SpaceXsuccessfully launched two NASA astronautsinto orbit for the first time on May 30 and in doing so, CEO Elon Musk reached a milestone inhuman spaceflightandis one step closer to achievinghis Mars ambitions.

Six of the SpaceX software team members who helped "develop and deploy software that flew Dragon," aka the Crew Dragon capsule used to launch the astronauts,held a Reddit"Ask Me Anything" sessionon June 6.

"We are here to answer any questions you might have about Dragon, software and working at SpaceX," the team wrote on Reddit.

The job of each team member varied from managing software development for the Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch torunning flight software and cybersecurity and each shared a bit of advice on how to get a job at SpaceX.

Here are the team's best tips on getting a software job at SpaceX.

During the AMA, a Reddit user who identified as a high school student asked, "What can I do if I want to get a software job at SpaceX sometime in the future?"

"Get your CS [computer science] degree or something similar" to "really make sure you know how things work,"Jeff Dexter, who runs flight software and cybersecurity at SpaceX, said.

"[E]ngineers who do well at SpaceX are meticulous in their understanding of how their code works, how the network works, how Linux works, how the hardware works, etc.," he explained.

Plus, many of theopenengineeringandsoftware job listingsat SpaceXinclude a bachelor's degree or higher education as a basic requirement.

In addition to a degree, "get real world experience building things and solving hard problems, either through hobby projects or in internships (at SpaceX!)," Dexter advised.

For instance, SpaceX has "noticed particularly good crossover between video game development and what we do,"John Dietrick, leader of the software development effort for Demo-2, said on Reddit."There are a lot of similar math-heavy and performance-centric problems in the two spaces."

In fact, Musk has said his own love of video games inspired him to start programming when he was 12, hecoded a video game called "Blastar," which he latersold for $500to trade publication PC and Office Technology magazine.

While a degree or experience can help, neither is the end all, be all.

"Having different people with different backgrounds (education, experience, and culturally) is a big plus on the team," Matt Monson, who used to work on Dragon and now leads Starlink software, said. "Not much of the team, for example, comes from an aerospace background. Different points of view help us see problems from different angles, and that quite often helps us see solutions we wouldn't have otherwise seen."

When it comes down to it, "we're really looking for a couple things: talent (potential) and the right attitude (desire for self improvement, serving the team over being selfish)," Monson says. "These are more important than specific experience, and we expect to be investing in people to help them grow."

As Musk himself tweetedin February, in order to work at SpaceX, "A super hardcore work ethic, talent for building things, common sense & trustworthiness are required, the rest we can train."

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Originally posted here:
How to land a job at Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to the rocket company's software team - CNBC

Having borrowed everything she could to secure her passage, Myrtle Lewars set sail on June 15, 1955.

Efforts to improve her fortunes in Jamaica textbooks were her favourite reading and she could convert any currency mentally in less than a minute had offered no escape from the hardship that meant she had missed out on a formal education. A decent pair of shoes cost more than she could save in months.

Brought up in the rural parish of Clarendon or bush, as she called it Myrtle would move to Kingston and pin her hopes on England, the country she regarded as the motherland.

Two weeks before stepping aboard at the Port of Kingston holding a small suitcase, my maternal grandmother had chanted at dawn White rabbit, white rabbit, lucky white rabbit.

When the day came, she dressed impeccably, fixing a white rose to the lapel of her pressed suit jacket.

It had been shipped to the island in the precious consignments of imported goods known as the barrels.

An attractive young woman, Myrtle had once appeared in front of crowds to draw the sweepstake, with the moment captured on the front page of national newspaper, The Gleaner.

But like the waves of finely turned-out Jamaican migrants before and after her, she had staked everything on the land of The Queen, Vera Lynn and double-decker buses.

Myrtle would never again call Jamaica home.

She sailed from Kingston on the Ortega at 2.30pm, hoping that better must come in the promised land.

Sixty-five years on from that voyage, the Windrush Generation Caribbean migrants who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971 are still campaigning for redress after being wrongly targeted by the Home Offices hostile environment immigration policies.

A petition signed by 131,000 people was delivered to Downing Street on Friday (June 19), calling on the Government to act on the findings of a review into the scandal.

The ongoing campaign follows protests about the treatment of British citizens who have been detained, denied healthcare and threatened with deportation. While the Government has repeatedly apologised to the victims, the issue remains in the backdrop of celebrations to mark 72 years since the MV Empire Windrush first arrived with the prospective workforce in Tilbury Docks.

A sense of betrayal remains at the Home Offices treatment of some of its most dutiful subjects, who were wrongly told to leave the country they had spent decades investing in, and helped rebuild, after the war.

As MP David Lammy has forcefully stated in Parliament, the relationship between the Caribbean and UK is inextricable. But a wider debt of gratitude must be given to the Jamaican community, for the boundless energy and creativity that has helped shape the West Midlands.

Paulette Wilson was among those who marched on No10 and has helped to organise the second national Windrush Day as a member of the event's advisory panel.

She said: "We are living in extraordinary times, but the commitment and effort shown by community groups around the country to adapt and adjust their plans to ensure Windrush Day 2020 is acknowledged and celebrated is both inspiring and heart-warming.

"It clearly demonstrates the depth of feeling that exists for the Windrush Generation and their descendants and all they have contributed and continue to contribute to British society and thats to say nothing of the great resilience and fortitude they showed.

"With each passing year, Windrush Day becomes more firmly embedded in the national consciousness. It might not be a Windrush Day like we saw last year, but it will remain a Windrush Day honoured by a community fiercely proud of their heritage, and a day that provides an opportunity for us all to celebrate our shared culture and heritage."

Its only been in recent years that I have taken stock of my late grandmothers journey, feeling humbled as I examine a family anthology detailing her life. Jamaican accents are thin on the ground in Coventry and Warwickshire now, at least in comparison to years gone by.

While this is partly due to the migrants success in assimilating into British culture, a lasting foothold is still needed far beyond the Governments long-overdue back-pedalling.

While the Windrush Day anniversary does include funding for community projects in the West Midlands, the region is crying out for a yearly festival that shares not just Jamaican culture but recognises the way it has fused with British life and traditions over the years.

The exuberant Independence Day scenes that held sway in Birmingham in 2018 are an example of how the Jamaican community, a loose term encompassing many English born-and-bred people of all colours, could contribute towards a major yearly festival in the region.

The Windrush Generation's legacy, and that of the Irish, Indian and other overseas migrants who arrived in Britain at the time, should also be realised amid the relentless development, with the dull grey steel and towers of scaffolding, that swaddles much of the West Midlands.

One milestone has been reached in that June 22 the day the former German naval vessel first disembarked its prospective workforce is officially recognised as Windrush Day.

I believe there is more to do, including putting the subject on the National Curriculum in secondary schools.

One thing I am sure of is that my grandmother would have encouraged all students, from all backgrounds, to make the most of every tool, opportunity and crumb of education at their disposal.

After arriving in South London, Myrtle struggled to settle in her adopted country.

Despite her mental skills, application and willingness for hard work and self-improvement, assimilation into a cold and often hostile world was far from easy.

Life began in the smallest rented room in a Brixton tenement, with any money left over from day-to-day survival sent back to a long list of people in Jamaica. But later generations of her family would step onto the groundstones she had laid for their education and career prospects.

We owe these pioneers a lasting debt of gratitude.

More:
Windrush Day: Journalist Josh Layton reflects on grandmother's voyage - Coventry Telegraph

By The Associated Press

Todays Highlight in History:

On June 19, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.

On this date:

In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

In 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over, and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free an event celebrated to this day as Juneteenth.

In 1938, four dozen people were killed when a railroad bridge in Montana collapsed, sending a train known as the Olympian hurtling into Custer Creek.

In 1944, during World War II, the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.

In 1945, millions of New Yorkers turned out to cheer Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was honored with a parade.

In 1952, the U.S. Army Special Forces, the elite unit of fighters known as the Green Berets, was established at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The celebrity-panel game show Ive Got A Secret debuted on CBS-TV.

In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.

In 1975, former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois; the killing has never been solved.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to teach creation science as well.

In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned North Korea it would face consequences if it test-fired a missile thought to be powerful enough to reach the West Coast of the United States.

In 2009, Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford was indicted and jailed on charges his international banking empire was really just a Ponzi scheme built on lies, bluster and bribery. (Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison after being convicted of bilking investors in a $7.2 billion scheme that involved the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposits.)

In 2013, actor James Gandolfini, 51, died while vacationing in Rome.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to pin blame on Republicans for making life harder for the unemployed and for those who could lose their jobs without new federal intervention. Former NBA player Manute Bol, 47, died in Charlottesville, Virginia, after returning from a humanitarian trip to his birth country of Sudan.

Five years ago: The Obama administration released its annual terrorism report, which said Irans support for international terrorist groups had remained undiminished in the last year and even expanded in some respects. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees homered for his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 29th player in major league history to reach that milestone. (The Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 7-2.) Author James Salter, 90, died in Sag Harbor, New York.

One year ago: The Trump administration ordered a sweeping about-face on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coal-fired power plants. In a daylong interview with the House Judiciary Committee, former top White House adviser Hope Hicks refused to answer questions related to her time in the White House. Mexicos Senate voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new free trade agreement with the United States and Canada. (President Donald Trump signed the trade deal into law in January 2020.) Keith Raniere, the guru of a cult-like self-improvement group that attracted heiresses and Hollywood actress, was convicted in New York of turning his female devotees into his sex slaves.

Todays Birthdays: Pop singer Tommy DeVito (The Four Seasons) is 92. Actress Gena (JEH-nuh) Rowlands is 90. Hall of Fame race car driver Shirley Muldowney is 80. Singer Elaine Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 78. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (soo chee) is 75. Author Sir Salman Rushdie is 73. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 72.

Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 70. Musician Larry Dunn is 67. Actress Kathleen Turner is 66. Country singer Doug Stone is 64. Singer Mark DeBarge is 61. Singer-dancer-choreographer Paula Abdul is 58. Actor Andy Lauer is 57. Rock singer-musician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 56. Actor Samuel West is 54. Actress Mia Sara is 53. TV personality Lara Spencer is 51. Rock musician Brian Head Welch is 50. Actor Jean Dujardin is 48. Actress Robin Tunney is 48. Actor Bumper Robinson is 46. Actress Poppy Montgomery is 45. Alt-country singer-musician Scott Avett (AY-veht) (The Avett Brothers) is 44. Actor Ryan Hurst is 44. Actress Zoe Saldana is 42. Former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki is 42. Actor Neil Brown Jr. is 40. Actress Lauren Lee Smith is 40. Rapper Macklemore (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis) is 38. Actor Paul Dano is 36. New York Mets pitcher Jacob DeGrom is 32. Actor Giacomo Gianniotti is 31. Actor Chuku Modu (TV: The Good Doctor) is 30. Actor Atticus Shaffer is 22.

Thought for Today: Exuberance is better than taste. Gustave Flaubert, French author (1821-1880).

Here is the original post:
Today in History: Today is Friday, June 19, the 171st day of 2020. - wausaupilotandreview.com

Maybe, just maybe, this work I need to do, this learning and unlearning, is not all about me. As a white woman in America, its second nature for me to center myself in the discourse, but also to vanish from it when its convenient. So permit me, please, to make this work of undoing my complicity in white supremacy in the name of racial justice all about me, you and literally everybody else.

First up, I disagree that this is in fact work. Work is chores, and chores get done. Mopping the floor, watching The Help, getting a root canal; those are chores that thankfully all come to an end. When youre white, understanding racism and anti-blackness is not a root canal, its not a one-time-only, pay-your-money, drill-the-rot-out-and-get-through-it type of experience. This is a lifelong project we get to approach with grace and curiosity and the full understanding that it will be difficult at times and beautiful at times and any chance we have to take part in it is frankly rather stunning.

In a culture fixated on self-improvement, perhaps you could think about rescinding your power as a kind of barre class for your moral compass. In the beginning it will be difficult on those tiny, rarely used muscles, but boy will you be aligned after some years of daily practice.

I hope you dont, though. I hope you understand that grappling with this countrys brutal past and imagining a future that is fair is not something you are expected to do alone. Youre simply one drop in a new wave, a wave that slips easily into an ocean of people, deep and permanent, who have long been eroding the cliffs of white supremacy.

I hope this comes as a relief to you, as it did to me. There is great solace in putting aside the fallacy that youre entitled to a starring role in this story. When you jump from the brittle scaffold built by violence and go tumbling into the tide, youll see that its easy. Youll find leaders and peers there, all around you. You wont worry then about messing up or getting lost; youll know at once where youre needed. Much of the time that will be behind these leaders and peers, often beside them, or when faced with danger, youll be in front of them, bashing into the cliffs yourself so they can float and sparkle and enjoy the world away from the fight.

See the original post:
To White People Who Want to Be One of the Good Ones - The New York Times

With the improvement of living standards, people's demand for food has grown from being full to eating well and safely. For fruits, vegetables, and tea leaves, some people will worry about pesticide residues on them, but in the near future, the ability to self-check pesticide residues at home will become a reality.

On June 8, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) announced that the team of Wang Jing of the Institute of Agricultural Quality Standards and Testing Technology of the Academy, after years of research and development, have achieved new breakthroughs in the rapid detection of agricultural pollutants. Taking pictures through WeChat can complete the detection of multiple chemical pesticide residues in 5 minutes, and the detection results are directly displayed on the mobile phone.

Normally, pesticide residue testing is done by professionals in the laboratory, the testing equipment is expensive, and the testing results usually take one to two days to be issued. However, this higher-cost detection method is not suitable for the needs of rapid detection on the spot.

Professor Wang Jing of the Institute of Quality and Standards of CAAS said that after harvesting many fresh agricultural products, it is difficult to wait for the test results to come out and then go to market. In many cases, "the relevant agricultural products have already been consumed" before the test results come out. Therefore, from government departments to enterprises and consumers, there is an urgent need to quickly and accurately detect pesticide residues.

First of all, the government can use these rapid testing technologies and products in the process of market supervision. Especially in the field of commodity circulation, some quick means are needed to inspect these fresh agricultural products on-site. If rapid screening reveals pesticide residues, they can then be sent to the laboratory for further confirmation.

Second, production bases and large companies must have a check before entering the market, and they also need such self-examination.

In addition, consumers are also concerned about the safety of eating these vegetables and fruits, so consumers also have a need for self-inspection.

After years of research, Wang Jing's team has developed a detection technology for pesticide residues, which is suitable for rapid screening by government supervisors, self-checks by producers and by consumers for home use. Just buy a test package containing test strips and a small tray, take pictures through the WeChat mini-program, and the test can be completed in 5 minutes.

At present, the team has developed colloidal gold rapid detection test strips for pesticides such as imidacloprid, carbofuran, tebuconazole, acetamiprid, procymidone, chlorpyrifos, carbendazim.

According to Wang Jing, if all the ready-made test strips on the market are standardized in the future and mounted on this platform, contaminants, viruses, and pathogens can be detected through this platform. In her opinion, if COVID-19 test strips, as well as a series of developed test strips such as influenza A and influenza B, are mounted on this, then they can all be tested at the same time.

Source: http://www.caas.cn

Read the original post:
Detecting pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables with smartphone pics - FreshPlaza.com

Sooner or later, our kids will make us suffer. When theyre babies, their crying keeps us up at night. Later, their teenage shenanigans might rob us of more sleep. Some of us stay at jobs we hate so that our kids will never have to wonder where their next meal will come from. We can battle with our co-parents over issues like housework and discipline, testing love we might have once thought would last forever.

These stresses and sacrifices can be painful, but studies are finding one thing that can help us to weather them: a sense of purpose. That is to say, our long-term, meaningful goals as fathers.

A sense of purpose shapes day-to-day goals and behavior. Seeing a destination on the horizon helps us to lift our eyes over the dirty dishes and temper tantrums, to a future that is better than the present. Purpose makes that pile of dishes matter. It reminds us that we matter, if only to our kids. Purpose keeps us at home with them when we wish we were elsewhere.

Meet the Greater Good Toolkit

From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being.

While purposes can vary, recent studies suggest that just having one is good for you and your family. So, what does purpose look like in a fathers life? How can you find your purpose as a father? These are existential questions that every man must answer for himself. But research does provide some insights to help us understand ourselves betterand see the fathers we want to become.

The chances are good that your purpose is different from the one held by your own father and grandfathers. Scholars say that fathers of previous generations saw their purpose as financially supporting their families and providing discipline to their children. Some saw themselves as leaders and role models for their families, especially when it came to religious instruction. Inherent in these missions is a sense of authority, which could sometimes become authoritarianismthe enforcement of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom, as the dictionary says.

As a group, todays fathers see their role somewhat differently.

For more than a century, the number of women in the workforce has steadily increased. Today, there are roughly as many women as men working for paythough men still tend to make considerably more money than their female coworkers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What does this have to do with purpose? As women made more money, mens participation at home started climbing. Todays dads are spending much more time with their children than did their fathers. Moreover, the United States has become increasingly diverse. Immigrants have brought new conceptions of fatherhood to America. Fathers of color face challenges that are shaping their sense of purpose.

As a result of these developments, many fathers today add nurturing to their purpose, along with providing. In a discussion I hosted on my Facebook wall, a number of dads said their purpose was to be better than their fathersand to raise kids who would be better than them. What they meant by this, more often than not, was to be physically and emotionally present in the lives of their children.

I lost my dad a few months ago, said Jason Avant, a dad in California. Nowadays I find myself looking through the lens of my childhood, and I do my best to be everything he was, and everything he wasnt. San Francisco writer Andrew O. Dugas, one of those who defines his purpose as to be a better father than mine was, says: My son turned out better than I did. Stronger. Tougher. Kinder. Smarter. Wiser.

For many men, raising kids means that they need to make self-improvement and self-care part of their purpose. After the birth, It was no longer acceptable for me to simply go through the motions, said Blake Overbay, a sergeant with the Massachusetts Army National Guard. I had to outwardly demonstrate that I was working to better myself. Like deliberate and exaggerated movements to warm-up before a workout.

In fact, a new study links a strong sense of purpose to healthier behaviors. Boston College psychologist James R. Mahalik and his colleagues surveyed over 200 men (mostly white, employed, heterosexual, and married) about their sense of purpose and health behaviors like eating right or exercising, and then analyzed how those factors interacted.

Our results suggest that when men who are fathers experience greater purpose, they lead healthier lives, write the authors. It would be logical to presume that they do so to promote outcomes such as improving their health to make a difference in their childrens lives.

This finding adds to a rising number of studies that show that more purposeful people are happier, have better health and cognitive functioning, and live longer.

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that purpose might lengthen lifeand that the purpose that comes with fatherhood might drive healthier behaviors that could be taken up by our kids. After all, evolution involves passing on our genes. Our offspring have a better chance of growing old enough to have their own children if we stick by their side to make sure they stay healthy and strong. A sense of purpose is a tool evolution put into the hands of fathers, to remind us to do that.

In the Facebook discussion I hosted, many fathers mentioned how a sense of crisisthe pandemic, police brutality, and economic turmoilis affecting or clarifying their sense of purpose.

For Berkeley, California, writer Shawn Taylor and his daughter, My primary purpose is to prepare her for the racist and sexist bullshit shell encounter, without robbing her of her sense of wonder and joy.

As the author Ta-Nehisi Coates once told me, in an interview for my book, The Daddy Shift: I just thought, it was the ultimate service to black people if I can be a great father. It was almost a nationalist, Afrocentric way of seeing it. For San Francisco attorney David Pai, watching younger generations rise up has energized his sense of purpose:

Their inherent curiosity, empathy, and general goodness makes me believe that, while I may not see it in my lifetime, I can certainly help lay the foundation for my daughters generation to build a more sustainable and equitable world. So that means being very intentional and self-aware in my thoughts and actions (avoiding cynicism is my challenge), not just around her, but touching upon nearly everything I do. Or, in a nutshell, trying hard not to pass on negativity, even in the end times.

A sense of crisis hasnt fundamentally changed the paternal purpose of Scott Behson, a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University and author of The Working Dads Survival Guide. However, the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements have led him to redouble his efforts to make sure that he is a good man to women and a good ally to people of color.

COVID-19 has powerfully affected how writer and Dads4Change founder Whit Honea sees his purpose. The global pandemic has provided many more examples of right, wrong, empathy, kindness, ignorance, sacrifice, and all the isms. The lesson plan changes by the headline. Right now, he said:

History isnt only being told, but fought, lived, and written. It has made my boys realize that their previous, comfortable view of the world was framed in window treatments and could benefit from a brick or two. Granted, these are the lessons my wife and I have been teaching our boys all along, but the reality of the moment is that they are now paying more attention. They are finding their voice and amplifying others. Their masks cant muffle the message and they dont hide anything. Well yell again tomorrow.

John Anner has three grown daughtersand he has found that raising them has changed his sense of purpose in life. Today, he is the business development director for a nonprofit called Women for Women International.

I long ago landed on my two central valuesgenerosity, and care for women. So, my purpose, as I age, is to focus intently on those two things, building off the things my daughters have taught me. Women in general, and Black women in particular, have labored for too long for no recognition and no pay. The world is built on their uncompensated and unacknowledged labor. So now is a great time for old white guys like me to do the workfor freeand make sure women get paid.

Oakland author and illustrator Innosanto Nagara sees his purpose as going beyond the selfa quality inherent in the scientific definition of purpose, which includes goals that are not just meaningful to us but make a difference in the world. Nagara sees his mission as creating the space for his son to explore, challenge himself, and push his limits, take risks, fail, and succeed but not incur/cause irreparable damage/trauma in the process.

For Nagara, this goes back to the basic Khalil Gibran idea that our children are not our children. They are the children of lifes longing for itself. They are with us but dont belong to us. Their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which we cannot visit, not even in our dreams.

There are almost no recent scientific studies of how fathers develop a sense of purpose. However, researchers are starting to understand the factors that shape our purposes across our lifespans, providing insights that can help fathers to find their purpose. Here are some of the pathways you might take to explore your own purpose.

1. Read books and watch movies

There are countless novels, comic books, movies, and TV shows that thoughtfully portray fathers, as well as nonfiction books and articles on the history and meaning of fatherhood. When I was becoming a father, I found particular inspiration in Michael Chabons novels, the short stories of Alice Munro, the graphic-novel series Starman, movies like The Pursuit of Happyness, daddy blogs, and books by feminist scholars like Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild.

The stories that inspired me may not inspire you. Perhaps youll look more to religious texts, or even to the stories of sports stars. The important thing is the search for inspiration. Seeing the purposes of other fathers, both real and imagined, can help you to see your own.

2. Talk to your co-parents, friends, and family

While purpose is a very personal thing, it often emerges from our connections to other people.

Its important to thoughtfully, intentionally sit down with your co-parent and talk explicitly about what shapes your idea of a good father and what your goals areand to listen to what the other parent has to say. It was incredibly meaningful for me to interview my grandfather and father for my book, The Daddy Shift, because in my family, we never discussed fatherhood. You can talk to the fathers in your own family right now.

If your kids are young, think about joining a neighborhood group for moms and dadsand then, later, volunteering at school. All of these conversations will help inform and sustain your purpose as a father.

3. Look to your hurtsand turn them into healing

Many men have described to me feeling hurt by their own fathers. Sometimes, the pain came from physical punishment. More often, its emotional, arising from absence or verbal abuse. As we saw in my Facebook discussion, men do turn this pain into a purpose to be better than their own fathers. Other fathers described being hurt by racism or some other form of collective discriminationand so are raising their children to fight back against injustice.

Youll incur hurts as a parent, too, when you feel overwhelmed or heartbroken. Instead of beating up on yourself, you can ask yourself what that pain means and how you can do better next time. Your purpose as a father never stops evolving, because we learn something new (about ourselves and others) at every stage of our childs life.

4. Move toward joy and meaning

Theres more to purpose than pain, of course. Many fathers describe their purpose as raising happy kids, and so they try to be happy themselves. I want my kids to be happy and to put good into the world, to do the right thing rather than the easy one, says Honea. My purpose is to model that, sometimes (often) fail, and let them see me learn from it.

In his book The Path to Purpose, Stanford psychologist William Damon argues that purpose happens when our skills meet the needs of the world. While that idea doesnt precisely translate into parenting, its always the case that were better at some aspects of parenting than others. When you play with your kids, you shouldnt always just do the things they enjoy; its important to do the things you like to do, too. If youre good at baseball, see if theyll play ball with you. If its Star Wars you love, watch the movies over and over with your kids, and talk about the messages the movies impart.

We constantly inject joy into our lives, said Taylor. We dress up, we play, we talk about what make us happy and ask what makes each other happy. Hes on the right track: There is a great deal of research suggesting that fostering positive emotionslike happiness and gratitudecan lead us to a sense of purpose.

That can be difficult to do in the face of disease and quarantine, violence and protest, unemployment and uncertainty. But making the pursuit of positive emotions a part of your purpose as a father can help your family to navigate the multiple, interlocking crises that we are facing. Confronting those crises provides us with a sense of purpose, too. Thats why I go with my son to Black Lives Matter protests, and why I talk with him about the work Im doing at home, in quarantine, for the Greater Good Science Center. In this way, I teach my son to have a sense of purposeand so open the door to its benefits for him.

The gift of having a sense of purpose is that it reminds us of the future we want for our children, and it shows us how we can work toward that future today.

This article is part of a GGSC initiative on Finding Purpose Across the Lifespan, supported by the John Templeton Foundation. In a series of articles, podcast episodes, and other resources, well be exploring why and how to deepen your sense of purpose at different stages of life.

Link:
What Is Your Purpose as a Father? - Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

June 22, 2020 06:55 ET | Source: IMS

photo-release

Utilizing IMS' new Wedge telematics sensor to transmit data via the policyholders smartphone, the IMS Connected Claims solution can be deployed for as little as $1 per policy, per month with the opportunity for a near-term 3x return on investment (ROI) via claims cost reduction.

Most insurers believe that the benefits of telematics data are limited to UBI programs, but this no longer has to be the case, said Ed Rochfort, Chief Product Officer for IMS. IMS Connected Claims solution is a claims-focused telematics offering, allowing any insurer, with or without an existing UBI program, to distribute a low-cost connectivity solution to policyholders. It offers reliable collision notications, but more importantly, it gives a clear picture of the circumstances of a collision, enabling faster settlement of liability claims and reductions in claims handling shelf-life. Its a win-win set of outcomes for insurers and policyholders alike.

Boston, MA and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions), part of Trak Global Group (TGG) and one of the worlds top three providers of connected car data solutions to insurers, mobility operators, OEMs and governments, is pleased to announce the availability of the new IMS Connected Claims telematics solution.

The IMS Connected Claims solution combines the powerful data-gathering capabilities of IMS new, patent-pending Wedge telematics sensor while leveraging TGG sister company Carrot Insurances decade of experience in partnering with insurers to deliver loss ratio reductions and better claims outcomes for policyholders. As the industrys first claims-focused telematics solution, IMS Connected Claims can be introduced to an insurers existing claims operation without the requirement for complex, costly systems integrations and with minimal disruption. Additionally, IMS Connected Claims can uniquely be a standalone solution, rather than having to be a component of a usage-based insurance (UBI) program.

Most insurers believe that the benefits of telematics data are limited to UBI programs, but this no longer has to be the case, said Ed Rochfort, Chief Product Officer for IMS. IMS Connected Claims solution is a claims-focused telematics offering, allowing any insurer, with or without an existing UBI program, to distribute a low-cost connectivity solution to policyholders. It offers reliable collision notications, but more importantly, it gives a clear picture of the circumstances of a collision, enabling faster settlement of liability claims and reductions in claims handling shelf-life. Its a win-win set of outcomes for insurers and policyholders alike.

Utilizing the self-install, self-powered Wedge telematics sensor to transmit data via the policyholders smartphone, the IMS Connected Claims solution can be deployed for as little as $1 per policy, per month with the opportunity for a near-term 3x return on investment (ROI) via claims cost reduction.

We can point to existing insurance customers where weve helped them gain eight points of combined operating ratio improvement purely from the use of telematics data in claims, said Rochfort.

Insurers can build out from the IMS Connected Claims solution and add modular, configurable capabilities leveraging the wider IMS DriveSync technology platform from a rewards and messaging system that drives customer engagement to the creation of a full-blown UBI proposition, such as a Pay-as-You-Drive program.

While most insurance executives recognize the opportunity to digitally transform the claims process, the potential for operational disruption has traditionally made it a daunting shift to initiate. As a result, most insurers and technology vendors have concentrated on single pinch points, such as First Notice of Loss (FNOL), as the focus for claims transformation. However, insurers can achieve greater results by concentrating on areas of greatest cost savings and benefit using telematics data alongside existing systems and processes - such as the use of data to facilitate quicker, more accurate liability decisions and to make determinations on the likelihood of bodily injury. IMS helps insurers achieve maximum benefit by working in partnership with insurers with experienced claims professionals who guide the implementation path to reduce claims operation impact and ensure solution ROI.

We recognize that digital claims transformation has to go beyond just standing up a technology solution its about knowing how and where in the value chain that data can be used to unlock meaningful benefits, said Nick Street, VP of Connected Claims at IMS. Thats why weve created what we describe as Claims as a Service (CaaS) professional services as an additional claims solution component for our customers. CaaS encompasses implementation planning, process management, claims team training, and ongoing case-by-case support to help an insurer quickly get on the path to ROI. IMS is more than just a tech provider. We function as a true business partner that has a track record in delivering real-world results.

For insurers seeking additional details, register for free to attend the IMS claims technology presentation during the Connected Claims USA Tech Spotlight on June 24 at 2:15 PM ET at: https://events.insurancenexus.com/connectedclaimsusa/register.php

Additionally, insurers can download the IMS Claims ROI whitepaper, or review Wedge product details at http://www.ims.tech/claims.

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About IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions)

IMS is a leading connected car solutions provider delivering services and analytics to insurers, governments, automotive OEMs and mobility operators. IMS is the developer of the cloud-based DriveSync connected car platform which has received industry acclaim for its ability to offer customers a data source-agnostic, multi-device strategy for service provision versus a single focused technology approach. IMS is part of Trak Global Group, an international connected solutions provider with technology deployed in over a dozen territories, and its own in-house telematics insurance business, Carrot Insurance. For more information, visit http://www.ims.tech.

About Carrot Insurance

Carrot Insurance, part of Trak Global Group, is a UK-based, award-winning, telematics insurance business. In 2015, Carrot received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work in reducing driver accident frequency, and launched Better Driver, one of the first app-based connected auto insurance products in the world. Carrot offers both hardware and app-based solutions to its policyholders, and has won multiple awards, including Claims Partner of the Year in 2017 and Best Consumer App at the Insurance Times Tech & Innovation Awards in October 2019. For more information, visitwww.carrotinsurance.com.

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IMS Launches Industry-First, Claims-Focused Telematics Solution, IMS Connected Claims, to Drive Loss Ratio Improvement for Insurers - GlobeNewswire

This year, the Summer Solstice in Indiawill fall on June 21, 2020.The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, as well as the shortest night of the year. For many, it is also a day of religious and spiritual significance. Some people consider the Summer Solstice to be atime of self-reflectionand personal growth. This day is atime of renewal, love, self-improvement, and spiritual thinking.

The Summer Solstice is highly significant for hundreds of cultures and religions all over the globe. From the Ancient Egyptians to the Far East, most cultures in the world have rituals and religious beliefs related to theSummer Solstice. Here are some culturally significant Summer Solstice rituals that are celebrated each year.

Also Read |Due To Coronavirus, Stonehenge Summer Solstice Celebrations To Be Live-streamed

Also Read |Google Doodle Observes Beginning Of Summer In Northern Hemisphere

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The Summer Solstice will start at3:13 am (Indian Standard Time) on Sunday, June 21. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may not be able to perform some of these rituals that require groups of people. However, you can still enjoy the longest day of the year with your friends and family online.

Also Read |Summer Solstice Quotes To Share With Friends, Family, And Loved Ones

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Summer Solstice rituals that you can perform to celebrate the longest day of the year - Republic World - Republic World

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Published on June 22, 2020

21st of June is observed all over the world as International Yoga Day. Yoga is not only about self-improvement but it is also about self-acceptance.Every year, brands all over the world dedicate this day to raising awareness about physical health and urging people to exercise daily through the various digital and social media campaigns.

If we observe the current scenario, obesity in India has reached epidemic proportions in the 21st century.Processed foods, unhealthy habits, lack of exercise, stressful work culture and more of such factors are leading to a deteriorating lifestyle.Yoga is a practice towards a healthier and a much better lifestyle. Here is a list of brands undertaking Yoga day campaigns

Ministry of AYUSH launches Yoga at Home, Yoga with Family campaign during COVID-19 spread. Under this, the ministry will organize a trainer-led session on 21st June 2020, the International Yoga Day and will telecast it on Doordarshan at 6:30 AM on June 21 so that people can follow and practice Yoga from their home itself. Yoga at Home, Yoga with Family campaign at home has been launched to observe the day at home, taking all precautions to slow down COVID-19 spread.

Candor TechSpace managed by Brookfield Properties has launched a series of campaigns with #FitnessOnMyMind right from virtual yoga meets, live yoga sessions to social media campaigns as well. The brand is conducting four yoga sessions namely therapeutic session, yoga for children,pranayam session and a live yoga session to promote a healthy and happier lifestyle. Candor TechSpace is also running a contest inviting entries with quirky yoga poses while doing house chores offering goodies to the winner.

Similarly TikTok the video-sharing social networking service is running a campaign this year too just like last year with various trending challenges to encourage users to adopt this physical, mental and spiritual practice.

Also, the Big Ganga, Zee Entertainment Enterprise Limiteds Bhojpuri General Entertainment Channel in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Purvanchal, will bring to its viewers a morning of fitness to promote healthy living on International Yoga Day, June 21. Celebrating the occasion the channel will bring a fitness show Yoga Futurefit to motivate viewers to take up the habit of yoga to reduce their anxiety and keep their mental health at check. The two-hour show will be telecast on June 21 between 7am and 9am on Big Ganga and 6am to 8am on Facebook.

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Brands outstretch their creative minds this International Yoga Day - APN News

Chef Trey Lamonts restaurant Jerk Shack has been serving up Caribbean food in the Belltown area since 2018.

Lamont grew up in Seattle and graduated from Garfield High School. Hes always knownwhat he wanted to do: go to culinary school.

But if I had wanted to go to Harvard, that wasnt an option. My dad couldnt afford that, Lamont says.

Lamont knows there are other high schoolers in the Black community who have dreams they cannot afford, and he wants to change that.

Lamont wants to expand his business to better serve the Black community, and to do so, hes enlisted the communitys help in the form of a GoFundMe campaign that he started on June 3. The end goal is to raise enough money to purchase land in an area of Seattle where more Black people live, he says, and build a new restaurant called Jerk Shack Express. Lamont is eyeing places like Renton, Rainier Beach and parts of South Seattle, the Central District or Skyway for his new restaurant.

But his master plan involves much more than purchasing land to build a restaurant which Lamont says will be created from a shipping container its about building a legacy and creating opportunities. Ultimately, Lamont wants to use a model similar to that employed by Dicks to build his restaurant into an enterprise that can give back to the Black community and the community its situated in.

My vision would be copying Dicks version of helping people pay for college, having child care, having full benefits of medical and dental, he says.

Dicks Drive-In, which was founded in part by Dick Spady in 1954, offers any employee working 20 hours per week for at least six months access to a $25,000 scholarship over four years to use for any college, vocational or self-improvement program as long as they continue to work at least 20 hours per week. Additionally, the company offers child care assistance up to $9,000 per year and free health insurance for employees.

The health insurance part is essential for Lamonts vision.

I know that my community definitely needs dental. Its an education in resources and compounded with everything that we call systemic racism, he says.

Lamonts GoFundMe has a goal of $700,000. Like his sit-down restaurant, Jerk Shack Express will serve Caribbean food, but in a fast-casual atmosphere. Lamont has already been testing out the menu since dining rooms closed on March 17.

Lamont has no plans to close the original Jerk Shack.

Im not trying to move out of Belltown, Im trying to expand and create more opportunity for the Black community, Lamont says.

His GoFundMe description reads, Everyone says the system is broken, but I think it works perfectly for the ones who it was created for. I would like to create a new system and do my part the best way I know how, by creating one of inclusion for everyone in our neighborhoods.

Lamont believes that showing the younger generation a person that looks like them and comes from the same place as them can create stronger communities.

Lamont has been thinking about this plan since he began cooking in his food truck, Papa Bois, in 2012, but hes been slowly refining it. Now he has a business plan and a menu; hes got realtors scouting property in South Seattle, the Central District, Renton and Skyway areas; and he has friends who have building plans for shipping containers.

And while he thinks there are some restaurants in his community that couldve done this already, Lamont says hes ready and he can no longer wait for someone else to do it.

Lamont expressed frustration with the perpetual cycle where an unjust killing leads to protests and marches, only for things to die down and six months or a year later it happens again and were doing the same thing.

With everything thats going on, I think underserved communities need to feel like we aresupportive of each other. This is the best way that I can serve my community. Im not that guy thats going to go lets organize this, Im the guy whos like Im going to make a bunch of food and lets come to the table, he says.

As of Monday, June 15, Lamonts GoFundMe campaign has raised almost $15,000, with nearly all the donations in small increments.

At $500 each, Hunter Samuels and Louis Arruela are the campaigns largest donors.

Arruela is a Portuguese commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea who supplies Lamont with fish on occasion.Arruela says he doesnt consider himself to be a social activist, but when he heard about Lamonts campaign he was so impressed.

Not only is it a good thing socially, but from a business standpoint hes doing it right, from the ground up and for all the right reasons, Arruela said.

Samuels first met Lamont as a teenager when they were training at the same taekwondo studio.

To see Trey speak up today and historically, Ive been proud of that and proud to be his friend and to do what I could, Samuels says, calling Lamont someone who is all in.

More than 200 other small donationshave come in. Lamont says hes not pinning his hopes on getting lots of large donations, and instead hopes that its a community effort built by many.

I want the people from the community to donate because this is for them. I want them to go, This is for me. If I dont invest in myself, no one else is going to, he said.

There is no deadline for the project; Lamont says hed be pleased if in a year or so hes got enough for even a down payment on land to keep things moving. But if that doesnt happen, hes not quitting.

It has to work because Im not giving up. I dont care if I dont get the funding for 10 years, Im still going to do it, he says.

Jackie Varriano covers the food scene in the neighborhoods around Seattle. She loves digging into stories that discuss why we eat the things we do and when in our region and beyond. Her very first article was a gossip column for her YMCA summer camp in 1990. Reach her at jvarriano@seattletimes.com.

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Owner of Belltowns Jerk Shack is asking the community to help him expand so that he can better serve the Black community - Seattle Times