#do they even have the ability to eat fish?? theres not exactly. lots of water. in the himalayas or the moon.

[maximusboltaqon]

do you think the royals are fine with eating fish or is it like,,, morally questionable to them. because of triton.

[gloriafc]

Their daughter -Part 1

After the Volturi left and Reneesme was physically all grown up, Emmett could see the yearning to take care of another child in his wife. And honestly he missed having little feet running around, and the little hands gripping his hair as he gave countless piggy back rides.

He did some research before taking his wife on a trip to a small island not found on most maps. "Emmett where are we." "I read about this healer, she's supposed to be able to help anyone have a kid."

Rosalie can only stare at her husband in shock, he brought her all the way here so they could have a child of their own. But would that be a problem for them? If they succeed, will their child be somewhat normal? Or grow like Reneesme?

The couple is led into a small hut of a very remote village, they're met by a young woman who's eyes are completely glazed over, you could practically see the universe in her eyes.

"The spirits tell me you've been looking for me. They say you have a particular request." Emmett steps forward about to answer but she quickly stops him, "I can help you. Your request is simple. The ability to carry a child is something every woman should be able to experience no matter what their kind is. A child is something every wedded couple should be able to experience. But in return I must ask for a favor. Not for me, but for this village."

They watch as a young child leads the blind woman around the room, until she's stopped in front of them. She quickly ushers the child out of the room before looking straight ahead, "These people know of many creatures. They come and go, seeking my help. Many dont receive. But what I ask is simple. If I help you conceive your child." They watch the woman smile, "She'd be as beautiful as her mother, with her father's dark hair and soft curls. Small and spoiled, but grateful for everything in her life. But to ensure she stays healthy, the three of you would be asked to stay in the village for three months after shes born, theres a small hut that would be provided for you. All I ask in return is your protection for the time you're here. To help the people of this small village with tasks they may not be able to complete on their own."

Rosalie grips onto Emmett's arm, hope in her eyes. "You know what she'll look like?" "I know a lot of things. Despite not having my vision, I can do many great things. And that tone in your voice is telling me the two of you are agreeing to my terms." Emmett speaks up, "Your terms are very considerate, despite what we're asking of you. Our answer is yes." "Although simple, what I ask, many others wouldn't even think about doing. I believe only the greatest gifts should be given to those willing to do the simplest acts of generosity. I can sense that the two of you would give your entire fortune for what I've already given you."

They look at each other in shock as the woman turns and walks away, "You mean-" "That you're already pregnant? Yes. As soon as you walked in, I already knew the two of you would agree. This won't be a normal pregnancy. By the time the sun sets you'll be able to hear your baby's heartbeat. In four days you'll give birth. I am aware of the hybrid in your family. Your daughter will also be a hybrid. As a thank you I'm giving your child some humanity. She will have the same vampire abilities, but she'll grow at the same rate as a human, when she turns 21 she'll stop and will become a full vampire. At 21 she'll still be able to eat, and sleep. She just won't need animal blood as often as the two of you do, maybe once a month from a small rabbit at most."

Emmett quickly takes Rosalie into his arms, no price would be big enough for what they've just been told. The woman gestures for the threshold, "The hut is on the outskirts of the village, near the creek, go and enjoy your news. I'll be over tomorrow morning with a small task to get you acquainted to the town."

The two leave, easily finding their home for the next three or so months. They sit on the makeshift bench on the porch, listening to the water in the creek, the kids playing and splashing. Suddenly Emmett freezes, "Can you hear it?" Rosalie looks at him with the biggest smile and venom filled eyes that will never spill, "She's already perfect."

The two spend the whole night watching her stomach grow and listening to their child's heartbeat. By the time morning comes they've already decided on a name for her. They look up when the healer enters, "You can feel the happiness all throughout the village. Here I brought something. Your child still need nutrients, since you cant eat regular food without your venom instantly destroying it, I have this. Drink it twice a day, and your child will gain all the nutrients they need."

The next three days go by quickly. Rosalie is asked to watch the children, to help teach them while their fathers fish and their mothers farm. Emmett helps rebuild some structures around the village, his vampire speed helping him rebuild everything.

The last night of the pregnancy Emmett helps Rosalie waddle to the healers hut. A few hours later Rosalie has pushed out their beautiful baby girl. And just like the healer said, she looks exactly like her mother, but has her father's dark hair.

What surprises them is when she opens her eyes and see bright blue eyes just like Emmett's human eyes. They both melt when she smiles and laughs, showing off the dimples she inherited from her dad who is already wrapped around her finger. They watch as the child falls asleep holding onto a piece of her mother's hair.

"I sense you've adjusted quite well already. What have you named her?" "Y/N" "Beautiful name for a beautiful face. The villagers have left a gift in your hut as a thank you for all the help you've been to them. And this will act as formula for the child. There's enough for six months, after that she should be able to start on regular milk. When shes old enough to start talking and walking, that's when her vampire abilities will start, right now you can't crush her, that's the vampire in her protecting her. Even though she will physically age like a regular human, she'll considered smarter, her vampiric abilities will help her learn to do things faster. She'll sit up on her own sooner, try to crawl sooner. She'll accelerate in school."

Everyday they watch as their child grows until the day comes for them to take their child home. They watch as her personality grows, and they fall more in love with her everyday.

They say bye to everyone in the village, promising to visit someday in the future. They stop in a nearby town, grabbing stuff they'd need, like a carseat, some clothes, a diaper bag, random stuff for the flight home.

Rosalie watches as her daughter falls asleep on her dads chest during the long flight home. The only thing going through her head, she'll get to watch her child grow for twenty one years.

During the drive home Rosalie constantly looks into the backseat, where her daughter happily watches the trees pass by the window, every once in a while she'll let out a babble. "Do you think Alice can see her?" "Looks like we're going to find out."

As they stop in front of the house they can see their family standing outside, "You guys are back!" Rosalie let's Esme pull her into a hug. "What is that sound?" Rosalie pulls back with a smile, "We want you to meet someone."

They turn to Emmett who's now holding the car seat. Esme gasps before moving forward, getting a good look at the now sleeping baby. "Where'd you find her?" Emmett and Rosalie look at each other, "How about we go inside."

They explain everything about Y/N, how she was carried, how she'll grow, her appetite, her seemingly human ways, and how shes theirs.

Esme quickly congratulates the two, knowing just how much her daughter has always wanted a child of her own. Everyone stops when they start to hear movement in the carseat before a soft yawn is heard. Rosalie moves with a smile before taking her daughter into her arms. She turns so Y/N can see her new surroundings. Esme immediately gushing, "Her eyes." Emmett nods, "Same as mine before I changed."

Upon seeing the attention is on her, Y/N immediately smiles and looks up at her mom who happily smiles, "This is your family Y/N." The small child let's out a happy giggle before clapping her hands, everyone chuckling. When Y/Ns eyes land on her grandmother she immediately reaches for her with a big smile, her dimples popping. Edward laughs, "She already understands. Her mind, she cant speak but she understands that were all the same." Jasper jumps in, "Shes happy. Not overwhelmed, but curious."

Esme reaches for the babys hand, tiny fingers wrapping around one of hers, "May I?" Rosalie nods and hands over the small child, happy tears wanting to spill when she watches her daughter lay her head on Esmes chest. Edward speaking up, "She knows she's safe and welcome."

As everyone is sitting in the living room, getting to know the new addition of their family, watching her interact with her cousin. Emmett laughs looking at his brothers, "You want to see something?" Everyone looks at him confused making Rosalie chuckle knowing exactly what he wants to do. She explains, "She's already a huge daddy's girl, unfortunately. One of the kids in the village was playing with her and her toy fell. He wanted to wash it off before giving it back to her. She saw he wasn't going to give it back right away, and thought he was taking it away. She started crying and immediately reached for Emmett to go get it back."

Edward laughs and agrees to be the one to take the empty bottle that's still in his niece's hands. Everyone watches as he walks away, before Y/N immediately turns to her dad with tears in her eyes. When he doesn't move she let's her wails be heard and raises her arms. Everyone chuckles as he stands up and picks up the crying child, wiping her face, "What happened?" Unable to answer she just hits her dads chest making a chuckle leave his lips as she turns in the direction her uncle went and points. "Alright let's go get the bottle." Before they can fully leave the room Edward returns, Y/N immediately letting out another wail and pointing, stopping when she sees her uncle holding a new bottle.

When the child is finally asleep for the night, everyone watches, fascinated by the girl who already has their hearts, ready to protect her at any moment.

[samanthasroberts]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

[allofbeercom]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/