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Scaling Post-Click Landing Pages: Why Templates are Not a Solution
Last updated on October 3, 2019 by Ted Vrountas in Post-Click Automation, Marketing Agency Tips
Treat experiences like ads
The problem with scaling personalization
Templates are not sufficient
The 2 features than enable scalability
Most advertisers aspire to 1:1 personalization, but they largely miss the mark.
It's understandable. A lot has to go right for 1:1 personalization to work. You need the right strategy, people, and the right tools.
Mostly, though, you need to rethink the post-click landing page. It needs to be treated like we treat ads.
Why post-click landing pages must be treated like ads
You never run just one ad. That would mean treating your audience like a homogeneous group. And they're not. They're a set of individuals considering your project differently.
And so, you target differently. You tailor your creative; you tailor your offers to the stage of the funnel. You even test variations of these ads before you pick the best. It's not uncommon to have ten, twenty-plus ads per campaign with different arrangements of the headline, media, copy, etc.
And that's because you know audiences will respond better to a more relevant message. Through testing, you're attempting to create a level of personalization. The more personalized the ad, the more likely you are to earn a click.
What happens after the click, though, is rarely personalized.
Instead of driving prospects to a post-click landing page that matches the ad, most advertisers use one landing page as a catch-all for campaign traffic. The result is a gap in campaign personalization.
For campaigns to deliver the highest ROI possible, personalization needs to extend beyond the click of an ad. The same way ads are targeted, tested, tailored to their audience, post-click landing pages should be, too.
Of course, there's a glaring problem with that. Read on to discover what it is. And to find out if you're doomed to suffer more problems with scaling post-click landing pages, download the Instapage Scalable Creation ebook:
The problem with scaling post-click personalization
The major problem with extending personalization beyond the click is that it takes a lot of work. If each ad or ad group has its own landing page, you're talking about creating tens of landing pages per campaign. It's not possible with traditional methods of design. But, that's true of today's landing page builders, too. Here's why:
Templates aren't sufficient for post-click personalization
Nearly all landing page tools are founded on a WYSIWYG template editor. They allow you to choose a template and insert page elements, edit them, drag them to new positions, and publish a page.
For some kinds of pages, this is sufficient. For post-click personalization, it isn't.
First, what happens after the click of an ad is about more than just the landing page design. There are page load times to be considered, assets to be delivered after the conversion, "thank you" pages to complete the conversion, etc. A WYSIWYG builder can only take you so far.
Second: starting from templates, while easier than starting from scratch, are not scalable enough to provide the level of personalization you need.
Again, we're talking tens of pages per campaign. That's even more when you're running simultaneous campaigns.
Loading a template, editing, publishing, and repeating this process until all your pages are fully personalized is not scalable. Especially when you consider they'll likely need editing. After an A/B test that determines your audience prefers an image to a video, are you going to edit every page manually?
You may say, "Well, this tool comes with dynamic text replacement. My pages are automatically personalized already"
To you, we'd say, for true 1:1 personalization, you need to match more than keywords from your ad to your post-click landing page. Muhammed Fahad elaborates:
Dynamic text replacement works for simple word changes like a particular location match. But, it's near impossible to match the context of a visitor's intentions with a simple keyword or location insertion.
To do this, you need robust context matching that requires an entirely new experience. This means that every post-click page should have different page layouts, different image backgrounds, and a different story narrative based on who's looking at the page.
More than matching words in headlines and copy, you need to match context, narrative, and intent. For this, you need deeper personalization. You need the freedom of a highly customizable builder, but also the scalability offered by a feature like dynamic text replacement.
The only solution is post-click automation.
The 2 features that make post-click automation scalable
Post-click automation is a solution that allows advertisers to create personalized campaigns from the first ad impression to the final click. It's built on four pillars: Ad mapping, Scalable Creation, Personalization, and Optimization. The Scalable Creation feature is what gives it the edge over templates from landing page builders. Here's how:
Scalable Creation
Scalable creation is the pillar of PCA that allows users to create tens of post-click landing pages effortlessly. Consider a basic scenario:
You're running a campaign for an audience segmented into four: males aged 18-28, 29-40, 41-51, and 52-65. You know that each of these groups use your product differently, they talk differently about it, and they have different motivations for purchasing.
You decide that, while you want to adjust elements of your page for each audience, you want to test the same body copy and CTA across each.
If you're the user of a landing page builder, you have to load a template for each of the groups and recreate the page several times.
If you're a post-click automation user, however, you need only create one landing page and save your body copy and CTA as an Instablock.™ This allows you to save both page sections in one location, then import them into any future page.
For scalability, this is invaluable. As is another feature, Global Blocks.
Let's imagine your run all of these landing pages, and eventually want to improve them. You test your original body copy against some new body copy, and after your test, the new body copy wins. So, you want to replace the old body copy with the new on multiple pages.
If you're the user of a landing page software, you'll have to change these manually. And, while it's only four pages at maximum, consider what it would be like if it were thirty or forty. What if you went through a rebranding and had to change your logo, company name, and color scheme on each page?
Depending on your business, you may need days, weeks, months even. With Global Blocks though, it takes only a few clicks.
After the conclusion of a test, or a rebranding, or even something as small as updating your copyright information, Global Blocks can help. Global Blocks allows you to use Instablocks on more than one page. Form a central dashboard, PCA users will be able to insert an Instablock on any number of pages they please: images, copy, headlines, CTAs, and more…
As far as scaling custom page designs, there is no feature more valuable.
Learn more about scaling post-click landing pages
To create truly personalized post-click landing pages, you need to be able to move at the speed of advertising. The lagging design process with templates won't cut it. But, this isn't the only mistake advertisers make when trying to scale post-click landing pages. Are you making any of them? Find out, by claiming the Instapage Scalable Creation ebook.
Get the Ebook Here


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title: Intermediate Value Theorem
localeTitle: 中值定理
---
## 中值定理

这是一个存根。 [帮助我们的社区扩展它](https://github.com/freecodecamp/guides/tree/master/src/pages/mathematics/intermediate-value-theorem/index.md) 。

[这种快速风格指南有助于确保您的拉取请求被接受](https://github.com/freecodecamp/guides/blob/master/README.md) 。

#### 更多信息:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Includes results frameworks and a menu of indicators for global and country programs.
Countries should choose indicators specific to their individual program for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
"What Works: A Policy and Program Guide to the Evidence on Postabortion Care"
Includes findings from 400 articles dating from 1990 to 2004 that relate to PAC. Each article has been measured against the Gray level of evidence.
Includes research related to policy, costs, programming, and training for PAC.
Reviews original studies and primary sources.
Organized by the three core components of the revised USAID PAC model.
The "Summary of Evidence" provides a centralized listing of the research summary statements. The full research compendium is found on this website.
Includes a listing of recommended policies, curricula and service delivery guidelines selected from more than 96 documents from 13 countries.
Includes table of contents or summaries of all recommended documents. Full copies of the recommended documents can be found on this website.
Assessment Guides to review your country's current documents for each of the following areas: (1) Policy; (2) Service Delivery Guidelines; and (3) Training Curricula.
Research found to have "Strong Evidence" is listed at the bottom of each assessment guide to assist with the review of research for inclusion when writing or revising any of the above sections.
A "How to" guide for using the PAC Global Resources Guide for writing or revising each of the above named sections.
Field tested in Bolivia, Kenya, Peru, Egypt, and Senegal.
Used to reach more than 27,000 community residents regarding postabortion care.
Adapted for use with religious leaders in Egypt (accompanying banner and teaching tools available only in Arabic with English translation for country adaptation).
A user friendly computer model for planning funding levels for reproductive health programs.
Examines the linkages and interactions between family planning, safe motherhood, and postabortion care.
How much funding is required to achieve the goals of reproductive health action plans?
What goals are feasible for (for indicators such as unintended pregnancies, maternal mortality ratio, abortions)?
How to best allocate available resources to best achieve these goals?


Those who think that climate change is boring, have never seen a glacier disappear.
Recently I discovered, to my great astonishment, that many people think that climate change – my research field – is boring. That even some employees of this newspaper start to yawn when they hear the word «climate». And admittedly: I don't get that enthusiastic either when I hear policy terms such as «sustainability» or «green economy».
But when I think of climate change, I think of riding on a snowmobile through the frozen Siberian tundra to set up a measurement station. In the middle of a polar desert, where polar foxes roam freely, snow owls fly across the sky, and where it's possible at any moment to find yourself in the middle of a snow storm.
Or to be on my way in a boat to our research station in Greenland, where in the evenings the sun sets behind the mountains while fog slowly drifts into the fjord. A fjord in which whales swim who, with their tails pointed towards the sky, announce that they are diving back down below.
Thawing permafrost, disappearing glaciers: climate change is for me all but boring and abstract. It saddens me therefore when people glaze over when the word «climate» is mentioned.
But I can understand such a reaction. Not everyone has been able to see with their own eyes what our fossil fuel emissions are doing to the polar regions, or has sailed through the Amazon and seen the destruction of the rain forest. For most people, climate change is elusive, and far from concrete. This can easily lead to the notion that, while important, climate change is boring.
The streets of Longyearbyen flow full of people in recently bought winter coats. They are not allowed to go out into nature.
How can we make climate less boring? Send everyone on a climate holiday? Rather not, there are already enough so called «eco-tourists» in the fragile nature of the world, with accompanying CO2 emissions. Gigantic cruise ships with thousands of people on board are sailing through the polar regions.
I sometimes see them in Longyearbyen. When such a ship sets ashore, the population of this small town doubles. The streets flow full of people in recently bought winter coats and fancy new SLR cameras around their necks. With those, they make a picture of the stuffed polar bear in the supermarket and the gigantic sweater that's on the wall of the shopping mall. After a hurried visit to the museum, many of them return to the warm ship with all its entertainment. They're not allowed to walk freely in the nature outside of town, since that's prohibited without a rifle. Whether these people understand anything of the remarkable place they are in, is unclear.
Of course there are tourists who stay in Spitsbergen for longer, and go out into nature under supervision of a guide. But they still wouldn't see nature in the same way as a researcher who studies the same spot over a long time period. For people who do fieldwork in this kind of environment, it is abundantly clear how fragile it is: walk the same route too many times, and you leave behind a trail that will remain visible for years to come. The imprints of climate change are less clear, and are only apparent through a lot of repeat research at the same spot. Changing vegetation, a glacier that disappears: In a few days, a tourist will not experience this.
Besides, would a tourist want that? On holiday you're supposed to have fun. See new things. Not be bothered with everyday problems. To go with a dog sled through the snow, and enjoy the beautiful landscape. Having a great time, without having to think about something as depressing as climate change.
Out in nature: Ecotourism can provide great holiday experiences, but at the same time this has an impact on already fragile nature. Here on Spitsbergen.
So no, climate tourism is not the answer. But is there something else that may help against the boringness? More outreach? Well, films such as «An Inconvenient Truth» already popularised climate change for the wider public. And ahead of the climate conference in Paris, it was virtually impossible to open a newspaper where the issue wasn't discussed. There is no lack of attention to climate, and with too much attention the risk increases that it becomes boring.
But I would like to argue that it's not the attention to, but the consequences of climate change that are really boring. In Oslo, there wasn't a real winter this year until January. And even then it was only cold for a few weeks before it thawed again and the snow disappeared. Just before that, I could enjoy the snow and went out for some cross-country skiing. The guy who ecstatically shouted «skiing!» when he passed me has probably stowed away his skis again. In the future there will be winters in which the people of Oslo don't even need to bother to take them out at all. A winter where it's only a few degrees above zero, dark, and raining: that's really boring.
How vague and boring «sustainability» and «green economy» may sound, remember that they stand for something very concrete: A cleaner environment. Our best chance for snow in winters to come. A last chance not to ruin the world, full of beautiful nature such as I have seen in Siberia and Greenland, and which I hope will not be irreversibly damaged by climate change.
A little bit of boringness from time to time is fine by me, if it ensures a much more fun future to live in.


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Q: How do I trap a double-click event on a ListView that has no items? In my C# app, I have a ListView on a Form. I want the user to be able to double-click on a section of the ListView when no items are selected in order to pop up a "New Item" dialog. The problem is that the DoubleClick event for the ListView only fires if an item is selected.
Is there a way to do this?

A: There is a way to do this, but you have to do some low-level drilling into the Windows machinery.  It's generally not a good idea to spend a great deal of time trying to get a standard Windows control to behave in a non-standard manner.
A simpler way is to just put a "New Item" button next to your ListView.  If screen real estate is an issue, you could just add an extra row at the bottom that says "{click here to add new item}", and show your dialog when the user clicks this last row.

A: Add an event handler for the List view's MouseDoubleClick event.

A: Assuming Windows Forms:
Perhaps a good workaround would be to use a ContextMenu.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Original wood framing and other architectural elements were preserved to honor the building's history.
This distinctive, triangular building is located in the heart of Tacoma's Stadium district, and once housed the Titus Will Service Center. The 48,860 square foot reinforced concrete building was in need of significant upgrades to make it suitable for various retail tenants. Major scopes of work include selective demolition and hazardous materials abatement, seismic improvements, new storefront windows and entrances, improved building insulation, MEP upgrades and landscaping. The existing Stadium Thriftway remained operational throughout construction due to diligent planning and scheduling of construction tasks.
Shell and core construction of five storefronts brought several retail and restaurant tenants to the area, including Starbucks and Jimmy John's. Rhein Haus, a popular German beer hall in Seattle, opened their Tacoma location on the building's second floor. The 13,000 square foot restaurant/bar features bocce ball courts, two bars, and a full kitchen, as well as a newly-constructed outdoor patio overlooking Wright Park. Korsmo Construction performed this tenant improvement concurrently with the other building improvements.


The holidays can be a particularly tricky time for those suffering with hearing loss. With large family gatherings and parties, challenging listening situations can arise. Although it is great to catch up with friends and family, loud music and conversation can cause problems but here at NMN London Soundproofing we have four tips on how to cope at Christmas.
Whether you are at a formal event or within a home environment, part of it may include sitting down. For a sit-down dinner, pick a seat in the most central point of the table. Choose a spot near to a relative or friend you are particularly close with so that you can have a better chance of engaging in conversation. Likewise, in informal seating arrangements, choose a central seat in order to have a better chance of hearing conversation.
Find a friend or relative to spend the majority of the party with. Having someone to help lead or prompt conversation can be really beneficial to understanding what is being said. When there is someone by your side it will also make you feel more included in the conversation. Don't be afraid to ask people to repeat what has been said if you don't understand.
Although alcohol can help with party nerves, it can also numb certain senses in the body. Indulging in too much wine or other alcoholic beverages might result in you becoming more dazed and confused within the party environment. Alcohol can have an effect on your level of understanding so monitoring your intake and drinking sensibly should prevent your hearing abilities from worsening.
Thinking about where to stand at a party can help with your hearing. Standing away from loudspeakers or noisy bustling spaces, such as kitchens, is a good idea. Position yourself in the quietest area of the room. This way you'll be able to hear the conversation around you, rather than the noise drowning it out. There will always be people to talk to and people move about the room, so you can stay in one spot if necessary.
Avoid the noise of loud parties this Christmas and New Year by getting in touch with us here at NMN London Soundproofing. We put your privacy and peace at the forefront of our goals, to make sure you can have some quality quiet time.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2014 at 10:35 am	and is filed under Noise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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News - A life in music: Richard Rodney Bennett
Richard Rodney Bennett talks to Nicholas Wroe of the Guardian about his life and works.
Sidney Lumet's 1974 film version of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express was something of a landmark in crime cinema. The star-studded cast (Bacall, Bergman, Connery, Finney, Gielgud, Redgrave . . .) and lavish production values provided both the template for later movie adaptations of Christie's work and paved the way for the successful trend of high-end television crime series. Richard Rodney Bennett, who had been writing for the screen since he was 18, and who was a technically brilliant classical composer with a deep knowledge of 1930s popular music, was an ideal choice to write the score.
"Stephen Sondheim recommended me," recalls Bennett. "And as soon as I saw the rushes I told Sidney that no one in their right mind was going to be scared out their wits by Agatha Christie. This wasn't a thriller. It was an elegant and glamorous entertainment, and that is what the score should reflect."
Bennett's stylish meshing of train rhythms into a piano-led waltz evocatively conjured a 30s high-society chic, and his score was nominated for an Oscar and won a Bafta. Bennett's music had previously been Oscar nominated for Far from the Madding Crowd in 1964 and Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971, but despite this high-profile success, his work for film occupied a peculiar sub-section of his wider career and his lifelong engagement with jazz was essentially hidden from his concert-going audience. "The different parts of my career seemed to take part in different rooms, albeit in the same house," he says. "It was just the way things were and I didn't actually think much about it at the time."
Bennett had emerged in the early 1950s as a youthful prodigy and hardcore modernist. In the 60s he produced acclaimed operas, symphonies, concertos and choral works. His film work funded his concert work and his jazz was just for friends. It wasn't until the 1970s that he began to work more openly across all genres, and not until the 1980s, after he had moved to New York, that he began to perform and fully explore the jazz standards of the Great American Songbook that had long been close to his heart.
The sheer breadth of his musical interests was laid out last year in a detailed soup-to-nuts biography by Anthony Meredith. A flick through the index reveals not only his involvement with all the great names of classical music from the second half of the 20th-century, but a vast range of other connections: "Taylor, Elizabeth", whom Bennett coached on set to sing a nursery rhyme for Joseph Losey's 1968 film Secret Ceremony; "McCartney, Paul", who brought in Bennett to advise him on his own symphonic poem, "Standing Stone" and sent Bennett 70 red roses on his 70th birthday; "Charles, HRH Prince", who commissioned Bennett to write a piece of music dedicated to his late grandmother, the Queen mother.
Bennett was 75 earlier this year and two proms next month celebrate his career by bringing together its different strands. His Murder on the Orient Express suite features in a film music prom alongside work by Bernard Hermann (Citizen Kane, Psycho), William Walton (Henry V), John Williams (Star Wars, Schindler's List), Ennio Morricone, John Barry and Jonny Greenwood (Norwegian Wood). A matinee prom will also feature work from the other key parts of Bennett's oeuvre: his Debussy-inspired Dream Dancing and Jazz Calendar, alongside pieces by two composers he knew and admired, Henri Dutilleux and Betty Maconchy. "I really think it is a lovely programme, and in a way all of this music has been with me all of my life," he says. "It just took a little time for it be allowed to come together."
Bennett was born in 1936 and brought up in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, where his family had moved when war broke out. His mother, Joan, had been a talented pianist and composer who had studied with Holst and even participated as a sixth-former in the first professional performance of The Planets. His father, Rodney, was a successful writer of children's books. He has two older sisters, Anne and Meg, who is better known as the poet MR Peacocke, several of whose poems Richard has set to music.
He says that popular music appealed to him from the beginning. "We went to the cinema every few weeks and heard these great scores. But mostly I listened to the radio. And when I came across something I liked, I wanted to find out as much as I could about it. This was as true of hearing Hoagy Carmichael for the first time as it was later when I first heard Boulez. Being on a musical quest was something I always enjoyed."
He says his facility for music was spotted early, "but I was in South Devon during the war, it wasn't the Juilliard School, so it didn't make much difference. People ask what was the first piece of music I wrote. There was no first piece. I just scribbled away and eventually a C major chord was there. I didn't ever decide I was going to be a composer. It was like being tall. It's what I was. It's what I did."
In 1953 Bennett turned down a place at Oxford to read modern languages for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. "In fact for me the academy was a disaster. I learned much more in the Westminster music library in Buckingham Palace Road, which was an absolute treasure house of 20th-century music. But London was very exciting. It was cheap and we could live our own lives and be slightly raffish without exactly being bohemian, and that was different to Budleigh Salterton, which I still love and won't have a word said against. I gave a concert last year in their first jazz festival in the church where I'd gone to Sunday school, which was rather wonderful."
At the academy Bennett did join a new music club, "where we played some difficult music – Boulez and so on – which was very exciting and felt sort of illegal". Bennett continued as a performer of new music, as well as a composer. "As there were only about two pianists and two singers who performed it, I played a lot. But I did want people to listen to this music that I believed in so passionately."
Bennett was in a generation that included Alexander Goehr, Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Thea Musgrave and Cornelius Cardew. As a student he visited Darmstadt and won a scholarship to study with Boulez in Paris. "That was thrilling. I'd met him a couple of times by then and was totally in awe of him. In effect I wanted to be Boulez. In fact there were several of us at that time who wanted to be Boulez."
Bennett is still hugely admiring of Boulez's success in "bringing together various important strands of contemporary music. Works such as Le marteau sans maître and Pli Selon Pli are very important and sum up a whole era. But something like Structures For Two Pianos, for which I was the co-first pianist in the UK, you just can't listen to now."
The composer Mark-Anthony Turnage says: "As a kid, Bennett was very important to me. The technique of those early symphonies was stunning and it seemed to be a less academic, more musical, sort of modernism. What people didn't realise was that he'd always been into popular songs and Cole Porter and things like that, so his later move from atonality to tonality was a progression not a conversion. That's why it sounds so natural." Turnage is also envious of Bennett's ability to write for the cinema while maintaining a concert career. "And he did Hollywood blockbusters, not just arthouse films. Looking back, Britten and Walton and lots of others did it, but Richard was pretty much the last of the line."
Bennett first wrote screen music in his late teens "to earn money to subsidise my other work. But I liked writing music that would be played next week by brilliant musicians. It was the best training there was." While his film music was public, if strangely disassociated from his concert work, his involvement with jazz was almost entirely hidden. "I'd always listened more to jazz than anything else, but it wasn't until I was asked to write a 'third stream' piece by the BBC [a classical/jazz hybrid] that I realised I just wanted to write a jazz piece." The result was Jazz Calendar, which will be performed at the proms. Around the same time he began playing for Cleo Laine, "and for the first time it felt OK for me to do this. It needn't be an underground activity. There was a strong sense of liberation, although there remained a certain amount of sniffiness as there was about my film music."
Looking back on the period Bennett says he remembers being "tortured" by concerts of contemporary music in the 1960s. "I didn't really want to go, but I was in that world and so I sort of had to. But as I grew older and maybe a little more confident, I realised I just couldn't be bothered. The music I'd been so interested in in the 1950s had moved far away from audiences and I hated that. Look now at concerts of contemporary music and often they are exactly the same as those concerts I went to in the 60s, give or take a few electronic bits and pieces."
Bennett's growing disillusionment with the British music scene, and the break-up of a long-term relationship, preceded his move to New York in 1979. "It was a relief because I was doing a lot of things out of guilt. I hated teaching composition. I was playing music I didn't particularly want to play, being on committees I didn't want to be on. I wanted to write music, and cook, and play cards, and have a nice time. And while there were all kinds of dramas in my private life, it wasn't that dramatic for my professional life."
Using Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein as his referees for his green card application, Bennett thrived in the home of the Great American Songbook. He began performing in piano bars and has continued ever since, in recent years accompanying the jazz singer Claire Martin, most recently in a season at the legendary Algonquin hotel. "It's pretty expensive to listen to that type of music now, even in New York. At one time you could sit in a little club after dinner, have one drink and listen to someone playing. There are fewer places now, but playing that music with Claire is wonderful. There is nothing I would rather do on earth."
In New York Bennett also began seriously to make art in the form of collages that are today highly collectable. "I'm fascinated by Schwitters and a lot of American collagists from the 30s onwards, and to be truthful I am now much more interested in painting that I am in music. These are the things I am really curious to see. I'll run out to an art show, but I don't go to many concerts any more."
He says he can't imagine what it must be like for a young composer starting out today. "When I started there was maybe a dozen of us who all went to different publishers and had a real chance of doing something. Today, if you really put your mind to it, you could probably come up with a couple of thousand all trying to get work." He has commissions and has recently written a series of unaccompanied Christmas carols. But, he says, he's "lucky that I don't have to write for money because I've earned enough. I've been writing music since I was about six, and I'm now 75, so I also think I've earned a bit of time off."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Milkweed Studio
Papermaking, Bookmaking, Journaling
About Us Classes Events Album
Located at the Gateway Center for the Arts, 3901 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood, MD (301) 875-6315 email us: liz at milkweedpaper dot com.
For an Internet Explorer-compliant version of this page (one with a functioning scroll bar), please stay tuned. In the meantime, why not try Firefox?
Liz Saint Rain, our artist-in-residence, is a papermaker, book artist, designer and educator from Hyattsville, Maryland. She founded Milkweed Studio in 2008 both as a private space for creating her own work and as a center for getting others excited about this versatile art form.
Michael Hunter Horlick, our director of education, is a linguist and lexicographer, also from Hyattsville. He has a Master's Degree in curriculum and instruction, is a life-long student of origami, a big fan of Tibetan-style sheet formation and a regular at DC Glassworks.
We're located at the Gateway Center for the Arts in Brentwood, which is home to more than a dozen artists from a variety of media. It has become the center piece of the new Arts District that runs between Hyattsville and Mount Rainier. The facility is home to regular events - many free to the public - as well as group classes and private instruction.
Milkweed Studio artists are available for events outside the studio. Previous clients and collaborators have included the Antacostia Watershed Society and the National Arboretum, but we also have special packages for birthdays, street fairs and other neighborhood and community get-togethers.
Liz has had works displayed in a number of galleries and shows, from her coptic bound, wooden cover, hand-made books, to mixed-media assemblies of carefully chosen pieces. Her handmade papers are used by other artists in their own creative pursuits. She invites inquiries and proposals from artists with unique paper needs.


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Amazon, IBM, And Microsoft Won't Say Which Police Departments Used Their Facial Recognition Technology
2020 Protests
Activists are worried about several key questions that remain unanswered.
By Caroline Haskins
Caroline Haskins BuzzFeed News Reporter
Idris Solomon / Reuters
Demonstrators protest against anti-Black racism in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in New York City, June 11.
This week, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft pledged to restrict or eliminate law enforcement's access to facial recognition technology. Those announcements received lots of accolades, but they left many key questions unanswered. None of the companies disclosed how many police departments used their facial recognition technology — or might be using it currently.
On Monday, IBM said it would stop offering, developing, or researching facial recognition. Amazon followed suit on Wednesday, saying it would impose a one-year moratorium on selling its facial recognition technology, Rekognition, to police. And on Thursday, Microsoft announced that it would not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States, "until we have a national law in place."
But activists who have been fighting against facial recognition were not satisfied with the announcements. On Thursday, Myaisha Hayes, campaign strategies director for MediaJustice, said in a statement, "We have no doubt that Amazon's announcement is no more than a political stunt meant to quell widespread momentum and demands for the corporation to stop profiting from our oppression and cut ties with all law enforcement agencies."
Evan Greer, the deputy director of digital rights activist group Fight for the Future, added in a statement, "Amazon needs to end their role in the assault on Black lives. This means ending their surveillance partnerships with over 1,350 police departments, cutting ties with ICE, and joining IBM in ending all research, development, and sale of their facial recognition software. Anything less is unacceptable."
Spokespeople for IBM and Amazon declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Microsoft told BuzzFeed News, "We do not sell our facial recognition technology to US police departments today, and until there is a strong national law grounded in human rights, we will not sell this technology to police departments."
Several questions remained unsettled after the announcement:
None of the three companies committed to restricting police access to other kinds of software. Microsoft powers the New York Police Department's Domain Awareness System, which organizes street camera footage, license plate photos, 911 call data, and other police information.
Only IBM said it would halt research into facial recognition. Microsoft and Amazon have not made that commitment.
Microsoft and Amazon both called for national legislation to regulate law enforcement's use of facial recognition, but gave no further details.
It's also unclear whether Amazon and Microsoft's commitments would be binding outside the United States.
Many Police Departments Have Software That Can Identify People In Crowds Caroline Haskins · June 12, 2020
New York Has Repealed A Law That Kept Police Disciplinary Records Secret Ellie Hall · June 12, 2020
Amazon Is Suspending Police Use Of Its Facial Recognition Tech For One Year Caroline Haskins · June 10, 2020
Caroline Haskins is a technology reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Caroline Haskins at Caroline.haskins@buzzfeed.com.


The debate over open access to scientific literature intensified this week with the introduction of federal legislation designed to curb publishers' control over scientific publishing. The bill, introduced in the US House of Representatives yesterday (June 26) by Rep. Martin Sabo (D-Minn.), is one part of a larger campaign, launched by the open-access Public Library of Science (PLoS), to raise a national debate on the issue of access to scientific literature.
As part of the campaign, the PLoS this week began running a 30-second television addesigned to introduce the topic to the lay public. The ads will run during popular prime-time shows, such as "The Simpsons."
Rep. Sabo drafted and introduced the bill after the PLoS approached him and explained that while federal tax dollars support research, access to the results is limited to scientists whose libraries can afford high subscription fees and to those lay people lucky enough to live near a public institutional library.
"Most people are shocked when they find out they cannot access the results of studies that their tax dollars paid for," said Sabo's legislative assistant Lisa Tomlinson, who was involved in writing the bill.
The proposed legislation, called the Public Access to Science Act, would prohibit copyright protection for any works stemming from substantially federally funded research. If enacted into law, the bill could radically change how scientific journals do business, since most journals currently require authors to transfer copyright to the journal as a condition of publication.
The bill would amend an existing passage in copyright law to add federal grantees to a provision that bars federal employees from copyright on their publications. The bill does not state what percentage of the research must be supported by federal dollars to trigger the no-copyright rule. "We wanted to leave that to the discretion of the federal agencies," said Tomlinson.
Without copyright, journals would still be able to publish articles much as they do now, but they would not be able to control the distribution or republishing of the articles. Publishers say they need copyright in order to control a publication's quality. "Errors creep in as a paper is repeatedly copied and circulated," said Peter Farnham, public affairs officer for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which publishes the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The JBC's content already is freely available, he noted.
Advocates of open access say that publishers should not own the copyright because the amount of work that the journal does—procuring peer review, editing, and laying out the article on the page—does not justify ownership.
"Their [the publisher's] contribution to the finished product pales in comparison to contributions from scientists and the general public," said Michael Eisen, cofounder of PLoS and a geneticist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley.
Bringing the public into the open-access debate is a natural next step for PLoS, Eisen said. PLoS plans to launchits first open-access, peer-reviewed journal this October, and each paper will be accompanied by a plain-English summary.
The television ads, which began running on June 23 in San Francisco, Washington, and Boston, show a man who flies to work, rather than drives. The voice-over implies that the open access to journals made the technology possible.


Hello po, we are planning to get livina this year to replace my nissan sentra and honda city, I just want to know what is the FC for city and common issue with livina. I hope you can help me decide to get a livina.
hehe depende po siguro sa gamit. marami rin kasing mga paahon at palusong dito sa amin sa San Pablo kaya mas stressed ng kaunti ang makina. at medyo agressive ako ng kaunti dahil NAPAKAKUKULIT ng mga jeep at trikes dito haha.
I am getting an average of 9.5 km/L. Combination of city driving and highway. Pque to Makati in the evening, Makati to Pque pauwi (highway), then Pque to Taguiug and Taguig to Pque, plus gala with family on weekends. I have the Automatic mid version.
1. ambient air getting inside the cabin even when aircon is on at re-circulate mode. Pero this should have been fixed na daw. Mine was fixed.
2. Steering joint noise when full turn left and right. Not all units, yung iba wala naman. I did not noticed mine, the SA at Westgate alabang are superb, they identified the issue and reported to me, and replaced the steering joint underwarranty - hassle free.
3. Inaccurate fuel gauge. It goes on empty even when my tank is more than half full. Not all LOOP members are reporting to have this problem. I have it, and will have it check in a few weeks time. SA told me it is still under warranty and will check/fix for free.
4. Not so many accessories available, but its up to you to be creative DIY. You can always find a shop that can customize.
Decent and respectable engine. You would be surprised with what it can do. You can play around with the OverDrive button when climbing stiff bridge while on full load (OD/off), or easily cruise at 100 kph on highways at low rev 2,200-500 (OD/on). Engine is responsive, can go to 6,000 rpm without hesitations, but i never tried red-line at 6,500 baka masira hehehe.
Aircon is cool to give everyone on board the chill.
So far so good, minor squeeks and clunks, only to find out the seatbelts metal clip where just hitting the pillars, so i put them on their placeholders when not in use. And some loose toys my baby would put in the cup holders and door pockets.
For me, its the best-buy for my money, serving its purpose as transpo to and from the office, a family car that can squeeze my wife + 1 child, lolo, lola, yaya, baby stroller, and bags comfortably. Not like a small car, and not like a big oversized mpv. Just the right size for me. It also serves as utility when buying big items pag shopping. kasyang kasya 1 32 inch lcd tv + 1 37 inch lcd tv + 40 inch plasma tv all at the same time, patayo pa ang lagay (2nd and 3rd row seats down). The sad part is, hindi sa akin lahat yung tv, nakisabay sa akin kumpare ko nung may sale, sakin lang yung pinaka maliit hhehehe.
Sir Yoogix says it all, the pro and cons of the GL. May I just add that it is a beautiful MPV looks wise with a classy interior and a very nice ride for it's kind.
bobbysan wrote: Hello po, we are planning to get livina this year to replace my nissan sentra and honda city, I just want to know what is the FC for city and common issue with livina. I hope you can help me decide to get a livina.
hello and welcome to LOOP sir. FC may vary but overall the Grand Livina is a very fuel efficient MPV. i'm getting an average of 10-11kms/li on my elite (M/T) city driving. some did above 18kms/li i think on pure highway. ok ang engine and FC.


The latest instalment of the Phaidon CREAM series, this time titled CREAMIER, has just made its way to the store! The concept remains the same as always: ten top notch curators showcase their ten favourite emerging artists of the last few years. In case the concept itself doesn't win you over, then the design and format of CREAMIER will surely do the trick. The large broadsheet format, the high quality paper, and the custom-made box are clear indicators of the care and precision that went into creating this marvellous volume.


Perhaps the most rewarding part of being in Africa was the relationship I formed with Chico Antonio. We met one night between sets at a local live music club. I asked him if I could sing with him, and learn his music. I had no idea at the time that Chico is a very famous and respected musician in Mozambique. And one of nicest, kindest souls I have ever met. He took me under his wing and introduced me to his band, and invited me to rehearse with them. Often we would just spend time together, chit chatting, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. But my favourite times with Chico were when we practiced together, just the two of us, at his apartment. Calm, peaceful, focused.
We worked on three of his songs in his native Zulu language of Shangaan, a beautiful dialect that I will write more about in upcoming posts. On my very last day, sitting together in our favourite little watering hole, we sang the songs together, and I recorded them. I present them to you now, filmed by a very nice man named Emidio Noormahomed, who unfortunately I only met at the very end of my stay in Mozambique. But somehow he was sure our paths would cross again.
This first song is called Podina. Podina is the name of a woman Chico dated many years ago. She is upset, and even when she smiles, her eyes are not smiling. He is asking her where she is, and pleading with her to come back to him. This is maybe my favourite for a number of reasons. I love the sound, and how it makes me feel. Over several weeks, I also made several suggestions to change the some of the words and structure of the song, which Chico embraced and incorporated. No ego, just open. All the "home, home" parts, which sort of sticks in your head, and kind of gives the song a lift.
The second song is called Zizi, a young boy of about four years old, the son of one of his bandmates Jose Maria. They were practicing one day, and while he was playing with his toys, seemingly oblivious to the music, Zizi began speaking some of these words about how the sun was setting on Chico and Jose Maria's life, and how his was just beginning. That nothing in life is forever. Out of the mouths of babes. Anyway Chico turned it into a song many years ago, and as you will hear, I added a little North American twist at the end. "Improv" as Chico refers to it.
The third and final song is called Sinongue, and it is about calling someone from the heart. Chico is playing a very interesting African instrument known as a thumb piano. His is a home made version that looks something like this, mounted in a construction hat for better acoustics.
Happy Easter, and I hope you enjoy this musical offering!
This post marks the halfway point of my journey. Thanks for sticking with me.
My wife fell this week and injured her back. It feels very strange to be here, thousands of miles away from home, and not there to help her. I'm sorry Cheri. I love you. And I will be home soon.
Time has moved very, very quickly in some ways. In other ways it feels like I have been here for six months. I am overwhelmed at times by everything, with fear and uncertainty rearing their ugly heads, but I seem to settle myself down quickly.
I know that politics is inevitable in the workplace, and was under no illusion that figuring out what to do on the communications front and actually getting it done in a very different culture and language would take some very special skills. What I did not consider is that the politics and blockages would come from thousands of miles away.
While I was very frustrated at first, and felt like just throwing in the towel, I eventually came to the realization that in fact what I need to do us re-double and fine tune my efforts, and concentrate on those areas where I know I can make headway at the local level. I must remember how fortunate I am to be having this experience. I also have to keep in mind that this is much different from Nicaragua experience which was physical and hands on. This is office work, and mentally challenging, but just as important just in another way.
I am also very aware of the fact that my "Africa" experience so far has been through a big city lens. Maputo does not define Mozambique or the rest of the continent, so I am hoping to have the opportunity to experience life in other, more rural areas in my final four weeks, hopefully in the context of work and not as a tourist.
Last week I moved to the head office, a short walk from the apartment, and it has introduced a whole new level for my communication work. I am working directly with ministry of education staff, who appear keen and ready to develop and implement communications for the program. But this is a massive challenge because it means changing the culture of the organization. So I am working with as many people as I can, trying to show them how this can help them and the program. If I can get only a few of them to buy in, it will have been worth it.
There are about 20 staff at this office. Very difficult at first, but after a day or two, I began to connect and make headway with several. I am in one big, open office with about eight people. Great set-up to connect quickly. On Friday, Gilberto, who sits right next to me asked me about my upcoming weekend, and then invited me to his home Saturday afternoon! Very open and generous. My reaction at home would surely have been to decline, but not here. Timing did not work this weekend, but I am touched by his offer.
Friday night I was to meet Chico and the band for a rehearsal, but our space was occupied, so I met him at the Franco-Moz cultural center where many local musicians were playing outside in a relaxed, comfortable jazz-like atmosphere. Chude, our band mate was also performing. She was phenomenal–a cross between Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Wicked, wicked voice, with so much depth and character. I also met Manuel, a very nice man who used to be the goal keeper for the Portugal soccer team.
Then off I went to another music spot–Xima–to catch another popular local band. The husband of a friend of a colleague is the trumpet player. They asked me to join them on stage that very night! Although the "unknown" terrified me at first (familiar ground) we agreed to a rehearsal first, followed by a performance with me singing lead, at that club in two weeks! We'll see what happens. Either way, musically things are really clicking!
In some circles, I introduce myself as a singer from Canada. At first this felt inauthentic. Although I may not be as experienced as some others, I have a reasonable amount of talent, I am working on perfecting my craft, and I love it. So I guess I am!
During the performance at the club, all the lights went out…everything went completely black. But the band did not miss a beat…the sign of a very, very tight band. The generator kicked in about a minute later. In fact the power went out across the entire city, and stayed out for almost a full day. Getting home that night was certainly an adventure! The roads are insane at the best of times, so you can imagine the chaos without traffic or street lights! The power has been on and off ever since, which is causing some big problems for those that don't have a generator (which is most). Appliances, rotting meat, no street lamps, internet. My apartment has one which is very fortunate.
Saturday night I went to a dinner party with my friends Mike and Liz, and a bunch of their Canadian friends and acquaintances living in Maputo. I knew nobody except for them. They commented later how impressed they were on how I "worked the room" which completely floored me. I don't do this at home, and am usually very uncomfortable in these social settings.
And there was a clear divide between black and white folks…something I did not pick up until just before we left. I had unknowingly sat down at the "white" table, and was oblivious to the fact that there was a second "black" table. I have no idea how representative that is…perhaps in certain social settings. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of my stay here where "white" has always been in the minority wherever I have been. But this has not bothered me.
Sunday, Liz, her two kids Seamus and Charlotte, and I took a small taxi (chopela), and a ferry to Catembe, an area across an inlet with a good view back to the city of Maputo. Then a long walk on the beach (unfortunately strewn with garbage) to a small hotel for an overpriced but nice lunch (they know there aren't many choices in Catembe and they make you pay). Overall a lovely day, and so nice to spend some time with them. It's the first time I've been to the beach since I arrived, and I felt that wonderful calm sensation I get when I am near water. I wave of homesickness washed over me as well, and I was missing my wife terribly.
On the way back, the "state-run" ferry ticket seller guy tried to charge me double the cost (40 mets), and he refused to back down. He knew that no one was watching and he had a good chance of getting away with it. It was cheap anyway, so I was willing to just pay it, but Liz would not. Instead we walked down the long pier to the small ferry and I gave the ticket collector guy 20 mets cash (the actual cost), which he promptly put in his pocket. Still corrupt, but we were not ripped off!
These sorts of things happen all the time here, and constantly push your boundaries of what you think is right and wrong. You can hold tight to your values, and not get anywhere, or you learn to play the game, which makes you an accomplice. Hard to resolve this in my mind, but I keep reminding myself that the same rules that I am used to do not necessarily apply here.
Yesterday I was verbally ambushed yet again by someone selling sculptures. He chased me down the street, even though I repeatedly said no. I hit my breaking point. I stopped and looked at him in the eye. "Every time I walk down the street, somebody tries to sell me something," I said. "Do you think I have enough money to buy everything everybody wants to sell me? Am I responsible because you are hungry and have not made a sale today." He looked at me. I was on a roll. "How would you feel if every time you walked outside, many people harass you, and try to sell you many things?" It felt good to be heard. And I bought the bloody sculptures anyway.
I mentioned last week how unusually open I have been and the efforts I have made to get to know people, including the apartment staff. I tip at times, but also bring them pastries or little treats sometimes. I don't want it to be all about money. On Tuesday, there was a knock at my door. Bernardo, one of the staff, had tried to write me an English note. With some help of another staff member, he explained that his father had just died and he had travelled to another part of the country to arrange the funeral. As the first son, it had cost him a lot of money. His wife cannot produce breast milk, and so his young child needs special formula. So he was asking me for help. Not necessarily money, he said, he just needed that formula.
I wrestled with it overnight. In my world, this request from a hotel employee is totally inappropriate. It really bothered me at first, that he had put me in this awkward position. And then all the yucky thoughts. I was suspicious. It sounded far-fetched. How uncomfortable would it be if I said no? And if I said yes, would all the staff come to me with their own stories? I also realized that if I tried to check his story with the manager or other staff, he might be fired.
On the one hand it could be that the staff see me as a sucker, and Bernardo was making a pitch to rip me off. On the other, it could be true. And I am here to help in any way I can. And $50 is nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. And it could be everything to him. So after work on Wednesday, I hunted around town, found the formula, and bought it for him.
My friend Jules first introduced me to this concept, and I was reminded of it recently by a fellow blogger. Although it does not describe my entire experience here, it continues to make me think. This short piece from David Icke is timely, and the perfect way to end this week's post.
It was a long weekend in Mozambique, as people celebrated Heroes' Day. I spent part of it with my friends Mike and Liz and a few of their friends–for dinner, then live music. It's the first time we've all been out together since I arrived. Probably one of the rare adult only nights for all of them. I think they all enjoyed the freedom, something I often take for granted.
This long weekend also marked the official start of the Marrabenta festival, which means "to break guitar strings." It also coincides with the ripening of a type of fruit, which is used to make an alcoholic drink called "canhu." Marrabenta is a type of music, with sort of a Caribbean feel. Not something I can listen to for days on end, but I still enjoy. Anyway, Friday night I went to a show at the Franco-Mozambique cultural centre (I know…another strange combination…who'd have thought I'd end up there?), featuring many of the stars of this genre, who each did about three or four songs–the cream of the crop you might say. Many of the performers were older, with younger players supporting them. Very respectful of the older generation. Two in particular I enjoyed: Cheny, a young guy who played this xylophone looking thing with incredible flair and intensity and Neyma, a middle-aged female performer with a great voice and some incredible dance moves. The show went from 9 pm til almost 1 am. People were drinking, dancing, and having a good time. Again, no rules and anything goes….so very different from home.
My plan was to take the free train the next day to the actual festival, about 90 minutes north from here. But I had been trying to connect with Chico Antonio (the older musician dude I wrote about last week), and it happened he was free Saturday. It turned into one of those rare days that I will remember forever.
I met Chico at noon outside Radio Mozambique, and we wandered across the street to a local outdoor terrace. I was not sure what to expect, but hoped we would find some common ground. We sat for the next four hours, had a few beers, and he told me about his life as a musician and life in Mozambique.
He is 55 and has won many awards. He sings, plays guitar, flute, percussion, and trumpet. He ran away from home at the age of six because he fell asleep tending the cows, and half of them escaped. He thought his father would kill him. So he left and has never seen them again. He lived on he street until he was nine, when he was helped by two white men who got him into school. From there he studied chemistry, and then music at the age of 19, and he has never looked back. He lived in France on a musical scholarship for several years. He has toured and played with the best. During our chat, people were coming up to him every few minutes to introduce themselves, say how much they loved his music, and shake his hand. We spoke a mixture of English, French, and Portuguese, but he speaks five or six languages.
There is a youthful intensity about him, yet you can see every one of 55 years etched in his face, and particularly in his eyes. They really tell a story.
I hadn't made any plans for the day, so when he asked me if I would like to come with him to his home and meet his wife, of course I did. We walked about 30 minutes through the city and his neighbourhood, people waving and nodding to him along the way…clearly he is a well-respected fixture in the community.
We walked up 12 flights of stairs to his very modest apartment. Decent by Mozambique standards I think, but certainly not by North American standards. Very run down, water leaking though the ceiling. But a spectacular view. He has lived there for 28 years. I met Anita, his wife of 15 years (his third…consecutive though, not at the same time!). She is 50 but looks 35. "I chose well," he says. Chico has only one child from his first marriage, and stepchildren from his last two. Anita showed me her photographs and made us dinner. Then we listened to a bunch of songs he is currently working on. He even lent me the only copy of the cd so I could listen to it on my own. He seemed so pleased to be able to share his music with me. Watching him listen to music was something special. It takes him somewhere else, to a different plane of existence, like he is flying. I am new to this part of the music business, but I get it.
He has done it all and seen it all. Now he plays once in a while, when it suits him. He looks for people and projects that will allow him to explore something different and new to him. He has a very interesting sound…I can hear so many levels and influences behind his music. Although generally not one to label, I coined the term "Africool" to describe his music, which I think he quite liked.
Yesterday I met up again with Chico, this time with his band–Edmondo, a young, very talented Mozambican who plays mainly percussion, and Chude, and American Mozambican vocalist who has toured with Bruce Cockburn and Jackson Browne. They started with an interview with two dudes from Radio Mozambique, then got into their groove together. They play this free-flowing, rhythmic, experimental kind of music–fun and trippy. Kind of like musical improv. They start with a groove or rhythm, and then build on it. Chico calls the rehearsals a workshop…and I suppose that is quite an accurate description. They bring a whole bunch of different instruments–flutes, recorders, castanets, bongos, all kinds of shaker instrument, guitars, etc–and play as the spirit moves them. Anyway he introduced me and told them I was keen to learn their style of music, and jam with them (and other stuff too I guess 'cos they were laughing!). Then more magic: the three of them welcomed me into their band with open arms for the remainder of my stay! We played together for a few hours, and then went for a few beers. I was also their official photographer for the their promo photo! I must admit I am a little starstruck, but what the hell, I will give it everything I've got and see where it takes us. And I was so very touched by how warm and accepting and open they were with me. We have another "workshop" session Friday night!
Money makes the world go around?
Switching gears…I am particularly conscious of money here. Those who have, and those who don't. Those that make it, those that spend it, those that are trying to get it. Much has been said about money and what it represents–good, bad, and ugly. I know that it can do so many positive things in the world, but it can also be the source of such pain and misery. I am beginning to see it as not necessarily any of those, but more as a source or transfer of energy. I heard it characterized recently in and of itself as neutral, but that it is our attachment to it that creates problems.
I can walk down the street here and have nothing left within about 10 minutes if I give it to everyone that approaches me. So why say yes to one and not another? How to decide if one needs it more or less than the other? It's all how I look at it. How I judge it. If I feel hustled, I tend not to want to part with it. If I see someone who looks like they need it, I will give them some. Or buy a pineapple from them. Or give them my bread or whatever I might be carrying. I am starting to ramble a bit here I guess because I don't really have any answers. But this experience, and in fact my life in the last year or two, is causing me to re-examine my thoughts about and relationship to money.
Really? Consider that 2.5 billion people (about a third of our planet) live on less than $2 a day, and this obscene consumerism could not seem any more ridiculous. This kind of frivolous waste has been bothering me since Nicaragua, and clearly it still is.
As I wrote in my last post, I seem to have a pretty good relationship with the staff at the apartment/hotel. In fact some of them are even trying to teach me their language of Changaan. Is this because I tip them from time to time, or because I make a sustained effort to connect with them? I think and hope the latter is true.
There are guys who sell crafts in the park across the street. One younger guy–Raymond–pushes me hard, and tries to get me to buy something no matter what. I explained to him on Monday how unpleasant it is to be hustled, and asked him he feels when someone tries to sell him hard. He heard me, but still wanted me to buy something. I gave in, and bought something small which clearly disappointed him. I think he ripped me off, but whatever.
But there's another guy–Francesco– who sees me coming now and does not try to sell me at all anymore. He seems interested in just talking to me! Those are the kind of breakthroughs that make putting up with the Raymond types worth it. And there are many of these positive stories. Positive or negative, these people are very, very good at reading and reacting (and exploiting) non-verbal communication clues.
There are fair people here, as well as those who are trying to rip you off, nice and not so nice. I suppose that is no different from anywhere else.
I have talked about two very different types of experiences in this post. The question is how will I view them, how do I respond, what filters do I use, and how do I allow them to affect me?
One thing that strikes me…I am so busy absorbing and learning in this new environment, that I spend very little time judging. I am open, and that's a good thing. A positive outcome of the unfamiliar.
Lots happening on the work front but I will save that for next week.
I will close with a few timely and relevant words by Neil Donald Walsch (that I know my wife will remind me of when I am home!).
"There is something 'wrong' with everything. No matter what you are looking at, you can find something wrong with it, something imperfect, something that is not okay with you. Don't worry, if you look hard enough you'll find it.
I am doing well with this here, in the unfamiliar, but recognize that I must try to see more of what's right always.
Thank you to my friend Morene for sending this my way…I hope to live up to it. This is indeed a journey on so many levels. It is the perfect quote to begin this week's post.
It's kind of a long post this week….but if you look at nothing else, don't miss the two video clips below.
A little about where I am. Mozambique is one of the five poorest countries in the world with an average income of about $1 a day. About 12% of the 15-49 age group has HIV/AIDS. It has an adult literacy rate of only about 46%, but that is hugely improved from 30 years ago. Although a high percentage of children are enrolled in schools, they don't all actually go. Further, many of those that do go don't actually learn much because of the caliber of the teaching. Internet access is about 4%.
Mozambique is one of about 54 countries in Africa, and is about twice the size of California, or a little smaller than the province of Ontario. It is on the southeast part of the continent, hugging the east coast, just north of South Africa and Swaziland. It is also bordered by Zimbabwe and Zambia to the west, Malawi and Tanzania to the north, and the Indian ocean to the east. Marriages are often polygamous in rural communities, with men having 2, 3, or more "wives" here. It is not uncommon for 10 kids in single family, and I have heard of some men with upwards of 30 kids from a number of partners! What up, bro! Many fathers clearly do not take their role very seriously here.
The Portuguese settled this country, and it remains the official language even though they pulled out in 1975, after the war for independence. Then the civil war began, lasting 17 years until 1992. Add in floods, cyclones, cholera, and malaria, and you can see how Mozambique has its challenges.
Malaria is a nasty and sometimes deadly disease that attacks the liver, caused by a parasite carried by the mosquito. They tend to come out mainly at night and can only fly about a kilometer or two. People who live here tend to build up some immunity. Although malaria is more of a rural than urban phenomena, it is now rainy season here, making it even more widespread. There is one huge, main central public hospital in Maputo. Which mean that people come from all areas to be treated for their ills, including malaria. Which means that those that are bitten here in town pass the parasite onto these mosquitos, they bite someone else, and so on. All of a sudden we have a potential central distribution point for malaria!
I regard every mosquito with utmost suspicion, which then turns into a fight to the death. I am taking my pills faithfully just to be safe.
There are about 20 different languages in Mozambique, some very specific to different regions…and we think in Canada that two official languages is complicated to manage! Mozambique has a population of about 22 million, spread out over 10 provinces, almost 2 million of which are in the capital city of Maputo (in Maputo province), which is where I am. Maputo is in the very south end of the country, only about 80 km from the South African border. It's hot certainly…about 30-34 C are typical highs this time of year. Quite humid and muggy, and not much of a breeze. But it's bearable, and you sort of get used to it (I was expecting worse). Yet all the men wear long pants, and almost no one wears shorts! So do I for work, but I don't like it.
The massive amounts of rain continues to be a problem just north of us in particular, with more than 36 dead, and almost 100,000 displaced since my last update. To make matters even worse, a crocodile farm flooded, releasing 15,000 crocs into the Limpopo river. They have recaptured only about 2,000.
For all of you who generously donated $800 in cash as well as soccer balls, pumps, and pens…I think that putting it all towards helping these flood victims might be the best use. Homes, schools, and entire villages have been wiped out. More on that when I figure out how to best do this.
Dirty, smelly, loud, bustling, hustling…Maputo is not much different from any other big city. Rich and poor. So many different people, classes, cultures, nationalities coexisting. People are generally well dressed (particularly on Sundays) and polite. There are hardly any street people here, compared to what I am used to seeing at home. I haven't been asked for money yet. Hustled yes. Trying to sell me things…all the time. But no panhandling.There are absolutely no rights for pedestrians and I mean NONE (you have to be looking all ways all the time). Stop signs mean nothing. Drivers are very aggressive…it makes driving in Montreal seem like a field day. This is very different from how they are as people. Cars seem to have a way of bringing out the worst in people no matter where they are. So many cars here, and people park wherever they want, including the sidewalk (and no tickets!). There is garbage and broken glass everywhere. Certainly no recycling program in Maputo! Everyone has a cell phone which seems strange here, but I guess communicating remains a powerful human need wherever you are.
So many cars, so little space for pedestrians!
Everyone is trying to sell something wherever you turn. VERY enterprising people! The street and sidewalks are a mess…big gaping holes everywhere. I have yet to see a police officer, car, or station, although there are guards everywhere, along with gates, electric fence "deterrents," and razor wire.It's total chaos…but somehow…it just works. Not the way I'm used to, but it works.
This is purely anecdotal, but I sense that many of our western problems–for example guns, bullying, drugs and alcohol, obesity–are much less of an issue here. Which doesn't mean they don't have their own issues, but it is interesting to think about why, and how much people of different backgrounds could learn from each other. Wouldn't it be great if we could cherry pick and combine the best traits of all cultures?
The cost of living is much like at home. No bargains to be had here on food, drink, clothes, accommodation, travel, etc…prices are usually at least as much as home, and often more. For example, $200-250 a night for a hotel room would be about average. Because Maputo is bustling city with money, people here charge what they think they can get, and strangely, stick to their guns, and can usually get it. They are willing to lose sale for the sake of keeping prices inflated. I stopped for some fresh flowers…they had tons of them, and it was the end of the day. They wanted about $10, which I felt was way too high. So rather than deal, they let me walk. I suspect this is a big city phenomena though, and that in the rural areas this would be a much different experience. I also wonder how long this over-inflated bubble can last. And I also wonder how people who live and work here manage.
It's a very interesting and strange mix of things here. The street names in Maputo for example…Mao Tse Tung, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx….all over the map. Lots of foreign money here as well…the Chinese built the stadium and the presidential palace (using their very own convicts!). Maybe they're just being friendly. Surely they don't want anything in return!
Someone told me that one of the things they like about Mozambique is the diversity….and that anything that can happen, and usually does. There's an up and down side to that I guess. It's a fairly liberal place compared to some other stricter African countries, with a definite Latino feel and flair. On Friday night for example I found myself at the opening of an art exhibit….at the German cultural centre! I was surrounded by Germans, Mozambicans, and many other nationalities, speaking all kinds of languages. I generally don't like these sorts of gatherings as most of you know–too fluffy and stuffy, I am generally just uncomfortable, and for some reason anxious–but I tried to keep on open mind anyway. I especially enjoyed a couple of local musicians, and thanked them for their performance.
More inspiring words sent to me by my good friend Thomas. Thank you….
Saturday afternoon I was walking around town, when all of a sudden I heard these beautiful sounds. I followed the sounds to a municipal garden on the ocean. As I walked into the park I saw this huge tree, and underneath it, a large group of very well dressed people. It was a wedding, and they were all singing and dancing. Another one of those magic moments. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible (not really successfully mind you) and managed to capture this bit of video.
Then I started thinking that it would be a great thing to somehow connect and play with local musicians. Try to do here what I love to do at home, and how incredible it would be to learn their style of music. So out into the universe that thought went.
Sunday night I went to see a local band perform at Cafe Camisa…a cool little local spot for music, and attached to Nucleo de Arte (art nucleus), a workshop/studio where dozens of local artists come to paint, sculpt, play. It was a wild show, with a thumping, almost hypnotic, rhythm.
The musician dude (Ivan) that I thanked on Friday at the German cultural centre (see above), was at this club and recognized me. I talked to him about wanting to play with some local musicians and he offered to introduce me to one of the band members who was just finishing a set. Chico Antonio is an older guy, very talented, and as it turns out is one of the best known and accomplished musicians in Mozambique. He is the main guy in the video clip. So I started chatting with him and he offered to jam with me, and introduce me to other musicians! I finally connected with him today, and hope it will lead to something. Regardless, it was pretty cool how all the pieces just sort of clicked together following my intention.
Faces look back at you as you look at them. Cautious mirrors cautious, open reflects open. Smiles bring smiles. Raising your hand as a greeting gets you the same in return. Pretty simple equation, but a valuable lesson and reminder in human nature.
I have connected with many of the staff at the apartment-hotel and know most of them by name. They appreciate the effort. I think they get a kick out of me for some reason. They have a special handshake here, and I have tried to learn it and practice it on them regularly. They love that…I can hear them all chuckling and laughing as I walk away, genuinely amused. Big white guy trying to do handshake, they must be thinking. Funny guy that Mr. Jonatan! Some of them are actually seeking me out…going out of their way to connect and say "ola," so that's kind of cool. It feels genuine.
At work I have connected with a few people, after ongoing effort and patience. Tomas (pronounced Tomash), an older educated guy, a telecommunications engineer who also teaches mathematics. He took me to lunch last Friday which I really appreciated. But my favourite is Helder…probably about my age. He is a driver, but also provides logistics and coordination support for the program. Really bright, thoughtful, deep guy who understands big picture issues. He picks me up and drops me off every day. And he has my back. In his limited English and my even more limited Portuguese, we somehow make ourselves understood. He wasn't sure about me at first, I could tell, but after a day or two, he came around. I mean, how long did he really think he would be able to resist my charm?
I finally connected with one of the women at the office…Denise. We had never exchanged more than a few words. But Tuesday morning I complimented her on her hair, and all of a sudden discovered she could speak English! We talked about culture and music…turns out she's a singer too, and she has also offered to introduce me to other local musicians!
Not knowing the language is a real barrier, but somehow I am learning to get by. It's hard though. Now that the novelty of being here is starting to wear off, and the routine is setting in I am starting to find it more difficult in some ways. I get up, go to work, come "home," usually go out for a walk and a quick bite, do some writing, watch some TV (two English channels: CNN international which is pretty good or bad movie channel), meditate, and go to bed. Then repeat. It is mind expanding and new, but also kind of a lonely, isolating experience in a way and I do miss my wife, son, family, and friends. I will have to find a different gear with six weeks to go. Highs and lows are to be expected….I know I must continue to embrace the opportunity I have here.


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What London Mayoral candidates offer the property market
Posted by Keir Harris | Apr 20, 2021 | Brent, Development, Ealing, Environment, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston, London West, News, Plan, Politics, Richmond, Views | 0 |
DevComms account manager Kier Harris has weighed up the main candidates in the forthcoming London Mayoral election.
As Londoners head to the polls to elect their Mayor and Assembly Members for the next four years, now seems a good time to take a look at the main candidates for Mayor and see what their mayorship might mean for planning and development, as well as who is currently best placed to win the contest.
Like many elections around the country, the Mayoral and London Assembly elections were meant to take place in 2020 but were postponed as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.
One year on, we have an unprecedented twenty candidates to choose from. The main political parties are represented, together with a range of others representing various parties and causes, including women's equality, independence and rejoining the EU.
Let us start with the incumbent, Sadiq Khan. With five years of track record to go on, we already know a lot about his aims, focus and policies when it comes to development.
Planning during his first term has been characterised by a few key themes; a focus on providing what he considers to be genuinely affordable housing (via a change to the definition of what constitutes affordable housing); meeting London's housing need within the capital's borders; a reluctance to develop on Green Belt and strategic industrial land; and a focus on smaller sites, public sector land and transport hubs, to but name a few.
As the New London Plan was only just formally published this February, it is unlikely that the thrust of the established planning regime would change too greatly under a second Sadiq Mayorship. However, this does pose the question, can we expect any changes of note if he does win?
There are large parts of Sadiq Khan's housing agenda that he is likely to seek to enhance in a second term. Some key new policies include a target to deliver 10,000 new council homes, plans to 'explore the creation' of a fund for borough councils to re-purchase housing stock sold off under Right to Buy, piloting a new GLA-owned public sector developer to build low-cost housing and to accelerate the retrofitting of existing homes to meet the goal of making London carbon neutral by 2030.
Other Candidates
There are a number of other high profile and popular candidates standing including London Assembly member and Camden councillor, Sian Berry, for the Green Party, and Camden councillor and former MEP, Luisa Porritt, for the Liberal Democrats.
Sian Berry has three main focuses – 'fresh thinking about housing' with the cessation of demolition of council housing and greater protection for tenants' 'a clear plan to keep London moving' with a focus on investment in streets and public transport (thus moving funding away from road infrastructure), and 'action for a safe and healthy city' through focusing police resource on communities and the prevention of violence, together with greater investment in mental health services.
Luisa Porritt's Lib Dem agenda centres around the key aims of jobs, with support for small businesses, the self-employed and young Londoners with the creation of the London Apprenticeships Hub, homes, starting the London Housing Company, which will help to bring empty homes back into use, end homelessness and end the responsibility for leaseholders to have to fund expensive remediation work to rectify fire safety defects.
She is also campaigning for clean air initiatives which will see Khan's Silvertown Tunnel scrapped and money injected into more sustainable transport initiatives including better cycling routes and public transport initiatives.
Shaun Bailey
Perhaps the only candidate that realistically has a chance of dethroning Sadiq Khan is the Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey. One of Shaun Bailey's main housing commitments is his plan to build 100,000 'millennials homes', allowing young Londoners to buy new homes for £100,000 with a deposit of just £5,000. The pledge being put forward is one for shared ownership, where up to 10 people can buy a share in the newly built homes.
Whilst there are many Londoners upset with Khan's running of the City, the polls suggest the Conservatives will struggle to gain enough support for their candidate to win.
The hope for many Conservatives is that they will make further gains in outer London boroughs such as Bexley and Bromley, which have been strongholds for the party.
His campaign team will also be hoping for a big impact from the untested factor of the vaccine 'bump', following a successful rollout compared to other countries. Nationally, YouGov has recorded increased support for the Conservatives of six per cent since November last year, to 43 per cent, but it remains to be seen whether this increase will meaningfully filter through to London.
Sadiq Khan, by contrast, has enjoyed an almost leisurely campaign, managing to maintain consistently around a 20 per cent lead in the polls. If polls are to be believed, it is possible that he could be elected within the first round, winning more than 50 per cent of the vote, something that has never happened in the history of the London Mayoralty.
Smart money is currently on a second term for Sadiq Khan, but we'll wait to see whether Sean Bailey does achieve any tangible benefit from the vaccine bump and the impact that has on the final result.
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Courses and Programs Committee (CPC)
CPC Handbook
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The Courses and Programs Committee (CPC) exists for the purpose of making recommendations pertaining to the programs and courses offered by the college, including associated local board policies, administrative procedures, and guidelines, primarily to the Academic Senate. The Academic Senate forwards the committee's recommendations regarding policies and procedures to the College Council for consideration and recommendation to the superintendent/president and Board of Trustees. The committee acts by means of careful study and open discussion to assure the college's curriculum has consistent quality, rigor, and compliance with state regulations and standards as well as with district policies and procedures.
View Current Agenda
Next CPC meeting will be on Thursday, December 10, 2020 from 1pm - 3pm via Zoom.
Second and fourth Thursdays of each month, 1pm - 3pm on the Oceanside Campus via Zoom.
CPC 2020-2021 Calendar
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The full CPC membership consists of fourteen full-time faculty, one associate faculty, three administrators, including the vice president of Instructional Services, two classified staff (one evaluator and one whose job duties relate to curriculum), and one student, all of whom are selected by their appropriate constituent group.
The faculty members are selected to represent the following curricular areas:
Five faculty members who represent general education: one each who teaches in English, math, natural sciences, art and humanities (excluding English), and social and behavioral sciences. (Note: If a faculty member from this group takes an absence during the academic year or if no one volunteers to serve, the substitute faculty member cannot be from a department already represented on the committee.)
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The faculty director of Online Education.
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Administrators have no terms, thus no term limits, on their participation. The full-time faculty members, including the chair, serve three-year terms (renewable with no term limits), with the exception of the articulation officer, faculty director of Online Education, and faculty members with as-needed expertise (such as the honors coordinator) who are permanent members of the committee. The associate faculty member serves one term that is renewable.
Committee Members 2020-2021
Joanne Benschop, Articulation Officer
William Gunn, GE - Area C
Robert Bond - GE - Area D
Kelly Hagen, Pre-Transfer
MaryBeth Headlee, GE - Area A
Jim Julius, Director Online Education
Donald Munshower, Counseling
Gilbert Neri, Area C
David Parker, CE
Erika Peters, GE - Area B
Nate Scharff, GE - CE
Angela Senigaglia, Chair
Rosa Treptow, Associate Faculty
Brenda Cruz, Classified
Sinclair Tirona, Classified
Diane Dieckmeyer, Administrator
Mike Fino, Administrator
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Tag Archives: luke evans
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017) – My rating: 9/10
Beauty and the Beast is a musical romantic fantasy directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, and co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films. The film is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1991 animated film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's eighteenth-century fairy tale. While Beauty and the Beast is a timeless film and story is hasn't lost it's appeal. Every time it's remade, it gets better and better. I'm so glad I decided to see it once again.
In Rococo-era France, a beautiful enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman (Hattie Morahan) arrives at a castle during a ball and offers the host, a cruel and selfish prince (Dan Stevens), a rose in return for shelter from the storm. When he refuses, she reveals her identity. To punish the prince for his selfishness, the enchantress transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects, then erases the castle, the prince and his servants from the memories of their loved ones. She casts a spell on the rose and warns the prince that the curse will only be broken if he learns to love another, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls.
Some years later, in the small town of Villeneuve, Belle (Emma Watson), the book-loving daughter of a music box maker and artist Maurice (Kevin Kline), dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston (Luke Evans), an arrogant former soldier. On his way to a convention and lost in the forest, Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle, but the Beast imprisons him for stealing a rose from his garden as a gift to Belle. When Maurice's horse returns without him, Belle ventures out in search for him, and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place.
Belle befriends the castle's servants, who invite her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast scares her into the woods. She is ambushed by a pack of wolves, but the Beast rescues her, and is injured in the process. As Belle nurses his wounds, a friendship develops between them. The Beast shows Belle a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers wherever they want. Belle uses the book to visit her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor mask and realizes that she and her father were forced to leave when her mother (Zoe Rainey) succumbed to the plague.
While I'm sure everyone knows the story, I will not give any more of the story away in case you don't know the story. I urge everyone to see Beauty and the Beast. It's a delightful movie and well done. Beauty and the Beast is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. Check it out!
[Beauty and the Beast is Oscar nominated for Best Production Design and Best Costume Designs.]
Tagged beast, beauty and the beast (2017), belle, cogsworth, dan stevens, emma thompson, emma watson, ewan mcgregor, gaston, ian mckellen, kevin kline, luke evans, lumière, maestro cadenza, maurice, mrs potts, stanley tucci, zoe rainey
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (2016) – My rating: 7/10
Posted on October 22, 2016 | 1 comment
The trailers really did serve their purpose marketing The Girl on the Train. I didn't know whether to expect a sexy, psychotic women out of control or a female peeping tom with an obsession. The Girl on the Train wasn't a big hit with movie fans (only achieving 6.7 on IMBD). Some people told me the movie was too predictable. I, on the other hand, felt The Girl on the Train was pretty good. I like to think of myself as above average figuring out who done it. While I briefly suspected who the guilty party was, I dismissed my resolve because I couldn't completely make it stick. The Girl on the Train, Rachael Watson (Emily Blunt) turns out to be an alcoholic who divorced her husband, Tom Watson (Justin Theroux), after catching him cheating on her with their real estate agent, Anna Boyd (Rebecca Ferguson). The train Rachael rides appears to be the Metro North running through White Plains.
Rachel grows a fascination with Tom's neighbors, a young couple, Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett), who she believes has a perfect marriage. Having seen the couple engaged in the throws of passion, which could clearly be seen from where she sits on the train, helped her come to this conclusion. In reality, Scott is aggressive and controlling, while Megan is detached and unfaithful for which she is seeking help from her psychiatrist, Dr. Kamal Abdic (Édgar Ramírez). As the story progresses, we began to learn Rachael's story. We learn she has a self esteem problem in addition to her psychotic behavior and shares an apartment with her friend Cathy (Laura Prepon). We also learn she often stalks her former husband, Tom along with his new wife, Anna and their newborn daughter Evie.
I will not tell any more about this story because it's too easy to give away the bottom line. I have given enough spoilers away. The Girl on the Train, in my opinion, is a descent movie with a tad too many twists and turns. The ending was acted out a little like a horror movie when the audience yells for the trauma victim to do something other than stand there. I still thought it was entertaining and not as unworthy as some others I've seen.
Tagged anna watson, dr kamal abdic, edgar ramirez, emily blunt, haley bennett, justin theroux, luke evans, megan hipwell, rachel watson, rebecca ferguson, scott hipwell, the girl on the train, tom watson