Category Archives: Talmud

Quebec has now surpassed 300,000 recorded cases of COVID-19 a little over a year into the pandemic.

A day earlier, Dr. Mylne Drouin, Montreal's public health director, urged the public to remain vigilant in order to delay an inevitablethird wave of infections.

In an effort to deal with the growing spread of COVID-19 variants in the city'swest end, public health is putting together a pilot project to give priority vaccinations to some parents of school children.

According to a letter sent to parents at JPPS-Bialik,theUnited Talmud Torahand Herzliya, the campaign is "in responseto the urgency presented by the presence of the variant in our region."

Meanwhile, Quebec Health MinsterChristian Dubwas administered a dose ofAstraZenecaThursday afternoon. Holding a news briefing afterward, he was visibly emotional as he expressed his joy to finally have been inoculated after a long year.

"I am very happy to have received it," saidDub.

Dubinsisted, as he has in the past, that AstraZeneca is a safe, effective vaccine.

If you have been feelingisolated, we'vecompiledsome ways to help copeas part ofa special CBC Quebec project calledOut of the Dark: Real Talk on Mental Health.

If you think you may have COVID-19, the government asks that you call18776444545to schedule an appointment at a screening clinic.

To reserve an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine, you can go on the online portal quebec.ca/covidvaccine. You can also call 1-877-644-4545.

Quebec government reminders for preventing the spread of COVID-19:

You can find information on COVID-19 in the provincehereand information on the situation in Montrealhere.

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COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Thursday - CBC.ca

People are more connected than ever, thanks in large part to rapid advancements in technology.

While some forms of technology may have made positive changes in the world, there is evidence for the negative effects of technology and its overuse, as well.

Social media and mobile devices may lead to psychological and physical issues, such as eyestrain and difficulty focusing on important tasks. They may also contribute to more serious health conditions, such as depression.

The overuse of technology may have a more significant impact on developing children and teenagers.

In this article, learn about the psychological and physical health effects of technology, as well as how to create healthful habits with technology and avoid overuse.

Overuse or dependence on technology may have adverse psychological effects, including:

Technologies, such as social media, are designed to bring people together, yet they may have the opposite effect in some cases.

A 2017study in young adults aged 1932 years found that people with higher social media use were more than three times as likely to feel socially isolated than those who did not use social media as often.

Finding ways to reduce social media use, such as setting time limits for social apps, may help reduce feelings of isolation in some people.

The authors of a 2016 systematic review discussed the link between social networks and mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety.

Their research found mixed results. People who had more positive interactions and social support on these platforms appeared to have lower levels of depression and anxiety.

However, the reverse was also true. People who perceived that they had more negative social interactions online and who were more prone to social comparison experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety.

So, while there does appear to be a link between social media and mental health, a significant determining factor is the types of interactions people feel they are having on these platforms.

Technology use may increase the risk of physical issues as well, including:

Technologies, such as handheld tablets, smartphones, and computers, can hold a persons attention for long periods. This may lead to eyestrain.

Symptoms of digital eyestrain can include blurred vision and dry eyes. Eyestrain may also lead to pains in other areas of the body, such as the head, neck, or shoulders.

Several technological factors may lead to eyestrain, such as:

Taking regular breaks away from the screen may reduce the likelihood of eyestrain.

Anyone regularly experiencing these symptoms should see an optometrist for a checkup.

When using any form of digital screen for longer periods of time, the American Optometric Association recommend using the 20-20-20 rule.

To use the rule, after every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20-second break to look at something at least 20 feet away.

Doing this may help reduce the strain on the eyes from staring at a screen for a continuous period.

Learn more about the 20-20-20 rule in this article.

The way many people use mobile devices and computers may also contribute to incorrect posture. Over time, this may lead to musculoskeletal issues.

Many technologies promote a down and forward user position, meaning the person is hunched forward and looking down at the screen. This can put an unnecessary amount of pressure on the neck and spine.

A 5-year study in the journal Applied Ergonomics found an association between texting on a mobile phone and neck or upper back pain in young adults.

The results indicated the effects were mostly short term, though some people continued to have long-term symptoms.

However, some studies challenge these results.

A 2018 study in the European Spine Journal found that the posture of the neck while texting made no difference in symptoms such as neck pain.

This study concluded that texting and text neck did not influence neck pain in young adults. However, the study did not include a long-term follow-up.

It may be that other factors influence neck pain, as well, such as age and activity levels.

Correcting posture problems while using technology may lead to an overall improvement in posture and strength in the core, neck, and back.

For example, if a person finds themselves sitting in the same position for hours at a time, such as sitting at a desk while working, regularly standing or stretching may help reduce strain on the body.

Additionally, taking short breaks, such as walking around the office every hour, may also help keep the muscles loose and avoid tension and incorrect posture.

Learn more about how to stay active and in good posture at work with this article.

Using technology too close to bedtime may cause issues with sleep. This effect has to do with the fact that blue light, such as the light from cell phones, e-readers, and computers, stimulates the brain.

Authors of a 2014 study found that this blue light is enough to disturb the bodys natural circadian rhythm. This disturbance could make it harder to fall asleep or lead to a person feeling less alert the next day.

To avoid the potential impact of blue light on the brain, people can stop using electronic devices that emit blue light in the hour or two before bedtime.

Gentle activities to wind down with instead, such as reading a book, doing gentle stretches, or taking a bath, are alternatives.

Most everyday digital technologies are sedentary. More extended use of these technologies promotes a more sedentary lifestyle, which is known to have negative health effects, such as contributing to:

Finding ways to take breaks from sedentary technologies may help promote a more active lifestyle.

Other forms of technology may help, however.

Research from 2017 indicates that active technologies, such as app notifications, emails, and wearable technologies that promote exercise may reduce short-term sedentary behavior.

This could help people set healthful patterns and become more physically active.

Childrens brains are still developing and may be more sensitive to the effects of technology and its overuse than adult brains.

A 2018 review of various studies noted the possible adverse effects of children using different technologies.

Children who overuse technology may be more likely to experience issues, including:

The research also noted the importance of teaching children to interact with these technologies in healthful ways by monitoring their time using them and providing interesting alternatives.

Additionally, a study of teenagers aged 1516 found that those who had high digital media use had an increased chance of developing symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

This does not mean that digital media use causes ADHD, rather that there is an association between the two. More research needs to determine what this association means.

The authors of 2015 research found that technology appears to negatively affect the overall health of children and teenagers of all ages. Researchers noted the importance of parents and caregivers controlling screen time in all children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children under 18 months old avoid screen time altogether, while 25-year-olds have no more than 1 hour a day of high-quality viewing with an adult.

The recent boom in technology has changed the average American lifestyle. While technology has many positive effects, there are some possible risks.

Anyone uncertain about the effects that technology has on them may want to take steps to cut back on their use of devices and screen time and re-evaluate how they feel with and without these devices.

The rest is here:

Negative effects of technology: Psychological, social, and ...

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After the first 30 days we honor all of the part manufacturer warranties and provide free labor for 1 year. That means if your PC breaks we will cover any manufacturer warranty for any of the parts in your computer and repair the PC with no cost to you (all you have to pay is shipping).

So let's say you get your PC and the power supply gives out 9 months later. We will submit an RMA through the manufacturer. At that point, we can repair the PC for you or we can have the RMA part shipped straight to your door and walk you through the install.

If the end, we want to make owning a PC as easy and pain free as possible.

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Return shipping is covered by the customer for refunds. However, we can provide you our companies shipping discount.

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BOSTON, March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Technology is upending labor markets, and governments, companies, and individuals need to look beyond aggregate numbers and consider how individual professions will be affected. A new analysis quantifies the impact of technology by 2030 in Australia, Germany, and the United States. The report, titled The Future of Jobs in the Era of AI, is being released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Faethm.

In the report, the authors look at a variety of factors to determine how the supply and demand for individual types of jobs will change. These include shifts in the size of national workforces due to college graduation rates, retirements, and mortality, along with technology adoption rates and the impact of COVID-19 on economic growth. The result is a highly detailed analysis for all three countries across multiple scenarios.

"The net number of jobs lost or gained is an artificially simple metric to gauge the impact of digitization," said Rainer Strack, a senior partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report. "For example, eliminating 10 million jobs and creating 10 million new jobs would appear to have negligible impact. However, doing so would represent a huge economic disruption for the countryalong with the millions of people with their jobs at stake."

Highlights for Three Countries

Key results of the analysis include:

In all three countries, the professions with the biggest looming shortfalls are computer-related occupations and jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math. Meanwhile, in job family groups that involve little or no automation but that do require compassionate human interaction tailored to specific groupssuch as health care, social services, and certain teaching occupationsthe demand for human skills will increase as well.

Recommendations for All Stakeholders

The report offers several measures that stakeholders can take to prepare for a digitized future. For example, national governments should hone their predictions of how the workforce will change over time and develop training programs to give displaced workers new skills. "Governments can also build online employment platforms that can help match available talent to open positions and reskilling opportunities," said Miguel Carrasco, a senior partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report.

Companies should anticipate the skills and capabilities they will need to succeed in the future, improve their recruiting and retention programs, and build a culture of lifelong learning. And individuals can help as well, by proactively learning new skills and being flexible about changes over time.

"As countries prepare to meet the twin demands of the digital age and the economic effects of COVID-19, they must understand the challenges that lie ahead," said Michael Priddis, the CEO of Faethm and a coauthor of the report. "This means making use of more sophisticated analytical models to predict supply and demand in the labor market and integrating them into the foundation of their workforce strategies."

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at+1 617 850 3783 or [emailprotected].

About Boston Consulting GroupBoston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

About FaethmFaethm AI is the world's data source to understand the impact of automation on economies, industries, companies, jobs, tasks, skills and people.

Faethm's SaaS AI platform was launched in 2017 and has grown rapidly to now serve Governments and Companies in 21 industries and 26 countries from offices in Sydney, London and Austin. A sophisticated knowledge graph and multiple AIs underpin platform modules that deliver data and insights about automation, reskilling and retraining workers for new jobs, economic and investment scenario modelling and COVID resilience and remote working.

In 2018 Faethm was one of the first companies globally to be invited to join the World Economic Forum'sCentre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Awards since include theTech Rocketshipaward for AI from the UK Government's Department for International Trade, theSkills Bridgeaward from the Government of Luxembourg andBest New Tech Platformfrom the Australian Computer Society.

SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

http://www.bcg.com

Link:

Digital Technology Will Eliminate Millions of Jobs But Create New Opportunities - PRNewswire

Ambitious ideas for countering China in the name of U.S. national security and economic prosperity abound: Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., recently led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the introduction of a bill that would establish a State Department Office to work on technology standards with allies, and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, last week reintroduced a bill that would establish a comprehensive framework for competition with China, including on the technology forefront.

And the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence released a mammoth report March 1 recommending how the U.S. can bolster AI leadership, talent, hardware and innovation investment to compete with China in the AI sphere.

But the Center for New American Security and assorted experts who gathered for a Tuesday webinar to discuss what a plan that may sit at a level above the resta national technology strategyshould look like. In a report released Jan 13, CNAS researchers explained the case for a strategy by contrasting Chinas national approach with the relatively disjointed tack taken by the U.S. when it comes to emerging technologies.

The stakes are very, very high, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michle Flournoy, who is chair of the CNAS board, said during the webinar. And I think we've seen that without a clear national-level effort and strategy, we are taking a risk that we won't keep the edge and key areas where we really do need to do that.

Information and understanding how to create advantages with information is an orienting focus for ensuring long-term U.S. competitiveness, Sue Gordon, the former principal deputy director of national intelligence, suggested.

You can't just say here's the level I needed the technology, Gordon said. In order to really sing, what we have to imagine is what we want to be able to do with information and what we want to be able to assure. Set that mark, and then achieve that with the development.

But changes to acquisitions, how government works with industry and allies, and even how plans get implemented may be required in order to meet that mark.

Acquisitions

Both Flournoy and Secretary James "Hondo" Geurts, who is performing the duties of undersecretary of the Navy, said finding innovative technology is not the problem. Instead, acquisition issues holding U.S. technology stem from the much-maligned valley of death and the need to figure out how to avoid solving the same problems over and over again.

Weve gotten pretty good at tech scoutingkind of going out and scouring the landscape and finding innovative technologies and prototyping thembut we have not done a great job of getting them from prototype into production at scale, Flournoy said.

Flournoy called for a Green Beret corps of acquisition officials specializing in emerging technologies who understand agile development and are empowered to take more risks. Geurts highlighted the same issue; useful tech gets discovered but it doesnt make it to end-users, he said.

I think if you can go from that constantly visioning the future, build scalable platforms that you can adapt as the future unfolds, and then constantly get it out there in the fleet, get it in the hands of the end-user, that strategy I think allows you to operationalize and get a pipeline that we can actually then feed, Geurts said.

Geurts also said the Navy is working to disaggregate the development of technology from individual platforms so that innovation can from anywherestartups, allies, etc.and be scaled rapidly.

Partnerships

While a renewed focus on working with allies has featured prominently in the nascent Biden administration, experts suggested other types of partnerships need attention, too: those among the different branches of government, among various government agencies, and between government and the private sector.

While Flournoy said she believes the post-[Edward] Snowden period that saw a Silicon Valley hesitant to work on national security missions is over. But working with the government is still too challenging for industry, she said.

One of the things they can do is to signal to the investor community, there's real money here, so you should let this AI company actually develop a defense vertical that's trying to help the Defense Department because over the next five years, there's a market here, Flournoy said.

The recent SolarWinds intrusion demonstrated the need for better partnerships between the public and private sectors particularly in the cyber realm, according to Gordon.

It is absolutely unfair for a nation-state to be attacking a company, and we blame the company for having been attacked, Gordon said. It's just an imbalance, and so part of what we have to do here is we have to get the government more involved in this and reduce some of the boundaries to doing it.

When it comes to working with allies, Loren DeJonge Schulman, vice president, for research and evaluation at the Partnership for Public Service and former senior adviser to National Security Advisor Susan Rice, emphasized the need for relationship management. Technology is a gray area crossing many different policy realms, she said.

When you're talking about our economic collaboration, our technology collaboration, and our values as associated with democracy and technology, you don't really find those on an org chart, she said. They're spread necessarily across the U.S. government, and as a result, I think we dilute a lot of our potential in terms of working with our allies on some of the topics that we're discussing right now.

It's critical to figure out who is in charge of what so that we can work with allies and partners effectively, Schulman said.

Implementation

Schulman also talked about the importance of bureaucratic activities required to simply get the ball rolling. A baseline vision for where the U.S. wants to go with technology is needed at the outset, she said.

That takes time, which is not always something that presidential administrations like to invest a lot in, Schulman said. But it's absolutely necessary in order to make progress and I think an area that the Biden administration seems to be open to pursuing.

Flournoy said leadership on implementation has to come from the White House. She advocated for something that operates similarly to the National Security Council process but focused on science and technology that includes clear objectives, division of labor, and accountabilities for the various components of the government.

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Experts Explore the Need for a National Technology Strategy - Nextgov

BEIJING, March 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Luokung Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LKCO) ("Luokung" or the "Company"), a leading interactive location-based services and big data processing technology company in China, today announced the closing of the acquisition of eMapgo Technologies (Beijing) Co., Ltd. ("EMG"), a leading provider of navigation and electronic map services in China.

Following the Company's recent successful financings resulting in total gross proceeds of $120 million, Luokung has closed on the acquisition of 100% equity interests in EMG, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

EMG is one of China's leading high-precision map providers focusing on navigation and electronic map production, Internet map services, geographic information system engineering and other A-level mapping qualifications. EMG's customers primarily consist of auto manufacturers and EMG has approximately 24% of China's in-dash navigation market share. EMG possesses the National Class-A qualification certificates of navigable Surveying and Mapping, and is actively developing autonomous driving and HD Map services. As one of the first entrants in to the market and with more than 9 million kilometers of geographic data, data for more than 80 million Points of Interest and more than 30 million vehicle regulations, EMG has substantial geographic data operation experience. Over the years, EMG has established stable and long-term relationships with many top automotive groups, auto parts suppliers, and auto manufacturers in China.

Combining EMG's comprehensive data and HD map services capabilities with Luokung'sadvanced spatial-temporal big-data processing capabilities provides Luokung with a core competitive advantage in the areas of autonomous driving, intelligent transportation, location-based services, remote sensory imaging, IoT, smart cities and other related fields. We expect the combined company to be well positioned, with partners in the aforementioned sectors and a base of end users with a need for innovative big data processing technologies.

Mr. Xuesong Song, Chairman and CEO of Luokung, stated,"We are very pleased to announce the closing of this transaction, which is the result of hard-won efforts for the teams at both EMG and Luokung. This is a significant milestone in the Company's history as we have created one company with technologies and a product portfolio that will provide us with a clear competitive advantage in the fields of autonomous driving, smart electric vehicles, intelligent transportation, and smart cities, enabling us to accelerate our development in this industry while being accretive to Luokung's financials. EMG will maintain its independent brand as well as its existing operations, providing services to customers as a neutral mapping company, while Luokung will fully support EMG's business development with its technologies, capital, and market relationships."

About Luokung Technology Corp.

Luokung Technology Corp. is one of the world's leading spatial-temporal big-data processing technology companies and a leading interactive location-based services company in China. It provides integrated DaaS, SaaS, and PaaS services for Internet and Internet of Things of Spatial-Temporal big data based on its patented technology. Based on geographic information systems and intelligent Spatial-Temporal big data, it establishes city-level and industry-level digital twin holographic data models to actively serve smart cities, intelligent transportation, smart industry, LBS. For more information, please visit http://www.luokung.com.

Business Risks and Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "target", "going forward", "outlook" and similar statements. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law.

CONTACT:

The Company:Mr. Jay YuChief Financial OfficerTel: +86-10-5327-4727Email: [emailprotected]

Investor RelationsAdam PriorSenior Vice President The Equity Group Inc.Tel: 212-836-9606 Email: [emailprotected]

SOURCE Luokung Technology Corp.

http://www.luokung.com

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Luokung Announces Closing on 100% Equity Interests of eMapGo Technologies - PRNewswire

Throughout it all, politicians, engineers, and public health officials had to keep peoples information safeand, perhaps even more of a challenge, convince the public they were succeeding at it.

What would it take to actually make government technology work well in the US? What are the basics of a healthy technological infrastructure that can work for the residents who need it?

We asked five experts to help us understand why its so hard to build good government technology, and for their advice on how to create a healthy technological infrastructure for the people who rely on the outcomes.

Cyd Harrell: Government in the US means a lot of different things. After the federal government, weve got 50 state governments, 3,000 countieswhich play different roles in different parts of the countryand 20,000 municipalities.

So many different parties own pieces of the data needed to identify whether you, in a particular location, are eligible and can get an appointment at a place with a stock of vaccines. Not just governments, but hospitals, clinics, and drug stores, they all need agreements to share that data, and to make their systems work together, which they almost certainly dont.

After all that, web designand accounting for people who dont have web accessmay actually be the easy part.

Alexis Madrigal: A lot of the time, the actual technology isnt that complicated. The problem is the system underlying the tech. When the federal government wants data that states dont normally produce for their own work, someone has to put that data together. During an emergency, when everyone has shit to do, its not a priority. Without a national healthcare system, theres no way to easily track tests or overall cases.

Sha Hwang: I call working with legacy systems software archaeology. Its like homes built before city infrastructure existedthey werent built to connect to city plumbing or a power grid. You have to find the one person whos been maintaining the system for 30 years, updating a spreadsheet thats a million rows long with a crazy color-coding system.

For new systems, theres a phrase you hear a lot: government buyers want one throat to choke if something goes wrong. Big vendors like Deloitte and Accenture will bring in all the people needed for a project. But by outsourcing the potential blame, agencies also cede all the technical expertise. They get locked in. If the system fails, they have to rely on vendors who dug the hole to get them out of it.

For new systems, theres a phrase you hear a lot: government buyers want one throat to choke

Dan Hon: No one gets fired for hiring Deloitte or IBM. And when vendors keep getting the same kind of work theyve done badly, theres no incentive for them not to build a shitty system. Government requests for proposals are often written so they only fit one or a few vendors. You might see a yes or no box for, Vendor must have worked on a healthcare system that serves over 500,000 people. I dont care whether that system exists, I want to know whether people who have to use it hate it.

Liana Dragoman: A lot of services are designed around how government works, as opposed to the needs of residents. If youre trying to get a permit to use a soccer field, you shouldnt need to know which specific department within Parks & Rec can give you that specific permit. Residents just want to go to the city website and fill out the form.

Hon: Theres a lot of regulatory complexity in vaccine distribution. But on the website or in the app, the experience is condensed down to, Why cant I find out if Im eligible for a vaccine? I just want an appointment.

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Why is it so hard to build government technology? - MIT Technology Review

What GAO Found

Strengthening human capital management at federal agencies, particularly those with science and technology missions, can help agencies build a diverse, highly qualified, and agile workforce. GAO's past work demonstrates three key areas for strengthening and sustaining the federal science and technology workforce.

Strategic workforce planning to identify gaps and future needs. To successfully implement their missions, agencies need to identify current skill gaps and future needs in their workforce, and select the right human capital strategies to address them. However, GAO's prior work has identified science and technology workforce strategic planning challenges that agencies have not fully addressed. For example, in October 2019, GAO evaluated major agencies' implementation of cybersecurity workforce planning strategies for information technology (IT) workers. GAO found that most of the 24 federal agencies had not fully implemented five of the eight key workforce activities that GAO identified because of reasons such as competing priorities and limited resources. GAO recommended that the 18 agencies fully implement the eight key IT workforce planning activities. Thirteen agencies agreed with the recommendation, while the other five expressed a range of views; however, while some agencies have made progress, none have fully implemented the recommendation.

Improving federal pay and hiring. Agencies may experience challenges in recruiting and retaining a diverse, highly-qualified workforce due to differences in pay compared to private sector employers and challenges related to the hiring process. Generally, federal agencies have seven broadly available government-wide special payment authorities to help address recruitment and retention challenges. In December 2017, GAO reported that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) collects data on use of these authorities but had not analyzed how much the authorities help improve recruitment and retention. GAO also reported that the agency may be missing opportunities to promote strategic use of these authorities by providing guidance and tools on assessing effectiveness. Similarly, in August 2016, GAO reported that OPM and hiring agencies had not used hiring data to analyze the effectiveness of hiring authorities. Across these reports, GAO made six recommendations to assess and improve the use of pay and hiring authorities. OPM generally agreed with GAO's recommendations, and has implemented two of the six recommendations, but has not fully implemented the other four.

Addressing factors that affect the federal work environment. Factors affecting the working environment may also influence agencies' ability to attract, hire, and retain personnel. For example, GAO reported in September 2020 that individuals who experience sexual harassment are more likely to leave their jobs. Also, in March 2015, GAO reported that impediments to interacting with non-federal scientific peers because, for example, of restrictions on conference participation can be a disincentive to federal employment. Agency officials told GAO that scientists and engineers establish their professional reputations by presenting research at conferences to have their work published and, without such opportunities, researchers may find federal employment less desirable. Addressing such factors could help agencies build and sustain a diverse, highly-skilled science and technology workforce.

The federal workforce is critical to agencies' ability to address the complex social, economic, and security challenges facing the United States. However, across government, mission critical skill gaps are undermining the ability of federal agencies to carry out their missions. Federal agencies face the difficult task of staying apace of advances in science and technology while competing for talent with the private sector, universities, and non-profit research centers. GAO has had long-standing concerns about federal agencies' strategic human capital management, an issue highlighted in GAO's High Risk Series since 2001.

This testimony summarizes GAO's insights based on a wide range of GAO work covering various human capital management- and science and technology-related issues from March 2015 through February 2021. In particular, the statement focuses on (1) workforce planning to help ensure agencies are better positioned to implement their missions; (2) opportunities and challenges to recruiting a diverse, high-qualified science and technology workforce; and (3) factors that can affect the work environment.

For this testimony, GAO selected prior work across human capital management- and science and technology-related topics.

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Science and Technology: Strengthening and Sustaining the Federal Science and Technology Workforce - Government Accountability Office

The Talmud (Megillah 7b to be exact) tells us to get and Im paraphrasing here totally smashed on Purim, so intoxicated that we cannot tell the difference between the storys villain, Haman, and the hero, Mordechai. But the Talmud doesnt specify which intoxicants to consume. Could you, perhaps, smoke a blunt instead of or even in addition to drinking?

Rabbi Jonathan Leener, who I am proud to consider my rabbi, took on the important question in a letter to Seth Rogen, in which he evaluated the Talmudic arguments for marijuana as a Purim intoxicant and decided that, in most cases, weed would be perfectly acceptable.

When I asked how Rogens question came about, Leener laughed. I made it up, I totally made it up, Leener said. In yeshiva, around when [the month of] Adar starts, people do Purim Torah where they get up and give silly dvar Torahs that are obviously a joke. It was inspired, however, by a real question he recently received from a friend.

Rogen, who is known for his stoner comedies and has his own weed company, would probably love to know, though. The actor and director seems to have spent his pandemic year smoking truly ungodly amounts of weed and making pottery ashtrays, presumably for his joints, so its a pertinent question. I think he takes his Jewish identity actually pretty seriously, said Leener.

The central issue of the weed v. wine conundrum, according to Leener, is whether the focus of the Talmudic injunction is the state of intoxication or the substance consumed.

Given that the state of intoxication does seem to be the goal, with no further specifications, theres no reason why marijuana wouldnt achieve it. In fact, as he pointed out in his letter, it might even be a more transcendent experience, and the ensuing munchies might enhance the Purim seudah meal.

While cannabis is largely missing from Jewish texts, it is mentioned in the Shulchan Arukh, where it is listed as an acceptable oil to use for lighting Shabbat candles; we pondered whether that would result in hotboxing the dinner table, and decided it would depend on how cleanly the oil was burning. In any case, that would imply it is a generally acceptable substance.

Courtesy of iStock

A live shot of King Ahasuerus deciding to call his wife in to dance naked for him and his friends.

The argument for wine is more textually rooted; Leener argues that wine has a central role in the Book of Esther. The first chapter, as an example, is about Ahasueruss epic party, he said, I kind of imagine it that he is drunk with all of the people and coming up with this idea to have Vashti come.

And theres gematria, a system of assigning numerical values to Hebrew letters, often accompanied by a hidden meaning. The biblical commentator Rashi tied wine to the revelation of secrets, since the word for wine in Hebrew has the same gematria value as the word sod, which means secret. The inference is that drinking wine leads to the revelation of secrets, an important theme in the Purim story, where the revelation of Esthers secret Jewish identity saves the Jewish people.

On a more serious note, Leener said Purim feels deeply necessary this year, and hopes the holiday can act as a release valve, while still being celebrated safely. Weve been surrounded with so much darkness and death. The whole year has felt like being in Shushan, on the verge of something horrible happening, right? he said. So I think anything that can help people have a couple of hours where they can detach from whats going on and enjoy the holiday will be very beneficial.

The rabbi thinks the permissibility of weed is going to be discussed increasingly seriously in Jewish circles as weed is legalized more widely. (He is careful to only endorse marijuana use for those living in an area where it is legal.) People kibitz about this now, but its going to become even a bigger issue as weed becomes more recognized and socially acceptable, he said.

And hes already prepping for the next holidays marijuana debate. There is a question about whether weed is kitniyot, for Pesach, he said. Maybe we can do a followup story.

Mira Fox is a fellow at the Forward. Get in touch at fox@forward.com or on Twitter @miraefox.

Originally posted here:

Is it kosher to smoke weed for Purim? - Forward

(Maseches Berachos) by Rabbi Dr. Ethan Eisen (Kodesh Press, 2020)Reviewed by: Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

This extremely enjoyable book offers about fourteen short essays on various ideas related to psychology and psychobiology. The author uses the mention of some of these ideas in Maseches Berachos to further expand on them and present his own novel interpretations. Throughout the book, traditional Jewish sources and academic/popular medical sources are used side-by-side to present new ways of looking at the various topics discussed. The author compares and contrasts how these two different types of sources address each given issue, and uses data from one corpus to fill in lacuna in the others. At the close of each chapter, Rabbi Dr. Eisen offers practical Lessons for Today that bring home the point of that chapter and tie it in to something more useful.

In his opening chapter, Eisen talks about how the rabbis preferred antidote to the pox of procrastination echoes the famous words of Nikes iconic slogan: Just do it. This simple, but effective advice encourages people to overcome their indolence and dithering, and puts an end to the use of delay tactics. Eisen further develops this idea by showing how the Halakhic principle of zerizim makdimim lmitzvos preempts mans dilly-dallying and allows a person the freedom to live a more productive and meaningful life. He also draws on various psychological studies to probe the cognitive and behavioral causes of procrastination.

In another chapter, Eisen discusses how consistent synagogue-attendance alleviates many of the problems associated with loneliness, and how studies even seem to support the Talmudic assertion that such regular attendance contributes to longevity. As Eisen so cleverly puts it, 80% of life is just showing up.

One of the most creative and powerful essays that Eisen presents discusses the so-called IKEA effect which asserts that people value things according to the amount of effort that they put in to achieving or building that thing. Eisen uses this idea to explain why the Talmud assumes that Chana was so intent on Eli sparing the life of her son Shmuel, when she could have just as easily allowed Eli to put Shmuel to death and prayed for her to be granted another son.

This reviewer was particularly interested in Eisens chapter on colors. He asks the age-old question of how a person can ever be certain that what he sees is the same thing that someone else sees. Color obviously has various Halachic ramifications, and the question of how different people might perceive the same color has implications for psychology, social studies, and even linguistics. This chapter uses the disagreement amongst Halachic authorities over how to exactly define the color of techeiles as a sort of case study to make generalizations into the question of color. [One opinion that the author omitted is that of Rabbi Yair Chaim Bachrach (16391702) who characterized the color of techeiles as purple.]

Another discussion related to psycholinguistics is the cultural phenomenon of giving people a few seconds to finalize their statements and decisions. For chess players, this leeway allows a person to retract his move until he lifts his fingers from the chess piece that he moved, and in Halacha, this leeway allows a person to delay the effects of his Halachic speech-acts until what we call toch kdai dibbur (roughly, the amount of time it takes to greet another person) has passed. This leeway is not to be taken for granted in all cultures, yet Eisen shows how it has some basis in the neurosciences.

Eisen also offers a few discussions that arent quite related to psychology, per se, but do touch on issues related to the human body. For example, he offers a chapter that discusses the physiological effects of shame and humiliation, which lead to both blushing and the paling of ones face. The rabbis, of course, refer to embarrassing another as whitening the face of ones fellow. Another chapter explores King Davids sleeping habits and considers the effects of a midnight candle on a persons circadian rhythm. While on the surface these types of discussions seem more related to physiology, their effects are also studied by research psychologists and applied by clinical psychologists.

What is arguably the most important chapter of this book is saved for last. In this last chapter, Eisen shows how the sensitivity to so-called microaggressions is not just a post-Modern oversensitivity, but has a basis in basic human decency. He demonstrates how the Torah and Talmud are sensitive to the plight of victims and the down-trodden, leading to the expectation that Jews be especially vigilant in avoiding even miniscule acts of aggression.

The matters discussed in this book are loosely arranged by their appearances in Maseches Berachos and this reviewer looks forward to seeing similar books by Rabbi Dr. Eisen on other parts of the Talmud. Rabbi Dr. Eisen is trained in both rabbinics and psychology, using his mastery of each to complement our knowledge of the other. With witty chapter titles and easy-to-read discussions, this book is truly delightful and informative.

Link:

Talmud on the Mind: Exploring Chazal & Practical Psychology to Lead a Better Life - The Jewish Voice