The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.

In this installment of the AI in Supply Chain series (#AIinSupplyChain), we explore how Chain of Demand, an early-stage startup based in Hong Kong, is helping companies in the retail industry apply AI and machine learning to increase their profitability and sustainability.

I spoke with AJ Mak, founder and CEO of Chain of Demand. As is customary with these #AIinSupplyChain articles, my first question for him was, What is the problem that Chain of Demand solves for its customers? Who is the typical customer?

He said: Our goal is to improve profitability and sustainability for the retail and supply chain industries. By using our AI analytics, we help retailers to optimize their inventory, which improves margins by minimizing their inventory risk, markdowns and excess inventory. Reducing excess inventory is a huge factor in reducing carbon emissions and water wastage, and this is now more important than ever.

He added, Our typical customers would be omnichannel retailers and brands in the apparel, footwear and beauty and cosmetics categories.

Next I asked, What is the secret sauce that makes Chain of Demand successful? What is unique about your approach? Deep learning seems to be all the rage these days. Does Pathmind use a form of deep learning? Reinforcement learning? Supervised learning? Unsupervised learning? Federated learning?

Our secret sauce includes our veteran experience and domain expertise in retail, and predictive models tailored for the industry, Mak said. We use deep learning for our image recognition and modeling, which includes supervised learning, unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning.

Data is consistently an issue. I asked, How do you handle the lack of high-quality data for AI and machine learning applied to legacy industries?

Part of our AI is used to extract, transform and load dirty data from legacy systems, Mak said. We have done a lot of data cleaning from many different legacy systems, and we have been able to streamline the ETL (extract, transform and load) process for the retail industry.

In a case study published on its website, Chain of Demand describes how it helps its customers.

Bluebell Group helps luxury brands establish a presence in Asia through a platform consisting of 600 online and brick-and-mortar stores spread over more than 10 countries in the region.

Due to changes in the behavior of shoppers, Bluebell needed to help Jimmy Choo Taiwan reconcile how much revenue would be generated by in-store sales in comparison to online purchases. Using Chain of Demand to test and incorporate AI during the merchandise planning process, Bluebell achieved a 90% improvement in the accuracy of its predictions of best- and worst-selling items. Bluebell also increased its accuracy predicting the number of units sold by 81%.

In my conversation with Mak, he pointed out that one reason he believes Chain of Demand fares well against the alternatives is that his family has operated in the apparel and fashion retail supply chain management business since 1981. He spent nearly a decade in the business, gaining an understanding of the problems in global apparel and fashion retail supply chains. That experience and those insights inform how Chain of Demand goes about building its product.

When I asked him about competitors, he mentioned Blue Yonder and Celect.

Coincidentally, Jos P. Chan, who was then the vice president of business development for Celect, was a speaker at #TNYSCM04 Artificial Intelligence & Supply Chains, organized by The New York Supply Chain Meetup in March 2018.

Celect was purchased by Nike in August 2019 for a reported price of $110 million.

Companies like Chain of Demand want to get large companies away from using spreadsheets for sales forecasting and demand planning. As it becomes necessary to take an increasing number of sources and types of data into account, the case for shifting away from simple spreadsheets and onto more robust and sophisticated platforms will only gain strength.

That must sound like music to Maks ears.

Conclusion

If you are a team working on innovations that you believe have the potential to significantly refashion global supply chains, wed love to tell your story in FreightWaves. I am easy to reach on LinkedIn and Twitter. Alternatively, you can reach out to any member of the editorial team at FreightWaves at media@freightwaves.com.

Dig deeper into the #AIinSupplyChain Series with FreightWaves.

Commentary: Optimal Dynamics the decision layer of logistics? (July 7)

Commentary: Combine optimization, machine learning and simulation to move freight (July 17)

Commentary: SmartHop brings AI to owner-operators and brokers (July 22)

Commentary: Optimizing a truck fleet using artificial intelligence (July 28)

Commentary: FleetOps tries to solve data fragmentation issues in trucking (Aug. 5)

Commentary: Bulgarias Transmetrics uses augmented intelligence to help customers (Aug. 11)

Commentary: Applying AI to decision-making in shipping and commodities markets (Aug. 27)

Commentary: The enabling technologies for the factories of the future (Sept. 3)

Commentary: The enabling technologies for the networks of the future (Sept. 10)

Commentary: Understanding the data issues that slow adoption of industrial AI (Sept. 16)

Commentary: How AI and machine learning improve supply chain visibility, shipping insurance (Sept. 24)

Commentary: How AI, machine learning are streamlining workflows in freight forwarding, customs brokerage (Oct. 1)

Commentary: Can AI and machine learning improve the economy? (Oct. 8)

Commentary: Savitude and StyleSage leverage AI, machine learning in fashion retail (Oct. 15)

Commentary: How Japans ABEJA helps large companies operationalize AI, machine learning (Oct. 26)

Commentary: Pathmind applies AI, machine learning to industrial operations (Nov. 20)

Authors disclosure: I am not an investor in any early stage startups mentioned in this article, either personally or through REFASHIOND Ventures. I have no other financial relationship with any entities mentioned in this article.

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Commentary: Chain of Demand applies AI, machine learning to retail supply chain profitability - FreightWaves

When it comes to the construction industry machine learning means many things. However, at its core, it all comes back to one thing: data.

The more data that is produced through telematics, the more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) becomes, due to it having more data to learn from. The more complex the data the better for AI, and as AI becomes more advanced its decision-making improves. This means that construction is becoming more efficient thanks to a loop where data and AI are feeding into each other.

Machine learning is an application of AI that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. As Jim Coleman, director of global IP at Trimble says succinctly, Data is the fuel for AI.

Artificial intelligence

Coleman expands on that statement and the notion that AI and data are in a loop, helping each other to develop.

The more data we can get, the more problems we can solve and the more processing we can throw on top of that, the broader set of problems well be able to solve, he comments.

Theres a lot of work out there to be done at AI and it all centres around this notion of collecting data, organising the data and then mining and evaluating that data.

Karthik Venkatasubramanian, vice president of data and analytics at Oracle Construction and Engineering agrees that data is key, saying: Data is the lifeblood for any AI and machine learning strategy to work. Many construction businesses already have data available to them without realising it.

This data, arising from previous projects and activities, and collected over a number of years, can become the source of data that machine learning models require for training. Models can use this existing data repository to train on and then compare against a validation test before it is used for real world prediction scenarios.

There are countless examples of machine learning at work in construction with a large number of OEMs having their own programmes in place, not to mention whats being worked on by specialist technology companies.

One of these OEMs is USA-based John Deere. Andrew Kahler, a product marketing manager for the company says that machine learning has expanded rapidly over the past few years and has multiple applications.

Machine learning will allow key decision makers within the construction industry to manage all aspects of their jobs more easily, whether in a quarry, on a site development job, building a road, or in an underground application. Bigger picture, it will allow construction companies to function more efficiently and optimise resources, says Kahler.

He also makes the point that a key step in this process is the ability for smart construction machines to connect to a centralised, cloud-based system John Deere has its JDLink Dashboard, and most of the major OEMs have their own equivalent system.

The potential for machine learning to unlock new levels of intelligence and automation in the construction industry is somewhat limitless. However, it all depends on the quality and quantity of data were able to capture, and how well were able to put it to use though smart machines.

USA-based Built Robotics was founded in 2016 to address what they saw as gap in the market the lack of technology being used across construction sites, especially compared to other industries. The company upgrade construction equipment with AI guidance systems, enabling them to operate fully autonomously.

The company typically works with equipment comprising excavators, bulldozers, and skid steer loaders. The equipment can only work autonomously on certain repetitive tasks; for more complex tasks an operator is required.

Erol Ahmed, director of communications at Built Robotics says that founder and CEO Noah Ready-Campbell wanted to apply robotics to where it would be really helpful and have a lot of change and impact, and thus settled on the construction industry.

Ahmed says that the company are the only commercial autonomous heavy equipment and construction company available. He adds that the business which operates in the US and has recently launched operations in Australia is focused on automating specific workflows.

We want to automate specific tasks on the job site, get them working really well. Its not about developing some sort of all-encompassing robot that thinks and acts like a human and can do anything you tell it to. It is focusing on specific things, doing them well, helping them work in existing workflows. Construction sites are very complicated, so just automating one piece is very helpful and provides a lot of productivity savings.

Hydraulic system

Ahmed confirms that as long as the equipment has an electronically controlled hydraulic system converting a, for example, Caterpillar, Komatsu or a Volvo excavator isnt too different. There is obviously interest in the company as in September 2019 the company announced it had received US$33 million in investment, bringing its total funding up to US$48 million.

Of course, a large excavator or a mining truck at work without an operator is always going to catch the eye, and our attention and imagination. They are perhaps the most visual aspect of machine learning on a construction site, but there are a host of other examples that are working away in the background.

As Trimbles Coleman notes, I think one of the interesting things about good AI is you might not know whats even there, right? You just appreciate the fact that, all of a sudden, theres an increase in productivity.

AI is used in construction for specific tasks, such as informing an operator when a machine might fail or isnt being used productively to a broader and more macro sense. For instance, for contractors planning on how best to construct a project there is software with AI that can map out the most efficient processes.

The AI can make predictions about schedule delays and cost overruns. As there is often existing data on schedule and budget performance this can used to make predictions and these predictions will get better over time. As we said before; the more data that AI has, the smarter it becomes.

Venkatasubramanian from Oracle adds that smartification is happening in construction, saying that: Schedules and budgets are becoming smart by incorporating machine learning-driven recommendations.

Supply chain selection is becoming smart by using data across disparate systems and comparing performance. Risk planning is also getting smart by using machine learning to identify and quantify risks from the past that might have a bearing on the present.

There is no doubt that construction has been slower than other industries to adopt new technology, but this isnt just because of some deep-seated reluctance to new ideas.

For example, agriculture has a greater application of machine learning but it is easier for that sector to implement it every year the task for getting in the crops on a farm will be broadly similar.

New challenges

As John Downey, director of sales EMEA, Topcon Positioning Group, explains: With construction theres a slower adoption process because no two projects or indeed construction sites are the same, so the technology is always confronted with new challenges.

Downey adds that as machine learning develops it will work best with repetitive tasks like excavation, paving or milling but thinks that the potential goes beyond this.

As we move forward and AI continues to advance, well begin to apply it across all aspects of construction projects.

The potential applications are countless, and the enhanced efficiency, improved workflows and accelerated rate of industry it will bring are all within reach.

Automated construction equipment needs operators to oversee them as this sector develops it could be one person for every three or five machines, or more, it is currently unclear. With construction facing a skills shortage this is an exciting avenue. There is also AI which helps contractors to better plan, execute and monitor projects you dont need to have machine learning type intelligence to see the potential transformational benefits of this when multi-billion dollar projects are being planned and implemented

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Machine learning - it's all about the data - KHL Group

The Machine Learning in Medical Imaging Market research report recently presentedby Prophecy Market Insights which provides reliable and sincere insights related to the various segments and sub-segments of the market. The market study throws light on the various factors that are projected to impact the overall dynamics of the Machine Learning in Medical Imaging market over the forecast period (2019-2029).

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Prophecy Market Insights is specialized market research, analytics, marketing/business strategy, and solutions that offers strategic and tactical support to clients for making well-informed business decisions and to identify and achieve high-value opportunities in the target business area. We also help our clients to address business challenges and provide the best possible solutions to overcome them and transform their business.

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Product Portfolio Analysis and Technological Development of Machine Learning in Medical Imaging Market during the forecasted period - Murphy's Hockey...

Learn what is available today in the current landscape, its applications for building efficiency and what is coming in the near future to help life science companies transform their clinical trial imaging.

TORONTO (PRWEB) November 30, 2020

For the first 125 years of medical imaging, technological advances focused primarily on new modes of imaging as technology progressed from the discovery of the X-ray in 1895 to ultrasounds, MRIs, PET and CT scans in the late 20th century. Now, arguably, the most notable advances are being made in how images from those technologies are securely shared, managed, stored and assessed. These advancements are largely due to the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to imaging systems and data platforms.

Automation is improving virtually every stage of the imaging workflow, but there is a lot of hype concerning AI and ML in the marketplace. Companies have underestimated the challenge that complexity presents, and predictions of the end of radiologists have proven false multiple times.

Join experts from ICON Medical Imaging and Medidata for this webinar on the practical applications for AI and ML in clinical trial imaging and what is possible today. Learn what is available today in the current landscape, its applications for building efficiency and what is coming in the near future to help life science companies transform their clinical trial imaging.

Join Paul McCracken, Vice President, Head of Medical Imaging, ICON Medical Imaging; and Dan Braga, VP, Product Management, Acorn AI Product & Ecosystem, Medidata, in a live webinar on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 at 11am EST (8am PST).

For more information, or to register for this event, visit Imaging AI and Machine Learning Beyond the Hype.

ABOUT XTALKS

Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year, thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers.

To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/

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Imaging AI and Machine Learning Beyond the Hype, Upcoming Webinar Hosted by Xtalks - PR Web

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veritone, Inc., (Nasdaq: VERI), the creator of the worlds first operating system for artificial intelligence (AI), aiWARE, today announced it now supports the NVIDIA CUDA platform, enabling organizations across the public and private sectors to run intensive AI and machine learning (ML) tasks on NVIDIA GPUs, whether on-premises or in the Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) clouds.

This Veritone innovation unlocks new performance levels for organizations using aiWARE, Veritones proprietary OS for AI, as they can now process massive amounts of video, audio and text dramatically faster and more accurately by using the parallel-processing computational power of the newest generation of NVIDIA GPUs.

The NVIDIA CUDA parallel computing platform and programming model enables dramatic increases in computing performance by harnessing the power of NVIDIA GPUs, which can process substantially more concurrent tasks than a central processing unit (CPU).

By taking advantage of the latest CUDA-compatible version of aiWARE running in the Azure and AWS clouds, organizations can leverage GPU auto-scaling to handle more demanding workloads than ever before, seamlessly scaling GPUs in the cloud, whenever faster results are needed.

The marriage of aiWARE and NVIDIA CUDA helps organizations realize artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions that can process vast amounts of data at unparalleled speeds, said Veritone Founder and CEO Chad Steelberg. We built aiWARE to uncover insights from video, audio and text data, at scale, in near real-time. Supporting the CUDA platform advances that mission.

NVIDIA AI technology enables dramatic increases in computing performance and provides the needed foundation for creating GPU-accelerated applications for a variety of business challenges, said Keith Strier, Vice President of Worldwide AI Initiatives at NVIDIA. NVIDIA CUDA offers Veritone aiWARE the power and ease of use required for todays complex GPU-based AI and machine learning workloads across a broad range of industries.

The combination of aiWARE and NVIDIA CUDA opens doors in time-critical AI applications such as:

Energy to optimize energy dispatch in real time and dynamically synchronize and control distributed energy resources such as solar, wind and battery power, down to the device level.

Security to securely and quickly authenticate into applications with multifactor SSO using face and voice biometrics.

Smart Cities to extract valuable insights from large quantities of smart city sensors, including street and municipal vehicle cameras, traffic and roadway sensors, green building and environmental sensors and more.

Media and Entertainment to automatically produce new, synthetic content from massive volumes of existing back catalog and other previously produced content.

Contact Centers to instantly transcribe, translate and voice-recognize customer calls, classify requests, gauge sentiment and intent, and route appropriately.

Industrial and Manufacturing to perform high-volume industrial inspection to efficiently manage the flow of products through fulfillment, distribution and receiving areas.

This new Veritone aiWARE capability is available on any on-prem or cloud GPU that supports NVIDIA CUDA, including AWS and Azure. aiWARE supports the latest GPUs offered by NVIDIA, including for network-isolated deployments of aiWARE. For cloud-based aiWARE deployments, Azure N-series VMs and AWS EC2 P2 and P3 instances are supported.

For more information about aiWARE and Veritones artificial intelligence solutions, visit veritone.com.

About Veritone

Veritone (Nasdaq: VERI) is a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and solutions. The companys proprietary operating system, aiWARE powers a diverse set of AI applications and intelligent process automation solutions that are transforming both commercial and government organizations. aiWARE orchestrates an expanding ecosystem of machine learning models to transform audio, video, and other data sources into actionable intelligence. The company's AI developer tools enable its customers and partners to easily develop and deploy custom applications that leverage the power of AI to dramatically improve operational efficiency and unlock untapped opportunities. Veritone is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, and has offices in Denver, London, New York and San Diego. To learn more, visit Veritone.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding aiWAREs support of the NVIDIA CUDA platform, and the expected processing speed, use cases and other benefits to customers of the use of such chipsets with aiWARE. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as may, will, expect, believe, anticipate, intend, could, estimate or continue or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Assumptions relating to the foregoing involve judgments and risks with respect to various matters which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the control of Veritone. Certain of such judgments and risks are discussed in Veritones SEC filings. Although Veritone believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Veritone or any other person that their objectives or plans will be achieved. Veritone undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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Veritone aiWARE Now Supports NVIDIA CUDA for GPU-based AI and Machine Learning - Business Wire

GAINESVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Exactech, a developer and producer of innovative implants, instrumentation and the Active Intelligence platform of technologies for joint replacement surgery, announced today the launch of Predict+, a data-driven, clinical decision support tool that uses machine learning to predict individual patient outcomes after shoulder replacement surgery to assist surgeon decision making.

The software is designed to better inform surgeons regarding the expected outcomes that can be achieved after shoulder arthroplasty, based on the clinical experience documented within the worlds largest single-shoulder prosthesis outcomes database, consisting of more than 10,000 patients.

Predict+ is a new application of clinical research that represents a significant advancement in the patient consultation process, said Chris Roche, Exactechs Vice President of Extremities.Using machine learning analyses, Predict+ delivers personalized, evidence-based predictions that objectively quantify the risk and benefit that an individual patient may experience after anatomic and reverse shoulder replacement and aligns patient and surgeon expectations in order to improve patient satisfaction.

With Predict+, the surgeon inputs as few as 19 data points about a patient and within minutes, the software predicts the patients potential outcomes, including pain and range of motion, based on the results reported by patients with similar age, gender and prosthesis type. In addition, it compares predictive results for anatomic and reverse shoulder arthroplasty at multiple post-operative timepoints. This guidance can help the surgeon better personalize patient treatment by identifying factors that drive the outcome predictions, including modifiable factors such as the patient losing weight, quitting smoking, and completing pre-habilitation. Finally, Predict+ aggregates the outcomes and complications within the database so that surgeons and patients can compare their personalized predictions with the clinical experience of patients of similar age and gender after anatomic and reverse shoulder replacement.

Developed in partnership with KenSci, Predict+ is a first-of-its-kind work that showcases the predictive power of machine learning to transform healthcare. The resultant software builds on previously published, peer-reviewed research in the field.

Machine learning models used within Predict+ have been applied and accelerated by KenScis AI Platform for Digital Health, said Vikas Kumar, Ph.D., Principal Data Science Lead for Innovation and Devices at KenSci. We are witnessing an unprecedented development in computer science to assist hundreds of surgeons globally in improving post-surgical outcomes. This is just the beginning.

Predict+ is the latest in a fast-growing line-up of technologies that power Exactechs Active Intelligence platform. The company continues to aggressively expand its portfolio of uniquely accessible innovations to help surgeons engage with patients and peers, solve challenges with predictive tools and optimize the way they perform surgery.

Predict+ supports Exactechs Equinoxe shoulder, the industrys fastest growing and most studied shoulder system and the ExactechGPS guided personalized surgery system. Predict+ is available to surgeons globally on a limited basis at ExactechGPS Web. Please contact your Exactech representative for additional information. Surgeons may also register to learn more about Predict+ during an educational webinar on Dec. 3 by visiting http://www.exac.com/ActiveIntelligenceWebinar.

About Exactech

Exactech is a global medical device company that develops and markets orthopaedic implant devices, related surgical instruments and the Active Intelligence platform of smart technologies to hospitals and physicians. Headquartered in Gainesville, Fla., Exactech markets its products in the United States, in addition to more than 30 markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Visit http://www.exac.com for more information and connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

About KenSci

Based in Seattle, WA, KenSci is a healthcare AI platform, built to enable development and production of machine learning for healthcare across the continuum of care. By making AI use within healthcare systems more explainable, interpretable, and assistive, KenSci is helping healthcare become more efficient and accountable.

KenSci was incubated at University of Washington Tacoma's Center for Data Science and designed on the cloud with help from Microsoft Research Azure4Research grant program. KenSci is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Singapore and Hyderabad. For more information, visit http://www.kensci.com

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Exactech Launches Predict+, First Machine Learning-Based Software that Informs Surgeons with Patient-Specific Outcomes Predictions After Shoulder...

A Bowie-inspired mannequin circles the sun in a Tesla, blasted into space just because.

The longer I live, the more I am inclined to believe that this earth is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum, wrote George Bernard Shaw back in the early 1900s. And now, more than a century later, Elon Musk is planning to return the favor.

Last week, the billionaire eccentrics SpaceX program launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, the latest step in Musks mission to send 1 million people on commercial flights to Mars by the year 2050.

Meanwhile, Starman, the Bowie-inspired mannequin thats strapped into a rocket-mounted Tesla Roadster, is celebrating its two-year anniversary by continuing to orbit the sun while listening to the song Space Oddity on infinite repeat.

Johnsons voice awaits listeners in the cosmos.

Bowie, who was even better at branding than Musk, released Space Oddity in 1969, a year after Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey and a week before the first man set foot on the moon. The song introduces Bowies character Major Tom, an astronaut whos losing contact with ground control as his capsule drifts aimlessly into deep space:

Though Ive passed one hundred thousand miles

Im feeling very still

And I think my spaceship knows which way to go

Tell my wife I love her very much

She knows.

Space Oddity was Bowies first single to chart in the States, and he followed it up with a number of other space-themed singles, including Moonage Daydream, Starman and Life on Mars. The most interesting was Ashes to Ashes, in which he recasts Major Tom as a junkie whos strung out on heavens high and hitting an all-time low.

Musk, on the other hand, is hitting an all-time high. In May, he and his partner, the Canadian musician Grimes, announced the birth of their baby boy, whom they promptly christened X A-12 Musk. The name might have seemed inscrutable, had Grimes not posted this helpful explanation on Twitter:

X, the unknown variable

, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)

A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent + (A = Archangel, my favorite song) (metal rat)

Last month, NASA officially certified SpaceX as the first commercial spacecraft system in history capable of transporting humans to and from the International Space Station.

As remarkable as all this may be, its worth remembering that Elon Musk wasnt the first to send music by earthlings into space.

Zillionaire Elon Musk and Claire Boucher (aka Grimes)

That distinction goes to NASA, which launched its Voyager 1 back in 1977. On board is a gold-plated disc that contains greetings in 55 languages, a variety of nature sounds, and a 1927 recording of Blind Willie Johnsons eerie Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.

The story of the Texas bluesmans ascension to the heavens is beautifully told in writer Gary Golio and illustrator E.B. Lewis Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnsons Journey to the Stars. Published in August by Random Houses Pelican Young Readers division, the book describes Johnson as a musician playing his guitar and humming a tune of light and hope to whoever might be listening.

As of this writing, Voyager 1 is some 14 billion miles from Earth. To the best of our knowledge, Dark Was the Night has yet to be heard by any alien lifeforms, and may never be.

The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space, wrote Carl Sagan, who supervised the compilation. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.

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The cosmic explorations of Elon Musk, David Bowie and Blind Willie Johnson - Colorado Springs Independent

In the preface to Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw wrote: It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making another Englishman hate or despise him. As of last week, any French citizen who follows suit risks a prison sentence and a hefty fine. While the French electorate (like the rest of us) endures restrictions of liberty unheard of in peacetime, the French parliament has been busy debating accents. Last week, it passed a law making glottophobie a crime, giving discrimination because of accent equal status with race, gender ordisability.

The French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, is among those who have been ridiculed for not talking proper. Taking over this summer from the former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, who speaks with the urbane Parisian voice of the French ruling classes, M. Castex delivered his acceptance speech in a south-western accent that provoked a flurry of social media comment about his earthy style and ruggedtones reminiscent, a ParisMatch journalist observed, of a rugby commentator.

For a nation devoted to celebrating its vibrant regional variations of landscape, custom and cuisine, France is surprisingly intolerant of linguistic difference. Long after the BBC relinquished the idea of Received Pronunciation as the broadcasting standard, the intonations of Parisian French remain the default cadence of Gallic authority.

But perhaps not for much longer. The snobbish response to Castexs accent provoked a nationwide reaction: video footage resurfaced of an ugly incident from 2018, when the far-Left politician, Jean-Luc Mlenchon, insulted a woman journalist with a Toulouse accent. Linguistics experts emerged from the archives to anticipate the joyful day when the Comdie Franaise would cast someone with a Corsican accent in a play byMolire.

But it was an MP with an accent as dense as garbure, the robust soup-stew of his native Pyrnes-Atlantiques, who most vigorously opposed the idea of legislating about language. Jean Lassalle is a colourful presence in the Assemble Nationale. In 2003 he interrupted the then minister of the interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, with a lively rendition of the Occitan anthem, Se Canta. In 2015 he entertained his fellow MPs with a bravura account of his failures to pass the psychotechnique elements of the French driving test (a YouTube video shows the future president, Emmanuel Macron, shaking with laughter). Last week, he tweeted: I dont want a law that protects us against small-minded people.

It remains to be seen how the new legislation will work in practice. Will les flics find themselves arresting comedians or elderly uncles who make off-colour jokes about accents? It is a point worth considering here, where the Law Commissions recent report on hate crime suggested extending the scope of criminal legislation to remarks made in privatehomes.

Mathieu Avanzi, a linguistics expert at the Sorbonne, suggests that social change is already well ahead of legislation: noting that French marketing companies have begun to use dialect terms in their advertisements, he observes that regionalism sells. Or, as Jean Lassalle puts it, big laws may not be the most effective protection against small minds.

See more here:
The French law protecting those who speak funny is a real crime - Telegraph.co.uk

Ghost lights are kept burning in many theaters when they are empty. A ghost light is a single bulb that remains illuminated so, in theater lore, vexatious spirits are kept at bay when actors are not treading the boards and spectators are not taking in their work.

As the coronavirus pandemic has raged for the last eight months, ghost lights have been switched on around the clock in theaters around the world as in-person productions have been shut down, with no clear indication when they will resume.

Marya Sea Kaminski, artistic director for Pittsburgh Public Theater, explained there have been times she has walked through the empty expanse of the Pittsburgh Public Theaters auditorium and felt wistful about the productions that have gone unstaged there.

But even if there is nothing that quite matches the immediacy and spontaneity of live theater, Kaminski is one of many theater professionals who has been trying to devise ways to keep actors and crews working and audiences interested when the playhouse doors have remained locked.

To do that, theyve been turning to the internet, staging readings of new and classic plays or even recording fully-staged productions with actors in different locations.

Its not quite film or TV, and its not quite theater, but a hybrid that lands somewhere in between.

Its a salvation to be able to do this, both for the artists and audiences who are hoping for some sort of connection, Kaminski said.

Small theater groups, like Little Lake Theatre outside Canonsburg, have been giving it a whirl, as have internationally-renowed companies like the Old Vic in London. Others have been dusting off performances from yesteryear that survive on video or film and putting them online.

Were on a steep learning curve to find out what works, said Steven Breese, artistic director of the Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point Park University.

Some companies have opted for the simplicity of using the video conferencing platform Zoom, or turning to YouTube. Others have turned to sites like On Stage Streaming, Broadway on Demand and ShowTix4U.

Even in the best of times, live theater is constrained by money, space and available talent, and that holds when the audience is wearing sweatpants and watching on their laptops. Actors practicing social distancing or not even performing in the same room at the same time limits the types of plays that can be chosen presenting a sprawling musical like, Miss Saigon or The Phantom of the Opera would be tough on Zoom. Instead, intimate, more small-scale productions have largely been the order of the day.

As Halloween approached this fall, many theater groups presented readings of works by Edgar Allan Poe. With Christmas looming, some companies will be dipping into their Santa sack to extend some holiday cheer. Little Lake Theatre, for example, will be presenting A Very Little Lake Christmas at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 on Zoom. It will bring to life favorite holiday stories and memories submitted by patrons.

We thought sharing family stories would be a lovely way to celebrate, according to Jena Oberg, Little Lakes artistic director.

Once it became clear the remainder of Little Lakes 2020 season would have to be scrapped because of the pandemic, Oberg and the Little Lake staff starting pulling together plans for the virtual productions. Almost everything is done virtually, she said, from read-throughs to rehearsals.

This has also presented challenges getting props and costumes to actors, since no one is ever in the same space. Little Lake has had to create duplicates of many props so it can appear actors are passing the same object back and forth. As a director, Oberg also has to determine what lighting levels are best in each actors home to support a plays visual presentation.

As a director, I have had to find new and inventive ways of focusing a scene and directing where we want the audiences eye to go, Oberg said. On stage, you can do this through movement, lighting, other characters focus. But on Zoom, it becomes much more difficult. We have been discovering ways to use the Zoom borders and movement within the Zoom frame to accomplish this.

Helping an audience understand what is happening as a play unfolds is another challenge Oberg has had to confront. When Little Lake presented the George Bernard Shaw comedy Arms and the Man this month, an actor was assigned to read the stage directions, like the floating voice of Shaw, she explained.

Pittsburgh Public Theater started presenting online productions almost as soon as the shutdowns started in March. There have been readings of new plays this fall, and in the first part of 2021, fresh adaptations of The Three Musketeers, Romeo and Juliet, and Cyrano de Bergerac are scheduled. If theres an upside to presenting plays online, its allowed her to make more adventurous choices, Kaminski said.

Its given me a little more bandwidth, she said.

Kaminski pointed out theater companies have had to confront knotty issues of licensing when choosing plays to present online, since streaming rights are not attached to some of them.

Its taken a while to figure out licensing, Kaminski said. That has absolutely been a factor.

In December, the Pittsburgh Playhouse will present Picasso at the Lapin Agile by comedian and musician Steve Martin, and the holiday chestnut Its a Wonderful Life will be done in the style of a vintage radio play. Also on tap is the musical Ordinary Days, which, according to the description provided by the Playhouse, brings theater and film together in a new multimedia hybrid experience. The Pittsburgh Playhouse has presented both plays and dance productions online, and its program has been quite robust since the start of the pandemic, Breese said.

I dont know of anyone trying to do exactly what were trying to do, he added. Weve been able to do things that other theater companies are not doing.

Putting resources into the online presentation isnt just a way for the Pittsburgh Playhouse to soldier through the pandemic, according to Breese, but also an investment in the future.

We need to be able to do this very well, he said.

Continued here:
Theater groups present plays virtually to stay connected to audiences - Observer-Reporter

Updated / Monday, 30 Nov 2020 19:38

A mural inspired by the Late Late Toy Show star Adam King and his virtual hug sign has appeared in Dublin city centre.

The mural, which appears off Richmond Street in the centre of the capital, is thework of visual artist Cerys Murphy who says Adam's virtual hug love heart sign is a "gesture of hope" for everyone.

Adam King'sstellar appearance on the Toy Show on Friday night where he talked about his dreams of space travel and introduced everyone to his handmade sign has attracted praise from all around the globe.

The Dublin-based artist Cerys explained Adam King's appearancemade her heart "skip a beat".

"I woke up the next morning at about 5am and I was still thinking of that little love heart he had done. And so I grabbed my spray paints, I got on my bike and I cycled down here.

"Human beings need hope. And to see something from a small child to remind all of us adults of this small gesture, it just takes my breath away every time to think," she explained.

Cerys is originally from London and is unable to spend Christmas with her family this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

"I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of us in Ireland that aren't actually going to make it home for Christmas. It's the first time in my life I won't be spending it with my family.

"So when I saw Adam coping with his little sign I felt my heart skip a beat," she explained.

The mural appears on a wallnear where the George Bernard Shaw pub once stood. Cerys explained that the location of the mural was a deliberate choice.

"I just thought the metaphor of it being in ruins and it being such a beautiful message that you can see just from being on the street would speak volumes to everyone.

"It's a small gesture in a big world of chaos that a small child has told us to think!" explained Cerys.

Originally posted here:
Mural inspired by Toy Show's Adam is a gesture of hope - RTE.ie