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Monday, March 11, 2019 - 11:00am
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In a new interview with C.M. Rubin, Rocketium founder Anurag Dwivedi discusses how one-click styling, automatic translation in over 120 languages and instant resizing of videos for any digital platform is transforming storytelling for everyone.

NEW YORK (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 26, 2019

According to a study by Cisco in 2019, 80% of the World’s internet traffic will be video. In a new interview with C.M. Rubin, founder of CMRubinworld, Anurag Dwivedi, co-founder of video creation platform Rocketium, says enhancing communication and collaboration skills via video creation is essential to enable learners to “flourish in the 21st century.” Dwivedi’s Rocketium platform allows teams of creators from any part of the world to work collaboratively on video projects in one innovative space and produce stories at the speed and scale they need. No previous video creation training is needed by the user. The company has automated the majority of the time-consuming tasks of the video creation process including one-click styling, automatic resizing of videos in different aspect ratios for different social platforms, as well as providing creators automatic translation of content into over 120 languages. The platform provides advanced controls for styling and sequence timing for users, enabling creators to customize styles in a way which Dwivedi claims no other video creation platform can provide. Rocketium creators have an online customer service team to support users’ production questions throughout the creation process. Dwivedi says the job of today’s storyteller “is to use our tools to create the most impactful video story you can without worrying about the design or styling aspect of video making.” 

Read the full article here

Rocketium makes video creation quick, simple, and accessible on browsers and mobile apps. The company wants to democratise video creation by enabling anyone to create quality video stories in minutes.

CMRubinWorld’s award-winning series, The Global Search for Education, brings together distinguished thought leaders in education and innovation from around the world to explore the key learning issues faced by most nations. The series has become a highly visible platform for global discourse on 21st century learning, offering a diverse range of innovative ideas which are presented by the series founder, C. M. Rubin, together with the world’s leading thinkers. 

For more information on CMRubinWorld

Follow @CMRubinWorld on Twitter 

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Governor Signs One Bill

 

SALT LAKE CITY (March 8, 2019) – Gov. Gary R. Herbert signed one bill today. This brings the total number of signed pieces of legislation from the 2019 General Legislative Session so far to 13. Information on this bill can be found below.

 

Technical College Scholarship Amendments, Grover, K.

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Can We Divest from Weapons Dealers?

by Kathy Kelly

1060 words
Impoverished people living in numerous countries today would stand a far better chance of survival, and risk far less trauma, if weapon manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheon stopped manufacturing and selling death-dealing products.

 

About three decades ago, I taught writing at one of Chicago’s alternative high schools. It’s easy to recall some of their stories—fast-paced, dramatic, sometimes tender. I would beg my students to three-hole-punch each essay or poem and leave it in a binder on our classroom shelf, anxious not to lose the documentation of their talents and ideas. 

Some of the youngsters I taught told me they were members of gangs. Looking down from the window of my second-floor classroom, I sometimes wondered if I was watching them selling drugs in broad daylight as they embraced one another on the street below. 

Tragically, in the two years that I taught at Prologue High School, three students were killed. Colleagues told me that they generally buried three students per year. They died, primarily, from gunshot wounds. I think they could have survived their teenage years if weapons and ammunition hadn’t been available.

Similarly, I believe impoverished populations of numerous countries at war today would stand a far better chance of survival, and risk far less trauma, if weapon manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheon, stopped manufacturing and selling death-dealing products. It would also help if the people living in countries that export deadly weapons were well-informed about the consequences these businesses bring.

Consider this: The 2018 U.S. Census Report tallies U.S. exports of bullets to other countries. Topping the list is $123 million-worth of bullets to Afghanistan—an eight-fold rise over the number of bullets sold in 2017 and farmore than the number of bullets sold to any other country. 

During a recent visit to Afghanistan, I heard many people voice intense fear of what would happen if civil war breaks out. It seems to me that those who manufacture bullets are doing all they can to hasten the likelihood and deadly outcome of an armed struggle. 

But rather than help people here in the United States understand conditions in countries where the U.S. conducts airstrikes, President Donald Trump is hiding the facts. 

On March 6, 2019, Trump revokedportions of a 2016 executive order imposed by President Barack Obama requiringannual reports on the number of strikes taken and an assessment of combatant and civilian deaths. Trump has removed the sectionof the mandate specifically covering civilian casualties caused by CIA airstrikes, and whether they were caused by drones or “manned” warplanes.

A U.S. State Department email message said the reporting requirements are “superfluous” because the Department of Defense already must file a full report of all civilian casualties caused by military strikes. However, the report required from the Pentagon doesn’t cover airstrikes conducted by the CIA. 

And last year, the White House simply ignoredthe reporting requirement.  

Democracy is based on information. You can’t have democracy if people have no information about crucial issues. Uninformed about military practices and foreign policy, U.S. citizens become disinterested. 

I lived alongside civilians in Iraq during the 2003 “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad. In the hospital emergency rooms I heard survivors asking, through screams and tears, why they were being attacked. Since that time, in multiple visits to Kabul, I have heard the same agonized question. 

The majority of Afghanistan’s population consists of women and children. When civilians in that country die because of U.S. attacks—whether within or beyond “areas of active hostilities”; whether conducted by the CIA or the Department of Defense; whether using manned or unmanned warplanes—the attack is almost certain to cause overwhelming grief. Often the survivors feel rage and may want revenge. But many feel despair and find their only option is to flee. 

Imagine a home in your neighborhood suddenly demolished by a secret attack; you have no idea why this family was targeted, or why women and children in this family were killed. If another such attack happened, wouldn’t you consider moving? 

Reporting for The New York Times, Mujib Mashal recently interviewed a farmer from Afghanistan’s Helmand province displaced by fighting and now unable to feed his family. “About 13.5 million people are surviving on one meal or less a day,” Mashal writes, “and 54 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of a $1 a day.” 

Last week, an international crisis sharply escalated in a “dogfight” between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states. The crisis has been somewhat defused. Media reports quickly focused on the relative military strength of both countries—observing, for example, that the dilapidated state of India’s jet fighters could be a “win” for U.S. weapons manufacturers. 

“It is hard to sell a front-line fighter to a country that isn’t threatened,” saidan analyst with the Lexington Institute. “Boeing and Lockheed Martin both have a better chance of selling now because suddenly India feels threatened.”

A few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited heads of state in Pakistan and India. Photos showed warm embraces and respectful receptions. 

The CEO of Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson, also embraces the Saudi government. She serveson the boards of trustees of two Saudi technological universities, and presides over a company that has been awarded“a nine-figure down payment on a $15 billion missile-defense system for Saudi Arabia.” The Saudis will acquire new state-of-the-art weapons even as they continue bludgeoning civilians in Yemen during a war orchestrated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And the Saudis will build military alliances with nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

With both India and Pakistan possessing nuclear weapons, every effort should be made to stop the flow of weapons into the region. But major weapon making companies bluntly assert that the bottom line in the decision is their profit.

Attending funerals for young people in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, at the time one of the poorest in Chicago, I felt deep dismay over the profits that motivated gun runners who sold weapons to students, some of whom would be soon fatally wounded. In the ensuing decades, larger, more ambitious weapon peddlers have engendered and prolonged fighting between warlords, within and beyond the United States. 

How different our world could be if efforts were instead directed toward education, health care, and community welfare.

 

-end-
Kathy Kelly, syndicated by PeaceVoice, co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

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Breakfast from the Backyard: Home Poultry Ownership Fosters Closer Connection to our Food

Tractor Supply Company Chick Days Event Helps Novice Chick Keepers Start Their Flock

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (March 8, 2019) – We can all agree – food should taste good, but for a growing number of people, there’s more to the story. Where did the food come from? How was it grown or raised? Many people have decided to answer those questions themselves by taking the leap and producing their own food, even on a small scale. As a result, the popularity of backyard poultry ownership has exploded.

Raising poultry is the perfect way for anyone to take an active role in producing your own food. From caring for chickens to collecting their eggs, raising poultry is an enriching experience that helps people feel more connected to the food they consume. It is not only satisfying, but also creates responsibility, enhances lawn and soil quality, improves mental health, and perhaps most appealing, produces homegrown food that you control.

“People may be surprised by what they can do at home if they want to cultivate their own gardens or feel connected to where their food comes from,” explained Tiffany Denter, poultry supplies buyer for Tractor Supply. “By keeping backyard chickens, people can embrace this lifestyle no matter where they live, reaping many physical and mental benefits. And when it comes down to it, nothing beats a fresh egg right from your backyard!”

For those new to owning chickens, Tractor Supply is hosting its Spring Chick Days Event at stores nationwide through the end of April. The 10-week springtime event features live baby chicks and ducklings along with the supplies needed to begin or grow a backyard flock.

In addition to providing the tools and equipment to those ready to raise their own birds, Tractor Supply also serves as a great poultry resource, offering guidance ranging from proper handling to the importance of hygiene to ensure the safety of yourself and your flock.

In select states, customers can purchase a minimum of four chicks with the flexibility to mix and match with ducklings. Tractor Supply offers a variety of breeds, from Rhode Island Reds and Sapphire Gems to Easter Eggers and Silkie Chickens. In addition to purchasing chicks and ducks in-store, Tractor’s Chick Days features a one-stop shop for all the items needed to begin the process, including quality feed ranging from conventional to organic, bedding, feeders and drinkers, heat bulbs and lamps, coops, and more, along with the guidance of expert Tractor Supply team members.

 

Outside of Chick Days, Tractor Supply stores are stocked year-round with the items needed to properly raise and care for backyard poultry. Enthusiasts can visit TractorSupply.com/Poultry to shop an expanded selection and year-round availability of poultry products and live birds.

 

Visit TractorSupply.com/Chicks for Chick Days event information, expert tips on safe handling and care for poultry, building a chicken coop, and more. Backyard poultry rules and regulations vary by city, county and state, so check with your local government before purchasing. Learn more about chick and duckling arrivals at Tractor Supply by following Tractor Supply on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TractorSupplyCo or by visiting your local store, which you can find at www.TractorSupply.com/StoreLocator.

 

About Tractor Supply Company

Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO), the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the United States, has been passionate about serving its unique niche, as a one-stop shop for recreational farmers, ranchers and all those who enjoy living the rural lifestyle, for more than 80 years. Tractor Supply offers an extensive mix of products necessary to care for home, land, pets and animals with a focus on product localization, exclusive brands and legendary customer service that addresses the needs of the Out Here lifestyle. With more than 28,000 team members, the Company leverages its physical store assets with digital capabilities to offer customers the convenience of purchasing products they need anytime, anywhere and any way they choose at the everyday low prices they deserve. At September 29, 2018, the Company operated 1,748 Tractor Supply stores in 49 states and an e-commerce website at www.TractorSupply.com

Tractor Supply Company also owns and operates Petsense, a small-box pet specialty supply retailer focused on meeting the needs of pet owners, primarily in small and mid-size communities, and offering a variety of pet products and services. At September 29, 2018, the Company operated 181 Petsense stores in 27 states. For more information on Petsense, visit www.Petsense.com.

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