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D.L. Hughley Hospitalized After Passing Out During Stand-Up Set

June 21, 2020 Humor

Comedian D.L. Hughley was hospitalized Friday night after he passed out on stage while performing a stand-up set.

Hughley’s representative confirmed that he was “suffering from exhaustion after all the week’s work and travel” and that he “was kept overnight at the hospital for tests under doctor’s orders.”

However, the comedian is doing better on Saturday morning.

“He is awake and feeling better, and wishes to thank everyone for the very kind prayers and thoughts,” his rep said.

Hughley was performing at the Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville when he passed out. A Twitter video shows him performing a comedy routine when his speech begins to slur. He slumped over on his stool and his manager tried to steady him, but he fell to the ground and appeared unresponsive. Two people carried him off the stage as an announcer told the shocked crowd to stay calm. An ambulance was called to take Hughley to a nearby hospital.

Source: Variety

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COVID-19: The after economy and developing appropriate responses

June 8, 2020 CRM News and Info

I’m in the midst of revamping a lot of projects and programs — partially due to the new realities that we will face (though what they are remain to be seen to a large extent), and partially due to some changes I want to make in my business model and my life in general. So, I haven’t written much, though you will see something from me very soon, and that will trigger quite a bit of content both here and elsewhere.

Also: China, Iran, and Russia worked together to call out US hypocrisy on BLM protests

In the meantime, I am going to provide a forum for some of the other thought leaders in their respective spaces to give you something to chew over that isn’t just fat. Chewing fat is unhealthy, so that isn’t a good thing. So, this is the chewing of the good proteins kind of content. And one of the best people I know to provide you with that is Marshall Lager. I’m sure that many of you know him.

I met this good man when he did a column for CRM Magazine, and I have watched him go on to a career as an analyst for at first Ovum, then G2, and now, as an independent analyst. He is incredibly cogent, bright, and funny, and what he says should be taken seriously, even when you might be laughing. It’s not just his voice and style and ability to engage an audience; his content is meaningful. Look, I know I tend to think the best of people and thus wax effusively, but Marshall truly is one of the best writers I’ve ever known — and that’s for style and content.

So, take heed of what he’s saying here. He is speaking to some of the needs and the expectations post-pandemic. It won’t be post-COVID for a long time, but we may get it to the point of control, and Marshall is raising, as always, valid and straightforward concerns and some solutions for those concerns, and remains humble.

Take it away, Marshall! And I hope that everybody is staying safe and sane in this time of crisis.

The perpetual uncertainty of this extended wait-and-see pandemic response has really taken its toll on human behavior, and especially on businesses that rely on regular traffic. Health and safety, crowds and protesters, and shortages of goods have to be taken into account every time we want to buy something, to an extent most people in the developed world never thought possible. And it’s not even nearly as bad as it could be.

At this point, two months into the first really bad phase of the pandemic (give or take; I’m not sure when this will go live), we appear to lack a cohesive plan. Not the action-stations drill that we executed (poorly) when the virus proved to be more than a minor concern. We need to develop ideas for what various facets of commercial life will look like after we crawl out from our bunkers for good.

This isn’t a political column, so I’ll refrain from giving my opinion of the response by local and national governments; what I’m looking for isn’t something that can be handed down from there anyway, for the most part. Businesses, large and small, have got to look at their operations and figure out how to address the sort of disruption that comes from a lengthy period of time when customers can’t do what is customary.

I have to admit that it took me a lot longer than I expected to write this article. Partly, it’s because my original motivation came from a more personal place, the same one that most people are in right now. We are waiting to get back to the lives and jobs we remember, but we don’t feel there has been much guidance in regard to how or when that will happen. Mostly, it’s because I’m not the futurist that some of my colleagues are, and my expertise is more along the lines of assessing customer experience in the moment than in planning its shape for tomorrow.

Some businesses have proposed a few visions of the “new normal” (a phrase many of you have probably come to hate by now) for their post-lockdown operations, and that’s at least a start. What we haven’t really had yet is a come-together moment to show the public that there is organized thought being given to the issue. Modern economies run on confidence in the system, and we’re fresh out.

A large number of industry working groups are devoting real skull-sweat to developing broader solutions to address any future crises; organizations of bakers, emergency services workers, and semiconductor manufacturers (to name just a few) have formed committees to develop appropriate responses. It’s those groups who need to better communicate their efforts to the public in order to restore confidence. News isn’t traveling quite as fast during the lockdown, and people want to know what to expect once it’s safe to congregate in public again. It’s great that businesses are considering the everyday experiences of consumers under pressure and finding ways to make the commercial world continue to function for everybody, from individuals to small businesses to mighty conglomerates, but it’s not being communicated effectively yet. We need transparency.

We have learned that many of the people who receive minimum wage (or less) are essential workers, to use the current popular term. Economic disease recovery is going to have to include real recognition that these jobs are a true life buoy — they keep families afloat, provide access to vital goods and services, and prevent financial ruin. They deserve better, and they deserve more, and sooner or later their employers will have to do something about that by redirecting some resources that would normally be taken as profit, turning them into higher pay and better quality of life..

I can already hear your voices from the future, talking about fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders and disproportionate burden on small businesses. Well, if we’re trying to sculpt the future, maybe we should consider our history first. If you look at the progression of economic paradigms, there is a steady (if sometimes glacially slow) trend that more opportunity and wealth comes when people have greater access to the profits of enterprise. Mercantilism gave way to open trade; unrestrained capitalism was moderated by anti-monopoly laws and the rise of unions; each time, overall profits improved in step with the human condition.

I believe that we’re due for another round of changes. Salaries for exempt employees have kept up with the cost of living, more or less; wages for non-exempt workers are not even close, and it’s those essential hourly workers who are receiving much praise but little actual support. We prefer to do business with companies that share our values, right? Well, one of my values is knowing when extracting profit is not as important as taking care of the people who earn it, and giving them a reason to want the company to succeed.

Less confrontationally stated, executives and shareholders should have the enlightened self-interest to realize that improving wage-earners’ situations improves employee loyalty, strengthens brand expression, and leads to continued success in the long run. The unfortunate image of workers who can barely support themselves, let alone a family, despite holding a full-time job and possibly a side job as well, has to change. Imagine how effective such a shift in prosperity and respect could be in motivating workers, not just because they need their jobs, but because they are proud of those jobs and can look at their paychecks without worrying about which bills they will and won’t pay this month.

Earlier, I said this was the first really bad phase of the pandemic, and I meant it. I’m no epidemiologist, but some things follow a pattern, and the spread of disease is one that history allows us to track. Whether we’re talking about the Black Death, typhoid, the flu of 1918 (which wasn’t from Spain), or our new friend the coronavirus, care must be taken after the first round of outbreaks or there will be a second, often much larger one. Reopening society too soon might force us right back into isolation. That’s going to be the first test of what we’ve learned. Will we return to lockdown with ease, or will we stumble again as we switch directions?

Here’s something to think about regarding our eventual recovery from and adjustment to the pandemic: For years, we have been watching and lamenting the decline of bricks-and-mortar shopping as e-commerce has supplanted it. Yet the very thing driving the economy down, and the thing which has consumers most desperate to return to normal, is the inability of local, physical businesses to operate normally. Nobody is allowed to congregate at shops, but everybody wants to, and businesses are suffering — especially small businesses. We get a different experience from local SMBs than we do from national chains, and it’s what we seem to want, so that’s the dollar they should chase

The emergency situation in retail does have at least one good side to it — businesses such as grocery markets, department stores, and restaurants are our laboratories for developing effective coping strategies. When all the shops enforce social distancing and better hygienic behavior, it becomes the new mode of operation. This ties back into better pay and conditions for workers — too many people treat workers with disrespect and even hostility because they believe wearing a name tag makes them powerless and disposable. An empowered workforce doesn’t have to take that abuse, and it’s more likely that patrons will have friends and family (even themselves) in similar dignified positions, creating empathy.

We can hope that businesses (and consumers) will know how to adapt once we start to work our way out without losing too many steps. Hope is not certainty. The less we prepare for what’s to come, the more gaffes we’ll make when it arrives. We need a clear and manageable crisis model for B2B and B2C before we’re caught with our pants down again, and — here’s the important part — the transparency to communicate it to the public in advance so we know what to expect. Businesses are so afraid of small losses in valuation that they don’t manage consumer expectations, resulting in huge losses in valuation when things get bad. Be proactive, get the word out that you’re monitoring a situation and are making plans to cope with what comes from it. This is not showing weakness or eroding confidence, it is leadership, and leadership strengthens brands.

Something as simple as Green – Yellow – Red statuses with attendant precautions would be a good start. Any protocol put in place will have to be mandatory, and if you aren’t willing to follow company rules you can’t do business there. We don’t have a problem with No Shirt – No Shoes – No Service, so how hard can it be to add masks to the mix? Custom-printed paper face masks could be new merch for your brand.

A better understanding of which roles are essential on-site, and which are remote work-friendly, will also aid clarity — and if businesses aren’t able for some reason to provide higher general wages to the essential workers, they can at least institute generous hazard pay when we reach our next time of need. Government needs to do its part in making lengthy lockdowns less onerous for business owners as well. Leadership is about more than getting us through the current crisis; it’s also about preparing us to tackle the next one.

Thank you, Marshall! As always, your writing is great.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The CRM Watchlist 2021 is now re-opening for registration. I had to make some changes to the questionnaire, and that took some time given the change in how impact is going to be “measured” going forward. So, even if you have registered, I will need you to re-register. Please send me an email at paul-greenberg3@the56groiup.com and ask for the registration form. The registration period and even to some extent the questionnaire submission period has been extended. Thanks for your patience. Because it is late, if I feel that we have an insufficient number of registrations by a certain date, I will suspend the Watchlist for this year and pick it up next year. I hope that isn’t the case, but it would be certainly understandable.

Have a great one and be safe.

Coronavirus Updates

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How To Choose The Best Idea After A Good Brainstorming Session

January 11, 2020 SAP

Everyone has situations where you have to come up with a set of ideas that will solve a specific problem. The question becomes how to decide which ideas to pick from all the ones you come up with.

Great innovations result from picking good ideas, making them better, and bringing them alive. While most teams can come up with interesting ideas for innovation, the biggest hurdle is ensuring that the right ideas are selected to develop, test, and launch.

We need some sort of framework that will allow us to decide the value of each idea so we can pick one that is most valuable.

EPIC framework

One such framework was suggested by Todd Henry on an episode of his Accidental Creative podcast. On a side note, if you are a creative professional or you lead a team of creative professionals, you need to follow Todd Henry. He has written multiple books and hosts multiple podcasts, all focused on the needs of creative professionals.

Now back to the question at hand. In this episode, Todd shares information about the EPIC framework that you can use to pick the best idea among all the options. EPIC is an acronym that stands for Effective, Practical, Interesting, and Cool. Each idea is rated on a scale (1-10) on the following questions:

How effective is this idea in solving the problem that we are trying to solve?

How practical is the idea based on the constraints that we are operating under?

How interesting and cool is the idea?

How much energy does the team have for the idea?

Once you rate each idea on these questions, you can pick the one that consistently scores the highest on all. If there is not a clear winner, you can start looking at the ideas (I believe that effectiveness is non-negotiable) and take interesting and cool ideas and that are effective and make them practical.

DFV framework

Another framework that I usually advocate is the Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility framework.

Create a Venn diagram like the one below. Pick each idea and decide with the team which section the idea falls into in the Venn diagram. You can do this by first discussing the idea together and then deciding together (either through voting or scoring) where in the spectrum the idea falls.

How To Choose The Best Idea After A Good Brainstorming Session — desirability viability and feasibility framework

Once this is complete, hopefully, you have some ideas in the center of the Venn diagram, ideas that are desirable, viable, and feasible. If more than one idea falls into this space, I recommend the team pick the idea that is the most desirable to start working on.

If none of the ideas are at the center of the Venn diagram, I recommend that you start looking at the ideas in the desirable + feasible intersection and explore how can they be made viable, or pick the ideas in the desirable + viable intersection and explore how can they be made feasible (in that order).

The desirability of the idea is the most critical factor, in my experience, but however good an idea is, if it is not desirable, it either won’t see the light of the day or will have challenges in adoption post-implementation. So, my recommendation is to always start with ideas that are desirable and work towards making them viable or feasible.

In conclusion

These are a couple of frameworks that I think work really well. You can find many other frameworks for picking the best ideas. You can decide to use multi-voting or a decision matrix analysis or a paired comparison analysis or even a simple 2×2 matrix around effort and impact.

What matters is not which framework you use but that you use a framework and that the framework is decided before the actual brainstorming, so that everyone knows how the best ideas will be picked after the brainstorming session.

A version of this post first appeared on the blog Musings of a Salesman and has been republished here with the author’s permission.

Learn how scenario integration is transformed into an automated workflow on January 23rd.

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After Orlando Jones Incident, SAG-AFTRA Expands Fremantle Investigation

December 23, 2019 Humor

Orlando Jones proves that “angry gets s*** done.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor’s union SAG-AFTRA is expanding the inquiry into Fremantle, the production company behind both American Gods and America’s Got Talent. This news comes after Jones revealed he was fired from American Gods after suffering through a toxic work environment. Part of that environment, as he revealed in his initial Instagram video, included current showrunner Charles Eglee assuming Jones’ character, Mr. Nancy, was sending “the wrong message for Black America.”

In the show, Mr. Nancy speaks for the disenfranchised and marginalized Black community and their struggle at the hands of chattel slavery. His message of anger relates directly to that frustration of being treated as less than human. Deadline has since been reported that Jones might be mulling over legal action against American Gods’ leadership because the unexpected firing led to monetary losses for him and his family. Not only that, though Jones was fired, he still hasn’t been officially released from his contract.

Union, who was fired from America’s Got Talent, also complained of a toxic working environment in which she was exposed to racism and sexism, including notes on her hairstyles and appearance, and offensive jokes about people of color.

“After initial meetings with Gabrielle Union and her representatives about her experiences on America’s Got Talent, and after learning more about Orlando Jones’ experience on American Gods, SAG-AFTRA is expanding its investigation of Fremantle Media,” the organization said in a statement on Friday. “Our enforcement actions are handled confidentially to protect the members involved, and we typically do not publicize these matters unless the affected members request that we do so. We have nothing further to report at this time.”

Jones commented on the expansion of the investigation on Instagram, writing in a post, “Thank you SAG for believing in me and for standing up for equality and for embracing my team and myself in this battle against injustice and lies and thank you to my fans because without you there is no Mr. Nancy.”

Source: Shadow & Act

WATCH: Jennifer Hudson Is Aretha Franklin In ‘Respect’ Biopic

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After creating a package, what to do?

November 15, 2019 BI News and Info

I have created the following package.

BeginPackage["AplicacionCartesiana`"]
AplicacionCartesiana::usage = "AplicacionCartesiana[f, {x0, x1, dx}, \
{y0, y1, dy}] plots the image of the Cartesian coordinates under the \
complex function f."
Begin["`Private`"]
AplicacionCartesiana[func_, {x0_, x1_, dx_}, {y0_, y1_, dy_}] :=
 Module[{xy, x, y, hg, vg},
  xy = func[x + I y];
  hg = Curves[xy, {x, x0, x1, dx}, {y, y0, y1}];
  vg = Curves[xy, {y, y0, y1, dy}, {x, x0, x1}];
  Show[Graphics[Join[hg, vg]],
   AspectRatio -> Automatic,
   Axes -> True]
  ]
Curves[xy_, spread_, bounds_] :=
 With[{curves = Table[{Re[xy], Im[xy]}, spread]},
  ParametricPlot[curves, bounds, DisplayFunction -> Identity][[1]]
  ]
End[]
EndPackage[]

But I want to know where I have to store it in my computer in order to use it (with Get[] or Needs[]) in other mathematica session.
Thanks.

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After 5,000 games, Microsoft’s Suphx AI can defeat top Mahjong players

August 31, 2019 Big Data

Bolstered by algorithmic breakthroughs and an abundance of cheap computing power, AI has become a veritable games champion, notching wins against the world’s top-ranked players of chess, the Chinese board game Go, Montezuma’s Revenge, and countless others. In yet another victory for the machines this week, Microsoft detailed an AI system — Super Phoenix, or Suphx for short — capable of besting champions at Mahjong.

“For as long as researchers have studied AI, they have worked to build agents capable of accomplishing game missions,” said corporate vice president of Microsoft Asia Pacific R&D Group and MSR Asia Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon. “Mahjong is more complex than other board games, [so] playing becomes an art as well as a science. Good Mahjong players rely on a combination of observation, intuition, strategy, calculation, and chance that presents unique challenges for an AI system.”

As Dr. Hon and colleagues explained further, Mahjong is what’s known as an imperfect information game, meaning a number of factors remain unknown to players throughout matches. For instance, they must account for opponents’ unseen tiles and decide whether to fold, leading to bluffs.

To overcome this, the team had Suphx play against thousands of people on Tenhou, a Japan-based global online Mahjong competition platform with more than 300,000 members, to self-learn common strategies. It soon developed its own play style and learned to balance attack and defense moves, strategically weighing short-term losses against long-term gains and making decisions with ambiguous data.

Suphx demonstrated expert-level play after 5,000 games over the course of four months, and it recently became the first AI system to compete at Tenhou’s 10th dan ranking, something only 180 humans have ever done.

Microsoft’s AI gains come after San Francisco-based OpenAI’s Dota 2 bot defeated 99.4% of players in public matches and a team of professional players twice, and after DeepMind’s AlphaStar AI swept StarCraft II pros in head-to-head match. Tencent’s Honor of Kings AI earlier this month beat a team of professional players. And beyond the video game arena, Facebook AI Research and Carnegie Mellon University in July detailed Pluribus, a poker-playing AI that Facebook claims is the first to best 15 human professionals in Texas Hold’em.

The advancements aren’t merely pushing forward game design. Rather, they’re informing the development of systems that might one day diagnose illnesses, predict complicated protein structures, and segment CT scans. “[Our game-playing AI] is a stepping stone for us all the way to general AI,” Alphabet’s DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis told VentureBeat in a previous interview. “The reason we test ourselves and all these games is … that [they’re] a very convenient proving ground for us to develop our algorithms. … Ultimately, [we’re developing algorithms that can be] translate[ed] into the real world to work on really challenging problems … and help experts in those areas.”

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Why the kernel is quite after several minutes of simplification?

August 24, 2019 BI News and Info

I am using xact to compute a gravitational problem. In fact, this problem is too complicated to write here. I was wondering if this question could be helpful and shed some light on the problem.
There is an 8-dimensional manifold in which a higher-order gravity is studying. After finding the lagrangian, it seems that Mathematica cannot Simplify the result and after some minutes, everything stops and one can see quit kernel.
The question is: Is there any way to simplify such a complicated equation?

Sorry, it is not possible to bring the details here

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furshlugginer Mad Magazine to leave the newsstand after 67 years

July 4, 2019 Humor

Here is the latest:
- DC Comics confirms that MAD will no longer create original content
- Magazine will no longer be available on newsstands
- Mag will continue to publish reprinted material, and will be available via subscription and direct markets

via https://t.co/96MrYSNLHi pic.twitter.com/UNVjQckddf

Ã¢ÂÂ Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) July 4, 2019

For some of us Mad magazine was our life. We were much more than mentally cracked(sic) by its humor. It’s leaving the newsstand to go to direct subscription but then again perhaps that is the way of the world.

I am profoundly sad to hear that after 67 years, MAD Magazine is ceasing publication. I canÃ¢ÂÂt begin to describe the impact it had on me as a young kid Ã¢ÂÂ itÃ¢ÂÂs pretty much the reason I turned out weird. Goodbye to one of the all-time greatest American institutions. #ThanksMAD pic.twitter.com/01Ya4htdSR

— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) July 4, 2019

I need to clarify the MAD rumors: MAD isn’t shutting down but is only leaving the newsstand and will be sold to the direct market. The best thing to do is buy MAD and support it as much as possible, it’s not going away!

— David DeGrand (@daviddegrand) July 4, 2019

Just heard the heartbreaking news that after nearly 70 years, #MADmagazine is shutting down regular operations. HereÃ¢ÂÂs weird 9-year-old me getting even weirder reading the funniest, most subversive stuff my parents would allow (because they didnÃ¢ÂÂt get it). #thanksMAD pic.twitter.com/55Q7kYpUAt

— Jamie Wax (@Mistahwax) July 4, 2019

MAD Magazine deserves credit for being home to SPY VS SPY, created by a Cuban refugee who didn’t speak English and was able to portray the pettiness of international espionage completely without dialogue. Antonio Prohias was a genius and is just as relevant today. pic.twitter.com/e4t7iWbA2r

— SPBurke (@S_P_Burke) July 4, 2019

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R&B Singer Peabo Bryson Hospitalized After A Mild Heart Attack

April 29, 2019 Humor

NEW YORK (AP) — A rep for Peabo Bryson says the R&B singer, known for hits such as “Beauty & the Beast” and “A Whole New World,” is hospitalized after suffering a “mild heart attack.”

A statement released Monday says the double Grammy-winner was stricken Saturday morning and is now in stable condition. The rep says both doctors and family are “optimistic for a speedy recovery” and welcome prayers on his behalf.

The 68-year-old with the silky tenor has had numerous hits, including “If You’re Ever in My Arms Again” and “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” with Roberta Flack.

Kevin Hart Plans Next Film Titled ‘Extreme Job’ Comedy Remake At Universal

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The Day After Christmas

December 26, 2018 Humor

Time to go to work!

ou3nVLY The Day After Christmas
“The day after Christmas. When you wake up realizing you have 4 minutes to get sober, get dressed and make it to work.”
Image courtesy of https://imgur.com/gallery/1U5L8.

Tag Archives: after

D.L. Hughley Hospitalized After Passing Out During Stand-Up Set

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Kevin Hart To Host New ‘Celebrity Game Face’ Quarantine Special For E!