PHILADELPHIA (June 1, 2018) – Within the last six months, partners in the regional Circuit Trails Coalition received a combined $10.6 million from the William Penn Foundation toward their continued work to build multi-use trails throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. With the goal of an 800-mile system of interconnected trails, 329 miles of The Circuit Trails are currently built, but are disconnected by key gaps where trails are planned for but not yet developed. The Foundation's funding will accelerate the completion of the trails and close some of the major gaps in the system. The trails provide opportunity for recreation, exercise, and travel, as well as valuable access to miles of rivers and streams.
"With more than half of the total project left to complete, we have established an interim goal of reaching 500 trail miles by the year 2025," said Sarah Clark Stuart, chairperson of the Circuit Trails Coalition and executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. "The Foundation's funding is so critical to helping the Coalition achieve this ambitious goal, as every mile of multi-use trail requires a significant level of investment for planning, feasibility study, design and construction as well as communication, advocacy, and organizing. We are so grateful for the long-standing support of the Foundation," Stuart said.
Out of the total $10.6 million, $6.6 million in capital funding was awarded to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to provide technical assistance and administer a competitive re-grant fund for planning, design, and construction of new trails.
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to develop campaigns and programs to increase the visibility and advance completion of the trails.
D&R Greenway Land Trust to advance The Circuit in Burlington and Mercer Counties, New Jersey.
Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art to plan and develop new Circuit Trails in the Brandywine Creek valley.
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor to analyze potential new public access points to the Delaware Canal Trail, a portion of The Circuit Trails network.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to market and promote The Circuit Trails in order to increase trail use and build support for more public funding.
Heritage Conservancy for outreach and programming in Bristol, Pa., and along the Delaware Canal in Bucks County to connect gaps in and increase use of The Circuit Trails.
Schuylkill River Development Corporation to complete the final design for the Christian to Crescent segment of the Schuylkill River Trail, a key segment of the Circuit Trails.
The Circuit Trails is one of the largest trail networks in the United States. Once complete, this system will serve as a powerful connector between communities and their local parks and waterways within the Delaware River watershed. Years of hard work by more than 60 Coalition partners has generated local momentum and attracted additional funding sources for the trails. In March, The Circuit Trails celebrated a significant success when U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced that the federal government approved a $12 million TIGER grant for the Christian to Crescent segment of the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia, a key trail within the Circuit.
The Circuit makes our region stronger by providing a place for healthy transportation and recreation, connecting communities to green spaces, and making neighborhoods more attractive places to live and work. The Circuit Trails connect urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout and beyond the Greater Philadelphia area. According to a survey of Circuit Trails users completed by the Rails to Trails Conservancy, more than half of current trail-goers use the trails for health and fitness, followed by recreational activities such as walking, running, and hiking. A significant number of them – approximately 30 percent – use the trails daily or every other day.
"The Circuit Trails bring enormous value to communities across the region. They foster critical connections between communities, and bring people closer to our rivers and streams. We are proud to collaborate with other key organizations in the work of completing the full system of trails," said Andrew Johnson, Program Director of Watershed Protection at the William Penn Foundation.
Greater Philadelphia is the proud home of the Circuit Trails, a vast regional trail network of hundreds of miles of multi-use trails that is growing in size each year. One of America's largest trail networks, the Circuit currently includes more than 320 miles of completed multi-use trails with a vision of more than 800 miles of interconnected trails across the nine-county region in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Nearly 65 nonprofit organizations, foundations and agencies are working together as part of the Circuit Trails Coalition to advance the completion of the trail network. A premiere regional amenity, the Circuit Trails connect our people to our local communities, providing endless opportunities for recreation and commuting. So whether you bike it, walk it, run it or paddle alongside it, the point is — just enjoy it. Learn more at www.circuittrails.org and connect with the Circuit Trails on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out what is happening #onthecircuit.


The 5-year combined BS/MS program in Biology/Bioinformatics (BSBIO/MSBINF) is a prestigious opportunity for top Biology undergraduates. The 5-year combined BSBIO/MSBINF provides a MS degree in as little as one year for advanced, highly-qualified Biology undergraduate students interested in careers in computational biology and genomics. The program will enable students who otherwise might not get a Masters degree to compete better on the job market. The BSBIO/MSBINF program addresses a growing demand for scientists who can manage and analyze high-throughput biological data. Students who complete the 5-year program would save substantially on the tuition cost of the MS Bioinformatics program, by being enrolled for only 2 semesters rather than 3 or 4 semesters. The BSBIO/MSBINF is also a very good opportunity for students who want to build a gap year into their academic program after they graduate with their BS but before starting medical or professional school.
The BSBIO/MSBINF is aimed at students who have a strong interest in computational biology and genomics. Students who wish participate in the BSBIO/MSBINF will complete their undergraduate BS degree in Biology and then spend one year completing their MS in Bioinformatics.
There is no application fee and you do not need to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission to the program.
You can use 6 hours of graduate electives from your undergraduate study toward both your B.S. and M.S. degree.
You only need one letter of recommendation, rather than three required for the regular application.
There is no obligation to complete your master's degree if your plans change.
You must be a Biology undergraduate student.
Apply after completion of 30 credits but before completion of 90 credits, including transfer and advanced placement credits. If you have more than 90 credits, you will be considered for the program on a case-by-case basis.
Have a GPA of 3.3 or higher in courses required for the BS in Biology.
At the time of application, students must have completed CS1301 or CS1371, and either completed or registered for Multivariable Calculus (Math 2550, 2551, 2561, or 2605).
Continuation into the MS degree requires the student complete the BS requirements with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher, and complete the MS requirements (37 cr.) with an overall GPA of 2.7 or higher.
It is recommended that students with an interest in the BSBIO/MSBINF seek the advice of their research advisor, academic advisor, or the graduate office before submitting an application.
For more information on the timeline, please click here.
To apply, submit a standard graduate application at http://www.grad.gatech.edu/apply-now. Students applying will need to write a short essay explaining their purpose in obtaining an MS degree.
Several courses (BIOL 6150 and BIOL 6000+) required for the 5-year degree can be used as Biology and Free Electives, however undergraduate students that opt out of the MSBINF program after 90 credit hours may require course substitutions to graduate.


text:
Heroes in Home Entertainment 2021
For a fourth consecutive year, Media Play News has selected a panel of honorees in the home entertainment industry who are known for their charitable work. From the executives who serve on boards or participate in direct charitable giving and activities, to those focusing their talents as foot soldiers in philanthropic endeavors locally, nationally and abroad, this group is contributing how and where they can.
Mike Aaronson
EVP, digital distribution and global strategy,
The Westside Infant-Family Network (WIN) addresses a key issue at the root of many problems facing underprivileged communities in Los Angeles, says Mike Aaronson, who has been on its board for four years, including two years as board chairman.
"A lot of what we do as a society is focus on the problems we see, like how to feed meals to the homeless, how to get them into a safe place to live — which is all super important," he says. "But equally important is how do we prevent more people from landing in that situation, and I think most people may not appreciate that it starts really, really early on in life. Something like homelessness is probably not something that just happened to a 30-year-old. It's something that results from experiences that happened long before."
Mike Aaronson (left) with Henry Winkler, who was honored by WIN in 2020.
WIN offers in-home mental health services for families with young kids, mostly 5 and under, to ameliorate adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. ACEs can range from divorce or parental incarceration to physical or mental neglect, physical or mental abuse and racial discrimination.
"The impact ACEs have on kids is very well known in the pediatric community, but not well known among the public, and ultimately is responsible for massive economic and social costs that we bear as a society," says Aaronson. He says he learned more about the issue from his wife, a pediatrician whose employer, Kaiser Permanente, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, produced some of the underpinning research on ACEs in the late 1990s.
Studies have shown a direct link between the number of ACEs a child experiences and the incidence of negative outcomes, such as poor school performance, depression, anxiety and risk behaviors as youths and, ultimately, illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes as adults.
"Imagine if you're a 4-year-old kid and your parents are struggling to put food on the table or a parent has been incarcerated or taken by ICE, detained and maybe deported — your brain is in fight or flight mode most of the time," he says. "What that means is these kids have cortisol flowing through their brains all the time. That can drastically alter the chemical makeup of a child's brain, especially between the critical ages of 0 and 5 when most neural connections are created."
Through referrals from local clinics and other sources, WIN intervenes, providing between 50 and 100 families annually with free in-home mental health therapy designed to build a stronger bond between parent and child. They also facilitate meeting the family's basic needs by supplying things such as food, diapers and metro passes, all designed to stabilize the homes and foster healthy environments in which each child can thrive.
"They focus on the years where there's the most plasticity in the brain, when there's the most opportunity to change the trajectory of how the brain develops and the trajectory of a child's life," he says.
Aaronson has helped the organization win contracts from the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and grow fourfold. During his term, WIN has also mounted fundraisers honoring those who do similar work in the space. In fall 2018, the nonprofit awarded Robert Redford's son Jamie Redford (since passed) for his documentaries related to the topic, including Paper Tigers about teenagers in a high school for troubled kids. In February 2020, WIN honored Henry Winkler for his years of advocacy for children with learning disabilities as well as his daughter Zoe for her work creating better conditions for children and families at the border.
Sherry Brennan
GM and EVP,
The cause is personal for Sherry Brennan, who is on the board of directors of the Food Research & Action Center.
As a child, she and her family depended on food assistance, and Brennan grew up knowing what it was like to come home to a bare kitchen.
Her own story is the reason she got involved with FRAC, a nonprofit on a mission to improve the nutrition, health and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States. For about a decade, Brennan has worked with FRAC on lobbying efforts in support of nutrition assistance programs. She has spoken at their annual Conference on Hunger and received FRAC's 2017 Distinguished Service Award.
Brennan first got involved when a lobbyist friend asked her to write about the food assistance she had received as a child for a booklet put together for incoming senators and members of Congress. "These programs were very important to me as a kid, and as I grew into adulthood and obviously became a successful executive, it was very important to me to give back and to work in whatever way I could to help those who are still struggling on their own paths up the ladder," Brennan says.
There are two types of food insecurity, she notes. One is persistent lack of access to food, and the other is lack of access to quality food.
"About 15% of American families face some form of food insecurity, and that is a shocking number to many people, including me," she says. "The other thing that's shocking to me is that so many American families rely on cheap processed food as opposed to fresh, whole, nutritious food, and that is something that the SNAP (the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) tries to address by giving people access to coupons that they can use to buy food. There's been a lot of progress made about places like farmers markets taking SNAP payment for fresh produce, which is really important to me."
FRAC also supports free breakfast and lunch programs in schools, another program that Brennan depended upon as a child.
"All I had to do was find a way to quietly slink into the cafeteria manager's office to get my lunch card every week, and after that I was able to get lunch just like all the other kids," she recalled in her published story. "I was grateful for the mercy of a lunch system that made it possible for me to feel 'normal.'"
Brennan is passionate about continued support for that program.
"Children cannot focus on school if they are hungry," she says. "And we know that education is pretty much the only way out of poverty, unless you happen to be a star athlete, in which case you also need to eat."
In addition to lobbying congress for continued financial support of these programs, FRAC also lobbies state legislatures. (The federal programs are administered by the states.) The mostly privately funded organization also supports numerous food banks.
The help makes all the difference in the trajectory of many Americans' lives, she says, recalling one single mom's story about putting herself through college. "She talked about the fact that SNAP benefits were the difference between her being able to have a 20-hour-a-week job and a 40-hour-a-week job," Brennan recalls. "If she hadn't had access to SNAP, she would have either had to quit school or she would have had to work more hours while being in school. You can imagine the dilemma there because if you quit school you're stuck forever in a grinding cycle of low-income jobs. If you stay in school, you are faced with how to feed my kid."
Richard Foos
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder,
Richard Foos' journey with nonprofits is rooted in his love of music.
He has been in the entertainment business for more than 35 years, starting with a small record store called Rhino Records, which grew into an audio label with more than $100 million in annual revenue. He and his partner, Harold Bronson, sold Rhino to Time Warner in 1998, and in 2003 Foos and his partners started Shout! Factory, a leading independent video and music distributor.
"For most of my career in the music industry, I was just kind of horrified that especially in the two biggest cities, L.A. and New York, they had stopped music education in the schools, so I really wanted to really get involved in an organization that was restoring music education," he says.
He now serves as chairman emeritus for the nonprofit Little Kids Rock, with which he's been involved for the past dozen years.
"They are the largest provider of music programs into inner city schools throughout the country," he says.
Founded by David Wish, an elementary school teacher, Little Kids Rock offers a curriculum and musical instruments to about 2,500 schools across 48 states.
"When we adopt a school, we send them rock music instruments, guitars, drums and keyboards, 40 or 50 instruments maybe, depending on how many kids are in the class, and then the school provides a teacher," Foos says. "Many times, it's not a music teacher. It could be a math teacher who plays guitar and had a band in college 20 years before, and we teach them how to be Little Kids Rock teachers."
Foos has been able to leverage his music connections to boost the program.
"I have a relationship with Joe Walsh of the Eagles, and I brought him to a class once and he was just amazing to watch," he recalls. "You know these kids had probably never heard of Joe Walsh or the Eagles, but he had the class in the palm of his hand. You saw what a charismatic performer can do. They were mesmerized by him."
One particularly inspirational teacher at Pio Pico Middle School in Los Angeles instructs about 300 kids.
"He has adolescent kids, and they all have instruments, and it could be a total cacophony, and instead he has them all playing together and helping each other," Foos says. "He introduced us to a seventh grader who'd had some traumatic experiences and had written about them, and she sang us two or three songs she had written, and they were just unbelievable."
Music led Foos to yet another nonprofit. He's on the board of the Pico Union Project, started in Los Angeles by a friend, Craig Taubman, who previously had a musical show on the Disney Channel called "Craig and Company." (Rhino had published his songs.) The Pico Union Project is an interfaith spiritual organization that does work for the community.
Foos is also involved in several other charities. He's on the boards of the Volunteer Collective, a community service group he founded locally with friends, and College Match, which helps bright students in inner city Los Angeles schools get into top colleges. He also supports The Narrative Method, a nonprofit teaching empathy, cooperation and teamwork to at risk populations. It was founded by his wife, who started out as a punk rock singer.
"She used to sell her records to my record store," Foos notes.
Judy Guevara
VP, Global Brand Marketing,
Judy Guevara believes in volunteering wherever she is needed, whether it's in her own backyard in Los Angeles, in another state or abroad in countries such as Haiti.
She is a hands-on volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and The Fuller Center for Housing. She has traveled to Uganda, Guatemala and Mexico, as well as Haiti, working with children and building homes and rebuilding homes after natural disasters. In recent years, she's worked in Puerto Rico to help rebuild post Hurricane Maria and in Nicaragua, building a home for a young family. In September, she traveled to Louisiana to work with Saint Bernard Project's disaster relief team to help families impacted by Hurricane Ida.
Locally, Guevara also volunteers with the L.A. Foodbank once a month and supports Good City Mentors as a mentor, meeting weekly with high school students.
"Working in entertainment, sometimes you kind of need a reality check," Guevara says. "Life is difficult for a lot of people, and it kind of gives me a reality check trying to help others and just make the world a better place, being able to contribute and make a change in people's lives."
Her international volunteer work started when she read an article on "voluntourism." Since then, she's traveled to many countries, including five trips to Haiti.
"Haiti will always have a piece of my heart," she says, recalling a special moment in the town of Pignon, where she had volunteered the previous year. Walking down the street, she heard kids yelling her name.
"It was these kids that I'd met the year before — and it's not like we'd talked to each other," she says. "They didn't know I was coming, but they recognized me."
Judy Guevara (center) with Saint Bernard Project's disaster relief team in New Orleans after Hurricane Ida.
She also recalls building a home for a family in Nicaragua. "We were basically able to build their home where they could move in within that week, which was just a great feeling, to see the looks on their faces, the pure joy," she says.
She knows such travel isn't for everyone. "If you have fears about traveling internationally, there's plenty to do here, in your own backyard," she says.
The food bank Guevara helps out is just 10 minutes from her house. "People always say they don't have the time, but if you make it part of your schedule or part of your life, it's not that difficult," she says.
Her mentoring duties with Good City Mentors (since the pandemic hit) involve a weekly, one-hour Zoom call. "I'm now mentoring a STEM school in Hollywood where we basically just get on a Zoom call with all the kids — they're high school age, young adults," she says. "We just kind of talk about values and ourselves and them, as well as what they're going through."
Further afield in New Orleans this year she helped clean up houses damaged by the hurricane. "We had to wear hazmat suits in 96-degree heat!" she recalls.
But she likes to get out of the country at least once a year and encourages people to do their research and volunteer abroad.
"They're not going to allow you to go into a dangerous situation, these organizations," she says. "You're safe and secure, and the people are all lovely people, full of love, and they want your help. It's just a great way to kind of see the world and to help others."
During her travels, Guevara has developed a tight circle of voluntour friends.
"Once you get your first trip, I think you're kind of hooked," she says.
EVP, Global Marketing,
Big Sunday connects people who want to help with those who need it most, says Hilary Hoffman.
"The organization has always believed that we're all in it together, a particularly important message in these unprecedented times," notes Hoffman, who became engaged with the nonprofit through NBC Universal's corporate initiative.
Their mission is expansive. "They offer an enormous variety of opportunities to get involved," she says. "They produce, promote, sponsor or are involved with more than 2,000 helping and giving activities every year that engage, empower, bring together and connect more than 50,000 people annually."
Hoffman was drawn to the organization's belief that "absolutely everyone has some way that they can help someone else."
Big Sunday provides NBC Universal employees volunteer opportunities throughout the year.
"Our home entertainment division has supported several of these events over the years, enabling us to demonstrate to our employees that we are committed to fostering a positive culture. It is not just about the work we do, but about understanding that by giving back to our community we create a better, more engaged work environment," Hoffman says.
The nonprofit excels at matching volunteers' talents with the many needs in the community, she says.
"There are so many people in our communities who need your help and there are so many ways to get involved," Hoffman says. "On a weekly basis,
Big Sunday provides opportunities to participate in person, virtually, or by donating. They have projects supporting every passion, from homelessness, literacy and the environment, to seniors, veterans and hunger. The organization welcomes, embraces and maximizes every talent offered, from cooking, cleaning, painting, gardening, electric, plumbing, legal aid and medical assistance, to singing, dancing and art."
One of her favorite events during the year is the annual MLK Day Clothing Drive and Community Breakfast.
"Over the past few years we've given away 100,000 items of new and gently-used clothing," Hoffman says. "The donations are distributed to grateful people of all ages at scores of nonprofits and schools throughout the greater L.A. area."
The event serves the community by providing breakfast, live music and experiences such as the Civil Rights History Exhibit and the Something in Common project, where people are asked to find a complete stranger, find something that they have in common and have their picture taken together. The upcoming MLK event takes place Jan. 17 at Big Sunday headquarters on 6111 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles.
Big Sunday also has an "Emergency Fund," which they use to make quick grants of up to $100 each to hardworking people who are having trouble paying their bills. They pay all or part of any kind of bill — electric, cable, phone, car, medical, rent or mortgage. The fund is completely supported by donations.
Savannah Kattan
Employee Experience Specialist,
NBCU Direct-to-Consumer/Fandango and Vudu
Mentoring is key to both Savannah Kattan's professional and volunteer career. She's a human resources executive and for the past six years also has been a "Big Sister" for Big Brothers, Big Sisters — Los Angeles.
Helping youngsters is about giving back for Kattan.
"I was mentored when I was in high school when I really needed it," she says. "I had a stressful time in high school. My family was going through a lot and the extra support I received was the boost I needed to keep my confidence up and get into college. In college I mentored incoming college freshmen during their junior and senior years of high school, and it was really rewarding watching them apply and be accepted into school. Through another collegiate program, I had the opportunity to tutor kids 7 to 14. You don't just help them with homework, but really get to know them on an emotional level. After I graduated college and started working, I wanted to get back to that — support the youth in my community. A few friends had successfully participated with BBBS-LA, so I applied."
Savannah Kattan and her 'Little Sister' Desiree at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
As a Big Sister, Kattan formed a strong bond her Little Sister.
"It was immediate," she says. "When you're paired, you do this short chemistry meeting first to see if it will be a fit. Within the first two minutes we had each other laughing. Desiree was 14, and I was twice her age, and it was, like, this instant sibling magic. We loved the same junk food, the same types of music, and our family structure mirrored each other. She was driven, interested in everything around her, and wanted someone to take her seriously. She told me, at 14, she wanted to be a doctor, and I said, 'Great! I've always wanted to know a doctor!' And I've just always believed she could do it. Now, she is pre-med at Humboldt. She has stayed focused and determined, and I'm extremely proud of her."
Kattan also sees herself as a guide for fellow employees. At the start of 2020, she oversaw Fandango's inaugural launch of five Employee Resource Groups and assisted in their immediate pivot into digital spaces as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I would actually say that the more community work I do, the better I am at HR," she says. "Working in the community offers a pretty broad perspective on the desires, wants, and needs of people. How does that translate to the office? How can I meet people where they are? There is a lot of mindfulness and patience I practice in my regular day to day that I bring with me to work. I lean in to our company values and root myself as an ambassador of our internal culture — this determines how I am best able to show up for folks."
Her desire to help also extends to her community.
"Community isn't just the neighborhood you live in, but the people who live in it," she says. "I volunteer when I can and I try to inspire all my friends and family to come along, too. And I'm not just talking your typical food drives, but sustainably supporting community fridges — and pitching in by signing up for a cleaning session. Sweep in front of your apartment building and keep things tidy where you can. Have extra? Get a couple loaves of bread, some PB&J and water. Hand out a quick bite and drink to houseless folks on your block. Volunteer for reading programs at the library. I just try to stay active and productive for the people I share the world with. We are all just trying our best — and I just want people to know they are seen, and that they matter."
Dina Wiggins
SVP, Legal Affairs,
When Dina Wiggins found out that $250 could change a child's life, she joined the cause of Mending Faces. Founded by a group of medical professionals, the charity's mission is to restore hope and provide a brighter future to those whose lives are burdened by a cleft lip, cleft palate and other deformities. All medical, dental and outreach personnel donate their time and expertise and fully fund their own travel and lodging expenses, allowing Mending Faces to perform procedures for roughly $250 each, provided at no cost to the patient or their family. These same procedures in the United States cost approximately $10,000 to $15,000 each.
Inspired by her brother, who is an anesthesiologist and founding board member of the charity founded in 2010, Wiggins has donated and participated in fundraisers for the cause for more than a decade.
Dina Wiggins (right) with her brother Dr. Sami Lababidi at a hospital in Kalibo, Philippines.
Children born with facial defects face many disadvantages, such as difficulty in feeding and getting proper nutrition, which can lead to numerous other health problems. When the roof of the mouth is not closed properly, it can lead to constant upper respiratory tract and sinus infections. Children can also have difficulties speaking properly.
"Sadly, many of these children are kept out of school because of the stigma and illnesses associated with their deformity, preventing them from receiving a proper education, limiting their opportunities and causing self-esteem issues," she notes.
In February 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit, Wiggins joined the annual medical mission to the Philippines as a volunteer.
"I assisted in the pre-screening, surgical prep, transfers from pre-op to operating room to recovery, and obtaining and organizing supplies for a very busy mission consisting of 63 patients and 77 cleft lip and palate procedures in one week," she says.
As part of outreach in the community, she visited an elementary school where the charity provided each of the children with dental education, a toothbrush, toothpaste and an oral hygiene pamphlet.
Changing one young life particularly affected Wiggins.
"There was a young patient (approximately 7 years old) that I was able to be with throughout each stage of the process," she says. "I assisted her as she went through screening to determine that she was a good candidate for surgery and pre-op preparation. When it was time for her operation, she literally skipped into the operating room full of masked strange adults and medical equipment. When asked if she was ready for her operation, she said, 'Yes!,' hopped up on the operating table and laid down. After her surgical recovery time in the hospital, I also accompanied her home with a backpack of supplies for her post-op care and bags of rice, fruit and bottled water for her and her family. Their home was very modest — made of cinder block, plywood and corrugated metal sheeting for the roof — and they were so gracious and grateful. It was obvious that there was no way they could have paid for the surgery without Mending Faces.
"As we were leaving, I asked her if she would like a sticker from a Barbie sticker sheet I brought from home because she had been such a wonderful, brave patient. As she eyed the sheet trying so hard to decide which one she wanted, I told her she could keep the whole sheet. The utter joy on her beautiful, newly repaired face as she clutched that sticker sheet to her little chest is something I will never forget."
BASE Revamps Home Entertainment Awards
The British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), the U.K. home entertainment trade group, Jan. 11 announced it is rejiggering its annual awards show to better reflect changing consumer and category trends. Scheduled for June 7 in London, the 2018 BASE Awards will…
Sony Ups Q3 Home Entertainment Sales
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Feb. 2 reported third-quarter (ended Dec. 31, 2017) revenue of $331 million, which was up $3 million from revenue of $328 million during the previous-year period. Through nine months of the fiscal year, revenue topped $692…
WWE Home Entertainment Posts Q4 Loss
Consumer demand for World Wrestling Entertainment DVDs is waning. WWE home entertainment reported fourth-quarter (ended Dec. 31, 2017) operating loss of $700,000 compared to operating income of $1.9 million during the previous-year period. It was the unit's first fiscal loss.…
Universal Upped 2017 Home Entertainment Revenue
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Jan. 24 reported fiscal 2017 revenue of more than $1.32 billion, which was up about 5% from revenue of $1.25 billion in 2016. The studio said fourth-quarter revenue declined 20% to $377 million from revenue of…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It often feels like endless maintenance is the one thing holding this place together – we have been working hard for the past year to remake all of the wagon station panels in marine grade plywood. Going into the big push – trying to get the job done in time for the fall season: 49 panels almost done, 28 more to go.
This guy is spending more time above ground with the slightly cooler mornings. It's his first season on an all native diet in the new tortoise enclosure – and he seems to be enjoying the expanded territory.
A clean chicken coop is my version of a zen garden.
Thinking this about all the great people who helped to make this happen… Just wanted to say thank you.
Still working hard in the cabins in the heat and dust and sweat this week – it's rough going, but all the little details are getting ticked off. Here is @nicksculptor getting everything cinched down and leveled out a few days ago.
Feeling totally indebted right now to @danjohnanderson, Aaron and Ryan for keeping it all together during a tough install in the high temps – and to @nicksculptor for taking on this project and executing it so beautifully. The work in Wonder Valley will also be part of my fall show at Andrea Rosen Gallery in NY – more info on that as everything comes together.


text:
Taylor's Hypothesis: The Inventor of Yoogli Semantic Search Algorithms
Yoogli March 10, 2017
Taylor's Hypothesis states, "measuring the collective search intent of multiple human beings in a semantic search network in a semantically indexed database increases the probability of returning the desired search result. The value of the network is proportional to the square of the number of measured collective search intents in the system. The probability of achieving optimal results increases proportionally to the number of people participating in the network to achieve a desired result. As the number of search users increases regarding harvesting a similar search result, the probability of obtaining the desired result increases proportionally. The greater the number of participating users in the network, the more valuable the knowledge gained becomes to the community. The greater the quantity and variety of information in a semantically indexed database relative to the information sought the greater the probability that the information searched for may be located and harvested."
The Yoogli semantic search algorithm is continuously and automatically re-mastered by tracing the semantic footprints of each user searching for a specific subject beginning at search number one using Wikipedia. The Taylor Rank algorithm tracks, records and refines each user's search choices from the original search result from Wikipedia. The continuously refined Taylor Rank algorithm uses an automated re-mastering of the Yoogli semantic search algorithm based on a computer analysis of a minimum of 10,000 user semantic search footprints for any given subject/search. The beginning of the search path that all users take begins when they choose "more articles like this" from the first Yoogli keyword search result from Wikipedia as the initial search result delivered to a user.
The Taylor Rank algorithm is an automated computer program that continuously re-creates, re-masters and improves semantic search results for users. The algorithm is based on an analysis of each user's historical search footprint on a specific subject combined with all other searches on the same subject, rather than an analysis of the quality and number of links to each page searched for as is the case with Google's Page Rank algorithm. The Taylor Rank algorithm learns from itself, continuously updates itself, and provides more perfected and more pinpointed search results to the user. In other words, each Yoogli user may have a unique custom semantic search algorithm that understands and responds to each user's specific search requests, based on both their own search footprint as well as the cumulative search footprints of thousands of other search users seeking the same information from their individual search queries.
The name of this automated semantic page results ranking algorithm system is Taylor Rank in contrast to Page Rank, which is named after Allan Page of Google for its famous keyword page ranking results algorithm. The Taylor Rank technology takes the patented semantic search technology developed by Yoogli to the next level in providing more pinpointed search results for a user. It does this by adding and examining the behavioral paths that humans take using the Yoogli technology in harnessing prior semantic search results to achieve even more optimal search results against a specific subject of interest. This is the embodiment of "semantic network intelligence" which is a precursor of "semantic artificial intelligence."
Dave Taylor is a co-founder of Yoogli and inventor of semantic search US patents 7013300, 7219073, 7881981 and 8027876.