrations note Illustrations, color
ISBN10 031633684X
Who Could That Be at This Hour?
US$7.08 US$12.75
Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?
Shouldn't You Be in School?
When Did You See Her Last?
File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents
"who Could That Be at This Hour?"
US$7.72 US$9.99
"shouldn't You Be in School?"
"why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?"
\Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?\ Lib/E
"The author's trademark wit and talent for sustaining suspense make this fast-paced, noir mystery a fun choice for kids who enjoy a good whodunit."-School Library Journal
Review quote
"Chock-full of linguistic play and literary allusions to children's and classic literature, this is adventure mystery for young readers who like to think as they read."--Kirkus
About Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket was once referred to as a missing person by someone who knew where he was all along. He is also referred to as the author of the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" the first in a four book series collectively known as All The Wrong Questions.
Seth has undergone and portrayed many dire circumstances. His multi-award-winning talents are evident in cartoons, graphic novels, and a barbershop located in the city of Guelph, Canada, where he resides.
5 33% (2,351)
2 2% (150)
1 0% (16)


The compost is a byproduct of the farm. It is routinely mixed after it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit; this temperature greatly reduces weed seed and parasites.
When using compost that is consisting of animal manure it will help hold moisture in the soil, in return having to water less.
Available at certain times in the year.
Quantities: Pail full to a 10 yard load.
Note: In your garden spread the compost in small quantities. About 1/4 to 1/2 inches deep. Thicker applications up to 1 inch deep might be justified in poor soil with low organic matter. One yard of compost covers approximately 320 ft. square at 1-inch thick spread.
If you are interested, give us a call, or fill our the form below. We will get back with you about pricing, delivery (if you are interested), and answering any of your questions or comments. Thank you!