If you try to describe 3D printing to someone, you can’t help but channel a little science fiction. “You put designs in this machine, which then just like…makes it.” I’m convinced that its the great-great-great-grandfather to the oft-referenced Star Trek replicator. Luckily, I already like my tea Earl Grey and hot.
Nintendo has announced — using a pretty cheesy video — that it will be bringing back the Nintendo World Championships. This is the first time the gaming company has held such an event in 25 years, making it particularly notable, and it will be held in Los Angeles, California, on June 14. Nintendo announced the news today as part of … Continue reading
The conventional internet address is about to go the way of the dodo… at least, in the US and Canada. According to estimates, North America will run out of IPv4 addresses (the familiar 1.2.3.4 format) this summer. While some companies might stall t…
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the USA Freedom Act on Wednesday in a sweeping 338-88 vote, moving forward legislation that would curtail the NSA’s bulk collection of data. The bill now moves to the Senate, which must approv…
How do scientists study the evolutionary transformation from snouts to beaks as those winged dinosaurs became birds? By putting dinosaur snouts on chickens, of course. A team of researchers at Yale were able to modify the chickens’ genetic make up in…
Every self-respecting smartphone manufacturer would definitely have a flagship model handy (such as South Korean company Samsung and their Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge), in order to show to the rest of the world its ability to keep up with its competitors on the high end side of things. Of course, flagship models do have the tendency to be all flash – not to mention costing a bomb, too. Nubia of China has just introduced their high end model, calling it the Nubia Z9.
The Nubia Z9 will feature a bunch of pioneering features from the China handset manufacturer, where among them include a visually borderless screen and easier smart phone controls, which Nubia claims will be able to deliver a superior user experience, not to mention those are the very same qualities that reflect the company’s long-term efforts at innovation.
What makes the Nubia Z9 very different from the rest of the flagship models that are in the market? For starters, its standout feature would be a visually borderless 5.2” display, and thanks to arc Refractive Conduction (aRC) technology, the Nubia Z9 claims to be able to deliver a greater degree of visual effects as opposed to those from other devices of a similar size, in addition to sporting a design that makes it more ergonomic and easy to hold.
The borderless design is a triumph in aesthetics and design, but it also paves the way forward for users to be able to control their smartphone in a more interactive manner. Frame interactive Technology (FiT) would let Nubia Z9 users to control their handsets simply by touching just the edge of the screen. For example, to roll out the camera application right there and then simply requires one to turn the phone sideways and place four fingertips on the edge of the screen. You can also capture one-handed selfies or to take a picture by squeezing the handset without touching any buttons.
Other hardware specifications of the Nubia Z9 include a 16MP primary camera with OIS (optical image stabilization), a Snapdragon 810 chipset, a 2,900mAh battery, and a 5.2” display with Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. You can choose from 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal memory or 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal memory for $564 and $645, respectively, while the high end model comes with the latter configuration and a fingerprint sensor for $725 a pop.
Press Release
[ Nubia Z9 announced, ready to take on the world copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Well before becoming a parent, I was fascinated with how parenting style impacts kids and the adults we become. This intrigue led me to write a graduate dissertation on the topic, and later to read many wonderful books on positive parenting strategies that integrate discipline and love.
As the saying goes, “There’s no manual for parenting.” Even with great resources, we’re human beings who experience pushed buttons and triggered feelings. The following 10 lessons are ones I keep learning more about from my son and continue working on, but they’re making me a happier, more effective parent and human, and are shaping my son’s character.
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All of us who breathe the air, drink the water, and hope for a healthy future for our kids and grandchildren have a lot at stake in Illinois’ debate over Right to Work. The right of workers to organize is not only important for individual workers to earn a living wage and be treated fairly by employers, it also protects and strengthens our communities.
Workers are our first line of defense against toxic pollution, chemical spills, and other accidents that can devastate communities. Union workers are more likely to receive the training necessary to deal the health and safety risks of hazardous chemicals. A union can offer protection and job security to an employee who might blow the whistle on hazards and accidents in the workplace, or who might report illegal pollution or dangerous conditions. Too many workers without the protection of a union are forced to handle toxic chemicals without proper safeguards, and stay quiet for fear of losing their job. Don’t we all want the workers at the factory or power plant near our neighborhood, school, or workplace to know they can speak up when they see danger?
Right to work is primarily a tactic to lower wages, and pollution thrives on poverty. Families living on low wages are more likely to live with increased air and water pollution than those earning a living wage. Low-income households are more likely to have a child or family member who suffers from asthma or other illness made worse by pollution, and less likely to have access to quality healthcare to treat these problems. People struggling to survive on poverty wages are less empowered to seek justice when their communities are threatened. That’s how poverty attracts pollution, and environmental injustice occurs. Everyone wants clean air, clean water, safe open spaces, and a better future for their families. However, you can’t have a voice in the fight for our future if low wages force you to focus on putting food on the table. Unions help workers stand together for better wages and health care, and in the process empower citizens to stand up to protect their health and families.
Unions also empower workers to speak and act collectively about the major issues of our time. When it comes to confronting the threat of climate change, and seizing the opportunities of the clean energy economy, organized workers can play a pivotal role in creating new jobs in renewable energy and conservation and thus reducing the pollution that threatens our health and our future. In moving to the cleaner energy sources of the future, we must also ensure a just transition for workers in the old energy sector. To make that transition work for all of us, we count on unions to participate in creating the policies that will bring us the future we all want.
Let’s support the rights of our fellow citizens to organize and form unions – our future may very well depend on it.
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The recent homeless count in Los Angeles revealed that homelessness increased by 16 percent from 2013 to the present; the unsheltered homeless population has nearly tripled. For those of us who have noticed an increasing number of tents propped up along our sidewalks, and too many recreational vehicles parked along our streets, we are not surprised.
With so many homelessness initiatives in the past dozen years, should we not be surprised?
For the last 20 years, I have led a homeless and housing organization based in Los Angeles called PATH. During this period, I have worked with four Los Angeles city mayors, participated in seven Point-in-Time (PIT) homeless counts, and seen numerous homeless initiatives come and go in the city and the county.
In 2003, Los Angeles put together a Blue Ribbon Panel, which I was part of, to create a “ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness“. The plan proposed creating 50,000 housing units at a cost of $12 billion. Clearly, our political leaders did not have the appetite to endow such a plan. In the end, this initiative stayed on some bureaucrat’s bookshelf.
After Los Angeles’ first homeless count concluded that nearly 90,000 people were homeless in 2005, then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa courageously committed $100 million to the city’s Housing Trust Fund. The County invested an additional $100 million toward its own “Homeless Prevention Initiative“.
In 2007, the County supported a strategic initiative to identify and house 50 of the most vulnerable people living on the streets of Skid Row. Led by the nonprofit group Common Ground, this successful “Project 50” program turned into a county-wide effort (and part of a national initiative) to house vulnerable people in dozens of communities throughout the county. Thousands of people were housed.
Two years later, the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy research organization, released a study, which documented the public cost for people who live on our streets. They discovered that the price of healthcare, law enforcement, emergency housing, and public assistance was nearly five times greater than providing a person with a supportive housing unit. In other words, it costs society more money to allow people to live on the streets than to house them in an apartment.
This economic justification for housing people piqued the interest of the business community. In 2010, they joined Los Angeles’ efforts to address homelessness. Called “Home For Good“, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the L.A. Chamber of Commerce created a plan to end chronic and veteran homelessness by 2016. They brought together public and private entities to coordinate funding, services, and housing efforts. Home for Good has documented that, since 2011, Los Angeles has housed nearly 20,000 veterans and chronically homeless people.
Los Angeles has certainly actively addressed homelessness in the past dozen years. We cannot be faulted for not doing enough. In fact, encouraged by First Lady Michelle Obama and supported by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the latest Los Angeles initiative is to end veteran homelessness by the end of this year.
So why is homelessness increasing? And have we failed?
The good news is that Los Angeles has invested more resources than ever before. The region is more coordinated among its public and private agencies, and the focus is on housing our most vulnerable people on the streets first.
The city and county’s public housing authorities are prioritizing more housing vouchers for people who are homeless, and the federal government has increased its housing assistance resources, especially to veterans who are homeless.
Homelessness in Los Angeles, however, will not drastically decrease until structural solutions occur.
For years, the idea of “Housing First” where the most chronically homeless persons are given apartments linked with support services has been paramount. And rightfully so. That is why Los Angeles, as well as communities across this country, have successfully housed thousands and thousands of people who used to live on our streets.
But as we are now witnessing, simply housing more people will not stop the flow of homelessness onto our streets. That is because homelessness is more than just about people living in tents, inside RV’s, along our freeways and beaches, and in front of our businesses.
Homelessness is a poverty issue. People living on our streets are a result of our nation’s inability to save people from falling through a broken social safety net.
Our nation needs to address the inequity of wages, the inadequate stock of affordable housing, the lack of planning for people departing prisons, foster care, and our armed services. We need to better educate our youth, especially those in poor urban neighborhoods. Sadly, this list of society’s broken social ills is long.
Until we are able to stem the flow of people who are unable to escape poverty, homelessness will persist in this country.
As for Los Angeles, our city has not lacked in creative, hard working efforts to house its homeless population. In fact, don’t let these homeless numbers fool you. We should be commended for permanently housing so many people.
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The long summer nights seemed to go on forever. I laid on the cot placed out for me, clothed only in a small child’s t-shirt and panties, feeling uncomfortable sweat rolling down my body from my hair to my toes. Humidity took July summer nights on an East Texas oil lease and made 104 evening temps feel like 120. The house was not only thick with summer heat, but also from attitudes of the residents. Fear didn’t grow just from the heat and the mosquitoes which accompanied our trips to my grandparents (once they counted over 102 mosquito bites on me when a screen was left off a window at night), but it was mostly fear of the woman we called Maw-Maw. She daily raged into the front room, after my younger brothers and I crossed her lines, with wild gray hair pointing to the sky, a long apron choking her waist, and frantically swinging a broom. In my 8-year-old mind, she might as well have been yelling, “I’ll get you, my pretty!!” The scene had everything but flying monkeys.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you I learned how to age gracefully from the women in my life. Both grandmothers and my mother were embittered by family alcoholics, abuse, and pain. They all were the stereotypical “mean old ladies.” People you want to run from because they suck the air right out of you. However, it is their role modeling and emotional abuse which sent me in a different direction; because, I so did not want to be anything like them. We all go through hard times; it is what we do with those lessons which chart our course.
I dreaded any trips to either of the grandparents’ houses; anger seeped out of every crevice. The women in my life chose to become victims and allow circumstances to destroy their lives. Anger can be a very selfish emotion, especially when you use it to harm those around you. At times when I feel this selfish anger rising inside of me, I look in the mirror, see my mother and then hear her words. That usually snaps me back into reality.
I really am not a fan of the phrase “Aging Gracefully.” We are all aging from the moment we slide out the birth canal. However, instead of aging gracefully, I choose to “Live Joyfully” …out loud and with contentment. I decided a long time ago not be a victim. Despite any challenges which may come my way — and they do come — I choose to live one day at a time with joy. There is something to laugh about every day. There is something to rejoice in every day. We now know from medical studies those who laugh and enjoy life will often live longer, even with terminal cancers. Dr. Terry Grossman writes, “Other studies have shown that laughter can decrease stress, increase pain tolerance, reduce depression and improve quality of life.” It is never too late to bury anger and replace it with a rock solid determination to enjoy yourself however remaining days you have on this earth. Now, I realize some reading this will be turned off by my “Pollyanna” attitude and think with disgust, that there is no way I understand your circumstances.
Trust me… I do understand. You can sit there embittered and dry up, or make a choice today to LIVE…,really live. Life goes so fast. We can try every anti-aging product on the market, but, let’s face it; nothing stops the process, no matter what we do. My pastor honored his mother on her 90th birthday in a sermon. She was sitting in the audience at the time. I found myself at first very jealous that he grew up in a household which was fun, joyful, educational, challenging and all about serving others. At 90 years of age, I saw an independent woman who still lived in her own home, drove a car, shopped, lunched with girlfriends and loved her freedom. She was the fun grandma with a door wide open and a welcoming place where her grandchildren loved to go. Not a mean old woman, but a vibrant youthful one.
I want my grandchildren to love coming to my house. I want them to feel safe and secure sleeping there. I want to be the captivating Glenda pointing their hearts toward home and not the mean old Wicked Witch of the West embittered by what life did not give me. I choose to live joyfully for however long I am here turn on the air conditioner in summer and avoid mosquitoes whenever possible!
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
