text:
Contact Lens That Acts Like Sunglasses
Federal health regulators have approved the use of the first contact lenses that can act like sunglasses.
ACUVUE OASYS With Transitions
Exposure to harmful lighting situations such as artificial light and UV rays can have unwanted impacts on comfort, vision, and health of the eye. Some individual compensate for harsh lighting environments by squinting, dimming the lights, and shielding their eyes.
The contact lens called ACUVUE OASYS with Transitions automatically adapts to lighting conditions, which helps the eye manage different types of light and varying brightness intensities throughout the day.
"We are excited to bring to market a solution to help contact lenses wearers manage the changing light conditions they face every day in their modern, active lives," Xiao-Yu Song, Global Head of R&D for Johnson & Johnson Vision, said in a statement.
Light-Adaptive Technology
The contact lens helps correct the vision of people without any eye disease who are nearsighted or farsighted. It can also be used by people with some degree or astigmatism, a problem that causes distorted images.
"This contact lens is the first of its kind to incorporate the same technology that is used in eyeglasses that automatically darken in the sun," said Eydelman said.
Proper Use
The soft contact lenses can be used daily for up to 14 days. Patients are advised not to sleep in these contact lenses, expose them to water, and use them longer than directed. People with eye infection, redness, and other eye problems should not wear the contact lens.
Not A Substitute For Sunglasses And Other UV-Absorbing Eyewear
Although the contact lens come with a light-adaptive technology, it is not intended for use as a substitute for protective UV-absorbing eyewear such as sunglasses or UV-absorbing sunglasses.
UV blocking contact lenses can help provide protection for the eye against harmful UV radiation but clinical studies have not yet shown that wearing these types of contact lenses can reduce the risk for cataracts and other eye disorders associated with long-term exposure to UV radiation.
The contact lens neither completely covers the eyes and their surrounding area so wearers are still advised to continue using UV-absorbing eyewear.
Source: TechTimes


text:
package net.congyh.spring_cookbook.service.impl;

import net.congyh.spring_cookbook.entity.User;
import net.congyh.spring_cookbook.service.RmiUserService;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Created by congyihao on 16-10-25.
 */
@Service
public class RmiUserServiceImpl implements RmiUserService {
    private List<User> userList = new LinkedList<User>();

    public RmiUserServiceImpl() {
        userList.add(new User("Merlin", 777));
        userList.add(new User("Arthur", 123));
    }

    public List<User> findAll() {
        return userList;
    }

    public void addUser(User user) {
        userList.add(user);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
LG Aristo 2 for MetroPCS Packs More RAM
Jan 23, 2018, 12:00 PM by Eric M. Zeman @zeman_e
updated Jan 24, 2018, 2:47 PM
Updated: Fixed typo. / Added info about LTE 66 and dual-band Wi-Fi, and corrected info about fingerprint reader.
MetroPCS recently added the LG Aristo 2 to its lineup of inexpensive Android handsets. This device is a minor update to the original Aristo. It improves the memory from 1.5 GB to 2 GB, adds support for LTE band 66, and steps up to dual-band Wi-Fi. It also swaps the original's silver color for black. Other than these changes, the Aristo 2 carries over all the features of the original Aristo, including a 5-inch HD screen, 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, and 16 GB of internal storage. The phone includes a 13-megapixel main camera with flash and a 5-megapixel selfie camera. The phone runs Android 7 Nougat. The LG Aristo 2 is available from MetroPCS for $59 after a mail-in rebate. The original Aristo is still available from MetroPCS for $49.
more info at MetroPCS »
Hands On with the LG K10 and K8
LG popped out new K series devices this week. LG's K series generally represent entry-level phones.
T-Mobile and MetroPCS Announce the LG Aristo
T-Mobile and MetroPCS both plan to sell the LG Aristo starting later this month. The handset is an entry-level device running Android 7 Nougat.
Motorola Updates Affordable Lineup for 2018
Motorola today announced four new affordable Android phones coming to the U.S. market before mid-year.
ZTE Debuts Blade V9 and V9 Vita with 18:9 Screens
ZTE today expanded its lineup of Blade series handsets with the Blade V9 and V9 Vita. These mid-range handsets bring the Blade series up-to-date with competing designs by adopting the 18:9 aspect ratio display.
Meet the LG Exalt, Verizon's First LTE-Only Flip Phone
Verizon Wireless recently added the LG Exalt LTE to its lineup of inexpensive flip phones. The Exalt LTE has the distinction of being Verizon's first 4G LTE basic phone, according to the carrier.
LG Aristo / Aristo 2
5" display 720 x 1280 pixels
Snapdragon 425 processor 2 GB RAM
2,410 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Bluegrass Camp Online
(bios and schedule below)
CHRIS "CRITTER" ELDRIDGE
KIMBER LUDIKER
ALAN BIBEY
STEPHEN MOUGIN
JOE NEWBERRY
ZAK MCLAMB
TONY WATT
Chris "Critter" Eldridge
Guitar, Punch Brothers
As a founding member of Punch Brothers, guitarist Chris "Critter" Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for much of the past decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, Chris developed a deep love for acoustic music in his teens, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while at Oberlin Conservatory, during which time he studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice. After graduating he joined the Seldom Scene, with whom he received a Grammy nomination in 2007. In 2005 he founded the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters, and in 2007 they won IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year for their debut album, Fork in the Road. Meanwhile, in 2005 he had caught the attention of mandolinist Chris Thile, who enlisted him, along with banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, and bassist Greg Garrison to start working on an ambitious side project. Soon after they decided to focus all of their collective energies into a band and Punch Brothers was born. The band has since released six critically acclaimed albums, received six Grammy nominations, and toured around the world. Eldridge also plays in a duo with guitarist Julian Lage, with whom he has released two full-length records and an EP; their most recent, Mount Royal, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Album. Chris was also the house guitarist on the public radio show, Live From Here, formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion. He has worked with a diverse cast of musical luminaries including Paul Simon, John Paul Jones, Marcus Mumford, Justin Timberlake, T-Bone Burnett, Fiona Apple, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Sara Watkins, Del McCoury, and many others.
Fiddle, Della Mae
Born of fiddle playing parents in Spokane, WA, Kimber Ludiker is a fifth-generation fiddle player who started learning on the lap of her grandfather at age three. With eleven combined family National Fiddle Championships, Kimber holds three herself. In 2009, Kimber founded the all-female bluegrass/Americana string band Della Mae. They were IBMA's Emerging Artists of the Year in 2013, GRAMMY Nominees in 2014 for their debut album on Rounder Records, named by Rolling Stone as one of ten bands to watch for in 2015, and have traveled with the U.S. Department of State to fifteen countries spreading peace and understanding through music. Kimber is a talented and in-demand teacher who has taught for many years, including at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.
Banjo, Peghead Nation
Bill Evans is an internationally recognized five-string banjo life force. As a performer, teacher, writer, and composer, he brings a deep knowledge, intense virtuosity, and contagious passion to all things banjo, with thousands of music fans and banjo students all over the world, the product of a music career that spans more than 35 years. Bill has performed with David Bromberg, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, J. D. Crowe, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, James Nash, Tony Trischka, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Mike Seeger, Jim Hurst, Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, and Molly Tuttle, among many others. Bill is the author of Banjo for Dummies, the most popular banjo book in the world. He has produced six critically acclaimed instructional DVDs for AcuTab Publications, Homespun Tapes, and the Murphy Method; and is the co-author of Parking Lot Picker's Songbook: Banjo Edition from MelBay. Bill has been a mainstay at many of the most important banjo and bluegrass music camps around the world for the last decade and hosts his own annual California Banjo Extravaganza and the NashCamp Sonny Osborne Banjo Camp. Bill is equally adept at teaching experienced players and new learners who just want to have fun.
Mandolin, Grasstowne
Since first hitting the scene in the early 1980s, Alan has made a name for himself as one of the most creative and technically gifted mandolinists in bluegrass and acoustic music. He was a founding member of groundbreaking bands The New Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out, BlueRidge, and for the last eight years, Alan Bibey & Grasstowne. Alan has won the SPBGMA Mandolin Performer Of The Year award six times including the last three years in a row, and he is also the reigning IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year. He also won the IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year in 2001, and Album of the Year in 2006. His solo project "In The Blue Room" was voted Top Instrumental Album by County Record Sales, and he was included in the Mel Bay book "Greatest Mandolin Players of the Twentieth Century." In early 2004, the Gibson Company started manufacturing the Alan Bibey Signature line of mandolins, reaffirming his status as one of the most influential mandolin players in bluegrass and acoustic music history.
Singing and Songwriting, Sam Bush Band
Stephen Mougin is one of the most respected Jack-of-All-Trades in bluegrass and acoustic music: a compassionate teacher, compelling touring guitarist, natural songwriter, sought-after band coach, and gifted producer and engineer. Mougin is most naturally a vocal teacher, having earned a degree in music education with a vocal focus from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. "[Bluegrass voice teaching is] about knowing which rules you can break or bend to make it sound authentic," he says. Mougin's proven method starts with the fundamentals, and then he works with students on developing their own style. "Of all the things I am, the thing I do best is teach. The results are tangible, and it's where I have the most confidence," Mougin says. In 2005, he launched Dark Shadow Recording, a record label with a world-class studio that Mougin heads up. In addition to multiple IBMA awards, Dark Shadow Recording has released instructional CDs on baritone and tenor harmony vocals with help from Russell Moore and Ronnie Bowman. In 2006, Stephen joined Sam Bush band as the guitar player, and he has also worked as a vocal coach in the studio with the band. Stephen also teaches bluegrass guitar on TrueFire.com which Guitar Player Magazine calls "the planet's largest and most comprehensive selection of online guitar lessons." Over one million guitar players, from virtually every country in the world, "learn, practice, and play" with TrueFire's interactive video courses and patented learning systems for personalized and private online instruction.
Singing and Songwriting, performs with Mike Compton and April Verch
Known around the world for his clawhammer banjo playing, Joe Newberry is also a powerful guitarist, singer, and songwriter. The Gibson Brothers' version of his song "Singing As We Rise" won the 2012 IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance Award. With Eric Gibson, he shared the 2013 IBMA Song of the Year Award for "They Called It Music." A longtime and frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, he was a featured singer on the Transatlantic Sessions in the U.K., and at the Session's debut at Merlefest. He plays in a duo with mandolin icon Mike Compton, and also performs with dynamic fiddler and step-dancer April Verch. Newberry has taught banjo, guitar, singing, and songwriting at numerous camps and festivals, including Ashokan, the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Targhee Music Camp, the Australia National Folk Festival, and Vocal, Bluegrass and Old-Time Weeks at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.
Bass, Grasstowne
Zak McLamb is the two-time reigning SPBGMA Bass Performer of the Year, an award he won in 2019 and 2020. Zak started playing music at the age of 7, when his father, a banjo player, bought a bass for his mother. Soon Zak fell in love with the bass and his father taught him a few notes and encouraged him to play. Zak studied under a classical bassist once a week for three years and learned the fundamentals of playing, then took the formal knowledge that he gained and applied it to his true musical love, bluegrass. Zak started playing music with his parents in a local group, The Tony McLamb Band, in 1988 and continues to play with them today. He joined the Raleigh-based New Vintage Bluegrass Band in 1992 and played with them for two of his high school years. It was during this time that New Vintage won both the SPBGMA International Band Championship and the Pizza Hut International Bluegrass Showdown. In 2004, Zak joined the Kenny and Amanda Smith Band and toured with them widely for seven years. Zak has recorded with many different artists in recent years and is considered one of the top bass players in the industry.
Camp Coordinator & Jamming Instructor
Award-winning flatpicking guitarist and mandolinist Tony Watt has performed throughout the United States and Europe, on the Grand Ole Opry, and beyond. He has been featured in Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Today, and Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, but is perhaps best known for his version of Cherokee Shuffle with Noam Pikelny and Andy Falco, which has been viewed about 200,000 times on YouTube. Tony has toured with Rounder Recording artist Alecia Nugent, with Leigh Gibson, guitarist for The Gibson Brothers, with Jenni Lyn Gardner, mandolinist for Della Mae, and currently performs with Alan Bibey & Grasstowne. He is the Vice President and Education Co-Director of the Boston Bluegrass Union (BBU) which puts on the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival. Tony has taught bluegrass for over 20 years and is a visiting artist at the Berklee College of Music's prestigious American Roots Music Program. Tony is also the director of The Bluegrass University, which presents JamVember, a weekend-long bluegrass jamming "non-festival" held the weekend before Thanksgiving at the Sheraton in Framingham, MA. Tony currently teaches lessons, classes, workshops, and jam sessions throughout the Boston area and anywhere in the world online (visit tonywattbluegrass.com for details).
The Schedule is here!
Meet the Teachers & Welcome Jam
Wednesday 6:00 - 8:00 PM
All the Teachers
Meet camp coodinator Tony Watt and the 2020 Ashokan Bluegrass Camp teachers, then play along for a big bluegrass jam.
Mandolin for High Int and Adv
Thursday 10:00 - 11:00 AM
Taking your bluegrass mandolin playing to the next level!
Fiddle for Beg and Low Int
Learn bluegrass basics! Kicks, fills, tone, melody, and rhythm
Lead Singing
Thursday 1:00 - 2:00 PM
This class will look at ornamentations and techniques to make your bluegrass lead singing stand out in a crowd... or a field
Banjo for High Int and Adv
Melodic & single-string crash course compares and contrasts each approach, focusing on right and left hand technique and fingerboard exercises w/ tab
Harmony Singing
Harmony Singing: Overview, Do's and Don'ts, practice routine, styles, and creativity
Jam for Beg and Low Int
This jam will feature some common bluegrass standards mostly played at slow to moderate tempos
An Evening With
Bill Evans and Kimber Ludiker
Join Bill Evans and Kimber Ludiker for an exciting evening of bluegrass music
Stephen Mougin and Joe Newberry
Join Stephen Mougin and Joe Newberry for an exciting evening of bluegrass music
Guitar for Beg and Low Int
Friday 10:00 - 11:00 AM
Chris Eldridge
We'll talk about the foundations of good physical and mental technique as it relates to guitar through the lens of good rhythm guitar playing.
Fiddling Crash Course
There's no time like the present to get hooked on fiddle… CORRECTLY! An impromptu very very beginner course covering what you'll need to get started from the very basics! All are welcome.
Friday 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Songwriting: Inspiration, self-editing, motivation, creation/variation of melodies, and twisting lyrics
Mandolin for Beg and Low Int
Let's have fun expanding our knowledge of the fretboard and mandolin in general
Lead Singing: Technique, artistry, repertoire, selecting keys, and finding YOUR voice
Jam for High Int and Adv
This higher-level jam will feature some songs played at moderate-to-fast tempos
Chris Eldridge and Alan Bibey
Join Chris Eldridge and Alan Bibey for an exciting evening of bluegrass music
Bluegrass Singing
This class will cover some of the most important aspects of bluegrass singing as taught by two of the best teachers anywhere!
Guided exercises, plus work on structure and point of view will move the song in your heart to share with the world
Bluegrass Bass
Learn the secrets of great bass playing from one of the most inventive players in modern bluegrass
Banjo for Beg and Low Int
Discover the secrets of great playing technique, Scruggs roll patterns and left-hand slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs w/tab
Fiddle for High Int and Adv
A deep dive of bluegrass fiddle! Learn how to play a great solo, improvisation approaches, and a master's class approach to technique and fundamentals
Harmony singing is a reaction to lead singing, and this class will help you more confidently follow the lead(er)
Guitar for High Int and Adv
We will explore tone production, sophisticated rhythm guitar approaches, and core concepts related to single note playing.
Campers' Showcase
Interested Campers
Sign up HERE to perform a song for your fellow campers at our Campers' Showcase online concert
Teachers' Concert
Your 2020 Ashokan Bluegrass Camp teachers will perform in this concert put on for the entire camp
Goodbye Jam
Sunday 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Join camp coodinator Tony Watt for one final jam session as we bid farewell to Ashokan Bluegrass Camp 2020


The new-generation Renault Duster (known as Dacia Duster in most other markets) will hit the exhibition floor at the 2017 Frankfurt International Motor Show next month. This is what it looks like. We are liking it quite a lot, with a design that seems to take a more premium path. Duster is Renault's more "industrial" small SUV/ crossover, but this one is very much modern and crisp.
For now not much in the way of detail is available, but we could see new turbo petrol engines making their debuts here, like the 1.2-litre turbo, as well as a diesel. As you can see, the front grille has been redesigned completely to keep up with Renault's latest design philosophy. There are of course, LED daytime running lights too, as well as a powerful bonnet dome, silver lower skid plate, silver side mirrors, protective black bumpers all around and rear LED lights.


dial: Original Lapis Lazuli stone dial is in factory new condition with stunning colors, 9 and 6 with Diamonds.
case: Amazing ultra sharp original case has never been polished. the lugs retain their original shape and size and are very thick, original bezel in mint condition.
bracelet: Comes on its original full length hidden clasp president bracelet in perfect condition with no stretch.
accessories: Comes with its original box, original Punched paper, booklet, liflet, tags, and wallet.
remarries: A watch to die for !!!! You want something a bit different ?? This is the watch !!! Full serviced in December 2015, the watch comes with a 2 years guaranty from Rolex worldwide.


For many people, making the decision to have cosmetic surgery is tough enough – and then finding the right provider is even more difficult. When working through your options, here are three 'agencies' you can call upon to give you confidence in your decision-making.
While it isn't compulsory to go via your GP, it is advisable. Even if you haven't needed to visit your GP often over the years, they are better placed than anyone else to comment on your medical history and if that presents influencing factors. You can ask your GP for a letter of referral and they may have advice on a reputable provider. Additionally, talking to them about your intentions to have cosmetic surgery may be useful as they can offer an impartial ear – something friends and family can't always promise.
BAAPS is the place to go for advice on WHO performs your cosmetic surgery. Members of BAAPS are listed on the General Medical Council's Specialist Register of Plastic Surgeons so you can feel reassured that they have the highest qualifications. As a member of BAAPS, Cambridge cosmetic surgeon Mr Tariq Ahmad has not only gained the requisite qualifications, but as a condition of membership is committed to continued training and the annual submission of a safety audit. Further to this, BAAPS members only practice in reputable clinics such as Cambridge's Spires and Nuffield hospitals.
The CQC is the regulating body for WHERE the surgery takes place: a provider is legally obliged to be registered. Before committing to cosmetic surgery, check the CQC website for your provider or ask them to show you their licence. If something goes wrong and they are not registered, their insurance may not be valid as they would be practising outside the law.
The cosmetic surgery consultation is one of the most important steps in the whole process. Here are three things you can do to ensure its worth.
1. Do your research before the cosmetic surgery consultation.
If you know what is involved then you also know what you don't understand and you can ask about it. You will also have a good idea of what is going to worry you and you can seek reassurance from your surgeon. Write all these things down and take your list with you.
2. Take a pen – and a friend.
Many people find they leave a consultation room and when asked the particulars of a suggested treatment, they go blank. This is extremely common – but there are ways to avoid it. Take a pen and paper to note down answers to your questions; even better, take a friend who can act as scribe for you so that you can concentrate on talking to the surgeon and assessing whether you feel confident in their abilities and manner.
Can you explain what it is you don't like? Years of experience of performing a variety of procedures has shown Cambridge surgeon Mr Tariq Ahmad that those who are able to be specific about their expectations are on the whole more satisfied with the results. More importantly, that those who are realistic about the limitations of cosmetic surgery and to what extent it is going to 'change' their situation, emerge happier than those who are simply seeking a one-stop solution to all of life's ills.
Each person – each body – is different and the cosmetic surgery you have needs to be tailor made to you. During your Cambridge cosmetic surgery consultation, Mr Ahmad will conduct a thorough physical examination and, after listening carefully to your objectives, will make a bespoke surgical plan to get you as close as possible to these goals.
1. Is cosmetic surgery available on the NHS?
Cosmetic surgery is rarely available through the NHS and reserved for cases where there is a major physical or psychological reason for surgery. Even if you intend to choose a private provider, you should speak to your GP and ask them to refer you to a reputable cosmetic surgeon. Your GP knows your medical history and will be a good sounding board.
2. What is included in the quoted cost?
It is vital to understand how the costs break down and what is and is not covered – you do not want to be surprised by an additional bill further down the road. 'Package' prices quoted by members of BAAPS (the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons) are made up of the clinic fee, which will include the bed in the hospital, and the facilities of the operating theatre. While many providers will publish approximate fees on their website, an accurate quote can only be given after a consultation when the surgeon can assess the extent of the procedure required. Mr Tariq Ahmad's policy is to discuss all that is involved in his Cambridge cosmetic surgery consultations and to confirm all fees prior to the commencement of treatment.
3. Do I have to pay for the cosmetic surgery consultation?
4. Why would I choose a more expensive surgeon?
When undergoing any kind of medical treatment, it is inadvisable to let cost dictate your decisions. Choose your surgeon according to their qualifications, continued training, experience and where they operate.
You've had your consultation, agreed on a cosmetic surgery plan and you're booked in, but before you can fully relax and look ahead to enjoying the results, do you know everything you need to know? Here is a final checklist to help find peace of mind.
1. Do you know what is included in the price?
It is imperative that you are fully aware of what is – and, crucially, what is not – included in the price you have been quoted. Are there any hidden costs? With regard to aftercare, are the follow-up appointments included? What about if there are complications and you require unforeseen medical treatment? And what about your chosen surgeon's revision policy: if you are dissatisfied with the results, who bears the cost of further cosmetic surgery?
2. Where will the cosmetic surgery be performed?
You should have met your surgeon at your consultation and will no doubt have checked out their qualifications, experience and patient satisfaction record, but what of the clinic where the procedure will take place? As a member of BAAPS, Mr Tariq Ahmad is committed to operating only in reputable clinics; indeed, the Nuffield and the Spires are Cambridge's top private hospitals and there he has the support of a highly trained and experience team.
3. Are you able to take time out?
At your cosmetic surgery consultation, your surgeon will advise you on what recovery time you should expect to need. Are you able to take that time off work or your other duties? Do you have help lined up?
4. Are you and your cosmetic surgeon on the same page?
It is vital that there is honesty between patient and surgeon and that their aims are what you are expecting the outcome to be. Have you had a conversation about realistic objectives? During your cosmetic surgery consultation, Cambridge-based Mr Ahmad will always discuss your goals and offer candid guidance on how best to achieve them.


Bungie and Activision have announced that the two companies have split, with Bungie retaining ownership of the Destiny with full publishing rights to the game.
"Today, we're announcing plans for Bungie to assume full publishing rights and responsibilities for the Destiny franchise," Activision and Bungie said in a join statement. "Going forward, Bungie will own and develop the franchise, and Activision will increase its focus on owned IP and other projects. Activision and Bungie are committed to a seamless transition for the Destiny franchise and will continue to work closely together during the transition on behalf of the community of Destiny players around the world."
Blizzard has announced that Destiny 2 will remain on Battle.net despite the lack of Activision ties.


"How do you decide where to work on a PDIA project?" This is probably the most common question I have been asked with respect to PDIA.
"That sounds bizarre," I hear you say. Or maybe you think I'm just being cute to fit in with a playful blogging technique.
No, authorizers with an itch are key to starting any PDIA initiative.
When I say we need counterparts with an itch, I mean that they are very aware of a problem they can't solve. Like an itch you can't scratch, or that you scratch again and again but to no avail. This is usually a policy problem that has come to the surface one too many times, usually where various prior reforms or policies or interventions have not provided effective solutions.
Stubborn itches create frustration and even desperation, which can create the space for doing things differently—and taking risks. PDIA needs this kind of space, and this motivating influence. Without it, we have found very little room to focus on the problem, and learn-by-doing towards a new solution.
There are downsides of working to scratch a stubborn itch. The fact that others have tried scratching it, to no avail, means that it is usually going to be 'wicked hard' to solve (so don't expect an easy path to a solution). The fact that it seems to move around (sometimes itching here and sometimes there) reflects the many unseen and even dynamic factors that cause the itch itself (like nasty politics or bureaucratic dysfunction). Don't expect these factors to go away just because you are tackling the problem with PDIA. You will hit the nastiness soon. Be ready.
When I say we need 'authorizers' to start, it is because the PDIA work we do is always in the public domain, where no real work (with action attached) is done without someone's explicit authorization. The required authorizer is always, in my experience, someone inside the context undergoing change. This means the work cannot be ordered or organized or identified by an external agent (donor, consultant, or even academic).
My team at Harvard found this out the hard way. As you will read in a forthcoming working paper by Stuart Russell, Peter Harrington and I, we have experimented with PDIA initiatives where problems are identified in different ways. We have had limited success whenever anyone from Harvard or an external entity (like a donor) has been a main identifier of the problem. In contrast, we have almost always had some success when the problem was identified by a domestic authorizer in the place undergoing change.
This is simply because the internal authorizer needs to have internal authority: at the least, to convene a group of internal people to start engaging with the problem, and beyond this to protect the PDIA process from threats and distractions. No external party can do this.
Beyond convening authority, we find that the authorizers need to provide three types of authorization: shareable authorization (where they allow the engagement of other authorizers in the process of scratching the itch), flexible authorization (which allows for an experimental process), and patient (or grit) authorization (where one can expect some continued support in the search for an effective 'scratch' solution).
These are big authorization needs, and one does not know if they will be met at the start of the PDIA process. But they tend to come when authorizers face an itch (making them willing to share, adaptive in demands, and patient for a real solution).
We find, therefore, that there is enough space to initiate a PDIA initiative if we find an authorizer with an itch she cannot scratch. That's where we start our work, buckling our seat belts and getting ready for a journey of, and to the unexpected.
Learn more about engaging authorizers around problems that matter in chapters 6 and 9 of our free book, Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action.


text:
Station Eleven's Creator Explains Why He Changed the Book's Ending
Patrick Somerville on the connections that viewers are missing—and the ones he never intended.
By Sam Adams
Mackenzie Davis in Station Eleven. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Ian Watson/HBO Max
It's understandable if the last thing you want to watch during a pandemic is a TV show about a world laid waste by a pandemic. But Station Eleven is the rare, perhaps the only, post-apocalyptic story that might make you feel a little bit better about the end of the world. Covering the onset of and the first 20 years after a flu outbreak that leaves only one in a thousand alive, the HBO Max series finds the people who are left not just struggling to survive but to find meaning in their new world. Two decades after the fall of civilization, the series, which was adapted by Patrick Somerville from Emily St. John Mandel's novel, falls in with the Traveling Symphony, a group of wandering players who bring music and Shakespeare to the scattered settlements that remain. (Their leader, played by Mackenzie Davis, does a mean Hamlet, but she's also handy with a knife.) It's a story in which, rather than society being stripped to its bare essentials, surprising remnants of human culture remain, and Lisa Loeb's "Stay" is passed down among the generations like a sacred text. In other words, it's about what we're trying to hold onto right now.
The day before the finale, Somerville, wearing a Grateful Dead hoodie for the occasion, got on Zoom to discuss making Shakespeare with Costco materials, why he decided to make certain changes to the book, and whether COVID has made him more or less confident that the apocalypse might end well. (This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.)
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Sam Adams: Station Eleven is radically different from Emily St. John Mandel's source novel. You overlap and expand storylines, even in some cases change whether characters live or die. What was the first thing you knew you needed to change?
Patrick Somerville: I had a couple of hazy intuitions about what it needed to do in order to work as a television show. The first one was, I ended up phrasing it, "All roads had to lead to the airport." Unlike the way Emily deployed it, one step at a time, I was really interested in seeing the Symphony, the cult, and the museum all collapsed into one space, to watch the various conflicts that existed between those three points of view play out—at the human level, at the character level, but at the ideological level too. And also, if you make TV, if you're going to build an airport, you better get your money's worth.
It just felt like there was an opportunity for more confrontation between the people who had things in common for rich drama to play out. The other thing that we really wanted to do was expand Jeevan's role in the story somehow. He's a very memorable character in the novel, but he's very much in his head. You need someone to talk to someone. It just very naturally presented itself as a way to both deepen young Kirsten, enrich the story of the 80 days trapped in the apartment, and possibly make it not three forces that unite at the end, but maybe there would be a way for a fourth force, Jeevan in year 20, to somehow end up at that airport too. We had a mini [writers] room that was just two weeks in the early days, and we left the mini room with those insights, but without knowing how we were going to do any of that.
That changes the story on a structural and technical level. Did it change what the story was about for you?
"I was really interested in seeing the Symphony, the cult, and the museum all collapsed into one space, to watch the various conflicts that existed between those three points of view play out."
It made it easier for me to see what the story was about, but I would say that it's in harmony with Emily's novel. Thinking about not Frank and Jeevan alone in the apartment, but Frank, Kirsten, and Jeevan alone in the apartment, that story in the novel was about repairing old wounds, reinvestigating old dynamics, looking at hard decisions, but also reviving a love. And it's about family-making. So we made adjustments to make a vacuum for young Kirsten to step into, like, "There's a missing person here and it's our sister, but we happen to have a young child. We know what to do." I think that's very much the book: How do you rebuild? It's a very common thing to say "chosen family" now, in the last 10 years especially, and it's a powerful idea, but I find it to be a hard idea too, one that requires a little bit more investigation than simply saying, "Here I am with my friends." It's not so easy to be in any family, even if it's a chosen family. So you fight in your chosen family, too, and I liked the idea that we could tell a story about a chosen family—or not exactly chosen, but a remade family—but make it clear that you still fight with your siblings in a chosen family, and that's OK.
The premise of Station Eleven is unavoidably bleak. You're talking about a pandemic that wipes out 99.99 percent of human life. But even from the first shot of the overgrown theater, there's an almost bucolic quality to "post-pan" life.
I should say, Sam, you know those pigs ate all those people at that theater.
I mean, sure.
Don't get too sunny and optimistic.
It's a good apocalypse for the pigs, at least. But there is hope even for the humans. You said in one of HBO's after-the-episode videos that the apocalypse itself is not good, but what it brings out in people is good.
There's a balance that often gets lost in this genre, and I have to overstate it sometimes and say "a post-apocalyptic show about joy." But actually I think the wonderful balance that's in the novel that we try to do is to say, "Sometimes the apocalypse is happening at a cocktail party with seven people, and the stakes are the end of the world there, in the before, and sometimes you can fall in love in the after, and the stakes are tremendous there." It's all about scale and stakes to me. The genre tends to confuse those two things. And I'm more like, "The world can end anywhere at any scale emotionally for a person, and someone can save the world with a phone call."
It's the dramatic version of—and here I am, paraphrasing Joseph Stalin—the idea that one death is a tragedy and millions is a statistic.
Well, of course he said that. But Terry even says it in [Episode] 9: "A big pile of bodies in the employee parking lot." We didn't want to make a show that looked at a big pile of bodies. And if that many billions of people die between the first and second episode of your show, that is enough death. How can you do that and then keep mining death as the source of drama for the rest of the way?
[Read: What made Station Eleven so rewarding.]
You do keep a balance. There is optimism in the show, even sentimentality, but it's hard-earned. Anyone who has seen a TV show before can tell you that Kirsten and Jeevan will be reunited after being separated for years, but right up until it happened, I felt like there was a chance it wouldn't.
Oh, I love it. You weren't quite sure?
No. I wanted it, obviously. I'm not made of stone. But it felt like there was a distinct possibility you'd just do the melancholic ships-passing-in-the-night thing.
The extremely high-taste academic side of all of us would have begrudgingly accepted the near-miss at the end. But I'm the most cynical teddy bear you've ever met. I want to get to a hug with people crying as the end of every story. But in Episode 10, for example, I don't think that would've been fair unless I also had to listen to Miranda talk a captain into sealing a number of people into a plane to die who didn't deserve to be sealed into a plane to die. That part, to me, is one of the most brutal truths of the show. When she's at the door and we're hearing Captain Hugo say, "They don't deserve it." And she looks right back at Dr. Eleven and says, "You're right. They don't deserve it." And then says nothing more. It's so hard to say a true thing like that and not follow up. Just say, "They died and they didn't deserve it."
With COVID, too, we want to find a way to blame it on something. And we want to find a way to honor who we've lost, and we want to find a way to understand it, but there is not an answer sometimes. It felt like that [scene] is earning the ability to cry at the end, and to have such a sweetness between Jeevan and Kirsten as they're saying goodbye in the lush forest. You can't do one without the other. I think I'd call bullshit on myself if I did.
One of the things I did after I finished Station Eleven was go back to the very beginning and look at the opening images, where we see not just a theater overgrown with weeds but a program for Arthur Leander's King Lear, the one he dies performing, lying in a puddle. Obviously, theater, or at least Shakespeare, survives in your world. But theaters do not. Art survives, but it mutates. That's in the novel, but it almost feels like the spine of the series: You have Lear in the first episode and Hamlet in the last, and the Traveling Symphony's motto, taken from an episode of Star Trek: Voyager: "Survival is insufficient." What was important about that theme for you?
I think there's a nugget of very important truth somewhere in the idea that art persists. But it's like the chosen family thing for me, like "Can we investigate this a little bit? Because, no, it doesn't." Or why? Or "Shakespeare is incredibly boring to me." I was an English major, so I had to take Shakespeare, but I read it as a text. I was not a theater person. So yes, a professor can escort me through the incredible figurative language and explain to me the meaning of this or that. But I don't think, when I was in college, I was feeling very much, other than some combination of awe and boredom. Before this project, if I closed my eyes and thought of Shakespeare, I would think of a gigantic book that I had to buy, a hard cover, really heavy with very thin pages, and that was not where I wanted to go. I think my asterisk on the sentence is, "art persists, because humans persist, and humans continue communicating, and that's all art is." Art is trying to communicate really, really, really well.
[Read: HBO Just Released the Spiritual Successor to The Leftovers]
My guard automatically goes up when I read a story by a person who tells stories for a living that concludes, what's really important is this thing that I do.
Oh, I know. My God. I remember when, I used to teach creative writing, and of course, you teach Ulysses and "Araby." But after a couple cycles of that class, I'm like, OK, this is an amazing story. But also, this is not exactly accessible to 19-year-old undergrads. Yes, we can get there. But I was like, "Would you guys ever tell 'Araby' around a campfire?" Literary fiction has a habit, I think, of getting quite preoccupied with its own style and its own subtlety. But the folk of storytelling really has been stripped out of the genre in the 20th century. That's OK. I love "Araby." I love very high-minded, incredibly opaque short stories. But I also love folk music. I love ghost stories around campfires, too. And I think part of this project was to remember both of those things as much as we could, both in what we were showing, and in how we were telling the story. It needed to be fun to watch. If you're going to try to sell a bill of goods about art, you need to make it actually entertaining and fun too.
You have a world where Shakespeare persists, but so does Bill Pullman's monologue from Independence Day.
And so does Parliament.
Of course. We're not worth saving otherwise. I know Arthur's King Lear, which features child versions of his adult daughters, was based on a real production that Emily St. John Mandel saw. But I'm curious about the Traveling Symphony's Hamlet, especially the costumes: Gertrude has this huge May Queen headdress and Hamlet wears a jacket that has about a dozen stuffed arms protruding from the back. What inspired those?
It was just a very conceptual undertaking right the start, and Helen Huang and her team had exactly the right approach, which was exactly the same conceptually as Ruth Ammon, our production designer, which was, it's not a destroyed world. It is an empty world. There are Cotscos full of product. There are shipping containers full of all of our stuff. There's stuff around. It didn't get hoarded and taken because there weren't enough people. So stuff's around, but it's probably deteriorated and weathered and you've got to work with what's around. That was the spirit of every department's way of getting into this. With that idea in place, Helen and her team took a look back at, "What did it look like when Shakespeare was being put on in 1590 or whatever? What were they doing? OK, now, what if we took only what is in a CVS and then tried to do what they were doing?" You know that scene in Apollo 13 when Gary Sinise is down on the ground with a bunch of engineers and he takes out a box and says, "OK, this is what they have. How do you solve the problem with only this?" That was the starting place for all our departments about where design came from. Lisa Layman, our makeup artist, found out how they used to make makeup in 1590 and then made it out of things that she could find at a Walgreen's. Everybody was all in on staying true to the idea, and I think you can feel it. It populates the frame of the screen, even in the background. That's a tremendous amount of work with all our departments, trying to stay true to the one idea of the show.
You mentioned Parliament, and music is one of the things that persists, in many different forms: the Traveling Symphony's music, the conductor's CD, the karaoke machine, even Liszt sheet music. How did you think about the role music had to play in this world?
I remember early on, trying to imagine this world where everyone who survived was alone to start, and just walking around in those first days like strangers. If you come upon another stranger, this is a big deal. They're probably also by themselves, and you're going to have to decide what you're going to do as you approach each other on the road. What I described is when we were selling the show, I was like, "Imagine a holster with two sides. Some people have two guns in their holsters. Some people have one gun and one harmonica, because if they see someone else with a harmonica, instead of killing each other, they can sit down and play songs together. And then some people probably have two harmonicas, and they're quite vulnerable if they run into a two-gun person." You know what I mean?
You do not want to bring two harmonicas to a gun fight.
No. I love folk music. I play it too. We actually wrote seven folk songs, Dan Romer and I, our composer. A few of them are in the show, but all of them are on the soundtrack. And I love folk music because of the word, folk. This is just the situation that often people encountered in 1825, walking down a mountain trail. You could find a person who you didn't know who knew a song you knew. There's that moment at the beginning of [Episode] 2 when Kirsten's really hurt and she comes upon the Conductor. The Conductor's a holster–harmonica person. And she's like, "I'll kill you but—but if you're into art, maybe we can talk." I just think that it's true in 2022 as well. You meet a person, size each other up, and it's like, "Are you like me? OK, we can talk."
There's an interesting dialogue in the show going on between art and knowledge and technology. You blow up the Museum of Civilization.
Tyler did. I didn't.
OK, not you personally. But you let it happen. And the museum is mostly technological artifacts: It's iPhones and gaming consoles. But in the last episode, there's still Shakespeare and people teaching science, and there's "Midnight Train to Georgia," and tubas—
And keytars.
And keytars. My question is, it seemed like the show was going in the direction that society can be rebuilt, but you have to tear it all down first. And that's not quite where it ends up.
We're a little sloppier than that. We're a little bit more like, "Some of this and some of that." I think Clark and Tyler are fundamentalists in their point of view, and the artists are the ones who straddle the before and the after, and the show naturally is aligned with the artists ideologically. The Conductor doesn't care that she's writing her score on a keytar. She's using what's available to compose an incredibly complicated piece of music. I think it's awesome when you see kids playing drums on a bucket in the subway, and they're so much better than you could ever be at playing, even if you've got a great fucking drum kit.
"When I first read that book, I finished it and I was like, 'This book is about the internet.'"
It's good to be reminded that all technology is humans solving a problem. When I first read that book, I finished it and I was like, "This book is about the internet." I felt like Emily was perceiving this thing that was happening around 2014 that was unsaid and still is in some ways. I think we've invented the greatest piece of technology we've ever invented, and I don't think we actually realize that right now. It's so easy to be the person in the conversation like, "Man, I don't want cell phones." Or it's so easy to be the person in the conversation that's like, "I didn't know how to live until the internet existed. How could you live without that?" It's so easy to say it's the worst thing that ever happened or the best thing that ever happened, but the pandemic showed this for us. It saved us, but it harmed us. And it continues. Everyone's fractured and everyone's siloed, and the way that information selectively flows to different people is extremely dangerous for democracy. And yet we didn't go crazy during the pandemic because we could see each other and play games with each other. There isn't a yes or a no. This is what it is now. The only thing that we can do is use it in a better way, and be aware of how it's integrating into our consciousness.
There's that moment where Alex, who's a "post-pan," is playing with a dead iPhone, and is like "OK, so I call a car to take me anywhere, and then I talk to anyone, anywhere in the world."
It sounds like magic. It doesn't sound real.
And my thought was, "Well, yeah, but no one wants to talk on the phone."
Kirsten even says it right there. She's like, "They weren't that great." It's like, "Hey, there's magic. It used to exist and it's gone now." And you're like, "Oh, I wish I could have lived there." And it's like, "It sucked."
The good news is we're all connected to each other all the time. The bad news is we're all connected to each other all the time. Our brains aren't built to handle that.
It's just like sugar.
Speaking of connections, Station Eleven is a show that rewards careful watching and rewatching, which will tell you who Alex's mother is, or where the Deborah in St. Deborah by the Water came from. But there are other things, like the Conductor's struggle to play Liszt's "La Campanella," and the sheet music to that song being on a piano in Frank's apartment building with "It's impossible" scrawled on it—that seem more open to interpretation. How much did you intend for the viewer to connect those dots?
I'll be honest. I never once thought "La Campanella" being on the piano in [Episode] 7 would insinuate that, that's where Sarah used to live. I'm just like, "This is a really famous piece of music that everyone thinks is impossible." Not to mention the fact that whoever lived in that apartment seems to have thrown themselves out the window. I don't mean to pop anyone's bubbles also, because there are many of those that are very much like, "Maybe, maybe not." There's a birth certificate in [Episode] 9 that pretty clearly states the name of that baby born, that Jeevan participated in delivering, and I'm like, "That's that baby." But there's a lot of big question marks that I want to be there, like, there was a chemical fire, OK. Who lit that? The "La Campanella" one surprised me a bit, but it's fair game, I get it. When we're trying to circle back and make connections, we run the risk. But I guess I would say about that one, there's a big hole in the window for a reason.
You shot two episodes before COVID shut down production, and then finished the show in the middle of the pandemic. Did that change anything for you?
"It changed because I changed. And it changed because we changed."
I think you'll relate to this because everyone will: It changed because I changed. And it changed because we changed. We had our story points and our guiding lights and our north stars, starting with that hug and starting with "All roads lead to the airport." But I think it's in the inflection and the spirit, and you can feel it in the actors, too. When we got back together in Canada in January 2021, we had all just lived that year and not seen anyone or done anything or been together. So even though it felt like a sci-fi prison to be standing on set with our masks and our zones and our protocols, I got to listen to Matilda [Lawler] sing "The First Noel" with a bunch of people together, all of us listening, and the whole crew burst into tears. We got to be together and work, which was really pretty special. It was really hard, too, and it's hard to make a TV show, but it changed because we changed.
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We started with the idea that the apocalypse might bring out the best in some people. After two years of COVID, do you feel more or less secure in that conclusion?
More. I feel like it's amazing how strong we can become after absorbing something awful. It's not necessarily true that we do. In a time like now—I won't say it's the end of the pandemic, I'll say it's the back half—I think that we have a tendency to underestimate our own strength, because we're tired. But I think we've changed. We've been hurt, but we have new armor and resources inside of us now, and those new tools we have are going to be the things that we use to overcome scary things happening with democracy and to better understand the internet and to more aggressively communicate in the right way at the right time about what matters. It's not necessarily true that you're going to survive a pandemic, but I do think the new version of us on the other end of it is going to be better equipped to tackle some of the problems that were latent right before COVID came. That's my hope.


EZ Diet Note: I just tried making this pizza tonight (6-20-16). Try it, it's delicious. Very close to the real thing. I'll be making more of these. Here's a picture. I'll probably brown the crust a bit more the next time.
I've got a recipe for pizza that's so healthy, you have my green-light to eat it as often as you like. It's not expensive, it's not hard to make, and it is packed with fiber, phytonutrients, and plenty of flavor.
The secret to this amazingly healthy pizza is the crust. The crust is made of just three simple, healthy ingredients: cauliflower, cheese, and eggs. Not a grain of white flour or sugar to be seen here! You can even skip salt and extra oil, because the cheese contains fat and salt already. I recommend using natural and organic ingredients if you can, but the recipe will work just fine with conventional produce and ingredients. Be especially careful, however, in selecting your tomato sauce. Many tomato sauces have an alarming amount of added sugar, so make sure you read the ingredients before selecting your sauce.
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut parchment paper to match the size and shape of your pizza pan. Parchment paper is the best way to prevent your crust from sticking to the baking surface.
2. Finely grate cauliflower and remove any large chunks. You want a fine, uniform texture like rice.
3. Mix together the cauliflower, mozzarella cheese, and two eggs until well-combined. At this point, it may not look like it could possibly turn into pizza crust, but it will bake to a thin, crunchy, flexible crust- just watch!
4. Place cauliflower mixture in the center of the parchment paper on the pizza pan. Spread the mixture thinly but evenly out the edges of the pan.
5. Bake crust at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Assemble the rest of your toppings. Place a small dollop of tomato sauce- start with less than you think you'll need- in the center of your crust and spread it out nearly to the edge. Be conservative with the sauce- too much sauce was one of my mistakes when I was perfecting this recipe!
7. Top with cheese, followed by any other toppings of your choice. I add whole, fresh basil leaves, slices of organic tomato and mushroom, and sometimes pepperoni.
8. Return to oven and bake until cheese is evenly melted and just beginning to turn golden on the surface.
That's it! This is a surprisingly easy, surprisingly healthy recipe for one of America's favorite foods, one that is often packed with sugar and white flour. With just a little effort, you can make delicious, healthy pizza at home, and it is absolutely, positively Dr. Berg approved.


Suffolk County Council is looking for someone to head its 'good' rated Fostering and Adoption service. Could that be you? Find out more about the Head of Fostering and Adoption role and what it is like to work in Suffolk.
As our head of fostering and adoption, you will not only be making a difference to the lives of children in Suffolk but across the East of England.
Rather than creating a separate arms' length regional adoption agency, we are forming a collaborative alliance with four other East of England councils to share best practice and expertise while retaining our own service. As our new head of service, you will play a lead role in our contribution to that alliance; helping to give children and young people across the region a fresh start in life.
Children and young people in care need a fostering and adoption service that gives them and their carers the very best support, and at Suffolk County Council, we do just that.
Our stable and experienced social work team offers children first-class post-adoption support, committed foster carers and dedicated therapeutic support when needed. It is also a team with a belief in always seeking out new ways to deliver even better outcomes.
We now need a strong fostering and adoption social worker with management experience and a desire to give children the best possible future to head that team.
Within Suffolk, the head of fostering and adoption will have the opportunity to build on the service's track record of pioneering new ways of working.
Suffolk is committed to the Signs of Safety model of practice, which has proved to be a valuable tool when reviewing care plans and seeking ways to avert placement breakdowns.
We work closely with our local universities and have contributed to improving practice by contributing to research and service development.
Behind you will be a tried, tested and experienced team of social workers and managers who pull together to deliver the best for the children and young people they work with.
With 830 children and young people in care – of which around 70 per cent are placed with foster carers recruited by the authority – leading this countywide service is a challenge.
It is an exciting challenge and one that comes with the ability and backing you need to deliver better futures for large numbers of children while also enjoying life in a county that marries vibrant urban areas with alluring coastlines and countryside.
Suffolk offers a great quality of life. Here you can still find a really nice property at a reasonable price and enjoy the benefits that comes from living and working in a county that has a good mix of urban and rural communities.
Find out more about the Head of Fostering and Adoption role and Suffolk's relocation package or for an informal chat about the position, call Cliff James, Head of Corporate Parenting, on 01473 264731.