SUSPICIOUS OBERVERS: Fire, Space Physics, NAVY Plasma Revelations News Aug.20.2020

NAVY Plasma?....
and what else

14,218 views

•Aug 20, 2020

Art in the age of machine intelligence | Refik Anadol

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

38,960 views

•Aug 19, 2020

What does it look like inside the mind of a machine? Inspired by the architectural vision of a futuristic Los Angeles in "Blade Runner," media artist Refik Anadol melds art with artificial intelligence in his studio's collaborations with architects, data scientists, neuroscientists, musicians and more. Witness otherworldly installations that might make you rethink the future of tech and creativity. ___________________________________________________________________________________ The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). 
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QUARANTINE HORROR: New Zoom Platform Scare Movie-Maker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tired of those all those house-bound old low-budget scary re-runs? Got the jitters about Zoom multiscreen ?? Well then this is made for you . . .Here's "Host" the first in a new creative genre that  stands out for the way it taps into the undercurrent of unease produced not only by the pandemic, but also by the new forms of communication that have taken over our lives and changed how we interact with others

 

The Movie That Will Change How You Look at Zoom Meetings  

Shot remotely over 12 weeks, Host is the first great entry in the new genre of “quarantine horror.”

Elizabeth Horkley August 19, 2020 

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020

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BLOGGER NOTE: Elizabeth Horkley is a writer based in Brooklyn

They want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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"An old house. Sleepaway camp. The woods outside Burkittsville, Maryland. Every generation has its dark places, settings where horror filmmakers stage the zeitgeist’s fears. During a pandemic, just about any spot where people congregate will do. But the new film Host takes an unexpected approach. The director Rob Savage sets his movie in a familiar virtual zone—a Zoom session—flipping the script on the current conventional wisdom that online meetings are a safe alternative to in-person gatherings. In reality, of course, they are. But Savage’s film portrays the paranoia that haunts the housebound this summer as a demonic entity unleashed by a Zoom call. . .

. . .Fans of horror know to steer clear of haunted mansions, dense forests, and bucolic cabins after sunset. But showers? The beach during summertime? These are places associated with comfort and relaxation. And while Zoom isn’t exactly that, it is—unlike the beach—unavoidable for many Americans, a necessary evil. The insidious power of Host is how its terrors follow viewers as they leave Shudder’s website and go to a Zoom work meeting, or to yet another Zoom happy hour.
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Read: How do you politely end a Zoom or FaceTime call? 

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For many people, however, Zoom was already a sinister place. Though the platform was widely adopted to facilitate social distancing at the start of the pandemic, its status as a digital sanctuary was short-lived. “Zoombombing”—a practice in which bad actors hijack meetings to bombard patrons with disturbing videos and imagery—became so common that the company was forced to enact new safety measures . . .A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified an increase in depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, especially among young adults. A New York Times story published last week cited research from April that listed more screen time, more time indoors, and fewer face-to-face interactions as “tremors in the [country’s] mental-health firmament.”
As The Atlantic’s David Sims wrote last month, low-budget horror films are thriving during a summer-movie season devoid of the usual blockbusters and packed theaters. . .
READ MORE > The Atlantic

 

 

 

 

2008 & 2020: The Combination That Changed Capitalism Forever [Yanis Varo...

New Economic Thinking

99.6K subscribers

81,815 views

•Jul 2, 2020

As protests erupt on the streets of America and the world, current power structures no longer feel tenable. Can this popular uprising break the neoliberal grip on the state and create lasting structural change that will empower the disenfranchised? Join us as the Former Finance Minister of Greece and founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 25 (DiEM25) explores what a restructured economic and political landscape might look like in a post pandemic era, and what it would take to harness state power in service of the masses rather than corporations. Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, philosopher, and politician. He is a member of the Hellenic Parliament, Secretary-General of MeRA25, co-founder of DiEM25, and the former finance minister of Greece. Together with Bernie Sanders he co-founded Progressive International, to unite progressives around the world. He has taught economics at the University of Cambridge and the University Texas, Austin, and is the author of several books, including Adults in the Room, And The Weak Suffer What They Must, and The Global Minotaur.

 

License

Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Reminder from LISC: Time is Running Out

Time is Running Out to Prevent a Housing Catastrophe Posted by on 17 August, 2020 Thirty to 40 million people are at risk of homelessness by the end of the year, due to lost jobs and wages caused by COVID-19.  LISC, in alliance with Enterprise, Housing Partnership Network and others, has issued an urgent appeal to political leaders to get back to the bargaining table and enact renter protections and financial support for housing providers to head off this imminent crisis. _______________________________________________________________ 8.17.2020 - Press Releases Out of Time: Congress and the Administration Must Act Now to Prevent Widespread Evictions During a national health emergency, when the safest thing to do is shelter at home, our country needs more housing stability, not less. We urge Congress and the Administration to return to the negotiating table to enact meaningful renter protections, paired with financial support for housing providers. As we enter the sixth month of the pandemic, 30 to 40 million people are at risk of homelessness by the end of the year, due to lost jobs and wages caused by COVID-19. At the end of July, CARES Act eviction protections and federal unemployment benefits expired as negotiations on a new COVID-19 relief package broke down between the Administration and Congress. Many state and local eviction moratoria have also elapsed; at the same time, costs for housing providers to keep living environments safe throughout the pandemic have increased, leaving both residents and providers without protections or support. Recent data, reported by Bloomberg, shows that only 37 percent of renters were able to pay rent at class C properties in July. These tend to be the most affordable unsubsidized properties and show the incredible strain renters and owners are experiencing. The current impasse leaves millions of Americans in jeopardy of losing their homes and at increased risk of contracting the virus, while exacerbating financial strain for both renters and housing providers. In May, the House passed the HEROES Act, which would authorize a national, uniform moratorium on all evictions for nonpayment of rent during the COVID-19 crisis, provide $100 billion in emergency rental assistance, and approve further relief funds to reimburse HUD assisted housing providers for pandemic-related expenses. The Senate has not considered a corresponding bill, and negotiations among congressional leaders and the White House over a relief package appear to have stopped. The current impasse leaves millions of Americans in jeopardy of losing their homes and at increased risk of contracting the virus, while exacerbating financial strain for both renters and housing providers.  As mission-driven nonprofit organizations dedicated to providing affordable rental homes to low-income Americans, we urge Congress and the Administration to return to the bargaining table as quickly as possible to come to a bipartisan agreement to implement a national eviction moratorium for nonpayment of rent, provide emergency rental assistance to help struggling households with back and future rent, and provide financial support for all affordable housing providers to remain solvent throughout the crisis. Read more →

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank > Tune in on 8/25: Mary Daly discusses inequity and COVID-19

COVID-19 is a global crisis, but it's not affecting everyone equally. This special event, hosted by the Rotary Club of Oakland, will examine how health, economic, and racial inequities are converging during the pandemic, and how we can create better outcomes for individuals, communities, and our nation. Tune in on Tuesday, August 25th as Mary C. Daly, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, joins Anthony Iton, Senior Vice President of Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, and Carmen Rojas, President and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Founder of The Workers Lab, in a panel discussion moderated by Robert Ogilvie, Oakland Director of SPUR.  Under the Magnifying Glass: Inequity and COVID-19  Tuesday, August 25, 2020 12:30-1:30 p.m. PT Mark your calendar today, and tune in here on 8/25

 

USA FACTS: PPP DATA + WHO REPORTS USE OF FORCE TO THE FBI? + SPENDING FOR COVID-19 RECOVERY + AND FINALLY...

A TROVE OF PPP DATA USAFacts collected all of its reports on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in one place, making it easy to get the data on this unprecedented program. Unsure where to start? Check out the “Questions to Ask." There’s also new, in-depth analysis of how the Small Business Administration (SBA) has allocated loans so far.  The second round for PPP loans closed August 8. The data suggests that some states with businesses that received a smaller proportion the first time around, like Florida and California, received more the second time.   While the SBA approved $172 billion in loans during round two, most of those were small loans (under $150,000), instead of the larger sums approved in round one. These loans weren't distributed according to coronavirus case levels. Having a higher case count did not automatically mean more loans to a specific area.   Right now, it’s unclear how many jobs the loans helped save. But, states with high job losses relative to their population, like Hawaii and New York, received more PPP aid per 100 people than states with fewer reported losses, like Mississippi and Idaho.   Check out the colorful charts and interactive visualization to see how PPP loans have been approved by region, county, and city. WHO REPORTS USE OF FORCE TO THE FBI? In 2015, an advisory board to the FBI recommended that the agency develop a new data collection on shootings by police officers. The collection effort began last year, and while the FBI wants more participation before publishing specifics, here’s what’s known so far. Law enforcement agencies representing 41% of the nation’s sworn officers provided use-of-force data to the FBI in 2019. At present, 27% of the nation’s federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are reporting data.   The FBI released a list of agencies that submitted information on use of force — or said they didn’t have any. The Chicago Police Department, the nation’s second-largest police department after New York City, is the biggest department reporting data. It had 13,138 sworn officers in 2018.   Want to understand the differences between state, county, and municipal police? USAFacts has a new report explaining the distinctions between these entities and their responsibilities. See more on the FBI reporting process here. SPENDING FOR COVID-19 RECOVERY  Here’s the latest from the COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Hub: the federal government spent $626.5 billion in July. That’s down from June, but 69% higher than what it spent in July last year.  AND FINALLY... The Bureau of Labor Statistics has data on what Americans did in their leisure time last year. Numbers for how people are spending their free time during the pandemic are not yet available, but it will be interesting to monitor for any major changes.