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Pete Buttigieg Slams Pro-Lifers: They Ignore Science and Just Want to Punish Women – LifeNews.com

Pro-abortion Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg blasted pro-life laws during a campaign swing in Alabama this week. He attacked the pro-life legislators behind a law the state legislature approved this year that would protect women and unborn children from abortion.

In May, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that bans abortion in Alabama. But, during a roundtable discussion with abortion activists and Democrat voters, Buttigieg went after the pro-life lawmakers behind the bill, falsely claiming they ignore science and just want to punish women.

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Buttigieg criticized the law, saying the legislature was ignoring science, criminalizing abortion, and punishing women. The mayor said as president he would prevent state-level interference with abortion access and work to abolish the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of medical fund to pay for abortions. At a Fox News event around the time of the Alabama ban, Buttigieg said I trust women to draw the line on abortion, a line he repeated on Monday.

The law in question clearly doesnt ignore science since human life clearly begins at conception and a developing baby in the womb is just that, a baby. In fact a study by scientists earlier this year proves human life begins at conception.

To quote just one authoritative human embryology textbook: Human development begins at fertilisation when a sperm unites with an oocyte [ovum] to form a single cell zygote. This highly specialised, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. (Moore, K.L., Persaud, T.V.N. & Torchia, M.G. (2015).The developing human: clinically oriented embryology(10th ed.).

The Alabama abortion ban also does not punish women. The law in question only punishes abortionists who violate the statute by killing unborn children in abortions.

PRO-LIFE COLLEGE STUDENT? LifeNews is looking for interns interested in writing, social media, or video creation. Contact us today.

Moreover, the Alabama abortion ban was sponsored by a woman and was signed into law by another woman. State Representative Terri Collins, a woman, helped sponsor the bill. Governor Kay Ivey, also a woman, signed the bill into law. In a statement, Gov. Ivey prioritized not only the protection of life, but also the enhancement of life.

She urged members to find the best ways possible to foster a better Alabama in all regards, from education to public safety, exposing the lie that pro-lifers only care about the unborn. We must give every person the best chance for a quality life and a promising future.

And the citizens of Alabama, including women, are pro-life on abortion. According to Pew Research Center data from 2014, 58 percent of Alabama adults wanted abortion illegal in all or most cases. Forty-nine percent of those were men and 51 percent were women.

Meanwhile, in 2018, Alabama voters men and women approved a statewide amendment saying unborn babies have a right to life. Voters said yes by a 60-40 margin. The vote came despite the Planned Parenthood abortion business spending $1.5 million to defeat it.

Pete Buttigieg can support abortion if he thinks killing babies is a good thing, but hes not entitled to make up his own facts. The truth is his pro-abortion position is at odds with science, and women.

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Pete Buttigieg Slams Pro-Lifers: They Ignore Science and Just Want to Punish Women - LifeNews.com

A same-sex British couple have become the first in the world to carry their baby in both their wombs – Business Insider

A same-sex couple have become the first in the world to carry the same baby in both their wombs as part of a landmark "shared motherhood" procedure.

The British couple Jasmine and Donna Francis-Smith welcomed their son, Otis, two months ago.

The baby was born via in vivo natural fertilization, which involves the eggs being incubated in the mother's body, rather than externally, as is the case with in vitro fertilization.

The AneVivo procedure, which was pioneered by the Swiss technology company Anecova and carried out at the London Women's Clinic, involved the eggs of the biological mother being placed inside a miniature capsule and inserted into her womb, where they were incubated.

After the incubation of the eggs, they were taken out of the first mother's womb and placed into the womb of the gestational mother, who carried the baby to term.

Lance Corporal Donna, from Nottinghamshire, told The Telegraph she and Jasmine felt "overwhelmed" by the attention their unique pregnancy story had received.

"You get a lot of same-sex couples where one person is doing the whole thing, and the one person is getting pregnant and giving birth, whereas with this we're both involved in a massive way," Donna said.

"It's definitely brought us closer together emotionally. We're a close couple anyway, but we both have a special bond with Otis as well which was helped by the way we've done it."

Baby Otis. Voxia

Donna explained that she incubated her egg for 18 hours before it was placed in Jasmine's body.

Jasmine, a dental nurse from Northamptonshire, said the couple felt "really fortunate" that their first attempt at IVF was successful "because the reality is that it doesn't work first time for a lot of people."

Dr. Kamal Ahuja, the managing and scientific director of London Women's Clinic, said: "London Women's Clinic has been in the forefront of fertility treatment since 1985, and it's our great pleasure to report the first birth in the world with Shared Motherhood using Anecova's groundbreaking technology for in vivo natural fertilization."

Martin Velasco, the founder and CEO of Anecova, said the technology firm believed its AneVivo procedure had the "potential to bring significant value to London Women's Clinic's already well-established Shared Motherhood program, particularly since it enhances the emotional value for the couple."

The average cost of a cycle of in vitro fertilization is 5,000, or $6,520, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority says.

The success rate is approximately 29% for women under the age of 35, 23% for women ages 35 to 37, and 15% for those ages 38 to 39.

Earlier this year, a study found that the success rate for women undergoing IVF had peaked at one in four.

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A same-sex British couple have become the first in the world to carry their baby in both their wombs - Business Insider

Identity Verification Is Critical To Combating Misinformation And Extremist Content – Forbes

In August, trolls took to Twitter to spout racist slurs at Paul Pogba of Manchester United for committing the unforgivable offense of missing a kick from 12 yards. They felt comfortable doing it because it's easy to be anonymous on social media since all it takes to set up a fake account is an email address, password and name. People can hide heinous actions behind these accounts, shielding themselves from taking responsibility for their actions and possible litigation.

Perhaps unbeknownst to Pogba, his home country of France has already been taking action to try to prevent things like this happening on social media, as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg met with French President Emmanuel Macron in May to discuss the platform's role in spreading hate speech and misinformation. Facebook has recognized that it needs to do more to stop extremist content on its platform and, as a result, has granted the French courts access to IP addresses to help them identify its proponents.

But even if Facebook and Twitter allowed this for all countries, does it go far enough? While social media provides a valuable service to billions of people worldwide by connecting the world and giving a voice to those who typically don't have one, such as with #MeToo movement, it also has its issues. It can potentially be used as a platform for misleading people on important topics such as the U.S. elections, European elections, Brexit and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

There is increasing pressure on social media companies to protect their users from this content. In 2017, Germany passed a law that gives social media companies 24 hours to remove any "obviously illegal" posts or face stiff financial penalties. Now, France is looking to go a step further by gaining access to these IP addresses.

While knowing someone's IP address will certainly help, it's no panacea given the proliferation and consumerization of VPN software that can mask a computer's IP address. A better way would be to know what legal identity is connected with the social media account in question. This would make investigating and holding people accountable much easier and help the public regain trust in social media platforms. I believe more identity proofing will only elevate and enhance a social media platform's brand and reputation and make perpetrators think twice about committing such atrocities in the first place.

At Onfido, we're actively working with some social media companies to help them provide a more secure and trusted route to authenticating their users. For bots, which are essentially computer algorithms that mimic human behavior in online social networks to spread misinformation, we can periodically introduce "liveness" tests. These tests act as a CAPTCHA, where the account holder would need to carry out a selfie video in order to proceed to post an article to their account.

Facebook recently showed some signs of moving in this direction with its selfie CAPTCHA, but it doesn't take into account higher-value or riskier transactions. Although there are fears that Facebook may misuse face data, it has confirmed that this service is dedicated to motion only in order to stop bots and "does not use facial recognition."

We're not the only ones looking at this problem. There are startups like Digital Shadows, a cybersecurity firm that uses AI to identify fake websites, phony social media profiles and "counterfeit" company domains set up to spoof a brand's online identity.

LinkedIn also announced it is proactively taking a stance by using a mixture of machine learning and human moderation "to detect groups of accounts that look or act similarly, which implies they were created or controlled by the same bad actor."

Using methods like these can help social media networks stop the spread of misinformation via bots like the recent accusations surrounding the Hong Kong riots while making hate speech spreaders accountable for their actions and helping businesses create a foundation of trust.

Social media companies need only look at the sharing economy space to see how digital identity verification is taking off. Many scooter, car and apartment rental companies are using it to help build trust between service providers and consumers. It has become a necessity in the financial services industry, where fraudulent accounts have the potential for massive financial loses and large fines from regulators if they don't follow AML or KYC policies. Some new online banks have welcomed the arrival of online identity verification, which has helped make banks such as Revolut and Monzo successful at onboarding users quickly but safely.

From my experience, the leaders in these companies needed to figure out the extent to which identity verification had a strategic role within their organization whether it was more a tick-box or core to the integrity of their offerings. They also had to consider where their customers are and how common fraud is in those places before deciding their comfort level with respect to fraud, answering whether they wanted to prioritize the speed of onboarding or the ability to catch all bad actors.

According to research published by DataReportal, there are roughly 3.5 billion global social media users. I believe we have a responsibility to take action now before hate speech becomes the new norm and we find it so hard to distinguish real news from fake news that we no longer accept or consume information.

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Identity Verification Is Critical To Combating Misinformation And Extremist Content - Forbes

The reachers who travelled across the country: Why they came to Georgia State to study the brain – The Signal

First announced at a University Senate Meeting in the spring, Georgia State welcomed a group of researchers from both the University of New Mexico and the Mind Research Network, a non-profit imaging center. This fall, the two seperate research groups came together to work at Georgia State.

These new researchers now combined to work at the Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), which is now located on the 18th floor of 55 Park Place.

All of the researchers were brought over by one person: Vince Calhoun, the founding director and visionary of TReNDS, who also made the trip across the states to come to Georgia State.

But why did the researchers travel across the country to come here?

According to Calhoun, the university was interested in making a mark and expanding their brain imaging portfolio.

The TReNDS center researches the brain in a more general manner, meaning that the center is looking at healthy and unhealthy brains, normal and disordered brains and everything else in between.

With the analysis of brain imaging comes complicated data, especially for the unhealthy and disordered brains. What the center has developed and continues to develop are the techniques for making sense of the complex brain imaging data.

On a deeper level, there are several other, more specific projects going on. One of them is a research project focusing on using tools to analyze brain-imaging data in order to better understand and find features relating to abnormal human behavior, specifically psychiatric disorders like dementia and schizophrenia.

Another project is international, involving the study and research of the effects of city lights and the greenness of the environment on brain patterns using satellite imaging data and brain imaging data.

Sergei Plis, associate professor of computer science and working member of TReNDS, compared the tools involved, to simplify, as being similar to how google translate functions.

Although the center is located at Georgia State, TReNDS is a tri-institutional center shared between Georgia State, Georgia Tech and Emory University. This means that each institution contributes resources in some way to the TReNDS center, such as faculty or support for postdoctorales. Emory, specifically, contributes to the patient population and clinical expertise within psychiatry and neurology.

As work transferred to the state of Georgia, so did ten of the graduate research students involved with the center. But Georgia State lacked one thing: a graduate engineering program.

Because of this, the ten students involved transferred to Georgia Tech. Since the move, there are some postdoctoral research assistants who have joined the team from Georgia State.

Reliable and accurate data needs large and diverse sample sizes, according to Plis. With help from the growing neuroimaging community, TReNDS is able to receive data from across the nation and around the world. Some collaborators are in India, China, and England.

How is this possible? Doesnt the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, protect patient data? What about ethical and legal issues? And why would researchers share data that they have worked years to develop?

As Plis explains it, TReNDS built a system that allows for the data to stay where it is and never leave the data center no matter the location.

We can connect online using algorithms we developed to run around and collect certain data here and there in different data sets. We are sharing minimal information, and we still get the results we need as if all the data were still together, Plis said. We are kind of sharing without sharing and solving this problem of data sharing.

Along with the data gathered around the world, the TReNDS center utilizes the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, located near Georgia Tech. Here, you will find a 3-Tesla Siemens Prisma-Fit MRI system, which according to Calhoun is the most modern, cutting-edge scanner for research available.

The TReNDS center also developed some collaborative tools that are put into CABI so that other people can more easily get access to their data, share it, collaborate and anonymize it.

The data will all get archived and analyzed in standard pipeline, Calhoun said. We speed up the process and eventually were planning to have that enable us to compute scores for the different brain imaging markers that were developing.

Whats unique about the center, according to Jean Liu, an associate professor of computer science at Georgia State, is the strength of the team.

We have a group of extremely trained engineers that can use very sophisticated algorithms to study brain imaging, which is not very common within other brain centers, Liu said.

Other centers, Liu said, will have people with various backgrounds like neuroscience and psychology. Although this may be helpful in some respects, there are obstacles that present themselves in finding specific features when big data is presented, according to Liu.

This is where the trained engineers with sophisticated algorithms that the team relies on come in. Their job is to develop tools using the algorithms to help people in different professional backgrounds better understand and find the specific data they are looking for.

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The reachers who travelled across the country: Why they came to Georgia State to study the brain - The Signal

Business entropy is making the fraud problem worse – PaymentsSource

Marrying up the law of entropy and the fact that the number of digital payments being made across the globe is increasing dramatically, by default means that fraud management processes need to be constantly refined.

Entropy as a scientific principle concerns the loss of energy from a system and describes how an ordered system moves towards disorder. The key point in understanding entropy is that it cannot be stopped, and to maintain a desired level of order, energy or performance, more of the same must be added into the system. A simple example is when you wear your coat on a cold day. When you take your coat off, entropy is the process that explains the loss of warmth, which can only be countered by putting it on again.

In the payment industry this is fully supported by the fact that fraud has reached the highest levels on record, affecting more organizations than ever. The scale of the problem was revealed in last years PWC Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey. Nearly half (49%) of the 7,228 businesses across 123 territories that were interviewed reported that they had experienced fraud and economic crime over a two-year period.

Today, fraud management consists of several manual processes models and rules performance monitoring, fraud pattern discovery and fraud alert management, to name a few. While these manual processes may be manageable at first, as the number of payment types and channels increase, it can rapidly become untenable to add more and more staff to manage and monitor all processes. Managing fraud can become very expensive, which is why efficient management processes are so important.

The fact that entropy exists, and remains a factor that cannot be stopped, means that all aspects of the business need to be monitored. You may be most interested in product development or working with clients, but if you do not watch the other parts of the business, such as accounts payable or accounting, entropy will eventually cause problems. Management regarding entropy aims at small corrections to keep projects or departments on track, rather than letting those areas run in isolation, until there is a much larger breakdown or problem.

There is a lot of information on how machine learning is helping to understand human behavior and more specifically, false/positive detection. However, there is little available research on how this relates to the end-to-end process within fraud management.

This draws you back to the fact that the industry is focused, and rightly so, on detecting fraud, but is not focused on evaluating the impact to the whole end-to-end process. Clearly the interdependencies on these two activity streams are significant, so the question is why both factors arent being considered by the fraud prevention suppliers.

While things naturally move to disorder over time, we can position ourselves to create stability. There are two types of stability: active and passive. Consider an airplane, which, if designed well, should be able to fly without intervention this is passive stability. Conversely, a fighter jet requires active stability. With active stability, you are applying energy to a system, in order to bring about some advantage (keeping the plane from crashing). The plane cant fly for more than a few seconds, without having to adjust its wings and these adjustments happen so quickly that its controlled by software in modern airplanes.

Autopilot ML, in this analogy, is the fighter pilot for fraud defense. Reacting quickly to fraud pattern changes by creating new machine learning models to stop the threats; while continually optimizing the fraud detection strategy, so that it is equipped to counter the newest and most damaging threats, while maintaining high acceptance and low insult rates.

In summary, machine learning is having a huge impact on the entropy of fraud detection, it is helping to maintain order, providing the system with passive stability. However, as stated above, without constant refinement and active stability, effectiveness is likely to decay. This rate of entropic decay needs to be measured, understood and more importantly learned from and acted upon. In terms of the latter, it is the efficiency of the changes that are critical, essentially providing stability optimization.

Are the fraud prevention products and services you are currently deploying maintaining stability?

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Business entropy is making the fraud problem worse - PaymentsSource

We Have Questions for This Sloth Found Gorging on Human Poo in a Toilet – Free

At the beginning of this millennium, just two months after 9/11, scientists in the Peruvian Amazon made one of the most unsettling discoveries ever to be reported in the pages of the prestigious journal Mammalian Biology.

It was a sloth, and it was hanging out inside of a toilet, and it was absolutely gorging itself on a potent liquid slurry of human waste by the handful. It apparently didn't want to be seen engaging in whatever esoteric sloth ritual this was.

"It was scooping with one hand from the semi-liquid manure composed of faeces, urine and toilet paper and then eating from the hand," the researchers reported in a 2011 research paper that made the rounds last week for some unknown reason, but which I absolutely could not resist clicking on because I am broken.

"When more persons gathered around the latrine to watch this bizarre behavior, the sloth emerged from the latrine and climbed into the nearest tree," the researchers wrote.

Over the next few years, until the latrine was fenced in in 2007, the researchers observed 25 more sloths heading to the poo pit for a midnight feast. As for why this is a thing, the researchers speculated that the sloths could be trying to glean some nutrients from human waste or possibly eating worms.

And yet, I have questions that demand answers:

1. Did we bother you?

I have seen this face before, in the mirror. This is how I look when I am forced to admit I ate an entire pizza after the box is discovered. I am weak, and I am ashamed, and I am fundamentally seen. This is Lenny from The Simpsons feebly pleading, "Please don't tell anyone how I live" after his wretched existence is exposed by a wall in his house comically falling down. I empathize deeply, and I want to apologize if we humans interrupted or embarrassed you, the poo sloth.

2. Where are you now?

It's been a long time since we found you eating crap. Are you OK? Have you moved on to trading cryptocurrencies or investing in cannabis? How long do sloths even live?

3. What is sloths' whole deal with poo?

It seems like poo is a whole thing for sloths. These creatures have one gigantic, probably-painful poo once a week. It is risky because they have to do it on the ground, exposing them to predators, and honestly does not sound all that fun. And yet, sloths desire to consume this same substance with unmatched ferocity, even desperation. What gives?

All I know is that, somehow, this sloth set the tone for our current shitworld which was just ramping up when we found the long-armed toilet hamster eating its first handful of poo, like it was pulling some huge cosmic lever.

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We Have Questions for This Sloth Found Gorging on Human Poo in a Toilet - Free

Columbus police address concerns of human trafficking after 2 recent attempted abduction reports – 10TV

On November 21 around 6 p.m., 18-year-old Kennedy Stokes said she was at Walmart with her sister and cousin when they ran into two men who tried to talk to them several times.

Stokes said they felt like they were being followed and texted their parents.

A day later, Stokes said she was driving to her apartment when her car started making a rattling noise. She said she made it to the entrance of her apartment complex on the east side, when she got out to check under the hood of her car.

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"When I closed the hood down when I'm walking back towards the driving side of my car this guy is approaching me he doesn't say anything, he legit just started grabbing on me," Stokes said.

She said she noticed he was wearing gloves and what she believes was a box cutter in his hand. She told us she strongly believes it was one of the men from Walmart the day before because she said she remembers the clothing one of the men was wearing.

"He was grabbing on me my jacket unzips and he's like cutting my chest I had all of these scratches on my chest," "Stokes said.

Her mother, Kana Stokes, not knowing what the man's intentions were has a lot of thoughts running through her mind. She said she is mainly worried that it could be linked to human trafficking, but she doesn't know for sure.

"It really is sickening, it really is taking over my mindset right now, Kana Stokes said.

Fourteen miles away, on the same day Stokes said she was attacked, another mother said she experienced a terrifying situation.

A mother, who wished to remain anonymous for safety, said her 12-year-old son stayed in the car while she paid for gas at a UDF gas station on Indianola.

"When I came outside, he was very upset he was visibly shaken and he said that someone had tried to get into the car," she said.

The young boy told his mother a man was yanking on the handle, not saying anything, just looking at him trying to get in. In the police report, Columbus police said the incident was caught on a security camera which they are reviewing.

Sgt. James Fuqua said the man had talked to several other people in the lot of this business before leaving in a white van. He said it now an investigation with the human trafficking task force.

Two different situations, two locations, but both mothers fearing "what if?"

The mother of the 12-year-old boy said, "Immediately and this is because I'm aware of what human trafficking is, I thought this could've been a situation where I never saw my son again."

Sgt. Fuqua said most, not all, but most human traffickers know the victim and try to build a relationship with them earning the victim's trust.

Regardless, Columbus police take every report, like these two situations, very seriously and look at every possible motive or intention of the stranger.

"You don't want to just assume that when someone is approaching someone they just want theft, you don't want to ever assume that maybe they're trying to make that person a victim of sexual assault, it could always be as extreme as someone trying to take someone away for the purposes of human trafficking," Sgt. James Fuqua said.

He said when it comes to the topic of human trafficking, human traffickers don't just target young females, a victim could be any gender or any age.

Sgt. Fuqua said if a victim is being human trafficked, they may show some signs of missing work, constantly fearing for their life but not explaining why, personality changes, financial changes, and signs of physical or mental abuse.

He said if someone finds themselves in a questionable situation, make a lot of noise and call attention to what is happening. He said to make it known to the stranger and loudly, that their behavior is unwanted.

In order to avoid certain situations, he suggests to park or walk in well-lit areas and make sure to be visible to others at all times.

Here is a website for the human trafficking hotline: https://humantrafficking.ohio.gov/index.html

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Columbus police address concerns of human trafficking after 2 recent attempted abduction reports - 10TV

Often Wrong, Never In Doubt – American Council on Science and Health

Scientists studying cognition report that we are frequently overconfident when considering small possibilities we think they are more significant than they are, at least mathematically. Overconfidence is not necessarily good or bad; a belief in a slight chance of recovery is called hope. An abundance of caution may prompt us to be more prudent in the face of a small, but existentialrisk.

Overconfidence can be particularly problematic when two conditions prevail. First, when the information we are assessing is noisy, there is some signal of truth, but it is accompanied by a degree of doubt. Second, when this same noisy informational environment provides weak feedback, that is, feedback that comes after a significant delay or that is not overly convincing. Many of the scientific positions that are controversial and attract strident polarized views often meet those two criteria.

For an older example, consider the hundred-year history of smokings effect on our health. Lung cancer, long before it was the most common cause of cancer deaths, was so rare that physicians gathered around to see this odd pathology. And in the early days of the twentieth century, many other causes of death hid the rising tide of lung cancer. Additionally, smokers dont develop lung cancer for many years after they start smoking; the feedback that smoking is harmful is an excellent example of very delayed feedback. Over the next thirty or forty years, the persistent signal of lung cancer became more evident, there was less noise, and we had longitudinal data that made the feedback stronger. Tobacco companies facing financial peril did not and could not repress the growing evidence, but they cast doubt on the conclusions, by framing the evidence as not overly convincing. By casting doubt through every available media sources, they sought to enforce the truth of their claims by shouting louder and more frequently than their opponents.

One would hope that disseminating information more broadly and cheaply would serve as a corrective; the Internet could be counted upon to reduce the distortions of noise and weak feedback. But, if anything, it has proven to be a more effective, pliable way to continue to increase the noise and spread the doubt. Searching for information on the net has been likened to drinking water from a fire hose - our first precondition for overconfidence, little signal, much noise. To use an old meme, when you use the net, no one knows youre a dog everyone can present themselves as an expert. And knowing that, makes every report a little more doubtful, it further weakens the feedback.

Science is, at its heart, about discovery, but the media that communicates science to us is often about advocacy. Everything is a sales pitch. The study funded by Big Tobacco, Big Climate, or Big Natural is readily identified. Still, government-funded research is pitched to what is politically fundable, and journals and foundations are pitched attention-getting results. One consequence of such a system is what Steven Colbert characterized as truthiness, our belief in something because it feels right; another way we share our overconfidence. The error for us lies not in the overconfidence, after all, that is our human behavior, it is in confusing the science of discovery with the sales pitch, and it results in us talking past one another rather than engaging in the discussion that is science.

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Often Wrong, Never In Doubt - American Council on Science and Health

An Interview With Singer-Songwriter BRIGITTE MENA On New Music and More! | All Access Music – All Access Music Group

Meet the singer-songwriter,Brigitte Mena! The Texas-native recently released a brand new single entitled Maniac. The track is based on the Netlix show Maniac that was released last September, and is inspired by Emma Stones character, Annie Landsberg (suffering from Borderline PD) who takes a series of pills in a pharmaceutical trial that is supposed to cure her struggles/disorder. There are many references to machines including various sound effects throughout the song as a way of recreating her experience of the trials.

Brigitte Mena was born to be a storyteller, and her vehicle is music. The singer-songwriters heartrending tunes tell harrowing tales enveloped in atmospheric, ambient melodies. But the artist has her sights set on much more than producing pop rock tracks. Armed with her versatile voice, a pen and a penchant for crafting compelling songs, Mena strives to strike a chord with audiences and tell relevant, resonant stories.

Mena started crafting original music in high school, and founded her first rock band as a freshman at Southern Methodist University, where she studied Music and Psychology. Menas music studies helped her hone her craft, while her work in psychology gave her an avenue to explore her interest in human behavior. Instead of choosing one passion over the other, the artist decided to merge the two roads ahead of her. By using her talents as a musician, Mena shines a light on topics like behavior, mental health, relationships and identity.

Connect With Brigitte Mena Online Here- Website Facebook Instagram

Learn more Brigitte Mena in the following All Access interview-

Thank you for your time! So what does a typical day look like for you lately?

Of course! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me! Ialways begin my day with a good cup of coffee and usually plan out my to-dolist for the day. I can easily get overwhelmed with everything I have toaccomplish, so this simple routine of making a daily task list really helps me.Lately Ive been in the studio finishing up my next record so a lot of my daysare filled with recording and mixing sessions.

Now that we are inthe latter half of the year, how has 2019 treated you? What are some goals thatyou have had for yourself this year? How close are you to reaching them or didyou already? What are you already looking forward to in 2020?

This year has been pretty amazing. I released three singlesthis year and Im almost finished recording my second album! One of my goals Iset at the end of last year was to write a full length record, so its beenexciting seeing it all come together. Im looking forward to the release nextyear hopefully next Spring or Summer! Keep an eye out!

Growing up, howimportant was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decidedthat you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make?

Music has always been my saving grace. When I think back onmy most difficult times, its music that has literally saved me. Although Ivealways loved music, it was about two years ago where I finally realized that Iwanted to make a career as a musician. I left my job to officially pursue itfull time.

Was there ever atime when you thought about doing something else? If you werent a musiciantoday, what else could you see yourself doing? Would you be as fulfilled inlife?

Definitely. I changed my major like 4 times throughoutcollege, but I ended up finishing my music degree. As much as I wanted to be amusician, the whole making it work part always scared me. I had to learn howto become comfortable with the unknown and even more comfortable with theamount of work it takes to be successful. If I wasnt doing music, Im prettysure I would be a teacher. After college, I worked a few different teachingjobs, and although I loved teaching, I knew that music was my true passion, andhow unhappy I would be if I didnt just go for it.

What has been thebiggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been anunexpected or welcome challenge to it all? What has been the best part about itall?

Honestly, how Ive never once regretted just going for it.There were a lot of times right before I quit my job where I was thinking okay, this is just for a few months or something, so you better enjoy it! Butthe everyday challenge of fighting for something you believe in has been sorewarding. There are days where the grind is overwhelming, but I love everysecond of it. For me Its like planting a seed and watching it grow intosomething beautiful. You have to provide that seed with its nutrients, love,attention, and PATIENCE. Making a career out of music is just like that for me.

What was theinspiration for your newest track, Maniac? What was it like having it bebased on the Netflix show also called Maniac?

Maniac is inspired by Emma Stones character, Annie.Its basically a song about her experience throughout the show and thechallenges she faces. The show definitely brought the song to life. A lot of mysongs are written from a psychological perspective, but this song was moreinfluenced by her character.

How would you saythat Maniac compares to anything else that you have released?

I think content-wise its probably the most differentcompared to other songs Ive released. Ive never written a song based on ashow, so it was definitely a different experience for me.

Do you have plansto release more new music soon and a full of collection of new songs?

YES! Be on the lookout for a new album from me next year!

How would you saythat your newest music compares to anything else that you have released in thepast?

I think the biggest difference between my last record andthe record I am currently recording is the content. Maslow, the album Ireleased last year, was a collection of songs primarily based on a reallydifficult breakup I went through. It was also a concept album based onMaslows Hierarchy of Needs. My newest material is still personal, butencompasses various experiences both myself and others close to me have hadthroughout a years timespan.

How do you thinkyou have grown as a musician since you first started making music? What, ifanything, has stayed the same about your music-making process?

I think my biggest area of growth has been findinginspiration out of literally anything. When I first started writing, I couldonly create when I was extremely sad or unhappy. But now, I feel like Im ableto look outside of those darker experiences a bit, and find inspirationelsewhere. Thats kind of how Maniac was formed looking for inspirationoutside of my personal experiences. Of course, I think we can all agree thatsome of the best writing comes out from painful times. What has stayedconsistent for me is that most of my songs start off with anacoustic/singer-songwriter feel.

How do you feel about social media? What do you think social media has done for your career?

Eh I have a love/hate relationship with it. While I thinkits a great way to get your name out there, I also think its A LOT to keep upwith. I feel like youre expected to constantly be posting about whats goingon in your life and keep up with various content. I will say that its helpedme share my music with people who would have never heard it!

What musicianswould you absolutely still love to work with in the future?

Anthony Green or Billie Eilish for sure. Also PhoebeBridgers or LIGHTS would be super cool.

If you coulddesign your dream music video right now, what would it look like?

I have something in mind for a song off my forthcomingalbum, so I dont want to give it away quite yet

At the end of theday, what do you hope people take away from your music?

I hope my music fills a void in peoples lives That ithelps get them through difficult times and brings a sense of security andfulfillment in the same way it has for me. I hope my music creates a connectionbetween what Ive personally experienced and what the listener is experiencing.

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An Interview With Singer-Songwriter BRIGITTE MENA On New Music and More! | All Access Music - All Access Music Group

Cabinet hails Saudi-UAE ties after crown prince visit to the Emirates – Arabnews

DIRIYAH:The Saudi Ministry of Culture is to stage an international art exhibition showcasing the works of 27 artists from the Kingdom and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Titled From Inside, the expo will be held at the industrial area in Diriyah and opens next Sunday through to Dec. 26.

The Diriyah Season event will form part of the Quality of Life program, a Saudi Vision 2030 initiative aimed at enriching the creative scene and supporting Saudi contemporary artists by exhibiting their work before an international audience in a prestigious platform from inside the Kingdom.

The ministry is also looking to project Saudi artistic talent onto an international stage to help strengthen the position of the Kingdom, and Diriyah, as an international art destination.

From Inside will reflect the cultural developments taking place in the Kingdom and is part of the ministrys comprehensive plan to transform Diriyah into a contemporary art area hosting works from all over the world.

The exhibition will include paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos and installation artworks raising questions about the relation between architecture, human behavior and the ways that human experiences and societal nature are shown in the development of civilization.

The event will also explore how feelings and emotions are influenced by architecture, construction methods and art.

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Cabinet hails Saudi-UAE ties after crown prince visit to the Emirates - Arabnews