Hasta La Gadget!

Google today introduced a HDMI stick that you shouldn’t confuse with Chromecast. It’s actually a lot different from that streaming stick. It’s actually quite similar to the Compute Stick from Intel. Just plug it into any HDMI display and use it as a PC that runs Chrome OS. So basically its a computer that’s powered by Google’s cloud based operating system.

Google says that the Chromebit is “the perfect upgrade” for an existing desktop and that it can be really useful for businesses and schools.

Inside the stick there is a Rockchip 3288 SoC accompanied by 2GB RAM and 16GB of eMMC storage. It has a USB 2.0 port, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11ac support, ARM Mali 760 quadcore GPU and a Smart Ready controller.

Setting it up is very easy. Just plug it into any display that has a HDMI port and you’re good to go. Since the OS is cloud based you will require an internet connection at all times, otherwise the Chromebit won’t be of any use.

Google is partnering with Asus for the first Chromebit though other manufacturers might join the fray as well. The company hasn’t provided a concrete release date yet for this stick but does say that it will be released over the summer.

Official price tag hasn’t been revealed but Google says that it will cost less than $100.

Chromebit Dongle Will Turn Any HDMI Display Into A Chrome PC

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By Don Willlmott
Don Willmott is a New York-based journalist who writes about technology, travel and the environment for a wide variety of publications and websites.

When is the last time you saw a truly pretty power plant? Looking something like a Middle-earth mountain topped with a Dubai skyscraper, a radically new biomass-powered plant will soon rise in northern England on an unused plot of land on the banks of the River Tees. Its goal: to power 50,000 homes while cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent.

The $770 million, 299-megawatt Teeside combined heat and power plant has been on the drawing board of London’s Heatherwick Studio for a while now, but in January, the European Commission approved the U.K.’s plans to provide state aid to eight renewable energy projects, including Teeside, under its 2013 electric market reforms. Such aid is given to the plant’s operator as a variable premium above the market price for electricity to compensate for biomass energy’s higher cost.

While you might expect such a plant to be powered by a local resource like Scottish peat, the actual fuel will be palm kernel shells–a waste product recovered from palm oil plantations and imported from the tropics. Even factoring in the transportation (ships will pull up riverside to unload the shells), the plant should be far less polluting than the aging coal and gas-fired plants it will replace. After it comes online in July 2018, it should offset about 32 million tons of carbon dioxide over its projected 30-year lifetime.

The fun part, however, is the look of the thing. The artificial mountain will be hidden beneath a thick mat of local vegetation that it’s hoped will attract flora and fauna to the site. The idea is to make it so green, so beautiful, and so symbolic of the alternative energy movement that it becomes not only a revenue-generating tourist attraction for the region but also an alternative energy education mecca, complete with its own visitors’ center.

Americans should also note that Thomas Heatherwick, the visionary designer of the plant, has been on a roll lately. It was announced last month that he was named co-architect of Google’s sprawling new campus in Mountain View, CA. And he was recently commissioned by billionaire Barry Diller and his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, to design a new $130 million, 2.7-acre park on New York City’s West Side that will hover over the Hudson River on concrete piers. So in a few short years, New Yorkers will also be able to enjoy Heatherwick’s Tolkienesque style.

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I don’t know how many people learn about the revolutionary Dorothea Dix in school any more, but for people involved with mental health advocacy, she is a shining light and one of the great women of history. It is poignant for me that I will be spending the last three days of Women’s History Month with the modern-day Dorothea Dix, Elyn Saks of the USC Gould School of Law. We will be immersed in collaboration and study at the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics, where Elyn is changing history and shattering expectations with her life and work.

These two shining stars carry on a tradition of advocacy that unites them across the centuries. When I stop and think about this incredible legacy, it draws my attention and awareness to how many modern day female leaders have revolutionized the holistic health of women and have had a direct effect on my own life.

I get asked all the time, ‘With your mental health history, what is your current treatment and diagnosis?” I have written before about my history with brain health challenges, with diagnoses given to me when I was young that are usually considered chronic. But my history has not become my reality, so I like to turn that question around and ask, “Do I have a brain that functions ‘normally’? No, I say, but does anyone?’

Finding my way to that perspective owes so much to modern medicine when I was in my teens and a remarkable litany of teachers, healers, and revolutionary leaders. Their work changed my DNA, my health history, and my whole life trajectory. For Women’s History Month, I want to publicly honor them for their radical work in bringing Flawless health to the world:

Debbie Rosas
The final leg of my journey in ending my challenges with anorexia came through the intensive Nia White Belt training with Debbie Rosas. I learned how to tune in to sensation in my body at a cellular level, to stop thinking “no pain no gain.” I accepted that there is truly no gain if there is no self compassion, which set the foundation for my studies a few months later with the revolutionary change maker Regena Thomashauer.

Regena Thomashauer
Regena contributes to changing the paradigm of health by teaching women how to express all their emotions, shed self-hatred and doubt, and live healthy, happy lives in every area — work, family, spirituality, physical health, and emotional wellbeing.

I have been studying with Regena for about a decade. She has taught me how to create a life-based on authentic expression of emotions and pleasure — and to understand that there is a direct correlation between the light and the dark in our lives. The tools in her toolkit are powerful antidotes to women’s lives today, which are so often a breeding ground for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and general discontent.

Barbara Stanny
Barbara specializes in financial education for women. From her body of work, I have learned how to stand for my value, which has completely revolutionized my relationship with money. As a result of clarity about my work and finances, abundance flows to me in all areas of my life.

Christiane Northrup, M.D.
In Regena’s Mastery course, we had the incredibly lucky experience to study with Dr. Northrup, a pioneer in women’s health who specializes in women over 40. Her work has been very informative and healing for me during this time of intense change in my body — after 45 where I have seen shifts in my anxiety levels, insomnia, and patterns of weight gain. I have been able to rise to these body image and health challenges with the support of Christiane’s brilliant work.

Off the Mat Into the World
In this yoga leadership training, Hala Khouri, Seane Corn, and Suzanne Sterling use music, ritual, yoga, somatic therapy and thoughtful study to achieve an almost unimaginable release of trauma and grief. I cried in this training to the point where I was almost hyperventilating, but it was so healing — soul cleansing and very important for changing patterns that no longer serve me.

I experienced extreme mental health challenges as a young adult, some of them life-threatening. Even after many hospitalizations and years of treatment, I had some surprising regression in my 30s. Now, at least every day, I stop and feel a moment of gratitude for these women and their work as I celebrate the radical transformation in my life from studying with them.

They changed my history and they are changing the world for the rest of us. This is a powerful sisterhood that I hope every women reading this will join to carry on a legacy of hope for all women everywhere as we model holistic health for our daughters, our girls… our future.

———

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

Written by Rosemary Strembicki

I spend a lot of time with 3-year-olds. They are my companions, playmates and most of all, my teachers. Seeing the world through their eyes and observing their reactions to everyday life has provided me with a perspective that I had lost over the past 60 years. Watching them try to make sense of the language they hear, the emotions they feel and the expectations of the various adults in their lives seems to be a huge undertaking we, as adults, have lost sight of. So the question is, how can we best help them?

All children are born shrouded in the expectations of the generations that have preceded them. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all have their individual understanding of life and what it has to offer. Their experiences have shaped who they are and they all want the best that life has to offer for their children. It’s a huge challenge to negotiate all those opinions and ideals but it’s also the biggest gift we can give our children. It provides them with a tableau from which to view life and make choices. With guidance from their parents they can make decisions for themselves from all the information that bombards them throughout their childhood. The examples we set are the basis of their learning, how we respond to them shapes their understanding of themselves and how well we support them is the key to their emotional health.

Emotional health is the most important factor in determining the levels of satisfaction we feel as adults. It trumps income, education and academic achievement. If we are not emotionally healthy it’s hard to enjoy the benefits of all three. And if we are emotionally healthy they are secondary to our feelings of satisfaction with our lives. Providing our children with a community that understands them and supports them is most important in their development. Being surrounded by adults who are invested in their best interest within a secure environment is essential to growing up with the confidence to meet the world. Accepting them for who they are and helping them develop their individual gifts (and every child has them) contributes to their self-confidence. And seeing themselves as individuals that have the capacity to help others enhances their self-esteem.

Raising our children is the most important job we will undertake. We are not only raising individuals but citizens of the world. Each one of us, and our children, contributes to society in both small and sometimes very large ways. There is no one handbook on how to do it, each family is unique, every member provides input, and every challenge has a multitude of possible solutions. What’s a parent to do?

Just a few suggestions:

– Always keep your child in mind.
– Be there for the important times; don’t leave them to someone else.
– Develop boundaries and expectations and stick by them.
– Surround your children with people who truly care about them.
– Always be mindful of the example you are setting.
– Remember that the investment of time lessens as our children get older so make the most of it and catch a nap every chance you get.
– Try to remain positive; children absorb the negativity around them.
– Talk to your children; even the youngest children thrive on the interaction.
– Listen to your children; even the youngest children have something to say.

Each one of us creates our own reality by how we think about the world. Helping our children develop their reality is a huge responsibility, not something to be taken lightly. Thoughtfulness is essential. We may not always make the right decisions but correcting our mistakes and being honest about our choices will teach our children that none of us is perfect. How they view us is the first step in how they will view the world.

Dating in today’s technology craze is simply not as easy as one would think. Today’s gay culture embraces a social order where everyone has their faces glued to their cell phone or, what I call “dumb phones.” Dumb, because it renders the art of face to face interaction as less desirable, unless of course, the face to face interaction is in the bedroom.

In fact, when I venture in the bars in NYC, I often see a line of men all with their attention on their phones and not even bothering up to interact with one another? What is that all about? Are you ALL on Grindr or Manhunt? If so, that lack of face-to face interaction renders the venue to be no less than a sex club or bathhouse.

As a professional therapist and communication professor, I view these devices as a metaphor of a “security blanket;” similar to the one Linus had in the Peanuts cartoons. So, put the phones away and look at people in the room- you can play with your phones when you get home or leave the bar.

I guess in retrospect, I simply miss the days where guys really looked at one another and would either smile or even, scowl (a facial expression meant to indicate “hotness) at one another to signal their interest. Now, that was exciting because there was a challenge in the pursuit of your man.

In today’s gay culture, I question how can one smile or scowl at the object of your affection when your eyes are directed at the multitude of images on your phone? Does the man who is standing right next to you going to have to wait for you to look up; whenever that would be?

When it comes to dating for myself, I am very close to “throwing in the proverbial towel” in trying to connect with the men at my gym, many of who seem to be always connected to their phones while working out; many with earplugs in their ears, tuning out the world around them.

So then, with all these challenges at hand, I for one, decided to hire a matchmaker to assist me in finding the right guy; whatever that means?

After having worked with two professional matchmakers in the past two years, I have made some nice connections both for friendship and potential romance. But for right now, friendship is all I feel with those men who I have now included in my social life.

I often ask myself and friends I confide in, if I am being overly selective in my choices of suitable partners, and am close to admitting, that I may have become somewhat “jaded” in my choices of men. But, I know that I do not stand alone in this “jaded” attitude in terms of finding the right guy.

For, deep down, I am a true romantic who loves watching all those romantic comedies, either straight or gay themed, on my big screen television, crying when I see the main characters find love after significant life challenges.Most recently, enjoying the movie Cinderella, someone we all know finds love despite serious stepmother issues.

For all the gay romantics out there, I have become a big fan of the new HBO series, Looking, watching all the challenges those young “hotties” go through in their pursuit of love and acceptance. Of course, I am nothing like the cute leading man of the series played by Jonathan Groff but, still viable and ready for love.

Having tried some of the multitude of online sex or dating sites, I too, as have many of us, simply become too secretive and a little too evasive while online; as if playing a game of “cat and mouse!”

Why do many of us act is such a dubious manner? Well, speaking for myself, being a man of a certain age (okay- sixties), I have experienced more than my share of both good and bad choices of partners. Now, I tend to move more slowly in making my next move when it comes to dating.

Again, I know well, that some of you also have felt deceived or disappointed in your past choices as well? Are you also a bit tired of “playing the game” of seduction and now find yourself moving a bit slower than in your past in order to protect yourself from further hurt and loss?

Unfortunately, I have learned that there is no easy way to find love nowadays, or if you have found love, what is it about that love that works for you? I am sure there are many of us who would benefit hearing your stories and perhaps, could even learn something new from you in our search for true love.

As a professor of some twenty five years, I have always found storytelling to be a wonderful tool in providing clear examples for others to learn from and perhaps follow. So, to all those men who have found love, do us a big favor and tell us so we could perhaps know what to look for?

After all, life is school and we are all learning something new every day, either good or bad, and should not always rely on our phones and computers to tell us what to do.

As a community that is only some forty-five years old dating back to the days of Stonewall, we are still little children in comparison to the world in general. And, like small children, we all have the potential to learn quickly from our mistakes. After all, we all benefited from listening to our parents at some point.

For others without the support of parents for whatever reason, our friends become our mentors, there to teach us basic survival techniques in a world that can often be somewhat cold and self-involved at times.

But to make all this as simple as possible with regards to “cruising for love,” just try looking up and smiling at the next man who “strikes your fancy” (yes, an old world term). After all, your “smart phone” does not have all the answers when it comes right down to it, and a smile from one man to another can work wonders if you try it.

Face it, we have just come out of a very difficult winter and now spring is here and you know what they say about spring fever; that “love is also in the air” as well. So then, go outside and find it!