Princeton University has discussed plans to create an additional campus across Lake Carnegie a campus that would potentially create an innovation center that could attract companies seeking the next great technological advancement. (More on that later.)

President Chris Eisgruber is just as excited to talk about the schools commitment to a different kind of expansion: One that would increase the number of low-income and first-generation students attending the nations premier university.

Its just such a passion for me, he said. One of the things Im proudest of is that we have become a national leader in terms of attracting students from low-income backgrounds and graduating them and seeing them go off and do spectacular things, with, I hope, many of them staying here in the state of New Jersey.

As we continue to look to elevate and nurture talent, it will be important to what Princeton University is doing going forward.

Going forward is a relative phrase these days. Princeton like all universities and much of society is eager to just return to the way it was. Few parts of society were as impacted as greatly by COVID-19 as higher education.

Princeton will bring its students back to campus next semester and do it with a rigorous testing system, while school officials await the day when everyone will be vaccinated. But, even then, Eisgruber knows the school will be different.

While the COVID-19 pandemic impacted how students learn, the murder of George Floyd led to a reexamination of how everyone thinks about racial equity and equality. At Princeton, that meant another look at the racist views of one of its former presidents, Woodrow Wilson, and the removal of his name from a number of prominent places.

Eisgruber discussed all of this and more in a recent chat for the Interview Issue, our annual year-end give-and-take with some of the most inspiring and intriguing people around the state.

Heres a look at the conversation, edited for space and clarity.

ROI-NJ: We have to start with COVID-19. Give us an overview of how that has impacted Princeton?

Chris Eisgruber: Education depends on engagement and personal interaction; thats what we try to provide. Thats the key to teaching that really inspires. But, the same kind of engagement and intimacy thats so valuable to education is also what spreads this virus. So, weve had the problem that the thing that is at our core of education has suddenly become dangerous in the midst of this pandemic, and weve had to adapt to that.

We made the tough decision to go online in the fall, and Ive been so impressed by the way our staff and our students and our faculty have worked together to find possibilities for making online education real and meaningful. And then, weve been working hard to find ways to bring back people to campus and do it safely. Im grateful to lots of people around this campus and to our alumni, who made it possible for us to set up a testing laboratory on the campus, so we can test our students twice a week, every week, even if the entire population looks asymptomatic.

We are working to de-densify, so that, in our housing system, well be able to have students one per room. Weve established a culture of masking and social distancing. So, Im confident that we can bring back students in the spring and bring them back safely. But Im among the many people who are looking forward to the day when we can get everybody vaccinated and we can go back to the in-person elements that add so much more to our education.

ROI: We have to think that virtual learning will continue in some fashion. How could that work?

CE: I think it will vary from institution to institution. I do think, for all of us, this will give us additional arrows in our quiver. The obvious place is in terms of guest speakers or when students are studying abroad or when a faculty member has to travel someplace. Its one thing when everything has to be on Zoom all the time. Its another if you suddenly realize, OK, distance doesnt have to be a barrier.

I still think in-person instruction will be the dominant mode of delivery, but, yes, you will still see (some virtual instruction) where we cant deliver the in-person experience.

ROI: Lets move to other big event of 2020, the killing of George Floyd and the long overdue discussion of racial equity, opportunity and justice that came about. The issue, of course, was reflected at Princeton in the removal of Woodrow Wilsons name from a number of key spots. Talk about how Princeton attempted to address all of these issues.

CE: I think we and other colleges and universities have a responsibility to be sites for honest confrontation with the right and wrongs of history and for conversations about very difficult subjects. And, obviously, race is a very hard subject to talk about in the United States and to talk about on our college campus. And we havent always done well with that.

Weve had to wrestle with Woodrow Wilsons legacy. I will say, personally, that, when I took office, I wasnt aware that he had resegregated the federal civil service. We talked about him on this campus in a way that didnt recognize that or acknowledge it. And I think that has been part of this problem of indifference thats held us back as a country and as a university as we reach for our highest aspirations.

ROI: How do we address this?

CE: This moment remains a moment of great challenge. These issues are so hard, and the problems have been so longstanding, but it also is a moment of opportunity for us. I think there is a greater and wider recognition of the need to do more affirmatively, even more than weve done. I know the state of New Jersey has been a leader in a lot of things. This university has tried to be a leader on a lot of things, but we need to do even more in order to reach our highest aspirations.

I assign a book to the incoming students every year. This year, it was a book by the historian Jill Lepore called This America: The Case for the Nation, which tries to tell the story of both the great triumphs and aspirations, but also the story of the failures. And she starts, to that end, with this quotation from W.E.B. Du Bois, which I now find myself quoting again and again to our students and alumni. In 1935, W.E.B. Du Bois said: Nations reel and stagger on their way. They make hideous mistakes. They commit frightful wrongs. They do great and beautiful things, and shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this so far as the truth is ascertainable?

And thats what I think we have tried to hold ourselves to do. And it is incredibly hard. And depending on who the audience is, they may hear or want to hear only one side of this. I think we have to tell it all, and thats the challenge.

Oswald Veblen. He was a mathematician here in the early 20th century. And he basically transformed the math and physics departments in this university and helped to start the Institute for Advanced Study. Hes not well known, but he should be. He realized early on what was happening in Nazi Germany and helped to bring over a number of Jewish refugees who otherwise would have perished. I think hes one of the unsung heroes. He just stands for so many things, from academic excellence to being a great citizen of the university to being somebody who helps the refugee in a time of need. So, he gets my vote.

Its humanity: One of the things that I love about New Jersey is that the people are real and theyre not pretentious.

One of the things were really going to want after this pandemic is to bring back the restaurants that have been badly affected. Thats going to matter to attracting young talent and keeping it here. One thing that stands in the way of aspiring chefs that might want to start interesting places that are cool and attractive to young people are the states liquor laws in particular, the difficulty that restaurants have in getting licenses in the state. I think it puts us at a real competitive disadvantage, by comparison to New York and Pennsylvania. So, Im going to put in a plug for our restaurant industry on that, and for the importance of having cool places that attract young people.

ROI: This challenge reaches all areas of the university. Sometimes in good ways. Princeton has had some successes in fundraising this year one was a gift from Mellody Hobson, a businesswomen, philanthropist and alumna that will have significance beyond the dollars and cents. Talk about her gift.

CE: Fundamentally, the process of fundraising at Princeton is about a desire of our friends and our alumni to pay it forward to future generations to do things that will make a difference at the university and beyond it. What we want to do right now, as we think about our current capital campaign, is to enable more students from more backgrounds to make a difference for the better in the world. And I think that message continues to resonate with our alumni.

One of our happiest moments during this difficult year was when we were able to announce the gift that will create Mellody Hobson College on the site where Wilson College was previously located. And I know, for many of our alumni and many of our students, the idea that they would be able to identify with an alum like Mellody Hobson, with her story of coming from Chicago as a first-generation Black student to Princeton University, then going on to this career of extraordinary national significance, means a lot. I think its a symbol for us. Its a symbol for students who will make a difference later in their lives. And its a symbol for higher education.

ROI: We are a business journal at heart. So, lets talk about how the university is connected to the business community in the state.

CE: Increasing Princetons connection to the New Jersey economic environment is important for us and the state of New Jersey because of its connections to our teaching and research mission. This is a change from the days when Albert Einstein was kind of the paradigmatic Princeton professor, thinking thoughts to win Nobel Prizes, but thoughts that didnt have immediate application in the business world. Nowadays, my top researchers, some of them who get whispered about in terms of winning Nobel Prizes, say their research is going to be better if they have more connection to the applied world, because theyre going to learn more about which problems need their attention, or where the really interesting issues are. And they want their research to have an application to the world.

One example of that, which really connects directly back to Einstein, is around quantum computing. We have an initiative in quantum computing. Some of our faculty are associated with a multiuniversity partnership that has a lot of government funding behind it. The Plasma Physics Laboratory is working on expanding into the area of nanochip technology. This is applying some of the most theoretical and worldly ideas that Einstein thought about. It is now the critical technology in terms of the next advances in computing. We would love to see all of that happen right here in central New Jersey. If we could be recognized as the place to go when it comes to quantum computing, thats going to be really good for the intellectual environment around Princeton University and really good for the state of New Jersey.

I think weve got the edge in terms of having the talent and the fundamentals here. And I think there are a number of other areas, like what were doing in bioengineering, what were doing in computer science. So, weve been really pleased that the New Jersey business community seems to have responded well to that. Its been a priority for Gov. (Phil) Murphys administration. And we hope that these initiatives will continue to grow.

ROI: Like the Princeton campus. This takes us back to an expansion across the lake.

CE: We want to expand gradually, because we want to make sure that were preserving the character of a Princeton education. So, one of the things were doing as were building these two new residential colleges is making sure that, as we start renovating some of our existing space, we will have the capacity to expand down the line.

We have land across the lake that is as large as our current campus. And part of what we have started to do is to put in place a general development plan for that land. Our belief is that the campus, as it develops over time, can be an important site for innovation and entrepreneurship. And part of what were thinking about is that the campus should develop with a character on the other side of the lake that provides a home to joint ventures of a sort that we cant quite imagine yet.

The example that I always give folks is, back in the 80s, Microsoft came to Cambridge University in England and said, Were interested in doing something jointly with your computer science department. And Cambridge, which has a lot of similarities to Princeton, was able to say Yes, because they had the equivalent of our land across the lake and they were ready to go and they were able to green-light it.

We want to be able to do that in New Jersey. If we get the right kind of project that advances our mission, and that could be good here for the innovation ecosystem, we want to be able to say, Yes, and that is one of the reasons why we are moving forward with planning for that.

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The Interview Issue: Eisgruber is trying to reshape the meaning of a Princeton education even as his school, and higher ed as a whole, grapples with...

Bitcoin evangelist and influencer Andreas Antonopoulos says Satoshi Nakamotos massive Bitcoin trove will be an easy target for quantum computers.

In a Bitcoin HARDTalk interview, Antonopoulos says that investors should keep a close watch on Nakamotos BTC fortune. If the dormant coins start moving, Antonopoulos says it is likely not the doing of the anonymous Bitcoin creator.

Especially with some of the early keys, they are pay-to-public keys, the public keys are visible and the money is sitting in them.

Therefore, a quantum computer, its first target, its juiciest target, its easiest to attack target is the Satoshi stash. How do we know if a quantum computer exists that can break ECDSA (elliptic curve digital algorithm). Simple, Satoshis coins start moving, and in fact at some point after a decade or so it might actually be the more likely explanation.

So you see the coins moving and youre like Did Satoshi come back from the dead? or Did a quantum computer emerge that can break [ECDSA keys]? As the years go by, I start leaning more towards, Okay, it appears a quantum computer has emerged that can do this, but I think were still a decade away from that.

However, the movement of Satoshis huge BTC stash is not a nail in the coffin for the leading cryptocurrency, says Antonopoulos.

It would cause a massive amount of volatility in the space by injecting an enormous amount of liquidity on the supply side of Bitcoin, but it would also once and for all resolve the question This is characteristic of markets which is, Sell the rumor, buy the fact

If something starts happening that is unexpected the market reacts badly, but as soon as that becomes expected, you get the opposite reaction. The markets go, Oh well, I guess Satoshis coins moved. Bitcoin didnt die completely, its price dipped. Well, now Bitcoin at whatever price its priced in now is a Bitcoin in which Satoshis coins have moved and are therefore part of the supply and priced in. Therefore, its future is now certain. That is no longer hanging over it

Sometimes having the bad news confirmed leads to a rally in the markets because you went from uncertainty to confirmation even though whats been confirmed is bad news.

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Satoshis Bitcoin Fortune Will Be Easiest Batch for Quantum Computers to Hack, Says Andreas Antonopoulos - The Daily Hodl

This ETF has an annual return of 12.9% since inception, but over the 10 years since Dec. 1, 2010, it has posted an average annual return of 20.5%. If you invested $10,000 10 years ago at this time, you'd now have about $99,000 -- investing $100 per month. Depending on where your kid goes to college, that could pay for all four years of tuition at some state schools, and at least a year or two at most private institutions.

Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results, as the disclaimer says, and the last 10 years have been historically strong for the IT sector.

The sector has also been among the strongest through the pandemic as technology has been central to adapting to social distancing protocols. While some companies saw their stocks rise too high, too fast and could see a snapback, in the long term, the sector is going to continue to lead the market over the next decade. While the pandemic will hopefully be a thing of the past in 2021, many of the protocols will remain as part of a new normal, driven by technology. That's not to mention all the new emerging technologies we'll see, such as artificial intelligence (AI), further transform the way we communicate.

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$10,000 Invested in This ETF Could Send Your Kids to College - Tulsa World

An Office of Personnel Management proposal to link layoffs to performance ratings was unexpected. If the ratings were valid, it would make sense but ratings have little credibility. Jacque Simon, speaking for the American Federation of Government Employees, was correct in saying, Theres nothing objective about performance ratings. Simons opposition is understandable; the proposal appears to be intentionally antagonistic. In the absence of badly needed changes in the way performance is managed, the proposal is not tenable.

The proposed rule does serve to highlight what is possibly governments weakest talent management practice. In other sectors, policies focus on the high performers. Thats true as well in sports and entertainment. It's common in other endeavors as well. Individuals aspire to be recognized. In contrast, governments management philosophy makes it more important to admonish poor performers.

The Trump administration is correct in emphasizing policies intended to make agencies more results-oriented and to hold employees accountable. Its hard to argue with the goal. However, the proposed policy would have triggered a different reaction if agencies had invested earlier in best practices and training for managing employee performance.

The proposal has been effectively nullified by the pandemic. The reason is reflected in a 2019 memo from OPMs then Acting Director Margaret Weichert to the heads of executive departments and agencies. The memorandum reads like a how-to booklet: let employees know what they need to accomplish and the standards that will be used to evaluate their performance. The message is clear: goal setting is top-down. In contrast, the lesson from high performance workplaces is that goal setting should be a collaborative process. Then employees see their goals as fair and are invested in them.

The Pandemic Made Change Essential

One of the few positives to come out of the pandemic is that it triggered a need for agencies to rethink the way employee performance is managed. Working miles apart changes supervisor/subordinate working relationships and prompts both to adopt new behaviors. It should be seen as an opportunity for agencies to shift to proven practices. As the pandemic comes to an end, agencies should invest in defining a work management strategy for the new normal.

Throughout history, psychometricians focused on appraisal forms and improving the validity of ratings. They failed. Now remote work arrangements, lack of trust, intermittent communication, and new technology are making everyone unsure and uncomfortable. New answers are available.

The problems are not unique to government. Employers in every sector are searching for better answers. Articles have appeared in surprising publications like Vanity Fair (Microsofts Lost Decade). In management journals, articles discussing new approaches have appeared frequently.

Its Not a Simple Problem

Completing performance appraisals has been time consuming but painless for supervisorsas long as the ratings are consistent with employee expectations. Its the old Lake Wobegon phenomenon where all the children are above average. The annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey confirms employees believe their personal rating is accurateits others that are inflated! Its a problem that can be solved.

A largely unrecognized aspect of the problem in government is that performance has been addressed by two distinct groups of practitioners with minimal overlap. At the highest levels, there are experts who focus on agency mission and vision statements, strategic planning and goals, evidence-based decision making, and reporting systems. There is also a separate group of experts who focus on employee performance. Each group has its own technology concerns, laws and regulations, academic researchers, and consulting firms. The future needs to integrate the best thinking of both groups.

The nations problems and threats are becoming more complex, requiring deeper expertise. The pandemic has given new emphasis to front line knowledge and capabilities. Employees at all levels need to see how their goals are connected to agency goals.

An essential change is redefining how employee performance is evaluated. The most common practice is relying on individual performance goals combined with job-relevant competencies. Each year employees gain from experience and benefit from training and coaching. As they grow, they need to commit to new, higher level goals. Supervisors play a key role. Year-end appraisals need to document each employees strengths and weaknesses. Thats very different than rating everyone on generic performance dimensions.

Here the past truly is prologue. The highest hurdle will be changing learned behaviors and habits. Training is essential but building commitment to a new way of managing will require leadership and the help of change management facilitators.

Gallups research shows the daily interactions between managers and staff are key to employee engagement and to high performance. The companys Q12 survey results confirm the importance of managers. However, in government, the role of managers has been virtually ignored. Redefining and emphasizing supervisory practices proven to be effective in remote work settings is now essential.

Governments Purpose Should Be an Advantage

A thread prominent in discussions of high performance is the importance of creating a purpose-driven organization. Organizations that emphasize service, address difficult societal problems and/or build productive relationships with other organizationsin other words, governmentshould be exemplars. Purpose is the reason many employees opted for government careers. Emphasizing an agencys purpose gives employees a sense of meaning and value; it's motivational.

Purpose-driven organizations benefit when the societal value of agency accomplishments is emphasized in recruiting, onboarding, training and in organization/team meetings. Accomplishments should be featured in internal and external communications. It has to be convincing but that should not be a problem in government organizations.

This new focus on purpose reflects what is important to Millennials and Gen Z workers entering the workforce. They look for something more than the pay and benefits. Looking back, it's consistent with statements like the Jack Kennedy inaugural line: ask what you can do for your country.

A practical example is the importance of serving customers. Too often government agencies are close to the bottom of lists comparing customer satisfaction measures with industry. That should be an easy problem to address. It would be straightforward to highlight stories of how federal agencies like Veterans Affairs benefited their customers. Hospitals, for example, communicate emotionally charged patient stories. A simple but powerful practice would be to videotape people discussing how a federal agency helped them.

Recognizing accomplishments would help to overcome that compliance culture. Internal communications highlighting how an employee or team solved difficult problems would influence others to do the same. Employees naturally want to be valued and recognized. It would benefit everyone.

Current Best Practice Thinking

If there is one overriding answer in the understanding of high performance, its the importance of gaining employee commitment to what needs to be accomplished. In the right work environment, employees will work hard, go home exhausted but look forward to returning the next day. They enjoy the challenge and the chance to contribute to their organizations success. They may complain to co-workers but their job satisfaction is high. There are many situations where thats proven to be true across government.

The goal in managing and evaluating performance should be to support and encourage a performance culture. A fundamental change gaining broad acceptance is emphasizing ongoing feedback and coaching by managers. Coaching skills are now essential for effective supervision. Its a radical change from the old, do-as-your-told approach to supervision.

A related argument gaining acceptance is that in this era of change it's natural for performance plans and goals to need adjustment as the year unfolds. It's consistent with the argument for making organizations more agile and responsive. Adjustments and accomplishments need real time documentation.

A third trend is to solicit feedback on performance from customers, co-workers and subordinates. The buzzword is crowdsourcing. In a collaborative environment, relevant others are in the best position to observe an individuals strengths and weaknesses.

Metrics of course play a central role but the data need to be available locally to guide front line decision making. Thats ongoing throughout the year. Simply reporting performance data to senior management adds little value.

In combination, best practice thinking shifts the focus from the appraisal forms to helping managers become comfortable and proficient in their new role. They need the training and organizational support to transition to a new way of managing. Tennessee made a commitment to reform and invested three years in training and coaching to prepare managers.

The final trend is eliminating those five and seven level rating scales, along with pass/fail ratings. Organizations need to identify and recognize their best performers as well as the few unsatisfactory performers. The majority of employees70% to 80% or moreare performing as expected. The new rating scales have only three levels. That simplifies the supervisors role and enhances rating validity.

A simple reward strategy is supplementing step increases with cash awards for employees rated at the highest level. That proved to be successful in the Government Accountability Offices strategy to reward the best performers.

As an added step to confirm the ratings, managers can be required to explain and justify the high and low ratings to a committee of peers. It assures the ratings are warranted and reinforces the recognition.

Will OPM be Ready to Help?

The answer, unfortunately, is no. Early statements suggest the Biden administration will be supportive of rebuilding the workforce. That's badly needed. The last four years have taken a toll on federal employees. However, OPMs role as the civil service police has not won friends. HR executives in the Great Places to Work play an integral role in sustaining high performance. Hopefully, Biden will select an OPM director with experience reinvigorating organizations. Government needs to redefine how it utilizes its greatest asset.

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It's Time to Rethink Employee Performance Management - GovExec.com

There will be no massive crowds, but plenty of music will still be on tap for New Years Eve in Times Square. Using a combination of television and streaming, the show will go on despite the pandemic restrictions against huge gatherings.

Times Square Alliance andCountdown Entertainment, the co-organizers of Times Square New Years Eve, today announced that singer-songwriterAndraDay willheadline the live, commercial-free webcast and TV pool feed.

Day will perform her Grammy Award-nominated single Rise Up, as well as her song Forever Mine. Day will also continue the New Years Eve tradition of singing John Lennons Imagine just before the Ball Drop Celebration to count down the final seconds to the new year.

The co-organizers of the event said the official Times Square New Years Eve event lineup will feature live performances by Gloria Gaynor, Pitbull, Anitta, Jennifer Lopez, Billy Porter, Cyndi Lauper, Jimmie Allen, Machine Gun Kelly, The Waffle Crew,andUSOShow Troupe,as well as an array of special activities and appearances that will happen throughout the evening.

The six-hour, live commercial-free webcast will begin at 6:00 PM ET with the lighting and raising of the New Years Eve Ball atop One Times Square. The webcast will include musical performances by AndraDay, Gloria Gaynor, Anitta, Pitbull, the USO Show Troupe,andThe Waffle Crew.

Jamestown, owner of One Times Square, home of the iconic Ball Drop Celebration, has created a virtual New Years Eve experience.Everyone can start the festivities today and enter a virtual world of Time Square filled with games, music, and art.

Then, on December 31st, viewers can tune in for a live broadcast where they can choose from multiple camera feeds to direct their own New Years Eve show. Plus, viewers will also get a chance to see other celebrations from around the globe, and hear messages from local leaders and people from dozens of cities from around the world.

Visitwww.VNYE.comfor more information and download theNYE appto join thelivecelebration on New Years Eve.

Times Square 2021 LIVE performances on the Planet Fitness and Countdown Stages:

For 116 years, Times Square has been the center of worldwide attention on New Years Eve, ever since the owners of One Times Square began in 1904 to conduct rooftop celebrations to greet the New Year. The first Ball Lowering celebration occurred in 1907, and this tradition is now a universal symbol of welcoming the New Year.

Actor and TV personality Jonathan Bennett, star of the Hallmark Holiday film The Christmas Houseand Mean Girls,and host of the Food Networks Halloween Wars and Holiday Wars,will return to the celebration as Times Square New Years Eve Host.

The 12th annual webcast will cover the action and festivities in Times Square, beginning with the Ball Raising at 6 p.m. ET, plus live musical performances, hourly countdowns, behind-the-scenes stories, and star-studded interviews as anticipation builds towards the midnight countdown and the famous Ball Drop. The custom-designed embeddable video provides viewers with a full Times Square New Years Eve experience.

All participants will remain masked at all times except when performing and will adhere to distancing regulations throughout the production site. Additionally, all Special Guest families, who are included in the capacity limits for the production, will be staged within their personal household safety areas to ensure proper distance from other participants.

How to Watch

The Times Square 2021 Webcast will begin at 6 PM ET on December 31, 2020 and end at 12:15 a.m. ET on January 1, 2021. The show will be streamed live on multiple websites, including TimesSquareNYC.org,NewYearsEve.nyc,Livestream.com/2021,andTimesSquareBall.net.

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New Years Eve Will Still Rock In Times Square, Even Without A Live Audience - Deadline

At Christmas time last year, the only cloud on Boris Johnsons horizon was how he was going to pay for a winter break with Carrie on Mustique. The answer, rather typically, was that someone else would pick up the tab. The opposition later raised a complaint, but few Tories begrudged their leader his getaway in the Caribbean. He had just delivered a stonking election victory, their best since Margaret Thatcher was at her zenith. He was, in the words of one senior Tory, lord of all he surveys. Celebratory Christmas receptions at Number 10 were pungent with the scent of hubris.

Being a student of the classics, the prime minister should have known that the gods will punish arrogance. Nemesis came in the shape of an invisible microbe. The pandemic has tested the mettle of leaders around the planet, but among the mature democracies few were as singularly ill-equipped to handle a crisis of this nature and magnitude as Britains prime minister. He has looked good only when benchmarked against Donald Trump.

The coronavirus crisis could not have been more cunningly engineered to expose Mr Johnsons flaws. He was made prime minister not because anyone thought that he was a cool and decisive head with the leadership skills and moral seriousness required to handle the gravest public health emergency in a century. He was put there because he was a successful representative of the entertainer branch of populist leadership that prospered in the pre-virus era. We elected him to be a good times prime minister, comments one senior Tory. His curse is to be prime minister in bad times.

Few of his strengths as a politician have been of much utility in this emergency. All of his weaknesses have been searingly exposed. A man who spent his career ducking responsibility was suddenly confronted with a challenge that could not be run from, though that didnt stop him vanishing at the outset when he went missing from critical meetings. In the coronavirus, he met an opponent impervious to glib slogans and empty promises. Here was a disease posing hideous and inescapable dilemmas that confounded the have your cake and eat it philosophy by which he had lived his life.

Not that he didnt try to do that anyway. At the time of the first national lockdown, when one of many lives versus livelihoods arguments was boiling within government, I attempted to discover which side the prime minister was taking. One witness to these internal debates told me: Boris being Boris, he wants to end all the restrictions and get the economy fired up again without a single life lost. He cant have that, of course.

The wrong criticism of his performance is to say that he has made mistakes. Confronted with a novel disease for which the country was unprepared, any prime minister would have made errors. The correct criticism is that he has failed to learn from his mistakes and egregiously repeated them. There is a pattern from the prevarication over ordering the first lockdown, to the bout of indecision over the second, to last nights sudden cancellation of Christmas relaxations and imposition of a Yuletide lockdown on London and the southeast.

The pattern is one of resisting taking the necessary steps at the time when they would have been most effective and then being compelled to implement them late and with more damaging effect. Even Tories concede that their governments record is at the bottom end of the international league table. Britain has suffered the double-whammy of having one of the highest death levels per million of population while enduring the most severe hit to the economy among the G7 club of prosperous states. One former Tory cabinet minister remarks: Theres bound to be a public inquiry. We will be held to account for the fact that our deaths are higher and our recession is deeper. This senior Conservative adds the coda: Boris will tell the inquiry that he was chairman of the board and it was his people who failed him.

That sounds right. From supply failures of essential equipment to the summer exams debacle to the care homes scandal, another pattern of the crisis has been attempts to swerve culpability for all the things that have gone wrong by blaming anyone else but ministers. Power without responsibility has been their credo. Six senior civil servants, among them the cabinet secretary, have been sacked or pushed out this year. Not a single minister has resigned. Yet few dispute that Mr Johnson appointed one of the weakest cabinets in modern history. Given his lack of dedication to detail and the hard grind of delivering competent government, he needed a capable cabinet. Feebly fearful of having any substantial figures around the top table who might challenge him, he instead surrounded himself with a cabinet characterised by Tory MPs as lightweight, talentless, loyalist duds and nodding dogs.

The only explanation for the extraordinary survival of the serially blundering Gavin Williamson as education secretary is that he exists so that the rest of them can say: Well, at least no one can call me the most useless member of the cabinet. Another persistent pattern during this plague year has been to over-promise and under-deliver. We were going to have a fantastic this and a world-beating that and a moon-shot the other. We would have settled for a test, trace and isolate programme that worked. This was accompanied by a compulsion to claim the virus was about to be beaten. Way back in mid-March, he breezily proclaimed that we can send coronavirus packing before suggesting we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks.

Optimism can be a positive trait in a politician, but wishful thinking is a fatal characteristic in an epidemic. So is deceptive messaging to the public. In the summer, Mr Johnson foolishly tied himself to a guarantee that Britain would enjoy a significant return to normality by Christmas, a promise that his scientific advisers conspicuously declined to endorse at the time and which was dramatically proved completely false last night. That misjudgment, like all the other ones, flows from his personality. Just below the surface of his performative face lurks an insecure character who trusts no one and yearns to be loved by everyone. He hates being the bearer of bad news and tough choices. One of the many women in his life, Petronella Wyatt, once excused his mendacity on the grounds that he will do anything to avoid an argument, which leads to a degree of duplicity.

Yet the successful handling of this crisis demanded a capacity to confront people with things they wouldnt want to hear and sufficient reserves of trust to persuade them to act in ways theyd rather not. His most effective personal performance was in the video he released after his own self-described mugging by the virus when he paid tribute to the NHS as the beating heart of the nation. Even then he failed to start a proper conversation with either his party or the country about the tradeoffs involved in getting through this kind of emergency. Though he became prime minister because his party rated him as their best communicator, he has persistently struggled to find the right tone when addressing the nation.

Anyone familiar with his biography knows he is a libertarian Tory who used to earn a living as a columnist by fulminating against the nanny state. In some ways, this has served him well. It has been obvious that he has imposed curbs on behaviour with extreme reluctance. This has not stopped rightwing Tories from railing against restrictions, but it probably meant that he got less pushback from the public than a Labour prime minister might have done. Yet there has been a profound problem with a prime minister who never gives the impression that he fully believes in his guidance to the nation. Even when he has life-preserving advice to dispense, he hasnt been able to shake the habit of trying to disguise grave tidings in comedic gift wrap. Remember squashing the sombrero or Operation Last Gasp? Now, it is the invocation to have yourself a merry little Christmas.

With his party disenchanted and voters disapproving, this Yuletide wont be accompanied by hubristic partying at Number 10. The prime ministers hopes of a revival of his reputation in 2021 now rest on a successful vaccination programme. In the new year, says one senior Tory, we will need bouncy old Boris back to cheer us up that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The light will have to be exceedingly bright to wipe away all the memories of how long and dark, stumbling and flailing has been the nations journey through the tunnel.

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With his sudden U-turn over Christmas, Boris Johnson caps a year of debacles - The Guardian

If you're new to grilling or ready to upgrade your grill, the abundance of options on the market can makepicking the best onefeel overwhelming. It's hard to know whether to go for a gas grill (fueled by propane or natural gas),kamado grill,charcoal grill,pellet grillor perhaps even aportable model.

Gas grills are a great place to start for new grillers and they make a great upgrade, too. Gas grills are simple to use, easy to control and roomy enough to feed the whole family.

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Read more:The best outdoor tech of 2021|Best kamado grills of 2021: Big Green Egg, Char-Griller, Kamado Joe and more

We put six of the best-selling models you can buy right now through their paces at the CNET Smart Home to help you find the best gas grill. After cooking up 12 racks of ribs, 18 whole chickens and 96 burgers, here's how it all shook out.

Note our original list included the DynaGlo four-burner (DGE486GSP-D) and Dyna-Glo Smart Space Living three-burner (DGB390SNP-D) among our top picks. These models are now discontinued, and we've updated our recommendations accordingly.

If burgers are the mainstay of your cookouts and backyard barbecues, this Weber gas grill is a great choice. In fact, it's a great choice for cooking all around. Weber's 10-year warranty applies to all its grill parts, so you'll be set for years to come, even with heavy use (like, if you let no weekend go by without having a chance to char-broil some burgers). Its consistent performance in our testing delivered burgers with a good char and a slightly pink center.

The Spirit II E-210 is also one of Weber's iGrill compatible models, an additional accessory line that includes Bluetooth temperature probes you can monitor via a companion app. If you'll be preparing dishes that require more time on the grill, the iGrill system will help you keep an eye on things from a distance.

At $379, this gas grill sits in the middle of the affordability spectrum. The cons are that you won't get a side burner or a cabinet to hide your propane tank, though there is a rack to hang it on with a sliding gauge mechanism. Still, I was pleased with the searing and even cooking across this Weber model, and I'd recommend it to anyone who dreams of the perfect Saturday spent grilling.

The name says it all. This $499 gas grill is a good choice if you're looking for large capacity, and it feels like working in a professional outdoor kitchen. Equipped with four burners, two separate fireboxes and a side burner, this grill will easily conquer cooking for the largest crowds.

The Char-Broil Commercial Double Header does an excellent job of preventing flare-ups, no matter how greasy your meat. And it takes a low-and-slow approach to cooking, which means you can relax in a lawn chair without worrying about whether your meat will burn. However, it is expensive. You might luck out with summer sales, but be prepared to spend big for a big gas grill that will serve up patties by the dozen. Read our Char-Broil Commercial Double Header review.

Weber's larger Spirit II model includes three burners. It also comes with a propane tank scale and six hooks for easy tool organization. It performs well and gives you the option of an iGrill accessory, a $100 Bluetooth temperature probe that connects to your mobile Weber app to monitor the temperature of your food.

Priced higher at $479, the Spirit II E-310 looks great, offers smarts and is a good size for most people. If the tank scale and iGrill 3 accessory matter to you, the Spirit II might be worth your money.

The CNET Smart Home editors have been cooking and serving up grill data for a few years now. In addition to the models above, here are the other gas grills we've tested. These do include some models that are currently unavailable.

To determine the best gas grill and get a feel for how these grills perform in a variety of cooking scenarios, we perform three tests. Based on different meats, methods and heat settings, these tests show us how efficiently and evenly a grill does (or doesn't) cook.

Our first test is ribs. It's an anecdotal round, so there isn't a connected thermometer set or software capturing specific data. We preheat each grill on high for 10 minutes before turning it down to low, indirect heat. Depending on the grill size, that means turning one or two burners off completely.

We remove the outer membrane on a rack of St. Louis style short ribs and season it with an all-purpose rub we use for ribs and chicken. Then, the ribs are placed on a piece of aluminum foil and grilled for three hours with the lid closed the entire time.

Rib testing takes three hours on low, indirect heat.

Rib enthusiasts may not agree with this relatively short and smoke-free cooking method, but it allows us to see just how well a regular propane gas grill can cook low and slow. Even with the arguably slim three-hour cook time, ribs at the end of this test can be tender and juicy.

A blind taste test by five selfless and dedicated (definitely not just there for the free food) coworkers results in a ranked list with the lowest scoring grill declared the winner. We repeated this test twice, you know, for science.

To test the grill with a midrange cook time and medium heat settings, we grill a whole chicken. We preheat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium and turn off burners to create an indirect heat environment.

Once we've trimmed and seasoned the bird, we place it in a roasting pan and insert one temperature probe into each chicken breast, for a total of two probes per chicken (this is an important step -- even if the grill has a built in thermometer -- because undercooked chicken is no good for anyone). To keep our results as fair as possibly, all the chickens are as close as possible to 5.5 pounds.

Whole chickens are cooked on indirect, medium heat until both breasts reach 165 degrees.

Those temperature probes are connected to a datalogger and laptop with a software program that records the internal temperature of each chicken breast every two seconds. Each chicken cooks until the temperature in both breasts reaches a food-safe 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chicken grilled well should have a crispy skin and meat that is cooked through fully but not dry. This test is performed in three rounds, giving us a solid average cooking time for each grill.

Burgers are our final test for our grill reviews. We measure out 5.3 ounces of 80/20 ground beef and press them into uniform patties. Those patties go into a grill basket and we insert a temperature probe into the center of each patty at a 45-degree angle.

With the grill preheated for 10 minutes on high, the basket goes onto the grill. After six minutes of cooking, we flip the basket and monitor internal temperature. Once the last burger in the basket reaches 145 degrees, the batch is finished. A good burger in this test is one that has both a nice outside char and a slightly pink center.

Burgers go on the grill over direct, high heat.

Burger testing points out any hot spots across the grill's cooking surface if one burger consistently reaches 145 before the others in every round.

An average 15- or 20-degree difference across the quickest and slowest patties in a batch was the norm in our testing. Red flags are raised when we begin to see differences in the 30- to 40-degree range. In this group of grills, only the Royal Gourmet gave us a real hot spot issue across the grates.

Comparing these gas grills isn't all apples to apples. With different grill sizes, cooking grates and BTU levels, a difference in performance is expected in each individual outdoor gas grill. Still, there are some observations to be made.

One thing our test data highlights is how quickly a grill can cook on its own medium or high setting. That doesn't mean each grill is set to the same preheated temperature. It simply means we turned the knobs to what each grill indicated was medium heat.

The chart below compares each grill's average cooking time for chicken and burgers over three identical tests.

If speed isn't your deciding factor, don't fear. There are other characteristics you can compare to choose the grill that's right for you.

Exactly which one is that? It depends on your cooking style. If you're cooking for large groups frequently, you'll need a grill with a large primary cooking surface, a warming rack and a side burner. Some of you might also have strong feelings about the cooking grates -- you need stainless steel, or cast iron grates, or porcelain coated grates, or even porcelain coated cast iron. Look carefully at each description to be sure you get what you're looking for. If you just plan to use your grill for flipping a few burgers occasionally, stick with a smaller or less expensive model. And of course, if you're looking for a portable grill or an indoor grill, these won't be right for you.

Looking for a small propane gas grill with a compact cooking area that gets the job done? KitchenAid'ssize and bold color options make it a solid, stylish choice that also cooks food well. If you want that side burner and plenty of power to go with it, the Char-Broil Commercial Double Header delivers great power and a stylish stainless steel look. Otherwise, I'll point you back to my top pick this year: the Weber Spirit II E-210.

Once you've picked out the best grill for you, don't forget accessories. You'll want to look at grill covers and pick up grilling tools like a grill brush, a thermometer to check for food-safe temperatures and liners for the drip tray.

Take a look at this chart to compare size, power, warranty and more.

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Whether you're an individual or online business, personal branding is crucial to propelling your online presence.

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December 21, 2020 3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, famously said, "Your personal brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room." In this digital age, as a company or individual, you should audit your presence online to see what would come up when prospects search for your name. Maximizing your digital presence is essential for your company or personal brand as online sales, resources, education, and sales have all skyrocketed. Whether you're an entrepreneur, expert, thought leader, executive, or business owner, maximizing your digital presence has proven to bring more connections, customers, and revenue.

Since the pandemic, the majority of executive meetings, sales demos, and business transactions are conducted online. Consumers are heavily researching online, looking for the right connection or right representative that they can trust and build with.

With an uncertain year coming to a close, personal branding expert and strategist Chris Diazhas worked and consulted with countless executives, personal brands, and businesses helping them refine and amplify their strategies to achieve online success. Diazshares three key trends that suggest how personal branding fuels business growth.

Related: Why Building a Personal Brand is More Important Than Ever

Once you have established your personal brand authority in your industry, your demand increases, and you can thereby charge a premium for your services. The key here is becoming the kind of customer or client you would want to attract. According to Diaz, "maintaining high standards and professional branding will make it easier to sell more because, through your personal brand, you can demonstrate your value."

Related: You Need a Personal Brand. Here's How to Build One

The online market is heavily saturated by billions of people, and the trust factor in the marketplace is at an all-time low. Consumers andclients want to know who they are doing business with, no matter the niche or industry. They want to find someone who they can trust and value. "By differentiating yourself and positioning yourself as the authority or expert in your industry, you build much more credibility with your target market," Diaz said.

Related: 4 Personal Branding Strategies You Can Implement Today

"Connection is the new currency." Covid-19 has impacted the way we connect and interact online. The economy has taken a major digital shift, and the reliance on online branding for entrepreneurs has become crucial. All of our communication, sales demos, and business meetings have turned completely virtual. You want to become attractive to your prospects. Your personal brand is the most powerful marketing, sales, and networking tool that exists today.

"It's your modern-day resume," Diaz said. Building online relationships and expanding your network will generate many more referrals, leads, business, and income. "It's not about who you know; it's who knows you. For that, your first impression with your personal brand has to be top tier," he adds.

In today's digital age, your financial success is directly proportional to how many people know you, like you, and trust you, so it's in your best interest to build a strong personal brand.

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Personal Branding: The Key to Success in the Digital Age - Entrepreneur

A fundamental principle of effective communication isshow, dont tell. The EMS education corollary is Telling isnt teaching. This doesnt mean you shouldnt speak; it means that for students to be able to perform as emergency medical providers, they must be able to make their own connections with the course material.

Making personal connections doesnt mean becoming best buddies with the textbook. A personal connection is when youre doing more than just memorizing and nodding your head as someone tells you something. It is when that knowledge clicks and true understanding occursthe kind of understanding that allows you to apply this knowledge in a variety of circumstances different than the ones you were originally taught. These personal connections are crucial to understanding and applying the information as well as building the confidence to perform under field conditions.

One of the methods I use to accomplish thisduring breakout and practical sessions is to have instructors literally teach with their hands behind their backs. Instructors can still prompt students and give advice, but once the background information has been taught and students have seen a demonstration, they just have to do it themselves, even if they fumble at first. This is how connections are made.

Because this can initially make students uncomfortablethey may be expecting more reviews, demonstrations, and hand-holdingit is important to make it clear that this is a walk-through, not a test, and that youre there to help them move the knowledge from their brains to their hands, not walk them through the exercise. It must be clear to both instructors and students that students are not being thrown to the wolves. This step can only occur after the students are otherwise set up for success, even if we dont expect them to perform perfectly in the first go-around.

Often instructors in charge of breakout sessions turn them into mini-lectures. Sessions begin with, Lets just review once more before we start. The instructors intention is to help students prepare, but consider it from the students perspective: What they hear is, Now that youve finished reading and watching videos and listening to lectures, you finally get your hands on the skill youve been training for, but first let me explain it all over again. If students and educators have worked properly to try this skill for the first time, then let them get to it, see where they struggle, and assist where needed. If the students still arent prepared, then a quick review before shoving equipment into their hands is likely to bore the prepared students and not be enough to help the unprepared ones.

All human beings tend to overestimate their ability to perform. This is why EMS students tend not to pay as much attention during breakout sessions. They often expect these sessions to be passive rather than active experiences. Be sure to reward those who are first to jump in and give it a try; as peer leaders they are demonstrating positive behavior as well as showing other students how to perform, even if you need to provide corrective feedback. Students tend to be much more attentive when watching other students take an assessment or perform a practice they will have to do next. This is much better active learning then watching an instructor repeat a demonstration.

Students focus better when they understand no one is going to do it for them. Even if youre in the early phases of skills practice and providing feedback as students go, teaching with your hands behind your back tells students you are there for support, but they must do it themselves. This helps build one of the most important soft skills of any EMS provider: self-reliance.

As students continue to practice, educators can leverage the power of the pause. As students work through a skill or simulation, hold not only your hands behind your back but your mouth closed until the very end. This may initially result in a long, awkward pause while they wait for you to tell them how they messed up or the right way to do it. Once they understand you are there to give feedback only at the end and they must troubleshoot their own obstacles, the pause will be shorter, and the learning will be stronger.

As they continue to practice, students become confident they can do it under dynamic conditions. They learn to identify their own prompts and decision points. As you interject less as an educator, students will have the opportunity to identify important clues and cues that should prompt them to take action or decide the best course for the patient.

As an EMS educator, you are already a success. Now it is the students turn. By teaching with your hands behind your back, you help your students learn what success looks like, but also what success feels like.

Rommie L. Duckworth, LP, is a dedicated emergency responder and award-winning educator with more than 25 years working in career and volunteer fire departments, hospital healthcare systems, and public and private emergency medical services. He is currently a career fire captain and paramedic EMS coordinator.

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Duckworth on Education: Teach With Your Hands Behind Your Back - EMSWorld

In 2005, From Dusk to Dawn and Sin City director Robert Rodriguez made a film inspired by his young son. Titled The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, the bright, zany film is seared into the minds of many 2000s-kids, despite the fact it was critically panned.

Rodriguez has a legacy as an action director he just directed a one-off for The Mandalorian and will oversee the upcoming The Book of Boba Fett but a whole generation knows him as the mastermind behind their favorite kids movies. In addition to Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Rodriguez also created the Spy Kids movies, a series of certifiably good movies that appeal to kid senses and elevates their stories to front and center.

His latest kid-action flick is We Can Be Heroes, a loose Sharkboy and Lavagirl sequel that brings the characters back as members of a superhero team. With the film out now on Netflix, Polygon sat down with the director (and producer, composer, camera operator, director of photography, visual effects supervisor, writer just some of the many hats he wears on set) to talk Sharkboy and Lavagirl, We Can Be Heroes, and whats so special about making kid movies.

Polygon: How did the idea of a Sharkboy and Lavagirl sequel come to be?

Robert Rodriguez: I was approached by Netflix to come up with an original film that wasnt tied to a remake or sequel for their service. Those were the comparables for sure Spy Kids, Sharkboy and Lavagirl which I played really well on their service. They wanted something like that: live-action, action adventure comedy like I did these other films, because they were just very successful for them.

I came up with We Can Be Heroes first and the whole time I was writing it, my kids and I were coming up with different superpowers for the kids. I kept thinking wow wish one of them at shark powers! Now we cracked the code 15 years ago, that was the best. Kids love that and its so empowering. So once they loved the script and wanted to make it into a film, I approached them about pulling a Marvel-Sony where they would borrow Spider Man from the studio. And so we borrowed the parents for two reasons one to legitimize my adult family and my adult superhero team so people would have at least heard of two people on the team and then also selfishly, so one of the kids could have a combination of their superpowers and create Guppy. Thats how that came about. It was really an afterthought later just when we realized weve done it in some way so long ago. It worked then so why not bring some of that back in the Rodriguez-verse!

The original was inspired by a story your son wrote was he involved in We Can Be Heroes? What does he think of it?

Hes on this as a producer. At the end of the credits when you see produced by me and and produced by Racer Max, thats him. He created Sharkboy way back when. He was on set [for We Can Be Heroes]. All my kids were on set every day working in some capacity. [Racer] wrote with me and produced with me. My other son, my 20 year-old, composed the score. The entire orchestral score was my 20 year-old, Rebel. Rogue, my 15 year-old, designed all those incredible alien interior sets the big one with a pyramid, he did on his game engine program at 15. And my 13 year-old daughter is the one who drew all the artwork for all [Ojo, one of the characters]s iPads. They were on the set every day and working.

It was very surreal for [Racer] to see not just Sharkboy and Lavagirl back. He created [them] when he was the same age as the girl who played Guppy. Thats how old he was when he came up with them. But also to see that they have offspring. It was very trippy. And for me, it was like she was my cinematic granddaughter. Very strange and very inspiring and just surreal.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl and the Spy Kids trilogy dont pander they were movies that took kid interests seriously. Was that part of the ethos, and if so, how did you go about approaching them in that way?

Im from a family of 10 kids. We used to go to the movies a lot. We loved movies like that. There werent very many. When I started making films my earliest films, when I was in my teens, were in my backyard. I was making sort of action comedies, but my friends werent always available to be in them, but my little siblings were. Theres so many of them that I put my little siblings in there instead. And I would win festivals! People seeing little kids do action comedy was a winning formula. I knew someday I would try and figure out an angle to make a film like that. That was Spy Kids.

Then I just loved to continue making them for my own kids, for my siblings, when we had that same kind of relationship together. Now that my kids are older, I really wanted to do this film, as a way to give kids their own mythology. Ive met a lot of kids over the years that are now in their 20s, who said, Oh, you know, Spy Kids and Sharkboy [and Lavagirl], that was my sister and my favorite movie, we watched that together over and over, that was our childhood. It means a lot to them.

[These movies have] a lot of good food for thought, teaching value, teaching morality to kids using genre like the spy genre or the fantasy genre, like Sharkboy. This one, were taking the superhero myth, and using that to show kids that theyre going to be the future. If the parents have obviously screwed the world up, theyre gonna have to step in later and be prepared. [The film does it] in a way that is entertaining, but yet also educational. That was always, I thought, the legacy of these films, and its something that I enjoy doing as a parent and as a sibling of such large families.

One thing that Ive always loved about Spy Kids, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and now We Can Be Heroes is just how bright they are visually. What inspired that? Why was it important?

Because thats whats so fun about making these movies! When you just think about how many superhero movies and TV series of reboots and spin offs there are, but there arent any with children. Surprisingly, theyve done everything but that. It really opens you up to be able to use the color palette and the shapes, like even the ship. The tech company would send me ideas for a ship and I was like It looks too much like a grownup ship. Just send me some simple shapes first, just send me shapes. And they send me like a circle. And they sent me some tentacle-looking things. I put a couple together and I said this is it. Now lets make that real. My kid handed you this little model, now make it big and make it real, make it work. So it started with various shapes, youre not used to seeing colors that youre not used to seeing, but that you would see in a childs world because in the film, it turns out, all that stuff is designed by a child and that was part of this storyline. It became part of the look and let you go into a direction you normally wouldnt go

Besides the subject matter, what is something starkly different about making kids movies versus making adult movies that some people might not consider?

You cant just direct and write. You have to operate the camera, you have to be the director of photography, you have to be the editor and know visual effects really well because you have so little time. You have half the amount of time to shoot it as a regular film, because a fim like this has 11 children in every shot, you lose them in six hours. You dont have a 12 hour shoot day. They have to go home, door to door in six hours. You have to be really focused, you have to hire really terrific kids to figure out how to film 11 of them in every shot. Its a tall order, but yet its so fun. Theyre so good, so imaginative.

A film like this you can use your entire imagination. Any idea you can kind of put in there because its for families its not like Oh, this isnt appropriate for an Avengers film. You can be as silly and as funny as you want. Like you are when you play with your kids. You cant be like that in the boardroom. You cant do that in your normal work life. But when you go home, thats when you have the most fun on the weekends and with your family. Thats what my work gets to be. We encourage that, on set, on camera, off camera. Its a very fun set to be on because it needs to spill into the camaraderie, that fun that were having. We have drawing contests together in between takes. Just to keep the kids creative and to keep them focused on working together and creating this art for others to enjoy. Its just a totally different environment than a regular movie. Everyone, even the adults, walked away saying it was probably the most fun theyd had shooting.

Whats something you hope adults will take away from We Can Be Heroes?

Its something that I kind of learned through parenting my kids. I never wanted to push them into the industry. But I started finding that as I included them, they really took to it and it wasnt about that they were going to go and do that in their future. Projects are a way to show the process of life really. Its more life lessons, specifically film lessons: how to take on a project, how to attack a big project, idea, business, whatever it is that you want to take on in your future, how you have to make a plan, how that plan always falls apart, how you save it, how you make it better. That process of life is wash, rinse, repeat, it comes in a microcosm of a project like a movie.

I hope what parents take away by seeing the kids and the parents working together and learning from each other in [We Can Be Heroes] is that parenting can be more about partnership, rather than parents telling you what to do as a kid. You can learn more from the child, and they can learn from you. And if you think of them as partners, rather than you having the responsibility of a parent, you have a relationship that can last much longer. Like you see, by the end of the movie that Missy has with her dad, theyre gonna go work together now. Theyre gonna have a partnership. Its not going to be [Pedro Pascals character] worried about his daughter, and then he becomes obsolete in her life at 13. Hes gonna be very much a crucial part of her development and his development. So I think that is something I tried to hit home in the movie, people take away from it. The excitement of being in a family is partnering with your kids.

What was it like to see the strong fan reaction when the first images of grownup Sharkboy and Lavagirl came out? Did you expect it?

Oh, that was so great. I dont think they realized at first when I first suggested bringing Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Because if you just looked at the box office ... Thats why I kind of stopped making those films. Kids would see them again and again, at home on video. But parents would only take them to see it at the theater maybe once or twice, and say ah, youll see it later. Kids want to see it over and over. But they couldnt drive themselves. So the box office never really reflected how much people were actually watching these movies. I would hear about it because people would say, every time that comes on, my kid watches it. Its crazy. I thought it built up a fan base, but I wasnt sure. [Netflix] knew they wanted to hold back showing them because theyd heard a lot of excitement about Sharkboy and Lavagirl, but I dont think they even knew it was gonna get that much response. It was very exciting. Now just about every trailer says, Sharkboy and Lavagirl ... and the rest of the team! But theyre just characters I borrowed from the other movie. People just really love the characters and they stood out. Even if people have never seen the film, theyve heard of it. Its been 15 years. After a while, you just hear about things like that. I was very excited to see that, my son was very excited to see that. When people see what we did with the characters and their offspring, theyll be really pleased that its in line with that original film. And if they never saw the original film, maybe theyll watch it.

Do you think that Netflix opens doors for these weirder movies to be made?

Thats why I actually wanted to do it. Because I love making those films. They just werent box office feasible, because it feels like its a very targeted audience. But when you can do it for a service like Netflix ... my daughter wants to watch Glitter Force. I dont have to drive her to the theater. She can just sit there and click and watch it as many times as she wants. I thought thats the best place for people to see because then they actually keep track of how many times people watch. And now for once, well know exactly how many times people watch the movie. And that will really give it a much better guide as to the success of the film than you could have if you put this out theatrically. Because its disproportionate because a kid cant drive themselves to a theater. I was really excited just to find that out. Im really eager to see. I think it will have a lot of repeat viewing. And finally, for once to be able to keep track of it. The box doesnt tell the whole story. These are very rare, rare films to play to and not to that audience again and again and again.

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