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Today's Leading Minds Talk AI with Host Byron Reese
Episode 90: A Conversation with Norman Sadeh
In this episode, Byron Reese speaks with Norman Sadeh from Carnegie Mellon University about the nature of intelligence and how AI effects our privacy.
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Norman M. Sadeh is a professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is director of CMU's Mobile Commerce Laboratory and its e-Supply Chain Management Laboratory, co-founder of the School's Ph.D. Program in Societal Computing (formerly "Computation, Organizations and Society") and co-director of the MSIT Program in Privacy Engineering. He also co-founded and directs the MBA track in Technology Leadership launched jointly by the Tepper School of Business and the School of Computer Science in 2005. Over the past dozen years, Sadeh's primary research focus has been in the area of mobile and pervasive computing, cybersecurity, online privacy, user-oriented machine learning, and semantic web technologies, with a particular focus on mobile and social networking.
Byron Reese: This is Voices in AI brought to you by GigaOm I'm Byron Reese, today my guest is Norman Sadeh. He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. He's affiliated with Cylab which is well known for their seminal work in AI planning and scheduling, and he is an authority on computer privacy. Welcome to the show.
Carnegie Mellon has this amazing reputation in the AI world. It's arguably second to none. There are a few university campuses that seem to really... there's Toronto and MIT, and in Carnegie Mellon's case, how did AI become such a central focus?
Norman Sadeh: Well, this is one of the birthplaces of AI, and so the people who founded our computer science department included Herbert Simon and Allen Newell who are viewed as two of the four founders of AI. And so they contributed to the early research in that space. They helped frame many of the problems that people are still working on today, and they helped recruit also many more faculty over the years that have contributed to making Carnegie Mellon as the place that many people refer to as being the number one place in AI here in the US.
Not to say that there are not other many good places out there, but CMU is clearly a place where a lot of the leading research has been conducted over the years, whether you are looking at autonomous vehicles – for instance, I remember when I came here to do my PhD back in 1997, there was research going on autonomous vehicles. Obviously the vehicles were a lot clumsier than they are today, not moving quite as fast, but there's a very, very long history of AI research, here at Carnegie Mellon. The same is true for language technology, the same is true for robotics, you name it. There are lots and lots of people here who are doing truly amazing things.
When I stop and think about [how] 99.9% of the money spent in AI is for so-called Narrow AI—trying to solve a specific problem often using machine learning. But the thing that gets written about and is shown in science fiction is 'general intelligence' which is a much more problematic topic. And when I stop to think about who's actually working on general intelligence, I don't actually get too many names. There's OpenAI, Google, but I often hear you guys mentioned: Carnegie Mellon. Would you say there are people in a serious way thinking about how do you solve for general intelligence?
Absolutely. And so going back to our founders again, Allen Newell was one of the first people to develop what you referred to as a general theory of cognition, and obviously that theory has evolved quite a bit, and it didn't include anything like neural networks. But there's been a long history of efforts on working on general AI here at CMU.
And you're completely true, that as an applied [science] university also, we've learned that just working on these long-term goals is not necessarily the easiest way to secure funding, and that it really pays to also have shorter term objectives along the way, things that can solve the accomplishments that can help motivate more funding coming your way. And so, it is absolutely correct that many of the AI efforts that you're going to find, and that's also true at Carnegie Mellon, will be focused on more narrow types of problems, problems where we're likely to be able to make a difference in the short to mid-term, rather than just focusing on these longer and loftier goals of building general AI. But we do have a lot of researchers also working on this broader vision of general AI.
And if you were a betting man and somebody said "Do you believe that general intelligence is kind of an evolutionary [thing]... that basically the techniques we have for Narrow AI, they're going to get better and better and better, and bigger datasets, and we're going to get smarter, and that it's gradually going to become a general intelligence?"
Or are you of the opinion that general intelligence is something completely different than what we're doing now—and what we're doing now is just like simulated intelligence—we just kind of fake it (because it's so narrow) into tasks? Do you think general AI is a completely different thing or it will gradually get to it with the techniques we have?
So AI has become such a broad field that it's very hard to answer this question in one sentence. You have techniques that have come out under the umbrella of AI that are highly specialized and that are not terribly likely, I believe, to contribute to a general theory of AI. And then you have I think, broader techniques that are more likely to contribute to developing this higher level of functionality that you might refer to as 'general AI.'
And so, I would certainly think that a lot of the work that has been done in deep learning, neural networks, those types of things are likely over time with obviously a number of additional developments that people have, a number of additional inventions that people have to come up with, but I would imagine that has a much better chance of getting us there than perhaps more narrow, yet equally useful technologies that might have been developed in fields like scheduling and perhaps planning and perhaps other areas of that type where there's been amazing contributions, but it's not clear how those contributions will necessarily lead to a general AI over the years. So mixed answer, but hopefully...
You just made passing reference to 'AI means so many things and it's such a broad term that may not even be terribly useful,' and that comes from the fact that intelligence is something that doesn't have a consensus definition. So nobody agrees on what intelligence is. Is that meaningful? Why is it that something so intrinsic to humans: intelligence, we don't even agree on what it is? What does that mean to you?
Well, it's fascinating, isn't it, that there used to be this joke and maybe it's still around today, that AI was whatever it is that you could not solve, and as soon as you would solve it, it was no longer viewed as being AI. So in the '60s, for instance, there was this program that people still often talk about called Eliza...
Weiznbaum's chatbots.
Right, exactly, simple Rogerian therapist, basically a collection of rules that was very good at sounding like a human being. Effectively what it was doing is, it was paraphrasing what we would tell you and say, "well, why do you think that?" And it was realistic enough to convince people that they were talking to a human being, while in fact they were just talking to a computer program. And so, if you had asked people who had been fooled by the system, whether they were really dealing with AI, they would have told you, "yes, this has to be AI."
Obviously we no longer believe in that today, and we place the bar a lot higher when it comes to AI. But there is still that tendency to think that somehow intelligence cannot be reproduced, and surely if you can get some kind of computer or whatever sort of computer you might be talking about to emulate that sort of functionality and to produce that sort of functionality, then surely this cannot be intelligence, it's got to be some kind of a trick. But obviously, if you also look over the years, we've gotten computers to do all sorts of tasks that we thought perhaps were going to be beyond the reach of these computers.
And so, I think we're making progress towards emulating many of the activities that would traditionally be viewed as being part of human intelligence. And yet, as you pointed out, I think at the beginning, there is a lot more to be done. So common sense reasoning, general intelligence, those are the more elusive tasks just because of the diversity of – the diverse facility that you need to exhibit in order to truly be able to reproduce that functionality in a scalable and general manner, and that's obviously the big challenge for research in AI over the years to come.
Are we going to get there or not? I think that eventually we will. How long it's going to take us to get there? I wouldn't dare to predict, but I think that at some point we will get there, at some point we will likely build – and we've already done that in some fields, we will likely build functionality that exceeds the capability of human beings. We've done that with facial recognition, we've done that with chess, we've done that actually in a number of different sectors. We might very well have done that – we're not quite there, but we might very well at some point get that in the area of autonomous driving as well.
So you mentioned common sense, and it's true that every Turing test capable chatbot I come across, I ask the same question which is, "What's bigger, a nickel or the Sun?" And I've never had one that could answer it. Because nickel is ambiguous... That seems to a human to be a very simple question, and yet it turns out, it isn't. Why is that?
And I think at the Allen Institute, they're working on common sense and trying to get AI to pass like 5th grade science tests, but why is that? What is it that humans can do that we haven't figured out how to get machines to do that enables us to have common sense and them not to?
Right. So these are, amazingly enough, when people started working in AI, they saw that the toughest tasks for computers to solve would be tasks such as doing math or playing a game of chess. And they thought that the easiest ones would be the sorts of things that kids, five-year-olds or seven-year-olds are able to do. It turned out to be the opposite, it turned out that the kinds of tasks that a five-year-old or a seven-year-old can do are still the tasks that are eluding computers today.
And a big part of that is common sense reasoning, and that's the state of the art today. So it's the ability to somehow – so we're very good at building computers that are going to be 'one-track mind' types of computers if you want. They're going to be very good at solving these very specialized tasks, and as long as you keep on giving them problems of the same type, they're going to continue to do extremely well, and actually better than human beings.
But as soon as you're falling out of that sort of well-defined space, and you're opening up the set of context and a set of problems that you're going to be presenting to computers, then you find that it's a lot more challenging to build a program that's always capable of falling back on its feet. That's really what we're dealing with today.
Well, you know people do transfered learning very well, we take the stuff that we...
With occasional mistakes too, we are not perfect.
No, but if I told you to picture two fish: one is swimming in the ocean, and one is the same fish in formaldehyde in a laboratory. It's safe to say you don't sit around thinking about that all day. And then I say, "Are they at the same temperature?" You would probably say no. "Do they smell the same?" No. "Are they the same weight?" Yeah. And you can you can answer all these questions because you have this model I guess, of how the world works.
That's right.
And why are we not able yet to instantiate that into a machine do you think, Is it that we don't know how, or we don't have the computers, or we don't have the data or we don't know how to build an unsupervised learner, or what?
So there are multiple answers to this question. There are people who are of the view that it's just an engineering problem, and that if in fact, you were to use the tools that we have available today, and you just use them to populate these massive knowledge bases with all the facts that are out there, you might be able to produce some of the intelligence that we are missing today in computers. There's been an effort like that called Cyc.
I don't know if you are familiar with Doug Lenat, and he's been doing this for, I don't know, how many years at this point. I'm thinking something like close to 30 plus years, and he's built a massive knowledge base and actually with some impressive results. And at the same time, I would argue that it's probably not enough. It's more than just having all the facts, it's also the ability to adapt and the ability to discover things that were not necessarily pre-programmed.
And that's where I think these more flexible ways of reasoning that are also more approximate in nature and that are closer to the types of technologies that we've seen developed under the umbrella of neural networks and deep learning, that's where I think there's a lot of promise also. And so, ultimately I think we're going to need to marry these two different approaches to eventually get to a point where we can start mimicking some of that common sense reasoning that we human beings tend to be pretty good at.
So another sort of thing like that is the way children can learn. You can train them with the sample size of one, you could draw – I'm a poor artist, but I could draw a cat, and then I could show that to a child, and the child could identify a cat from that, and maybe an actual photograph of a cat from my pencil drawing. And then the child could maybe see one of those manx cuts that doesn't have a tail and they could say, 'look, there's a cat without a tail,' even though they've never been told there was such a thing as a cat without a tail, because it retains enough of this 'cat-ness' about it that it's like a cat without a tail.
So what do you think we do there that we haven't been able to teach computers?
Well, that's where these neural network techniques are really coming into play and are really making a big difference. So it's this multi-layered form of processing where you're looking for different levels of patterns and you're ultimately able to recognize that this is a cat—there's just a tail that's missing. And so, that's what I think you have that tremendous potential that was not really – was dismissed until maybe just five years ago by many people working AI, and all of a sudden, with the results that we start getting in domains such as computer vision, facial recognition, natural language processing, people have started saying, "Oh my goodness, look at what we can do here!"
And I think there's a lot more of these types of results that we're likely to see over the years to come. I don't know that it's necessarily going to be enough to get us to that general AI that we were talking about earlier, but that's certainly going to get us a step closer.
We have these brains that we don't understand how they work, we don't really know how a thought is encoded, and we don't even know how a nematode worm encodes its thoughts, so let alone a human. And then we have minds, we have these emergent abilities like creativity and humor and all of these things, and we have consciousness in that we experience the world. And all three of those: our brains, our minds, and consciousness are not scientifically understood, and yet almost universally...
There's been tremendous progress though in this space over the past 25 years, as I'm sure you're aware, right?
Well, if you just went with consciousness—and it's been called the last scientific question nobody even knows how to pose scientifically nor what the answer would look like—and if I ask you, "what was the color of your first bicycle?" you can probably answer that, but there's not like a bicycle storage area in your brain that you retrieved it from.
So I mean, we fundamentally don't know how our brains do what they do and how thoughts are encoded. And yet, universally on this show, people say we're going to be able to eventually – as you just did, eventually we'll build a general intelligence. And it seems to me that that conclusion is only true if you have like a purely mechanistic reductionist view, like there's no reason to believe we're going to build a general intelligence other than we believe we're machines and therefore we can build a machine that thinks.
But we don't have any independent evidence that we can build general intelligence, like we can't even do ridiculously basic things, let alone build it. And so, it's almost feels to me like an article of faith that people believe we can build it only because they believe we're machines. Would you agree with that?
So I believe that, first of all, there are probably multiple ways of building general AI, and one of those ways would obviously be to replicating the machinery that we've got in our brains, and there's certainly a lot of inspiration to be drawn from that. But it may not be the only way, and there might be variations of that that might be possible too. So understanding the brain I think has inspired many people who've been working in AI, especially people like Geoff Hinton and his operators. You were referring to the University of Toronto earlier. And I think that there's been tremendous progress in understanding how the brain works over the past 25-30 years.
I was just recently reading this book by Eric Kandel for instance – I think it's called In Search Of Memory, and it's amazing how he does such a great job at recounting all the progress that has been made in this space in terms of understanding intelligence, understanding memory, and that clearly goes to the core of the history of consciousness and how do you go about understanding consciousness. Clearly this is not a problem that we've cracked today, but there's been so much progress in showing that at the end of the day, you can probably look at the brain as a machine that's obviously exposed to just such a huge number of contexts and situations that obviously each one of us ends up learning things.
There's interesting work going on here at Carnegie Mellon on brain imaging and reasoning to sort of understand how different types of intellectual activities tend to result in different types of activity patterns in the brain and so on. There's similar research being done elsewhere that can really help you illuminate those aspects. But again, I would not necessarily limit myself to thinking that the only way to building a general AI will be by building an artificial brain. There might be other ways of building this general AI, including ways that might lead us to building functionality that's superior to what our human brains are capable of doing.
So let's switch gears and talk about a topic you know in and out which is privacy. So people who listen to this show know that I'm an optimist about the future, I believe we're going to use technology to solve all kinds of problems. But there are a couple of chilling scenarios that come out, and one of them is: we've only ever had privacy in this world because there's so many of us, you can't follow everybody at once, you can't listen to every phone call and all the rest, and now you can. The cameras can read lips as well as a human, every phone call can be [tracked] – and interestingly, the very tools we build to do good with AI, like spot tumors, are the same tools that can be used to spot people who disagree with the government or what have you.
Tell me, do you agree that that AI poses a real threat to privacy, and we're just talking of the US for now, for just a moment, and is there a solution to that?
I think that there is a solution to that, and you've asked a number of different questions here, so I would say, at a high level, there's been an explosion in the amount of data that's available, and that's been a boon obviously to people who work in machine learning and AI. And I think we've all become a little drunk, because we've had so much of that data and we've been able to do all sorts of things that we could not even imagine being able to do 20 years ago.
But in the process, we have not paid enough attention to the responsibilities that come along with having access to all this data and the fact that our people, the data subjects as they referred to in regulations, for instance, coming out of Europe, the people whose data has been collected have some expectations about how the data that's been collected about them should be used. And unless we align what we do with those expectations, we're going to end up in a situation that's highly undesirable.
And that's a lot of what we've seen I think over the past few years: technologists have gained access to all this data and it's been obtained with very few constraints on what they can potentially do with it, to the point that they've said, "well, maybe I can start mining this thing and see whether or not I can find something useful." There's regulation – one of the basic principles behind privacy is that when you collect data, you should be collecting that data for a specific purpose, and ideally you would want to make sure that the person whose data is being collected is okay with that collection and okay with the use in which that data is going to be processed.
And if all of a sudden you take that data and start using it for an entirely different purpose, you should probably go back to that person and verify that that person that data subject is also okay with that other use. That's not something that we see very often today, especially here in the US. But we've seen progress. So you have to recognize that including companies that are in the press for issues with privacy, such as Facebook or Google, these companies have made an effort in offering users better control over the processing of their data and making more permissions available in the context of apps, making more settings available in the context of browsers, being more transparent about the data that they've collected about us and the like.
But it's also clear that not too many people engage with this functionality. There are privacy policies out there that in principle disclose some of the things I was talking about, but nobody has the time to read these privacy policies; nobody has time to configure all these settings. And so one of the things my group and I have been advocating is actually the use of AI to help people regain control over their data, the collection and use of their data, and help them in fact deal with all these privacy policies that they, on their own, with their limited human brains, don't have the time to read, help them configure settings, help them make better privacy decisions,so that at the end of the day, what takes place is better aligned with what they feel comfortable with.
So you're specifically talking there about the legal requirements of private enterprises with the relationship to their customers, making those more transparent and more user configurable without – and making that easy for people to do.
And so, do you envision something like a GDPR for data that kind of rigidly defines this and criminalizes certain actions and all of that or how would you do that, or is it completely voluntary by these companies? What, from a practical standpoint, do you suggest?
Well, first of all, there are many dimensions to this. So in general, I don't think it's a good idea for a company to be doing something with the data of their customers, that their customers would not feel comfortable with. So it's not a good business practice. If one day your customer finds out that you've been using their data in a way that...
But the customer isn't really a homogenous unit, there's a million customers and some are fine with anything and some are incredibly sensitive, and then there's a big part in the middle, so how does a company even navigate that?
Well, that's a very good point. That's why privacy is complex, – so privacy is not black and white. We've done a lot of work on modeling people's privacy preferences, and we've seen exactly what you've pointed out, you know, domain after domain after domain that it's not 'one size fits all.' If it was one size fits all, it would be great, it would be easy to regulate, it would be like, well, nobody feels comfortable with that, therefore we shouldn't do it; everybody feels comfortable with that, therefore it's okay to do it – end of the story.
But the vast majority of people fall between these two extremes, and they've got different views. It varies based on, for instance, are you willing to share all your health data with the world. Well, there are people who feel that they are very healthy and have nothing to hide, and they don't care. And there are people who have got medical conditions, and if this information was potentially falling in the wrong hands, they may not be able to get insurance coverage anymore, and so, they do care. And these things vary quite a bit from one person to another, and this is just one example, but where you go, who your friends are, sexual orientation, all these sorts of things, you're going to find very different views on what people are willing to disclose and what they're not willing to disclose and with whom and for what purpose and so on.
And so there is this inherent tension between privacy and usability. So if you want to allow people to control what happens to their data, you need to give them all these potential settings and configurations that they've got to select from, and that's clearly not very practical, we've gone down this path. If you look today at the mobile app user, most people have today something like 50 apps on their cell phone, if not more. If these apps require access to two or three permissions, like your location, your calendar, texting or what have you, and before you know it, you've got to configure a hundred different settings just from the mobile apps on your cell phone. Nobody has the time to do that.
And so, one of the things we have shown is that using machine learning, we can actually do a pretty good job at very quickly learning people's privacy preferences, and we can then help them configure many of these settings without imposing as heavy a burden on them as you would otherwise with the settings that are available today. We've shown that we can automatically read the text of privacy policies on their behalf and actually highlight things they would want to know about.
And so, those are ways in which AI, as it turns out, which is often being depicted as being the antithesis of privacy, AI can actually contribute to restoring some modicum of privacy and empowering people to better control their data. So that's one that our group is well known for. (I never answered your question about the GDPR, but I've already spoken for quite a bit, so I'll let you decide whether you want to redirect.)
Well, I would ask slightly different... I get what you're saying that in a country that has a rule of law and transparency, and in a country like the United States, those sorts of protections can be legislated and businesses will to a more or less extent follow those and all the rest. Are you concerned with the application of this technology in other countries that don't have... by states, by governments against their own people, that don't actually have any notion of individual privacy being a right?
I am very concerned. I am among those people who think that privacy is a fundamental human right. It is definitely part of the UN Charter of Human Rights, and I'm very concerned about what you see in countries where – I mean, let's name them: countries like China or Russia or countries which have even fewer freedoms. I'm also very concerned about what we're seeing here in the US.
I mean, we've seen privacy for a long time was depicted as, okay, well, this is about whether or not people will use your data to decide what ads they're going to target to you. That's such a mundane problem, but we've seen that privacy goes well beyond that. So privacy extends to manipulation of the information that we see, a manipulation of opinion, manipulation of elections. And I think that people have come to realize this, and they've come to realize that hey, this privacy thing is actually a lot bigger than I realized, and it does go to the fundamentals of who we are as a country, as a society, and so on.
It's just an almost intractable problem it seems, because privacy is a nebulous idea, and the presumption of privacy varies by circumstance. I mean, I would expect I would have more privacy in the medical field than I would at an amusement park or something. It varies from person to person and people themselves don't really necessarily know what they want or not, and you can ask a question in such a way that they're like, oh, I guess, I'm okay with that. And you could ask the same question in a way, whatever you like, no, that sounds creepy. But it's the same thing, and so it almost feels like as noble as what you're trying to do, it's almost an intractable problem. So give me some reason to think I'm probably wrong with that, that it is a solvable problem.
Well, I would argue you could say the same thing about security, it doesn't mean – so it's not because something is challenging and complex that you want to give up. And can self-regulation get you there? We've tried that for the past 20 years or so if not longer, and I think we've seen where we are today. So I do feel that there's a need for regulation in this space.
I think that these are very complex problems and you were pointing, for instance, to the fact that you can manipulate people. We've done research on that, and we've shown that indeed people's privacy preferences are highly malleable. Depending on how you ask people a question, you're going to get a very different answer. So does this mean that you should not let people control these things and not let them make decisions? No, it means you've got to impose requirements in terms of how you go about asking these questions. You can phrase questions about whether or not people are willing to grant you access to some data in a way that everybody is going to say 'yes.'
So for awhile, for instance, we were talking about mobile apps earlier, early versions of Android were basically asking people privacy questions at a time they were downloading the apps on their cell phone. It's well-known that we all have cognitive and behavioral biases that will lead us to always favor the short term rewards over the long term, less obvious consequences. And so, if you download your favorite game app, and at the time you're downloading this app, someone says, and by the way, are you willing to grant Angry Bird access to your location and this and that, the vast majority of people are going to say 'yes.' On the other hand, if you ask that question differently and at a different point in time or you give people a chance to revisit this decision that they've made, perhaps by telling them that, hey, by the way, your location has been collected by your apps 7398 times over the past week, and if you'd like to know more, click here, you can review the permissions that you've granted different apps, people will respond very differently.
And so those are actually not random examples, these are technologies that we've piloted with great success, and with people converging towards settings that were much closer to their comfort level.
There's a box that has a name and I can't remember it, but it was a law passed some number of years ago that said every credit card offer has to have this box on the back, and the box has to say what is the annual fee, what is the APR, and it was a finite list of things. And you see it in every credit card offer you get. You can just flip that thing over and you see those things.
Is there an equivalent for privacy that we could do that there's like these eight things? Do we retain personally identifiable information (PII) about you, do we share that – I mean, is there a list like that?
There are some things like that you could do. The difference I believe between credit cards and computer technologies in general is that there are just so many more scenarios, so many different ways in which your data can be collected and used that it's very hard to reduce things down to eight boxes. Eight boxes would already be better than nothing, no question.
The boxes—so we've actually experimented with these sorts of things. We've conducted experiments where we've shown people entire privacy policies. We show them summary of privacy policies, we've shown them information extracted from privacy policies in different boxes, played with the number of boxes that we show to people, and there is a sweet spot. So if you show them too much information, they stop reading. If you show them too little, they get surprised by things you didn't have enough space to show them.
The kinds of things that people care about do vary also, and they vary at least based on two things, they vary based on what people already know and expect. So if you tell me that there's a camera that's watching me when I go through a TSA line, guess what? I'm not terribly surprised. I think I've known that for a while. And so that may not necessarily be something that you need to tell me. On the other hand, if you tell me that there's a camera that's looking at me when I go shopping at my supermarket, I would probably want to know about that the first time, and then maybe after a while I might decide that, hey, every supermarket is doing that these days and this doesn't seem to be terribly traumatic and something I need to worry about too much, but different people might think it's terrible.
So there's clearly a need to personalize also how you go about doing this. There's no way that you can get to that sweet spot with a one size fits all format, and that's where again AI and machine learning can come and help, because I can build models about what you know and what you care about and how often you would want to be notified about different types of practices when you walk into a room that has facial recognition, when you pass by some sensors that collect your location, all these sorts of things, different people have different views about that. And so knowing how you feel about these things, and how you want to be notified and how often can help me build knowledge that will do a better job at keeping you informed without feeling overwhelmed, and without feeling like you should turn off this functionality because it keeps on beeping every two minutes.
Do you think about it this way: that like I could ask you 20 questions that aren't technical, like, is it okay for advertisers to use what you've purchased in the past to recommend products to you? And I could do 20 questions like that that anybody could answer. They go, 'yeah, I guess, it's okay.' And from that you could infer with AI a range of things about what I find acceptable and not, and then map those to every site I visit. Is that how you think about it?
So we've built that and we call these 'privacy assistants.' We have one that's in the Google Play Store for mobile app permissions. The unfortunate thing is that you need to have a rooted Android phone for it to work. But it does work very well. And so people who've used it have all reported that they had a much better sense of control, and they had converged on settings that were much better aligned with their preferences, so yes. And we actually don't ask 20 questions, we ask between three and five questions, and we are able to predict about 80% of your settings.
I've gone over [time], because it's such a fascinating topic. I would like to close with one last question about – we were talking about state actors, and what I find disturbing is that some of them are productizing their ability to spy on their own citizens and export, and selling that to other oppressive regimes that couldn't even develop it on their own.
Is that something that you don't worry about in the long run because you're like, in the end, free societies will win? Or is that something where this technology will be used by people in power to retain their power in certain parts of the world?
I'm very concerned about that, and I think it could be, in all parts of the world potentially if you are a bit paranoid. Yes, I think, I'm very concerned about that. And so, how do you solve this? It's a very challenging problem, because these technologies are available, and there are some good uses for these technologies. I mean, terrorism is a real problem. National security, I mean, when it comes to privacy, one question where the vast majority of people feel the same, is security.
But when it comes to security a lot of people are willing to disclose quite a bit of information to ensure their security, not necessarily everything, but quite a bit of information. So these tools, these technologies are legitimate technologies, but as you pointed out, the challenge is: how do you prevent governments that are not legitimate governments, totalitarian regimes, from using these very same technologies for entirely different purposes? And so obviously, I don't know how you do that. I mean, I don't know how do you get the regime to not build a totalitarian regime, that's clearly not a technical question.
The thing is, they would say they only use them for security. They are just not going to believe that...
Anyone who opposes the regime is a threat to security. But anyway, that's okay, we don't have to solve everything in this one interview. I want to thank you so much for your time and all the work you're doing. It sounds like it's much needed, like we've finally have done this enough that we're starting to know like 'these are the pitfalls, and here's the way to solve them,' and it sounds like what you're doing is at the forefront of that. So I thank you for your work.
Well, Byron, thank you for your time. I really enjoyed talking with you.
Episode 89: A Conversation with Doug Lenat
Episode 91: A Conversation with Mazin Gilbert
Episode 118 – A Conversation with Rob Lubow
Episode 117 – A Conversation with Andrea Thomaz
Episode 116 – A Conversation with Azita Arvani
Episode 115 – A Conversation with Davi Ottenheimer
Episode 114 – A Conversation with Fiona McEvoy
© Gigaom 2017 | Contact


text:
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Ottawa-based video surveillance software developer March Networks announced in early December the completion of its acquisition by Delta, a global power and thermal management provider. Through its su…
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Brendan Fraser can currently be seen as Robotman on DC Universe's Doom Patrol series. Long before landing the role of Robotman in DC Universe's Doom Patrol, Fraser was in line to play one of the biggest DC Comics superheroes of all time: Superman.
Brendan Fraser was just one of the actors to audition to play the Man of Steel in the 2000s that Brett Ratner would have directed from a script written by J.J. Abrams. The list of other actors who tried to land the coveted role includes Matt Bomer, future Superman Henry Cavill, and the guy who would end up landing it- albeit for a different project- Brandon Routh.
Considering the recent rumors that Warner Bros is the frontrunner to secure a development deal with Abrams and Bad Robot, it'll be interesting to see if anything comes out of this praise for what Abrams would do with Superman.
Fraser has some interesting highlights in his filmography. Personally I think it would have been cool to see Brendan Fraser play Superman.
Would you have enjoyed seeing Brendan Fraser as Superman? Be sure to share your thoughts down below!


text:
Kay's Kangaroo Productions (UK)
Background: Kay's Kangaroo Productions is the Vanity Card for British producer Kyle Blocks after he quit his jobs at El TV Kadsre Animation and Cartoon Pizza. The company produced the final season of Stanley and the third and fourth seasons of Oddball. Kyle also worked on his own show titled Cotumbán Stringers. The company also produced other shows such as The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, The Spectacular Spiderman and Hubert & Takako. The company also produced a live-action American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Kyle also later worked on 101 Dalmatian Street because he wanted to focus on animation more, resulting The Big Bang Theory to be cancelled after it's running last of 12 seasons.
(2003-May 16, 2019)
Logo: On a sunburst background, we see a stripe-suited brown kangaroo with a boring face (eyes too tired) and a sheet of paper over it's cheek driving on a modeled car. Over there we see the text "Kay's Kangaroo Productions" in orange, over the car's back.
There was an animated variant. The kangaroo moves the car, barks 4 times and then the car drives away from the camera, with the sunburst background still im The text, along with the car then crash, a la Arthur opening theme.
Another variant had the kangaroo without their eyes tired and without the sheet of paper. An animated variant was used for it, too!
FX/SFX: None. But for the animated variant, pretty good detailed looking animation.
Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show or some dramatic action music a la This Will Be The Day (RWBY), accompanied with the kangaroo's barking and a crash.
Availability: Seen on the last season of Stanley, Cotumbán Stringers, seasons 3 and 4 of Oddball, The Spectacular Spiderman, The Big Bang Theory and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. It is also seen in USA prints of Hubert & Takako, and you don't expect this logo of the show in the other parts worldwide. You also don't expect see this on 101 Dalmatian Street.
Editor's Note: None.
UK Only
Vanity Cards


text:
Ms Anna J. Stewart Angela Wren Summer Kinard Clare Flynn Minna Howard Valerie Loveless Candace Robb Brenda S. Anderson Rachel Ward Ashtyn Newbold Helen J. Rolfe Gretchen Carlson Mary McNear Andrea Matthews (Illustrator) April Chu Ms Regina Scott Peni Jo Renner Lisa Wingate Catherine Lanigan Sharon Lewis Koho Gigi Pandian Hannah and Caroline Melby (Editor) Rhonda Parrish Susan Sleeman Chantal Bourdreau Elizabeth St. John Abigail Wilson Rachel Fordham Amy Vastine Jessica Brockmole Harper Kincaid Jennifer Kincheloe C.F.E. Black Erin Morgenstern Royaline Sing Renee Patrick Freda Ann (Artist) Josh Clare James Dalessandro (Illustrator) Jay Fontano Miranda Beverly-Whittemore Al Carraway Jenny Barden Elle Spellman David Rosenfelt Betty Smith Ms Chris (E. Chris Garrison) Beatriz Williams K.J. Taylor Terry Maggert Cecilia Rene Meredith Potts Jules Wake Chantal Gadoury Ms Sandra Byrd M.J. Rose Sarah Maine R.J. Anderson Rebecca Kightlinger Michael Knost Carol K. Carr Avanti Centrae Gabriel Valjan Sandra Danby Heidi McCahan Jillayne Clements Jacqueline Winspear Renee Carter Hall Frank Creed Cassia Cassitas Robert Wintner EDC Johnson Elise Hahl Seanan McGuire Jean-Paul Malaval Jina Bacarr Henriette Gyland Ms Amy Vastine William C. Burger Rebecca Rotert Gwyneth Jane Page and Megan Elizabeth Lynette Eason Bethany Zohner Herbert Lezlie Anderson Damian Chandler Alyson Peterson Janice Mineer Jes Drew Maia Chance Rachel McMillan Nancy Kress Jennifer Lamont Leo Mr J.S. Monroe Jessica Kate Melanie Hudson Don Jose Ruiz Lara Temple Beth Carpenter Christina Baker Kline Ms Rosanne E. Lortz
Category: Inspiring Video Related to Content
#SaturdaysAreBookish | "The Moon Sister" (Book No. 5 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley
Posted Saturday, 23 February, 2019 by jorielov Atria Books, Lucinda Riley, Simon & Schuster, The Moon Sister, The Seven Sisters series 2 Comments
After launching this lovely new feature of mine during [Autumn, 2018] it is a pleasure of joy to continue to bring #SaturdaysAreBookish as a compliment focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat. If you see the chat icon at the top of my blog (header bar) you can click over to visit with us. The complimentary showcases on my blog will reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of the chat are the stories I am reading which compliment the conversations.
#SaturdaysAreBookish throughout [2019] will be featuring the Romance & Women's Fiction authors I am discovering to read across genre and point of interest. Every Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women's Fiction – the stories I am reading might simply inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.
I am excited about where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women's Fiction. Here's a lovely New Year full of new authors and their stories to celebrate!
Acquired Book By: Last year, I had the chance to become introduced to the Seven Sisters book series by Lucinda Riley – the experience became one of my *favourite!* reading experiences for the year – happily I was invited to join the blog tour celebrating the fifth release this February, 2019 – for "The Moon Sister". I was simply overjoyed and humbled I could continue to champion this author and her series which I have found emotionally convicting and soul lifting with a delightfully lush narrative which is wicked brilliant for its continuity.
Ahead of reading the fourth release "The Pearl Sister" last year, I decided to back-read the entire series – which is why I have felt so dearly connected to this series ever since and why I applaud the brilliant continuity running through the series.
I received a complimentary ARC copy of "The Moon Sister" direct from the publisher Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On how I felt after I read the fourth installment of the series:
CeCe had felt Star pulling away from her even before Star knew how to articulate the reasons why she was seeking a life outside of being with CeCe; this made her feel unwanted in such an extreme way, she felt the only way to rectify her emotions was to make a radical change. Boarding a flight for Thailand – the one place she considered her respite in the world before taking the last leg of her journey to Australia (as this is where her clues led her to travel) felt right somehow. What was interesting is that you oft felt CeCe held all the confidence in the world – she never came across as being especially vulnerable, she seemed quite the opposite: like a bear to take-on the world and be the protector of Star. In reality, both sisters were equally vulnerable and had yielded to life being lived side by side rather than separately; until now, of course, when they both felt it was time to simply sort out how to live independently.
One critical thing CeCe shared is how the opinions of others can destroy your well-being and break your spirit. The kind of criticism which doesn't seek to aide you on your journey towards being a creative artist (as she leans towards industrial art and found art installations; whilst sorting out what kind of paintings she likes to create) but rather to dissuade you from the pursuit itself. No one should have to endure that kind of judgement and for whichever reason, I found CeCe didn't confide in her Ma or in Star (although, perhaps she felt she wouldn't have cared) – one thing which helped me the most in life is being able to turn to my parents. Sadly, I think the confidante in her life was Pa Salt and without him nearby, she felt like she'd lost her anchour; and rightly so!
I loved how she felt Buddhism was her most comfortable religion to feel attracted to practicing because of how she felt the inner peace of what it provides to us all. CeCe was quite the deep thinker and spiritualist without realising any of this about herself. She also held back her fears, the nightmares and the questions of sanity from her family; she had a lot moving through her mind, things which you would have thought she'd want to openly discuss if only to disallow them from festering further afield. Yet, CeCe was a very private individual such was a trend of her sisters – each of them thinking they could take-on whatever they needed to face alone.
Some of my favourite moments of watching one of the seasons of The Amazing Race (in the early days) was observing the larger than life Buddha statues found throughout the South Pacific and the Pacific Rim! I was in absolute awe – due to the high definition of the cameras being used, you didn't need to hop a plane to see them either – they seemed like they had somehow come straight through your television to where you felt as if you were standing right 'next to them' yourself! I thought of this as I read about how CeCe felt calm near the Buddha she was mediating near as she went to her favourite spiritual spot for a bit of solitude and causal companionship with others doing the same. Causal here referring to the fact although they were in the same place at the same time everyone was internalising their own thoughts without saying a word aloud. This close proximity to others allowed CeCea respite from feeling she was entirely alone and cast out into the world without knowing how to land on solid ground again.
The beauty of CeCe's story is how like Star, she started to reach outside her zone of comfort, trusting people, letting them into her internal world. She might not have felt she was a good judge of character due to the fall-out with her relationship with Ace (as throughout her trip in Australia the headlines and newsprint articles were growing worse!) but with Chrissie and others she was trusting, she was finding true friends. Each of them were helping her on her journey towards positive self-growth and a deepening awareness of her roots; where her origins were only the first part of her foundation as Pa Salt helped her find herself since she left her home country. By returning back to Australia she was finding the symmetry necessary to meet her future with a balanced sense of place and self – as so much is tied to how we self-identify ourselves. For CeCe, she didn't have a positive impression about being dyslexic as it wasn't something she could compensate for like I could, rather it was her lifetime 'fly in the ointment'; she couldn't shake it if she tried. She also didn't see it as a gift but a slight curse because she only saw how it affected her from doing things others took for granted.
In Australia, she was finding her muse again – of what inspired her to create her art and how her art was an expression of herself in a way which left her raw and vulnerable. She created artwork which spoke to her on a soul level of heightened intuition – her art was not like other people's and that's the way it should be for each artist has a new vision of the world around them. She simply had forgotten to trust in the process of creating and to be comfortable as a an artist who didn't use words to share a portion of herself but she used visual media.
The best message of CeCe's story is that in order to live free you have to be honest about who you are – in every facet of your life because if you start to hide who you are from everyone, you can literally disappear from your own spirit too. CeCe was encouraged by Pa Salt to be who she was no matter who she realised she was at the core of her being but knowing she was accepted by her father and understanding who she was on those levels of awareness were two very different things. Her sexuality was part of her identity she never addressed, it wasn't on her radar to even look at it from an angle of enlightenment because she had a lot of fears to overcome in general. She was a woman who was afraid to live by most counts but this journey she was taking towards her past was what truly gave her the inspiration to finally see herself and face herself for the first time in the mirror. The best takeaway for me was watching her blossom into being the artist Pa Salt knew she was destined to become; as he truly saw his daughters true essence and wanted them to see themselves the way in which he did all along.
-quoted from my review of The Pearl Sister
The Moon Sister
by Lucinda Riley
Source: Direct from Publisher, Scribd | Subscription
Narrator: Imogen Wilde
Tiggy D'Aplièse spends her days experiencing the raw beauty of the Scottish Highlands doing a job she loves at a deer sanctuary. But when the sanctuary is forced to close, she is offered a job as a wildlife consultant on the vast and isolated estate of the elusive and troubled laird, Charlie Kinnaird. She has no idea that the move will not only irrevocably alter her future, but also bring her face-to-face with her past.
At the estate, she meets Chilly, an elderly Romani man who fled from Spain seventy years before. He tells her that not only does she possess a sixth sense passed down from her ancestors, but it was foretold long ago that he would be the one to send her back home…
In 1912, in the poor Romani community outside the city walls of Granada, Lucía Amaya-Albaycin is born. Destined to be the greatest flamenco dancer of her generation—and named La Candela, due to the inner flame that burns through her when she dances— Lucía is whisked away by her ambitious and talented guitarist father at the tender age of ten to dance in the flamenco bars of Barcelona. Her mother is devastated by the loss of her daughter and as civil war threatens in Spain, tragedy strikes the rest of her family. Now in Madrid, Lucía and her troupe of dancers are forced to flee for their lives, their journey taking them far across the water to South America and eventually, to North America and New York—Lucía's long-held dream. But to pursue it, she must choose between her passion for her career and the man she adores.
THE MOON SISTER follows these two women bound across time and distance on their journey to discover their true futures—but at the risk of potentially losing the men they had hoped to build futures with.
Genres: Adoption & Foster Care, Biographical Fiction, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Epistolary | Letters & Correspondences, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA Fiction, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, Women's Fiction
Borrow from a Public Library
ASIN: B07GS4SYDB
Also by this author: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister
Also in this series: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister
Published by Atria Books
on 19th February, 2019
Format: Paperback ARC
Length: 19 hours and 53 minutes (unabridged)
Published By: Atria (@AtriaBooks)
{imprint of} Simon & Schuster (@simonschuster)
I *love!* finding videos by authors who love to engage with readers about the inspiration behind their stories – this truly is a wonderful way to find yourself immersed even further into the settings as by catching small glimpses of the characters your reading about – you start to re-align what you've read with what they are seeing with their own eyes whilst feeling thankful the author took a very immersive path into the heart of this book series!
The Seven Sisters Series: of whom are Maia, Ally (Alcyone), Star (Asterope), CeCe (Celeano), Tiggy (Taygete), Electra and Merope – the series is based on the mythology of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades – interestingly enough, this is a constellation in close proximity to Orion*.
The Seven Sisters
The Storm Sister
The Shadow Sister
The Pearl Sister
The Seven Sisters : Maia's Story (Book One) | (see also Review)
The Storm Sister : Ally's Story (Book Two) | (see also Review)
The Shadow Sister : Star's Story (Book Three) | (see also Review)
The Pearl Sister : CeCe's Story (Book Four) | (see also Review)
The Moon Sister : Tiggy's Story (Book Five)
Available Formats: Hardcover, Audiobook, Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #SevenSistersSeries
#whoispasalt ← I advise not visiting the second tag on Twitter as it tends to reveal a few things ahead of reading the stories themselves.
About Lucinda Riley
Lucinda Riley is the #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels, including Hothouse Flower and The Seven Sisters. Her books have sold more than ten million copies in over 30 languages. Lucinda divides her time between West Cork, Ireland, and Norfolk, England with her husband and four children.
Photo Credit: Boris Breuer
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction | YouTube | Book Website
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
#2019NewReleaseChallenge
2019 Audiobook Challenge
2019 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Saturday, 23 February, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Adoption, Ancestry & Genealogy, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Films, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, History, Inheritance & Identity, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Life Shift, Modern Day, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Simon & Schuster, Single Fathers, Sisterhood friendships, Time Shift, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage
#NewYearsEve Author Interview | Discussing Historical Romance with Catherine Tinley whose an upcoming guest via @SatBookChat (5th January, 2019)
Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov Catherine Tinley, Chadcombe Marriages trilogy, Harlequin Books, Mills and Boon, The Captain's Disgraced Lady, The Makings of a Lady, Waltzing with the Earl 4 Comments
Happy New Year's Eve, dear hearts!
I have several surprises to share with you thoughout the next two days, as I had a bit of a scheduling wrinklement happening behind my blog – I was down for the count for three weeks battling through a severe Winter virus, which affected the frequency and posting schedule of what I wanted to share before we head into a New Year of [2019] !! Therefore, I'll be sorting through those posts on New Year's Eve & New Year's Day – releasing them after I've finished writing & editing them, whilst happily cheering on a new chapter in all our lives!
I am starting with a conversation I had the joy of having with Catherine Tinley – who happily alerted me about the third release in her Chadcombe Marriages trilogy!! If you might recall, right at the start of 2018 I had the chance to read a novel by Ms Tinley for the first time – marking not just my first Historical Romance of hers but of Mills & Boon! If you are a new reader and visitor to Jorie Loves A Story, I encourage you to read why this first novel of hers had such a strong impact on me as a reader – as it wasn't the first Chadcombe novel, it was the second!
Uniquely, I reviewed "The Captain's Disgraced Lady" on the 5th of January, 2018 – a full year later, I am reviewing "Waltzing with the Earl" and hosting Ms Tinley during #SatBookChat (@SatBookChat) for our first New Year's chat of 2019!
I have three lovely guests scheduled throughout January – wherein I shall be reading stories of either Women's Fiction &/or Romance whilst hosting the authors on Saturday mornings @ 11a NYC | 4p UK. This kicks-off a full year of features on Jorie Loves A Story part of my new feature which I debuted this Autumn: #SaturdaysAreBookish. I will be showcasing all genres within these two branches of literature whilst seeing where my literary wanderings take me as the seasons & months progress forward. I only have one confirmation for February and look forward to the serendipitousness of who becomes our guest and where those real-time conversations will ultimately lead as we discuss the stories they inspire!
"Waltzing with the Earl" was a novel I thought I had run out of time to purchase, as it was a novel I dearly wanted to read ever since I read the sequel. I was thankful to find one of the last remaining 'new copies' available to order and when it finally arrived – the JOY it gave me to place it next to "The Captain's Disgraced Lady" knows no bounds! As anyone who reads serial fiction knows how lovely it is to have a series nearly completed to read!
I am unsure when I shall be bringing the final installment of the trilogy home – but when I do, you can be assured, I'll be chattering about reading it!!! For now, as a segue into our new #SatBookChat schedule of authors and the new stories I'll be featuring during #SaturdaysAreBookish – let us take a moment to become acquainted with Ms Tinley!!
As a preview of why I appreciate her Historical Romance style of narrative – here is a quotation from my review from January, 2018:
I love how Ms Tinley has paced this novel – of how she chose to reveal their behaviour quirks and they try to hold back a bit of themselves at the same time. Rather than reveal a lot about the setting in the beginning, she found a way to break-down the introductions to the main characters by placing them in a setting which would befit close quarters and companionable space – where they would have to sit and converse amongst each other for a specific period of time before departing company. In this, you get to see where their confidences lie and where their insecurities start to bubble to the surface; you also see them caught off-guard either by being outwitted or simply heard something unexpected they hadn't thought they would hear at all. In this, it's quite a refreshing way to entreat into a story because your stranded with the characters, seeing how they react to each other and what can be observed through their interactions. If anything, it's a great study in human behaviour!
I truly read this novel in one sitting – much to my delight! I was happily surprised to find this did not follow the same pattern as Harlequin novels on this side of the Pond; in fact, it had it's own voice, style and disclosure like I would expect from any Historical Romance; something which surprised me as Harlequin Historicals (as I know them here) have the tendency to follow suit after each other; most Harlequin stories have a 'trademark' so to speak and what I found wicked refreshing is this felt wholly original of Ms Tinley without the 'signature Harlequin mark' on it!!
Perhaps I am a Mills & Boon girl!?
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate Harlequin for what Harlequin provides — but ooh. There was something wicked lovely about this author's spin on this particular story-line… I was so glued to her words, especially the turns of phrases she used and the ways in which she revealled the character's truer thoughts about one another. You get privy to both the action of the scenes but also, what each lead character is contemplating privately; the balance between the two was delightful but also, it was how it was spaced out and evenly divided to where you never felt one was sacrificed for the other.
I know one thing is for certain – I must hunt down which online book shoppe has the Mills & Boon edition of Waltzing with the Earl and hopefully it shall be the same which will carry the third novel where Olivia's story is known! The reason I love the elements inside this novel is because they bring back the Regency of my youth with the Regency I know as an adult – the kind of stories I gravitate towards but also, it speaks to the voice I seek out in these kinds of Regencies. Not every writer who writes Regency Romance has this style nor this comprehension of how to curate this kind of voice for the historic period in question. Thereby, the best part of finding this novel #unputdownable was how wicked happy I was to be reading it!
This conversation is a prelude to the 5th – be sure to list your Questions for Ms Tinley in the comment threads – as I can use those in our live discussion as well as have the author know you've left messages behind for her on my blog. Be sure to mark your calendars for the 5th and join us as we discuss #HistRom and this lovely trilogy! We'll be focusing on the first & third novel – as I'll be reviewing the first and the third is already available for readers to enjoy!
Waltzing with the Earl
Captain's Disgraced Lady NA cover FRONT
The Makings of a Lady
A wallflower's time to shine…
The Earl of Shalford needs to marry into money to save his estate. Wealthy and beautiful Henrietta Buxted should be the perfect candidate. So why does his eye keep wandering to her quiet cousin, Charlotte Wyncroft?
Charlotte watches Henrietta's games of courtship with wry amusement. That is, until a stolen dance reveals a hidden side to the earl. Penniless Charlotte knows she's far from a suitable match, yet, in Adam's arms, she can dream of the happily-ever-after she's always wanted!
Come back early on Saturday, 5th January, 2019 to read my thoughts on behalf of this novel before we discuss this series during #SatBookChat!
I have fond memories of discovering your Historical Romance style earlier in [2018] when I had the pleasure of reading "The Captain's Disgraced Lady" – which is the second novel in your Chadcombe Marriages series. Focusing a bit on behalf of "Waltzing with the Earl" – how did you want to set the stage for the series within this first story and which of the characters would readers happily find are threading through the rest of the series?
Tinley responds: Thanks – I'm always so happy to connect with a reader who likes my books! The Chadcombe Marriages trilogy focuses on the Fanton family – two brothers and a younger sister. The eldest, Adam, has inherited the Earldom and takes his responsibilities very seriously. In Waltzing with the Earl, he is on the lookout for a suitable wife and a decent dowry as part of the deal. This will help him get the Chadcombe estate back on an even keel financially. He invites two families to visit his country estate in order to help him decide whether to propose marriage to Miss Buxted or Miss Etherington. However it is Miss Buxted's cousin, the quiet, intelligent Charlotte, who attracts his attention. Waltzing is a Cinderella story, about how sometimes you really should follow your heart, not your head.
Book 2, The Captain's Disgraced Lady, focuses on Adam's brother Harry, and what happens when he encounters Charlotte's best friend, the fierce and passionate Juliana. The book goes from Chadcombe to London, then on to Brussels and the battlefield at Waterloo and includes drama and intrigue as well as romance.
The final book in the series is out now. It's called The Makings of a Lady, and focuses on Lady Olivia, Adam & Harry's younger sister. She is tired of being treated as a child, and longs to build her own life – possibly by getting married and leaving her childhood home. Just as she finally meets a man who interests her – the dashing George Manning – her first love Captain Jem Ford reappears after four years. Lady Olivia finds herself in danger and needs to work out who to trust. Read More
Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Book Spotlight, Bookish Films, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Reader Submitted Author Interview, the Regency era
Blog Book Tour | "The Pearl Sister" (Book No. 4 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley CeCe is an artist on a journey towards self-identity whilst embracing the truth about her sexuality and her bi-cultural heritage.
Posted Thursday, 1 February, 2018 by jorielov Atria Books, Lucinda Riley, Simon & Schuster, The Pearl Sister, The Seven Sisters series 4 Comments
Acquired Book By: I've known about the Seven Sisters book series for quite awhile now, however, I haven't had the proper chance to dig into the series – therefore, when I was approached by the publisher to considering being on the blog tour this February, I decided it was time to borrow the books via my local library! Although, as a member of the blog tour I was receiving the fourth release "The Pearl Sister" for my honest ruminations, I decided to back-read the entire series ahead of soaking into the newest installment – my personal preference is to read serial fiction in order of sequence; even if sometimes I find myself bungling the order, I love to see how the writer has set the stage for a series which becomes progressively engaging! To start at the beginning is the best way to see how they laid down the foundation for both the series, their writing style and how the characters first make their entrances into our lives.
I received a complimentary ARC copy of "The Pearl Sister" direct from the publisher Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On how I felt after I read the third installment of the series:
I admit, I was thankful this sister's story led to a happier restitution in regards to her birth story as Maia and Ally had quite a reckoning of truth awaiting each of them as they unravelled theirs. For Star though she had more to learn not just about her origins but about herself – she truly had finally found the time to focus on who she was inside and out. I think this was the main purpose behind why Pa Salt hadn't let his daughters take these adventures until now; they weren't ready to seek out the truth of their past because they weren't yet ready to take a critical look at their lives. Each of them were coming-of age to the brink of where they could honestly understand themselves better and recognise the beauty of why Pa Salt raised them on Atlantis.
Inspired by Flora and encouraged by her own heart to learn the truth of her own blood-line, she forged ahead even without understanding how she could resolve the past. The interweaving layers of this one are emotionally thicker due to the overwhelming angst of what all the women in Star's family had to endure; straight down to her own Mum! You truly feel for these women – who through each generation had to continue to overcome such intense odds! The beautiful part about having Beatrix Potter in the story is how what I had known about her was lovingly etched into Flora's back-story; a person who encouraged a woman to live and to seek out love no matter the costs or fears of heartbreak. After all, to love is to risk and without risk we are each only half alive! And, this was truly what allowed Star to be set 'free' – by researching her ancestral line, she unexpectedly found herself, found purpose in her life and allowed herself to 'fall' for the first time in love with someone she never felt she'd feel attracted too because she never gave herself the freedom to 'live' away from CeCe.
Each of these novels is a lift of joy to be reading – especially for those of us who are considering Adoption and for having a family of adopted children in our futures. They are such beautiful tomes of adoptive joy bursting through the past and the present – I can imagine they would be beloved reads for all adoptive families and lovingly would find a place in their family libraries! I know one day I shall have the full set on my own bookshelves awaiting the day to be shared with my own children. As these are stories boys and girls should read who are seeking forever families and find their adoptive parents gave them a home they never knew they could have whilst encouraging them to remember who they are and who their families were prior to their second chapters beginning anew.
-quoted from my review of The Shadow Sister
Source: Direct from Publisher
Synopsis on the backcover:
CeCe D' Apliese has always felt like an outcast. But following the death of her father - the reclusive billionaire affectionately called Pa Salt by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe - she finds herself more alone than ever. With nothing left to lose, CeCe delves into the mystery of her familial origins. The only clues she holds are a black and white photograph and the name of a female pioneer who once traversed the globe from Scotland to Australia.
One hundred years earlier, Kitty McBride, a clergyman's daughter, abandoned her conservative upbringing to serve as the companion to a wealthy woman travelling from Edinburgh to Adelaide. Her ticket to a new land brings the adventure she dreamed of… and a love that she had never imagined.
When CeCe reaches the searing heat and dusty plains of the Red Centre of Australia, something deep within her responds to the energy of the area and the ancient culture of the Aboriginal people, and her soul reawakens. As she comes closer to finding the truth of her ancestry, CeCe begins to believe that this untamed, vast continent could offer her what she's always yearned for: a sense of belonging.
Also by this author: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Moon Sister
Also in this series: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Moon Sister
on 23rd January, 2018
The Pearl Sister : CeCe's Story (Book Four) | *my stop on the publisher's blog tour!
Posted Thursday, 1 February, 2018 by jorielov in 20th Century, 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Adoption, Ancestry & Genealogy, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Films, Childhood Friendship, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, History, Immigrant Stories, Inheritance & Identity, Inspiring Video Related to Content, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Library Find, Library Love, Life Shift, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Modern Day, Multi-Generational Saga, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Simon & Schuster, Single Fathers, Sisterhood friendships, the Nineteen Hundreds, Time Shift, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage
Book Review | "The Shadow Sister" (Book No. 3 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley Star takes after my own bookishly geeky soul – she is a late bloomer who finally found her niche of passion and the freedom to live as her authentic self!
Posted Thursday, 1 February, 2018 by jorielov Atria Books, Lucinda Riley, Simon & Schuster, The Seven Sisters series, The Shadow Sister 0 Comments
Borrowed Book By: I've known about the Seven Sisters book series for quite awhile now, however, I haven't had the proper chance to dig into the series – therefore, when I was approached by the publisher to considering being on the blog tour this February, I decided it was time to borrow the books via my local library! Although, as a member of the blog tour I was receiving the fourth release "The Pearl Sister" for my honest ruminations, I decided to back-read the entire series ahead of soaking into the newest installment – my personal preference is to read serial fiction in order of sequence; even if sometimes I find myself bungling the order, I love to see how the writer has set the stage for a series which becomes progressively engaging! To start at the beginning is the best way to see how they laid down the foundation for both the series, their writing style and how the characters first make their entrances into our lives.
I borrowed the third novel in the Seven Sisters series "The Shadow Sister" in hardback edition from my local library via inter-library loan through the consortium of libraries within my state. I was not obligated to post a review as I am doing so for my own edification as a reader who loves to share her readerly life. I was not compensated for my thoughts shared herein.
On how I felt after I read the second installment of the series:
As Star starts to reveal a bit of herself away from CeCe, we see an inverted woman who is introspectively private about herself – even around Ally, she holds back from sharing too much of what is currently on her mind. You feel for Star, truly, because for whichever reason she has chosen to keep mute about things which her sisters' wish she would be more open about sharing with them. They would like to help her if she would only allow them into her world – I know her story is going to be one of the more interesting ones to read – to see what hides behind the silence but for now, I, chose to take Star at 'hallo' just like her sisters Maia and Ally. After all, sometimes you have to wait for people to disclose what they want to say in their own timing of disclosure. I do love seeing how the 'next' sister in line of the sequences to be read makes her own 'entrance' of sorts within the current time-line.
As Ally intuits more of the back-history of Anna's life, she starts to realise a part of her own spirit was put on 'hold' over the years – the pursuit of her own musical interests, as she shares a passion for the flute just like Jens before her except she opted to take to the open sea instead. There was a reflection by Pa Salt which made quite a bit of sense when he was talking about how to encourage our children and how it is a fine line which route we give a loving nudge for them to take-on as their main thread of interest – especially if the child in question has multiple interests or passions. Ally, up until this point in her life hadn't really taken a critical look at her personal life – of seeing if the choices she had made in her career of sailing was truly sustaining her happiness or if the absence of a relationship was giving her second thoughts. By the time she had met Theo, it felt like any missing piece of her life was finally found; which of course, made the course she was on to walk that much more despairing to read.
My heart surely was rejoicing watching all the pieces of Ally's past knit back together in the present; she had a lovely tapestry of ancestral history co-merging into her living reality. The layers in which her past had influenced her present is quite interesting to see intersect, but personally, I loved how the secondary characters of Celia and Thom had such an impactful presence on her current life. Of course, having grown used to the process now well-established in the series, I knew I had to shift my own heart to focus on Star; as she was revealling a portion of what she needed to impart to us about herself in the ending chapter of The Storm Sister. As she did this, I mused to myself some of the clues I was picking up from past chapters were re-alighting to mind – of what Star hadn't said or wasn't willing to disclose might now have their day to shine a light on how the one sister no one felt they knew for sure was the one sister who intrigued me the most to become acquainted with next!
-quoted from my review of The Storm Sister
Source: Borrowed from local library (ILL)
Synopsis on the Inside Flap:
Star D' Apliese is at a crossroads in her life after the sudden death of her beloved father - the elusive billionaire affectionately called Pa Salt by his six daughters, all adopted across the four corners of the world. He has left each of them a clue to her true heritage, and Star's leads her to an antiquarian bookshop in London, and the start of a new journey.
A hundred years earlier, headstrong and independent Flora MacNichol vows she will never marry. She is happy and secure in her home in England's picturesque Lake District - just a stone's throw from the residence of her childhood idol, Beatrix Potter. But when circumstances carry her into the home of one of Edwardian London's most notorious society hostesses, Alice Keppel, she finds herself a pawn in a larger game, forced to choose between passionate love and duty to her family. That is, until a meeting with a mysterious gentleman unveils the answers that Flora has been searching for...
Star's voyage of discovery takes her deep into Flora's remarkable story, and into her own past. But the more she uncovers, the ore Star begins to question herself and her place in the world. What is her purpose? Where is her home? And will she finally step out of the shadows of her sisters and open herself up to the possibility of love?
Genres: Adoption & Foster Care, Biographical Fiction, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Epistolary | Letters & Correspondences, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, Women's Fiction
Find on Book Browse
Also by this author: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Pearl Sister, The Moon Sister
Also in this series: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Pearl Sister, The Moon Sister
on 18th April, 2017
Format: Hardcover Edition
The Shadow Sister : Star's Story (Book Three)
The Pearl Sister : CeCe's Story (Book Four) | Synopsis *forthcoming review 1st of February, 2018!
Posted Thursday, 1 February, 2018 by jorielov in 20th Century, 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Adoption, Alice Keppel, Ancestry & Genealogy, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Beatrix Potter, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Films, Childhood Friendship, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, England, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, History, Immigrant Stories, Inheritance & Identity, Inspiring Video Related to Content, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Library Find, Library Love, Life Shift, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Marriage of Convenience, Modern Day, Multi-Generational Saga, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Simon & Schuster, Single Fathers, Sisterhood friendships, the Nineteen Hundreds, Time Shift, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage
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Twixmas in Bruges
Festive and New Year Breaks Range
Local departure by coach then onward to Bruges for a three-night stay.
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Twixmas in Bruges 4 days from £339pp
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All of our coaches are modern and comfortable, and you can be assured of a high level of service. On selected air holidays, the executive coach may not have an onboard toilet or drinks facilities.
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Difference between revisions of "The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity"
(The LinkTitles extension automatically added links to existing pages (https://github.com/bovender/LinkTitles).)
[[Image:The.Puppet.And.The.Dwarf.jpg|215px|right]]
Slavoj Zizek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In ''The Puppet and the Dwarf'' he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism--and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy--is certain to stir controversy.
Slavoj [[Zizek]] has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of [[theory]]"; his [[writing]] mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop [[culture]] in [[order]] to dissect current [[intellectual]] pieties. In ''The Puppet and the Dwarf'' he offers a close [[reading]] of today's [[religious]] constellation from the viewpoint of [[Lacanian]] [[psychoanalysis]]. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian [[Judaism]]--and then tries to redeem the "[[materialist]]" kernel of [[Christianity]]. His reading of Christianity is explicitly [[political]], discerning in the [[Pauline]] [[community]] of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of [[Enlightenment]] like Jurgen [[Habermas]] acknowledge that a religious [[vision]] is needed to ground our [[ethical]] and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same [[time]] indebted to the core of the [[Christian]] legacy--is certain to stir controversy.
|width="100%"| [[Slavoj Žižek|Zizek, Slavoj]]. '''''[[The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity|The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits)]]'''''. Cambridge: The MIT Press. October 12, 2003, Paperback, 190 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0262740257. Buy it at [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosubject-20/ Amazon.com], [http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub07-20/ Amazon.ca], [http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub-21/ Amazon.de], [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosubjencyofl-21/ Amazon.co.uk] or [http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub04-21/ Amazon.fr].
|width="100%"| [[Slavoj Žižek|Zizek, Slavoj]]. '''''[[The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity|The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits)]]'''''. Cambridge: The MIT Press. October 12, 2003, Paperback, 190 pages, [[Language]] [[English]], ISBN: 0262740257. Buy it at [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosubject-20/ Amazon.com], [http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub07-20/ Amazon.ca], [http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub-21/ Amazon.de], [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosubjencyofl-21/ Amazon.co.uk] or [http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262740257/nosub04-21/ Amazon.fr].
Slavoj Zizek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In The Puppet and the Dwarf he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism--and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy--is certain to stir controversy.
Zizek, Slavoj. The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits). Cambridge: The MIT Press. October 12, 2003, Paperback, 190 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0262740257. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
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