With applications for GovStart 2020 now open, in this article we’ve taken a look at the journey of one of the startups from last year’s cohort, Cyan Forensics. Cyan Forensics is an online safety tech startup which was founded in 2016 by Ian Stevenson.
Cyan Forensics joined GovStart as part of the 2019 cohort and is a startup helping police investigators find evidence faster. The Edinburgh-based company helps law enforcement, social media and cloud providers to find and block harmful content from paedophiles and terrorists.
Cyan Forensics’ technology helps the police to quickly find evidence of child abuse, radicalisation or terrorist activity on suspects’ computers, giving investigators the ability to make better decisions to safeguard the public.
Their GovStart Journey:
After joining the GovStart cohort in September last year, Cyan Forensics went on to secure £1.5m worth of funding from a consortium of investors in December, bringing the total raised so far to £3m. The GovStart programme allowed the team at Cyan Forensics to meet with senior government officials and experts in the Online Safety sector.
“We joined GovStart because we realised we didn’t know very much about working with the government and we needed to learn. Joining the program helped us to meet senior civil servants, advisors and politicians in a friendly environment and to understand about their jobs, the things they care about and sometimes the constraints they have on how they work. That helped us to understand how to build more constructive relationships with government”.
Ian Stevenson, Founder of Cyan Forensics
Online Safety Tech Association:
In November 2019, PUBLIC organised an online safety roundtable bringing together a range of innovators and stakeholders from the online safety community to meet in PUBLIC Hall. The roundtable was organised in order to position Cyan Forensics at the heart of the debate and discuss the challenges and opportunities in front of them with experts in the field.
PUBLIC introduced Cyan Forensics to Baroness Shields (previously UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security, and now sitting in the House of Lords) who chaired the session, which included representatives from a number of innovative companies, as well as government and charitable organisations working in this area, including IWF, Securium, Yoti, Censorpic, Crisp Thinking, Safe to Net and NSPCC.
The outcome of the roundtable was an agreement that there was a need for a body that represents those creating technology for online safety, to facilitate and promote opportunities for collective voice, influence and networks. From this roundtable an Online Safety working group was formed and chaired by Ian Stevenson the CEO of Cyan Forensics.
Leading on from the roundtable and formation of the working group, in April 2020 Ian founded the Online Safety Tech Industry Association which is the UK’s membership body for the online safety tech industry, delivering a voice of hope, collective influence and efficient networks.
In May 2020, Cyan Forensics was featured in a UK Government report ‘Safer technology, safer users: The UK as a world leader in safety tech’ as a startup championing online safety.
Next steps for Cyan Forensics?
Cyan Forensics is working on expanding internationally and demonstrating capabilities for online safety. The company already has customers in Germany and has closed its first sales to a law enforcement agency in France. Cyan recently signed a partnership with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington to explore the potential for their technology in the US too. Cyan has been involved in some really exciting work to demonstrate the positive impact tech can have in online safety, you can find out more about the company here.
The Percy Hobart Fellowship is a bespoke, 12-week course to give immersive, hands-on experience in innovation to personnel in the Royal Navy. As we enter the fourth week of running the programme, here’s an update on what the fellowship is and how it’s been going so far.
For so many years, civil innovation has benefited from military ingenuity – GPS, the Internet, duct tape, digital cameras, microwave ovens, synthetic rubber tyres. The economy is full of innovations that started in the military, were inspired by or were tested in the military before developing civilian uses. But the digital revolution means that knowledge now has to flow even more into Defence from outside.
That will require service personnel to have a different mindset and a new set of skills. Through learning modules and practical, hands-on experience in innovative startups, the Percy Hobart Fellowship will equip personnel with an understanding of the powers and practicalities of new technologies to help champion innovation within the Royal Navy.
Core to the 12-week programme is a placement in a fast-growing startup, which will be complemented by taught course material, mentoring and workshops to provide a theoretical and practical grounding in innovation. Each fellow has been seconded to a startup to learn first hand what it’s like to develop ideas, MVPs, and scale these, the culture in the startup ecosystem and what can benefit the Navy. Startups include companies such as healthtech startup Patchwork, autonomous traffic control startup Valerann, teamwork tool Pando and global food sharing app Olio.
The fellows will also be taught about business principles and innovative thinking. Fellows will learn about commercial forecasting, modelling, market-sizing and risk. Experts in growth, marketing, PR and sales will give real life examples of channels and strategies bringing new products to market.
As they approach the end of Week 4, fellows have been spending 3 days embedded in host startups, attending team meetings, developing their own projects and gaining real-life experience of how a startup works.
For the remaining 2 days, fellows have followed a curriculum developed by PUBLIC, covering topics such as Design, Innovations in Tech, the Defence Landscape and Entrepreneurship. Feedback on the Guest Lecturers and Speakers has been overwhelmingly positive, with many fellows remarking on the high standard and profile of people delivering the Programme. Lecturers from outside the PUBLIC team have included Gen (Rtd) Sir Chris Deverell, formerly Commander of Joint Forces, Elisabeth Braw of RUSI, and Benedict Evans, the leading Tech Analyst.
As the programme continues we will update on the progress and journeys of the fellows.
Solving the homelessness crisis: An interview with Beam
In March, NHSX launched TechForce19 in partnership with PUBLIC, AHSN and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.A month later, 18 companies were announced as winners of the TechForce19 program and began testing their digital solutions across the UK.In this interview we spoke to Alex Stephany, CEO of TechForce19 winner Beam, to hear more aboutthe company’s TechForce19 journey deploying their technology to crowdfund employment training and support for homeless people.
What does Beam do and why did you embark on this venture?
Beam is a tech startup working to solve the homelessness crisis. How does it work? The public crowdfunds employment training for individual homeless people. Then we support each person into stable, paid work, ranging from plumbing to accounting and everything in between. So this is about empowering people to support themselves and leave behind homelessness for good. But it’s also about providing employers with a new and diverse talent pool.
It all started about three years ago, when I got to know a homeless man at my local Tube station in London. I’d buy him cups of coffee and pairs of thermal socks when it was getting cold. At one point, he disappeared for weeks on end. When he reappeared, he looked years older: he told me he’d had a heart attack and had just come out of hospital. Despite the well-meaning gestures from myself and no doubt others, he was in a worse position than ever.
So I began to ask myself a question: what would it take to make a lasting difference to this man’s life? He had never had a job, and clearly lacked the confidence and support to make it on his own. For me, the answer lay in empowering him with the skills, confidence and support to get back into work and provide for himself. Of course, that would cost far more than coffees or socks – but what if everyone chipped in?
The idea of crowdfunding employment training for homeless people was born. Over the following nine months, I developed the model working with homeless people and charities, and officially launched Beam in September 2017.
How does your solution help the vulnerable and isolated?
When a homeless person launches their campaign through Beam, they can expect around 100-200 members of the public to support their campaign. Many choose to leave messages of encouragement when they donate, which can be a massive confidence booster for our beneficiaries. This is particularly important for those who have been placed in emergency accommodation away from their support network and may be feeling isolated.
For example, Mia is using Beam to train as a digital marketer. She became homeless after leaving an abusive family dynamic. Describing her experience, she said: “Homelessness is a really isolating experience, especially when you’ve been made to feel like you’re to blame after leaving a bad situation. I felt that everyone was judging me and felt even more vulnerable as a woman.” Mia went on to raise £5,695 from 372 Beam supporters. Talking about the support she received, she said: “I find all [the] kind words and support extremely uplifting and encouraging.”
On top of this, coronavirus has made our homeless population even more vulnerable. Many of the people we’re supporting live in unsuitable or cramped accommodation, sometimes sharing bathrooms and kitchens with other families. This makes the risk of contracting coronavirus even higher, particularly for those with underlying health conditions.
As a result, many of the people we support choose not to leave their emergency accommodation and therefore become even more isolated. To tackle this, Beam has provided hundreds of laptops and kids’ tablets to homeless families so that they can continue to work, study and stay connected with friends and family. In addition to this, we’re also providing them with emergency care packages that include everything from household cleaning products and PPE to food vouchers and children’s clothing.
How has your company adapted to tackle Covid-19 related challenges?
Right now, Beam is supporting homeless people into jobs that have seen a surge in demand during the crisis, provided it’s safe for them to start work. Many of these are key worker roles including warehouse operatives, NHS workers, carers, supermarket assistants and cleaners.
To raise awareness of this initiative, we’re asking the UK to #FundAFuture for a homeless person. The idea is that a number of sectors face labour shortages, but at the same time there are thousands of homeless people who want to start work. We’ve placed posters outside hospitals, care homes, supermarkets, offices and building sites around London – highlighting the sectors in most need of workers and the opportunity for homeless people to plug the gap.
We have also launched an Emergency Coronavirus Fund to provide short-term relief to homeless families during the pandemic. Through donations from the public, we’re able to deliver emergency care packages to those in need. For example, we’ve been able to fund a laptop and electronic tablets for homeless single mum Sonia, so that her kids can do their school work from home.
Can you tell us more about how you’ve deployed your technology as part of the TechForce19 challenge?
Winning the TechForce19 challenge has helped us to build the tech to scale our Emergency Coronavirus Fund. We now have a dedicated team working on this project who take referrals from charities and local authorities, launch the emergency crowdfunding campaigns on our website and coordinate the delivery of care packages. To-date, we’ve sent over 350 care packages and raised more than £50,000 in donations from members of the public.
One of the people we’ve supported is single mum Beverley, who has three sons. With free school meals no longer an option, she was struggling to keep up with feeding them all. We sent them some food vouchers so they could do a big supermarket shop to keep them going for a few weeks. We also used the funding to send them art supplies and laptops so her sons could do their school work.
Have you learned any valuable lessons during this period of change and uncertainty?
Since the very beginning, our core values have formed an important part of our culture, hiring process and decision-marketing. The pandemic has given us time to reflect on these values as we navigate this period of uncertainty. During periods of flux, a company’s values are what defines it, so we’ve spent time as a team challenging and refining who we want to be as a company.
It goes without saying that this has been an incredibly busy time for all of us. Knowing when to take a break is incredibly important – and I don’t just mean annual leave! We’ve introduced “decompression weeks”, where we slow down the pace and give people a bit of a breather. We measure our success by the number of lives we improve – one of our core values is “We make an impact” – but we also recognise that we can only achieve these amazing outcomes if the team has time to decompress.
Finally, we’ve always had a culture of supporting one another and lockdown has shown us just how important this is. We’re connecting more with one another through coffee catch-ups, wellbeing triads and yoga mornings, while also introducing additional wellbeing budgets and always-on wellbeing surveys to make sure we’re supporting everyone’s needs remotely.
Advice for GovTech founders?
This is an incredibly exciting time to be providing government with innovative solutions to complex social problems. But don’t forget the importance of collaboration! At Beam, we’re collaborating with a number of different stakeholders, from government and charities to concerned citizens and corporates. We understand that social impact is best achieved when everyone is working to their strengths. GovTech founders need to know where both their strengths and weaknesses lie, and collaborate with others who can plug some of those gaps.
Today PUBLIC launches GovStart, our six month growth programme to help tech startups transform the public sector, taking place in London and Berlin from October 2020.
Now more than ever, the government needs new, secure, and scalable technology to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic. GovStart is the right platform for startups to make a difference in any area of the public sector, from healthcare, to transport, to cyber security, and more.
So far, we have worked with 36 companies from Pre-Seed to Series C across UK, France and Germany, helping them close £16m in government contracts and raise £53m in investment. GovStart alumni have deployed products in diverse public-sector environments across health and social care, citizen engagement and local government, employment & recruitment as well as cyber security and online safety.
We are open to any solutions that can be applied to the public sector, but we are particularly interested in technologies that can help the public sector deal with the current challenging times, including:
Health Tech: solutions for remote monitoring and self management of Covid and related conditions;
Mental health: digital interventions to support young people and adults’ mental health;
Future of work: digital training and coaching applications for people that have lost their jobs because of Covid, to get them ready for the jobs of the future;
Transport & Mobility: data solutions to help transport authorities plan for a safe transport network; and
Prisons and Rehabilitation: smart solutions for safer and better prisons, from internal operations to offender rehabilitation
COVID-Cast #6 – Tech, Care Homes & COVID: A difficult transformation
COVID-Cast is a new weekly podcast from PUBLIC exploring the international response to the Covid-19 crisis from the GovTech community. Listen on the PUBLIC website, on Spotify, or on Apple Podcasts.
In the latest episode of COVID-Cast, Edd speaks to Lee Omar, Founder & CIO of Safesteps, about the impact of the COVID-crisis in care homes.
With COVID taking a huge toll on care homes, the commissioning of new technologies for non-covid use in these environments ground to a halt.
Safesteps – a tool to prevent falls in care homes – pivoted quickly to provide a tool to help monitor symptoms of the virus among care home residents, helping to manage the spread of the virus within care homes in which it was used.
Lee and Edd discuss the challenges of building tools for the care industry, and the challenge of using tech to solve-problems in a sector resistant to digital transformation.
Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe on Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts now to be sure that you don’t miss next week’s episode. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
GovTech in Focus: Top Tenders and Awards, June-July
Startups, we know that selling to the public sector is tough. In a monthly series, PUBLIC – in partnership with Tussell, the data provider on UK government contracts and spend – provides the GovTech community with the lowdown on the most valuable and exciting GovTech tenders issued by public-sector bodies every month – as well as the opportunities you might have missed.
This month’s edition is replete with a steady stream of GovTech notices and awards that demonstrate the range of opportunities across the public sector for startups.
While the organisations issuing notices and awards are fairly diverse, it seems many of them are looking for the same thing: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. As we noted in our quarterly deep-dive, the use of AI in the public sector has skyrocketed since 2015, and from the number of related contracts here, that isn’t going to slow down.
TOP LIVE TENDERS:
BBC Digital Transformation: more than just iPlayer.
In the top spot this month: the BBC has issued a tender for a new £12m framework for ‘digital services’. The opportunities to be won from this tender appear to be significant, with applications across the BBC’s remit, including in its education, news, sports tv and iplayer departments.
To be successful, suppliers seeking to be on the framework must successfully apply to at least three of the following service categories: “web development, mobile app development, backend development, third party maintenance, emerging technologies, data science and machine learning, design and UX and host and operate”.
To help improve customer services, the winner’s bot will help to answer questions from the public and help to lower call volume – reducing the burden on call centre staff and making quick enquiries to the Council easier for the town’s residents.
There’s £30k on offer for the right provider – apply by 15 July.
The Scottish Council is seeking input from industry and academia in connection with the ‘Perth Smart Energy City programme’: a distributed energy model that enables decarbonisation of energy production and distribution for consumption at city scale.
While it’s not an immediate opportunity, we always encourage startups to make enquiries and strive to contribute to PIN’s when they arise – doing so can pay dividends in the future when procurement exercises begin.
Here, the PIN is an opportunity to contribute to an exciting conversation with the market about how to establish ‘the conditions and capabilities for Perth to realise its aspiration to become a genuinely Smart Energy City’ – with an opportunity to engage with the short, medium and long-term priorities associated with the programme over the next ten years.
OPPORTUNITIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
The rollout of smart meters by Anglian Water takes the title of June’s largest award. Arqiva received £230m for the contract, Suez a notional £1. The new smart water meters will help create more efficient and energy-friendly water services.
Elsewhere, Public Health England awarded a new contract to PA Consulting with the aim of linking up their health surveillance ‘big data’ systems through an automated process. PA Consulting received an award for £1m.
Elsewhere, other awards offer an indication of different organisations’ priorities over the past year:
It is expected that the evidence it generates is a significant contributor toward ensuring policy decisions are based on up-to-date and accurate market information, but also gives a strong clue as to where the department may be looking to procure new technologies over the next 12 months.
As lockdown eases, some may find it easy to forget that the virus hasn’t gone away. Not so in GovTech, where COVID-19 continues to spur on significant developments and investment in new technologies, both to fight the virus, and to help us adapt to the new normal.
Last month, the tally for contract awards on tech solely as a result of the crisis was approaching £100m, and that hasn’t slowed down much. Across the public-sector, diverse types of organisation are investing in new solutions to:
Department of Health and Social Care awarded two contracts relating to the ‘Joinsocialcare.co.uk’ initiative, each work £754k
The first – awarded to GovStart Alumni CeraCare – was for the licensing of their online carer recruitment platform.
The second – to Mears Care Ltd. – was for the re-purposing of an existing web-based recruitment platform.
Together the two contracts addressed the urgent and immediate need to attract, vet and offer training to potential candidates (during Covid-19).
Healthcare consultations: Attend Anywhere has won two NHS contracts for their video chat software, one from NHS Improvement for virtual waiting rooms worth nearly £5m and a second from NHS Scotland, for face-to-face consultations worth £1.2m.
UPDATE: Track-and-tracing awards for covid-19 app solutions
With the original Test-and-Trace app now defunct, at a total spend of £8m, and with Apple and Google now involved in the next iteration, Government has now published what we expect to be the final contracts in relation to version 1.
All but one of the most recent awards went to suppliers we were already aware of as suppliers for the app. The remaining award – for a Managed Load Test Contract – went to Eggplant ltd.
If you are a tech company that wants unparalleled insights into the key government opportunities and trends, get in touch with us about how we can help – you might be interested in applying to our GovStart programme!
Supporting Independence: An Interview with Just Checking
In March, NHSX launched TechForce19 in partnership with PUBLIC, AHSN and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.A month later, 18 companies were announced as winners of the TechForce19 program and began testing their digital solutions across the UK.In this interview we spoke to Amy Lewis, Director at TechForce19 winner Just Checking, to hear more aboutthe company’s TechForce19 journey deploying their technology to remotely monitor the elderly and vulnerable.
1. What does Just Checking do and why did you embark on this venture?
Warwickshire based company Just Checking was founded in 2004 to help health and social practitioners understand the needs and abilities of individuals living in the community with dementia.
Over 80% of UK local authorities use the Just Checking activity monitoring system for assessment and care planning across learning disabilities, older adults and reablement, with thousands of professionals and family users logging on every day. Families are able to check that their family member is following their usual activities of daily living without intruding or undermining their independence.
Just Checking is simple to install, and easy to use especially for those who are less digitally aware; users simply place a sensor in each room and plug in the hub to a power socket. There is no need for internet access as the hub has its own SIM. There are no video cameras; the system uses discrete wireless movement sensors to provide insight into how individuals are managing in their own homes.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS predicted there would be a greater pressure to discharge patients from hospital to free beds and support a rapid influx of individuals requiring acute medical care. This would also impact on social care services who would be required to support a greater number of older adults at home, with potentially fewer care staff due to the virus. Just Checking could see how our existing system could be easily adapted to support more remote domiciliary care services during the pandemic, to maintain quality of care whilst reducing face to face visits and therefore risk of infection.
2. How does your solution help the vulnerable and isolated?
Just Checking enables health and social care organisations to deliver a more hands-off domiciliary care service when combined with this technology.
The Just Checking system uses discrete wireless sensors placed around a property to send an overview of daily activity to an online app. Family and professionals can see whether an individual is visiting the kitchen to make meals, using the bathroom as expected, or getting a good night’s sleep. Notifications can be set up to alert family and carers if anything out of the ordinary happens, enabling them to respond appropriately, reducing unnecessary visits and minimising risk of infection spread to those shielding and clinically extremely vulnerable.
The project demonstrated that remote monitoring in this way, can play a bigger role in delivering domiciliary care for vulnerable, older and self isolating people by:
– Reducing the number of face to face care visits and their inherent infection risk. – Helping local authorities to safely support more older people with a reduced staff pool.
– Deploying the reduced pool of care staff where they are most needed. – Providing feedback on well-being, remotely (via the activity chart and notifications of specific events).
– Enabling staff who are fit but self-isolating to take part in care/rehabilitation remotely.
– Encouraging care staff to use, in parallel, existing remote methods of rehabilitation/coaching (eg Facetime, exercise video), and enabling them to see progress in rehabilitation. – Like everyone else, older people will still have access to, and be encouraged to make use of, remote social activity (phone, Facetime/Skype/Zoom, email, social media with friendship groups, neighbourhood/ community support etc)
3. How has your company adapted to tackle Covid-19 related challenges?
Just Checking already benefits from remote working practices enabling us to easily adapt and adhere to social distancing guidance. We were able to immediately respond to the increased need for remote monitoring technology, providing support to our clients during this difficult time.
During the project our partners showed a need for more flexibility in setting up and managing system notifications for individuals in their care. The Just Checking in-house development team responded rapidly, creating custom notifications and a corresponding dashboard to manage notifications and log responses. The new additions to the notification features proved extremely beneficial in keeping people safe, and providing quick access to information to coordinate a collaborative response between all stakeholders of care.
In addition, Just Checking saw a spike in demand for activity monitoring systems and as a result, has created a short term lease model to support the pandemic without requiring long term contracts.
4. Can you tell us more about how you’ve deployed your technology as part of the TechForce19 challenge?
Just Checking has a significant number of’ K6’ systems in use across the UK. Although this model was superseded In June 2018, we used the K6 during this research project to demonstrate how an existing, widely available model can support services during the pandemic without the need to upgrade. We did this in the knowledge that where systems can be upgraded, the benefits will only be greater.
Due to the urgency of the pandemic a quick response was required – with the project taking place over just 3 weeks. A strategy meeting was held immediately to identify a project lead for each partner, who worked closely with their allocated Just Checking manager to define pathways for referrals and processes for safe installations.
As they are simple to install, the Just Checking systems could be installed by any key worker or family member currently visiting the property – minimising the risk of infection further.
The systems were utilised in the short term to keep people safe. Data was then reviewed to inform care plans moving forward.
5. Have you learned any valuable lessons during this period of change and uncertainty?
A clear theme emerged from the initiative: the most vulnerable are often the most isolated and social distancing creates new challenges and intensifies those that already exist.
During the project our partners reported that Just Checking was particularly useful in supporting the following:
● Keeping individuals safe whilst adhering to social distancing principles.
● Maintaining staff safety whilst continuing to support individuals.
● Monitoring how implemented care changes are affecting the individual.
● Helping families to support their relatives in absence of staff.
● Utilising a reduced number of staff to continue care delivery.
● Reassuring external care stakeholders such as families carers and providers that daily living activities are being completed.
● Completing remote needs assessments to right size care packages.
● Supporting individuals to avoid or delay a hospital admission / residential placement.
● Monitoring those with cognitive impairment that may wander or have difficulty remembering social distancing rules.
● Better outcomes for individuals whilst working remotely.
● Providing increased information over a shorter period of time.
● Collaborative working between different health and social care departments and also family members.
6. Advice for GovTech founders?
1. In times of crisis, the most successful solutions will be those that are well established and if necessary, can be adapted to suit the current needs/challenges.
2. Buy-in from all relevant stakeholders is essential when introducing new ideas.
3. Create a simple plan that is easy to follow and communicate it well to people at all levels.
4. Nominate a project lead that has a level of responsibility/accountability for the full process and outcomes that need to be delivered.
Streamlining Clinical Information in Care Homes: An Interview with Feebris
In March, NHSX launched TechForce19 in partnership with PUBLIC, AHSN and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.A month later, 18 companies were announced as winners of the TechForce19 program and began testing their digital solutions across the UK.In this interview we spoke to Elina Naydenova, Founder of TechForce19 winner Feebris, to hear more aboutthe company’s TechForce19 journey deploying their mobile app in care homes to help carers conduct regular check ups as part of virtual ward rounds.
1. What does Feebris do and why did you embark on this venture?
Feebris exists to improve access to healthcare for the most vulnerable patients. Our mobile-based software platform helps users detect and monitor complex health conditions; it connects to medical sensors and uses AI algorithms to ensure high quality measurements are captured and automatically evaluated to detect health issues early.
When I was working at the WHO in 2014, I became obsessed with solving a wicked problem in global health – childhood pneumonia, the number one killer of children under 5. I started Feebris to develop technology that will help the early diagnosis of this and other life-threatening but treatable conditions that take millions of lives every year.
2. How does your solution help the vulnerable and isolated?
Our mobile app has been used in care homes, where it helps carers conduct regular check-ups as part of virtual ward rounds. The app communicates to a number of sensors, including a pulse oximeter and a digital stethoscope, which capture a holistic health check-up. The information can be evaluated by a remote GP, either as part of a proactive monitoring routine or in response to any detected warning signs. The benefits are three-fold: (1) streamlining the capture of clinical information in care homes; (2) increasing the precision of remote GP consultations; (3) introducing personalised & proactive monitoring to reduce avoidable complications and utilisation of hospital services. For vulnerable patients in care homes this unlocks higher quality healthcare in their community, protecting them from the stress and health risks of hospitals.
3. How has your company adapted to tackle Covid-19 related challenges?
As a result of winning TechForce19, we were able to quickly mobilise to deploy our technology across care homes in East London. We have developed a fully digital rapid deployment process, which allows us to get a care home equipped with the technology and remotely trained in 7 days. We have been working closely with the GP community to ensure that our technology helps them deliver high quality healthcare even if they are unable to visit the care home in person.
4. Have you learned any valuable lessons during this period of change and uncertainty?
The pandemic disrupted healthcare and care environments, creating opportunities for rapid change. However, for these changes to deliver long-lasting positive transformation, they need to be delivered in an integrated fashion. Equipping care homes with technology for health monitoring is an important step forward; however, this transition is only truly possible if care home staff are supported on their journey of upskilling staff and integrating new work flows.
5. Advice for GovTech founders?
Think of yourselves as problem-solvers, not technology developers. You exist to deliver change in a very complex system, which is far more likely to happen through evolution than disruption. Energy and perseverance conquer all things.


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A U-Haul truck is parked in Stuyvesant Town in New York on August 29, 2020. According to news reports, moving companies have seen a significant increase in work since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020, with many New Yorkers moving outside of the city. (Photo by Samuel Rigelhaupt / Sipa USA)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A new survey says people who moved because of the pandemic in the fall were more likely to cite financial stress as their top reason compared with those who moved in the spring, when fear of catching the virus was the most important reason.
The Pew Research Center survey released Thursday says that 5% of U.S. adults moved decease of COVID-19 in November compared with 3% in June.
Among those who moved because of COVID-19, a third in November cited financial reasons, such as a job loss, compared with 18% of those in June. Some 12% of movers say the reason was too many COVID-19 restrictions.
— All Things Census (@allthingscensus) February 4, 2021

domain: geography


Sit-in kicks start in Beldangi-I
Bhutanese in exile, who are not yet granted ‘refugee status’ by the Government of Nepal and the UN Refugee Agency, have started sit-in protest on relay basis from Monday.
These non-registered Bhutanese have forwarded their demands that included
immediate registration to provide ‘refugee status’ and supply ration and other facilities to them as enjoyed by their friends and relatives, among others.
Some five dozen Bhutanese including children, women and youths started relay hunger strike in Beldangi-I camp from today.
We want to get our status, said Nandu Poudel of the joint struggle committee that has been fighting for ‘refugee status’ since three years.
Bhutan News Service quoted Beldangi-I Camp secretary, TB Gurung, as saying that the committee decided to launch a relay strike in his camp focusing larger flow of representatives from the GoN and other aid agencies to Beldangi camps.
To begin the sit-in protest, hundreds of non-registered Bhutanese marched from Beldangi-II and Extension camps to Beldangi-I this morning. They also carried various playcards.
According to camp statistics, over 3000 Bhutanese are waiting for ‘refugee status’ in all seven camps.


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Following on the heels of their hot single, "I'm Your Man", 2PM has released a video teaser for their new Japanese song, "Ultra Lover"! While many Korean idols rely on recycling their old tracks for their career in Japan, 2PM has been raising the bar by releasing brand new, original songs. "Ultra Lover" sounds like a medium-tempo ballad with some R&B influences. With soothing harmonies and a piano melody, the boys have taken a softer approach with this track. Check it out below!
Upvote if you think more people should see this post!
Posted by Monday, October 3, 2011
2PM releases teaser for Japanese single, "Ultra Lover"
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domain: entertainment


UFO FEV’s new track—Born Free—might be a minute only, but it touches on several factors one can face as a minority in America.
If you’ve been watching Fat Joe during his recent press runs, you’ve heard him mention the East Harlem aspiring artist, UFO FEV. On a come up different than any other musician I have come across, he is one of the only rappers to remain authentic to himself and his sound. Wanting to say “fuck the police” at the beginning of his verse, the ambitious and thoughtful musician stops himself before committing. Subsequently, he shares that the modern-day plantations are the streets.
Check out the video for ‘Born Free’ featuring cameos from the usual suspects and Bizkit, a well-known music blogger. ‘Born Free’ is the lead single from a collaborative EP with Dane Lawrence entitled, Sunset in Bali produced by Brian Allonce. It will be available on all streaming services on February 5.


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Softball Regional: Rowan Little League wins opener
Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 23, 2016
SALISBURY — An outstanding catch by right fielder Rylie Warren woke up a Rowan Little League team that was off to a shaky start, and the Rowan 14U team went on to pound the Florida state champs, 12-1, on the first day of the Southeast Regional.
“Sometimes the turning point in a game comes on defense,” Rowan manager Johnny Meadows said. “This was one of those times.”
Florida’s No. 9 hitter Julia Barlow squared one up in the top of the second and the ball seemed certain to sail past Warren, but she fought the sun and wind and made a spinning catch deep in right field.
“I started back, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, no, it’s over me, and I’m not going to get there,'” Warren said. “But then I pivoted around at the last second and the ball just popped in my glove.”
Even though it was a five-inning, mercy-rule game, it took a while. Scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. start, the game ended after 6 p.m., mostly due to a lightning delay, followed by a rainstorm.
Nothing went right for Rowan in the top of the first inning, as Florida took a 1-0 lead on Stephanie Brennan’s hot grounder that nearly knocked the glove off the hand of Rowan’s diminutive shortstop Hailey Lane.
Lane has a cannon attached to her right shoulder and she’d already whizzed a fastball over the head of Rowan first baseman Imara Harrell that banged off a fence, so Rowan was fortunate to get out of that mess with one run.
“By my count, we made five errors in the top of the first,” Rowan manager Johnny Meadows said. “Two plays at shortstop, a catcher’s interference, an obstruction call, and an 0-2 pitch that wasn’t in the right location.”
Few official scorers would’ve given Lane an error on the ball Brennan smoked, but Meadows has high expectations.
There also was a reason Rowan starting pitcher Kali Morton missed a spot on that 0-2 pitch. She was struggling with discomfort in the collarbone/shoulder area and left the circle for X-rays after one inning.
Morton rejoined her teammates at Salisbury Community Park after the long rain delay. She gave a thumb’s-up gesture, so it’s hoped that her injury isn’t serious.
“She’s a competitor, and you know if Kali comes out of a game, she’s hurting,” Meadows said. “I knew something was wrong. She wasn’t throwing hard. Her velocity was down at least 5 mph today.”
Aubrey Tuell took over for Morton in the circle for the second inning with Rowan down a run and fans getting a little antsy.
“I had some time to warm up, but I was a little nervous,” Tuell said. “But I was more excited than nervous.”
Warren’s catch that ended the second inning helped Tuell settle in, and Rowan’s eight-run bottom of the second took all the pressure off the relief pitcher.
That eight-run inning started innocently enough with an infield hit by Harrell, who sped around the bases and scored on passed ball for a 1-all tie. Tuell walked and courtesy runner Ally Young scored when Lucia Barbon bounced a go-ahead single up the middle.
An error on Olivia Marshall’s two-out groundball to third made it 3-1 and opened the gates for a huge inning. Lane got a run home by beating out a bunt. Jentri Meadows sent a two-run double whistling into the left-center gap to make it 6-1, Harrell’s hustle double made it 7-1, and Young’s single made it 8-1.
“We put balls in play, and we capitalized on some mistakes,” Meadow said.
Tuell made short work of Florida in the top of the third — three groundballs to Lane, who gobbled them up and made accurate throws for routine outs.
“Tuell stays around the plate, and with that big lead, that’s exactly what we needed,” Meadows said.
Rowan tacked on another run in the third and three more in the fourth to extend the lead to 12-1.
Rowan needed only three more outs for the mercy rule, but lightning was spotted, somewhere off to the west, and play stopped.
And then it stayed stopped, as lightning delays were followed by a torrential downpour.
Annisten Christensen pitched the fifth when play resumed. Meadows said she’s the team’s hardest thrower, but control can be an issue.
Christensen did fine, and Harrell, who had moved to third base, ended the game by gloving a soft liner and turning it into a double play.
“It was a really long day for us,” Warren said. “But you don’t mind long days when you’re having fun with your friends.”
Rowan stayed in the winner’s bracket and will play today at 12:30 p.m.
NOTES: The regional winner will head to Kirkland, Wash., for the World Series. … Rowan dressed 14 players, and by the rules used in this age division, all are required to play. That didn’t pose a problem, as Meadows kept a constant stream of courtesy runners, pinch-runners and pinch-hitters going into the game. Florida brought only nine players… Imara Harrell’s twin sister D’Nahjah started in center field and snagged the first out of the game. … The Florida representative won the Southeast Regional and the World Series in this division (Juniors) last year, so Friday’s result was encouraging for Rowan. … Meadows said Rowan has at least seven girls capable of hitting the ball out of the park. … Former West Rowan coach Scott Young, on the mend from a heart transplant, attended the game.
Florida 100 00 — 1 3 6
Rowan 081 3x — 12 8 3
W — Aubrey Tuell. L — Paige Lassiter.
Leading hitters: Fla.: Stephanie Brennan 2-for-2. Rowan: Ally Young 2-for-2. Imara Harrell 2-for-2, 3 runs. Jentri Meadows 2 RBIs.

domain: news


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Words can convey so many different levels of meaning. To simply "skim over" such an integral part of literary history would be to take the innards out of a living, breathing creature.
Walter Hodges, The Globe Restored: The third of eight children, he was probably educated at the local grammar school. Shortly thereafter he secured the patronage of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Farce is not as strongly emphasized in The Taming of the Shrew ?
He ticked off Tolstoy Big time. Take two words at random and try to think of all the ways they might connect. Everyone dreams of having love like Romeo and Juliet; it is for this reason that one of the most famous Shakespearean scenes is the balcony scene.
For Shakespeare, human nature has the potential for both good and evil, depending upon the decisions we make. Troilus and Cressidahardest of the plays to classify generically, is a brilliant, sardonic, and disillusioned piece on the Trojan Warunusually philosophical in its language and reminiscent in some ways of Hamlet.
The character of the quick-witted, warm, and responsive young woman, exemplified in this play by Portia, reappears in the joyous comedies of the second period. The loss of such a lord includes all harms.
Use the fuel of emotion to drive your genius. Both of these tragedies present ancient history with a vividness that makes it seem contemporary, though the sensuousness of Antony and Cleopatra, the richness of its detail, the ebullience of its language, and the seductive character of its heroine have made it far more popular than the harsh and austere Coriolanus.
Both poems carry the sophisticated techniques of Elizabethan narrative verse to their highest point, drawing on the resources of Renaissance mythological and symbolic traditions.
Shakespeare remained actively involved in Stratford affairs throughout his life, even when living in London, and retired there at the end of his career. Needless to say, Shakespeare wrote prolifically in his short life and we can thank god that he did!
The test of your new word is using it and getting others to use it too. But he does more. Invent new words and phrases Shakespeare is responsible for inventing so many words and phrases that are used today in popular parlance.
Macbethsimilarly based on English chronicle material, concentrates on the problems of evil and freedom, convincingly mingles the supernatural with a representation of history, and makes a paradoxically sympathetic hero of a murderer who sins against family and state—a man in some respects worse than the villain of Hamlet.
You must write letters. Almost all the greatest tragedies belong to this period. His mother, born Mary Arden, was the daughter of a landowner from a neighboring village.
Timon of Athens ? They encompass the years immediately before those portrayed in the Henry VI plays.The Importance of Shakespeare. In a world where the quality of the art form called "writing" is so often said to be rapidly diminishing, it is important for scholars of English literature to retain some studies of the true classics, such as Shakespeare.
In honor of William Shakespeare’s birthday tomorrow, we’ve teamed up with Uncommon Goods to create a printable party kit to celebrate the Bard! (Oh, and we're reposting some of.
My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, Or else my heart, concealing it, will break.
And rather than it shall, I will be free Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words. a biography of ellen degeneres allemandes a diagnostic essay assignment on the coughing illnesses et irlandaises par a biography of ellen degeneres ses grands-parents willam shakespeare communicate a profound knowledge of human an analysis of vitamin b12 A-Ca Contains.
William Shakespeare was a truly awesome 17th Century literary dude! He saw life as theatre and theatre as life. He saw life as theatre and theatre as life. His works are phenomenal, ranging over the entire spectrum of human experience and emotion.
Shakespeare is interested in the essentials of human nature, not the accidentals of human history, though, of course, he knows that every man .Download

domain: library


text:
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Here is my example.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
Last Thursday, I was assigned a patient who had total knee replacement surgery performed. She stated she was allergic to morphine. Upon doing my first round of vitals, I noticed he was tachycardic (P = 130), blood pressure was140/79, temperature was 37.4, O2 sat was 98% RA, and R= 22. Patient had history of high blood pressure and was being controlled by hydrochlorothiazide relatively well.
I asked the patient if she was in pain, because I first suspected that she was in pain leading to tachycardia. Patient stated she was in minimal pain as she had taken Tylenol 3 with codeine 2 hours ago. I notified my preceptor that I am a little concerned with her pulse because it had been rising from the last 2 days according to her progress reports. Together, my preceptor and I went to her MAR and checked what medications have been given to my patient; and all his heart medications were all given in the morning.
I asked my preceptor if her condition was due to any reactions to Tylenol 3 as she had been receiving it for 1.5 days. My preceptor suddenly remembered that one of the narcotics converted itself to morphine in the body. We checked, and Tylenol 3 indeed converts to a form of morphine; and the patient IS allergic to morphine. We stopped giving her Tylenol, and my preceptor gave her 2 tablets of percocets to control her pain (prn). 1 hr later, I checked her vitals, and her pulse has lowered.

domain: medical


text: RT Unpublished Material DB /z-wcorg/ DS http://worldcat.org ID 70982679 LA Collection material in English. T1 Lucy Kroll papers, A1 Kroll, Lucy., YR AB Client files containing correspondence, contracts, financial records, notes, scripts, printed material, posters, photographs, and other papers relating chiefly to the work of the Lucy Kroll Agency which managed the careers of clients in the literary and entertainment fields. Documents the business association, friendship, and mentoring relationship between Kroll and her clients. Also includes Kroll family papers and an office file consisting of account books, appointment books, client fact sheets and lists, deal memoranda, and other papers. Clients include E.R. Braithwaite, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Vincent J. Donehue, Dorothy Fields (estate of), Horton Foote, Lillian Gish, Joanna M. Glass, Martha Graham, Uta Hagen, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Daniel Petrie, Dorothea G. Petrie, Carl Sandburg, Kim Stanley, Howard Teichmann, and Fritz Weaver.


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Hindustan Times Group
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Punjab elections: Negative mood can affect all parties
January 4, 2012
The outcome of the Punjab elections will depend largely on how the Congress overcomes the national mood, which is not fa ...
Military can't find its copy of Iraq killing video
April 7, 2010
The US military has said it can't find its copy of a video that shows two employees of the Reuters news agency ...
US captain freed from pirates thanks Navy ’heroes’
November 20, 2009
A merchant sea
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Amarinder expelled from Punjab House
September 10, 2008
The Punjab Assembly expelled
Singh and asked the Election Commission to declare his Patiala seat vacant, ...
Woman Army officer commits suicide
July 2, 2007
In yet another case of stress,
Megha Razdan commits suicide by hanging herself at her official residence in Kunj ...
Ready to face contempt charges, says Haryana
May 14, 2008
The Haryana Government which is contemplating curtailing water supply to Delhi by as much as 60 per cent says that it is ...
'Tigers staged 49 suicide attacks since July 2006'
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A Tamil daily quotes LTTE as saying that 322 "Black Tigers" sacrificed their lives since the first suicide attack by "Ca ...
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The move may favour the opposition BJP, whose state unit chief is contesting from the seat. CM
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A Chandigarh court issued summons to Punjab Chief Minister in a defamation suit filed by Youth Akali Dal chief Sukhbir S ...
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Elections in Punjab will be a verdict on the performance of Congress govt, his rival and Deputy Chief Minister said.
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Despite scoring a century during England's innings, the host camp reels after
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Ugly review: This one is a grim, gripping and shocking movie
Skipper MS Dhoni sticks to denial mantra on Kohli-Dhawan spat
Bigg Boss 8: Sonali ditches Upen and rewards Dimpy
Sanjay Dutt returns home, shows off his eight-pack abs
Ho ho ho! US military hones on Santa's flight path
Election results: Shah says all options open in J-K
I thought he was a friend, but he raped me: Delhi medical student
'Unrest' down under: Kohli-Dhawan spat adds to Team India's woes
Why #BoycottPK makes no sense at all
Bigg Boss 8: Now Karishma Tanna trains her guns on Gautam Gulati
Amit Shah will take call on govt formation in J-K, says Jaitley
Revenge attacks after rebel bloodbath in Assam villages
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text:
The barn features an open floor plan of 4000 square feet to plan your event in. Four raised & railed seating areas, with antique oak square tables and matching slat back chairs for up to 200 guests. Restrooms, caterer's prep area, bar, band & dance floor. All handicap accessible.
Boyden Farm beef is a healthy, natural alternative to industrially-raised meats. The Farm raises all its own feed - corn and soy sillage, hay, and pasture grasses. We use no hormones or fed antibiotics. Our animals are cared for naturally at their own growth rate.
Located in a restored 1875 carriage barn on our family farm, the Boyden Valley Winery is steeped in the culture and agricultural heritage of Vermonts Green Mountains. From 8000 grapevines and 100 acres of maple trees, lovingly tended by our family for four generations, we craft wines that feature only the finest locally grown fruit from the loamy soils of the Lamoille River Valley.

domain: agronomy


GO Switch Model 11 features rugged enclosures and global approvals. Contacts are rated for 10 amps. Stainless steel enclosures are recommended for wet or harsh environments. All switches include round head mounting screws with lock washer and nut. The original leverless limit switch, the GO Switch Model 11 features sealed gold flashed contacts, no-touch sensing and snap action response in a square switch design: 38mm square x 116mm tall. As with all GO Switches, it can be wired A/C or D/C, N/O or N/C, consumes no power to operate, and has no current leakage or voltage drop.
Available in a rugged brass or stainless steel enclosure, the GO Switch Model 11 withstands physical abuse, moisture and corrosives. It offers SPDT 10amp contacts that are suitable for high or low current, as well as standard 10mm side sensing, extended sensing up to 14mm, or 6mm precision sensing. Suitable for Zone 0, 1, or 2 (Div 1 & 2) explosion proof applications, it can withstand temperatures up to 176°C, and is submersible up to 132 meters.
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text:
BWW Recap: All Over Alicia's Mind on THE GOOD WIFE
Actually, I'm crying into my housemate's shoulder. It wasn't Will. It wasn't Will! Why would they do that? Why would they let us into Alicia's mind and have some shadow Will say some shadow Will lines in some shadow Will memory inside Alicia's head?
Alicia's Mind's Eye, if you will.
And there's the thing. The trade off for finally getting a look into Alicia Florrick's head is that a lot has changed since we met our good wife six seasons ago. A LOT. And yet - in some ways, nothing at all. Alicia Florrick is still our Saint, our unfathomably good wife, even if her lover is dead, and even if this viewer thought they might have filmed something with Josh Charles that meant I didn't get almost Will Gardner. Something in the archives, something in the tapes of rooftops and white sheets floating that was real. Something to make up for my favourite character dying one season ago, and how I've stuck with Alicia Florrick ever since because I think it's important to have a show where the lens is on the woman no matter what, and she's not defined by her love affairs, and there aren't enough women in the spotlight after-all - where the light is on their career achievements, not their looks at least, and it's International Women's Day, people. So why do I still care about Will Gardner? Why do I care that Mind's Eye, and its promise to take us inside the thoughts of Alicia Florrick left me bereft? Left me wanting my Will back.
Wanting my Alicia with my Will back.
I am going to have to watch this episode again.
It isn't an episode of much consequence. Just 43 or so minutes inside Alicia's head, which oh-say-every-viewer has wanted ever since our girl shut us out in the very first episode, and we've had to fight like crazy to get back in. What does she think of Peter? What does she think of Kalinda? What does she think of Peter and Kalinda? Now we know, and it turns out most of what goes on in Alicia's head is simplistically high school-ish. Cartoonish, even. In Alicia's world, there is good and bad, and not much in between. There are looming, Council of Elders types judging her decisions, and her sexual life is distinctly passive. She's shocked by her fantasies, alarmed even, when her subconscious replaces Johnny Elfman with Finn in a pg-rated daydream while she's supposed to be thinking of work. Not much to be shocked by, but Alicia Florrick is oh-my-god-ing all the same.

domain: artistic


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domain: pet


text:
It’s no secret that the cost of living crisis is worsening at an alarming rate, with inflation in the UK reaching a 40-year high. By July 2022, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had risen to over 10%, meaning more people across the UK are struggling to afford necessities like food, utilities and fuel.
The government has released various forms of support for individuals across the country, however not everybody is eligible, and for those that are, this support may not be enough to keep them afloat. Every household in the UK will receive a £400 grant to help cover energy bills this autumn, however, as energy prices already increased by 54% in April this year and the news last week of a further increase of 80% in October, £400 will make only a minor dent in bills.
It’s well documented that many people have very little, if any, savings to help them get through this period of high inflation. So, for those who have already made cutbacks, they may have almost no choice but to borrow money.
Money and mental health
A recent survey conducted on our behalf found that almost 75% of the population currently have less disposable income than they would have in a usual month due to the cost of living rises. We also found that two-thirds of people are more worried about their finances now than they were during the pandemic.
It speaks volumes about the impact of the cost of living crisis when the majority of the population is no longer facing working restrictions, yet is struggling more now than when their earnings may have been limited. Money is a common cause of stress and anxiety, and with the rising cost of living, it’s more important than ever to be aware and informed when it comes to your personal finances.
Borrowing predictions for the coming 12 months
Our research also found that two in five UK adults will take out a new form of credit in the next year, and they predict they will need an average of £5,250 each. This adds up to a staggering £101.1 billion over the next 12 months for the whole UK population. The bulk of this borrowing is expected to happen during autumn of this year when the next energy price hike hits the population.
Of the 40% who expect to borrow money, nearly half are already worried about how they’ll meet the terms of their repayment commitments. As the cost of living crisis continues, they may be left with no choice but to put themselves into debt in order to survive.
Our survey revealed that five and a half million people across the UK are expecting to borrow in the next year in order to cover day-to-day expenses, and one in ten plan to borrow money to consolidate existing debts.
How do people plan to borrow this money?
The most popular method of borrowing in the next 12 months is predicted to be a credit card, with a third of borrowers expecting to use this method. Other popular options include an agreed overdraft, Buy-Now-Pay-Later schemes, and borrowing directly from family and friends.
While there are a wide variety of options available to help UK adults who need to borrow money, we found that over a third of people are unsure if they have the best financial product or products for their situation.
If you do decide to take out a new credit card or another form of credit, it’s a good idea to check out the company and their T&Cs in detail, instead of simply going with the first provider who will lend to you. It’s important to take time to understand if the provider has good customer service, if their customers feel fairly treated, and that they offer options that suit your style of managing money.
If you are one of the many people who will take out a new form of credit in the next 12 months, see our tips on borrowing money responsibly to help you when deciding which type of borrowing you might use.
Don’t struggle alone: there is help available
If you’re struggling to pay your bills or feel like your debt is overwhelming, you don’t need to suffer in silence. We have information in other blog posts about the help and support that is available to you. You can also find more information from Citizens Advice and StepChange.
Money-related stress can have a direct impact on your mental health and wellbeing. If you are struggling with your mental health for any reason, including concerns about your money, please visit some of the resources listed here. For 24-hour support, you can also contact Samaritans on 116 123.


text:
Reaching for the phone beside the pillow where it was left before he went to bed, the student turns off his alarm, scrolls the interfaces of society and puts his phone in his pocket to look back to throughout the day.
Playlist selected, headphones on, the student scrolls Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Social media is ingrained in the daily lives of Georgia State students, often spurring adverse effects in the minds of its users.
“I use social media far too often to compare myself to my significant others’ exes or just other girls who are prettier than I am per the normal beauty standards,” student Meyer Anne Hudson said. “I’m okay with posting for myself or scrolling through it without an issue, it’s just when I get in an insecure or anxious mood, social media makes it extremely easy to fall into that comparison trap.”
Hudson is not alone in her revelations with a “comparison trap.”
“Browsing social media often leaves me comparing my life and achievements to those of other people,” third-year student Cece Wilson said. “It is easy for me to feel that I have come up short next to what other people seem to possess.”
Though Wilson enjoys social media for staying up-to-date with the whereabouts of friends and family, she takes regular breaks from the platforms to cater to her “mental health routine.”
“Instagram only shows the best of peoples’ lives,” Morgan Carson, a first-year at Georgia State, said. “There’s also the issue of ‘influencer culture’ that pushes an idealized view of bodies, relationships, lives and more.”
“I have a lot of trouble with my image and self-confidence and often viewing so many attractive people and seeing the attention they receive really negatively impacts me,” student Romeo Cross said. “I could just unfollow people, but there’s something in my head that won’t let me.”
Likewise, while many have their disapproval of social media, they may find it hard to quit using the platforms.
“I know when to stop using it, but when I’m bored, that is the first thing I resort to,” student Yaffy Yakob said.
Another Georgia State student, Grace Gordon, also agrees that social media is a comparison trap, labeling her relationship with it “toxic.”
“Sometimes, it feels like grasping for validation that will never come [or] support you expect but never get,” Gordon said. “It’s hard to validate yourself when you expect hundreds of comments and likes, and that’s just not what you get all the time.”
Gordon noticed a shift in her perception of social media when she began posting her art.
“I try to not feed into the lack of feedback,” she said.
And like Wilson, Gordon has started to take a few days off of Instagram at a time in order to give her “brain a break.”
“I hate how dependent I am on [Instagram],” student Gabby Lopez said. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop comparing myself to others. Sometimes I think about deleting [it], but then the selfish part of me still wants to see what other people, even people I don’t consider my friends, are up to, and part of me still wants to seek strangers’ approval.”
In others’ lives, social media can be toxic in regards to content.
For second-year student Jasmine Nowicki, social media is a place of hate.
“People post articles to raise awareness,” said Nowicki. “And while it’s very important, it can affect my mental health when I’m just trying to see how my friends’ days are going.”
The importance of social media raises the stakes for others who find community on these platforms but spur a complicated relationship for them when accounting for their everyday life outside of the internet.
Student Ashton Franks uses different platforms in order to express himself toward family and to express himself towards friends.
“Being part of the LGBT community adds a whole level of what I can put out to the world,” said Franks.
Visibility can be an issue in and of itself.
“I felt like a flashlight was on me,” student Jas Florentino said, reflecting on their initial use of social media at a young age when on Tumblr.
“Lately, I’ve been cutting back on posting content and enjoying my privacy,” Georgia State student Adela Lopez said. “If it weren’t for my networks, I think my social media would have been deleted by now.”
Third-year English student Katie Burkholder agrees that mindfully balancing individual use of social media is beneficial for people’s mental health.
“[Social media] is a breeding ground for self-hatred,” said Burkholder. “Keeping private things private and [following] people that inspire joy, not envy, can help.”
Burkholder explained that the only effective remedy to avoid toxic self-comparison to others online is to avoid social media altogether.
Believing that “social media brings out the worst in humanity,” student Alina Basiuk does not think human culture can avoid using it.
Even though staying off of social media platforms would help, Basiuk said, “We can no longer collectively leave it alone because it became a part of business, advertising, promotions, everything really. We are way too deep into this mess.”
She sympathized with an early statement from the artist Andy Warhol reflecting on the future he anticipated, in which he expressed concerns that people will gain attention that quickly fades away, only for the cycle to repeat forever.
With influencer culture on the rise, the idea of sensationalism has spiraled in order to gain the instant gratification that comes from attention on social media posts.
“Everyone is always trying to spill ‘tea,’ but all I think we really need to do is pause and mind our own business,” Basiuk said.

domain: psychology


text:
PAN MACMILLAN is delighted to announce that VUSI PIKOLI’s and MANDY WIENER’s bestselling book, My Second Initiation: The Memoir of Vusi Pikoli, published under its PICADOR AFRICA imprint, has been shortlisted for the 2014 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award.
In this searingly honest account, Pikoli reveals how he grappled with the dilemma of prosecuting friends and comrades, how he navigated through repeated attempts at political interference and how he confronted his own persecutors in a poignant face-to-face encounter. He provides an insider’s perspective on cases that have dominated discussion over the past decade from the Arms Deal and the Scorpions to the Brett Kebble murder, Travelgate, the Special Browse Mole Report and the Hoax E-mail saga.
Pikoli interrogates the state of the country’s criminal justice system, reflects on what has become of his beloved ANC and considers whether the cost of his sacrifices was worth fighting for.
‘I want to thank those readers who have bought My Second Initiation and who have engaged with us over the book. And I offer my congratulations to the other authors whose books have been shortlisted. In sharing my story, I hope I have highlighted issues of accountability, integrity and transparency, as well as the importance of the independence of prosecutors and of the need to uphold the values of our Constitution.’ – VUSI PIKOLI
‘I am thrilled that My Second Initiation has been named on the shortlist for such an esteemed award. Having sacrificed so much, Advocate Pikoli deserves to have his story acknowledged and appreciated. This is such an important book about prosecutorial independence, speaking truth to power, integrity and about holding our government to account.’ – MANDY WIENER
‘I am delighted to see the close collaboration of Vusi Pikoli and Mandy Wiener rewarded with the shortlisting of My Second Initiation for the 2014 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. This memoir speaks very strongly to the award’s criteria, in particular of ‘truthfulness’ that flies ‘in the face of power’ and of ‘intellectual and moral integrity’. I also extend my congratulations to the other shortlisted authors, and their publishers, as it was a strong longlist to be chosen from.’ – ANDREA NATTRASS, Publisher at Pan Macmillan South Africa


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domain: hobby


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Here's Why Pooping During Childbirth Is Actually A Good Thing
Sure, not everyone has the illustrious experience of dropping a deuce while pushing a baby out of their vagina. But the experience is definitely something that lots of women can relate to (and listen up, mamas: it’s totally nothing to be ashamed of). And even women who don’t actually poop while pushing know that their bowels tend to have a mind of their own during childbirth, and that these bowels just happen to be located very closely to the birth canal.
In essence, babies born vaginally will inevitably get up close and personal with their mom’s fecal matter. It’s a fact of life that no one can avoid. But what you might not know is that this is actually a good thing.
Here’s why. When your baby passes through the vagina during birth, they are exposed not only to whatever residue of poo is present in the area, but also to the life-giving and totally incredible bacteria that lives within said poo (as well the bacteria found on the mother’s skin and in her vaginal fluids). The idea is that your baby is essentially born sterile and is colonized at birth by whatever bacterial environment it encounters. And there is some evidence that being colonized by one’s own mother’s bacteria ensures lifelong health benefits.
“One theory is that any possible prenatal exposure could ‘pre-seed’ the infant microbiome,” notes Scientific American. “As soon as the mother’s waters break, this is the moment the party doors swing open, the stereo is switched on and the first VIP party guests flood in. Suddenly the baby is exposed to a wave of the mother’s vaginal microbes that wash over the baby in the birth canal. They coat the baby’s skin, and enter the baby’s eyes, ears, nose and some are swallowed to be sent down into the gut.”
Pretty fascinating, right? (And I’ll admit it: a little gross, when you actually picture all this.)
And even though we are talking about microbes, the positive effects of these little bugs are actually pretty huge. As New Scientist points out, babies who are not exposed to their mother’s microbes at birth have been shown to have an increased propensity toward conditions like asthma, food allergies, hay fever, and even obesity.
Of course, we all know that vaginal birth is not always possible for mothers—and that C-section moms definitely don’t need another thing to feel guilty or judged about. But some hospitals are taking some creative steps to try to remedy the fact that C-section babies don’t get colonized with their mom’s bacteria like vaginally born babies do. For example, one New York hospital, profiled in New Scientist, actually give babies born by C-section a “bacterial bath,” or swab of their mom’s vaginal flora after birth to replicate the environment they would have encountered had they been born vaginally.
Cool? Creepy? You be the judge.
“Before a planned caesarean, they give women a sterile gauze, which is concertina-folded and inserted like a tampon about an hour before the surgery,” explains New Scientist. “Just before the women enter the operating theatre, the gauze is removed and bagged. Within 2 or 3 minutes of the baby being born, its mouth, body and anus are swabbed with the gauze.”
Right now, the jury is still out about how effective a method this is, because very few women and babies have been studied thus far. There were, however, some positive results out of a small study of 18 women whose babies were given “bacterial baths.”
“The C-section babies that were swabbed had a more vaginal-like microbiota than those that weren’t,” says Jose Clemente, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Clemente’s team found higher “blooms” of Lactobacillus in the babies born vaginally and as well as the babies swabbed with their mother’s vaginal flora, as opposed to the babies born by C-section. However, it’s still unclear how this difference might affect the babies in the long term.
The good news is that if “vaginal swabbing” isn’t something you’d elect to do, there are other ways to transfer all your good bacteria to your baby. As Scientific American points out, breastfeeding is one of them, as is practicing skin-to-skin with your baby.
Of course, it goes without saying that even if you do none of those things, there are a million ways to give your baby a healthy, good start in life, and for the duration. And anyway, we all know that by the time your “perfectly bacterially balanced baby” becomes a toddler, they will be munching three-week old Lucky Charms off the slide at McDonalds, and all your attempts at healthy living will go die a quick, merciless death.

domain: biology


Growing up as kids, the majority of us got lost in Disney movies from time to time. We sang along to Hakuna Matata. We were immersed on a magic carpet ride with Aladdin and Jasmine. We dreamed a little dream with Sleeping Beauty.
To this day, some Disney movies are still my favourite ones of all time. The Lion King will always be great fun to sing along with. And Thumbelina will always be my tiny little spirit person.
However more often than not in the modern era, our eyes seem to be inundated with images of Disney princesses or characters going through turmoil or traumatic times. Cinderella with a black eye. Snow White with blood dripping gently from her lip as her Prince Charming smugly smiles next to her. Jasmine being forcefully kissed…by her father.
The images are designed to send a message across. They’re powerful and they’re disturbing and it is distressing to see characters you’ve grown up with, put in such a traumatising situation.
Does it make you think twice about the horrors of domestic violence and sexual abuse? Yes.
But is it really necessary to put our favourite Disney characters in such situations? No.
Recently artist Saint Hoax (not real name) released a series of images, showing Jasmine, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty all being forcefully kissed by their fathers. It’s an attempt to raise awareness and encourage children and other individuals to report their sexual abuse attacks. The images titled ‘Princest’ can be seen below:
These images are supposedly created to raise awareness and help people, especially children. To me all the images are, are pure shock value. They’ll go viral for sometime, have their moment of glory and in the meantime probably not really help the cause at hand.
As many people pointed out when a popular website posted these images, Disney movies are a form of escapism for individuals. We watched Aladdin and Cinderella to get enjoyment out of the rags-to-riches tale. We enjoyed seeing our favourite Disney characters find happiness with each other, regardless of the ‘what-ifs’ and the unbelievable nature of the story.
As children, and as adults, we don’t watch Disney films to imagine what would happen if Cinderella was in an abusive relationship. We don’t watch to see Snow White get beaten on. And we don’t watch, to see Sleeping Beauty being sexually assaulted by a family member. Because there’s already movies focusing on that, and they sure as hell aren’t Disney or kids ones.
A victim of sexual assault commented on a thread of these images, and had this to say*:
“As someone who’s experienced sexual assault (not from a family member at least), I understand the sentiment of wanting to raise awareness and reaching out to your target audience. But thanks, thanks so much for ruining something that a child may have found as an escape from the horrors of their life. Thanks for ruining what is one of my escapes, still as a 25-year-old. The Disney stories are beautiful and full of love and hope. Now you’ve potentially ruined that image for so many young (or otherwise victims.”
*quote obtained with full permission.
Disney movies are fairytales and it’s as simple as that.They aren’t moments of true learning or education. They are moments of escapism for children and moments of light-hearted fun.
There are no real reasons to be raising moral objections as to why Snow White is cleaning up after 7 little men, or the fact that Prince Charming doesn’t really exist. And there’s no point in hypothesising what would happen if Ariel’s father molested or sexually abused her. Throwing Disney princesses into such situations won’t help children or even adults speak up against any forms of abuse – it’s just tarnishing another innocent thing, for the sake of some viral publicity.
Do we need to keep getting the message out? Yes. But adults ruining everything that is sacred and pure to childhood is not the way to do it.Follow @tahls
Bravehearts are an organisation that help the victims of child sex abuse.
You can find more information about them here.


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Audio in the real world (PokemonGo for 'catching' music)
Everyone sings in their car, it is our safe place where nobody judges us. This app uses production masters to mute the artists vocals while you are singing in your car and scores your progress!
You can Jump, Nod, Shake Head, Walk and Tap to create your MusicVerse
Discover new artists playing at venues near you!
Hear the visual world though audio motifs that are spatially oriented around you and triggered by image and object recognition.
An interactive, AI Radio DJ that helps you discover artists and learn about the music industry on road trips!
Equal IQ implements deep learning AI algorithm analysis to create volume adjustments and specialization adjustments based on vehicle condition data received from smart device link (SDL) devices.
Front & Back camera app that makes it easy for artists to make quick, artist-branded videos without any editing or post-production
Remaking a song called bad guy by Billie Eilish
Crowdsourcing application for artists and their superfans
Connecting people, music and experiences where ever you are!
Use music to connect, collaborate, and engage with friends, family, and favorites - all while you're on the move.
The Hands Free Music App that Does Everything!
where and what - and enjoy the journey
An App that uses Bose AR frames and a microphone to remix songs with your own vocals
Conquer the streets with your own songs
Mobile app that renders a music market place in the car windshield using AR to provide real-time song and event info to connect fans with artists.
A Social Network for New Artists To Build Their Fan Base and Fans to Discover New Music, powered on Ethereum
A platform that would be able to lead users from their car to live events & concerts of their favorite artist in the area by Geolocation.
Local music Re-discovered
Enables content creators and marketers to record and share spatialized audio performances using AR.
A Spatial Audio DJ app for XR Headsets
1 – 24 of 28


Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), disclosed the results of the quarterly survey of members of the trade group known as Business Roundtable. The group is formed of CEOs of the 100 largest U.S. companies. As per the survey, the CEOs expect sales to rise in coming quarters. However, the capital spending will not see a major boost in coming quarters. Also, businesses are less inclined to add jobs in the next six months. In the last quarter survey, 44% of the CEOs expected to add jobs, but, the number has declined to 39% in the latest survey.
The looming uncertainties
The business leaders are getting wary on issue of corporate tax structure. The question is whether Congress will make changes to the existing corporate tax structure or not. The White House and the political parties have agreed to make the changes but the changes or which party’s proposal will be passed remains unanswered.
The proposed changes can allow the businesses to deduct spending expenses on R&D from corporate income taxes. The decision will also be affected by the elections. Already, the November elections have forced Congress to adopt a cautious approach on the matter.
The chairman’s views
Randall Stephenson is the chairman of the trade group. He answered to all the questions of reporters on Tuesday. He didn’t talk much about AT&T but said that it is getting tough for the company to fill in posts of highly skilled technical jobs.
The company interviews at least 11 applicants for a single post. There are vacancies in the field of data analytics but then the positions required highly skilled persons tough to find in the industry. Being the chairman of Business Roundtable, he has been formally invited to the White House many times. He was also a part of the state dinner kept in honor of the French President.


The U.S. intelligence community issued a new report warning the government of a strengthening alliance between Russia and China and the negative impacts on U.S. allies of previous policy changes by the Trump administration, CBS News reported Tuesday.
During a recent meeting with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, top intelligence officials presented the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment. The document warns that China and Russia appear more aligned than their relationship in mid-1950s and the two countries may strengthen their ties in the coming year. The IC report also states that some U.S. allies and partners are seeking independence due to recent changes to U.S. policies on security and trade.
National security threats may also increase as adversaries continue utilizing technological advances, with future U.S. elections still at risk of disruption. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that despite a deal with President Trump, North Korea might retain its nuclear capabilities. CIA Director Gina Haspel said the Islamic State group also remains “dangerous” as it still holds "thousands" of fighters in Iraq and Syria.


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After making it official earlier this month, Central Bucks School District has sealed the deal, approving the contract with its new superintendent Tuesday night.
It’s fine to talk — eventually — about chronic deficits and mounting debt. But now that our government is up and running again, the nation’s first priority should be economic growth.
TRENTON — Burlington County and two of its municipalities will share in nearly $1 million in federal grant money awarded statewide Wednesday to enhance power systems to critical facilities.
The man in charge of Easton, Pa.’s day-to-day government got a call last week about hiring some furloughed federal workers. Not accountants or astronauts, but the kind that bray and bleat, and eat a lot of weeds.
Apparently nothing can rise above the Northampton political fray these days. Even a seemingly benign subject like green energy has some in the township seeing red.
Of all the questions prompted by last week’s government shutdown, this may be the most persistent, the one that most Americans, alternately bewildered and horrified by the spectacle in the capital, found utterly confounding: What were they thinking?
DOYLESTOWN — Central Bucks East and Central Bucks West showed Tuesday night how to put aside distractions ahead of their Suburban One League Continental Conference rematch from Sept. 9 — a convincing early season Patriots victory — and to show solidarity for a common cause on the first night of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In the next election and every election after that, I am going to vote for Pope Francis. Francis for municipal council; Francis for mayor; Francis for freeholder; Francis for state Assembly and Senate; Francis for governor; Francis for U.S. Congress and Senate, and Francis for president.
A new, energy efficient Hallowell Elementary School appears to be in the future for the Hatboro-Horsham School District, thanks to a recently announced $2 million grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority, part of the state’s Department of Community & Economic Development agency.
New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Sen. Diane Allen will support legislation to beef up protection for firefighters in battling blazes that involve solar panels because the electricity to most solar installations cannot be shut off completely, creating a risk of electrocution, especially when water is used at a scene.
While Gov. Chris Christie continues to hold a commanding lead over his Democratic opponent, Middlesex County state Sen. Barbara Buono, emerging trends indicate his strength ebbs significantly in the down ballot legislative contests.
I can’t believe summer slipped by so quickly, and everyone is back at school.
We’ve learned a few things from the Labor Day weekend fire at the Dietz & Watson distribution center in Delanco.
As debates rage between industrial providers of traditional energy sources and environmentalists who would prefer all structures to be powered by pure renewable energy systems, one thing often gets lost in the discussion: reality. Economic reality, energy security reality and technological reality.
Today’s blog is in honor of Yardley Fitness’s newest venture … group exercise! As of September 21st Yardley Fitness will be opening a brand new group exercise studio at the Grist Mill in the Heart of Yardley Borough. Anyone who has personal trained at Yardley Fitness already knows how important correct form is to me. When you do exercises incorrectly you are at the very least working out inefficiently but worst case scenario you can hurt yourself. Neither of which is OK with me! I strongly believe a program is only as good as its instructors. I have found instructors who are not only knowledgeable but also passionate about teaching and helping people become healthier and happier in a safe and fun way.
Like the Dietz & Watson warehouse in Delanco, more than 22,500 homes and businesses throughout New Jersey have solar panels on their roofs.
Earlier in the week, I was reading an article about nine toxins that we should all eliminate from our lives. About a quarter of the way through, there was a caution from the author about feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of what she was suggesting. And overwhelmed is pretty much where most people reading this would have been at that point.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which provides funding to technology and life sciences companies, will hold two briefings for entrepreneurs in Bucks and Montgomery counties this fall.
WILLINGBORO — The township is considering options that would reduce energy costs, including an aggregation deal, and a move toward less reliance on the existing electric grid.
Chris LaFrancis has always loved music.
Chris LaFrancis has always loved music.
The Pinelands Preserve is a natural resource that belongs to all of us. There is a proposal for a pipeline that will cut a scar right through the middle of it. The South Jersey Gas pipeline will connect to the BL England plant, whose two units will be converted to natural gas. The Pinelands is a truly unique and ecologically important region, and protecting it from a dangerous pipeline is critical not only for our water supply, but also for the ecosystem of the Pinelands.


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“Isn’t it reasonable for these conservatives to assume that you’ve been duped here?” – Laura Ingraham
THE TV AD starring Marco Rubio finally popped up over the weekend or at least that’s when I finally saw it. As you’ll see when you watch the ad above, it’s basically trying to bolster his conservative cred while trying to convince the Republican base he hasn’t beed duped.
Laura Ingraham, talk radio’s leading female right winger, asked that very question recently, which sent Marco Rubio scrambling.
“No, it isn’t,” Rubio responded, “because the fact of the matter is that this bill reflects principles that I issued back in January on immigration reform that were different from the principles the president had laid out. In essence, they’ve come to our position. We haven’t gone to theirs.”
One of the main concerns of radio talk show hosts, Tea Party activists and conservative bloggers is that Rubio and other Republicans are giving away too much on an issue they believe mostly helps Democrats.
The problems Marco Rubio face are real. They begin with the man who helped him get where he is, Jim DeMint, Tea Party king and head of the Heritage Foundation, an organization that Rush Limbaugh trumpets daily. From the New York Times on Monday:
And yet, perhaps for the first time, the two men now find themselves at odds on a major issue. In 2007, Mr. DeMint was instrumental in helping to kill legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, and now, six years later, Mr. Rubio, Republican of Florida, is a pivotal member of a bipartisan Senate group that has written a bill that would do just what Mr. DeMint was fighting to prevent.
As Mr. Rubio’s immigration push meets vocal and persistent opposition, it will be Mr. DeMint, newly ensconced as the president of the Heritage Foundation, among those leading the charge. The foundation plans to issue an updated version of its 2007 economic study that helped doom the overhaul.
What happens if Marco Rubio wins on immigration, but loses any chance to run for president by doing it? For Marco Rubio’s future and that of Republicans hoping to make headway with the largest rising demographic in the country, this is the whole ballgame.


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- Historic Sites
The Long, Stormy Marriage Of Money And Politics
… or why in America campaign-finance reform never succeeds
November 1998 | Volume 49, Issue 7
While pulling off his banking coup, Burr also managed to politicize a lower-middle-class chowder and marching group called the Society of St. Tammany. As Tammany Hall it soon dominated New York City’s government. Along with polling the dead, stuffing ballot boxes, and hiring Irish immigrant toughs to cast ballots half a dozen times per election and beat up would-be opposition voters, it became a major source of campaign cash.
As the relatively genteel electioneering of the Revolutionary War generation encountered the politics of mass democracy under Andrew Jackson, money became more rather than less important. President Jackson waged war against the Bank of the United States, which, to hear him tell it, had half of Congress on its payroll. It unquestionably had Daniel Webster and other conservatives. The bank and its well-heeled backers spent thousands trying to paint Jackson as a dictator in the election of 1832.
Fighting the rich cost money; the slogan of a New York Jacksonian Democrat, William Learned Marcy, “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy,” suggests one way in which they raised it. Public offices were up for grabs in every election; it seemed logical to expect the officeholders to kick in a percentage of their salaries to protect their jobs.
Jackson and his methods annihilated the opposition in 1832, and by the time James Buchanan ran for President, in 1856, money had become important enough in a campaign to prompt the Republican boss of New York, Thurlow Weed, to define the difference between the winner (Buchanan) and the loser (John C. Frémont) as $50,000. When Abraham Lincoln ran for President four years later, the Republicans were determined not to fall short again. In pivotal states, such as Indiana, local Republicans welcomed money from Weed’s ample New York coffers. Lincoln himself once said, “In a political contest, some use of money is both right and indispensable.” Early in 1860 he paid out of his own pocket to help one friend visit Chicago to push his candidacy.
Lincoln’s uphill 1864 election campaign depended heavily on contributions from thousands of companies that the government had enriched with war-production contracts. The return of peace dried up this flow of cash, but government employees continued to be the major source of campaign funds. In Pennsylvania, where the Republicans developed a formidable political machine under Simon Cameron, every state employee received an annual letter ordering him to contribute 2 percent of his pay; its menacing final sentence read: “After the campaign we shall place a list of those who have not paid in the hands of the head of the department you are in.” Cameron’s political philosophy can be summed up in the aphorism for which he has achieved a certain fame: “An honest politician is one who when he’s bought, stays bought.”
Under Jacksonian mass democracy, spending became more, not less, important. Fighting the rich cost money.
Ironically—a word that might well be applied to almost every paragraph of this tale—the Democrats, the party of the common man, introduced the habit of running very rich men for office. This began when they nominated Samuel Tilden for President in 1876. They had already learned the advantages of enlisting the support of the rich. August Belmont, James Buchanan’s principal backer in 1856, a suave New Yorker who was the American spokesman for the immensely wealthy Rothschild banking clan, had helped pay for the creation of the Democratic National Committee in 1852.
Tilden, a highly successful corporate lawyer, reportedly bankrolled two-thirds of his $150,000 Democratic campaign against Rutherford B. Haves. Scarred by the scandals of the Grant administration, the Republicans looked vulnerable. But The New York Times , the Republican flagship newspaper, led a ferocious counterattack on Tilden’s ethics, and the Presidency came down to the electoral votes of three Southern states. Tilden’s nephew and several leading Democrats schemed to buy these undoubtedly acquirable assets, foolishly urging one another on in telegrams that the Republicans later obtained and published. Meanwhile, the GOP put men on trains to head south with carpetbags full of money. “Rutherfraud,” as hostile newspapers called Hayes, became President by a single electoral vote.
The stench wafting from the 1876 election, combined with the 1881 assassination of President James Garfield, inspired a cadre of Eastern Republicans to take action. Eager to break the grip of the corrupt old guard on the GOP, they portrayed the deranged assassin as an office seeker driven insane by the status quo and used him to belabor the spoils system and the custom of forcing civil servants to finance elections with a percentage of their salaries.
In 1883 they prodded the Pendleton Act through Congress, making some government jobs winnable (and keepable) on merit alone and banning the solicitation of funds from federal officeholders. But Pendleton had no bearing on state and city government employees, and payor-else letters continued to flow from Republican bosses in Pennsylvania, while Tammany Hall and other Democratic machines went on collecting their tithes from civil servants and anyone who did business with the city or state.

domain: finance