#which i assume informed the decision to use only asian models

[atenderofsycamoretrees]

Lanvin Spring 2021 Ready-to-Wear

Photos courtesy of Lanvin

#fashion #lanvin #spring 2021 #ready-to-wear #scopophobia #he was inspired by #jeanne lanvin #the brand's founder #and her connections to art deco #although he also name-checked actresses like anna mae wong and maggie cheung #which i assume informed the decision to use only asian models #he's a new creative director and i'm really excited to be interested in lanvin again #for a long time it was just bad #i also love the goldfish print in the first dress

[mrsq8geek]

Advice for an aspiring author hoping to write lgbt muslim characters?

Hi, thanks for your question!  This is quite the rabbit hole, so I can't cover everything, but I did my best.  Some general guidelines and then my own view:

1. Do not write this story unless it is from personal experience or with the direct express written permission from the person it’s based on, and I hesitate with that second one. ��Like many other experiences, this story hasn’t been told all that often, so unless you’re one of the above, you don’t have many points of reference and will probably get it wrong and, I suspect, as ‘exotic’.

That said:

2.  Start by examining yourself. One of my favourite resources is @writingwithcolor​, which has many great references for this.  At this point, we're asking questions such as "Why do you not want to represent us?" and "Why do you need to tell this story right now?" among others.  Do check it out.

3.  Please, please don't write an apologetic acceptably assimilated model minority.  I don't know where you're from, or where you intend to set the story, but we're all influenced by American media, so I feel it's important to mention.  We generally don't have positive feelings towards those characters, let alone relating to them, at least not to the aspects where they're supposed to represent us.

(My personal pet peeve example is Abed Nadir from Community, a Muslim enamoured with Christmas and is an all-around Acceptable Arab... played by an Indian actor.  It's extra irking because the show was touted as being Better Than Big Bang Theory, and it seemed okay addressing many other nuances, but when it came to this? Think of it this way: why didn't they cast an Asian actress to play Britta or Annie and called her white? Or, indeed, an Indian actress to play Shirley and called her black? Because clearly they believe the audience can't tell the difference? Arabs are black or white but not brown, guys.  Not all Arabs are Muslims and vice versa.  Some Muslims are (gasp!) white.)

Anyway, the point is Abed, and others like him, are non-threatening.  They reject their own identity and are desperate to be Just Like Us Default White People.  While this is definitely the case for some people, 1. it's not the case for most people, 2. it's just a really tired trope especially in current times, and 3. the other side of this trope’s coin is that in order to be acceptable for The West, they have to rebel against their character’s original identity, which is just as tired.

But I digress.  You already know by asking this question that it’s controversial.  Why not play it straight instead?  Pun unintended.  Do your research, whatever way you choose to go. 

4.  Speaking of doing your research, do. your. research! Muslims are a diverse group of about 2 billion people*.  There are two major sects and many smaller ones.  In the major ones, homosexuality (etc) is a sin, haram, full stop, end of sentence.  Any level of presenting like the opposite gender is not only haram, it’s cursed.  Yes, there are many people coming up with exceptions and loopholes, or just doing what they want regardless, and if you want to write about them, that's your prerogative, but:

* so Kamala Khan, for example, is completely unrelatable to me. (See: 9)

5.  You know what else is considered haram in majority Islam? Extra-marital sex.  Pork.  Alcohol.  Drugs, yes including cannabis, in fact even nutmeg.  People do all that anyway! Especially in non-Muslim-majority countries where the laws don’t make it harder for them, or in poorer Muslim-majority countries where people don’t get educated in religious matters, or indeed all over everywhere because not all people of any religion actively practice that religion.  It's a non-issue by this point. 

5A. The only reason LGBT Muslims is An Issue, and it’s An Issue Now, is because America’s making it one.  It’s no different than, say, modern white feminism.  They stir the pot, we deal with the mess.

5B. Muslims are people, and people aren't perfect. We know this, and we've addressed it as nauseam… and that’s just it, we’re allowed* to talk about these things because we know ourselves and our experiences.  It’s more acceptable coming from us to us because we have a common ground to start discussing things.

* I wrote allowed, but it really depends on the situation. Sometimes you’re not allowed simply because you don’t want to make it an issue, and that’s okay too.

5C. Since you’re asking, I’m assuming you’re not a Muslim yourself, and that puts a layer on scrutiny on you.  We don’t know where to begin to talk to you, and it’s worse if you represent us in any controversial way or in any way less than perfect.  Less than perfect by whose standards? It depends. Nobody knows! (See: 3)

5D. Examine yourself, research the topic, and know just what you’re trying to say.

6.  That said, here’s my personal take on it that I’d love to see someone do, but haven’t so far.  I don’t know how people arrive at their sexuality, whether it’s by nature or nurture, but they do end up there one way or another.  When it comes to Islam, you’re highly encouraged to (heterosexually, to be clear) marry and reproduce.  You’re discouraged from sex outside that framework.  If you are unable to marry for whatever reason, you’re supposed to find a way to deal with it. Fasting is often recommended.

And the way I see it, finding yourself not being attracted to the opposite gender is just one reason to not marry.  “So I NEVER get to have sex?” Yes, just like your straight brothers and sisters who realize they can never marry for their own reasons. Maybe their health prevents them. Maybe they have family depending on them, especially financially, and they realize can’t add a husband or wife into the mix. Maybe they’re incompatible with the person they wanted.  

The West worships Romantic Love (also money, but that’s another thing), but it really isn’t everything in life*.  Just see any post here on tumblr dot com discussing the different kinds of love the Romans acknowledged and wrote about extensively.  Yes, it’s a powerful drive, but again, it’s not the only thing in life, and coming to that realization is its own journey.

* (Something something Harry Potter)

I am so, so sick and tired of characters who don’t practice their religion (“hi, I’m Muslim/Jewish/Christian/Hindu/Buddhist/whatever, but I will have that pork, that beef cheeseburger, whatever”*), and equally tired of characters who are the personification of their religion (“hi, I’m religious, hear me act out my stereotypes”). Don’t get me started on characters who exist just so the authors can bash that religion.  

* a recent disappointing example was the show Crazy Ex Girlfriend.  When Rebecca is first introduced, I was excited to learn the show was about a Jewish character, finally a religious character portrayed as practicing!  But it was quickly revealed they were focusing on the cultural aspects, and not only is she non-practicing, she doesn’t even believe any god exists.  Snore. In contrast, see: Shepherd Book from the show Firefly.  Not just a practicing Christian, an actually interesting character in his own right.  Not a perfect person by far, but someone who’s doing his utmost to live his life and still maintain his faith. 

I want a Muslim character who finds themselves attracted to whomever, someone from the same gender or whatever you want, or feeling like they want to present as not their birth gender, and then proceeds to do what so many of us real-life Muslims do: find ways to deal with it and come to terms with it.  Acknowledge it and make peace with it.  Make the choice, the conscious decision, to remain faithful to their beliefs and maybe not pursue a romantic relationship with the other person… and instead interact with them like a human being they care about.  Help them reach a goal or achieve a dream, keep them safe from harm, something.  Maybe focus on the traits of the other gender that are accessible, or fight the toxic effects of the patriarchy, something.  Writing like “a happy ending == they end up together”, and any and all other outcomes are Bad and Tragic and Void, is boring and unrealistic.

Just as a black woman being soft and feminine is a rebellion against the mainstream, a religious character sticking to their faith above all else is way more interesting than yet another character breaking the rules.

Addendums:

7. “But Islam is homophobic?” No, Islam has rules against intentionally engaging in specific behaviors.  You’re not faulted for having low alcohol tolerance, you’re faulted for the act of consumption. You’re not faulted for being addicted to drugs, you’re faulted for making the decision to try it the first time, or if you were tricked into it, for not trying to get clean once you’re there.  However!  People, all people, hashtag not just Muslims, often try to enforce rules by creating fear and hatred around them.  It’s a convenient societal shorthand, even if the consequences can be different than intended.  It’s the same mechanism that leads to “abstinence = zero sex ed” in the US.  Abstinence isn’t the issue, people trying to enforce it by making information around sex opaque are the ones causing problems.

So some Muslim people end up homophobic, and some Muslim people go all in the other direction, because the balance is delicate and difficult to find.  

8. “LGBT stories aren’t just about sex, what about asexuals, transsexuals, etc?” True, but most LGBT stories tend to go in that direction, and I’m keeping it as broad as I can here.

9. Even if your character is Muslim but not Arab, it’s probably going to come up, in your research if not in your story.  Although the most populous Muslim nation is Indonesia and the most famous “Muslim” terrorists are Afghani, the most prominent Muslim sites are in Saudi Arabia and Palestine.  The branding is there.  With that in mind, required reading is the film Reel Bad Arabs, and any primers you can find on Orientalism, Colonialism, and Imperialism.

***

Honourable mentions:

Check out the Saudi series Masameer by Myrkott on YouTube, many episodes have subtitles. They recently made a movie and it's on Netflix internationally!  You can't escape American Imperialism any more than you can escape British Colonialism*, but we're all way past being enamoured by them.  The Emirati series Freej is also in Youtube, sans subtitles, though the DVDs have them, and I’ll leave it at that.  Hashtag quarantine let us catch up on shows?  Stay safe, stay home.

* she said, in English.

[hippoland]

Surprising findings from our 2017 investments

I took a look at what we invested in in 2017 and thought I'd share some surprising / not surprising findings.  I realize that investors are often a black box, where it's hard to understand what they prefer and what their biases are.  Hopefully by sharing some of these stats it will help illuminate what we care about.  

Note: these stats are based off first checks we did in 2017 under Hustle Fund -- I did not include follow-on checks.  

1) We invested in many places but not in enough places.

Our mandate is to invest in US / CAN entities, so almost all of our investments are concentrated in the US and CAN from a geographical perspective (except for 1 company).  All are legally incorporated in the US and CAN.  Here’s the breakdown from last year: 

Some quick thoughts: 

A) We invested in way more Bay Area companies than we had anticipated.

B) We made no CAN investments!  :( 

C) Though we did no investments in TO/Waterloo, Atlanta, Boston, and really anywhere in the midwest in 2017, we have done a TON of investments in these locations in the past and will likely look heavily there in 2018.  A big reason for this skew is that we’d known a few companies -- either colleagues / friends / or founders we’v worked with before, whom we wanted to back right out of the gates.  In the long run, however, on this fund, I expect the Bay Area to consist of around 35-40% of our investments.  

2) Almost half of our companies have at least one female founder.

47% of our portfolio companies have at least one female founder.  In most cases, she is the CEO.  Although this is probably better than most VC portfolios, in the long run, I think we can still do better.  

Note: for this stat (as well as the next one on race), we asked our founders to self-identify.  What I would love to understand, though I think it’s impossible, is what the overall funnel looks like.  I can’t tell you if 47% is actually a good number or not, because I don’t know what percentage of the companies who are pitching us have at least one female founder.  (We do not ask about gender or race of our applicants).  

That being said, my intuition is that the vast majority of pitches that I get have at least one female founder.  I don’t know if that is because my networks are different from Eric’s.  Or if women prefer to pitch to female investors.  Or if it’s purely coincidence.  But, I suspect there is something interesting here, where you can make a strong case for having funds run by GPs of different backgrounds and networks.   

Lastly, pitches that start out as “I am a female founder” actually make me think that a founder doesn’t know how to run a business.  Investors are in the business to make money; I really don’t care about what you identify as - as insensitive as that sounds.  I’m doing this to make my investors money (and hopefully some for me too :) ).  Here in the US, green is always green.

3) The racial diversity in our portfolio is ok but could be a lot lot better.

Again, these stats are based off of self-identification.  One thing I noticed is that our mixed-founders identify as “other”, so if someone is say half Black and half Asian and identifies as “other”, he/she does not get included in any of the below stats.  

20% of our companies have at least one Black founder.

7% of our companies have at least one LatinX founder. 

53% of our companies have at least one Asian founder. 

53% of our companies have at least one White founder.

None of our founders identify as Native American.

I am happy with this start, and our portfolio is probably better than most VC portfolios, but I’m sure we could do a lot lot better and have a number of efforts for later this year.

Again, I would've loved to have examined the pipeline of companies we looked at but did not invest in, but this is just not possible logistically. 

4) We do not always meet our founders in person.

In 27% of our investments, we still have not met the founding team in person.

I think this is pretty unusual for most VCs.  There are a few premises of why this is possible: 

I’ve hired a lot of remote folks before for my startup, so remote-coaching, which is a lot less hands-on certainly works 

This allows us to invest in geographies where we are not physically located

You don’t actually really know-know people based on location; it’s based on time and interactions

Business success is based on results, and I can see that in other ways

In addition, I usually try to have most of my initial conversations with people over email before we hop on a call.  This is a tip I learned from my mentor David Hauser (founder of Grasshopper - acq by Citrix) who actually invested in my company LaunchBit over email!  It’s a lot more efficient to cut to the chase and not waste anyone’s time in an email, and I can send a quick email with a couple of questions at midnight.  

I suspect, but have no data, that this process of first talking concretely about a business over email and then moving people to a phone call actually removes a lot of unconscious biases.  I have no idea what people look like or how they dress or if they’re pregnant or whatnot.  Again no proof though.

What I ultimately care about is speed of results.  

5) We skewed towards B2B companies.  

As I’ve mentioned in a prior post, we are certainly biased towards B2B companies!  

43% of our companies are B2B companies.  But even the companies I’ve put into other categories are also either B2B SaaS companies OR have a B2B partnership model to get consumers.  

I'm not sure whether stating this will either attract more B2B companies or deter consumer companies, but regardless, I thought that I would mention this stat.  We do try to keep an open mind going into all deals, but clearly we have our biases as you can see here.

In 2018, though, I can tell you right out of the gates that we’ve been doing so much more in blockchain.  So, we’ll see a bit of a sector skew.  

6) We invested very early in 2017.  And love Lean Startup 101.  

60% of our companies were extremely early.  I.e. product was rudimentary / concierge-based MVP / etc.  But a common characteristic of most of these companies was despite essentially having no product, almost all the companies we backed had some sales.  Many of these founders hustled sales before having a strong or fully-fleshed out product.  You might assume that the typical Hustle Fund founder profile is sales or marketing oriented, but this isn't necessarily so.  Some of these teams only have product / engineering founders, but the impetus behind having a limited product is to make sure that you're constantly learning from customers / users and that you're only building out what users/customers want - resulting in faster iterations.  

Essentially we really like founders who are very good AND FAST at the Lean Startup Methodology.  This is something we are quite biased towards -- getting results even before having a full-fledged product to inform product decisions. 

BUT, as I’ve written about before, 2018 is a different fundraising landscape (and still changing!).  And, so we are looking for more traction in our 2018 investments in most categories than in 2017.  Part of this is that our founders will need to achieve more in order to get to their next round.  And, by investing too early with such a small check, there’s a long time span between our check and the next round.  And as a small investor, we need our companies to get to the next round with very little capital.  

Hopefully these stats are illuminating.  In 2018, I think we will see a lot of changes along geography and race as we ramp up our own activities.  We will likely see little to no changes along gender lines.  And I suspect we will see some changes in sector (more blockchain & health) but still tons of B2B in some way or another.  And probably lots of changes in traction levels as well.   Just my prediction right now, but we’ll see at the end of this year.  

Fundraising is a nebulous process that I aim to make more transparent.  To learn more secrets and tips, subscribe to my newsletter.

[failedimitator]

I was talking with my friend Dani on Skype, and I mentioned that one of the reasons why I want to leave Malaysia is because I can’t seem to find anyone to date here; and I’ve just lost all hope that I’ll be able to meet someone I can form a long-term relationship with.

“I know it may come off as being a bit superficial,” I said her, “but the odds are just not in my favour.”

Dani didn’t seem to think it was superficial. Which, to be fair, I didn’t think it was either. I was just acknowledging that it may come off as such, but in reality, it goes much deeper. It’s about being seen as a person. It’s about self-esteem. It’s dignity.

“I know a guy who moved back to the US from here because he believed he wouldn’t be able to find a partner in a non-native English speaking country,” she said. “So I don’t know if you’ll do better over here.”

Sure, Berlin might not be the best place for me to be in terms of relationships, but I’m certain that it’ll be better than Malaysia. In fact I’ll go as far as saying that it’ll be better than all of South East Asia, possibly even Asia in its entirety.

I’m saying this on the basis of Southeast Asians’ -- or more specifically in this case, Malaysians’ -- treatment of black people. I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say that people here don’t think of black people as actual people. And by actual people, I mean people deserving of dignity.

All forms of dating require people to make decisions with very limited information. Should I go out to meet this stranger? Should I let them pick me up from home? Should I really have that extra drink?

Of course in the world we live in, the cost of making the wrong decision is higher for women who date men than anyone else, which is to say that women tend to be more calculative about dating. 

A metaphor that I think works is looking at the decision making framework in terms of hurdles. The number of mental hurdles a woman considering going out with a strange man has to clear before saying yes. 

Say she sees this man on Tinder, for example, and all his photos look real, and he’s got a bio that she finds interesting/funny. She swipes right. That’s the first hurdle. She talks to him for a few hours or a day, and he doesn’t say anything creepy. Second hurdle. 

Basically, at every step, with every action, this woman is looking for signs that this man is someone who she’s going to be safe with. And the way she gauges this safety is by taking things he says or does, and extrapolating the future based on her past experiences, stories she’s heard from friends and family, and of course stuff she’s read, or seen on TV.

Obviously, this isn’t unique to women. We all do this. We meet a stranger, and immediately, our brains starts noticing things about them -- their clothes, accent, mannerisms, etc -- and extrapolates from those things the kind of person they are. It’s automatic.

So let’s say the average Malaysian woman -- and for the purposes of this argument, let’s assume there’s an average Malaysian woman -- has to jump through 50 mental hurdles, on average, before agreeing to go on a date with a Malaysian man. To go out with a black man, the huddles become 500. Is he for real? What kind of work is he engaged in? Is that legal? Is he here legally? What would my parents/friends think of me if I go out with him? 

Assuming it takes the same amount of mental effort clearing a single hurdle, it’ll be more exhausting for the average woman to date a black man. 

But wait, it doesn’t take the same mental energy. Or at least, it wouldn’t, when done right. I’ll explain.

This woman, say she’s Malay and trying to decide whether or not to go out with a Malay man, the effort required to clear those huddles is minimal because of shared cultural history and influences. And whatever assumptions she makes about the man are more likely to be true, if only because she’d have brothers or cousins or uncles for reference. 

Same Malay woman, but now she’s trying to date Indian or Chinese. Slightly higher mental effort, obviously, especially given the segregated nature of Malaysia. Still, she’d probably have Indian/Chinese friends or colleagues or even those she’s interacted with in the service industry. Point is, these are people she’s met and seen repeatedly over many years that there isn’t much strangeness in their existence. And she’s certainly met enough of them to not see them as a monolith.

This is not true for black people. It’s entirely possible that this average Malay woman has never interacted with a black man in her entire life. And if you think that’s unlikely, well, right now, in 2019 KL, I’m still some of my friends’ only black friend.

Picture this: You’re trying to build a mental model of a person, and you have zero experience. So of course you default to second hand information. Things you’ve read. Stories you’ve been told. Movies you’ve watched. Yes, Black Panther exists, but black representation in media still fucking sucks.

So, 500 hurdles, at least half of which use inaccurate/incomplete information -- How do I stand a chance?

Why do I think it would be easier in Berlin? Simply put, visibility. I see more black folk like me in Berlin than in KL. And it would definitely be easier in London as well, if only because that’s the place I’ve visited where I’ve felt the most comfortable in my skin. I’ve never been to Paris, but I can imagine it’ll be easier there too. Not because Europeans are a different breed of humans, but because there are just more black people there than South East Asia. Or at least more Black people of different configurations. Our multitudes on display.

I can tell you that it’s definitely not a European thing because Tallinn was exactly like KL, maybe even worse. Not because Estonians are worse people, but because there are fewer configurations of black people there, and thus their idea of what a black people is, is narrow. 

Of course, the elephant in the room -- what you’re probably thinking is -- why not go back to Nigeria then? It’s true, I’d fare better there. In fact, that would probably be the best place for me to date. The problem is, I haven’t lived there in 14 years. Everything I am, everything I’ve become, was shaped by Malaysia (and the Internet). But that’s a whole different story.

Just writing this makes me feel spoilt. Like, you want to move countries because you can’t find love? Jeez, this is such a #firstworldproblem. But I have to remind myself not to dismiss myself. One of my favourite writers, Tim Kreider, put it so eloquently:

A pastor I know, who gets a more privileged vista of human suffering than I do, told me she was sick of the phrase “first-world problems” — not just because it delegitimises the perfectly real problems of those of us lucky enough to have enough to eat and Internet access, but because it denies the same stupid trivial human worries to people who aren’t. Are you not entitled to existential angst or tedium vitae if you live in Chad — must you always nobly suffer traditional third-world problems like malaria and coups d’état? If we’re lucky, we graduate to increasingly complex and better problems, and once all our material needs are satisfied we get to confront the insoluble problem of being a person in the world.

For now, if you or someone you know has moved countries to find love, please get in touch. I’d like to know how that worked out for you/them.

#Day 134 #Dating #05022019 #black #KL #bias #expats #love #first world problems #problems #humans

[livingwithashipname-blog]

Vulture | Oscar Winner John Ridley on Hollywood Whitewashing and False Diversity

David Marchese: April is John Ridley month, at least when it comes to politically unflinching television. The writer-director currently has his anthology series American Crime airing on ABC (this season focuses on migrant farm workers); on April 16 he’ll see the debut of Guerrilla, a six-part Showtime mini-series he wrote and directed about radicals in 1971 London and starring Freida Pinto, Babou Ceesay, and Idris Elba; then on April 28 Ridley’s Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992, the documentary he directed about the incidents surrounding the Rodney King riots, will air on ABC.

Taking time out from a well-earned family vacation, the 51-year-old Wisconsin native, who won an Oscar for his 12 Years a Slave screenplay, talked about how politics does and doesn’t inform his work, recent controversies over whitewashing, and TV’s power to break through culture bubbles.

     Here’s an excerpt:

What do you see as other major problems in the business? 

In the world, straight white men are the minority, but people talk about “diversity” as if that isn’t the case. Does it really make sense that the prevailing attitude toward “diversity” in Hollywood involves making us sidekicks? I don’t expect that every show is going to have a one-to-one white to person of color ratio, but on balance we can do better. It’s painful when you see films that are not representing, that are strip-mining cultures, that are taking people of color out of material. Fighting against that is a daily struggle.

On the subject of whitewashing, I assume you’re aware of the Ghost in the Shell controversy. What do you think of the, I guess plausible, argument that it’s naïvely idealistic to believe that movie would’ve gotten financed with anyone other than Scarlett Johansson as its star? 

If someone says Ghost in the Shell only gets made with Scarlett Johansson as the star — and there’s no two ways about it: she is a star, and a supremely talented one — they’re just making an excuse. You’re putting her in a space where you could instead be helping make an Asian or Asian-American star. So when you say, “No, we’re never going to take that kind of chance,” then you’re in the realm of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Plenty of movies starring white people fail, but they keep getting opportunities. And there are films like Get Out, which wasn’t even really star-driven, that made a huge profit. Why shouldn’t that be the model? I’ve been unbelievably fortunate in my career, but there are times when I look at something like Ghost in the Shell and think, How much longer can this last?

So the crass business logic I was talking about just doesn’t hold up? 

I don’t think it does. A Japanese comic is already a global property. Is the best way of enhancing that brand really to put a white person in it? Why is that always the answer? Or Iron Fist: The reason for not casting an Asian-American is because the creators were staying true to the original comic? So why is it so important to stay true to the comic in that case but not in the case of Ghost in the Shell? I really have a problem when people aren’t straight about this. If someone would just say, “This decision is about the money,” I’d have more respect for that than I do for people pretending to represent a diverse global world but only so long as it revolves around anglicized ideas of diversity. “The finances, the source material” — stop with the excuses. I understand that saying this stuff comes at the risk of offending talented people who I’d want to work with, but I gotta take that risk. We can’t just sit around and not talk about these things.

READ the whole interview! 

#john ridley #american crime #12 years a slave #ghost in the shell #iron fist #whitewashing #diversity in hollywood #representation matters #vulture magazine #david marchese

[secular-vernacular]

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational

ch1: relativity

Arbitrary coherence: arbitrary prices, once established in our minds, will shape present and future prices

Once participants willing to pay a certain price for something, willingness to pay for other items in the same category judged relative to the anchor. This makes them coherent

Self-herding: consistency with past decisions / behaviours

Behaviour serves a need: what do they get out of it?

New habits / behaviour easier to embed where they are already disrupted - so piggyback onto existing rather than whole new

Avoiding an anchor / setting a new one - make the experience so different it’s not tied to the last anchor

Can take an ambiguous experience and arbitrarily turn it into a positive or negative one

Question your repeated behaviours: where did they come from?

Rational economic model assumes price of product set where two forces converge: production at each price (supply) & desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand) - these results challenge those assumptions as consumers’ willingness to pay can easily be manipulated

Can also be the other way around - market prices (set by suggested retail prices by suppliers) can influence consumers’ willingness to pay

Elasticity of price: would price changes have an effect on demand if consumers weren’t anchored to the original price? Maybe not

Mutual benefit of trading rests on the assumption that all the players in the market know the value of what they have and are considering getting from trade - this may not be true if we have the wrong initial anchors

So what do we do if we can’t rely on the market forces of supply and demand to set optimal prices and can’t count on free market mechanisms to help us maximise our utility?

Zero (cost) is an emotional hot button

Issue in struggle between free and another price (for a good item)

Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is free we forget the downside - we perceive it as immeasurably more valuable due to loss aversion. No visible possibility of loss when something is free

The draw of zero cost appeals equally for goods as it does money

Example of zero cost effect (buying things you don’t need due to the appeal of ‘free’) - free shipping on orders over £X

The concept of £0 also applies to time

Want to draw a crowd? Make something free. Want to sell products? Make something free

Want people to do the right thing? Decrease the cost (make it free!)

Standard economic theory considers the absolute value and the relative value - what they get and what they give up

Tension between market norms and social norms

Social norms, reciprocity is not immediately required

Dragging circles experiment: social favour dragged the most circles, followed by highest payment, then by second highest payment

People will work more for a cause than for cash

Market norms crowd out social norms (lawyers would volunteer their time but not for $30)

Gifts keep us in social exchange and away from market norms

For market norms to emerge, it is sufficient to mention money (even when none changes hands)

Thinking about money made participants in the salary group more self reliant and less willing to ask for help - but they were also less willing to help others - more selfish and self-reliant

Once a market norm has crowded out a social norm, the social norm doesn’t really re-emerge

Treating customers socially great - encourages loyalty - but establishing it as a social relationship and then treating it as a market one (eg late fines) is even worse. I.e. you can’t have it both ways. If you don’t want to be social, just stick to a simple value proposition

Social rewards strongly motivate behaviour - one of the least used in corporate life is the encouragement of social rewards and reputation

Social norms (e.g. the excitement of building something together)

Social norms - pride in profession and sense of duty

Elevate the social norm - honour it as much as we honour something else

Purpose, mission and pride rather than money, test scores, etc.

We should probably rethink school curricular and link them in more obvious ways to social goals (e.g. elimination of poverty)

Influence of arousal (e.g. teen pregnancy & HIV/AIDS)

When aroused, participants’ interest in some activities twice as high as when they weren’t. Magnitude of underprediction was huge

Jekyll & Hyde; dichotomy between repressive propriety and uncontrollable passion

Our inability to understand ourselves does not seem to improve with experience

To make informed decisions we need to somehow experience and understand the emotional state we will be in at the other side of the experience

Pre-commitment tools can help overcome procrastination

Bundling services / requirements (r.g. Series of car tests) more effective

Endowment effect: when we own something we value it more than others do

The powerful drive of anticipated regret / memory - collecting memories and experiences

Much of our life deviated to ownership - including selling our time

Poor spending decisions due to three quirks:

1) we fall in love what we own (and recount good memories of it when we try to give it up) - nature’s ability to make us instantly attached to what we have

2) focus on what we may lose rather than what we may gain.

3) we assume other people will see the transaction from the same perspective as we do

The more work you put into something the more ownership you feel for it

‘Virtual ownership’ - picturing it as yours (e.g. highest bidder in an auction)

View all transactions as though you’re a non owner

Normally, we can’t stand the idea of closing the doors on our alternatives - usually we give something up in exchange

Consequences of not deciding; lost time, opportunity, love

Effect of expectations (anchoring) - MIT (balsamic brew) disgusting to those who were told what it was

When the coffee ambience looked upscale, it tasted upscale too

When we believe beforehand something will be good, it generally will be good

Does expectation change the psychology of the experience (e.g. modify the neural activity underplaying the taste)? I.e. reshape sensory perception?

Which is more important? Knowledge before experience or an input of information after the experience has taken place?

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex associated with strong feelings

A stereotype is a way of categorising information

Asian American women experiment (169) - influence our performance in line with a stereotype

Power of priming - participants walk slower after thinking of words to do with elderly

Expectation allows us to make sense of a conversation in a noisy room

‘Blind’ condition might help - facts presented without opinion / who did it  could help better recognise the  truth

We are all trapped in our perspective, which blinds us to the truth - neutral third party may be helpful

The power of price: expectations change the way we perceive and appreciate experiences

Expectation can alter our subjective and objective experiences

Placebo - Latin ‘I shall please’ - used to refer to sham mourners hired to sob for deceased at funerals

Two mechanisms shape expectations; belief and conditioning (like Pavlov’s dogs)

Can implied difference in quality (e.g. by price) influence experience?

The relationship between price and placebo is particularly pronounced for people with more experience with recent pain

Consumers who stop to reflect about the relationship between price and quality are far less likely to assume that a discounted drink is less effective

Effect of discounts is largely an unconscious reaction to lower prices

Perception of value can become real value - but there is a problem here for marketers in that hyping a product beyond what can be objectively proven is problematic

In the US very few surgical procedures are tested scientifically - while it may be morally questionable to make patients test the efficacy of treatments, may be morally difficult to inflict painful treatments that aren’t proven (I.e. may not work) - wasted suffering is the cost of not doing them

The context of our character: Part I

Enron owed much of it’s success to ‘innovations in accounting’

Why are some crimes, particularly white-collar crimes, judged less severely than others, we wondered - especially since their perpetrators can inflict more financial damage between their ten o’clock late and lunch than a standard-issue burglar might in a lifetime’?

When given the opportunity, many honest people will cheat - but just by a little bit - once tempted to cheat, the participants didn’t seem to be as influenced by the risk of being caught as one might think

The success of most people almost always depends upon the favour and good opinion of their neighbours and equals; and without a tolerably regular conduct these can very seldom be obtained

Individuals are honest only to the extent that it suits them (including the desire to please others)

Honesty is considered a moral virtue in nearly every society

Freud: internalise social virtues leading to development of superego

The problem is our internal honesty monitor is active only when we contemplate big transgressions, like taking a single pen or two pens

Cost/benefit and probability of getting caught does not seem to have much influence on dishonesty

The mere contemplation of a moral benchmark reduced dishonesty

Moral reminder at the point of temptation

Once professional ethics (the social norm) have declined, getting them back won’t be easy

In China, the word of one person in one region rarely carries to another region

Lower trust decreases the willingness to take risk and no one pays in advance, no-one offers credit

Sign our names to promises that we will act with integrity

Psychological distance: why dealing with cash makes us more honest  

Much of the dishonesty involves cheating one step removed from cash

When given the opportunity to cheat with non-monetary currency, cheating doubles in magnitude

The rate of ‘total cheating’ was four in 2,000 (in control condition)

Not all expenses alike in terms of people’s ability to justify them

When people give receipts to others to submit, they are another additional step removed

Corporate dishonesty (e.g. mis-leadings practices - air miles you can’t exchange)

Once cash is a step away, we will cheat by a factor bigger than we could ever imagine

Personality trait: need for uniqueness: to order what they enjoy and portray themselves in a positive light; people willing to sacrifice personal utility for reputations utility

Economic theory assumes there are no free lunches - if there were any, someone would’ve extracted the value already

Psychologically easier to sacrifice consumption in the future

In behavioural economics, a free lunch is the benefit of making better decision for yourself

Relativity is everywhere, and we view everything through its lens (e.g. someone you were friends with in Spain but would never be friends with at home). Prevents disenchantment

Pain of paying insensitive to the amount we pay (diminishing sensitivity

Gifts aren’t rational

Market norms may also erode the pride and meaning people get from their workplace

Explicitly stating the financial value of benefits can diminish enjoyment, motivation and loyalty amongst employees (e.g. X on salary, X on gym, etc.) - transactional

skinner - schedules of reinforcement - either fixed schedule (regular - e.g. one every hundred) or variable schedule (random) - the arrival of the reward is unpredictable. Variable schedule more motivating - e.g. gambling - inability to predict when reward is coming - we become so addicted to receiving the unexpected (a pellet) that we become fixated with checking

If a particular desired behaviour results in an immediate negative outcome (punishment) it will be very difficult to promote, even if the ultimate outcome is highly desirable

Look for immediate, powerful and positive reinforcements with the not-s-pleasant steps we have to take toward our long term objectives

Positivity bias - overvalue ourselves & anything to do with us

Expectation plays a huge role in how we experience things

Pope: blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed

Cheating arises from our attempts to behave honestly. Instead, the picture that emerges from our experience is that cheating arises from our attempts to balance two incompatible goals - feeling good about ourselves, and being selfish - flexible psychology allows us to play in the grey (fudge factor) - what happens when people rest with conflicting interests

If it’s clear cut, make the right decision. If there’s any ambiguity, it’s easier to rationalise bad behaviour

You can actively ask the experts you rely on for a declaration on any financial interests (e.g. XX)

Planning fallacy - underestimate how long a task will take

The moment you make a financial mistake, the chances that you’ll be hit hard by the financial industry are high

The trust game - central role of trust in human behaviour

Fehr experiment: trust and revenge - most people who had an opportunity to exact revenge did - reciprocity - experiences in the striatum (reward centre) - desire for revenge is pleasurable, or similar to pleasure. In a bizarre way, revenge can be an enforcement mechanism (you’d expect someone to come after you or you went after them - mango story)

All creatures respond negatively in situations where things don’t seem to make sense - when we don’t have an explanation for what is happening, we become prone to learned helplessness

Seligman and Maier: when you don’t understand the relationship between cause and effect you become more helpless; their perception of their ability to predict and control the shocks had a big impact on how helpless they became generally - imagine this feeling in markets - Unexplained and erratic economic behaviour destroyed faith that we understood the cause and effect in our environment

Pennebaker; even when external events make no sense, we can benefit from the process of trying to make sense of them - do this actively with news rather than passive consumption

Journalists; ‘if it bleeds, it leads’

Can connectivity decrease creativity and diversity?

Connecting many markets globally decreases diversity in financial instruments and in opinions

Pressures of conformity are such that in one large financial village is likely to lead everyone to accept the same general beliefs (model) of how the financial world works  

Basic free market argument: if they can’t recruit and retain the best minds in the business, these minds will simply go elsewhere, leaving us with less qualified people in charge of the economy

Impact of bonus on performance; as long as the task involves only mechanical skill, bonus incentives -but when the task requires rudimentary cognitive skill, higher bonus led to poorer performance

Public image as a motivator

Social pressure is a two-edged sword: having to perform in front of others raises stress too, and at some point the stress overwhelms the benefits of increased motivation

Analogy: we recognise our physical limitations and use tech to overcome them - why don’t we recognise our cognitive limitations?

[vennomax]

The Future Of Work In Asia-Pacific

New Post has been published on http://www.vennomax.com/technology/the-future-of-work-in-asia-pacific/

The Future Of Work In Asia-Pacific

Summary

Future-proofing human workers is about more than hard skills; we need to encourage students to think creatively across disciplines, and start valuing “softer” skills.

New technologies and business models have the potential to further entrench social inequality — this has to be addressed in solutions, or those divides will only grow.

Automation for its own sake isn’t the answer. Companies need to look at which areas stand to benefit from human empathy and creativity, and restructure roles accordingly.

How do advances in artificial intelligence and automation stand to affect the way we work and live our lives? At Adobe’s Think Tank event in Sydney, thought leaders from the worlds of technology and innovation discuss what Asia-Pacific’s workplaces and employees might look like in 20 years’ time.

What to automate, and what to leave to people?

The Australian government reports that as many as 40 per cent of jobs will be impacted by automation within the next 15 years. The panellists all immediately agree that going full steam ahead and using AI and robotics to automate jobs simply because we can is unwise; a more nuanced conversation needs to be had first about the sense of purpose which human beings derive from work.

“In post-independence India, it’s a point of pride to have a job and work, to provide for yourself and your family,” says Harlina Sodhi, Head of Culture & Capability at IDFC Bank. “And in agricultural areas, it’s seen as a matter of legacy.” Author and management consultant Abhijit Bhaduri adds that in a collectivist society like India, “work is a source of identity not just for you, but for your family.” Therefore, a layoff doesn’t just affect the economic security of the individual and their family, but also in some instances, their social standing. Automation for its own sake would overlook the social impact of such displacement.

“We need to get a handle on what humans can bring that is unique, what you can technologize, and how can you use both of them really well,” says Dr Fiona Kerr, Professor of Neural & Systems Complexity at Adelaide University. “What kind of relationship do we want to have with technology, and why do we buy into that particular technology in the first place?”

So it’s not a case of asking ‘human or robot?’ but rather a case of asking which context requires which. “There’s a severe over-optimism that technology is going to save the world,” says Shiao-Yin Kuik, Director of The Thought Collective: “But seriously, if you’re dying in a hospice, would you rather have a human or a robot holding your hand?” Kerr agrees that in those vulnerable moments, the neurophysiological benefits of human touch and eye contact can and should be considered significant enough to outweigh the efficiency of a robotic healthcare worker. She adds, though, that outside of those moments where patients require human contact and reassurance, we can examine what can be automated, and make informed decisions.

Reskilling workers means rethinking education as a whole.

“Babies born today are likely to live to 100; the lifecycle of what we know is shrinking, but we’re going to live longer,” says Su-Yen Wong, Chairman of Nera Telecommunications. “People have to be able to learn and relearn over their lifetime.” The challenge here is that flexibility and improvisation aren’t traits that are necessarily fostered by existing educational institutions. “There’s going to be devastation for people who are unprepared,” says Bhaduri. “We debate how to innovate, but not about how to re-skill people.”

Kuik believes that in order to future-proof education, we must go back to basics, and cultivate a way of thinking which is less rigid. “There’s a huge distinction between teaching someone to think mathematically, and getting them to just pass an exam,” she says. “If you have someone who can think mathematically, artistically, engineering-wise, that’s a very powerful person. The problem is, a lot of education systems are not creating that result or rewarding that behaviour.”

This holistic approach to education is just as important, the panel suggests, as nurturing talent in STEM fields. “I think constructivism gives students a great mental framework to approach solving problems with all the tools at hand,” says Dr Joseph Sweeney, Advisor at IBRS. “It’s a thinking methodology, not just about teaching kids to code. I actually think we’re going to see less coding jobs in the near future.”

Kuik and Kerr believe that in addition to complex thinking, workplaces should be seeking employees with empathy and interpersonal skills, which have historically been underappreciated even though it has been proven time and again that they contribute to the social capital of a working environment. Not to mention, as Kuik puts it, “complex thinking people can cause all kinds of problems if they don’t know how to relate to others!”

This brings up another question; which skills do we prioritise, and which do we overlook? Sarah Kaine, Associate Professor at UTS Business School, points out that a lot of the time, we have a tendency to gender competencies centred around care, which results in financial inequity in these professions, compared to analytically-focused industries like finance or law. “I’d like to see a realignment of values,” she says.

Solutions will vary depending on region and culture

“There’s an element of choice in work for some of us, but for plenty of people in Asia-Pac, there isn’t,” says Mark Henley, Director of Transformation & Digital Strategy APAC at Adobe. Socioeconomic context can’t be ignored.“It’s important to have perspective,” says Wong. “We’re talking about AI and robotics, but there are still regions in the world where electricity or a tractor are considered disruptive technologies. It’s a really broad spectrum.”

It is easy to have a heavily Western-skewed outlook when it comes to these technologies. But culture plays a huge role in how technology is adopted and used in a society. For instance, we have seen a high uptake of bots in China and Japan, but less so in other Asian countries.

“A lot of the discourse around technology is about individual empowerment, how do I become my physical and mental best,” says Kaine. “We’ve seen the development of that technology in some very Western, individualistic circumstances, and that’s quite a clash with some cultures.”

“In a lot of Asian countries, it’s the group and not the individual that counts,” says Wong. “There’s a huge race to do what is possible, an East vs. West competition to see who can come up with these solutions… but to what end? What are we going to do with all that free time?”

If the solution doesn’t work for everyone, it doesn’t work at all.

“As Western society has become increasingly materialistic, we can feed and clothe ourselves fairly cheaply, yet the cost of healthcare has skyrocketed,” says Henley. “Achieving that standard of living still evades many people.”

Evolving business models might purport to offer a greater variety of opportunities to workers, but Kaine points out that they are still exclusionary to some extent, whether by design or not: “If you’re a freelance architect and you’re in demand, the gig economy is working for you. If you’re a cleaner or a driver, or doing odd jobs, it’s not working in the same way. We need to recognise that labour segmentation takes place in organisations and across the broader economy.”

“It’s not just a question of ‘what will technology do’; this is still us making decisions,” says Kerr. “A company could take the gig economy model and pay workers to do tasks that can’t be automated, and have them all on short term, low paid contracts.” The gig economy is causing closed opportunity markets, and the panel agrees that the removal of representation and rights for individuals is probable; and it will be workers without a university education, from lower ends of the socioeconomic bracket, who will be affected the most.

“We say we don’t know where this technology is going, but that’s patently false,” says Sweeney. “What nobody gets right is how do people then use that technology, and what are the social ramifications?” As Kaine puts it, you can’t plan for uncertainty or ambiguity, but inequality doesn’t happen by accident. “Business models themselves aren’t neutral, and neither is technology as it’s evolved,” she says. “It’s used in particular ways. We shouldn’t assume that there’s this neo-classical neutrality to the market of technology.”

Ultimately, the panel remains optimistic about the future of work in Asia-Pacific, although they acknowledge that there is a lot of hard work ahead. “I think it’s important that we not decouple work from life, business from society, technology from humanity,” says Wong. Sodhi advocates the inclusion of underrepresented voices in reshaping company practices, especially women. Bhaduri’s “first, second and third recommendation” are all to rethink education. And finally, Henley advises businesses to “rehumanise” their organisations, and reaffirms that the coming avalanche of technology can have an undoubtedly positive influence — but it all depends on how we choose to act.

#Adobe #Artificial Inteligence #South Korea

[kelsusit]

Enterprise Networking Articles

DNF Security Seahawk 805L 6GS Class Lite Video Storage

The HP Z Series Workstation. The GIGABYTE one hundred series motherboard uses a newer kind of USB driver, meaning you will get an error when attempting to install Windows 7.” In other words, a USB keyboard or mouse will NOT operate with these one hundred series motherboards until you set up the Windows USB device driver for the one hundred series chipset. To future-proof the laptop as ideal as feasible, attempt to get the greatest (and typically most expensive) graphics card provided. If I uncheck “Alow the pc to turn off the device to save energy”.I can not wake laptop form world wide web, but if I wake with pressing key from keyboard, computer is boot regular and Network conection is working. File Server Resource Manager failed to carry out a secure hyperlink with a hosted module approach. A lot of ergonomic recommendations for workstation arrangements assume that you will be utilizing a desktop technique exactly where the laptop screen is separate from the keyboard.

Acquire Utilised and Save: Get a Utilised “HP Z420 Desktop Workstation E5-1620 500G 6GB RAM” and save 58% off the $1,937.50 list value. CAD software program may be specialized for specific applications. The Dell Precision T5400 functions higher-performance Quadro specialist graphics and AutoCAD certification to deliver optimized compatibility. Workstations powered by two Intel® Xeon® 5400 series processors are delivering supercomputing power correct at your desk. A single-year hardware warranty on all workstations. HP Z workstations are built for skilled applications. Delivery surcharges, and 2-day and overnight shipping charges nevertheless apply. Virtualisation makes servers, workstations and other system independent of physical hardware. X99, the platform of the correct enthusiast, gives quad channel DDR4 memory help and up to sixteen threads of Intel processing energy!

Make sure that you withhold your business Computer workstation or laptop free of charge from games and other distractions. A second processor or enormous amounts of RAM may enhance the benchmark scores only slightly. Even though most mobile users may not appreciate the power behind the Zbook line, power players who use these as replacement desktops will. We can offer a wide variety of tailored Network systems – Mac & Computer that can make the operating of any company a discomfort totally free experience. Yes, it is conceivable that a train will return with no vehicles, and that did come about on the prototype as well. Both are quite strong GPUs and ought to be more than capable of accelerating demanding 3D CAD applications – even even though they are not designed to do so, as they are truly meant for gaming laptops.

(One pronounces the letters individually.) When AutoCAD LT was very first introduced in 1993, laptop computer systems did not have the overall performance features they have right now. Liquor Amendment Act: This law removed all restrictions on the purchase of alcohol by Colored folks and Asians for off-consumption, and it gave power to holders of off-consumption licenses to sell liquor to any African aged eighteen or older. With HP RGS you can take your graphics intensive workstation applications wherever you go and collaborate with colleagues around the office or about the world in true time. Furthermore, Z10PE-D16 WS’s layout is created for optimal airflow, with both the processor and memory slots placed in a parallel arrangement directly behind the fan inlet to market maximum cooling for enhanced efficiency — producing this motherboard ideal for each datacenter and workstation use.

Personal computer-aided style (CAD) is the use of laptop applications to produce two- or 3-dimensional (2D or 3D) graphical representations of physical objects. The HP Z Series leads the workstation market in technical computing. Primarily based on workstation-class architecture, design and style and computer software application certification, the HP Z200 taps the power of Intel’s newest technologies, offering dual-core processor alternatives primarily based on future Intel processors as nicely as quad-core processor options primarily based on the enterprise-class Intel Xeon® 3400 family members. HP also updated B&H stock with six new Z640 workstations They include multi-core Xeon processors (with select models carrying dual Xeon processors), eight-16GB of ECC DDR4 2133 MHz RAM and 1TB tough drives.

General, the HP Z820 is an exceptional workstation, rivalled only by Dell’s Precision T7600 in terms of its chassis design. When you enlist the ideal IT service provider, they will store your information on cloud servers, which means you do not have to obtain and license new hardware, except your workstation computers. We’re confident that your encounter shopping for workplace furniture on-line with NFL Officeworks will be unmatched anywhere else, and we’d love to earn your business. Work sensible and get factors achieved by adding modular office desks and workstations to your workplace or enterprise workspace. Z Workstations will prepare your strong HP workstation and load all your application. HP uses high-top quality 3D CAD in its design and style-and-model shop for thousands of parts used inside and outdoors its workstations.

Most respectable workstations will allow you to connect to either a Computer or a Mac. These fall limiting devices are a preferred strategy of fall protection due to they engage nearly immediately minimizing the fall distance and significantly lowering the effect on the worker. We carry a wide range of new, utilized, and remanufactured workstations from numerous of the most respected, sector leading organizations in office furniture. Mainstream GeForce cards can technically get you better overall performance for your dollar, though the downside is that they are not officially certified for use in AutoCAD by Autodesk. 2. Based on desktop workstations memory capacity as of June 14, 2017. R3092D Blade PCs provide IT organizations with the capacity to address the demands of VMware Horizon power customers in VDI environments by utilizing the robust attributes of 7th- and 6th-generation Intel® Xeon®, Core i7, and i5 series processors, Intel C236 chipset (Kaby Lake and Skylake), 64 GB of DDR4 DIMMs, PCIe® graphics, and 3 Gigabit Ethernet connections.

Logical Increments helps a lot more than a million Pc builders every year with hardware suggestions for any spending budget. Alternative: For this program you may consider basing it on a Supermicro Superworkstation which provides a case, motherboard, CPU coolers, and power provide- you just plug in the CPU’s, RAM, GPU, and drives= saves a lot of decisions and time. Interface with the 1 of the best office measured workstation makers in Chennai to overhaul your inside spaces by setting engaging furnishings sets. A fee of one percent (1%) of the invoice amount will be incurred at the time an invoice is approved via the Module (“Invoice Fee”) and the total of these charges shall be billed to you month-to-month by Equator. Formaspace Computer Workstations and LAN Stations offer you high flexibility in task-oriented perform environments.

We specialize in outfitting complete commercial workplace spaces with modern day enterprise furniture. It should be noted that human work design of workstations is closely associated to assessment of workstations from human effort engineering point of view. The organization specializes in hosting several application like accounting computer software (QuickBooks, Peachtree), QuickBooks add-ons (eBridge, SourceLink, Fishbowl Inventory Hosting), Windows Server, MS SQL Server, Lacerte Tax software program, CRM application (ACT!), MS Project, MS workplace, MS office servers, and also hosts a lot of other application. I bought a utilized Dell server with dual Xeons, 24 gigs RAM, and a nice disk array from a respected refurbish outfit – ridiculously low cost. Note: Deakin Desktop Macs running OS X 10.9 or above have the print queues and drivers pre-installed.

The replication operation failed simply because of a schema mismatch among the servers involved. Combo Breaker: Get two graphics cards. “CAD Computer software Performs with Symbols from” Product News Network. Full several tasks with no worries when you fill your workplace with sturdy writing and laptop desks. While accessing the hard disk, a disk operation failed even after retries. Nonetheless, HP says its Turbo Drive G2 1TB PCIe SSD is its quickest Z Turbo Drive answer to date,” so that have to count for one thing. International Business Foundation mentioned, Reasons for Hong Kong overpowering London office rental value is supposedly powered by increasing prime rents on the back of healthful requirement and anabsence of space.” Workplace and apartment prices in Hong Kong are anticipated to rise even more by 2015.

There is hardly any sector of enterprise which does not use Computers. The other issue is that offices with workstation with desktops looks good. The Freescale Power Architecture G4 processor delivers new energy management characteristics and larger efficiency to the desktop. These permit you to have more desk space by extending the desktop along two sides of the wall. As you’ve probably realized, many strong gaming laptops also make perfectly capable mobile workstations (as long as you don’t get as well distracted by Steam). The Computer software Licensing Service reported that the application is operating within the valid non-genuine grace period. eight. Late charges account- for guests who checked out just before some charges have been posted to their account. Sothat, social media is component of the posigistcs that guide and support the organizers to create protest coming type diverse angles, locations, but with the sme intensity.

For professional level CAD, we suggest the NVIDIA Quadro K2200 for its combination of processing functionality and value. Two series of cards which are excellent for CAD use are NVIDIA Quadro and AMD FirePro. Registration cards are filed alphabetically whereas guest folios are filed numerically. This operation is not permitted on an invalid disk. The Computer software Licensing Service reported that the non-genuine grace period expired. The company’s new Z desktop workstations function a wide range of comprehensive safety features like SureStart (the very first self-healing BIOS with intrusion detection) and HP Client Safety Suite as properly as a host of other folks. The first step in creating an ergonomic workstation is to make certain you are utilizing a chair that is comfy and promotes great posture, permits for good blood circulation, and lets your arms comfortably remain in the appropriate typing position.

The Windows Installer service failed to start off. Quantum DLT-four tape format is the most economical medium for workstations, server environments and financial organizations. The requested operation requires that the virtual disk be attached read only. Made for engineering projects, expert animation or video editing, and higher-level calculations, they are built to far exceed the demands of ordinary customers. Some computer desks are constructed in a a lot more modular design and style and do not contain drawer space. We have cool choices like computer desks, cabinet desks, corner desks, and desks with further storage. Desks are furnishings pieces that require to both operates for your specific style as properly as the tasks and organization that requires place when you sit at it. If your house is classical or standard in design and style, look for a desk that has English, Italian, or French influences, a dark stain colored wooden desk is an exceptional decision for this style.

MDF board, laminated, with improved resistance to abrasion, with edges protected by PCV strip matching the colour of the desktop. If you would like to maximize the location of your tiny office, there are some considerations you require to know since these factors will help you to boost the use of floor space so you can use your workplace for operating your enterprise rightly. The social media applications have been credited as the very first social networking too to genuinely make a connection with culture. The adjustable keyboard tray ED-SFC2135BL is not a element of WorkFit-TL and installs underneath the desktop. The APEXX 4 supports 4 complete-sized SATA drives, and for the sake of ease, it ties some SATA power cables beneath the bays, prepared-to-go. It really is the most energy Mobile Workstation in the world.

It speeds up Set up Capture because it means that you do not require to log on manually every time the virtual machine begins up. At we have a wide selection of pc desks and workplace desks to suit each and every need to have. Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act: This Act empowered an urban local authority — if it considered the presence of any African beneath its jurisdiction to be detrimental to the maintenance how much is yours worth? of peace and order. Rahul Tikoo, vice-president and basic manager of Dell’s Precision workstation products, spoke with Cadalyst about some of the essential trends that have punctuated that time period, driving demand and improvement in workstations. IPad Pros have constantly been fantastic choices for men and women who want high-powered tablets, and the new ten.five-inch model is no exception.

Note: This example assumes that a suitable Windows 7 virtual machine is currently available. Usually the desktop element will even be quicker in terms of peak overall performance. I spent a extended time in installing Debian and all the helpful computer software on VMware, but I discovered I ran out of challenging disk (99% used up) when I ultimately set each and every thing properly. The configuration of the Z820 we will be seeking at gives a pair of three.1GHz eight-core CPUs running at 3.1GHz, and 32GB DDR3 memory. You can even see some offices going for Mac Pc alternatively of Mac Laptops due to the fact it is extremely impressive and gives an office look. It packs a three-year old Intel Ivy-Bridge Xeon processor with up to 64GB DDR3 ECC RAM and 1TB storage (no RAID selection although). Hence when selecting a pc desk you require to decide if you want an complete laptop workstation furniture or the fundamental computer desks with tiny working space.

One particular graphic computer software developer, Rama Hoetzlein, says that “new media” artists of these days have to believe not merely about the tools of the present, but also to engage in a dialogue with the artists of the previous, who each haunt us and challenge us to rise above the mundane. This single subscription supports your complete infrastructure, such as limitless quantity of workstations, servers, virtual hosts & mobile devices. Excellent Table This study table is an excellent piece of furnishings to add to your bedroom, office or can accent nearly any space or space. Remote administration technology is gaining popularity amongst IT professionals due to its flexible possibilities that offer you access to remote workstations and servers in no time. This threat atmosphere needs an organizations to adopt an “assume breach” security posture when designing protections for high value assets like administrative accounts and sensitive organization assets.

Power primarily based on processor, graphics and memory. Workstations had been originally derived from decrease expense versions of minicomputers such as the VAX line, which in turn had been designed to offload smaller compute tasks from the extremely high-priced mainframe computer systems of the time. The monitors are flexible with movable arms and effortless to change screens so you can put your photos in and location it in any atmosphere and it comes with an adjustable pc chair to match your models comfortably. Desk workstations are also available for the home or workplace, ideal for the study or a private workplace. And one of the goods to come from this procedure was the P310 , an entry level workstation which is developed to provide the level of customisation and attention to detail typically identified on far more costly merchandise.

CAD workstations are developed to perform around the clock: these machines are often left to procedure renderings and animations all evening long even though their human customers go house to rest. While several hardening measures can be utilised for a kiosk method for guests, the PAW architecture is developed to give larger safety for higher sensitivity accounts, not greater security for lower sensitivity accounts. The advancement of office business hub units solves the entire dilemma of space and personal gear, reduces the require for trailing cables for energy, phone and Computer cabling and makes most effective use of every single of these copying, printing, faxing and scanning facilities throughout the complete business. You cannot use gaming cards, it’ll unravel space-time, and possibly dissolve your kidney.

Appreciate steady computer software and hardware with in depth ISV certification for your applications and a technique style that is reputable, created to pass MIL-STD 810G testing5, and has endured 120K hours of testing in HP’s Total Test Process. From Desktop to Grid, the ODW was created to assume its position and fulfill the missing link of the initial correct Energy Architecture Linux Development and Desktop Technique. This is the sort of trite rhetoric that flourishes in today’s media and blogs within South Africa, and it is time it is now exposed. In any case, you can use ISV certification to guarantee your mobile workstation performs with whichever exclusive software you require for perform. The Dell Precision T3400 is designed to deliver leading-good quality performance at a great value.

There are at present many image processing systems available for use in clinical and analysis environments. A desk is the centrepiece of the residence workplace, which is precisely why we’ve designed a gorgeous range of strong hardwood alternatives for you to generate a workspace that is perfect for you. Fiery Command WorkStation six offers production staff a potent tool to prepare and handle jobs a lot more effectively for larger production throughput. Lately, HP introduced liquid cooling technologies to the HP xw9400 Workstations. Guests may possibly encounter line at front desk when checking out in the course of the peak hours (e.g., in between 7.30 and 9.30 am). A workstation’s versatility and functionality are a function of its configuration, most importantly CPU, graphics processing unit (GPU), and memory.

A graduate of the Art Center College of Design and style, he started out working with high tech Silicon Valley clientele such as Apple and Hewlett Packard, sooner or later gravitating into the sport, apparel, technology and furniture arenas. The operation requested is not permitted on a DNS root server. In addition, all workstations are built with sector top elements with fault tolerance demands of specialist CAD styles. For rendering, there is at present no more quickly CPU out there and with eight cores per chip and elevated memory bandwidth through a quad channel controller we anticipate a comparable response from most simulation software program. The partnership between size and energy is quickly being upended, and it really is not just laptops that are obtaining thinner and more portable Lenovo has announced the ThinkStation P320 Tiny, which accurate to its name is a diminutive workstation Computer that weighs only as a lot as the MacBook Air.

HP engineers function extensively with Windows® and Linux operating technique providers to confirm top performance, flexibility, reliability, and compatibility with HP Workstations. Whilst Windows has supported virtual desktops for a although, this is the first time it has been created accessible as an inbuilt feature. The Application Licensing Service reported that the license is invalid. This report focuses mostly on the top finish models—the Z420, Z620, and Z820—and will examine the positive aspects that HP workstations offer and how to configure them for 4K post-production perform. Drive remote Linux or Windows VMs (and others), command energy operations, or transfer VMs to and from vSphere environments. Workstations want to be tailored to the person rather than a one particular size fits all” approach.

By the late 1970s, Baudrillard interprets the media as essential simulation machines which reproduce photos, signs, and codes which constitute an autonomous realm of (hyper)reality and which come to play a key function in each day life and the obliteration of the social. If the guest has created a credit card at check in, the cashier ought to destroy the guest credit card voucher imprinted at registration when the guest pays the account in full with money. When you first launch VMware Workstation, you’re greeted with a welcome screen that enables you to quickly develop a new virtual machine (VM), edit networks, connect to a remote server, and far more. If you have the option of getting a much better video card, but it would mean getting a reduced-high quality CPU, RAM or tough drive, then you need to virtually often select the better video card.

Use our Reflection POS® Embedded system with Computer Workstation to provide your group efficiency, productivity and support. Corner desks: A corner desk can save floor space by fitting snugly into an office corner, and they perform nicely with laptop computers. The laptops listed under are the greatest mobile workstation which you can use anywhere just like a mobile. Note: This setting is a configuration per client so if you configure 100 workstations with 1mbit network speed they will attempt to all download at 1mbit at the very same time. Our Mobile Workstation variety utilises the Intel® Desktop Processors, whilst sustaining a common mobile type aspect. This space mostly shared between the nutrition and apparel, textiles and style applications, but is offered for other FCS applications as nicely.

Despite the fact that Autodesk isn’t going to cease you from operating its apps with a Computer gaming graphics card, the business will inform you which cards are optimized for efficiency and constructed for reliability when it comes to supporting AutoCAD or Autodesk Inventor. Boxx specializes in workstation energy computers, and its GoBoxx MXL VR 17-inch laptop measures up to anything you can get from a huge name OEM. Operating with each other, HP and Avid support business experts solve hard inventive challenges with revolutionary hardware and computer software that are tightly integrated for optimized overall performance. The Z640 is the middle program of the Z workstations, capable of taking one particular or two processors in a compact case. By completing such a kind, guest authorises the front office to transfer his or her outstanding folio to the credit card voucher produced for the duration of registration.

Filed under: General Tagged: best workstation cpu 2014, best workstation laptop under 1000, desktop workstation computers from KelsusIT.com – Refurbished laptops, desktop computers , servers http://bit.ly/2yXLjGw via IFTTT

#KelsusIT.com – Refurbished laptops #desktop computers #servers

[royaldragonscribe]

Ethics in Ethnic Reps: The Media

An essay I wrote concerning the issue of ethnic representation in the media.

In today's society, the prevalence of social media has become an unlikely weapon. Everyone, from celebrities to businesses, makes good use of the internet. Whether it's to present their product, protect their image, or to publish assignments for class, social media is quickly becoming incredibly pervasive. This of course gives voice to those who hadn't had one before, as well as a megaphone to those who have had one all along. Thus, sentiments like “SJWs are ruining everything good and fun for everyone!” or “They're always getting hurt over little things, like how the upcoming movies Ghost in the Shell and The Great Wall feature a white actor/actress as lead; don't they know that it's just a movie?!” are everywhere. Discourse is effectively killed off as a result, because both sides react instantaneously to slights such as these, instead of thinking of rational arguments that inform rather than insult. As a Filipino American, things like this have always confused me. Perhaps it's because of the life I've been raised in, one where religion was a huge component, that I didn't realize that there was an issue at all. Yet as I've gone through high school and college, I've come to the conclusion that this issue – ethnic representation – is a much bigger deal than a lot of people probably realize. In fact, ethnic representation is painfully apparent in movies and television shows, and present an ethical issue of representation and its importance in today's society. 

Going back to one of the statements above, one prominent area where this issue reigns is movies. A quick Google search says that on average, Hollywood releases around 600 movies a year. Logically, this number should allow for many opportunities for directors to make movies that star ethnic minorities. Yet according to a study that NPR did in 2015, only 17% of films featured a nonwhite lead in 2013. In a nation where 40% of the population are people of color, this number is abysmally low. The article even goes on to state that diversity sells, and it does so consistently. However, it acknowledges that the high risk nature of the industry presents a barrier. With variables such as high budgets (some even in the hundreds of millions) as well as a very white executive demographic contributes to the “whitewashing” of these movies. This is an alarming trend in the movie industry, one that dates back to the early days of Hollywood. White actors often resorted to offensive portrayals of minorities, such as blackface, and were even praised for these representations. One such instance that the article references was Warner Oland's portrayal of Chinese comic book detective Charlie Chan in 1931. A quote that the article presents is that Oland would have “few drinks to make his speech more halting and to put a grin on his face — like the perpetually congenial Chinese sleuth.” Back then, performances like these were appreciated for the representation alone, as shown by Oland's warm welcome in Shanghai. Thankfully for minorities everywhere, these “artistic decisions” began to meet more and more criticism in the 60s, when roles like Mickey Rooney's depiction of I.Y.Yunioshi received more outrage. One reason why this attitude finally began to perpetuate then, and even now, is because there are more ethnic stars that are perfect for some of these roles. Another reason is that Hollywood began covering stories that star a minority, but will cast a white actor or actress in the colored person's role. What's worse, some movies (such as The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp) will change an actor or actress's appearance to better fit the role, resulting in a type of caricature. Finally, a large reason that the article cites, is that Hollywood wrongfully assumes that white actors will have the widest appeal. This reason is why the new movie The Great Wall that was mentioned earlier, which stars Matt Damon in ancient China (side note, this could not earn more derision from me even if it tried). The director, Zhang Yimou, has stated before that this was a deliberate move on his part, to allow more people to gain an interest in his movie. After all, the rest of the cast is entirely Asian, and Damon's role is even explained in the movie itself. However, it's this assumption that an Asian lead wouldn't gain as much acclaim that's problematic; it sends a message to Asians everywhere that we're not interesting enough to be the lead, but good enough to be side characters in a movie about Asians. The same goes for movies like Stonewall and The Help, where the minorities are relegated to side roles, or misrepresented. Thankfully, the article from NPR lists a solution: the power of the audience. If enough people talk, things change. That's why whitewashing has now become a hot topic on social media, and why movies are even considering the implications that the castings they make will have. If people continue to protest movies like The Great Wall or Aloha, Hollywood will continue to improve their representation of minorities. People should also take to social media, where their opinions have the most viewership. Only if people make their voices heard will change come.

That's exactly what television has done in recent years, to the delight of viewers everywhere. According to the NPR report, the inclusion of minorities has proven to be a gold mine. Shows like Scandal and Jane the Virgin have enjoyed smashing success, and this has provided a model for other shows to follow suit. Now shows like Fresh off the Boat and Blackish have gained momentum, and other shows even saturate their casts with more minorities. According to Ana-Christine Ramon of the NPR article, viewers have an incredible power on social media, especially on Twitter. However, despite how progressive television has been in representation, another seemingly opposite problem has appeared: an over saturation of minorities. So far, this essay has covered the lack thereof; would this not then be a good thing? Actually, no. This can lead to a perpetuation of stereotypes, and is best represented in sports. For example, basketball is normally seen as a “black person” sport. Media often supports this supposition, what with nearly every famous player being black. However, according to an article by the Center for American Progress, in 2013, there were only 1200 professional black athletes. The NFL too contributes to the stereotype. Cornerback (defensive) and wide receiver (catcher) were the roles that African Americans dominated in 2014, while Quarterback (playmaker) and Center (essentially a bodyguard for the QB) were mostly Caucasian. It's thanks to these statistics that the stereotype that assumes that black people can run have become so widespread. Another study from the LA84 Foundation takes a look on other racial representations as well, and notes that Asian representations are often exaggerated. One quote from the article described a weightlifting competition as the following: “The serenity, the calm, that is the East. The mystique of the Orient with its mysterious inner strength. That strength today transformed into the brutal power of Olympic weightlifting, where Asian strong men dominate the bantamweight division”. This kind of description is almost never used for African American athletes. Additionally, both Asians and Hispanic athletes undergo more physical scrutiny. In the study, half of Asian athletes, and 55% of Hispanic athletes were described in physical terms; a mere 25% of black athletes and 29% of white athletes had the same treatment. This sort of behavior is enormously discouraging. According to the article, Asians were described with negative words, such as “slight”, “bowed”, and “overdeveloped”. These sort of observations have an obvious effect, with the article even suggesting that the machine-like representation of Asian athletes might even be adversarial. As an Asian athlete myself, these sorts of misconceptions can discourage anyone, leading to mental health issues concerning image. It can also present itself as a barrier for any aspiring Asian athletes, especially if they are not “normal” by social standards. However, the “fix” for such behaviors is not a “same” portrayal for all races; the article itself says that “non-prejudicial representation in sport media does not mean hiding cultural differences behind contrived sameness”. It acknowledges that the racial representation enriches the industry; the solution then is that more commentators be different races, and that producers of the show stop presenting sports as a mostly black and white affair. As with movies, audiences can change the face of television by participating in discussions about ethnic representation online.

Screens everywhere have a large role in ethnic representation, whether it be the big screens and movies, or television with shows and sports. The ethics of this issue apply to both a lack of minorities, as well as a high saturation of them, but the common denominator between the two is that they both are largely affected by social media. This has proven itself time and time again, from people rallying together to protest watching whitewashed movies to viewers voting to see more representation in television shows. Social media is again, a powerful weapon for everyone, but it must be used to have any effect. Change starts with us as viewers; we have to start the conversation with as many people as possible, explain to them why this so problematic for minorities everywhere. As with any controversy, expect a lot of backlash, name-calling, and differing opinions. Yet with every one of these, it's one more person forced to see the issue, who will talk about it to more people. It's through discussion on the wide web that these producers will hear the voices of the underrepresented, as well as those who were misrepresented. Time has proven this, and will continue to do so, as long as there are people willing to champion the change.

#class act #ethnic representation

[patriotsnet]

Who Lies More Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-lies-more-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Lies More Democrats Or Republicans

But When You Watch The Republican In The Media Being Attacked The Majority Tend To Handle It With More Grace Then The Majority Of The Democrats

I dont think its because the Republicans have more money because the Democrats tend to be the wealthier group.  The majority of the richest people in the world are Democrats or Liberals.  Yet, they sure dont look like a happy group of folks .  I think a lot of people who are rich were their happiest when they were working hard coming up through the ranks and earning their money.  I also think sometimes the social issues they get caught up in when they become wealthy can be frustrating causing many people to lose their tolerance over time.

The Lies The Gop Told Me About Democrats

I have been a Democrat for nearly one year. A GOP friend of mine asked me about the differences between the parties. He is thinking of leaving the GOP as well. Many have followed me out and read my column loyally knowing I will let them know if the Democrats are as bad as the Republicans have told us.

A political party should attract and maintain members based on the inherent good of the partys ideals. The Republican Party has derailed regarding goodness these days. I am ashamed to say it, but I had a hand in the derailing of the party in the late 1970s through the 2012 Presidential Election. I helped perpetuate the myths, a polite way of saying spread the lies, the GOP had to tell to keep the rank-and-file in line.

I spent forty-two years as a member of the Grand Old Party, and thirty-eight years in that period as a propagandist and party sycophant. I made a good living serving my Washington, DC, masters. When one pretends they are working for the greater good, it makes serving ones self at the expense of society as a whole easier to swallow, if one has even a sliver of a conscience.

I witnessed men and women who had sworn to protect and defend The Consitution of the United States sit and hatch plans to strip Muslims of their rights under the law, and call it patriotic.

What are the stories the Republicans tell that are not true about the Democrats?

Of course, if two sides will not compromise, then we get the mess we have today.

The Flawed Statistically Silly New Study That Calls The Republican Party More Dishonest

Save Story

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.

A new study out today proclaims that the Republican Party is much more dishonest than the Democratic Party. To which I say, meh.

The report, from George Mason Universitys Center for Media and Public Affairs, captured lots of headlines, and the group did a lot to make the conclusions sizzle, by using phrases like Republicans lie more and Republicans are less trustworthy than Democrats in the press statement announcing the study.

Beneath all the hype, though, this report struck me as one of the silliest statistical analyses Ive seen in a long time. While I do think that the truthfulness of the G.O.P. has sunk terribly in the era of Tea Party delusions, studies like this one detract from the real job of trying to keep politicians honest.

Heres whats wrong with the study. Well, almost everything is wrong with the study.

To make its assessment, C.M.P.A. relied on a fact-checking group known as PolitiFact, which examines political statements for their accuracy. The center then selected a periodJanuary 20 through May 22 of this yearand reviewed 100 political claims examined by Politifact during that time. That included 46 statements by Democrats and 54 by Republicans. Then it toted up the number of statements deemed by PolitiFact to be false.

In other words, meh.

Wow: Radical Leftists Are Mainly Supported Bywhite Radical Leftists

Michael Barone of The New York Post writes,

The split among Democrats is clear. Left-wing policies may be supported by hipster whites with adolescent enthusiasm, but gentry liberals increasingly have abstract questions about them, and they are rejected roundly by people of color blacks, Latinos, Chinese out of concrete concerns.

Barone continues, There the cry to defund the police is not an abstract matter, as it is still to affluent Manhattanites, or an adolescent rallying cry, as it is to the cash-strapped hipsters in gentrifying Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods just across the East River from Manhattan.

Black and Latino homeowners with families and jobs know their neighborhoods can be destroyed and their lives ended by violent criminals. They want more, rather than less, policing in their neighborhoods.

Instead, the hardcore leftists threw in heavily behind Maya Wiley the former DiBlasio staffer, Civil Rights Activist, and MSNBC Analyst turned Mayoral Candidate. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Wiley, a candidate who can center people, racial justice, and economic justice.

Adams seizing on the opportunity lit her up in a scathing statement saying that leftists like Wiley and AOC want to slash the police budgets at a time when Black and brown babies are being shot in our streets, hate crimes are terrorizing Asian and Jewish communities, and innocent New Yorkers are being stabbed and shot.

Modeling The Universe’s Biggest Monsters

A video clip showing the model in action at different scales allowing the viewer to see how gas makes its way towards the accretion disk surrounding the black hole.

Older models that tried to show how supermassive black holes interacted with their galaxies ran into a couple of problems.

Large-scale simulations are very good at handling what is going on across an entire galaxy, but they become problematic at smaller scales. When one tries to look too closely at a black hole using such models, uncertainty abounds. On the other hand, “zoom-in” simulation models can provide a great idea of what is going on next to a black hole, but they fail to describe what is going on in the rest of the galaxy.

Combining the benefits of the two into a single model is vital, as the interplay between the processes at the larger and smaller scales is key to understanding the co-evolution of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies and that of the galaxies themselves. The new model aims to bridge the gap between these older models by starting from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project and adding in details from the large-scale simulations to produce a model that can zoom in as far as a tenth of a parsec as well as model other occurrences at a galactic scale.

Study: Politifact Says Republicans Lie More

05/29/2013 08:01 AM EDT

The fact-checking organization PolitiFact has found Republicans to be less trustworthy than Democrats, according to a new study.

Fifty-two percent of Republican claims reviewed by  the Tampa Bay Times fact-checking operation were rated “mostly false,” false or pants on fire, versus just 24 percent of Democratic statements, according to George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs. By the same token, 54 percent of Democratic statements were rated as “mostly true” or “true,” compared to just 18 percent of Republican statements.

The CMPA looked at 100 statements — 46 by Democrats, 54 by Republicans — that were fact-checked by PolitiFact between January 20 and May 22. The study’s findings are similar to a previous CMPA study, which found that PolitiFact gave more negative ratings to the Romney campaign than the Obama campaign in 2012.

See their complete findings here.

PolitiFact rates the factual accuracy of specific claims; we do not seek to measure which party tells more falsehoods.

The authors of this press release seem to have counted up a small number of our Truth-O-Meter ratings over a few months, and then drew their own conclusions.

We’ve rated more than 7,000 statements since we started in 2007. We are journalists, not social scientists. We select statements to fact-check based on our news judgment — whether a statement is timely, provocative, whether it’s been repeated and whether readers would wonder if it is true.

Democrats Or Republicans: Who Has The Higher Income

In the end, many people assume Republicans are richer based on these figures. Although, this is only a look at the richest families and politicians in America though. In everyday American households, it seems that Democrats have a higher mean salary. Its true that many of the wealthiest families in the country are contributing to Republican campaigns. On the contrary, families registered as , statistically speaking.

These findings still have some loopholes in them, of course. For instance, the data was collected over the last 40 years or so. Moreover, it is only based on the most recently collected information. As you know, demographics are constantly changing. These figures may have been affected as well. There is also a margin of error with every type of data collection like this. So, what do you think? Who is richer? Democrats or Republicans?

Why Democrats Lose On Social Media While Republicans Lie And Win Big

If youre baffled that nearly half of the United States could look at the past four years and say, I want more of that, you arent alone. But thats also not quite what happened.

What did happen is that much of the US electorate lives in a social media echo chamber saturated by disinformation, with climate change and the Green New Deal prime examples. Conservatives have turned the term Green New Deal into an emotional weaponpart of their overall narrative of Democrats as extremist, elitist socialists. It isnt fact-based, but as Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics, explained, No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.

The irony is that there is a compelling, positive story to tell about the Green New Deal that should appeal to a broad base of voters. At a time when the pandemic has thrown millions of people out of work and spawned miles-long food lines, a Green New Deal would create millions of jobs that cant be outsourced overseas. Americans would be put to work installing solar panels, building wind turbines, replacing leaky windows and outmoded appliances with energy-efficient alternatives, restoring farms and forests to store carbon, and undertaking a thousand other climate-friendly activities. With government investment priming the pump, a Green New Deal would boost revenues for business as well, paying for itself through the resulting increased tax revenues.

Why is that? 

The Gops New Orthodoxy: Big Lie Or Bust

Rep. Liz Cheney is no closet Democrat or even a political moderate. The 54-year-old Wyoming Republican, the elder daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is an arch conservative who has in the past accused environmental groups like the Sierra Club of supporting U.S. adversaries and defended the birther movement that wrongly insisted Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Her views would seem well suited for the 21st century GOP except for one thing: She could not stomach Donald Trumps claim that the 2020 election was rigged and that he was the rightful winner or, as its is commonly known, the Big Lie. And for this unforgivable sin, the congresswoman is poised to lose her place in party leadership Wednesday as House Republican Conference chair, the third highest position in the caucus.

Its telling that Ms. Cheneys replacement is likely to be Rep. Elise Stefanik, an ideologically flexible New Yorker formerly associated with the partys centrists who has recast herself as a Trump loyalist. And in recent interviews, she has signaled that whatever the message of Republicans in the House, that will be her message, too. That may be how one gets ahead in that increasingly dysfunctional political party but its not in the interests of a nation in desperate need of integrity and reason from that side of the aisle.

The Party Thats Actually Best For The Economy

Many analyses look at which party is best for the economy. A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Democratic presidents since World War II have performed much better than Republicans. On average, Democratic presidents grew the economy 4.4% each year versus 2.5% for Republicans.

A study by Princeton University economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson found that the economy performs better when the president is a Democrat. They report that by many measures, the performance gap is startlingly large. Between Truman and Obama, growth was 1.8% higher under Democrats than Republicans.

A Hudson Institute study found that the six years with the best growth were evenly split between Republican and Democrat presidents.

Most of these evaluations measure growth during the presidents term in office. But no president has control over the growth added during his first year. The budget for that fiscal year was already set by the previous president, so you should compare the gross domestic product at the end of the presidents last budget to the end of his predecessors last budget.

For Obama, that would be the fiscal year from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2018. Thats FY 2010 through FY 2017. During that time, GDP increased from $15.6 trillion to $17.7 trillion, or by 14%. Thats 1.7% a year.

The chart below ranks the presidents since 1929 on the average annual increase in GDP.

President

1.4%

A president would have better growth if he had no recession.

The Big List Of Alleged Malefactors

Each person identified as indicted, from 56 years of Executive branch investigations, is listed in Figure 4. Figure 5 provides the numbers, thus far, for the Trump administration. Two years into his term, President Trump has already proved greater than all but one of the previous 10 Presidents in number of indictments the Administration has scored. Congratulations Mr. Trump, you are the Greatest! Of course, the information in Figure 5 that is accurate in the morning may be out of date by the afternoon.

The Final Reports of the 28 Special Prosecution, Special Prosecutor, and Independent Counsel investigations between 1973 and 1999 are the go-to source for who was indicted for what. Before an investigation closes down it will be clear if the indictment itself survives legal challenge; cases will go to trial; there will be decisions. But the independent investigation may well close down before appeals are heard and decided. Therefore, the final reports are not, in some cases, the last word on total convictions and jail time. That still required further research of court records, news stories, and obituaries.

It is not necessary to read the many hundreds of pages of most of these documents for the raw numbers. There are, though, many engrossing distractions in the tales of greed for power or money, ambition, obstruction, arrogance, loyalty, ideological zealotry, duplicity, error and incompetence the reports lay out in generally careful legal language.

Lies And The Lying Liars Who Get Away

More recently, and more pertinent to this election: Hillary Clinton has lied about her e-mail scandal on a breadth unprecedented even within the Democratic Party. In many ways her lies about her e-mail server are more troubling and more consequential than Trumps scattershot dishonesty. You get the sense that Trump lies about things because hes not too bright and cant think very quickly. Clinton, on the other hand, lies about her e-mail server because she has most likely compromised American national security, endangered American lives, and wants to avoid going to jail.

She claimed to have turned over all of her work-related e-mails. That was a lie. She claimed she hadnt transmitted any classified information. That was a lie. She claimed she hadnt transmitted any information marked classified. That was a lie.  She claimed that she had never been subpoenaed in regards to her e-mail. That, too, was a lie. She claimed the FBI had considered her account truthful. Another lie.

Oh, also: President Obama originally denied having any knowledge about Clintons private e-mail server. That was a big-time lie. Clintons e-mail scandal has been one gigantic lie from start to finish.

These are just a few examples of liberal dishonesty; plenty more could easily be produced. While it is true that newspapers and other media outlets have fact-checked many of these lies, it is impossible to argue that the responses from the media have been the same.

Yes Dictators Sometimes Cloak Themselves In Socialism But Tyranny Here And Elsewhere Is Always Right

Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump

The meaning today of the Big Lie almost always refers to the false claim by Donald Trump and his right-wing cronies that the 2020 presidential election was somehow stolen by the left and Joe Biden, with the help of foreign agents.

Not only is this claim false, it is absurdly false.

This is hardly the first Big Lie from the right. Not even close. The right has been promulgating Big Lies for decades.

In fact, lying is the only way the right wing can win elections. After all, its policies are profoundly unpopular with ordinary people because the right-wing favors the 1% rich over the 99% working and middle classes.

How in the world could 1% of the population ever win elections over the 99%? Simple. The 1% bamboozles the 99%. To win elections, the right must conceal its true intentions from the voters and instead engage in manipulative tactics, like lying and fearmongering.

The lies are not just little lies.They are whoppers. They are the complete opposite of the truth. They are 180 degrees from the truth. They are the polar opposite of the truth, like from the North Pole all the way to the South Pole. Hence the term Big Lie.

Yet, shockingly, many of these egregious lies actually work. They take hold. They create a false impression in the mind of the public.

Once again, this is the exact opposite of the truth. Dictatorships and fascism are right-wing, not left-wing.

Shockingly, this nonsense actually works.

How Increasing Ideological Uniformity And Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics Compromise And Everyday Life

Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive than at any point in the last two decades. These trends manifest themselves in myriad ways, both in politics and in everyday life. And a new survey of 10,000 adults nationwide finds that these divisions are greatest among those who are the most engaged and active in the political process.

The overall share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades from 10% to 21%. And ideological thinking is now much more closely aligned with partisanship than in the past. As a result, ideological overlap between the two parties has diminished: Today, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican.

Today 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican

Partisan animosity has increased substantially over the same period. In each party, the share with a highly negative view of the opposing party has more than doubled since 1994. Most of these intense partisans believe the opposing partys policies are so misguided that they threaten the nations well-being.

Many of those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field while the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard

Republicans Lie More Than Democrats

In the current post-fact, hyper-partisan era of politics, its hard to separate accusations of dishonesty from political sparring. If the liberal mainstream media accuses a conservative politician of lying, the conservatives fight back by alleging that theres a bias, and vice versa.

Luckily, several fact-checking sites have attempted to rise above the fray, including PolitiFact.com and the Washington Posts Fact Checker. And while theyre nonpartisan in approach, a recent study of PolitiFact.coms results by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University reveals something that will please one party more than another: Republicans lie more than Democrats, as much as three times as often during Obamas second term. While this may not come as a surprise from a party that denies certain scientific basics , the study puts the two parties relationships with honesty into distinct relief:

While these stats are pretty damning, in the multi-channel era of media consumption, it may be harder than it should to get this information to the people who need to hear it: conservative or conservative-leaning voters.

About the author

Zak Stone is a Los Angeles-based writer and a contributing editor of Playboy Digital.His writing has appeared in TheAtlantic.com, NYMag.com, Los Angeles, The Utne Reader, GOOD, and elsewhere. Visit his personal website here.

Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether Youre A Democrat Or A Republican

Tell us a few details about you and well guess which political party you belong to. It shouldnt be that simple, right? Were all complex people with a multiplicity of identities and values. But the reality is that in America today, how you answer a handful of questions is very likely to determine how you vote.

This quiz, based on recent surveys with more than 140,000 responses, presents a series of yes-or-no questions to predict whether someone is more likely to identify as a Democrat or a Republican. It captures divisions that should make you worried about the future of American democracy.

We wont collect your answers.

The first question is the most important: Its about race. Asking whether someone is black, Hispanic or Asian cleaves the electorate into two groups. Those who answer yes lean Democratic; the others are split roughly evenly between the parties. Among those who are not black, Hispanic or Asian , the second most important question is whether the person considers religion important. If they answer yes, they are probably Republican.

Its not just race and religion, though. Party allegiances are now also tied to education, gender and age. Americans have sorted themselves more completely and rigidly than any time in recent history.

How demographics predict party affiliation

The group most likely to be Democrats are black women older than about 30.

Meeting in the Middle

Reliable Republicans

It Is Astonishing That Blacks Vote For Democrats At All

For the 100 years prior to Lincoln the democrats were historically the party that supported slavery in the south. In 1860 when Lincoln was elected the democrats elected a person who debated Lincoln and argued why the idea of freeing the slaves was stupid.

Lincoln won even though most of the nation knew that we were on the verge of the most horrible conflict in history. Lincoln wanted to avoid this war but the democrats wouldnt concede even the smallest point.

Lincoln drew a line in the sand. He wouldnt go to war and kill 6 million Americans to free the slaves as long as the democrat states would agree to not let slavery spread to any new states.

The democrats wouldnt accept that. Like todays democrats they were absolutely convinced and not very negotiating. They wanted their slavery and they believed in it.

They felt slavery would be imperiled if it wasnt allowed to grow. They wanted more slave owners to get more slave promoting voters like illegal immigrants today.

Lincoln went to war and adjusted for population 6 million Americans died. Even if you dont adjust for population the number who died in the war is more than the sum of all American deaths in all wars since.

The devastation was horrendous. One of the generals in the north practiced a burn it to the ground policy that denuded whole cities. The south was crushed.

To Get To The Truth About Jan 6 Democrats Need To Ignore Most Of The Republicans

Sometimes seeing is not believing. Or, so it seems as Republicans in Congress go about rewriting history by claiming that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was really a normal tourist visit by peaceful patriots. Millions of Americans saw the live broadcast, as insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, marauded through the House and Senate chambers, and chanted Hang Mike PenceMichael Richard PenceThe Memo: Will DeSantis’s star fall as Florida COVID numbers rise?Man charged in Jan. 6 assault of news photographerCan SpaceX’s Elon Musk help NASA get back to the moon by 2024 after all?MORE.

Yet now the Republican party leadership says that none of that really happened and theyre asking people to believe a series of lies about that days events.

This week, as the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol holds its first hearings, it is time for Democrats in Congress to say good riddance to Republican colleagues who engage in such denialism.

Over the course of the last several months, Republicans have attacked anyone in their party for example, Liz Cheney

First, Senate Republicans defeated efforts to create a bipartisan commission modeled after the one that investigated the 9/11 terror attacks. They did so despite the fact that Democratic leaders in Congress acceded to Republican demands about the commissions composition, powers, and the deadline for its work.

That is exactly the Republican goal.