#bahat even

[mariacallous]

As war rages between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it is hard to envision an end to the conflict. For decades, though, a growing movement of Palestinian and Israeli women has not only envisioned a peaceful coexistence, but also demanded it.

Just three days before Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, thousands of women from two peacebuilding groups gathered at Jerusalem’s Tolerance Monument for a rally and march. Israelis from Women Wage Peace carried blue flags, and Palestinians from Women of the Sun flew yellow ones.

Members of the two groups traveled to the Dead Sea—believed since ancient times to have healing qualities—and set a table. Women from both sides pulled up chairs as a symbol of a good-faith resumption of negotiations to reach a political solution.

Women Wage Peace formed in response to Operation Protective Edge, which was Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza in the wake of then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s failed effort to restart final status negotiations.

“We, Palestinian and Israeli mothers, are determined to stop the vicious cycle of bloodshed,” reads the preamble to their campaign, the Mother’s Call. This campaign was nine months in the making, and it involved aligning around a single agenda that demands a political solution within a limited time frame.

They set the table to show the importance of dialogue and women’s involvement in decision-making. But in the war between Israel and Hamas that has started since then, women’s voices are largely missing from negotiations and consultations.

Ensuring women’s participation isn’t about equity or fairness or a show of inclusion. It’s about winning the peace.

In 2014, Laurel Stone, then a researcher at Seton Hall University, conducted a quantitative analysis of 156 peace agreements over time. She found that when women are decision-makers—serving as negotiators and mediators—the probability of an agreement lasting at least two years increased by 20 percent. The probability of the agreement holding for 15 years increased by 35 percent.

Many studies show that women tend to be more collaborative, more focused on social issues over military issues, and less likely to attack those who hold differing views. With women at the table, the potential for risk-taking behavior and attacks on perceived enemies may be lower. In diverse teams, decisions are more likely to be based on facts than assumptions.

While men are more likely to be fighters in war, the work of holding families and communities together more often falls to women, and according to some studies, it’s women who more frequently stand up for a return to negotiations, civilian protection, and an end to violence.

“We learned from the cases of Northern Ireland and Liberia,” Yael Braudo-Bahat, the co-director of Women Wage Peace, told Foreign Policy. Women’s active participation greatly strengthened these peace and recovery processes.

Ahead of the formal talks that led to the Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant women’s groups formed the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and gained two seats at a table of 20 in formal negotiations. As one of the few groups that moved beyond the sectarian divide, its members were seen as honest brokers. They represented civil society concerns and helped ensure that the agreement included commitments for social healing and integration.

Because the brutality of war falls disproportionately on women—they frequently are the first to go hungry, serve as the de facto caretakers, and become the victims of increased gender based violence—they are often committed to finding a path to peace even when male leaders won’t compromise.

During the Second Liberian Civil War, women played a heroic role by successfully pressuring male decision-makers to negotiate. The documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney, popularized the incredible story of how women convinced the warring parties to attend peace talks in Accra, Ghana.

“We were the ones watching our children die of hunger … we were the easiest targets of rape and sexual abuse,” said Nobel Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, the founder of the Women for Liberia Mass Action for Peace grassroots movement, which played a major role in pushing then-President Charles Taylor to sign a peace agreement in 2003. This common suffering among women formed the basis for unity across political and religious divides.

In Israel and Gaza, women will need to play an important role in the implementation of any new accord between Israel and Palestine, Braudo-Bahat said. Her organization’s partnership with its Palestinian counterpart, Women of the Sun, has remained steadfast, even after learning that her co-founder, Vivian Silver, 74, was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7.

“We continue our plans—we work together, and we don’t hide it,” she said. “It might be dangerous to the Women of the Sun, but they are so courageous.”

Although many Palestinians want peace, for others, “peace is normalization,” a member of Women of the Sun wrote to Foreign Policy via WhatsApp, choosing to go by the initials M.H. to preserve her anonymity and safety. Some Palestinians think that “it’s something shameful to be dealing with Israel,” she added, because it could imply that the Israelis’ treatment of, and policies toward, Palestinians are tolerable.

“I believe we should actively engage and collaborate, even if some label it as normalization,” M.H. said. “I am committed to working toward a better future for us.”

International law is on the side of these women. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted unanimously more than 23 years ago, urges all member states to increase the participation of women in peace and security efforts, and highlights women’s essential role in preventing war, protecting civilians, and negotiating lasting peace.

Despite Israel’s deteriorating track record with regard to women’s rights and roles as decision-makers, women are involved in the war as politicians, members of the military and civilians. Women in politics have made important advances for gender equity, although among the 32 cabinet ministers sworn in a year ago, only five were women. One of those women ministers was dismissed amid the recent closure of the Ministry for the Advancement of Women.

The reality for women in Gaza is far more challenging when it comes to holding leadership positions. Women generally do not participate in public political activities or hold public office, although Hamas appointed 23-year old Isra al-Modallal as its first female spokesperson in November. She told the Guardian newspaper that she is not a member of Hamas or any political party.

At the start of the conflict, Hamas had just one woman, Jamila al-Shanti, 68, serving as part of the organization’s 15-member political bureau. Al-Shanti, who was also a founder of Hamas’s women’s movement, died in an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 19.

“You can hear amazing rhetoric and lip service, even from the Palestinian leadership,” Dr. Dalal Iriqat, an assistant professor at the Arab American University in the West Bank, told Foreign Policy. “But when it comes to practice, I always find a scarcity of women in decision-making.”

Women’s organizations in the Palestinian territories and in Israel have a rich history of political engagement, however. Palestinian women created social structures such as health clinics and orphanages for displaced Palestinians following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, with traditional political structures in tatters and both Gaza and the West Bank under Israeli occupation, women of every social class stepped up.

It was through the networks they formed that a new cadre of women activists emerged as a force in December 1987, when Palestinian frustration with Israeli rule broke out in a popular uprising that became known as the First Intifada, or “shaking off.” Underlying this largely nonviolent Palestinian struggle was a collective social, economic, and political mobilization led by women.

Palestinian political leadership acknowledged women’s centrality in the Intifada, which paved the way for negotiations with Israel when it included three women—Suad Amiry, Zahiria Kamal, and Hanan Ashrawi—as part of the delegation that participated in the Middle East peace talks that culminated with the Madrid Conference in October 1991.

Ultimately, though, exiled Palestinian Liberation Organization leaders shunted the Madrid framework to begin secret negotiations with Israel that resulted in the security-focused Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Under their leadership, Israeli occupation, and the failures of the Oslo Accords, democratic ideals and women’s rights eroded.

Israel and the United States have discussed a potential role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the military operation. The Palestinian Authority has three women ministers, including its minister for women’s affairs, though women still struggle for equal opportunities and freedom from violence.

“Women usually refrain from being [an] activist in politics,” said an activist in the West Bank who withheld her name for security reasons. “Women are frightened to be involved in political activities, because they will be put in jail or be subjected to any kind of violence.” And the conditions are much worse for women when funding is restricted, as well as under Hamas, she said.

Serena Awad, a Gazan nonprofit worker who is now living in Rafah, told Foreign Policy that Gazan women are directing and managing many aspects of the humanitarian response. These women work for the United Nations as well as in health, cultural, child protection, human rights, sports, and legal organizations.

“I have lived through six aggressions, and every time, I wait for my turn to die,” said 24-year-old Awad. “What I want the world to know is that women in Gaza are like any other women—we study, go to work, have our own family, but we suffer.”

Israeli and Palestinian women working as peacebuilders say they need more international support. Women’s organizations are notoriously underfunded in the best of times, with only 0.4 percent of global gender-related funding going directly to women’s rights organizations, according to calculations by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development.

During crises, women’s rights often take a back seat. Women of the Sun’s 2024 budget is approximately $100,000, and Women Wage Peace’s budget is approximately $1 million, according to the organizations’ representatives.

Women’s groups are more likely to be effective during negotiations and during the implementation of recovery programs when they have access to external funding. During the peace process between Sudan and South Sudan, for example, South Sudanese women were highly mobilized as delegates, but some had to pause their involvement so they could go back to earning money.

In addition to funding, democratic countries have a role to play by insisting on women’s participation in negotiations, said M.H. of the Women of the Sun. She and other peacebuilders say that the United States and the United Nations should be more active in promoting women as counterparts, negotiators, and experts.

“By will, things can happen,” M.H. told Foreign Policy “And if the US says it [that women should be involved in negotiations], it can happen.”.

Talks convened by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel are underway. These countries and other regional players—including Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, have previously created national action plans that recognize the unique impact of war on women and their crucial role in promoting peace, culminating in 107 countries worldwide forming national action plans to empower women.

Still, news coverage reveals little or no evidence of efforts by these countries to promote women’s participation in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The U.S. State Department is “working to ensure the expertise of women from civil society and in government is incorporated in any process related to the current conflict in Gaza,” wrote a spokesperson in an email.

If the political will for participation exists, both Israelis and Palestinians have a robust list of women advocates from which to draw for official and nonofficial negotiations and discussions. A diverse list of 12 Israeli and Palestinian women who are qualified to participate in negotiations was provided by the 1325 Project run by members of  Women Lawyers for Social Justice—known in Israel as Itach Ma’aki—to the U.S. Embassy and other embassies and international bodies.

“At least one person will be engaging in Track 2 and 3 efforts, and she was approached through us by an international body,” said 1325 project co-director Netta Loevy, referring to nonofficial negotiations and consultations.

Braudo-Bahat, meanwhile, urged policymakers to involve women in discussions now—not after violence ends. “The day after the war is yesterday … we need to start now,” she said.

Back in Gaza, the water tastes like poison; it’s freezing, and Awad, the 24-year-old nonprofit worker, keeps losing weight. She asked almost a dozen Gazan women leaders what they think should happen to resolve the war and to ensure that women participate in negotiations.

No one could give her an answer. They were busy responding to humanitarian needs, and telecommunication and internet services were out.

“Nothing has changed, but what can we do about it? All we can do is waiting and praying for this to end,” Awad wrote to Foreign Policy through WhatsApp, which only works for her about once every four days.

Iriqat, the Arab American University professor, has one wish: “That someone considers that if women are in charge, and involved, a more strategic agreement could hold.”

[motherofplatypus]

Bisan Owda is a journalist in Gaza that keeps updating about the barbaric genocide actions that israel committed with weapons supplied mainly by US, all the while living through that genocide itself.

Over 30k+ has been killed, and over 15k+ of those are children and babies.

The celebs and artists who wanted to rescind Bisan's nomination are as follow:

Ari Ingel, Executive Director, Creative Community for Peace

David Renzer, Former Chairman/CEO Universal Music Publishing Group, CCFP Chairman & Co-Founder

Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive & Music President, Electronic Arts, CCFP Co-Founder

Rakefet Abergel, Actor/Director, Cyclamen Films

Orly Adelson, Former President of ITV Studios, America

Marty Adelstein, CEO, Tomorrow Studios

Anne-Marie Asner, Co-Founder, Animation Israel

Jeff Astrof, TV Producer/Showrunner, Other Shoe Productions

Michael Auerbach, Partner, Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein

Dean Bahat, Attorney, Ziffren Brittenham

Andrea Ballas, VP Comms, CBS

Jackie Barrie, A&R Manager, Nvak Collective

Richard Baskind, Partner & Head of Music, Simons Muirhead & Burton

Aton Ben-Horin, Executive VP of Global A&R, Atlantic Records Group

Steven Bensusan, President, Blue Note Entertainment Group

Adam Berkowitz, Founder and President, Lenore Entertainment Group

Sharon Bialy, Casting Director, Bialy/Thomas & Associates

Josh Binder, Co-Founder and Partner, Rothenberg Mohr & Binder, LLP

Neil Blair, Founding Partner, The Blair Partnership

Selma Blair, Actress, Author, Advocate, Sainted Productions

Rebecca Blumberg, SVP Ad Sales, Paramount

Evan Bogart, Songwriter & CEO, Seeker Music

Benjamin Budde, CEO, Budde Group GmbH

Bruce Burger, Producer, RebbeSoul

David Byrnes, Attorney, Ziffren Brittenham

Civia Caroline, Social Impact Consultant, CLiC Impact

Pamela Charbit, Director of A&R, Warner Music Group

Emmanuelle Chriqui, Actor, Yellow Ray Entertainment

Leanne Coronel, Talent Manager, The Coronel Group

Raye Cosbert, Managing Director, Metropolis Musi

Paul Craig, Ceo, Nostromo Management

Doug Davis, NATAS Member, 2x Emmy winner, The Davis Firm

Rebecca De Mornay, Actor

Jamie Denbo, Co-Executive Producer, Grey’s Anatomy, ABC/Disney

Josh Deutsch, Chairman/CEO, Premier Music Group

Avi Diamond, Director, Film/TV Sync, Warner Music Canada

Craig Dorfman, President and Owner, Frontline MGMT

Rachel Douglas, Manager, Range Media Partners

David Draiman, Frontman, Disturbed

Jeremy Drysdale, Screenwriter, bigbamboo

Craig Emanuel, Ryan Murphy Productions

Hannah Epstein, Agent, CAA

Rami “Kosha dillz” Even-Esh, Rapper/Comic/Actor

Lindsay Fabes, Actor

Ron Fair, Record Producer & CEO, Faircraft Inc.

Sharon Farber, Composer, Score by Score Music

Danny Federman, Owner, Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club

Eric Feig, Attorney and TV Academy Member, Feig/Finkel

Patti Felker, Attorney, Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP

Ken Fermaglich, Partner, United Talent Agency

Ross “Remedy” Filler, Artist

Shalom Fisch, President, MediaKidz Research & Consulting

David Fishof, CEO, RRFC Films, LLC

Siri Garber, Publicist, Platform

David Gardner, President, Artists First

Barbara Garshman, CEO, Garshman Productions LLC

Gary Gersh

Gary Ginsberg, Senior VP, SoftBank Group Corp.

Brian Ralston, Composer/Producer, Studio 74 Music, LLC

David Glick, Founder & CEO, Edge Group

Zusha Goldin, Celebrity Photographer, Zusha Goldin

Michael Goldwasser, President, Easy Star Records

Andrew Gould, President, Music Publishing

Scott Greenberg, Partner, LBI

Steven Greenberg, Founder and President, S-Curve Records

Daniel Grindlinger, Writer

Ronnie Harris, Partner, Harris & Trotter

Michael Hirschhorn, Manager, Streaming and Sales, Atlantic Records

Linda Edell Howard, Attorney, Novick Law

Rich Ingram, Artist/Creator

Neil Jacobson, Former President, Geffen Records, Founder & CEO of Hallwood Media

Michael Kaplan, Writer/Producer

Sam Katz, Music Manager, Homebase MGMT, LLC

Zach Katz, CEO & Co-Founder, Fixated

Ketura Kestin, Film Producer, Serendipity Productions

Amanda Kogan, Manager, Aaron Kogan Management

Keetgi Kogan Steinberg, Writer/Producer/Showrunner

Jason Kozel, Creative Executive, Range Media Partners

Rick Krim, CEO, Krim Music + Media

Evan Lamberg, President, North America, Universal Music Publishing Group

Sherry Lansing, Former CEO, Paramount Pictures

Colin Lester OBE, Founder/Chairman, JEM Music Group

Sean Liebowitz, Agent

Koura Linda, Founder & CEO, Space Dream Productions

Marci Liroff, Intimacy Coordinator/Casting Director

Cory Litwin, Managing Partner, Range Media Partners

David Lonner, CEO, The David Lonner Company

Ben Maddahi, President, Unrestricted Publishing & Mgmt

Gabriel Mann, Composer

Deborah Marcus, Executive, CAA Foundation

Susan Markheim, Full Stop Mgt., The Azoff Company

Amanda Markowitz, Actor/Producer, SAG/AFTRA & PGA

Orly Marley, President, Tuff Gong Worldwide

Devra Maza, Screenwriter

Debra Messing, Actor/Producer

Hilary Michael, Agent and Partner, WME

Beth Milstein, Writer

Jennifer Morrow, Actor, CAA

Patrick Moss, Writer, Moroccan Boychik

Robert Munic, Writer/Showrunner, Pull The Pin Productions, Inc.

Lisa Nupoff, Manager, iminmusic management

Scott Packman, Founder and Managing Member, SSP Partners LLC

Mark Pinkus, President, Rhino Records

Jonah Platt, Actor/Producer

Wendy Plaut, SVP Music & Celebrity Talent, Paramount Global

Jessica Poter, Writer, Gustavo Anibal Productions

Golan Ramraz, Writer/Producer, EGX Film Factory

Bruce Resnikof

Frederic Richter, Producer, Writer & Researcher

Wendy Robbins, Executive Producer, Creators Inc

Dan Rosen, President, Warner Music Australasia

Rick Rosen, Co-Founder, Endeavor, WME

Aaron Rosenberg, Partner, Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light

Gregg Rossen, Screenwriter

Michael Rotenberg, CEO, 3 Arts Entertainment

Joshua Rothstein, CEO/Founder, Ice Cream For Dinner

Haim Saban, Chairman and CEO, Saban Capital Group

Glenn Sanders, Writer/Director/Creative Director, Masonry Creative

Ayelet Schiffman, SVP Head of Promotions, Island Records

Paul Schindler, Senior Partner, Greenberg Traurig LLC

Jordan Schur, CEO and Chairman, Mimran Schur Pictures and Suretone Entertainment

Adam Schwartz, Writer

Sam Schwartz, Partner, Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency

Jay Schweid, Founder/CEO, ephelants/Village

Adam Segal, President, The 2050 Group

Ben Silverman, Chairman and Co-CEO, Propagate Content

Ralph Simon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Mobilium Global Limited

Tamar Simon, Owner/CEO, Mean Streets Management

Martin Singer, Attorney, Lavely and Singer

Halle Stanford, President of Television, The Jim Henson Company

Mimi Steinberg, Writer/Producer

Jonathan Steinsapir, Partner, Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir

Gary Stiffelman, Founder, GSS Law

Traci Symanski, CEO, Co-Star Entertainment

Aaron Symonds, Film Composer

Fernando Szew, President, Fox Entertainment

Tal Tavin, Actor

Adam Taylor, President, APM Music

Michael Testa, Casting Director, Michael Testa Casting

Fred Toczek, Partner, Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan LLP

Eric Tuchman, Writer/Producer, MGM-TV

Noa Vinshtok, Streaming, Range Media Partners

Joshua Washington, International Recording Artist, JoDavi Music LLC

Avi Weider, Filmmaker, Loop Filmworks

Jon Weinbach, President, Skydance Sports

Nola Weinstein, Tech Executive

Ilana Wernick, Writer/Producer, Fox

Modi Wiczyk, Co-Founder, MRC

Evan Winiker, Managing Partner, Range Music

Seth Yanklewitz, Casting Director, Yanklewitz Pollack Casting

Sharon Tal Yguado, Founder & CEO, Astrid Entertainment

Ky Zaretsky, Manager, Range Media Partners

David Zedeck, Global Co-Head of Music

[Sources: here, here, and here]

[bahateven]

Ismar David

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Texan-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and TikTok personality Allison Ponthier makes a splash with 'Cowboy' – it's the enthralling first taste of her upcoming EP. Finding a path away from her conservative upbringing, queer singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier is another artist making country music her own. Taking references from Kacey Musgraves and Orville Peck, Ponthier's take on the genre is high camp and features a kaleidoscopic visual world too. Growing a huge following on TikTok, 'Cowboy' marks the start of a whole new chapter for Ponthier with her debut release with Interscope and Polydor. The track itself references her move from the bible belt to New York City and her journey accepting her sexuality. Warm and inviting 'Cowboy' is cinematic pop with some real heart-on-sleeve confessional songwriting. Complete with a masterful music video that runs like a mini-movie complete with impressive special effects, on reflection, cinematic is an understatement. The video itself is a striking and exciting introduction to this new artist, “I probably watch movies more than I listen to music,” Ponthier says of the video. The clip, directed by Jordan Bahat (Christine and the Queens) adds a whole new cosmic energy to the track and aims to amplify the lyrics' detailed storytelling. As she unveils more of her forthcoming debut EP, Ponthier explains what we can expect from her; “a lot of my songs are about being uncomfortable in your own skin but getting to know yourself better, figuring out who you really are.” [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Miley Cyrus has shared the full video for 'Angels Like You'. The pop rebel returned in 2020 with her excellent album Plastic Hearts, a series of superb empowerment anthems. Album highlight 'Angels Like You' has received the video treatment, shot at the Superbowl in front of an audience of fully vaccinated healthcare workers. Miley has also provided a note for the video describing her feelings of gratitude to these workers. [via Clash]

LA punk four-piece The Paranoyds have dropped a new video for track 'Egg Salad', taken from their album Carnage Bargain which is out now on Suicide Squeeze. The video's director Nicole Stunwyck comments "The video presents the glitzy & glamorous world of a teenage girl who, after accidentally catching a beauty pageant on TV, dreams of her rise to stardom & subsequent downfall... It’s not a commentary on anything but an experimental depiction of my own personal fascination for young tragic starlets alà Valley of The Dolls."

Noga Erez and collaborative partner ROUSSO have shared a fifth compelling new single from forthcoming album KIDS which is set for release on March 26 via City Slang. 'Story' is a snappy, addictive song about how couples relationships are always a relationship between two people’s past and present. "Everyone brings their past experiences to the relationship even if things are great" Erez comments. "Sometimes past situations come in and take over." As with the album's previous singles 'Story' is brought to life with a captivating video, starring Erez and ROUSSO, who also provides vocals on the track. "ROUSSO is my partner in music as well as my partner in life" she explains. "This is the first time we tell a story about our relationship in a song and video. It’s a song about a couple fighting and how, in that situation, sometimes what you hear the other person say is not what they actually said. The making of this video was a 10-day couples therapy session for us. As we rehearsed the pretend fighting and martial arts moves we knew that, at times, one of us would get punched just a little too hard. It was so intense and interesting to live in this world, where our relationship comes alive in the most physical way."

After announcing Detritus with lead outing 'Stories' last month, Sarah Neufeld has unveiled the album's second single 'With Love and Blindness'. Neufeld says of the song and Jason Last-directed video, "The video for 'With Love and Blindness' came together through a long-time collaboration between myself and videographer Jason Last. I knew that Jason and I would work together again on some visual aspect for my third solo release, and it so happened that before I even began recording the album, we were presented with the opportunity to do a mini residence on Corsica with Providenza; an amazing collective with a farm, cultural laboratory, festival and residency program." She continues, "I was doing a short solo tour in Europe in the summer of 2019 in order to re-work some of the pieces from the dance collaboration to begin to find a shape for the album that was to be recorded in the Fall. In the middle of that tour, Jason and I travelled to Corsica for several days (graced once again with a suitcase containing Esteban Cortazar’s unique and beautiful creations). Besides performing in Providenza’s outdoor amphitheater, we were immersed in nature, literally staying in a treehouse perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the dramatic coastline." Neufeld adds, "I found that the pulse of the landscape resonated with the essence of the music, especially "With Love and Blindness"; a sense of rawness, of sensuality, of a strange gravity intensified by the hypnotic summer heat and the general otherworldliness of the place." [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Molly Burman was brought up around music. At every family event, every party, the soundtrack would resonate with her, providing an education in itself. Both parents were gigging musicians, and she always wanted to follow in their footsteps, to use performance as a means of self-expression. Lockdown brought the time and space to bring these ideas into focus, and she's working to unveil a series of one off singles. Her debut single proper 'Fool Me With Flattery' is out now, a blissfully melodic piece of indie pop with some whip-smart lyricism. There's a tongue in cheek element to her sound that is fantastically endearing, matched by the subtle lo-fi elements of her bedroom pop confection. She comments: "I wrote the song after a long day of feeling overlooked and ignored by some of the guys in my life. I was fed up, angry and used the stereotype of a mansplaining misogynist to let it all out. This song is for anyone who feels belittled and like they’re being made to shrink themselves; be as big as you possibly can, and don’t let anyone fool you with flattery." The video is a hilarious showcase for Molly's offbeat sense of humour. [via Clash]

Punk provocateurs Pussy Riot have unveiled their latest song 'Panic Attack', as well as a music video that features a hologram of singer Nadya Tolokonnikova. This is the final release from Pussy Riot’s new Panic Attack EP, a collection of three linked songs that, for now, can only be streamed as separate singles. The title track features punk guitars underneath a tinkling music box melody, as Tolokonnikova turns anxiety into a sports cheer. “Gimme an A,” she says, “Gimme a T/ Gimme a T/ Gimme an A/ Gimme a C/ Gimme a K/ Okay? Okay.” While upbeat and seemingly cheerful, the synth-punk song comes out of the trauma she experienced in a Russian prison camp. As she explained in a statement, “After serving 2 years in a labor camp, I’m still struggling with mental health issues. Trauma, fear and insecurity never fully go away, causing depression episodes and deep anxiety. ‘PANIC ATTACK’ was born as the result of me staring at the wall for 24 hours in the middle of the pandemic, feeling 100% helpless. I was trying to write something uplifting to encourage people to get through the tough times. But I was just failing and failing. Magically, at the second I allowed myself to be honest and write about despair I was experiencing, I wrote the track in like a half an hour. Depression is a plague of the 21st century, and it tells me that there’s something broken in the way we treat each other. The video ‘PANIC ATTACK’ reflects on objectification of human beings, loneliness, disconnection from the environment that causes us to feel small and powerless. And it’s us who caused it with our own hands – that’s why in the end of the video I’m fighting with my own clone.” The music video for 'Panic Attack' was directed by  Asad J. Malik. He used 106 cameras to capture all angles of Tolokonnikova, then converted that information into a photoreal hologram. Afterwards, Tokyo-based creative technologist Ruben Fro built out landscapes reminiscent of video games through which the virtual Tolokonnikova could frolic. But as the visuals progress, those idyllic settings give way to a hellscape, and the singer faces off against a clone of herself. [via Consequence of Sound]

The wait is finally over. BLACKPINK’s Rosé shines like the star she is with her official solo debut. On Friday, she released two solo songs on her debut single album titled R, 'On the Ground' and 'Gone.' With its deep lyrics, angelic bridge, and Rosé’s high note at the end, 'On the Ground' is an exemplary song for her solo debut. Add the fact that Rosé is credited as a writer for the song, and one can really tell how much time she spent perfecting it for release. The accompanying music video, meanwhile, expands the story of life and growth. Rosé starts off looking lost and trying to find herself amidst all the wildness of life; she eventually encounters past and present versions of herself while searching for answers and purpose. By the end, she finds herself and her path forward, and one can’t help but smile as she sings an explosive outro. [via Teen Vogue]

On Ellise's latest alt-pop concoction the rising pop star gets gothic as 'Feeling Something Bad...' transforms a crush into an obsession. An expert at catastrophising everyday experiences, the LA-based artist has arrived fully formed with not only a consistent and cohesive sound but a striking visual identity too. That's even more clear when you press play on the accompanying video for her latest infectiously catchy track. With the clip directed by Joakim Carlsson we get to see Ellise in her absolute element as she brings "Feeling Something Bad..." to life in a macabre world of its own. “I just love dramatising little everyday feelings in life, so this is my big dramatic ‘I have a crush on you’ song,” Ellise explains – it's a song she wrote about a boy she barely knew. [via the Line Of Best Fit]

With President Biden determined to get the majority of American adults vaccinated by summer, bands are earnestly beginning to look forward to the return of live music. Purity Ring are the latest to announce 2021 tour dates, which they’ve shared alongside the video for their track 'sinew'. The song comes from WOMB, the synth-pop duo’s first album in five years that was released just before the pandemic struck. Directed by Toby Stretch, the clip brings back the abstract graphics and costumes that featured in the 'stardew' music video, continuing the enigmatic story of the domed bicyclist and their sun-headed sidecar companion. [via Consequence of Sound]

Australian Pop Princess, Peach PRC releases the official music video for her debut single 'Josh'. Peach PRC comments on the official 'Josh' visuals, “The music video was inspired by growing up watching the same five infomercials, morning news channels and old movies on my little pink box tv when I was a kid and couldn’t sleep on a school night. The idea was to have “josh” feel just as harassed the more he tries to call. Every creative step along the way was entirely my vision, from writing the music video script, to the lyrics and everything in between. I’m so happy and hope all the girls, gays and theys who dated “josh” will sing along.”

[glittergummicandypeach]

A Link to Jewish History, RBG’s Iconic Collars Were a Beacon for the Marginalized | Religion Dispatches

Sometimes, the only way forward in life is to take it stitch by stitch.

Last winter, the Masorot chapter of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework took a field trip. This convivial group of women visited the Notorious R.B.G. exhibit, honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. But they didn’t go alone. 

They brought a framed needlepoint with them, designed and stitched by member Bonnie Bacich. It depicted Justice Ginsburg against a vivid blue background. Behind her glasses, her eyes were blank—like the bound eyes of Lady Justice. Around the edges, Bacich’s friend Arlene Spector added a biblical quote to the design: “She speaks with wisdom and the law of compassion is upon her tongue.” (Proverbs 31:26). When the museum posted a picture of it on social media, what drew my eye was Ginsburg’s signature lace collar, jutting up and out of the flat canvas, a separate piece of sewn-on lace, studded with small pearls. 

That collar tells you why Ginsburg means so much to so many Americans. Lace takes time. Whether it’s bobbin lace or needle lace or crochet openwork that resembles lace: each bit builds upon another. The stitches mirror Ginsburg’s layered pursuit of progress. Ginsburg’s jabot collection was composed through methods akin to her litigation strategies. Her incremental approach to the law was, in the end, her legacy: a wide fabric of justice, studded with silken threads.

“The more I learned about her, the more I adored her,” Bacich told me this week. “She found ways to tackle problems that nobody else thought about.” Though she’s not Jewish herself, Bacich married a Jew, and raised Jewish children and grandchildren. A self-identified “women’s libber” who was the first in her family to go to college, Bacich said the other Pomegranate Guild members were thrilled when she created RBG needlepoint kits for each woman to make. “They felt she was a role model, such a strong woman.” They expressed that admiration in thread.

Matter matters in Justice Ginsburg’s memorialization and emerging hagiography. When you see a white lace collar over a black robe, she is the first person who comes to mind. As Americans mourned her death, memorials popped up all over the country. Of all the votives offered in her memory—candles, flowers, rocks—the white jabot stands out most starkly in photographs. A collar graced the neck of the Fearless Girl in Lower Manhattan. Other young girls, made of flesh, not bronze, wore collars as they paid tribute to her on the steps of the Supreme Court. If you want to get in on the crafting, then you too can download and cut out a paper dissent collar to wear, or knit up this Dissent sweater pattern on Ravelry.  

Lace and yarn and fabric are also a link to Jewish history. In Europe, the Middle East, and North America, Jews created and traded in textiles: by hand, in factories, across borders and oceans. Italian Jews, steeped in an economy rich in textiles, created elaborate synagogue furnishings. In the industrial age, the Jews of Kalisz, Poland, worked in the lace-making capital of the Russian empire. 

Ginsburg’s own ancestors immigrated from Eastern Europe at a time when “shpanyer arbeit”—translated as either “spun” or “Spanish” work—was at its height in that region, adorning prayer shawls, caps, and other Jewish objects, for those who could afford it. Beyond lace, Jews did so much sewing, cloth production, and gathering of used fabric that they were sometimes called “the rag race.” 

Long before her death, Justice Ginsburg’s fans used the language of craft to express their admiration for her and to bestow her with gifts. Some gifts had a Jewish theme. In 2019, Moment Magazine presented her with a special collar, created by Michigan artist Marcy Epstein. Known as the “Tzedek collar,” it incorporated the Hebrew letters tsade, dalet, and kuf, which spell the Hebrew word for justice—tzedek. A quote from the Hebrew Bible “tzedek, tzedek, tirdof”—justice, justice, you shall pursue—featured prominently on the wall of Justice Ginsburg’s chambers. Justice Ginsburg wore that collar during the October 2019 opening of the court… the last October she would sit on the bench.

RBG’s collar donated to Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

In the wake of her death, the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv announced that Ginsburg had donated one of her collars to the museum last March; it will appear in the new core exhibit opening there this winter. ““She was a righteous person,” Shula Bahat, a museum representative, told NPR. “She was totally dedicated to the values of Judaism.”

Justice is indeed the Jewish value with which Ginsburg, the first woman and first Jewish American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol, was known. Another Jewish value—less known to the general public—is called hiddur mitzvah: the enhancement of a commandment. Jews can light candles in any old candlesticks on Shabbat—but if the candlesticks are carefully engraved with a floral pattern, or they are glass jars your child has painted at school, it adds beauty and meaning to the experience. 

Ginsburg enhanced justice for millions of Americans. Her brilliant legal mind got her to the Supreme Court and shaped her judgements and her famous dissents. But her collars, and the signals they delivered—dissent and approval, femininity and righteousness and pleasure—encoded the proceedings with a special kind of attention, another layer to Supreme Court ritual. Those fabric beacons shone powerfully for those of us who have experienced marginalization, had to code switch from setting to setting, or learned to express ourselves through subtle cues beyond formal language.

While it’s not a huge surprise that some of Ginsburg’s collars will rest in museums—like holy relics, the objects touched by our heroes often end up behind glass, visited by modern pilgrims—it’s also unusual for such a textile to endure for generations. Fabric and lace don’t always survive. 

Yes, you can find astounding Jewish textiles in many museums. But cloth and thread are fragile. They fray, they disintegrate, they burn. When I interviewed Jewish crafters around the country, Gerry Weichman, a Pomegranate Guild member in California, told me that she began making Jewish textiles in the 1970s because so many Jewish pieces were “burned out during the Holocaust.”  Putting new objects into the world is an affirmation of survival, a form of resilience, a grasping of the chaos of the universe with a needle and thread.

Threads, like our bodies, are impermanent. But Ginsburg’s collars will endure. Even when the fabric degrades, their white-on-black iconicity will linger in our minds, like the photographic negative of an ebony Victorian silhouette.

This content was originally published here.

[gohealthscience]

Video Games too aap sabhi khelte he honge 😉 Right? Prrrr hamare parents ke liye Video Games vo shataan ki saya hai jo ki hamari zindgiyan barbad ar rahi hain. 😂

Unknown and Interesting Facts about Games | Computer and Mobile Games

Bachan se he hamare parents even ke hamare teachers hame ye batate aye hai ki yeh Video Games hame Real World se Imaginary or Fun World main le jate hain oor apki ankhe orr dimag slow kar deetee hain. Orr sath hi sath aap Aallsi ( Lazy ) ho jate ho, bigd jate ho oor school main apke kam marks atte hain. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Yeh sab sun se naturally ek bache ke Dimag ( Mind ) main aye ga ki kya video games sach me itne bure hote 🤔 hai? Jitna hame bachpan se bataya jata hai? Oor Games na khelne ki chtavni ( Warning ) di gayi hai. But friends aab samaye change ho chuka hai oor aaj hame isse samjne ki liye Science ki madad leni hogi. Kyon ki Vigayan ( Science ) he hame iss pareshani se bhhri dunia se bacha sakta hai. Orr isi liye aaj aap kush choka dene vali baten jan ne vale ho. Games ke bare main jihne jan ne ke baad apka games ke bare main najeriya he badal jaye ga. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); So Lets get Started 😉

Science about Gaming and Brain

Friends apko pata he hai jindgi main har koi cheez ka access yani ki jassti hanikaraak hoti hai. Even cahe vo hamari Health ke liye achhi cheeze he kyu na ho agar aap pura din Chips kha rhe ho, Cold Drink pi rhe ho orr Games khel rhe ho to aap jassti ki catagery mai enter krr rhe ho. Lekin mordren Researchs main paya gaya hai ki jo log ek se deadh ghanta Video Games khelte hain unke dimag mai jyada Gray Matter Develop hota hai gray matter ka sidha vasta apki Intelligence se hota. kush smajh aya?? South African Neuroscientist DE FIM DEVILLIERS ke anusaar video games khenla hamare dimag ki Spatial intelligence ko improve krati hai. Spatial Intelligence vo kissm ki intelligense hoti hai jo kisi bhi object ko ekk bar dekhne ke bad hame use Visualize karke analyze krr pana Possible karati hai. Jisse hum 3-Dimensional Problems ko solve bhi kar sakte hain. Yeh isi liye Possible hai kyuki video games khelte vakth hum apni Imagination, Observation orr Reflexes (Alertness) ko jayda use karte hain oor isi practice se gamer ke dimag main positive changes hone lagte hain. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Behater Eye to Hand Coordination, Quick Reflexes Action, Orr chotti chotti changes ane ke bad uno spot karna, yeh sabhi abilities bhi apki games khel kar improve hoti hain. Kush studies mai to yeh bhi bataya gaya tha ki gamers, non-gamers ki tulna main driving Jese motor neurones ki activities ko behater dhang se perform kar sakte hain. Kyuki games khelne ki vajha se unke reflexes strong ho gaye hote hain. Tooo beta agar apko ek Surgeon banna hai to thoda Pubg bhi khel lo yaarr 😅 oor sirf ek Surgeon he nahi balki eek achha Rider, Driver orr even ek achha Shooter banna ho to bhi apko fyada milega. Aapne games mai kai bar car chalai hai oor head shots bhi pele hain to bahater eye to hand coordination, quick thinking orr reflexes action ki vajha se aap non gamers ke mukable inh activities ka real life version jaldi seekh sakte ho. kush researches ka to yeh bhi dava hai ki video action games job-related skills bacho (children) main complex or difficult tasks or boodhe logoon mai mental health decline ko rokne ke liye ek therapy ka bhi kam karte hain orr isi liye friends apna retirement ka plan set rakhna 😉. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Oor aab ek oor choka dene vali baat 😮 video games khelne ke benefits medical science jesi geek ki category main bhi paye gaye hain. Researchers ke anusar jo bhi doctor or surgeon gamers hain unki surgery skills kafi accurate hoti hain orr vo surgery ke doran kafi kam galtiyan karte hain. For Example Laparoscopic Surgery main shareer ke ander devices jese cameras remote control tools duvara control krr ke surgery ki jati hai jo surgeon gamers bhi hote hain unka bahter eye to hand cordination dekha gaya jiski vajha se vo surgery ko achi tarah se manover oor control kar paa raahe the. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Aab eek oor myth yeh bhi hai ki video games khelne se hamari eyesight weak hoti hai , balki researchers ne uska bilkul vipreet paya hai. ki agar moderately games khele jaye to vo eyesight ko actually improve karti hai. Lagatar khelne se eyes main strain jaroor ata hai lekin gams ki vajgha se eyes weak hone kaa link ya fir koi sciencetifc proof nhi mila hai. Eyesight weak hone ke bhot se karan hote hain leekin surprisingly studies mai paya gaya hai ki mordrate video games khelna inn me se ek karan nahi hai balki games se hamara Brain Visual Information ko oor bhi jyada jaldi proceess karta hai soo in short inn se dimag slow ya bondhu nhi hota baalki fast hota hai😉 iske ilava hamari akho mai colors ki barakiyo ko differentiate krne ki khoobi badhi payi gayi. So Scientifically Brain Scans mai paya gaya ki video games khelne se hamare brain ke three parts positively affect hote hain . oor inhi se hamara logical intelligence bhi improve hota hai. Logical ntelligence yaniki infomation A orr infomation B  ko logicaly connect karna orr inki help se infomation C ko nikalna. yeh change hame paraytal lobe, frontal lobe or anterior singulate lobe main dekhne ko milte hain. Anterior singulate lobe bhi intension ko control kaarta hai jis se games mai concentration bana rehta hai strategy games jese pubg, clash of clans, dota 2 khele vale players multiple tasks ek sath bhi handle karte hain or ek task mai se dosre task mai asssani se switch ho jate hain vo bhi bilkul strong concentration ke sath. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Orr yeh bi ek bhot hi important ability hai orr finally ek bhot hi important cheez jise har koi miss kar deta hai. learning ke kafi sare  tareeke hain un main do mukhiye taree hain eek to traditional treeka jo hame hamre books teachers internet etc duvara read kare hasil hoti hai yeh treeka adhiktaar loog use karte hain lekin problem yeah hai ki yeah paasive hai. or fir ata hai doosra or naya treeka jo practical sight se hai or jise haam learning by actual doing khete hain. jese ki agar apko swimming, guitar etc seekhtan hai to youtube main videos dekh kr seekhna alag bat hai orr usko real-life main khud experience kar ke sekhna alag baat hai to strategy action games bhi ek treeka ho sakta hai learning by actual doing ka kyuki inn games main hum planning decision making, targets prr focus karna orr any doosre Leadership Skills ka use karna seekhte hain. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Orr inhi games jese pubg ka ek side effect yeah bhi hai ki yeh bhi hain ki yeh addictive hote hain orr yahi par ek irresponsible insaan fisal sakta hai. Agar sahi treeke se or moderately khelo to  jese life main har kam karte ho to Entertainment ke sath hamare skills ko bhi hum improve kar sakte hain. Lekin yeah bhi yad rakhiye ki games ke bahar bhi ek dunia hai jo hamare liye oor bhi jaayda mahaatev rakhti hai orr stress relive ke sath usi main agge badhne ke liyee hi to aap games khel raahe hoo. Too socho agar apko pubg mai jeetne main itni khushi hoti haai to real life mai jeetne par kitni hogi. isi khushi ke sath apka self estem bhi badhga orr aap samaaj ke liye yogdaan bhi de pao ge. Soo isi positive thought ke sath shukriya yeh artical padhne ka orr umeed hai apko yeah pasand aya hoga orr iss se naaya kush jaroor sikhne ko mila hoga. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); So friends aab ek importent sawal apse aap din main kitne ghante video games khelte ho sach sach batana niche coments mai hum sabhi jan na cahege 😅, Also Read: How to Improve Eyesight | Get Rid of Eye Glasses

[rechelleblog]

How automation is changing work

More robotics and artificial intelligence in the workplace doesn’t have to destroy your job.

If you were beginning a career in computer programming in 2007, there were good times ahead: robust salary growth, the construction of the app ecosystem and economy, and the meteoric rise of social media. But if you happened across that August’s issue of Business Week magazine, you might have been discouraged. It predicted that the career most likely to suffer from job losses in the United States was … computer programmer.

“They didn’t get it slightly wrong,” explains Roy Bahat, the head of venture-capital firm Bloomberg Beta in San Francisco, California. “They got it 180 degrees wrong.” Bahat might have had that misstep in mind when he co-authored a 2017 report on how work might change over the next 10–20 years. The report imagines four scenarios, in which there will either be more work or less, and work will either become fragmented or not. But it takes care not to pick winning or losing professions.

Other studies, however, continue to try. Computer programmers are now deemed to be relatively safe, but different professions are now in the crosshairs, such as truck-driver. The International Transport Forum says there are about 5.6 million drivers of heavy trucks across the United States and Europe. But at least half-a-dozen start-ups and several established corporations are currently developing trucks that drive themselves. Some of them plan to put these autonomous trucks on the road within two years.

In May 2017, the International Transport Forum warned that more than 2 million truck drivers could find themselves redundant by 2030. But not everyone is so pessimistic. Between June and September 2018, several reports into US trucking estimated lower job losses of hundreds of thousands or even fewer over the next decade. In February, ride-hailing company Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group even suggested that autonomous technologies could actually produce a net increase in trucking jobs — a result one economist derided as “not serious”. Uber has now abandoned its plans for self-driving trucks, focusing instead on passenger transportation.

Discussions of the wider labour force yield a similar diversity of predictions. Earlier this year, the MIT Technology Review assembled 18 reports on the effects of automation on labour that predicted everything from a gain of nearly 1 billion jobs globally by 2030 to a loss of 2 billion. The reports focused on automation technologies that are likely to emerge in the coming decades. (An artificial general intelligence capable of putting its mind to any number of tasks could change the whole concept of work, but it remains in the realm of science fiction for now.)

#areteautomation #lifehealthadvisors #learning #mindpower #foryou

Credits to: Michael Segal

Date of Publication: November 28, 2018

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07501-y

[bahateven]

Soviet Moscow’s Yiddish-Gay Dictionary – Yevgeniy Fiks

[yoonski]

SECOND HAND LOVERS / OREN LAVIE from Oren Lavie on Vimeo.

A modern day bachelor shares his apartment with the memory of all his past lovers put together. In his fantasy they all share a harmonious loving relationship, synced into one being. The fantasy falls apart when he meets a real woman and has to choose between the safety of daydreaming and the challenges of real love. SECOND HAND LOVERS is the award winning 2nd installment in the BEDROOM TRILOGY, a visual adaptation of the BEDROOM CRIMES album.

Music by: Oren Lavie Written and directed by: Oren Lavie Choreography: Maya Brinner Editor: Amichy Bikovsky

Actors: Daniella Wircer, Oren Lavie Dancers: Roni Chadash, Tali Donin, Tamar Even-Chen, Noa Laner, Nitzan Moshe, Roni Rotem, Shahar Seri, Shani Tamari, Noa Tenne, Rotem Weissman

Produced by: Rachel Vaserman, Gal Nae Production coordination/ project management : Iris Avital Assistant director: Harel Itscovitch Script editing/additional offline editing: Nadav Lazar Art & Props: Maya Darnell Post/compositing: Yaron Yashinsky Color grading: Omri Peled Digital conversation: Tomer Bahat Titles: Siyou Tan Cover single design: Yael Bodasher Hair and Makeup: Riki Kamely, Shiran Cohen Wardrobe: Rona Doron Light: Fatian Ibrahim Light Assistant: Daniel Binsted Grip: Denis Nikolaev Production manager: Nevo Jakobovitch Production assistants: Itay Amiel, Or sia, Hagai Borer 1st Camera assistat: Avi siman Tov 1st Camera assistant: Nitzan Ronen 2nd Camera assistant: Tamar Ben Haim Thank you: Roni Chadash, Nadav Lazar, Kama Sacajiu Artist Management: Adham Hunt

[ainokaze]

SECOND HAND LOVERS / OREN LAVIE from Oren Lavie on Vimeo.

A modern day bachelor shares his apartment with the memory of all his past lovers put together. In his fantasy they all share a harmonious loving relationship, synced into one being. The fantasy falls apart when he meets a real woman and has to choose between the safety of daydreaming and the challenges of real love. SECOND HAND LOVERS is the award winning 2nd installment in the BEDROOM TRILOGY, a visual adaptation of the BEDROOM CRIMES album.

Music by: Oren Lavie facebook.com/OrenLavieOfficial/

Written and directed by: Oren Lavie Choreography: Maya Brinner Editor: Amichy Bikovsky

Actors: Daniella Wircer, Oren Lavie Dancers: Roni Chadash, Tali Donin, Tamar Even-Chen, Noa Laner, Nitzan Moshe, Roni Rotem, Shahar Seri, Shani Tamari, Noa Tenne, Rotem Weissman

Produced by: Rachel Vaserman, Gal Nae Production coordination/ project management : Iris Avital Assistant director: Harel Itscovitch Script editing/additional offline editing: Nadav Lazar Art & Props: Maya Darnell Post/compositing: Yaron Yashinsky Color grading: Omri Peled Digital conversation: Tomer Bahat Titles: Siyou Tan Cover single design: Yael Bodasher Hair and Makeup: Riki Kamely, Shiran Cohen Wardrobe: Rona Doron Light: Fatian Ibrahim Light Assistant: Daniel Binsted Grip: Denis Nikolaev Production manager: Nevo Jakobovitch Production assistants: Itay Amiel, Or sia, Hagai Borer 1st Camera assistat: Avi siman Tov 1st Camera assistant: Nitzan Ronen 2nd Camera assistant: Tamar Ben Haim Thank you: Roni Chadash, Nadav Lazar, Kama Sacajiu Artist Management: Adham Hunt

[jimivaey]

Placing bets beyond the venture hubs of New York and Silicon Valley

Placing bets beyond the venture hubs of New York and Silicon Valley

Roy Bahat Contributor

Share on Twitter

Roy Bahat is the head of Bloomberg Beta. More posts by this contributor

Who will find the first silver unicorn?

Even The Org Chart Is Now Made Of Software

Shauntel Garvey Contributor

Share on Twitter

Shauntel Garvey is a co-founder and general partner at Reach Capital. Nitin…

[strangerinthesociety]

Asaf Avidan - In a Box II - The Labyrinth Song

Evening rises, darkness threatens to engulf us all But there's a moon above it's shining and I think I hear a call It's just a whisper through the trees, my ears can hardly make it out But I can hear it in my heart, vibrating strong as if she shouts Oh Ariadne, I am coming, I just need to work this maze inside my head I came here like you asked, I killed the beast, that part of me is dead Oh Ariadne, I just need to work this maze inside my head If only I'd have listened to you when you offered me that thread Everything is quiet and I'm not exactly sure If it really was your voice I heard or maybe it's a door That's closing up some hero's back, on his track to be a man Can it be that all us heroes have a path but not a plan? Oh Ariadne, I'm coming, I just need to work this maze inside my mind I wish I had that string, it's so damn dark, I think I'm going blind Oh Ariadne, I just need to work this maze inside my mind For the life of me I don't remember what I came to find Now tell me princess are you strolling through your sacred grove? And is the moon still shining? You're the only thing I'm thinking of The sword you gave me, it was heavy, I just had to lay it down It's funny how defenseless I can feel here when there's nobody around Oh Ariadne, I'm coming, I just need to work this maze inside my heart I was blind, I thought you'd bind me, but you offered me a chart Oh Ariadne, I just need to work this maze inside my heart If I'd known that you could guide me, I'd have listened from the start Somewhere up there midnight strikes, I think I hear the fall Of little drops of water, magnified against the barren wall It's more a feeling than a substance, but there's nobody around And when I'm in here all alone, it's just enough to let me drown Oh Ariadne, I was coming, but I failed you in this labyrinth of my past Oh Ariadne, let me sing you, and we'll make each other last Oh Ariadne, I have failed you in this labyrinth of my past Oh Ariadne, let me sing you, and we'll make each other last.

All songs written, composed and produced by Asaf Avidan Cinematography - Ori Bahat & Etienne Jeanneret Video Editing - Asaf Avidan Sound recording - Edouard Bonan Executive Production - Les Autres Video Effects - Jacob Wehrmann Personal assistant - Rosita Pompili Shot in - La Chartreuse de Neuville

[bahmani]

A modern day bachelor shares his apartment with the memory of all his past lovers put together. In his fantasy they all share a harmonious loving relationship, synced into one being. The fantasy falls apart when he meets a real woman and has to choose between the safety of daydreaming and the challenges of real love. SECOND HAND LOVERS is the award winning 2nd installment in the BEDROOM TRILOGY, a visual adaptation of the BEDROOM CRIMES album. Music by: Oren Lavie http://j.mp/2oYXrAU Written and directed by: Oren Lavie Choreography: Maya Brinner Editor: Amichy Bikovsky Actors: Daniella Wircer, Oren Lavie Dancers: Roni Chadash, Tali Donin, Tamar Even-Chen, Noa Laner, Nitzan Moshe, Roni Rotem, Shahar Seri, Shani Tamari, Noa Tenne, Rotem Weissman Produced by: Rachel Vaserman, Gal Nae Production coordination/ project management : Iris Avital Assistant director: Harel Itscovitch Script editing/additional offline editing: Nadav Lazar Art & Props: Maya Darnell Post/compositing: Yaron Yashinsky Color grading: Omri Peled Digital conversation: Tomer Bahat Titles: Siyou Tan Cover single design: Yael Bodasher Hair and Makeup: Riki Kamely, Shiran Cohen Wardrobe: Rona Doron Light: Fatian Ibrahim Light Assistant: Daniel Binsted Grip: Denis Nikolaev Production manager: Nevo Jakobovitch Production assistants: Itay Amiel, Or sia, Hagai Borer 1st Camera assistat: Avi siman Tov 1st Camera assistant: Nitzan Ronen 2nd Camera assistant: Tamar Ben Haim Thank you: Roni Chadash, Nadav Lazar, Kama Sacajiu Artist Management: Adham Hunt

[artwalktv]

A modern day bachelor shares his apartment with the memory of all his past lovers put together. In his fantasy they all share a harmonious loving relationship, synced into one being. The fantasy falls apart when he meets a real woman and has to choose between the safety of daydreaming and the challenges of real love. SECOND HAND LOVERS is the award winning 2nd installment in the BEDROOM TRILOGY, a visual adaptation of the BEDROOM CRIMES album. Music by: Oren Lavie Written and directed by: Oren Lavie Choreography: Maya Brinner Editor: Amichy Bikovsky Actors: Daniella Wircer, Oren Lavie Dancers: Roni Chadash, Tali Donin, Tamar Even-Chen, Noa Laner, Nitzan Moshe, Roni Rotem, Shahar Seri, Shani Tamari, Noa Tenne, Rotem Weissman Produced by: Rachel Vaserman, Gal Nae Production coordination/ project management : Iris Avital Assistant director: Harel Itscovitch Script editing/additional offline editing: Nadav Lazar Art & Props: Maya Darnell Post/compositing: Yaron Yashinsky Color grading: Omri Peled Digital conversation: Tomer Bahat Titles: Siyou Tan Cover single design: Yael Bodasher Hair and Makeup: Riki Kamely, Shiran Cohen Wardrobe: Rona Doron Light: Fatian Ibrahim Light Assistant: Daniel Binsted Grip: Denis Nikolaev Production manager: Nevo Jakobovitch Production assistants: Itay Amiel, Or sia, Hagai Borer 1st Camera assistat: Avi siman Tov 1st Camera assistant: Nitzan Ronen 2nd Camera assistant: Tamar Ben Haim Thank you: Roni Chadash, Nadav Lazar, Kama Sacajiu Artist Management: Adham Hunt

[jobsearchtips02]

Tech giants are profiting — and getting more powerful — even as the global economy tanks

The pace of the probes against these companies has slowed as regulators and lawyers are forced to work from home. Emboldened tech lobbyists are fighting to delay the enforcement of a new privacy law this summer in California, saying they can’t comply by the July deadline due to the upheaval.

And while the global economy faces potential unemployment and contraction not seen since the Great Depression, the tech giants — and a handful of medium-size tech firms — are already benefiting from new consumer habits initiated during the lockdowns that analysts believe will turn into longer-term shifts in how people shop, work and entertain themselves. The broader stock markets tanked in recent weeks, but share prices of Amazon and Microsoft hit at or near records. Facebook is moving to acquire high-skilled talent, announcing the hiring of 10,000 new workers this year.

The tech giants‘ deep pockets will enable them to withstand the coming global economic recession, a stark contrast to what industry insiders and analysts expect to be the biggest shake up of the tech landscape in years. As many start-ups collapse, tech giants will expand on the power they’ve accumulated using the playbook of the last decade: snapping up talent, buying or copying rivals, and eroding traditional industries. Some of those weakened companies may disappear altogether and cede even more territory to tech.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at a recent virtual panel that the most powerful companies have the ability to bounce back far more quickly than others. “When you have an industry leader, and something collapses, the industry leader, if it’s well-managed, tends to emerge stronger a year later,” he said.

Facebook and Google declined to comment. Apple did not respond to requests for comment. Amazon spokesman Dan Perlet said in a statement, “While we appreciate the opportunity as a retailer to serve customers and are seeing increased demand for essential products, there are no winners out of Covid-19.”

(Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

As the tech giants start announcing quarterly earnings this week, Big Tech‘s current position is far better than in previous market crashes. In the dot-com bust of 2001, Google was not yet public. Amazon almost went bankrupt, losing 90 percent of its value in two years. The crash was seen as a crisis of Silicon Valley’s own making, as money flooded into thousands of frothy, pie-in-the-sky start-ups with unsound business models.

During the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, large technology companies were hit along with the global economy. Facebook was still privately held. The combined value of the five richest companies — ExxonMobil, General Electric, Microsoft, AT&T and Procter & Gamble — was $1.6 trillion. Today, tech giants occupy those top spots. Microsoft, currently the most valuable company in the world, is worth $1.3 trillion alone.

“There are really two Americas right now,” said Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at the New York University Stern School of Business and author of “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.” “There is Big Tech and there is everyone else. They can do what very few companies can do, which is play offense in the middle of a pandemic.”

Meanwhile, over 250 start-ups have already shed more than 30,000 jobs since March 11, according to Layoff.fyi, which tracks Silicon Valley layoffs and furloughs. A recent survey of 400 investors and founders by the venture capital firm NFX found that more than half of start-ups said they had initiated a hiring freeze or had lowered their value in the hopes of attracting new investment. Start-ups that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, such as the scooter company Bird, have laid off large portions of their workforce. The company made the tough decision to lay people off — over a minutes-long Zoom call — to keep the company afloat through 2021, according to a company memo reviewed by The Post.

“Every start-up and every investor is having these conversations right now,” said investor Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, a venture fund backed by Bloomberg LP. “We’re telling the start-ups we invest in that the safest assumption is that the next time you can raise money again is never.”

Review service Yelp, however, could face an even bigger blow. Yelp for years has complained that Google has copied its services and used its power to redirect people away from the company’s listings in search results. Now the company is laying off or furloughing more than 2,000 people — over a third of its workforce. Unlike Google, which has diversified ad revenue and huge cash reserves, Yelp generates almost all its revenue from advertising by local brick-and-mortar businesses, like salons and gyms. Interest in those business categories alone has fallen more than 73 percent, chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman said in a blog post.

Yelp declined to comment.

Inside Google, a cautious attitude prevails as the search giant anticipates significant losses in income from advertising, particularly from the travel, entertainment and retail industries, in the coming months according to people who work there who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Estimates by eMarketer predict overall spending on search and display advertising, which constitute Google’s core businesses, could drop by at least 20 percent or be as high as 38 percent in the quarter starting April 1.

“The entire global economy is hurting, and Google and Alphabet are not immune to the effects of this global pandemic,” Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, wrote in an email to staff this month. “We exist in an ecosystem of partnerships and interconnected businesses, many of whom are feeling significant pain.”

But he tempered the warnings, promising no major layoffs. The company would “be slowing down the pace of hiring, while maintaining momentum in a few strategic areas,” Pichai said.

Google, however, may benefit in a key way from the crisis, as tech giants’ relationship with the federal government transforms. Over the last year, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have launched probes into Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google for potential antitrust violations, and more than 40 state attorneys general have announced wide-ranging inquiries into the business practices of Google and Facebook. Last year, the FTC levied the largest fine in the agency’s history against Facebook for violating user privacy during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the company enabled the Trump-affiliated political consultancy to breach personal data from tens of millions of Americans.

Inquiries are slowed in the short term as everyone works from home, said Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer whose clients are involved in several of the federal probes.

“How much can you compel a company to do something when they are in lockdown? So if they want an extension or want a delay, what are you going to say?” he asked. “This situation plays best for the companies that have been under investigation.”

At the same time, the public is becoming more reliant on tech giants’ services, while governments outsource critical work to them. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) uses models and slides derived from location data from Google and Facebook to show possibilities for the path of new infections. Health departments around the country are working with Google and Apple to conduct contact tracing.

The Association of National Advertisers, a lobbying group representing Google and Facebook, is actively pushing the attorney general of California to delay the final regulations and enforcement of the state’s landmark Consumer Privacy Act, set to go into effect this summer. In several letters, the group has argued that the regulations, which require companies to provide data that they hold about consumers and allow for consumers to request deletions of data, are too onerous to comply with now that company lawyers are working from home.

As the economic contraction continues and start-ups die off, the largest firms may also be some of the only companies in the position to do any hiring. In a recent interview, Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, made a point of highlighting that the company would create 10,000 new positions this year in engineering and product roles.

That contrasts with invitations and ticketing company Eventbrite, which had to lay off or furlough nearly half its staff. While invites to virtual events are booming, the company is suffering due to the cancellation of many events and the resulting loss of its cut of ticket sales.

Eventbrite Chief Executive Julia Hartz said the choice to lay people off was “heartbreaking,” but necessary. “We knew early on that we needed to take bold action in order to survive this time,” she said. She sees the surge in virtual events as a potential business opportunity.

Eventbrite has referred some laid off employees to Facebook, she added.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s rival event team responded to the pandemic by moving their people onto other product teams that have exploded in popularity, such as Messenger and Livestream, according to the people familiar with the company’s operations. On Friday, Facebook launched a competitor to video conference services Zoom and Houseparty, allowing up to 50 people to video conference at a time.

After years of reputation problems due to Cambridge Analytica and other scandals, some employees say they are feeling a boost in morale, according to other people who work at the company, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Even the newfound positive reception for the Facebook Portal — a much-ridiculed video chat device that all employees received for free to work from home — is a surprise.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is on the media circuit, touting the company’s efforts to keep the public safe. He wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post about how data is key to survival, and sees the crisis as a potential moment of redemption for Facebook, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Amazon executives have also launched a media blitz, touting the company’s role in supplying important goods to consumers.

Amazon is leading the biggest hiring spree of the tech giants, announcing more than 175,000 new, mostly low-wage jobs in warehouses and delivery. The company is openly recruiting workers who have been laid off from other industries, as it has struggled to keep up with the surge in consumer demand.

Meanwhile, some of its warehouse workers have protested over unsafe working conditions, as dozens of warehouses have workers that tested positive for covid-19.

“We’re investing heavily to keep our employees safe and to temporarily increase pay for associates — spending $500 million on pay increases alone through the end of April,” Amazon‘s Perlet added in the statement.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Apple chief executive Tim Cook recently told employees that the company felt so comfortable in its cash position that it would continue investing in R&D throughout this year and did not anticipate layoffs.

Big Tech’s ability to continue hiring and sustaining themselves through crises will not only give the companies an advantage in Silicon Valley, but in the economy at large. Many of the traditional industries expected to suffer — brick-and-mortar retail, food service, and media and entertainment — are the same industries that have been gradually gutted by technology since the last recession.

Macy’s, which competes with Amazon, said it was furloughing most of its 125,000 employees last month. Condé Nast Publications, which competes for ad dollars with Facebook and Google, is planning major layoffs.

While analysts expect hits in revenue to both Google and Facebook for the first time, smaller ad platforms, publishers and social media rivals will fare even worse, analysts say. Smaller digital advertising firms, long struggling against the giants, have begun to announce waves of layoffs.

And when the spending comes back, it will favor the biggest tech platforms over smaller digital ad companies and publishers, said Nicole Perrin, an analyst with eMarketer.

“A lot of the traditional media and ad businesses have been in decline. The decline will happen faster this year, and a lot of that money will not come back, because it was slowly trickling away,” Perrin said.

Still, some start-ups will thrive during the crisis. The user base of video conferencing service Zoom grew to 200 million users last month, up from 10 million in December, according to the company. Growing even faster than Zoom is video-chat app Houseparty, which has seen a 1,580 percent growth in downloads since March 15, according to app analytics firm AppAnnie. Grocery delivery app Instacart has experienced a 540 percent increase in downloads.

Analysts and investors expect that consumption patterns and habits will continue to change, potentially for the long term. That could also result in a new order among the start-ups that emerge or survive the crisis, said Roelof Botha, a partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. He said he was already beginning to look for a new class of winners, automating everything from mortgages to garbage picking to data infrastructure needed to support remote work.

“This is a shock to the system, and sometimes out of that shock emerges a new order,” Botha said. “Like the killing off of the dinosaurs, this reorders who gets to survive in the new era. It is the shock that accelerates the future that Silicon Valley has been building.”

Faiz Siddiqui and Jay Greene contributed to this report.

%

from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/tech-giants-are-profiting-and-getting-more-powerful-even-as-the-global-economy-tanks/

[un-enfant-immature]

Bloomberg Beta, now six years old, closes its third $75 million fund

Bloomberg Beta, a San Francisco-based outfit that uses Bloomberg LP’s money to make bets on startups, has closed its third fund with $75 million, according to Roy Bahat, who’d previously run the online media company IGN and who operates the fund as an equal partnership with Karin Klein and James Chan. (Klein formerly ran Bloomberg’s new initiatives; Chan was formerly a principal with Trinity Ventures.)

We talked with Bahat briefly last night about the new vehicle to ask how its capital will be deployed. Bahat stressed that the idea is to continue on the firm’s current path, which is to write checks of between $500,000 to $1 million initially; to loosely target ownership of around 10 percent in the startups it backs; and to fund companies that are focused on the future of work, which has long been an area of interest for Bahat and his colleagues.

That can mean an instant messaging platform like Slack, in which Bloomberg Beta had and continues to have a small stake, following its direct offering. It can also mean backing a company like Flexport, a San Francisco-based freight forwarding and customs brokerage company that appears to be among Bloomberg Beta’s biggest bets. (According to Crunchbase, the outfit has backed Flexport —  valued most recently at $3.2 billion — at its seed, Series A, and Series B rounds.)

Others of Bloomberg Beta’s portfolio companies include the augmented writing platform Textio; the insurance broker Newfront Insurance; the continuous delivery platform LaunchDarkly, and Netlify, a cloud computing company that sells hosting and serverless backend services for static websites.

What it won’t back: financial tech startups. Given where its money comes from, it’s “too close to home,” says Bahat.

In late August, California Governor announced that Bahat would be part of his Future of Work Commission, which will be “tasked with making recommendations to help California leaders think through how to create inclusive, long-term economic growth and ensure workers and their families share in that success.”

As part of his role on that commission, and as an investor in some companies that cater to independent contractors, we asked Bahat what he makes of AB5, the new California law for contract workers that aims to address inequality in the workplace but has been met with resistance from numerous industries and players. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash are even preparing to file a ballot initiative to exempt themselves from the law.

Bahat suggested he’s not sure what to think quite yet, either. “How workers get classified is one of live issues” that the commission will be studying, he said.

“We haven’t figured out how to make it all work; this story is still unfolding.”