Rolandt

 

After unprecedented lockdowns and restrictions to flatten the curve of Covid-19 infection, business and government leaders are wrestling with the question of when and how to ease them. Various approaches are being tried, and there are wide differences of opinion. Much of the broader debate is polarized, as if only two conditions exist — “closed” or “open.” The stakes couldn’t be higher. If there were ever a time for rational decision making, it is now. Leaders should apply three principles to what may be the most consequential decision of their careers.

Be clear about the objective.

Charles Kettering, who invented the electric starter for automobiles in the early 20th century, famously said, “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” The starting point for any reopening decision — for a country, state, community, or business — must begin with its objective. The objective must be reasonable and achievable, and actions must focus on achieving it. The U.S. lockdown was initially framed as “15 days to slow the spread” and prevent overwhelming the limited capacity of health systems.

Policymakers judged that objective to be sensible at the time, and worth its costs — even if it took longer than planned. Having achieved that goal, what should be next? Extreme objectives don’t appear reasonable at this point; just as there is no way to eliminate all risk of Covid-19 transmission, there is no way to quickly and fully restore economic activity. Likewise, continuing the current lockdowns for 18 months while we wait for a vaccine as some have called for is not practical either. And removing all restrictions could create a second wave. And so on.

Objectives for reopening must balance multiple and competing considerations. Clear thinking here will go a long way toward helping frame sensible action choices. Decision scientists call these “saddle point” problems, which typically involve minimizing one quantity and maximizing another. For example, an objective could be “to minimize Covid-19 impact while maximizing non-Covid-19 health outcomes” (e.g., ensuring people receive treatment for other conditions). Or it could be “to minimize deaths from Covid-19 while maximizing preservation of employment.” Framing the question precisely, as Kettering reminds us, is the first step toward a clear solution.

Read the full Article ON Harvard Business Review

The post We Need a Rational Approach to Reopening appeared first on Innosight.

mkalus shared this story from iandunt on Twitter.

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Nick Statt, The Verge, May 27, 2020

I'm wondering whether the same story is playing out in education. Here's the story: "according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal...  Facebook leadership ignored the findings and has largely tried to absolve itself of responsibility with regard to partisan divides and other forms of polarization it directly contributed to [because] changes might disproportionately affect conservatives and might hurt engagement." What is the appropriate response in an information society to efforts to divide and radicalize the population for partisan purposes?

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Ich habe gerade einen Lauf bei den Headsets. Also erlege ich alles, was mir vor die Flinte kommt. :-) Jabra hatte mir zu dem Evolve2 65 noch das alte Evolve 75 zum Vergleich geschickt, und heute habe ich es dann endlich mal ausgepackt und mit der aktuellen Firmware versehen. Im Prinzip sind das zwei sehr ähnliche Headsets: Mikrofonarm, On-Ear, (optionale) Ladestation auf dem Tisch, Bluetooth-Dongle für den PC. Also was ist anders? Zitieren wir mal Jabras FAQ:

Frage: Wodurch unterscheidet sich die Jabra Evolve2 Serie von der bisherigen Jabra Evolve Serie?

Antwort: Die Jabra Evolve2 Serie ist eine neue Produktlinie, die die bestehende Evolve Serie ergänzt. Wir haben die Modelle dieser Produktlinie in allen Punkten überarbeitet und weiterentwickelt. Die Modelle der Evolve Serie gehören zu der weltweit führenden Headset-Serie für den professionellen Einsatz – mit der Evolve2 Serie setzen wir einen neuen Standard.

Alles klar? Ich will es mal anders sagen: HOLY MOLY, ist das besser geworden. Beim Musikhören ist das ein Unterschied wie zwischen Kofferradio und Stereoanlage. Jabra hat den Evolve2 neue 40mm-Treiber verpasst, die um Welten besser sind als die alten. Mit dem Evolve2 könnte ich als einzigem Kopfhörer leben, mit dem Evolve nicht. Der Fairness halber sei gesagt, dass ich dem Evolve2 etwas mehr Bass mit dem 60 Hz-Regler verpasst habe. Den gibt es beim Evolve gar nicht.

Modernisiert ist auch das Dock. Das alte (rechts) hatte obenauf einen MicroUSB-Stecker, der ziemlich gut in den Port am Headset rutscht. Beim neuen Dock gibt es nun zwei kleine Federkontakte, die das Headset aufladen. Dafür verzichtet das Dock auf eine gesonderte Lade-Anzeige. Das neue Headset hat auch einen USB-C-Port, so wie ein modernes Headset das haben sollte.

Apropos Laden: Das Evolve hält bis zu 15 Stunden durch, das Evolve2 sage und schreibe 37 Stunden. Ich kenne kein anderes Headset mit dieser Ausdauer.

Das Evolve hat deutlich mehr Bling als das Evolve2, wie man an den Metallapplikationen an Dock, Ohrmuscheln und Mikrofon sieht. Und es hat ein paar kleine Annehmlichkeiten, die man jetzt nicht mehr findet. So hält ein Magnet den Mikrofonarm am Headset fest, wenn man ihn dort parkt. Beim Evolve2 steht er ab wie eine Antenne.

Gespart hat Jabra auch beim Case. Neu ist eine Kunstledertasche, die wenigstens ein kleines Innentäschchen für das USB-Dongle Link 380 hat. Das Evolve 75 hatte noch ein Hardcase, mit einem Netz im Deckel für das Ladekabel, das in der Kunstledertasche lose rumfliegt. Der Link 370 (!)steckt hier in einem kleinen Schlitz im Hardcase, so dass man sofort sieht, ob man ihn auch verpackt hat. Das ist schick und schützt das Headset besser, trägt aber auch etwas mehr in der Tasche auf.

Wer mit seinem Evolve 75 zufrieden ist, muss es nicht unbedingt ablösen, aber wer die Wahl hat: Evolve2 65 ist der klare Sieger.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that Huawei’s chief financial officer’s case meets the double criminality test in Canada.

The court found that Meng Wanzhou’s case meets key factors of Canada’s extradition law, which means that the proceedings will continue on to the second phase in June.

“The double criminality requirement for extradition is capable of being met in this case. The effects of the U.S. sanctions may properly play a role in the double criminality analysis as part of the background context against which the alleged conduct is examined,” Justice Holmes stated in the 23-page ruling.

Justice Holmes writes that because of this, Meng’s application requesting to be discharged from the extradition process has been dismissed. If the court had determined that her case didn’t meet the so-called “double criminality” test, she would have been free to leave.

Meng’s defence team argued that the crimes she is accused of “could not have amounted to fraud in Canada because it relates entirely to the effects of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, and at the relevant time Canada had no such sanctions (just as it has none now).”

Justice Holmes stated in her ruling that Canada’s law of fraud looks beyond international boundaries.

“Ms. Meng’s approach to the double criminality analysis would seriously limit Canada’s ability to fulfill its international obligations in the extradition context for fraud and other economic crimes.” Holmes wrote.

Huawei has responded to the court decision and stated that it is disappointed by the ruling, but that it expects “Canada’s judicial system will ultimately prove Ms. Meng’s innocence.”

Huawei statement regarding Meng Wanzhou: pic.twitter.com/zvODmPhgIj

— Huawei Canada (@Huawei_Canada) May 27, 2020

It should be noted that this decision does not mean that Meng will be extradited to the U.S., as the court still needs to determine if there is enough evidence even to warrant extradition.

It’s been more than a year since Vancouver authorities arrested Meng in December 2018 at the request of the U.S. for violating sanctions in Iran. Meng has since resided in one of her two mansions located in Vancouver under partial house arrest.

Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne released a statement saying: “This decision is but one component in a multi-step legal process. The Government of Canada will continue to be transparent about the extradition process for Ms. Meng.”

This latest development is likely to increase tensions between Canada and China even further.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently replied to comments from the Chinese ambassador, who said that this extradition case was “the biggest thorn” in the relationship between the two countries.

Trudeau had told reporters that “Canada has an independent judicial system that functions without interference or override by politicians. China doesn’t work quite the same way and doesn’t seem to understand that we do have an independent judiciary.”

Now that the second phase of Meng’s extradition proceedings will continue in June, the process will likely last until the end of the year. However, due to appeals, the process could possibly last years.

Meng and her lawyers are expected to appear in court to discuss the next steps of the trial.

Image credit: Huawei 

The post B.C. court rules Huawei CFO’s extradition proceedings will continue to second phase appeared first on MobileSyrup.

The promotional site for Managing Humans still makes me smile. The photos were from a part of the property we call the Fairy Meadow. It’s a horse chestnut tree surrounded by a stream that only runs during the rainy season.

We return to the Fairy Meadow for the third book.

Thanks to my good friend Paul Campbell, we’re doing an online launch of the book Monday, June 8th at 11am Pacific. This is a live virtual event where we’ll be talking about the book as well as doing a moderated online Q&A. This is also done via the magic of Vito, a new live-streaming and community platform that Paul has been working on for the last few months. You can sign-up for the event here.

Yes, you can pre-order the book right now. Some folks have already received their pre-orders and more copies are arriving imminently. I’ll be writing more about the book here and elsewhere in the time leading up the launch.

My preference would’ve been cracking open a bottle with y’all, but… reasons.

Be safe.

Canadian-U.S. roaming service Roam Mobility has announced that it will “cease operations” on June 30th, 2020.

“We apologize to everyone who has relied on our service for US travel. Our mission has always been to help travellers stay connected and productive without the burden of expensive roaming fees or contracts,” said Roam Mobility in a recent email.

The once-popular roaming service likely experienced a downturn in usage long before the COVID-19 pandemic. Most major Candian carriers and even some flanker brands, including Rogers, Bell, Telus, Koodo, Fido and more, allow subscribers to use their mobile data allotment in the U.S. and in some cases other countries, for a fee. This fundamental shift in the Canadian wireless industry was spurred by the launch of Rogers’ ‘Roam Like Home’ offering back in 2014.

At one point, I was using Roam Mobility for every work trip to the United States. Selecting a plan, topping up data and simply just swapping SIM cards as soon as I landed, was a simple, straightforward process. Since Koodo launched Easy Roam, I no longer had a need for my Roam Mobility SIM card.

“The decision to discontinue our service was not one we came to lightly. Having made that difficult choice, our focus is now on supporting our customers and team members through the transition,” said Roam Mobility.

All Roam Sim sales and activations are suspended as of May 21st, 2020, followed by top-up functionality being halted on June 15th, 2020.

Roam’s ‘Talk+Text+Data’ plan featuring unlimited nationwide calling, global text, long-distance calling to Canada and 512MB of data, was priced at $4.97 CAD per day. The company’s $3.95 per day ‘Text+ Talk’ plan offers the same unlimited coverage as its ‘Talk+Text+Data’ plan, but with no mobile data. The company also offered a $2.97 ‘Text Only’ plan that features unlimited text and picture messaging. Roam also offered more expensive monthly and ‘Snowbird’ plans that lasted for three months.

Roam Mobility says that as of June 30th, any unused data will be refunded to customers with currently active plans. On this date the number associated with Roam SIM cards will also be permanently deactivated. Anyone who purchased a sim but that hasn’t activated it can fill out a request form prior to August 31st to get a refund. Similarly, a form can be submitted for store credit reimbursement.

The post Roam Mobility ceasing operations permanently on June 30, 2020 appeared first on MobileSyrup.

mkalus shared this story from ottocrat on Twitter.

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The Windows 10 May 2020 Update — also known as version 2004 — is finally arriving after a lengthy testing period.

Microsoft’s program management director of windows servicing and delivery, John Cable, made the announcement via a blog post on May 27th, noting that the 2004 update would be available the same day. However, actually getting the update may look a little different.

In the blog, Cable writes that Microsoft wants to ensure users “have a reliable, productive experience” with Windows 10 and so it will limit the availability of the May 2020 Update. To start, only devices running Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 can get it. Further, to get the update, users must proactively request it from the Settings app.

If you want to jump on the 2004 update right away, head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click ‘Check for updates.’ Once the May 2020 Update appears, you can click ‘Download and install’ to begin the process. Cable notes that Microsoft is “slowly throttling up this availability over the coming weeks” so some users may not see the option to update right away. Additionally, Microsoft has placed ‘safeguard holds’ on the update to prevent systems with potential compatibility issues from updating until the company is confident those users will “have a good update experience.”

Microsoft’s more measured approach to rolling out the update is welcome considering the past issues that stemmed from Windows 10 updates. The extra care is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic as more people are working remotely and relying on their PCs.

Microsoft will support Windows 10 2004 for 18 months beginning May 27th.

What’s new in Windows 10 2004

If you’re wondering what’s packaged in the May 2020 Update, Microsoft also posted a lengthy blog post detailing all the new features. You can check out the full post here if you want, and below you’ll find some of the highlights.

To start, Microsoft is making it faster and easier to pair Bluetooth devices with compatible Windows 10 PCs and improving the ability to go passwordless with your Microsoft account. Further, it’s adding ‘kaomoji’ to the Windows emoji keyboard, accessible by pressing the ‘Windows’ key and Period.

Windows 10 version 2004 will also users to name their virtual desktops as well.

For gamers, it ushers in support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, which provides smoother graphics with increased detail without sacrificing framerates.

Further, Microsoft is bringing the ‘segment heap’ capabilities from its UWP app platform to the first Win32 app, Microsoft Edge. In short, this means Edge should use significantly less memory — internal testing shows an up to 27 percent reduction in memory usage. Additionally, Microsoft plans to open up the capability to more developers soon.

ARM-based devices running on Windows 10 2004 will now have access to Microsoft’s Your Phone platform.

Finally, Cortana now supports an updated chat-based user interface, allowing users to type their questions instead of speak them, and Windows as a whole is getting several accessibility improvements.

All in all, it’s a hefty update with some welcome improvements. If you’re interested in downloading the update, head to the Settings app to get started.

Source: Microsoft, (2) Via: Thurott

The post Microsoft announces Windows 10 May 2020 Update is available now appeared first on MobileSyrup.

mkalus shared this story from ottocrat on Twitter.

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Why we use homework to recruit engineers

Ad Hoc run a remote-first team, and use detailed homework assignments as part of their interview process in place of in-person technical interview. The homework assignments are really interesting to browse through - "Containerize" for example involves building a Docker container to run a Python app with nginx a and a modern cipher suite. I'm nervous about the extra burden this places on candidates, but Ad Hoc address that: "We recognize that we’re asking folks to invest time into our process, but we feel like our homework compares favorably to extensive on-site interviews or other evaluation techniques, especially for candidates who have responsibilities outside of their work life."

Microsoft has launched a new dedicated Cortana app on Windows 10. Unlike the built-in Cortana in the Start menu or pinned to the taskbar, this new separate app allows users to interact with the company’s digital assistant in a resizable, movable space.

Further, the Cortana experience allows for text commands and can handle tasks like creating meetings, reminders, finding info from native Microsoft apps and more.

However, the new dedicated Cortana app is missing Alexa support, a major part of the original Cortana experience in Windows 10. First announced back in 2018, Amazon and Microsoft partnered to allow Alexa on Windows 10 devices and Cortana on Echo speakers. While not much as happened with the partnership since, Andrew Shuman, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Cortana, told VentureBeat the company “continue[s] to work really closely with Amazon.”

“There’s so many things that of course Amazon does well that we’re not going to do, and that starts with e-commerce and all those great experiences. So we’ll be bridging those in thoughtful ways, but we wanted to get started on a core set of first-party things that we can be great at,” Shuman said.

Another benefit of the stand-alone Cortana app is that separation from Windows 10 allows for more frequent updates. Since the new app is available from the Microsoft Store, the company can push updates to it much faster. Some of the planned updates include extending ‘Hey Cortana’ wake-word support to more languages and adding Bing capabilities. Photos and videos for the Cortana app could also arrive in the future.

Considering Microsoft killed off the Cortana Android and iOS apps, many thought the digital assistant was on its way out. However, it looks like Microsoft will instead integrate the assistant deeper into its apps. Both Teams and Outlook feature built-in Cortana features and Microsoft could expand that to more apps in the future.

If you want to try out the new Cortana for Windows 10, you can download it from the Microsoft Store for free.

Source: VentureBeat

The post Microsoft launches new dedicated Cortana app on Windows 10 appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Stephen Downes, May 27, 2020

From my perspective, criticizing the employment of online learning for failing to be perfect during a global pandemic, and using this as an opportunity to reinforce and reinvigorate the imperatives of existing institutions, is pernicious and unjustified. The criticisms of educational technology to be found in this article serve only to mask the glaring inadequacies of the traditional system.

See also on [Original Location] [This Post]

David Wiley, iterating toward openness, May 27, 2020

We'll grant David Wiley his assumptions, if only because they lead to such a fun conclusion:

1. The more research-based instructional design is embedded within an open educational resource is, the more (and the more easily) a learner can learn from it.
2. The more research-based the instructional design of a OER is, the harder it is to revise and remix without hurting its effectiveness.

Lovely. Wiley asks - and it's a great question - "What is the role of instructional design / learning science / learning engineering / related forms of expertise in the creation – or revising and remixing – of learning materials? Insisting that this expertise is important feels like it pulls against the democratizing power of modern conceptions of openness in education. But denying that this expertise matters feels like it joins the broader anti-expertise chorus currently eroding public policy.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

After years of happily using Safari’s Reading List and Apple News’ Saved Stories for all my read-later needs, recently I found myself facing a conundrum: there were too many articles saved in each place, and thus I needed a categorization system that neither Safari nor News provide. This problem is of course partly my fault, since I’m clearly not adequately working through my reading queue.¹ But I’m not at all willing to nuke these interesting stories and start fresh with zero saved links. Thus, I’ve been on the hunt for a read-later app that better meets my new needs.

If there’s one lesson this journey has taught me, it’s that read-later apps are just like task managers and email clients: there’s no perfect one-size-fits-all approach. Developers and users all have their own ideas about how such an app should best function, so there’s no perfect option out there. After a long search, however, I’ve found the app that comes as close to ideal for me as possible: Keep by developer Michael Zsigmond, which is available for iPhone, iPad, and also offers a web client.

In looking for a new read-later app, my list of requirements included:

• Tagging, or a similar categorization system
• iPad and iPhone apps with rock-solid sync
• Share extension for saving articles
• Modern, native-feeling design
• Article views that rely on Safari View Controller; or if not, they have to be beautifully designed

This list, in my estimation at least, isn’t a lot to ask for – yet it’s surprisingly hard to find. Keep is the only app I found that checked off every box.

Reading Experience

Keep is divided into five primary navigation tabs, but the only one I’ve used with any regularity is the main My Links tab. Here you’ll see a list of all your saved links, with a search box at the top, options to filter by tag in the top-left corner, and otherwise just a clean, attractive list of article titles, with image thumbnails and source pages. The other tabs are Videos, which houses all YouTube and Vimeo links, Discover, which offers a collection of articles curated by the developer, Docs for accessing saved PDFs, and finally Settings.

If you tap one of the saved links in My Links, it will open inside the app in Safari View Controller, so you can read the article in its original form on its source site but without being bounced into the full Safari app. I prefer that read-later apps use Safari View Controller because of the differentiation in design and character found on different websites. Apps like Instapaper, which provide a single design for all article views, often feel too bland for my tastes. But I also don’t like when an app simply opens links in Safari, since that requires a lot of bouncing back and forth.

The other key reading benefit I’ve found with Keep is that it works seamlessly with articles from Apple News. While I’ve always kept Safari’s Reading List and News’ Saved Stories separate, I love that I can now keep a single read-later database. When I come across an article in the News app that I want to save for later, I just hit the share button and use Keep’s share extension, just like I would from any other app. When you tap an Apple News link in Keep, it opens Safari View Controller for a split second before taking you immediately into the article in the News app. The transition takes place so quickly that it doesn’t bother me at all. Even if it does mean having to manually return to Keep when I’m done reading, that inconvenience is more than made up for by the value of having a single home for all saved links.

Noteworthy Features

Tagging and Favorites. Keep offers a simple, yet effective system where you can assign one or more tags to each link you’ve saved. Tags can be assigned via the context menu action available with a long-press or right-click, or by using a simple swipe gesture. Additionally, you can favorite any article, which sends it to a separate Favorites list. Your collections of tags and favorites can be accessed via the filter option in the top-left corner of My Links.

Listen to your articles. I’ve only recently started using the premium version of Keep, but one of the features it offers is the ability to listen to audio versions of your saved links. When you choose the Listen option for a link, you’ll have to wait a minute for it to download (so that it’s stored offline), but then you’re presented with a full audio player to listen in. Keep’s audio experience includes skip and playback speed controls, and the app will remember where you left off if you can’t listen to a whole story at once. The listening feature is powered by Google’s Text To Speech API, which I’ve found results in a surprisingly good sound. I love having this option for getting through my links queue.

Smart Tagging. Another premium feature is the ability to have links automatically tagged for you using Keep’s recommended tags. The app uses Google’s Natural Language API to identify from the link which tag should be assigned to it and takes care of this work for you. So far in my testing this has worked well, with my only complaint being that I wish it could use my own custom tags rather than using the app’s own tagging parameters. I’m admittedly a bit picky about naming schemes.

Sign In with Apple. This feature is becoming far more commonplace now, but it’s worth noting nonetheless that getting up and running with Keep is easy thanks to Sign In with Apple. The app will create your account with a simple Face ID or Touch ID scan, enabling quick login but also seamless syncing across multiple devices.

Miscellany. Keep also supports the system appearance setting for your device, so it can automatically switch between light and dark modes as appropriate. It also can optionally open all links in Safari’s Reader mode for a clean, uniform look; there’s a toggle to activate auto-tagging by domain; you can pin articles to the top of My Links; the Discover tab is a great low-volume place to find interesting stories; finally, if you want additional security for your saved links, you can require Face ID or Touch ID authentication every time you open the app.

Shortcomings

As happy as I am with Keep overall, sometimes it’s a sign of affection for an app that you identify more of its flaws and shortcomings. Below are the current pain points for my personal use of the app.

No drag and drop for importing articles. If you’re starting fresh with Keep, forfeiting all your current saved articles from another app, then this drawback likely won’t bother you at all. For me, however, getting started with Keep involved importing a large batch of articles from Safari and News. It would have been wonderful if I could use drag and drop on iPad to quickly, easily pull all of those links into Keep, but drag and drop isn’t supported by the app.

No bulk-tagging. Keep does have a bulk selection mode, which you can enter from the top-right corner of My Links, but the only option there is for deleting multiple articles at once. If you want to tag multiple articles with the same tag, you’ll have to do each one manually.

Share extension limitations. The way Keep’s share extension works is largely nice: you hit the extension, and after a second’s delay there’s confirmation that the link has been saved. There are no further buttons you need to press, making it a quick experience. However, if I could change anything it would be an additional option to add tags before the link is saved. Though I like the current speedy flow, it would be great getting to add tags right then rather than needing to do it later inside the app.

No audio versions of Apple News stories. If you use Apple News, you’ll be disappointed to learn that Keep’s audio feature doesn’t work for links saved from the News app. For all of the News links I’ve saved, the app can only create a short audio version mentioning the title of the article. It’s an understandable limitation, since News links are unique from standard URLs, but it’s unfortunate nonetheless.

No tag editing. Unless I’m missing something, there’s no way to edit the names of tags after they’ve been created. It’s a small thing, but I’d really like this option added.

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As my list of shortcomings shows, I’ve encountered some frustrating drawbacks with Keep. However, none of them take away from the core value of the app as a read-later tool. I’ve been using Keep for nearly a month now, and am overall very happy with it. No other read-later app I tried recently lasted more than a day, and for most it was only a few minutes before I dropped them.

If your read-later preferences line up at all with mine, then I highly recommend Keep. It’s not perfect, but it offers exactly the kind of utility and design I was looking for.

Keep is available on the App Store as a free download, with an optional subscription to unlock additional features.

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When I first saw the news report in early March, I was astonished: the City and Park Board, in conjunction with the Coastal Health Authority, would be using two community centres to temporarily house the otherwise homeless from the Downtown east Side.  What was jaw-dropping were the locations: in the centre of two of the most affluent communities in Vancouver, one less than a block from an elementary school – the Roundhouse in Yaletown and the other in Coal Harbour.

In normal circumstances, that decision would have been explosive. In non-covid times, it just would not have happened.  There would have been an immediate pushback from Yaletown and Coal Harbour residents and businesses – a call for more process, for community meetings, for public hearings and delegations.  And those would have been the polite responses.  Sides would be taken, the media coverage relentless, the politics divisive. A risk-adverse Council would have found a way, in the name of community consultation, to deep-six the proposal.

And yet, here it is, the consequence of a crisis most clearly not wasted.

The spaces at Roundhouse and Coal Harbour will be allotted by referral-only and staffed 24 hours a day. Vancouver Coastal Health will provide health guidance and B.C. Housing has appointed non-profit operators to manage the centres.  (The Sun)

But that wasn’t all. Those housed would also be provided with ‘safe supply’ – drugs and their substitutes to stabilize the addicted, in addition to distancing them from the virus in what would otherwise be a powder-keg in the Downtown East Side.  (That a covid outbreak has so far not occurred is another surprising non-event.)

Remarkably, this was all public knowledge:

(Mayor) Stewart said the federal government has allowed for a safe supply of drugs for residents of the Downtown Eastside.

Beyond the health consequences, the stakes were huge.  If this real-time, real-life exercise failed, it would set back any prospect of locating a similar facility anywhere else in the city, as well as negating the ongoing experiment of safe-supply.  And it wouldn’t take much: a single adverse incident, open needle use, an exchange of threats much less an actual incident.  On the other hand, if successful, it would deny precedent for an endlessly repeated bad example.

It’s only the end of May; the emergency continues, the community centres are still blacked out.  As an experiment that set out to do what it has so far accomplished, it succeeded – a word rarely associated with the DTES and homelessness.  Indeed, many activists are adverse to acknowledging that the actions they espouse, when implemented, achieve their goals.  Fearful that success might lead to complacency, a loss of commitment, a reduction in budgets, they might begrudgingly admit that an initiative, a new housing project, a raise in funding was a good first step, but there’s so much left to do, so many homeless still on the streets, and the filthy streets themselves an indictment of an uncaring society.

The Roundhouse and Coal Harbour experiment remain, so far, an unacknowledged success.  Friends in the neighbourhood report that until recently there was seemingly community acceptance of the circumstances – perhaps because the locations are only temporary.

But of course, that was unlikely to last.  Further uptown, things were changing.

(More to come.)

May 27th, 17 years ago, the first release of WordPress was put into the world by Mike Little and myself. It did not have an installer, upgrades, WYSIWYG editor (or hardly any Javascript), comment spam protection, clean permalinks, caching, widgets, themes, plugins, business model, or any funding.

The main feedback we got at the time was that the blogging software market was saturated and there wasn’t room or need for anything new.

WordPress did have a philosophy, an active blog, a license that protected the freedom of its users and developers, a love of typography, a belief that code is poetry, fantastic support forums and mailing lists and IRC, and firm sense that building software is more fun when you do it together as a community.

We have relentlessly iterated across 38 major releases since then, and here we are.

If you’d like to celebrate with me, put on some jazz, eat some BBQ, light a candle for the contributors who have passed on, help a friend or stranger less technical than you build a home online, and remember that technology is at its best when it brings people together.

mkalus shared this story from FAIL Blog.

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What do you do when a contract is canceled, or a service can’t be performed, and yet contractual obligations still remain?

One thing the COVID-19 pandemic did was wake business owners up to the need to protect themselves from the impact of broken contracts.

When the state law tells you to do one thing, but your legally binding contract calls for another, what do you do?

With reasonable steps, like a force majeure clause, the terms of the contract are adjusted for forces beyond the control of either party.

While it may be too late to change prior contracts, it’s a lesson learned the hard way for many. Clauses like force majeure can protect you from the fallout of future extraordinary events beyond your control.

A force majeure provision is a simple clause with an important job: to protect your contract business. Don’t write another contract without learning how to add a force majeure clause to the document.

A few minutes spent creating this format can protect you during an unforeseen event later. With professional software, you can insert the clause seamlessly into your existing contract templates to use going forward.

It doesn’t require a law degree, either — we’ve got everything you need to know to add a force majeure clause to your contract right here!

1. Force Majeure Clause Definition — What Do They Really Do?

In a force majeure clause, there’s a contractual provision agreed upon by both parties. This section allows one or both of the parties to excuse their performance obligations in the event that circumstances arise which are beyond the parties’ control. For instance, natural disasters or government-mandated lockdowns are sometimes considered beyond the control of the parties.

Force Majeure: a provision commonly found in contracts that frees both parties from obligation if an extraordinary event prevent one or both parties from performing.  These events must be unforeseeable and unavoidable, and not the result of the defendant’s actions, hence they are considered “an act of god”.   – Cornell Law School

These circumstances, therefore, make it impossible or impractical for the contract to be carried out.

Without being enumerated ahead of time, it’s easy for either party to dispute exactly what this definition encompasses.

Most contracts specify in detail what “beyond control” covers, such as:

• natural events that are covered under an “act of God” provision, usually including weather phenomena like hurricanes, fires, and floods, but also extending to natural forces causing explosions.

• the effects of war on either party, acts of terrorism with consequences to either party, and governmentally declared epidemics or pandemics.

• decisions made by the government that impact the contract through changes in laws or regulations.

Other events frequently invoked in these clauses include labor strikes or disputes resulting in effects out of the party’s control and pre-specified accidents. With so many potential events that could be declared “accidental,” it’s important to specify thoroughly what you want the clause to cover.

The reason for a force majeure clause is to benefit both sides, so it’s advantageous to agree to its inclusion. The intent is to limit damages for all parties involved when circumstances arise outside of either party’s ability to control.

A tenacious law firm can analyze the wording of each section thoroughly for any loopholes. A force majeure clause needs to be written for as narrow an interpretation as possible, with as many sections as necessary to encompass all matters.

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2. Your State May Have Specific Requirements

The force majeure clause typically is invoked through close interpretation, not a general understanding. It’s a legal premise that gives a party plenty of loopholes to prevent the clause being invoked. A catch-all wording won’t hold up to careful scrutiny.

Beyond the careful wording of the clause, some states go even further and require the inclusion of specific terminology. While you can write your own contract, it’s best to run it by a lawyer that practices in your state to verify you’ve covered all the bases.

For instance, California allows a wider view of the idea “act of God,” including testing the circumstances involved to see if something outside of the party’s control occurred.

If this initial factor was unable to be prevented by due diligence and basic steps by the person in the contract, they could invoke the force majeure clause. However, this only occurs if there is what is considered an extreme or unreasonable expense, injury, loss, or difficulty that arose from the circumstance.

New York takes the force majeure idea of an act of God a step further. If one of these events listed, such as an earthquake, does occur, the clause can be nulled if it had been predicted. Even in an unforeseeable event, the party who wishes to apply the clause must have attempted to fulfill the listed duties.

Certain states have strict requirements that must be met before a force majeure can be invoked. Others are lax about the wording unless it is specified clearly. The success of your contract’s force majeure might depend on the careful placement of one word.

Related: How to Inform Your Clients of a Price Increase

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3. What to Know If You’re Invoking Your Force Majeure Clause

Saying that you want to invoke the force majeure clause in your contract isn’t enough to enforce it. There are a lot of details that need to be attended to before the clause becomes official. If you are uncareful with your documentation, important pieces may fall through the cracks.

Some factors fall under the realm of basic common courtesy with legal guidelines. Timely notice is still required. You can’t cancel a wedding contract at the last minute and expect to not have financial consequences.

Failure to provide timely notice of a breach in the contract can be a legal waiver of rights. The more time you have given the counterparty notice, the better chance you might have at obtaining relief from your obligations.

Other steps must be proven before the force majeure can be invoked, such as:

• an attempt to communicate and come up with a compromise between all parties before invoking.

• proper wording for the invocation, for which you should seek legal advice to ensure you’ve got everything covered to back up your claim.

• checking the clause for your payment obligations, since some force majeure clauses exclude using it to get financial relief.

• proof of permanency if you’re trying to show that the time frame in which the contract could be extended isn’t reasonable.

To be safe, you should always require documentation of any change, no matter how minor, as you work with a client. All communication should be agreed upon in writing, so both parties have the required proof should invoking a force majeure be necessary.

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4. Adding the Clause to Your Contracts

In the force majeure clause, various terminology can be used. These terms are specifically denoted to suspend all or only a subset of all the obligations.

While you can write your own, when it comes to legal terminology, it can be a better choice to stick with tried and true clauses.

Sample Force Majeure Clauses 

Each business has its own unique elements that have to be addressed. Take your own needs and see how or if any of these clauses can cover the goal you’re trying to meet with your force majeure clause:

• Acts of God and equipment failure: In the event either party is unable to perform its obligations under the terms of this Agreement because of acts of God, strikes, equipment or transmission failure or damage reasonably beyond its control, or other causes reasonably beyond its control, such party shall not be liable for damages to the other for any damages resulting from such failure to perform or otherwise from such causes. (Law Insider, Force Majeure Sample Clauses)

• Acts of God and extended complications: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, neither party shall be liable for any delays or failures in performance resulting from acts beyond its reasonable control including, without limitation, Acts of God, acts of war or terrorism, shortage of supply, breakdowns or malfunctions, interruptions or malfunction of computer facilities, or loss of data due to power failures or mechanical difficulties with information storage or retrieval systems, labor difficulties or civil unrest. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event of such an occurrence, each party agrees to make a good faith effort to perform its obligations hereunder. (Law Insider, Force Majeure Sample Clauses)

• In-depth coverage: Each Party shall be excused from liability for the failure or delay in performance of any obligation under this Agreement by reason of any event beyond such Party’s reasonable control including but not limited to Acts of God, fire, flood, explosion, earthquake, or other natural forces, war, civil unrest, accident, any strike or labor disturbance, or any other event similar to those enumerated above. Such excuse from liability shall be effective only to the extent and duration of the event(s) causing the failure or delay in performance and provided that the Party has not caused such event(s) to occur and continues to use diligent, good faith efforts to avoid the effects of such event and to perform the obligation. Notice of a Party’s failure or delay in performance due to force majeure must be given to the unaffected Party promptly thereafter but no later than five (5) days after its occurrence which notice shall describe the force majeure event and the actions taken to minimize the impact thereof. All delivery dates under this Agreement that have been affected by force majeure shall be tolled for the duration of such force majeure. In no event shall any Party be required to prevent or settle any labor disturbance or dispute. Notwithstanding the foregoing, should the event(s) of force majeure suffered by a Party extend beyond a four-month period, the other Party may then terminate this Agreement by written notice to the non-performing Party, with the consequences of such termination as if this Agreement had expired (and was not terminated) in accordance with Section 10.6. (Law Insider, Force Majeure Sample Clauses).

Should you need something more tailored to your own business, such as real estate, speak to your civil law lawyer to ensure you’ve covered the specific criteria you want included. The extra expense beforehand can help you prevent costly mishaps if you ever need to use or defend your force majeure clause.

Related: How to Write an Invoice When Your Client is Struggling Financially

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5. Make Sure You Have a Digital Trail with a CRM

When it comes to covering your bases, you want to be as safe as possible.

One missing piece could be all it takes to switch the force majeure clause to benefit the other party instead of you.

No one expects to have to actually invoke the fine print when they create and sign a contract. Many people don’t even read the contracts they sign. That’s why it has to be a standard operating procedure for you to be as thorough as possible in your interactions with clients.

As a rule, use your CRM to record all communication with your client. Try to keep the communication as documented as possible via email or other digital contacts through your system.

Another professional trick is to keep yourself organized by creating a file in your CRM for that particular contract. Then store all relevant documentation in one easy-to-access place.

Your CRM needs to have the capability of handling all current digital trails and of growing with your business, too.

Use an all-in-one CRM like Bloom that’s easy to integrate with your current methods.

With the touch of a button, you can do things like:

• Create forms, questionnaires, and contracts from pre-formatted templates
• Use your phone to communicate with clients, check and adjust your calendar, and take and record financial transactions
• Streamline workflows within your business
• Automate invoices and emails
• Follow up with leads
• Sign, share, and store contracts

With everything you need for your business in one software solution, investing in Bloom saves you time transitioning between files.

It’s also a smart financial strategy. You can pay for your website, track leads, and complete all your business tasks in one package. And with the different programs available, Bloom lets you start small and grow your package ingredients as your business … well … “blooms!”

With 24/7 tech support and step-by-step setup instructions, everyone can use Bloom. Download it today for free and see how your business can become even more successful when you pair your processes with Bloom.

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Conclusion

If you are in a current situation where either you or the counterparty did not fulfill part or all of the contract, and it did not have a force majeure clause, it’s possible that your state has common law concepts that will excuse nonperformance. Ask a lawyer about “impossibility”, “impracticability”, or “frustration of purpose” as potential avenues to explore.

Going forward, consider including a force majeure clause in your contracts, as well as Safe Working Environment and Failure to Perform Services clauses. They won’t cover every contingency and can be limited to specific events, but are worth exploring with your attorney or other legal professional.

Manage your customer communication from one hub: try Bloom for 14 days for free!

The post How to Write a Force Majeure Clause: Protect Your Contract Business appeared first on Bloom.

mkalus shared this story from vwestlife's YouTube Videos.

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mkalus shared this story from mrjamesob on Twitter.

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Be careful about moving from managing a community at a large organisation to managing a community at a small one.

You might be frustrated with the multiple stakeholders and having many hoops to jump through on even the smallest initiatives.

But is that more frustrating than having no budget for any development work, having to find your own designer for newsletters and emails, and having only a tiny audience to promote the community to?

Managing a community of millions of members is an entirely different experience from fighting for the attention of every new member.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, just be aware of what you’re jumping into. It feels easier to go from small to big than big to small.

mkalus shared this story from DmitryOpines on Twitter.

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From the opening titles of Louis Malle’s Black Moon.

Canada Learning Code is a program that was not initially designed to exist online, according to a recent talk with Google’s For Nonprofits program.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that if there is a will, there is a way for any organization to make that digital transition.

Amid the pandemic, the Canada Learning Code team built a task force to create a digital experience for the program.

The focus was to uphold a safe and inclusive learning environment and to stay true to their values.

Canada Learning Code has hosted in-person technology education classes for people across Canada since 2011. The focus of the organization is teaching women, girls, people with disabilities, Indigenous youth and newcomers to Canada.

At this point, the program has reached 35 communities and over 650,000 people.

A sacrifice was made in order to make the classes more interactive and developed shorter workshops. They’re mostly about topics like HTML coding.

Before the pandemic, the team was already using digital tools like Gmail and Google Docs. The organization quickly transitioned to remote work while the team uses the full suite of Google applications.

The future of the Canada Learning Code has been changed by the pandemic in the long term. The organization is thinking of continuing with online learning in conjunction with its in-person programs,

It has a goal of delivering 10 million learning experiences by 2027 with a focus on digital literacy.

Source: Google

The post Canada Learning Code has a digital literacy goal amid the pandemic appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Matt Webb writes, in How I would put voice control in everything:

Because it is really appealing to me to turn on a light, set the stove timer, play music, pause the TV, snooze an alarm etc just by saying something. What’s not cool is

• having a device in my home that harvests every sound in the house and sends it to cloud servers for eternal recording, or not, who knows and that’s the point – an audio panopticon dressed in plastic
• needing to remember arcane vocal syntaxes
• latency.

I was an early “smart” speaker adopter, and our collection has grown to two Alexas (one in the office, one at home) and three Google Homes (one at the office, one in the kitchen, one in Oliver’s room). Like Matt, I’m uncomfortable with the audio panopticon I’ve visited upon myself.

After three years, our use of these devices boils down to three simple things:

1. Listening to Spotify (“Alexa, play some music” or “OK Google, play Lost Words Blessing”). Half a dozen times a day.
2. Turning on and off the television and the lights in the living room (“Alexa, turn on the television,” “Alexa, turn off the yellow lamp”).
3. Casual mathematics (“OK Google, what’s 1749 divided by two,” “OK Google, how many days ago was January 24”).

That’s it. I haven’t used any of the “skills” or “actions” that Amazon and Google and related third parties have created in a long time. I never did, really.

All of the above I could accomplish, with slightly more friction, otherwise: I could play Spotify to a Bluetooth speaker from my phone, I could turn the TV and lights on and off as our ancestors did, and I could learn to do math in my head. But, my behaviour suggests, I am unlikely to do this, having given up all of my audio privacy to eliminate the friction.

I would really like to be able to say “light, turn on” and have that be a relationship between me and the light, and not between me and the world’s largest retailer and/or the world’s largest advertising platform.

Three day old homemade waffles, heated up in the toaster, covered with tangerines and fresh mint (from Heart Beet Organics) and drizzled with melted 90% Lindt chocolate.

Bonus pandemic pro tip: sprigs of fresh herbs wrapped in damp paper towel and sealed in a Ziploc bag in the fridge keep fresh much longer than ye olde “stick in a glass of water in the fridge” method.

These sea lions are afraid to be in the ocean, because a small family of orcas are nearby, and they hunt sea-lions for food.

Years ago I was facilitating an Open Space meeting for people working in philanthropy, several of which were self-identified libertarians. They were unfamiliar with the process, and had the common misgivings about it seeming “unstructured.” People often confuse an empty container with a lack of structure, but in truth, Open Space meetings are highly structured. They offer a form and a process to help a group self-organize around issues of importance to the participants themselves. The process invites a radical blending of passion for a subject and responsibility for doing something about it.

Witnessing the empty agenda wall and the circle of chairs, one of the libertarian participants complained that the lack of structure was making him nervous and he needed to be told what we were going to talk about, what the outcomes were going to be and what would be done on the day. I teased him a little about being uncomfortable with freedom, to which he responded “well yes, THIS kind of freedom.”

That was interesting.

Harrison Owen has called this common experience “freedom shock” and it is what happens when people who are used to be told what to do suddenly get the freedom to take responsibility for their own actions. The way to deal with it is to keep asking people what they care about and what they would like to do about it. Fortunately, Open Space provides a mechanism for others who feel the same way to find each other, so that you are not alone, and can connect your ideas to other people’s.

As the restrictions on our societies are lifted gradually, I am seeing examples of “freedom shock.” Although many of us bristle at being contained and constrained, for many of us, the orderliness of structure and rules he’s us to cope with uncertainty and fear. When those rules are loosened, the become principles, and it is up to each person to interpret those principles according to context and need. We go from being confined in our homes with only sanctioned reasons and times for leaving, to being allowed to get out into public while “maintaining social distance and being aware of others.”

Everyone will interpret these new principles differently, and there is conflict and anxiety around whether one is interpreting the order more broadly that another person.

My friend Carolyn Camman observed this morning that we are comfortable when we can feel the boundary. That seems true for me too. When I know what is allowed and what isn’t, I can relax into being in a small space. When the boundary is more permeable and less clear I can get anxious about what is allowed, what I am supposed to be doing and whether others are doing right. And in these times, the consequences of doing it wrong can be devastating, so there is no amount of risk and pressure in doing this.

Whether it’s COVID or working with containers in facilitated sessions or workplaces, the halting anxiety of freedom shock is a natural reaction to loosening constraints. As you become a skillful complexity practitioner and realize that loosening constraints is one way to influence a system, be aware of this emotional rebound.

And on a personal level, remember that you can always shrink your own constraints inside a larger system if you need more comfort and security. The way we handle too much freedom is by choosing limitations that help us make order of all the possibilities. I wear a mask in public, and although I am allowed to be out and about more, I’m choosing to stay home as much as possible, still treating myself as an asymptomatic carrier of COVID, despite not knowing if I have had it. These personal heuristics allow me to be comfortable, confident and live by my principles. I’m glad things are opening up, but aware too that I have come to be comfortable functioning in a small bubble and a part of me is nervous at this moment.

Every now and then, there’s someone screaming and shouting how Nigerian developers are terrible and how they never deliver on projects. But the problems are actually inherent from the position of both parties; the client and the developer.

This is either from the place of ignorance or just plain naivety or both parties are just plain gullible. Grab a seat, get your soda and popcorn ready. Let me explain.

In the boom days of ride-sharing, it wasn’t unusual to have someone reach out to us and ask us to build a YARSA (Yet Another Ride-Sharing App). This was especially true when Uber or any of the global giants announce a new funding round.

Things became interesting when the local players started announcing their rounds MAX($7M+), GoKada($5M+), OPay($100m+). The weeks after this round, we will get some major inbounds. Everyone wanted to get in on the YARSA train..

Keep in mind that this isn’t a problem, I mean, it’s a gold rush so why not? But the problem is every single request that we got always wanted the project the following week. Like the one a full-blown Uber-Esque product next week…

Naturally, we always turn down this request. It doesn’t even matter how much the client is putting on the table, we just can’t do it. Not possible. Uber as a company has north of 2,000 engineers across its product team. We are a team of 10 persons. See where I am going with this?

Building a YARSA takes time. Like a lot of time. Uber is a 10+ yrs old company. With years of engineering experience under their belt. It’s impossible for us to photocopy their product in 4 weeks. Heck, we can’t even do that in 4 months.

Now, the funny part is when the client has a N2M budget that they intend to pay in 5 trenches. It will not work. So naturally, we don’t work together. So they do the next best thing, get some Nigerian freelancer to build one for them.

Now because the freelancer has no experience what it takes to build a product of that nature, they quickly give an estimate say 2 months and they get the first 30% down payment. 6 weeks into the project, the freelancer is still struggling with painting and moving the car on a map.

Then there are few things that (s)he has to deal with 1. Demand forecasting 2. Surge pricing 3. Driver Allocation. 4. ETA calculation 5. Payments - Card or COTC(Cash on Trip Completion) 6. Geo-fencing 7. City Activation. 8. Traffic. 9. Shortest Distance, etc.

Then as if this isn’t enough headache, the client comes back with brand new features that were never discussed, and since freelancer has no idea how to manage scope creeps, (s)he takes it on. The client suddenly wants Uber Eats and then things start to go south..

It’s already 10 weeks - 2 weeks after the expected project completion date. The client is angry, freelancer goes into hiding and stops answering their phone. The client is upset, the freelancer is tired and stressed because of the ever-changing product requirements. Resentment sets in.

The problem here is that the freelancer has already spent the initial 30% and obviously has no way of paying that money back.

The client gets frustrated and takes to social media. Then do what most people will do when they are really pissed - drag and entire community into the mess they co-created.

Here are a few problems:

1. The client and the freelancer never decided on clearly defined product requirements.
2. The freelancer gets gigs once every 4 months and didn’t want to pass up on this one. They needed the cash.
3. The client felt they were getting a bargain for finding someone that can build another Uber for N500K. This is especially true when they had just read one article about someone who built an app for next to nothing and sold it for millions.

Here is a few recommendations, dear potential founder/client.

1. Find a company with a track record that has what looks like an ability to do this.
2. Don’t expect to fit in a product that took 10 years to build and refine into a 4 months product development cycle. Don’t do it.

Before you think about replicating another company’s product, think about how many people they have working on that product and understand that you will never get the same product quality working with a freelancer.

What you want to pay for an entire product doesn’t even cover the salary of one of the engineers that work on that company abroad whose product you want to copy. There’s a case for “you get/got what you paid for.” Take your time also and do some digging. Ask question.

Also, don’t be gullible, you can’t expect to get a Ferrari with a Corolla budget. If you think you can, then we need to question your values as a person.

Also, understand that Rome was not built in a day. These things take sweat, blood and tears. Plus even the shiniest products have underlying defects. It’ just how much bandaid that’s put on it that makes all the difference.

Freelancer, speak to experienced people before taking on a project you have no experience building. Your sleep, peace of mind and name is far better than playing hide and seek.

Lastly, if you’re thinking of building a product and you need some help bouncing off ideas off a team and get some help around product dev. We(Alta Labs) are happy to speak to you. Please note, this is a paid session. Send a DM and we set up a meeting.