mad

Mad Science Monday: Never Visit The Dentist Again

I think the next logical step is a pulled-tooth via skydiving.

~NSHA




mad

Prosus says it has made $2B+ on its Swiggy investment and will retain a 25% stake after Swiggy's IPO, which valued the food and grocery delivery firm at ~$11.3B




mad

Contract That Made India Top Options Market Has Last Trading Day




mad

The strange way the world's fastest microchips are made

The strange way the world's fastest microchips are made This is the story behind one of the most valuable — and perhaps, most improbable — technologies humanity has ever created. It's a breakthrough called extreme ultraviolet lithography, and it's how the most advanced microchips in the world are…





mad

The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audio – January 1, 1993




mad

World Made by Hand: A Novel

Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audiobook – January 1, 2009




mad

#PitMad, Telugu Culture and Kalamkari Art, GOODNIGHT GANESHA: Interview with Nadia Salomon and Poonam Mistry

(Shortlink to this post: https://debbieohi.link/goodnight-ganesha)

I met Nadia Salomon through the SCBWI and am also familiar with her online. I love her enthusiasm, positive outlook, and the support she has shown fellow members of the kidlit community over the years! I was excited to get a sneak peek of GOODNIGHT GANESHA, her debut as a picture book author. The bedtime story celebrates nigthtime rituals as two young children visit their grandparents in India. SUCH gorgeous illustrations by Poonam Mistry. Thanks to both Nadia and Poonam for answering some questions about the book as well as their advice for young writers and illustrators!


Nadia Salomon
lives in northern California with her family. Nadia writes picture book, middle-grade, and graphic novel manuscripts with themes of South Asian and Caribbean culture, STEM, non-fiction, and humor. Nadia is the winner of the 2020 SCBWI Service Award and the 2019 SCBWI WOOP Honor Award for work of outstanding progress on her non-fiction, picture book manuscript, MYRLIE: A VOICE OF HOPE. You can find out more about Nadia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. You can sign up for her newsletter here.

Poonam Mistry is a freelance illustrator living in the UK and graduated in 2010 with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration at the University of Hertfordshire. Poonam creates her beautifully intricate images by hand using fine liners and then digitally alters them. You can find out more about Poonam on her website, Twitter, and Instagram.

Synopsis of GOODNIGHT GANESHA (Philomel, Aug. 31, 2021):

"As nighttime falls over the city, two children visiting their grandparents in India find there’s so much fun to be had! Whether it’s listening to epic stories or observing rituals in the puja room, there are many moments that make this time together special. In this beautiful, rhyming ode to bedtime, the only thing more universal than getting ready for bed and saying goodnight is the love between children and their grandparents."

Inspiration photo from Poonam Mistry.

Q. What was your path to publication?

Nadia: I'm a #PitMad success story. I landed my amazing agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, through twitter pitching! That's about three years after joining SCBWI. But my debut, GOODNIGHT GANESHA, is not the story she faved, but instead what I call a 'hot potato' idea inspired by my child. I wrote the draft in October of 2017. I sent it to several editors and agents I had connected with through conferences, but received lots of champagne rejections before shelving it. It was one of 21 manuscripts I shared with my agent in March of 2018. She loved the concept, but asked me to write the story in lyrical prose. After rounds of revisions, in January of 2019, she finally accepted the manuscript. She sent it out on sub. Six months later, in July of 2019, we sold the manuscript to Liza Kaplan, a senior editor at Philomel Books. I am now traditionally published. From concept to release will be 3 years, 10 months, 14 days to be exact.

Q. What interaction did you have with the illustrator, if any, during the process?

Nadia: Poonam and I interacted behind the scenes, but we NEVER discussed GOODNIGHT GANESHA or the art for the book. I trusted her whole-heartedly. All work related communications went through our editor. We became friends behind the scenes - coping through the pandemic, bonding over shared culture, family, and everything else in between, but we NEVER had convos as she worked on the book. The one time was at the end, when Poonam completed the art and asked me, "DID YOU SEE THE FINAL ART YET?" And I was like, "Uhm...NO." She was so excited. She said she put a lot of extra details and hoped I liked it. I was so antsy, but stayed calm. A few days later I received the final art. It was just incredible! We had a good cry messaging back and forth over the final art and what this project meant to each of us. We're about to contribute a piece of Telugu Culture and Kalamkari art into kidlit; we're ecstatic and proud of what we created together.

Q. What was your illustration process for GOODNIGHT GANESHA?

Poonam: For Goodnight Ganesha, I began by actually taking photographs around my parent's house. They have a lot of decorative ornaments and wall hangings all around their home so this was the perfect starting point for the book. Nadia's text is so poetic and beautiful so I sketched the imagery I felt best represented each spread and would really showcase her words- usually I have several versions for each part of the text and pick the ones I like the most. Once this was approved, I sketched out larger versions on thick cartridge paper and used black ink to draw in the designs in neat. This is where I added all the patterns and details. Mostly I took inspiration from traditional Indian art such Kalamkari textiles and Madhubani art. I layered the patterned very much like you would see on sarees and fabrics. After completing the drawing, I used Photoshop to add colour and additional patterns to finish it off. Some of the spreads have a patterned border- this was because I wanted them to look like wall hangings and Kalamkari textile pieces- big pieces of art!

Q. What advice do you have for young writers?

Nadia: Read, read, read. Write your stories. Make writing a habit. Write, write, write. Use the power of storytelling to change the world through joy. Explore your emotions, your memories, and create new classics. There's someone out there, an adult, another child, a pair of hands waiting to read your story that may impact or influence their life. No matter your age, your size, your voice - your words have value.

Q. What advice do you have for young illustrators?

Poonam: My biggest piece of advice is to do art that is true to yourself. My style is a real reflection of the things I love and what makes me who I am. It is my visual voice. Also always keep drawing and be experimental in the media you use. Although my work is mostly digital, I love painting in my style!

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For more insights from book creators, see my Inkygirl Interview Archives.




mad

Absolutely Trucking Mad, Part 5

I work as dispatch for a trucking company. One of my duties is to provide the closest truck driver for shipment. I get a call from a customer.

Customer: We can pay [generous amount] for this shipment, can you please check with your driver if that will be enough for him?”

I ask the driver:

Driver: “Yes, lock it down!”

Customer: “Alright, send your driver to the address.”

When the driver arrives at the address, he needs to wait for a couple of hours because they “made a mistake” with the paperwork. After asking them when they will be ready, only at the end do they tell him they sent their shipment with another courier for less money, and they didn’t even contact us. The driver tells me this and I call them asking for an explanation. They only said “sorry “and hung up.

Related:
Absolutely Trucking Mad, Part 4
Absolutely Trucking Mad, Part 3
Absolutely Trucking Mad, Part 2
Absolutely Trucking Mad




mad

Sleek school building is made with low-carbon concrete

The ways buildings are constructed has to change. It has become something else instead, something more sustainable, something newer. And it doesn't get much more modern than buildings that can actually move and adapt at will.[...]




mad

Gomi speakers are made from recycled e-bike batteries

Gomi has revolutionized the electronics industry by tackling the persistent problem of proper disposal at the end of a product's life. Unlike many other speaker companies, Gomi adopts a circular approach that enhances product longevity and significantly reduces pre and post-consumer waste.[...]




mad

Wood furniture made from waste creates a circular economy

Wood is one of the most common materials used for manufacturing and construction. Despite it being a natural resource with potential for reuse and its biodegradable qualities, the wood used in the industry is far from circular. In fact, each year, millions of tons of this precious material are wasted. To prevent this, a group of designers from the firm Disrupt.Design Lab (D.DLAB) have been exploring the development of circular solutions for wood. By developing new techniques that combine advanced fabrication and traditional methods, the team aims to contribute to the development of zero-waste industries.[...]




mad

Did you know dairy products can be made without cow or nuts?

From cows to goats to sheep, the availability of dairy is ubiquitous. But with copious environmental and health issues around traditional dairy products, alternatives are in the spotlight more than ever. Now there’s a way to enjoy yogurt, cheese and ice cream without a heavy reliance on animals or nuts. It’s called Precision Fermentation, and it puts an old technology to new use. [...]




mad

These low-cost housing solutions are made from bamboo

The Housing NOW project addresses home insecurity in a variety of affordable, efficient and sustainable ways. Started by Blue Temple, an architecture design studio based in Myanmar, the structures are constructed using bamboo that is locally available and endlessly renewable.[...]







mad

How is paper made from trees?

Plant-based paper has been used for thousands of years, but exactly how is it created from trees?




mad

Man who made 'depraved' child images with AI jailed





mad

“Sometimes We Can’t See Ourselves As What We Are”: Director Naoko Yamada On Why She Made ‘The Colors Within’

"It’s wonderful to find somebody who can show us this positive side of ourselves," Yamada says of the idea behind her new film.




mad

Does Oman Have A Specific Digital Nomad Visa Program?

Oman, otherwise officially known as the Sultanate of Oman, is within the southeastern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. The country is surrounded by two sea bodies including the Arabian Sea in the southeast and the Sea of Oman in the northeastern portion. A larger body of water, the Indian Ocean, is also near Oman in the southeastern area like the Arabian Sea. Americans, Canadians, and other digital nomads from various countries can easily assimilate as digital nomads since English is a widely used language besides the official language, Arabic. While there is no digital nomad visa program in Oman, you can opt to apply for an employment visa. If you are a digital nomad, you will have to apply for various eVisas depending on where you are going, such as an eVisa Ethiopia. How To Apply for An Employment Visa in Oman Applying for an employment visa in Oman takes six steps with an overall turnaround time of up to 9 weeks long depending on individual processing time. The first step is the initiation process where you have to contact Fakhoury Global Immigration and send in the appropriate documents to start applying for the employment visa. This initial step only takes about 24-72 hours. The second step involves filling out the labor permit application and waiting for that to be approved within 3 to 4 weeks. For step 3, you must fill out the employment visa application and provide the mandated documents. Take everything to the closest Royal Oman Police location for full processing within 1 week to a month. The fourth step involves entering Oman where you can begin your digital nomad endeavors once this happens. For step 5, you need to have a health exam at one of the entity’s supported clinics. You will need a chest X-ray, blood tests to be sure you don’t have any bad diseases, as well as pee and poop samples for a full health profile. The final step is applying for and receiving a residential ID card from the Directorates General of Civil Status. The Benefits of Being A Digital Nomad In Oman Your day can be filled with exploring what Oman has to offer in between getting your work done on your laptop. You can have breakfast at Tr.Eat Cafe and get your work done with nearby free Wi-Fi. Then, you can take a break and explore the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in the afternoon before grabbing dinner at Theatrum Restaurant. Plan your itinerary in Oman around your work schedule so that you can still have fun where you are temporarily living while getting your work done. Locating yourself in Muscat would be your best bet as it is the most popular part of Oman with the most free Wi-Fi spots so you can have a variety of places to work. Work can get boring if you are working in the same place every day. Instead of purchasing expensive home Internet, you can plan your day to be located near free Wi-Fi spots to get your work done. No Internet access at home can help you to stay connected to yourself with non-tech activities like reading a book or embarking on a hobby before you go back to being a digital nomad exploring Oman the next day. Where Can I Get Free Wi-Fi in Oman? According to WiFi Map, the top 5 places with free Wi-Fi in Oman are Muscat, Seeb, Salalah, Sohar, and Matrah. Muscat is the most popular region of Oman with free Wi-Fi spots, featuring 2,883 locations to connect with your laptop to complete your workload. When you first enter Muscat or another popular region in Oman with Wi-Fi spots, you can download WiFi Map to your smartphone so you are informed of all the nearby spots where you can get connected. Local hotels, cafes, restaurants, and other businesses could have free Wi-Fi for their patrons. Maybe you want to explore a part of Oman that you have not seen yet. Book a few days at a local hotel and you can utilize the free Wi-Fi there. Whenever you stop at a cafe or restaurant for a meal, you can get some work done after eating before you go to your next destination. Become A Digital Nomad in Oman Today! Oman has so much to offer such as opera houses, mosques, delightful eateries, and forts like the Jibreen Castle. Wadi Bani Khalid is a desert retreat with a mountainous landscape and clear green waters for swimming. When you have to stay connected to work, you can stop by one of the most popular Wi-Fi spots in Muscat. When you want to explore Oman’s attractions and eateries, you can put away your work and enjoy life. Being a digital nomad in Oman can change your life so start the employment visa process today! Author Bio: Cathy Slater is an experienced content writer. She is associated with many renowned travel blogs as a guest author where she shares her valuable travel tips with the audience.

The post Does Oman Have A Specific Digital Nomad Visa Program? appeared first on Geeky Traveller.




mad

Deadliest weather made worse by climate change - scientists

Human-caused climate change made recent extreme weather events more intense and more likely, new analysis finds.




mad

Is populism dead? Are We the People now forever under the thumb of unbridled global tyranny? Madame Defarge chimes in

I haven’t written for Powdered Wig since October 2020. This once profitable site has now been destroyed by Big Tech, especially Fascistbook, Twitter, and Google. So, at 66 years old, I find myself making a living in the construction field […]

The post Is populism dead? Are We the People now forever under the thumb of unbridled global tyranny? Madame Defarge chimes in appeared first on Powdered Wig Society.




mad

New arrests made in Amsterdam over violence after football match

A tram is vandalised in new rioting in Amsterdam, days after the attacks on Israeli football fans.




mad

Who has made Troy's Premier League team of the week?

After every round of Premier League matches this season, Troy Deeney gives us his team of the week. Do you agree with his choices?




mad

Football great Souness made CBE for charity work

The former Rangers and Liverpool star said charity fundraising allowed people to see "the real me".




mad

I made 3 fall recipes in a Crock-Pot and they were easy and affordable to make

With the fall season in full swing, a Business Insider reporter decided to make three cozy, comforting meals in a Crock-Pot.




mad

K2 will not be made available for Joomla 4/5 - change of course

The writing's on the wall. Joomla 4 and 5 are failed CMS releases.

They account for around 0.3% of ALL Joomla sites according to W3Techs (https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-joomla).

Joomla's official stats (which were introduced near the end of life of Joomla 3 - https://developer.joomla.org/about/stats.html) are far less accurate obviously (e.g. they don't account for Joomla 1.5 > 2.5 sites or older Joomla 3 releases) but still show around 10% of sites use Joomla 4/5, after 3 years of their release. And these stats can be disabled by users of Joomla sites (most do).

This means adoption for these versions is close to non-existent. A sad reality, but an understandable one (read my posts on May 30th at https://x.com/joomlaworks for additional context).

There is literally nothing to say about how things have evolved for Joomla.

At this rate, it will probably be a dead software project within the next couple of years.

It's not just the users that are de-motivated, it's the developers too (the Joomla core developers). Few people will enjoy working on Joomla if no one uses it. It just makes sense.

As such, and given that we're strongly invested in Joomla 3 (in some of the largest news/media site implementations worldwide with Joomla), we don't plan on giving up on K2 (or Joomla 3). In fact, our goal is to pivot and work on a possible fork, unless a miracle happens and the Joomla core team gets their shit together and works on a true/seamless Joomla 3 to Joomla 5 (or 6?) upgrade.

The fork is a reasonable path for us for many reasons but I'd list the following ones here (for now):

  • It'll be exciting to go from K2 (a "half" CMS so to speak) to a full CMS. Any crap that didn't work or half-worked on J3 will be fixed.
  • Sky's the limit. Really. No stupid politics, irrelevant conventions, idiotic patterns to follow. We have a clear goal for K2 (and Joomla) and that's what we're gonna work on. That goal is a fast, reliable. modern CMS that leaves people asking "why WordPress?"
  • Some will nag Joomla 3 uses old code. No it doesn't. It uses a certain design that was popular at the time it was introduced. The only change that is required is for it to be updated so it catches up with PHP's latest versions (for the record, we actively run sites with Joomla 3 / K2 on PHP 8.2). It's a mature code base that can be gradually improved.
  • The fork could be introduced in 2 phases. Phase 1: A re-branding for existing sites to move over their content from com_content to K2 (far less work than switching to Joomla 4/5) and existing Joomla/K2 sites to freshen up their backend. Phase 2: This would be the part we lighten up the core. This means com_content & components like banners, newsfeeds, messages etc., their respective modules and plugins and generally other accumulated crap (like User Notes) that literally noone ever used will be stripped off Joomla. Either way K2 can reproduce most of these stuff far better.
  • Any design changes will be subtle and NOT affect existing Joomla extensions that respected the Joomla UI design. It will also certainly NOT affect extensions that brought in their own design/MVC and so on (think AcyMailing, page builders etc. etc.).
  • If our friend Ryan provides his blessing, we would also love to swap the current Joomla WYSIWYG editor with JCE Core. If not, it's always available either way. We will just upgrade TinyMCE and still install our beloved JCE. This would also be a good time to standardize things like "editor xtd" buttons in a way that they better integrate with the WYSIWYG editor...
  • Features and custom extensions we've used for large scale projects could be integrated in the new CMS, if it makes sense for most users to have. E.g. fast search powered by Elasticsearch is a no-brainer (and we can throw that Smart Search crap out for good).

The point is to do something that's fun, while professional at the same time.

Backward compatibility will be our holy grail. Anyone that tells it can't are either lazy or just plain bad programmers (hell, we've maintained K2 for Joomla 1.5 to 3 for 15 damn years).

We're already in touch with partners to finance this move. On the long term, all we need is a couple of devs, working full time.

The next big phase will be infrastructure as required for any modern CMS. That means rebuilding something like the JED, working on documenting use and code etc. At the same time, it's practical to keep everything to a minimum. E.g. there is no reason to use our own forum, but probably go for something like GitHub so we can have everything in a single place: code and discussion, coupled with solid anti-spam (cause let's face it, that's what forums suffer from these days).

By keeping things lean and simple, we will work less on infrastructure and more on the CMS's code and features.

If you ask "why now", I can respond with 2 things:

1) There's been plenty of time for people to switch to Joomla 4/5. Very few did.

2) It's MUCH worse waiting things out to chart their predefined course than actually fucking doing something about it, even if it fails or doesn't work out.

Follow up blog posts will provide more insight into how things will play out in the coming months and how others can join this effort.

 

P.S.

If you have any questions, please use Twitter/X to communicate these to us (@joomlaworks).





mad

March Madness in High Def

Ryan Lawler notes in his Contentinople blog that CBS's high definition stream of the NCAA men's basketball tournament has been a great success.

CBS Sports reported that traffic to its NCAA March Madness on Demand site on the first day of the tourney increased 56 percent year-over-year, to 2.7 million unique users yesterday from 1.75 million uniques a year ago.


If there is a conclusion to be drawn, I do not think it is that internet video can or should compete with television. In this case, I believe the draw is a combination of the fact that watching television on Thursday afternoon is not an option for people with a day job, and that there are many games going on simultaneously and CBS television does not always cut to the game that the individual user wants to see.

I think the focus should be on the success of delivering a high quality video experience to a large audience, many of whom were at work. This is just another step in the direction of enterprise video becoming an essential element of the workplace experience.




mad

A.F. Branco cartoon – Genital Madness

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Democrats, the party of child genital mutilation and late-term abortion, are outraged at Trump for his comments alluding to..




mad

Investigation: Waste of the Day – Border Security Team Hasn’t Made One Arrest

Investigation by Jeremy Portnoy originally published by RealClearInvestigations and RealClearWire Topline: A $1.4 million state task force created to protect the border between New Hampshire and Canada has not encountered a single illegal border crosser this year, according to data obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. Key facts: The state has spent $353,425 so …




mad

Mum's 'ome-made froot cake, perfick fer pusslin'!

WendyHarris1955 posted a photo:

unbranded
plywood (basswood)
175 pieces
280 x 350 mm

TED: "I fink this lickle cat an' tiger pussle's cute. It's got pussycat wimsys an' it's shaped, so it's gonna be a keeper. The wobbly edj wuz a bit fiddly an' I 'ad to check the pikchur to make shure I 'ad it rite, but uvverwise it's a good'un.
That peece of cake I'm abowt to eat is Mum's 'ome-made froot cake spredd wiv butter - s'nice cuz she puts whisky in it. That's the cake, not the butter!"




mad

Correction: Transcriptional factors Smad1 and Smad9 act redundantly to mediate zebrafish ventral specification downstream of Smad5. [Additions and Corrections]

VOLUME 289 (2014) PAGES 6604–6618In Fig. 4G, in the foxi1 panel, the images in Fig. 4G, i and l, corresponding to “smad1 MO” and “smad5 MO + samd1/9 mRNA” samples, respectively, were inadvertently reused during figure preparation. This error has now been corrected using images pertaining to each treatment and sample. This correction does not affect the results or conclusions of the work.jbc;295/52/18650/F4F1F4Figure 4G.




mad

Business Development in Madagascar: How to Enable Entrepreneurialism

Business Development in Madagascar: How to Enable Entrepreneurialism 15 November 2017 — 12:00PM TO 1:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 9 November 2017 Chatham House, London

Madagascar’s business environment has improved in a period of stability ushered in with elections in 2013, which brought an end to the political crisis that had started in 2009. SME development has been constrained by poor access to credit and financial services, weak definition of property titles, and skills gaps and human capital shortfalls that have impeded the development of a managerial talent pool. However, the government has prioritized reform for company creation, granting construction permits and cross-border trade, in support of entrepreneurialism and business development.
At this event, Erick Rajaonary, the CEO of the GuanoMad Group and president of the association of the Madagascar entrepreneurs, will discuss the how to create space for entrepreneurialism and prospects for broad based business development in Madagascar.




mad

A Once Homeless Teen Earned $3 Million in Scholarship Offers. Here's What Made His Story Possible

Tupac Mosley overcame homelessness to graduate as valedictorian, writes Jonathan E. Collins, but there’s an overlooked part of his inspirational story: policy.




mad

Wadgayawa Nhay Dhadjan Wari (they made them a long time ago) tour

Explore our new exhibition, featuring Aboriginal belongings removed from Country over the last 230 years that have trave




mad

Climate Change Has Made Climbing the Matterhorn More Dangerous

Melting permafrost is leading to more frequent rockfalls and landslides on the iconic peak and other areas of the Alps




mad

Shooting Stars: Robin Maddock

Selected by Martin Parr for our special issue, this up-and-coming photographer discusses his work




mad

Recordings made by Alexander Graham Bell Heard for the First Time

http://j.mp/z7WXi2 Researchers and scientists work together to find a way to play recordings made by the studio of inventor Alexander Graham Bell




mad

How Dolley Madison Saved George Washington

As the British marched towards the White House, the first lady ordered a portrait of George Washington to be saved




mad

This Painting Was Thought to Be a Botticelli Copy. Now, Researchers Say It Was Made in His Studio

A new analysis suggests that the piece was created by several artists working in the Italian Renaissance painter's studio—and that Botticelli himself may have worked on important details




mad

American Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Medicine for 'Groundbreaking' Gene Discovery Made by Studying Worms

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered microRNA, tiny molecules that play a crucial role in how cells develop, paving the way for new treatments for diseases




mad

A Portrait of Alan Turing Made by an A.I.-Powered Robot Could Sell for Up to $180,000

Ai-Da creates art using A.I. algorithms, cameras and robotic arms. Her abstract painting will be the first-ever artwork made by a humanoid robot to be sold at Sotheby's




mad

Surrealism Is Turning 100. See the Dreamlike Paintings That Made the Movement So Revolutionary

A blockbuster exhibition in Paris is showcasing 500 artifacts and artworks in honor of the Surrealist Manifesto, which sparked a new artistic style that spread around the world




mad

Archaeologists Are Bewildered by a Skeleton Made From the Bones of at Least Eight People Who Died Thousands of Years Apart

Found in a cremation cemetery in Belgium, the skeleton includes bones dating to the Neolithic period and a Roman-era skull, according to a new study




mad

The Madcap History of Mad Magazine Will Unleash Your Inner Class Clown

In a twist befitting its pages, the satirical, anti-establishment publication that delivered laughs and hijinks to generations of young readers gets the respect it always deserved with a new museum exhibition




mad

Fort Good Hope company has a plan for made-in-the-N.W.T. homes. It just took its first step

In Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., work is underway on a modular home construction centre that local leaders say will help the community meet housing and employment goals.



  • News/Canada/North