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Book Study: Number Talks
by Sherry Parrish
Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies
Session 1
Tuesday, February 11, 2013
from 4:00-7:00
Facilitated by: Sunsie Suarez
Sample Number Talks
Teacher's role
Student expectations
Common Core Standards: Standards for Mathematical Practice
Next Steps
Wrap Up/Session 2
Why Number Talks?
The practice of number talks is one of the most powerful vehicles I know for helping students learn to reason with numbers and make mathematically
convincing arguments, for building a solid foundation for algebraic reasoning, and for teaching mathematics as a sensemaking process. If all teachers make this shift in their practice, it would represent a profound advancement in mathematics education.
- Ruth Parker
Common Core Standards: Standards for Mathematical Practice
Mathematically proficient students:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
4. Model with mathematics
5. Use appropriate tools strategically
6. Attend to precision
7. Look for and make use of structure
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Book Overview
Important Tables xxi-xxxii
Chapter 1: What is a Classroom Number Talk? (P.3)
Chapter 2: How Do I Prepare for Number Talks? (P. 17)
Chapter 5: Addition and Subtraction Strategies in the 3-5 Classroom (P. 157)
Chapter 6: Designing Addition and Subtraction Number Talks in the 3-5 Classroom (p. 182)
Chapter 7: Multiplication and Division Strategies in the 3-5 Classroom (p. 230)
Chapter 8: Designing Multiplication and Division Number Talks in the 3-5 Classroom (p. 262)
What does it look like at my grade-level? (p. 316)
Actual Number Talk problems are provided within
Focused on number relationships and number theory.
Solved mentally.
Reasoning skills developed.
What are Number Talks?
"Our classrooms are filled with students and
adults who think of mathematics as rules and procedures to memorize without understanding the numerical relationships that provide the foundation for these rules".
Chapter 1- What is a Classroom Number Talk?
Read pages 3 – 10 (top of page).
Highlight parts that stand out to you.
Select three ideas and record these on a post-it.
Be prepared for a standup-hand up-pair up activity.
denotes the ability to produce an accurate answer;
refers to the ability to choose an appropriate, expedient strategy for a specific computation problem;
means the ability to use number relationships with ease in computation."
Calculate the following mentally.
Be prepared to share strategies aloud.
70 - 34
Classroom Clip: 3.4
As you watch the third-grade number talk for 70-34, consider:
How are students using number relationships to solve the problem?
How would you describe the classroom community and environment?
Which strategies demonstrate accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility?
How are the students' strategies similar or different from your strategy?
Discussion Questions:
What structures are present in the classroom community that allow:
Mary to be comfortable thinking about her errors with the class,
Incorrect answers to be posted, or
Students to change their answers when presented with other students' reasoning?
Read the strategies listed on page 350.
Classroom environment and community
Classroom discussions
The teacher's role
The role of mental math
Purposeful computation problems
Read page 10-15 and highlight the sections of the key components
Key Components of Number Talks
Classroom Environment and Community
Safe, risk-free environment.
Student comfort.
Classroom acceptance on all levels.
Community of learners.
Classroom Environment and Community
Teacher writes problem on board and give students time to solve the problem mentally.
Once students find an answer, they are encouraged to continue finding efficient strategies while others are thinking.
Students indicate when they are ready with a solution by quietly raising a thumb against their chest.
They indicate they have other approaches by raising another finger for each solution.
Classroom Discussions
The quiet form of acknowledgement allows for more student think time at the same time as challenging students that already have an answer.
All answers- correct and incorrect- are recorded.
Students share strategies and justifications with peers.
The Teacher's Role
Teacher's role shifts in process
Guide students to ponder and discuss examples that build upon teacher's purposes.
"How did you get your answer?"
"By changing my question from
"What answer did you get"
"How did you solve this problem?"
I was able to understand how they were making sense of mathematics."
Benefits of Sharing and Discussing Computation Strategies
Students have the opportunity to:
Clarify their own thinking.
Consider and test other strategies to see if they are mathematically logical.
Investigate and apply mathematical relationships.
Build a repertoire of efficient strategies.
Make decisions about choosing efficient strategies for specific problems.
Wrong Answers
Students are asked to defend or justify their answers to prove their thinking
Students have a sense of shared authority in determining whether an answer is accurate
Teacher is not ultimate authority
Wrong answers are used as opportunities to unearth misconceptions
Students investigate their thinking and learn from mistakes
Mistakes play an important role in learning and provide opportunities to question and
analyze thinking, bring misconceptions to forefront, and solidify understanding
The Role of Mental Math
Mental computation.
Build on number relationships.
Develop strategies.
Place value understanding.
(examples pages 13-14)
Purposeful Computation Problems
Craft problems that guide students to focus on mathematical relationships
Teacher's goal and purpose should determine the numbers and operations that are chosen
Examples- Pages 14 - 15
Number Talks are a Purposeful Vehicle
Make sense of mathematics
Develop efficient computation strategies
Communicating mathematically
Reasoning and proving solutions
Daily, 5-15 minutes
Mental math problems posed
Students are given think time and indicate a solution and multiple strategies
Students share solutions and explain their thinking
Encourages students to communicate about math
The teacher acts as a facilitator and his/her primary function is to question students in order to guide the discussion
As you watch the Number Talk, consider:
What procedures are in place that allow students to share their thinking?
What opportunities exist for the teacher to informally assess student understanding?
How is student communication encouraged and valued?
How would you describe the teacher's role during the number talk?
Classroom Clip 5.3:
16 x 35
Read pages 16 - 21
What are the Four Procedures and Expectations Essential to Number Talks?
What practical considerations does the author make for these procedures and expectations?
Four Procedures and Expectations Essential to Number Talks
Select a designated location. (pages 17-18)
Provide appropriate wait time. (page 18)
All answers are accepted, respected, and considered. (page 19)
Encourage student communication throughout the number talk. (page 19-21)
Daily, 5-15 minutes
Consistent location
Students in close proximity, seated on the floor or in chairs
Easy visibility for teacher and students
Teacher records student thinking on the whiteboard and/or chart paper
Problem or string of problems are posed
Students are given think time
Teacher facilitates a conversation around
the problem(s) posed that day
Classroom Clip: 3.1
How does the teacher's recording of each strategy provide access for all students?
Which strategies are easiest for you to understand?
Which strategies are more challenging to follow?
What mathematical concepts are being addressed during the number talk.
How did the teacher bring these ideas to the forefront for the class?
Six Ways to Develop Accountability with Students
Ask students to use finger signals to indicate the most efficient strategy.
Keep records of problems posed and the corresponding student strategies.
Hold small-group number talks throughout each week.
Create and post class strategy charts.
Require students to solve an exit problem using the discussed strategies.
Give a weekly computation assessment.
5 Small Steps Toward Teaching for Understanding
Start with smaller problems to elicit thinking from multiple perspectives
Be prepared to offer a strategy from a previous student
It is okay to put a student strategy on the back burner
As a rule, limit to 5-15 minutes
Be patient with yourself and students as you
incorporate Number Talks into your regular math time
Teacher Responsibilities
Plan problems with a purpose/goal in mind
Pose the problem(s) for the day
Record student responses to reflect how they were explained (not the teacher's interpretation)
Practice notation to represent student thinking accurately
Provide the structure and procedures to facilitate the Number Talks
Post sample prompts to helps students structure their explanations or questions in front of the class
Be aware of the equal sign and use it
Teacher's role
Planning - be purposeful in the selection of problems
Recording answers/student thinking
Accepting – accept and record answers/explanations without confirming or denying
Student participation
All students work to find an answer
Signal that they have an answer and if they have multiple strategies
Share and explain their thinking
Defend their thinking
Inquire about the thinking of others
Discuss with your partner at least four different strategies to solve 28 + 29.
How will you teach alternate strategies to students?
Next Steps
Try a few Number Talks with your students
Reflect on the experience and bring back notes to share with the group
Session 2: Tuesday, February 25th from 4:00-7:00
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Pakistan's 1992 World Cup victory is now on the International Cricket Council's (ICC) 100 greatest World Cup moments countdown list, open for voting on the ICC website.
Voting for this World Cup moment is only open for a 24-hour period.
Pakistan already features on the top 10 moments of the list, with Shoaib Akhtar's 100mph thunderbolt during the 2003 World Cup at number four. However, India holds four spots on the list, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 91 runs from 79 balls against Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup final at number one.
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Latino Ethnic Awareness Association
Latino Ethnic Awareness Association (LEAA) creates and promotes unity on-campus among all students not only Latino/Hispanic students. The group works hard to engage students by providing opportunities for growth and development. While academics are the student's number one priority, it is also important to build one's leadership and networking skills. We encourage and support students to attend conferences in order to expand their world-view. Giving back is also an important key concept for students to learn, this is done through various student activities and community service. It is imperative in this day and age for students to receive a comprehensive well-rounded education resulting in the motivation necessary to be more than was imagined one could achieve.
Officers for fall 2018 – spring 2019 are being recruited now. If you wish to become an officer please pick up and application in the Latino Outreach Center.
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(630) 942-3039
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Last week I heard about the United Nations' Global Goals on the radio and thought this would be a great way for teachers to engage their students in the classroom by discussing real world issues and getting them involved. After all, many of these issues, like poverty, healthcare, climate change and quality of life are topics included in curricula across Canada.
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Students can learn about global literacy and poverty using the Global Development Atlas.
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Using storytelling, videos and interactive maps, this Story Map Journal takes a look at one method of measuring global poverty. This measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), addresses poverty through an integrative approach.
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Angela Alexander is a K-12 Education Resource Developer on the Esri Canada Education and Research team. She has over six years of experience working with educators across Canada. Angela is responsible for producing geographic information system (GIS) and curriculum specific resources, conducting and creating custom workshops for educators and judging and developing the question for the annual GIS Skills Ontario competition in Waterloo, Ontario. Angela has a Bachelor's degree in Geography and Sociology from the University of Western Ontario and completed the Applied Digital Geography and GIS certificate program at Ryerson University.More Content by Angela Alexander


text: EAST LINE LITERARY ARTS - About The Bookseller About the Creative WritingTeacherCheck out Robyn's blog athttp://eastlinebooks.vpweb.com/blog.html Robyn Ringler graduated from the University of Tampa MFA in Creative Writing program in June 2015 and received the "Outstanding Graduate Award" for academic excellence and service. Her collection of short stories, Occupational Hazards, was completed as her thesis. Ringler's work has appeared in Scoundrel Time (an online literary journal), Heavy Feather Review, and Yellow Chair Review; in the anthologies Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present and Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies; on NPR andMartha Stewart Radio. Ringler holds degrees in nursing and law and owns East Line Literary Arts in upstate New York through which she teaches creative writing to all ages. Over the years, Robyn has "changed hats" several times. She graduated from Duke University's School of Nursing in 1979 and worked as a medical/surgical and cardiac nurse at the George Washington University Hospital. In 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot, Robyn was assigned to be his evening nurse for 10 days until he was well enough to return to the White House. In 1987, Robyn graduated from Hofstra University Law School. She worked as a defense attorney at the Friedman, Hirschen, Miller law firm in Schenectady, then spent over 10 years as a stay at home mom, Girl Scout leader, political activist, and writer. Over the years, Robyn's articles have been published in the Albany Times Union, Newark Star-Ledger and have been sent out over the New York Times wire. She wrote regularly for Nursing Spectrum and has contributed to the Philosophical Mom webzine and other publications. She has been interviewed on WAMC's The Round Table and the nationally syndicated radio program 51% and has read essays on both programs, as well as Martha Stewart Radio. Robyn's Letter to Al Pacino appears in the anthology Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler and published by Dial Press. Her essay Dissection was published in Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies, edited by Sayantani DasGupta and Marsha Hurst and published by the Kent State University Press. Locally, Robyn published a small book about the history of the Susan Odell Taylor School in Troy. At The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, she curated highly successful nights of readings as part of The Memoir Project for several years; she also moderated a panel discussion following a theatrical reading based on Barbara Ehrenrich's Nickel and Dimed.Robyn is dedicated to teaching The Joy of Writing to all ages, privately or in class settings. She has taught homeschoolers for many years and after school programs in the public schools. She frequently teaches an adult writing class in the mornings and/or evenings. And her services include editing books during or after the writing process; helping you navigate the publishing system--writing query letters or preparing a package to send to potential publishers; navigating the self-publishing world; guiding you through creative ways to publish via contests or other avenues; and guiding you through marketing and publicizing your book. She would love to meet you! Home | WRITING CLASSES & EVENTS | About The Bookseller | Contact Us | Testimonials Website Builder provided by Vistaprint


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The Black Keys' 'El Camino': What the Critics are Saying
The band's seventh album hit shelves on Dec. 6, shooting straight to the top of iTunes.
The Black Keys released their seventh album, El Camino, via Nonesuch Records on Tuesday, Dec. 6 against Amy Winehouse's posthumous Lioness: Hidden Treasures, T-Pain's Revolver and The Roots' concept album, Undun.
PHOTOS: 54th Annual Grammy Nominees
El Camino quickly shot to the top of the iTunes album chart, trailed by Michael Buble's Christmas. Winehouse, The Roots and Chevelle's Hats Off to the Bull rounded out the top five at the time of publication.
At the end of a banner year, which saw the duo winning three Grammy Awards for Brothers, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney continue to move forward earning rave reviews with their latest release. Below, read what the critics are saying about El Camino.
PHOTOS: Top 10 Must-See Moments From the Grammys 2010
"On past Black Keys albums, the duo sounded effortlessly vintage-cool, a time capsule for what the blues-steeped genre of rock'n'roll used to be. On new album El Camino, out today (Dec. 6), the band tries -- perhaps a little too hard -- to sound "retro," from throwback surf-rock riffs to kitschy organ accents and more handclapping than Simon and Garfunkel's Cecilia. They're still channeling classic rock, but now it's more T. Rex than Cream… It's an impossible standard to expect a band not to evolve musically over the course of 10 years, and to not go in the way of what has made them more popular. With that said, the 11 tracks on El Camino are as catchy -- but perhaps more importantly, TV/film-synch ready -- as anything climbing up the Rock Songs or Alternative Songs charts, and are probably more carefully crafted to sound that way. The Black Keys don't mess around." -- Billboard
"El Camino is the Keys' grandest pop gesture yet, augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair. It's an attempt at staying true to the spirit of that piece-of-shit minivan on the album cover -- similar to their first touring vehicle -- while reimagining it as a pimpmobile… There's still a strange jukebox anonymity to the Keys' approach; their vintage organ and guitar sounds often project larger personae than the band itself. But part of the reason Carney and Auerbach keep finding new ways to shake up that old-school blues-rock rumble is that they're workaday dudes smart enough to get out of the way of their own songs. Like Clark Kent's or Peter Parker's, their 99 percentness only seems to enhance their powers." -- Rolling Stone
"It feels a little funny to gush so outwardly about a record, like the critical capacities are failing when enthusiasm takes over. But sometimes, a CD scratches an itch you didn't even know you had, and El Camino is that record; it stands alongside the Strange Boys' criminally underrated Live Music as evidence that a few dudes still know how to party smartly with guitars and snarl. It's a summer record released in the winter, a dance record that just happens to rock, a rock record that fans of LCD Soundsystem will dig. It's a party record, a driving down the highway, "I'm in love with rock and roll, and I'll be out all night" record." – LA Times
"Previous Black Keys releases have dwelled on the themes of love, betrayal and existential worry that have long haunted American roots music. El Camino the band's seventh full-length release, finds it returning to this terrain with no diminishment of inspiration… As with AC/DC, a group with whom the Black Keys have something of a spiritual kinship, subtle variations on a few unimpeachable musical themes help keep the band consistently exhilarating." -- Washington Post
"At a time like this, guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney might be forgiven for trading their minimalist sound for something a little more, well, maximum. Instead, they've teamed up with longtime producer Danger Mouse to do what they do best: make a small-room racket that sounds massive enough for a bigger-is-better world. "El Camino" trades the soulful stylings of "Brothers" for harder-driving, faster-riffing rock & roll: Opener ''Lonely Boy'' is all quick-shimmying drums and raunchy guitars; ''Gold on the Ceiling,'' with its swarm-of-bees organs and acid-trip gospel harmonies, could be a lost Nuggets gem." – Entertainment Weekly


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Updated with comments from American Farm Bureau Federation, USDA.
"A global glut of food production has sent U.S. farm revenues down sharply. With farm income down 56 percent in the past two years alone, America's farmers and ranchers face difficult times," said American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall. "Yet, the president's just-released budget would cut 27 USDA programs, including a 10-year, $18 billion cut to the federal crop insurance programs so important to farmers. And all this happens as farm income is projected to decline another 3 percent in 2016.
The Obama administration released its final budget proposal on Feb. 9. Perhaps the most talked about part of the budget in agricultural circles has been the proposed changes to crop insurance.
The proposal includes two proposals to reform crop insurance. The first reduces subsidies for revenue insurance policies that insure the price at the time of harvest. The second reforms prevented planting coverage and removes the optional buy-up coverage.
The changes are being proposed because USDA has been criticized by the Inspector General and the General Accounting Office for management of the crop insurance program, specifically as it relates to prevented planting, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a Feb. 9 conference call.
"We also believe, given the circumstances, that this is a partnership, a balanced partnership, between taxpayers, farmers and insurance companies and the reality is that in some of our . . . in the price harvest loss program, we are funding, or subsidizing 62% or so of the premium, that is taxpayers are. We think it makes more sense in a partnership to be closer to 50/50 so that's the reason.
"And, you know, the fact is, if you surveyed the United States, if you surveyed the population of the United States, and you posed the question to them about this, I would be surprised if there wasn't support for the administration's position," Vilsack said.
The federal crop insurance program costs the government about $9 billion a year, on average, including $3 billion for private insurance companies to administer and underwrite the program and $6 billion in premium subsidies to farmers.
The reforms are expected to save $18 billion over 10 years.
The American Soybean Association agreed with AFBF regarding the crop insurance proposal.
"We once again find ourselves fighting attempts to cut crop insurance," said Richard Wilkins, ASA president and a farmer from Greenwood, Del. "Our policy has always been that we will strongly and absolutely oppose any attempt to target farm bill programs for additional cuts, and it goes without saying that we will continue to fight proposed cuts to the farm safety net. All it takes is a quick glance around the farm economy to see that we need a stronger safety net for our farmers, not a weaker one."
There's a whole lot more than crop insurance in the USDA budget. -- >>>
What else is in the agricultural budget proposal?
The mandatory budget for USDA for fiscal year 2017 is $130 billion and the proposed discretionary budget is $24.6 billion.
USDA's budget covers everything from support for rural infrastructure and beginning farmer loans to trade, research, conservation and nutrition.
"The challenge for us is to make sure that we are continuing to be good stewards of the resources that are available to us, that we continue to build on the record amount of activity this department has had over the past seven years, that we continue to invest in rural America, creating economic opportunity, that we continue to provide an appropriate safety net for farmers and ranchers while also encouraging young people to get into the business and by making sure that everyone, regardless of their zip code, gets a fair shot in life, which we can do through our nutrition programs," Vilsack said.
What are some of the items funded through the proposed budget?
- The budget provides $700 million, including $325 million in mandatory funding, for the nation's premier competitive, peer-reviewed research program for agricultural sciences. Investment in agricultural investment yields high returns per dollar spent, according to USDA.
-The budget for broadband grants is tripled to $39 million to bring broadband to rural residents. About 25 percent of rural households lack access to high-speed internet, according to USDA.
- It provides $15 million for the purchase of food aid commodities for shipment overseas and calls for USDA to have an in-country presence in Cuba.
In fiscal year 2014, Cuba imported more than $2 billion in agricultural products, including $300 million from the United States, according to USDA.
Having a representative in the country will expand this market.
"We believe that having people in Cuba would help facilitate opportunities now and in the future," Vilsack said. "I don't think that we currently have the authority, absent some direction from Congress to be able to use existing resources within the USDA budget to fund personnel."
- The budget provides $11 million for conservation, which is expected to result in an additional 2.9 million acres of conservation being put into place, and it funds the Environmental Quality Incentives Program at the authorized funding level of $486 million.
-The budget supports farm loans, ensuring access to credit for more than 43,000 farmers and ranchers to cover operating costs and purchase or refinance farm property.
-There's $30 million to increase preparedness for animal disease response, such as avian influenza.
-The Food Safety and Inspection Service would receive $8.5 million to modernize its science-based decision-making process.
-The budget provides funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and a Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Program. More than $18 billion is budgeted for WIC and the summer feeding program.
What do ASA, AFBF see in the proposed budget?-- >>>
Positives in the proposed budget
Wilkins said the ASA is pleased with the $330 million for CFTC oversight.
"Market integrity is not front-of-mind until something goes wrong, and adequate resources for oversight of futures markets are an important priority for farmers," he said.
ASA will also fight for funding for trade promotion programs, including the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development program, which the president included in his proposal.
"That money helps to fund valuable research and market development work by the U.S. Soybean Export Council, which translates directly into increased exports and revenue for American soybean farmers," Wilkins said.
Duvall singled out increases in funding for food and agricultural research and antimicrobial resistance research as positives.
Negatives in the proposed budget
The budget cuts funding to the Army Corps of Engineers by 22 percent, according to the ASA. The Corps oversees the maintenance and construction of locks and dams on the nation's waterways. The budget cuts more than 41 percent from the Corps' construction account, $2.7 billion from the operations and maintenance account, and fails to fund the Navigation Ecosystem Sustainability Program.
"We're disappointed with this budget's neglect of investments in waterways infrastructure, which is vital to rural economies as it is a means of efficient transportation of soybeans and a key component of our global competitiveness in export markets," Wilkins said. "Infrastructure investments should not be limited to highways, mass transit, and high speed rail, but should include those aspects important to rural America too."
Duvall said provisions in the budget would raise taxes on inherited assets.
"Such treatment is a recipe for farm fragmentation and an unnecessary obstacle for agriculture's next generation," he said.
Will it pass?
From a legislative standpoint, the president's budget is a non-starter in an election year and with a Republican-controlled Congress, Wilkins said, however the release of the budget can start a productive conversation on the importance of funding many of the programs critical for soybean farmers.
"Every year, we bring the same funding fight down to the wire in November and December. Party leaders hold one another's feet to the fire, and at the eleventh hour we manage to eke out funding for programs that are essential to farmer success," Wilkins said. "Regardless of the long-term prospects of this specific proposal, let's use it to at least start a discussion about how important these programs are to farmers, and how we get them funded for the coming year."
"That work has to start with farmers," he said. "We need to turn up our volume and increase our face-time with lawmakers so that they understand these programs aren't simply line items on a budget, but real, working tools that help us operate more successfully."
Read the administration's USDA proposal.


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Turbo-Aire High Velocity Cooling Fan
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Organic Avocado / Hempseed / Sandalwood
A nourishing facial moisturiser with anti-ageing ingredients to keep your face hydrated and handsome. The hydrating effects of organic avocado, hempseed and sandalwood combined with natural, effective anti-ageing ingredients Riboxyl™ (Ribose), Hyaluronic Acid and Vitamin E give your skin a handsome boost.
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Size: 100ml
Directions of Use: Massage gently into face and neck. Apply morning and night or as desired.


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Anegakoji, Mikachi of the Anegakoji Clan
HAIR: His hair is simply black. Surprisingly enough, when under any amount of light, it remains black, only giving off a faint outlining of blue due to having such a dark, natural hair color.
EYES: A rarity of gray eyes in which, under the correct light can be thought to be blue. However, this is usually only a rare occurrence.
HEIGHT: Standing at a whopping 5'9" tall.
BODY TYPE: Mikachi's body seems to be of mesomorphic build. Something he seems to enjoy keeping in shape.
STYLE: Mikachi's typical attire consists of a deep blue kimono, whose sleeves cover up a majority of his arms, typically only revealing his palms. Just under rests another set, however this time with a white base that travels further down, covering his legs, only revealing his feet. Just upon the center where his chest is lies the Hida province crest, however, the design only reveals two lines curved and pointing downward, as well as resting at the ends of his dark blue sleeves. Some might even say he accomplishes the entire attire for a samurai. He usually dons a few select armor pieces, specifically at his torso, waist, and collar-area. It is not unheard of seeing Mikachi wearing a small golden headband of sorts just along his head, as well as a cherry blossom fragrance that rests around him.
OTHER: None to note.
Being an entirely social being, Mikachi can be viewed as a very cultured individual. His fashion sense seems to be on point with the current date, along with a few other perks that come with being a privileged individual. Typically, Mikachi will at in a manner that is calculated, yet reserved due to his previous encounters with tradition. However, it does not go unnoted that he doesn't feel anything. He is as human as any human can possibly be, only that he tends to keep his emotions controlled unless there is an extreme amount of stress going into play. Mikachi smiles from time to time, as well as being one of the first to start up a conversation.
STRENGTHS: - Cultured - Workaholic - Witty - Improvisionist - Sympathetic
WEAKNESSES: - Lying - Reckless - Stubborn - Overthinker - Stoic
LIKES: - Smiling - Spring & Flora - Personal Hygiene - Needlework, Writing, Cooking & Gardening
DISLIKES: - Laziness - Arrogance - Petty Conflict - Arson
- Becoming an amazing gardener, as well as being able to work at a top of the line tea shop for at least a little while.
- Writing a book detailing key points within his life, defining everything he's learned.
- Being able to learn all that he needs to in Edo Bungei
WEAPON: A tachi sword with its edge having a smooth reveal of solid and tempered steel, along with a blade coating just behind it. At the hilt and shaft is a laced pattern seemingly set together by a fabric that matches along with the gold cap that rests just at the sword's hilt.
RELIC: An averagely sized gunsen whose trim is held together by an incredibly smooth birchwood base, with each section of the fan carved and fitted into a neat and slick fashion. The design that rests upon the fan is a mixture of deep blue with mists of black in the background. Just in front of the design rests a beautiful sight of blooming cherry blossoms, having a few select petals hovering about the blossoms.
RELIC OWNER:Lady Tsukiyama
OWNER HISTORY: The original holder and creator of the fan, Lady Tsukiyama of the Imagawa clan was said to be a woman of the arts, as well as having her craftsmanship aligned with objects she deemed valuable not only in currency but also in merit. Having created an interesting design upon a paper canvas in recollection of a peaceful night sitting under a cherry blossom tree. She used a fan to propel a small amount of air to ease her troubles as she drew. It was on this night that the sound of an assassin came to fruition.
Upon encountering the assassin, she used a fan as a swift mean to distract the assassin, only to be sliced at her arm by a sharp dagger. By closing and tossing the fan towards the direction of the assassin, she began calling out for help. And at that moment, it was as if the winds of the night allowed her voice to be heard. A nearby guardsman came to the aid of Lady Tsukiyama, injuring the assassin with the tip of his blade, rendering them unconscious. Fortunately for Lady Tsukiyama, she had only a bruise and a slight amount of blood loss. Soon after her recovery, however, she had finally completed her work of art, setting the design onto a gunsen fan in remembrance of the day and time she had been saved by both her fellow guardsmen, as well as the assistance of a simple fan.
ACTIVATED ABILITY 1:Atatakai hōyō (A Warm Embrace) - This ability allows the user to summon a gust of wind that deflects any normal incoming projectiles within range.(One Turn Cooldown)
ACTIVATED ABILITY 2:Burīzudansu (Breeze Dance) - Similar to Atatakai hōyō, this ability allows the user to send out a concentrated arc of air forward to deliver severe knockback to opponents or projectiles with a forceful push. (Three turn cooldown.)
LOCKED ACTIVATED ABILITY 3:Attōtekina kaze (Overwhelming Wind) - The user is able to manipulate the air around them in such a way that it almost seems overwhelming. In similarity to the previous abilities, Attōtekina kaze allows the user to summon winds that are powerful enough to send foes flying back, or even send off any projectile back where it came from with precision. (Five turns cooldown.)
PASSIVE 1: Ganbō-tekina shikō (Wishful Thinking) - Upon a subtle opening and use of the fan, the user is able to feel themselves becoming overwhelmed by a plethora of thoughts. These thoughts can be quite easy to pinpoint, and effective given the specific situation. This will allow the user to think quicker and do things more effectively.
LOCKED PASSIVE 2: Gurēsufuru Suteppu (Graceful Step) - As the fan is kept closed, the user will be able to feel a sense of peace with themselves, as if they were in a higher place. They will be able to take faster steps whilst feeling the gentle grace of Lady Tsukiyama flow through them with each step. This allows for the user to run at ease with sprinting speed.
LOCKED AWAKENED MODE COLOR: Ivory White.
AWAKENED ATTACK: Mikadzuki no dansu (Crescent Dance) - It is said that Lady Tsukiyama was known for her grace, beauty, and creativity. Upon summoning such a remarkable persona, the user's eyes begin to glow an ivory white, levitating upwards. The sounds of a gong ringing can be heard as an earth-shaking sound. Soon after the sound of bells begins to become evident as a large, humanoid figure is revealed from the waist up, just a few meters within the air upon a golden cloud. The figure is a woman wearing a fancy kimono, as well as a large crown on her head as she holds a bowl for the relic holder to rest within. Just to her sides rest an entourage of humanoid beings of average height in similar clothing and color, going about as if parading. Upon the sight of a target, the outlining humanoids reveal their bows and take aim before sending off a volley of arrows raining down. Once the attack is done, the user floats down onto the ground before being rendered unconscious.
• Anegakoji, Rikuto (Father, 45)
• Anegakoji, Hanami (Mother, 40)
Equanimity. Equipoise. Equity.
Within the Anegakoji clan, a lovely couple by the names of Rikuto and Hanami had recently married. The two had been a literal definition of what it had meant to be a power couple. The two had come from exceptionally wealthy families, however, upon the wedding decision, it was stated by the two that they would work their absolute hardest in order to live up to their clan name. Hanami, an experienced gardener whose skills were intertwined with the earth that she worked in. And Rikuto, a professional doctor who set the lives of others just before his own.
Within about a year's time, the couple purchased a small home just within the province's boundaries. The area had been blessed with beautiful cherry blossom trees that had followed along during the changing of seasons. As they purchased the household, Hanami had given birth to a young baby boy. Becoming overwhelmed with joy, Rikuto had pledged to his wife, along with his ancestors that he would raise this child to become something greater than he. This child from this time had been named Anegakoji, Mikachi.
Skipping through a few years, Mikachi began to take curiosity to the way his parents presented themselves within the Hida province. Of course, due to the traditional ways of the clan, Mikachi couldn't truly make out exactly what his position had been within the province. It wasn't until the child had become 12 years of age that he began to notice his privileges more and more. Eventually, he had been introduced to his grandparents for the first time, as well as being educated on his ancestry. It wasn't until this point in time that his grandparents had explained all that the clan stood for, along with the many Anegakoji who fought to protect the beautiful land of Takayama as the Bushi of Anegakoji.
A young Mikachi loved the stories that his grandparents had told him, along with favoring his father's side of the family. His mother's side was a bit more strict and disciplined when it came to him. They hadn't wished for Mikachi to bask in the privileges that his ancestors worked so hard to achieve without the proper knowledge of how they were able to do so in the first place. This led Mikachi to concern himself with proper etiquette, as well as quickly moving to aid both his mother and father on any chores whenever they were around. He began to stress over the tiniest of details when it came to things, panicked even until his mother stopped him.
As she stopped him, she spoke to him in a calm and gentle voice so that he may understand what she said. She asked him why he had acted in such a way, in which he responded with a simple reply of needing to become organized and proper so that his mother's side of the family would treat him better. Upon realization of this, his mother hugged him before gesturing for him to follow along to assist her with her chores. As the two did so, she explained that when he became older and had more knowledge, along with a steady mindset, she would reveal to him a secret. And so, Mikachi nodded to this, eventually taking up more of his time to become educated in the ways of the Anegakoji, taking up a few hobbies and habits along the way.
These hobbies would be simple, such as cooking and brewing for the family during meals to practice his cooking and brewing skills. Tending to the gardens when his mother and father had been too busy to do so. Gaining a bit of knowledge on how to work with a needle due to his charismatic grandmother, and writing. Though his writing seemed to come to him more naturally than everything else. It had been much easier to scribe onto a piece of paper rather than having to speak aloud.
After a few years of consistency within Mikachi's hobbies, Mikachi had finally asked his mother once more of the secret she kept about her side of the family. Confronting her of it, she took Mikachi to visit his grandparents once more, however, on different terms. Upon arrival, the two had entered the home of Mikachi's grandparents, respectfully greeting them and revealing Mikachi's growth. As they silently judged him, the two nodded, agreeing to speak to him of the thing they kept secret for so many years. They explained to him that many years ago there had been a woman from the Imagawa clan. She had been known as Lady Tsukiyama, an artisan of her crafts, along with being a lucky soul at the time.
They told of her legend to Mikachi, as to which he simply responded with a rousing curiosity as to why the entire legend had been kept secret. It had been because there had been no reason to tell. There might have been a fuss over exactly why such a legend would exist within the clan from another clan. It had been due to the family having gone generations of protecting and preserving Lady Tsukiyama's last piece of art that would be frowned upon by those within the Anegakoji clan. However, it was at this point in time that his grandmother had risen up, gesturing for him to follow before revealing to him a room filled with a number of artifacts.
Each artifact seemed to somehow symbolize the Anegakoji clan by being embedded with characters that told of stories in only a few letters. As Mikachi's eyes trailed around the room, he had wondered why his mother and grandfather decided to stay in the main room. However, this thought had been removed as soon as his grandmother revealed what seemed to be a closed casket that had been decorated over with cherry blossoms. Upon the box had been characters that equated to three simple words:
Equanimity. Equipoise. Equity.
His grandmother read the characters quietly to him before explaining what they had meant. In literal meaning, they were the practice of Lady Tsukiyama's ideals. Equanimity for remaining calm in any stressful situation. Equipoise to ensure that everything in the world is balanced out. And Equity, to be fair in any given situation. Upon finishing her reading of the scripture, she raised the casket allowing for him to open it. Upon interacting with the casket, he saw a fan of sorts resting inside of it. Looking to his grandmother, she nodded, gesturing for him to retrieve the item from the casket. As he reached within, he gently raised the fan within his grasp, looking to it before inspecting it.
A few moments later, the fan shook abruptly. Mikachi widened his eyes before taking a few steps back, being careful as to not trip or break any of the surround artifacts. The fan levitated above Mikachi's palms, rotating slowly before opening and revealing the design of its frame. His grandmother's look of shock surprised him. Her eyes trailed up before Mikachi saw they she had fallen unconscious. He then swiftly went to assist her in taking the fan and storing it in the casket. It took a few moments, but she came to her senses and look about the area. She wondered what had happened, and so he explained.
After a while, the two had returned to the main room, explaining what had happened, only to become just as surprised as his grandmother was. Upon realization, his grandfather noted that such an occurrence had been rumored upon the land and that Mikachi had been gifted with Lady Tsukiyama's blessing. It had only then taken a few days before sharing the knowledge with the rest of his family, along with the Anegakoji clan authorities. The authorities had then explained to Mikachi that he had been a scion and recommended that his parents send him off to Edo Bugei Academy. However, they allowed Mikachi a few days to think over the decision with his family in order to come with a solution that works with both sides.
Within three days time, Mikachi and his parents returned, agreeing with the decision for Mikachi to attend Edo Bugei Academy. Luckily for him, the authorities had already sent in a request for enrollment in the school for Mikachi. But before sending him off to Edo Bugei, the authorities granted him a special dark blue kimono with a resting crest of the Hida province, along with a tachi sword in sheath, as well as a few other essentials so that he would be able to reveal the pride of his province within the academy. Soon after, they gave him his enrollment scroll, sending him of in the direction off Edo Bugei Academy.
Posted: Feb 13 2018, 06:32 AM
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Azai Nobuyori
The stuck up clan lord who defends the people.
Tagami Yumiko
The adorable poet girl who hates war.
Katayama, Masato
A strategist bent on changing the world.


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a. Warnings. All batteries contain an electrolyte
the water as recommended to eliminate possible
which may be liquid and is corrosive. Lead-acid
bacteria. Squeeze bottles are date coded and should
batteries contain diluted sulfuric acid and nickel-
be replaced before the expiration date. Exercise can-
cadmium batteries contain potassium hydroxide.
ister units periodically to prevent clogging of the
Direct contact with the electrolyte should be
head. Ensure that a good flow of water is available
avoided as contact may result in severe chemical
when it's really needed.
burns. Accidental contact must be removed immedi-
c. Explosive gas hazard. The NEC requires re-
ately by washing and flushing with baking soda
moval of possible explosive gas buildup, since all
(bicarbonate of soda). This solution is beneficial in
battery types can outgas. Check that gas accumula-
neutralizing either alkaline or acid electrolyte. Ex-
tion is limited to less than 2 percent of the total
treme care must be taken in the use of hydrometers
volume of the battery room or enclosure. For flooded
or syringes to avoid accidentally squirting electro-
lead-acid batteries, the maximum hydrogen evolu-
lyte at or on anyone.
tion rate is 0.000269 cubic feet (7618 cubic millime-
(1) Warning notice. It is recommended that a
ters) per minute per charging ampere per cell at 77
warning notice be posed near the battery installa-
degrees F (25 degrees C), one atmosphere. The
tion as shown in table 14-1. Use the first parenthe-
maximum rate occurs when a fully charged battery
sis as applicable to the electrolyte type. Fill in the
has maximum current forced into it.
fault current amperes.
(2) Warning sign. It is recommended that a
d. Electrical hazard. Most batteries are operated
warning sign be posted in advance of the installed
ungrounded, so touching a live part will not result
table 14-1 warning notice. Figure 14-1 is a warning
in a shock. The real hazard exists when an acciden-
sign used by a manufacturer who provides small
tal ground is already present and a person touches a
sealed, low-gassing type batteries. Note that this
live part. In this case, the person completes the
warning sign indicates DANGER even for what is
circuit to ground and current will flow through the
represented as a small sealed-battery system. Par-
person. While personnel may recognize that this
ticular attention must be given to the prevention of
sparks or flames near batteries. The hydrogen gas
Table 14-l. Battery room warning notice
produced by charging batteries is flammable in an
atmosphere where the gas content exceeds 4 per-
Batteries contain (sulfuric acid) (potassium hydroxide solution).
If the electrolyte is splashed on eyes, flush with clear water and
cent hydrogen gas. If the mixture contains more
consult a physician. If the electrolyte contacts the skin, flush
than 8 percent hydrogen, it can explode.
with clear water. Storage batteries are high current sources.
b. Electrolyte hazard. Battery rooms are required
Accidental short circuits can cause severe arcing, equipment
by OSHA to provide emergency-use quick-drenching
damage, battery explosion, and personal injury. This installation
facilities for the eyes and body within 25 feet of the
can deliver a fault current of 1,000 amperes. Do not use
uninsulated tools or touch uninsulated wires or terminals. Re-
work area. Permanent emergency eyewash and
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showers are recommended. Portable emergency eye-
tection and protective clothing when working on batteries. Keep
wash and showers must be brought into the main-
batteries upright. Use tools with insulated handles. Do not
tenance area if permanent facilities are not pro-
smoke or permit naked flames near the battery. Do not wear
vided. Squeeze bottles can substitute for eyewash
clothes which can create static electricity. Switch off circuits
before connecting or disconnecting the battery to avoid sparks.
fountains, and canisters that resemble fire extin-
Be sure connections are tight before switching on. Two people
guishers can be fitted to provide an eyewash or a
should perform battery maintenance inspections, with only one
quick drench. Periodic inspection and maintenance
person working on any battery at the same time.
of these devices are mandatory. Be sure to change
Hazardous voltage.
Will cause severe
injury or death.
Figure 14-1. Battery warning sign


text:
The Perfect Fall Transition Dress and Nordstrom Giveaway
Dress: here | Bag: here | Shoes: here | Earrings: here | Watch: here
Photos by the lovely Caroline
Have you ever ordered a dress online and it comes in and just fits you perfectly?! Well, that finally happened for me! Being petite, I struggle with finding clothes that fit me correctly. This beauty came in last month and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked 🙂
I've been seeing a lot of the dusty rose color for fall and am so happy that it works well with all of the light blush I wore during the summer. This dress is great because it has the lighter colors, like blush and white, as well as maroon and rose to transition to fall!
For a day out in NYC, I paired it with wedges and a statement purse. It was abut 80 degrees outside, and this dress was nice because it flows and doesn't cling to you. Now for fall, I'll wear it with my new suede jacket and some booties! I can't wait to style that outfit when it starts getting a bit chillier out.
Were any of you at NYFW this weekend? I was loving how nice the weather was! It was sunny, but had a cool breeze so we could pull out some statement jackets. I'll be doing a full NYFW recap soon and posting my outfits from each day as soon as the work week is over. It's hard going from fashion shows back to the office…now I'm having a bit of FOMO.
Also, I'm doing a few giveaways right now. On Instagram, I'm giving away some of my favorite beauty products because I'm almost at 15k followers! To enter: 1) Follow me on Instagram 2) Tag friends in my recent photo 3) Sign up for my email list. The next giveaway is with some of my other blogging babes. We're giving away a $600 Nordstrom giftcard on 9/23! See below 🙂
Nordstrom Giveaway
SO loving this dress! What a great transition piece. The muted floral colors are exactly what I've been lookibg for to go into fall with. And absolutely love it paired with the neutral accessories.
That dress is gorgeous I love the floral print and the color. I'm so glad it fit perfectly, one of the hassles from buying online sometimes!
this dress is so cute! perfect for this time of year!
That dress looks amazing on you! The pattern is really pretty, and so is the cut!
Love the print! Perfect dress for fall!
xo, Steph
Love this dress so much!
Totally loving this chic dress that can definitely be worn easily from summer into autumn! The pattern is so YOU! Also, major congratulations on hitting 15k! So excited for you!
Absolutely love this dress!! Looks gorg on you! It's SO great when you order something and it's just as amazing as you'd hoped it would be 🙂
Such a cute dress!
What a great dress! I love the fun style and pattern!
Greta | http://www.gretahollar.com
I just love those Kendra earrings you're wearing…and that beautiful dress! This is such a gorgeous look overall 🙂
Such a pretty Fall dress!!
That dress looks so comfortable and perfect for these late(and hot!) summer days!


text:
It seems as though if I don't use padding every once in a while, or at least have it around, my psyche takes a beating. I get irritated and can't focus. I don't like that. I don't like that I'm pretty much mentally dependent on it. It doesn't seem healthy to be mentally dependent on anything.
I'm not saying I want to completely eliminate everything about this side of me, but I really want and need to tone it down. It should be something that I do out of the joy of it, not necessity (Not that I don't do it out of joy as well, but I digress). It doesn't seem healthy from a mental standpoint, and it certainly doesn't help from a financial standpoint.
Anyone have any tips?


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Superintelligence: Paths, Danger, Strategies
by Nick Bostrom. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2014, 352 pp.
The subject of intelligent machines that decide that they don't have much use for us has haunted our species at least since golems first were mentioned in the Talmud. And more recently, the issue of superintelligence has been worked over by science fiction authors from Isaac Asimov to Vernor Vinge and beyond. We've thought about this a lot.
Now philosophers have their turn. Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom's book Superintelligence gives the subject a thorough treatment. His conclusion? We better be damn careful what kind of intelligent machines we build.
Bostrom's erudition bursts from every page. He has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, and mathematical logic, as well as philosophy. He uses all of these disciplines, and more, to advance his argument, which has four main parts.
Part 1: Machine intelligence is feasible. Bostrom reviews the current approaches to computer-based intelligence and divides them roughly into brain emulation and pure artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, with hybrids and mongrels in between.
Brain emulation intelligence works by completely emulating a human brain—down to the level of neurons and dendrites and cortical columns—in such detail that the person instantiated in that brain comes to life in the artificial medium of computer hardware and software.
Pure AI takes a different course, attempting to build in software a pure artifact that acts intelligently but not in any way that traces a heritage to our native wetware (other than the important detail that we designed the artifact in the first place.)
Bostrom maintains that both approaches could feasibly lead to AIs, although he believes that the two approaches have different strengths and weaknesses, and may lead to different future scenarios. Because we are presumably just "running mind software" on a different hardware platform, Bostrom believes that brain emulation AIs are more likely to "be like us," whatever that means, but pure AIs, because all of the design elements are explicit, may be easier for our minds to comprehend and predict. He concludes that brain-emulation AIs are likely to come on the scene sooner, but that either form may arrive by mid-century.
Part 2: Bostrom then argues that once an AI exists, it may (and likely will) rapidly improve its own intelligence. By "rapidly," he means within seconds or hours or days, not months or years. He believes that there may be no limit to this self-improvement, to the point where an AI develops what Bostrom calls "decisive strategic advantage" and is able to neuter potential alternatives or adversaries and, rather rapidly, consolidate its power as what he calls a "singleton." Such a singleton would, in effect, control the future of humanity, what Bostrom calls its "cosmic endowment."
Part 3: There is no special reason to believe that a singleton's intentions would be benign. Bostrom discusses at length what might be the "final purposes" (his term; we might call them "ultimate goals" or "life purpose") of such an all-powerful superintelligence, and how we might influence those purposes. This line of inquiry, which occupies most of the book, is a hash of game theory considerations and speculations about the nature of an AI and its capabilities. How might we, for example, prevent a singleton AI from converting the entire observable universe into paperclips if that were its final purpose?
Part 4: In the final chapters, Bostrom discusses what is to be done. How should we act in the face of what he considers the practical certainty that a superintelligence will be developed—if not within decades, perhaps within a century or two—whose motives might not be benign and whose ability to act on its motives might be unstoppable?
He advises us to, in effect, form a League of Extraordinary Humans whose purpose is to systematically and strategically discuss the emergence of a superintelligence. Not to utterly make fun of Bostrom's approach, we might call this an Iron Rice Bowl (the Chinese term for occupation-for-life) for Philosophers.
What are we to make of Bostrom's case?
In the first place, it is a serious argument. If we might in the relatively near future invent our cosmic replacement, then we are required, in the name of humanity's cosmic endowment (which Bostrom calculates to comprise some 1058 real or virtual future lives), to give the matter some thought. And Bostrom is quite correct that this kind of problem might benefit from long study. But what are our chances of affecting the outcome?
The core problem is that the leap between today's "intelligent" software and a superintelligence is unknown, and our temptation is to mystify it. Whether we are building brain emulations or pure AIs, we don't understand what would make them "come to life" as intelligent beings, let alone superintelligent.
"Machine learning" software today uses a statistical model of a subject area to "master" it. Mastering consists of changing the weights of the various elements in the model in response to a set of training instances (situations where human trainers grade the instances: "yes, this is credit card fraud," "no, this is not a valid English sentence," etc.). Clear enough, but it just doesn't seem very much like what our minds do.
And the path from this kind of "learning" (it is an anthropomorphism even to call it learning) to what "human-intelligent" agents do is completely unclear.
It might require nothing but simple scale. A small "machine learning" system may be subintelligent, and at some size, if we had enough computing power and enough elements in the model and enough training instances and enough support, intelligence might "emerge."
This has certainly been the mantra of AI for some decades, and it may have been what technophiles hoped for when IBM's Watson software beat two Jeopardy champions a couple of years back.
Sadly, Watson has not gone on to master, on its own or even with expert human help, any general corpus of knowledge. At a Watson showcase event last year, the demo apps were all mired in the swamp of endless training and re-training that I recall from my AI days in the '80's. There was no indication that unleashing Watson on different domains and at different scales was going to lead to general intelligence, although one is free to hope.
Another path to general intelligence, as some Husserlians, such as Hubert Dreyfus or other more anthropologically-inclined researchers think, may involve human feelings, purposes, or drives. If the AI wanted something badly enough (not to be shut off, for example), the argument goes, then it would learn from its "experiences" and get smarter. Combine "desires" like this with natural selection at scale via a genetic-selection or evolutionary approach, and you might gradually enhance the intelligence of primitive agents. With machine speeds, this could happen quickly.
The problem with this approach has been coming up with a mechanical definition of "feelings," "purposes," or "drives." We can write some software that is aimed at doing something, but it is missing something of what we associate with a drive: urgency, existential angst, whatever. Maybe we are confusing the qualia of purpose with the essence of it, and maybe a human-infused purpose can launch software on the road to agency. But at some point it has to have "its own" purposes, whatever that means.
A third approach has been to insist that there is something implicit in our brains that is unique, whether we call this uniqueness "embodied-ness" (with Dreyfus) or "bearing human motivational ancestry" (with Bostrom). Is there something implicit in the organization of our brains that renders us intelligent? If so, then emulating a brain should supply it, unless an emulated brain is like a silk flower. As Dreyfus remarked at one point, we don't think that the software simulation of a thunderstorm should get us wet, do we? Why should the software emulation of a brain embody whatever makes us intelligent?
This "missing link" between AI software today and general intelligence tomorrow wouldn't be so important if it weren't at the heart of Bostrom's argument about how to control emerging AIs. If intelligence emerges from scale or from endogenous machine "drives" or for embodied-ness, how can we hope to put a governor on the motives of machine intelligences? They would toss our flimsy moral strictures aside as easily as adult humans toss away Santa Claus.
But talking about children does give us some suggestions about an approach to making AIs moral. Sigmund Freud believed that children form a superego at an age when they are "impressionable" but not yet adult in their reasoning. A superego, in his theory, is a moral mechanism that functions imperfectly (filled with demons and fascists as well as avatars of light and Christ figures) but is good enough to guide most adults to a reasonable course of moral behavior. Maybe we can fashion a superego for our young AIs and give them enough guidance to allow them to muddle through when they reach adulthood without turning the entire universe into paperclips or destroying us so we don't ask them tough questions.
That is Bostrom's great hope, that we can issue a suitable instruction to emerging AIs (something along the lines of "do the best thing we mean for you to do, even if we can't say it precisely") that will constrain their range of possibilities when they become fully superintelligent. All of us would benefit.


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Stanley Healthcare partners with Alzheimer's Association
The WanderGuard Blue manager.
Stanley Healthcare will donate a portion of sales of its WanderGuard Blue Wander Management solution to support the activities of the Alzheimer's Association every year as part of its new role as a "cause marketing sponsor" of the association.
Stanley made the announcement Thursday.
Also as part of the relationship, Stanley will take an active role in raising awareness of Alzheimer's disease by participating in events such as the Walk to End Alzheimer's at its principal U.S. operations in Waltham, MA, which is the company headquarters, and Lincoln, NE, which is where the core of its senior living business is located. It will participate in the events with the Massachusetts/New Hampshire and Nebraska chapters of the association.
"The fight against Alzheimer's has strong relevance to Stanley Healthcare as an organization and to the many Stanley Healthcare associates who work with senior living organizations every day to help them improve safety and quality of life for residents living with Alzheimer's," said Marty Guay, president of the company.
Stanley Healthcare provides more than 12,000 senior living long-term care organizations and 5,000 acute care hospitals with enterprise solutions designed to address safety, security and operational efficiency challenges, according to the company. WanderGuard aims to help protect people with dementia who are at risk of wandering.


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As temperatures continue to rise, it's time to get ready for the most anticipated face-off of the summer. We're not talking about the Olympics or Euro 2012, though. We're talking dogs versus sprinklers. The age old battle will continue to rage on this summer, which is great news for all of us. When dogs square off against sprinklers, everybody wins.
Check out these 17 videos of adorable dogs battling their sprinkler foes (and keep your eye out for Louis C.K.'s dog getting in on the action). Don't forget to vote for the cutest pup!
Dogs Vs. Sprinklers


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Is This Dry, Winter Weather Giving Kids Dry, Itchy Skin?
As soon as the temperature drops outside, we all start cranking up the heat inside, which can aggravate skin problems, such as dryness and eczema. If this is an issue for your kids, it's important to stay on top of the problem. Pediatrician Gina Rosenfeld, MD, gives some great advice on how to manage and potentially clear up your kid's winter dry skin woes. Check out her latest blog post here.
CPMG is proud to be San Diego's largest pediatric medical group, with over 400 pediatricians and pediatric specialists to serve the children of San Diego and southern Riverside counties. Call our customer service department toll free at 877-CPMG-KIDs (877-276-4543) for enrollment assistance or to find a pediatrician near you, or visit our website for more in-depth information about our doctors, health news and more, To start a discussion on a health issue important to you, you can visit our blog, Kids' Health 1st. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, too!


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Exit Jesus
I'm a pretty simple gal. Not surprisingly this simplicity extends to my faith.
I don't get the argument for Calvinism nor do I fully grasp Arminianism or Pelagianism. I don't know where I stand on the pre-tribulation, post-tribulation debate, or any of the other -ism's or -ation's for that matter.
I don't understand why we like to classify ourselves and stereotype others with denominational terminology.
Skipping Church
I'm not usually one for the, 'This is how my Family spent the day' type blog posts, they're just not my thing. That is until today when it momentarily became my thing. However, I can assure you it won't become a regular thing, because quite frankly I think they're kind of naff, much like this intro really. Sorry about that.Read More


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"What's in the way, is the way."
FABER, VA (PRWEB) July 28, 2015
History commonly ascribes the epithet "the Great" or the equivalent phrases, such as "the Wise", "the Good", "the Glorious", "the Spirited" to those persons who had been greatly influenced by the times in which they lived.. The saintly, or scholarly, the rulers and the unconventionally heroic were usually considered to be such. If there were objective criteria for "greatness", the persistent example of doing something, sacrificing something, creating something for the benefit of one and all seemed to be the prerequisite.
The Synchronicity Foundation was founded by a man to state it plainly. Master Charles Canon may not be known by the epithets of old. He is not identified as "the Conqueror". Nor is he addressed by a casual nickname. He's known, like all of the others, by his work in word and deed. In the field of modern-day meditation it's his abiding practice of mentoring others which greatly ministers to their well-being. If that's still considered a claim to greatness, then he qualifies like any of the other top spiritual leaders around the globe.
What has been so great about the meditation movement is those who lead it - not only in thought, but also in action. Consider the most recent spirituality book from the Synchronicity Foundation, "Awakening from the American Dream" by author Master Charles Cannon, and writer, Will Wilkinson. It lays waste to the great theme or myth of the day, the American Dream. Once the tune whistled by a whole generation, the dream has the markings of a seashore devastated by a hurricane.
Regardless if the message is not being recognized by many, he implicitly reveals that great devastation can have its upside. It clears the way for a new myth with a proper advantage over the previous and scandalous false pretentions. In the ruin left by its wake the eminence of Mother Nature is known to reappear like a beauteous, blessed vision. Great changes eminently create great possibilities. The greater the parent the better the gene pool for emulations in the succeeding generation. Reading the book it's hard to wonder about how such a great lady, dedicated to serving all of life, was ever so rudely forsaken by such a fast-talking, self-serving dream-weaver.
"NOW…The Technology" begins where the book ends but in a higher octave. It occupies twice the mental state as the book, doubling the frequency of its reach. Once initiated, Master Charles Cannon's modern mechanics of meditation paves the way for a penetratingly new mythology. Simply start with any stereophonic sound-speaker system, portable i-Pod, MP3, or with headphones. Then push Play on-low. Alpha, theta, delta and subtle gamma frequencies bio-geometrically, and holo-dynamically perform the "synchronicity". This audio-sonic, entrainment technology, a balancing tool, brings first-hand, acoustic quality benefits to its users, such as restoring personal balance. In plain English, these good vibrations entrain, or balance those disturbances to brainwaves, which attempt to push away everyone's otherwise preferred state of equilibrium. His hi-tech meditation technology is for maintaining proper balance. Personal balance is restored quickly and clearly, and the moment is mastered as a matter of fact. Where other techniques fall short, or seem easy to shrug or ill-advise, his high-performance mechanism, in-tandem with his book, conveys a multiplier effect. The proclivity of the one infuses the other with an additional power or increased premium, as the two instruments combine to cultivate a notable effect.
Sometimes the low-down, modern-day world can be tuned-up with a hi-meditative motto that's just great. In the film "Bruce Almighty" the god-like figure commiserates with the main character: "People want Me to do everything for them, but what they don't realize is, that they have the power. You want to see a miracle…be the miracle." The participants at Synchronicity Foundation gladly concur.
For background, interview, feature, or cover materials, refer to:
Master Charles Cannon
Master Spiritual Teacher of "Modern Spirituality"
Disciple of Swami Muktananda Paramahansa
Author of: "Bliss of Freedom", "Meditation Tool Box", "Modern Spirituality" book and CD set, "Forgiving the Unforgivable" and "Awakening from the American Dream"
Founder of International Synchronicity Foundation for Modern Spirituality, and Synchronicity Sanctuary Retreat Center
Pioneer of the High-Tech Meditation Method "Modern Meditation for a Modern World"
Program Event Host at the Blue Ridge Mountains, Central Virginia International Retreat Center
Web Channel Leader and Teacher at http://www.schoolofmodernspirituality.com
757-644-3400 Ext 3382
Primary Website:
School of Modern Spirituality:
TV Website:
Master Charles Cannon:


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With the ongoing strike by New York City school bus drivers entering its third week, it appears taxpayers are benefiting while disabled students and their families face an extra burden.
The New York Daily News reports the city has saved $33 million so far by withholding $50 million in payments to bus companies since the strike began on Jan. 16, while reimbursing families for $17 million in MetroCards, taxi vouchers and mileage reimbursements for personal vehicles.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said those numbers show a new deal with the bus companies is needed.
"Actually [the strike] is saving us money, because the cost of the busing is so out of hand, that it's cheaper to send everybody by taxi," Bloomberg told the Daily News.
New York's Education Department has promised to reimburse some families who normally rely on buses to get their children to school who are taking, subways taxis or livery cabs instead. As a result of the strike, The New York Times reports some livery drivers are nearly doubling their daily take-home pay.
Members of Local 1181 of the Amalgamted Transit Union told HuffPost that they are striking because the city is pushing to strip from the bus companies' contracts seniority and pay provisions that are crucial to maintaining safety standards in the city's bus system. The city administration contends that they are legally prevented from offering those provisions.
The National Labor Relations Board in Washington recently dismissed a petition to halt the strike.
In addition to drivers walking off the job, so too did matrons who accompany the roughly 54,000 special education students who ride on the contested bus routes.
As many as 100,000 students are without their normal ride to school, according to the Daily News. The New York Times reports some students can spend hours getting to school, while others don't make it at all.
The effects of the strike extend beyond the student riders themselves, and Fox 5 noted some parents are worried they may lose their jobs because they've skipped work either to help children get to class or to stay with them at home.


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Central Ky. fire station burns to the ground
No injuries reported
Central Ky. fire station burns to the ground
No injuries reported
MOUNT EDEN, Ky. —
Several fire departments are fighting a blaze at a volunteer fire department in central Kentucky.
WLKY-TV reports the blaze at the Mount Eden Volunteer Fire Department was reported early Tuesday morning. Several agencies were called in to help.
The department is located near the Spencer-Shelby county line.
A photo posted by the station shows heavy smoking rising from a gutted, collapsed building.
A WLKY reporter posted on Twitter that the equipment lost includes at least one tanker truck and one engine, along with millions of dollars worth of equipment.
No injuries have been reported.


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FoodArt is a conceptual photography project on food with different themes. It is about food in all forms and fashions, raw vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products, junk food etc. The composition is done by placing the food and the ingredients on a 1x1 meter plate and the picture is taken vertically above the plate.
I'm a photographer based in Skåne, in the most southern parts of Sweden. My inspiration comes from nature and ordinary everyday life. www.mariejonsson.com


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How to Easily Get Hotel Promotion Information
We searched for hotel promotion tips. We want to give this information to all travelers to help them get good hotel room rates. You have understood it very well that after the flight ticket hotel room is the second biggest travel expense. Now, we have no idea on what tips to get the hotel promotion unless visiting booking-engine site and directly use their filter to find the promo hotel rates. Do you have any idea?
Well, using booking-engine sites sounds so easy. Even senior travelers recommended doing this and wrote so many articles about the best sites they have ever used. Now let's do something different. We learn first why hotel promotion is created by the hotel management. Hopefully, by understanding their tricks to invite more visitors we can get the best time and place to book their rooms.
Hotel Promotion Time
Hotel management knows they have to make hotel promotion to invite more and more visitors and to win the competition among other hotels in the destination. Most hotels would apply seasonal promotions. They offer hotel deals and special discounts in low seasons. They don't stop here. They need to publish their promotion. You need to find out where the promotion is displayed.
If the hotel is offering a discount, they won't be shy about it. They will list the discount on popular sites that list promotional discounts. For example, in Indonesia one of the most popular sites chosen by the hotel management is Tiket.com/hotel . No wonder that this site offers so many hotel promos every single day.
Use Social Media
One of the best tools to get hotel promotion information is social media. Use Twitter to get the latest discount update from the booking-engine site. We don't need to follow so many hotels' base sites, because their discounts usually are not even bigger than the promotion offered by the booking site like Tiket.com.


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WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — When a U.S. Navy veteran traveled from Long Island to Florida for a knee replacement, his house was the last thing on his mind. But now his memory of it is all he can think about.
Philip Williams' home was demolished in the spring by town officials while he spent about six months recuperating from surgical complications in Fort Lauderdale. Back in New York, officials in the Town of Hempstead deemed his modest two-story home unfit for habitation and knocked it down.
The 69-year-old has now waged a legal battle against the suburban New York town. He wants reimbursement — for the house and all the belongings inside.
"I'm angry and I'm upset. It's just wrong on so many levels," he said "My mortgage was up to date, my property taxes were up to date … everything was current and fine."
Williams went to Florida in December 2014 for the procedure, so a friend could help with his recovery. But he developed infections that forced further surgery and heart complications, leaving him hospitalized until doctors deemed him medically able to return home in August.
When Williams pulled up to what should have been a two-story cream-colored cottage with a red door in West Hempstead, there was just an empty lot.
"My first thought was there was a fire or something," Williams said.
But there was no fire. According to town officials, neighbors had been complaining the house was in disrepair and a blight on the community. Hempstead officials, responding to those complaints, sent inspectors and determined the house was a "dilapidated dwelling" unfit for habitation. So they knocked it down.
"The house was in terrible condition for a long time," next door neighbor Keylin Escobar said. "Nobody really lived in the house; the house was abandoned. Everyone who came over to visit, people always say, 'What's going on with this house?'"
Kathleen Keicher, who has lived across the street from Williams for 12 years, said notices tacked to the front door of the home began piling up and the house had holes in the side and appeared unkempt.
"I feel terrible. When we knew a house was coming down, it was sad," she said. "We thought the house was coming down, someone would buy the land, a new house would come up, a new family would move in. … We don't want anyone to lose their home."
Williams says he was never contacted and believes town officials thought his house was a so-called "zombie home" — a dwelling abandoned after foreclosure proceedings begin, but one not yet seized by the bank — and rushed to demolish it.
"The town basically took everything from me," said Williams, who is now staying with a friend in Florida and has only two suitcases of belongings. "The town does not have a right to take all of my property, all of my possessions."
Williams had lived in the house since he was 6 months old. He said many of the items in the home had been in his family since he was a newborn or had sentimental value, like his late wife's engagement ring, photos of his six children growing up and a model train set he had since he was a child. He lost all of his clothing, a bicycle he'd just purchased, dishes, silverware and other housewares.
Town officials say they tried to contact Williams and provided The Associated Press copies of letters they said they mailed to the home and to banks. They also held a public hearing before going forward with the demolition. But Williams contends he never received any of the notices and said he couldn't figure out why the letters were mailed to four separate banks where he never had accounts.
"I have no idea who those banks are," Williams said. "But they never contacted me in any way, shape or form."
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"I cant recommend Soulstar enough, Everybody keeps asking who the band was at our wedding so they can book them for theirs. The dance floor was packed all night, and their set list has something for everyone. We are so glad we chose them!!" Andy
"We booked Soulstar to play at our wedding reception after hearing the 5-piece play at a corporate event we attended. From our first phone call with Katy, through all the arrangements, and the performance, Soulstar were a great band to deal with; everyone knows how stressful organising a wedding can be, but the band and their music were never a worry – we would recommend Soulstar to anyone wanting great music and a stress- free process!" Dan
"Thank you so much for such an awesome performance at our wedding at Symondsbury the other week!! Everyone was saying how amazing you were, and the fact that the dance floor didn't clear all night demonstrates it I guess! I hope that you guys had fun as well. When I get the photographer's pictures if there are any good ones of the dance floor and the band I'll send them over to you and if there is anything else I can do to help you guys (references etc) please just shout! Thank you so so much!" Em
"You and your guys were brilliant on Saturday evening. Everyone has said what a great band you are and what a great voice you have!! Thank you for your major contribution to a very successful evening. Good luck to you all and we would have no hesitation in recommending you for other events." Joy
"So far we have received amazing comments about our Awards night, including for you and Soulstar. Everyone really liked a female singer, and appreciated that you got them all up and kept them on their feet dancing. Some had very sore tootsies the day after!!" David
"Myself and Emma would like to say a massive thank you to the band for making our wedding reception so amazing. All of our guests commented on how good you guys were, you really made our evening special. We will be recommending you to everyone we know. Thank you so much" Darren & Emma
"We had an amazing night and have had great feedback from lots of friends about you and the band's performance! You were all fabulous and having such a good live band just made the evening. One of our friends has some lovely pictures of you, so will send them onto you. Thanks again to all of you." Jo & Andy
"Tabitha and I just wanted to say how utterly brilliant you and your band were last night. It really helped make the evening a great success. Hope you all got back safely in the snow. Thank you very much indeed." Xavier & Tabitha
"Just off on Honeymoon this afternoon and before I go I really wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you for an amazing night. You and the band were fantastic. Everybody couldn't stop talking about you all the next day. Amazing!!! Again I wanted to say a massive thanks, Carl and I had a wonderful day and night. Thanks for being a part of it." Carl & Vanessa


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by Erik Tips & tricks from… 06/04/2016
Like most people, I have more than one mailbox. One account for work, and two private accounts (one from Skynet and another from Gmail). I receive loads of messages on my private mailboxes, and often they're unwanted e-mails I'm not even interested in reading.
Fortunately, I have a good spam filter but sometimes unwanted e-mails get through – to my amazement they're not considered "spam".
E-mails from my bank, my energy provider, in short, companies that I am or was a customer of. At least, that's what I think. The e-mails look professional enough, but can I be sure they're authentic? If they ask me for my bank details or my login for an application, surely I can trust them?
Not! Those are precisely the types of e-mails you should be wary of. This is called "phishing". It sounds like "fishing" and, actually, it's not so very different because what people do is fish for information, such as passwords, PIN codes, credit card numbers, etc.
And to top it all off, sometimes the e-mails have attachments with all kinds of malware, which you should not open, whatever you do.
What can you do if you receive such an e-mail? Above all, don't reply or provide any personal details. You can also report it to the police.
Can you avoid receiving such e-mails? Actually, you can't.
So be warned: phishing is fishing for information that you alone know. Make sure you don't get caught in the net. Better safe than sorry!
News filtering by :


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Security and Incident Response teams manage the handling of information security incidents within their organisation or network - their tasks broadly range from prevention and awareness raising, via incident detection to the actual tracking and resolving of incidents and drawing lessons from that. The Trusted Introducer Service - a.k.a. TI - was established by the European CERT community in 2000 to address common needs and build a service infrastructure providing vital support for all security and incident response teams.
To safeguard the trusted environment a comprehensive set of processes have been defined, outlining what it takes to participate and maintain a team's status within the TI community. This requires a long-term committment of the participating teams and individuals and the TI processes emphasize the need for continuous improvement and maintenance as regular tasks.
The TI service differentiate between four categories:
- teams are
- listed, which provides basic information about the team itself as well as shows endorsement of the team by the TI community;
- accredited, which ensures a defined level of best practices and acceptance of the established TI policies for such teams;
- certified, if they have been accredited before and prove a confirmed level of maturity as defined by the TI SIM framework.
- security experts can participate as TI Associates.
The TI Accreditation and Certification requires regular efforts to maintain the team's status. Therefore the directory of the TI service can be trusted to reflect the actual and accurate snapshot of all such teams.
TI Certification is meant for those accredited teams who have internal and/or external reasons to have their maturity level gauged in an independent way. When the certification succeeds, the team can show this to their constituents, to their funding bodies, to other parties they want to cooperate with. The certified teams are and stay part of the community of accredited teams - the certification can be seen as extra branding providing it's own benefits for such teams.