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the-master-cylinder · 4 years ago

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SUMMARY Police Superintendent Bellaver, investigating the murder and mutilation of two young women and the disappearance of a young athlete, learns from American pathologist David Sorel that the women’s bodies had been drained of blood. Helen Bradford, a police decoy, lures the suspected killer into the open, and police handcuff him. He proves to possess superhuman strength, however, and escapes by tearing off his hand and racing to the clinic of Dr. Browning, where he leaps into a vat of acid. Meanwhile, Konratz, a mysterious foreign agent who is systematically eliminating his political enemies, blackmails British agent Fremont into persuading Scotland Yard to halt the investigation of the “vampire killings.” Although unauthorized to continue work on the case, Sorel and Helen go to Dr. Browning’s mansion and discover a modern operating room. They are caught by Dr. Browning, who reveals that he is creating human bodies by transplanting limbs and organs to form a perfect composite; the missing athlete was used for his strong arms and legs. Konratz, the mastermind behind the scheme, arrives and fights with Browning for allowing the murders to interrupt his political maneuvers. In the ensuing struggle, Konratz throws Browning into the vat, and Fremont arrives in time to save Helen and Sorel by pushing Konratz into the acid along with his victim.

Gordon Hessler

Interview with Gordon Hessler

How did you get along with Christopher Wicking for the first time on that film? Gordon Hessler: He’s a highly intelligent fellow, very witty. He’s a wonderful guy. On SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, he did extraordinary work on the script. That was really a pulp book, a throwaway book that you read on a train. There was nothing in it, just empty pieces of action. But it was Chris who gave it a whole new level by using it as a political process of what might happen in the future. That is what made the picture, he’s the one that came up with all those ideas, yet he still managed to keep the nuances of the sort of pulp fiction novel. He was a fine writer, I thought. He had some very good ideas. It’s funny because we never thought much of those films. They were just formula pictures as far as we were concerned, but we enjoyed making them. The problem was what do you do with a script, how do you solve a problem?

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is an extraordinary film, very different from the typical Poe/Price cycle. Was AIP happy with it? Gordon Hessler: Well, they didn’t know what the film was about and were always questioning what I was doing. The editor kept assuring them that everything was fine, but they didn’t quite know what they had as a picture. I’m sure they were a little queasy when that film came out because Arkoff had to try and sell it. We knew we had a good film. It was different. It was a science fiction film really, but the thing is, although the pulp book was very badly written, once Chris Wicking had put the nucleus of that idea into it, it elevated the whole picture and made it much more interesting. But all these pictures were made so quickly with so little money, I think we shot that in three or four weeks. But we had fun making it.

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You had Christopher Lee in small parts in THE OBLONG BOX and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. How did you get along with him? Gordon Hessler: I got on very well with Christopher Lee. He became even more talented as he moved on in his career. I was quite surprised at how good he was in certain movies. When you’re shooting, you’re so busy and you never really get to know the actors very well. You meet them and they get a sense of what you want, and then you don’t see them again because they’re off doing another picture. I think that the thing with a horror picture is that you have to convince your actors to believe in what they’re doing. You really have to get embellished in it and enjoy it.

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You also worked with Peter Cushing in SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. Gordon Hessler: I really didn’t get to know him because he was put into the picture. That was Deke Heyward’s idea. Deke would try to find some well known actor to dress up the picture who at least Americans would be familiar with which was a good idea. He did the same thing with Lilli Palmer in MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. When I was doing the AIP pictures, I tried to keep a stable of actors and give them different roles. They were so wonderful, and they had to work for practically nothing. Since I was producing and directing, I had to go to the actors and tell them that I could only offer them so much, and that they could take it or leave it. It’s not that I was in a situation to bargain with them. I just didn’t have it in the budget. When you only have £70,000 and you’re working in a large studio, everybody else got screwed these actors. Hopefully they get some residuals of some kind, I’m not sure.

Did you enjoy working with the great horror stars: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing? Gordon Hessler: Vincent Price is an extraordinary man. We had a prince from Nigeria come to lunch with us at the Shepperton Studios, we were showing him around the place and we asked Vincent if he wouldn’t mind coming along. Many actors have to talk about themselves or their careers and so on, but not one word of that from Vincent. All he talked about was African art, by region and in such detail that this prince was absolutely amazed Vincent Price is a wonderful personality. Christopher Lee is made of much sterner stuff: very exacting, very correct. But he was very well educated and has a great deal of charm. I enjoyed working with him as well. Peter Cushing is just a wonderful individual to work with. You couldn’t have a better professional.

One complaint about Scream and Scream Again is that none of those stars have scenes together. Gordon Hessler: That was an unfortunate thing, but it just worked out that way. It was a last-minute “Deke” Heyward decision to try to get all three stars together in one picture, and we hadn’t designed Scream and Scream Again for anything like that.

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DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is a picture that turned out well almost by accident. Amicus producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky were developing a screenplay based on a pulp novel by Peter Saxon, The Disoriented Man, AIP agreed to co-produce the film.

For Scream and Scream Again, we got a pulp magazine story, which if you read, you know was just trash, but the ingenuity that Chris Wicking brought to it made it a film of a much grander scale. It was ahead of its time. and we tried to figure out some kind of stylistic approach. But again, these films were made in three and four weeks.

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When Michael Reeves dropped out, Heyward considered Hessler a trustworthy replacement. Hessler remembers meeting with Reeves during pre-production, and said Reeves was quite sick at the time and was undergoing shock treatments. Christopher Wicking was brought in to rewrite the script, but there was only so much that could be done within the framework of what AIP wanted from the picture, so Hessler was left with the problem of trying to make an interesting film from a script neither he nor his star was satisfied with.

Interview with Producer Louis M. Heyward

Louis M. Heyward

How much contact did you have with Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg (of Amicus Pictures) in making Scream and Scream Again? Louis M. Heyward: Quite a bit. They brought in the project, which was a paperback, and they were two guys full of enthusiasm. If I recall correctly, I had Subotsky thrown off the set. and Rosenberg allowed to come on. I felt there was too much interference going on. They were earnest. they were well-meaning, but they got in the way of production. I didn’t have that much traffic with them. but it was very difficult. I don’t bar people from sets too frequently, but when you’re trying to protect time and a budget. you have no recourse. You can’t fight about the little things.

Hessler says Subotsky’s script was so bad it was unusable. Louis M. Heyward: Chris Wicking was brought in and together with Gordon they fixed it. Because it was a script that had not come from Hollywood, we could get away with tinkering with it. I was protecting the future I hoped to have when I left AIP!

It was your idea to put all three of the horror kings-Price, Lee and Cushing—into Scream and Scream Again. Did it work well? Louis M. Heyward: Not as well as it could have. It was interesting to have them all in the same film, but they should have had the contretemps between them, utilizing all three in one scene in a face-to-face showdown. But there was no way of working it in; we just brought them in to take advantage of the names. for marquee value.

Cushing was the one that got the short end of the stick. Louis M. Heyward: He really did. I played that film just the other night and I asked myself, “Why did he accept it?” I think the reason is, the British are so damn nice as actors again, they’re good soldiers and they’ll do what they’re told. They’re dear. sweet people and they’re professionals.

Any other Scream and Scream Again anecdotes? Louis M. Heyward: I felt Michael Gothard was going to be the biggest thing that ever happened. He had that insane look and that drive, and he was wonderful. Here is a kid who really threw himself into the picture wholeheartedly. Do you remember the scene where he appears to be walking up the cliff? That’s a stunt that I would not have agreed to; I’d say, “Hey. get a double or get a dummy. I ain’t either one.” But the kid agreed to do it, without a double-he was that driven. He had a lot of class and a lot of style. Gordon came up with the idea of using an overhead cable to give that illusion of his walking up the cliff.

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Said Hessler, “Vincent was concerned, and he had every right to be, with the scripts that were whipped up. He had a contract to make three pictures, and I had to make four. So you had to make it. They’d already sold the picture from the poster, so the script came and you worked on it. All you could go for was the melodrama and try to be interesting with camera angles.”

This time, working from the ground up, rather than revising someone else’s script, Wicking contrived an extremely intricate and convoluted tale which far exceeds the source material. The novel, unlike the film, was about invaders from space. Hessler was given a free hand to direct as he pleased. The final cut went out exactly as he intended, rather surprising when one considers AIP’s later tampering with Hessler’s MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971), but as Heyward explained, the product was never as important as the deal, claiming that the film was left alone because AIP had booking deadlines to meet.

The movie is based on Peter Saxon’s science fiction novel The Disorientated Man. For the most part, the movie follows the novel quite closely. In the novel, the antagonists turned out to be aliens. According to Christopher Lee, the characters were indeed going to be revealed as aliens in the movie’s climax, but all connections to that fact were cut out of the movie before it was released, leaving the enigmatic villains’ backgrounds unexplained.

What makes SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN so unusual, and so interesting, is its avoidance of the traditional dramatic structure in which a protagonist follows a clearly stated goal. Instead, the film presents several seemingly unrelated stories, which do not become clearly connected until the final twenty minutes when the audience finds out that both a series of “vampire murders” and a political takeover in a fascist country are the result of an artificially created super-race. Said Lee, “Playing some of those scenes, shot out of sequence and with no clue to how well they’d be edited, was maddening.”

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The film marks the first teaming of Vincent Price with Christopher Lee, but their only scene together consists of Price finding Lee bleeding to death on the floor. AIP was only interested in getting their names on the marquee, not in giving them worthwhile material to play. Nevertheless, Lee remembered the filming with good humor.

Said Lee, “As I expired messily on the floor, gurgling blood, which is spouting all over the place, Vincent comes in wearing the biggest cloak I’ve ever seen in my life-a great, big, blue traveling cloak which went right down to the ground. He had to bend down beside me and roll me over in my last throes, being careful not to get blood all over him. While he was supposed to be fussing over me, all I could hear was his voice whispering, “You’re lying on my train!’ He had rolled me over onto his cape and couldn’t get up!”

Christopher Wicking

Interview with Christopher Wicking

Scream and Scream Again was a co-production with Amicus. Milton Subotsky came up with the project and had the rights to the book The Disoriented Man by Peter Saxon; Deke Heywood, head of AIP’s London office, was looking for other projects in which to use Vincent Price. Subotsky did the initial draft of the script, Heywood didn’t like it and you were brought in. Christopher Wicking: Gordon Hessler didn’t like the screenplay. He didn’t feel Milton could deliver what they wanted. Milton initiated the project, and it was his up to that point. I got a call from Gordon requesting I read the book and then Milton’s screenplay.

The book gave me goosebumps. Then I read Milton’s script, which was totally flat: it was like watching a souffle dying. it just caved in after a while. Gordon and I discussed it at length. He saw the police material as Coogan’s Bluff country, which was an idea that excited me. The one radical thing we did, which changed what Milton had done and came directly from the book, was take out the blobs from space. Blobs from space are great, but we didn’t want it to be that kind of picture. We wanted to do a Don Siegel-style horror film, Coogan’s Bluff meets Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, and we needed something stronger than lumps from another planet. So we took the aliens away and implied that Vincent Price’s mad doctor character was responsible for the superhuman creatures. We never quite know in the picture how this is possible, but they are not blobs from space. We wanted to investigate science and politics, so we used a lot of material from news headlines, material about transplants and genetic experimentation. The film sticks quite closely to the book, whose structure was very cinematic.

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You worked frequently with Hessler. Was it a good partnership? Christopher Wicking: It was delightful-and, in retrospect, an inhibiting factor why I never pushed to direct until recently. Working with Gordon was easy, very stimulating. We shared a lot of ideas, and for the most part he directed my scripts the way I wanted to see them made. Obviously, there were occasions when he didn’t, but those decisions were usually due to time constraints. I learned a lot from him. It was like an apprenticeship.

Didn’t AIP try to recut Scream? Christopher Wicking: They did try to take out one of the three strands of the Scream and Scream Again story and found the film didn’t work without it.

SCORE/SOUNDTRACK

Scream and Scream Again (1970) David Whitaker

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The eponymous theme song for the film was by Amen Corner, who appeared in the film singing it. This was one of their last appearances before Andy Fairweather Low departed for a solo career after a brief career as Fair Weather.

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CAST/CREW Directed Gordon Hessler

Produced Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky Louis M. Heyward

Written Christopher Wicking

Based on The Disorientated Man by Peter Saxon

Vincent Price as Dr. Browning Christopher Lee as Fremont Peter Cushing as Benedek Judy Huxtable as Sylvia Alfred Marks as Detective Superintendent Bellaver Michael Gothard as Keith Anthony Newlands as Ludwig Peter Sallis as Schweitz Uta Levka as Jane Christopher Matthews as Dr. David Sorel

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Fangoria#53 Fangoria#84 Fangoria#97 dvddrive-in.com Cinefantastique v19n01-02

Scream and Scream Again (1970) Retrospective SUMMARY Police Superintendent Bellaver, investigating the murder and mutilation of two young women and the disappearance of a young athlete, learns from American pathologist David Sorel that the women's bodies had been drained of blood.

#70sFilms #AIP

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thecreativeseries · 6 years ago

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Michael Goh Perth Landscape and Astrophotographer

Firstly, can you start with a little bit about yourself?

My name is Michael Goh, and I’m a professional photographer covering a range of subjects including but not limited to portrait, time-lapses, virtual tours, commercial, events, but I’m mainly known as a landscape astrophotographer. I picked up my first DSLR around November 2009 and am self-taught.

What equipment do you use to create your images, and why did you select it?

My primary camera is a Canon 6D. I have some other cameras as well. I chose it because at the time I was already photographing with Canon cameras and the 6D was (and still is) well regarded for low light performance. I use a range of lenses – mainly the Tamron 15-30mm F2.8 as it is very sharp, fast and has very little coma around the edges. I often use portable tracking mounts – the Move Shoot Move SIFO rotator if I’m hiking/travelling due to it being very light and small and the Skywatcher Star Adventurer for more substantial jobs when I’m close to the car. Also, a remote cable release/intervalometer so that I can take photos from a distance away (can anyone say self-portrait?).

Additionally, I use a Fiesol CT-3442 Carbon Fibre tripod with a Sirui ball head. The Tripod is very light and stable. I also have a range of speed lites and other lighting equipment that can be triggered remotely. I have a Timelapse+ view that assists with the time-lapses when it’s going day to night (and to the moon), so it automatically adjusts the exposure settings. I have a syrp genie mini as a rotator for time-lapses as well.

What inspires your creative vision?

I have been a science fiction fan for as long as I can remember. So this naturally gravitated towards an interest in space and astrophotography and want to show it - so it was a bit about being epic and technical. As time has passed, though, I think I have moved forward a bit towards the emotions and feelings of the space. So with astrophotography, it’s expressing the sense of being small in the universe.

Which photographers have inspired you, and how did they influence you?

Corrie White – Corrie White is a photographer in the UK who specialises in drop collisions – having water drops hitting other water drops and spreading out and being frozen at that moment. When I first got into photography (with my entry-level DSLR), I saw her work in a magazine at the office, and it opened up my mind that photography could do much more than what the eye could see. She was also very open in her techniques and sharing them on Flickr. So this opened up the experimentation with photography and the full sharing philosophy that I have to share knowledge to improve the art.

What drew you to focus on astrophotography as your niche?

Initially, it was a love of science fiction and the technical side of it. I am inclined to continuous improvement and experimenting, so this seemed like a natural direction.

What other genres of photography do you enjoy?

I enjoy photographing people through portraits and event. While astrophotography and landscape help me feel connected to the universe, photographing people helps me have a connection to people. These genres are also useful to promote positive causes. Time-lapses are a fantastic genre. The acceleration of time is impressive, as you can see what you can’t usually see with the eye. It also links in with astrophotography. Virtual tours/360 photospheres are often just fun, and it was a special thing to learn. I too do aerial photography. I have been doing more and more video recently. I used to do many macros – but have drifted from that a bit. I think I like to get outdoors a bit more.

One of my photographic philosophies is – know as many techniques as possible because you never know when you can use it.

What equipment do you typically take with you on an astrophotography shoot?

Camera, lenses, remote trigger/s, Speedlite/s, light modifiers, tripod, star tracker, 2+ light sources (headlamp and handheld torch), handheld GPS, hand warmers, compass, levelling head, panorama head, cold weather gear, drone (good for scouting), first aid kit, gaffa tape, batteries, memory cards, food and water, a coffee machine, light stand.

What has been your proudest body of work to date?

That’s a difficult one, and I have a few for different reasons.

1 – The Light Within – I got someone else to come up with this title. It’s a Milky Way archway over the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. A crescent moon sits on top of a Pinnacle creating a backlit image with shadows, and the zodiacal light reaches up to the Milky Way core. I’m proud of this particular work as it took me 2 years to get the image, ended up on NASA’s APOD (astronomy picture of the day), won an international photography competition (Photonightscape Awards), was in a book “Universal: A Journey Through the Cosmos” by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw,

2 – Exploring the Great Expanse – a self-portrait image of myself standing in a salt lake with a thin layer of water reflecting all the stars around me. It took a long time to plan, but probably represents the feeling of astrophotography the best, being a tiny person compared to the universe around me.

I’ve got a few others that I’m very proud of, with long stories – but those two are probably the most representative.

How do you prepare before heading out on a shoot? What considerations do you have to make?

Moon cycle and luminosity – I love an amount of moonlight over the landscape. Some additional light lights the whole scene creates depth to the image with shadows. Also, the cloud cover, temperature, over multiple locations. Expected location of the milky way core (using apps). Travel time and conditions, recent historical rain and temperature (depending on the site and time of year). I’ll confess that I do plan the whole year in terms of the sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, moon luminosity to work out the best times of the year to shoot.

What subjects do you generally prefer to capture as part of your astrophotography shoots?

Foreground interest is vital for landscape astrophotography. I’ve been known to take self-portraits a lot with the images. In part, due to the rest of the landscape being limited, the individual adds to the image and creates an additional connection between the person and the universe. Adding a person in the picture emphasises the scale in the image.

Are there any specific tools or tricks you would share that have helped develop your astrophotography skills?

Hmmm – do we have a word limit?

I do workshops, and they take quite a long time 😝.

· Know as many different photography techniques as possible, you never know when you need to use it. Some of my more popular styles have been developed from improvisation.

· Scout when it’s daytime. When it’s dark, you can’t see much so you won’t be able to tell if a better image is 5m away.

· Check your photos for focus before you end up taking a lot of unfocused images.

· Have a plan – frequently I’ve written down a list of different shots I want to take for either tests or compositions. I’ll even have tested some of these before I go out (e.g. panorama types or noise control).

· Make sure you photograph something safe and then get carried away experimenting.

· Challenge your camera and equipment. Get uncomfortable and push it more than what you usually.

· Get constructive feedback from someone you respect.

· There’s an app for that – apps have certainly made planning for astrophotography very easy. I use sky safari and photo pills.

· Remember to set aside the camera and appreciate the night sky. I believe you can best express how it feels by not being distracted by taking photos.

How did you learn about astrophotography and what steps taken to develop your skills over time?

Shortly after starting photography, I discovered Flickr, and it was an excellent resource for people to share their knowledge. I started my first steps into astrophotography that way. To begin with, I made star trails from the back yard. Then I discovered you could photograph the Milky Way, so that was a natural progression. Initially, it was following formulas of exposure, as wide open aperture as possible and go to ISO 1600. I did follow formulas, to begin with, but I can't remember what prompted me to start breaking all the rules, but about four years ago, I started photographing ISO 2000 and then 6400 and beyond.

Now with developing my skills - I write down ideas, visualisations, experiments, and tests and work out how to do them. I practice and test on a very regular basis. When I go out for night shoots by myself, I often have a list of compositions and experiments to try. I may not get through all of them, but I like having a plan as I'll be more productive that way.

Where can we find more of your work?

Webpage

Facebook

Instagram

500px

I have a youtube channel somewhere – I’d better post more to it

Finally, do you have any words of wisdom for photographers looking to focus on astrophotography?

Learn as many techniques as possible as you never know when you need to use them.

Get to the location before it's dark - generally, you'll make a much better composition the more you can see.

Remember that you're taking a photograph, you still need to think about your composition.

After you've taken some "safe" photos, make sure that you experiment.

#Astrophotographers #Perth #Workshops #Western Australia #Star Trails #Time Lapse #Learn Astrophotography

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jamesgeiiger · 6 years ago

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If money doesn’t buy happiness why are we so obsessed with getting more of it?

Book excerpt: In Melissa Leong’s latest book, Happy Go Money, the former Financial Post reporter challenges everyone to revamp their relationship with money. Here’s where to start.

“If I only had a little more money, I’d be happier.”

When was the last time that you had this thought? Every day, we make choices based on the idea that joy can be bought and that more money makes everything better. We take the new job with the extra hour in trafﬁc because it pays more. We put a coat on credit because it’s designer. We buy the big house because it has a yard for our future kids and a kitchen island that’s “an entertainer’s dream.”

To be fair, scientiﬁcally speaking, when we see something we want, a new pair of shoes or a gadget, we do feel joy; it triggers a patch of tissue in the brain, the nucleus accumbens, the so-called sex and money area. It gets activated when humans receive a reward, whether drugs, money or food. Then when we buy something, we get a delicious burst of dopamine in the brain.

That sounds sexy and yummy and all, but the euphoria doesn’t last. Then we just need more stuff. All that crap we buy loses its lustre. When the novelty wears off and the shopping high from the endorphin and dopamine dump dissipates, we’re left with a void and possibly regret.

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“Why did I spend money on this?!?” we ask. Because I need it. Because I deserve it. Because I had a rough day. Because I have no willpower. Because it was on sale. Because it’s a habit. Because it was a whim, a knee-jerk reaction. But when you get down to it? Because I want to be happy.

So, what do we actually need to be happy? Let’s break down our thoughts on the subject and rebuild. This is me swinging on a wrecking ball (fully clothed) to help.

The magic number

We all need a certain amount of money to be happy. But how much?

For those of us who are on the verge of losing our homes, who fret about feeding our children, who cringe when the phone rings because debt collectors may be calling, without question, more money will make us happier. But for the rest of us, before connecting cash with joy, we need to talk about what we mean by “happy.”

Scientists in neuroeconomics (the study of how we make economic decisions) break happiness into two types:

1. Life satisfaction: an evaluation of your well-being as a whole (the kind of happy where you’re pleased with life in general). 2. Day-to-day mood: the highs and lows; the joy, stress, sadness, anger and affection that you experience from one moment to the next — how you feel today, how you felt yesterday. (The kind of happy that most of us relate to — the right now happiness.)

With life satisfaction, the richer people got, the more satisﬁed they were with their lives. In worldwide studies, people in richer countries reported higher life satisfaction than those in poorer countries. (We should also consider that wealthier countries are more politically stable, more peaceful and less oppressive — which affects well-being.) But according to a 2018 Purdue University study, there was a limit: $95,000 U.S. (pre-tax, per single-family household). Above that, more money didn’t mean that you were more satisﬁed. With day-to-day happiness, the threshold is $60,000 to $75,000 per household, according to various studies. The 2018 study showed that after these salaries are met, life satisfaction and day-to-day happiness actually slightly decrease with more money.

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What the what?

Well, apparently, when all of our basic needs are met, we become driven by other desires such as chasing after more material stuff and comparing ourselves to others, which make us unhappy. Also, high incomes can come with high demands (more working hours, more stress and less time with family and for leisure).

This doesn’t mean that we should all go out and try to make exactly $75,000 a year — our so-called feel-good ﬁnancial sweet spot. The studies are averages, and we all need different things to be happy. But all of us ﬁnd joy in some simple things — kisses, laughter, getting ID’d over the age of 25.

Marketing professor Hal Hershﬁeld once told me, “Even if I have an amazing car in my driveway, a huge house and a big fat income, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll be happier on a day-by-day basis, because the types of things that inﬂuence happiness are who I interact with, how I spend my time and the things that I do.”

Think of some of your happiest times in the past week. Were you spending it with people? Were you taking time to enjoy an activity, going for a run or catching up with a good friend? Would a wad of cash have made those moments that much better?

Probably not. If you answered “yes” to the latter question, how much more do you need to be happy? Read on.

Your magic number is probably wrong

Let’s do an exercise together.

How happy are you on a scale of one to ten?

Now think about how much money you have in the bank, your salary. How much more money would you need to be a perfect 10?

Michael Norton, who teaches at Harvard Business School and co-authored Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, surveyed average-income earners and high-net-worth Britons (with a net worth of more than $1 million), and he asked them those questions. “Everybody said two to three times as much money,” Norton told me.

“Why is that a problem?” I asked, estimating the same for myself.

“That’s a problem because people at $1 million said, ‘If I had $3 million, I’d be a perfect 10. Except that people who had $3 million said, ‘If I had $9 million, I’d be a perfect 10.’”

Basically, happiness is on a sliding scale. Think about how much this sucks. No matter what you have, you’ll always want more. Even if you have millions. When you ﬁnd the gold at the end of the rainbow, the pot is just too damn small, and then you’re off again, chasing more rainbows.

No matter what you have, you’ll always want more. Even if you have millions.

It’s like a curse really. It also takes the fun out of my childhood dream of winning a million-dollar lottery. That was the very ﬁrst fantasy I ever had: winning a jackpot and marrying one of the New Kids on the Block (anyone but Danny). I’d have fancy clothes and we’d eat at Red Lobster every weekend. (Still my idea of a hot date today.)

But despite what we may think, winning the lottery doesn’t buy you a one-way ticket to Euphoria Town. Take this famous study from 1978 where researchers asked two very different groups about their happiness: recent Illinois State Lottery winners who scored $50,000 to $1 million and recent victims of catastrophic accidents who were now paraplegic or quadriplegic. They asked the lottery winners and the accident victims to rate how happy they were at that stage of their lives, how happy they were before the life-altering event and how happy they expected to be in a few years. They asked them to rate how pleasant they found simple activities (talking with a friend, watching TV, eating breakfast, buying clothes, getting a compliment, etc.).

Seriously? Who’s happier, the person cruising in the wheelchair or in the Lamborghini?

Yes, the lottery winners were happier in the moment. The winners reported feeling more present happiness. But the people with disabilities rated their future happiness higher. They also enjoyed the simple things in life more: they had more appreciation for the mundane pleasures of things such as hearing a joke or reading a magazine. Actually, research shows a link between high income and a reduced ability to savour small pleasures. Experts blame it on hedonic adaptation — our tendency to just get used to whatever we have. Even a dramatic life improvement eventually becomes the new normal. You don’t smell the roses because they’re everywhere, any time of the day. And research has shown that our inner thermostats are set some-where between happiness and sadness: they can rise and fall depending on circumstance, but they generally return to that baseline. So, if you were a miserable moaner before hitting the jackpot, you’ll likely just be a rich miserable moaner.

In another real-life example, Markus Persson, who created Minecraft and sold it to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, reportedly bought a $70-million mansion, complete with a candy wall, vodka and tequila bars, designer ﬁre extinguishers (because safety ﬁrst, fashion second) and 15 bathrooms equipped with $5,000 remote-control operated toilets with air deodorizers and heated seats. But in 2015, he tweeted, “Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated.” In another tweet, he said, “The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.”

Now this could be super depressing to you. For me, it’s reassuring. It tells me that no single event or any material thing or external factor ultimately deﬁnes my happiness. Human beings are adaptable. A million dollars or a misfortune, over time, can become the new normal. Sure, with money, you’ll enjoy stylishly ﬁghting ﬁre with your Louis Vuitton extinguisher, but the riches may also make old pleasures seem less enjoyable.

So remember, there’s a better use of your money than playing the lottery. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot prize are 1 in 292 million — and odds are that more money won’t guarantee that your days will be happier anyway.

Your happy money to-do list

If you ﬁnd yourself thinking, “If I only had (insert anything), I’d be happy,” challenge it. Ask your partner or co-worker or friend to poke you (lovingly) if they ever hear you say that phrase. It’ll be like that awful baby shower game where you can’t say “baby” — but for your life.

If you’re relying on something (or someone) to make you happy, you’re wasting your time and energy. If afﬁrmations are your jam, write this down and stick it somewhere: “I control my own happiness.”

Name three big things that make you happy regardless of money (good health or a loving partner). Now name three very speciﬁc things (sleeping in on the weekend, your jam on repeat). Repeat the exercise every time you feel crappy about your ﬁnancial situation — or any situation.

Stop playing the lottery. Now. Next time you want to play the lottery, buy someone a coffee or put the money into a donation box instead for a guaranteed happiness payoff.

Money talks

If you think more money would make you happier, how much more?

How would your life be better with more money?

Think of a time when you made less money. Were you unhappier then? How much?

Think of some of your happiest moments from the last week. Would more money have made those moments better?

If money doesn’t buy happiness why are we so obsessed with getting more of it? published first on https://worldwideinvestforum.tumblr.com/

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patriotnewsdaily · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on PatriotNewsDaily.com

New Post has been published on http://patriotnewsdaily.com/academy-awards-hold-on-were-going-completely-woke/

Academy Awards: Hold On, We’re Going Completely Woke!

We’re not sure the Oscars meant a whole lot before, but if they ever held any meaning whatsoever, that era is surely now over. Under pressure from Twitter hashtags (?!), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week that future Best Picture selections would have less to do with artistic merit and more to do with wokeness. According to the statement, all movies eligible for Best Picture as of 2024 will have to meet minimum “inclusion” requirements, as determined by a vague representation panel.

Our world is just getting so fun, isn’t it?

“Films must meet two of four standards which are on-screen representation, themes, and narratives; creative leadership and project team; industry access and opportunities; and audience development,” reported People magazine.

In a statement, Academy officials David Rubin and Dawn Hudson said the move is overdue: “The aperture must widen to reflect our diverse global population in both the creation of motion pictures and in the audiences who connect with them. The Academy is committed to playing a vital role in helping make this a reality. We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long-lasting, essential change in our industry.”

Let’s be really clear, shall we? If there was any hope at all that these initiatives would help audiences connect with these movies, they would have been implemented years and years ago. When there are things that will help you connect with the crowd (i.e., make more money), you don’t need top-down demands to make them happen. They happen automatically in accordance with the principles of the free market. Initiatives like this are only necessary when the fear is that by going overboard on “diversity” instead of, you know, making great movies, people are going to start looking elsewhere to spend their entertainment dollar.

The Los Angeles Times pointed out some of the silliness involved here:

Among the new standards, those concerning onscreen representation are likely to garner the most scrutiny. Indeed, some recent best picture nominees that featured almost exclusively white and male casts — including the World War I film “1917” and the gangster epic “The Irishman” — might have had difficulty meeting the new onscreen standards. Those standards require one of the following: at least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; at least 30% of all actors in secondary and more minor roles are from certain underrepresented groups; or the main storyline, theme or narrative is centered on an underrepresented group.

Oh well. Just throw some black people into your Shakespeare drama. Sprinkle in some transgender representation for your next big Biblical epic. Who cares if it’s historically ridiculous? The important thing is that everyone gets proper representation on the screen, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense at all.

We’ll probably be blind soon from rolling our eyes, anyway, so there’s no point in getting upset.

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thefitty · 4 years ago

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Mental Health Update // Feeling the Feelings Instead of Eating the Feelings

I loooooooooove doing personality tests. You know this quizzes found at the end of every teen magazine? I loved doing those! I remember waiting in line at Walmart as a preteen, flipping to the end of each J-14 mag an doing the quiz fests. They’re just fun, you know? Even though they’re not necessarily accurate!

Now there are definitely other personality tests that are more rooted in science and…

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downthetubes · 5 years ago

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DC Thomson launches "Slime Factory"

DC Thomson launches “Slime Factory”

If your little one loves all things slime, then they’ll love Slime Factory magazine, a brand-new magazine from DC Thomson Media. It’s oozing with easy-peasy slime makes, cool slimy science, fun puzzles and quizzes, and much more!

Readers can join KT, Rosa, Newt and Zak – AKA the Goo Crew – in their own comic strip every issue, for hilarious, slimetastic adventures in the lab! Kids will love…

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#DC Thomson Media #Slime Factory

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madartlab · 6 years ago

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Mad Quickies: No More Maker Faire but Making Continues

The wonderful DIY and science-based art festival circuit known as Maker Faire is no more. Maker media layed off its entire staff and halted all operations, including its magazine called MAKE. It’s sad news for makers like myself, who met a lot of cool people and had some really fun and inspiring experiences at Maker Faires. I met some of my best pals there and saw some of the coolest robotics and…

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#jeff bezos #Maker Faire #robots

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marybromley · 6 years ago

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The Home Front: The latest in landscape design

Today, there’s an increasing demand for edible gardens — no matter where we happen to live, says the senior landscape designer for Vancouver’s Formwerks Architecture.

“Something that’s very important for our clients these days is to have vegetable gardens or little kitchen gardens,” Claudia Rust says. “And it doesn’t matter if you’re living in a condo with a deck, or whether you have a big lot in Shaughnessy, people like to just go outside and cut some herbs. Maybe eat a berry while you’re sitting next to your planter. It’s all fun stuff and it makes the garden lively.”

Some families are also using their edible gardens as educational tools, Rust says.

“They show their kids, ‘Hey, we plant a seed right now and just wait a few months and water it, and then the strawberry will come through the ground and you can pick it and eat it or bake a cake with it,” she says.

Rust grew up in Germany and says her time spent on her grandparents’ farm led her to becoming a landscape architect. She was also influenced by her father, who was a civil engineer.

“It just felt like the right combo of natural science and construction,” she says. “And also being very creative and expressive with what you’re doing. I connected to that.”

Rust says that building a garden is a very personal experience, adding that people should not worry about making mistakes, but focus on the process.

“Some people treat their gardens as an experiment because they don’t have a background in gardening or knowledge about what plants require. But then the next year, they try planting something different and it might do better. It’s almost like therapy for a lot of people.”

Rust notes that gardens are much more than esthetically pleasing and feed all the senses.

“We work with the sense of hearing,” she says. “Maybe there’s a water feature in the background that calms you. Or you have trees where birds can sit and they’re chirping. Those are all the things you take for granted when you go outside, but when we design [landscapes], we think about how we can achieve all these things.”

Water features are used to appeal to our sense of sound, says landscape designer Claudia Rust.

Rust says that with edible gardens, it’s easy to appeal to peoples’ sense of taste, but landscape architects also design for their clients’ sense of smell.

“We incorporate plants that have a certain scent, or just taking advantage of being in the fresh air. You instantly feel better.”

Rust says the most important thing for her is layering different elements in a garden.

“You have the structural green in the background and then the more fun stuff, like the flowers in the foreground.”

Landscape architects are definitely witnessing a move towards more sustainable thinking, Rust says.

“People are thinking, maybe I should harvest the rain water that comes off my roof to water the garden,” she says. “Maybe I should install a cistern. Maybe I’ll switch my exterior lights to LED to save money.”

Garden design is so personal, say Rust, adding that her clients’ preferences range from clean, modern lines, which she achieves using “mass planting” to “messy gardens” full of wild flowers in the English cottage style.

She says that working with a landscape designer can help people realize their outdoor aspirations, but there are a lot of people out there who can also help.

“Go for a walk through your neighbourhood and you’ll see ‘Oh I really like that garden’,” she says.

She says it can be useful to find out if they worked with a designer or simply to look at magazines.

When Rust takes on a garden project, the first thing she does is assess the unique features of a property and what makes it special.

“Are there view corridors? Are there interesting buildings? What is the surrounding architecture like?”

She also believes in planting flowers that come through all year to give colour and texture.

“You’re really working with a living body,” says Rust. “You line it up like an orchestra, and use materials from outside to come alive throughout the year.”

The Home Front: Designer dedicated to honouring the tree

The Home Front: The latest in landscape design published first on https://weedkillerguide.tumblr.com/

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professionalpracticeblog745 · 6 years ago

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Top 15 Genres of Photography That you Need to Know

https://www.shawacademy.com/blog/top-15-genres-of-photography-that-you-need-to-know/

Aerial Photography:

As soon as our flight takes off, we love to shoot the landscape or city scene below which gives us an advantage of taking a picture from above. So, images that are captured from above is known as aerial photography. French photographer and balloonist, Gaspar Felix Tournachon, took the first aerial photograph in 1858. He experimented for three years before he could produce the photograph. He had captured the French village, Petit-Becetre, from a hot-air balloon, 80 metres above the ground.

Architectural photography:

Capturing an interesting form, shape or colour of the structure can be visually appealing. Therefore visuals of buildings that are interesting fall under this genre. We can include interiors or exteriors of buildings and even an interesting element of the design. The two challenging aspects for photographers while shooting buildings are: Lighting and image distortion.You have only natural light while capturing the façade of the building and you have to make the best use of it to bring out the glamorous aspect. When there are horizontal and vertical lines in the building your images appear distorted. Only with the correct equipment coupled with right angles you can avoid the snag.

Candid photography:

This is a very popular genre of photography. Moments captured spontaneously as they happen is known as candid photography. The subjects are usually not aware of the photographer, so they appear very relaxed. Wedding photography is a perfect example of this style of photography.

A tip: Use a long zoom while capturing candid moments. This will help your subjects to be more relaxed and natural, as they will be unaware of you photographing them.

Documentary photography:

Manual pictures that form a photo story come under this style. It is about a particular subject or a story that a photographer wants to highlight. They are all objective pictures and can be about a war, social issues, science and so on. When you are chronicling significant events, for instance, the life of a celebrity or a sportsman, plan to spend some time with the person; chat; listen and capture what comes naturally. Try and capture details and let your pictures tell a story. Do not try to shoot something that is not a part of his or her life.

Fashion photography:

Typically used to sell something, this type of photography lures customers by glamorising the product. They are generally very creative and visually very interesting and can be taken in any location like a studio, an apartment, a rundown building or anywhere outdoors.

A fashion photographer should always prepare in advance. In this genre of photography, the location, lighting, makeup, stylists and the model play a significant role. However, you should also be open to ideas and suggestions, as it involves a lot of team work.

Food photography:

Whether we are sharing an image of food served at a restaurant or on our dinner table, almost everyone seems to be at it today. This type of photography is used by restaurants, websites or bloggers to entice customers to try and sell their products.A Tip: One of the most crucial factor in food photography is to use natural light. Always remember to turn off the flash. It’s a big ‘No’ in this style of photography. When you use flash, many unwanted elements get captured. For instance, your food might look greasy and the actual colours get washed out. Landscape photography:

This is one of the most popular types of photography, as it can portray a scenery, or can even show an impact of environmental change. We all love to capture a beautiful landscape when we see one. However, we need to wait for the right light to capture that perfect moment.

Also, while shooting a landscape, if you want a sharp image, use a tripod which will help eliminate the camera shakes. Using a long shutter speed can give you the perfect shot. For example, if you are capturing the waves, it will turn to a smooth white and moving clouds will turn wispy.

Night-long exposure photography:

It’s a great way to capture how the world transforms after dark. This type of photography requires good knowledge of how we use light, shutter speed and aperture. These types of photos are interesting as the viewer gets to see some unusual aspects that cannot be seen by the naked eye. To takes such shots, it is imperative to be comfortable with our camera’s manual mode and implement the correct settings.

Photojournalism:

This photography is similar to the documentary genre. The only difference here is that a photographer captures live events as and when it happens and informs the world about it. Examples of this style of photography is what we see every day in newspapers, magazines etc.

Photojournalism is not about shooting unexpected events, but about capturing unexpected moments at events that are planned. It is serious journalism and a person needs to plan it right to be at the right place and at the right time.

Conceptual/ fine art photography:

Images that tell a story come under this genre. In terms of conceptual/ fine art photography, we can create our own fiction with characters in made-up environment. However, the photographer needs to have a vision of what their picture will look like, as this genre is all about an emotion, an idea or a message. The photographer tries to convey a message through his image.

Portraiture:

Capturing peoples’ moods and expressions is an intriguing subject for photographers. They can be close-up images, body portraits etc. Typically the face is the focus of this type of photography. While taking a portrait, the photographer should ensure that the subject’s face is sharp and focussed, especially his or her eyes. The subject’s pose should also be flattering. To capture a person’s natural expressions, the photographer should lighten the mood by cracking a joke or two.

Sport photography:

This category involves getting up-close to the action in a very fast-paced and action-packed setting. Sports events are captured with very long lenses as we usually see photographers during an event.

A Tip: Always use a high ISO. Increasing the ISO on your camera will enable you to shoot at a higher shutter speed; consequently giving you the perfect shot. Try to be original and get something different by getting different angle shots.

Street photography:

Capturing ordinary, everyday life in public spaces or life as it happens is known as street photography. It is very similar to candid photography, but the photographer documents the public space as he or she sees it.

A street photographer should not just look at the popular tourist spots, but he or she should try out some real-life scenes coupled with some behind the scene images. They must be observant about every little aspect around them. As soon as they see a story unfold, they should not hesitate to capture the moment.

War photography:

Capturing images of conflicts in war-torn areas fall under this genre. War photographers usually put their life in danger to cover the event. War photography can even document the aftermath of war.

A war photographer should always simplify the photography kit, as he/she should not be bothered about changing lenses etc. Carrying heavy equipment is also a big ‘no’ because there might be circumstances where he or she will be better off with less equipment.

Wildlife photography:

This is a very challenging type of photography, as it might be difficult to capture animals in their proper habitat. This style requires proper technical skills and it needs to be planned accordingly. In wildlife photography, you need to be absolutely comfortable with your camera’s settings. If you are not quick enough, you might miss the perfect shot.

The key to taking a good photograph is to go ahead and have fun while you shoot. Your pictures will speak for itself no matter which genre you choose.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I thought I would start with a range of different types of photography that people thought were important today and found this article which I've placed the information above and the link at the top if you fancy taking a look. I going to look at a range of photography vocations on this blog as I take you on my journey to were I ended up with my professional practice.

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staceyludlowcmp-blog · 6 years ago

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Different photography styles

Ariel Photography

Ariel photography is photography from above. The first person to attempt anything like this was photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, who ascended into the air in a hot air balloon and took a photo of the French village, Petit-Becetre, although it took three years until he could actually produce the photograph. Recently it’s been a lot easier to capture photos like this due to drones being a piece of technology that is very common to our lives.

Architectural Photography

Capturing an interesting for, shape or colour can be visually appealing, which means that visuals of buildings that are interesting fall under this genre. We are able to include interiors or exteriors of buildings and even an interesting element of the design. The two challenging aspects for photographers while shooting buildings are lighting and image distortion.

You only have natural light when capturing the facade of the building and you have to make the best use of it to bring out the glamorous aspect. When there are horizontal and vertical lines in the building, the image will appear distorted. Only with the correct equipment coupled with the right angles can you avoid the snag.

Candid Photography

Candid photography is a very popular genre of photography. Moments captured spontaneously as they happen is known as candid photography. The subjects are not usually aware of the photographer, so they appear relaxed and a lot more natural then they would if they were posing for the photo. Wedding photography is a great example of this style of photography.

It is known that it is best to use a long zoom lens when capturing candid moments. This will help your subjects to be more relaxed and natural, as they will be unaware of you photographing them.

Documentary Photography:

Manual pictures that form a photo story come under this style. It is about a particular subject or a story that a photographer wants to highlight and bring attention to. They are all objective pictures and can be about war, social issues, science and so on. When you are chronicling significant events, for instance, the life of a celebrity or a sportsman, plan to spend some time with the person; chat; listen and capture what comes naturally. Try and capture details and let your pictures tell the story. Do not try to shoot something that is not part of his of her life.

Fashion Photography

Typically used to sell something, this style of photography lures customers by glamorising the product. They are generally very creative and visually very interesting and can be taken in any kind of location. Like a studio, an apartment, a rundown building or anywhere outdoors.

A fashion photographer should always prepare in advance. In this genre of photography, the location, lighting, makeup, stylists, and the model play a significant role. However, you should also be open to ideas and suggestions, as it involves a lot of teamwork.

Food Photography

Whether we are sharing an image of food served at a restaurant of on our dinner table, almost everyone seems to be at it today. This style of photography is used by restaurants, websites or bloggers to entice customers to try and sell their products.

One of the most curtail factors in food photography is to use natural light. Always remember to turn off the flash. It’s a big no in this style of photography, despite everyone using the flash on their phone cameras when they want to Instagram their food. What they all don't know is that when you use flash, many unwanted elements get captured in the photo. For instance, the food may look greasy and the actual colours get washed out.

Landscape Photography

This is one of the most popular types of photography, as it can portray a scenery. or can even show an impact of environmental change. We all love to capture a beautiful landscape when we see one. However, we need to wait for the right lighting to capture that perfect moment.

While shooting a landscape, if you want a sharp image, use a tripod; this will help to eliminate the camera shakes. Using a long shutter speed can give you the perfect shot. For example. if you are capturing the waves, it will turn to a smooth white and moving clouds will turn wispy.

Night-Long Exposure Photography

It’s a great way to capture how the world transforms after dark. This type of photography requires good knowledge of how we use light, shutter speed and aperture. These types of photos are interesting as the viewer gets to see some unusual aspects that cannot be seen by the naked eye.To take such shots, it is imperative to be comfortable with out camera’s manual mode and implement the correct settings.

Photojournalism

Conceptual/Fine Art Photography

Images that tell a story come under this genre. In terms of conceptual/fine art photography, we can create our own fiction with characters in a made-up environment. However, the photographer needs to have a vision of what their picture will look like, as this genre is all about emotion, an idea or a message. The photographer tries to confer a message through his image.

Portraiture

Capturing peoples’ moods and expressions is an intriguing subject for photographers. They can be close-up images, body portraits etc. Typically, the face is the focus of this type of photography. While taking a portrait, the photographer should ensure that the subject’s face is sharp and focused, especially on his or her eyes. The subject’s pose should also be flattering. To capture a person’s natural expressions, the photographer should lighten the mood by cracking a joke or two.

Sport Photography

This category involves getting close-up action in a very fast-paced and action-packed setting. Sports events are captured with very long lenses as we usually see photographers during an event.

Always use a high ISO. Increasing the ISO on your camera will enable you to shoot at a higher shutter speed; consequently giving you the perfect shot. Try to be original and get something different by getting angle shots.

Street Photography

Capturing ordinary, everyday life in public spaces or life as it happens is known as street photography. it is very similar to candid photography, but the photographer documents space as he or she sees it.

A street photographer should not just look at the popular tourist spots, but he or she should try out some real-life scene coupled with some behind the scene imagery. They must be very observant about every little aspect around them. As soon as they see a story unfold, they should not hesitate to capture the moment.

War Photography

Capturing images of conflicts in war-torn areas fall under this genre. War photographers usually put their lives in danger to cover the event. War photography can even document the aftermath of war.

A war photographer should always simplify the photography kid, as he or she should not be bothered about changing lenses or carrying different tripods. Carrying heavy equipment is also a big risk due to the fact that there might be some circumstances where they will be at a risk of being injured.

Wildlife Photography

Overall, the key to taking a good photograph is to go ahead and have fun while you shoot, if you don’t, it will certainly show in your photos. You pictures will speak for itself no matter which genre you choose.

#rebrand #staceyludlowcmp #media #photography #creativemedia

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mikemortgage · 6 years ago

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How colleges and cannabis companies are working together to create pot training programs

British Columbia’s Okanagan College has a mandate to serve the interests of businesses in its community. So when licensed cannabis producer Sunniva started building a greenhouse and manufacturing facility in the region, the company reached out to the school in the hopes of forming a partnership. Sunniva knew it would need to hire 200-plus employees for their launch in 2019 and they wanted them specially trained — people who understood the plant biology, the production cycles and the business of cannabis.

Normally, Okanagan creates new courses using information provided by the government to determine what kind of workers are needed and what classes should focus on, but in the fast-moving cannabis industry that wasn’t an option. Instead, the college created an advisory board with their partners to hear straight from the companies themselves — Sunniva and Crop Health, a local crop consulting service — what skills they needed.

The result is a plethora of cannabis-based courses being rolled out at Okanagan this fall, including everything from Cannabis Business Fundamentals to Growing Your Own Cannabis to Pest Management for Cannabis Production.

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“Right now we’re forced to hire outside the industry and then train people ourselves,” said Dr. Tony Holler, CEO of Sunniva. “That’s costly, it takes time.”

“We reached out early on to Okanagan College and said listen this is going to be a big industry in the future, the college should start an educational program,” he said. “They’re trying to support the industry, which desperately needs it.”

Okanagan is just one of a number of post-secondary institutions across the country that have been working closely with the cannabis industry to provide training programs ahead of the legalization of recreational marijuana in October.

The new sector is expected to create thousands of jobs in the coming years, and the hiring spree has already begun to heat up. As of July of this year, cannabis-related searches on job site Indeed were four times higher than last year, while job postings for the sector have more than tripled. The kinds of jobs are evolving, too.

“Production … was really something that we had to focus on almost a full calendar year ago to make sure that we had the platform to be able to fill the demand,” said Jordan Sinclair, vice president of Canopy Growth, which has built relationships with a number of schools, most notably Niagara College in Ontario.

“The next wave that comes has got to be the sales teams in order to satisfy all these accounts…. Then the retail teams get layered on top of that and that’s kind of where we are in the process.”

Jordan Sinclair, vice-president of Canopy Growth.

Among the schools that are focusing on delivering more business-oriented classes is Ontario’s Durham College, which has seen 350 students complete a two-day intensive course called Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals that it launched in 2017.

It is now expanding its offerings to establish a cannabis industry specialization program that launched this fall and is comprised of six courses. The part-time studies program is meant for people who have already completed a diploma or degree program in business and will be delivered both in class and via interactive online simulcast.

It will include classes such as Importing and Exporting Cannabis and a Cannabis Capstone Course in which students will produce research on an aspect of the industry. (Students must be 19 years of age to take the course — anyone caught lying will get a refund, but lose their administrative fee.)

Durham has partnered with Ample Organics Inc, Molecular Science Corp, Cannabis at Work, GrowWise Health and CannaInvestor Magazine to help build their program, and is aiming to eventually integrate cannabis units into other general degrees, such as engineering, nursing and human resources.

“There can be in some cases this perception that, ‘I’m going to go and work in a cannabis company, and what do those people do all day? Well they must be smoking and getting high and having lots of fun,’” said Debbie Johnson, dean of the school of continuing education at Durham College.

“This is one of, if not the most highly regulated industries in the world and what they’re looking for are people who are really serious about working in the industry.”

Knowledgeable retail sales people are also in demand, something that has fuelled a partnership between retailer Fire and Flower, which says it is planning to open more than 40 stores in Western Canada following legalization, and the College of the Rockies in B.C.’s Kootenay Rocky Mountains.

Jesse Cheetham, vice president of human resources at Fire and Flower, said that his company sees selling product as only one facet of the retailer’s job — they also need to educate customers about cannabis and the industry as a whole.

“With cannabis it’s always been taboo to talk about, to use openly, and now we as an industry need to make that normalizing happen in a period of months. So it’s a huge gap to fill in a short time. It’s a huge responsibility,” said Cheetham.

Carmen Rochwell-Hoover, an instructor at the College who had a background as an herbalist, helped develop the school’s Cannabis Retail Specialist Program, along with Fire and Flower and other partners.

Books about marijuana lay on a table in the office of University of Vermont pharmacology professor Wolfgang Dostmann in Burlington, Vt. The College of Medicine is offering a new class on the science of medical marijuana.

She said her own experiences taking cannabis education classes made her aware of some of the blind spots in existing programs.

“(The programs I took) were definitely production and facility oriented which was not what I saw as being valuable to those front-line workers who were going to be out there.”

The 26-week certificate launched in May and will be available four times a year — the next course runs in October, just before legalization — and includes a practicum placement.

While Fire and Flower will not be able to launch a planned internship program until legalization is official, other companies with a background in the medical marijuana field have already begun offering students hands-on opportunities.

Canopy Growth and Ontario’s Niagara College, for example, have already run co-op placements for students.

“We’re all responsible for building the industry,” said Canopy’s Sinclair, who is a former teacher and has taught some cannabis classes himself. “We don’t have an infinite talent pool of people who know how to build in the cannabis space, we have to build that capacity ourselves. It’s almost like self-preservation.”

On Sept. 5, Niagara College also welcomed the first cohort into its Commercial Cannabis Production program, a graduate certificate program that the school says is first post-secondary credential in the production of cannabis.

The school said the year-long program — which requires students to already have education in a related field — was “the result of extensive consultation that Niagara College has conducted with LPs over the past several years.”

The program will offer students hands-on experience growing cannabis in a 900 square-foot facility that can hold 150-200 plants.

“The unique nature for us has been in the licensing requirements to grow plants on our campus,” said Alan Unwin, associate dean of environmental and horticultural studies.

Niagara said it received 300 applications for 24 spots for the program’s first cohort.

With the young industry changing by the minute, institutions will need to work closely with employers to keep the curriculum up to date.

Bradley Poulos, an instructor for Ryerson University’s business and cannabis course, expects he’ll have to change up his lesson plans on the fly, especially with legalization looming.

“The first people that are involved aren’t academics sitting in an ivory tower somewhere, these are people who are involved in the industry,” he said. “It’s a very fluid world. Anyone who is involved with it will have to live with the fact that they will need to keep learning.”

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2IeKVXe via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

#IFTTT #Financial Post

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doxampage · 7 years ago

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Announcing the Winners of the Valve Design Contest!

We’re excited to announce the winners of our Valve Design Contest!

After starting our landmark partnership with Valve, we wanted to find and discover the best Valve-inspired products created by the community. The results blew us away! You made 400 designs available for sale using the Valve IP partnership and we worked with Valve to choose some of our favorites.

The grand prize winner stands to win a coveted Team Fortress® 2 Grey Medic statue and $500 in Shapeways printing credit (watch the unboxing video of it arriving at the office here). The four additional runners up will take home other Team Fortress® 2 statues, plus $100 in Shapeways printing credit. Both the grand prize winner and all runners up will also receive the Team Fortress® 2 soundtrack on both CD and LP.

And now, drum roll please:

1st Prize: TF:2 Team Ring

This ring by longtime Shapeways member Universe Becoming celebrates the camaraderie of a team. It’s based on the first-person shooter Team Fortress® 2. The circles contain the logos of the nine emblems that represent the nine different classes in the game. Universe Becoming went above and beyond by taking a beautiful photo to show off the gorgeous polished silver finish.

1st Runner Up: Companion Cube Polyhedral 7-Dice Set

Our first runner up prize goes to this set of Portal® Companion Cube-Inspired polyhedral dice by Tiny Tokens. This set is perfect for tabletop gamers looking to enrich their RPG game with a little science. Our favorite weighted inanimate object may have started as a cube, but Tiny Tokens did a brilliant job translating it into the other platonic shapes. Check out Tiny Tokens’ full collection of Companion Cube products in his shop.

2nd Runner Up: Counter-Strike: GO ® Pocket Dust II: A Site

Third prize goes to an awesome representation of one of the most famous maps in gaming. Counter-Strike: GO ® Pocket Dust II: A Site by Mechvoid Arsenal brings the detail and character of this classic Counter-Strike® site to a miniature scale.

3rd Runner Up: Portal® ID Card Holder

The third Runner Up prize goes to MyGadgetLife for this fun Portal® ID Card Holder. Beautifully constructed and instantly recognizable. But, as designer Steven Gray notes, “Aperture security pass not included.”

4th Runner Up: Psychobob Arts’ Team Fortress ® 2 Sentry Turrets

Team Fortress ® 2 Sentry Turret (Level 3) by Psychobob Arts

The fourth and final Runner Up prize goes to Psychobob Arts for their totally awesome set of Team Fortress ® 2 sentry turrets. What truly makes these special is the way the sentry can be upgraded physically to its different levels, and the lovely paint job Psychobob Arts did for each one. This model is a fantastic example of translating objects that originally existed only in a virtual world in the physical one.

Thank you everyone for participating in the contest and helping make this partnership launch such a success. We love all the inspiring work we’ve seen entered in the Valve Design Contest and we can’t wait to see what you’ll continue to create!

The post Announcing the Winners of the Valve Design Contest! appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.

Announcing the Winners of the Valve Design Contest! published first on http://ift.tt/2vVn0YZ

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kristipetersenschoonover · 7 years ago

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The Extinct Species Graveyard at the Bronx Zoo’s BOO AT THE ZOO Event was fascinating–and sad.

Nathan and I love to visit the Bronx Zoo, which is just about an hour from our house—it’s like being on vacation for a day, and it could be said the zoo is part of our lives (we’ve “financially adopted” many of their animals over the years, everything from a bat to a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach we named Mountain King). Since we’re members, we try to make it down for the zoo’s special events throughout the year.

October brought Boo at the Zoo: weekends full of activities such as a beer garden, pumpkin carving demonstration, not-really hay rides, marshmallow roasting pits, candy trails, a corn maze—and my favorite, a Haunted Forest in the abandoned World of Darkness Building. Little known fact about me? It was my first-ever walk-through Haunted House, and I did pretty well!

It was lots of fun to see kids in costume.

Look who I ran into in New York City!

…and to visit our hissing cockroach, Mountain King.

My Valentine’s Day Gift to Nathan

Check out Mountain King! He is clearly aptly named. Look how large he is compared to the others, and a spectacular gold color (which you can’t really see in this terrible light).

The exhibit that struck me most was the Extinct Species Graveyard, which was set up in a little-used grove of trees next to The Mouse House. It wasn’t there for a Halloween thrill, nor was it there as just another decoration to fill up space; it seemed part educational, and part memorial. I was surprised by the profound sense of sadness I felt as we wandered through the headstones.

Here’s a tour!

The graveyard was located on a perfect, flat, shady — and unused the rest of the year — spot next to The Mouse House.

The area where this was set up made it feel real.

Officially discovered in the late 1600s, the Falkland Islands Wolf’s tame nature spelled its doom—it hadn’t learned to fear humans, so settlers could easily trick it into coming close enough to kill it. They were hunted for meat and fur, and were considered threatening to sheep. The last one was killed in West Falkland in 1876. For a thorough history (that looks to be well-researched—loads of legitimate sources, here), visit http://messybeast.com/extinct/warrah.htm

Passenger Pigeons were abundant in the 19th century, and tales of their titanic flocks—they took over entire forests, appeared thick as waterfalls, and left entire towns blanketed in feces—are just plain hard to believe. They were basically hunted out of extinction, both for their meat by starving frontiersman, and because they were a nuisance: they competed with farm animals for foodstuffs, among other things. Once the railroads came into being, there was no stopping hunters and trappers from sporting these animals right out of existence. The last known Passenger Pigeon’s name was the Cincinnati Zoo’s Martha, and she died in September of 1914. For more information, check out Audubon’s “Why the Passenger Pigeon Went Extinct” here: http://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2014/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct

The Tasmanian Tiger was killed off on the Australian mainland by widespread hunting, but survived on Tasmania until the last one died in a zoo in the 1930s. Australians haven’t given up on the hope that this thylacine is still alive, however—to this day, reports of sightings are frequent, and even a recent episode of Expedition Unknown had Josh Gates out hunting for it. Initially, scientists had proposed many theories for the creature’s extinction on Tasmania, although there is new evidence to suggest that it was a changing climate that was the culprit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28/mystery-disappeared-tasmanian-tiger-finally-solved/.

The story of the last authenticated Labrador Duck’s demise is rather sad http://www.chemunghistory.com/pages/labradorduck.html, but literally, almost nothing is known about this bird—its breeding was done in such remote areas (it’s suspected way up in Greenland) that it died out almost before we noticed. Apparently once prevalent on Long Island Sound, we do know, thanks to a journal called Arctic Zoology in 1785, that a specimen was sent from Connecticut to England (see where I got this from here: https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/labduc/introduction). Not very exciting, but there is one ornithologist who made it his mission to visit every single specimen (there are 55) left in existence, which he details in his book The Curse of the Labrador Duck. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-curse-of-the-labrador-duck-16641319/

Probably the poster child for extinction, the Dodo Bird has something in common with the Falkland Island Wolf—it had no fear of humans, because it had never had to fear anything before. Although it’s widely held that sailors arriving on the island of Mauritius, near Madagascar, hunted them and ate their eggs, another theory suggests that it was the cats, rats, pigs and other animals the sailors brought with them went feral. Read more in a Forbes Magazine Quora reprint, “What Happened to the Last Dodo Bird?” here. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/09/20/what-happened-to-the-last-dodo-bird/#2eb2d48e9c2b

The Pig-footed Bandicoot, an adorable little Australian marsupial, is believed to have not survived the introduction of European cattle, as that would’ve cause a major change to the environment and the availability of food. Although the last verified individual was seen in the early 1900s, there’s photographic, video and audio evidence to suggest the creature may still be alive and well…sounds a little far-fetched to me, but judge for yourself: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2007/04/pig-footed-bandicoot-rises-dead

Related to today’s manatees and dugongs, Steller’s Sea Cow, indigenous to the northern Pacific, were hunted to extinction in the 1700s by Russian and European fur traders. Another theory floating around out there attributes the final blow for this species to the stress on the sea otter population which caused a rise in sea urchins which caused a depletion of kelp—the Steller’s main foodstuff. More information here: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/pleistoseacow/522831/

The Golden Toad lived in Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest and was declared officially extinct in 2004. This animal was unique in that males were a dazzling orange, but the females came in many different colors, among them yellow and green. For a long time it was thought that global warming killed these stunning animals, but now they think it might’ve been a fungus: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/03/global-warming-didnt-kill-golden-toad

In another case of “we didn’t realize what we were doing,” the Quagga, which was indigenous to South Africa, died out in the late 1800s. Like many other animals of the plains, they were ruthlessly hunted—they were regarded as competitors for the same food as sheep and goats. What’s come to light is that they were not a separate species of zebra, but a subspecies of the zebra we all know and love. There is a revival project going on in South Africa, which you can read more about here: https://quaggaproject.org/

The Greak Auk—which I’ve seen referred to as “the original penguin”—was scattered all over the northern Atlantic, and was exploited for its eggs, feathers, oil, and fat. Archeological finds also suggest that it was important to ancient maritime peoples. The saddest story, though, is the one of the crew of a ship which tied the bird’s feet together and attempted to take it home. When a violent storm hit, the sailors were certain it was the work of the “devil bird” they’d brought on board, so they stoned it to death. An extensive history in Smithsonian Magazine’s “When the Last of the Great Auks Died, It Was by the Crush of a Fisherman’s Boot,” here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/with-crush-fisherman-boot-the-last-great-auks-died-180951982/

The Carolina Parakeet’s story is especially tragic, because it was the only species of parrot native to the United States. The last known wild specimen was killed in 1904, and the last captive one died in a zoo in 1918. This bird had a few causes of death: habitat loss, the pet and fashion trades, and farming. There’s a pretty extensive discussion in Audubon’s “The Last Carolina Parakeet” here: http://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet

I’ve always had an affinity for toads, so here I played around with getting a selfie. Not great.

Me and the toad’s ass. Nathan took this one.

Nathan loves the Tasmanian Tiger. So this is the one he chose to pose with.

The Bronx Zoo’s Extinct Species Graveyard Nathan and I love to visit the Bronx Zoo, which is just about an hour from our house—it’s like being on vacation for a day, and it could be said the zoo is part of our lives (we’ve “financially adopted” many of their animals over the years, everything from a bat to a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach we named Mountain King).

#Boo at the Zoo #Carolina Parakeet #Dodo Bird #extinct species list #Falkland Islands Wolf #Golden Toad #Great Auk #Halloween events in New York City #Labrador Duck #Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches #Passenger Pigeon #Pig-footed Bandicoot #Quagga #Steller’s Sea Cow #Tasmanian Tiger #The Bronx Zoo #where can the kids go to dress up in costumes in New York

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