So let's have an open dialogue, how old do you think is comfortable to live til? Is 70, 80, or 90 an age you think would be good for you? Is 100 too much? What about 150? Yes, I said 150 years old.

According to a recent New York Post article, a new study says it may be possible soon for humans to live to 150! So if you are 75 years old you would only be middle-aged lol

Unsplash.com Denys Nevozhai

In The NY Post article, "Researchers atGERO.AIconcluded the absolute limit of the human lifespan to be between 100 and 150 they came to this conclusion by analyzing 70,000 participants up to age 85 based on their ability to fight disease, risk of heart conditions and cognitive impairment."

I am thinking as I write this article if I would want to live to 150, I must admit I'm a bit torn. I mean until now I looked at 100 as a big feat, but 150 just seems crazy, right?

I think I wonder what they think the quality of life would be for 150-year-olds because let's face it if everyone that old is living a miserable life, why would you want that? If I want to live another 96 years I want to enjoy it lol

The Post article sites developments in medicine as a key to a longer life for humans and that makes sense. Think 100 to 200 years ago our life span was a lot shorter than now, so as we move forward with medical technology our lives will be longer.

I am currently trying to be as healthy as I can be these days watching my diet, exercising, and getting good sleep hopefully, that helps and gets me to 125 maybe?

KEEP READING: 15 Natural Ways to Improve Your Sleep

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Ocean County Do You Think You Want To Live To 150? - wobm.com

Every few years IBM brings out a new addition to its Z series mainframe family. From the information accompanying the release of the new enterprise system, IBM appears to be touting the new z16 machines ability to handle real time fraud detection for instant payments across the financial sector. It also offers an AI (artificial intelligence) accelerator, using IBMs Telum chip. This will certainly be good news for many financial institutes. For instance, speaking at a recent IBM-hosted roundtable, Steve Suarez, global head of innovation, finance & risk at HSBC, described how the bank was drowning in data. Suarez sees a need to have technology that can help the bank provide insights that actually benefit people.

What is interesting from the virtual z16 briefing Computer Weekly attended is IBMs focus on the new machines ability to protect against hackers using quantum computing to break the strong encryption that underpins financial transactions.

IBM distinguished engineer, Anne Dames said: Good technology can be used to do bad things. In other words, a quantum computer could be used to break the cryptographic keys that are used to encrypt data.

We are entering a new cryptographic era, she warns, adding that the IT industry needs to act now before there is an effective quantum computing based attack.

The worst case scenario IBM paints is where a successful hacking attack gains access to a large quantity of encrypted data. Since this data is encrypted, it is near impossible to decipher it in a realistic timescale. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology warns that if large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere. Nist is encouraging the IT sector to develop post-quantum cryptography and IBMs z16 is one of the first systems to claim it is quantum safe.

While this is clearly an important development and IBMs efforts should be applauded, one cant help worrying that IBM, Nist and the IT sector at large, are somehow missing the bigger picture. Breaking cryptography is one thing, but quantum computers have the potential to revolutionise drug development and the ability to create new chemical processes such as to reduce carbon emissions. The flip side is that these techniques may also be used to develop devastatingly effective, targeted chemical and biological weapons. As such, policy makers need to wake up to the risk, and track quantum computing in the same way that atomic, biological and chemical weapon materials are monitored.

The rest is here:

Quantum computing and the bigger picture - ComputerWeekly.com

Yales hub for quantum research will soon entangle the campus in the best possible sense in a full week of mind-bending science, artistry, and discussion devoted to the wonders of quantum research.

Quantum Week at Yale, organized by the Yale Quantum Institute (YQI), will feature a hackathon, a lab tour, a movie screening, a record launch party, hands-on computer programming, a superconductive jewelry display, and an assortment of quantum-related library and museum exhibits.

The activities begin April 8 and run through April 14. A full list of events is available here.

Yales quantum scientists are at the very top of this field, said Florian Carle, YQI manager and coordinator for the event. We want to take some of the excitement we see in the labs and at YQI and share it with the rest of the campus.

Quantum science delves into the physical properties that explain the behavior of subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules. Over the past century, quantum research has transformed disciplines as diverse as physics, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, and materials science.

Over the past 20 years, Yale researchers have propelled quantum research, particularly in quantum information science and quantum computing, with a series of groundbreaking discoveries including the first demonstration of two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor.

Yales research has led to unprecedented control over individual quantum objects, whether those objects are naturally occurring microscopic systems such as atoms, or macroscopic, human-made systems with engineered properties. Researchers say these advances may soon enable them to perform otherwise intractable computations, ensure privacy in communications, better understand and design novel states of matter, and develop new types of sensors and measurement devices.

This is the time when computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists, and engineers are all coming together, said Yongshan Ding, assistant professor of computer science, who will lead a programming workshop on April 14 that shows visitors including those without any experience with quantum computing how to play with quantum interference patterns.

People can just code away, Ding said. My vision is that by exposing people to these activities, we can build a quantum-native programming language. This is a new paradigm of computation, so were going to need new ways to program for it.

YQI has partnered with 18 Yale departments and centers to create 23 events for Quantum Week at Yale. One of the challenges in organizing the week, Carle explained, was developing an engaging mix of activities suited for both experienced researchers and quantum science novices.

To that end, the week is organized around four components: Understanding Quantum, Art & Quantum, Career and Entrepreneurship, and For Researchers.

The hands-on programming event, for example, comes under the Understanding Quantum banner. Other include an April 9-10 Quantum Coalition Hack, hosted by the Yale Undergraduate Quantum Computer Club; an April 11 tour of superconducting qubit laboratories; and a quantum-related exhibit of rare books at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on April 11.

Were always looking for ways that our libraries can engage with the academic work going on at Yale, said Andrew Shimp, who consulted on Quantum Week events at Yale libraries. Shimp is Yales librarian for engineering, applied science, chemistry, and mathematics. One of the unique things a Yale library can offer is the chance to view rare collections that arent necessarily digitized yet.

The quantum exhibit at the Beinecke Library, for example, includes materials from quantum science pioneers such as Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Planck. There is also an astronomy textbook, published in 1511, that includes the word quantum in its title. The title is Textus de Sphera Johannis de Sacrobosco: cum additione (quantum necessarium est) adiecta / Nouo commentario nuper edito ad vtilitate[m] studentiu[m] philosophice Parisien[em]. A brief English translation would be Sphere of Sacrobosco.

Under the Art & Quantum heading, there will be an April 8 screening of the 2013 indie thriller Coherence; a visual arts competition called Visualize Science hosted by Wright Lab on April 13; a launch party for Quantum Sound (a record project begun at YQI in 2018) on April 13; a display of Superconductive Jewelry throughout the week at YQI; a Quantum and the Arts exhibit all week at the Arts Library; an April 13 event hosted by the Yale Schwarzman Center devoted to historical preservation of technology ephemera, called Dumpster Diving: Historical Memory and Quantum Physics at Yale; and a new exhibit at the New Haven Museum, The Quantum Revolution, that opens April 13 and features drawings by former YQI artist in residence Martha Willette Lewis.

Carle is curator for the New Haven Museum exhibit. We wanted to show the evolution of quantum science at Yale, he said. It will take people from some of the first qubits in 1998 to Badger, the dilution refrigerator that ran the first two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor in 2009.

Quantum computers require extremely cold temperatures near absolute zero in order to reduce operational errors.

The weeks Career and Entrepreneurship component will include a discussion of quantum startups hosted by The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) on April 12; a conversation with IBMs Mark Ritter on the global implications of quantum research, hosted by the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs on April 12; a session on how to access market research for major industry analysts, hosted by the Yale University Library, on April 12; and a series of panel discussions on how to join the quantum workforce.

Finally, the For Researchers component of Quantum Week at Yale will feature a quantum sensing workshop at Wright Lab on April 8; and an April 14 lecture by quantum researcher Nathan Wiebe of the University of Washington.

The final day for Quantum Week at Yale, April 14, also happens to be World Quantum Day, Carle said. Our hope is that by then, students all over campus will be aware of quantum work being done here and want to explore it themselves in some way.

More here:

Quantum Week at Yale geared toward novices and experts alike - Yale News

California Polytechnic State University undergraduate students Alexander Knapen and Nayana Tiwari and graduate student Julian Rice had never programmed on quantum computers before. But after 50 hours at the 2022 MIT Interdisciplinary Quantum Hackathon, they had built an online quantum chat server that encrypts messages using quantum algorithms.

Knapen, Tiwari, and Rice had worked tirelessly on the chat server over an adrenaline-fueled weekend at the third annual iQuHACK (pronounced i-quack, like the duck in the hackathons logo). At iQuHACK, 400 people from 57 countries gathered virtually to design and build quantum computing projects from scratch. Participants had the chance to code on real quantum computers, a major highlight of the hackathon because so few are available today. In particular, hackers had free access to IonQs quantum computer (via Microsofts Azure Quantum service) and QuTechs Quantum Inspire platform.

Today, you can [easily] make an app [for phones or normal computers] and put it on the app store. Were not there yet for quantum computing, but events like this hackathon start to make it possible to think about greater accessibility to quantum computing applications, says Matthew Keesan, vice president of development at IonQ.

While all iQuHACK participants had access to quantum computers, they arrived at the hackathon with different levels of experience. Some hackers came in with experience programming quantum computers computers that use quantum mechanics to solve problems too difficult for normal "classical" computers, with applications such as stronger encryption methods for more secure messaging and complex molecular simulation for faster drug development but others, like Knapen, Tiwari, and Rice, needed to learn on-the-fly. Knowing this, the hackathons chair, MIT postdoc Carlos Errando Herranz, sought to make learning as easy as possible, empowering everyone to bring their ideas to life. We wanted people to learn first-hand that coding on quantum computers is not as hard as it sounds, he says.

This year's iQuHACK was hosted by the MIT Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering (iQuISE) program, a student-run group of MIT graduate students and postdocs. The organizing iQuHACK committee consisted of Carlos Errando Herranz, Shantanu Jha, Jawaher Almutlaq, Shoumik Chowdhury, Hamza Raniwala, Maddie Sutula, Eric Bersin, and Michael Walsh.

The first day of iQuHACK brought participants up to speed with the nuts-and-bolts of quantum computing. Hackers could attend tutorials on how to use the IonQ/Microsoft and Quantum Inspire platforms and also drop into office hours for help with setting up the necessary software tools. Later, when the hackathon was in full swing, participants could seek guidance on their projects from experienced quantum computing professionals in industry and academia, who served as hackathon mentors. The most intimidating thing is to get something working, Knapen says of the online quantum chat server, But once we had an idea of what we wanted to do, it was pretty easy to get the code written and up and running.

The chat server project, called Keytanglement, ran on the Quantum Inspire platform, the first publicly available quantum computing platform in Europe. We can actually see it running live on the platform, says Richard Versluis, system architect of the Quantum Inspire. When you go to their website and execute on your telephone what they did, you see the [chat servers encryption] job being submitted, [the Quantum Inspire] running the [encryption] algorithms, then [the results] going back to the web server.

Hackers with more quantum computing experience also took advantage of their access to quantum computers. One team of five Yale University undergraduate students spent the weekend delving into the nitty-gritty details of how quantum computers implement quantum code. In quantum hardware development, looking at how various [operations] can be implemented is such an active field of study, says Alex Deters, one of the Yale University team members. Often, a direct translation between quantum code and hardware is not possible, resulting in errors in the results. These error rates depend on the specific hardware being used.

Knowing that we would be working with [quantum computers, we thought] it would be great to benchmark the hardware[s error rates], Deters says. To do this, the team built a benchmarking tool, reminiscent of standard computer science tools, that can provide the error rates for any quantum computer and help find the most accurate quantum algorithms for the specific hardware. The tool, called Quantum RX, ran successfully on the Quantum Inspire platform and provided very valuable feedback, Versluis says.

Despite being a virtual event, iQuHACK created a strong sense of community, bringing together quantum computing enthusiasts from around the world. Many hackers capitalized on the virtual format, forming teams with members scattered across multiple countries. Frederik Hardervig, an undergraduate student studying in Germany this semester, had participated in iQuHACK last year as a one-person team and was extremely eager to assemble a multi-person team this year.

As soon as I saw [participants] Tomasz [Kazulak] and Danai [Bili] write in the looking-for-a-team [Slack channel] and say they were from Europe, I wrote them and was like can we team please? Hardervig says. At the time, Kazulak was in Poland and Bili was in England. The three of them then rounded out their team with two more members, Caspian Chahrom, who was in Switzerland, and Sneha Shakya, who was in the United States. It was cool to meet people from around the world who are doing the same thing, Chahrom says.

Together, the five newly acquainted hackers collaborated remotely and built a new Tetris game on the IonQ/Microsoft platform. The game, called QuanTris, works similarly to Tetris, but with a quantum twist the falling blocks are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. Through QuanTris, the hackers hoped to teach players quantum computing concepts in a fun way.

With 75 projects being built at the hackathon, the IonQ/Microsoft and Quantum Inspire platforms were heavily used. Both platforms included quantum computers as well as quantum simulators, where people could test their code or play with ideas that required greater computing ability than the hardware could currently provide. For the IonQ/Microsoft platform, which made one quantum computer available, the demand was amazing, Keesan says. We ran something like 50,000 simulations and 1,000 quantum programs during the hackathon. For the Quantum Inspire platform, two quantum computers were available, each using a different quantum technology. All our systems kept running for the full weekend, Versluis says, even with tens of people accessing the system at the same time.

In addition to working on their hackathon projects, participants could attend talks by quantum computing experts to get a broader view of the field today. Professor Mikhail Lukin of Harvard University gave iQuHACK 2022s keynote talk, providing historical and technical background on quantum computing. Professor Paola Capellaro of MIT then kicked off the hacking portion of iQuHACK with opening remarks on future directions in quantum computing applications. Experts across industry also gave a series of technical talks, presenting updates on their companies efforts in quantum computing. I learned a lot about the current state of the art and [where] the field is moving, says Hieu Dinh, an MIT undergraduate. (Dinh was part of a team of MIT undergraduates who had built a quantum version of Tic Tac Toe, called Qic Qac Qoe, at the hackathon.)

The iQuHACK 2022 tutorials, talks, and other quantum computing resources, including participants projects from this year and last year, are publicly available on the hackathons Twitch streaming channel and website. As Errando Herranz winds down his tenure as iQuHACKs chair, he encourages anyone interested in quantum computing to use these resources to start learning now, especially if theyre looking to participate in the hackathon next year.

With quantum, when youre learning in the classroom, youre handed everything. This hackathon is the first time we were able to generate an idea and actually implement it, Tiwari of the Keytanglement project says. Im excited to take that [experience] and continue working on projects [in quantum computing].

In addition to the three major platform sponsors, IonQ, Microsoft, and QuTech, the hackathon was sponsored by Google Quantum AI, IBM Q, HRL Laboratories, Zapata Computing, Zurich Instruments, QuEra Computing Inc., qBraid, MIT, the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the MIT Center for Quantum Engineering.

Read this article:

Bringing together the next generation of quantum coders - MIT News

The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., as seen on Sept. 17, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg)

The U.S. Department of Defense's outgoing chief data officer called for the Pentagon to make urgent investments to defend against potential espionage from quantum computers -- nascent technology that could one day break the encryption that protects American secrets.

In his first interview since leaving his post last month, David Spirk, who spent two years in his role, told Bloomberg News that the Pentagon needs to speed up efforts to counter adversaries who are developing military tools supported by advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and eventually quantum science.

Quantum computing may prove far more able than existing technology to solve mathematical problems at exponentially faster speeds. That could enable operators to unscramble the algorithms that underpin encryption protocols, unlocking an array of sensitive data.

"I don't think that there's enough senior leaders getting their heads around the implications of quantum," Spirk said. "Like AI, I think that's a new wave of compute that when it arrives is going to be a pretty shocking moment to industry and government alike."

"We have to pick up pace because we have competitors who are also attempting to accelerate," he added.

Spirk's comments come amid warnings that U.S. adversaries, particularly China, are aggressively pursuing advanced technologies that could radically accelerate the pace of modern warfare. China is investing in AI and quantum sciences as part of its plan to become an innovation superpower, according to the Pentagon's latest annual report to Congress on China's military power. China is "at or near the lead on numerous science fields," including AI and quantum, it said.

The National Security Agency, meanwhile, said last year that the adversarial use of a quantum computer "could be devastating" to the U.S. and its national security systems. The NSA said it could take 20 years or more to roll out new post-quantum cryptography that would resist such code-cracking.

Tim Gorman, a spokesperson at the Pentagon, said the Department of Defense was taking post-quantum cryptography seriously and coordinating with Congress and across government agencies. He added there was "a significant effort" underway.

A January presidential memo further charged agencies with establishing a timeline for transitioning to quantum resistant cryptography.

Among the efforts underway to bolster defenses against quantum-based attacks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, known as NIST, is seeking to select new quantum-proof encryption algorithms from seven finalists shortly as part of a global competition.

Jonathan Katz, computer science professor at the University of Maryland who submitted a "post-quantum algorithm" to the NIST competition, said the stakes in the NIST competition were high: an algorithm that later proved vulnerable would be "a disaster." Once a choice is made, the U.S. Department of Defense faces a huge task in upgrading all its software and hardware that features algorithms, he said, adding that included not only servers and laptops but also parts of submarines, tanks, helicopters and weapons systems.

Experts generally assess large-scale quantum computing may be 15 to 20 years away if it is ever even developed, but the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Agency, or DARPA, launched a project this February to explore the possibility that a breakthrough could be developed "much sooner."

Joe Altepeter, who manages DARPA's new quantum project, told Bloomberg there was a lot of "hype" over industry claims about the arrival of quantum computing, with several "hardware miracles" still standing in the way. Some of the smartest physicists he knew were divided over whether useful quantum computing would ever exist, Altepeter said, adding that the risk was such that it was important to develop resilient systems.

Spirk said the Pentagon needs to start preparing "now," arguing military applications for quantum computing could be only five to 10 years away. The Pentagon needed to work at the same speed as commercial vendors that are already exploring ways to use quantum-resistant cryptography to safeguard financial and health-care sectors, he said.

If the U.S. doesn't make the right investments in defensive quantum today, "then our concepts around encryption, data security and cybersecurity will be obsolete because the computers will break our cryptography," Spirk said. He added that all the encrypted data that adversaries have already gathered would also risk exposure.

Spirk, a former U.S. Marine, became the first chief data officer at Special Operations Command before he joined the Pentagon. He said he left the chief data officer post after a two-year commitment to rejoin his family in Florida. The departure follows last year's resignation of the U.S. Air Force's first chief software officer, Nicolas Chaillan, who previously told the Financial Times that the U.S. was losing the AI race to China.

Original post:

Pentagon's outgoing data boss warns of quantum cyber threats - Stars and Stripes

Linh Ta as told to Andrea Sahouri| Des Moines Register

Linh Ta: Too American or too Asian | Des Moines Storyteller's Project

How this Iowan learned to love all sides of herself, as told at the Des Moines Storyteller's Project's "Love" on, Feb. 15, 2022.

Des Moines Storytellers Project, Mediacom

Editor's note: Linh Tafirst told this story on stage at theDes Moines Storytellers Project's "Love: Stories of companionship, desireand commitment."The Des Moines Storytellers Projectis a series of storytelling events in which community members work with Register journalists to tell true, first-person stories live on stage. An edited version appears below.

Here in Des Moines, thousands upon thousands of miles away from the home they first knew, my parents met.

My dad always said that my mom was the prettiest girl in town.

She had a few other feelings about him. But she eventually got to know him and they married two people with a dream of a fruitlife life they hoped would happen through a Vietnamese restaurant and a family.

A lot of us know the story about how Iowa shone as a beacon of hope when the Vietnam War displaced refugees who needed homes. Thousands of them came here to Iowa, including my parents.

But then what happened?

On an April day Duc Ta and Thanh Nguyen-Ta had me.

They chose the name Linh L-i-n-h because it was a common Vietnamese name, but alsoIowans could pronounce it too.

Jokes on them. Sometimes, they cant.

There was no guidebook for how we were supposed to navigate our lives here. No family recipe to reminisce grandmas Thanksgiving dinner. No creaky home where generations of our family stayed we were just seeds in the air trying to find land that wouldnt spit us back up.

Add on top of that, I was quickly growing into an American child of the 2000s that demanded a Gameboy Color and beads in my hair and a growing desire to be more like a Linda versus a Linh.

When I was 10, I had a crush on the neighbor boy with his bright blue eyes. Wed make sand castles in his backyard and I would twist up grass and make little rings, one for him, one for me.

He invited me over for dinner sometimes and I sat with his family around their laminate table, hands together in prayer. That's where I discovered for the first timefive-minute rice with butter, which I politely shoveled under some food.

They were so freely nice, telling me that I could come over whenever and come play on their swingset.

But for my family, like many other Asian families, there's a lot of love between us, but there's also a reservation to others that can come off as coldness.

That meant misunderstood interactions, lots of nos when I asked if friends could come to our house and a general assumption from outsiders that well they must not like us, so we dont like them.

After a particularly fun day of playing with the neighbor boy, I begged my mom to let him stay for dinner. To my shock, she said yes it was something that rarely, if ever happened and I was elated.

We talked Pokemon cards and laughed about school. He was my best friend and to bring him to my table,I was ecstatic.

But when I looked across the dinner table, twinges of embarrassment kicked in. She didnt have to say it. But I could sense it. The judgment. I avoided my moms gaze and we finished dinner and he went home.

Later that night, I asked her what she thought of him at dinner. Without a beat of hesitation, she said he was rude. No please or thank you. Shoes on inside the house. I went to defend his reputation even though she felt like she was defending mine.

We argued that night as she cleaned up the dishes her fingernails scratching off flecks of food even though we had a dishwasher right there. I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that in her eyes, I chose wrong. I was embarrassed because we were the house where people had to act a certain way, where American families Iowan families were so warm and welcoming and we were so utterly not.

Years later, when the neighbor and I were both teenagers in middle school, we took the bus together. It wasnt together-together, as we had reached that awkward age of self-awareness where one small move could mean social calamity in the vicious world of teenage popularity.

I was no longer the cute, elementary student that charmed people. New school, new students, acne-ridden. To the new kids at my school, I was then that Asian kid.

The new anonymity was freeing and trapping in certain ways. I leaned into stereotypes, pretending I was good at math when I was not good at math. I started making friends with the other Asian kids and felt a new sense of camaraderie I hadnt before.

But one day on the bus, when I was sitting with the other Asian kids, the neighbor boy the one who knew me turned to us and asked: Did you guys get your names from your parents throwing pots and pans down the stairs?

I was able to shrug off the comments from the other kids, but this one, I wasnt protected from. It was a reminder that no matter how hard I tried to assimilate, no matter how hard I tried to fit in, I was the Asian kid, first and foremost.

Plus, our stairs were carpeted. He knew that.

Being the kid of immigrants, its a wave you learn to ride.

Your great aunt gives you a bar of soap and points to your face, you nod and smile and say, "Im taking care of it, I know you love me, dont worry, theres this new three-step process called Proactiv."

When a white guy on Tinder immediately asks you if youre into anime you say well, duh but swipe left.

I let jokes slide by that I shouldnt have. And felt parts of myself slip away that I should have held dear, things that I should have loved in myself like my mothers eyes or my fathers tan skin.

But even among the people I looked like I feared their judgment too. Too Asian for the American people, but too American for Asian people.

I could help relatives with their resumes, but could barely speak with my own grandmother in Vietnamese.

And while I grew okay with being a Linh, the uncomfortable gray area sat with me for a long time.

But love changes things. And loving yourself is hard, oh so hard. But sometimes, when you love somebody else and see parts of yourself in them, it makes it easier to love yourself too.

For me, that started when I watched my little cousins grow up.

The next generation of my family isnt shy about sharing their lives, which is why I know way too much right now about Harry Styles and YouTube drama.

Its so fun watching them live their fun, authentic lives where they dont hesitate to share details about their heritage with their friends and classmates.

But when my little cousin was upset one day and told me the story about a boy who asked her if she ate dogs you better know, I was ready to beat a kid up.

And thats when I realized how badly my parents must have only wanted to protect me from the same cruelties and glares when they first came here so many years ago.

And I love them for who they are trying to keep me safe from a world that can be cruel and instantly judgmental.

I love my cousins for how open they are and how they dont hide themselves. And as they get older and that self-awareness kicks in, I want them to see that I love myself and that there's nothing they need to hide.

And when I think about my life now so many years later and all the different types of people who care about me, I feel forever grateful.

Andyou know what my parents have been doing? Theyve been asking me about when Im going to bring a nice person over.

ABOUT THE STORYTELLER:Linh Ta is a proud Des Moines resident, born and raised. She works as a reporter for Axios Des Moines, a daily newsletter that covers everything from politics to the best eats in town. Prior to that, she worked at the Des Moines Register and Iowa Capital Dispatch. As a new homeowner, her days are spent asking "how the heck do you do that?" and telling her cat to knock it off.

The Des Moines Storytellers Project strongly believes that everyone HAS a story and everyone CAN tell it. None of the storytellers who take our stage are professionals. They are your neighbors, friends or co-workers, and they are coached to tell byRegister journalists.

Want to tell your story at one of our upcoming Storytellers Project events?Read our guidelines and submit a story at DesMoinesRegister.com/Tell.

Contactstorytelling@dmreg.comfor more information.

WATCH:Mediacom rebroadcasts stories from the most recent show on MC22 periodically;check local listings for times. A replay is also available at YouTube.com/DMRegister.

LISTEN:Check out the Des Moines Storytellers Project podcast, which is available on your favorite podcasting platforms.

Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today atDesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.

Excerpt from:
Too American or too Asian? How this Iowan learned to love all sides of herself - Des Moines Register

Setting limits can be liberating

In the discussions about work-life, there is plenty of focus on saying no. Setting boundaries, imposing limits and restricting activities seem like logical responses to the too-fast, too-much, too-demanding reality that many people face.

But there are some important new ways to look at why you would say no andon the contrarywhy you should say an enthusiastic yes to other pursuits. In fact, your choices about where to invest and where to divest are important to your career.

An important starting point is to consider when you will want to engage, get involved and participate. Rather than having a world view which starts by shutting down opportunities, it will be more powerful to focus on all you have to contribute and the places you want to plug into your community.

People want to work with colleagues who are enthusiastic and embracing of possibility. In addition, you will feel more rewarded when youre deeply involved in projects you care about. All of these are reasons to lean in with energy and passion.

But saying no is critical to your sanity as well. You want to be a person who sets smart limits, but isnt limited. You want to be selective about where you contribute, but also enthusiastically engaged. You want to be respected as someone who manages your energy, but is also energetic. Of course no one will balance these perfectly, but keeping them in mind can help your career blossom.

Surprisingly, saying, no is a path to finding these balances and to saying, yes enthusiastically. Heres how to think about setting limits in new ways.

For work-life satisfaction and fulfillment, people must come to terms with their limited hours and years. The wheel in which you keep running is fueled by the mistaken belief that if you just go a little faster and work a little harder you can do it all. It is the misguided perception that if you just manage your time a bit more efficiently you can squeeze it all in.

But this is crazy-making. You cannot do it all, and the paradox of efficient time management is that while you may be leveraging every last second of your day, or optimizing your calendar, youll be reducing your personal fulfillment.

The alternative is to embrace your limits. Even though there will always be tremendous demands on your time, you cannot do it all. And this is a good thing. When you realize your time is limited, you can be more selective about how you spend it. Decide on whats most important to you and lean into those activities. Say yes when something is aligned with your passion or your goals. Say no when its not.

People who succeed in their careers tend to be those who have strong brands. They are known for a certain type of expertise or a well of talent in a particular area. When you are clear about who you are and what you do well, and the areas in which youre developing, you will be building your career because people will know you through your choices and actions. Youll say yes to what youre good at and the direction of your growth. And youll say no to everything else. Youll be legible and easy to readsomeone others can understand and count on.

Rewarding careers are the result of current success, but also the result of staying on a journey toward continued development. Choose when to say no and when to say yes by keeping the bigger picture in mind.

Choose to engage when you know an activity is a step on the path to your goals or aligned with your purpose. Give yourself permission to back away when a request lacks alignment with where youre headed. For example, you agree to manage the budget for your association, because you know you can add value and because the work will help you develop your analytical skills. On the other hand, you turn down the opportunity to procure supplies for the neighborhood picnic because while you love your cul-de-sac friends, its not aligned with other priorities, and you know you cant do it all. You will grow your career by developing your skills and growing your talents, so when choosing to engageor notuse this as one a criterion.

Choosing well helps you truly invest.

Growing your career hinges on your relationships and the quality and depth of the rapport you build with others. Making good choices about where you engage is a fundamental part of the relationships through which your career can progress.

Consider the people with whom you want to build connections, and engage in the activities which foster these. Say yes to the opportunity at work in which you will collaborate with people in marketing, because you want to build your marketing acumen and because you want to make a contribution. Choose not to invest your energy when you have less to contribute to a community, or when you have less to learn from them. You value all your colleagues and have a thirst to learn from everyone, of course, but remind yourself that you cant build meaningful relationships with unlimited numbers of people.

Also ensure youre able to spend the time which is necessary to nurture great relationships. Research has demonstrated true friendships are built over about 60 hours. While you may not have to invest quite this much in a strong relationship with a work colleague, your choices for where you engage should allow for real investment of time. If you choose to engage in too much, youll always be flitting from one activity to the next and youll miss the opportunity for the conversation before the call or the reflection time after the meeting.

Emerging from the pandemic, there is a renewed emphasis on the quality of relationships, and on building depth, not just on growing your number of LinkedIn connections. People will help you in your career when they feel they know and understand you, and when they have felt valued by you. And these are only possible when youve been able to invest time and energy in the relationship. Say no to doing it all, so you can truly engage with people and build depth, not just breadth, in your network.

Developing your career requires you to be committed and energetic. People want to work with those who are enthusiastic and passionate about their pursuits. When you make conscious choices about taking something on, your investment will contribute to your credibility.

If you say yes too frequently, you wont really be committing to anything because your focus will be scattered and you wont be able to do anything to your fullest potential. Instead, by choosing when to disengage, youll be able to fully immerse yourself in what you care most aboutand those with whom youre working will appreciate your full contribution on your chosen activities.

Knowing you cant do it all will help you determine what you can and should do. Your own self awareness should power your choices to say no and they will help you flourish in your career.

Read this article:
Know When To Say No: 3 Ways Saying No Can Build Your Career - Forbes

Ritual treatment of the dead, either through burial ceremonies or other funerary activities is often seen as a signal of self-awareness and interpersonal relationships in animals, which of course includes humans. Finding death rituals in non-human animals can be tricky, but it does happen. Apes, elephants, dolphins, and some birds have all been observed either watching over the bodies of the deceased or otherwise treating them in some socially meaningful way.

Humans, of course, take this relationship with the dead to a level not seen in other animals. Certainly, our relationship with the dead has evolved over time and a critical step in that evolution was recently uncovered in the ancient city of atalhyk, in modern-day Turkey. atalhyk is thought by some to be the worlds oldest city, dating back approximately 9,000 years. The people there lived in houses made of mud bricks and engaged in unusual funeral rites involving the painting of both bodies and houses.

Eline Schotsman from the PACEA laboratory at the University of Bordeaux, and colleagues, were examining human remains at the site to better understand the use of pigments in funeral rituals at atalhyk. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The majority of the deceased in this community were simply buried and left in the ground, not unlike the way we bury our dead today. Some, however, received special treatment. A small portion of the dead, about 6 percent, were painted with various pigments. Its unclear why some individuals received this treatment while most did not.

This is the beginning of social differentiation, but were not sure why some were painted. It isnt based on age, or sex, or specific families. At the moment, we dont really have an answer. We think it was a kind of social memory, Schotsman told SYFY WIRE.

We can think of the rituals as similar to the way modern humans might keep mementos of lost loved ones in their houses as a way of triggering memories of the deceased. The people of the time didnt have photographs or other visual means of remembering, so they used pigments.

In addition to painting the dead, they also painted their houses, and the number of domicile paintings lines up with the number of painted remains, suggesting they were done at, or around, the same time. Adding pigment to the remains and then adding the same pigments to your house offers a visual and tactile connection to the dead which remains even after the body is buried.

Blue and green colors were used for women and children only, which is quite special. Cinnabar was only used for males and only found as a head band. Ochre was used for everyone, Schotsman said.

Theres also evidence that burial wasnt necessarily permanent. Researchers found indications that bones were sometimes removed from the grave and kept in the community for a time. Theyd be passed around and these secondary or tertiary funeral rituals often included the painting of houses and addition of pigment to the remains or the burial site.

The fact that these activities were not evenly distributed across individuals might be an early example of social inequality which evolved over time until it reached its modern form. Its interesting to consider that relationships as complex as racial, sexual, or economic inequality might have gotten their start with stripes of paint applied to the head.

It lends a little more weight to the way we inter and celebrate our dead. Theres no telling how the difference between cremation, standard burial, or a mausoleum might trickle into the future and influence the way our descendants live.

Maybe we should all just slide our bodies into a peat bog and call it a day.

See the article here:
Bone canvas: Ancient humans painted and passed around the remains of their dead - Syfy

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The Toronto Sun takes you straight to the heart of the action.

Whether its local news, provincial and national politics, or the worlds of celebrity and sports, we have you covered.

Some stories set the world on fire. And these ones are the most popular online stories from the past seven days, clicked on by Sun readers like you.

Here are our top stories:

DICTATORSHIP OF THE WORST KIND: European MPs blast Trudeau for COVID rights violation

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the European Parliament speaking about how important it is for countries on both sides of the pond to work together to defend (cough, cough) democracy. Oy.

The Suns Eddie Chau went down a rabbit hole of some of the best comments from the MPs in the room who accused him of violating human rights over how he and his government handled the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa last month. (Was it only last month? It seems like forever ago.)

The most memorable? One MEP described Canada in recent months as a symbol of civil rights violation under Trudeaus quasi-liberal boot, and his invoking of the Emergencies Act was of a dictatorship of the worst kind.

LILLEY: Trudeau warns Canadians, European leaders against politicians acting as he does

Chau passed the baton off to political columnist Brian Lilley who went one step further to question Trudeaus complete and utter lack of self-awareness.

He issued a warning, first to European leaders, then Canadians, against politicians who act just like he does. Um, what??

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Man who fell off Jet Ski shot and killed by his rescuer in South Carolina

Did you hear the one about the man who saved a man and woman who fell off a jet ski, then ended up shooting the man who nearly drowned?

Okay, well, this is no laughing matter but it did happen, in South Carolina, and the shooter was not prosecuted after the shooting was ruled as self-defence.

Just when you thought things couldnt get more bizarre.

ITS AN HONOUR: Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews caps hat deal

From hat tricks to hats, Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews is the new face of Lids, the North American sports cap retailer.

It also makes him the first NHL player and first pro athlete from a Canadian team with such a partnership.

Its an honour for me, Matthews told the Suns Lance Hornby. Ive always been into hats; I think theyre a really big part of hockey culture.

Don Cherry may not be a fan of Matthews fashion choices but others sure are. Hats off to you, Auston!

KINSELLA: Breaking down the motive for this undemocratic Liberal-NDP backroom deal

As you already know, the Liberals reached an agreement that would see the New Democrats support Justin Trudeaus minority government through to 2025.

Political columnist Warren Kinsella broke down, then broke down the undemocratic backroom deal between the two parties that transformed Trudeau, the minority prime minister, into Trudeau, majority prime minister something most Canadians didnt want back in October during the election.

Read more:
TOP CLICKS: The week that was in viral stories - Edmonton Journal

I had hoped post Brexit that the UK would become a boring, reliable friend of freedom and democracy (Do you find everyone else boring? Youve only yourself to blame, Focus). I had hoped that we would do boring things such as feed and house the entire population. Potholes would be fixed, public transport less expensive and unreliable houses insulated.

Alas, the quest for shareholder value and bone-headed populism has instead produced a constant flow of unlearned lessons from our state institutions and an almost comical lack of self-awareness in the international arena. Ukraine, in her agony to achieve freedom from autocracy, has transformed a comedian into a statesman and leader and maintained a unity of purpose and nationhood. In contrast, the UK has become divided between rich and poor, town and country, young and old and between the smaller nations of the union and England.

Lets embrace the boring and knuckle down to achieving concrete results, rather than promoting hype. Let us sit down and stop thinking that there are shortcuts to success at any level.Richard StylesWalmer, Kent

Viv Groskops entertaining article on boring professions reminded me of the entry that used to appear in the Yellow Pages phone directory in the 1980s: Boring see Civil Engineers.David HarperCambridge

It was great to read your interview with Ruth Madeley about the drama Then Barbara Met Alan (These stories change how people think, Magazine). While Ruths comments are excellent, she says: I dont think it had been done before: two visibly disabled characters, played by two disabled actors, in a loving and sexy sex scene.

However, this was done for the first time in the BBC film Every Time You Look at Me (2004), with Mat Fraser and Lisa Hammond. It was still astonishing that it took this long. My disabled partner, Richard Rieser, ran the 1 in 8 Campaign in the 1990s, which broke new ground in campaigning for disabled people to be shown positively in all mainstream media, culminating in The Raspberry Ripple Awards on Channel 4.Susie BurrowsLondon N1

I read with mounting horror Stuart McGurks piece on the new-age fashion for manifesting what you want (When your dreams come true, Magazine). This turbo-charged individualism was a trend in the 1990s and its sad to see it being peddled again to desperate and gullible young people. Apparently to manifest a dream car or boyfriend you just need to totally focus on what you want. Presumably, people caught up in war and famine, poverty or violence are just not focusing enough? Marianne CraigBrighton

Last week, this paper published its view on the Cass review on gender identity services for children, calling, without a hint of irony, for an end to ideology (Children with gender identity issues are ill served by adults who shut down debate, Comment). For years, the Gender Identity Development Service has been positioned as variably both affirmative or gate-keeping, too rushed or too ponderous. These are false dichotomies.

At GIDS, we take a young persons sense of themselves seriously. Some may refer to this approach as affirmative. However, being respectful of someones identity does not preclude exploration. Recent independent research relates first hand the experiences of young people.

Most of our young people meet the criteria for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Yet only a minority access puberty blockers. Gender dysphoria alone is a poor predictor for who might benefit from a medical pathway.

Our specialist NHS service works developmentally to arrive at a shared understanding of what support may be needed. While we are trained to identify wider psychological or safeguarding needs, we liaise with local services to meet these. We do explore and seek to understand the impact of co-occurring difficulties and neurodiversity, but do not conceptualise the experience of gender incongruence as a symptom to be resolved with extensive therapy.

There is a reason GIDS evolved over decades at the Tavistock it is a place with a long history of holding complexity. Simplistic notions about gender have no place and do not serve young people. Of course, what is universally accepted is the recognition that young people need more support from other services, something we have long been calling for.Paul Jenkins, CEO Tavistock and Polly Carmichael, director GIDS

Thank you for your piece about the forced adoptions carried out in the 1950s-1970s (Were human beings, we deserve an apology, say forced adoption victims, News). My mother was one of those who gave birth in a mother and baby home during that period and the experience scarred her for life. She was one of the few to keep her baby in her cohort only two did so, herself and another young woman who was handing her child over to the grandma to raise. The impact on my mother was tremendous. She has suffered from mental health issues ever since, and when she gave birth to my brother 16 years later, the impact of that delayed trauma was still with her.

She often spoke of the way she was chastised as she was giving birth to me, being told that she was an awful human being and that there was no way she would be able to raise a child out of wedlock. The impact was so extreme that when I was pregnant 40 years later, she had to have therapy due to PTSD flashbacks.

The young women who had their children adopted were not the only ones who suffered. It was all young women who went through that system and the impact reverberates still among women of my age, both as daughters of those who kept their babies and daughters of those who were forced to submit, since that knowledge becomes a form of generational trauma that is handed down.Yasmin Stefanov-KingScarborough, North Yorkshire

Snobbery and stereotyping in the Everyman crossword last Sunday? I fear so: Everyman No 3,936 clue for 21 down: Here you see outsized competitors hover excitedly, primarily? Solution: oche (the line to be toed when playing darts). Not so Everyman after all?David ReedLondon NW3

Read more from the original source:
Letters: Britain should knuckle down and embrace the boring - The Guardian