An out-of-state venture capital firm is close to investing in more Columbus-area startups after watching its first investment here become one of the fastest-growing in its portfolio.
St. Louis, Missouri-based Lewis and Clark Venture Capital LLC led a $5.5 million round over the summer in Beam Dental, which pairs employer-based dental insurance with data from its smart toothbrushes. (The deal wasn’t announced until October.)
Ron Watson, principal with the $104 million fund who managed the investment,…
Video: First look at the next-generation SimpliSafe security system with incoming HomeKit integration
By AppleInsider Staff Thursday, January 11, 2018, 01:55 pm PT (04:55 pm ET)
AppleInsider was given a first look at SimpliSafe’s refreshed home security system, guided by founder and CEO Chad Laurans, as well as its outdoor security camera and video doorbell arriving later this year.
Chad Laurans: Hi. I’m Chad Laurans, founder and CEO of SimpliSafe.
Victor Marks: So tell me about why you founded SimpliSafe.
CL: It was about 11 years ago, and what we saw at the time was that the existing industry just wasn’t serving customers well enough, and it seemed like an industry in need of disruption. I had a couple friends who were actually burglarized and I had these conversations with them again and again about how they felt vulnerable and they wanted to do something about it. They wanted to get a security system, but none of them did.
CL: They tried contacting some of the big existing security companies, and it just didn’t work for them. It was expensive, it required a long term commitment, and it required a lot of hassle. They had to have someone come to their house, they had to set up appointments, they got strong-arm sales tactics, and so we started SimpliSafe to change all that.
CL:Over the past ten years, we’ve grown into one of the largest home security companies, and the fastest growing, and what we do is we have put together a system that is incredibly easy to install yourself, and get real security.
CL: Tomorrow, we’re incredibly excited to announce the all-new SimpliSafe, which is the next generation of our home security platform. It’s a very comprehensive platform.
VM: How does it work with a smartphone like the iPhone.
CL: We have an interactive app that allows you to help you install the system, use the system on a daily basis. You can use the app to arm and disarm your home security system, set a custom PIN, maybe you want to give a contractor a PIN for a few days to do some work on your home, then take the PIN away. It lets you monitor the cameras in the SimpliSafe system, both live feed and recorded video, that can be motion around the camera or video that happened during an alarm event. If you want to review the footage to know if it was a false alarm or a real alarm where there’s a burglar in your home. You can use your iPhone to check in on your home in any of these cases.
VM: At AppleInsider, we’re big fans of HomeKit. So, have you got the system working with HomeKit? What’s the news here?
CL: Yeah, we’re excited to be adding all sorts of additional integrations with this next-generation system, so this will include integrations with folks like Apple’s HomeKit, and we’re excited to roll those out. We have a whole suite of them planned for this year as this year rolls along, and are excited to add that among them.
CL: One of the key touch points of this system is our wireless keypad. This is completely wireless, battery powered. The batteries last for up to two years in this keypad, so you can install it right by your door where it should be, and never think about it again, other than as you’re using the system. It is one of those components that’s meant to be generally silent on your wall, not something you have to notice all the time, so it’s got a kinda dead front look, but as you interact with the system, it has a touch-to-wake feature, so as you come up to it and start to use it, it’ll wake up.
CL: You can see the state of the system at any time, arm it into home mode or away mode, enter your PIN, and after you’re done, it’ll silently go back to sleep. The keys are all backlit and it has a soft-touch surface, using premium materials to make it fit well into your home.
CL: This is our base station. This is the brains of the system. You could put this anywhere in your home. It has a built-in cellular connection, so that you can always be connected back to your alarm monitoring service. It also has a built-in Wi-Fi connection, so it uses those two connections redundantly. You don’t have to think about any of that, it’s gonna use them in parallel for you, without you having to configure anything.
Base Station: SimpliSafe On, Home
CL: And we’ve just turned the alarm system on. It has built-in voice prompts, so that it helps guide you both through the installation and use of the system, and as you can see that light ring around the bottom also gives you some intuitive indications about what the system is doing. When it’s protecting you it’s going to be lit up blue, when it’s off it’ll be turned off, and as you use the system it has animations also that show up when it’s counting down or when it’s installing a new sensor.
Base Station: Alarm Off.
CL: That component I would highlight is our door sensor. You can see up here on the door we’ve made them incredibly small so they can tuck anywhere into your home and to windows and doors. They’re about a quarter of the size of our current generation sensor, and the battery life is just as long, if not longer, and the range, that wireless range, has been increased to over a thousand feet.
CL: Behind you over here is the motion sensor. Again, tucks very quietly into your home. Again, that wireless range of over a thousand feet and long battery life. It’s also been tuned to be resistant to any false alarms that could be caused by pets, we’ve tuned the motion detection algorithm to be even more pet friendly, so you can use it, you can put it up without thinking about it.
CL: Behind you over there is our glass break sensor. It is designed to detect the unique acoustic signature of glass breaking. This next-generation sensor has a three-phase detection data model that we’ve used to, again, decrease any false alarm triggers like a plate clinking or a loud noise in your home, or a dog barking, and is gonna be tuned to detect the unique signature of glass breaking.
CL: On the floor over here we have our water sensor. They will detect any water leaks, if you have a water heater that’s going and it starts to leak, you’ll want to know about that before the water’s pouring out onto your floor. It can be great by plumbing, air conditioning units where the condenser may back up and overflow. We have all sorts of great success stories of water sensors detecting leaks early before it causes any damage in your home. Again, very long range, low cost, they’re about $19 and you can sprinkle them throughout your home very easily and be protected from those kinds of water damage.
VM: Flood, mold, that kind of problem?
CL: That’s exactly right.
CL: Up here on the wall we have our 105 decibel siren. We like to call it the Burglar Blaster. If anyone is breaking into your home, this siren will sound, and it’s incredibly loud and will let everyone know. It’s also weatherized, fully weatherized, for indoor or outdoor use.
CL: We have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors over there. Again those have long battery life, provide you with five years before you have to change batteries, and if there is anything going on with the detectors, the whole system will provide you with warnings. So you’ll get a notice on your iPhone, for example, if the battery is running low, or even better, if somebody takes that detector off it’s bracket. You’ll get a notice.
CL: Final components, right over there by the master bed, you’ll see a panic button over on the wall. That component is a popular feature for folks who want to be able to immediately trigger an alarm. You can configure it to be a police dispatch, or fire, or a medical alert, so elderly customers might use this if they want to be able to trigger an ambulance response, for example.
CL: This temperature sensor can be configured to trigger a freeze alert at any low temperature you want to set, and a high temperature alert, for example if you live in a hot climate and you want to know if your air conditioning has gone out and your pets might be subjected to too-high temperatures, or if you have a wine cellar and you want to protect the wine and make sure it’s staying at the right temperature.
CL:Some small business customers like to use it for protecting the meat locker, for example, if they’ve got thousands of dollars of inventory and if that refrigeration ever goes out, they’re gonna lose all that inventory, they can configure an alert for that high temperature as well.
CL: One of the great features about this indoor camera is that it has a built-in privacy shutter. You can see right now actually that that steel privacy shutter is now closed. This is really important for us as a security company, we want you to be able to put that camera wherever you want in your home and know that it’s going to be your security camera, it’s going to be private. When the alarm goes off, that shutter will open to record footage of the actual alarm event. When you leave your home and you press that away button on the keypad, it’s going to open that shutter and make sure that it’s monitoring anything that’s going on while you’re away.
CL: But when you click home, all those steel privacy shutters are going to click closed, and you can know at a glance and you can hear that sound, and you can know that this is your private space in your home, and there’s no possible way anybody will be looking in on you.
CL: In addition to that existing camera, we will be launching in the coming quarter our video doorbell. This is a 1080p video doorbell that you can hook up right outside your door. It has motion detection, two-way audio, premium finishes with an aluminum button for the doorbell, and a light ring to indicate the state of the system.
CL: We will also be announcing an outdoor battery powered camera, to be coming later in the year. It’s designed to be installed anywhere on the outside of your home, it has a built-in floodlight so that it not only provides recording of the activity outside your home, but provides the security benefit of that motion activated light as well.
CL: The final component we will be announcing is a smart lock, which will be integrated into the rest of the system, so that as you come and go, you can very easily arm your system, make sure all your locks are closed, disarm the system from a keyfob, unlock the doors, turn off the security system, and have that all nicely integrated together.
CL: So we’re excited to be announcing all of this, in addition to that whole core platform as we talked about, we’re also excited to be announcing integrations with voice assistants and other smart home devices, so that whether it’s our lock or perhaps somebody else’s lock, it’ll be a nicely integrated experience for you as you use your home security system.
VM: Fantastic, well thank you so much Chad.
CL: Yeah, it’s been great talking to you. Thank you.
In this short blogpost, we’ll show you how to use the mysql_random_data_load tool to insert random data into tables. This is a great aide in testing when you have empty tables and need them to be populated with data. We’ve all done it manually (the INSERT INTO … VALUES … way), but that is surely a waste of time. It can add up to a lot if you need to test tables with many columns, or even worse, with foreign keys.
Before saying anything else, we would like to mention that this tool is still under development, and that it will insert random data into tables. Be aware if running it in a production environment!
mysql_random_data_load is a tool created by PerconLabs.
Note: PerconaLabs and Percona-QA are open source GitHub repositories for unofficial scripts and tools created by Percona staff. While not covered by Percona support or services agreements, these handy utilities can help you save time and effort.
Now, back to the disclaimer-free zone, the tool in question is named mysql_random_data_load, and can be currently found in the Percona Lab GitHub repository:
The README.md file has a lot of information on it already, so feel free to pause this reading and come back after you’ve skimmed through it. If you are eager to start using it, though, we give you the crash course below.
We offer two binaries in the releases tab, one for Darwin and another one for Linux. We will show examples of the linux_amd64 build here, but they are the same for the darwin_amd64 one.
First, get the latest build (0.1.6 as of this writing):
shell> cd ~/bin/
shell> wget http://ift.tt/2Dnxl15
shell> tar xzf mysql_random_data_loader_linux_amd64.tar.gz
shell> chmod +x mysql_random_data_loader
We will use the sakila database schema for the tests, so the second and final step is to download and install it.
shell> wget http://ift.tt/15xYnRs
shell> tar xzf sakila-db.tar.gz && rm -f sakila-db.tar.gz
shell> mysql < sakila-db/sakila-schema.sql
Ok, we are now ready to test inserting some rows with random data! Let’s try populating the actor table first. Since its primary key is a SMALLINT, we have a maximum of 65535 rows.
shell> mysql_random_data_load sakila actor 65535 --host=127.0.0.1 --port=3306 --user=my_user --password=my_password
2017/12/22 00:17:32 Starting
4s [===============================================] 100%
Total rows inserted: 65535
Let’s see what the data looks like:
mysql> SELECT * FROM sakila.actor LIMIT 2G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
actor_id: 1
first_name: dolores nulla sunt velit placeat minima adipi
last_name: quo non similique enim inventore cupiditate.
last_update: 2017-01-08 13:06:44
*************************** 2. row ***************************
actor_id: 2
first_name: at commodi tenetur est maiores nobis accusamu
last_name: quod suscipit provident est voluptatem quis t
last_update: 2017-03-07 00:05:01
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Adding data to tables with Foreign Keys
Now that we have the actor table filled with data, let’s try the foreign key functionality, which is one of the tool’s biggest strengths (since coming up with data that makes sense in this context is even more laborious).
If we look at the sakila structure, a good candidate for trying this is film_actor. Apart from the actor table, it also needs the film table to have data (due to FK constraints), which in turn needs the language table to have data. Easy enough!
shell> mysql_random_data_load sakila language 15 --host=127.0.0.1 --port=3306 --user=my_user --password=my_password
2017/12/22 00:48:30 Starting
0s [===============================================] 100%
Total rows inserted: 15
shell> mysql_random_data_load sakila film 10000
--host=127.0.0.1 --port=3306 --user=my_user --password=my_password
2017/12/22 00:51:18 There are triggers on the film table that might affect this process:
2017/12/22 00:51:18 Trigger "ins_film", AFTER INSERT
[...output trimmed...]
2017/12/22 00:51:18 Trigger "upd_film", AFTER UPDATE
[...output trimmed...]
2017/12/22 00:51:18 Trigger "del_film", AFTER DELETE
[...output trimmed...]
2017/12/22 00:51:18 Starting
1s [===============================================] 100%
Total rows inserted: 10000
In this last example, we already used the foreign key functionality without even modifying the command we used for “regular” tables. You can disregard the notes about the triggers in this case.
We are now ready to fill the film_actor table. Let’s see two new variables: –bulk-size and –max-fk-samples. The former can help us with creating INSERTs with as many rows as we want, which helps expedite the process if many are needed. The latter chooses the number of samples from the film and actor tables, to use for the FK constraints. Note that these two variables already have defaults, so we can choose not to include them and the tool will still work.
mysql> SELECT a.last_name, f.title, f.special_features, f.rental_rate
FROM film_actor fa
JOIN actor a
USING (actor_id)
JOIN film f
USING (film_id)
LIMIT 1G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
last_name: enim sequi recusandae dolores voluptatem!
title: quia provident nemo labore architecto totam.
special_features: Behind the Scenes
rental_rate: 3.15
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Specifying queries per second
Starting from version 0.1.6, there is a new experimental feature to insert rows at a specific rate: –qps <queries per second>. This option could be used when you need not only data but also at a specific rate (for example, to test a monitoring system like PMM). Since the total number of rows to be inserted is still in effect, this option makes more sense when –bulk-size=1 is used.
Summary
As we have seen, it is really easy to insert random data into tables so you can later use them in your tests. There is still more work to do on the tool, but we have found that it is already of great help. We would love to hear back from you on it either here or, even better, via the issues GitHub page directly. If there are any use-cases or functionality you can think of, let us know!
Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today the Dealmaster is looking out for those who need a decent laptop but can’t spend the big bucks, as we’ve got Dell’s 14-inch Inspiron 14 7000 marked down to $600. That’s about $100 off its current going rate, and it’s a solid price for a notebook with an aluminum chassis, 1080p IPS display, 256GB solid state drive, and Core i7-7500U processor. While that Intel chip is a generation old at this point, it’s still likely to be plenty strong enough for people shopping in the budget range.
If that doesn’t interest you, the rest of the rundown includes deals on several other laptops, 4K TVs, and Seagate’s popular portable hard drives, among other items. Take a look for yourself below.
TechBargains
Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
You’d have thought the two companies were offering a bounty on leftists or something.
Well, it seems that both companies have responded. A copy of the press release issued by the two:
APOPKA, Fla. – Spike’s Tactical, a national AR-15 parts and weapons manufacturer based near Orlando, Florida, and Pipe Hitters Union, an international apparel manufacturer based in Austin, Texas, were attacked by Newsweek on Monday for an advertisement the companies recently ran in SKILLSET Magazine and posted on Facebook earlier this week.
“Our advertisement, NOT TODAY ANTIFA, is meant to be pro-American and against those who would suppress freedom of speech and the rest of our constitutionally protected rights, including the right to bear arms,” said Kit Cope, spokesman for Spike’s Tactical. “We offer zero apologies to anyone that is offended by this advertisement that depicts armed, but peaceful, patriotic Americans standing up against socialist, anarchist and communist rioters.”
The dual-page ad, which was designed for and is scheduled to run in RECOIL Magazine for the 2018 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, was commissioned as a joint advertisement between Spike’s Tactical and Pipe Hitters Union.
“We had no idea this ad would become so controversial, but let me be very clear about one point – We are not and do not support Nazis or any white supremacist movement in any shape or form,” said Lincoln A. Osiris, president of Pipe Hitters Union. “Every year we do a centerfold ad together with Spike’s Tactical for SHOT Show, and this year, after the rioting in several cities throughout the U.S., we decided to address those who are anti-American, anti-government and anti-democracy in our advertisement. We believe that anyone who supports this great nation, the Constitution and our democratic republic supports our stance.”
According to Osiris, that stance is that the people who are behind the Antifa movement are anti-American.
“They often incite violence, cause property damage and commit crimes, while hiding behind a veil of anti-fascism, but in reality they are no more than an unorganized group of domestic terrorists.” Osiris said.
According to representatives from both companies, the Newsweek article contains several errors, one of which is the claim that the group of masked protestors in the advertisement are unarmed. The image clearly depicts the protestors holding weapons. Additionally, the article insinuates that Spike’s Tactical and Pipe Hitters Union support neo-Nazis and white supremacists, which is categorically false.
“Neither of our brands support anything other than America, our military and members of law enforcement,” said Osiris. “Many of us at both companies wore the uniform and swore an oath to defend this country against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, and that oath doesn’t have an expiration date.”
Additionally, Newsweek accuses Spike’s Tactical of using anger over Antifa to sell, “dangerous assault rifles to only one side,” and says anti-fascists are worried that it fuels a desire to kill leftists.
“We would never advocate violence, unless it is in the form of self-defense,” said Cope. “And for the record, our rifles are available for sale to any responsible person who is legally allowed to own a firearm, regardless of how they register to vote,” said Cope.
Furthermore, the writer for Newsweek says that neither company responded for requests to comment, however, he attempted to contact the companies after business hours and published his article that evening.
About Spike’s Tactical
Spike’s Tactical was founded the day before 9/11 by Mike and Angela Register and is headquartered in Apopka, Florida. The family-owned business employs around 40 people and all products are made exclusively in the USA and assembled in Florida. Spike’s Tactical is regarded as one of the premier AR-15 manufacturers in the world. Their mission is to build the highest quality products and offer them at the best possible price to the consumer. Spike’s Tactical weapons are designed to military specifications for civilian, law enforcement and military use. All products manufactured by Spike’s Tactical feature a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty.
About Pipe Hitters Union
Pipe Hitters Union is a disabled combat veteran-owned and operated small business, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas. PHU was founded by a small group of special operations combat veterans that shared a common belief in the unity of cause, the willingness to face extreme obstacles head on and the absolute refusal to backdown in the face of adversity. Since then, the message has spread to like-minded individuals from all professions and walks of life. Whether military, law enforcement or civilian, Pipe Hitters throughout the world are pushing their limits daily and making their mark. The PHU brand is a mark of distinction and a call for others to join us.
First, let’s address that last line.
Furthermore, the writer for Newsweek says that neither company responded for requests to comment, however, he attempted to contact the companies after business hours and published his article that evening.
This is not an all too uncommon tactic. By reaching out after normal work hours, the unscrupulous journalist knows that it’s unlikely the company or companies will respond. It’s very unlikely anyone will even get the request for comment until after the story is published, thus making sure only one side of the story is presented. But the reaching out takes place so it cannot be said they didn’t make even a token effort.
I’ve seen it done before.
Now, let’s take a look at this ad in question. In addition to the press release, I was given a copy of the ad to take a look at. Let’s take a look see and find out what the problem is.
Well, isn’t this something? Remember how Newsweek claimed the Antifa in the ad were unarmed? I see at least two weapons plain as day. On the left, there’s a rioter with some kind of stick in his hand (read: club) rared back to hit someone. On the right, someone has a Maglight-style flashlight. Both of those can be weapons.
Further, the numbers alone constitute a viable threat to human life.
Frankly, the ad looks to be the kind of thing that would only outrage Antifa, which it did.
Both companies made it clear that they do not support racism or Nazis, but would it have mattered? There’s nothing in this ad that should suggest a fondness for Nazis…unless you have bought into the narrative that Antifa only takes issue with fascists. The problem is, anyone to the right of Mao is a fascist in their minds.
The fact is, this ad speaks to the exact people Pipe Hitters Union and Spike’s Tactical tend to market to. You know, Americans who will stand in the face of tyranny. In this case, it’s the tyranny of a mob who will use violence to intimidate political opponents.
It’s enough to make me want to spend some money with both of these companies.
The news can be pretty depressing these days. Sometimes it feels like you need to just wash your brain out with soap. And have I got the brain soap for you: There’s a guy in Regina, Saskatchewan who’s really good at making outdoor snow globes out of bubbles. I could watch him make these all day.
It was pretty damn cold in Canada over New Year’s, just like it was in most of the continental US. And Craig Boehm took the opportunity to make some amazing natural snow globes using nothing but soap, water, a straw, and the excruciatingly cold weather.
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As the people of Canada rang in 2018, the temperature dropped to -40 degrees. And as one natural snow globe enthusiast points out, the cool thing about -40 degrees is that it’s the same in Celsius as it is in Fahrenheit. Or, I guess, that’s “cool” if you don’t have to be outside for more than 10 minutes at a time.
But Boehm didn’t invent the creation of natural snow globes, obviously. There are other snow globe videos on YouTube and I really can’t recommend them highly enough. Like this one from Slim Potatohead.
Let the soothing snow globes wash over your brain. That’s it. Doesn’t that feel better?
Behold, the mighty 2003 Toyota Highlander (Image: Toyota)
There is a freedom in driving a car for a long time after it’s been paid off. But not every vehicle can go the distance. If you’re the type to keep your car for a long time, have a look at this survey breaking down the most popular models that owners tend to keep for 15 years.
According to a study conducted by iSeeCars.com, Toyota tops the list of cars that people keep into their automotive teenage years, with Honda/Acura in second place. This is probably not surprising, as both brands have reputations for build quality and general survivability. The entire list is dominated by Japanese brands, with the VW Golf being the one German car that folks apparently don’t give up on easy. There are no U.S. brands here, though of course some of these models are made in America.
For those of you who don’t want to bother doing math, 15 years ago takes us back to 2003. That means there are a whole bunch of first-generation Highlanders, Siennas and Tundras still running around with the person who bought them new. Neat.
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As for how iSeeCars determined which vehicles made the list, they used the following methodology:
iSeeCars.com analyzed over 650,000 used cars from model years 1981-2002, sold between January through November 2017. For each model, the number of cars sold by the original owner was expressed as a percentage of the total number of cars sold. “Original-owner” cars were bought as new by the owner. The models were then ranked by the original-owner percentage. Models with fewer than 100 cars sold or which were no longer in production as of the 2017 model year were excluded from the analysis.
So, I guess it’s somewhat relevant to note that iSeeCars was subtracting 15 from 2017, not ’18.
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If you’re the type of car buyer who plans on keeping something for more than a decade, remember that the upfront price isn’t everything. You might not get as big of a discount on a new Honda or Toyota as you would from another automaker, but you may get a much longer life out of those models.
You can read the full details of the study here at iSeeCars.com
In the game of adulting, a herd accompanies you past the milestones. When you’re young, everyone you know is graduating college, landing a first job, getting married, having kids. As you approach middle age, the milestones become less celebratory. Everyone you know is loosening their belt, losing their hair, losing their T. And then comes the most disorienting loss of all: their parents.
For this milestone, I was a reluctant advance scout, far ahead of the herd. My mom died seven years ago, when I was 32. I’ve written about the peculiar feeling of becoming a newly orphaned adult. Here, I’ll share some thoughts about how to be a good parent as you’re losing yours.
Be Direct
This is no time for euphemism. If your father is in hospice care, he’s not “feeling a little sick.” When your mom flatlines, she is not “sleeping.” Your dad is dying. Your mom is dead. It’s brutal, but it’s the truth. Your kids need the opportunity to say goodbye, just as you do. If you hedge reality, the gravity of the situation will escape them.
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Kids learn the reality you define, and you’ll only blur it if you speak in clumsy metaphors. A side effect of euphemism is anxiety. The kiddos may become scared of going to bed or getting a cold. After all, PawPaw was feeling a little sick, and now he lives underground in the big flower garden.
Show What You Feel
Cry. Moan. Mope. Stare into space. Your mother will never kiss your cheek again. Your father’s quest for the cheapest gasoline has ceased. He’ll never share another update on that subject.
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Your feelings will be messy and contradictory. Don’t try to make sense of things right away. And don’t hide the mess from your kids. If they’re young, they won’t understand what happened to Grandma. Do not compound this confusion by wearing a brave face that creates the question: Why isn’t Mom sad that Grandma is dead? Mourning openly shows children another way to express love. It’s more than hugs and smiles—it’s also wailing and tears.
But. Your kids don’t need to see you drunk or punching the drywall. There’s a difference between being vulnerable and being scary. Go ahead and climb all the way into despair. Devour an entire Ben & Jerry’s store, puke whiskey and Taco Bell, sleep for 20 hours—whatever. Just make sure your kids are enjoying a sleepover with their cousins while you come unglued.
Tell Stories
There’s research that indicates your boring stories about the way things used to be actually do stick with your kids. Telling family stories provides a sense of connection to the past. More than that, it signals that the subject of your dead mother is not off limits—that you want to keep thinking about her.
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I didn’t do so well with this, initially. I kept a lot of memories about my mom to myself, and my daughter’s empathy told her to shy away from asking. Eventually, it became easy for me to think of my mom without feeling sad, and the stories spilled out.
That encouraged my daughter to tell her own stories. Remember, you and your children are mourning two versions of the same person. They’ll want to talk about the times Grandma snuck extra cookies to them at the dinner table much as you’ll want to reminisce about the time Mom did the boot scootin boogie at your 12th birthday party.
Keep the Routine
You’ll want to sit very still in a dark house. But soccer practice will beckon and a Girl Scout meeting will loom. The pantry will empty and Target will stand ready and eager to welcome you. A life has stopped. Your life is on pause. But life in general goes on. As much as you can, do what you would have done anyway, if your dad’s ashes weren’t sitting in an urn on your dresser.
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My mom died early in the morning on October 29th. I was with her in the hospital room. Two days later, I was with my wife and daughter as we walked around the neighborhood trick or treating. My daughter was only three, and she wanted to dress up and see her friends’ costumes. She was sad, but she was also as candy crazy as Garfield.
I don’t remember much about that evening. I was still in shock. But it was nice to take a break from crying. It was nice to watch my kid squeal with delight at spooky decorations. It was nice to eat my feelings in the form of fun-sized Snickers.
Look Outside Yourself
It’s likely that you won’t be able to navigate this alone. You may be capable, ambitious, resilient and still entirely unmoored. Look for the helpers, as Mr. Rogers used to say.
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There are dozens of kids’ books about death. I bought The Fall of Freddie the Leaf when my mom was dying, but it turned out to be beyond the understanding of my daughter. It remains on a bookshelf across the room, waiting for the next unlucky grandparent to die.
A support group or a good therapist can be miraculous, leading your family through the hurricane of emotions each one of you is feeling. Your child might have no words to express his grief. But maybe he can draw pictures or create videos on your phone. A professional will have the instincts to explore those alternative methods of communication.
Say What You Believe
No one knows what happens after the final heartbeat. Though current events make a strong case that humanity experienced a sudden mass extinction and Hell is real, the afterlife remains unconfirmed. If you’re not down with angels or ghosts don’t pretend otherwise. Older kids will see right through such hypocrisy, and they’ll judge you harshly for it. It’s okay to say you don’t know what happens after we die.
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It’s also okay to create your own mythology. I think of it this way: a little fluttering of the air, just above my right shoulder, like the wings of a butterfly almost touching my ear. I turn my head and feel a warmth like the sun pulled through my body into my toes by the gravity of the Earth. That’s what it’s like when I feel my mom with me. Is it a trick of my creative nature? Is it a touch from an astral being? I don’t need an answer. Either way, I know there’s some part of her that’s still around.
Reports from The Wall Street Journal and other outlets say that AT&T was ready to announce a distribution deal with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, but the deal fell through at the last minute.
The deal would have seen Huawei phones bundled with service deals in AT&T stores, as carrier stores are the primary way US consumers buy phones. The two companies were ready to announce the deal at the currently ongoing CES trade show in Las Vegas.
Huawei is the number three smartphone vendor worldwide, behind only Apple and Samsung, but the company struggles in the US. Huawei currently sells to consumers online, but the lack of carrier deals has made the company basically irrelevant in the US market. Outside of the US, Huawei is a massive company, making not only phones but also its own line of “HiSilicon” SoCs. The company the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, but concerns about Huawei’s relationship to the Chinese government has mostly kept its equipment out of the US.
A report from The Information claims that the same “political pressure” situation happened here. Apparently members of the US Senate and House Intelligence Committee sent a letter to the FCC citing a committee report of Huawei’s alleged ties to the Chinese government, and the letter said that “additional work by the Intelligence Committees on this topic only reinforces concerns regarding Huawei and Chinese espionage.”
Huawei has continually denied allegations that it spies for China.
NHK Blends presents a wonderfully mellowed-out version of AC/DC’s 1980 rock classic Back in Black, performed on traditional Japanese instruments, including the shime-daiko, shakuhachi, and koto with a few owl calls thrown in for good measure.