Category Archives: Deep Mind
Easter is when we go deep into the enduring stories of death and life – The National
LAST week I read a beautiful soulful piece by John Harris entitled How do faithless people make sense of this past year of Covid?. Having spent all my life with academics, teachers and western society ridiculing and misrepresenting a core praxis of my life, I confess to never having thought at all about what it might be like not to have a faith with which to wrestle. My own has usually been stigmatised as a disability that was nothing more than a crutch for enduring weaknesses in my mind and intellect.
The idea that the question might be posed from the point of view of the faithless, not the faithful, after a year when death has been ever present, was a fascinating switch round.
In my tradition Easter is when we look straight on at unimaginable horror of human suffering, through deep meditations on the show trial and execution of an innocent man, in Occupied Palestine, under Empire.
We sit with the discomfort of knowing that one friend will betray another for 30 pieces of silver; that people will not speak out against injustice even though they be your best friend. We look at the way friends will desert you; we remember what it means to gather to remember being spared from a great plague. We wash each others feet the tenderest of ceremonies awkward at times but one of humble human touch. We hold up the gifts of earth bread, wine, body and blood and call, in word and song, to a soft, kneeling , whispered sharing.
In my tradition Easter is when we go deep into the enduring stories of death and life. As someone with family caught up in Tigray and Eritrea, where plagues of locust lay waste and whole churches are massacred by soldiers, then the stories which come to me for sense-making are those of Passover, those of the persecutions of the early church, words of fury from prophets who hammer on the door of their making with terrible accusations of abandonment, or carelessness, of indifference. Words from psalms and Lamentations.
Five years ago I spent Easter week in the Calais camps. A place of hell on earth, ravaged with suffering, but full of so many people saying to one another dont be afraid, peace be with you. Selam, Selam, Selam.
The Muslims had built their own mosque; the Eritrean orthodox Christians, a church. In a place of profound alienation, I slipped through the plastic sheeting that made up the church door and my body bowed low and knelt on the ground alongside the women. In the enveloping stillness that is a steady constant in my life after half a century of practising silent prayer with others, there was gathered peace, and we had rest from the agony for a while.
It may not be much. But it is good enough to be enough good.
I watch the pandemic streets and the long queues for take-aways in Glasgow; the desire to eat with others, to meet with others, to greet others with a hug, a kiss or even just the touch of a hand and I see the practices of my faith aching through fear for life. I find myself grateful for the trusty crutch through my many frailties. I find I myself standing firm for all my many doubts and still grateful and nourished by the Iona Community in particular, as I have been for over 20 years, and for the communities I join in prayer and spiritual conversations. I find myself telling a little more openly of what it means to be a person who prays, and to be a person who choses each year anew to commit myself to the keeping of Rule of the Iona Community and our commitment to action for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
I too have struggled this year. I too have been worn with care and have lost loved ones. My lifes work has been destroyed by our modern day Pharisees and the hand washings of a Pontius Pilate, doing the work of the Governors.
I HAVE also had strong words to surround me through the dark days, words laid down in my faith tradition, spoken by those who work on the edges between life and death baptism and burial rites and who know how to be alongside us. The stories of sowers and seeds; of wisdom and greed, of the women on the margins with food enough, and of Daniels in lions dens. All these have just been there, ready resources laid down by the regular choice against the grain, to meet with others and to listen to the words of the old stories which, throughout millennia, have helped our quest for meaning find depth and renewal.
Each year anew the meanings of story and symbol shift and change for me, as they are breathed in and breathed out in through the seasons of human life. They dont give me intellectual answers, not really, unless birth to the barren, or bread and wine count as answers. But I am offered depth to my hardest questions, and the company of those we might call saints, to ask them alongside.
In the traditions of my faith after the darkness of Friday and the waiting without any expectation of anything good that is Saturday, Sunday brings a change. There is the remembrance of a woman fey with grief who hears her name called in a garden, and though she cannot touch the one whose voice is so beloved, she can share her joy at life again. There is the remembrance of a walk along a road with strangers who fall into step, and into life-changing conversations; there is a BBQ on a beach. There is doubt. There is hope.
The practices of these stories remembered long are so close to those of our ordinary lives. And in them, again and again, the same stranger appears to people whose lives are full of fear and loss, of hopelessness and grief saying:
Do not be afraid.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Alison Phipps is UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow, and a member of the Iona Community
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Easter is when we go deep into the enduring stories of death and life - The National
How Open Source is Driving the Future of Data Science – RTInsights
With its reliance on a community of physically dispersed individuals and flexibility of adoption, open-source data science is becoming an even more attractive choice among cash-strapped governments, non-profits, and businesses.
Over the past decade, data science and machine learning have made their way from an obscure academic discipline to widespread corporate adoption. The academic community has a natural preference towards open source. Science is a collaborative effort, and its advancement is best served by enabling as large a community as possible to build upon existing research.
Private companies, on the other hand, have a much stronger incentivefor proprietary technology. Developing software systems is an expensiveendeavor. Naturally, a business wants to make a return on this investment.Making the results of your work freely available to competitors doesnt seemlike the smartest choice if you are a business owner.
Still, in data science, several powerful incentives pull corporateinterests in the direction of favoring open-source implementations.
Open source tools offer a lower barrier to entry thanlicensed software. Companies can experiment more easily and with fewerconstraints. They are also more likely to find talent for programming languagesand data science tools that are freely available to everyone.
A case in point is Python, the dominant programming languagefor data science, which happens to be open source. It has the most versatileand extensive capabilities for manipulating data and building machine learningmodels. Python has even superseded commercial tools like MatLab in terms ofcapabilities for data science applications.
Most data science and machine learning frameworks such asTensorFlow, SciKit-Learn, or PyTorch build directly on Python and are also open-source.
Often, their creators are large companies that are alreadydominant in their respective markets. Evidently, the benefits of making alibrary like TensorFlow open-source outweigh the costs for its creator Google.
While Google gave potential competitors a powerful deeplearning tool, it probably benefits more from the massively expanded talentpool, the sprawling deep learning innovation, and the widespread adoption ofthe framework by other companies that open-sourcing TensorFlow entailed.
Other machine learning libraries, such as XGBoost,originatedas research projects in universities. For these institutions, the benefits ofopen-source software are overwhelming for the reasons discussed above.
Most machine learning models require large amounts of datato train. Modern machine learning models, especially deep neural networks usedin computer vision and natural language processing, require vast amounts ofcomputational resources to train. This would present an almost insurmountablechallenge for smaller organizations and individuals, who simply do not havethis amount of data internally, nor the budget to run expensive model trainingexperiments. If it werent for open source data, machine learning would bealmost exclusively the domain of large corporations. This may be in theinterest of the shareholders of said corporations, but certainly not of societyat large, which benefits from the innovations produced by startups andindividuals.
Even for large corporations, the widespread availability of open-sourcedata and pre-trained machine learning models has benefits.
Many of the cutting-edge models developed by researchers atcompanies like Google and Facebook have been open-sourced. Anyone can downloadthese models from Github and use them in their custom data science projects.
But why are these corporations so generous in sharing theirmodels and their data?
From the perspective of an established corporation, it makessense to avoid risky ventures and instead aim to expand market share throughmore traditional strategies.
Startups tend to be better suited for engaging in novelhigh-risk ventures because they are smaller, more agile, and have nothing tolose.
If a large company wants to enter a novel market, or obtainnew technology, acquiring a successful startup in the desired field may be asmarter move than trying to do everything from scratch in-house.
For example, Google acquired Deep Mind in 2014 for thepotential it saw in DeepMinds research in reinforcement learning andgeneral-purpose AI.
To maximize the potential for the emergence of innovativedata science and artificial intelligence startups, it makes sense to giveambitious new upstarts the tools and data they need.
Furthermore, many of the researchers working on commercialprojects come from academic settings. They bring with them a culture ofcollaboration based on open source.
Researchers and developers are naturally inclined toshowcase their work. Therefore, a commitment to open source and the opportunityfor employees to participate in open source projects can go a long way to makea company a more attractive employer for highly coveted data science talent.
The foundational knowledge for data science includesadvanced skills in mathematics, statistics, and programming. Until a few yearsago, this knowledge was deeply buried in academic textbooks and usuallyacquired by obtaining a technical university degree.
Today, an ambitious self-starter can learn all of thesethings via resources that are freely available on the web. An army of Youtubeeducators and bloggers has emerged that makes previously dry and highlyacademic topics accessible in a fun and easy-to-digest way.
These new educational resources grow the talent pool bymaking data science more accessible for a larger group of people, which alsobenefits companies.
Without open-source software and open-source data, offeringthis type of education for free would be much more difficult.
Online education platforms offer academic curricula that often match or exceed traditional university courses in terms of quality. In many cases, these courses are accompanied by Github repositories full of open source code.
Developing and maintaining a custom data science solutionfrom scratch in-house presents a major challenge to most companies. The largera software system grows, the more susceptible it is to bugs and the moredifficult it is to find problems in the source code and deploy the system intoproduction.
Building on open source software and models cansignificantly alleviate these burdens and speed up time to market. Bugs inwidely used open-source libraries are likely to have been discovered byprevious users. If bugs do occur,developers are free to go into the code and fix them without having to worryabout violating licensing agreements. If the open-source tool turns out to notbe a good fit, no money has been sunk on a failed trial.
Even for private businesses who have a commercial interestin protecting their software, there are strong incentives for using andbuilding open-source data science solutions.
More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has put many organizations under enormous pressure to digitize data-heavy processes as quickly as possible while physically scattering technical talent. With its reliance on a community of physically dispersed individuals and flexibility of adoption, open-source data science is becoming an even more attractive choice among cash-strapped governments, non-profits, and businesses.
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How Open Source is Driving the Future of Data Science - RTInsights
Space Regime in Deep Distress: Experts The Diplomat – The Diplomat
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The following is based on excerpts from the March 2021 Diplomat Risk Intelligence Monthly Report An Asian Space Odyssey. The full report is available here.
After a relative lull following the end of the Cold War, space is back with a vengeance, along with geopolitical rivalry and accelerated defense modernization plans. What is new and an additional complicating factor, this time around, is the realization that space exploration and presence may be intimately tied not only with national prestige and military gains (its principal drivers during the Cold War) but also with an economic edge for those invested in it. However, technical advances that have contributed to civilian, military and commercial space capabilities in, and aspirations of, key Asia-Pacific powers have not been matched with commensurate shared understanding on how these capabilities are to be put in to play in a way acceptable to all.
In a new Diplomat Risk Intelligence, five prominent experts on space issues examined among many other key issues related to Asia-Pacifics outer space engagement how the space security regime, and capabilities and intent, have not tracked each other, with geopolitics and national economic aspirations introducing further complications.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute scholar Malcolm Davis writes:
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) bans the deployment or use of nuclear weapons in space. It doesnt ban the development, testing and deployment of non-nuclear ASATs [anti-satellite weapons]. Efforts since the OST to prohibit ASATs, such as the Russian and Chinese proposals for a Prohibition on the Placement of Weapons (PPWT) in space, and the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space agreement, as well as an EU Code of Conduct for Outer Space activities, have failed in part due to challenges in defining what constitutes a space weapon and challenges associated with verification and monitoring. The Russian and Chinese efforts with PPWT sought to ban co-orbital ASATs, but did nothing to constrain either direct-ascent ASATs or ground-based counterspace capabilities. Defining what constitutes a co-orbital ASAT is becoming increasingly difficult as a grey zone in orbit emerges due to the blurring between commercial space capability and potentially hazardous or malign rendezvous and proximity operations.
Interestingly, as Secure World Foundation analyst Victoria Samson points out in her contribution to the report:
An added complication is that Russia historically has not accepted that commercial space exists. When negotiations were underway in the 1960s for the Outer Space Treaty (OST), Soviet negotiators wanted it enshrined in the treaty that space would be for nation-states only. Finally, as a compromise, Article 6 of the OST requires nations to provide continuing supervision of any space activities by its citizens. Right now, there are roughly 3500 active satellites. Looking at filings with the FCC for spectrum, there could potentially be 107,000 active ones by the end of this decade. They will not all come to fruition but a lot of them will, and with that will solidify a fundamental change in the space domain, as it is commercial actors launching these mega-constellations, not nation-states. With the space domain shifting from one dominated by nation-state actors to one that is dominated by commercial actors, Russias lack of true commercial space very well may contribute to its drop in space stature.
Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.
The result? Russia could very well like to make up for the lack of its commercial/civilian space heft by doubling down on its military counterspace capabilities, adding further stress on the extant space security regime.
Growing interest in space-resource extraction too is increasingly playing a large role in pushing the edges of the OST. Consider the fact that in April last year, then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that allowed the United States to mine the moon and otherwise extract resources from outer space. While his administration had argued at that time that this order was not in violation of the OST and keep in mind that the U.S. is not a signatory to the 1979 Moon Treaty, which the order would have run afoul of had the U.S. been a party analysts have pointed out that Trumps moon-mining plans (and the Artemis Accords that buttress it) run against the spirit of the outer space as a global commons.
Chinas space ambitions too have a significant economic bent. Scholar Namrata Goswami writes in her contribution:
For China, investing in outer space moves beyond prestige and reputation, beyond a flags and footprints model of the Cold War. Instead, China aims to develop capacity for establishing permanent space presence, from which it would economically benefit in the long term. The global space economy today is worth $350 billion but is predicted to be worth between $1.2 trillion to $3 trillion by 2040. The economic returns from future mining of space-based resources like titanium, platinum, water-ice, thorium, Helium-3, iron-ore, are several trillions. By 2050, China aspires to return $10 trillion annually from investments in the Earth-moon economic zone.
Observer Research Foundation scholar Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan flags that the problem with the existing space security regime and the supporting legal treaties is even deeper and foundational. She writes:
There are also definitional issues with the existing treaties. For instance, the understanding of key terms such as militarization of space has undergone important changes over the decades. In the 1950s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union emphasized the peaceful uses of space, at least in their official rhetoric. This, in the initial years, meant non-military uses. But once they launched their own satellites, they began to interpret the term more broadly to suggest non-aggressive actions. By the 1960s, both the U.S. and the USSR were launching many satellites with direct military uses. This was a slippery slope, with the distinction between militarization and weaponization of space becoming vaguer. Today, this understanding has become even broader to mean non-destructive uses. So, while OST has prevented states from placing WMD in space, development of counter-space capabilities with an apparent non-destructive use is considered acceptable. Therefore, in the absence of clarity of what constitutes peaceful use of space or a space weapon, the effectiveness of existing mechanisms is questionable.
It is of course tempting to put the blame for the fraying space security regime on growing capabilities as well as intent especially when it comes to new space military technologies, including the development of co-orbital ASATs and other weapons. But the fundamental issue is that increasingly and quite naturally, as a matter of fact intense geopolitical rivalries are also manifesting themselves as hindrances in further developing new norms and regimes, including those for the outer space. As Carnegie Endowment for International Peace researcher Ankit Panda writes in the concluding section of the DRI report:
While certain technological developments especially in the military realm have stymied progress on governance (for instance, disagreements between the United States on the one hand and China and Russia on the other), technologies in and of themselves are not the source of the continued dearth of institutions and mechanisms to manage the safe and sustainable use of space. With the major powers still divided on space, the obstacles today to better and more robust space governance are largely political. New initiatives, such as the United Kingdoms submission of a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly in 2020, could enhance common understanding among states. Absent major systemic shifts in how the main space powers relate to each other, technological progress is likely to continue to outpace progress on space governance over the next decade.
DRI Monthly Reports are rigorous research investigations that go beyond reportage and commentary to add permanent value for clients. Access previous reports here.
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Space Regime in Deep Distress: Experts The Diplomat - The Diplomat
Gulf News webinar to focus on fasting with health conditions during Ramadan | Uae – Gulf News
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Fasting during Ramadan comes with great health benefits, but for those with chronic conditions, it can be a challenging time to navigate. So, how can you make the most of Ramadan, while also making sure that your health doesnt suffer?
Gulf News presents Healthy Ramadan Fasting with Health Conditions, a webinar in partnership with Fakeeh University Hospital that will delve deep into ways people suffering from chronic conditions can ensure a safe Ramadan.
Whether you are newly diagnosed with diabetes and unsure how to go about fasting, or a cardiac patient wondering if you should fast, or have concerns about high blood pressure, you can get all your doubts cleared during the webinar.
Join us on April 8 at 11am as Dr Khaldoun Taha, Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Ahmed Hassoun, Consultant Endocrinologist, and Clinical Dietician, Rashma Devjani cover a wide range of topics during the webinar including:
Precautions people with chronic conditions need to take
How critical it is to get the go-ahead from your doctor before fasting
Steps for diabetics to ensure safe fasting
Things cardiac patients need to keep in mind
Implications for people with high blood pressure
Dos and donts of iftar and suhour
The best foods to eat to help you maximise the health benefits of fasting
How to stay active during Ramadan
Experts from Fakeeh University Hospital will also take questions from the audience during the webinar. So be sure to register in advance.
Built on an integrated healthcare model, Fakeeh University Hospital brings you the legacy of more than four decades of compassionate care drawn from the renowned Fakeeh Care group based in Saudi Arabia. Fakeeh University Hospital is also a world-class academic centre committed to excellence through research, education, and clinical care.
Find all the information you need to enjoy a healthy Ramadan with top healthcare experts from Fakeeh University Hospital by tuning into our webinar on April 8th at 11am.
This content comes from Reach by Gulf News, which is the branded content team of GN Media.
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Gulf News webinar to focus on fasting with health conditions during Ramadan | Uae - Gulf News
When it rains, it floods, and you better know what to do – Columbia Daily Herald
I think it's fair to assume the first sign of spring in Columbia is whenever the Duck River becomes a little too big for its britches.
At least that seems to bethe case every year, although the past few major flooding incidentsseemed to occurin February. Perhaps our local waterway is a bit winded and worn out from the past year, andneeded a month off.
Or maybe it was just the time it needed to fester one of the worst Middle Tennessee flooding incidents in more than a decade one that caused several deaths, including a Maury County woman, who was swept up by the rushing waters, while trying to clear debris at her residence.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency called last weekend's weather the worstsince the historic 2010 floods, which destroyed much of the Middle Tennessee area, including a large chunk of lower Broadway in Nashville. I remember Opry Mills also being a major victim, along with all of the homes and lives lost during that time.
It could nothave been a more awkward time (well, it could have been worse) to get flooded.
I was in my early 20s, living in Murfreesboro going to school at Middle Tennessee State University, and was smack dab in the middle of moving into a new home when the first round of stormshit.
It was as if the sky was a giant bucket full of water that had been turned upside down. There was no gradual buildup. It wasan instant soakage that gave no warning.
It was as if you turnedyour back for one second and suddenly found yourself standing in a foot of water, and it was rising fast.
When weather like that comes in an instant, there's sure to be panic. And boy was there, especially from myself who still had a few more trips to make before the move was complete.
Fortunately, my home and the rest of the movedidn't experience any real damage, other than a few sketchy roads that came close to swallowingup my Subaru.It was surreal driving around town that day, seeing so many cars submerged in the water, people running about and boarding up their windows.
"Apocalyptic" seems to be the word that comes to mind when thinking back to those crazy times.
Bad weather is something we've all encountered in our lives, especially if you've been a Tennessean for a while, whether it's flooding, the softball-sized hailstorms or tornadoes that make their way through yearly. Yet, every now and again, a cluster of storms comes along that's, as they say, "a real doozy."
Seeing the Duck River flood every year is always concerning, partly because being a Riverside resident gives you a front row seat to the party, and the stress. Major flooding incidents are also events a journalist doesn't necessarily look forward to, this one at least.
Sure, the opportunity to take really great photos, which capture the damage and devastation can be somewhat fascinating. There issomething about seeing the places you've been to, walked on and enjoyed,nowdeep underwater. It's why traffic always seems to back up around Riverside Drive whenever there's a new flood to check out.
But there's the other side of it, the one in which you're stuck waiting to hear about the people and places that were damaged,harmed or possibly killed. In a small town like Columbia, it could very likely be your neighbor, a family member or friend. There aren't very many degrees of separation if you've been here long enough.
It's nothing compared to the first-responders whose job is to suit up and put themselves in harm's way, the ones who volunteer to come face-to-face with death and danger to protect the citizens.
Perhaps the hardest part about dealing with a natural disaster, at least on the mental side, is accepting that it's a force of nature out of your control.The best thing you can do is bunker down, have an emergency plan in placeand pray for the best.
As tragic as discovering the aftermath of a severe weather incident can be, it can also serve as a valuable lesson. Not to make light of those who losttheir homes or, God forbid, their lives, Mother Nature can raise a lot of awareness when it come totaking the proper safety precautions during a storm.
For example,we've covered several stories over the years aboutfamilieswhose homes were damaged after a large tree fell on their house. There is also the tragic death of Spring Hill firefighter Mitchell Earwood last May, who was killed by a fallen tree during a severe storm at his home while off duty.
Seeing and hearing about those incidents forces you to consider what you would do if a similar situation were to happen at your home, where the safest places are and if you're prepared to handle the worst.
For me, I began to pay more attention to the massive tree in my front yard, which wouldcrash directly into my bedroom if it were to tip over. That's a pretty scary thought considering a lot of the really bad storms seem to happen during the overnight hours.
Living in a city with a major Tennessee river prone to flooding every year is another obvious reason it's important to become more aware of your surroundingsand how to take precautions in the event of an emergency.
Not every town floods like Columbia does, and that's an important thing to keep in mind.
I suggest at the very least, reachout to organizations like Columbia Fire & Rescueor our local Maury County Emergency Management team. They deal with the worst of it all. It never hurts to get a refresher course every now and again, because it's easy to forget it's not just your property, but your life and your loved ones'lives that are at stake.
If those old Chiffon margarine advertisements evertaught us anything, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."
Jay Powell is a reporter for The Daily Herald. Contact him at jpowell@c-dh.net or follow him on Twitter @JayPowellCDH.
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When it rains, it floods, and you better know what to do - Columbia Daily Herald
Opera Meets Film: How Opera is Used to Immerse Us Deeper into Anthony’s Mind in ‘The Father’ – OperaWire
Opera Meets Film is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a film section or a film in its entirety and highlight the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This weeks installment features Florian Zellers The Father.
As Anne walks down the street in the opening shots of The Father, we hear the iconic strains of Purcells What Power Art Thou from King Arthur. Its opening refrain reads:
What power art thou, who from belowHast made me rise unwillingly and slowFrom beds of everlasting snow?
The aria develops as Anne arrives at an apartment and then suddenly the music is stopped by Anthony. We immediately learn that HE was listening to the recording on his headphones in his apartment.
Whats fascinating about this particular moment is what it seems to say thematically about the story and the characters and what is ultimately revealed throughout the rest of the story.
But another essential aspect of this arias introduction and presentation is how it is combined with two other arias throughout the film.
Later on in the film, we see Anthony in the kitchen. He turns on a radio that plays Casta Diva from Norma, in an iconic recording by Maria Callas.
For those unfamiliar with Casta Divas text, here it is:
Pure Goddess, whose silver coversThese sacred ancient plants,we turn to your lovely faceunclouded and without veilTemper, oh Goddess,the hardening of you ardent spiritstemper your bold zeal,Scatter peace across the earthThou make reign in the sky
Once again, the solo voice is singing out and pleading to a power outside his or her control. A power they cant see but hope to know.
And halfway through the recording, Anthony shuts it off another interruption.
A little later, we get back to Anthony listening to another aria, Nadirs Je crois entendre encore from The Pearl Fishers. Nadirs aria also speaks to a divine rapture and a sweet memory thats almost unreachable, untouchable for the lonely man. And again, Anthonys listening experience is uninterrupted, this time by the record player itself that jams up.
So what does this all mean in the context of the film? The Father is defined by cinematic interruptions, in the sense that its very narrative structure lacks cohesion for the audience and Anthony. We think its going in one direction until suddenly, it pivots in a completely different (and confusing direction). Its all purposeful and meant to explore a subjective feeling of dementia and the disorientation it creates. As such, we, like Anthony, increasingly lose touch with what is going on around us, especially when we think we are finally getting a grip on the narrative developments.
And since this film essentially takes place within Anthonys mind, the arias, in a way are his deep subconscious speaking to us. Its no coincidence that hes the only one listening to them in the film. And each one is a plea or even prayer to a higher power for some respite or grace. They all share a similarly melancholic and pleading quality. Anthony refuses to acknowledge his lack of control for the duration of the film. Time and again he asserts his sense of self, claiming that the apartment is his own, forgetting about his daughters death, claiming new identities for himself and his past. He is constantly rewriting his story from scene to scene as he tries to get a grip on his increasing powerlessness.
The arias seem to speak to him directly of the fact that he lacks power and it is no surprise that while he is shown listening to them inevitably, he is often the one to interrupt them, suggesting the fact that he is not in fact listening to them deeply and thus not in tune with his own inner voice and what its trying to communicate to him. This theme of listening could be further perpetuated in Anthonys relationship to others in the film he wont listen to anyone. He refuses to. And because he wont listen, he suffers.
The arias thus operate in this ambiguous space between communicating with Anthony in much the same way other characters attempt to do so, while also expressing his underlying powerlessness.
One cannot overlook the choice of opera either in the context of this film about an aging patriarch, a man whose time has passed and who struggles to maintain a grip in a modern world. Is that what opera is? For many, there is no denying that that kind of metaphorical parallel is not farfetched. And in choosing examples from the baroque, bel canto, and romantic eras, Zeller spotlights operas most prominent periods. Its doubtful that Zeller is making a direct commentary on opera and how its lessening effect in the modern world, but there is a lot to be said for the fact that these iconic opera arias and performers are repeatedly interrupted.
Of course, the interruptions cease when all is revealed and clarified and the audience is allowed to know the truth. We do eventually get to hear the Pearl Fishers aria without interruption at the close of the film as we watch Anne leave the nursing home. There is no interruption because there is no lack of clarity for the audience any longer.
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Opera Meets Film: How Opera is Used to Immerse Us Deeper into Anthony's Mind in 'The Father' - OperaWire
Dive Deep Into These Mind-Blowing Underwater Photographer of the Year Entries – Yahoo News
With the announcement of the winners of the annual U.K.-based Underwater Photographer of the Year competition, its easy to see why this contest has been so popular for the last decade. With more than 5,000 entries from photographers in over 40 countries, the resulting images are unbelievably technical and dazzling at the same time. Here are the some of this years top champions:
Renee Capozzola's
Capozzola captured this shot of blacktip reef sharks while in French Polynesia. An avid shark enthusiast, shes particularly excited for the publicity her photo might bring to the need for their protection. Since many shark species are threatened with extinction throughout the world, it is my hope that images of these beautiful animals will help promote their conservation, she said on the UPY website.
This prize was an easy call for the judges this year. The first time I set eyes on this image I was nothing short of mesmerized. Its the palette of colors which first attracted memind-blowing underwater imagery at its very best, comments judge Martin Edge.
SJ Alice Bennett's
After her careful plan to take this shot of cave training failed, Bennett had to quickly improvise before their gas reserves were depleted. She pressed the shutter just as her lighting assistants created the beautiful halo effects.
Judge Peter Rowlands explains why Bennetts work earned the runner-up prize as such: This strong image brought two words to mind confidence and talent. Confident enough to pull off such an ambitious image, and talented [enough] to visualize such good composition and control complicated lighting.
Mark Kirkland's
Shot in an area near Kirklands home in Glasgow, Scotland, the photographer used a combination of long-exposure, backlighting, close-focus wide angle, split photography, and a whole lot of patience to pull off this shot. This final shot is a culmination 25 hours over 4 nights of lying in darkness, covered in mud, waiting on natures unpredictable elements to align. Time well spent? Absolutely, he says.
Story continues
And the judges agree. I honestly think that the appearance of this image will go down in the history of underwater photography as a defining moment. Perfect yet flawed, natural in urban. I think it is a masterpiece, gushes Rowlands.
Karim Iliya's
Karim Iliya was in this region of Panama to photograph the art of making Mola, the traditional clothing worn by the inhabitants of this island. While waiting for a ferry, he sent up his drone and took this shocking aerial scene. The importance of humanitys relationship with nature and the need to protect it becomes very apparent when you look at our species from a birds-eye perspective and see how much space we take up.
Karim Iliya's
For his second prize-winning entry, Iliya captured this terrifying scene of small fish fleeing a striped marlin. I went to Mexico to document these feeding frenzies but was not expecting such a fast-paced hunt, almost too fast for my brain to process, he says, adding that for a brief moment, this scene unfolded before me and I had to rely on all my instincts and practice underwater to take this photo.
Tobias Friedrich's
After scrapping shoots in Tiger Beach and Bimini due to bad weather, Tobias Friedrich and his team tried a spot near Nassau in the Bahamas. They were surprised to find a totally new and precariously-perched shipwreck.
Judge Rowlands comments: Images leap out for several reasons; David and Goliath scale, magnitude, and unambiguity to name three, and this image has all of those and more. If you want to know the secret formula for a classic wreck shot, look no further.
These are just a few of the show-stopping 2021 victors and runners-up from this years contest. The rest of the awards and finalists can be viewed on the UPY Winners webpage.
Here are a few more breathtaking images for the road:
UPY Compact Winner:
UPY Compact Winner: Doule (Kuhlia Rupestris) near the surface Jack Berthomier (New Caledonia)
UPY Wide Angle Runner-Up:
UPY Wide Angle Runner-Up: Gothic Chamber Martin Broen (New Caledonia)
UPY Macro Runner-Up:
UPY Macro Runner-Up: Larval Lionfish Steven Kovacs (USA)
UPY British Waters Compact Winner:
UPY British Waters Compact Winner: Sunrise Mute Swan Feeding Underwater Ian Wade (UK)
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Dive Deep Into These Mind-Blowing Underwater Photographer of the Year Entries - Yahoo News
Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School dig deep to the root of learning – Port Townsend Leader
The withered branch lay rigid in her hands, but its soft fibers shifted against a steady breeze.
She spoke of the beauty and the versatility of cotton as she turned the plant in observation, letting its white tufts catch the sun. In her lesson, the teacher imparted the emotional weight the cash crop has carried for generations at the surface, an unblemished boll that, inside, encases the sins of the Antebellum South.
At Sunfield Waldorf School, wonder and curiosity are at the root of learning. In the traditional Waldorf way, Sunfield takes a different approach to education, integrating the arts into academic disciplines while cultivating intellect, emotion, and spirit within their students.
With their rich and innovative curriculum, the academic path is an abstract one in which students learn with their hands, hearts, minds through their whole beings. This form of education gives students the freedom and the tools to fully develop their own individual gifts.
It is because of Sunfields unique education model that they have been open in-person all year while many traditional schools have struggled in the face of the pandemic. With COVID safety in mind, the teachers creatively harnessed the environment through the use of outdoor classrooms and experiential lessons.
The school is situated on a working biodynamic farm that stretches across 81 acres of fields, forests, and wetlands. Providing hands-on agricultural and environmental learning experiences, the property serves as a natural playground for its students while acting as an invaluable educational resource.A holistic academic education is incorporated with the daily pulse of farm life and the applications of gardening, sustainable farming, and animal husbandry enrich the programs offered at Sunfield.
During the fall and winter months, children came prepared with hot lunches and were equipped with snowsuits and sleeping bags to fight off the chill. When extra layers werent enough to keep the cold at bay, experts assisted in making sure classrooms were well-ventilated in order to create more viable indoor spaces.
Weve had very little illness this year, said Sunfields Education Director Bryan McGriff.
When the pandemic first reared its head in 2020, Sunfield closed for the remainder of the school year, transitioning completely to online distance learning within a week.
We were excited to be able to come back in person in the fall, McGriff said, even with the loss of 40 percent of families who didnt want to take their chances with in-person schooling.
The school has seen several students joining in mid-year from families that are feeling more confident about Sunfields practices and about COVID in general, however.
Weve been really lucky, McGriff said.
One of the reasons for the schools success mid-pandemic McGriff attributed to good communication with the students and their families.
Theyre clear on our guidelines, he continued. Anytime we update, them thats really clear. Were sticking to stringent protocols and our families are following along with us.
Classes have been limited in number for physical distancing. For instance, an indoor classroom that once accommodated 24 third-graders is now maxed out at 18 students.
Like a lot of things due to the pandemic, some elements very characteristic to Waldorf learning had to be limited as well.
A Waldorf school is filled with festivals. We have a festival for every season, McGriff explained.
During a non-COVID school year, festivals would act as seasonal turning points, establishing a yearly rhythm for students. Sunfield students, families, and community members would normally come together in celebration.
Through playing together and helping one another, a sense of community is created between the students on a Waldorf campus.
A buddy system and a mixed-grade playground pairing younger students with older ones to create connections and establish relationships is not a possibility for the time being.
Students may have been able to receive an in-person education all year, but sacrifices were inevitable in order to make that happen.
Im looking forward to having the parents back on, said McGriff. For me, Im new here Ive barely gotten to know any of the families.
And having our students back together again. Thats such an important element, he added.
After a successful winter filled with outdoor learning, spring brings even more opportunity for education. Much like the lesson on cotton, teachers are continuing to use natural elements in their teaching as this new season awakens. Students are actively involved in planting crops, caring for the land and neighboring ecosystems, and raising the myriad of young animals coexisting on their farm/campus.
The thing I love about Sunfield is the whole aspect of working and working on the land as a part of our curriculum, McGriff said.
Working side-by-side with the farmers throughout the school year, Sunfield students get to experience the benefits of caring for the land and livestock. A quarter of the bounty yielded from the farm is sold at a school-owned farmstand while the rest of their harvest goes to local food banks. The students make a positive contribution to the community while also gaining a valuable understanding of working in harmony with nature.
Sunfield was recently awarded a Sustainable School Award from the Washington State Department of Ecology. The Waste Not Washington School awards celebrate institutions for their environmental efforts and set out to fund and expand their programs in the name of sustainability. The Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School plans to use the funding to upgrade their on-site compost set-up for both classroom and biodynamic farm use.
To learn more about Sunfield, the farm, the school, and the community, visit sunfieldfarm.org.
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Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School dig deep to the root of learning - Port Townsend Leader
Dear Eonni: A Filipino UAENA respects Lilac singer IU as a lyricist because her songs are ‘active and awake’ – PINKVILLA
In the latest edition of Dear Eonni, Quennie Joyce Gula from the Philippines dedicates her sweet letter to Hotel del Luna star IU aka Lee Ji Eun. Read her letter below.
IU aka Lee Ji Eun has time and again proved her mettle as both a talented musician and a bonafide actress. If her latest album Lilac's release is any inclination, there really is no stopping the 27-year-old singer and actress' dominance over millions and millions of UAENA. The fandom is also majorly intrigued to watch Ji Eun in the highly-awaited movie Dream opposite Park Seo Joon.
Today's heartwarming letter in our Dear Eonni series has been penned by Quennie Joyce Gula from the Philippines to IU. Read her letter below:
Dear IU-ssi,
I have been your fan since Dream High days and it has been a wonderful journey watching you evolve and supporting you earnestly. I remember after watching Dream High, I got IU's laughter syndrome for many months, of just watching your laughter compilations one after another. I felt happy just by watching you be happy.
Recently, I watched your interview where your dong-saeng was your interviewer. It hit me when you said that being happy has become different as you have gotten older. That now, being happy is not necessarily presented with the happy, smiling face people are used to see. Being happy now for you is when nothing [troublesome] is happening. I wonder what depth of experiences have you gone through for you to define happiness that way. I completely resonate when your brother asked, "Is she really happy living like that?" Along with UAENAs in the world, I sincerely wish you happiness.
I have noticed how your perspectives on many things have gotten deeper, somehow complex, yet essentially simple. I could not describe it perfectly in words, but listening to you gives me that impression and makes me think and reflect further. I'd say you have a deep mind. That is why I respect you so much as a lyricist because your songs take me to that unique experience where my mind and senses come alive and working. They don't work at times. Hahaha. But with your songs and your work, they are active and awake. You have that effect on me.
Your performance in Hotel del Luna was so powerful and convincing. Even though Jang Man Weol was a complex and difficult character to understand and empathize with, sometimes scary, you portrayed her in a way that I somehow identified with the character and understood her. In the end, you made me love her unconditionally and root for her.
You have a lot of talents and skills that you could be proud of, but in one of your interviews, when you were asked, "What is the thing that you are best at, that no one can beat you at?" You answered, "It is the way I love my fans." I really think that you were cool. I respected you ever since as an artist, but at that moment, I respected you as a person.
Respectfully,Quennie Joyce GulaPhilippines
ALSO READ: Dear Eonni: A UAENA from Malaysia gushes about how she sees IU aka Lee Ji Eun as the new Audrey Hepburn
Want to let out in words, your undying fondness for your favourite K-drama and K-pop stars? Email your open letter to: editorial@pinkvilla.com, mentioning your full name and country. The opportunity is open to readers from across the globe. Your letters may also feature on our Instagram page Hallyutalk as well.
Disclaimer: This is user-generated content. The views and opinions expressed in this letter are those of the author.
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Dear Eonni: A Filipino UAENA respects Lilac singer IU as a lyricist because her songs are 'active and awake' - PINKVILLA
AI in Healthcare Market Is Set to Experience Revolutionary Growth by 2030 | Nuance Communications, Inc., DeepMind Technologies Limited KSU | The…
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AI in Healthcare Market Is Set to Experience Revolutionary Growth by 2030 | Nuance Communications, Inc., DeepMind Technologies Limited KSU | The...