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Monday, August 17, 2020

Quinn ‘DJ Spicoli’ Coleman, Debra Lee’s son, has passed away at 31

The DJ and Capitol Records A&R executive is being mourned throughout the industry

Music executive, promoter, entrepreneur and DJ Quinn Coleman has passed away, his family confirmed to theGrio on Monday. He was 31. Coleman, also known as DJ Spicoli, was the son of former BET president and CEO Debra Lee.

Ava Coleman, Debra Lee and Quinn Coleman

A spokesperson for Lee released the following statement to theGrio:

Quinn Coleman, son of Debra Lee and Randy Coleman, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 16 at the age of 31. The cause of death is unknown. Quinn was a loving son, brother, cousin and friend, a passionate DJ and A&R executive with a bright future ahead of him. Debra and her family are devastated by Quinn’s passing and ask for privacy and respect as they grieve together.

Coleman was the senior director of A&R at Capitol Records, the label whose iconic round building is a familiar one among Hollywood landmarks. Coleman was one of Lee’s two children with ex-husband Randal Coleman, according to Encyclopedia.com. The former couple also has a daughter, Ava.

Read More: ‘Good Times’ and ‘Sanford and Son’ actor Raymond Allen dies at 91

Coleman’s friends shared the loss on social media. The duo Brasstracks were the first group Coleman signed to Capitol. Their debut album Golden Ticket is scheduled for release on Aug. 21.

“We are heartbroken at the passing of our A&R and friend who signed us to Capitol,” they wrote on their Twitter and Instagram profiles. “Quinn’s positivity and passion were infectious, he made everyone around him feel good and always felt like more friend than A&R.”

Coleman was a co-founder of the DC to BC music marketing group that put on the Washington, D.C based music festival Trillectro. It was meant to give local and upcoming hip-hop and electronic music artists a venue to reach audiences.

The five members in the collective were friends and entrepreneurs who were passionate about music and their city. They evolved from a college radio show to a lifestyle blog to party and event promoters, becoming the first promoters to bring Kendrick Lamar to D.C. and booking Travis Scott on the festival early in his career, according to Ebony.

Despite technical issues with the inaugural festival in 2012, the organizers, including Coleman, put on a total six festivals from 2012 to 2018.

Modele “Modi” Oyewole, who co-founded DC to BC with Coleman at Boston College in 2008, wrote on Twitter:

“the coldest man to ever do it, straight up. everything i’m doing now is cuz of this dude. i wish i was half as cool as him. all the things we were supposed to get into. grateful for the memories, devastated that making new ones ends here. rest easy my boy. i love you.”

Read More: Young Democrats of Maryland leader found dead in Washington

Rapper Wale also shared his grief.

“I can’t process this – my heart in pieces,” the D.C.-area native wrote on Twitter.

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Essence Magazine sexual harassment claims ‘not substantiated’

The investigation comes after an anonymous group of disgruntled employees, accused leadership of fostering a toxic workplace.

Essence Magazine has concluded its investigation into allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Owner and CEO Richelieu Dennis

Dennis stepped down last month after several anonymous Black female staffers detailed in a blog for Medium the rampant sexual misconduct, bullying, colorism and wrongful terminations at the publication. 

In a August 17 statement, Essence noted that a “comprehensive and independent review by the law firms Proskauer Rose and Morgan Lewis” concluded that the allegations against Dennis could not be substantiated.

Read More: Essence Magazine’s staffers anonymously call out toxic workplace culture

An earlier report on theGrio noted that the anonymous group of disgruntled employees, dubbed Black Female Anonymous, accused leadership of turning the magazine into the “most deceptive Black media company in America,” by exploiting movements like the #BlackGirlMagic for monetary gain.

Essence, thegrio.com
February 2018 cover of Essence magazine

Dennis is alleged to have pressed his luck with female employees, harassing those who do not consent to his advances at private company events.

At some point in 2019, it is alleged that he attempted to have certain females sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect his family business from facing “liability or disparagement after a string of wrongful layoffs and other potentially libelous business activity.”

However, the investigation concluded that the claims against Dennis “are not substantiated.”

Adding, “There were no suggestions or allegations of any sexual harassment by Dennis from witnesses in any of the interviews, nor were there ever any formal or informal complaints made to the company – despite ESSENCE engaging outside HR consultants and internal professionals, unrelated to Dennis, during the entire tenure of Dennis’ ownership with whom complaints could be filed.”

In addition to Dennis, Essence Ventures board member and former Essence Communications CEO Michelle Ebanks, COO Joy Collins Profet, and CCO Moana Luu are named as key players contributing to the downfall of the trusted Black print.

BFA alleged in the Medium blog that the company has a two-year history of wrongfully laying off or forcing Black women to resign.

Read More: Richelieu Dennis appoints new CEO of Essence Communications amid investigation

In Monday’s statement, the company says matters such as those alleged in the Medium blog are taken “seriously” and that Essence “maintains a policy against sexual harassment, actively enforces such policy, and remains committed to ensuring a workplace free of sexual harassment.” 

When it comes to the other factors listed by BFA that fuel a toxic culture, Essence said “We are awaiting the conclusion of the Morgan Lewis review related to workplace culture and will provide a subsequent update once those findings are available.”

The statement concludes by underscoring Essence magazine’s mission of continuing to elevate and empower “Black women and communities, both in and out of the workplace.”

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Video shows man knocked out on London subway after racist rant

Shocking video footage captures the moment a man is punched and knocked out following his racist rant on a London train.

A man is hit with a knock-out punch following his loud, racist rant on a London train.

READ MORE: California woman calls Black man the N-word, accuses him of stealing in viral video

According to Independent, police are now investigating the incident where a white man directed violent racist views at Black people riding the public train over the weekend. The now-viral video displays the man directing his hatred toward a group of Black men.

London racist man thegrio.com
(Credit: screenshot)

Uploaded to YouTube by user Dawud Bryant on Sunday, the seven-minute video chronicles the entire conflict.

Wearing a plain black shirt with a loose collar, khaki shorts and black glasses, he repeatedly shouts “lesser than us” with his fist in the air. Other passengers look and tell the man to “shut the f*** up,” as he continues.

“It’s not funny being racist,” a woman says to the man, as he finds joy in his public declaration. “You’ve had your five-minutes, now f***-off and get out of the train.”

Eventually, his tirade turns to target a specific group of Black men on the same train, referring to them as “pets.”

“This is my home, you’re all going back,” the man shouts at the group.

They respond, demanding his name which he proudly responds “Billy Steele.” As the interaction continues, the train eventually reaches the stop where the group of Black men exit. They walk past their racist attacker to enter the platform. As they leave, one of the men reaches back and punches him in the face. The man falls out, seemingly briefly unconscious.

READ MORE: Black graduate student records racist rant in New York City

The punch is met with an audible “yay,” and “well done,” from onlookers plus a few claps, and laughs from other passengers. One passenger offers assistance, checking the man’s pulse after the jab leaves him on the train floor. Another passenger insists “don’t help a racist.”

Independent reports that a spokesperson representing the British Transport Police confirms law enforcement is “aware of two videos on social media showing an incident on a Central Line Underground train on 15 August.”

They request any person with information contact the authorities.

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Egypt TikTok and Instagram stars pay heavy price for 'indecency'

They have millions of followers, but Egypt's social media stars are paying a heavy price.

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Black-Owned Cosmetics Brand Juvia’s Place Is Giving $300,000 to Black Entrepreneurs

Juvia's Place grants Black entrepreneurs

Juvia’s Place is showing its commitment to small businesses in the Black community by giving away $300,000, or six grants of $50,000 each, to Black entrepreneurs.

The Black-owned cosmetics brand is paying forward the help and support it received when it was a fledgling startup.

“As a Black-owned business, I understand firsthand the financial obstacles Black entrepreneurs face. I started Juvia’s Place with just $2,000 and a dream. I, like so many others, didn’t have access to lending, or a trust fund,” said Chichi Eburu, founder of Juvia’s Place, in a press release.

“My business was built with minimal financial resources, but I had a supportive community to lean on. That community support was essential to my business growth. I found mentors and customers that believed in my product, and helped to make my dream a reality,” she continued. “I appreciate the support, and want to make sure I can provide an opportunity to other Black entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their businesses.”

The press release notes that the aim of the grants is eradicating the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs, and it details some of the stark realities these businesses face:

According to SCORE, 44% of Black small business owners use cash to fund their business as compared to the average small business owner (37%). The most popular funding sources for African American business owners are:

    • Friends and family
    • Lines of credit
    • Rollovers for Business Start-ups (ROBS), financing that allows small businesses owners to tap into eligible retirement accounts to fund their businesses without tax penalties. Guidant says this grew by 21% in popularity among African-American small businesses year over year.
    • Unsecured loans
    • Peer-to peer
    • Equipment leasing
    • SBA Loans

Most of these sources require Black entrepreneurs to amass debt at high interest rates. These debt traps can kill a business before it even gets started. Black female entrepreneurs face even greater challenges.

The deadline to apply is August 31st. To be eligible, business owners must:

  • be a U.S. citizen or legal resident of the U.S. with business operations headquartered in the U.S.
  • identify as Black/African American
  • have 2019 gross revenues between $1,000 and $250,000


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Netflix on YouTube

Project Power | Behind the Scenes - How to Machine Gun Kelly on Fire | Netflix
What would MGK risk for 5 minutes of pure power? Go behind the scenes with Colson Baker (Machine Gun Kelly) as he breaks down the extreme measures he went through on the set of Project Power as Newt. Watch Project Power on Netflix: https://ift.tt/3gLYTjA SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Project Power | Behind the Scenes - How to Machine Gun Kelly on Fire | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix An ex-soldier, a teen and a cop collide in New Orleans as they hunt for the source behind a dangerous new pill that grants users temporary superpowers.


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The Duchess | Official Trailer | Netflix
Katherine Ryan, fresh off her Netflix special “In Trouble,” came to us with an idea based on her life as a fabulous single mom living in London. Season 1 follows Katherine as she debates if she should have a second child with her estranged and troubled baby daddy. It is meant to be a Catastrophe-like single-cam comedy set in London. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. The Duchess | Official Trailer | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix Katherine's a single mom juggling her career, her tween daughter, her relationship with her boyfriend — and pondering getting pregnant with her ex.


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Katt Williams calls Trump ‘clown,’ urges people to vote

The comedian wore rainbow-colored hair, a suit, and a Supreme t-shirt. 

In a six-minute video posted by the high-end urban retailer, Supreme, Katt Williams took to the microphone to speak about the challenges of 2020.

He walked out onto the stage in front of an empty audience saying, “Thank you, everyone, and no one.”

Williams wasted no time in addressing President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Right now, we have a perfectly suitable clown running the free world,” Williams said, “We got a guy whose advice included things that no decent crackhead would tell you to do with a gunshot wound.” 

“The man said if you have bleach, rub it on yourself. Sprinkle some in your eye. You see any UV light, walk in front of it. But these are serious times. The president is a clown.” 

The comedian wore rainbow-colored hair, a suit, and a Supreme t-shirt. 

READ MORE: As Trump plans to ban TikTok, Sarah Cooper continues to hilariously mock him

He then addressed the Black Lives Matter protests taking place across the globe after the police killing of George Floyd on May 25, which he called “televised murder.” 

“Black lives matter, period. You can say it. Say it at home. Say it wherever you are, no matter who’s around. Say it because it’s a fact,” he said.

Williams also spoke specifically about the virus and the importance of wearing a mask. “It’s an airborne virus, folks. If you breathe air, put on a mask.”

Like his colleague, Dave Chappelle, who dropped a surprise special called 8:46 in June, Williams noted that the material was not necessarily funny. “I kept most of the jokes in quarantine in case you were looking for some laughs,” he said. “If you got some information out of it, I appreciate that. I’ve already done more than an elected official.”

The Supreme video was posted as an exclusive on their Instagram account, but fans have reposted it on Twitter

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Diamond & Silk question ‘systemic racism’ at Fox News after being axed

The Daily Beast noted that the MAGA-loving sisters are throwing their former network ‘under the bus’.

In their new book, Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson are claiming that Fox News pushed them out after they “dared to ask questions” that were also posed by white personalities.

“Here is the crazy thing, y’all,” Silk says in the book. “Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham were questioning the same things we were questioning about the virus and pandemic. The very same questions we had raised were being discussed openly on Fox News.”

“When you really think about it, was this part of the systemic racism that everybody was talking about?”

READ MORE: Fox News reporter retreats inside car after shoving BLM protester

A copy of the book was obtained by The Daily Beast and they noted that the MAGA-loving sisters are throwing their former network “under the bus.”

Uprising: Who the Hell Said You Can’t Ditch and Switch?—The Awakening of Diamond and Silk will be released on Tuesday, Aug 18.

The sisters were let go from Fox Nation, where their videos were regularly posted, after spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic. They claimed that the virus was being “deliberately spread” to make President Donald Trump look bad.

They also pushed other popular right-wing conspiracies like 5G technology being used to infect people and vaccines being used for “population control.”

Ironically, it was also The Daily Beast who broke the news of the duo being axed. In their book, they claim that even after the Daily Beast story, “Fox News Cuts Times with Diamond & Silk”, ran, Fox assured them their slot was secure.

READ MORE: Diamond and Silk suggest COVID-19 is a Tuskegee-like conspiracy

In the book, Diamond says that the network told them to “ignore” the lies and to “stay strong and keep fighting.” They were still let go.

“We understand that during an election year one of the tactics from the Left is to silence the voices making the most impact,” Diamond writes. “We’re not saying that this is what Fox did, but it damn sure felt like it.”

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Black voters could tip the scale for Biden-Harris in battleground states

Data obtained from the U.S. census notes that in 2012, 66% of eligible Black voters came out to vote.

Former vice-president, Joe Biden, and Senator Kamala Harris will need heavy engagement in six battleground states in order to win the 2020 election. 

Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will need to increase their Black voter turnout, compared to what it was in 2016, in order to ensure a Democratic victory. 

READ MORE: Kamala Harris has a message for voters who aren’t feeling her and Joe Biden

According to a report by NBC News, increasing Black voter turnout in these states is “critical” to the success of the Biden/Harris campaign. 

The report notes that the 2016 election was largely decided by white voters, many of whom were previous Democrats, who chose to vote for Donald Trump. There was also a strong decline in turnout by Black voters. 

The data, obtained from the U.S. census, notes that in 2012, 66% of eligible Black voters came out to vote. They voted overwhelmingly (87%) for the reelection of President Barack Obama. However, in 2016, only 59% of eligible Black voters turned out and only 81% of them voted for Hillary Clinton

READ MORE: Despite virus threat, Black voters wary of voting by mail

Democrats are hopeful that Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian woman to be nominated for Vice President of the United States, can energize younger voters of color.

A general view of a voting sign at the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building polling station on August 11, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

At 57 years old, Harris is 20 years younger than Biden and she has high favorability among a younger electorate. She is also popular in the Midwest, which is where two important battleground states sit. 

The Democratic National Convention, which is being held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, will give more insight into the direction of the election which is just two-and-a-half months away. 

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!

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7 Best Gaming Headsets for PS4, Xbox, PC, and Switch

We picked the best gaming headsets for every budget and gaming system—PS4, Xbox, Switch, PC, Mac, and mobile.

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Entrepreneur Ken Clay Uses Innovation and Technology to Enhance Touchless Solutions

Ken Clay touchless technology

Technology is always changing and never-ending. With the recent pandemic affecting all industries, we’ve entered a touchless world and entrepreneur Ken Clay, as CEO of Trackit Technology, has been able to utilize his expertise in implementing such systems across the board.

Clay took a moment to speak to BLACK ENTERPRISE to discuss how his focus helps his entrepreneurial spirit and how the coronavirus has affected his business.

As the CEO of Trackit Technology, what type of technology are you involved with and why did you start the company?

Trackit Technology is an ecosystem of touchless solutions for digital displays. From thermal sensors to facial recognition, QR Code Capabilities, and automated check-in systems, Trackit was designed to be the No. 1 plug-and-play touchless solution for any digital display in any industry. 

What type of clients do you have and which industries do you primarily work with?

Current clients include the NFL, PGA, various industrial offices, a few healthcare facilities, and business districts for cities. We are focusing our efforts on targeting universities, convention centers and events, healthcare facilities, and commercial real estate/industrial offices. 

As an entrepreneur, how do you decide where to put your focus and how to go about doing business?

First and foremost, I always look to put effort into my team. I want to make sure that they are in positions to win because if they are, our whole company is set up for success. Next, I look to put out any fires, because as any entrepreneur knows, there is ALWAYS a fire to put out. Afterward, I spend the rest of my time doing market research and client relations. I always love learning about new ways to help our clients, which is why I’m always studying the latest trends. 

The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone. How has COVID-19 affected your business? 

It affected us in a big way. Our business got started because of events. We work with big names in the events industry, and then all of a sudden, there were no more events. So we went back to the drawing board and focused on what we are great at. That is innovation. This pandemic helped us build more efficiently, grind harder, and provide solutions for our clients that would have a lasting impact long after COVID-19 is over.  

If you could do anything over again, what would it be and why?

I actually am very grateful for my journey and if I could do anything differently, it would have to be starting out on it from the get-go. When I started off in my professional career, I thought I always wanted to be a sports agent. It wasn’t until I worked under my first boss that I realized what I wanted most was to be my OWN boss, and put myself in a position to not only have my own creative freedom but be able to give back.



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These Entrepreneurs Have Tripled Sales at Their Food Truck Business Despite the Pandemic

What the Fries

Jamie Barnes and Greg Williams, friends turned business partners, are the chefs and co-owners of What The Fries, one of the most in-demand food trucks in Charlotte, North Carolina. In fact, despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, they managed to almost triple the sales of their signature loaded fries.

Five years ago, the two men, who met back in college at Johnson and Wales University, started their food truck business right after competing together at the reality show The Great Food Truck. Although they didn’t win in the finals, they continued making loaded fries for their business.

Now, according to Charlotte Magazine, they serve Charlotte’s best-loaded fries from their food truck.

Not an easy beginning

However, they said their first few years were not easy. They worked hard to prove to people that they deserve to be in the business. They started catering to corporate events serving boxed pasta lunches until they were able to buy an old FedEx delivery truck that they converted into a food truck.

Now, the duo is aiming to open their first brick and mortar location around Charlotte. Finding a perfect location came with challenges again as many landlords turned them down thinking they wouldn’t become as successful as they did with the food truck.


Planning for the future

In the next five years, they hope to expand their brand to multiple food trucks and locations as well. With their combined skills and determination as well as their yummy dishes, they are looking forward to more success in the future.

“Be ready to grind and just don’t give up. When you have your own business, there will be days when you want to quit. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Once you start seeing the payoff, it will all be worth it.”

For more information about What The Fries or to order online, visit www.whatthefriesclt.com

This article was originally published by BlackBusiness.com.



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High School Twins From Louisiana Earn $1.3 Million Each in Academic Scholarships

scholarships

Twin brothers Brin and Nial Wilson, senior students at Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, have received a total of over $1.3 million each in academic scholarships. They are enrolled to attend college this fall, and they both plan to major in civil engineering.

The Wilsons have amassed a total of $2,728,000 with Brin accumulating $1,393,012 and Nial accumulating $1,335,788.

Brin and Nial applied to and have been recruited from numerous colleges throughout the United States such as Morehouse College in Atlanta, St. John University in New York City, Lasalle University in Philadelphia, Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana Tech and Barry University in Miami, Florida, just to name a few.

Aside from their academic success, they also received athletic scholarship offers to play football. Brin has an offer from Knox College in Illinois, and Nial has offers from Culver-Stockton in Missouri, Sterling College and McPherson in Kansas, Judson University in Illinois.

The twins have also been acknowledged as Top 2019 Prospects by Louisiana Football Magazine & TV, Offense-Defense All-American Bowl selections in Daytona, Florida and Blue-Grey All-American Bowl selections in Houston, Texas. They were also recognized by LHSAA 2019 Bowling All-District 2nd Team and with the Captain Shreve Distinguished Scholar Award.


This article was originally published by BlackNews.com.



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House Dems to end recess early amid fears Trump is undermining the election

Pelosi called on the House to return to session this week to vote on the ‘Delivering for America Act’.

House Democrats will return from their August recess early, as fears that President Donald Trump is attempting to undermine the 2020 election grow among the public and the electorate. 

In a letter to her colleagues published as a press release, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the house, wrote, “alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.”

She called on the House to return to session this week to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman (Carolyn B.) Maloney’s “Delivering for America Act,” which “prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020.” 

Dr. Anthony Fauci (L), director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., after a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on July 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

READ MORE: Kamala Harris reacts to Trump’s racist birther attacks: ‘They’re going to engage in lies’

Further, Pelosi asked House members to participate in a “Day of Action,” by appearing at post offices in their districts for a press event. 

She noted that the United States Postal Service is a “pillar of our democracy, enshrined in the Constitution and essential for providing critical services: delivering prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in our most remote communities.”

“In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central,” she wrote. “Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote.” 

The outrage against President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump mega-donor, making major changes to postal service this close to the election has been significant. 

Pop star, Taylor Swift, wrote on Twitter, “Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president. He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.” 

READ MORE: Postal Service removing mail sorting machines as election nears

She said that Trump “is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely.” She urged Americans to request a mail-in ballot and vote early. 

The president and Postmaster General DeJoy have defended the postal changes as modernizing the agency to make it more efficient. 

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This Cobalt-Free Battery Is Good for the Planet—and It Actually Works

Reducing the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries is good for the environment, human rights, and maybe even the performance of the battery itself.

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Summarizing Most Popular Text-to-Image Synthesis methods with Python

Comparative Study of Different Adversarial Text to Image Methods

Introduction

Automatic synthesis of realistic images from text has become popular with deep convolutional and recurrent neural network architectures to aid in learning discriminative text feature representations.

Discriminative power and strong generalization properties of attribute representations even though attractive, its a complex process and requires domain-specific knowledge. Over the years the techniques have evolved as auto-adversarial networks in space of machine learning algorithms continue to evolve.

In comparison, natural language offers an easy, general, and flexible plugin that can be used to identify and describing objects across multiple domains by means of visual categories. The best thing is to combine the generality of text descriptions with the discriminative power of attributes.

This blog addresses different text to image synthesis algorithms using GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) that aims to directly map words and characters to image pixels with natural language representation and image synthesis techniques.

The featured algorithms learn a text feature representation that captures the important visual details and then use these features to synthesize a compelling image that a human might mistake for real.

1. Generative Adversarial Text to Image Synthesis

  • This image synthesis mechanism uses deep convolutional and recurrent text encoders to learn a correspondence function with images by conditioning the model conditions on text descriptions instead of class labels.
  • An effective approach that enables text-based image synthesis using a character-level text encoder and class-conditional GAN. The purpose of the GAN is to view (text, image) pairs as joint observations and train the discriminator to judge pairs as real or fake.
  • Equipped with a manifold interpolation regularizer (regularization procedure which encourages interpolated outputs to appear more realistic) for the GAN generator that significantly improves the quality of generated samples.
  • The objective of GAN is to view (text, image) pairs as joint observations and train the discriminator to judge pairs as real or fake.
  • Both the generator network G and the discriminator network D perform has been trained to enable feed-forward learning and inference by conditioning tightly only on textual features.


Source, LICENSE- Apache 2.0

  • Discriminator D, has several layers of stride2 convolution with spatial batch normalization followed by leaky ReLU.
  • The GAN is trained in mini-batches with SGD (Stochastic Gradient Descent).
  • In addition to the real/fake inputs to the discriminator during training, it is also fed with the third type of input consisting of real images with mismatched text, which aids the discriminator to score it as fake.

The below figure illustrates text to image generation samples of different types of birds.


Source — (Open Source Apache 2.0 License)

Library and Usage

git clone https://github.com/zsdonghao/text-to-image.git [TensorFlow 1.0+, TensorLayer 1.4+, NLTK : for tokenizer] python downloads.py [download Oxford-102 flower dataset and caption files(run this first)] python data_loader.py [load data for further processing] python train_txt2im.py [train a text to image model] python utils.py  [helper functions] python models.py [models]

2. Multi-Scale Gradient GAN for Stable Image Synthesis

Multi-Scale Gradient Generative Adversarial Network (MSG-GAN) is responsible for handling instability in gradients passing from the discriminator to the generator that become uninformative, due to a learning imbalance during training. It uses an effective technique that allows the flow of gradients from the discriminator to the generator at multiple scales helping to generate synchronized multi-scale images.

  • The discriminator not only looks at the final output (highest resolution) of the generator but also at the outputs of the intermediate layers as illustrated in the below figure. As a result, the discriminator becomes a function of multiple scale outputs of the generator (by using concatenation operations) and importantly, passes gradients to all the scales simultaneously.


The architecture of MSG-GAN for generating synchronized multi-scale images. Source — (Open Source MIT License)

  • MSG-GAN is robust to changes in the learning rate and has a more consistent increase in image quality when compared to progressive growth (Pro-GAN).
  • MSG-GAN shows the same convergence trait and consistency for all the resolutions and images generated at higher resolution maintain the symmetry of certain features such as the same color for both eyes, or earrings in both ears. Moreover, the training phase allows a better understanding of image properties (e.g., quality and diversity).

Library and Usage

git clone https://github.com/akanimax/BMSG-GAN.git [PyTorch] python train.py --depth=7 \                    --latent_size=512 \                   --images_dir=<path to images> \                   --sample_dir=samples/exp_1 \                   --model_dir=models/exp_1

3. T2F-text-to-face-generation-using-deep-learning (StackGAN++ and ProGAN)

  • In the ProGAN architecture, works on the principle of adding new layers that model increasingly fine details as training progresses. Here both the generator and discriminator start by creating images of low resolution and adds images’ in-depth details in subsequent steps. It helps in a more stable and faster training process.
  • StackGAN architecture consists of multiple generators and discriminators in a tree-like structureThe different branches of the tree represent images of varying scales, all belonging to the same scene. StackGAN has been known for yielding different types of approximate distributions. These multiple related distributions include multi-scale image distributions and joint conditional and unconditional image distributions.
  • T2F uses a combined architecture of ProGAN and StackGANProGAN is known for the synthesis of facial images, while StackGAN is known for text encoding, where conditioning augmentation is the principle working methodology. The textual description is encoded into a summary vector using an LSTM network. The summary vector i.e. Embedding as illustrated in the below diagram is passed through the Conditioning Augmentation block (a single linear layer) to obtain the textual part of the latent vector (uses VAE like parameterization technique) for the GAN as input.
  • The second part of the latent vector is random Gaussian noise. The latent vector yielded is then fed to the generator part of the GAN. The embedding thus formed is finally fed to the final layer of the discriminator for conditional distribution matching. The training of the GAN proceeds layer by layer. Every next layer adds spatial resolutions at an increasing level.
  • The fade-in technique is used to introduce any new layer. This step helps to remember and restore previously learned information.


T2F architecture for generating face from textual descriptions, Source, LICENSE-MIT

The below figure illustrates the mechanism of facial image generation from textual captions for each of them.

Library and Usage


Source — https://github.com/akanimax/T2F.git , LICENSE-MIT

git clone https://github.com/akanimax/T2F.gitpip install -r requirements.txtmkdir training_runsmkdir training_runs/generated_samples training_runs/losses training_runs/saved_modelstrain_network.py --config=configs/11.comf

4. Object-driven Text-to-Image Synthesis via Adversarial Training


AttnGAN Source LICENSE — MIT

  • Object-driven Attentive GAN (Obj-GAN) performs fine-grained text-to-image synthesis. Such in-depth granular image synthesis occurs in two steps. At first, a semantic layout (class labels, bounding boxes, shapes of salient objects) is generated and then the generating images are synthesized by a de-convolutional image generator.
  • However semantic layout generation is accomplished with the sentence being served as input to Obj-GAN. This facilitates the Obj-GAN to generate a sequence of objects specified by their bounding boxes (with class labels) and shapes.
  • The box generator is trained as an attentive seq2seq model to generate a sequence of bounding boxes, followed by a shape generator to predict and generate the shape of each object in its bounding box.
  • In the image generation step, the object-driven attentive generator and object-wise discriminator are designed to enable image generation conditioned on the semantic layout generated in the first step. The generator concentrates on synthesizing the image region within a bounding box by focusing on words that are most relevant to the object in that bounding box.
  • Attention-driven context vectors serve as an important tool encode information from the words that are most relevant to that image region. This is accomplished with the help of both patch-wise and object-wise context vectors for defined image regions.
  • Fast R-CNN based object-wise discriminator is also used. It is able to offer rich object-wise discrimination signals. These signals help to determine whether the synthesized object matches the text description and the pre-generated layout.
  • Object-driven attention (paying attention to most relevant words and pre-generated class labels) performs better than traditional grid attention, capable of generates complex scenes in high quality.

The open-source code for Obj-GAN from Microsoft is not available yet.


Source– (License-OpenSource)

5. MirrorGan

  • MirrorGAN is built to emphasize global-local attentive features. It helps in the semantic-preserving text-to-image-to-text framework.
  • MirrorGAN is equipped to learn text-to-image generation by re-description. It is composed of three modules: “a semantic text embedding module (STEM), a global-local collaborative attentive module for cascaded image generation (GLAM), and a semantic text regeneration and alignment module (STREAM)”.
  • STEM generates word-and sentence-level embeddings using recurrent neural network (RNN) to embed the given text description into local word-level features and global sentence-level features.
  • GLAM has a multi-stage cascaded generator. It is designed by stacking three image generation networks sequentially for generating target images from coarse to fine scales. During target image generation, it leverages both local word attention and global sentence. This helps to progressively enhance the diversity and semantic consistency of the generated images.
  • STREAM purposes to regenerate the text description from the generated image. The image semantically aligns with the given text description.
  • Word-level attention model takes in neighboring contextual high related words. This helps to generate an attentive word-context feature. Word embedding and the visual feature is taken as the input in each stage. The word embedding is first converted into an underlying common semantic space of visual features by a perception layer and multiplied with the visual feature to obtain the attention score. Finally, the attentive word-context feature is obtained by calculating the inner product between the attention score and perception layer along with word embedding.
  • MirrorGAN’s two most important components semantic text regeneration and alignment module maintains overall sync between input text and output image. These two modules help to regenerate the text description from the generated image. The output finally semantically aligns with the given text description. In addition, an encoder decoder-based image caption framework is used to generate captions in the architecture. The encoder is a convolutional neural network (CNN) and the decoder is an RNN.
  • MirrorGAN performs better than AttnGAN at all settings by a large margin, demonstrating the superiority of the proposed text-to-image-to-text framework and the global-local collaborative attentive module since MirrorGAN generated high-quality images with semantics consistent with the input text descriptions.

Library and Usage

git clone git@github.com:komiya-m/MirrorGAN.git [python 3.6.8, keras 2.2.4, tensor-flow 1.12.0] Dependencies : easydict, pandas, tqdm python main_clevr.py cd MirrorGAN python pretrain_STREAM.py python train.py

6. StoryGAN

  • Story visualization takes as input a multi-sentence paragraph and generates at its output sequence of images, one for each sentence.
  • Story visualization task is a sequential conditional generation problem where it jointly considers the current input sentence with the contextual information.
  • Story GAN gives less focus on the continuity in generated images (frames), but more on the global consistency across dynamic scenes and characters.
  • Relies on the Text2Gist component in the Context Encoder, where the Context Encoder dynamically tracks the story flow in addition to providing the image generator with both local and global conditional information.
  • Two-level discriminator and the recurrent structure on the inputs help to enhance the image quality and ensure consistency across the generated images and the story to be visualized.

The below figure illustrates a StoryGAN architecture. The variables represented in gray solid circles serves as an input story S and individual sentences s1, . . . , sT with random noise 1, . . . , T . The generator network is built using specific customized components –Story Encoder, Context Encoder and Image Generator. There are two discriminators on top that actively serve its primary task to discriminate each image sentence pair and each image-sequence-story pair is real or fake.


The framework of StoryGAN, Source– LICENSE-MIT

The Story GAN architecture is capable of distinguishing real/fake stories with the feature vectors of the images/sentences in the story when they are concatenated. The product of image and text features is embedded to have a compact feature representation that serves as an input to a fully connected layer. The fully connected layer is employed with a sigmoid non-linearity to predict whether it is a fake or real story pair.


Structure of the story discriminator, Source , LICENSE-MIT

Library and Usage

git clone https://github.com/yitong91/StoryGAN.git   [Python 2.7, PyTorch, cv2]python main_clevr.py

7. Keras-text-to-image :

In Keras text to image translation is achieved using GAN and Word2Vec as well as recurrent neural networks.

It uses DCGan(Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network) which has been a breakthrough in GAN research as it introduces major architectural changes to tackle problems like training instability, mode collapse, and internal covariate shift.


Sample DCGAN Architecture to generate 64×64 RGB pixel images from the LSUN dataset, Source, License -MIT

Library and Usage

git clone https://github.com/chen0040/keras-text-to-image.git import os  import sys  import numpy as np from random import shuffle   def train_DCGan_text_image():     seed = 42      np.random.seed(seed)          current_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)     # add the keras_text_to_image module to the system path     sys.path.append(os.path.join(current_dir, '..'))     current_dir = current_dir if current_dir is not '' else '.'      img_dir_path = current_dir + '/data/pokemon/img'     txt_dir_path = current_dir + '/data/pokemon/txt'     model_dir_path = current_dir + '/models'      img_width = 32     img_height = 32     img_channels = 3          from keras_text_to_image.library.dcgan import DCGan     from keras_text_to_image.library.utility.img_cap_loader import load_normalized_img_and_its_text      image_label_pairs = load_normalized_img_and_its_text(img_dir_path, txt_dir_path, img_width=img_width, img_height=img_height)      shuffle(image_label_pairs)      gan = DCGan()     gan.img_width = img_width     gan.img_height = img_height     gan.img_channels = img_channels     gan.random_input_dim = 200     gan.glove_source_dir_path = './very_large_data'      batch_size = 16     epochs = 1000     gan.fit(model_dir_path=model_dir_path, image_label_pairs=image_label_pairs,             snapshot_dir_path=current_dir + '/data/snapshots',             snapshot_interval=100,             batch_size=batch_size,             epochs=epochs) def load_generate_image_DCGaN():     seed = 42     np.random.seed(seed)      current_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)     sys.path.append(os.path.join(current_dir, '..'))     current_dir = current_dir if current_dir is not '' else '.'          img_dir_path = current_dir + '/data/pokemon/img'     txt_dir_path = current_dir + '/data/pokemon/txt'     model_dir_path = current_dir + '/models'      img_width = 32     img_height = 32          from keras_text_to_image.library.dcgan import DCGan     from keras_text_to_image.library.utility.image_utils import img_from_normalized_img     from keras_text_to_image.library.utility.img_cap_loader import load_normalized_img_and_its_text      image_label_pairs = load_normalized_img_and_its_text(img_dir_path, txt_dir_path, img_width=img_width, img_height=img_height)      shuffle(image_label_pairs)      gan = DCGan()     gan.load_model(model_dir_path)      for i in range(3):         image_label_pair = image_label_pairs[i]         normalized_image = image_label_pair[0]         text = image_label_pair[1]          image = img_from_normalized_img(normalized_image)         image.save(current_dir + '/data/outputs/' + DCGan.model_name + '-generated-' + str(i) + '-0.png')         for j in range(3):             generated_image = gan.generate_image_from_text(text)             generated_image.save(current_dir + '/data/outputs/' + DCGan.model_name + '-generated-' + str(i) + '-' + str(j) + '.png')

Conclusion

Here I have presented some of the popular techniques for generating images from text. You can explore more on some more techniques at https://github.com/topics/text-to-image. Happy Coding!!



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Meet The Nurse Helping Entrepreneurs Train Nursing Assistants Across the Country

Certified Family Nurse Practitioner Victoria Randle

Victoria Randle is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner and CEO of The Secret Cocktail, founded in 2018. It is a business consulting firm that helps develop certified nursing assistant (CNA) schools in all 50 states.

The Secret Cocktail helps technical schools and individuals prepare a state-approved nurse aid training program that exceeds basic standards. She began her career in healthcare as a CNA working in nursing homes and hospitals. After seven years as a CNA, she decided to further her education and went on to obtain three more degrees.

Randle’s healthcare experience is very diverse as she has worked in Burn ICU, Long Term Acute Care, Urgent Care, Occupational Medicine, and has even managed a 56-bed post-surgical unit, just to name a few.

With her 12 years of experience as a nurse in such diverse backgrounds, her knowledge makes her more than capable to help other entrepreneurial-minded men and women start their own nursing schools and flourish. We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with this powerhouse.

Why were you so adamant about helping others start their own CNA Schools?

Starting my own CNA school was a confusing and frustrating endeavor. I wanted to make the process of CNA school ownership streamlined for those who wish to enter it. I also wanted to help create a fast-track educational option for individuals around the world so they could obtain a skill that will pull them out of poverty.

Tell us about your annual retreat and why other medical school owners would want to attend?

My Mastermind Retreat empowers school owners with basic marketing knowledge so that they can either carry out those duties if they need to or they can hold those they hire accountable. I can show them how to get a school approved all day, but if they do not know how to make people aware that it exists as an educational option, approval doesn’t matter.

You’ve created a mentorship program. Tell us about it.

My CNA School Business Building Mentorship allows me to mentor aspiring owners from afar. It is a hybrid program with a combination of online classes and in-person virtual meetings with me or someone from our team. The goal is to walk clients through the complicated process of CNA school startup to ensure they get it done right the first time.


Dr. Jessica Mosley is a serial entrepreneur who loves teaching fellow CEO women how to show up in their truth & power. As Steward Owner of MizCEO Entrepreneurial Media Brand, Sovereign Care Home Care, Sovereign Care Medical Training Center, and Deborah’s Place for Battered Women, Jessica is busy making moves that impact her community & those connected to her.



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A Radical New Model of the Brain Illuminates Its Wiring

Network neuroscience could revolutionize how we understand the brain—and  change our approach to neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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Direct Action Everywhere Uses VR to Take Viewers Inside Factory Farms

In the first of a two-part Get WIRED podcast series, we look at the radical, virtual-reality-based tactics of animal-rights group Direct Action Everywhere.

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Coronavirus: Fighting fake news in a refugee camp

These young refugees cycle round the camp in South Sudan to provide trusted information on Covid-19.

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UK's first Muslim female referee talks learning English, discrimination and career goals

In an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, the UK's first Muslim female referee discusses learning English, how she handles discrimination and her career goals.

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A Week of Uncontrolled Sobbing at a Chinese Business Seminar

I went to a self-breakthrough workshop in Beijing to decipher the country’s tech culture. I left with a transformed vision of my Chinese American self.

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Netflix on YouTube

The Gift S2 | Date Announcement | Netflix
There are more unrevealed truths beyond everything you know. #TheGift season 2 will be only on Netflix on September 10. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. The Gift S2 | Date Announcement | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix Reckoning with a different world, Atiye races against time to realize her destiny as the mysterious syndicate behind Serdar threatens the future.


View on YouTube

Sunday, August 16, 2020

How to Install and Use Docker on Ubuntu 20.04

Docker is a most popular, open-source platform for developers and system administrators to build, run, and share applications with containers. Containerization (the use of containers to deploy applications) is becoming popular because containers are

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Weekly Digest, August 17

Monday newsletter published by Data Science Central. Previous editions can be found here. The contribution flagged with a + is our selection for the picture of the week. To subscribe, follow this link.  

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Mogadishu attack: Somali troops battle gunmen who stormed Elite Hotel

Troops battle suspected al-Shabab militants who stormed the Elite Hotel in the capital, Mogadishu.

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