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Q: How to compute the validation loss? (Simple linear regression) I am currently learning how to use PyTorch to build a neural network. I have learned keras before and I would like to do the same thing in PyTorch like 'model.fit' and plotting a graph containing both training loss and validation loss.
In order to know whether the model is underfitting or not, I have to plot a graph to compare the training loss and validation loss.
However, I cannot compute the right validation loss. I know that gradients should only be updated during training and it should not be updated during testing/validation. With no change in gradients, does it mean the loss will not change? Sorry, my concept is not clear enough. But I think not, loss should be computed by comparing expected output and prediction using loss function.
In my code, 80 datasets are used for training and 20 datasets are used for validation. In my code, the neural network is prediction this formula:  y =2X^3 + 7X^2 - 8*X + 120
It is easy to compute so I use this for learning how to build neural network through PyTorch.
Here is my code:
import torch
import torch.nn as nn    #neural network model
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import torch.nn.functional as F
from torch.autograd import Variable
from sklearn.preprocessing import MinMaxScaler

#Load datasets
dataset = pd.read_csv('test_100.csv')

X = dataset.iloc[:, :-1].values
Y = dataset.iloc[:, -1:].values

X_scaler = MinMaxScaler()
Y_scaler = MinMaxScaler()
print(X_scaler.fit(X))
print(Y_scaler.fit(Y))
X = X_scaler.transform(X)
Y = Y_scaler.transform(Y)

x_temp_train = X[:79]
y_temp_train = Y[:79]
x_temp_test = X[80:]
y_temp_test = Y[80:]

X_train = torch.FloatTensor(x_temp_train)
Y_train = torch.FloatTensor(y_temp_train)
X_test = torch.FloatTensor(x_temp_test)
Y_test = torch.FloatTensor(y_temp_test)

D_in = 1 # D_in is input features
H = 24 # H is hidden dimension
D_out = 1 # D_out is output features.

#Define a Artifical Neural Network model
class Net(nn.Module):
#------------------Two Layers------------------------------
    def __init__(self, D_in, H, D_out):
        super(Net, self).__init__()

        self.linear1 = nn.Linear(D_in, H)
        self.linear2 = nn.Linear(H, D_out)

    def forward(self, x):
        h_relu = self.linear1(x).clamp(min=0)
        prediction = self.linear2(h_relu)
        return prediction
model = Net(D_in, H, D_out)
print(model)

#Define a Loss function and optimizer
criterion = torch.nn.MSELoss()
optimizer = torch.optim.SGD(model.parameters(), lr=0.2) #2e-7

#Training
inputs = Variable(X_train)
outputs = Variable(Y_train)
inputs_val = Variable(X_test)
outputs_val = Variable(Y_test)
loss_values = []
val_values = []
epoch = []
for phase in ['train', 'val']:
    if phase == 'train':
        model.train()  # Set model to training mode
    else:
        optimizer.zero_grad() #zero the parameter gradients
        model.eval()   # Set model to evaluate mode
    for i in range(50):      #epoch=50
        if phase == 'train':
            model.train()
            prediction = model(inputs)
            loss = criterion(prediction, outputs)
            print('train loss')
            print(loss)
            loss_values.append(loss.detach())
            optimizer.zero_grad() #zero the parameter gradients
            epoch.append(i)
            loss.backward()       #compute gradients(dloss/dx)
            optimizer.step()      #updates the parameters
        elif phase == 'val':
            model.eval()
            prediction_val = model(inputs_val)
            loss_val = criterion(prediction_val, outputs_val)
            print('validation loss')
            print(loss)
            val_values.append(loss_val.detach())
            optimizer.zero_grad() #zero the parameter gradients

plt.plot(epoch,loss_values)
plt.plot(epoch, val_values)
plt.title('model loss')
plt.ylabel('loss')
plt.xlabel('epoch')
plt.legend(['train','validation'], loc='upper left')
plt.show()

Here is the result:
train loss
tensor(0.9788, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(2.0834, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(3.2902, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.8851, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0832, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0402, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0323, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0263, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0217, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0181, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0153, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0132, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0116, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0103, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0094, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0087, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0081, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0077, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0074, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0072, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0070, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0068, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0067, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0067, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0066, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0065, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0065, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0065, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0064, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0064, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0064, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0064, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0063, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0063, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0063, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0063, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0063, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0062, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)

validation loss
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)
tensor(0.0061, grad_fn=<MseLossBackward>)

Train Loss Vs. Validation Loss
The validation loss is a flat line. It is not what I want.

A: You should do validation after each training epoch to "validate" your model capabilities. Also, in validation phase the model parameters don't change so it is obvious you would get a constant loss in your validations. Your code should be as follows:
training epoch 1
validation
training epoch 2
validation
...
don't forget to use loss.item() instead of loss alone in your loss calculating and averaging. Because loss gives you a grad_function, not a float value.

A: The code that you have written is first training the model for the entire data set, and then once the model is trained, it is calculating validation loss. Since now the model is fixed you will see a flat line, no change is validation loss. What you need to do is change the order of your for loops, for each epoch first train and then go for validation. Something like this:
for i in range(50):
    for phase in ['train', 'val']:
        if phase == 'train':
            model.train()
            prediction = model(inputs)
            loss = criterion(prediction, outputs)
            print('train loss')
            print(loss)
            loss_values.append(loss.detach())
            optimizer.zero_grad() #zero the parameter gradients
            epoch.append(i)
            loss.backward()       #compute gradients(dloss/dx)
            optimizer.step()      #updates the parameters
        elif phase == 'val':
            model.eval()
            prediction_val = model(inputs_val)
            loss_val = criterion(prediction_val, outputs_val)
            print('validation loss')
            print(loss)
            val_values.append(loss_val.detach())
            optimizer.zero_grad() #zero the parameter gradients

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Mobile phone use has surpassed not wearing a seatbelt as one of the top five causes of driving fatalities, according to recent figures released by the NSW Centre for Road Safety.
Other main causes of driving fatalities include speeding, drink driving and fatigue. Mobile phone use includes talking, texting and using the internet while driving, and 20,800 infringements have reportedly been issued for these offences in NSW between July 2013 and January 2014.
Although it is difficult to gauge the extent of mobile phone use by drivers, and the role it may play in accidents unless a driver happens to be found with a phone in their hand at the time of a crash, police are able to use mobile cameras to catch drivers using their phone while behind the wheel.
The use of these devices has led to a large number of infringements being handed out.
What does the law currently say about mobile phone use while driving?
Current NSW legislation states that drivers are only allowed to make or receive phone calls if their phone is mounted on a cradle or is utilising Bluetooth technology, unless the vehicle is parked.
Drivers are not allowed to text, check emails or message online through their mobile phone while they are driving.
Learner drivers and those on a provisional licence are not allowed to use a mobile phone for any function while driving.
Other drivers are allowed to use the navigation or GPS and audio functions while driving, as long as their phone is mounted and is not being held against their ear or in their lap while it's being used.
Even if their car is stationary in traffic or at lights, drivers are still not legally allowed to touch their phone or send messages.
The only time they can use their phone for any reason other than in the circumstances above is when the vehicle is parked.
If I'm caught using my mobile phone what could happen?
If police catch you using your mobile phone illegally while driving you will be issued with an infringement notice.
You will have to pay a fine of $304, and you will have three demerit points deducted from your licence.
If you are involved in an accident or are seen driving dangerously while using a mobile phone, it is possible that you could be charged with negligent driving.
Negligent driving is a traffic offence which comes with a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment if dealt with summarily.
If someone is seriously injured or dies as a result of your driving behaviour, you could find yourself facing more serious charges and potential disqualification from driving.
Negligent driving offences will generally be dealt with in court, so you will need to seek the advice of a traffic lawyer as soon as possible, especially if the charges are serious.
It can be difficult to prove that mobile phone use was the cause of negligent driving unless there are eyewitnesses, and the methods that police use to detect people using mobile phones while driving are not error-free.
With the continued widespread use of smartphones, it is likely that changes will be needed if drivers are going to be persuaded to stop using their phones while driving.
There are a number of widespread education campaigns aimed at increasing driver awareness of the dangers of mobile phone use while behind the wheel.
One of these is the multimedia "Get Your Hand Off It" campaign, which pokes fun at some of the excuses drivers who have been caught using their phones have given.
The campaign also emphasises the NSW Centre for Road Safety statistic that drivers who hold and use their phones are four times more likely to be involved in an accident.
As well as education campaigns, it has also been suggested that technology could be fitted to new cars that prevents mobile phones being used at all while driving.
Are Young People the Most Negligent Drivers on NSW Roads?


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It is about 2000 feet long and consists of a large upper bowl before tightening out into a snaking gully.
This line is the definition of a terrain trap.
There is one definite crux about half way down, but you can usually skirt this if it is too gnarly.
Only ski the Titanic when you are absolutely comfortable with the snowpack stability.
Park at Middle Fork trailhead.
Sometimes you may not be able to drive all the way to the trailhead, so make sure you park out of the way, and DO NOT TRESPASS.
From the Trailhead, travel north and slightly downhill into Middle Fork basin.
You will pass several houses along this cross country ski trail.
You will soon be looking directly up the Titanic, and will be able to see the tight sections.
Just past Yellow Mountain, turn east off the groomer.
You will be heading up a tight canyon, it is best to gain a slight bench on the north side of this feature, about 100 feet above the creek.
Once above the canyon, turn right and south, heading up the drainage directly behind Yellow.
Either gain the ridge very early, just after the canyon, or skin to the head of this tributary to gain the top of Yellow Mountain.


The idea of building a partially destroyed marble themed base was one I wasn't sure would work when I started. After seeing someone else paint up marble on one of their bases, I wanted to try something similar on mine as well.
And it's tough to get a Khorne basing tutorial done in only 8 pictures.
With that out of the way, let's look at what I did.
Building them (the bases) was done in steps. I had to add the tiles (plasticard) and mound of dirt (sculpting clay) before adding the model since he was pinned to the base. Only after I painted the whole model, did I go back and sand the base and add a few more marble chips (plaster). Then I started painting the bases.
This is what I was starting with. A finished model and the base with all it's elements there.
Priming and basecoating in one step. The base is primed the same color as the model, light grey. You need to make sure you have a good, consistent coat before going any further. And, it needs to be completely dry before moving on. With all the steps in this process, it's critical that you let the previous step dry completely before moving forward. Trying to rush this process will only ruin the end result.
The first wash. Starting with Badab Black, you thin it down to where there's almost no color in it and apply it to the recessed areas of the base. The cracks in the rocks, some patchy areas of the sand and around the Bloodthirster's hooves.
The second wash. Using Asurmen Blue this time, you thin it out to where there is next to no color and then go in and apply it to the tiled area of the base. You don't want complete coverage, instead you're going for something splotchy and haphazard looking.
Third and fourth washes. Just like the blue in the previous step, you do the same thing with Baal Red and Devlan Mud. You can overlap in places, you can keep the colors seperate, you're realy going for something that has no patterns and looks "right."
Now for the lines in the marble. You can go back and follow some of the more distinct color edges or you can make your own lines, both work and I do a little of each. You can use the Blue, Red or Mud color to do this and you just keep making passes over the same lines to darken them to the point where you like them and they stand out a bit.
Drybrush the highlights. I use the same light grey I primed/based him with. The addition of all the washes will have darkened the overall piece slightly and you can get away with using the same original color to add some subtle highlights. Since there is so much texture on the base, I just do a quick drybrush.
This may cover up some of your work if you get close to the tiles but you don't have to worry, it shouldn't be anything noticeable in the end.
Last step. Using Badab black, Devlan Mud and Gryphonne Sepia, go back and reinforce the shadows, darken the marble lines if needed and add some variety to the sanded areas. You don't mix all the colors at once but use them individually in key areas to help finish off the base.
In this case, I used the black in the sanded areas and around the chips to add depth, the Mud in between the tiles to make them stand out and picked a few spots to add the Sepia for variety and a little warmth to tie the base in with the model.
That's a great effect! Thanks for sharing.
Interesting technique. TBH, I'm not sure I like it. Sometimes pics look different than the "live" model, but the haphazard look of the washes seems a bit off. Sorta like you were eating a snowcone over the model and got a few drips.
Nice effect on the tiles, reminds me of the water damaged tiles in the bathrooms of an old school my family bought.
I couldn't disagree more with that snowcone comment. I have used real marble before, and that is near exactly what it looks like.
Thanks guys. I'm getting better at it (creating the marble effect). I think the scale and learning how and what to add or leave out is important.
I need to be able to get a close enough representation that people make the assumption that it's marble... even if it's not 100 percent accurate.
Just wanted to let you know I used this tutorial on a base for a Skulltaker. Really great effect, and not too hard to pull off after reading this. Thanks!
Excellent, send me a pic of the results so I can see how it turned out!
Finally finished the blog post about it. Just realized you can't see much of the actual tile work as most of it is below Skulltaker's cape and my pictures don't capture it well. It was a gift, now given, so I'll take the camera with me next game and see if I can get a good shot to send you.
I got to hold Skulltaker yesterday. Given how the ol' daemon is standing, what I posted on my blog post is about the best I'm going to get. Take a look at the third (which shows the mounting holes) and the last photo. Only thing I added to the base between shots is a thinned Gryphonne Sepia wash. It did lessen the impact of not thining the other washes enough.
Next time I try this, I'll make sure the figure isn't blocking the tile work.
the other Kevin: Glad it could help.


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Anyone who knows much about the state of Tennessee probably knows that it is divided into three sections--east Tennessee, west Tennessee, and middle Tennessee, according to the state constitution--and that Johnson City is in upper east Tennessee (past Knoxville).
Just last night (as I write this), President Trump was in Johnson City.
My fear is that he is preaching to the choir--trying to pump up those who already Republicans (in the hope of prompting them to be sure to vote), rather than reaching out to independents.
Have others noticed this propensity also?
I didn't know about this rally. If there are any more rallies close to the Knoxville area, I'd like to go!
I failed to mention that east Tennessee is strong Republican territory--and has been ever since the Civil War (over 150 years ago).
Tennessee was the last (of 11) states to secede, and join the Confederacy. However, even then, east Tennessee was strong Lincoln country. The rest of the state--well, not so much.
But some of us much prefer being cerebral to being visceral.
We do not vote according to a style best exemplified, perhaps, by high-school cheerleaders--but according to an intellectual comparison of the two candidates (plus, of course, the question of who is the leader of each party--this will surely impact the votes of whichever candidate wins--and just how, if at all, it may impact majority status).
Where does this leave us, anyway?
Each man/woman on their own merits. Trump's support, or lack there of, is not in play for me.
While I understand what pjohns is saying, there are a number of indies in that area. Perhaps, if nothing else, they will get out and vote.


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It has to be the very high payout percentage that you are going to find on offer to you when you are playing the Cleopatra II Pokie game that will ensure you will want to play it time and time again, however you are always the master of your own destiny when playing the Cleopatra II Pokie game but do consider increasing the stake levels slightly if you get onto a winning streak to maximize your win potential!
Will this Cleopatra II Pokie machine game return a decent RTP?
The Cleopatra II Pokie game is always going to give you a fair outcome on every single spin you send into live play and that is due to the pokie being completely random in its design, and coupled with is very high long term expected RTP of 95.13% you should get plenty of winning opportunities too!


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Sweden General Election 2014: Live Results
Sweden's Election Authority will be broadcasting over the Internet live results of today's general election.
The presentation is available only in Swedish. English-language party names are as follows:
Moderata Samlingspartiet (M) - Moderate Party (conservative)
Centerpartiet (C) - Center Party
Folkpartiet liberalerna (FP) - People's Party Liberals
Kristdemokraterna (KD) - Christian Democrats
Arbetarepartiet-Socialdemokraterna (S) - Social Democratic Party
Vänsterpartiet (V) - Left Party (ex-communist)
Miljöpartiet de gröna (MP) - Green Party
Sverigedemokraterna (SD) - Sweden Democrats
Feministiskt initiativ (FI) - Feminist Initiative
Övriga partier (ÖVR) - Other parties
Parliamentary election results appear under the "Riksdag" tab, while county council results are under "Landsting", and municipal council results under "Kommun".
Complete, preliminary national- and constituency-level results of Sweden's 2014 general election are now available in Elections to the Swedish Riksdag.
State Elections in Brandenburg and Thuringia
The German states of Brandenburg and Thuringia also held elections today, and results are now available in their respective official websites, listed on this site's links directory.
Both elections were notable for the success of the anti-euro (but not anti-EU) Alternative for Germany (AfD), which polled strongly and secured legislative representantion in both state parliaments. However, for the liberal Free Democratic Party (F.D.P.) today's polls were yet another round of unmitigated disaster, as the party fell well below the five percent threshold and lost all its seats in both states. In fact, since losing all its Bundestag seats in last year's general election, F.D.P. has finished below five percent in every legislative contest held in Germany this year, including last May's European Parliament election (in which the liberal party nonetheless managed to elect three MEPs as no threshold was in place for that vote), and the state election in Saxony last month. That said, the results for these two parties should not be entirely surprising, given that last year AfD had its best results in the states of the former East Germany, while conversely F.D.P. fared poorly there. Meanwhile, today's results for the other parties were not significantly out of the ordinary, with the exception of the distinctly poor showing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Thuringia - where it had its worst election result ever and finished a distant third, barely ahead of AfD - and the sharp drop of the Left Party in Brandenburg, where the post-communist party polled its lowest share of the vote in two decades.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The concept of collaborative health has been found to be an adequate expression of the physical, psychological and social health resources the individual uses in collaboration, health resources which also are affected by teamwork collaboration (Sandberg, 2010). The aim of this study is to elucidate the concept of collaborative health in different working life contexts and thereby develop the meaning of this concept. In 2009 – 2010 individual interviews were undertaken with 19 experienced professionals from the welfare sector as well as trade and industry in Sweden. The main result of this study is described as "cultures of collaborative health": The resource culture; the mission culture; the relational culture and the human value culture. These four cultures express partly overlapping ways of describing meanings of collaboration at work with consequences for collaborative health. Conflicts in the collaborative situations are discussed as a consequence of the individuals' different, sometimes clashing, "paradigmatic positions" with regard to which culture they tend to emphasize when reflecting upon a satisfying collaboration. The main result of this study gives rise to a conceptual development of collaborative health. Further empirical studies are needed in order both to clarify the methodological issues and to bring stronger evidence in support of the usefulness and meaning of collaborative health, possibly directing the concept to a position of being well defined and generally useful, e.g. as the core concept in an instrument relating working life conditions to health. The concept of collaborative health might have the power of bringing a somewhat new perspective to research and management of working life.


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Worship Streams
About KMUCC
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Due to continuing social distancing requirements, Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ will not gather in person for worship or other events until further notice. Our church building is closed. Updates will be posted here as more information is available.
We will present a live worship experience every Sunday morning at 10:00 am by video streaming on ZOOM.
See the Worship Streams section of our website for details.
In these anxious days, let's remember to pause at the end of each day, breathe deeply, rest in the presence of the Great Love and hold each other in the light.
Updated: 7/18/2020 at 8:07 am
KMUCC News & Events
Photo: © iStock.com / SunnyGraph (image #695671848)
News and events information from KMUCC and the wider community.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Subcribe to the PACE Monthly Newsletter delivered by email
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Goodbye 2020! Hello 2021!
Written by Jeanne Randall-Bodman
Category: News & Events
Goodbye 2020, we will not miss you! Hello 2021 we're so glad you've arrived!
I think I speak for most of us when I say – what a relief to get to the end of 2020, to have the divisive campaign behind us and a vaccine against COVID 19 ahead of us!
Still, as good as it feels to be looking forward with hope, I am reminded of the way a year can hold onto a person. My mother died in 2010. I had done my reading about grief, about it's sneakiness and its way with holidays and anniversaries of all kinds. So I knew to expect depths of sorrow on my mother's birthday, on Thanksgiving, and of course, at Christmas. But no one prepared me for the horror of the New Year. I simply did not want the world to keep going. The idea of living in a year in which my mother had not also lived filled me with a kind of dread.
If you are carrying that kind of grief and sadness into 2021 – I am praying with and for you, that you may receive comfort, strength, and renewal.
One of the things I love and value about the Christian tradition is that we measure time along with the rest of our culture in a linear way – counting days and marking progress. But we also count time according to the circle of the church year, as a cycle of days rather than a ladder.
As the twelve days of Christmas come to an end, we enter the season of Epiphany. On Epiphany Sunday, which we will observe on January 3, we celebrate the arrival of the "wise men from the east," a symbol of the light of Christ being given for Gentiles as well as Jews –for the whole world. During the season of light we will turn to the world's religions to understand and appreciate the light of our own more deeply.
I will be using Barbara Brown Taylor's engaging book "Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others," as an outline for worship and study. We will have brief – all too brief – encounters with Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam, to see their beauty and wisdom and to allow them to help us see our own Christianity afresh. To see our shortcomings and to be reminded of depths of our tradition that we may have lost sight of.
"The great brigtness at the center of everything exceeds anyone's ability to possess it," but all are invited into It's light.
I hope this sermon series will enliven your heart and curiosity! And I hope that you will pick up a copy of the book (available at Powells, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon) and join me for Wednesday evening discussions beginning on January 13.
In Memoriam: Christopher Allen Martin
Written by KMUCC Newsletter Editor
Christopher Martin, a member of Kairos-Milwaukie UCC for over 30 years, died Wednesday, December 2, 2020, at Providence Portland Medical Center after a brief episode of pneumonia and Covid 19. Chris had just celebrated his 67th birthday on September 26th, a remarkable life-span for someone with Down Syndrome. He was faithful in attendance and leading the opening and closing of each Sunday's service—lighting and extinguishing the candles, giving a wrap to the big drum, before ceremonially walking down the aisle. Christopher was the son of Bob and Roberta Martin, and brother to Craig, Laura, and Doug. He lived in Rainbow Adult Living Timmel House and worked in a sheltered work for many years until his retirement.
Staff at Timmel House report that they and his friends there are missing him very much. Chris made sure the congregation got to know some of his helping staff at Rainbow, i.e. Cheryl and Peter especially. Many members of the congregation happily took on the role of assisting Chris in his tasks in the last few years. He belonged "with" us. On the Sunday after Chris' passing, Ian Timmons closed the service singing "Little Drummer Boy" in Chris' honor. The outpouring of memories has been endearing, i.e. "We will all miss Chris!! He brought so much to our worship experience…from his serious dignity to his delightful side trips as he made his exit. It is hard to imagine church without Chris!" "He enriched all our lives, living fully with zest!"
Chris Martin Memories Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_2qR8w97s&feature=youtu.be
Oregonian/OregonLive Article by Andrew Theen
https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/01/december-covid-19-death-toll-oregons-highest-of-pandemic-nearly-equals-first-six-months-combined.html
KMUCC Happy Hour
Written by KMUCC
Conversation and Connection on ZOOM
Every Thursday evening at 5:00 pm
ZOOM Meeting Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84962500049?pwd=QlZ0UzZEbWtCY1lQMWJXRW5zZno0Zz09
You can also join us by phone:
(253) 215-8782 USA or (301) 715-8592 USA
Pizza Feed an Annual Holiday Tradition
The Malinow family – with their employees, friends and extended family — have been putting on a pizza feed for the men at Hoyt Street Shelter each December for two decades. The family's and employees' commitment to Hoyt Street (formerly Glisan Street Shelter) is an annual tradition. As Wendy Malinow says, "It's one of our favorite things during the holidays." This year, with COVID-19 restrictions, the Malinows still provided the feast but had to step back from serving.
Hoyt Street is one of the many longtime missions Kairos-Milwaukie UCC members support. Until the recent pandemic, KMUCC groups and families provided and served dinner once each month to between 80 and 100 men living in the shelter. Other organizations feed the men on the other days of the month. During COVID-19, Kairos members are providing funds for the meal.
Hoyt Street is part of the work of Transition Projects, whose mission is to help people transition from homelessness to housing. The agency offers programs and resources to individuals through case workers, health care, mentorship and housing.
Because the Malinows own American Dream Pizza, it's easy to come up with a menu. Besides the main course, they traditionally prepare salad, vegetables and Rice Krispy Treats. Dan Balmer and his family bring gallons of milk.
Sebastian Malinow when he opened American Dream Pizza in 1985
The younger Malinows, Max and Chester, were in primary school when the tradition began. Their friends often joined them to serve the food. "At the time, homelessness was much less pervasive and obvious than it is now," Wendy says. "Most of our sons' friends didn't directly experience hunger and poverty. At the shelter, they were exposed to the need for the first time. A few of the pals volunteered for many years. I think it meant a lot to them," she says. "Our church does a huge amount for such a small congregation," Wendy says. "I am always impressed with how organized we are and how many people step up every month for Hoyt Street. It never feels like a chore."
Max and Chester Malinow
I Believe Even When...
I believe in the sun
even when it's not shining.
even when I can't feel it.
I believe in God
even when God is silent
I believe in the light.
I hope the neighborhood where you live is like mine… ablaze already with Christmas lights and candles in windows. Because I feel pretty sure that your calendar is like mine … empty of the usual concerts, parties, and gatherings that fill the season with warmth and connection. And after the year that we've had, nothing sounds better than a return to warmth and connection, and hope.
We'll open our advent worship each week with the words written above sung for us by Ian Timmons. Words that were found scrawled on a wall during the Holocaust, left behind by an anonymous Jew who had been in hiding. Words that testify to the human ability to see beyond the immediate fear, and even horror and to hold fast to what is good.
We'll sing of the light that has come into the world as an expression of resilience and resistance to despair. On the afternoon of December 13, we'll pause in the middle of the season of hope and joy to name and pray for the pain and grief we are also carrying with us this season. Because this is what it means to be human… to know grief and joy intermingled.
In this dark season at the end of a difficult year we will connect with our longing for the coming of the life-light. As we connect with our deep longing we can welcome in the deep joy of the incarnation – God's presence among us in frail and vulnerable form. We can root ourselves in the promise that God is always with us and for us, on the side of our thriving – even when it is hard to see and feel. We can rejoice that together we belong to the body of Christ – called to seek and share that life-light, that Word of peace, hope, and justice with the world.
Wishing you a blessed advent, a heartfelt Christmas, and a healthy New Year.
Written by Will Fuller, KMUCC Moderator
Moderator Musings for December 2020
Last month, I said that by December we're shining lots of light, and indeed we are, through Advent candles, Christmas tree lights, home displays, and, of course, the Star.
We need all the light we can get. It has been a dark year. December is the month where darkness begins to recede, turning at solstice from darker to lighter days. November's advent hope joins with peace, joy, love celebrating the Light of the World lying in a manger. Great events from humble beginnings.
And so it is with our humble church. This is the month we look to the future, as our Council forms a budget. That's a mundane term for what we truly form: a statement of survival and stability, a financial and faithful commitment to continuing this community in money and members, dedicated to communion with a great light shining in a simple manger, shining still in the dark world of today. It's what we do.
Racial Justice Discussion Group
Written by Mission and Social Action Team
Join us for a discussion of chapters 4, 5 and 6 of Ibram X. Kendi's "How to Be an Antiracist." We'll also share whatever insights and questions have come up from using the author's accompanying workbook "Be Antiracist: A Journal for Awareness, Reflection, and Action." Both books are widely available.
Gathering on ZOOM
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86331762579?pwd=dzd6dmYyVEZsS25PNjh5cFA4Rk52QT09
Passcode:884546
Or by calling: (253) 215 8782 US or (301) 715 8592 US
Meet Our Members: Mica
Janice Salyers Takes Action
Conversation on Racial Justice: Learning Together
Do Not Let Go of Hope
Copyright © 2019 Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ. All Rights Reserved.
Social media icons from IconShock. Stock images from iStock.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1503.01278
astro-ph.EP
Title:Characterising exoplanets and their environment with UV transmission spectroscopy
Authors:L. Fossati, V. Bourrier, D. Ehrenreich, C. A. Haswell, K. G. Kislyakova, H. Lammer, A. Lecavelier des Etangs, Y. Alibert, T. R. Ayres, G. E. Ballester, J. Barnes, D. V. Bisikalo, A. Collier, Cameron, S. Czesla, J.-M. Desert, K. France, M. Guedel, E. Guenther, Ch. Helling, K. Heng, M. Homstrom, L. Kaltenegger, T. Koskinen, A. F. Lanza, J. L. Linsky, C. Mordasini, I. Pagano, D. Pollacco, H. Rauer, A. Reiners, M. Salz, P. C. Schneider, V. I. Shematovich, D. Staab, A. A. Vidotto, P. J. Wheatley, B. E. Wood, R. V. Yelle
Abstract: Exoplanet science is now in its full expansion, particularly after the CoRoT and Kepler space missions that led us to the discovery of thousands of extra-solar planets. The last decade has taught us that UV observations play a major role in advancing our understanding of planets and of their host stars, but the necessary UV observations can be carried out only by HST, and this is going to be the case for many years to come. It is therefore crucial to build a treasury data archive of UV exoplanet observations formed by a dozen "golden systems" for which observations will be available from the UV to the infrared. Only in this way we will be able to fully exploit JWST observations for exoplanet science, one of the key JWST science case.
Comments: White paper submitted to STScI for Hubble's 2020 vision
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:1503.01278 [astro-ph.SR]
(or arXiv:1503.01278v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
From: Luca Fossati [view email]
[v1] Wed, 4 Mar 2015 10:59:18 UTC (7 KB)


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66.1 The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was taken as read.
66.2 The Chair welcomed Councillor R E Allen to the meeting who was in attendance as an observer.
67.1 The Committee's attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.
67.2 There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.
To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2019.
68.1 The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2019, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
To receive any questions, deputations or petitions submitted under Rule of Procedure 12.
(The deadline for public participation submissions for this meeting is 31 January 2019).
69.1 There were no items from members of the public on this occasion.
To consider the Committee's Forward Plan.
Subject To Call In:: No - Item to Note.
70.1 Attention was drawn to the Committee's Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 9-11. Members were asked to consider the Plan.
70.2 A Member questioned when the Spring Gardens/Oldbury Road item would be ready for consideration. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that the team was currently targeting the July meetings of Executive Committee and Council.
To consider the quarterly budget position.
71.1 The report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated at Pages No. 12-21, provided the financial performance information for the third quarter of 2018/19 which Members were asked to consider.
71.2 The Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that the report highlighted a quarter three surplus of £664,478 on the revenue budget as well as detailing the expenditure to date against both the capital programme and approved reserves. The summary of the expenditure position for the Council, split out between the main expenditure types, was shown at Paragraph 2.2 of the report. The budget position in relation to the Heads of Service responsibility showed a budget surplus of £311,964 as at the end of December. The majority of the savings (£337,960) related to employee costs, mainly through staff vacancies. In addition, there were a range of smaller savings being made across the headings of 'premises' and 'transport and supplies' which were also contributing to the overall surplus reported. The surplus on income was £127,444 much of which was from Community Services, mainly in relation to the garden waste service which had seen income above target due to the changes made in respect of the new sticker system and the fixed renewal date of 1 April. There was also additional income shown in Corporate Services which related to grant income for the Benefits Team from central government which had not been budgeted for. The positive income position was being offset by planning application income which was below the expected target and, although a surplus had been returned in quarter three, there remained a deficit against the target. In terms of the corporate codes, these were generally doing well apart from the deficit noted on the 'corporate savings target' heading which related to the expected savings in employee costs throughout the year; however, given the surplus on the employees line, that had more than been met.
71.3 In respect of the deficits being reported, the most significant related to the Ubico contract which had a projected overspend of £230,887 – this was a significant increase from the £141,622 position which had been reported in quarter two. It was hoped the projected deficit would be smaller when the final position was reported. The reasons for the overspend were reported by Ubico as being increased employee costs of £89,818, mostly for the use of agency staff to cover increasing numbers of long-term sickness; and transport costs of £99,620 of which the majority related to the maintenance of the recycling and grounds maintenance equipment and vehicles with increased fuel costs across all service areas; and an overspend on tyres of £59,000. In addition, there was an increased cost associated with the grounds maintenance service as a result of the difficulties encountered at the start of the grass cutting season in 2018. The projected full-year overspend of £230,887 was being met by the surplus generated in other service areas and corporate activities, and Officers were working with Ubico to understand its accounting ... view the full minutes text for item 71.
To consider the 2019/20 budget and make a recommendation to Council.
Subject To Call In:: No - Recommendation to Council.
72.1 The report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated at Pages No. 22-36, set out the proposed budget for 2019/20. Members were asked to recommend the budget to Council for approval along with a Band D Council Tax of £119.36; the use of New Homes Bonus as proposed at Paragraph 3.5 of the report; and the capital programme as proposed in Appendix A to the report.
72.2 The Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that the Council had considered its financial position, as shown in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, at its meeting on 16 January 2019. That Strategy had outlined the budget pressures facing the Council currently, and in future years, and explained that the deficit over the next five years was estimated to be around £3.5 million with a gap of £691,000 suggested for 2019/20. The report currently before Members brought together the general information on the financial climate with the detailed figures associated with the 2019/20 budget, and the work undertaken by the Transform Working Group, and made a proposal for a balanced budget and resultant Council Tax. In setting the budget for 2019/20, the same level of service as in previous years had been assumed; however, future budget-setting may not find increased income and financing streams as plentiful, so it was likely that the Council would be faced with some tough decisions on its operation over forthcoming years, including reducing or stopping some services and taking further risks on its commercial activities.
72.3 A Member suggested that current vacancies in One Legal meant costs would have to increase in the next year to enable it to employ the staff necessary to cover additional income-earning work and she questioned how this would be addressed. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that employees had seen a substantial underspend this year. One Legal would be asking for reserves from those underspends to offset savings it could not make due to vacancies and it was felt an equalisation reserve would need to be set up. It was agreed by Members that, whilst it was great to have savings in employee costs, the downside was a decrease in performance if there were not enough staff to deliver the services.
To consider a range of Council Tax discounts for 2019/20 and make a recommendation to Council.
73.1 The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 37-40, provided Members with an update on proposed Council Tax discounts effective from 1 April 2019 and sought approval for their recommendation to Council.
73.2 Members were advised that local Council Tax discounts should be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they continued to meet the requirements of legislation; there were also financial implications as they impacted directly on the Council's income from Council Tax. The current proposal was to leave the discounts at their existing level for 2019/20 but with the intention to review them early in 2019/20, alongside the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, and bring forward proposals on all. In respect of empty homes, there were currently 43 properties within the Borough that had been unoccupied and unfurnished for over two years and those were currently subject to a 50% long-term empty homes premium. The government had introduced the Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax Empty Dwellings Act 2018 on 1 November 2018 which allowed billing authorities, from 1 April 2019, to apply a premium of up to an additional 100% of the Council Tax due where a dwelling had been empty for at least two years; from 1 April 2020, to apply a premium of up to an additional 200% of the Council Tax due where the dwelling had been empty for five years and over; and, from 1 April 2021, to apply a premium of an additional 300% where the dwelling had been empty for 10 years and over. As the current long-term empty properties premium had only been in place since 1 April 2018, it was recommended that the same level of premium continue for 2019/20 and that the amount levied in the future be reviewed as part of the general review of discounts prior to the 2020/21 budget-setting process.
73.3 A Member expressed the view that the empty property surcharge should be amended in line with the amount allowed by the government. Other Members agreed with that view considering that, not only would it be revenue to the Council, but would also encourage empty properties back into use. Alternative views expressed indicated that any amendments to the scheme should be made via the Transform Working Group following thorough consideration. Another Member questioned whether there also needed to be consideration given to implementing a premium for second homes. In response, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that, to be a second home, the house had to be furnished and the new rules only provided the ability to charge the premium for unfurnished properties. During the discussion which ensued, it was understood that there were different reasons for properties remaining empty and unfurnished some of which were outside of the owner's control; however, there was a housing shortage which could be partially addressed by bringing empty properties back into use. There was some concern expressed that research needed to be undertaken to understand the reasons for the properties being empty; ... view the full minutes text for item 73.
To consider the implementation of a Council Tax discount for care leavers and make a recommendation to Council.
Subject To Call In:: 1 and 3. Yes - No action to be taken prior to the expiry of the call-in period. 2. No - Recommendation to Council.
74.1 The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 41-48, proposed that a class be determined for Gloucestershire care leavers between the ages of 18 and 21 years who were residing in the Tewkesbury Borough Council area; recommended the adoption of the Council Tax Discount Scheme for Care Leavers to be effective from 1 April 2019; and delegated authority to the Head of Corporate Services to apply the discount for care leavers, with any dispute being subject to an internal reconsideration by the Deputy Chief Executive.
74.2 Members were advised that Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 gave the Council discretionary powers to reduce the amount of Council Tax payable for individual cases, or by class, and that included reduction of the amount payable to zero. In addition, the government had made recommendations within its Care Leavers' Strategy that local authorities should consider exempting care leavers from Council Tax using those discretionary powers. Care leavers were considered to be a particularly vulnerable group for Council Tax debt as moving to independent accommodation and managing finances for the first time was challenging. To that end, the six District Councils and Gloucestershire County Council had been working together to provide a common Council Tax Discount Scheme for Care Leavers which provided a consistent approach across the County.
74.3 It was noted that any discount awarded using the discretionary power must be funded by the billing authority; however, with the agreement of the County Council, it would fund its share of the cost of any care leaver discounts awarded. The latest information suggested there were eight care leavers who would be eligible for the discount and the proposal was that the discount for care leavers should be 100% where they lived alone and 50% where they lived with others. In response to a query, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that, where the care leaver was 'living with others', the scenario envisaged was a house share rather than a family environment. Another Member questioned why Tewkesbury Borough Council would be picking up the bill for Parishes and the Police. In response, the Chief Executive confirmed that the statutory duty to put together a package for care leavers lay with the billing authority. In addition, the amount it would cost would be minimal, and difficult to reclaim from the Parishes and Police, but it could make a big difference to the care leaver.
To approve the designation of Deerhurst neighbourhood plan area and an amendment to the Scheme of Delegation in respect of neighbourhood plans.
Subject To Call In:: Yes - No action to be taken prior to the expiry of the call-in period.
75.1 The report of the Planning Policy Officer, circulated at Pages No. 49-60, set out an application from Deerhurst Parish Council for the designation of a new neighbourhood area and also sought approval to amend the Council's Scheme of Delegation so that future neighbourhood area designations could be delegated to the Head of Development Services for approval subject to them following their Parish Council boundary.
75.2 The Head of Development Services advised that the application from Deerhurst Parish Council had been assessed and found to be valid and, accordingly, the Council had an obligation to designate it as a neighbourhood area so that it could commence its neighbourhood plan. This obligation had been introduced with the amended regulations of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) and Development Management Procedure (Amendment) Regulation 2016. This now meant the Council had to determine neighbourhood area applications within 13 weeks and, where they related to an entire Parish or area, had a default duty to designate. It was for these reasons that a delegation was sought to speed up the Council's process.
76.1 The report of the Community and Economic Development Manager, circulated at Pages No. 61-63, requested that the arrangement to open the Mop Fair at an earlier time of 4pm be made permanent by a formal variation of the licence between the fair operator and the Borough Council.
76.2 The Head of Development Services explained that, in 2018, the Fair Operator had requested that the Mop Fair open at 4pm instead of the usual time of 6pm. Temporary arrangements had been made to allow this to happen for one year so that the change could be assessed. Following that arrangement, the Fair Operator had requested it to be formalised and made permanent through a formal variation of the licence. It was therefore recommended that this be agreed, subject to the annual approval of the emergency services.


Staffers handing out budget offers ahead of Wednesday's hearing.
The Florida Legislature wasn't able to get it done on time, but leaders are nearing the finish line for the coming fiscal year's budget. Drafters closed out numerous portions of the spending plan Wednesday after days of behind the scenes negotiations.
Late Tuesday Senate President Joe Negron acknowledged what many around Florida's Capitol assumed.
State law mandates a 72 hour cooling off period between a budget's release and a vote. So Tuesday was the last day on which leaders could finish their work and still make it out on time.
But legislators are making progress. Funding for education, the environment and criminal justice are largely settled. House budget chief Carlos Trujillo says the healthcare budget has held up progress, but both sides have reached agreement on how to reduce Medicaid funding for hospitals.
The plan will cut roughly $200 million in state funding which means Florida will lose a total of about half a billion once federal matching dollars are added into the bargain. They've also squared away oversight for a $1.5 billion infusion to the low income pool—a fund compensating hospitals for unpaid care. State administrators will develop a plan for the money and if both presiding officers agree to reject it, those administrators will go back to the drawing board. Latvala explains originally the House wanted either chamber to be able to reject the plan.
"One of the concerns had been that potentially maybe the House might not be as eager to accept those federal funds as the industry is to get them," Latvala says.
But when it comes to the environmental budget, Latvala says a popular land buying program is getting zeroed out.
But he contends the spending plan represents a shift in focus rather than a rejection when it comes to land buying. He points to the reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee—Senate President Joe Negron's chief priority this year.
As lawmakers continue hammering out a budget Governor Scott is touring the state taking shots at the politicians in Tallahassee for passing legislation that threatens Florida jobs. Legislative leaders have so far proven lukewarm or out-and-out hostile to the governor's priorities. When the budget lands on Scott's desk he'll have the option to reject the bill outright.
The Florida Legislature will have to extend its regular meeting time or call a special session to reach an agreement on a spending plan for the coming year.
The full Florida Senate is preparing to take up a modified version of the House's tax cut proposal. But a property tax measure may be more important to House leaders.
Florida's budget for the coming fiscal year is now in the hands of the House and Senate budget chiefs. They're planning to settle as many differences as they can and 'bump' the rest to the presiding officers by noon Sunday.
This week House and Senate presiding officers settled on an overall budget figure of roughly $82.9 billion split into nine separate allocations. Friday morning five subcommittees met to trade offers—laid out in spreadsheets hundreds of rows long.


What's it take to be the most popular face in town? Three a.m. starts, entrepreneurial spirit, long hours in the elements and a mighty fine tamale.
A photographer being escorted by a young Arapaho from Riverton gets arrested at Standing Rock.
Noelle Weimann van Dijk and Feike van Dijk lost two sons in a fire that destroyed their home, then faced medical bills which they reduced through GoFundMe.


text:
The big TikTok tech war
The US-China trade war has a new front.
"No one has manipulated better or taken advantage of the United States more. Nobody's cheated better than China."
That was how US president Donald Trump summed up his country's relations with China in November of last year.
The world's most populous nation has been a bugbear for Trump since he came to power in 2016. But whatever you think of him, he's not alone in being critical of China.
US military leaders have long warned of growing Chinese assertiveness. So too have business leaders that have regularly had their intellectual property stolen, something that is estimated to cost the US up to $600 billion a year.
All of this has led, along with an ongoing trade war, to a growing reluctance to engage with Chinese tech companies.
The UK's move not to use Huawei's technology in its 5G network was one sign of this. A more striking decision was an order issued by Trump to force TikTok to sell off its US entity at the start of August.
Before diving into the epilepsy-inducing world of TikTok, it's worth delving a bit deeper into the technological tensions that exist between the US and China.
The US government has long argued against using Chinese tech — whether it be mobile phones or software — on the basis that it can be used by China's intelligence services.
For instance, Trump justified his TikTok decision by saying that the app collects huge swathes of user data which could be used to "allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information."
Censorship on WeChat. Note that the bottom message on the left chat looks as though it has sent but simply doesn't show up on the phone that it was sent to on the right. (source: The Citizen Lab)
There is a chance that this is true. Chinese law means that any data stored in China can be accessed by the government. The government also plays a big role in controlling how tech firms operate.
For its part, TikTok claims that it never keeps US user data in China. Instead, it is kept in a facility in Virginia and backed up in Singapore. This would mean it is not subject to Chinese data laws.
Such claims, even if true, may not convince everyone. ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has already been forced to make overtures to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) several times.
On one occasion, CEO Zhang Yiming was forced to write that his firm had made a mistake and "didn't realize that technology must be guided by core socialist values."
Other firms have also shown evidence of collusion with the CCP, with WeChat probably being the most notable example.
A May 2020 study by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab found that 'sensitive' messages on the messaging app, which has close to a billion users in China, would be deleted without either user even knowing. Significantly, this was done for users who weren't even in China or signed up to WeChat's Chinese entity.
Tech wars
You may have read all of the above and thought, "yeah, but then the US does exactly the same thing."
And you would be correct.
Although they aren't censoring our WhatsApp conversations, US intelligence agencies undoubtedly work with tech firms to surveil people.
This doesn't mean that US government talk of Chinese surveillance is irrational or hypocritical. You may spy on another country but that doesn't mean you're going to allow spies to act with impunity in yours.
Or in tech terms, you may be ok with a Silicon Valley conglomerate mining Americans' data but that doesn't mean you want a firm in Beijing doing the same.
Of course, a more cynical view of the TikTok debacle may be that it has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with money and US tech dominance.
An alleged slide from America's National Security Agency, showing how the service accesses Google Cloud
As it stands, much of the global tech market is controlled by Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
These companies don't just enhance US prestige in the world, they also make a lot of money. Apple, for example, is now worth more than the entire UK index of top 100 companies by market cap combined.
If TikTok becomes the next big tech firm with global influence, it would be the first time that the US has seen its dominance in the industry challenged meaningfully.
And the challenge is real. TikTok reportedly generated revenues of $17 billion in 2019, a remarkable number given that it was only launched in 2016.
By way of comparison, Facebook made $272 million three years after it was founded. For Google, the equivalent figure was $86.4 million.
The never-ending stream of content
For those of you who have no idea what TikTok is (lucky you), it's like a blend between YouTube, Instagram Stories and the now-defunct Vine.
Users share short clips of themselves that are often intended to be humorous or just a bit silly.
Some of these users are extremely popular.
TikTok's most-followed account belongs to an American teenager named Charli D'Amelio. The 16 year old currently has over 80 million TikTok users following her account.
Charli D'Amelio, TikTok's most popular user
Like almost all social media companies, TikTok's 'secret sauce' is the algorithm it uses to feed you content.
The speed at which this is done, combined with the fast-paced, bizarro content of the videos, makes you feel as though an endless stream of entertainment is being injected directly into your eyeballs. Which, of course, means kids love it.
Close to 100 million Americans have the app, the overwhelming majority of which are young people under the age of 30 — although a depressing 7 per cent of users are over the age of 50.
Whether you think the app is ridiculous or not, these are all impressive stats, so it's easy to see why the US government wants to keep the firm in American hands.
The executive order
Trump's executive order means that TikTok's US entity must be sold or shut down by mid-September.
ByteDance has protested against the move, saying that TikTok poses no security threat and even released its code to prove that this was the case. Those efforts look to have been in vain.
Buyers are moving in, with media reports that Microsoft and Oracle are leading the pack. Twitter is also rumoured to be interested in the firm.
Microsoft and Oracle are reportedly bidding for control of TikTok's entities in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Along with the UK, which is conspicuously absent from the list, these countries are all part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance. Whether this is coincidental or not is still up in the air.
What will it mean for the stock market?
Assuming they can meet the deadline, the odds are that a tech firm is going to end up acquiring TikTok.
Not only would the app be a better fit with such a company but it's going to cost a lot of money — potentially $50 billion — to pay for it. Tech firms are more likely to be able to access that kind of cash.
Whoever does end up buying the business will ultimately be in the advertising business.
It can be easy to forget it but Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Google browser all generate money by mining your data and then using it to sell you stuff.
TikTok appears to be the same. It does make some money from in-app purchases but much of its revenue comes from tailored advertising.
Microsoft and Oracle have arguably lagged behind some of their rivals in the data mining, targeted ad space. But both have also made moves to remedy that fact.
Oracle has bought several data-driven marketing businesses in the past six years, including the marketing technology firm Grapeshot in 2018.
Microsoft has behaved similarly, most notably by acquiring LinkedIn, a social media site for professionals, in 2016.
Quite how an acquisition would affect either of these two firms' stock prices will depend on the price they pay.
If the market thinks it's too high, their share price is likely to fall in the short term. If the market thinks they got a bargain, it's likely to rise. This in turn depends on how excited investors are about the new revenue stream.
For this to be sustainable, however, TikTok would have to remain popular and increase its revenues. This seems possible in the short term but a mixture of competition and human fickleness could make it trickier as time goes by.
Facebook has recently launched Reels on Instagram, which is very similar to TikTok. So similar, in fact, that many have claimed it is simply a rip-off of the app.
A snapshot of Instagram Reels
Still, if Reels is a hit, it could easily pull users away from TikTok and prevent it from growing. This is exactly what led to Vine being discontinued in 2016, with Instagram and other streaming sites pulling users and creators away from the service.
Another factor to be aware of is people getting bored.
If you've been to dinner with other human beings lately, you've probably noticed that they can barely hold a conversation for 20 seconds without checking their phone.
TikTok often feels like an attempt to cram as much excitement into your head as possible.
That has worked until now but, in a world of endless entertainment and ceaseless streaming, people are easily bored and quick to hop on to the next tech bandwagon.
If that were to happen, we may end up wondering what all the fuss about TikTok was in the first place.
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text:
Goodbye, "Leih Hou Ma," Hello "Ni Hao Ma!"
"Chinatown" communities across the United States (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco) are undergoing a shift in linguistic identity, as recent immigrants are more likely to natively speak Mandarin (the official spoken language of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan,) instead of Cantonese.
Also see these anecdotal reports about similar changes in Vancouver and Oakland, CA.
Good news for the tri-literate: signs like this may soon become commonplace. :)
The Language Atlas of China
The PopUp Chinese Podcast and Arch Chinese site provide basic Mandarin lessons. Also see: Mango, ZhongWen and LiveMocha
posted by zarq (56 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
When on the subway today, newer Chinese immigrants (or perhaps visitors) asked directions from an older Chinese man. He asked them if they were Chinese, they said yes, he tried to speak to them, they didn't really understand what he was saying. He ended up giving them directions in English.
posted by kathrineg at 3:08 PM on October 22, 2009
It's always interested me that great linguistic divide in China, and its fascinating to see it coming into conflict on foreign shores. Thanks for the heads up!
posted by Atreides at 3:08 PM on October 22, 2009
Not just language either, but also culture shifts comparing singapore, shanghai and san francisco
posted by infini at 3:09 PM on October 22, 2009
A lot of special dialects also have been slowly pushed out by Cantonese as well- for example, Toisanese.
posted by yeloson at 3:12 PM on October 22, 2009
I admit, I had a bit of schadenfreude while reading the NYTimes article:
"I can't even order food on East Broadway," said Jan Lee, 44, a furniture designer who has lived all his life in Chinatown and speaks Cantonese. "They don't speak English; I don't speak Mandarin. I'm just as lost as everyone else."
This used to happen to me a lot in stores when I shopped in NYC's Chinatown and in Flushing. I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese and quite a few shopkeepers barely spoke English.
I actually know a vocabulary of about 30-40 Cantonese words, but half of those are obscene. Not exactly good for haggling.)
It's happening less these days. Could be a cultural diffusion effect, or perhaps I'm just less likely to shop in strange stores these days.
posted by zarq at 3:15 PM on October 22, 2009
Yep. In NY, the biggest shift from Taishanese to Cantonese came in the 60's.
posted by zarq at 3:18 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
I started noticing this recently too. There are still a large amount of people in Oakland Chinatown who speak Cantonese or Taishanese, but I hear Mandarin spoken with a Northern accent much more frequently now.
I was on BART one time and a group of older Chinese immigrants asked a younger guy for directions, but only one older gentleman in their group knew how to communicate with the young guy in Mandarin. However, pretty much all the young people I've encountered who are from Guangzhou know putong hua.
posted by extramundane at 3:20 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
I made a call to a hospital in NY today. The operator said to hit 1, if I wished to speak in mandarin, hit 2 for Cantonese, 3 for Spanish, 4 for English. Alas, I was born with no native language.
posted by Postroad at 3:20 PM on October 22, 2009
@zarq
If Mandarin is now the official language of Hong Kong, someone needs to tell them, cuz the vast majority is still speaking Cantonese.
posted by RavinDave at 3:35 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
I actually know a vocabulary of about 30-40 Cantonese words, but half of those are obscene. Not exactly good for haggling.
yur doing it rong
posted by DU at 3:36 PM on October 22, 2009 [3 favorites]
Whenever I'm in Toronto's old Chinatown the shopkeepers/waitresses tend to speak to me in Mandarin, while they will speak in Cantonese to others. I've always wondered how they decide which one to use. I'm certainly not Northern-looking, having learned Mandarin as a foreign language during university and being of southern Chinese descent originally. Perhaps because I'm younger looking?
posted by pravit at 3:36 PM on October 22, 2009
Yeah, up in Seattle I think it was probably in the 70's - it was about 50/50 Toisanese/Cantonese when I was a kid in the 80's and now it's nothing but a few of the really old folks speaking Toisanese.
I just moved to San Francisco's Inner Richmond from the Sunset district and I'd say we're past the transition point. It seems like Mandarin is San Fran's second language. Most public service telephone numbers offer both English and Mandarin now.
posted by cbecker333 at 3:45 PM on October 22, 2009
不, 你做错了
posted by delmoi at 4:11 PM on October 22, 2009 [3 favorites]
Ravindave - actually, Mandarin, or poutonghua is the official language of all of China, regardless of what the local dialect is. Most people in Shanghai speak Shanghainese - which is imcomprehsible to most outsiders.
People in HK have been playing catch up in honing their Mandarin - while places like Singapore and Tawain (neither of which are part of PRC) have always had it as a key language to speak (despite having very strong local dialects also).
In Vancouver, this shift has also been noticable - with many Cantonese speakers not trying to pick up Manadarin (which is much easier to do than the other way around). Most times I see each party speaking their native dialect - but being able to understand eachother, even if they can't speak directly to eachother. All Chinese dialects use the same written language, so that can be used in dire circumstances.
posted by helmutdog at 4:28 PM on October 22, 2009
Oops - I should say "Most Cantonese speakers now trying to pick up Mandarin"
@delmoi
不, 你做錯了
posted by Jerub at 4:35 PM on October 22, 2009
I thought the dynamic in Taipei was interesting, with the older generation speaking mostly Taiwanese and the younger generation speaking mostly Mandarin. When I would visit my wife's family, her parents would speak to her in Taiwanese and she'd answer back in Mandarin. I'd be sitting there trying to understand half the conversation. And of course all the little kids learning to speak English. I guess it is the same dynamic happening in the diaspora.
posted by Loudmax at 4:39 PM on October 22, 2009
In my last year of Comp Sci in college there was a project group made up of oriental students and a student from Hong Kong acted as the bridge for the different dialects.
Now if only I could find someone would could translate black country and brummie for me....
posted by srboisvert at 4:39 PM on October 22, 2009
Taiwan (neither of which are part of PRC) have always had it as a key language to speak
'course, the present gov't of Taiwan sorta predates the gov't mainland China, being the O.G. 中國國民黨 and all. The KMT would have been happier ruling from Peking instead of Taipei, but . . . certain events . . . made this somewhat difficult.
posted by mokuba at 4:43 PM on October 22, 2009
oh yeah, that reminds me that the mainland Mandarin-speakers are also going to be bringing their goddamned simplified characters. Coming to Chinese from Japanese, I sorta appreciate the simplification compared to the old forms, but I do often think they went a little overboard, especially these days when nobody actually writes the chinese anymore.
No one may be writing them, but tell me with this standard font size which of these two is easier to read on screen:離開 or 离开.
Of course, I'm biased. I learned simplified (and pinyin) and have just learned to recognize some of the common traditional versions.
posted by linux at 5:08 PM on October 22, 2009 [2 favorites]
Oh, and yeah, I've noticed more Mandarin being spoken these days in Los Angeles, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley where the new immigrants appear to be settling (LA Chinatown is still fairly Cantonese).
posted by linux at 5:09 PM on October 22, 2009
RavinDave (uh, and don't make us into Twitter), you're correct. Hong Kong has two official languages as a Special Administrative Region, "Chinese and English", by which they apparently mean Cantonese. The 1991-2001 period saw Cantonese speakers increase by 25%, while "Other Chinese dialect speakers" actually decreased in real numbers. English speakers, counterintuitively, nearly doubled.
posted by dhartung at 5:24 PM on October 22, 2009
Damn it. I liked it better when Spanish was supposed to be the invading language.
Pretty soon Hispanics in the US are going to start complaining about all of the foreigners speaking "Chinese" instead of "learning the language."
posted by oddman at 5:43 PM on October 22, 2009
English sign: "Must speak Cantonese, English and Mandarin."
Chinese sign: Priority given to English and Cantonese speakers. [partial translation]
Different.
posted by msittig at 5:56 PM on October 22, 2009 [2 favorites]
At least Toisanese is close enough to cantonese to be understandable. I've gotten people in toronto's downtown chinatown speaking to me in mandarin now(I speak cantonese) and I'm always impressed with myself if I can figure out what they're asking without resorting to english.
posted by captaincrouton at 5:59 PM on October 22, 2009
Generally that's true, but more and more I am hearing Putonghua and it's not just from mainland tourists. It's also being shoved down our throats on TV.
All of which bugs the Hell out of me because I prefer the sound of Cantonese (as well as speaking it) to Putonghua, which always sounds to me like someone is swallowing his tongue.
posted by bwg at 6:06 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
Meh, Hong Kong is still heavily Cantonese and will remain so. Go across the border to Shenzhen and immediately you'll hear a lot more Putonghua because of all the migrant workers who've settled there.
What's kind of sad IMO is that Cantonese is losing sway in Guandgong (Canton).
posted by awfurby at 6:19 PM on October 22, 2009
There have been a couple of decent articles in the SCMP on this topic. Here's the summary from Language Log, because the Post hides all its archived content behind a ridiculous paywall. Something I found interesting:
"Angry about the official bias, Yao went on to explain the superiority of Cantonese, which he described as a more mature language with a richer linguistic history than Putonghua. He cited soccer player David Beckham's name to illustrate his arguments. Cantonese translates his family name using two characters, while Putonghua uses four.
"You know why?" asked Yao. "Because Cantonese is an ancient language that has a rich phonetic system, it takes only one character in Cantonese to mimic the English sound 'ham', whereas it takes Putonghua two Chinese characters."
He pointed out that Putonghua has only 23 vowel sounds, while Cantonese has 59, leaving Putonghua relying heavily on the context for meaning. "
posted by milquetoast at 6:32 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
Can anyone recommend a good resource for a gentle introduction to Mandarin? Not even targeting conversational level, necessarily...
posted by weston at 6:50 PM on October 22, 2009
China is strange to my western prespective because in linguistic matters it is pretty much completely prescriptive. Entire languages are demoted to mere "dialects," like if Spanish were considered a dialect of Italian.
Of course actual dialects of mandarin are pretty much completely unrecognized. If you don't speak like a China Central Television announcer you are doing it WRONG.
It will be interesting to see what happens if western style descriptivism starts to take a hold in China, though there are political reasons why that would be unlikely.
posted by afu at 7:05 PM on October 22, 2009
The real linguistic dilemma facing Chinese is how to stop trendy young urban professionals peppering their conversation with English buzzwords. Now get out of my siheyuan courtyard.
posted by Abiezer at 7:13 PM on October 22, 2009 [2 favorites]
I find the rush to learn Putonghua in the West is very similar to the rush to learn Japanese in the 80's and 90's. It seemed for a while that almost every high school in Australia was offering Japanese classes - all predicated on the idea what we'd need it to communicate with our largest trading partner.
And now China's on the way to being our largest trading partner so it's "Quick - everyone learn Chinese - the 21st century is going to be China's century."
Not that I think there's anything wrong with learning either language - go for it. Still, I find this a bit odd:
1. Learn Chinese
2. ??
I think it should be more like:
1. learn a skill or trade or profession
2. learn how to do 1. really well
3. learn a foreign language
4. if by happenstance you get to practise your skill, trade or profession in a place where you can use your foreign language ability as well, great!
5. profit.
posted by awfurby at 7:39 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
even in the small Canadian town of Waterloo, ON, the shift from Cantonese-speaking to Mandarin-speaking Chinese has been drastic. I don't mind, I speak Taishanese and Mandarin, so I get the best service at restaurants!
posted by growli at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2009
You want to know the funniest thing to me? I grew up around people who spoke Mandarin Chinese with a Taiwanese accent. Back in undergrad, I decided to take Chinese, and the Chinese teacher spoke (and taught) Mandarin with a Beijing accent.
Now, to my ear, there are a few differences between the two accents: Beijing style Mandarin adds a bunch of 'h' sounds: "Ni yao senme?" (What do you want?) becomes "Ni yao shenme?"
Beijing style Mandarin also has a bunch of added 'er' noises at the end of some sentences. "Ta zai na li?" Becomes "Ta zai narr?"
So whenever I want to do a Beijing accent, I pretend that I'm Sean Connery. As a pirate.
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:59 PM on October 22, 2009 [18 favorites]
Uncle Chu: 中国是在这里,伯顿先生。
Jack Burton: What does that mean? Huh? "中国是"? I don't even know what the hell that means.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:08 PM on October 22, 2009 [3 favorites]
Mandarin sounds nice and sing-songy to me, while the experience of listening to Cantonese is similar to that of being screamed at.
Back in undergrad, I decided to take Chinese, and the Chinese teacher spoke (and taught) Mandarin with a Beijing accent.
My Chinese teacher was from Taiwan and taught all of us to speak with a thick Beijing accent.
Quoted For Truth.
posted by deanc at 8:54 PM on October 22, 2009 [3 favorites]
This is true in the US with American English. If you have a regional accent (southern, Boston, New York), and you leave your area, people will make fun of your accent, and such accents are made fun of in general on television shows. It's regretful, because the regional variations give life to the language.
posted by eye of newt at 9:30 PM on October 22, 2009
Years ago I worked for this company that had a lot of Chinese employees, including my boss, who had such a strong accent when he spoke English I could barely understand him. One day the VP had a party at his house for all of us. Everyone was speaking Chinese, so I just sat on a couch by myself. My boss came over and sat with me.
"You probably don't know what anyone is saying."
"Yep"
"I don't either" he said, shocking me. "Everyone else speaks Mandarin. I don't understand Mandarin."
Funny, considering Mandarin only has four tones and Cantonese has eight (or six or nine, depending on who you ask).
True, sometimes Cantonese speakers sound like they're arguing when they really aren't, whereas in Beijing Mandarin everyone sounds like they're pissed off.
posted by bwg at 10:39 PM on October 22, 2009 [1 favorite]
Randomly, I found it to be kinda weird that there's a Chinatown in Singapore...
posted by mhh5 at 10:46 PM on October 22, 2009
I don't think it's that weird - Singapore started out as a Malay fishing village, then a British colony with Indian and Chinese people being imported for labour. Town planning was organised by ethnic group. So in that context a Chinatown seems normal.
posted by awfurby at 11:43 PM on October 22, 2009 [2 favorites]
mhh5--
Singapore has three cultures -- Indian, Malay, and Chinese. None of 'em want to adopt eachother's system, so they all stuck with what the brits left 'em. It works for them.
posted by effugas at 11:44 PM on October 22, 2009
Yeah, German also seemed big for the same reason in the 80s, Arabic was big after 911 for placement in intel... I definitely think there are language opportunity fads. However, Mandarin's always been a good bet from a sheer demographic standpoint. I had people telling me in 1991 learning it would probably turn out to be useful someday... not necessarily from an economic standpoint, just in a "chances are pretty good you will meet people who speak it because there are more native speakers than English and Spanish combined" kindof way.
That turned out to be sooner than I thought; I ended up with four chinese roomates three years later. Figuring I'd take advantage, I enrolled in a University class, but did so horribly in school in general that semester that I dropped out. Have always had it in the back of my head since then.
posted by weston at 12:24 AM on October 23, 2009
Previously, Hispanics in California were complaining about all of the foreigners speaking "English" instead of "learning the language."
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:28 AM on October 23, 2009 [3 favorites]
Here in Argentina, all the local grocery stores are owned by mandarin speakers...
posted by conifer at 1:56 AM on October 23, 2009
Yeah, in Vancouver, there's much more Mandarin than Cantonese - especially in the sciences; there's a dearth of people from HK who are in Vancouver for university (especially graduate studies) compared to people from the mainland or Taiwan. Mandarin (er, Taiwanese) is the de facto language of Asians in my particular field.
I figure that people from HK are smarter (or more materialistic) than to try for a career in neuroscience, or science in general.
Haven't come across as many people with "huang ha yum" (old village [cantonese] accents) in a looong time. Used to run into them a lot; had to try to explain to a vegetable seller sitting at Waterfront that they really aren't allowed to do what they were trying to - on pain of being arrrested. Do hear lots of conversations, lately, in a mostly cantonese dialect about how - yeah, they're collecting pop bottles and cans from the UBC trash bins but they have kids at the university.
My 4th grade teacher was an over-the-top Anglophile (ie., British) Sino(Japanese)phile. He looked remarkably like Roger Moore and idolized the Japanese society and tried to influence his students to adopt the language and his (flawed) impression of how Japanese society worked.
Language - it really depends on where you are and what you do.
posted by porpoise at 1:58 AM on October 23, 2009 [1 favorite]
the superiority of Cantonese
We're discussing the superiority of one language over another now? I look forward to the rich and substantial debate that's sure to follow.
posted by fatehunter at 3:08 AM on October 23, 2009 [4 favorites]
The first time I went to Beijing (late '90s), the all the TV news was read in a barking tone that seemed to say "I am making a public announcement, and you WILL pay attention." Since then, that tone has softened enormously; now the harsh mode seems to be used mostly by government officials making speeches.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:34 AM on October 23, 2009
Excellent post. Thanks.
posted by nickyskye at 3:45 AM on October 23, 2009
weston: Can anyone recommend a good resource for a gentle introduction to Mandarin? Not even targeting conversational level, necessarily...
how about ChineseClass101?
posted by greasepig at 4:50 AM on October 23, 2009
In my experience, in the US, Chinese immigrants are as likely as not to speak some dialect of Hokkien as their first language. Most of them speak Mandarin, but only as a second or third language.
And really, if you survey the most frequently spoken language in the kitchens of Chinese restaurants, it's as likely as not to be Spanish.
posted by jiawen at 6:46 AM on October 23, 2009
Since someone asked:
Mandarin with Serge Melnyk Very casual, small operation. Great if you're just dipping your tootsies. Taught by non-native speaker, but he knows his stuff and is quite good. This is actually a plus, since he has a better idea of what Western students find difficult than most native speakers.
ChinesePod aka: CPOD. Not only the most robust of all online Chinese language learning, but probably the mother of ALL online language learning (in that most everyone borrowed their business plan and teaching style). Tons of information, a solid reputation and a faithful community.
ChineseClass101, from a Japanese-based company. Japanese is their strongest offering (obviously), but they've recently started pushing Chinese and it is evolving quite nicely. They've watched CPOD and managed to avoid some of the pitfalls they ran into.
Then there are communities like LiveMocha. You can get a basic grounding, but it seems to me that the value here are the social contacts you can make (ie: for 1-on-1 Skype-style learning or to have your writing "graded") and these are more useful after you get some knowledge under your belt.
Personally, I'm mostly familiar with CPOD, though I have gravitated toward ChineseClass101. That's simply a personal choice -- both are very nice.
And, of course ... there's always Pimsleur, which is surprisingly strong.
posted by RavinDave at 7:36 AM on October 23, 2009 [10 favorites]
Great post, thanks!
For some reason I decided to learn some Cantonese while living in Taiwan (where nobody spoke it); I got a chance to try it out when I got back to the States and was doing fine with a waiter who spoke it slowly enough I could understand him, but then it turned out he was a Mandarin-speaker who was also studying Cantonese. How we laughed!
posted by languagehat at 11:52 AM on October 23, 2009 [1 favorite]
Chinese sign: Priority given to English and Cantonese speakers [who are able to read this goddamn sign]
Maybe not so different after all...
posted by sour cream at 3:59 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
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