BC

• Individuals experiencing homelessness are heavily stigmatized, dehumanized and perceived to be less competent and trustworthy.
• A 2020 count by the BC Non-Profit Housing Association in Metro Vancouver found there were 3,634 people experiencing homelessness; among them, 1,029 unsheltered and 2,605 sheltered.
• Present approaches are failing, as evidenced by the rapidly increasing number of people experiencing homelessness.

Trying something new

• We gave a one-time cash transfer of $7,500 to people experiencing homelessness in Vancouver.
• This lump sum, equivalent to the 2016 annual income assistance in British Columbia, provided people the financial freedom to pay rent and meet other living costs.
• The cash transfer also represented a dignified way to empower people to escape homelessness.

Our participants

• The 50 participants in the cash group were informed about the cash transfer only after completing the baseline survey.
• We lost contact with around 30 per cent of participants during this time while some relocated away from Vancouver.
• The workshop consisted of a series of exercises to help participants brainstorm ways to regain stability in their lives.
• Coaching consisted of phone calls with a certified coach trained to help participants achieve their life goals.

What we found

• That means the cash transfers actually saved the government and taxpayers money.
• Cash recipients increased spending on rent, food, transit and things like furniture or a car.
• That challenges the stereotype that people in homelessness would squander money they receive on alcohol and drugs.
• However, around 50 per cent of participants in our study moved into housing just one month after the cash transfer.
• But despite that, they were still below the poverty line and nowhere close to meeting the living costs in Vancouver.

• Cleopatra, queen of Egypt in the years 51-30 BC, is back in the news thanks to a controversial docudrama series on Netflix called Queen Cleopatra.
• The fuss has provided an opportunity to look at her role in history and how she has been portrayed over time.

Who was Cleopatra and why is she so important?

• In a very real sense, the reign of Cleopatra marks the final flourishing of ancient Egyptian culture.
• When Cleopatra died, so did ancient Egyptian civilisation as a vibrant, living culture.

What do you make of the controversy over her ethnicity?

• It tells us more about the preoccupations of our own time than about what was considered important in Cleopatra’s age.
• There is no evidence that Cleopatra’s ethnicity was a matter of debate or interest during her own lifetime.
• She came from a long line of Greek-speaking kings, but her family had lived in Egypt for 300 years.

Why do you think her looks have been foregrounded?

• For example, she is often depicted with a long, aquiline nose and a pointed chin.
• However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and history teaches us that power is a strong aphrodisiac.

What about her brain? What did she achieve in her time?

• She forcefully asserted her right to rule, dispensing with her two brothers when they undermined or tried to thwart her objectives.
• Her strategic liaisons with Caesar and then Antony were carefully calculated to secure her own position and her country’s autonomy.
• Her leadership skills also enabled her to avert famine in Egypt when other lands in the eastern Mediterranean suffered from starvation.

Why do you think she still fascinates people?

• Even in her own time, Cleopatra was a source of fascination – as a woman ruler in a man’s world.
• The Romans found her exotic, intriguing and controversial; and the writings of Roman historians and commentators ensured Cleopatra’s posthumous reputation.
• Her entanglement with Rome, especially her infamous love affairs with Caesar and Antony, scandalised contemporary Roman society and have fascinated subsequent generations.

• Both cases highlighted the use of third-party tracking pixels, which enable platforms to amass, analyze, and infer information about user activity.
• Tracking pixels have evolved from tiny, pixel-sized images on web pages for tracking purposes to include a broad range of HTML and JavaScript embedded in web sites (and email).
• [8] Companies who are interested in pixel tracking must first choose a pixel tracking provider.
• One way to monetize pixel tracking is for companies to use the tracking data collected to improve the company's own marketing campaigns.
• Traditional controls such as blocking third party cookies may not entirely prevent pixels from collecting and sharing information.
• Pixels are widely considered an industry standard tool, but the GoodRx and BetterHelp examples show that they may collect sensitive data.
• *Some pixel tracking methods ostensibly attempt to remove personal information but may in fact still leak enough information to identify an individual.

• VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - VoltSafe Inc.today announced it has been named a CES 2023 Innovation Awards Honoree for TWOof its innovative product solutions: VoltSafe Home, Powered by the Ideal Switch(by Menlo Micro) and VoltSafe Marine.
• The CES Innovation Awards program, owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) , is an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in 28 consumer technology product categories.
• The complete list of CES 2023 Innovation Awards Honorees, including product descriptions and photos, can be found at CES.tech/innovation .
• Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2023 will take place in Las Vegas on January 5-8, 2023, with Media Days taking place January 3-4, 2023.