#‘the step up from gcse to a-level is the biggest’

[sugas-sweetheart]

I literally haven’t posted since college started back up im so sorry

[wilstudies]

Hiya! Would you mind if I asked what your experience with A level French has been like? I'm starting it next year so I'm really curious about it. Also, good luck for end of year exams! (I think they're happening soon?)

for sure!

my experience of year 1 might be a little different to those at other colleges, as i am the only student in my class. so, the lessons have been very much led by my progress and areas of weakness.

but what i can say is that i 100% prefer it to gcse! it's got much more a focus on culture and your personal socio-political views.

at a-level the specfications differ quite a bit between exam board - so it's definitely worth doing some research as to what best suits you at your local sixth form/college. i'd also recommend asking the staff which film and/or text(s) you'll be studying.

in terms of the step-up from gcse, i don't think you'll have a problem! there's a lot more vocab to learn - i have to take the time to go through quizlet decks, rather than just absorb it through written exercises, like i did at gcse. there's statistics to learn too. and the papers are pretty much an extension of gcse - longer answers, multiple photocards, speaking presentation etc.

i'd say that the biggest difference was having to think, haha. rather than just translating your life into the target language, you need to have an opinion on absolutely everything - from different types of tax to whether you want to get married. that being said, it's not all that heavy - i take pride in knowing the local cuisine of every region. there's a lot of fun to be had with the course (in the first year at least)!

if you have any questions about specific parts of the course, just let me know! there's probably something i've forgotten to mention lmao.

[all-good-things-dot-dot-dot]

All Good Things… Can’t Draw, Won’t Draw!

#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThings…

20th June 2020

Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,

Welcome to another edition of “Scaramouche gripes about a part of his life rather than gives us a healthy dose of advice. Why do we even follow this again?” I’m just kidding.

Nobody’s following this. :P

(Img: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16668795/ )

What I’d like to talk about today is some of the hobbies I’ve attempted to kick off of the ground and why they haven’t worked out thus far, but also why that’s okay. As it was the main hobby that I thought would go somewhere, I’m mostly going to focus on art, but I’ll also touch on attempts to play a musical instrument, attempts to get fit by running, and anything else I can think of that I am currently doing far less off.

Art is my biggest bug to bear with as I still return to it sometimes. I do love drawing and creating pieces that I want to share. I suppose the sharing part is the problem.

You see, ever since I was little I loved to draw, paint, and basically do anything creative. When I was still in primary school, I’d start to trace images of Thomas the Tank Engine characters, soon perfecting them so that I could draw them without the need to trace. This skill became transferred to attempting other cartoon characters, and at one point I was drawing South Park characters and selling them to friends for 50p per character. They loved them and that made me feel good. If I’d kept up that little hobby-enterprise, I might be more successful at it than I feel now.

Skip ahead a bit and I got great marks for art at a GCSE level (that’s where Secondary school ends in the UK) thus decided to try for my Art A-levels, alongside English Lit and Lang. However, something changed for me in this year and among many things, the idea of seeing through an Art A-Level was sullied by a disagreement I had with my teachers about how the class was leading me away from a desire to build my skill and into experimental and revolutionary art practices. I got a good grade for AS-level but did not pursue and complete the A-Level in the following year.

(Img: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/3503385/ )

Despite this, I still wanted to do something with my drawing and painting interests. I decided to draw and write a comic about some characters myself and friends from the furry fandom created called ‘Furlives’. It was my attempt at creating a funny, sometimes introvertly sexual story around my passions. I made it unprofitable by creating a furry version of Doctor Who and later attempted to revive it with a new story with new characters, this time called ‘FurFiction’. However, as I posted these in my galleries on FurAffinity and DeviantArt, I became disillusioned by the realization that few people were watching or liking what I posted. I did other pieces for people but never charged as I was losing faith in my abilities, comparing them to others, and finding myself lacking.

What seemed to be the real nail in the coffin came one Christmas when I was about twenty years old. I decided to offer to draw and paint bespoke commissions for colleagues in the call center office I worked in at the time. I charged a very small price so that I could earn some money to pay for Christmas gifts. I did pieces during this time that I was actually proud of, including painting a dog belonging to a woman to give to her terminally ill husband. This is still my favorite of all my works.

(Img: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/949085/ )

Unfortunately, it all came to a halt when I gave another commission to a different woman in the office. I went back to my desk and started to work when I saw them come in. I watched them go to the desk, look at the picture, and give it a blank stare. After a few minutes, they came over to me, waited for me to finish my call, and then gave me some rather blunt feedback.

They didn’t like the picture. They felt I hadn’t drawn the people from the photo correctly, the image I’d drawn looked nothing like them, and they didn’t want it. This, looking back, was fair feedback, yet they did this in front of all the colleagues surrounding me. There were no walls or barricades blocking what she said, so I was left feeling embarrassed and apologized, let her keep the picture which I’d also framed and did not charge her anything.

This act stuck with me like a blade between the shoulders of what I’d enjoyed ever since I was a kid. Now, every attempt to lift a pencil or paintbrush was marred by this, and the lack of likes or interest in anything I did share drove it deeper. In the end, I had to step away, because art became an albatross around my neck.

This has seemingly had an impact on most things I attempt to do, not just art. If I try to do something just for myself, I usually enjoy it. However, when I start to share it and I see no views or feedback that is critical of what I am working on, I feel foolish for falling into the trap of trying again. Additionally, if the ability to learn to get better takes too long, it often trips me up or can stunt my attempts to keep going as best as I can.

So why is this okay? Why should I feel that there’s something to gain from this?

For one, it’s made me realize that, with anything, you should not expect positive reviews. If you get them, great. If anyone even remotely glances at what you’ve done, brilliant! But DO NOT RELY ON IT. If you draw, write, play, whatever, for the sake of someone else’s applause, the lack of it will drive you insane.

(Img: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16481674/ )

And if you get it, no matter whether it is one person saying “I like this” or a full standing ovation, appreciate the heck out of that. So many people chase their whole lives and never get it. Some get disillusioned by the lack of it. Some hurt themselves over it. If your audience is kind enough to tell you that you’re doing a good job, make them feel like you are happy about it. Definitely don’t take them for granted, you never know when they’ll turn on you.

Lastly, don’t give up. If you’re an audience of one, then at least you’re entertaining yourself. You’ve got a good thing in the fact that you have something you can focus on and enjoy, many do not even have that. Love it, believe in it, and let it be what it is. Sometimes, you don’t really get to see what it will become, as we have learned from people like Van Gogh and Emily Dickinson.

You never know what you’ve got, so stick at it. It might be what people will be talking about for centuries to come.

Stay safe, stay happy.    

All good things, Love, Scaramouche. X

[autumnimagining]

OH BOY. To see this post today, on the tenth anniversary of my father's death, is possibly the BIGGEST MOOD.

There are so many things I wish I'd said to him. Mainly what I want to have said is "Fuck you." I am still carrying the traumas and anxieties he instilled in me. I try to be quiet at night so that I don't disturb anyone, and automatically say "ooh, shit" when I accidentally slam a door, because of the times growing up when - during the day - I might be told off for having slightly heavier footfall than normal. I am fastidiously cleanly in the kitchen because of his overreaction to crumbs on the counter. My body image anxieties are as much to do with internalised fatphobia, being quite unfit, and possible gender identity issues as they are to do with realising that I not only have a Dad bod, I have my dad's body. I have his middle-aged spread/beer gut, and i'm not yet 30. I knew early on I'd inherited his temper, and I've been repressing it since I lashed out at someone when I was 16.

But he was never the kind of person with whom I could have had the above conversations. I don't think arguing back at him would have helped. It wouldn't have shut him up, it wouldn't have stopped him from being horrible to me, to my mother, or my half-sister. No careful negotiation of emotional boundaries was feasible with him. He ruled with such a vicious temper that when I arrived back home after he died, I stepped into a house that felt truly calm for the very first time. Dad was a complicated man. I asked Mum a few years after his death whether she thought he had been abusive and, after a brief pause, she said yes. Emotionally, rather than physically. He was generally less abusive to me than to my mum or sister. But he was an unpleasant enough man that he alienated his siblings so thoroughly that, barring one of them who'd kept in contact all my life, I met most of them for the very first time in my life at his funeral. At said funeral, most of the mourners were there more to be supportive to my mother than to mourn his passing.

With my mother, she and I were what my therapist calls "emotionally mis-attuned." Neither of my parents were great at meeting my emotional needs when I was growing up, and nor was I very good at expressing what I needed - I'm very impressed that the children in these stories are able to state their needs to their parents not only in complete certainty but also certain in the knowledge they won't get yelled at. I think the only time I ever tried this was when I once tried to talk my mother out of getting me a maths tutor for my GCSE maths, because I have always hated maths and have always felt like I struggled with it despite getting decent enough grades to always be in the top set, and her response was to snap "Fine, get a C then!" This is part of a whole Thing of fear of failure and perfectionism and gifted-child narrative that she instilled in me. She loved me, I know, but I didn't always feel it. When I got a B in my Latin GCSE, she was disappointed and said "maybe we should have let you do Spanish." The latter being what I had wanted to do, I thought to myself "Yeah, you fucking think?!" but I didn't say that. I just meekly went along with being disappointed in myself that I hadn't got the same kind of grades my sister had. Even now, I'm still burdened with that catastrophically low self-esteem. I did an AS-level course in Photography over 2019-2020, and got a B (I got 135/150 so if i'm right in thinking it was quite a high B). I am still trying to convince myself that that's not a bad grade. I should make clear: Mum was nowhere near as bad as Dad. She and I were close, growing more so while Dad was in and out of hospital, but there was just an emotional distance because I grew up to be a person with whom she didn't have very much in common.

But neither of my parents were particularly emotionally present in my life. I would get hugs but mostly when I was distraught about something. I only once saw Dad hug Mum, and that was when she received the news that one of her friends had suddenly died and was herself absolutely distraught. He hugged me when my grandmother died, and was actually quite good around that time but that's the closest I'd felt to him since I was very little, and was the last time I ever really felt properly close to him. I think if I ever become a father, my parenting technique will mostly involve thinking of what Dad might have done and then doing the opposite. But in having inherited his lack of patience and his temper, I'm not sure I'd necessarily have the requisite patience for children.

I wish I'd been able to explain all of this to him. And to Mum. Both of them are gone now, and I'm never going to get that chance. I'm never going to be able to tell them that they fucked up, and I am as sad as I am furious about it. The best I can do now is to work on being better for myself. I can work on moving through the world with kindness.

the positive difference it would have made in my life for my parents to talk to me this way as a child puts me in my grave to even consider

[another-tiny-ant]

Work it Through

I think sometimes it’s important to set yourself small tasks. That way, suddenly mountains become stages to complete- individual climbs or treks with rest camps in between. Having smaller tasks also increases your motivation to get started. Because the first checkpoint isn’t over the horizon, but within your field of vision, something that you can aim for and stride towards. 

I’m saying this because I’ve spent days aimlessly ‘faffing’ around my assignments, without any direction or formulated plan, and therefore reaching the end of every day feeling like I have achieved nothing- I’ve wasted time and I have nothing to show for that time that I’ve lost. I think procrastination is one of the biggest thieves of life. It stops you working through your tasks, and robs you of the enjoyment for anything that you do instead. It stops you from doing the things you love too, because you haven’t got your jobs done. That’s certainly been my experience. As I mentioned before, a counsellor told me a few weeks ago that I struggle with perfectionism, echoing what I have been told for years, and never acted upon, largely because I didn’t want to face it, but also because I didn’t know how to. Counter-intuitively, this perfectionism is often the road block in the way of me ever making any progress with assignments. I want to do such a good job of things, and I want to feel so proud of my work, that I set myself such unrealistic expectations, and eventually I end up burying my head in the sand or crumbling under the pressure, inevitably doing worse than I might have done otherwise.

I’m not sure where this perfectionism stems from. Perhaps it was the constant need to prove to my teachers and my peers in school that I wasn’t a waste of space, or the most stupid there. I was often ignored, cast aside and underestimated, and I think that spurred me on to want to prove them all wrong. But in the end, that pressure I was loading onto myself became back-breaking, and it all came tumbling down. Ok, that’s probably an exaggeration. But it’s safe to say that I didn’t achieve what I had hoped to, or what anyone else had expected of me, at A-Level. I went from being one of the four top students post-GCSE in my school (only as a result of my own work- most of my teachers thought I was useless), to being a disappointment, immediately before being carted off to uni, where I would have no support or gentle encouragement (something that I crave, and which I think helps me to calm down the perfectionist crap, however needy that makes me). I think that this has been really problematic for me in the past year or so especially. My self-confidence and self-esteem rests on a knife-edge at the best of times (thanks dyspraxia), and the slightest disappointment or failure upsets that balance. 

A counsellor told me that I need to find assurance from myself, not search for it from others (academic staff, or whatever). I shouldn’t need other people to tell me I’ve done a good job to feel ‘smart’. So I’m trying to be kinder to myself in that sense.

But something else that always helps me is to just start. Start the work. Start reading through what’s required. Making notes, doing a little bit of research. Whatever it is. But just feeling at least like the task is quantified, makes all the difference. And better still if I can break it down into manageable chunks.

I feel so much better! It’s worth just bloody getting on with it!!!

I decided to write this here, so that the next time I’m struggling with that immobilising stress, thanks to my old friend perfectionism, and procrastinating to kingdom come (hating myself for it all the while), I can come here and read this post and tell myself to get on with it!!! 

So, future self, read this and BREAK THE CYCLE!!! Get whatever it is that’s driving you mental done, and remember that life goes on. Even small steps are progress. Instead of regretting what you got wrong, or what you didn’t do, celebrate what you did get right, and did manage to do. It’s another guise for that age-old ‘cup half-full’ b*llocks, but it really is important. At the end of the day, grades really do mean pretty much f*ck all. It’s not worth torturing yourself over something so arbitrary.

Peace and love,

🖤🐜🖤

[dog2yourbone]

Researching the Creative Industries

The creative industry is one of the most versatile industries you could be a part of. Ranging from fashion and textiles, visual arts and graphics

to performing arts and music, the creative industry has countless pathways for any artist.

Depending on the sort of destination you would like to conclude at in the industry, there is always going to be steps and pathways to take on your journey there. For me, I particularly take interest in designing, whether it be commissions for things like cover arts or posters or tattooing. 

For my research in a career I have interest in, I chose to look at the tattoo industry. Being a tattoo artist isn’t simple, and comes along side a lot of requirements from healthy and safety to creativity and individualism. The job description of a tattoo artist consists of duties like consulting with clients, scheduling appointments and price ranges, professional hygiene, and creating authentic original designs and ideas.

A career in tattooing

1) Drawing

Learning to draw and then building a confidence and range in your skills is an essential step to a tattooing career. As a tattoo artist you'll be working with many different people who will all have different ideas and wants for their tattoo, and as an artist it becomes your responsibility to be able to meet these asks and needs to the best of your ability, in order to achieve client satisfaction.​

As an artist myself I have always drew, painted etc whether it was at home or during my GCSE art in school. Therefore I feel I have seen, researched and attempted many different styles and forms of art like abstract art, graphics, ceramics, painting. Having skills in drawing is definitely key in tattooing. 

2) Art Courses and a Qualification 

A second step would be taking a course in education that will help sharpen and focus your skills to become more professional.  Doing a course in art at college is definitely beneficial to me as I have covered a lot of different things. After building this experience and hopefully passing this course at the end of it, having this qualification will prove a stronger history and level of skills in drawing and creativity.

3) Portfolio

After the first two steps I should be able to begin or already have started a portfolio. I’d use this portfolio to show my own work to give an idea of what I am able to achieve, and my style and individuality. To make my portfolio professional I would make sure my work is completed and presented to the best possible standard.

4) Understanding basic skills and knowledge

Next, I would need to ensure I understand the principles of graphic designing, such as shape, colour, contour, lines and size etc. All these elements are key to include and understand when creating designs and drawings to ensure perfection. I would need to be able to apply these to paper, stencils and eventually skin.

5) Working with a mentor

The next and probably biggest step to take would be finding a licenced professional tattooist to work along side, whether it be an apprentice or volunteer. Usually an apprenticeship pays the worker, but sometimes it’s the other way around where you must be the one paying a fee. For many this is a turn off, but to get where you want to become you must make some sacrifices which is something I understand and would be willing to do.

It would be important to work with an experienced, licenced and safe tattooist, who is willing to push and teach me for my full potential.

6) Other knowledge

After hopefully completing an apprenticeship, I would need to understand other parts of the trade too. Like ensuring I have a health and safety certificate, understanding the business side of things like costs and dealing with clients. I’d also need to be skilled at designing tattoos and commissions. I would need to work up skill and confidence with a tattoo gun and ink, like understanding different needles, machines etc.

On top of hygiene, I would need to learn about and be certified about skin related diseases that connect to tattooing and how to prevent them at all costs.

7) Licensure 

After completing all the necessary requirements, I should apply for licensure and start looking for places to work, or to start my own studio.

Some skills and techniques that have really helped me further my creativity in art are probably drawing exercises I did during Derek’s drawing sessions. I was really able to go beyond my comfort zone and create some really fun outcomes. I think these sessions have really helped my dive further within my creativity, which is key in pursuing a career and success in the creatives industry because being unique and attention grabbing will help develop my own individuality. 

Examples of outcomes from these sessions;

[cheezybiouwiou]

a briefing so i don’t have to repeat myself

My parents got divorced when I was one. He ‘went on holiday’ to Switzerland when I was about 6, the only contact I’ve had with him has been like through letters when we’ve tried to change our names in court or something.

I’ve lived in three countries and moved house over 30 times - it sounds weird but there’s always been a good reason.

We were like the famous five kids (my cousins, my sisters and I) for years, but then my aunt’s a little crazy, so long story short we fell out and didn’t see them for like 8 years (side note, saw them this summer and it was weird but nice).

Uncle is batshit crazy and a psychopath, we don’t talk to him. He likes to remind my mum that he could kidnap/murder us every so often which is fun. My grandma has alzheimers (so does my great aunt), and my dad’s side of the family we don’t have contact with. Everyone else just isn’t around or is dead I’m pretty sure (that’s not tragic it’s just old age yk).

Umm, so, mum was determined to send us to private school, so after the divoce although we stayed in private education, she/we sacrificed a lot to get there. We weren’t poor or anything, just life was tight. That at one point led to us moving to Spain for a year (wonderful but crazy experience, I was like 6 at the time and genuinely my heart is in Spain. We have a house there in this tiny village, it’s kinda the only constant I’ve had in my life.

After that we moved back to England and I went to a boarding school (very minimal boarding at first though, so easy). Had an amazing time, yada yada then my mum met my soon-to-be stepfather. Long story short again, he had a bit of money and they got married quick, it seemed great at first but he turned out to be a wackass hoe as well.

A series of unfortunate events involving us moving into my grandma’s to look after her and my batshit uncle threatening to kill our cat and kicking us out of that house led to us moving a bajillion times between holiday rentals for like a year. We then ended up moving to Shanghai, again seems incredible at first until you remember that this is the point at which he started showing his true colours and being super emotionally abusive to my mum. Shanghai also happened to be a really convenient way to isolate a person. Anyways, I got sick of it after a year because the education was shit so ended up going to the UK and going to a super uptight full-time boarding school for the next year.

Went here, homesick as shit and my brain decided it would be a perfect time (when I’m in a super intense academic and conservative environment where the only person I have in the country is my sister) for my ✧・ﾟ:* issues *:・ﾟ✧ to manifest/me to actually understand shit. So yeah, bad year for me. This was also compounded by my mum (yk cut back to China where she’s being emotionally abused and my other sister is having a shit time) having an absolute breakdown. Idk the timing worked out great bc my shit time coencided with hers and she couldn’t cope with that on top of my homesickness and on top of her issues so this, combined with the multiple arguments that I had with her, meant that she told me to stop bothering her and so I did. We didn’t talk for weeks, and now I have ✧・ﾟ:* emotional scars/trust issues and our relationship has never been the same *:・ﾟ✧. 

Anyways, she escaped by some miracle and we ended up back in England all together. This was when we returned to the flexi-boarding school (the one from before China) because it was the only one we could afford to go to. Sooo that place was super negligent and basically all I can say is that they had a really good PR team to stop all those suicide attempts within that school from going public.

Anyways, the first year was iffy, but as I said before, the issues that were becoming more apparently at the last school were kinda becoming more and more apparent (I now know it’s anxiety, depression, and then a possible spicy element of ADHD that we haven’t even got to yet). There was also another issue in that I’m bisexual and I was figuring that whole thing out (this is a side note but I’m probably non-binary but that’s a whole other issue that I’m confused/in denial about), but that led to me becoming friends with basically just the queer kids in my year because all my friends stopped talking to me. At this point I started almost full-boarding again.

Then I started dating one of my friends (Draco, AFAB but confused about their gender identity). Started off sweet, but long story short we dated for a year and a half and I’ve never been more broken (tried to kermit the frogicide 3 times hehe they barely counted as attempts yeet). Uhh there’s a lot to unpack with this one but I’ll try to simplify:

They had abusive parents (physically and emotionally)

They had bipolar

They also were raped by their dad multiple times

They were super manipulative. I wasn’t allowed to be happy about anything because it made them feel bad. 

I wasn’t allowed to feel confident in my body because they had severe body issues. I ended up developing an eating disorder (all I ate was tea, toast after midnight and like milk and digestives).

I started self-harming.

My relationship with my sisters and mum was atrocious. It was definitely a huge part my fault, but not entirely.

As a group we were definitely very toxic. But yeah, on top of all this their best friend committed suicide, and they’d been in emotionally abusive relationships. This led to them being super suicidal. There was I think from November to February where every time they left school to go home, they’d literally try to kill themself. And I’d be stuck while they’re messaging me the whole time saying like “sorry you’re not enough to save me”. Every night. For months I was spending my whole life literally just trying to keep them alive.

Idk if I blame them, because it was definitely their trauma that made them act like it, but some of the stuff they did was manipulative and shit. Lying to me a lot, promising they’re telling the truth when actually lying. Constantly pushing me away, and then being mad when I couldn’t talk to them because they blocked me. Telling lies to my friends to get them to stop talking to me and then stopping me from telling my friends the truth (I wouldn’t tell them just because Draco made it seem like it would hurt Draco, and I was terrified of doing that). That sorta stuff.

I became a therapist for a lot of kids in my year, and so all that pressure of keeping like 20 kids from committing not-alive, on top of my issues just wasn’t a good look for me.

This led to as I said, the eating disorder, and also heavvyyyy dissociation. It also led to alcoholism which was just an unexpected turn. I just didn’t realise how bad all of these problems were at the time. Not a good time, a lot of loneliness, skipping lessons, that sorta thing.

Anyways, mum managed to get me out of the school (after a breakdown and an ambulance having to be called to the school because I drank too much). I did my GCSEs from home by some miracle, and she moved me to the local sixth form. I broke up with the person, and then had a few months over the summer that were life changing.

I moved to a new sixth-form, and it’s been rocky and uphill and super hard but I worked my ass off and I’m in so much better of a place than I was. It was rough at the start, but basically I had a pathetic amount of CBT therapy from the NHS, and the only good thing it did for me was to let me know that 1) I hate CBT, and 2) I already managed to teach myself a lot of the coping skills in the last year.

Then corona rolled around, and my anxiety went through the roof again, depressive episodes came and went and I’m still getting no help. But yeah, it basically made me realise that sure I’ve come a long way but I’m barely holding it together. It most CERTAINLY isn’t helped by the astronomical stress levels I’m getting from my A-levels and just generally existing at the moment is hard. I’m also low-key lonely because people kind of suck (I lost almost all my friends from my old school, don’t get me wrong that was for good reason, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t suck. But yeah, I also got into a group of people at the start that were kinda shitty and so now it can be kinda lonely because it’s hard to make new friends).

My relationship with my mum has improved but it’s rocky as fuck. She’s very childish and I’m pretty sure hit the jackpot for trauma in every capacity but just pretends that sHe’S fiNe. While I’m writing this, she’s been incredible. Genuinely incredible. But also she can be one of the biggest problems in making me want to cease existing. She can be extremely manipulating and invalidating of my emotions, and generally make me feel like I’m going insane because she knows that I have no power over my life. She’s admitted it’s because she has to be in control of everything, but admitting it doesn’t mean it’s not toxic. It’s one of the hardest things in my life when it gets bad.

So yeah, I think that’s most of it!

Also side note, I may have attachment issues from the constant moving schools/houses/issues with my mum/dad leaving/crazy stepdad/i completely forgot to mention my step-brother who nearly got institutionalised in china because of schizophrenia that i didn’t see after that/constant changing schools.

Also second side note, only figure out recently and I’m probably completely wrong and I can’t remember it properly because I was so young but a kid a few years older than me might have touched me up when I was younger. It wasn’t anything serious, it just made me uncomfortable when I realise. I don’t know if I want to talk about it though because there’s a part of me that wonders if I just invented this trauma to make me feel special or some shit and YES I’m aware that’s the dumbest shit to ever think but oh well. Edit: also I feel like I have no friends/they're constantly changing. Also, childhood Moreton bullying.

[healthyworthyofficial]

Fury as eBay sellers auctioning off hand sanitiser for £13,600 & single paracetamol pack for £2,550

A DISABLED dad has slammed "selfish" sellers on eBay listing a single pack of paracetamol for £2,550 or 12 tiny bottles of hand sanitiser for £13,600. Matthew Allen, from Suffolk, was forced to scour the website for extra pain medication after coronavirus panic buyers stripped the shelves of his local stores.

People have been putting much sought after items on eBay for huge pricesCredit: Ebay

One person has managed to get bids up to £2,550 for one pack of paracetamol tabletsCredit: Ebay It comes after 2,626 cases of the deadly bug have hit the UK, with 108 deaths. People have been stockpiling and panic buying supplies, despite supermarket and government pleas not to do so. But after the Prime Minister told the nation to stay in as much as possible, and is expected to lockdown London by the end of the week, Brits have hit the shops to get food and medicine. The 33-year-old former tattoo artist told the Sun Online: "The people robbing the needy to make a little extra cash when it could mean people lives is criminal. "The people stockpiling because they are panicked, ok I get it, but at least it's to keep them and family safe especially if people are to be isolated you then know you have stuff in. "But I was disgusted to see people making money off the back of vulnerable and scared people whether its masks, sanitiser or tablets. "It shows that we are not Great Britain any more and the people that lived and died within world war 2 would be turning in their graves to see how selfish the generations are that where given a life by these people that sacrificed so much." Matthew suffers with colitis and crohn's and has an ileostomy. He told the Sun Online he uses paracetamol as well as stronger painkillers so he doesn't have to take so much of the more powerful medication and protect his stomach.

The demand has seen some second-hand sellers take advantage of the low stock, such as putting hand gel which costs 50p in Lidl on eBay for £40. Items listed for huge amounts do not always sell for that and sometimes they are joke listings or bids. However, the NHS and Public Health England say the best way to stop the spread of coronavirus is simply to wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds. Matthew added: "So to have it that people are purchasing it to make money in a war time situation shows how selfish the UK has become, and really maybe something like this will bring people back down to earth and realise with massive loss to respect what we have and grateful for the basics in life. "I know people need money but we all do and we don't want to be taking it from people that need it." An eBay spokesperson said: "eBay does not tolerate sellers exploiting other users. For several weeks we have had filters in place designed to prevent the listing of items at unreasonably inflated prices and are constantly updating our measures to control listings as the situation evolves. "We continue to work closely with authorities including Trading Standards, and our international security teams have been working around the clock to remove any unreasonably priced listings. "Where sellers are attempting to circumvent our filters, we are taking necessary enforcement action.” It comes as the armed forces are poised to step in to take over hotels and run them as hospitals as the UK's death rate spirals and Boris Johnson prepares to deploy sweeping shutdown measures.

BRITS IN LOCKDOWN

Yesterday Mr Johnson announced schools will close from Friday with A-Level and GCSE exams cancelled. London's transport lockdown will start from today with 40 Tube stations closed until further notice and the rest of the capital's transport network to be scaled back dramatically. Further powers are also being looked at to keep people at home in the coming days and troops will be deployed in a bid to help the nation handle the escalating crisis. Today we told how a frustrated Iceland worker lashed out at an elderly customer as coronavirus panic-buying chaos grips supermarkets across the country. Nearby, customers are seen stockpiling toilet paper onto the belt at the checkouts of the store. The older man appears to be holding up the queue on the other side of the cashier. rustrated staff can be repeatedly heard telling the older customer to leave the store, saying: “Get out! Get out!”. The PM promised a £350bn 'war-time' bailout to stop coronavirus from wrecking the economy. His people’s bailout will be the biggest rescue package in peacetime.

A previously owned tiny hand sanitiser was being flogged for almost £5,000Credit: Ebay

And two packets of paracetamol were on offer for £100Credit: Ebay

Read the full article

[starlighthowell]

tianna i'm worried about starting school next week. i'm moving into sixth form studying sociology and maths and english lit and lang and biology. i'm scared that i won't make friends or do well so i'd have to stay behind. i really want to get into a russell group uni and i know that the first year of as is super important to staying on track. could you give some advice to start the year? sorry for the long message

Good morning, anon! This is a pretty long answer so I’ve put it under a read more. I hope you’re well!

It’s perfectly fine and normal to feel anxious moving up a year or moving into new school. The key is to embrace this feeling and use it to motivate you to get ready now. With the majority of this week left, you should be collecting or purchasing the equipment you need to start the year. Here’s a little essential list to get you started:

- Binders, folders, expanding files or notebooks - These are for your note-taking in class. At A Level, I wasn’t provided with notebooks like I was given at GCSE so it was imperative that I gathered the resources I would need to fill in that absence. I use A4 leaver arch files, one for each class to start off with and then you may need to collect more later on in the year depending on how much you get. Sociology is an information and essay based subject so I had a file for each section of my textbook (I did families and households, education, research methods and methods in context so I had four altogether). 

- Stationery, including at least 4 black pens, coloured pens, highlighters, a stapler, a hole-punch, 2 good HB pencils, a rubber, a black sharpie and a 30cm ruler - This equipment is a good starter for an overall stationery bag. Obviously you would need to collect other equipment for your math class like a calculator and a protractor etc but that goes without saying. 

- Purchase a planner - This is optional because my school gives them out every year but for some reason yours might not so it’s important to get one if that’s the case because you get a lot of work at AS and you will lose track of it if you don’t have one.

- A good and sturdy backpack - I mean a backpack for good reason. The strong straps help keep the weight of your books etc manageable. Don’t go for a fashionable but impractical one, especially when studying English because you will have a lot more books than you realise. Some things you should have in there are your pencil case, planner, textbooks, a water bottle, some snacks, your purse with at least £5 for lunch and/or travel, gum, keys, a plastic bag, and anything else you think would be important. I bring an extra canvas bag for carrying folders and files.

I’ll set you up with some DOs and DON’Ts for that first week:

DO take a free and spend that time finding your classes and what room they will be in. You tend to have a lot of frees that week that you’re not used to having so spend one purposefully.

DON’T immediately buy your novels or plays for your English class straight away. My school gives them out for you to have and keep alongside other relevant material. It’s a waste of money until you find out.

DO check over and analyse each syllabus you get for your class. Mine were on my school’s website so I could print them off and look at them earlier but sometimes that isn’t the case. Take a free to go through and highlight important dates or things you want to remember from this information.

DON’T be afraid to sit on your own. I promise it isn’t as bad as you think. No one pays much attention, especially if you’re doing work during lunch or at a computer in the study hall. Just plug in your music and you’re good to go.

DO be kind and considerate of your teachers, regardless if you like them or not. You don’t need to be friends with them, but the likelihood is that you will be spending at least the next year or two years with them so smile, put your hand up or shut up and do your work. If there is a huge problem with your teacher and you cannot do this, visit your head of sixth form and arrange a meeting so discuss this problem. No acting up - you’re an adult now.

DON’T go out for lunch everyday. I know it’s very tempting because you can sign out at lunch and go to the shopping centre or whatever but don't do that everyday. Where I am, it’s a 5 minute walk to the high street where there is fast food joints all over the show. If you go everyday, your money will evaporate. Save it for a maximum of one day a week (such as every Friday or something as a treat) or not at all if you think you can do that. It’s not worth it, and you can probably get something at the school canteen anyways.

DO find a study buddy in each class. The work at A Level is a huge step up from GCSE and usually you start to sweat with the workload fairly early on, especially for subjects like Sociology and English. Having a study buddy acts a little bit as a reassurance because you know that both of you are dealing with the same things and you can lean on each other in terms of work early on in the year. It’s also great for revision and keeping on track with homework.

DON’T stress too much about a lack of friendships. I know that it’s a little lonely and frustrating at the start, but as soon as a rhythm at school sets into place, there is plenty of people and opportunities to make friends. Be that at an after school club or in class or at study hall, you won’t be alone for much of the day I promise. 

DO (if your school has one) put a deposit down for a locker. They will be essential later on in the year to stop hauling heavy folders into school everyday as well as storing them between classes. Mine I think was a £5 deposit but you get it back when you leave the second year. Make sure to go in early so you can get the best ones (ie the big ones or the ones at your height) or else you need to wait until the year above leave to swap to one of their lockers. 

DON’T spend all your time studying. Take a look at your timetable and mark some of your frees as time for you to chill and talk to people or listen to music. The start of A Level is very overwhelming so make sure to input some self care into your day.

DO set yourself goals throughout the year. At the start I made a list of what I wanted to achieve by the end of that school year, including grades, friendships, satisfaction, homework and money saved. It’s important because it acts as motivation and discipline to work yourself throughout the year. I see you are thinking about applying to a Russel Group university so have that as your biggest goal and find smaller goals that act as steps to get you there.

DON’T leave your homework or essays to the last minute or not do them in your frees. Sociology essays are so frequent at AS that they almost become overwhelming. Pre reading too for both Sociology and English is immense so make sure you do things right and properly at the start of this year. It will set you up to keep up the routine throughout the year.

If you need any help or some explaining about subjects from Sociology or English, let me know! I’ve already completed AS so I was in your boat last year. Take some time to breathe and then put in the effort to be the best you that you can do. Start. Do it now.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/business/the-teenage-hackers-whove-been-given-a-second-chance/

The teenage hackers who've been given a second chance

Image copyright tommaso79

Image caption Hackers can have trouble adjusting to life in an office

Step inside the offices of Bluescreen and you’ll find some of the UK’s most talented teenage hackers, dragged from a world of crime to fight for the other side.

These young computer experts have swapped the confines of their bedrooms for a fairly ordinary looking cyber-security company in Plymouth.

Bluescreen employs hackers the authorities have deemed worthy of a second chance, who pit their wits against some of the anonymous online criminals they used to see as brothers in arms.

Image caption Jack stole personal information from thousands of people

When Jack was 19 years old, the police sent five squad cars, a tech team and a riot van to his home.

“It was about 08:10 in the morning. I’d had the most awful night’s sleep and I’d just started watching The Lion King.

“It didn’t even get past the intro before my bedroom door flew open and 10 police officers came in to arrest me.

“I was not expecting that on any day of my life.”

The police were there for a good reason: when he was 16, Jack had stolen personal information from about 1,000 people.

He told police he’d never had any intention of using it for his own gain; to him, it was just an intellectual exercise.

Stories like this are not uncommon at Bluescreen IT, which has a direct link with the police to find hackers in need of direction.

These are young men who have been accused of serious crimes, but instead of being taken through the criminal justice system, they’ve been given a second chance.

About 15 people work in the Security Operations Centre, a handful of whom have been referred to the company as hackers who aren’t malicious in nature and are deemed capable of reform.

Image caption Cameron launched cyber attacks, and was caught by the National Crime Agency

Another employee, Cameron, was arrested on his way to school when he was just 14 years old.

Officers from the National Crime Agency had planned the sting so that Cameron would be out of the house, and unable to destroy his hard drives in the event he heard them coming.

“Up to that point my biggest worry was that I hadn’t done my maths homework,” he said.

“I was walking to school when I heard my name being called. I turned round and there was a man in a suit walking behind me.

“Then I heard him say my name louder, so I turned around and said ‘yeah?’ and that’s when he told me I was under arrest.

“I turned around and there were five more officers spread out across the grass.

“I just didn’t realise that what I’d done was that serious. It was all just one big joke – messing around – it never seemed like I was actually causing any real harm. I soon found out how serious it was.”

“Grey hat hackers” like Jack and Cameron are seen as having committed their crimes for reasons that weren’t to do with personal gain or cyber-terrorism. Sometimes it might have been a practical joke, or perhaps the motive was to launch a server-debilitating attack.

Now they try to stop others – using the methods they once employed – from wreaking the same havoc.

Image copyright Getty Images

Hackers’ hats

White hat hackers – These are the nice guys of the hacking world. They know what they’re doing and they use their talents for good, such as getting rid of viruses or legitimately testing the security systems of companies and governments.

Black hat hackers – The bad guys. They’re the ones who steal your bank details and sell them on the dark web. They usually hack for personal gain, although it could be some form of cyber-espionage or protest.

Grey hat hackers – Somewhere in between. They might hack a company without permission, only to point out the flaws without exploiting them. What they’re doing is still illegal.

The route into a life of hacking isn’t always the same, but a lot of the stories are similar, and they often start with gaming.

When he was younger, Cameron liked to tinker with things to see how they worked.

“I didn’t like my high scores being beaten in video games – I always had to be the best at them.”

He started making “mods” to video games – changes to the code that enabled him to get higher scores – which he said led him to online forums, and then darker areas of the internet.

“I ended up launching cyber attacks, and was later caught by the National Crime Agency,” Cameron said.

You may also be interested in:

Image caption The team at Bluescreen has some big personalities, and people from vastly different backgrounds

For Jack, now 23, it was his “laziness” that led him into the world of computing.

“I was 12. We’d just started doing algebra, but I didn’t want to do it.

“I went home and tried to make a calculator for algebra. It didn’t really go well, but that is my earliest memory of that side of things.

“I was trying to cut corners any way I could. Rather than studying, I would try and make it look like I was studying and doing well.

“I’d be failing in all my classes but pull it out of the bag at the last minute. After a while the school had had enough of me.

“I got my five GCSEs in Year 10 and then the school expelled me.”

Just four years after his arrest, Jack is now working at an advanced level, carrying out processes like penetration testing – trying to break into clients’ servers to find weaknesses.

He and Cameron, now 19, also defend against incoming attacks – an area where their hacking experience comes in handy.

Image caption Det Sgt John Atkin found himself attending the same course as Cameron, who he arrested in 2014

One of the more surreal moments in Cameron’s first year at Bluescreen was attending the same course as the police officer who had arrested him in 2014.

Det Sgt John Atkin from the South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit was attending a Bluescreen security course as part of his own professional development.

Cameron said: “It’s unbelievable – what are the chances of that?

“I never would’ve thought when he was arresting me as a 14-year-old kid, that we’d one day be on the same course.

“There’s an element of learning from each other now. Whenever something comes up in forensics he’s the man to explain it best; we’re lucky to have him there.

“And then for the attacks I can explain it better.

“We always got along, but I don’t think John appreciated much of what I did.”

Det Sgt Atkin has “no problem” meeting the hackers he’s arrested because the whole point of the police Cyber Futures programme is to “try and develop people”.

“What you can see here is that by working with Cameron and his family, and providing the support and knowledge we have, we’re able to deliver and put him in a place where his future is set, rather than where he could have been.

“Cameron’s a good kid so he’s doing really well; the future’s bright for him. Hopefully, he’ll take this forward and then the world’s his oyster.”

Image caption The Security Operations Centre is where the analysts defend incoming attacks

There’s a relaxed atmosphere when you walk into the Security Operations Centre, but it’s serious work.

Three monitors on the wall detail which of Bluescreen’s clients are being attacked, and how serious the threat is.

The clients, mostly smaller and medium-sized businesses from around the South West, are given codenames like “Black Mamba” or “Green Starfish” – usually a colour and an animal.

The business has just won part of a £500,000 grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to encourage more diverse candidates into cyber-security jobs, meaning it can keep growing, and potentially take on more former hackers.

As apprentices, employees like Jack and Cameron start on a wage of about £650 a month, but after five years of experience they could easily be earning close to £50,000 a year.

But for some reformed hackers, moving into a professional environment can be a big adjustment: even getting out of bed on time is sometimes a bit of a struggle for young men used to working unsupervised, to their own schedule and their own rules.

Now they must do regular office hours as part of a team dedicated to protecting the interests of the company’s clients.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Adjusting to a nine-to-five job isn’t always easy for Bluescreen’s former hackers

It’s not just a challenge for the new recruits: some of the hackers who arrive at Bluescreen are autistic, which isn’t something that management have had much experience of dealing with.

“It’s been a really hard journey for us and a massive learning curve,” said the company’s chief operating officer, Richard Cashmore.

“We’ve had to adapt how we manage people – if they need to work in a certain space, we’ll go and do that.

“It’s about give and take – we can’t bend over too far for them because we need them to be employable, but we meet in the middle.”

Bluescreen sees itself as a place to develop young people, give them a second chance, and be a haven for those with nowhere else to go.

“It makes me really proud when they achieve industry-recognised qualifications,” said Mr Cashmore.

“It’s a big deal for them and it’s a big deal for us, because we invest a lot of time and emotional effort into these guys, and seeing them succeed after everything we’ve all been through is very satisfying.”

[souleymanbah-blog]

Welcome!

My name is Souleyman and I would like to welcome you to my brand new website. For my first Blog post, I would like to introduce myself and tell my story up to where I currently am. Hopefully, through regular monthly Blog posts, you may also come along on my journey to complete world domination! I hope you enjoy this first one. Also feel free to contact me via the contact page if you have any enquires or questions about this post or if you have any suggestions for future posts.

Who am I?

Souleyman Bah is an, 18 year old, up and coming athlete for the Great Britain Paralympic Team. He specialises in sprinting and his main events include the 100 and 200 meters. He Suffers from a rare eye condition called RP, which renders him visually impaired and therefor qualifies for the T13 bracket of the Paralympic categories.

What are my achievements and Plans?  

Souleymans biggest achievement in the sport so far, was winning a gold medal in the 100 meters at the Paralympic School Games, which were held in Natal, Brazil in November 2015. Souleyman has high ambitions to represent his country at a senior international competition such as the European and/or World championships but his ultimate dream, goal and aspiration is to gain selection for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and also to hopefully win a medal. “I am on track to make it! I’ve recently been selected for the British Athletics Talent Development Squad as I show great promise for the future”.

What am I currently up to?

Souleyman is based in South West London and is currently in progress with his A Levels in which he is studying Philosophy, Politics and P.E. He says “I find it hard to balance time between my school work and a training schedule but it’s great practice for organisation and multi-tasking skills”. He is also a very active member of the community and does many speeches and presentations to local schools and organisations on the physical, mental and social benefits of sport and talks about how he believes that “Sport can cure two of the biggest problems we face in our society. Obesity and depression.”

Early Life:

It wasn’t an easy start in life for Souleyman. He was born on January 5th 1999 in the small West African country of Guinea (Conakry), due to political violence, overwhelming poverty and a lack of sufficient adjustments to suit his special educational needs, his mother made the decision to move in search of a better life and eventually claimed asylum in the UK. Being a 6 year old child in a new and strange environment, Souleyman initially found it very difficult to adjust to the sudden change in culture and language however he eventually settle in and made many great friends who he still maintains contact with to this day (including his first school teacher in the UK, Sue Hanning). His family always knew he had issues with his eyesight but weren’t able to diagnose it in Guinea due to a lack of medical resources. However, as soon as he settled into the UK he was quickly diagnosed with RP. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of genetic disorders that affect the retina’s ability to respond to light. This inherited disease causes a slow loss of vision, beginning with decreased night vision and loss of peripheral (side) vision. Eventually, resulting in total blindness. Unfortunately, there is no cure for RP at this moment in time. Learn More About RP (https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-is-retinitis-pigmentosa)

Finding His Passion

The realisation of Souleymans passion for running didn’t manifest in the most positive of ways as he describes it. “I always got into trouble for running round and I also ran away from trouble. I ran everywhere, to the shops, in the shops and even in the most forbidden place on earth; the school corridor.” He always had a natural gift for running fast and earned the nickname ‘Sonic Soul’. His passion flourished over his primary school years and always won the sports day sprint race despite being visually impaired. However it wasn’t until his year 7 sports day where he not only won the 100-meter race, but also broke the longstanding school record in 12.6 seconds, and his P.E teacher really urged him to pursued his passion and talent. Watch The Race Video Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEDdSOFlUKc)

Progression Period

During this time, there was a scheme called Playground To Podium which was a Government backed programme in the run up to the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games to help young and talented individuals find a sport and help them build a support structure to move forward. For Souleyman, he knew which sport he wanted to do, so they helped him find a club and coach to train with, and to also represent in competition. His first coach was Richard Holt who Souleyman got along very well with and they also found ways to adapt the training to suit Souleymans visual impairment so that he did not feel left out.

In his time at Kingston & Polytechnique Harriers, Souleyman and his coach worked on improving his speed, strength, skills and technique in his sport and in a short period of time, he was already representing his club in major national championships and racing against able-bodied athletes. His first big sporting achievement was in 2013 were he won the standing long jump and relay event at Sports-hall 2013 regional championships and gained selection to represent Surrey at the UK finals in Birmingham. After an amazing day of fierce competition against the best athletes in the UK, the Surrey team came 3rd. He says “i found it hard to see the step board during the sprint race and the 4x2 relay event, so i had to rely a lot on my hearing and memory of the course.” Sports-hall 2013 Finals Result (http://www.sportshall.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/UK_Final_Under_15_Boys.pdf)

Souleyman also won 2 gold medals at the 2015 London Youth Games Disabled competition in the 100 and 200 meters and was interviewd for his amazing achievement. Watch The Interview (https://www.facebook.com/londonyouthgames/videos/10153351290266382/) Later that year, he had some more amazing successes such as running under 12 seconds for the first time. With a PB (personal best) of 11.9 seconds, he was invited to compete at the Bedford International Games where he raced against Paralympic legends including Jonny Peacock. He also raced his long time hero Jason Smyth, the fastest Paralympian on the planet, and also got a chance to interview him and ask him some questions. Watch The Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_VsrXvAUG8)

Visiting Guinea

After living in the UK for 11 years and finally completing his GCSE exams with 3 proud A*s, Souleyman and his family decided to visit their home country of Guinea to see how it has changed and most importantly visit their extended family who they had only maintained contact with via telephone. Souleyman says “I found it very surreal and emotional to be back in a place I vividly remember having so much joy and fun as a child to come back and see it all changed, removed and rebuilt. My three favourite moments of the trip was seeing my family and friends, visiting the hospital I was born in, visiting the room I was raised in and also traveling around the beautiful landscapes, mountains and beaches of Guinea.

However I also witnessed a lot of poverty, disease and hunger. I became emotionally overwhelmed when I encountered a blind man begging for money on the side of a busy and dangerous road. It suddenly hit me how lucky I am to have been blessed with the opportunity to live a normal life, with reasonable adjustments, to function like a normal member of society in the UK. It also hit me how powerful decisions can be in life and that if my mother hadn’t decided to move to the UK, the blind man I saw could have easily become my fate. From that moment I vowed, in the future, I will make a huge change in this country when I become successful enough to make an impact. That change could be political, industrial or simply social. One definite thing I would like to do is to build da boarding school for the blind where they can live, learn and grow in a safe and secure environment, as this is an opportunity I never had.

His Big Break

Upon returning to the UK and starting his A Level courses, Souleyman realised that both his education and his training commitments required full time attention and dedication and could not successfully get the results he would like in either when pursuing both at once. He was very close to quitting the sport and to finally knuckle down with his studies when he received a phone call from a British Athletics talent scout who said, “we would like you to represent Team GB at the Paralympic School Games in Brazil”.

Souleyman, very excitedly, accepted this opportunity and was also nominated and successfully became the team captain for the squad. Souleyman had a lot of media coverage before, during and after the weeklong event with Interviews on BBC News, BBC Radio London and various local and national newspapers like the Evening Standard. As he puts it, “We went, we saw and we conquered.” The entire squad, including Souleyman, won a gold medal in their event, some even winning 2 or 3 as multi-event athletes. Souleyman says, “when I crossed the line, winning the race in 11.87 seconds, I could not believe it. It only became real to me when I was awarded my gold medal on the podium.” Read Moe About The Paralympic School Games (http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/media/news/2015-news-page/november-2015/26-11-15-para-school-games/)

It was at this point that I realised i had found my purpose, passion and calling. To run. To win. But most importantly, to inspire other people in similar circumstances like me through my sporting achievements. I used to see my disability as a problem, now i see it as a solution. A way to give other people hope that they too can achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions despite their struggles. “When you see less and less of the faces of the people you love, you worry about one day going blind. But when your vision for the future is bigger and clearer than what you see around you, sight becomes a distraction. Because what you see is what you see, and what you don’t see is where the magic begins.”

Souleyman Bah     

[surefootingdev]

Looking back at our steps at this year’s Norwich Gaming Festival (NGF 2017)

A few words from Tommy about this year’s Norwich Festival:

It has now been three weeks since our trip to the 2017 Norwich Gaming Festival began. First with Matt and I heading down to the education week, followed by Molly joining us during the Indie exhibition week to show off Sure Footing. This was our third visit to this festival and it’s one we’ve not only seen grow in terms of its scale and organisation, but a consistent enthusiasm and energy from the exhibitors and attendees. It is well organised and always a fun time for us.  As such, it is one of the few events that run every year that we guarantee to attend (provided they let us in that is).

However, our attendance was a little different this year. Matt and I visited Norwich in the week prior to the Indie exhibition in order to take part in the education week: a series of talks, workshops and other activities involving primary and secondary school kids. This is a nice change of pace for us, but also something we’re really passionate about: getting kids excited about the prospects of games (and related technologies) as a career and getting them thinking about how to make steps towards that.   

As someone who has taught at university level for 10 years, I often find it frustrating to see how most effort in career advice is aimed at students in the later stages of secondary school (i.e. choosing their A-Levels, BTECs or Scottish Highers), when in truth we need to be thinking about this much earlier than that. This not only ensures you focus efforts on GCSE’s, but also extracurricular activities or after-school clubs can help maintain an enthusiasm and interest at the time when that young boy or girl needs to hear it most. This is especially the case with young girls, many of whom have the capacity and skills for the problem-solving nature of computer programming, but seldom make it to the opening lecture of an undergraduate degree.

I was suitably impressed by the level of knowledge many of the students already had in areas such as programming and problem solving: with many schools now introducing Scratch. Basic principles of algorithmic thinking are being seeded at a very early age and it shows as a throw graduate level problem-solving tasks to primary school children. They were excited, they were interested and having a lot of fun. That makes my job a lot easier! 

On that note, a shout out to Shaun Spalding - my partner in crime for the live game-making sessions who did an *amazing* job - as well as BAFTA’s Mel Phillips and Michael Warburton who also delivered great sessions with the kids. Plus also a thank you to Sarah Power and the team at the Norwich Forum who did a great job to accommodate our needs during the week. 

Now as for the indie exhibition itself, I defer to Matt:

It is always a pleasure displaying at the Norwich Gaming Festival and it is one of the festivals we look forward to every year. Not just because we get let out from behind the desk or the fact that we have a week not working on the game, but we love going to this festival because of the family friendly atmosphere, the players and all the kind words they say about the artwork. Also of course the interesting range of other Indie developers who showcase at the event. This year was especially important for us because for the first year out of the three we have been coming, we were sponsors of the event. This was mainly due to us helping to run workshops the week before the main festival for the Norwich Gaming Festival Education Week, but still a big step - Table Flip Games first official sponsoring!

Each year when we showcase our game we get compliments about the artwork, and we especially get lots of questions about how we came up with the art style and the world of Computra. I would be lying if we had it locked down from the start. Over the last two years of development, it has taken a lot of work, sleepless nights and throwing ideas away to come up with the world of Computra and the art style. We spent a lot of time prototyping ideas for them to be thrown out again and we also had to irritate on design throughout the development process. Tommy and I gave a talk at the festival that went more into depth about our process.

We also get to meet so many amazing gamers during Norwich each year - fellow devs and also families are attending the event. This year we even had folks remembering the game from last year, which brings a big smile to all our faces! 

So, from the Sure Footing team, we send the biggest thank you to all our fans out there and we are looking forward to coming back with more wonderful, wacky and bright neon coloured art in the future 😊.

[rachelphysed-blog]

A day snapshot of PE Teaching in Malaysia.

BEEP, BEEP….. the alarm goes off at 5:30am. The day starts early but relaxed, the calm before the storm.

After a quick stretch, the first thing I do every morning is put the kettle on. You can take the girl out of Yorkshire, but you can’t take Yorkshire out of the girl! Yorkshire Tea it is - the best start to the day. A quick shower, uniform on, I have a 10-minute walk to the MRT, an absolute blessing to get me to and from school every day.

I meet another colleague every day and we commute together. My colleague is from Glasgow, another expat teacher in the school so chatting to him easy. One thing I struggled with when I first arrived in Malaysia was talking casually with others. Students would not understand what I was saying and colleagues would not understand my jokes, which could cause some very awkward moments. After almost four years in Malaysia, my northern accent has become a little weaker and my sarcasm level has decreased. Still, my friends and students pick up on the words and phrases which I say differently and we laugh about it now.

Today is Monday so I grab a quick coffee and then head outside for gate duty. Unlike the UK, every morning is warm although sometimes wet. Today I am lucky and I stay dry. Standing by the school gate in the morning is actually quite nice; wishing the students a good morning and making sure the first face they see at school today is a smiling one.

I don’t have class Period 1 so I spend it preparing plans and resources for the day. Before I know it, Period 2! I have my most challenging class, Year 10 IGCSE. Today we have a practical class which they undoubtedly love. The Year 10’s have finally come around to my student-centred, guided discovery teaching style. To begin with, most of my classes were surprised by this teaching style as they were used to a much more traditional, teacher–centred lesson format.

Year 10 and Year 11 were the biggest challenge as they had experienced the ‘old school’ teaching style for so long they believed a teacher giving orders and students following was the only way to learn. They wanted step by step instructions for everything and would really struggle if I asked them to make a decision or give ideas. This led to discipline issues. Students were not used to being able to make decisions for themselves or having time to experiment. With this new found power, students would push the boundaries.  Again, this was tough at first, I would rethink my teaching style.

Playing the long game was key, making students see how they could take control of their own learning, but with this ownership came with responsibility. International teaching is all about playing the long game, making compromises, learning about the expectations of different cultures and experimenting with different teaching styles.

After Break I have my Year 9 class for BoxFit, with this class, students centred learning is a huge success. The students in this class are polite, energetic, engaged and willing to give all physical activities a try. I have worked hard to nurture great attitudes and it has paid off as I love teaching this class!

After Year 9 is Year 11 IGCSE, unlike most GCSE PE classes in the UK, this class is very small with only six students which can make team games challenging to organise. If I could change one thing about teaching here in Malaysia, it would be the mentality which leads to many adults placing a priority on ‘academic’ subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Business and Economics. Parents tend to push their children towards those subjects and do not care much for subjects like PE and Art.

I believe students suffer due to this belief. I find the students here are very stressed because they have no release. Furthermore, social skills and confidence levels can be low as students are not used to having to collaborate with others. These are life skills which I try to emphasise during my PE classes. I try to open the eyes of my students and their parents to how PE can help them throughout their lives. This is a long journey which is slowly seeing results.

Apologies, I have to go, I have Year 7 gymnastics, my youngest, yet most creative class. Then I will end the day with after-school Volleyball team training. We have a competition in two weeks and students still don’t jump for the spike!

[preserving-ferretbrain]

by Dan H

Saturday, 22 May 2010

Dan learns that SCIENTISTS HAVE CREATED ARTIFICIAL LIFE!~

So the big news in Science at the moment is that Scientists have created artificial life!.

First of all. Dear newspapers, news websites, news programs and other news media. Please for the love of all that is holy stop attributing things to “scientists”. “Scientist” isn’t a job description, it is at best a way of describing a broad category of people with vaguely similar qualifications. Opening a story about the recent implantation of synthetic DNA into a bacterium with the headline “Scientists Create Artificial Life” is about as helpful as me opening this article with the headline “Arts Graduates Talk Shit About Microbiology”.

So anyway, it appears that a geneticist by the name of Craig Venter (who was one of the big names behind the human genome project, although I confess that I’d never heard of the guy before) along with the rest of his team (a team which, digging a bit deeper, he may not actually have been the head of – some sources seem to credit the initial announcement to one Daniel Gibson, although that may just be because Gibson’s name is alphabetically first) have successfully implanted a synthetic genome into a bacterium, causing it to behave like a different bacterium.

Now to give the press their due here, part of the reason that so many newspapers are running with the “artificial life” byline is that Venter (who is, by all accounts, a bit of a showman) is keen to claim that this is exactly what they’ve created. Venter and his team make a wide variety of incredible claims for this technology – that it will allow us to reverse climate change, produce limitless cheap fuel, and cure whatever diseases are big at the moment. And of course on the other side of the fence there are folks saying that this will lead to the end of the world and genetically engineered super-bacteria invading Kensington. And if I had a penny for every time I’d seen the words “playing God” I’d be able to get an extra cup of coffee out the vending machine.

What’s staggering about this story, from my point of view at least, is how utterly ignorant most people seem to be about how all of this stuff actually works.

Here are some choice quotes from the BBC “have your say” section:

You can't control evolution. It only takes one of these bacteria to mate with another and you have serious and posibly extinction problems. Not a good idea.

Ah yes. Bacteria. Well known for mating with each other.

For those who have an imaginary friend and think we are playing god, yes we probably are, and we are getting very good at it. It's no longer just nature that can create new life. People can do it too, although we are just part of nature ourselves really, aren't we!

Ka-ching! That’ll be a penny, thanks. So… do you actually have anything to say other than “this sounds awesome but I have no idea what any of it actually means”?

Also. The “god = imaginary friend” line? Are you fucking twelve?

Before this study continues we need to be sure that the "bacteria" doesn't mutate like all other organisms in this world do. We all know computers have flaws. This scientist is just in way over his head and he needs to slow down. This could do more harm than good. This could be a step toward ending global warming or it could be a step towards mind control. Watch out it is 1984 all over again.

Umm … okay. So you know that all organisms in the world mutate. But you seem to think that if this organism was to mutate, for some reason that would be unconscionably terrible? And where exactly is the mind control thing coming from.

Of course it’s not just the ignorant plebs that post to the BBC main page that spout this mindless dogshit. Michael Hanlon, Science Editor for the Daily Mail writes:

It is possible to imagine a synthetic microbe going on the rampage, perhaps wiping out all the world’s crop plants or even humanity itself.

Well yes. It is indeed possible to imagine that. It is possible to imagine anything you damned well want. I could imagine an army of killer penguins going on the rampage and wiping out all the world’s crop plants or perhaps even humanity itself. It doesn’t mean it’s remotely plausible.

Aside from a few echoing voices of sanity, the discussion of this story is just a desperate, mortifying condemnation of how little basic understanding of biology people have.

DNA For Dummies

DNA or “deoxyribose nucleic acid” as it is known to its friends and drinking buddies, is a sequence of “base pairs” which in layman's terms form a set of instructions which tell our cells how to develop and how to behave.

Just as Venter observes, DNA “code” is effectively made from four chemicals, Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine. This is what he was talking about when he said that his “artificial life” had been made from “four bottles of chemicals”. Although DNA is extremely complex overall, the chemicals it is made from are very basic, and reasonably well understood. “Scientists” have, in fact, been producing artificial DNA for years, and have been swapping the DNA of bacteria around for so long that it's taught at A-Level.

Chris Ventner's analogy is that DNA is like the “software” to the cell's computer, and this analogy is more or less correct. But it's exactly this analogy that makes the whole “Artificial Life” thing sound so stupid. If you took a computer, scrubbed the hard drive, and then installed a new operating system which you had copied from another computer, you wouldn't claim to have created that computer yourself. You certainly wouldn't expect to get your face on the cover of Wired with headlines saying “SCIENTISTS CREATE ARTIFICIAL COMPUTER IN LABORATORY”.

As one of the (depressingly rare) sane commentators on the BBC article pointed out, it's not actually artificial DNA that's the challenge here, but artificial everything else. DNA is complex, but it's ultimately one chemical. Building a whole artificial cell would be vastly more difficult. Others pointed out that since the DNA implanted was effectively an artificial copy of the DNA of an existing bacterium, they didn't really “create” anything that didn't exist already, and again when it comes to DNA the hard part is working out what a particular bit of code actually does, not reproducing it.

Indeed it's all a bit Ship of Theseus. This “artificial life” consists of DNA copied from one living organism, implanted into the cells of another living organism, which carried on living. Were it not for the quasi-mystical significance which popular consciousness attaches to that strange stuff called “DNA” nobody would claim for a second that these guys had successfully “created life” any more than we say that people with pacemakers are cyborgs.

That's Life?

A big part of the problem with the “artificial life” claim is that when you get right down to it, “life” just isn't a well defined technical term. Yes there's the definition we all learn at GCSE (something is alive if it Moves, Respires, is Sensitive to its surroundings, Grows, Reproduces , Excretes and consumes Nutrition – the “Mrs Gren” definition) but that's a bad definition all around – if nothing else it applies to a great many things which you wouldn't describe as living, like fire.

Life, when you get right down to it, is a self-sustaining chemical reaction with an arbitrary level of complexity. You can say that a cow is alive and bag of nails isn't, but once you get into the freaky world of micro-organisms it gets far harder to draw the line (a lot of biologists draw it at viruses).

I said earlier that both sides of this whole stupid affair were as bad as each other. While the anti-science crowd are crying about “Playing God”, the pro-science crowd (who thanks to Dan Brown I will now forever think of as “Galileo's Illuminati”) are crowing about the fact that “Science” has created “life” and that this proves that religion is obsolete (seriously, a depressing number of people really do talk like they're in Angels and Demons).

The problem with the “Science Creates Life” soundbyte is that for it to have any meaning, you have to buy into the superstitious, quasi-mystical notion of “life-essence”. That there is somehow a tangible, observable, creatable force called “life” which has been hitherto beyond the reach of scientists.

“Life”, like “energy”, is lodged in the popular consciousness as being a kind of invisible liquid which flows to and from objects, rather like the Force. Heck, there's even a tendency to treat them as the same thing. Rather like the Force. In reality these sorts of ideas went out with the Victorians, but because they're easy to imagine, they've stuck around to this day. Anybody who hails this new “discovery” as a triumph of science over superstition has actually failed to understand what the scientific consensus on “life” has been for the past hundred years.

Nature and Artifice

The biggest source of stupidity in this whole non-story seems to be the persistent notion that it matters whether or not something is “natural”. This is pure superstition. It's like the old myths about microwaved water being bad for you because its “chemical structure” is somehow changed by the “radiation”.

The idea that “artificial” DNA can function just as well as “real” DNA should be utterly unsurprising to anybody with a basic understanding of the way science works. The fact that artificial DNA can be created is interesting, but only from an engineering perspective, it doesn't raise deep philosophical questions about the nature of life, because those questions have, in the mind of pretty much anybody who keeps up with the science, already been answered.

And in a sense, the same goes for the potential applications of this technology. There's been a whole lot of talk about how these “custom bacteria” will either save the world or destroy it (which, again, is exactly what Dan Brown says about antimatter at the start of Angels and Demons). This is nonsense.

We can already engineer “custom bacteria” using DNA from existing sources – as I learned during my sodding GCSEs, we already use it to produce insulin, and have been for over a decade. Whether the DNA we make these custom bacteria with is cut wholesale from other cells, or whether we make it ourselves from “bottles of chemicals” is irrelevant. We don't understand anywhere near enough about how DNA actually works to invent wholly new organisms, all we can do is copy bits and pieces of things that already exist and do more or less what we want. And we're not going to break any existing scientific laws. There's some talk of these bacteria being able to make fuel out of Carbon Dioxide, and to be fair they could (so can, y'know, plants) but they'd need an energy source to do it, so all it would really be is a complicated solar power plant.

Similarly, worrying about these “custom bacteria” mutating and destroying the world is rank idiocy. Bacteria exist. They mutate. There is no special quality in “natural” bacteria which prevents them from evolving into a world-destroying superplague. Michael Hanlon, in the Mail observes that there's “no guarantee” that these engineered bacteria will “follow the rules”. Where he thinks these “rules” come from, or why he thinks natural bacteria obey them, he does not explain. Perhaps he believes that there's some kind of long standing union agreement.

The same magical thinking arises time and again when a new technology allows us to do artificially something which has been happening naturally for centuries. Somehow we imagine that heating water with microwaves can turn it into a deadly poison, when heating it with infra red radiation doesn't, or that particle collisions in the LHC will create a black hole that destroys the solar system, when the billions of similar particle collisions that happen all the time all around us have no such effect.

“Scientists” have not “created life”. They've created some synthetic DNA, and implanted it into a bacterium, both of which are things we knew they could do already. It's technologically moderately interesting but it doesn't challenge our perception of what life is, it hasn't let the any genies out of any bottles, and it isn't going to make us all live forever.

None of those make good headlines though.

Arthur B

at 22:54 on 2010-05-22

Michael Hanlon, in the Mail observes that there's “no guarantee” that these engineered bacteria will “follow the rules”. Where he thinks these “rules” come from, or why he thinks natural bacteria obey them, he does not explain.

Yeah, at most you can say that all the natural bacteria and micro-organisms out there follow the "rules" of natural selection.

Which means that a synthetic bacterium brewed in a lab for some completely artificial purpose like producing human insulin is going to be far less likely to thrive in the wild than a "natural" bacterium which has been subject to all the dangers that threaten a wee microbe out in the big wide world. It's like expecting a family of chihuahuas to take down a wolf pack on the pack's home turf.

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Andy G

at 23:57 on 2010-05-22Interesting stuff!

“Life”, like “energy”, is lodged in the popular consciousness as being a kind of invisible liquid which flows to and from objects, rather like the Force. Heck, there's even a tendency to treat them as the same thing. Rather like the Force. In reality these sorts of ideas went out with the Victorians, but because they're easy to imagine, they've stuck around to this day.

Actually I have been writing an essay about a recent book that talks about life and energy in just those terms! But he is talking more about the way the world is experienced in consciousness (to try and describe the way in which the world appears "dead" to many people with schizophrenia). I think the problem with lots of Victorian thought was that it treated lots of concepts as if they were a matter of empirical reality (like the Creationists taking the Bible literally). And that's clearly lingered on Have Your Say.

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Rami

at 00:42 on 2010-05-23I'm probably wrong, but as I'd understood it, the more interesting work was in developing synthetic RNA to engineer already-understood bacteria into a wider range of useful applications?

Anyway, to regurgitate a tired old meme: I, for one, welcome our bacterial overlords...

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Viorica

at 02:05 on 2010-05-23. . . I'm sorry, you lost me at "DNA"

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Dan H

at 12:45 on 2010-05-23

I think the problem with lots of Victorian thought was that it treated lots of concepts as if they were a matter of empirical reality

To be fair, the "invisible fluid" models for things like life and energy were actually perfectly good physical theories for quite a long time, so for that matter was ether theory.

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Dan H

at 12:47 on 2010-05-23

I'm probably wrong, but as I'd understood it, the more interesting work was in developing synthetic RNA to engineer already-understood bacteria into a wider range of useful applications?

Yeah, something like that (although I believe that's far older technology). But funnily enough SCIENTISTS DEVELOP SYNTHETIC RNA is much less punchy than SCIENTISTS CREATE LIFE!

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Frank

at 15:46 on 2010-05-23

None of those make good headlines though.

Or excite investors.

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Jamie Johnston

at 16:17 on 2010-05-23I've got to the sub-heading 'DNA for dummies' and at this point I'm going to stop reading for a moment to summarize what I've understood of this story from my sole source of scientific news, namely BBC Radio 4. Then I'll read the rest of the article and see how accurately Radio 4 has informed me. It's like an experiment!

So my impression is that Venter's team (or whoever) has analyzed the DNA of some bacterium or other, put together molecules in the same combinations as that original DNA so as to make some new DNA that's functionally identical to the original DNA, and then put that DNA into a different 'empty' bacterium. The bacterium then happily wandered around being a bacterium, in every important way the same as if it had been 'born' naturally by, er, whatever the normal way for a bacterium to come into existence is (cell-division or something?). It also reproduced in the usual way (see earlier vagueness) to create new bacteria just as a 'natural' bacterium would do. In short, they've taken stuff that was previously not a living creature and made it into a living creature. It isn't a 'new organism' in the sense of being a new species. (Do bacteria have species? You know what I mean, though.) It's just a new individual. The whole business is exciting in as much as if you can make new DNA then you can (1) theoretically do cloning and stuff without having to take DNA from existing organisms, and (2) very very theoretically make DNA in new combinations and thus ultimately new types of organism.

Things I'm not clear about: I don't know on quite what level the new DNA was created, e.g., whether they took protein molecules they already had lying around and stuck them together, or whether they made the new molecules out of atoms and stuff, or what. I suspect it doesn't matter much. Also I have a mental image of the new DNA being somehow physically squirted into a microscopic empty cell-membrane bag, but I've no idea whether that's literally how it works. Nor do I know how they got the empty bacterium in the first place.

Now I'll read the rest of the article and see how wrong all that is.

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Dan H

at 16:27 on 2010-05-23I think the bit you're missing is that the "empty" bacterium was in fact a perfectly ordinary bacterium from which the DNA had been removed, so the other bacterium had, in fact, been "born" in the normal way, it's just that they had taken its DNA out and replaced it. So they took something that was actually totally a living creature, and made it into a slightly different living creature.

It's sort of like giving somebody a heart transplant and claiming that you'd created a living human on an operating table. It's technically true that neither the person receiving the transplant, nor the transplanted organ can survive independently of each other, but claiming that you have therefore "created" a whole new person would be farcical.

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Frank

at 16:32 on 2010-05-23re: 'Scientists'

On the latest edition of NPR's Science Friday, one of the segments discussed the origin of the word 'scientist'. The person who coined the word dismissed other possibilities to describe/define a 'cultivator of science'. The coiner (Well?) chose 'scientist' because it may remind readers/listeners of the word 'artist' who were apparently held in higher regard, but he was also concerned that 'scientist' might suggest less esteemed people of the time with '-ist' endings specifically 'economist' and 'atheist'.

It is funny that some people in the writing/dancing/sculpting/painting/drawing/etcing communities would love to be thought of as the generic term 'artist' while those working in the fields of genetics/biology/chemistry/geology/thermodynamics/etcics cringe at the label 'scientist'.

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Jamie Johnston

at 16:56 on 2010-05-23Although there's also a fun sort of tongue-in-cheek 'reclaiming' (and simultaneously 'pointing out how unhelpfully broad a term it is') thing going on, at least among internetty science-fans if not among professional science-doers, saying things like 'Let's do Science on this!'

Which in turn tempts me to start saying things like 'Stand back: I'm going to do Arts!'

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http://roisindubh211.livejournal.com/

at 03:46 on 2010-05-24This line makes me crack up:

Watch out it is 1984 all over again.

Has this person actually read 1984? I wonder where he/she gets the fascism-biology connection? Is Big Brother supposed to be created in a lab?

Seriously- you're spoilt for choice for science gone OUT OF CONTROL in literature, from Frankenstein to Jurassic Park, for goodness sakes, and they pick 1984?

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http://mmoa.livejournal.com/

at 12:57 on 2010-05-24I actually find it a little ironic that one of the more reasonable responses to this has come from the Vatican itself who have officially declared this advance as 'interesting':

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/22/vatican.synthetic.cell/index.html?hpt=T3

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Arthur B

at 13:03 on 2010-05-24I think after the whole geocentrism/heliocentrism thing the Vatican

really

doesn't want to get caught out again when it comes to making statements about science.

Except where it comes to

condoms

, in which case they'll endorse any pseudoscientific bollocks which supports their position.

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Andrew Currall

at 18:26 on 2010-05-24I don't think I share your dislike for "scientist". Yes, it has rather a broad scope, and yes, it is often used to create an air of authority that it shouldn't actually create (anyone can claim to be one, many with some legitimacy), but I don't see that it's any worse than "geneticist"- it's just a bit less specific. It does mean something, and is generally so far as I can see used more or less correctly. It's certainly no worse than "artist".

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Jamie Johnston

at 18:49 on 2010-05-24Deleted my second comment because I seem to have written it without reading Dan's response to my first one, hence it made no sense. But anyway, @ Dan: yes, I hadn't gathered that. So in fact they haven't really created a new individual, they've just, er. Um. Made an individual different?

Also, @ Róisín (if you don't mind me using that as if it were your name, even though it probably isn't, simply because it's a name): Yes, and another ludicrous thing about that is that the phrase 'it is 1984 all over again' (rather than the more obvious 'it's like 1984') actually draws attention to the fact that

1984

never even happened the first time. In fact the problem with people ever invoking

1984

in a 'we're heading into totalitarian hell' way is that the main thing about

1984

is that the year 1984 came and went and there was no totalitarian hell.

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Arthur B

at 19:11 on 2010-05-24

In fact the problem with people ever invoking 1984 in a 'we're heading into totalitarian hell' way is that the main thing about 1984 is that the year 1984 came and went and there was no totalitarian hell.

Can't agree here. The main thing about the title of 1984 is that it's completely arbitrary - Orwell had wanted to go with 1948 but his publishers considered that a bit too bleak even considering the subject matter.

The main thing about the

content

of 1984 is that it is actually timeless* and dismissing it because it didn't come about on some arbitrary schedule is rote repetition of

the

most annoying misconception about science fiction ever devised by man - namely, that it's a predictive genre and individual works become invalid if their predictions don't actually come to pass.

Jamie, I am disappoint.

* It is, in fact, literally timeless - there's no reason to assume that the year the novel takes place in is in fact 1984. The Party could have added in or blotted out centuries of history if it so chose, or indeed keep recycling the year 1984 over and over again for shits and giggles.)

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Andy G

at 19:14 on 2010-05-24

Can't agree here. The main thing about the title of 1984 is that it's completely arbitrary - Orwell had wanted to go with 1948 but his publishers considered that a bit too bleak even considering the subject matter.

Isn't that an urban myth? I thought the title was actually based on a rather bleak poem his wife wrote for a 1934 school competition imagining life in 50 years' time.

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Arthur B

at 19:31 on 2010-05-24Anthony Burgess was fond of the 1948 idea. The usual explanation I've seen is that he just switched the last two digits of the publication year. According to the intro to the Modern Classics version he did consider several several years for the title. Not heard the poem explanation before.

Either way, the point is that Orwell wasn't predicting an inevitable slippery slope to utter totalitarianism by 1984, he was suggesting a constant threat of totalitarianism that

any

generation could succumb to. There's no vaccine against dictatorship and no society immune to degeneration, we can't pat ourselves on the back and say we've saved ourselves from it just because we got past one particularly overhyped year.

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Andy G

at 19:42 on 2010-05-24@ Arthur B:

His former wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy wrote a poem called "End of the Century, 1984" (which only came to light after Burgess had come up with his theory). I can't actually find it online but it's meant to be fairly bleak and dystopian. It seems to me a more plausible influence, as it seems a bit arbitrary to just swap numbers.

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Arthur B

at 20:48 on 2010-05-24Thanks!

(The working title, apparently, was

The Last Man In Europe

...)

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Jamie Johnston

at 21:58 on 2010-05-24@ Arthur: Fair point, I am mostly wrong. In related news, I am not entirely wrong because I also partly meant something else, namely that people who say 'it's just like

1984

' are often using it precisely as a predictive exercise, their implied reasoning being, for example, 'people in positions of authority are using euphemisms, this is a bit like newspeak, therefore totalitarian hell is imminent'. In other words they treat

1984

like a less cryptic and more secular version of Revelations.

Also I haven't heard people having that misconception about science fiction before, so I deny that I have had a derivative fail and insist that I be given full credit for an original work of fail. :)

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Arthur B

at 22:22 on 2010-05-24

In other words they treat 1984 like a less cryptic and more secular version of Revelations.

This is very true, though to be fair I wonder whether Orwell didn't at least partially intend it to be like that, or at very least a spotter's guide to general symptoms of totalitarianism - between Winston Smith's diary, Goldstein's book, and O'Brien's speeches in room 101, you've pretty much got an easily-grasped analysis of the sort of traits you can expect a totalitarian society (or one heading in said direction) to exhibit.

I think it is sometimes correct to say that a situation is "just like 1984", but only if it shows the actual signs Orwell wants us to watch out for. So, widespread censorship, pervasive surveillance, a culture of informants, brazen propaganda, that sort of thing, especially when several signs are seen in combination with the others. It gets ludicrous when one of the more minor elements (like Newspeak), occurring in isolation, is used to argue that the entire package is unfolding in real life.

It's kind of like Godwin's Law - it's not actually bad to say someone is acting like a Nazi if they are in fact an antisemite and a fascist. Likewise, it's not actually bad to say "It's just like 1984" when, for example, you're protesting against people being spirited away in the middle of the night to secret prisons in far-flung parts of the world to be tortured for information on enemies of the state.

Applying it to biochemical advances is pathetic, though. Haven't they ever heard of

Brave New World

? ;)

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Andy G

at 23:16 on 2010-05-24I think I'd quibble a bit with the idea that Newspeak is a minor element!

On the other hand, I do remember a Telegraph article that mentioned how Big Brother imposed metric units (one of the guys in the pub grumbles about it at some point) ... that's what I call distorting a minor element!

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Arthur B

at 23:35 on 2010-05-24I think Newspeak is significant in the novel, but I don't think it's actually so useful in analysing IRL social trends to see whether things are drifting towards authoritarianism - in particular, I think Newspeak as depicted in the novel is the sort of thing which you could only really successfully accomplish if you'd already established utter totalitarian control over a society (which is why in the novel it was only in its emergent stages, and normal English was only just beginning to be phased out).

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Dan H

at 13:49 on 2010-05-25

It does mean something, and is generally so far as I can see used more or less correctly. It's certainly no worse than "artist".

The point being, though, that you don't say "ARTISTS DO X" every time somebody with an arts degree does something.

"Artist's thriller trilogy becomes posthumous bestseller"

"Economic downturn may continue, say artists"

"Viking settlement lasted into 17th century, artists discover"

It's just completely stupid.

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Dan H

at 13:50 on 2010-05-25

@ Dan: yes, I hadn't gathered that. So in fact they haven't really created a new individual, they've just, er. Um. Made an individual different?

Yes, pretty much.

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Andy G

at 01:33 on 2010-05-26

@ Dan: yes, I hadn't gathered that. So in fact they haven't really created a new individual, they've just, er. Um. Made an individual different?

It's nano-augmentation! Deus Ex here we come!

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Rami

at 03:54 on 2010-05-26

The point being, though, that you don't say "ARTISTS DO X" every time somebody with an arts degree does something.

Of course, bearing in mind that the separation between "science" degrees and "arts" degrees is not AFAIK seen in the same light (or referred to in the same terms) in North America, the word "scientist" is used much more for someone whose profession is in scientific research. Which makes it rather less ridiculous. Just like the headline "Artists launch new show at museum" wouldn't be completely ridiculous even if it did conflate painters, sculptors, filmmakers and performing poets.

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Andrew Currall

at 12:50 on 2010-05-26"Artist" doesn't mean "someone with an art degree" any more than "scientist" means "someone with a science degree". It refers to one's profession (or possibly hobby), not training. Historians/archaeologists are not artists (not are they usually scientists); neither are economists. Authors are, and I admit use of "artist" in place of "author" is unlikely. But it isn't wrong, nor do I see any problem with it.

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Dan H

at 13:07 on 2010-05-26

"Artist" doesn't mean "someone with an art degree" any more than "scientist" means "someone with a science degree".

That's sort of my point, that's *exactly* what "scientist" means - it's the only possible meaning. It *isn't* a legitimate job description.

Rami's right that it's used *colloquially* (both in the UK and in the US) to mean "people who work in scientific research" but this is simply incorrect - just as it would be incorrect to refer to people who do research in Arts subjects as "artists".

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Rami

at 17:47 on 2010-05-26

It refers to one's profession (or possibly hobby), not training.

I can't get to

OED Online

but according to

Merriam-Webster's definition

training is exactly what it refers to.

Possibly some of the confusion here is that "artist" and "scientist" are not used (or defined) similarly: an artist is “

someone who professes and practises a creative art

”, not just someone trained in it. Neither colloquial nor formal usage, AFAIK, refers to arts graduates (or, in USian, liberal arts majors) as "artists".

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Dan H

at 18:44 on 2010-05-26

Possibly some of the confusion here is that "artist" and "scientist" are not used (or defined) similarly

I think you're right - artist was a bad example.

Basically the term "scientist" describes a broad, heterogenous group of people, but the media like to invoke "Scientists" (a subtly distinct, and wholly fictional class of person) to lend legitimacy to otherwise implausible claims, which is why it bugs me.

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Andy G

at 03:30 on 2010-05-27OED says a scientist is someone who is studying or has expert knowledge of a scientific field. It would still sound a little odd to me though to call someone a scientist purely on the basis that they happen to know science. It may not be a job description, but it surely implies something about what that person *does*.

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Guy

at 06:25 on 2010-05-27Surely the now agreed-upon definition of "scientist" is "someone who lies about how magnets work."?

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Arthur B

at 15:37 on 2010-05-27@Guy: Sounds like these geneticists have been listening to the Insane

Clone

Posse!!!!!!!

Geddit?

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Guy

at 08:54 on 2010-05-28@Arthur - if someone wanted to create a cover band for them (which itself would probably require some kind of Miracle, or possibly a life-form artificially created to have inhuman levels of bad taste) that would be a great name for it. :)

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Jamie Johnston

at 23:08 on 2010-05-28Aha! Allow me to shoe-horn in the totally irrelevant fact that the best tribute-band name ever is:

aRe wE theM?

And, to return to the subject, although we bid a sad farewell to the exciting idea of synthetic life-forms taking over the world, there are glimmers of a slightly more plausible but still entertaining thriller plot in which it's actually not the media but Venter himself who is exaggerating the implications of his work in order to justify

an application

to patent every conceivable technology that could arise from making DNA and squirting it into cells. I hear Dan Brown uncapping his pen.

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Robinson L

at 20:30 on 2010-12-18

And if I had a penny for every time I’d seen the words “playing God” I’d be able to get an extra cup of coffee out the vending machine.

The Omnians have a saying, “Don't play God, He [sic] always wins.”

[fashiontrendin-blog]

A £50,000 salary or £50,000 in debt: Why I chose my career with Avon over university

http://fashion-trendin.com/a-50000-salary-or-50000-in-debt-why-i-chose-my-career-with-avon-over-university/

A £50,000 salary or £50,000 in debt: Why I chose my career with Avon over university

When you finish high school with impressive GCSE results, the logical ‘next step’ for most is to head to university.

But for 18-year-old Jess Testar, the thought of being £50,000 in debt with no guarantee of a job was more anxiety-inducing than appealing.

Instead, she decided to become an Avon Rep and never look back…

Beauty boss, not ‘Avon Lady’

There are many misconceptions about what working for Avon is like. As a business that’s been around for years, some have the outdated view of it being a way for stay-at-home mums to make some ‘pocket money’ on the side.

However, Jess and the new generation of Avon Reps couldn’t be further from this.

“Firstly, both men and women can build careers as Avon Reps”, says Jess. “Avon is a superb way for anyone to gain their own independence and become incredible beauty bosses.”

“However, in saying that, there are so many women who have followed the opportunity with Avon and who I strive to be as successful as one day. I love the fact that I’m surrounded by and constantly inspired by powerful women.”

And while selling products from a brochure is still an option, Jess says setting up your own personalised Avon online store is more exciting and the way forward.

“Having your own online store makes it so easy to share the products you’re loving straight to social media, which I am utterly obsessed with.”

“It is totally flexible, allowing you to earn an income to live off, or as a sideline.”

Money, money, money

Jess became an Avon Rep as soon as she turned 18, following in the footsteps of her mum, who also works for Avon.

There were many factors that contributed to her decision, but a big reason was her bank account.

“My lightbulb moment happened within the first two months of starting my A Levels at Sixth Form”, says Jess.

“I had started a part-time job and realised how excited I was to be earning money. At the end of the week when I received my payslip, I was not only filled with excitement but a sense of achievement.”

“After chatting with colleagues who had all completed degrees, were in huge amounts of debt and still couldn’t secure a career in the subjects they’d studied, my mind was made up.”

Despite being an A-grade student, Jess said she was unhappy and stressed with school, but she “loved earning money”.

“The only problem I had was I wanted to work all the time, to boost my earning potential”, she says. ” I found I was restricted by the hours allocated to me, which is what happens when you’re an employee.”

This is what Jess found so appealing about Avon; “working as many hours as you put your mind to, feeling supported, earning as much as you work towards and constantly out and about meeting new people. I’d found my perfect career.”

How Bambi Does Beauty reached 20k followers in just one year

Jess is hoping to be earning £50,000 by her third year of running her Avon business, which is ironically the same amount of debt she’d have accrued at university during the same amount of time.

And after moving from Rep to Sales Leader and being announced as Avon’s Number One Recruiter in the UK from September-December 2017, we’d say she’s well on her way.

Perks and products

One of Avon’s biggest drawcards is the flexibility of working hours, something which Jess says is the best thing about her job.

“I am in total control of the day and my schedule”, she says. “I am my own boss and I can work to the hours that are most suitable for me.”

“If I have an emergency, I don’t have to ask for permission to take work off. But likewise, I might post on Instagram at night so people are more likely to see. It’s all about being wise with your time.”

As for her favourite Avon product?

“Currently, it’s Mark. Big & Extreme Mascara (£8.50), it is the perfect mascara for fluttery, long lashes.”

“I truly am obsessed with all things Avon.”

This is what it’s REALLY like working with Rihanna

[energysolutions]

Press release: Tech sector backs British AI industry with multi million pound investment has been published on Energy Solutions News

New Post has been published on http://www.energybrokers.co.uk/news/press-release/press-release-tech-sector-backs-british-ai-industry-with-multi-million-pound-investment

Press release: Tech sector backs British AI industry with multi million pound investment

More than 50 leading technology companies and organisations have contributed to the development of an AI deal worth almost £1 billion, including almost £300m of private sector investment into UK sector

1,000 new government funded AI PhDs will keep the UK at the forefront of innovation and build UK status as AI research hotspot

More than 50 leading businesses and organisations have contributed to the development of a £1 billion deal to put the nation at the forefront of the artificial intelligence industry, featuring almost £300 million of new private sector investment.

The deal between government and industry, announced by Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Matt Hancock today (Thursday 26 April 2018), also includes more than £300 million of newly allocated government funding for AI research to make the UK a global leader in this technology.

Building on the commitment made in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy and its AI Grand Challenge, the deal marks the first phase of a major innovation-focused investment drive in AI which aims to help the UK seize the £232 billion opportunity AI offers the UK economy by 2030 (10% of GDP).

The AI Sector Deal follows record levels of investments into UK tech in 2017 and today’s deal includes new investments such as:

Japanese venture capital firm Global Brain opening its first European HQ in the UK and investing £35 million in UK deep-tech start-ups

The University of Cambridge opening a new £10 million AI supercomputer and making its infrastructure available to businesses

Top-ranking Vancouver-based venture capital firm Chrysalix, is also going to establish a European HQ in the UK and use it to invest up to £110 million in AI and robotics

The Alan Turing Institute and Rolls-Royce will jointly-run research projects exploring: how data science can be applied at scale, the application of AI across supply chains, data-centric engineering and predictive maintenance, and the role of data analytics and AI in science.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Matt Hancock said:

The UK must be at the forefront of emerging technologies, pushing boundaries and harnessing innovation to change people’s lives for the better.

Artificial Intelligence is at the centre of our plans to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business. We have a great track record and are home to some of the world’s biggest names in AI like Deepmind, Swiftkey and Babylon, but there is so much more we can do.

By boosting AI skills and data driven technologies we will make sure that we continue to build a Britain that is shaping the future.

Developing AI Skills

The deal will help establish the UK as a research hotspot, with measures to ensure the innovators and tech entrepreneurs of tomorrow are based in the UK, with investment in the high-level post-graduate skills needed to capitalise on technology’s huge potential.

It includes money for training for 8,000 specialist computer science teachers, 1,000 government-funded AI PhDs by 2025 and a commitment to develop a prestigious global Turing Fellowship programme to attract and retain the best research talent in AI to the UK.

This will make sure every secondary school has a fully qualified computer science GCSE teacher to give the next generation the skills they need to develop and capitalise on future technology.

As part of the deal, the accountancy firm Sage have also committed to delivering an AI pilot programme for 150 young people across the UK.

Regional Tech Hubs

The Government will build on its reputation as an international hub for AI innovation and provide £20 million of funding to help the UK’s service industries, including law and insurance, with new pilot projects to identify how AI can transform and enhance their operations. The Government has also pledged £21m of funding to create Tech Nation, a new UK-wide organisation working across the country to create a high-growth tech network for ambitious entrepreneurs. One of Tech Nation’s new goals will be to establish an internationally-respected programme for mid-stage AI companies to help bring them to scale.

World’s first Centre for Data Ethics

The deal highlights government work to ensure all AI developments in Britain are conducted to the highest ethical standards by establishing a world-leading Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. The £9 million Centre will be an important part of plans to make the UK the best place in the world for businesses developing AI to grow and thrive. It will address the challenges posed by the adoption of AI and advise on the measures needed to enable and ensure safe, ethical and innovative uses of data-driven technologies, while helping protect consumers.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said:

Artificial intelligence provides limitless opportunities to develop new, efficient and accessible products and services which transform the way we live and work. Today’s new deal with industry will ensure we have the right investment, infrastructure and highly-skilled workforce to establish the UK as a driving force in the development and commercial use of artificial intelligence technologies.

As with all innovation there is also the potential for misuse which puts the whole sector under scrutiny and undermines public confidence. That is why we are establishing a new world-leading body, to ensure the ethical use of data in AI applications for the benefit of all.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

Today’s announcement reaffirms the UK’s place as a world leader in artificial intelligence. This government is determined that British businesses should now take the next steps to build on the growing global opportunities provided by the advancement of AI, changing the lives of millions of people.

As an international economic department, we will help UK companies in the AI sector to forge new trading ties that will boost exports, investment and provide jobs to every part of the country.

AI Grand Challenge

The new sector deal is the focal point of the government’s Artificial Intelligence Grand Challenge, a key part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy which sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. The AI Grand Challenge aims to put the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution ensuring the vast social and economic benefits of this technology are felt in every corner of Britain.

The Industrial Strategy set out four Grand Challenges to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future. AI and Data is one of these and this sector deal provides the blueprint for delivery.

The government’s modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. It sets out how we are building an economy fit for the future – how we will help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.

Dame Wendy Hall said:

It is very exciting to see the recommendations in the AI Review turned into reality through this bold and ambitious Sector Deal for AI. We are at a pivotal point in the application of AI across many different sectors of industry and I truly believe the U.K. can take a leadership role in developing the use of AI in industry in a safe and ethical way that will be of benefit to everyone.

The AI sector deal will make Britain the go to place for AI and make sure this technology is used as a force for good to benefit people, from government’s investment in early diagnostics and precision medicines projects that will use AI to help diagnose chronic illnesses, to a commitment to establishing Data Trusts between government, industry and academia to ensure data sharing is safe and secure.

To better understand the ethical and security implications of data sharing and privacy breaches, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is investing £11 million in eleven new research projects, led by universities, to analyse the important challenges for people and businesses that use data and those that allow access to their data.

Neil Crockett, Chief Digital Officer, Rolls-Royce, said:

At Rolls-Royce, we believe that AI is central to unleashing huge value for our customers and from within our own business, and in achieving our goal of pioneering the power that matters.

This MoU signals an exciting new phase in Rolls-Royce’s relationship with The Alan Turing Institute. We believe this collaboration will further strengthen Rolls-Royce’s reputation as a world-leading adopter of AI technologies in an industrial context. At the same time, it will support the institute’s position, and thus the UK’s position, as a global centre of excellence for data science and AI.

Marc Waters, Managing Director (UK & Ireland), Hewlett Packard Enterprise said:

Artificial intelligence presents a significant opportunity to create competitive advantage for the UK economy with benefits for companies, workers and consumers.

The opportunity exists not only to harness the power of AI for innovation and scientific discovery but to improve productivity and provide economic growth.

Notes to editors

AI in the UK

The AI sector deal will not only support new adopters of AI, it will help the UK’s trailblazing companies who are already embracing this tech and using it to create clusters of expertise, high-skill jobs and investing in developing this technology. Companies and bodies in the UK actively embracing AI in what they do include:

UK Space Agency investing £3 million through Harwell-based Satellite Applications Catapult in a project that will use artificial intelligence and satellite technology to help detect illegal jungle gold miners in Colombia

As part of a partnership with CodeBase, Barclays PLC has launched its first Scottish ‘Eagle Lab’ in Edinburgh. *The lab provides businesses with access to the tools they need to rapidly produce and test prototypes, and Scottish communities with the skills and training they need to thrive.

IQE, a specialist in semiconductors, is investing £38 million alongside Cardiff University to develop a new state-of-the-art facility that will manufacture components used in AI applications.

Cleo, a hyper-intelligent AI financial assistant that’s simplifying money, is being fully automated so it can learn from users’ data, helping and advising on finances with a voice and intelligence in tune with a user’s preferences.

Heralding a new era of defending against today’s advanced and novel cyber-threats, Darktrace has been deployed over 5,000 times across 97 countries, defending against some of the most complex corporate and critical national infrastructure environments in the world.

BT is collaborating with Ulster University by investing in a new £29 million AI research and development cluster that aims to attract and retain industrial engineers and university researchers to the area.

Exscientia is the first company to use pioneering AI for drug discovery and design, enabling critical breakthroughs to improve productivity and drug efficacy.

To help lawyers do legal searches and draft the best standard documents, the law firm Pinsent Masons has developed its own team of computer scientists and legal engineers to put AI into practical context for its lawyers.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) recently announced new offerings to help its customers ramp up, optimize and scale AI usage across business functions to drive outcomes such as better demand forecasting, improved operational efficiency and increased sales.

Using the most advanced Artificial Intelligence, Your.MD has built the world’s first AI personal health guide that provides users immediate trustworthy healthcare advice from the NHS to anyone with access to a mobile phone

With technology that records patterns of behaviour, including what learning style works for each student, CENTURY, an AI platform, is helping children learn and teachers provide more personalised education programmes, with feedback and suggestions to help fill knowledge gaps.

This comes as UK start-up backer Founders Factory welcomes four new AI firms to its London accelerator centre. They’ve also launched the first AI business in its business incubator – Chosen.AI which has developed a process to replicate the expensive and inefficient process of talent recruitment.

Their four new AI firms are:

Orbo.AI – a computer vision software company which uses AI to create face filters, virtual make up, image retouching and can understand context in photos.

UQuant – a spin-out from Imperial College using AI to help engineers analyse data to improve how they do test simulations and avoid manufacturing errors even at early production stages. Pilot clients included NASA, Rolls Royce and McLaren.

Peptone – uses AI to develop and improve proteins which can lead to improved drug performance and reduced costs for drug companies, helping to make better drugs available to patients.

Reps.Ai – an Israeli firm from Tel Aviv, using AI to support companies customer service efforts by learning from their best customer service agents.

Additional quotes:

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick said:

Artificial intelligence will enable us to work smarter, boost our productivity and make the country richer. “From search engines to self-driving cars, this technology will be at the heart of our new economy. That’s why we continue to back our AI innovators in order to cement the UK’s position as a world-leader in this cutting-edge technology.

Marc Waters, Managing Director (UK & Ireland), Hewlett Packard Enterprise said:

Artificial intelligence presents a significant opportunity to create competitive advantage for the UK economy with benefits for companies, workers and consumers.

The opportunity exists not only to harness the power of AI for innovation and scientific discovery but to improve productivity and provide economic growth.

However, many UK enterprises are still struggling to find viable use cases for their business and take tangible, near-term steps toward making these a reality. To help fill this gap, HPE is investing in and providing these organisations with the specialised AI expertise and supercomputing infrastructure needed to support AI applications.

Professor Michael Denham, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Mindtrace Ltd said:

Just as computing technology has served us well by allowing us to make complex computations which are far beyond human capabilities, AI technology will increasingly support us in our ability to make complex and timely decisions, in healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, security, and many other areas, with super-human levels of accuracy, speed and efficiency, enhancing our lives in ways which we are only beginning to understand.

Antony Walker, deputy CEO, techUK said:

The UK has an impressive track-record on AI. But we must keep pace and as the scale of innovation continues to accelerate, we need to ensure that the UK stays at the forefront in the development and application of these powerful new technologies.

The Government’s AI Sector Deal provides a clear blueprint for how the UK can become a world-leader in innovative, responsible and ethical AI. The sector deal focuses on the key issues of maintaining leadership and driving uptake, building the skills pipeline and ethics. Success will depend upon AI companies being deeply engaged in the process.

Gerard Grech, CEO Tech Nation, said:

One of the biggest changes the UK faces over the next 10 years is technological and the development of Artificial Intelligence will be at the forefront of it. The UK needs to embrace it and shape it. As a recognised global centre of AI expertise with companies like DeepMind, Improbable and 5AI, the UK is in a great position, and by building strong networks of shared knowledge and expertise, we can make it even stronger.

Tech Nation cannot wait to get started on shaping its first programme for the UK’s fastest-growing AI companies next year, which will help those who have proven their potential to reach the next level.

Hugh Milward, Senior Director, Corporate External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft UK, said: > > The UK is poised to do great things in the field of AI. If the Sector Deal can ensure that the development of AI is ethical, inclusive and responsible then the UK, as the home of the father of AI Alan Turing, will have a bright future as a world leading centre for AI.

Further notes to editors:

AI holds transformative implications for every aspect of our lives and every sector of the economy. The economic prize is clear: potentially adding 10% to UK GDP by 2030 if adoption is widespread (PWC), and a productivity boost of up to 30% (Bank of America).

The Industrial Strategy, published in 2017 , following the independent review of AI in the UK in 2017, ‘Growing the Artificial Intelligence Industry in the UK’, commits to the Grand Challenge of putting the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution, helping sectors boost their productivity through new technologies, helping people develop the skills they need and leading the world in the safe, ethical use of data.

The Sector Deal is the first major initiative under the grand challenge, that outlined proposals for how government could work with industry to stay ahead of the competition and grow the UK’s use of AI right across the economy in a safe and ethical way, for the benefit of all in society.

The interim Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will start work on key issues straight away and its findings will be used to inform the final design and work programme of the permanent Centre, which will be established on a statutory footing in due course. A public consultation on the permanent Centre will be launched soon.

We are announcing new challenges where we will work with industry to develop innovative uses of AI and advanced analytic technologies through the£1.7 billion Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. These include ‘Next-Generation Services’ , ‘Early Diagnostics and Precision Medicine’, and ‘Transforming Food Production’.

Trailblazing UK AI companies and projects:

Accurate fruit farming

Berry Gardens Growers Ltd based in Lincoln

The company is working with the University of Lincoln at the cutting edge of agri-food to use advanced autonomous systems in the production of fruit. The project will deploy novel digital technologies including vision systems, robotics and autonomous systems in order to detect, locate and measure the size and colour of fruit in real time, and aims to directly stimulate new markets and supply chains in the production of systems to support agricultural producers.

Turning customer feedback into tangible insights

Hertizan based in Cornwall

Hertzian are a technology company founded in 2015 as part of the Falmouth University Launchpad programme. Since their launch they have become a key player in Cornwall’s diverse and thriving tech community. Hertzian have built their own artificial intelligence (AI) powered free-text analysis platform and their software helps businesses around the world find actionable insights inside large amounts of customer feedback. Through the use of Hertzian’s AI technology, businesses are able to identify consistent issues affecting their customers, monitor the impact of their marketing material and lead data-driven product improvements.

UK AI tracking illegal gold mining in Colombia

UK Space Agency and Satellite Applications Catapult based at Harwell

The UK Space Agency is investing £3 million in a project that uses satellite technology and artificial intelligence to help detect illegal jungle gold miners in Colombia. Working with the Satellite Applications Catapult, a non-profit research company based at Harwell in Oxfordshire, the project will feed data pulled from a pair of European Union Sentinel-1 satellites into a computer algorithm that can automatically spot the characteristic patterns of deforestation that are linked to illegal gold mining. The project is one of 10 that will use space technology and satellite data to deliver innovative solutions to problems facing developing countries.

Using AI to verify identity

Onifido based in Covent Garden, London

Onifido uses a machine-learning system to compare facial biometrics of the user, which then gets cross- referenced against an identity document like a drivers licence. One the users identity is verified and the document is checked for tampering the user is machine searched against global databases for any issues, this system operates over 132 countries.

GP at Hand

Babylon Health, London

Babylon Health technology allows users to have virtual consultations with a GP via video messaging and text. By February 2018, their Fulham health centre partnership was providing about 2,000 10 minute video consultations a week, 30% outside normal 8am-8pm GP.