It’s Valentine’s Day, and my social media feed is more snarky than smarmy. The Hallmark holiday gets us thinking about love, but it also highlights our unquestioned assumptions about romantic relationships. The culture of love is tied up in all kinds of expectations: what we buy, how we date, even who does the dishes. A lot of […]

Remember the April 15th "Operation Gridlock?" in Lansing Michigan? In my piece on April 21st I said we needed to start tracking these protesters to show that they will spread the virus to other communities. Well, someone did.

The people at the Committee to Protect Medicare released data which shows the protesters dispersing to smaller communities across Michigan in the following days. The map above shows that cellphones that were in Lansing on April 15 scattered across the state. (Link)

read more

In this wild time, you might be looking around and noticing that people are losing their collective shit! In this climate, it is more important than ever to truly use your tools, cut off negativity, and feed your mind with material that makes you feel STRONG, rather than fearful. This is your moment to become […]

The post High Vibe Honey: Week Of 29th March 2020 + I Am My Own Hero! appeared first on Gala Darling.

By Charlie Ruth Castro

Read this post in English

Vamos a hablar de menstruación, el proceso más natural y necesario para la buena salud reproductiva entre las mujeres, pero aquel que culturalmente nos han enseñado a aborrecer, ocultar o incluso a hacerle burla. Y por otro lado voy a hablar de un negocio sucio perpetrado por ciertos funcionarios del INPEC -la institución nacional a cargo de la política penitenciaria- en muchas de las cárceles de Colombia: el desvío de presupuestos para el suministro de toallas higiénicas ... More

The post Negocio Sucio: Falta de Equidad Menstrual en las Cárceles Colombianas appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.

by Nina Coslov

In my early 40s, I started noticing changes in my body. A once great sleeper, I was now waking at 2 a.m. – often with lots of energy and sometimes with anxiety. I’d be awake for about 3 hours before I could get back to sleep. Around the same time, premenstrual breast tenderness returned — something I hadn’t experienced since my 20s, before I had children. Not long after, I’d notice from time to time a pervasive edginess, a revving — an energetic ... More

The post The Very Early Perimenopause: What We Can Learn from Dr. Jerilynn Prior’s Research appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.

Recent experiences with combustible gas releases in residential buildings have led to a proposal for NFPA Standards Development for locating combustible gas detectors and consensus on installation location requirements. NFPA is considering a proposed

The Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research affiliate of NFPA is overseeing a two-year project on the Economic and Emotional Impact of an Active Shooter/Hostile Event – thanks to Fire Prevention and Safety Grant money from FEMA.

Amanda Kimball has been named executive director of the Fire Protection Research Foundation (Research Foundation). The eight-year veteran of the independent, non-profit research affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association replaces Casey Grant

  At-risk populations such as the elderly, school-age children, those who are hard of hearing or alcohol-impaired do not fully benefit from conventional smoke alarm alerts, particularly during sleeping hours. Research has been conducted to develop

Request for Proposals are now open for three Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) research projects.   First Responder Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) Operations Training: Baseline Materials & Usage Assessment: The overall goal of

Sometimes, being disruptive is fashionable. As for Archivist, a sustainable clothing company, its business plan counts on being disruptive in the name of fashion and corporate responsibility. With this mission, Archivist has found a unique yet luxurious inspiration for a new line of tailored shirts — hotel sheets.[...]

Silicon Valley-based ReGen Villages has teamed up with Swedish architecture firm White Arkitekter to develop ReGen Villages Sweden, a vision for smart, self-sufficient communities throughout the Scandinavian country. Developed to meet the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the proposal combines a wide variety of high- and low-tech environmentally friendly systems from organic gardens for local food production to the integration of artificial intelligence on a community-wide scale. The two firms hope to break ground on a ReGen Villages Sweden pilot project in 2020. [...]

When architect Richard Kirk was tapped to lead the design for the Mon Repos Turtle Centre, he knew that his team at the international architecture firm KIRK would need to tread lightly. The project’s coastal site, located in Bargara, Queensland, is home to one of the most significant seasonal nesting grounds for the loggerhead turtle. To minimize landscape impact, the architects designed the center with a prefabricated glulam timber frame that is wrapped in low-maintenance copper and wood to visually blend the building into the surroundings.[...]

The Xuan Hoa commune in the Lao Cai province of northwest Vietnam is, like much of the surrounding area, a region that has suffered from economic hardships in the past. A large number of households in Xuan Hoa live in extreme poverty, including many of the school district’s 78 students aged 6 to 11 years old. The new Dao school by 1+1>2 Architects was completed in 2019 to provide provide education to the area’s children in first through fifth grades.[...]

As part of Barcelona’s efforts to reclaim its car-congested streets for pedestrians, the city has tapped architects to create "superblocks” — groups of streets transformed into car-free public plazas. One such project was completed in 2019 by Leku Studio in the trendy neighborhood of Sant Antoni. Redesigned with attractive way-finding elements and street furniture, the Superblock of Sant Antoni is the second of six superblocks completed to date.[...]

A cybersecurity researcher today publicly disclosed technical details and PoC for 4 unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities affecting an enterprise security software offered by IBM after the company refused to acknowledge the responsibly submitted disclosure. The affected premium product in question is IBM Data Risk Manager (IDRM) that has been designed to analyze sensitive business information

Researchers have uncovered a potential means to profile and track online users using a novel approach that combines device identifiers with their biometric information. The details come from a newly published research titled "Nowhere to Hide: Cross-modal Identity Leakage between Biometrics and Devices" by a group of academics from the University of Liverpool, New York University, The Chinese

Two severe security flaws have been discovered in the open-source SaltStack Salt configuration framework that could allow an adversary to execute arbitrary code on remote servers deployed in data centers and cloud environments. The vulnerabilities were identified by F-Secure researchers earlier this March and disclosed on Thursday, a day after SaltStack released a patch (version 3000.2)

No serious, I want one of these.

Do you understand the power of backlinks? No, do you truly understand? Well I have a search engine optimization guide here for you that will show you how to get crazy traffic to your website. Make sure that read this entire article to learn all the dirty tricks!

I’m a photographer and aspiring photo archivist. I was asked to digitize photos that were on display at a funeral/viewing. There were 65 photos.

Me: Sure, I could have this done pretty soon, no problem!

Client: Great! I didn’t have tape and didn’t want to use glue, so (with pride in their voice) guess what I used?

Me: (with pronounced fear in my voice) Uh… what?

Client: Toothpaste!

What was going to be an hour and a half project turned into two days of scraping and cleaning photos.

BY WADNER PIERRE

Nearly two months since Haiti’s Conseil Electoral Provisoire (Electoral Provisional Council), know as the CEP, announced the final results for the first round residential, second round legislative and local elections that plagued with massive frauds. The controversial results for the presidential elections placed Haiti’s ruling Party candidate, Jovel Moise at the first place with over 34 percent of the popular and the former 2010 presidential candidate Jude Celestin in second place. Since then protest against those tainted results have been widened through the country.

After candidates and their backers, religious leaders (Catholics and Protestants) and national and international human rights and advocacy groups urged the CEP to form an independent commission to investigate the electoral frauds that were no longer mere allegations, the CEP rejected such proposition and proceeded to schedule the presidential runoff on Dec. 27 with the two candidates obtained the majority of the vote. Celestin, a member of group of eight presidential candidates, known as G8, who have been protesting the CEP’s results, declared he would not participate at the runoff unless the CEP satisfied the demand of G8.

The United States, a staunch supporter of the current administration, and spent over $30 millions for the organization of these log-overdue elections, sent Kenneth Merten, the U.S former ambassador to Haiti and State Department’s Special Envoy to Haiti to convince candidates, most importantly Celestin, to accept the CEP’s results. Merten, a close friend of Martelly, and one the controversial figures that engineered Martelly’s election in the 2010 controversial elections, failed to his mission.

read more

Happy launch day to Marcie Colleen, whose THE BEAR'S GARDEN with Alison Oliver launches from Imprint/Macmillan today!

Marcie Colleen is the award-winning picture book author of Penguinaut! (illustrated by Emma Yarlett) and Love, Triangle (illustrated by Bob Shea), as well as the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. She teaches Writing Children’s Picture Books for the University of California at San Diego both online and on campus, and runs her own Study Hall conducting a month-long online critique group dedicated to the crafting picture books. Find out more about how you can study with Marcie at thisismarciecolleen.com and on Twitter at @MarcieColleen1.

*UPDATE: Marcie has also launched her SUPER HAPPY Book Club on her YouTube channel, especially for families at home during school closures!

Launching March 24, 2020, THE BEAR'S GARDEN is written by Marcie Colleen and illustrated by Alison Oliver. You can read reviews of the book on Kirkus (starred review!) and Bookroo.

Author: Marcie Colleen
Illustrator: Alison Oliver
Publisher: Imprint/Macmillan Children’s

SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the true story of a community garden in Brooklyn, New York, picture book The Bear’s Garden is a testament to how imagination and dedication can transform communities and create beauty for everyone in unexpected places.

A little girl sees an empty lot in a city and imagines what it can be:

a place to grow,
a place to play,
and a place to love.

With the help of her stuffed bear, the girl brings her community together to create a beautiful garden.

Q. What inspired you to write this book?

The Bear’s Garden was inspired by the real-life Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden in my former neighborhood in New York City. The name always puzzled me—I mean, we didn’t have bears wandering around Brooklyn last I checked!

Come to find out, the garden was named for a teddy bear that was found in the weeds when the workers began to create a garden in the abandoned lot. Of course, immediately I started thinking of that little bear. How did he get there? Did he belong to anyone? Was he placed there on purpose?

The Bear’s Garden is my imaginative story about how the teddy bear came to be in those weeds. It’s also a love letter to my former neighborhood and the power of community that I felt while living there. I am the girl who finds love and beauty in every inch of that urban paradise

Q. As an experienced author, how do you manage your time in terms of balancing your creative work time with the business side (promotion, admin, school visits etc), yet still have a life outside work?

While everything I do, such as teaching and creating Teacher’s Guides, falls under the umbrella of being a full-time children’s author, I have struggled in the past to find time for my own creative writing. It seems my days get quickly overrun.

However, about a year ago I paired up with a fellow author friend, Kirsten Larson, to prioritize our writing projects. We get up at 5:20 every morning to write for an hour. The alarm goes off, we text each other a quick “Good Morning” and share our project goals for that session, grab our coffee, and set to write until 6:30 without distraction. At 6:30 we check in again with our progress. It’s been a game-changer. I think I have written more in the last year because of it. And it’s a fantastic way to feel accomplished no matter what the rest of the day brings.

Q. What advice do you have for young writers?

I have always loved reading and writing stories.

A few years back I found a book I had written in elementary school. It’s called Rainbow Hunt. And in the back of the book I found an Author’s Note I had written. It said,

“Marcie Goldstein lives in Liverpool, NY and loves to write books. Someday she hopes to be a successful author.”

So, my advice to young writers everywhere would be, know that your dreams can come true. Even if people say it’s a long-shot. I’m living proof. So keep reading, keep writing, and never stop dreaming.

Q. Anything else you'd like to mention? What are you excited about these days?

Despite the recent global health crisis that has left us all indoors, I am excited to see how we will learn to build more community within our lives—even virtually. The creativity and innovation that has developed in the last few weeks has been extraordinarily inspiring. Like flowers between the pavement cracks, we will find ways. And a lot of beauty is going to grow from this.

 --

For more interviews, see my Inkygirl Interview Archive. Also see Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, a compilation of tips generously offered by children's book creators I've interviewed over the years.

This is a zine an amazing aquaintance of mine is putting together.
Please send your stories to: polypatriarchyzine@gmail.com, or mail them to 4951 Catharine St., Philadelphia, PA 19143.


Polyamory and Patriarchy Zine Questionnaire

These questions are for a zine I’m writing about polyamory and patriarchy. So often, people feel either that polyamory is the only revolutionary way to be intimate, or the worst way. I’d like to hear what you’ve learned from polyamory – ways it felt liberatory, and ways it may have felt like familiar oppressive gender roles dressed up in revolutionary language. My agenda isn’t to discredit polyamory, but to identify how much we have to learn about truly liberatory relationships.
These questions are fairly personal and ask you to revisit some painful memories, so please take your time, answer only what you feel comfortable answering, and let me know how you want your anonymity protected. Please use pseudonyms! Do give me contact info, though, if you want to review how I use your material before the zine is published.

1. Let’s start with gender. What gender roles did you learn from your family of origin? From the media? From your chosen community? How do you express gender now – is it different than how you were socialized to express gender?

2. What were your reasons for first trying polyamory? Was it your idea or a partner’s? Did you have any models in your community for successful polyamorous relationships?

3. What was the most empowering experience you’ve had in polyamory?

4. What was the hardest situation to handle in a polyamorous relationship? Looking back, what would you have done differently, if anything?

5. What kinds of insecurities did polyamory raise? Did they concern your gender or body image? How did you handle these insecurities?

6. How have you felt most empowered in polyamory? How has it felt expansive, liberatory, or healing?

7. Do you have a different kind of intimacy with lovers than with friends? Who are you more likely to turn to for emotional support?

8. How do your expectations change based on what kind of relationship you’re in? Do you have different standards of behavior for partners and lovers?

9. Has polyamory ever made you feel silenced, or unable to ask for what you needed?
What have your relationships with your lover’s other lovers been like? How have you handled feelings of jealousy and competition? How have you handled your partner’s jealousy?

10. Tell me a little about your best relationship, polyamorous or otherwise, and what made it work so well.

11. Today, what is your ideal relationship?

12. Do you want to see the zine before it’s published? Do you want a copy mailed to you? If so, let me know how to reach you.

Please send your stories to: polypatriarchyzine@gmail.com, or mail them to 4951 Catharine St., Philadelphia, PA 19143.

I also welcome your analysis and thoughts about sexual politics, polyamory, and this project – thanks!

I'll be in Chicago for the Chicago zine fest - reading on Fri 25, doing a writing workshop Sat at 11 am, and tabeling. Come visit!

I switched my theme to fix Google Search Console errors. It complained that I had pages and posts with breadcrumb issues, and switching the theme was the easiest way to fix it. You can understand the importance of Breadcrumbs in this article.  If you don’t fix these errors, then your site is less likely to […]

The post Color Photography Exercises to Help You Improve Your Skills appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Use these fun color photography exercises to not only expand your knowledge of color but so you can use color more effectively in your photos.

The post Color Photography Exercises to Help You Improve Your Skills appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton is evaluating scenarios for campus operations next academic year. While no decisions have been made yet, the Academic Year 2021 Coordinating Committee is preparing for a number of options based on federal and state health guidelines.

Andrea Goldsmith, a global leader in the development of wireless systems, has been awarded the Marconi Prize, the highest honor in telecommunications research. She is the first woman to win the prize, now in its 45th year.

Thomas Roche Jr., the Murray Professor of English, Emeritus, and a foremost expert in epic and Renaissance poetry, died May 3 after a long illness in Beachwood, Ohio. He was 89.

Jealously is a human emotion that we all share to some degree. If you're over fifty and new to being single again, some of you will no doubt feel it a little stronger than those of us who have been single for a few years. Especially if your partner has replaced you or traded you […]

A team of Princeton biologists found that division of labor and political polarization — two social phenomena not typically considered together — may be driven by the same processes in ant societies.

A team of Princeton researchers led by Bridgett vonHoldt found that microbes are linked to cancer in a threatened species: the Santa Catalina foxes, found only on one island off the California coast.

Using sophisticated algorithms to explore regions of the genome whose roles in cancer have been largely uncharted, an international team of researchers including from Princeton has opened the door to a new understanding of the disease’s genetic origins.

With the aim of accelerating solutions to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton has awarded University funding for seven new faculty-led research initiatives with strong potential for impact.

The National Science Foundation has awarded emergency grants to two teams of Princeton researchers developing ways to better track and contain pandemics including COVID-19.

A county-by-county analysis of the United States by Princeton University researchers suggests that rural counties with high populations of people over 60 and limited access to health care facilities could eventually be among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The existence of superconducting currents, or supercurrents, along the exterior of a superconductor, has been surprisingly hard to find. Now, researchers at Princeton have discovered these edge supercurrents in a material that is both a superconductor and a topological semi-metal. This evidence for topological superconductivity could help provide the foundation for applications in quantum computing and other future technologies.

Princeton Research Day will be held as a series of three early evening webinars May 5-7 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. (Eastern). The presentations will showcase the diversity of research projects under the themes of “Reinterpretation,” “Environment” and “Wellbeing.”

Even as about 90% of Princeton’s research labs are shuttered, care for research animals continues uninterrupted under the direction of Laura Conour, the University’s attending veterinarian and the director of Lab Animal Resources who is featured in the latest episode of "We Roar." 

The following summarize enforcement actions the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office completed in January and February of 2020. The concluding legal document(s) typically provide details of the case and are included at the end of each summary.

WASHINGTON (April 30, 2020) — The U.S.

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Environmental News  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE