Tootfinder

Meditation With Ashley Brown
Each week you'll find: Simple meditation insights to understand the mind. Guided practices for calm, focus, and inner freedom. Inspiring conversations with my favourite teachers and wisdom keepers...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustr…

The Democratic Legislative CampaignCommittee (DLCC)
this week announced its first slate of 50 target races for the 2026 midterm elections,
marking the opening phase of what it describes as an aggressive, offense‑first strategy.
The initial list spans eight battleground states:
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Iowa. 
According to the DLCC, these races represent some of the most competitive contests on the ballot, whe…

Democrats Announce 50 New Midterm Target Races
A Democratic campaign source told Newsweek further announcements are expected as primaries end, with GOP seats the main focus.

OpenAI says it is delaying the launch of ChatGPT Adult Mode, originally planned for Q1, to focus on higher priorities, like gains in intelligence (Alex Heath/Sources)
https://sources.news/p/liz-reid-google-search-gemini-interview

Liz Reid on where Google Search ends and Gemini begins
This week on the podcast: the head of Google Search. Also: OpenAI pauses Adult Mode and ends its Code Red, and Anthropic goes on an apology tour.

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#MusicMatters
- Turning the Page
Violinist Tasmin Little speaks to artists about leaving the world of performance behind. This week's focus is on the taboo of injury and the pressure of expectation for soloists.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4t0

Ailsa Craigs are having a big week: Canadian Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen is from Ailsa Craig, Ontario, and Olympic curling means the Scottish island is in focus too. https://geoscienceinfo.com/curling-stones-a-pilgrimage-of-granitic-proportions/

Sources: Meta last week scrapped the most advanced AI chip it was developing, after struggling with the design, and shifted its focus to a less complicated chip (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/metas-internal-chip-design-effo…

Meta’s Internal Chip Design Efforts Hit Roadblocks
As Meta Platforms strikes new chip supply deals with AMD and Nvidia, it has been running into problems with AI chips it is designing internally, according to six people with direct knowledge of the matter. Meta last week scrapped the most advanced chip it was developing for training AI models, ...

Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen, viewed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, will unveil a plan that he says would ensure roughly half of all U.S. workers pay no federal income taxes.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is expected to release the measure next week as Democratic lawmakers search for a sharp economic message to counter last year’s Republican tax law.

Under Van Hollen’s proposal, workers making at or below a “living wage”
— $46,000 for taxpayers filin…

Democrat’s plan would eliminate federal income taxes for half of U.S. workers
Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s tax relief plan could benefit tens of millions of middle-class workers, with a focus on those making at or below a living wage.

Seahawks' Klint Kubiak focused on Super Bowl, not Raiders job https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/seahawks-klint-kubiak-focused-on-super-bowl-not-raiders-job

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#RoundMidnight
- LVDF live in session
Fergus McCreadie, sitting in all week for Soweto Kinch, presents 'Round Midnight - a weeknight celebration of jazz from across the spectrum, with a particular focus on new UK music
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002pm6g

With the eight week improv course ending last week, I timed it well to start a new group with a new set of eight sessions this week.
The Free Association seem more serious than Hoopla. They have 50% longer classes for a start. Three hours rather than two.
More instruction and notes rather than just positive encouragement. Clearer aim even from the early levels. More like a classroom than a playground.
First couple of sets of eight at Hoopla are just aimed at getting you to lose your decorum and allow yourself to be free and spontaneous. All really short form games, lightning rounds. Parlor games rather than theater.
But the Free Association's aim from the start is to get you building scenes and then stories. Their first set of lessons is titled "intro to long form". This one "Scene work".
Not so much the one minute parlor games, more focus on acting and characters and drama.
In vague terms at early stages that is. I mean, they have more in common than different. Plenty of short games in warm-up at FA and I just finished a whole set on drama and story with Hoopla.
Three hours is pretty long though. Starts half an hour earlier, ends half an hour later. Good thing it's also much much closer for me. Ten minute walk instead of 40 minutes on the bus.
We did lots and lots of first-scene head-to-head, mostly concentrating on trying to get specific. Check that after two minutes the audience knows where you are and who you are and how you know each other and what you're doing and none of the players are unsure either. Make it all specific as soon as possible, ambiguity is the enemy.
And everyone got that and exercised it pretty much flawlessly right away. So good group.
#theFreeAssociation #improv #london