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November 30, 2009 (updated on: December 8, 2011 ) | by Holden
These charts from Smile Train imply an appealing story:
(a) Smile Train performs surgeries for $250 apiece.
(b) Smile Train's main use of donations is to fund $250 surgeries.
(c) A donation to Smile Train funds more surgeries than would the same donation to another cleft palate organization.
(d) If Smile Train had much more money, it would fund many more $250 surgeries.
But after some basic investigation of their website and financials (and conversation with the organization), we believe that:
(a) Smile Train's total expense per surgery is well over $250.
(b) Directly funding surgeries (the program focused on in the charts above) accounts for under half of Smile Train's expenses.
(c) Smile Train makes direct grants to other cleft palate organizations, some of which use the same model as the "mission groups" that its charts imply are overly costly.
(d) If Smile Train had more money, it could mean more grants to "mission groups," general education about cleft palate conditions, and a host of other activities, and would probably not mean more directly funded surgeries.
We feel that, as a result, many of Smile Train's donors – including Prof. Steven Levitt of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics – have a highly inaccurate picture of how their donations are used. Details follow.
The same Smile Train page linked above claims 90,000-95,000 surgeries provided in 2008. If this number is entirely correct (not exaggerated or estimated) and we divide it into the roughly $100 million of "money raised" shown above, we obtain a cost-per surgery of over $1000.
In fact, the situation is a bit more complex, because money raised doesn't equal money spent. To get the latter, we can look at Smile Train's most recent IRS Form 990, which puts total expenses around $85 million for an implied cost-per-surgery closer to $900.
It's possible that some surgeries are performed for $250 apiece or less. But are these the surgeries you're paying for when you donate? That's where the next few points become relevant.
Here's the big picture on Smile Train's expenses, as far as we can understand them from the most recent IRS Form 990:
"Treatment partnerships" appears to be the core program of funding developing-world doctors to perform surgeries.
The "No information available on website" item refers to $23.6 million spent on "provid[ing] materials on cleft lip and palate for free to anyone interested in this birth defect" (according to the Form 990). We have no other information about this activity.
"Education grants" appear to refer to training developing-world surgeons. "Treatment grants" appear to correspond to grants to other organizations.
(c) Smile Train makes direct grants to other cleft palate organizations, some using the same model as the "mission groups" that its charts imply are overly costly.
Prof. Steven Levitt of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics writes,
The typical model for cleft repair in developing countries has been to convince U.S. doctors and nurses to volunteer a week's time, fly to a country, and do 80 surgeries … Smile Train instead partners with and trains local doctors to do the surgeries, which turns out to be far more efficient.
In fact, Smile Train makes grants to a variety of other organizations, including some that focus on the "mission" model (flying U.S. doctors and nurses overseas). The most recent list of grants starts on page 18 of the Form 990, and includes:
$1.4 million to GiveWell standout Interplast, which funds both missions and work with local doctors.
$70,000 to Surgical Volunteers International and $25,000 to the Smiles International Foundation, both of which appear to be missions only.
A wide variety of other grants, including for organizations focused on research, organizations that work primarily in the U.S., and more.
I first encountered some of these oddities back in 2006, and wondered why Smile Train wasn't simply putting all available funds toward its most cost-effective surgeries (presumably, the ones that cost $250 each). The answer I got at that time was that there was a "doctor shortage" – Smile Train was paying $250 per surgery as much as it could, but had more money than it could use that way, so it engaged in other activities and made grants to other organizations.
Given this situation, I think Smile Train's approach makes sense. How many charities are raising more cash than they can productively use, and sitting on it instead of giving it away to other organizations?
In terms of spending money it has appropriately, Smile Train may be doing well. But how it brings in that money is another question. When Steve Levitt doesn't seem aware of how funds are being used, it seems to me that donors are getting the wrong impression.
Prof. Levitt notes that "One thing they don't do, but maybe they should do, is literally link each $250 donation to a particular child and send before and after pictures." Smile Train can't take this suggestion, because it's not providing a surgery for every $250 raised.
Posted in Cleft palate charity, Smile Train | Permalink | 32 Comments
oasis on November 30, 2009 at 3:16 pm said:
Suppose that Smile Train has a comparative advantage in fundraising than its competitors due to some combination of misleading advertising and marketing savvy.
Assuming that ST's misleading ads draw more money into the cleft palate nonprofit sector than would otherwise be donated, since ST donates its excess (minus fundraising overheads, naturally) to them, isn't this a net gain for the sector as a whole?
Ian Turner on November 30, 2009 at 3:24 pm said:
Oasis, what if those extra donations would have been made instead to other more promising treatments, such as vaccinations, bednets, and condoms?
i was being sarcastic. it was a parody of their possible justification for lying
stacy on December 1, 2009 at 5:58 pm said:
Ian, are we to infer from your response to Oasis (re "more promising treatments") that children born with cleft palates who will likely die from malnutrition (due to poor swallowing ability) are less worthy of life than a child vulnerable to malaria or other disease? While I applaud your critical analysis of charities, you offer few alternatives to those who seek to aid specific, neglected populations.
Reader on December 4, 2009 at 11:16 am said:
Can you do this same analysis of CHARITY WATER'S claims that $20 provided x for x for x years, or $5000 provides a well for x people for x years?
Ian Turner on December 4, 2009 at 10:02 pm said:
Reader,
I doubt that Givewell folks have the time to chase down every charity out there, but you might want to see their detailed detailed analysis of water supply programs in general and their discussion of a selection of water charities.
Holden on December 5, 2009 at 11:07 am said:
Stacy, one doesn't have to believe that children with cleft palate are "less worthy of life" to believe that – for example – charities that distribute antimalarial nets are more worth funding. We've previously argued that importance of a problem is not the same as worthiness of a cause.
Reader, thanks for the suggestion. I took a quick look It does not appear that their figures contradict each other in the clear way that Smile Train's do/did. I have questions about exactly what the numbers mean, as well as general concerns about water charities. But we will need to check this group out more to have much to say about it.
Sasha on December 11, 2009 at 4:32 pm said:
Children with clefts are being helped more efficiently by a local doctor in their hometown. The results are immediate and obvious. I found this on their website under financials" While our cost per surgery varies across the 78 different countries we work in, our contribution per surgery averages about $250. This amount reflects the contribution per surgery that we provide our partner hospitals. They also cover a significant portion of each surgery as part of our cost-sharing agreement." It seems to me there is much more to funding surgeries than just the direct contribution–training, medical equipment etc. I have been a donor for years and continue to support The Smile Train.
sonya on December 11, 2009 at 7:04 pm said:
As a donor who is intimately familiar with the sector, and with Smile Train, I would like to respond.
First, much of what you say seems moot, as the chart in question is indeed no longer on the site, undoutedly removed because it reflected old, outdated information. But let?s take a closer look at your argument anyway.
?(a) Smile Train?s total expense per surgery is well over $250.?
I am well-acquainted with Smile Train?s financials, and can assure you that over the past 10 years, their average cost-per-surgery is $250.
?(b) Directly funding surgeries (the program focused on in the charts above) accounts for under half of Smile Train?s expenses.?
As I am sure you aware, there is considerably more to funding surgeries than simply the direct-per-surgery contribution. Smile Train must pay for training, education, medical equipment, travel, food, advertising, outreach efforts, doctor salaries, etc.
?(c) Smile Train makes direct grants to other cleft palate organizations, some of which use the same model as the ?mission groups? that its charts imply are overly costly.?
Cost-effectiveness is always the goal, of course, and I think that is clearly reflected in Smile Train?s model as well as their demonstrated success. But what do you mean when you say ?overly costly?? Certainly there are times when local doctors are simply not an option. Haiti is one good example, where there is not a single local surgeon who does clefts. And in those unfortunate cases, of course a mission group must fly in, and expenses are consequently higher. I trust you would agree that it is certainly better to pay more for the surgeries and help these kids than to provide no surgeries.
?(d) If Smile Train had more money, it could mean more grants to 'mission groups,' general education about cleft palate conditions, and a host of other activities, and would probably not mean more directly funded surgeries.?
What is the basis for this hypothetical? The number of surgeries Smile Train provides is directly linked to how much money they raise. The more money they raise = more children they help. It?s just that simple.
Ian Turner on December 12, 2009 at 12:08 am said:
Sonya,
I'm gonna take you up on this one:
Question (a) Is cost per surgery more or less than $250?
I'm afraid you'll need a more convincing argument than "trust me" to make us share your view. Let's start with this: Smile Train's 2008 form 990 says they spent $86.7 million in that year. $86.7 million divided by $250 yields 346,000. On what basis do you conclude that in the fiscal year ending in 2008, Smile Train's activities resulted in 346,000 more surgeries than would have been performed otherwise? If it's not, and if Smile Train's mission is to ensure that surgeries are performed, then in what sense is the claim true?
Jonny one-note on December 15, 2009 at 2:52 pm said:
The amount of money Smile Train spends on marketing is outrageous. Their fundraising letters are essentially blackmail, saying that they'll never ask you for money again if you give them something. If you don't fork over they send letters about once a month with a picture of that poor child on the envelope to shock and disgust people. I have never seen any charity engage in such a despicable marketing campaign.
Rene B. on December 15, 2009 at 8:19 pm said:
In the fundraising materials I've received, they stated that "overhead", including the costs of fundraising, was totally covered, although I can't remember if they said a large endowment or the board of directors or what. But I distinctly remember that it said that 100% of my donation would directly fund cleft lip and palate surgery–that if I donated $250, that would pay for one cleft repair. That (along with Walter Cronkite and many many other well-known people) really impressed me and is why I started donating small amounts occasionally.
So was that a total lie?
I went to look at the "financials" section on their website, and I see they are no longer doing the $250=one surgery thing. Now they discuss other things that are not actual surgeries but that are important–operating room equipment, orthodontics, speech therapy, even food to build their bodies up enough so that they can be operated on. You know what? That doesn't bother me, even though it does raise the strict money in/surgery out ratio.
Perhaps their endowment ran out. Compared to many charities, their fundraising+management-to-service ratio looks pretty good.
Ian Turner on December 15, 2009 at 9:32 pm said:
Agreed that it's absurd to ask Smile Train to pay for surgeries only without creating an environment where successfully surgeries are even possible. But those costs must be accounted for in determining their cost efficiency.
The program expenses ratio, on the other hand, is totally useless. No problem with a charity spending a lot of money on fundraising if it brings in the cash, and lots of charities run an extremely clean ship but nonetheless have little to no impact.
Givewell calls the ratio of fundraising and management to program expenses the "straw ratio", and they go at it with a fair amount of anger and rage in these blog posts. (You might want to read bottom to top on that page)
Rene B. on December 18, 2009 at 12:03 am said:
Thank you for the link. At first glance, looking at "overhead" vs. "money going to whatever the charity does" seems a reasonable way to tell a decent charity from a not-so-good one. For example, the Police Protective Fund (money for widows and children of police officers, "police officer down" education" spends something like 78% of donations on overhead, leaving only 22% for any actual charity work–once I learned that, I decided to never donate to them again.
Frankly I had never known (or thought about) what "managerial expenses" actually was. I assumed salaries, rent, utilities, etc. I guess I assumed that "evaluation of effectiveness" would be included in program expenses.
So if it's not, then there IS no way to really evaluate any charities effectiveness. The planning and evaluation isn't being done, so how CAN one judge? He's convinced me that it should be part of a charity evaluation but until that becomes part of it, what's left is the dreaded ratio and the charity's own promo material, including the films (for example) of many happy families with children no longer ostracized from school and life.
I would LIKE to get a better handle on what charity is doing the best with the money I may give it, but how?
I agree that it's certainly possible for a charity to overspend on fundraising. But it's hard to tell what constitutes "overspending". For example, consider a charity that holds lavish events in France for its largest donors, which end up costing 50% of the amount donated. That doesn't actually mean it's a bad organization — if the programs are effective, then you can give freely, turn down the lavish trip to France, and create impact.
Likewise, it's possible (though unlikely, in my opinion) that the Police Protective Fund is having an impact. If you write a check to the charity, it won't go through the telemarketers and won't be subject to the same fundraising overhead as other organizations.
Likewise, there's not really an upper threshold on administrative expenses. Partly that's because there's a large amount of leeway on what constitutes program expenses, but mostly because proper administration makes for a more effective organization. Consider a charity that distributes vaccines and spends 80% of its money thinking about the most efficient way to do so, while spending only 20% actually distributing the vaccines. If the analysis makes the distribution 5X more effective (very possible), then it was worthwhile.
I've exaggerated the numbers, but the latter example is basically VillageReach in a nutshell.
Finally, to answer your last question — if financial analysis doesn't provide a clear picture, how do you decide how to give? The only answer I'm aware of is the GiveWell approach, which requires a painstaking commitment to skeptical analysis. What I mean by "The GiveWell" approach is to research a charity's evidence of impact (most charities have none) to find a conservative quantitative figure for what the organization is actually accomplishing. This process is hard because charities are rarely forthcoming and because you have to take into account the various biases and unintended consequences that can crop up, like selection bias and offsetting effects.
The GiveWell approach is also the approach taken by any high-performance foundation, although foundations are more likely to take risks on promising but unproven programs.
Because this analysis is so time-consuming and difficult, I'm extremely grateful that someone else (Elie and Holden) have taken it upon themselves to do the research for the benefit of the public.
Holden on December 18, 2009 at 3:41 pm said:
Sonya, you have claimed that Smile Train's implication of providing an additional surgery for every additional $250 is correct. But you have not provided any evidence. As discussed above, the evidence we have points strongly to the claim's being false.
Smile Train could argue that the "0% overhead" statement is not a "total lie" because there is a certain technical sense in which it can be true. But I would call it a misleading statement to be sure.
It's possible that Smile Train's other activities are doing great good, but they must be evaluated on their own merits and Smile Train seems to be putting its donors (including Prof. Levitt) under the impression that their operation as simple as $250 -> surgery.
I believe that an excessive "overhead ratio" can identify some charities as essentially scams, but that beyond that, it tells you essentially nothing. A charity can still easily be a scam – or well-intentioned but ineffective – regardless of its overhead ratio.
As Ian says, GiveWell is devoted to exactly the question you ask: finding charities that can and do document their results. Here is a link to our top charities.
Phil S. on December 18, 2009 at 5:24 pm said:
Operation Smile is another organization that seems rather similar to Smile Train.
Here's a bit of research on them:
In the "Donate Online" section of their website, they say "For as little as $240US or just $20US a month you can help provide a cleft lip surgery that will transform the life of a child." The 2009 Holiday Gift Catalog, under "Give a surgery" also indicates $240 to "Help Give a Smile to 1 Child". This holiday guide allows donors to support certain related activities (Blankets, various hospital supplies and such) that might suggest to some donors that the total effective cost is somewhat higher than $240/surgery, but overall, IMO, it would be easy for a donor to think that $240 = 1 smiling kid.
So, what's the reality?
In the 2008 Financial Statement on their site (under ABOUT US – Financials), if I read it right, as of 6/30/08, their preceding year total expenses were $56,268,802. That includes fundraising and admin of $11,893,851 and $2,710,783 respectively. Revenues were $59,809,711 (they had a modest surplus for the year). Revenues include $22,240,120 in "Contributed program services" (basically medical supplies and services, at fair market value, if I understand correctly) and a different line for $4,335,273 of donated "Medical supplies and air travel"). So fundraising is a significantly higher percentage of things if we look just at cash donations than if we include the FMV of all the donated stuff. But maybe the fundraising costs also encourage doctors and such to donate their time. In any case, IMO, assuming their accounting for the donated services is reasonable, we should count the doctors' donations of their time and the other in-kind donations as we count other things.
OK, so how many surgeries does this produce?
Per their 2008 annual report, pages 34-35, they provided 19,000 physical exams and had 10,868 patients treated. I'm going to assume that a patient treated is basically a smile surgery performed, and that the physical exams are basically an adjunct to the delivery of those surgeries (pre- and post- op exams and such, including some screening).
So, if we take the total expenses, divided by the total patients treated, we have:
$56,268,802 / 10,868 = $5,177.47
So it seems to cost a bit over $5,000 per surgically delivered smile, including all kinds of donations, against the primary outcome this charity delivers (again, ignoring the physical exams on the assumption that they're basically part of the cost of delivering surgeries.
Again, the site indicates $240 to "Help Give a Smile to 1 Child".
Again, note that Operation Smile is not the same organization as Smile Train. But we see a similar pattern of something advertised at what appears to be a fraction of the true cost of delivering it.
It may very well be that these surgeries are worth the higher cost, but the presentation of information on the website is troubling to me.
Emily on February 17, 2010 at 1:36 pm said:
My suggestion of where the $250/surgery number comes from:
– Take the $23.6 million they claim is for "providing cleft palate treatments for free" not through other organizations besides Smile Train
– Take the 95,000 surgeries they said they did in 2008
– divide $23.6 million by 95,000 = $248
However, very clearly, this means that only a fraction of the donations they receive actually goes towards this number. To a donor that's not on their board, this still means that 100% of their donation is going to cleft palate surgery, it's just not the surgery they said they were supporting.
Holden on March 8, 2010 at 10:18 am said:
Emily, your calculation seems plausible – it could be that a specific sub-program of Smile Train results in a surgery for every $250 spent. However, it's not just Board members who don't fund this program; in fact less than half of Smile Train's funding is going to it. I would guess that the marginal donor (i.e., someone who comes in today with a donation that is additional to Smile Train's existing revenue sources) is not funding this program at all, because I would guess that there is no "room for more funding" in the program.
Sandro on July 21, 2010 at 3:20 pm said:
There is something else that worries me in Smile Train's accounting.
Their 990 for the fiscal year 2007 has $32,242,254 spent towards "Publication and printing". Only $13,541,747 of the $32,242,254 was booked as "Fundraising", while the remaining $18,700,507 was booked as "Program services".
Therefore,"Publication and printing" accounts for 27.5% of the "Program services" total for that fiscal year ($68,118,525). This fraction appears to be very large. Is this related to "Free Training and Education" materials given to surgeons?
Liz on August 6, 2010 at 5:10 pm said:
While I think that givewell's analysis of these organizations is great, I think that it would be immensely valuable to give the organization a chance to respond.
Holden on August 27, 2010 at 7:15 am said:
Liz, we do give organizations a chance to respond. In addition to the open comments section of this blog, we also offer a prominent "Charity response" to any interested group – see https://www.givewell.org/united-states/charities/Year-Up for an example.
goatero on September 30, 2010 at 3:25 pm said:
To me the numbers look odd. Smile Train's website says that 5000 children are born with a CP in the USA each year. I am sure they are right. The USA has a population of 307million. Although ethnic incidences vary, and so do birth rates, you could assume that with a population of 1Billion in Africa around 15,000 to 30000 children are born with a CP in Africa each year.
If Smile Train single-handedly did nothing else but fix every newborn in Africa without any state medical intervention at all, Smile Trains $87m annual spend would result in a cost of between $3,000 to $6,000 per case.
But Smile Train maintain they do 95,000 procedures each year so they must be doing much much more than the equivalent of fixing every newborn in Africa by themselves.
Natalie on October 5, 2010 at 2:11 am said:
Goatero, according to Smile Train's website, it works in 78 countries, many of which are located outside of Africa. Together these countries are home to about 5.5 billion people with about 111 million births per year (data from the World Bank for 2008; details in this spreadsheet). The World Health Organization estimates that "cleft lip and/or palate…occurs in approximately 1 per 500-700 births," while noting that "the ratio vary[s] considerably across geographic areas or ethnic groupings." Thus a crude estimate of the number of children Smile Train could theoretically provide operations to would be 158,000-222,000 per year. Accounting for the fact that many children with clefts require multiple surgeries, the total number of surgeries needed in the countries in which Smile Train works is likely at least an order of magnitude higher than you suggest.
We would guess that the bottleneck to providing more low-cost surgeries is not lack of patients, but rather a lack of surgeons (or lack of surgeons with free time) who are within reach of these patients.
Natalie Stone, GiveWell Research Analyst
Gabby Smith on October 25, 2010 at 7:59 pm said:
Check out this blog http://www.loveandwaterinternational.com/2010/01/smile-train.html
john on November 3, 2010 at 1:37 pm said:
i think that smile train is doing an amazing job of letting kids smile again
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2010/09/christie_brinkley_onboard_the_smile_train.php
Rebecca on November 15, 2010 at 2:34 am said:
So, if you wanna help these kids and smile train might be shady/ineffectual-in a sense-what do you do?
Holden on November 17, 2010 at 8:55 am said:
Rebecca, our top recommendation in this cause is currently Interplast – see our surgery page – though if you're just looking to help people as much as possible we recommend our top charities.
Elie on December 7, 2010 at 9:15 am said:
This post has generated a large number of short comments both from people who support Smile Train (and disagree with our post) and those who don't and comment on use our post as a platform for voicing their disapproval of Smile Train.
In general, we are liberal with the comments we let through, only moderating those comments that are obviously spam. We are particularly sensitive to this issue when the topic under discussion is the effectiveness of a particular organization. Because of the number of comments coming through on this old post, we now plan to start moderating comments on this post that don't add new information to the discussion.
We're planning to moderate positive comments along the lines of:
and negative comments along the lines of
I'm sorry… but just the appearance of the mailer I received from this MADISON AVE. address, hawking this "charity", completely turned me off…. I have no idea where these people got my address but from experience I assume the cost of just the 1 "mailer" x 200 would pay for their claimed $250.00 per surgery. God only knows the number sent out. The heart breaking pictures & celebrity endorsements pulled at my heart strings… BUT I say BS.
Thomas Flood on August 1, 2011 at 10:38 am said:
As the founder and executive Director of of Surgical Volunteers International I found you article on Smile Train misleading concerning my groups use of Smile Train funds. the first part of the article lumps us with the mission groups that spend over $1,000 per patient. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We have no paid employees, no office bills, no phone, fax or internet. All that is done from my house and not charged to the charity. We did received a grant of $70,000 from ST. With that grant we did 280 cleft patients and all are documented on Smile Train Express with data and photos. tflood1431@gmail.com
Ridiculous on August 30, 2011 at 11:03 pm said:
What the hell is the point here ? Jesus , learn how to construct an argument before attacking a charity. This math wouldnt withstand the curiosity of a 5th grader.


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William "Bill" Bogert (geb. 24. Januar 1936 in New York City; gest. 12. Januar 2020 ebenda) war ein US-amerikanischer Schauspieler.

Leben
Bill Bogert wirkte zwischen den 1960er- und 2010er-Jahren in vielen verschiedenen amerikanischen Fernsehserien als Gastdarsteller mit. In den 1980er-Jahren wurde er besonders durch seine Rolle als Brandon Brindle in der Fernsehserie Small Wonder bekannt. Er spielte auch Nebenrollen in einigen Kinofilmen, so als Vater von Matthew Brodericks Hauptfigur in John Badhams WarGames – Kriegsspiele (1983).

Im Jahr 1964 drehte Bill Bogert – selbst langjähriger Anhänger der Republikaner – im amerikanischen Präsidentschaftswahlkampf im Auftrag der Demokraten einen Wahlwerbespot mit dem Titel "Confessions of a Republican". Er spielte in dieser Wahlwerbesendung einen Renegaten, der sich im Präsidentschaftswahlkampf aus Gewissensgründen für den Demokraten Lyndon B. Johnson einsetzt, weil ihm der Kandidat seiner eigenen Partei (damals Barry Goldwater) Angst mache.

Nach 52 Jahren stand der inzwischen über 80-jährige Bogert im Jahr 2016 plötzlich wieder im Interesse der Medien, nachdem das Onlineportal Quartz diesen Wahlwerbespot wieder gezeigt hatte und dieser rasch über die Medien weiterverbreitet wurde. Bogert wurde daraufhin in Fernsehshows wie der Rachel-Maddow-Show hinsichtlich der Relevanz dieses Werbespots für den Präsidentschaftswahlkampf 2016 interviewt. Im Rahmen der Wahlkampagne der demokratischen Präsidentschaftskandidatin Hillary Clinton entstand im Juli 2016 eine neue Fassung des alten Spots in ähnlicher Aufmachung und mit ähnlichen Grundaussagen, an dessen Ende Bill Bogert – diesmal in Bezug auf den republikanischen Kandidaten Donald Trump – auch wieder sagt: "Dieser Mann macht mir Angst. (Englisch: This man scares me.)"

Familie
Bogert hatte 1975 bei seiner Arbeit in einem Theater in Stamford (Connecticut) die Schauspielerin und Puppenspielerin Eren Ozker kennengelernt, die unter anderem in der Muppet Show mitwirkte. Die beiden heirateten am 25. April 1977; ihre Ehe hielt bis zu Ozkers Tod am 26. Februar 1993.

Filmografie (Auswahl)
 1964: Lyndon Johnson: Confessions of a Republican (Fernseh-Kurzfilm)
 1974: Ein Mann sieht rot (Death Wish)
 1975: Hundstage (Dog Day Afternoon)
 1976: Der Strohmann (The Front)
 1977: Hexensabbat (The Sentinel)
 1977: Starsky & Hutch (Fernsehserie, Folge The Commitee)
 1978: Der Himmel soll warten (Heaven Can Wait)
 1979/1981: M*A*S*H (Fernsehserie, 2 Folgen)
 1980: Hart aber herzlich (Hart to Hart, Fernsehserie, Folge Der betrogene Betrüger)
 1980: Einmal Scheidung, bitte! (The Last Married Couple in America)
 1980: Ein wahrer Held (Hero at Large)
 1981–1983: The Greatest American Hero (Fernsehserie, 12 Folgen)
 1982: Der Mann ohne Gnade (Death Wish II)
 1983: Hart aber herzlich (Hart to Hart, Fernsehserie, Folge Original oder Fälschung?)
 1983: WarGames – Kriegsspiele (WarGames)
 1983–1986: Trapper John, M.D. (Fernsehserie, 3 Folgen)
 1985–1989: Vicki (Small Wonder; Fernsehserie, 28 Folgen)
 1986: Die Stewardessen Academy (Stewardess School)
 1991–2003: Law & Order (Fernsehserie, 4 Folgen)
 1995: Columbo (Fernsehserie, Folge Seltsame Bettgenossen)
 1998: Ein perfekter Mord (A Perfect Murder)
 2007: Gilmore Girls (Fernsehserie, Folge Unto the Breach)
 2010: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Fernsehserie, Folge Confidential)
 2014: Time Out of Mind
 2019: Ode to Joy

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Filmschauspieler
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1936
Gestorben 2020
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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10 Sep 2018 | 20:40 GMT
New Guidelines for $10 Million Avatar XPRIZE Promise Compelling Robot Challenge
With some input from the robotics community, XPRIZE's new guidelines will make this a robotics competition worth getting excited about
Illustrations: iStockphoto
DARPA Robotics Challenge: Amazing Moments, Lessons Learned, and What's Next
Marvin Minsky's Telepresence Manifesto
XPRIZE's $10 Million Telepresence Robot Challenge Is Not Challenging Enough
Earlier this year, XPRIZE announced a new challenge: a four-year global competition to "develop real life avatars," with a US $10 million prize sponsored by All Nippon Airways (ANA). We like robot challenges, especially robot challenges with prizes big enough to attract top-notch competition, and the idea of creating remote presence systems that can do more than just send back video is a compelling one, with all kinds of potential use cases.
However, our first reaction to the sample of potential challenge scenarios published by XPRIZE was that they weren't nearly difficult and compelling enough, meaning that the challenge wouldn't promote the kind of cutting-edge innovation that we (and presumably XPRIZE) would like to see. To their credit, XPRIZE has put a lot of work into incorporating feedback from a variety of experts based on those initial guidelines, and today they are releasing a revised version of the challenge guidelines that have been completely recalibrated for a more difficult and long-term relevant challenge that we're now super excited for.
Here's a brief overview of XPRIZE's inspiration for the Avatar challenge:
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE seeks to incentivize innovators around the world to imagine a future with avatars and integrate several emerging and exponential technologies to create a useful and functional physical robotic Avatar System. Current investment and research tend to focus on the development and incremental improvements of individual component technologies, rather than bringing together synergistic technologies to support transformational leaps. A successful solution to this challenge will enable humankind to take the next step in transcending the limits of physical transportation, leading to a more connected world.
An "avatar," in this context, is a robotic system that's designed to leverage the capabilities of having a human operating a robot remotely. While robots are good at lots of things, like being places and doing things that you don't want to for whatever reason, complex real-world autonomy is still super hard. So tossing a human in the loop to help the robot interpret the world and make good decisions can help make a more effective system overall.
The problem right now is that we don't have all that many robots that are able to take advantage of remote humans in a comprehensive way. The DARPA Robotics Challenge showed us how critical humans were to robots doing complex remote tasks, but it also showed us how difficult it was to get that to work—the robots themselves generally just sent back visual information, and the operators (highly trained experts) interacted with the robots mostly using keyboard inputs, a very precise but not all that efficient or intuitive system. The Avatar XPRIZE Challenge will be very different. In order to complete the challenge, the robot avatar will need to serve as a surrogate for a remotely connected human, carrying out tasks and transmitting a variety of detailed sensory data back to the operator.
So far, this is all essentially the same concept that we were introduced to back in March, but the details of the challenge have seen some significant updates. We spoke with Amir Banifatemi, general manager for innovation and growth at XPRIZE), who explained that the XPRIZE organization has been holding meetings with educational institutions, students, research labs, and industry players over the past several months, using their perspective and input to conduct a step-by-step revision of the challenge guidelines. They considered things like the implied meaning of the prize, what an avatar should be, what scenarios in the future an avatar might be useful for, what the overall impact could be, and how to calibrate the challenge to an appropriate difficulty.
With all of that in mind, XPRIZE has conceptually subdivided the operation and functionality of avatars into three primary modes:
Mode 1—Operator Control Mode: Avatars serve primarily as remote agency mechanisms for the Operator. In this mode the robotic Avatar only does what the Operator does. The goal of this mode is to connect the human operator with another human or humans at a distance in such a way that the Operator feels themselves to be interacting with others as if they were truly in the remote location.
Mode 2—Enhanced Avatar Mode: In this mode, the Avatar provides enhanced capabilities to the Operator, such special skills like seeing in infrared, being able to map out and analyze an environment, or utilizing the muscle memory of experts that have trained it.
Mode 3—Semi-Autonomous Mode: The Avatar takes input such as goals from the Operator, processes that input for understanding and then executes details based on that understanding, still under primary Operator control.
It's important to note that XPRIZE is very deliberately deemphasizing autonomy here—"avatars that are entirely or primarily autonomous will not be considered in this competition." Partial or assistive autonomy is just fine, but essentially, the robot should not be making high-level decisions on its own.
Each of these modes will be tested through a series of tasks making up different realistic scenarios. A scenario could be drawn from domains like health care, family connectivity, maintenance tasks, disaster relief, or exploration, and the tasks will involve specific interactions with remote humans or objects, inspired by real-world capabilities that would be useful in a robotic avatar. Here are some examples for each of the operating modes:
Mode 1—Operator Control Mode
The Operator, through the Avatar, selects a ball of a color specified by the Recipient and throws it to the Recipient.
The Operator, via the Avatar, gives the Recipient a gentle hug. The Operator can feel some aspect of the hug returned by the Recipient.
The Recipient tells the other person where they had a minor injury by touching that part of the Avatar. The Operator must respond in a way that shows they know exactly where the Avatar was touched because the sensation has been conveyed from the Avatar to the Operator.
The Avatar holds a cube that weighs between .5 and 3 kg in its hand. The Operator feels the weight and can guess the weight of the cube.
The Avatar is blindfolded and given an odd shaped object and through touch alone must convey enough haptic information back to the Operator so they can guess what that object might be.
Mode 2—Enhanced Avatar Mode
The Avatar conveys the location of a surrogate for a live person or animal buried under rubble by assessing the environment for heat signatures.
The Avatar uses its extrasensory abilities (such as noting vibrations or smells or ultrasonic hearing) to assess the danger in a particular location and conveys that information, along with the perceived level of threat to the Operator.
The Avatar conveys general sensor information about the environment to the Operator via an easily readable Heads-up Display
The Avatar reports on how many other humans are currently in its environment.
Mode 3—Semi-Autonomous Mode
The Avatar takes a command from the Operator to measure the perimeter, ingress and egress points of its environment and does so, producing a graphic map with the distances and openings clearly marked which is sent back to the Operator.
The Avatar continues to perform a given command such as taking a box off the shelf, or opening a door, while experiencing a network outage.
The Avatar continually scans sensors in its environment and sends that data back to the Operator via an easily readable Heads-up Display. Areas of concern are designated by some means of attentional focus, such as a blinking color.
The Avatar recovers from an unexpected glitch in balance, latency, or power.
The Avatar requests a spoken command to be repeated when it fails to hear correctly, such as in a noisy room.
These are all just suggestions from XPRIZE, of course, and the tasks and scenarios in the competition might be totally different. XPRIZE is also planning on incorporating scenario suggestions from the teams themselves, as well as suggestions from the public, which'll definitely add some creative excitement to the event.
Making a robot that can do all of these things is going to be difficult. It's certainly possible, though—there's nothing here that robots or avatars couldn't do, and much (if not all) of it has been demonstrated already, in many cases without a human in the loop at all. XPRIZE told us that they expect that there aren't a lot of groups that would be able to build a robot avatar like they have in mind all on their own, and the challenge will allow groups with different specialities to work together and compete as a single team.
XPRIZE suggests that because avatars are supposed to interact with remote humans in human environments, that some humanoid elements are probably at least a little bit important. But if you think you can solve this challenge with a hexapod or a drone or something, then go for it
As far as the actual hardware and interfaces that XPRIZE is looking for, there aren't a whole lot of restrictions. Avatars can look like pretty much anything, and if there's commercially available hardware that fits the bill, teams are free to just buy it. XPRIZE suggests that because avatars are supposed to interact with remote humans in human environments, and to some extent collect perception information in an easily human understandable way, that some humanoid elements are probably at least a little bit important. But if you think you can solve this challenge with a hexapod or a drone or something, then go for it.
The guidelines specify that avatars (and their human operators) will both have access to fast and reliable connectivity, which sounds great, but we were wondering if it's a realistic representation of the situations under which avatars might be the most useful, like in disaster areas. Banifatemi told us that XPRIZE is confident that pervasive high speed connectivity will be the norm in the future, and anyway, they don't want to make this challenge about solving those particular communication problems. What the challenge will emphasize is latency management—being able to handle the fact that no matter how fast your Internet is, it still may take a tangible amount of time for data to make the trip from your robot to you and back again, especially if you throw wireless networks into the mix. Avatars will have to figure out how to deal with this, which is likely where much of the assistive autonomy will come in, since it may not be practical to expect the human operator to make continuous decisions in real time.
The only bit of (slightly) bad news that we have about these updated guidelines is that XPRIZE's original idea of having untrained operators running the avatars is likely going to change. The thinking was that in order to maximize versatility and usefulness, just about anyone would be able to use these systems with a small amount of training. We liked this idea, and XPRIZE did too, but it turned out to not be practical— the issue is that it would be very difficult to make sure that the operators would be able to judge each system fairly. In order to help make sure that the success of the avatar systems can be at least somewhat generalized (and aren't completely dependent on a highly trained and experienced dedicated expert operator), they'll be operated by a group of reasonably experienced judges that receive a small amount of training on each system.
Image: ANA Avatar XPRIZE
The timeline for the ANA Avatar XPRIZE starts today—you can go register right now if you're confident enough. I believe in you! XPRIZE expects to produce a more formal rules document in early 2019, and they'll hold a summit for registered teams sometime in Q2 of next year. The rules and guideline will continue to evolve until registration closes, at which point XPRIZE should be able to finalize the specific kinds of tasks that teams should expect to perform in the first (and only) milestone competition. That competition will take place in 2021, with up to 20 teams splitting $2 million and advancing to the finals. The winner of the finals, held in early 2022, will take home the $8 million grand prize all by themselves.
XPRIZE is looking forward to seeing the creative ways in which teams approach this challenge, Amir Banifatemi told us. They're trying very hard not to be too prescriptive with the rules and guidelines, which is part of the reason that the revisions have been so significant. "We want people to use bold thinking and their imaginations about how they're actually going to build these avatars," Banifatemi says. For our part, we really appreciate how much thought and effort XPRIZE is putting into this, and how open they are to incorporating community feedback to make this competition as useful and compelling as possible, and we're very much looking forward to seeing it kick off properly next year.
[ XPRIZE ]
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avatar xprize telepresence telepresence robots xprize

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'Hunger Games' stars reflect on growing up together
'Hunger Games' stars reflect on growing up together 'Hunger Games' stars reflect on growing up together Check out this story on montgomeryadvertiser.com: http://on.mgmadv.com/1uTzrgf
Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press Published 8:28 p.m. CT Nov. 19, 2014
Liam Hemsworth, from left, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson star in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1."(Photo: Drew Gurian/Invision/AP)
Sitting down to interview Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, stars of the blockbuster "Hunger Games" franchise, feels a bit like hanging out with three siblings.
While Hutcherson ponders a question, Lawrence and Hemsworth are surreptitiously playing a game of hand-slap, Lawrence pulling her hand free just in time. When one of the guys says reflectively, "Maybe I was just an idiot," Lawrence pipes up: "Yes, you ARE an idiot!" There are giggles, and a totally inside joke involving the phrase "My ears hurt," spoken in baby voice. (Don't ask.)
"I met my best friends in the world on this movie," Lawrence says, turning serious, of Hutcherson and Hemsworth. "We love each other. They're as close to me as my family, and in some ways they ARE my family."
Lawrence, who plays Katniss Everdeen for the third time in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1," opening Friday, is known for being a straight shooter — and not just with a bow and arrow. And so when she talks about her co-stars, it sounds refreshingly nothing like canned Hollywood-speak, in which everyone professes how it was SO great working with everyone else.
Instead, the 24-year-old Oscar winner explains how she, Hutcherson and Hemsworth (22 and 24 respectively) grew up together on set over the past several years — and became famous together, though Lawrence's star has risen the fastest.
"We all have the actor thing in common where we left home very early — I left home when I was 14," Lawrence says. "And our lives changed together in a way that nobody else in the whole world understands."
In fact, she says, just the night before, the trio attended a dinner — exhausted — and sat for the first half entirely silent, like families sometimes do. "People were thinking, they must not really like each other," she says. Chuckles Hutcherson: "Yeah, they're thinking it's all an act!" Adds Hemsworth: "You've got to be really close to not talk at all."
Promoting the third film in the Suzanne Collins trilogy — filmmakers have split "Mockingjay" in two parts — has brought back familiar questions about parallels between the characters and the actors who play them. Katniss and Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) are both thrust into dizzying fame in the first "Hunger Games" when they're chosen to represent District 12 in the fight-to-the-death spectacle forced on them by the Capitol, ruled by shadowy President Snow (Donald Sutherland). In the third movie, along with Gale (Hemsworth), they each figure in different ways in the rebellion spreading through the country of Panem.
"I always get kind of nervous when people make parallels," says Lawrence. "(Katniss) led a rebellion that changed the world, and I'm just an actor telling people I need more lipstick or whatever."
She does, though, understand why people latch onto the "reluctant fame" idea, since she herself initially hesitated before accepting the role that catapulted her to global fame.
"We all had an idea of how big this was going to be, which is why I took a few days before I said yes, and really thought about what I wanted," Lawrence says. "Saying yes to this was going to completely change my life."
Hutcherson says he was oblivious. "I had to say I didn't expect any of it," he says of sudden stardom.
"You're not as paranoid and neurotic as me," Lawrence quips.
Lawrence, who has spoken bluntly and forcefully about privacy concerns, feels her co-stars need to be more security-conscious. "I recently changed my number and texted them, 'Hi boys,' and they answered back blah blah and didn't even ask a security question!'" she says, in mock disapproval.
"But I knew it was you," protests Hemsworth. "Nobody else would text us, 'Hi, boys!'"
"Mockingjay," directed by Francis Lawrence, brings back most of the starry supporting cast — Woody Harrelson, for example, as a rehabbed Haymitch Abernathy; Stanley Tucci as the flamboyant Caesar Flickerman; and Elizabeth Banks as the colorful Effie Trinket (with an expanded role, but alas a much less colorful revolutionary wardrobe). Also returning: Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in February, as Plutarch.
"He was incredible," says Lawrence. "It was so funny because we just don't take anything seriously on set ... and Phil was always so thrown by that. He said he'd never seen such a flippant set before." Eventually, she says, "we broke him down, and forced him to be as unprofessional as us. "
Each actor, asked their biggest takeaway from the "Hunger Games" experience, mentions the same things: Exposure, job opportunities, and especially friendship.
"Just having them in my life is one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given," Lawrence says.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," says Hutcherson.
"I know," replies Lawrence. "That's why I went first!"
Read or Share this story: http://on.mgmadv.com/1uTzrgf
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Neil Featherby: How the East Anglian Cross Country League made a comeback
Mark Armstrong
mark.armstrong@archant.co.uk
@markarmy
Neil Featherby and Martin Pigott on the way to winning a league race at RAF Coltishall, back in 1985 when the league was very much based around local RAF Camps. Picture: Neil Featherby.
Last week I wrote about the Horsford Cross Country race series which during the last 14 years or more has provided runners of all standards with an insight into what cross country running really was like back in the day.
Team Sportlink before a recent race at the Whittlingham Country Park. Picture: Jodie Causer
Not all, but a lot of modern day races are now designed to meet the needs of the real racers (elite athletes) whereas the history of the sport which dates right back to 1837 with a first English National Cross Country Championships being held in 1876, would see runners having to race across what really was rugged countryside whilst encountering all sorts of obstacles along the way.
Here in Norfolk and whilst not going back quite as far as the mid 1800s, The East Anglian Mid-Week Cross Country League race series can indeed be dated back to 1963 when every Wednesday afternoon throughout the autumn and winter months the many RAF and Army bases which were scattered around Norfolk, Suffolk and on the borders of Cambridgeshire and South Lincs, would each take their turn to host at least one league race each season.
Runners were not only aplenty, but the standard was also very high too what with serviceman being stationed here in these parts from all over the UK, with many of them being of international standard.
As the league grew in popularity, several of the local running clubs, businesses, universities and colleges were also invited to enter teams which further added to the standard of the racing and I was lucky enough to run in a few of these races myself as an individual during the mid and late 1980s. I even had the privilege and honour one year to present the end of season prizes at what was back then RAF Swanton Morley.
Runners heading back to West Runton after the half way turn at Cromer during race one in this seasons East Anglian X/C League. Picture: Richard Farrow
However and what with the closure of so many RAF stations during the last 20-odd years or so, the league started to dwindle in numbers and whilst not completely forgotten, it most certainly lost some of its shine of those previous years.
Thankfully though and due to the enthusiasm of several individuals who were determined to keep alive a little bit of what I suppose you can call sporting history here in the county, the East Anglian X/C League is now once again thriving.
Whilst there are far less servicemen taking part these days, thanks to all the hard working efforts of Jude Durrant and a number of friends and volunteers, the league in many ways has also now taken on a new look.
Amongst the individuals who take part, there are also currently 19 teams entered made up from the existing local RAF bases, athletics clubs, the UEA and businesses, for which I am proud to say that Sportlink also have a large team entered which all goes towards making for plenty of healthy competition right throughout the race field which regularly sees up to an amazing 275 runners taking part.
The age range is also very diverse with some of Norfolk's best young talent battling it out at the front all the way back down the field to the likes of the very popular Rodney Freeburn who has been competing on the local running scene for years and is now into his 80s.
Whereas in the past, the races would invariably be within or around the grounds of the local service bases, the venues are now planned very carefully so as for each host to have their own unique feature whereby a race might be at a country park one week, followed by a beach run for the next and then at a rugby club.
One of the races in the calendar is even ran from a disused railways station. As Jude Durannt puts it herself: "It all adds to the fun and variation of the league. The courses are designed in a way where you will either love it or hate it, but at the end of the day it is all about getting wet, muddy and having a cuppa and a slice of cake afterwards. On a brisk winter's day, who could ask for more?"
The very popular Rodney Freeburn, who now into his 80s is still a regular for his club Wymondham AC at East Anglian X/C Races. Picture: Richard Farrow
This really is testament to all the hard work which Jude, Bobbie Sauerzapf and their team of helpers and volunteers put into each race.
There are usually about ten races per season with a start time of 2.30pm. The men will usually race over a distance of about 10k and the ladies over about 5k. Race entry fees are kept to a minimum with all fees going towards covering insurance and race permits. There are also several charities and projects which benefit from any monies raised from car parking and post race refreshments, so all in all this very relaxed, but friendly cross country league really is a winner and thanks to so many people, it is now once again going from strength to strength.
Jon Beverley of Total Race Timing has also very kindly sponsored the league this year for which all concerned are so very grateful.
For anyone who would like to find out more, then check out their website www.eaccl.webs.co or facebook page EACCL- East Anglian Cross Country League.
Race two at the Whitlingham Country Park with some of Norfolk�s leading young talent to the fore. Picture: Shane Boyle


Herlinde Pauer-Studer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna. Her latest book, co-authored with J David Velleman, is Konrad Morgen: The Conscience of a Nazi Judge (2015).
Konrad Morgen prosecuted his fellow Nazis, but not for the Final Solution. How should history judge him?


I had the opportunity to meet and engage with about 30 other medical students from across the country who shared similar interests and passion for culturally sensitive and technologically advanced medicine. All of the students were carefully selected out of a pool of over 100 other medical students across the country and I couldn't have imagined going through this journey with a better bunch of people. We were dispersed into different parts of the northern bay area in California so each of our experiences were pretty different as some people were placed in more of an academic setting with medical residents, some were placed in more rural settings and then some people were placed in more affluent and urban settings with a vast majority of specialties.
Each of us was granted the opportunity to gain intense hands-on clinical experience before reaching our third-year hospital rotations. We had a one in a lifetime chance to be a resident for a day or days, present patient cases to attendings, intubate, participate in surgery and become a part of the Kaiser Permanente model.
Kaiser Permanente has definitely changed the way I look at healthcare delivery and sustainability. The amount of innovative research and qualitative and quantitative data that goes into improving their health system should be a blueprint. I have been able to network with so many physicians who have left their doors open for me to help me along my medical journey and I'm forever grateful for that.
Kaiser's model is heavily integrated and I loved how patient treatment was so seamlessly streamlined. All of their referrals and consulting specialists were in-house so if a patient needed to see a specialist, their primary care doctor would simply send a message over the server or hit a button on the company iPhone and they'll be able to get the same day appointment, and consults in the same building.
Because Kaiser has its own health insurance many patients don't have to worry about insurance dictating the quality of their treatment which allows doctors to focus on care without the worry of overhead and billing greed.
Kaiser is very cognizant of their patient demographics and for that, they have modules that cater to patients whether it's Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog etc. They hire professionals who are committed to their mission and people who represent the same cultures and ethnicities as the patients they treat because that makes a world of a difference. It was such great pleasure to experience the Kaiser model for those four weeks but those memories will last a lifetime! I've been an east coast girl for all my life, but who knows where this medical career might take me! Special Thanks to Dr. Gregory-Burns & Dr. Guerra for orchestrating this life-changing internship ! 😊🤔🤗.


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The Crone January 7, 2023 #horoscopes, #moon, #spirituality, air, air signs, ascendant, astrology, cardinal, cardinal signs, earth, earth signs, fire, fire signs, fixed, fixed signs, full moon, horoscope, houses, lunar cycle, lunar phase, mars, mars retrograde, mercury, mercury retrograde, moon, mutable, mutable signs, new moon, retrograde, rising sign, spiritual, Uncategorized, uranus, uranus retrograde, venus, water, water signs, zodiac signs
Happy new year! There's no question that the last few years have been quite a wild ride, especially on a cosmic level. Luckily, 2023 seems to beckon incredible changes that could ease us into a new celestial era throughout the year. Starting in January, we will have to wrap up lingering 2022 karma with the remaining retrogrades from the old year. Although starting out the new year with a few retrogrades in motion is never fun, it can be useful for tying up loose ends. Luckily, January doesn't hold very many surprises and all planets will be direct by the end of the month. Keep reading to see what's in store throughout the month!
Major Transits
Starting on January 2, Venus will enter Aquarius. Now that the minor benefic is reporting to Saturn and Uranus, there will be a strange clash between modern and traditional associated with the Venusian aspects of love, money, and beauty. Saturn's influence could be cold, restrictive, and conservative which will not jive with Uranus' eccentric, electric influence. Since Venus will feel torn between conformity and oddity, this transit may feel like whiplash as we try to find the middle ground. Luckily, there is potential to structure and tailor our Venusian needs to match our individuality.
When it comes to love, Venus in Aquarius will seek out a best friend before a partner. Friendship is important to Venus in Aquarius, so this is the transit to work on building our rapport with new and old partners alike. Having a platonic relationship as the foundation of a romantic partnership will be the most important thing to work on during this Venusian transit. Singles may feel more inclined to take it slow with a love interest, likely starting from a place of getting to know one another as friends. Meanwhile, couples can consider Venus in Aquarius the perfect time to affirm that they are with their best friend and soul mate. However, the catch to this transit is sticking around long enough to focus on the relationship. Venus in Aquarius is detached, cool, and aloof – more or less the antithesis of what we need to be in love. So, it might be hard locking down a specific partner or get closer to someone unless the rapport is already there. Regardless, this is not an overly romantic transit since we may feel more inclined to be independent unless we are certainly loyal to our best friend/lover. Aside from this, don't be surprised if an unconventional relationship opportunity arises. It might be a fantastic transit to explore a unique possibility in love, like living separate from your partner or opening up your relationship to include more individuals. We may feel more open-minded about our wants and needs in love, no matter how quirky it may be. With this in mind, we may be more relatively accepting of not only ourselves but also our lovers!
When it comes to money, we may feel more inclined to explore one-of-a-kind financial opportunities while Venus is in Aquarius. The restrictive nature of Saturn ruling Venus can help us spend more than save, so this could be a somewhat fiscally conservative transit. However, Uranus' influence could help us break free from our constraints to look for unusual ways to achieve financial security. Financial possibilities may pop up suddenly throughout this transit, so it could be a somewhat unusual yet financially exciting period. It might be time to take a calculated risk by playing to your unique talents or skills to make an extra buck. Online or independent opportunities may also arise. Since Aquarius is a technical air sign, this Venusian transit may be impartial to cryptocurrency, NFTs, making money from social media, and other new wavelengths of currency.
Finally, when it comes to beauty, there might be some unique style trends that correlate with Venus in Aquarius. No matter what, we may feel more inclined to follow our authenticity and individuality in all that we do! We may feel inclined to choose funky decorations or uniquely bold wallpaper prints for our sacred spaces. Wild jewelry from small businesses, experimenting with make-up, and rebellious haircuts are going to be all the rage. Venus in Aquarius is not afraid to be funky or daring, so the beauty trends will not jive with everyone's taste. But this could be our reminder that taste and style are subjective to the individual, so we can use Venus in Aquarius to find something that we appreciate even if it's not something we typically like.
A few days later, there will be a full moon in Cancer on January 6. Full moons represent a culmination, an ending, or even a manifestation that has been building over the past six months. So, think back to what you may have focused on or manifested last summer during the new moon in Cancer while reflecting under the full moon! Since this moon is domicile, we may feel particularly at ease with our emotional reactions and reflections. Diving into our intuitive selves will feel natural during a domicile full moon. A lunar longing will likely persist throughout the day, especially as old sentiments and memories from the past six months come to mind. In particular, it might have to do with the Cancerian themes of home, family, roots, and maternal figures. Think of this lunation as the perfect time for you to mull over the last six months of 2022 and to sit with those resounding emotions. Take this time to come to terms with the lunar cycle and the old year. By the end of the day, you may feel more at peace with how you have handled the events in this lunar cycle.
Given that this is a watery full moon, a water ritual could be the perfect way to honor the lunation. Incorporate Cancer-related flowers, herbs, and crystals in your bath or shower ritual. Some of my favorites include white roses, moonstone, lemon balm, and sage. Once you have the water going, visualize the water taking away all of your worries, stress, and troubles from the last six months. The bath water can either draw these feelings out as you soak or you can wash away the lunar cycle during your shower. If you'd rather do something differently, spend your early evening honoring the lunar energy by a body of water, like a lake or at the beach. Don't be afraid to cry during this water ritual as well!
The full moon in Cancer will make several aspects – an opposition to Mercury retrograde in Capricorn, a sextile to Uranus retrograde in Taurus, a conjunction to Pallas retrograde in Cancer, and a trine with Vesta in Pisces. The moon-Mercury retrograde opposition will heighten the nostalgia, especially since Mercury retrograde has the power to unearth what should have been settled topics. Since the retrograde can be a fantastic time for reconsideration, you could think of the opposition as an opportunity to shift your perspective and feelings on this lunar cycle. Being open to a new perception will be possible since the moon-Uranus retrograde sextile could encourage breaking free from whatever we feel emotionally tied to in this lunar cycle. But the sextile could also be reactive or disruptive, so be mindful of how you work through your emotions. Feel as deeply as you need to, but not the point of being emotionally unpredictable. Luckily, we can reconsider how we work through our intuitive cues and emotional expression while honoring your needs with the conjunction and trine.
The Rising signs can expect a cycle to come to a close in these Houses:
Aries Rising: 4th House of Home, Family, Heritage, & Sacred Spaces
Taurus Rising: 3rd House of Neighborhood, Local Community, Local/Short-Distance Travel, Communication, & Siblings
Gemini Rising: 2nd House of Personal Finances, Financial Security, Material Items, Personal Property, & Values
Cancer Rising: 1st House of the Self, Physical Body, Appearance & Perception
Leo Rising: 12th House of Self-Undoing, Hidden Enemies, Hidden Weaknesses, Hidden Talents
Virgo Rising: 11th House of Greater Community, Friends, Friend Groups, Social Groups, Technology, Dreams, & Humanity
Libra Rising: 10th House of Career, Legacy, Recognition, & Public Status
Scorpio Rising: 9th House of Long-Term Travel, Higher Education, Spirituality, Law, Ethics, Morals, & Beliefs
Sagittarius Rising: 8th House of Merging, Joint Assets/Finances, Marriages/Divorces (Intimacy), Taboo, Occult, & Psychology
Capricorn Rising: 7th House of Contracts, Commitments, & Partners (of all kinds)
Aquarius Rising: 6th House of Work, Daily Grind, Routine, Healthy Habits/Practices, & Small Pets
Pisces Rising: 5th House of Joy, Fun, Hobbies, Past-Times, Pregnancy/Children, Dating/Romance, & Drama
By January 12, Mars will station direct in Gemini. Whew! What a wild ride it has been since Mars stationed retrograde in Gemini on October 30, 2022. Since then, Mars has undergone a period of rethinking, reviewing, and revising its ability to work through anger, frustrations, sex, and ambition. Gemini's dual influence implied a divergent communicative and mental streak associated with Mars retrograde. Throughout this period, we may have witnessed some travel issues, egregious miscommunication, verbal attacks, two-faced behavior, and a never-ending sense of restlessness. Since Mars retrograde was ruled by Mercury, who was also stationed retrograde over the last few weeks, there may have been an almost comical yet exacerbated streak of bad luck. We may have a chance to catch our breath now that Mars is direct in Gemini, especially by using this post-shadow phase to reconstruct our lives. Now is the time to touch base about old comments or arguments, especially if apologies have to be made to alleviate lingering damage from verbal attacks. It might even be best to smooth over issues in a Gemini-like manner. Keep the conversations light, flexible, and on the go. Even wear a false mask to get past nuances that don't matter. However, not everyone can maturely work through resounding issues, so it might be best to consider this as you prepare to move forward from verbal discourses. Since this a Mercury-ruled Mars, think about working on your communication skills and breath work to combat your frustration. Aside from disagreements, direct Mars may feel more mentally at ease with picking a path to follow. Mars retrograde may have left quite a few unfinished projects, so it might be time to go back and consider what you want to pursue. It's okay to transition away from some goals or tasks if it doesn't interest you. But be more decisive about following up with the opportunities that do hold your attention. This mentality will also apply to sexual endeavors. Mars retrograde was likely sexually confusing, especially if you were caught between a few options or unsure about exploring your sensual desires. Although potentially discombobulating, Mars retrograde could have been eye-opening. Think of Mars in Gemini as your cosmic cue to be more open and communicative about your sensual desires. You can even use this energy to let your partner(s) know where you stand!
Shortly after, Mercury will also station direct in Capricorn on January 18. Finally! From December 29, 2022, to January 18, 2023, Mercury retrograde may have caused miscommunication, technical problems, and travel issues (What the hell was up with Southwest?!). While Mercury retrograde is notorious for causing issues, Mercury retrograde is also known for taking out the trash, such as Andrew Tate getting arrested thanks to his incessant tweeting. After all, you tend to win some and lose some during Mercury retrograde! Now that Mercury is direct, this is the perfect time to start picking up the pieces. Collect yourself and gather your bearings by using this post-shadow phase to smooth over the retrograde madness. Triple-check plans and messages to clarify the conversation. Think about what you can do to avoid future technological problems, such as doing a two-factor authentication for your accounts or setting up a protocol. Re-group from travel issues by contacting whoever you need to talk to. Enjoy the remainder of Mercury's time in Capricorn now that the retrograde is over!
Two days later, the sun will enter Aquarius. Unfortunately, the sun is considered to be detriment or in exile in Aquarius since the sun is in its ruling sign's opposite sign. Although the sun in Aquarius is considered to be traditionally weakened, it can still be a fantastic astrological season. The sun is now reporting to Saturn and Uranus, suggesting that there will be a strange mix of structure and rebellion, conservative and eccentric. Aquarius season is the perfect time to be 100% authentic by living life according to your wants and needs. Reckless energy may be present, especially if we are leaning on Aquarius energy to break free from self-imposed and societal constraints. Finding your groove will likely be supported by a greater community that embraces uniqueness. Aside from this, Aquarius season will likely focus on emotional detachment, innovation, social media, technology, and humanitarian efforts.
The first new moon in Aquarius will occur on January 21. Since this is the first new moon in 2023, this will also represent the first cycle in that we can use a checkpoint for NYE resolutions or goals since the cycle will come to a culmination at the beginning of July. Although the moon isn't dignified or detriment in Aquarius, this doesn't mean it can't be powerful. It might be best to embrace a rather neutral lunation since Aquarius can help us feel less emotionally reactive or invested in our new lunar cycle. Saturn and Uranus will co-rule the new moon in Aquarius, implying that we will need to erect an individualistic structure or routine that will allow us to be on par with our lunar cycle while marching to the beat of our drum. As the new moon materializes, there could be a heightened desire to up your social media game, work on your friendships from all over, find your confidence in your ingenuity, and dive into your innovation.
Given that this is an air new moon, a ritual should be primarily focused on breathwork. Whether it's through meditation, visualization, or some form of exercise, we can honor the new moon by honing in on our breathing. Click here to read this article on Healthline for breathing exercises! While you are focusing on your breathwork, think about what you want to bring to fruition over the next six months. Visualize it, talk it through in your mind, and focus on successfully acquiring your desired results. If you'd rather do something differently, then you could use the friendly aspect of the new moon by reaching out to a friend to talk about what you both can accomplish and how you can hold one another accountable for your goals throughout this lunar cycle.
The new moon will form two major aspects – sextiles to both Jupiter and Juno in Aries! Jupiter's fiery influence and auspicious aspect could be ideal for expanding upon an opportunity within this lunar cycle. The new moon and Jupiter can work together to pursue an independent, authentic path that will encourage us to make our own luck. Taking the lead and sticking with a path will be imperative due to the blend of cardinal and fixed energy. Since this will be such a hopeful aspect, we may feel more motivated to seek out or create opportunities. Don't be afraid to say "Yes!", but be mindful as to how much you may take on. Meanwhile, asteroid Juno may imply a more romantic vibe to the new moon. Although the new moon in Aquarius is not mushy-gushy, the sextile with Juno could be an incredible reminder to prioritize friendship within a romantic relationship. However, the blend of Aries and Aquarius may allude to being in a more autonomous partnership. It could even create more traction to go after a love interest since Aries prefers to be the chaser and Aquarius prefers to be single until proven otherwise. Something interesting to note is that Jupiter (Zeus) and Juno (Hera) are married in Roman (and Greek) mythology, so it's exciting to see them both pop up during the new moon! This may allude to a romance that could come "full circle" by the beginning of July – just in time for Venus retrograde.
The Rising signs will experience a new fated cycle unfolding in these Houses:
Aries Rising: 11th House of Greater Community, Friends, Friend Groups, Social Groups, Technology, Dreams, Humanity
Taurus Rising: 10th House of Career, Legacy, Recognition, Public Status
Gemini Rising: 9th House of Long-Term Travel, Higher Education, Spirituality, Law, Ethics, Morals, Beliefs
Cancer Rising: 8th House of Merging, Joint Assets/Finances, Marriages/Divorces, Taboo, Occult, Psychology, Sexual Bonds
Leo Rising: 7th House of Contracts, Commitments, Partners (of all kinds)
Virgo Rising: 6th House of Work, Daily Grind, Routine, Healthy Habits/Practices, Pets
Libra Rising: 5th House of Joy, Fun, Hobbies, Past-Times, Pregnancy/Children, Dating/Romance, Drama
Scorpio Rising: 4th House of Home, Family, Heritage, Mother/Mother-Figure
Sagittarius Rising: 3rd House of Neighborhood, Local Community, Local/Short-Distance Travel, Communication, & Siblings
Capricorn Rising: 2nd House of Personal Finances, Financial Security, Material Items, Personal Property, Values
Aquarius Rising: 1st House of the Self & Perception
Pisces Rising: 12th House of Self-Undoing, Hidden Enemies, Hidden Weaknesses, Hidden Talents
Then Uranus will station direct in Taurus a day later. Uranus originally stationed retrograde back on August 24, 2022, so this has been a particularly long period for fixed signs between 14 to 18 degrees to go through! This retrograde was incredibly introspective as internal breakthroughs and shifts occurred to bring us closer to greater comfort, stability, and security. Now direct, Uranus is ready to shake'em down! Uranus in Taurus will encourage us to move forward in a semi-stable manner as we entertain a fiscal and romantic revolution. Given that this is an outer, collective planet, we will become more attuned to direct Uranian energy over time. With being said, it's increasingly apparent how direct Uranus is at least affecting the USA between the declining economy (which was progressed by the Pluto return), student debt, and employment revolution. While an economic crash is imminent throughout 2023, we can at least look forward to changes with an employment mentality. Gen Z is causing quite a stir by breaking away from the age-old mentality of "Be expendable, dedicate your whole life to a job, and play into the capitalistic game". Instead of bowing before the corporate mongrels, Gen Z has become notably rebellious. Part of this is knowing their collective worth and how it's not appreciated in the general workspace. In true Uranus fashion, this new-age mentality is widely spread on every social media platform. Funny memes, relatable Tik Toks about workplace stressors, and more encourage a wider collective "Fuck it" mentality when it comes to working. This isn't to say that Gen Z doesn't appreciate their jobs or employment. It's more of a cultural reset on how the employees respond to the unhealthy workplace pressure of adopting a terrible work-life balance and bending to capitalistic pressure. It's worth noting that the last time we saw a major change in the collective workforce mentality was during the 1930s and 40s, which was the last time Uranus was in Taurus. Meanwhile, student debt has been paused for a fourth year in a row while the Biden administration fights to cancel student debt. Time will only tell with how this will play out, and it wouldn't be surprising if there isn't a verdict until the end of Uranus' time in Taurus given that the question of student debt has played out throughout the majority of this transit thus far.
Finally, Venus will enter Pisces on January 26. Now exalted in Pisces, Venus is in an especially glorious state! Venus is officially reporting to Jupiter and Neptune, so this is an uber-romantic transit. Jupiter can inspire Venus to optimistically expand, explore, and grow while Neptune can add a dreamy aura. However, the catch will be remaining grounded to not lose your footing in reality.
When it comes to love, Venus in Pisces is a magical transit. Both singles and couples will feel extra hopeful about their love lives since Venus in Pisces are undeniably idealistic. It's like a quintessential Hallmark movie – there's an adorable main character, a dreamy love interest, some vague problem that can be overcome by the magic of love, and an overlying mysticism that colors the story with imagination. Venus in Pisces is like a fairytale romance that we only ever hear about in music or see on the big screen, so this is what makes this Venusian transit so special. Although it may feel like love has been written in the stars, Venus in Pisces can still be romantically disarming. Make the most of this lovely period by taking off rose-colored glasses and maintaining your boundaries to avoid amorous grey areas.
When it comes to style, Venus in Pisces is notably artistic. Beauty trends and decorative details will be more imaginative. Dive into soft color palettes, especially pastels, along with some pleasurable prints. Florals, shimmers, soft details, glitter and stardust will be trending as Venus in Pisces happily adorns itself in a fantasia-like beauty. The goal is to look like a wonderful combination of indie artist, thrift store superstar, and forest fairy. Hair tinsel or pastel highlights could even make a comeback!
Finally, money may take on a more intuitive or altruistic tone during this Venusian transit. Financial opportunities may seem serendipitous throughout Venus in Pisces. Wishing or daydreaming of opportunities to make extra cash could come to fruition, so be careful about what you wish for! Since money will come into your life in a magical manner, it may also leave just like that. The mutable Venusian energy is not well-suited for hanging onto money or property, so expect to give as much as you get.
Follow @the__crone for additional astrology updates. Check out my astrological content on Astrology.com, StyleCaster, and POPSUGAR. Come visit me at ASCEND Get Lifted!
January 2 – Venus enters Aquarius
January 6 – Full moon in Cancer
January 12 – Mars stations direct in Gemini
January 18 – Mercury stations direct in Capricorn
January 20 – Sun enters Aquarius
January 21 – New moon in Aquarius
January 22 – Uranus stations direct in Taurus
January 26 – Venus enters Pisces
Previous December Forecast


when it holds anything it deos not return to the small angle until I remove the obstacle from its way.
The to start moving the grasper you set opening or closing to true. You can also add some trigger logic in the places where they get set back to false for the next movement if applicable.
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Three Blocks @ …travel, Brian!
San Francisco spreads over 49 square miles and is built on 43 hills. But anyone who lives there knows that only a small portion of that space matters… Further, one can quickly assess your "type" by where you live within those 49 square miles. My address sits on the cusp of two neighborhoods. Walk three blocks to the west and you're in Lower Pacific Heights. Walk three to the east and you're in Russian Hill. Both are considered "good" neighborhoods in the minds of local. Of course, walk three blocks north and you're in the Marina (Stone scoffs at this area as "it's filled with the 'Bridge and Tunnel' crowd at night").
This three block concept is very San Francisco. Despite it's relatively small land size and population of approximately 800,000 people, the city boasts 107 unique neighborhoods!! To compare, Atlanta is 132 square miles and has 57 distinct neighborhoods. Denver is 155 square miles and contains 92 neighborhoods. Dallas is 385 square miles and maintains 139 neighborhoods.


text:
Air Force failed to enter Texas shooter into gun database
Dave Lawler, author of World
26 crosses for the victims of the Texas church shooting in Sutherland Springs. Photo: David J. Phillip / AP
The Air Force failed to enter Devin P. Kelley's conviction for domestic violence against his wife and infant son into a government database, per the NY Times. The conviction should have prevented Kelly, who killed 26 people in a Texas church on Sunday, from buying a gun. The Air Force says it is conducting an investigation.
Go deeper: Full coverage of the shooting


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February 24, 2017 uplateatnightagain
European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.
'The Great Wall' is a daft, cheesy fantasy spectacle, but if you leave your brain at home, it's also pretty well directed and an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half. If you've ever wondered why 'The Great Wall of China' was built, this film has a theory for you, supposedly based on a Chinese legend. That premise is that the wall was built to keep out a horde of monsters known as the Tao Tei, and every 60 years or so they mount an attack, with the defenders on the wall a last stand between the monsters and the rest of China, and then the world. If that sounds gleefully bonkers to you, this may be the kind of film for you! Our viewpoint into this battle is Matt Damon's William, the leader of a mercenary group searching for a highly sought after substance known in these days as 'black powder' (or 'gunpowder' to you and I), and alongside his sidekick Tovar (Pedro Pascal), they end up in the crosshairs of the Chinese soldiers on the wall.
The production of 'The Great Wall' was marred in controversy, largely relating to the casting of Matt Damon in the leading role in a film set in China. Accusations of whitewashing abound, but after seeing the film the criticism seems unfounded as the script necessitates an outsider to play Damon's part, and Damon is perfectly adequate in the role. The banter between Damon and Pedro Pascal is pretty enjoyable, and beyond them (and Willem Dafoe), the film's cast is almost exclusively Asian and it's directed by Zhang Yimou, a renowned Chinese director. Controversy aside, I thought the film was good fun, despite having a plot that is absolute nonsense! The film has good scale and I thought it was visually well done, particularly during the battle scenes on the Wall. It does have a feeling of 'Lord of the Rings'-lite with regards to the battle which is essentially a direct rip from the Battle of Helms Deep, largely due to the inventive use of fighting techniques to counter the attacking hordes. The plotting is all over the place and you have to suspend your belief on countless occasions, but Zhang Yimou knows this, so we're bombarded with thrilling action set pieces and cool stylistic flourishes that keep the entertainment level high, even if the story doesn't really stand up.
'The Great Wall' isn't quite as over the top or as crazy as it could be for a film of its premise, but I thought it was pretty enjoyable and certainly great to watch from a visual perspective.
Directed By: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Chen Xuedong, Huang Xuan and Wang Junkai
Andy Lau
Chen Xuedong
Eddie Peng
Huang Xuan
Jing Tian
Lin Gengxin
Lu Han
Wang Junkai
Zhang Hanyu
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text:
André Goffeau, né le  et mort le , est un ingénieur agronome belge.

Diplômé de l'université catholique de Louvain en ingénierie agronomique en 1956 et docteur en sciences botaniques de la même institution en 1964, il y a fait toute sa carrière.

Au cours de sa carrière scientifique, il s'est essentiellement consacré à l'étude de protéines membranaires de la levure, à savoir la pompe à proton de la membrane plasmique et les transporteurs ABC. Il est célèbre pour avoir été pionnier du séquençage génomique en ayant dirigé le premier séquençage d'un organisme eucaryote entier, la levure Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Références

Lien externe
  Fiche sur The Researcher's Mobility Portal
Entretien avec André Goffeau, N. Givernaud, J-F Picard, 24 juin 2002 (histcnrs.fr)

Membre de l'Académie des sciences (France)
Agronome
Naissance en janvier 1935
Naissance à Ixelles
Décès en avril 2018
Décès à Overijse
Décès à 83 ans
Scientifique belge


text:
California drops workplace mask rule for vaccinated workers
California regulators on Thursday approved revised workplace pandemic rules that allow employees who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus the same freedoms as when they are off the job, including ending most mask requirements.
The revised regulations approved by the governor-appointed California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board come after weeks of confusion. The rules adopted in a 5-1 vote now conform with general state guidelines that took effect Tuesday by ending most mask rules for vaccinated people.
Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately issued an executive order waiving the usual 10-day legal review. The new rules will take effect as soon as they are filed with the secretary of state.
"I have a draft executive order ready to go immediately after they vote to make clarifications public and to provide more certainty," the Democratic governor said.
The rules apply in almost every workplace in the state, including offices, factories and retailers.
They are intended to ensure that workers are protected while businesses resume normal or near-normal activity, Eric Berg, deputy chief of health for California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, told the board.
Business groups had sought the changes, arguing that rules for businesses should conform with state guidelines patterned after the latest federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
Board member Laura Stock, an occupational safety expert who cast the lone opposition vote, said that even though people are tired of restrictions, the pandemic is not over.
"This has real consequences that people can get sick and die due to exposure in the workplace," Stock said.
She said the rules go too far by eliminating physical distancing and workplace partitions and allowing workers to self-report their vaccination status.
Mitch Steiger, a legislative advocate for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, similarly objected that the measures "essentially pretend that the pandemic is over."
The move comes after the board did a double-twisting backflip in recent weeks when it first postponed, then rejected, then adopted, then rescinded rules that would have allowed workers to forgo masks only if every employee in a room was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Jobs:Unemployment claims in California increased in last week
Grid operator:California's energy sufficient amid heat wave
Fully vaccinated employees will not need to wear masks, except in locations like mass transit and classrooms, where they are required for everyone, or in the event of outbreaks.
Physical distancing also will end except for certain workers during major outbreaks. Vaccinated employees won't need to be tested or quarantine unless they show symptoms, even if they have close contact with an infected person.
Employers must document that workers who skip masks indoors are indeed fully vaccinated. But employers have the choice of requiring workers to show proof of vaccination or allowing employees to self-report their status, with the employer keeping a record of who does the latter.
They also could decide to require everyone to remain masked — vaccinated or not. And vaccinated employees will still be able to wear masks if they choose without facing retaliation.
Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said the rules don't fully conform to the state's other standards. Others argued that they still will cause confusion.
That's because of the requirement that employers provide masks and keep track of employees' vaccination status, record-keeping that he and others said could create liability and privacy issues.
"They do remain a significant barrier to fully reopening the economy," Lapsley said.
Katie Hansen, senior legislative director for the California Restaurant Association, said it is unrealistic to expect unvaccinated employees to remain masked until emergency work rules expire early next year, while others generally drop their face coverings.
The California Chamber of Commerce took a milder approach, thanking Newsom for eliminating confusion by pledging to conform workplace rules with the state's loosened pandemic precautions.
That includes immediately ending social distancing obligations instead of waiting until July 31, as Cal/OSHA had initially proposed.
The chamber also praised a rule change that will require employers to provide the most effective N95 masks for free to unvaccinated employees upon request.
But others objected that the rule still will require employers to stockpile masks and compete with health care workers, despite Newsom's promise to provide a one-month supply of the masks.
There were 700 California workplace outbreaks and more than 10,000 infections in the last 30 days, Cal/OSHA's Berg said, but he said the N95s are the best alternative as other protections wane.
Robert Moutrie, a chamber of commerce policy advocate, called the latest proposal a "measured step" that opens too quickly for some businesses and not quickly enough for others.
"But we do think that this is a good step in that direction," Moutrie said.


I am a non-denominational minsiter / I am a certifed chaplain . I have my ordaination license of file both in Oklahoma and Arkansas. I have a ministry website it is www.jfministries.com and I also have a network site www.jfministries.ning.com.
KINDLY PRAY FOR ME, FOR MY DELIVERANCE FROM THAT CASE,PLEASE!
"Hold fast to your desire for healing and peace.
It is through your desire that you open the door of true surrender."
''THANKING YOU MY most BELOVED JEFF, for your kindness,,,kind blessings/prayers towards me!
you are in my heart, thoughts & prayers....and always awaitng for your kind blessings,as i'm feeling you,as my dearest friend! May GOD bless you,your family and your ministry abundantely!
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND BLESSINGS/PRAYERS TOWARDS ME., IN YOUR PRAYERS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS!,YOU/YOUR FAMILY/YOUR MINISTRY ARE IN MY DAILY PRAYERS!