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“The gate is a no”: Apartment security gate draws ire online

While security gates are meant to be secure, one installed at a property in the UK has left many questioning just how effective it will be. A photo shared by the account Design Fails shows a security gate that seems fully functional at first glance, but includes a glaring design flaw. Though it has locks and an intercom panel, the design of the gate itself lends it to being a handy ladder that could be used to get inside. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> security gate that doubles as a ladder <a href="https://t.co/TQWmZBiyc7">pic.twitter.com/TQWmZBiyc7</a> — Design Fails (@epicdesignfails) <a href="https://twitter.com/epicdesignfails/status/1587076092791328768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote> “Security gate that doubles as a ladder,” the photo caption read, with the post soon attracting over 33,000 likes, over 6,000 shares and plenty of comments pointing out its fundamental flaw. “OMG What on mother Earth was the designer’s thought doing that,” one person commented. “The gym I never thought I needed. I’d purposefully forget my access card,” another joked. “Whoever designed this gate heaven is waiting for her/him,” a third shared. “So the thieves can climb over the gate 😑,” one user noted. While some tried to defend the design by pointing out that it could be electrified, others were quick to point out the flaws in that argument too. “If its (sic) electric and still has a key, thats weird. To be a gate and a ladder, while not thinking the violator can climb over the gate too is weird. Saying its electrical and not keeping in mind that its on the street is weird. Only turning it on at night is weird,” one person clarified. “The gate is a no.” Image: Twitter

Real Estate

Train driving dream comes true for brain tumour survivor

Three years after doctors found a large tumour growing in his brain, seven-year-old Broly Blackmore has seen his dream of becoming a train driver come true. The young boy from Hallett, South Australia, had the tumour removed when he was just four years old after he collapsed and was rushed to hospital by helicopter. If it wasn’t removed that night, doctors told his mother, Corrine Maidment, that he wouldn’t make it. In the years since, Broly’s life has become relatively normal, albeit with regular brain scans and physio trips - and he has had his wish of driving a train granted by the Starlight Foundation. The seven-year-old went on a trip on the Pichi Richi steam train, travelling from Quorn to Port Augusta as a “trainee train driver”. "Ever since he was only a couple of months old everything has always been about trains … diesels aren't as good as steam trains apparently," Ms Maidment said, adding that he barely slept the night before the big day. "According to everyone in the train, they weren't allowed to do anything without his say so … at one point, he told the fireman, the guy who does the coal, 'That's my seat. I need to sit there'. "He was boss for the day." The Pichi Richi railway, an outback steam train experience that has been operating since 1973, later shared a sweet photo of Broly on the train. “Last Sunday, Pichi Richi Railway was able to grant a wish for a very special visitor, 7 year old Broly who was having his wish granted with help from Starlight Children's Foundation Australia’s ‘Wishgranting Program’,” the railway <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PichiRichiRailway/posts/pfbid032C45MeP339xWYPL321ZTFjXXsehYJh7pWe2xkX812DkCLCBZgZyp8UVNGVzF7ztvl">wrote</a>. “Broly loves trains so Starlight contacted Pichi Richi Railway and Broly was lucky enough to ride in the cab of engine W934 for the day with our crew on the Pichi Richi Explorer service. “A very special day for our crew, Broly and his family.” Although Broly’s wish was given to him while he was in hospital, Ms Maidment said they had waited until he was old enough to decide how he wanted to spend it. "He's had the wish sitting there since he was in the hospital ... but we wanted to wait until he was old enough to make a decision himself so he'd know what the wish was and he'd remember it," she said. Images: Blackmore family, Starlight Foundation, Pichi Richi Railway (Facebook)

Caring

Olivia Newton-John’s foundation makes cancer breakthrough

Just over two months after her passing, the cancer research foundation Olivia Newton-John founded has made a significant discovery that could affect the treatment of a highly-aggressive pancreatic cancer. The study, led by Professor Matthias Ernst, the director of the ONJ Cancer Research Institute in Melbourne and the head of LA Trobe’s School of Cancer Medicine, investigated potential targets for treating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This aggressive form of cancer has a five-year survival rate, with nine out of ten patients still dying of the disease after receiving chemotherapy treatments due to reoccurrence in the same area or metastasis (where cancer spreads to other parts of the body). Approximately 4,260 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Australia, with many experiencing few or no symptoms during the early stages. Professor Ernst and his team identified a novel drug target that could make PDAC tumours more responsive to chemotherapy and immunotherapy and published their results in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(22)01329-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cell Reports</a>. They identified a protein called HCK (hematopoietic cell kinase), which has previously been correlated with poor survival rates and has been found in 95 percent of solid tumours, including PDAC. After comparing PDAC tumours to non-cancerous samples, they found that the tumours expressed this protein at a higher rate. They then wanted to determine whether HCK was involved in the growth of tumours and metastasis, by inserting PDAC tumours into normal mice and mice that have had the gene responsible for making HCK removed. In comparison to the normal mice, the mice without the HCK gene had smaller tumours and didn’t develop metastatic lesions. This confirmed that HCK is involved in the progression of this kind of cancer and that preventing the gene from creating HCK proteins could be a potential target for new cancer treatments. The team reported that targeting HCK could help reduce immune suppression caused by the increased levels of cancer cells that reduce the ability of our immune system to identify and fight cancer, making immunotherapy treatments more effective. While he cautioned that the study was still in its early stages, Professor Ernst is hopeful that the ONJ Institute can build on their findings and run clinical trials in the future. “Because we work in the same building as our oncologist colleagues at Austin Health, our discoveries in the laboratory can be quickly translated into patient trials,” he said. Dr Ashleigh Poh, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from the ONJ Institute added that the findings could have big implications for pancreatic cancer treatment. “The survival rate of pancreatic cancer has not improved over the past few decades,” Dr Poh said. “We hope to eventually translate these findings into the clinic and improve survival outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients.” Images: The ONJ Institute

Caring

Meghan Markle's million-dollar giveaway

Meghan Markle has announced a $1 million giveaway to women in need. The project is the first of its kind for Meghan and Prince Harry, in partnership with their Archewell Foundation and the duchess' podcast Archetypes. Meghan said she was inspired by the "two things" that bring her joy: "supporting women, and the spirit of giving". The Archewell Foundation is partnering with the Ving project, which gives young people the chance to surprise someone in need with a $1,000 cheque ($1500 AUD). The project was inspired by Archetypes, Meghan's podcast series on Spotify which explores stereotypes and labels that hold women back. In a statement, Meghan said, "Two things that bring me great joy are supporting women and the spirit of giving." "With the return of Archetypes, Archewell Foundation and VING have come together to create the perfect combination of these loves." "By donating $1 million in grants to women in need, our hope is not to only provide support where it may be felt deepest, but also empower young adults to embrace the gift of giving at an early age." "I'm very proud of this partnership and the good we hope to see come from it." Teenagers aged between the age of 14 and 18 are being urged to nominate a woman in their life who has inspired them and defied life's hardships, and explain the reasons behind their nomination. Nominees must be adult US residents, non-extended or immediate family members and in need of financial assistance to be eligible for the cash prize. Image credits: Getty Images

Family & Pets

Influencer slammed for holding raunchy party at retirement home

An elderly woman has appeared to suffer a heart attack while dancing with three strippers at an aged care home. Shocking footage shared to Instagram by influencer Nadia Cartagena shows a group of raunchy dancers showing off their moves to the elderly group at Una Mano Amiga Foundation in El Prado, Cartagena. The clip then shows the woman dancing in between three male dancers before she gasps and puts her hand on her heart. Moments later she is on the floor unconscious and sirens can be heard wailing in the background, rushing to the scene. The woman is then placed on a stretcher and taken to hospital in the ambulance. Nadia announced to her followers that she held an erotic party for “older adults, and I got the biggest scare of my life”. “I did not expect what happened to happen, and the truth is that I am very sorry, I just wanted to give them some fun and I did not expect that situation, so I want you to comment on the situation.” Her post was then inundated with furious comments from followers who slammed her for being inconsiderate. “How can you do that, girl? Can't you see that they are old? They can't stand so much voltage. Some suffer from diseases,” one person wrote. “You had too much, a party is ok but with another theme not like this,” another commented. “That party is out of order, that's not fun for people of that age that hurts,” someone else wrote. Images: Instagram

Retirement Life

D.B. Cooper, the changing nature of hijackings and the foundation for today’s airport security

Though many Americans may associate airport security with 9/11, it was a wave of hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s that laid the foundation <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-entire-generation-of-americans-has-no-idea-how-easy-air-travel-used-to-be-166082">for today’s airport security protocols</a>. During that period, a hijacking occurred, on average, <a href="https://today.ku.edu/2019/06/10/first-soviet-hijacking-triggers-insights-cold-war-boundaries">once every five days globally</a>. The U.S. dealt with its own spate of mile-high crimes, convincing reluctant government officials and airport executives to adopt the first important airport security protocols. The subject of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21063148/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">a new Netflix docuseries</a>, hijacker D.B. Cooper emerged as something of a folk hero during this era. While other more violent hijackings might have played a bigger role in prompting early airport security measures, it was the saga of Cooper that captured the imagination of the American public – and helped transform the perception of the overall threat hijackings posed to U.S. air travel and national security. <h2>Incidents become impossible to ignore</h2> The first airplane hijacking happened in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hijacking">1931 in Peru</a>. Armed revolutionaries approached the grounded plane of pilot Byron Richards and demanded that he fly them over Lima so they could drop propaganda leaflets. Richards refused, and a 10-day standoff ensued before he was eventually released. That remained a somewhat isolated incident until the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings">late 1940s and 1950s</a>, when several people hijacked airplanes to escape from Eastern Europe to the West. In the context of the Cold War, Western governments granted these hijackers <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/hijacking-and-right-asylum-aerial-piracy-and-international-law-p">political asylum</a>. Importantly, none of the airplanes hijacked were flown by U.S. carriers. Beginning in the early 1960s, however, hijackers began targeting U.S. airlines. Most of these individuals were <a href="https://www.tsi-mag.com/the-cuban-hijackings-their-significance-and-impact-sixty-years-on/">Cubans</a> living in the U.S. who, for one reason or another, wished to return to their native land and were otherwise blocked due to <a href="https://www.thecubareader.com/blog/the-strange-story-of-the-us-cuba-hijacking-accord">the U.S. embargo</a> against Cuba. U.S. officials responded by <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/46502">officially and specifically making hijacking a federal crime</a>. Though the new law didn’t stop hijackings altogether, the crime remained relatively rare. When they did occur, they usually didn’t involve much violence. <a href="https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/15042-take-me-to-cuba-the-skyjacking-craze-of-the-1960s">Officials wanted to downplay hijackings as much as possible</a>, and the best way to do this was to simply give the hijacker what they wanted to avert the loss of life. Above all, airline executives wanted to avoid deterring people from flying, so they resisted the implementation of anxiety-inducing security protocols. That changed in 1968. On July 23 of that year, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/on-this-day-el-al-flight-426-hijacked-by-pflp-674735">hijacked an El Al flight</a> from Rome to Tel Aviv. Though that 39-day ordeal ended without any loss of life, it ushered in a new era of more violent – often politically motivated – hijackings of international airlines. From 1968 to 1974, U.S. airlines experienced <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11326472/hijacking-airplanes-egyptair">130 hijackings</a>. Many fell into this new category of politically motivated hijackings, including what has become known as the <a href="https://www.hsdl.org/c/tl/dawsons-field-hijackings/">Dawson’s Field hijackings</a>. In September 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four aircraft, including three belonging to U.S. carriers, and forced them to land at Dawson’s Field in Libya. No hostage lives were lost, but the hijackers used explosives to destroy all four aircraft. Additionally, and more worrying to U.S. officials, two different groups of hijackers, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-23-mn-48746-story.html">one in 1971</a> and <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/06/detroit-skyjacker-airplane-explanation/85314438/">another in 1972</a>, threatened to crash planes into nuclear power plants. <h2>Cooper inspires copycats</h2> Amid this dramatic rise in the number of hijackings, on Nov. 24, 1971, a man known to the American public as <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking">D.B. Cooper</a> boarded a Northwest Orient 727 flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle. Shortly after takeoff, he showed a stewardess the contents of his briefcase, which he said was a bomb. He then instructed the stewardess to take a note to the cockpit. In it, he demanded US$200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes. Upon arrival in Seattle, Cooper allowed the other passengers to deplane in exchange for the money and the parachutes. Cooper then ordered the pilot to fly to Mexico but low and slowly – <a href="https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/db-cooper">no higher than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and under 200 knots (230 mph, 370 kph)</a>. Somewhere between Seattle and a fuel stop in Reno, Nevada, Cooper and the loot disappeared out the back of the aircraft via the 727’s <a href="https://saverocity.com/taggingmiles/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2016/07/727-Aft-Stairs.jpg">aft stairwell</a>. No one knows for sure what happened to him, though some of the money was recovered in 1980. Cooper wasn’t the first person to hijack an American airliner and demand money. That dubious honor belongs to <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,909374,00.html">Arthur Barkley</a>. Frustrated with his inability to get government officials to take seriously his dispute with the IRS, on June 4, 1970, Barkley hijacked a TWA aircraft, demanding $100 million and a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. Barkley’s efforts failed, and he ended up confined to a mental institution. The idea that Cooper might have succeeded, however, clearly inspired several imitators. While it remains uncertain whether Cooper lived to enjoy the fruits of his escapade, none of his imitators did. They included <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/richard-floyd-mccoy-jr">Richard McCoy, Jr.</a>, <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1aac5de6-6eb4-5245-a126-7adf324d5eb2.html">Martin J. McNally</a> and <a href="https://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/historys-headlines-skyjack-of-1972/article_940d5703-8e18-528b-80c4-443b3607b6b0.html">Frederick Hahneman</a>, all of whom successfully parachuted out of the aircraft once they received their ransom payments, only to be eventually caught and punished. <h2>Tightening the screws</h2> In response to the spate of more violent and costly hijackings, the U.S. government established the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/a-brief-history-of-airline-security-hijackings-and-metal-detectors/">first anti-hijacking security protocols</a>. Most of them aimed to prevent hijackers from getting on aircraft in the first place. The measures included a hijacker profile, metal detectors and X-ray machines. Specific to Cooper, airlines retrofitted aircraft with a devise known as a <a href="https://www.wikimotors.org/what-is-a-cooper-vane.htm">Cooper vane</a> that made it impossible to open aft stairwells during flight. The protocols put in place in the 1970s also laid the foundation for the expansive security measures taken after 9/11. A series of court cases upheld the constitutionality of these early measures. For example, <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/328/1077/1428246/">United States v. Lopez</a>, decided in 1971, upheld the use of the hijacker profile. More importantly, in <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/454/769/438142/">United States v. Epperson</a>, a federal court ruled in 1972 that the government’s interest in preventing hijackings justified the requirement for passengers to pass through a magnetometer at the airport. And in 1973, the Ninth Circuit Court, in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-davis-51">United States v. Davis</a>, declared that the government’s need to protect passengers from hijackings rendered all searches of passengers for weapons and explosives as reasonable and legal. These rulings upholding early anti-hijacking measures helped create <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/post-9-11-challenges-aviation-security-homeland-security-law-and">the strong legal grounds</a> for the rapid adoption of the more rigorous security protocols – including detailed identification checks, random pat-downs and full body scans – adopted after 9/11. The mystery surrounding the fate of Cooper may have afforded him an outsized place in American popular culture, but his crime should also be remembered as one in a consequential wave of hijackings that finally forced the U.S. government, airline executives and airport officials to adopt the first versions of the security measures travelers take for granted today. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/d-b-cooper-the-changing-nature-of-hijackings-and-the-foundation-for-todays-airport-security-185562" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

International Travel

5 things to know about foundation models and the next generation of AI

If you’ve seen photos of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/technology/openai-images-dall-e.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a teapot shaped like an avocado</a> or read a well-written article that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/08/robot-wrote-this-article-gpt-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veers off on slightly weird tangents</a>, you may have been exposed to a new trend in artificial intelligence (AI). Machine learning systems called <a href="https://openai.com/dall-e-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DALL-E</a>, <a href="https://openai.com/blog/gpt-3-edit-insert/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GPT</a> and <a href="https://ai.googleblog.com/2022/04/pathways-language-model-palm-scaling-to.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PaLM</a> are making a splash with their incredible ability to generate creative work. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> DALL·E 2 is here! It can generate images from text, like "teddy bears working on new AI research on the moon in the 1980s". It's so fun, and sometimes beautiful.<a href="https://t.co/XZmh6WkMAS">https://t.co/XZmh6WkMAS</a> <a href="https://t.co/3zOu30IqCZ">pic.twitter.com/3zOu30IqCZ</a> — Sam Altman (@sama) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1511715302265942024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2022</a></blockquote> These systems are known as “foundation models” and are not all hype and party tricks. So how does this new approach to AI work? And will it be the end of human creativity and the start of a deep-fake nightmare? 1. What are foundation models? <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.07258" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foundation models</a> work by training a single huge system on large amounts of general data, then adapting the system to new problems. Earlier models tended to start from scratch for each new problem. DALL-E 2, for example, was trained to match pictures (such as a photo of a pet cat) with the caption (“Mr. Fuzzyboots the tabby cat is relaxing in the sun”) by scanning hundreds of millions of examples. Once trained, this model knows what cats (and other things) look like in pictures. But the model can also be used for many other interesting AI tasks, such as generating new images from a caption alone (“Show me a koala dunking a basketball”) or editing images based on written instructions (“Make it look like this monkey is paying taxes”). <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Our newest system DALL·E 2 can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. See it here: <a href="https://t.co/Kmjko82YO5">https://t.co/Kmjko82YO5</a> <a href="https://t.co/QEh9kWUE8A">pic.twitter.com/QEh9kWUE8A</a> — OpenAI (@OpenAI) <a href="https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1511707245536428034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2022</a></blockquote> 2. How do they work? Foundation models run on “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-neural-network-a-computer-scientist-explains-151897" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deep neural networks</a>”, which are loosely inspired by how the brain works. These involve sophisticated mathematics and a huge amount of computing power, but they boil down to a very sophisticated type of pattern matching. For example, by looking at millions of example images, a deep neural network can associate the word “cat” with patterns of pixels that often appear in images of cats – like soft, fuzzy, hairy blobs of texture. The more examples the model sees (the more data it is shown), and the bigger the model (the more “layers” or “depth” it has), the more complex these patterns and correlations can be. Foundation models are, in one sense, just an extension of the “deep learning” paradigm that has dominated AI research for the past decade. However, they exhibit un-programmed or “emergent” behaviours that can be both surprising and novel. For example, Google’s PaLM language model seems to be able to produce explanations for complicated metaphors and jokes. This goes beyond simply <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.02311" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imitating the types of data it was originally trained to process</a>. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457594/original/file-20220412-10836-vaj8rb.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A user interacting with the PaLM language model by typing questions. The AI system responds by typing back answers." /><figcaption>The PaLM language model can answer complicated questions. <a class="source" href="https://ai.googleblog.com/2022/04/pathways-language-model-palm-scaling-to.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google AI</a></figcaption></figure> 3. Access is limited – for now The sheer scale of these AI systems is difficult to think about. PaLM has 540 billion parameters, meaning even if everyone on the planet memorised 50 numbers, we still wouldn’t have enough storage to reproduce the model. The models are so enormous that training them requires massive amounts of computational and other resources. One estimate put the cost of training OpenAI’s language model GPT-3 at <a href="https://lambdalabs.com/blog/gpt-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around US$5 million</a>. As a result, only huge tech companies such as OpenAI, Google and Baidu can afford to build foundation models at the moment. These companies limit who can access the systems, which makes economic sense. Usage restrictions may give us some comfort these systems won’t be used for nefarious purposes (such as generating fake news or defamatory content) any time soon. But this also means independent researchers are unable to interrogate these systems and share the results in an open and accountable way. So we don’t yet know the full implications of their use. 4. What will these models mean for ‘creative’ industries? More foundation models will be produced in coming years. Smaller models are already being published in <a href="https://openai.com/blog/gpt-2-1-5b-release/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open-source forms</a>, tech companies are starting to <a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-api/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experiment with licensing and commercialising these tools</a> and AI researchers are working hard to make the technology more efficient and accessible. The remarkable creativity shown by models such as PaLM and DALL-E 2 demonstrates that creative professional jobs could be impacted by this technology sooner than initially expected. Traditional wisdom always said robots would displace “blue collar” jobs first. “White collar” work was meant to be relatively safe from automation – especially professional work that required creativity and training. Deep learning AI models already exhibit super-human accuracy in tasks like <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-could-be-our-radiologists-of-the-future-amid-a-healthcare-staff-crisis-120631" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reviewing x-rays</a> and <a href="https://www.macularsociety.org/about/media/news/breakthrough-artificial-intelligence-ai-helps-detect-dry-amd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detecting the eye condition macular degeneration</a>. Foundation models may soon provide cheap, “good enough” creativity in fields such as advertising, copywriting, stock imagery or graphic design. The future of professional and creative work could look a little different than we expected. 5. What this means for legal evidence, news and media Foundation models will inevitably <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-01/historic-decision-allows-ai-to-be-recognised-as-an-inventor/100339264" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affect the law</a> in areas such as intellectual property and evidence, because we won’t be able to assume <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/us-copyright-office-rules-ai-art-cant-be-copyrighted-180979808/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">creative content is the result of human activity</a>. We will also have to confront the challenge of disinformation and misinformation generated by these systems. We already face enormous problems with disinformation, as we are seeing in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fake-viral-footage-is-spreading-alongside-the-real-horror-in-ukraine-here-are-5-ways-to-spot-it-177921" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unfolding Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> and the nascent problem of <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-2-billion-images-and-720-000-hours-of-video-are-shared-online-daily-can-you-sort-real-from-fake-148630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deep fake</a> images and video, but foundation models are poised to super-charge these challenges. Time to prepare As researchers who <a href="https://www.admscentre.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study the the effects of AI on society</a>, we think foundation models will bring about huge transformations. They are tightly controlled (for now), so we probably have a little time to understand their implications before they become a huge issue. The genie isn’t quite out of the bottle yet, but foundation models are a very big bottle – and inside there is a very clever genie.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181150/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aaron-j-snoswell-1331146" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aaron J. Snoswell</a>, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Computational Law & AI Accountability, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland University of Technology</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dan-hunter-1336925" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dan Hunter</a>, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland University of Technology</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-are-creating-images-and-telling-jokes-5-things-to-know-about-foundation-models-and-the-next-generation-of-ai-181150" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: OpenAI

Technology

"Pink flamingo": Jett Kenny explains bizarre new hairstyle

Model and former SAS Australia contestant Jett Kenny has drastically changed his hair colour for a good cause. Sharing the incredible snaps to Instagram, Jett showed off bright pink locks in support of his friend’s daughter who was diagnosed with leukaemia. Jett has already raised a whopping $8,200 for the Leukaemia Foundation and will cut his hair on April 9, in honour of his friend’s daughter. “When I said pink, I meant PINK,” he wrote in the caption. “A whopping $8200 has been raised so far for team #allinforaspen and @worldsgreatestshave “Nine more days till it all comes off, let’s see what targets we can hit next. Let’s smash 10k!” <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbwyASkhCx2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbwyASkhCx2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Jett Kenny (@jettkenny)</a> </div> </blockquote> Jett shared his own story on the World’s Greatest Shave website, saying his hair might also not grow back. “I started growing my hair in 2012 and has been long and tied up ever since being able to do so,” he wrote. “There’s a strong chance my hair may not grow back as, like my father, I’m leaning towards the bald side of life. “So please donate what you can, but more importantly, share this with all of your family and friends and encourage them to donate and share also! To see how much we can raise together as a team! “Thankyou for your support!” At the time of the publication, Jett had raised $21,146.51 of his $1,000 goal. Images: Instagram

Caring

Spotify’s response to Rogan-gate falls short of its ethical and editorial obligations

Audio streaming giant <a href="https://www.spotify.com/au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a> is getting a crash course in the tension between free speech and the need to protect the public from harmful misinformation.The Swedish-founded platform, which has 400 million active users, has faced a hail of criticism over misinformation broadcast on its <a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/joe-rogan-experience-most-popular-podcast-news-roundup-1235123361/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most popular podcast</a>, the Joe Rogan Experience.Rogan, a former ultimate fighting commentator and television presenter, has <a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/joe-rogan-anti-vaccine-podcast-spotify-1234961803/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> healthy young people should not get a COVID vaccination. This is contrary to medical advice from governments all over the world, not to mention the <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a>.A recent episode of his podcast, featuring virologist Robert Malone, drew <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/14/spotify-joe-rogan-podcast-open-letter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticism from public health experts</a> over its various conspiracist claims about COVID vaccination programs.There were widespread calls for Spotify to deplatform Rogan and his interviewees. Rock legend Neil Young issued an ultimatum that Spotify could broadcast Rogan or Young, but not both.Spotify made its choice: the Joe Rogan Experience is still on the air, while Young’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/28/joe-rogan-neil-young-spotify-streaming-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener">music</a> is gone, along with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-29/joni-mitchell-take-songs-off-spotify-solidarity-with-neil-young/100790200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joni Mitchell</a> and <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nils-lofgren-spotify-neil-young-1292480/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nils Lofgren</a>, who removed their content in solidarity.Spotify’s responseSpotify co-founder Daniel Ek has since <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-01-30/spotifys-platform-rules-and-approach-to-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> to tag controversial COVID-related content with links to a “hub” containing trustworthy information. But he stopped short of pledging to remove misinformation outright.In a statement, Ek <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-01-30/spotifys-platform-rules-and-approach-to-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>:<blockquote>We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users. In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.</blockquote>Does it go far enough?Freedom of expression is important, but so is prevention of harm. When what is being advocated is likely to cause harm or loss of life, a line has been crossed. Spotify has a moral obligation to restrict speech that damages the public interest.In response to the controversy, Spotify also publicly shared its <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-01-30/spotify-platform-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rules of engagement</a>. They are comprehensive and proactive in helping to make content creators aware of the lines that must not be crossed, while allowing for freedom of expression within these constraints. Has Spotify fulfilled its duty of care to customers? If it applies the rules as stated, provides listeners with links to trustworthy information, and refuses to let controversial yet profitable content creators off the hook, this is certainly a move in the right direction.Platform or publisher?At the crux of the problem is the question of whether social media providers are <a href="https://socialmediahq.com/if-social-media-companies-are-publishers-and-not-platforms-that-changes-everything/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">platforms or publishers</a>.Spotify and other Big Tech players claim they are simply providing a platform for people’s opinions. But <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/scott-morrison-says-social-media-platforms-are-publishers-if-unwilling-to-identify-users/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulators</a> are beginning to say no, they are in fact publishers of information, and like any publisher must be accountable for their content.<figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443600/original/file-20220201-19-1kyj1oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Logos of big tech platforms" /><figcaption>Tech platforms like to claim they’re not publishers. Pixabay, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY</a></figcaption></figure>Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2021/06/01/addressing-big-techs-power-over-speech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have significant power</a> to promote particular views and limit others, thereby influencing millions or even <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/#:%7E:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Facebook,the%20biggest%20social%20network%20worldwide." target="_blank" rel="noopener">billions</a> of users.In the United States, these platforms have immunity from civil and criminal liability under a <a href="https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1996 federal law</a> that shields them from liability as sites that host user-generated content. Being US corporations, their actions are primarily based on US legislation.It is an ingenious business model that allows Facebook, for example, to turn a steady stream of free user-posted content into <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/277963/facebooks-quarterly-global-revenue-by-segment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US$28 billion in quarterly advertising revenue</a>.Established newspapers and magazines also sell advertising, but they pay journalists to write content and are legally liable for what they publish. It’s little wonder they are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/24/newspapers-journalists-coronavirus-press-democracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struggling</a> to survive, and little wonder the tech platforms are keen to avoid similar responsibilities.But the fact is that social media companies do make editorial decisions about what appears on their platforms. So it is not morally defensible to hide behind the legal protections afforded to them as platforms, when they operate as publishers and reap considerable profits by doing so.How best to combat misinformation?Misinformation in the form of fake news, intentional disinformation and misinformed opinion has become a crucial issue for democratic systems around the world. How to combat this influence without compromising democratic values and free speech?One way is to cultivate “news literacy” – an ability to discern misinformation. This can be done by making a practice of sampling news from across the political spectrum, then averaging out the message to the moderate middle. Most of us confine ourselves to the echo chamber of our preferred source, avoiding contrary opinions as we go.If you are not sampling at least three reputable sources, you’re not getting the full picture. Here are the <a href="https://libguides.ucmerced.edu/news/reputable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">characteristics</a> of a reputable news source.Social media, meanwhile, should invest in artificial intelligence (AI) tools to sift the deluge of real-time content and flag potential fake news. Some progress in this area has been made, but there is room for improvement.The tide is turning for the big social media companies. Governments around the world are formulating laws that will oblige them to be more responsible for the content they publish. They won’t have long to wait.<img style="border: none !important;margin: 0 !important;max-height: 1px !important;max-width: 1px !important;min-height: 1px !important;min-width: 1px !important;padding: 0 !important" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176022/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-tuffley-13731" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Tuffley</a>, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Griffith University</a>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/spotifys-response-to-rogan-gate-falls-short-of-its-ethical-and-editorial-obligations-176022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>.Image: Getty Images

Technology

Bill Gates shares holiday reading list

Image: CNN Almost every year Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lists books he has read and recommends them on his blog. This year Bill has shared what he calls his “holiday readers”. He shares he has read a lot this year but these five books stood out most. 1. A Thousand Brains: A New theory of intelligence by Jeff Hawkins. “Few subjects have captured the imaginations of science fiction writers like artificial intelligence. If you’re interested in learning more about what it might take to create a true AI, this book offers a fascinating theory.” Hawkins was the co-inventor of the PalmPilot device back in the 90s. 2. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson is the second book that gates recommends. “The CRISPR gene editing system is one of the coolest and most consequential scientific breakthroughs of the last decade,” says Gates. The author does a good job highlighting “the most important ethical questions around gene editing.” 3. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. “This book makes me think about what life with super intelligent robots might look like-and whether we’ll treat these kinds of machines as pieces of technology or something more.” 4. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. “If you’re a Shakespeare fan, you’ll love this moving novel about how his personal life might’ve influenced the writing of one of the most famous plays,” he noted. 5. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It is a “wild tale about high school science teacher who wakes up in a different star system with no memory of how he got there.” Gates found this to be a fun read and finished it in one weekend

Books

‘Gate to Hell’ myths confirmed

Though Pamukkale, in western Turkey, is known for its travertines - limestone cliffs that have formed over 400,000 years from the mineral-laden water of nearby springs - an even more interesting attraction also calls the site home. On top of the white towers sits the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis. An ancient city Founded by the Attalid kings of Pergamon at the end of the 2nd Century BC, Hierapolis was taken over by the Romans in 133 AD and turned into a thriving spa town. The remains of the successful city are still visible, including its arched entrance gate, colonnaded main street and restored amphitheatre, all made from travertine. “The thermal waters are likely one of the primary reasons for the city’s foundations,” said Dr Sarah Yeomans, an archeologist at the University of South Carolina who specialises in the Roman Empire. “By the mid-2nd century, Hierapolis would have been a beautiful, bustling spa-town with what I imagine was a more dynamic and diverse population than most, given the popularity of such places with visitors.” Truth behind the myths Despite its beauty, Hierapolis was said to be the location of a “Gate to Hell”, a portal to the underworld where unsuspecting victims would be claimed by the hellhound Cerberus’ toxic breath on behalf of his master, the god Pluto. A shrine was built on the site and pilgrims would pay priests to make sacrifices to the god Pluto on their behalf. Writers at the time said priests would lead animals into the shrine and it would instantly drop dead, while the priest would return alive. “I threw in sparrows, and immediately breathed their last and fell,” wrote the Greek geographer Strabo in Book 13 of his encyclopedia Geography. Though visitors to the site today might find it hard to imagine these stories being true, one volcano biologist decided to test their validity. “When I read the descriptions from the ancient writers, I began wondering if there could be a scientific explanation,” said Hardy Pfanz, who studies gases given off during geological processes at Germany’s University of Duisburg-Essen. “I wondered, could this Gate to Hell be a volcanic vent?” To test his theory, Pfanz travelled to Hierapolis in 2013. “We weren’t sure what we would find. It could’ve been made up, could’ve been nothing,” he said. “We most certainly weren’t expecting to get an answer so quickly. “We saw dozens of dead creatures around the entrance: mice, sparrows, blackbirds, many beetles, wasps and other insects. So we knew right away that the stories were true.” When Pfanz tested the air around the vent, he found the culprit: toxic levels of carbon dioxide. Where normal air contains 0.04 percent carbon dioxide, Pfanz found the concentration around the shrine reached 80 percent. “Just a few minutes exposure to 10 percent carbon dioxide can kill you,” he explained, “so the levels here are really deadly.” But Pfanz still had one question: if the area is so deadly, how did the priests in the shrine survive? Returning a year later, he then studied the concentration of the gas over the course of the day, finding that it would quickly dissipate during the day when it was warm and sunny but would pool at ground level at night as the temperature decreased. He came to the conclusion that the animals, with their noses close to the ground, quickly suffocated while the priests, standing taller, were breathing significantly lower levels of the gas and could survive. Today, the shrine is bricked up and a walkway recently built around the site allows visitors to see the area without the risks of inhaling the deadly gas. “When I first recognised that the legendary breath of Cerberus is actually carbon dioxide, I was standing right in front of the archway,” Pfanz said. “In that moment, I realised we had solved this ancient mystery; it was a really fantastic feeling.” Image: Paul Cooper / Twitter

International Travel

Bridgerton offers clever relationship advice — why friendship is the foundation of happy romantic partnerships

This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton <hr /> The first season of <a href="https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80232398">Bridgerton</a>, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s <a href="https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/">novels</a>, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the debutante season of 1813. It starts with Miss Daphne, the eldest daughter of the Bridgerton family, being presented to the court in preparation for the social season of marriage arrangements. As the story develops, filled with secrets and scandals, the young lady seeks to understand what marriage and love is all about. Her mother, Lady Violet, offers this advice: <blockquote> My dear, why ever do you complicate matters so? You must simply marry the man who feels like your dearest friend. </blockquote> As a psychology researcher who studies romantic relationships, I think this touches on an idea well supported by research evidence: friendship is the foundation of happy romantic partnerships. The importance of friendship American psychologist Robert Sternberg originally <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-21992-001">theorised</a> love is composed of three elements: passion, intimacy and commitment. But these elements do not comprehensively describe the complexity of romantic relationships. Researchers have long sought to include other elements such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1468199031000099424">partner compatibility</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xRCAAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=info:Vuqqrl6AGiIJ:scholar.google.com&ots=AsvwXKnRxG&sig=5oKQDpBgdR9niPa-_HzeGsU2Lwc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">emotional connection</a>, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-33681-007">accessibility</a>, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-33681-007">responsiveness</a>, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-33681-007">engagement</a>, <a href="https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ps.40.5.540">acceptance</a>, the ability to communicate and reveal thoughts and feelings (called “<a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/jscp.23.6.857.54803">self-disclosure</a>”), <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/med/7220710">independence</a> and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-01471-001">conflict resolution</a>. What’s more, although it’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167203262847">well established</a> physical attraction and earning potential will influence how people select partners, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.51.6.1167">similarity</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/abm/article-abstract/41/1/131/4569550">familiarity</a> are more important for relationships long-term. Over time, similarities such as values, political attitudes, and religiosity become more relevant and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16958707/">are likely to lead</a> to greater happiness and relationship satisfaction. All of these are qualities you’d also find in a good friend. Indeed marriage researcher and psychologist John Gottman argues friendship is the foundation of happy romantic partnerships and the most important predictor of maintaining good relationships long-term. In his book, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HB43DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=seven+principle+of+making+marriage+work&ots=yJ-Bw-nIbt&sig=J0SDLtQIz2NefIqsRrCXOTysWG0#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cknow%20each%20other%20intimately%20%5Band%5D%20are%20well%20versed%20in%20each%20other%E2%80%99s%20likes%2C%20dislikes%2C%20personality%20quirks%2C%20hopes%2C%20and%20dreams&f=false">The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work</a>, Gottman explains couples have a better chance of success if they “know each other intimately — they are well versed in each other’s likes, dislikes, personality quirks, hopes, and dreams”. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378168/original/file-20210111-21-hvpfqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Daphne Bridgerton and her mother Lady Violet Bridgerton" /> Lady Violet (right) has sound advice for her daughter Daphne: ‘You must simply marry the man who feels like your dearest friend’. LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX The relationship advice and support provided by Lady Violet was a significant contributor to Daphne’s decision to marry Simon, the Duke of Hastings. The Duke explains that at first, love was out of the question, but in removing it, they found friendship, which is a far greater feat. He put it simply: <blockquote> To meet a beautiful woman is one thing, but to meet your best friend in the most beautiful of women is something entirely apart. </blockquote> Barriers to finding (and keeping) love) On the other hand, the show demonstrates how people’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours can potentially sabotage their chances in love. One reason why so many couples struggle to navigate conflict in their relationships is because people are often intrinsically motivated to protect themselves rather than be vulnerable. The Duke of Hastings is a good example. In an attempt to protect himself from the hurtful memories of his childhood and relationship with his father, the Duke closed himself off to relationships and love. Unfortunately, this is all too common. In my recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332691.2020.1795039?needAccess=true">study</a>, published in July 2020, I surveyed 696 people and uncovered countless examples of people who describe being afraid and believing they’re not worthy of love. Here are some of them: <blockquote> “I am always afraid it is not going to work out or I am going to get hurt, but I know that me trying to maintain a distance like that is one of the reasons my relationships always fail” “I fear not being accepted for who I am” “My own beliefs that I am maybe not good enough, or worthy of such affection, make it difficult to maintain relationships” “I am not good enough for my partner and one day they will realise that and leave.” </blockquote> These beliefs influence how people perceive quality and stress in relationships, and can mean people prevent themselves from forming and maintaining successful relationships. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378171/original/file-20210111-19-p5jwn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Sad woman lying on bed facing away from her partner" /> Many of us are afraid to be vulnerable, and shut ourselves off to potential chances at love. Shutterstock Overcoming the trials of relationships Unlike “happily ever after” tales, Bridgerton follows the couple into a story of conflict when navigating the expectations of marriage. The trust between the couple seemed to have been broken beyond repair after Daphne discovered Simon had been lying to her about his inability to have children. But a foundation of friendship remained. And it was this foundation that helped them overcome their issues. In my research, I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332691.2020.1795039?needAccess=true">found</a> participants were able to overcome issues in their relationships by focusing on trust, communication, commitment, safety and acceptance. They noted these as important elements when managing conflict and relationship expectations. Maintaining a healthy relationship long-term requires partners to know, trust and be vulnerable with one another, while also engaging in open communication and collaboration towards the common goal of working on their relationship. Altogether, these elements also describe meaningful friendships.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152953/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/raquel-peel-368041">Raquel Peel</a>, Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bridgerton-offers-clever-relationship-advice-why-friendship-is-the-foundation-of-happy-romantic-partnerships-152953">original article</a>.

Relationships

"Not a friendly split": Inside Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce talks

Bill and Melinda Gates reportedly made the decision to divorce several months before they announced it on May 3. The Microsoft founder, 65, and his wife of 27 years announced their split on Monday. Melinda, 56, reportedly rented Calivigny Island in Grenada at a cost of $A160,000 per night to avoid media scrutiny in the wake of the divorce, according to TMZ. The plan was for the couple's three children and Melinda to ride out the media attention into the split at the island. Sources told the outlet that the split was “not friendly”. “First, we’re told this was not a friendly split,” the publication alleged. “We’re told Melinda and most of the family were furious at Bill for various things they claim he had done. “Second… it’s clear this divorce has been a long time in the making.” Bill and Melinda have not spoken in the days since announcing their divorce in twin statements online. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” they wrote. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. “We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.” The pair met at Microsoft and began dating in 1987 following a trade fair in New York.

Relationships

Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce after 27 years of marriage

Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their marriage after 27 years, announcing the news on their Twitter accounts. "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," the statement reads. The couple founded their philanthropic organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together in 2000. Since then, the foundation has spent $69.2 billion on a wide range of initiatives related to global health, poverty alleviation and more, according to its website. "We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," the statement says. "We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives." Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest people in the world with a net worth of $176 billion. Bill and Melinda met in 1987 at Microsoft - which Bill Gates founded and was, at the time, running as CEO. Melinda was part of the first group of MBA graduates to join the company and quickly climbed up the ladder to become general manager of information products. She met Bill after she joined the company in 1987, at a business dinner in New York. She described the encounter in her book, The Moment of Lift: "I showed up late, and all the tables were filled except one, which still had two empty chairs side by side. I sat in one of them. A few minutes later, Bill arrived and sat in the other." The couple married in Hawaii in 1994.

Relationships

The Gates Foundation’s prophetic coronavirus pandemic simulation

On 18 October last year, the Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum and the John Hopkins Centre for Health Security held a pandemic simulation exercise, with the aim of “educating senior leaders” about an adequate response to the type of crisis the planet is currently in the grips of. The simulation was called <a href="http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/about">Event 201</a>. Fifteen participants took part in a mock pandemic emergency board. This included representatives from the UN Foundation, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Johnson & Johnson, Lufthansa and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Representing Australia was ANZ board member <a href="http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/players/halton.html">Jane Halton</a>, who incidentally has been <a href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/morrison-shuts-down-parliament-hands-nation-corporations">appointed</a> to the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission by Scott Morrison. The NCCC is a local body of corporate representatives designed to coordinate the economy during the very real COVID-19 crisis. The Event 201 scenario involved a new coronavirus – a disease that causes respiratory tract infection – that developed in pigs in South America and then infected farmers. The virus spread around the world, with some people developing mild flu-like symptoms, while others perished. Stranger than fiction Watching the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoLw-Q8X174&app=desktop">highlights of Event 201</a> – which took place just five and a half months ago – is eerie. Simulated “GNN” newsreels appear between footage of emergency board discussions, one of which involves an immunologist outlining that efforts to find a vaccine during the outbreak failed. The Gates Foundation’s Christopher Elias asserts that keeping global supply chains open would take “knowledge that only the private sector has”, while the UN could play a role coordinating the various private entities. But, it’s clear to Elias that this aspect of the response would rely upon corporations. The most distressing part of the highlights comes when the issue of the “overwhelming amounts of dis- and mis- information circulating over the internet” is broached. The board members go on to discuss whether internet shutdowns would be necessary to deal with fake news. Think about it – as we sit locked down in our homes during a real pandemic, with newly imposed restrictions on gatherings with others outside of our own households – what would it be like if the government and private business decided to close down the main mode of communications? Too little too late Event 21 led to seven key recommendations, all of which, it would seem now, came too late. These suggested that governments and business sectors should plan for a pandemic situation, which would include stockpiling medical supplies and investing in <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/should-child-vaccination-be-compulsory/">vaccination</a> development capabilities. The outcome of the simulated pandemic was catastrophic, with 65 million people dying in the first 18 months. The outbreak was small at first and seemed controllable. But, once it started spreading through the poor neighbourhoods of megacities, it exploded, with cases in nearly every country. “We have to ask, did this need to be so bad?” says a GNN mock news presenter. “Are there things we could have done in the five to ten years leading up to the pandemic that would have lessened the catastrophic consequences?” The presenter concludes, “We believe the answer is yes.” However, that timeframe to prepare is now lost. Written by Paul Gregoire. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-gates-foundations-prophetic-coronavirus-pandemic-simulation/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a>

Art

"Oh well”: Bill Gates' candid response on mistake that cost him $573 billion

Bill Gates shared at an event hosted by a venture capital firm the single biggest mistake that cost Microsoft a shocking $573 billion. He revealed that the greatest lapse in judgement from Microsoft was that they allowed Google to develop the Android OS instead of it being developed by Microsoft. “The greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is, [meaning] Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win,” he said in a conversation with Eventbrite cofounder Julia Hartz, reported TechCrunch. Microsoft quickly jumped on the bandwagon and developed Windows-powered phone in 2010, but they struggled to compete with Apple and Android and were phased out in 2017. The failure was contributed to attracting and retaining apps on the platform. “It really is winner take all,” he said. “If you’re there with half as many apps or 90% as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom. There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system, and what’s that worth? $A573 billion,” he said. He reflected on how big Microsoft would’ve been if they had developed Android first. “We are a leading company. If we got that one right, we would be ‘the’ company. But oh well,” he said. He also said he’s come a long way from the man he used to be, which is the man who “didn’t believe in weekends”. “Once I got into my 30s, I could hardly even imagine how I had done that,” he said. “Now I take lots of vacation - my 20-year-old self is so disgusted with my current self.”

Money & Banking

Bill Gates gets candid about rival Steve Jobs: He “cast spells on people”

According to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his rival Apple CEO Steve Jobs “cast spells on people” to keep Apple profitable during the dark days of the company. Both men are known for creating an intense workplace culture and being tough leaders. Gates realised that Jobs’ leadership style was a good example of “don’t do this at home”. Gates spoke to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/tech/bill-gates-on-steve-jobs/index.html">Fareed Zakaria from CNN</a> about his relationship with Jobs. "I have yet to meet any person who in terms of picking talent, hyper-motivating that talent and having a sense of design, of 'this is good, this is not good.' So he brought some incredibly positive things along with that toughness." Gates reflected on Jobs and the way he “cast spells on people”. "Steve is really a singular case where the company was on a path to die and it goes and becomes the most valuable company in the world with some products that are really quite amazing. There aren't going to be many stories like that." Gates also admitted that his intense workplace culture went “too far”, especially in the early days of the company. "We had, to some degree, a self-selected set of people who were mostly males, I'll admit, and yes, we were pretty tough on each other," Gates said. "We counted on each other to work very long hours and I always wanted to set the best example of that. I think that intensity, even though a little bit it went too far, was great for my 20s, 30s, 40s."

Technology

Experts reveal new sleep requirements for different age groups

Given that we spend a big part of lives sleeping – one third to be exact – it should come as no surprise that the quality and quantity of sleep is crucial to our overall health and wellbeing. Yet despite reading countless information about how to improve your sleep and why it’s imperative to get good-quality shuteye each night – guidelines vary when it comes to how much Zs we should catch each night. Well, until now. If you’re wondering how much sleep you should actually get, a new study from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in the United States has revised the amount everyone needs. The chart has a minimum and maximum range, and a recommended section for optimal health that can be used as a good rule of thumb. One of the new things introduced is the “may be appropriate” range, which acknowledges that individuals do vary in their sleep needs. The NSF now recommends: Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14 to 17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18) Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12 to 15 hours (previously it was 14-15) Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11 to 14 hours (previously it was 12-14) Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10 to 13 hours (previously it was 11-13) School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9 to 11 hours (previously it was 10-11) Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8 to 10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5) Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7 to 9 hours (new age category) Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7 to 9 hours Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7 to 8 hours (new age category) The NSF gathered a panel of 18 scientists and researchers from medical associations in fields including paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and psychiatry, who spent more than two years working on their study. The experts were asked to review more than 300 current studies on how much sleep is ideal, and then vote on how much sleep people should get at different stages of their life. “The NSF has committed to regularly reviewing and providing scientifically rigorous recommendations,” Chair of the National Sleep Foundation Scientific Advisory Council Dr Max Hirshkowitz said. “The public can be confident that these recommendations represent the best guidance for sleep duration and health.” While their sleep chart is good to keep in mind, the NSF says it's important to also consider what lifestyle factors may be impacting your sleep. <a href="/health/wellbeing/2014/09/tips-to-guarantee-you-the-best-night-sleep-of-your-life!/" target="_blank">To find out how you can get a good night’s sleep, read our article: Tips to guarantee you the BEST night sleep of your life!</a>

News

Mum’s open letter after losing her newborn will break your heart

In February 2015, Meagen Gries welcomed her “beautiful, smiley, vivacious” daughter Molly into the world. Ten weeks later, however, Molly was gone and Meagen was left utterly heartbroken. Her baby had tragically suffocated to death after being swaddled and placed on her side in a pack-n-play that had blankets in the bottom. Now, in an emotional open letter shared with <a href="https://au.be.yahoo.com/lifestyle/parenting/a/37534840/mum-s-heartbreaking-open-letter-after-newborn-s-accidental-death/" target="_blank">Yahoo7 Be</a>, Meagen is urging other parents (and grandparents) to be aware of the popular baby product’s dangers. “Dear mums and dads of babies,” she begins. “How are you? That’s a silly question. I know how you are. You’re deliriously in love with that sweet baby of yours but also delirious with exhaustion. These first few months are hard. Really hard. But I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve probably found yourself entering into what I refer to as ‘survival mode’. You know it – the place you find yourself when you’re so tired you don’t know up from down and you will do anything to get some sleep and feel like yourself again. Right? I get it because I’ve been there," she wrote. “But can I tell you a secret? Your baby will sleep. It’s true. I didn’t believe it either. But it happens. Slowly at first, and then all of a sudden they're sleeping and you look back and think, 'Man, that was hard. But we did it.' “How do I know this? Because I’ve lived it. Three times to be exact. With my first two I used every trick in the book. Everything you’re ‘not supposed to do’ because I was in that survival mode. And I needed sleep and I convinced myself those ‘no-no’s’ were the only way I was going to get it. So, they slept next to me in my bed. There were blankets in their cribs. They slept in things they weren’t supposed to – car seats, swings, bouncers. It didn’t matter to me, so long as they were sleeping!" Meagen shared. “But then… my ten-week-old daughter died. Not with me, but at her daycare. That part doesn’t matter because the way she died – swaddled, in a crib with blankets under her – could’ve easily happened with me or my husband," she heartbreakingly revealed. “Her name is Molly, and she should still be here. I dropped her off for her first day of daycare after my ten-week maternity leave and returned to my classroom of first grade students who were so excited to have their teacher back. Everything went great until lunchtime when I sat down to inhale my turkey sandwich and pump my breastmilk," Meagen said. “That’s when I got the call. ‘She’s not breathing. They took her to the hospital.’ After thrusting the pumped milk at a co-worker and screaming inaudible directions at my boss, I sprinted out the door. One excruciatingly long drive later, I arrived at the hospital to be met by a social worker. She escorted me to a small, white room where an ugly lamp, a scratchy wool couch and a box of tissues were waiting for me," the mum wrote. “‘So... how old is Owen?’ She asked with fake interest. I ignored her. I was too busy trying to convince myself that this wasn’t happening. It didn’t work. It was happening. Then a teary physician walked in and rushed through saying, ‘She came in with no pulse. We tried to restart her heart and were not successful. We’re very sorry.’” Meagen added, “And as I slid off the chair onto the floor, my world ended.” She continued, “The rest became a blur. Calling my husband who was out of town and telling him his little girl was gone. Walking into a small, dimly lit room where my cold, lifeless daughter was handed to me. Rocking her and sobbing into her fine hair. Telling her older brother his sister wasn’t coming home. Picking out a casket for her. Deciding what clothes she would be buried in. Sitting numbly through her funeral where everyone told me how very sorry they were and that they’re praying for us. And saying goodbye as they lowered her into the ground.” Meagen shared, “It’s the worst thing you can go through. It’s been two years and I still cannot believe this is real life. I wake up many mornings and think it was a bad dream. A really bad dream. But it wasn’t, and Molly should be here.” But good news was to come. “A year after losing Molly, we welcomed her little sister Emma. Molly passed away May 4th, 2016. Emma was due May 4th, 2017, and she was born on the 5th. When she came, my husband and I decided that no matter what, she would sleep safely. We’d follow all the rules this time. And let me tell you, it was tough. There were some long nights. Not a lot, but a few. But we made it through. And now Emma is a year-and-a-half-old and she’s never known those comforts that we convinced ourselves Owen and Molly needed. She’s only ever slept alone, on her back and in her crib and get this ... she sleeps! Like a champ!” The letter continues, “No one will tell you that safe sleep is always easy. If they do, they’re lying. But I can tell you without a doubt, it’s worth it. Ignore those mums and dads and grandparents and well-meaning old ladies in the grocery store who tell you they had to put their baby down on her belly or in a swing because it was ‘the only way they’d sleep!’ Your biggest priority is protecting your little one –making sure they're eating and gaining weight and that they’re healthy. This is just part of that.” The mum added, “Look past all the tips and tricks and products you know are risky and stay strong – something you'll do a lot of as a mum and a dad. Because babies do sleep." “You’ve got this,” Meagen signs off. The Molly Ann Gries Foundation has been set up in Molly’s honour to help raise awareness about safe sleeping. To learn more, <a href="http://www.mollyanngriesfoundation.org/" target="_blank">click here</a>.

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