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Human Behavior

New Truist logo revealed this week | Business – NorthcentralPa.com

In June 2019, BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) and SunTrust Banks, Inc., (NYSE: STI) announced Truist as the name for their merger of equals. Just this week the bank revealed its new logo and identity.

When the name was announced in June, TheFinancialBrand.com reported heavy criticism. Some people have said it makes them sound drunk when they say the word, according to an article. Speculation went so far as to suggest the two banks might start from scratch with a brand new identity.

The company persevered, and following the complete merger between BB&T and SunTrust in December 2019, they declared a bold new look and feel with a signature color and modern monogram logo. The visual identity further signals the company's commitment to inspire and build a better future for clients and communities, according to a company news release.

"As a brand, we will innovate and redefine the client experience, making Truist the most client-centric financial services company," said Dont Wilson, chief digital and client experience officer for Truist. "Our visual brand identity speaks to the importance of human touch and dynamic technology in delivering trusted solutions to our clients, and is a powerful depiction of our commitment to building the future of finance."

Building the brand

Truist Purple, the defining color of the new brand, is the combination of heritage BB&T burgundy and SunTrust blue. With the help of human behavior experts, Truist fashioned a signature color that stands out as rich, bold and distinctive, yet warm and inviting, according to the release.

The monogram is made up of two T's that mirror the Truist name and represent Touch + Technology. Beginning with the stable and familiar shape of a square, Truist then rounded its corners to demonstrate the security and accessibility that the digital world of today expects.

"This striking visual expression is not what most would expect from a financial institution, and we're proud of that," said Susan Somersille Johnson, chief marketing officer for Truist. "Our identity is a symbol of the merger of equals between BB&T and SunTrust, which has brought the best of both brands together to build not only a better bank, but a better future for all who engage with Truist."

Now the sixth-largest U.S. bank holding company serving more than 10 million households in the U.S., including local branches in Muncy and Williamsport, Truist says they are building on 275 years of combined history and culture.

In the weeks and months to come, says Truist, clients will soon see more of this bold new look on digital platforms, in branches and out-of-home advertising in Miami leading up to the Superbowl being held there.

For now, Truist says they will continue to serve clients through their respective BB&T and SunTrust branches, websites, mobile apps, financial advisors and relationship managers. The transition to the full Truist experience will occur as systems are integrated over the next 18-24 months.

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New Truist logo revealed this week | Business - NorthcentralPa.com

Human Behavior

He ordered coffee while wearing an AirPod. The barista refused to serve him – ZDNet

Some people wear them all the time.

Apple AirPods Pro

Active noise cancellation for immersive sound. Three sizes of soft, tapered silicone tips for a customizable fit. Available at Amazon.

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I'm becoming unreasonably fascinated with Apple's AirPods. And not just because CEO Tim Cook says Apple's wearables are selling in glorious numbers.

Recently, I wrote about how teens are now exchanging single AirPods so that they can have fun with text-and-speech apps during class. (Surely you're trying it in meetings by now.)

This led to one or two readers telling me I was an OK person. Well, OK Boomer to be precise.

I'm still struggling, however, with the whole ethos of these things. And now I've discovered there's an apparent resistance against them in certain businesses.

Chicago-based culinary site The Takeout offered a story that, I fear, will have many AirPod-wearers taking sides.

You see, a reader called Kevin (I'm being unusually hopeful that this person is real) wrote to the site's etiquette columnist -- the much-revered Salty Waitress -- and complained: "Dear Salty, I was at the coffee shop counter, and the cashier wouldn't take my order until I took off my AirPod! And it was only in one ear! Am I the asshole here?"

It was only in one ear, judge. How can anyone be offended by that?

The Salty Waitress was not at one with such a view. She replied, in part: "I am trying hard here to give you the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps you were in the middle of a very important phone call/podcast/guitar riff that could not be paused for the 30 or so seconds it takes to order a cup of coffee. In which case, you very politely step aside to conclude your business and then order your coffee."

Doesn't that seem reasonable? Or have we already meandered most of the way down the route to Santiago de Compostheap, the saintly march of technology giving us permission to be as rude as we like?

I'm in my world. So what is it you want?

The Salty Waitress was undeterred in her resistance. She explained that if Kevin wanted to embrace technology, he could push off to Starbucks or Dunkin', order via an app and pick up his coffee without the burden of any human interaction.

She then warmed to her theme, mustering a fine froth: "Because that's the thing, sweetie pie. THE CASHIER IS A HUMAN BEING! JUST LIKE YOU! Their role in your life may be temporary and functional, but they've got feelings and hopes and dreams and aspirations. And like you (probably) they would like your full and undivided attention while you ask them to perform a service for you."

She explained that this is true for all service workers and should, indeed, work both ways. I was glad she said that, as I've had two visits to AT&T stores where the salespeople were wearing a single AirPod and listening to their own music.

Worse, I recently happened to be in a lovely Miami hotel, the Marlin, where one of the reception staff had two AirPods in at all times. I have a feeling it wasn't to receive messages from the manager.

The Salty Waitress wasn't just explaining the basics of human behavior. She added that one of the reasons to take your AirPod out is to ensure your order is taken accurately.

Naturally, her expressive defense of actual human behavior led to a spirited discussion. Many didn't take her side. They explained one has no idea whether Kevin was listening to anything at all. Some people, after all, wear their AirPods all the time, as if they're mere tasteless earrings.

Some added that the barista may have no idea whether this isn't an AirPod, but a hearing aid. As one commenter observed: "The way around it is to assume good intentions and that the person is giving you their attention until they prove otherwise. Then you won't offend someone with hearing problems by making everyone aware of their hearing aids."

Then again, another observed: "Even if your AirPod/earbud is turned off, it looks like you aren't listening to the person you are interacting with."

I fear this isn't the last time AirPods will cause controversy. Wearing them often demands a certain adjustment in others.

Why should others, though, make that adjustment?

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He ordered coffee while wearing an AirPod. The barista refused to serve him - ZDNet

Human Behavior

The Human Screenome project wants you to share the use of your smartphone – Mash Viral

Vadymvdrobot / 123RF

You almost certainly saw her on YouTube. Noah takes a picture of himself every day for 20 years (5 million views) Portrait of Lotte, 0 to 20 years (10.9 million views) Married at 12 I took a picture every day (To an astonishing 110 million views.) Even Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin from Family Guy parodyed the format. In times of selfies and ubiquitous smartphone cameras, this increasingly popular genre of time-lapse videos depicting the aging process allows people to document their experiences in a typically modern way that was almost impossible a few decades ago would.

But what if the bigger story wasnt the changing facial features of a YouTube star, but the fact that millions of us would spend minutes of our day watching it? Maybe afterwards we tweeted a link to the video we just saw. Or sent it to a friend on WhatsApp. Or we started the camera app on our own smartphone and started creating our own version. Or we just forgot what we just saw and played a quick game on Mario Kart Tour.

In a world where we live digitally, the way we consume media on our screens (and especially on our smartphones) could turn out to be the most profound way to document life in 2020. At least this is the idea of an ambitious new initiative called the Human Screenome Project. The new mass data collection, created by researchers at Stanford and Penn State University, prompts users to share information about everything they do on their smartphones.

Special software developed by the project creators takes screenshots of these mobile devices every five seconds they are active, encrypts them, sends them to a research server, and then uses artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze exactly what is important , The researchers want to create a multi-dimensional map of the changing digital life of people in the 21st century. They give a brief overview of the changes over the course of days, weeks, months and possibly even years and decades.

The digital media environment has made so much progress in recent years, Nilam Ram, professor of human development and psychology at Penn State University, told Digital Trends. We dont have a good idea of how people use their devices and who theyre exposed to. Usually, screen time research studies are based on self-reports of how long people have been using social media for the past week. Its a really complicated question that people have to answer. The evidence suggests that people underestimate or underestimate their own engagement by a few hours.

According to Ram, the project stems from a seven-year chance meeting between him and Byron Reeves, a professor of communication in Stanford. Reeves was interested in the media and its effects on people. Ram was interested in time series data for the behavior. A type of behavior analysis that works with regular data points that are collected in chronological order. This can be used to study and predict things about individual behavior.

First, the two set out to research multitasking. They developed software that enabled them to determine how quickly students switched between tasks while working. They found that they would change windows about every 20 seconds. It was faster than anyone thought at the time that someone was going from task to task, said Ram. From there, we developed software that made this possible on a smartphone.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeJAkkXYIV8 (/ embed)

They thought that this would be a natural extension of their multitasking work. However, when a small group of students first came into data flow, they found that they had drilled a much deeper well than they thought. When we started looking at time-lapse footage of what people were actually doing on their phones, we found that there are so many different types of human behavior that are expressed here, said Ram. That could be a commitment to politics, mental health, social media, interpersonal relationships and climate change. We can see things like the gender distribution of faces that people look at on their cell phones, the racist distribution of these faces there is so much wealth in it.

If this sounds like it is too much for a couple of researchers to look at, you are absolutely right. The hope is that the Human Screenome project the name of which alludes to the previous Human Genome project will create an extensive shared database of information that is also available to other researchers. This will be a partially ongoing user survey (though without users having to actively answer questions) and a partially historical artifact, such as a digital mass observation project. The potential value of such an archive could be immense. Some researchers could use it to track the rise and fall of memes as they appear, flourish, and disappear in the cybernetic ether. Design students could use it to investigate how changing user interfaces of apps affect transitions in this particular area. Others may use it with referenced information to investigate the potential health effects of social media. Or how the screen time affects the concentration.

The idea of the human genome project was that if we could map the human genome, the way we deal with and treat diseases would change, said Ram. I think it did. In a way, were trying to make the same theoretical leap by saying that the human screenome changes the way we think about digital media and how it affects people if we can map it.

But is such a project feasible? The same thing that makes it so exciting from a research perspective also poses challenges. In short, as Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs predicted back in 2007, the smartphone has become a consolidation of all the devices that we once carried around. Its our laptop, our personal organizer, our portable music player, our GPS system and much more.

Because a smartphone requires physical user interaction and millions of apps available, it is a much more dynamic media environment than its predecessors: living room television with a choice of channels. Smartphones are the epitome of what media theorist Marshall The medium is the message, which McLuhan would have described as expanding ourselves. However, this makes them as personal as few other devices do. Allowing researchers to see everything you do on your smartphone is just a step too far for some users.

Still, Ram is confident that this wont apply to everyone. In general, when we talk to attendees, we find that they know that their data is regularly collected by big data companies, he said. It is used in a way that they have no control over. They seem to be aware of this and are enthusiastic about the possibility that this data can be used instead for research purposes to understand human behavior.

The Stanford Screenomics Lab has currently collected over 30 million data points from more than 600 participants. Although it has not yet opened its platform to those who want to get involved, Ram hopes that the number of users will eventually be able to scale that number to far more epic proportions with multi-year user contributions.

And what if smartphones are finally giving way to another dominant technology? (This is something that could) go on forever, said Ram. (This means that it has to look different) when screens change from separate devices to devices that are somehow embedded, whether its a chip or a Google Glass-style advancement. We want to share our data collection paradigm with evolving the advent of these technologies.

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The Human Screenome project wants you to share the use of your smartphone - Mash Viral

Human Behavior

Sundance 2020 Review: Edson Oda’s Nine Days Offers a Rare and Special Time to Reflect – The Moveable Fest

Were making a moment, Kyo (Benedict Wong) tells Emma (Zazie Beetz), as hes building a wooden frame to hang a screen on in Nine Days, a physical effort to facilitate a psychological response not unlike the one Edson Oda undertakes in his provocative and ultimately deeply edifying feature debut. Emma has found her way into one of the back rooms in the house of Will (Winston Duke), an administrator of sorts a cog in the wheel, he says when one of hIs guests essentially asks if hes a god who operates a way station for a collection of souls looking to be attached to a corporeal body in the physical world. The supernatural conceit is largely limited to verbal description in Odas drama, which imagines the privilege of life as as a job that requires an interview, and over the course of nine days, Will narrows down potential prospects to one hell send to terra firma, a place hes been himself and was enormously disappointed by.

The wooden frame is being prepared for the first to be dismissed in Nine Days, made to simulate a scene from someone elses life that they were most taken by on the many screens Will has set up in the house to keep tabs on all those hes sent onto the next level, and while this marks the end of the road for someone who wont get the chance to really live, it is the starting block for Odas architectural marvel in terms of opening up the mind as the writer/director has made something strong enough to let the films considerable artifice to fall away to begin to ponder questions about the meaning of life and how much human behavior can ever be accounted for and predicted by someone living outside of anothers experience. Although Dukes Will is the sturdy center of Nine Days, the wonderfully curious Beetz proves to be an ideal avatar for an audience in a film that continually raises so many big ideas playing Emma, the most difficult of the candidates for Will to get a sense of before making his choice. Shes joined in the house by Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rhysdahl), Alex (Tony Hale) and Cain (Bill Skarsgard), all unsure of how to respond to Will, who never articulates what hes looking for, though a sense of toughness seems to be a necessity, especially as its gradually revealed that he may have been assigned his own job by not having enough of it.

Besides the philosophical questions raised by the premise, Nine Days also begs for a few about Wills literal place in the grander scheme of things, but Oda constructs an alternate universe cohesive and awesome enough to keep those at bay until well after the film has ended, if at all, and never shrinks from the boldness from the ideas hes putting forth. The airy cinematography of Wyatt Garfield and Antonio Pintos heavenly score open the film up to the heights that few ever even attempt to reach, and while Oda explores the increasingly weighty decisions Will makes as he becomes aware of choices hes made that havent worked out as he expected, the film manages the exact right lightness of touch to take hold. Nine Days may tell a story of those awaiting their time to live, but as an experience, it is alive with possibility and wonderment.

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Sundance 2020 Review: Edson Oda's Nine Days Offers a Rare and Special Time to Reflect - The Moveable Fest

Human Behavior

Letter to the Editor: Crashes Are No Accident – Bay Net

Dear Editor, January 1, 2020 marked the beginning of a new year, and while it often signals a fresh start for many, it also brought about the same heart-wrenching headlines we have all become too familiar with.

Within the first week of the year, seven pedestrians were hit in three separate incidents in Essex, Columbia and Aspen Hill. Four of the victims were children, three of which were killed and the other critically injured. Days later, a Waldorf man was killed in a crash in Prince Georges County and a woman died after a two-vehicle crash in Frederick County. These are just a few of the multiple tragedies that have already happened on Maryland roads this year. Over the last decade, Maryland has averaged more than 500 fatalities, including more than 100 pedestrians, and thousands of injuries, each year as the result of motor vehicle crashes. But those figures are more than just numbers theyre mothers, fathers, children, siblings, friends, and coworkers.

We often hear the word accident when referring to a motor vehicle crash. Using that word suggests that the incident was unavoidable and no one is to blame, but in reality, 94 percent of roadway fatalities and injuries can be attributed to human behavior. The most common contributing factors to a fatality or injury in a motor vehicle crash are driving while impaired, speeding, driving distracted or failure to wear a seat belt all behaviors that can be changed.

Last year, the Maryland legislature enacted a bill that set a goal of zero motor vehicle fatalities in the state by 2030. That goal can only be attained by all of us realizing that we each have a responsibility to make the safest choices we can.

As drivers, park the phone, slow down, never driver impaired, look out for bicyclists and pedestrians and buckle up in every seat, every time. Look out for our first responders and fellow drivers who may be pulled over on the side of the roadway.

As pedestrians, be visible to drivers, look both ways before crossing, and cross the street at crosswalks and intersections.

As bicyclists, obey traffic signs and signals, wear a helmet and use lights at night when visibility is poor.

Lets change the conversation: motor vehicle crashes are no accident. They can be prevented, and we all have a responsibility to each other to make sure we make it home safely throughout 2020.

-Sincerely, Chrissy Nizer MDOT MVA Administrator

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Letter to the Editor: Crashes Are No Accident - Bay Net

Human Behavior

Being angry? That’s being human – The Riverdale Press

To the editor:

(re: Anger is just not the way to go, Dec. 19)

Anger is one of the basic human emotions, as elemental as happiness, sadness, anxiety or disgust.

These emotions are tied to basic survival, and were honed over the course of human history. Anger is related to the fight, flight or freeze response of the sympathetic nervous system. It prepares humans to fight. But fighting doesnt necessarily mean throwing punches. It might motivate communities to combat injustice by changing laws or enforcing new behavioral norms.

Of course, anger too easily or frequently mobilized can undermine relationships, and it can be deleterious to bodies in the long term. Prolonged release of the stress hormone that accompanies anger can destroy neurons in areas of the brain associated with judgment and short-term memory, and weaken the immune system.

Everyone knows the feeling. Its that rage that rises when a driver is cut off on the highway, and just wants to floor it and flip the bird. Anger doesnt dissipate just because it is unleashed. In fact, that can reinforce and deepen it.

Like all emotions, anger should be monitored via self-awareness, lest it cause self-harm or erupt into hostile, aggressive or even violent behavior toward others. Support groups for anger management are available in many cities.

In group or individual settings, cognitive restructuring may be helpful as it coaches patients on re-framing unhealthy, inflammatory thoughts.

Howard Cohn

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Being angry? That's being human - The Riverdale Press

Human Behavior

Calling BS on the security skills shortage – VentureBeat

Much has been made of the security skills shortage over the last few years. In headlines, at conferences, and in survey after survey, warnings are popping up, all with the same dire predictions: There are more and more ways for hackers to breach digital gates and not enough gatekeepers out there to stop them.

Theres no disputing we have more open security positions than we have available applicants to fill them. And, at first glance, the statistics are staggering: 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will be available yet unfilled by 2021, despite ransomware attacks growing 350% year-over-year. Thats certainly cause for concern especially as attackers become more sophisticated, creating new techniques and approaches to overcome barriers intended to block them. But placing blame squarely on a security skills shortage overlooks the real issue at hand.

What we have in this industry isnt a skills shortage. Its a creativity problem in hiring. To close the existing talent gap and attract more candidates to the field, we need to do more to uncover potential applicants from varied backgrounds and skill sets, instead of searching for nonexistent unicorn candidates people with slews of certifications (like CISSP, CompTIAPenTest+, CySA+, CASP+, CEH, CISSP and CISM), long tenures in the industry (10+ or, in some cases, 20+ years of experience longer than most relevant technology has been around), and specialized skills in not one, but several, tech stacks and disciplines (from cloud security to app sec and compliance).

But how? By dropping the secret-handshake-society mindset that enables a lack of diversity in the workforce, deters new entrants to the field, and, ultimately, undermines our ability to stay secure in the long run.

Hiring a security team that thinks the same, is educated the same, and looks and talks the same leads to blind spots. Yet cybersecurity is wrapped up in an air of mystique, from the words we use (malware, ransomware, cryptojacking, encryption) to the image we present (shadowy figures in hoodies). And that reputation, as an exclusive, elite club has allowed hiring across the board to become homogeneous. According to a recent global study, 89% of the cybersecurity industry is male, with less than a third from underrepresented groups. And, only 7% of cybersecurity pros are under the age of 29.

Part of the problem is a lack of awareness about cybersecurity as a viable career path for candidates inside and outside of tech, largely due to our longstanding cloak and dagger approach to what we do. If you asked most folks outside of the industry what the work of a cybersecurity professional entails, Id imagine very few would be able to tell you. That needs to change. Expanding our recruiting pool and increasing the size of our talent pipeline starts with dropping our dark arts attitude and making security more accessible and easily understood whether its through increased visibility at job fairs and career days at a range of institutions, building a pipeline of mentorship programs, or hosting inter-departmental workshops and information sessions.

To reel in more candidates, we need to be verbose about the day-to-day responsibilities of the job, articulate a path for career growth, and dispel the lone wolf stereotype that permeates this line of work. The more we step out of the shadows and make cybersecurity more approachable, the easier it is for people to understand what a career in cybersecurity actually entails which, in turn, enables them to see themselves working in our industry.

Of course, a large part of the puzzle is expanding our hiring funnel by recruiting outside of our narrow channel of established candidates. Security wins when its multi-disciplinary and when we hire people from varied backgrounds. Yet we, as an industry, over-index on pedigree and certifications all the time, even though some of the greatest minds in our field dont have certifications, or for that matter, college degrees. Ive seen it happen firsthand a hiring committee more willing to hire candidates with a degree from an elite university and a splashy tech internship under their belt than a career changer from a separate, yet related, field. Ive even experienced it in my own career, with a startup manager once telling me to my face that I didnt look like security despite a resume and a computer engineering degree that said otherwise.

Cybersecurity isnt sorcery. Security-specific skills can be taught. We need to do away with narrow criteria for who will be a good fit for many security roles and shift the way we evaluate resumes so that we look critically at what a candidate is capable or doing instead of looking solely at what theyve already done. Too often, we look externally for certain skill sets to be filled before a candidate gets to us, either via degrees, certifications, or completed coursework. But the pool of talent that already has those skills is too small. To create the talent supply to fill demand, we need to reach talent that has the aptitude and ability to learn and apply the necessary skills for the job. That means organizations need to get creative and develop their own learning and development initiatives for skill-building, whether its a large-scale training initiative aimed at career changers, or something as simple as hosting workshops, meetups, lunch-and-learns, or informational office hours.

De-emphasizing degrees and certifications in job postings levels the playing field and creates more opportunities for diamond-in-the-rough candidates to stand out to hiring managers. Case in point: One of the best and brightest security professionals I ever mentored started her career as a front desk receptionist. She didnt have the credentials that other cybersecurity professionals had starting out, but she was used to understanding the nuances of human behavior and picking up on anomalies, a critical skill for cybersecurity experts. With guidance and mentoring, she has gone on to become a senior technical program manager in information security.

Rethinking the way we evaluate resumes also means a shift in how we write job posts and how we evaluate candidates once they walk in the door. That means incorporating a first-principles problem-solving approach to recruiting. Oftentimes we ask, What do we think this job opening should be, and has a candidate done that job elsewhere before? Instead, we should ask, What is this person going to do? What is their job going to be? And how should we test for that job?

Inclusive language has been shown, across the board, to increase the quality and depth of talent, with Deloitte indicating companies that harness inclusive talent and recruiting strategies have 30% higher revenue per employee than those that dont. Cybersecurity shouldnt be any different. When it comes to job postings, the language we use should be aimed at drawing people in, instead of blocking people out. That starts with incorporating inclusive and easily-understood language (eg: Develop easy-to-use tools and light-weight processes that will help our engineers seamlessly write secure code.), instead of implicit messages that dissuade candidates from applying (eg: leading with years of experience requirements, or a laundry list of security-specific buzzwords that are indecipherable to most of the outside world).

But adding inclusive language to job posts only goes so far. Once candidates arrive on-site, replacing traditional, academic skills tests with interactive exercises and values and motivations assessments can go a long way in enabling hiring managers to explore and evaluate a candidates ability to find real-world solutions, both on their own and alongside the teams theyd be working with. That way, we assess candidates for true security mindset and problem-solving skills, beyond their ability to manage security tools.

Cybersecurity doesnt have a skills shortage. We have a culture problem that manifests in the ways we source and recruit talent. By removing barriers to entry, prioritizing potential over pedigree, and re-engineering the way we recruit and interview candidates, we can welcome more cybersecurity professionals into the herd instead of continuing the ongoing unicorn hunt that will get us nowhere.

Fredrick Flee Lee is CISO of Gusto.

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Calling BS on the security skills shortage - VentureBeat

Human Behavior

Why is there so much confusion with the signs of the Zodiac? Yours may not be the one you think – Sportsfinding

Everyone knows that according to the date on which a person was born, a Zodiac sign is assigned. Each of them influences a person's personality and way of acting, but not everyone believes that this is possible. Even so, each person knows what their zodiac symbol is, and yet the thing can change after a fact that we have long passed.

In ancient times, realizing that around the sun the same constellations crossed the sky and believe that their position affected human behavior, experts determined that according to the date on which a person was born would have one sign or another. As a consequence, 12 signs of the Zodiac were determined, the same number of signs that there are at present, but that are not the same as at that time.

Among the original signs of the Zodiac was Ophiuchus. The problem that this sign is currently unknown is due to the desire of a famous historical figure. Julio Csar wanted to have his own sign and from there Libra was born. However, to include it the number of signs amounted to 13 and from that time that number was bad luck. To solve it, they removed Ophiuchus to return to his initial number of 12.

To this fact it must be added that, when determining the dates that mark a sign of the Zodiac, the equinoxes must be taken into account and how the appearance of constellations varies over time. So as a consequence, the signs of the Zodiac are not what we really think. Each sign belongs to the following dates:

Aries: From April 19 to May 14

Taurus: From May 14 to June 21

Gemini: From June 21 to July 21

Cancer: From July 21 to August 11

Leo: From August 11 to September 16

Virgo: From September 16 to October 31

Pound: From October 31 to November 23

Scorpio: From November 23 to November 29

Ophiuchus: From November 29 to December 18

Sagittarius: From December 18 to January 19

Capricorn: From January 19 to February 16

Aquarium: From February 16 to March 12

Pisces: From March 12 to April 19

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Why is there so much confusion with the signs of the Zodiac? Yours may not be the one you think - Sportsfinding

Human Behavior

Are you an economist or psychologist? Valve wants to work with you newsdio – NewsDio

If you've always wanted to work for a game developer but you don't have the talent or technical skills to become a designer, I have good news: Valve is looking to fill a range of new positions, and not all of them require a Design Portfolio.

As reported by The Loadout, Valve is announcing a series of vacancies, which include a handful of positions that cannot be expected, including an internal economist, a psychologist and a statistician.

Detailed ads and personal specifications offer a rare view of Valve and its current priorities, not only in game design, but also in other aspects of its business, from human resources to data analysis.

"To create exceptional products that people will use and appreciate, we need to know about human behavior and the underlying motivations and influences on how and why people do what they do," says a job announcement that seeks to recruit a psychologist. "We believe that all game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists. That is why we are looking for an experimental psychologist with superior research skills to apply knowledge and methodologies from psychology to game design and all aspects of Valve operations ".

"We want to take advantage of your experience with experimental design, research methods, statistics and human behavior to help create even more compelling gaming experiences for future Valve titles. We also hope you investigate and evaluate each and every one of the issues which are relevant to improve the experiences of our customers, partners and employees, "he adds.

"One thing we have in Valve is the data. Lots and lots of data," added another looking for an economist. "We are looking for an experienced economist to help us take advantage of all that information to improve our clients' experiences and make better decisions."

You think you have what it takes? Go to the Valve mini racing site and submit your request. Good luck!

In other news from Valve, when the developer officially unveiled Half-Life: Alyx at the end of last year, perhaps there was a little skepticism that the game would meet its expected release date for March 2020, perfectly understandable given Waiting for twelve years between series installments However, Valve has confirmed that he is "sure" that Alyx will launch on time.

That reassuring information comes from courtesy of a new AMA (short for Ask Me Anything, if not familiar) in Reddit, in which Robin Walker de Valve, Jamaal Bradley, David Feise, Greg Coomer, Corey Peters, Erik Wolpaw, Tristan Reidford, Chris Remo, Jake Rodkin and Kaci Aitchison Boyle answered community questions about the game.

"With the exception of some adjustments in the absolute final scene," Valve explained, "the game is made. Many of us in Valve, as well as the test players, have played the entire game several times."

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Are you an economist or psychologist? Valve wants to work with you newsdio - NewsDio

Embryology

Spontaneous Abortions and Moral Theology | voxnovablog – Patheos

Vox Nova is pleased to welcome a guest post from long time reader Joseph Georges.

More than half of all human fertilizations end in spontaneous abortions at one stage or another in miscarriages if pregnancy ends before the 20th week or in stillbirths, as pregnancy losses after the 20th week are generally called. According to a paper by evolutionary geneticist, William Rice, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, abortion is nearly as common as live-birth for conceptions that occur in a womans early-twenties, but after the mid-twenties, abortions are the norm rather than the exception. Rices paper, The high abortion cost of human reproduction, is based upon data gathered from diverse sources. It focuses on pregnancies mainly in economically developed countries and is available at a preprint site while it undergoes peer review. Rice was also able to develop an estimate for the age-specific abortion rate ina natural fertility population in the county of Bangladesh. Not surprisingly, given the likely differences in socio-economic circumstances, including access to medical care, the Bangladeshi rate was substantially higher.

Until now it has been common to find estimates that 10-20% of known pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriages, though the estimates have sometimes been accompanied by cautions like the one from the Mayo Clinic that the actual number is likely higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesnt realize shes pregnant. Such cautions apparently have had little impact upon public opinion in the US. In one study of 1,000 American men and women, more than half thought that a miscarriage was a rare event occurring in fewer than 5 percent of pregnancies.

There are earlier studies that found relatively high rates of miscarriage. But William Rices 2018 meta-analysis of years of data attempts with as much statistical rigor as possible to incorporate estimates of occult abortions. Occult in this context refers to abortions that are unperceived. Rice believes that most spontaneous abortions are occult and go completely unnoticed by women. The most common reason for such pregnancy losses is genetic chromosomal abnormalities and these tend to increase with the age of the mother and the aging of her ova. In the end, Rice concludes, miscarriage is the predominant outcome of fertilization and a natural and inevitable part of human reproduction at all ages.

If Rices analysis and earlier studies with similar results are accurate, then Catholic theology has an issue that has received too little attention. The Church teaches that abortion is the killing of an innocent human being. The science of embryology states that from the moment of conception, a human being is formed, the website of the Archdiocese of Baltimore proclaims.No matter how one looks at it, abortion is murder.

Very well. This suggests that every conceptus has an immortal soul and is thus truly human or hominized, to use a term that has appeared in recent theological discussions. After all, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states plainly that The human body shares in the dignity of the image of God: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul. (364)

But what if 50% or 60% or 70% of conceptuses spontaneously abort? Does God ensoul all fertilized ova even though most will never develop and be born?

Some theologians have recognized the problem. The late and illustrious German theologian, Karl Rahner, once asked:

For a few centuries Catholic moral theology has been convinced that individual hominization occurs at the moment of the fusion of the gametes. Will the moral theologian still have today the courage to maintain this presupposition of many of his moral theological statements, when he is suddenly told that from the start, 50% of the fecundated female ova never reach nidification [implantation] in the uterus? Will he be able to admit that 50% of the human beings real human beings with an immortal soul and an eternal destiny do not, from the very start, get beyond the first stage of human existence? (Karl Rahner, Schriften zur Theologie, 287)

At least one theologian has responded to Rahner. The late Benedict Ashley (1915-2013) was a Dominican priest and a noted scholar. A philosopher and a theologian, Ashley was particularly interested in the junction of philosophy and science. The best known of his more than twenty books is probably Health Care Ethics: A Catholic Theological Analysis, that went through five editions. For his service to the Church he was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal by Pope John Paul II.

Ashley rejects the delayed hominization theories championed by certain theologians and, most famously, by Aquinas, himself. Aquinas did not believe that ensoulment coincides with conception. Rather, following the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, he thought that embryos are at first alive with a vegetative life. After at least 40 days of development, embryos are ready to receive a rational human soul from God. Consequently, Ashley observes, for Aquinas induced abortion before 40 days is a serious sin against nature, because it destroys an organism whose natural purpose is to be transformed into a human being, but such abortion is not, strictly speaking, homicide. This last point has been used by some Catholic political figures to suggest that if an embryo is not a person until well into pregnancy, then a pro-choice stand is at least somewhat defensible.

Father Ashley sets out to develop a Thomistic understanding of ensoulment that is compatible with modern embryology and that demonstrates that delayed ensoulment theories are incorrect. He makes a persuasive case. Aquinas reasoned that since the human soul and its body are made for each other and are correlative causes of each other as form and matter, the matter of the human body has to be in a condition of proximate preparation proportionate to the soul that God creates for it. Otherwise, we would be multiplying miracles, which good Catholic theologians are always reluctant to do.

This is a sound principle, Ashley believes, and proceeds to show that freed from medieval biology, Thomism would agree that from the moment of fertilization, the conceptus is in a condition of proximate preparation for ensoulment. The zygote has all the genetic information it needs, as well as the developmental ability, to construct a human being.

But instant ensoulment at conception doesnt necessarily mean universal hominization. To his credit, Ashley responds to the questions from Karl Rahner cited earlier. He acknowledges that fertilization is a process that often achieves only partial success. There is good evidence that in most of those cases where the fertilized ovum fails to develop into a viable fetus, this process was never normally and perfectly completed.

And then Ashley makes an admission that even couched in careful language, as it is, has a startling implication. Since I am arguing that hominization takes place at the completion of fertilization, it need not be concluded that God creates souls for all these hapless abnormal zygotes.

So, many zygotes develop for a time in the womb, but have no souls and are therefore, from a Catholic perspective, less than human? Yes, if you consistently apply the Thomistic principle that Ashley articulates: The matter of the human body must be in a condition of proximate preparation proportionate to the soul that God creates for it. If a zygote lacks chromosomes required for normal development in the womb, then it is not prepared for ensoulment.

Certainly, the Lord knows which zygotes have the chromosomes required for regular fetal development and which ones do not, which fetuses will reach the point of live birth and which ones will not. It seems plausible that the Creator would not endow with immortal souls conceptuses fated to perish in the first or fourth or tenth week of gestation.

And so is induced abortion a case of homicide in a moral sense? Perhaps. Perhaps not. There is no way of knowing in each instance whether a conceptus at one stage of development or another is ensouled. You might think that genetic testing of the pre-born would provide at least the start of an answer. Possibly it could, though chromosomal defects detectable before birth are not necessarily fatal before birth.

But is abortion gravely immoral? I believe so, in great part precisely because there is no way to be certain whether a zygote targeted for abortion is a human being or not.

Some will disagree with my assessment. They may wish to argue that God gives each fertilized ovum a soul, and that saying so is not taking a mechanistic view of ensoulment. But then what of the large number of spontaneous abortions that theologians like Karl Rahner and Benedict Ashley have seen as a challenge? Were not speaking about 5 percent of pregnancies, but instead perhaps 55% or 65% of pregnancies. This would be a difference so large that it would virtually define a new normal mode of human life. If God gives every fertilized ovum a soul, then can theology give us at least a plausible account of why so many real human beings with an immortal soul and an eternal destiny do not, from the very start, get beyond the first stage of human existence?

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Spontaneous Abortions and Moral Theology | voxnovablog - Patheos