“I feel like baking is science and cooking is like jazz,” White explains.
Though she can’t master baking, dessert is something White enjoys as a pick-me-up. It’s fitting that White started including ice cream socials in her Suppa Club because her dessert of choice is a chocolate-covered banana with almonds from Baskin-Robbins.
White is known for her TikTok reviews, calling out places like Echo Park’s Donna’s and West Adams’ Highly Likely for sub-par—or even “criminal”—meals. However, she does enjoy one restaurant for a nice dinner, or at least for the drinks. White gravitates toward Camélia for its french fries, desserts, and martinis.
Bringing Her Vision to the Community
White pours her personality into her Suppa Club gatherings. She is inspired by her preferences and nostalgia, but her audience relates to her excitement and enthusiasm for the project. She might not be a good baker, but she brings the perfect roast chicken to a sit-down meal and shares her ideas with the community.
Pregnancy is a tremendous reason to celebrate for many. Having a child will significantly impact and can mark a pivotal change in someone’s life. Many are turning to babymoons and hatchelorettes as pre-baby celebrations for individuals and couples to mark the occasion and create lasting memories before the birth of their child.
Several precautions and preparations should be considered when planning to travel while pregnant. Travel insurance and additional safety measures may be a good idea for pregnant travelers to stay safe and healthy, allowing them to focus on honoring their new addition.
Key Travel Insurance Considerations for Pregnant Travelers
Traveling while pregnant may add unexpected events to the trip. Pregnant women may consider getting travel insurance as an additional precaution for unforeseen mishaps. Some travel insurance companies like World Nomads can provide expanded coverage and higher insurance limits, travel inconvenience coverage, and cancellation options for pregnant travelers for any reason (CFAR).
“Our new travel insurance options aim to provide pregnant travelers with peace of mind by covering unexpected pregnancy complications during travel while also addressing general concerns like flight delays and medical evacuation,” says Sarah Roman from World Nomads.
It’s not infrequent that things like nausea, pain, dizziness, or other symptoms may arise out of the blue. Travelers should be protected in these cases, particularly if they want to cancel or delay their flights.
Safety Precautions for Pregnant Travelers
Pregnant travelers should first consider the safety of the place they are going to. Avoiding destinations with high risks of tropical diseases like Zika virus and Malaria or other transmissible diseases maintains the traveler’s and child’s safety If these diseases are possible at the final destination. In that case, pregnant women should try to cover up their bodies to prevent mosquito bites and contact with any other unknown surfaces.
It is also essential to consider a destination with access to high-quality medical care. Access to proper medical treatments is critical in emergencies or other minor mishaps. Consider having the information on hand of nearby hospitals and urgent care centers for your stay.
Packing a personal pharmacy kit with pregnancy-safe medications can help with minor symptoms, eliminating the need to go out of your way to look for stores and pharmacies or search for medicines that are safe for pregnancy. Things like nausea, gas, restlessness, and other common symptoms may not require a medical visit but can make the trip more comfortable. Don’t let these symptoms stop you from enjoying a getaway made for relaxation and having fun.
Travel Tips for Pregnant Women While in the Air
Airlines may have varying policies for pregnant travelers, including cut-off dates for flying. Comply with any airline policies to ensure a safe, easygoing flight.
Most importantly, consult with your OBGYN before traveling to ensure safety and that you are well-prepared for the journey.
While in the air, pregnant travelers should wear their seatbelts below the belly so as not to put unnecessary long-term pressure on the area or cause discomfort. Make sure to stay hydrated, as flights can be extremely dehydrating. Hydration can help prevent some common symptoms of pregnancy, like nausea and dizziness.
Babymoon Planning Essentials and Expectations
Choosing a relaxing and safe destination for your babymoon will make for an unforgettable, much-needed vacation. Make sure you are physically and emotionally prepared to travel while pregnant, as unexpected events may arise.
Making the most of your trip may require extensive planning and preparation, but the celebratory time will be well worth it. Ensure you are well prepared for any possible scenario that could occur with these travel tips and precautions. Exploring travel insurance options can provide additional peace of mind during this special journey celebrating you and your plus one.
Effective teamwork is more critical than ever due to growing pressures on businesses to perform. However, many companies struggle to align their teams because of differing communication styles, decision-making processes, and work methods. Research shows that nearly two-thirds of managers fail to understand their team’s behaviors fully. This gap can lead to inefficiencies and frustration within teams. Better collaboration might mean simplifying things with a transparent system to understand team behaviors.
The Four Dimensions of Teamwork
Teams can generally be evaluated across four key dimensions that define how members work together. These dimensions are critical in understanding not just individual behavior but how the team as a whole interacts and performs:
Communicating: This dimension categorizes teams as either ordered or informal. Ordered teams follow strict processes for sharing information, relying on well-documented internal systems. On the other hand, informal teams are more casual in their communication, relying on spontaneous interactions rather than structured meetings.
Processing: Teams interpret information logically or relationally. Logical teams rely heavily on data and rigorous analysis, while relational teams value individual relationships and trust key members for insight.
Deciding: Teams are either authoritative or concordant in their decision-making. Authoritative teams look to leaders for final decisions, while concordant teams operate on a consensus-based model, where all members contribute before a course of action is chosen.
Executing: This dimension contrasts deliberate teams, which create detailed plans and follow them closely, with spontaneous teams that prefer flexibility and adaptability in their work style.
Christopher Morrison, CEO of TeamDynamics, states, “Each of these dimensions captures an important aspect of how teams interact and work together. By understanding where your team falls on each of these scales, you can better manage and improve team collaboration.”
A Growing Need for Team Understanding
Understanding these dynamics is becoming increasingly essential with the rise of remote work and cross-functional teams. A significant finding from TeamDynamics’ research reveals that only 9% of individuals naturally align with their team across all four dimensions. This means that the majority of team members must adapt their behaviors to work effectively within their teams.
For many managers, the inability to fully understand their team’s working style can be detrimental. Nearly 70% of individuals prefer deliberate planning, yet only 27% of teams operate this way, creating a disconnect between how people like to work and the reality of team collaboration.
Refining Collaboration in the Workplace
The tool is designed for teams of all sizes, but it’s particularly effective for teams consisting of five to 12 members, the ideal size for meaningful collaboration. Larger companies such as Meta, Splunk, and Hilton have already adopted TeamDynamics as part of their team-building and leadership development processes. By providing a shared language and framework for team interactions, companies can reduce friction and improve the quality of cross-functional work.
A key benefit of a workplace dynamics test is its ability to pinpoint areas of tension within teams. For example, a finance team at a luxury auto manufacturer used the tool to understand better the different working styles of its legal and marketing departments. By identifying friction points, they implemented strategies to improve collaboration across departments.
The Future of Team Collaboration
As organizations continue to navigate hybrid work environments, tools like workplace dynamics tests are becoming invaluable. These will help teams improve communication and efficiency and offer leaders the insights they need to better coach their employees. By aligning team behaviors with individual preferences, companies can create more harmonious and productive teams.
Ultimately, workplace tests’ value lies in their simplicity and applicability across industries. By offering easy-to-use tools that quantify team behavior, companies can better understand and manage the often elusive concept of teamwork.
To progress meaningfully, the world needs bold, innovative thinkers. Where would we be if Edison had never questioned the dark and invented the light bulb? If Alexander Graham Bell had never grown frustrated with the means of communication of his day and invented the telephone, where would we be? Where would we be if the Lumière Brothers had never looked to further the means of entertainment by inventing the art of cinema?
Progress would never happen without thoughtful, curious minds pushing at our world’s perceived barriers and constraints.
But for those great minds to truly succeed, they must have access to the tools and means necessary to achieve such greatness. This is why mentorship and incubator programs have become invaluable resources, providing resources, connections, and tools to some of the greatest minds of the modern-day and forming them into the thought leaders and world-shapers they will become.
Giving Great Minds the Tools to Change the World
These programs contribute to the betterment of the world. They can help young or struggling entrepreneurs obtain much-needed resources and connections to get their startups off the ground. The incubator program was founded to provide support services such as strategic advice, funding options, and connections to industry experts.
By connecting these young entrepreneurs to marketing assistance specialists and mentors within their field, these programs help to give young startups the exposure needed to attract more customers and build momentum around their services and/or products.
One incubation and mentorship program is USC’s Rossier School of Education’s Education Technology (EdTech) Accelerator Program, which began accepting applications for its 7th cohort on September 1st. The Accelerator is aimed at tech-enabled education solutions with high potential to improve the quality and equity of education, from early childhood through adult learning.
The History of the EdTech Accelerator Program
Doug Lynch started the EdTech Accelerator program in 2018 to help early-stage education technology companies accelerate their growth. The program is designed to be accessible, with no fees or equity requirements, and focuses on assisting companies in developing practical solutions that address real problems in education.
“The program is designed to help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of the education ecosystem, improve the efficacy of their products or solutions, refine a go-to-market strategy, and establish key relationships so that companies can accelerate growth and increase impact,” said Mark DeGennaro, Managing Director of USC EdTech Accelerator Program.
Throughout the seven cohorts, the accelerator has worked with around 75 companies that have collectively raised over $130 million and reached over 23 million learners worldwide. While the program has had some surprising successes, like a company with a co-founder who won the Nobel Prize, the team is most excited about the broader impact the companies are having in areas like improving college access, workforce development, and addressing equity gaps in education.
Reaping the Benefits
Startup mentorship and incubation programs have long been great ways to assist young entrepreneurial minds in gaining insight, experience, and hands-on expertise to successfully launch their businesses. These programs offer unparalleled resources that contribute significantly to the likelihood of individual entrepreneur success in the long term.
Joining a mentorship or incubation program can benefit an upstart, from mentoring to networking opportunities to full-blown financial support. Through their experiences in incubator programs, entrepreneurs are educated and enabled to make effective business choices and better understand how they can achieve their business aspirations.
The ideological intent behind mentorship and incubation programs is to give a platform and means of communication to today’s inspiring voices in the hopes that they might change the future of our tomorrow. Thus far, the results of these kinds of incubation programs speak for themselves, having afforded means and connections to countless upstarts whose future ventures have benefitted the world in profound ways.
In an increasingly digital world, privacy and data collection have become a hot-button issue. Companies may collect data from their customers for a multitude of reasons, including data metrics, personal profiling, and creating targeted ads. Consumers, however, often feel that their privacy is being violated. According to Business News Daily, an Ipsos poll found that 70% of Americans feel that it has become harder for them to safeguard their data.
This sentiment might not just be paranoia. With smartphones and devices found in every room, collecting data such as geographical location and health metrics, more personal data than ever is being funneled to data collectors.
While many consumers are aware of the data collected from their phones, there are other devices in their homes they should start to suspect—including their fridge or even their coffee maker. Now that smart home apps are being integrated into many appliances, data collectors have more opportunities than ever before to track consumer information, and they often share what they collect with third parties.
Why Websites Collect Data
Websites and online applications track and collect user data for many reasons, some of them being useful or necessary for their usage. According to the FTC, reasons for collecting user data include saving user preferences and account information, creating personalized content, such as local weather and news stories, saving user search histories, and creating personalized ads based on browsing histories.
While much data collection is performed by the websites or apps that you access, this information can also be shared with other companies, known as third-party tracking. The widespread use of third-party tracking in data collection means that consumers can have their personal data and metrics shared with companies they’re not even aware of.
Consumers have started to become more aware that their data is being collected while browsing, but they may not be as aware that smart home apps have started bringing data collection into the home. According to World Economic Forum, over 130 million households have at least one smart speaker, over 73 million households have at least one smart large appliance, such as a refrigerator, and over 72 million households have at least one smart small appliance, such as a coffee maker. Much like smartphones, these appliances are frequently connected to the local network and perform both first-party and third-party tracking measures.
Smart Devices and Your Data
With smart devices filling every corner of homes, consumers should be aware of which ways these devices can share their data. According to Surfshark, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider, one in ten smart home apps use tracking, including third-party tracking, and kitchen devices are one of the biggest categories for data collection.
“These companies use your personal information for commercial purposes like targeted advertising, credit risk assessment, or market research,” states Vaiva Norkunaite from Surfshark Press, “Thus, you might end up paying twice for using these apps — once for the device and again with your data.”
Using their Surfshark’s Smart Home Privacy Checker, Surfshark performed an analysis of commonly used smart home devices. Of all of these, they found that Amazon’s Alexa collects the most data, with 28 out of 32 possible data points.
This puts the data collection by Alexa at more than three times the average for a smart home device. Some of this data collected is categorized as “sensitive information,” which can include “racial or ethnic data, sexual orientation, pregnancy or childbirth information, disability, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, political opinion, genetic information, or biometric data,” as stated by the Apple Store website.
How to Guard Your Data From Being Shared
With so much data being collected and shared, users may wonder what they can do to guard against their information being shared. While tossing these devices out the window might be tempting, there are measures and precautions users can take when using these devices.
For web browsing, the FTC recommends frequently clearing your data history and deleting cookies, as well as adjusting your privacy settings on your browser. When using smart home devices, Surfshark recommends that consumers find and utilize privacy settings and manage app permissions. Staying informed about the data security policies of smart devices that you purchase and use is also crucial.
Taking Control of Your Data
Smart devices are everywhere, from phones to speakers to refrigerators. While these devices offer everyday conveniences, they can come at the cost of privacy concerns. Every day, these devices collect data on their users, which often get shared with third parties. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t fight back. By staying informed on who collects your data and why, you can take back some control of your data and privacy.
As smart home devices are becoming more and more common, it is important to be aware of the risks that can come to your personal data. It is vital to understand how to guard your data to keep your information safe.
The “Swifties for Trump” AI images shared by Former President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account may have done more than upset Swifties around the country. With technology evolving at a rapid rate, quantifying the harmful effects AI may have on humans is challenging, but protecting yourself from being fooled by this new technology is still important.
AI has the potential to transform your daily life and advance humankind on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution. Yet, it can also create numerous ethical and legal problems. With the advancing technology now intersecting with both politics and popular culture, as highlighted by Trump’s AI-Swift images that falsely suggested the global popstar endorsed him, AI’s growing influence on shaping public perceptions and political discourse cannot be denied.
While AI arguably cannot beat your interpersonal skills, it is still possible to get “beaten” regardless of how strong your interpersonal skills are. One of the easiest pathways where AI can do this is on social media.
Social media, and anything else you could possibly click on the internet, has the potential to influence you—and is often trying to. The goal may not always be to get you to sign up for something or buy a product; sometimes AI is trying to influence you in other ways (like Trump’s AI images of Swift aimed to do). When social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram rely on paid ads, AI is used to target you with algorithms that tailor ads to your interests, using your data to elicit emotions and influence you.
AI’s influence raises critical questions on what the potential risks are for democratic societies, potentially challenging one’s understanding of truth, representation, and the role of technology in politics. Such consequences make it necessary for you to protect yourself from the harmful impacts of AI.
Ultimately, protecting yourself from AI harm primarily falls on you, requiring you to exercise more caution and be able to decipher the truth from falsehoods, especially during political campaigns. You will want to look for confirming information from multiple sources, critically evaluating information and checking sources.
Generative AI amps up the risk of disinformation that requires you to use proven practices for evaluating content, such as seeking out authoritative context from credible independent fact-checkers for images, video, and audio, as well as unfamiliar websites.
With generative AI already being used in the 2024 presidential campaign to mislead and deceive voters, it is critical to avoid getting election information from AI chatbots and search engines that consistently integrate generative AI. To protect yourself, go to authoritative sources like election office websites, as well as experts in the area.
Dr. Lance Y. Hunter, a Professor of International Relations at Augusta University, is an expert in security studies and the democratization effects of emerging technologies like AI. With his research focused on the complex relationships between technology, democracy, and terrorism, Dr. Hunter is an ideal expert to discuss the implications of AI’s influence on the political landscape and its potential effects on global democratic processes.
Social media plays a key role in transmitting disinformation that can impact democracy. Dr. Hunter reported that social media disinformation can manifest in online political polarization, as well as the use of social media to organize offline violence, which reduces the overall levels of democracy.
Disinformation circulating on social media platforms is something you can help limit by maintaining vigilance, staying critical about the information you are taking in, and exercising responsibility when sharing political content that may have been generated by AI, especially during periods of heightened sensitivity like the election.
By staying informed, critical, engaged in civil discourse, and advocating for transparency and accountability, you can help shape the virtual ecosystem to ensure safety and trust are in place.
Los Angeles Expands CIRCLE Program to Address Non-Violent 911 Calls
Los Angeles is broadening its approach to non-violent 911 calls involving homeless individuals by expanding the Crisis and Incident Response through the Community-led Engagement (CIRCLE) program. Mayor Karen Bass announced on Monday that CIRCLE will now serve additional areas in West Los Angeles, including Manchester Square, Oakwood, Mar Vista, Palms, Playa Vista, Playa Del Rey, Westchester, and Dockweiler Beach.
Overview and Impact of CIRCLE Program
Launched in 2022, CIRCLE dispatches mental health professionals and individuals with lived experience of homelessness instead of armed police officers to handle specific non-violent situations. The program began in Hollywood and Venice before extending to downtown Los Angeles, Lincoln Heights, South Los Angeles, the Northeast Valley, and the Harbor Area.
CIRCLE’s team of 80 staff members operates on 24-hour shifts, responding to diverted 911 calls related to unhoused individuals. These calls typically involve issues such as loitering, well-being checks, noise disturbances, substance abuse problems, and indecent exposure.
In the past year alone, CIRCLE teams have been dispatched to over 14,000 calls, demonstrating the high demand for their specialized services. The teams have also helped over 1,600 people acquire essential documents like social security cards and IDs, connected more than 1,000 individuals with mental and behavioral health services, and successfully intervened in multiple opioid overdose situations.
“We are responding to the mental health crisis with solutions that are long-term and sustainable. At the same time, we are freeing up our LAPD officers to fight crime. Our work does not stop here. We will continue working on this important issue and continue to make our city safer,” Mayor Bass said during the news conference.
Mayor Bass emphasized the program’s role as a preventative measure, addressing community concerns about quality of life issues related to the unhoused population. “If you can address a person who is having a mental health crisis early, you can prevent that person and that crisis from deteriorating to the point where you have to have police because that individual has become violent, or that individual has hurt someone,” Bass stated.
The program’s impact is significant, with CIRCLE teams responding to over 14,000 calls in the past year. This high volume of responses underscores the demand for specialized services in addressing non-violent issues involving the homeless population.
CIRCLE’s mental health director, Latoya Stevenson, highlighted the importance of decompression centers in the program’s operations. These centers provide temporary respite for individuals experiencing homelessness, offering a break from the elements and an opportunity to meet with care coordinators and mental health workers.
Stevenson clarified that these centers are not open for public drop-offs or walk-ins. Instead, they are accessed exclusively through interactions with CIRCLE program staff. “It’s a place for respite for people experiencing homelessness to come back for a short period of time to meet with the care coordinator, to meet with the mental health worker, get a break from being out in the elements,” Stevenson explained.
Despite the program’s expansion, challenges remain. Stevenson noted that a decompression center has yet to be established in the newly served West Los Angeles area, potentially limiting the program’s effectiveness in these communities.
The CIRCLE program represents a shift in how the city addresses non-violent issues involving the homeless population. By utilizing mental health professionals and those with firsthand experience of homelessness, the program aims to provide more appropriate and effective assistance.
Stevenson emphasized the program’s approach: “When it comes to the individuals we work with, who are experiencing homelessness, it’s meeting them where they are, but also encouraging the utilization of those existing services.”
With this latest expansion, CIRCLE aims to provide targeted assistance to more areas of the city, potentially improving outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness and mental health crises.
The early years of a child’s life are important stepping stones for future success. Whether they are taking their first steps, smiling for the first time, or even waving goodbye and learning to walk, parents want the best for their children, especially when it comes to their development and education. Supplementing their early learning, especially through play, is recommended in the CDC’s Positive Parenting Tips. This not only helps your baby develop crucial thinking skills but also keeps them from getting bored.
Types of Learning Toys
According to Haba USA, five primary types of toys can help preschoolers with their general development. Included among them are:
Blocks and nesting sets: help aid in the development of stacking and counting.
Threading and mazes: allow children to learn pincer grip and fine motor skills through the use of navigating small objects, aiding in hand-eye coordination.
Puzzles and arranging games: aid in the development of spatial reasoning and problem-solving.
Dolls and puppets: helpa child develop imagination and communication, and learn empathic skills.
As well as general games, which can involve anything from learning to take turns and follow rules to learning about teamwork and collaboration.
Learning how the world works, and how we as individuals operate within it based on play and behavior, is not only crucial but necessary for overall development. Getting a head start on your child’s early learning will ensure that they succeed in their infancy as well as later on in their life.
What the Research Says
Researchers have determined that Montessori-style education, based on the educational techniques developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, may be superior to traditional education methods. However, this is not always available to children.
Despite this, the American Montessori Society believes that children succeed best when they choose work that challenges and captures their attention. This leads to not only heightened engagement but sustained attention, intrinsic motivation, and a sense of responsibility to oneself and others.
Thankfully, those parents who are looking to incorporate Montessori-style materials into their child’s education can look no further than PlanToys.
What are PlanToys?
PlanToys believes that child development begins the moment your baby is born. Whether it be from learning about the world through visuals, developing creative and social skills, learning about language, and even knowledge of topics such as cause and effect, the people at PlanToys work with child development experts to design toys that engage your child and help them learn in the process.
“The simplicity of the teaching of it, the child-led products, learning and play, and working with Montessori teachers and child development experts, are all aspects that [we] look at when developing [our] toys,” the creators at PlanToys write.
Their toy picks for Montessori-inspired learning and fun at home include the use of:
Gears and Puzzles: captivates children with hands-on adventures in engineering and creativity with 22 interchangeable gears and pieces.
50 Unit Blocks set: a versatile construction toy that unleashes your child’s inner architect by allowing them to build with 50 wooden blocks in 12 different shapes.
Ramp Racer: entertains and builds hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills while teaching your child about basic physics
Wave Stacker: encourages endless play through stacking, nestling, balancing, linking, and arranging.
PlanToys’ products are not just fun for your child, but they are also created with sustainable practices and are non-toxic for your child’s safety and your peace of mind. Their world-class recognition includes everything from the Pal Award to the Red Dot Design Award, to the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold and Platinum Awards.
If you’re looking to help aid your child’s early development, consider adding toys to their routine. By incorporating thoughtfully designed toys into your child’s playtime, you can foster an environment of curiosity, creativity, and growth, setting the stage for lifelong learning and success.
