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I’m currently cryptocurrency CTO, we’re in the process of launching our cryptocurrency which will change the way we all make payments. But I wanted to share an earlier experience of working with the Ecuadorian government to ensure the cyber and data security of my home nation. It was one of my proudest moments, a unique and rewarding challenge, one that I will never forget. temtum Cyber Security Ecuador I started working with the Ecuadorian government in February 2012. There were many challenges that the government were facing. Firstly in the security of the nation’s systems and networks, and secondly in its data management. There were a number of threats that were the focus at the time: Denial of Service, Malware, Identity theft, Misuse of data and Phishing. I worked along with Christian Chicaiza Security IT Director, Juan Carlos Castillo Infrastructure Director, Gabriel Llumiquinga IT Security Specialist and two IT Security analysts David Arce and Karina Zhamungui. We also interacted with people from the developing team lead by Wilson Flores, and our boss Medardo Mesias, Infrastructure and Security Coordinator. Changing Protocols As part of a team we effectively researched and developed new technology based security projects for the National System of Public Data (SINARDAP, Spanish acronym). Proactively managed security tools, such as: firewalls, IPS, IDS, Antivirus, Load Balancer. Monitored and secured cloud infrastructure, including creating security cloud infrastructure weekly reports. We also designed, developed and managed security procedures for the SINARDAP. Updated, implemented, and monitored standards, policies and security procedures. Proposed strategic maps to improve the security on the cloud infrastructure. We established the requirements to secure the following systems; National Public Data Registration System (SINARDAP, Spanish acronym), National Property Registration System (SNRP, Spanish acronym), National Mercantile Registry System (SNRM, Spanish acronym). We restructured the security backbone of all Registration Institutions and National Public Data Recording Address (DINARDAP Spanish acronym), by implementing endpoint, perimetral, database security amongst others. This meant next generation firewall connected and controlled from the main city and backed up in other cities. IDS, load balancers, access control to web servers. Endpoint security on every computer and server of the institution, which includes antivirus, antispam, port access control and dlp. Access security and database control. Configuration and control changes in servers. CCTV on every Registration Institution to ensure physical security, including biometric systems on specific doors, fire and humidity detection systems, because cybersecurity must be complemented by physical security. As well as dramatically improving cyber security, through these protocols we made it possible for people to get access to their own public data by accessing one website. We have also created the Infodigital System, which is a website that only public institutions can access. They are able to search for citizen public data when they need it, eliminating the use of ID copies and other procedures between institutions. It also reduced the waiting time of the citizen on each procedure. Securing Systems Government systems are a fundamental part of a nation's organisation and political decisions can jeopardise its stability. Some cyber attacks are derived from political decisions that have caused inconvenience to citizens. Therefore, it is advisable to create a business continuity plan, and increase the monitoring of network architecture and systems, especially the most sensitive ones such as health, traffic, national security, among others. Our work reduced the waiting time to complete procedures in commercial registries, property registries and other institutions. On the other hand, the government institutions use the infodigital system internally, so citizens perceive this improvement through the reduction of paperwork. At the beginning, the system generated controversy among citizens since their public data can be consulted from a single access point. However, the standards used, the policies and procedures implemented and the equipment and configurations made generated confidence in the internal and external users of the system. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of the Data Sometimes when adding protection to the information, we forget about the users work. When adding layer after layer of protection, we also add obstacles to users making their work complex. This is why we must keep in mind the CIA triad; confidentiality, integrity and availability of the data, to ensure that data must be available to authorized users, so it can be modified only by them. Confidentiality: Data must be accessed only by the authorised users. For example; In a sales company, the sales staff should have access to the customer database, while human resources staff does not need to. Integrity: Data must be correct and accurate, that’s why it should only be accessed  by authorised users. For example; Dr. Alice has access to her patients' medical records and can generate prescriptions. Changing prescription information could result in a patient's death. Availability: Data must be available when need it. For example; The university's academic year begins and students want to register but the system does not show the available courses. Or even worse, the system is unavailable. Securing a Nation Key vulnerabilities are specific to all nations or organisations, it depends on what you are trying to protect, the company, society and even that particular moment. There are some vulnerabilities that exist in the UK, but there are not exploited in South America because we use different devices or systems. For example, more than 50% of people in the US use iOS while in Ecuador is less than 20%. Therefore, the attacks to iOS vulnerabilities is less in Ecuador than in the US. This does not mean we don’t have to protect ourselves, it means it is not a priority. Every system, company and society need to be analysed before listing the vulnerabilities that has to be addressed in order to prioritise them. At that particular time, we were focused on types of vulnerabilities. Network: during data transmission. Internal users: For authorised access to data and prevent misuse of them. Unsolicited system changes. Denial of Service: monitoring of requests to the system. System Registration: Create procedures so that the citizen owner of his/her data is the owner of the account, avoiding identity theft. Personal and Professional Pride Ever since I started working at DINARDAP I felt proud of myself. Being part of an exceptional group to implement large projects such as; SINARDAP, SNRM and SNRP, that reduce the waiting time for citizens, has been a big part of my life. Knowing that I worked for the citizens and not for a company filled me with pride every day. In August 2013, I began my masters in Forensics IT, I achieved a scholarship to continue my studies but this unfortunately bought my role with the government to an end for the time being. As a female leader technology,  the support my government has given me in my professional and academic career has been incredible. It’s allowed my career to flourish and my confidence to continue to grow.  I am now the CTO of t , a groundbreaking new cryptocurrency that I expect will change the landscape of financial payments and centralised payments networks forever. emtum

Cybersecurity Lessons from Working with the Ecuadorian Government

For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey is part of the HackerNoon Books series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The Gingerbread Boy The Gingerbread Boy Act I Place: A Kitchen. Time: Saturday Morning. The Little Old Man Sits in a corner. The Little Old Woman is seen, too, stirring cake dough and singing as she stirs: “Sugar, and spice, and everything nice— That’s what a little girl’s made of; Snaps, and snails, and puppy dogs’ tails; That’s what a little boy’s made of! “Ah, well-a-day, but I wish I had a little boy for all that! Some one to run to the store, and bring in the kindlings, and drive the cows to pasture, and feed the pig, and get into mischief, and be rocked to sleep in the evening.” She calls to the Little Old Man: “Father! Oh, I say, Father! Fetch me the jug of molasses from the pantry. I am making a gingerbread cake for your supper!” The Little Old Man does not move, or stir. The Little Old Woman calls louder: “Fetch me the molasses jug, Father!” The Little Old Woman crosses to the chimney corner, and shakes the Little Old Man, but he is asleep and does not wake. The Little Old Woman holds up her hands in despair. “Dearie me! I might as well have a broom for a Goodman as he. There is nothing done in the house unless I attend to it myself,” she says. She leaves the kitchen for a moment, returning with the jug of molasses. She pours some molasses into the bowl, stirs again, and finally empties the dough out upon the board, rolling it flat with her rolling pin. Suddenly she stops, rolling pin in air. The Little Old Woman: “I have it! I will make me a Gingerbread Boy!” She works very fast, talking as she shapes the Gingerbread Boy with her fingers. The Little Old Woman: “Here is his dear little head, with currants for eyes, and one raisin for his nose, and three raisins for his mouth. Here is his fine little jacket with a row of currants for buttons; and here are his two fine, fat little legs. Here are his arms, and here are his shoes!” She lays the completed Gingerbread Boy in the baking pan and dances about the kitchen with it in her hands, singing as she dances, the Song of the Gingerbread Man: “Hickory, dickory, dickory, dan; Heigho, I sing for a Gingerbread Man! Currants for eyes, and a round raisin nose, Gingerbread shoes on his gingerbread toes, Gingerbread jacket, so tight and neat, Gingerbread smiles on his face so sweet, Hickory, dickory, dickory, dan; Heigho, I sing for a Gingerbread Man!” As she finishes her song, she opens the imaginary oven door, and, kneeling down, puts in the tin which holds the Gingerbread Boy. Then she shakes the Little Old Man again. The Little Old Woman: “Wake up, I say, Father! Wake up! Wake up! The garden’s to be weeded, and the butter’s to be churned! Wake up, I say, and mind the oven. There’s a fine little Gingerbread Boy baking inside!” The Little Old Man wakes very slowly, and looking all about the kitchen says in a dazed sort of way: “What’s that you say, Mother? I don’t see any little Gingerbread Boy.” The Little Old Woman goes to the stove and points to the oven. “He’s in here baking. Do you mind him while I’m away. In twenty minutes by the clock, do you open the oven door, and the Gingerbread Boy will be baked.” The Little Old Man: “Yes, yes, Mother. Do you go and weed the garden and churn. I’ll sit here, and mind the oven.” The Little Old Woman leaves the kitchen. After she has gone, the Little Old Man re-lights his pipe. Then he gets up from his chair and peeps in the oven door. The Little Old Man: “A fine, fat Boy! A very fine, fat Gingerbread Boy! How his buttons shine, and he is swelling so much that his jacket is splitting. I shall eat him for my supper!” He goes back to his chair, and begins smoking, but soon his head nods. He looks up at the clock. The Little Old Man: “In twenty minutes I will take him out. I think I shall have a short nap in the meantime.” The Little Old Man falls fast asleep again, his pipe falling to the floor. As he sleeps, the oven door opens a little as if some one had pushed it from the inside. The real Gingerbread Boy peeps out through the crack. When he sees that the Little Old Man is asleep, he steps out. He begins blowing on his fingers and he puts them in his mouth as if they were burned. He fans himself with the baking tin which he brings with him out of the oven, and he hops about the kitchen on the tips of his toes. The Gingerbread Boy: “My, but that oven was warm! I might have been burned to a crisp before any one remembered to take me out. So this is my new home!” He looks about in all the corners of the kitchen. “And this is my new father!” He goes over to the Little Old Man, and pulls his wig. Then he sits down, cross-legged on the hearth, and goes on talking to himself. The Gingerbread Boy: “I don’t know whether I want to live in this house or not. I know what little boys have to do.” He counts on his fingers: “They have to run to the store, and bring in kindlings, and drive the cows and feed the pigs. I’d rather have a good time. I think I will run away.” He jumps up, and looks around the room, cautiously. “There’s nobody here to see me go. Hurrah! Hurrah! Here I go, off by myself to see the world!” He runs lightly out of the kitchen. Act II Place: A country road. The Gingerbread Boy is discovered, sitting on top of the wall, talking to himself. The Gingerbread Boy: “Here I am, out by myself, seeing the world. The world’s a very pleasant place, only I do wish I were not made of gingerbread, and I do wish that everybody wasn’t so hungry. Wherever I travel some one wants to eat me. Bless my buttons, there comes some one now!” The Mowers come slowly along with their scythes over their shoulders. They sing as they walk: “On Chopnose Day the Mowers rise, As every one supposes, And march upon the grass and flowers, And cut off all their noses.” Suddenly the Mowers discover the Gingerbread Boy. First Mower: “Who sits there on top of the wall?” Second Mower: “It is a little boy made of gingerbread.” First Mower: “Let us eat him!” Second Mower, going up to the Gingerbread Boy: “Good morning, my lad, where do you come from, and where are you going this fine morning?” The Gingerbread Boy hops down from the wall, and dances away on the tips of his toes: “I’ve run away from a Little Old Woman, And a Little Old Man. I can run away from you, I can!Run, run, as fast as you can,You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!” He disappears, followed by the Mowers, but reappears at the other end of the road, looking frightened and out of breath. The Gingerbread Boy: “They didn’t catch me that time, but you never can tell what’s going to happen next. There comes somebody else.” The Threshers are seen passing with their flails over their backs. One of the Threshers: “Who is that by the side of the road?” A Second Thresher: “That is a Gingerbread Boy!” Both of the Threshers, going up to the Gingerbread Boy very fiercely: “Come with us and be eaten, my lad!” The Gingerbread Boy dances a little way ahead of the Threshers as he calls back to them: “I’ve run away from a Little Old Woman, And a Little Old Man, Some Mowers—and—I can run away from you, I can.Run, run, as fast as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.” He runs away a second time, followed by the Threshers, but he is seen in a moment at the end of the road. He climbs up on the wall again. The Gingerbread Boy: “I wonder who will try and eat me next!” He puts his hand up to his eyes. “There comes some one now!” The Pig enters, grunting. The Pig: “One of us went to market; and one of us stayed at home. One of us had roast beef, but I’m the Pig who had none!” “I’m hungry enough to eat green apples. Ahe! What do I see? A Gingerbread Boy!” He walks up to the wall, and stands on his back feet, but he cannot reach to the top. The Gingerbread Boy dances on top of the wall. “I’ve run away from a Little Old Woman, And a Little Old Man, Some Mowers, some Threshers—and— I can get away from you, I can. Jump, jump, as high as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!” The Pig tries to get the Gingerbread Boy, but he is not able to, and he walks away, still grunting. The Gingerbread Boy: “Well, he didn’t get me. I believe I am able to take care of myself after all. Why, who is that great creature, coming down the road?” The Fox enters. He sees the Gingerbread Boy, but he pretends that he does not. He sits down and waits. The Gingerbread Boy watches the Fox. Then he speaks to him. “I’ve run away from a Little Old Woman, A Little Old Man, Some Mowers, some Threshers, a Pig—and— I can run away from you, I can!” the Gingerbread Boy says. The Fox speaks in a deep, gruff voice, without moving. The Fox: “Step a little closer, Sonny. I’m very hard of hearing.” The Gingerbread Boy jumps down from the wall, and goes quite close to the Fox, speaking very loudly: “I’ve run away from a Little Old Woman, A Little Old Man. Some Mowers, some Threshers, a Pig—and— I can run away from you, I can!” The Fox speaks again, without moving. The Fox: “You will have to step closer yet, Sonny, I’m very, very hard of hearing.” The Gingerbread Boy goes up to the Fox, shouting in his ear. As he does so, the Fox eats him up. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin. 2018. For the Story Teller: Story Telling and Stories to Tell. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58107/58107-h/58107-h.htm#Page_153 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

Stories for Telling: The Gingerbread Boy

Authors:
(1) Omri Avrahami, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
(2) Amir Hertz, Google Research;
(3) Yael Vinker, Google Research and Tel Aviv University;
(4) Moab Arar, Google Research and Tel Aviv University;
(5) Shlomi Fruchter, Google Research;
(6) Ohad Fried, Reichman University;
(7) Daniel Cohen-Or, Google Research and Tel Aviv University;
(8) Dani Lischinski, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction
Related Work
Method
Experiments
Limitations and Conclusions
A. Additional Experiments
B. Implementation Details
C. Societal Impact
References 5. Limitations and Conclusions We found our method to suffer from the following limitations: (a) Inconsistent identity — in some cases, our method is not able to converge to a fully consistent identity (without overfitting). As demonstrated in Figure 8(a), when trying to generate a portrait of a robot, our method generated robots with slightly different colors and shapes (e.g., different arms). This may result from a prompt that is too general, for which identity clustering (Section 3.1) is not able to find a sufficiently cohesive set. (b) Inconsistent supporting characters/elements— although our method is able to find a consistent identity for the character described by the input prompt, the identities of other characters, related to the input character (e.g., their pet), might be inconsistent. For example, in Figure 8(b) the input prompt p to our method described only the girl, and when asked to generate the girl with her cat, different cats were generated. In addition, our framework does not support finding multiple concepts concurrently [6]. (c) Spurious attributes — we found that in some cases, our method binds additional attributes, which are not part of the input text prompt, with the final identity of the character. For example, in Figure 8(c), the input text prompt was “a sticker of a ginger cat”, however, our method added green leaves to the generated sticker, even though it was not asked to do so. This stems from the stochastic nature of the text-to-image model — the model added these leaves in some of the stickers generated during the identity clustering stage (Section 3.1), and the stickers containing the leaves happened to form the most cohesive set ccohesive. (d) Significant computational cost — each iteration of our method involves generating a large number of images, and learning the identity of the most cohesive cluster. It takes about 20 minutes to converge into a consistent identity. Reducing the computational costs is an appealing direction for further research. In conclusion, in this paper we offered the first fully-automated solution to the problem of consistent character generation. We hope that our work will pave the way for future advancements, as we believe this technology of consistent character generation may have a disruptive effect on numerous sectors, including education, storytelling, entertainment, fashion, brand design, advertising, and more. Acknowledgments. We thank Yael Pitch, Matan Cohen, Neal Wadhwa and Yaron Brodsky for their valuable help and feedback. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Omri Avrahami, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; (2) Amir Hertz, Google Research; (3) Yael Vinker, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (4) Moab Arar, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (5) Shlomi Fruchter, Google Research; (6) Ohad Fried, Reichman University; (7) Daniel Cohen-Or, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (8) Dani Lischinski, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Authors: Authors: (1) Omri Avrahami, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; (2) Amir Hertz, Google Research; (3) Yael Vinker, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (4) Moab Arar, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (5) Shlomi Fruchter, Google Research; (6) Ohad Fried, Reichman University; (7) Daniel Cohen-Or, Google Research and Tel Aviv University; (8) Dani Lischinski, Google Research and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Related Work Method Experiments Limitations and Conclusions A. Additional Experiments B. Implementation Details C. Societal Impact References Abstract and Introduction Abstract and Introduction Related Work Related Work Method Method Experiments Experiments Limitations and Conclusions Limitations and Conclusions A. Additional Experiments A. Additional Experiments B. Implementation Details B. Implementation Details C. Societal Impact C. Societal Impact References References 5. Limitations and Conclusions We found our method to suffer from the following limitations: (a) Inconsistent identity — in some cases, our method is not able to converge to a fully consistent identity (without overfitting). As demonstrated in Figure 8(a), when trying to generate a portrait of a robot, our method generated robots with slightly different colors and shapes (e.g., different arms). This may result from a prompt that is too general, for which identity clustering (Section 3.1) is not able to find a sufficiently cohesive set. (b) Inconsistent supporting characters/elements— although our method is able to find a consistent identity for the character described by the input prompt, the identities of other characters, related to the input character (e.g., their pet), might be inconsistent. For example, in Figure 8(b) the input prompt p to our method described only the girl, and when asked to generate the girl with her cat, different cats were generated. In addition, our framework does not support finding multiple concepts concurrently [6]. (c) Spurious attributes — we found that in some cases, our method binds additional attributes, which are not part of the input text prompt, with the final identity of the character. For example, in Figure 8(c), the input text prompt was “a sticker of a ginger cat”, however, our method added green leaves to the generated sticker, even though it was not asked to do so. This stems from the stochastic nature of the text-to-image model — the model added these leaves in some of the stickers generated during the identity clustering stage (Section 3.1), and the stickers containing the leaves happened to form the most cohesive set c cohesive . (d) Significant computational cost — each iteration of our method involves generating a large number of images, and learning the identity of the most cohesive cluster. It takes about 20 minutes to converge into a consistent identity. Reducing the computational costs is an appealing direction for further research. cohesive In conclusion, in this paper we offered the first fully-automated solution to the problem of consistent character generation. We hope that our work will pave the way for future advancements, as we believe this technology of consistent character generation may have a disruptive effect on numerous sectors, including education, storytelling, entertainment, fashion, brand design, advertising, and more. Acknowledgments . We thank Yael Pitch, Matan Cohen, Neal Wadhwa and Yaron Brodsky for their valuable help and feedback. Acknowledgments This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

The Chosen One: Consistent Characters in Text-to-Image Diffusion Models: Limitations and Conclusions

Will you love me, no matter what? Will you hold me, even when nobody else will? Will you see me, The way I see you? -Day 345. The year of the plague. My name is Kevwe. I am a runner. That’s what the regulators called me. One of the few who survived the holocaust, I was a living legend. They said so many things about me, not all of them good. But I didn’t mind, I was a runner. An elite. A force of nature. My feet landed on the rough surface of a debilitated house, and I took off into the air again. The wind felt alive somehow, caressing my face with gentle touches that’d make a hard guy cry. My legs were my weapons, my sole reason for existence. I jumped again. The sole of my foot lightly grazed a serrated edge, and I stifled a wince as the pain lanced straight up my body. It was a spark; it was burning me from within. I gritted my teeth and kept running, leaping from one ruin to another, making the wasteland into my playground. A runner like me was necessary in the efforts of the Resistance. We were spread thin, and the commanders feared a retaliation from the unknown forces. Nigeria. A wasteland of ruins and darkness. I ran, my breath coming in ragged gasps. My eyes stayed ahead, not daring to look at the large gash on my toes. The pain gave me laser focus as I leapt from one edge to another.  Brown, the world was brown. Drained of colour, like rust. Like the days I wished to die. The sky was tinged with a coppery colour. It began as soon as the plague ravaged through the world like quickfire. It's more like an inferno. The death rates were enough to cause alarm and halt regular working hours. School too. Everything came to a standstill. That was the end of the future I designed from an overactive imagination. I didn’t want to be a runner at first, but a runner could outrun the plague. The humanoid viruses mutated at an alarming rate. The death bugs. Or so they were called. That was the first thing they mutated into; Bugs. Flying bugs. As disgusting as that would seem. Their intelligence seemed to increase the higher the form they took. Pale, translucent beings. Beings that stole faces and futures. Beings of unknown origin. That’s what they’d become. I didn’t know if that was the last stage of their evolution, but knowing how low humans were on the food chain? It was probably not. That’s why I run. To outrun my death. I was told that the beings would become stronger and probably outrun a runner but, I didn’t bank on that. Their intelligence was limited. They remained in the base form of whatever organism they consumed; Humans included. Which means that they were blissfully average. Good news? Definitely not. Imagine humans that never tire out, humans that have no heart to pump blood or a brain to signify when they need to stop. They were unstoppable demons with no known way to die. How do you kill an unstoppable creature? The answer is, you don’t. You run and pray to all the gods that they don’t catch you. You run until your heart fails you and you don’t stop even after that. You run, even if it kills you. Funnily enough, there was a reason for running. The soul tablets. The infected are those the virus creatures couldn’t completely consume. But their minds are gone, worse than patients with dementia. They don’t live, their hearts still beat rhythmically in their chests but they remain living husks; caricatures of what they once were. Death sometimes seemed merciful. But, killing them would mean killing half of the population. It would mean the bastard creatures won. The soul tablets can only be found in those ruins and more often than not, the vile creatures ingest those tablets to understand humans better. They don’t need minds, the soul tablets sort of dances in their vision and they see what they have to do. Hence, the soul tablets are important. For us runners, because we get to see our loved ones come alive again, even when they never say a word. It was worth heaven and earth. To see the smile that’d light up their faces. That’s why I run. But, I was already compromised. The cut from the roof, the trail of blood that followed in my wake with every leap. The creatures could smell blood. I didn’t know how or why but a lot of them have consumed those I used to run with. Kemi, Shola, Etus, Akachi, etc. I once called them friends. But, they were taken. By the Bloodless. The only virus with intelligence. They could run even better than me, but they couldn’t outrun their deaths. Fucking hell. I almost missed a step when I saw the dim light of a soul tablet underneath a jumbled mass of buildings that had seen better days. I stopped abruptly, glad that I didn’t miss it. I took a look around the ruins, some of the walls unable to survive the rust and falling apart from a light touch. The sky still shone as copper, a sickly colour. On most evenings, it was tinged with red. The walls of most of the houses in the ruins had paint peeling off the few that still remained standing. Sometimes, I wondered how the world went to hell in such a short time. “You got here first. And… you’re bleeding.” I heard a voice from behind me and turned to stare at the girl that just landed, as lithe as a cat. She had a small grin on her face, as though smiling was beneath her. Her full eyebrows raised a millimeter, her coffee brown irises staring straight through me and into my soul. She was dressed like I was, an all black getup. But hers made her seem… hot. Yes, I am stupid. The wall is falling apart and I’m thinking about a girl’s body. How original. “Don’t gawk at me. You’re not Keno. I can swear her eyes follow me wherever I go.” The new arrival, Zenith, shuddered as though in remembrance of something awful. I didn’t blame her, Keno could be overbearing sometimes. “Slow poke.” I quipped, earning an elbow for my troubles. Zenith could be violent. Very. “Just because you got here first doesn’t make you faster. Just stupid. Belligerent. Insufferable. Obnoxious. You never listen. We were meant to form ranks..” Ah yes, one of Zenith’s famous lectures. Form ranks, go in pairs or groups. Nobody left alone. Or some other balderdash. How infuriating. “You know, I can’t tell which words are real and which are fake. You know, with you throwing words You’re literally a walking dictionary.” She bristled, and I knew that I hit a nerve. Zenith was always so particular about grammar. What a waste. The world had fallen apart. Who would she have read Shakespeare to? The ? upandan. Bloodless “Don’t. Luis and Raheem are up ahead. Scouting and trying to erase the blood with those mighty knapsack of theirs. You might just get whooped this time. Now, let me see that cut.” She ordered, as matronly as ever. That was our Zenith, the mother of the group. A pity Etus couldn’t see her anymore, they were a thing for the longest time. She cleaned the cut and applied antiseptic, not risking to use anything over the top while we were out in the open. She could seal something as small as a cut but it took time and time was what we didn’t have. I stared at the sky as it darkened and Raheem more or less flew out from over a building. He scaled the building right in front of my eyes. One seconds he wasn’t there and the next, he was. “Such petty tricks. I do it better.” Luis grumbled as he came into view about two seconds after Raheem did. Raheem was the narcissist, his looks didn’t help either. He had the hots for Zenith but she acted blind to his advances. It was usually tension filled running with them. I preferred to do it alone. “Grab all the soul tablets you can. We meet in the food canteen after all of this. Kevwe, can you run?” Zenith turned to me. I nodded in the affirmative. Thankfully, Luis and Raheem ignored me. They always did. I didn’t exist to them, not in the ways that mattered. I was the insubordinate brat. Or so they put it. I took off in a run after carrying as much soul tablets as I could, placing them in the backpack I carried. They weighed me down a little but not by much. Zenith was close behind. I could heard an otherworldly sound as the creatures rose from whatever they were doing. They set sights on us, hoarding the soul tablets. “Fuck you, Kevwe! Fuck you! You caused this with your need to prove a point!” Raheem cursed out loud but I didn’t say a word in retaliation. We weren’t going to make it. When the creatures were fully awake, they had no limits. They ran like normal humans but they didn’t lose stamina. They didn’t die. Will she forgive me, if I go this way? I stopped thinking and focused on running, hoping that maybe I could do something about the hoard coming for us. “Any ideas?” Zenith asked Luis. Thankfully, she didn’t mention Raheem words even if she knew that I doomed all of us. “We survive? Get to the gate and use a soul tablet? I don’t know.” Luis replied honestly, trying to not show fear in his voice. But I knew that tone. Etus had it too. Dami did too. That reckless bravado. “Let’s do this, boys!” Zenith said, her voice carrying over to the other two. Raheem nodded and quickened his pace. We vaulted over buildings like they were made of straw sacks, our shoes never really touching the ground before we are moving again. “I’ll buy you time. Run.” I said, grinding to a halt. I caused it, I had to handle the consequences. “Don’t fucking do it. You’re not a saint! You’re a selfish bastard who only thinks of himself and nothing else. Run!” Raheem screamed at me, stopping abruptly too. Zenith and Luis were long gone. “I won’t. I’m sorry. It’s my turn now.” I said, totally ready to sacrifice myself. “Like hell I’ll let you.” He said and then, cracked a soul tablet, flinging the essence on me. “Now run, you bastard. And don’t stop, or I’ll haunt you.” He turned to face the hoard already almost upon us, the soul tablet doing its job by clearing my head and doing everything to remind me of the fear of death. So, I ran. I turned to look back at him, wondering why he did what he did. Hate still burned in his eyes. But this time, I could understand. I activated my shoes as I got close to the gate, phasing in as my body became as translucent as the creatures who stole from us. I was in. It was a modest place with walls high enough for me to crane my neck to get a good view. A fortress of stone. I made my way up to stairs to report to the leader of my platoon; Zenith. “Where’s Raheem?” She asked as soon as her eyes landed on me. Another one. Dead. “He didn’t make it. He sacrificed himself to save me.” I responded as truthfully as I could as I heard her sharp intake of breath. The world stopped. “You may leave.” She said, a certain steeliness in her voice. I walked out, unable to say the words I wanted to. The tales of Raheems’s bravery at the last moments. I made my way to the infirmary, a soul tablet in hand. My mind fractured. I never expected to feel pain for someone like Raheem. But the pain threatened to tear my heart asunder. People made way for me as I headed to the bed at the furthest corner of the room. A sickly form of a woman laid on a cot that’d seen better days. I placed the soul tablet gingerly on her hand, watching her for any signs of recognition. Nothing. And like that, one soul tablet was absorbed without any noticeable change. I walked back out dejected, my back hunched. Zenith was walking towards me, tears dotting her eyes. They were red from tears. She grabbed me by the front of my clothes, slamming my back on the nearest wall. “Bring. Raheem. Back.” She spoke through gritted teeth, her pain was so acute, I could taste it on my tongue. “I can’t.” I said, the words being choked out of my mouth. “A vegetable lays on that damn bed you haven’t left in over 300 days. You’ve been responsible for the deaths of so many of us because of your hypocrisy. You watched him die!” She screamed, her voice accusing. No trace of the leader she had always been. “He did. He died to protect me.” I replied, sincerely hoping she did me the favour and killed me right there. “You..” She managed to let me go, grief wracking her body. She screamed, her voice breaking. I just watched. It was a festival of pain. That night, she apologized to me for the statements she made. I was grateful she forgave. She was found dead the next day. Suicide. How many more will you kill to resurrect the dead? Zenith didn’t deserve to die. Raheem didn’t. Etus didn’t. I was the problem, the anomaly. They hated me, I hated me. I went back to the infirmary, taking hold of her hand. Her skin was hollow and almost translucent. I recovered her from the jaws of death. But maybe, I should have died instead. “I hate me. I love you. I hate what I have to put you through, but if you ever wake, I apologize. They died, to save me. To save my childish fantasy. I never wanted to lose so much. But then, if it is going to save you, I don’t mind. Even if the world itself turns against me, I’ll stand by you. Even when all I want to do is die. I hope you remember the days I spent, talking to you about nothing at all. I hope you don’t cry when you wake. I hope… you find something. Someone. You’re the one I’ve always loved and if I could sacrifice the world to save you… goodbye, Seta.” I felt her hand squeeze mine. I stared again but it seemed to be a trick of my mind. I placed a kiss on her forehead and walked out. The last sacrifice. * We will rise, Even from ashes. -Day 7321. The years after the plague. I stand and watch his tombstone. I barely remember his voice, I barely remember everything. But I stand by his tombstone, as an act of penance. By all of their tombstones. The runners. Humanity’s last bastion of defense. The viruses mutated once more and migrated to space. They lost interest in humans. When I awoke, I could only remember a voice. His voice. They’ll always be remembered, even though they died needlessly. Luis still stands. The last runner standing. Although he doesn’t have to run anymore, but I’ve never seen him smile. Not once. He stares into the distance, looking over the horizon. The sky is blue. Mankind is building again. We’re a few millions in Nigeria now. Immigrants, hidden bunkers. The sky no longer looks dead. Can you see this, runners? I do hope you can. You deserve to. Heroes. Of earth. -Unknown.

The End of Everything 

দ্য এন্ড অফ এভরিথিং

Das Ende von allem

El fin de todo

La fin de tout

हर चीज़ का अंत

すべての終わり

모든 것의 끝

O fim de tudo

Конец всего

Herşeyin Sonu

Sự kết thúc của mọi thứ

一切的终结

Drone deliveries could be the next big thing if logistics companies find a way to overcome the current hurdles. How long will it take them to figure things out? What Drone Delivery Could Look Like So far, the commercial sector has shown interest in various short-range drone applications. Last-mile delivery is one of the most likely uses for drones in logistics since the technology is better suited for brief trips. While conventional vans can travel incredibly long distances, the cost of deploying them in the last leg of shipping is absurdly high. Same-day delivery is another likely application because drones are small, fast, and lightweight. More importantly, they can typically only hold one package at a time, making them perfect for urgent order fulfillment. The food and grocery delivery surge highlights another potential application for cost-effective drones. While app-based services are popular, companies lose money paying their drivers. For example, Uber only — it lost millions every year prior. started making a profit in 2023 Pros of Using Drones for Package Deliveries There are numerous benefits to using drones for package deliveries. Fast Delivery Autonomous drones could cut delivery times in half. They can deliver lightweight packages because they’re agile and small. A large fleet could easily make thousands of deliveries daily. faster than conventional vehicles Inexpensive Operation Semi-trucks and delivery vans use diesel or gas, which is expensive and fluctuates in price often. On the other hand, drones use electricity, which is relatively inexpensive. In other words, their cost per trip is typically much lower. Higher Efficiency Drones are fast and use little fuel because roadways, traffic lights, congestion, or car accidents don’t hinder them. Instead, they can fly in a semi-direct path toward their target address. They're more efficient since they can achieve a higher delivery quota than trucks. Increased Accessibility Addresses in remote or congested areas can be challenging to get to by truck. Drones can travel to these spots with little trouble, increasing delivery accessibility — and potentially increasing order frequency. Automatic Delivery Autonomous drones pose less of a risk to public safety than self-driving vehicles. At the same time, they offer all of the benefits of automation — they can deliver packages around the clock, never have to take breaks, and won’t suffer from human-error-related mistakes. Cons of Using Drones for Package Deliveries As great as the benefits of drone deliveries are, downsides do exist. Unreliable Unfortunately, modern drones aren’t the most robust technology — a strong gust of wind or unpleasant weather can easily knock them off course. If conditions aren’t ideal, they won’t be able to leave the fulfillment center to make deliveries. Complex Currently, there are few out-of-the-box solutions for commercial drone delivery. Autonomous flight , requiring technology like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and GPS-independent navigation to work. Properly developing and integrating everything can be a highly complex undertaking. is very resource-intensive Involved Logistics companies can only deploy a fleet if they have storage space, chargers, navigation software, insurance, and maintenance. Developing the infrastructure to make drone deliveries is time-consuming and expensive. Expensive Commercial drones are expensive — on average, in 2024. Unfortunately, the price will only drop to $500 by 2028. Logistics companies will have to invest a significant portion of their budget into the upfront expenses alone. a single one costs $520 Error-Prone While conventional vehicles can experience a flat tire or a dead battery, the driver can fix it or call for assistance. If a drone suffers from a technical issue mid-air, it could land in a tree, on a roof or in the middle of a road, irreversibly damaging it and its package. Finding and retrieving it might be impossible if its geolocation features malfunction. Restricted Drones can only carry relatively lightweight packages. They’d have to be much larger to lift bulk or heavy objects — and who wants all that weight flying precariously above their head? Preventable Challenges to Widespread Adoption One of the most preventable challenges to the widespread adoption is drop-off uncertainty. Media often depicts drones gracefully swooping down and gingerly placing a package right where it needs to be. In reality, they need a pre-determined location like a parcel locker. Unoperated drones aren’t capable of the precision that placing a package at the right doorstep requires, so pick-up locations are ideal. However, they have to get relatively low to the ground to make these deliveries, meaning there’s a high likelihood of interference. While logistics companies can hope people remain civil, only some are fond of this novel delivery method. Residents of one town after the tech giant rolled them out. Although they’d face repercussions from destroying or damaging anything, the ensuing legal battles and replacement costs could be high. discussed shooting down Amazon’s drones At the very least, general public hesitation is another challenge halting widespread adoption. According to one survey, feel worried about potential drone accidents. Their concerns aren’t unfounded, either — drones are far more likely to crash than aircraft. nearly three in 10 people The issue of red tape is technically preventable but would be challenging in reality. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Part 107 rule between the pilot and their drone at all times. Australia and the United Kingdom have similar regulations. This technicality all but prevents autonomous deliveries. requires a line of sight Moreover, operators must get a remote pilot certificate, register, certify, and pass tests before ever being able to fly — or watch over — a drone. Even if they have all these credentials, they can’t fly above 400 feet or over congested areas. The regulations are strict. While these challenges are all preventable with enough effort, money, and time, they still are massive obstacles to standardizing drone delivery. Unless a pioneering logistics company works to change things, they will remain in the way. Unavoidable Challenges to Widespread Adoption Logistics companies can’t remove every hurdle to adoption. Weather is one of the biggest obstacles — drones can’t fly in hail, fog, rain, sleet, or windy conditions. If it’s too hot out, their lifting capacity drops drastically, and their batteries drain much faster in the cold. Essentially, they are relatively useless unless it’s mild out. Their range is another longstanding challenge. Currently, autonomous drones can only get so far — a few miles, to be precise. For logistics companies to make an adequate return on investment, they’d need to build a micro-fulfillment center next to every major city. Obstacles are another frequently overlooked — and unavoidable — challenge. While autonomous delivery drones are often equipped with computer vision, artificial intelligence, and sensors, they won’t be able to recognize objects as well as humans. In other words, they have a much higher chance of running into power lines, low-flying aircraft, trees, birds, and people. What the Future of Drone Delivery Will Look Like While drone technology has potential, it’s facing some significant hurdles. Even if the FAA’s regulations suddenly disappeared, their success isn’t guaranteed. In fact, companies have yet to make much progress even though the FAA has already pulled back. Its 2021 rule change , enabling them to fly at night and over moving vehicles without a waiver. loosened commercial drone restrictions Still, the winds of change are definitely blowing. In 2021, registered their drones. More and more logistics enterprises are recognizing the potential of this technology. roughly 1.3 million commercial pilots Crucially, the general public’s awareness and acceptance of this technology is shifting. According to one study, to use package delivery drones if the option existed. While logistical adoption of the drone market, it likely won’t be an option at checkout for years. seven in 10 people would prefer is the fastest-growing portion Drones Could Be the Future of Logistics While delivery drones might not become a thing for years — possibly even decades — it’s clear that logistics brands are hard at work trying to make this technology happen. It could soon become the standard.

How Close Are We to Widespread Drone Deliveries?

আমরা ড্রোন ডেলিভারি ব্যাপকভাবে কতটা কাছাকাছি?

Wie nah sind wir an einer weit verbreiteten Verbreitung von Drohnenlieferungen?

¿Qué tan cerca estamos de las entregas generalizadas de drones?

À quel point sommes-nous proches des livraisons généralisées par drones ?

हम व्यापक ड्रोन डिलीवरी के कितने करीब हैं?

ドローン配送の普及はどのくらい近づいているのでしょうか?

드론 배송이 널리 확산되는 데 얼마나 가까이 다가왔나요?

Quão perto estamos das entregas generalizadas de drones?

Насколько мы близки к распространению доставки дронами?

Yaygın Drone Teslimatlarına Ne Kadar Yakınız?

Chúng ta đã tiến gần đến việc giao hàng bằng máy bay không người lái rộng rãi đến mức nào?

我们距离广泛的无人机送货还有多远？

Jingle Codes, Jingle Codes, Secure All The Way: Harness the Holiday Cheer to Fortify Your Code with Zero Trust Security Practices Unwrap the gift of impenetrable security this holiday season as we take you on a sleigh ride through the snowy realm of Zero Trust architecture. Get ready to deck your code with the latest in cybersecurity as we illuminate the path to a joyful and breach-free coding wonderland. Building Secure Software with Cheer: A Guide to Code-Mas Eve 🎅🎁 In this festive edition of our developer's guide, we embark on a joyful coding journey filled with the spirit of the holiday season. Imagine every line of code as a gift of security, wrapped in the warmth of Christmas cheer. Let us guide our readers through a winter wonderland of secure coding. Developers ensure the security of their devices, just like Santa checks his sleigh. With digital reindeer reins, devices are verified and trusted, keeping potential threats at bay. 🎄🔒🎅 Device security is crucial. Developers authenticate and safeguard devices to prevent unauthorized access. Only trusted devices can participate in holiday coding festivities. This is just a glimpse into secure coding practices. In a future blog post, we will explore enhancing device security and application integrity. 🔒💻🎄 Let's continue our journey through the coding wonderland, ensuring every step is imbued with the spirit of zero trust. Together, we can create a digital holiday season that is merrier and safer for all. Happy coding! 🎅💻❄️ Jingle Bells, Hackers Smell, Keep Them Far Away 🎶🔒 Imagine every developer wearing a Santa hat, each line of code a gift of security. It's not enough to leave milk and cookies out for Santa; we must also leave a trail of obfuscated cookie crumbs (code) so convoluted that even the smartest cyber-Grinch's GPS fails to map it. 🎅🎄🔒 (Please send me a private message to receive the mermaid diagram code.) 😊 Pillar 1: A Candy Cane Fence Around User Identity 🍬🔒 Every time a bell rings, a developer ensures secure protection of user IDs. Authentication checks are twisted into the code, creating a robust defense against fake Santas trying to sneak into our holiday app party. This peppermint wall of security guarantees only genuine users can access the festivities. Developers diligently build and maintain this protective barrier, ensuring our holiday app remains safe and joyful for all. 🍬🔒🧑‍💻 To delve deeper into the importance of user authentication and effective security measures, developers can These measures create a fortified fortress of security that allows only authorized users into the holiday app wonderland. 🔒🔑🎉 incorporate multi-factor authentication, strong password policies, and secure session management. This is just a glimpse into secure coding practices. In another blog post, we will explore additional ways developers can protect user data and enhance application security. 🔒🔐💻 Pillar 2: Sleigh Integrity - No Reindeer Games Here 🛷🔒 Just as Santa checks the integrity of his sleigh before every flight, developers meticulously scrutinize the security of their devices. Picture wrapping each device in the digital equivalent of reindeer reins, ensuring its identity and trustworthiness. With a resounding "On Dasher, on Dancer..." these reins grant access only to the verified members of the fleet, keeping the wolves in reindeer clothing at bay. 🛷🔒🦌 Device security is a crucial aspect of our coding winter wonderland. Developers take great care in confirming the authenticity and reliability of each device, safeguarding against unauthorized access and potential threats. By implementing stringent security measures and robust device authentication, developers create a fortified environment where only trusted devices can participate in holiday coding festivities. 🔒💻🎄 Pillar 3: Securely Singing Through the Snowy Network ❄️🔒 A sleigh bell's jingle ensures it's heard through the snow, much like how we need our network traffic to sing clearly and securely through the internet's blizzard. This ensures that our messages and information remain protected, like whispered secrets, as they traverse the digital landscape. ❄️🔒🔔 Developers meticulously tune each data packet, transitioning it from the normal tone to a cryptographic melody. Pillar 4: Backend Workshop Security - Elves Only Beyond This Point 🧑‍💻🔒 Keeping Santa's workshop secure is of utmost importance, just like safeguarding the backend of our applications. While cookies are delightful treats, we must ensure they don't become stepping stones for cyber-criminals. Developers take on the role of vigilant elves, Only fellow elves or authorized users possess the knowledge and tools to unlock these defenses. 🎅🧑‍💻🔒 fortifying the workshop doors with intricate puzzles and robust locks in the form of secure code. Pillar 5: Encrypting the Presents (Data) Under the Tree 🎁🔒 In the spirit of the holiday season, developers take great care in ensuring the secure delivery of data, just like wrapping presents. They meticulously wrap data chunks with encryption so complex that it's comparable to ribbons that require an engineering degree and a pair of pliers to untie. Just as kids should never find their gifts before Christmas morning, This dedication to data security reflects the commitment of developers to create a winter wonderland of cybersecurity, where the joy and surprise of secure communication are preserved. 🎁🔒🎄 developers ensure that the wrapped data remains a mystery until it reaches its intended recipient. Pillar 6: Visions of Logs Danced in Their Heads - Analytics & Monitoring 📊🔒 Imagine logs (the data kind) burning bright, with developers cozy around the fire analyzing the flames. We ensure that , keeping the holiday cybersecurity hearth safe and warm. 📊🔥🔒 not a single ember (threat) pops out of the fireplace unexpectedly Developers meticulously analyze logs and monitor application activities to identify and address any potential threats or vulnerabilities. By keeping a watchful eye on the logs, they can ensure a secure and protected environment for the holiday coding festivities. Pillar 7: Automation All the Way - Oh What Fun It Is to Code 🤖💻🔒 There's no time for manual sleigh steering in a Zero Trust wonderland. Developers embrace automation to streamline security measures, These automated security protocols self-correct their courses at each jolly jingle junction, freeing developers to enjoy the holiday code cocoa. 🤖💻🔒 allowing smart algorithms to handle the grunt work. Conclusion: Embracing Zero Trust for Secure Coding in a Winter Wonderland As we wrap up our coding journey through the winter wonderland of secure coding, let's reflect on the importance of our efforts. Just as we string the lights of secure protocols and hang the mistletoe of encrypted data, we ensure that our codebases are fortified against cyber threats. The meticulous work we do as developers ensures that every digital stocking is hung with care and every gingerbread code-man is buttoned up against the cold, making our cyber celebrations merry and bright. 🎅🎄🔒 To recap, we have explored the seven pillars of secure coding in a winter wonderland: 🏰🔒❄️ : We create a robust foundation for safeguarding our applications and data by implementing secure protocols and encryption techniques. 🎄🔒💡 String the lights of secure protocols and hanging the mistletoe of encrypted data Incorporating multi-factor authentication, strong password policies, and secure session management adds an extra layer of protection to ensure that only authorized users can access our systems. 🍬🔒🔑 Build a candy cane fence around user identity: Thoroughly vetting and securing the devices used in our development process helps prevent unauthorized access and potential threats. 🛷🔒🦌 Ensure sleigh integrity and device security: Tuning our network traffic to sing a cryptographic melody ensures that only intended recipients can decipher the information, keeping it safe from prying eyes. ❄️🔒🔔 Sing securely through the snowy network: : Implementing robust security measures for our application's backend, such as secure coding practices and encryption, safeguards against potential breaches and unauthorized access. 🧑‍💻🔒🎁 Protect the backend workshop and encrypt the presents (data) Analyzing logs and monitoring our applications' activities allows us to identify and address any potential threats or vulnerabilities, ensuring a safe and secure environment. 📊🔥🔒 Embrace the power of logs and analytics: Leveraging automation and smart algorithms streamline security processes, allowing developers to focus on creating a delightful user experience while maintaining a strong security posture. 🤖💻🔒 Automate security measures for a joyful coding experience: In the world of software development, our job as developers is never done. It goes beyond creating apps that sing songs—it involves ensuring user security day and night. By incorporating Zero Trust principles into our coding, we're not just writing code; we're crafting a secure winter wonderland for our digital world. ❄️🔒🎅 So, let's imagine ourselves as the conductors of this production, blending technology and trust. Just as a maestro composes each note, we infuse our code with Zero Trust. It becomes an art form, a masterpiece that captures the holiday spirit. Embracing the power of Zero Trust guides our decisions, ensuring that every feature is built with care for security. We think like adversaries, staying ahead of threats and safeguarding our users. 🔒🛡️🤖 May our coding journeys be filled with wonder and excitement. Let's build a winter wonderland of cybersecurity that stands the test of time. As we embrace the challenge, remember that true magic happens in secure coding. Let our creativity shine, and may our digital world be filled with joyful code. ✨💻❄️ Wishing you a Merry Code-Mas and a successful deployment! 🎄⌨️🎁 May Infosec Be with You.

The 7 Pillars of Zero Trust Security: A Developer's Zero Trust Christmas Carol 

This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. . Authors: Gemini Team, Google Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Model Architecture Training Infrastructure Training Dataset Evaluation Responsible Deployment Discussion and Conclusion, References Contributions and Acknowledgments Appendix 8. Contributions and Acknowledgments Leads Rohan Anil, Co-Lead, Text Sebastian Borgeaud, Co-Lead, Text Yonghui Wu, Co-Lead, Text Jean-Baptiste Alayrac, Co-Lead, MM Vision Jiahui Yu, Co-Lead, MM Vision Radu Soricut*, Co-Lead, MM Vision* Johan Schalkwyk, Lead, MM Audio Andrew M. Dai, Co-Lead, Data Anja Hauth*, Co-Lead, Data* Katie Millican, Co-Lead, Data David Silver, Co-Lead, Fine-Tuning Slav Petrov, Co-Lead, Fine-Tuning Melvin Johnson, Lead, Instruction Tuning Ioannis Antonoglou*, Co-Lead, RL Techniques* Julian Schrittwieser, Co-Lead, RL Techniques Amelia Glaese, Lead, Human Data Jilin Chen, Lead, Safety Emily Pitler, Co-Lead, Tool Use Timothy Lillicrap, Co-Lead, Tool Use Angeliki Lazaridou, Co-Lead, Eval Orhan Firat, Co-Lead, Eval James Molloy, Co-Lead, Infra Michael Isard, Co-Lead, Infra Paul R. Barham, Co-Lead, Infra Tom Hennigan, Co-Lead, Infra Benjamin Lee, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Fabio Viola, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Malcolm Reynolds, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Yuanzhong Xu, Co-Lead, Codebase & Parallelism Ryan Doherty, Lead, Ecosystem Eli Collins, Lead, Product Clemens Meyer, Co-Lead, Operations Eliza Rutherford, Co-Lead, Operations Erica Moreira, Co-Lead, Operations Kareem Ayoub, Co-Lead, Operations Megha Goel, Co-Lead, Operations Core Contributors George Tucker Enrique Piqueras Maxim Krikun Iain Barr Nikolay Savinov Ivo Danihelka Becca Roelofs Core Contributors Anaïs White Anders Andreassen Tamara von Glehn Lakshman Yagati Mehran Kazemi Lucas Gonzalez Misha Khalman Jakub Sygnowski Alexandre Frechette Charlotte Smith Laura Culp Lev Proleev Yi Luan Xi Chen James Lottes Nathan Schucher Federico Lebron Alban Rrustemi Natalie Clay Phil Crone Tomas Kocisky Jeffrey Zhao Bartek Perz Dian Yu Heidi Howard Adam Bloniarz Jack W. Rae Han Lu Laurent Sifre Marcello Maggioni Fred Alcober Dan Garrette Megan Barnes Shantanu Thakoor Jacob Austin Gabriel Barth-Maron William Wong Rishabh Joshi Rahma Chaabouni Deeni Fatiha Arun Ahuja Ruibo Liu Yunxuan Li Sarah Cogan Jeremy Chen Core Contributors Chao Jia Chenjie Gu Qiao Zhang Jordan Grimstad Ale Jakse Hartman Martin Chadwick Gaurav Singh Tomar Xavier Garcia Evan Senter Emanuel Taropa Thanumalayan Sankaranarayana Pillai Jacob Devlin Michael Laskin Diego de Las Casas Dasha Valter Connie Tao Lorenzo Blanco Adrià Puigdomènech Badia David Reitter Mianna Chen Jenny Brennan Clara Rivera Sergey Brin Shariq Iqbal Gabriela Surita Jane Labanowski Abhi Rao Stephanie Winkler Emilio Parisotto Yiming Gu Kate Olszewska Yujing Zhang Ravi Addanki Antoine Miech Annie Louis Laurent El Shafey Denis Teplyashin Geoff Brown Elliot Catt Nithya Attaluri Jan Balaguer Jackie Xiang Pidong Wang Zoe Ashwood Anton Briukhov Albert Webson Sanjay Ganapathy Smit Sanghavi Core Contributors Ajay Kannan Ming-Wei Chang Axel Stjerngren Josip Djolonga Yuting Sun Ankur Bapna Matthew Aitchison Pedram Pejman Henryk Michalewski Tianhe Yu Cindy Wang Juliette Love Junwhan Ahn Dawn Bloxwich Kehang Han Peter Humphreys Thibault Sellam James Bradbury Varun Godbole Sina Samangooei Bogdan Damoc Alex Kaskasoli Sébastien M. R. Arnold Vijay Vasudevan Shubham Agrawal Jason Riesa Dmitry Lepikhin Richard Tanburn Srivatsan Srinivasan Hyeontaek Lim Sarah Hodkinson Pranav Shyam Johan Ferret Steven Hand Ankush Garg Tom Le Paine Jian Li Yujia Li Minh Giang Alexander Neitz Zaheer Abbas Sarah York Machel Reid Elizabeth Cole Aakanksha Chowdhery Dipanjan Das Dominika Rogozińska Vitaly Nikolaev Core Contributors Pablo Sprechmann Zachary Nado Lukas Zilka Flavien Prost Luheng He Marianne Monteiro Gaurav Mishra Chris Welty Josh Newlan Dawei Jia Miltiadis Allamanis Clara Huiyi Hu Raoul de Liedekerke Justin Gilmer Carl Saroufim Shruti Rijhwani Shaobo Hou Disha Shrivastava Anirudh Baddepudi Alex Goldin Adnan Ozturel Albin Cassirer Yunhan Xu Daniel Sohn Devendra Sachan Reinald Kim Amplayo Craig Swanson Dessie Petrova Shashi Narayan Arthur Guez Siddhartha Brahma Jessica Landon Miteyan Patel Ruizhe Zhao Kevin Villela Luyu Wang Wenhao Jia Matthew Rahtz Mai Giménez Legg Yeung Hanzhao Lin James Keeling Petko Georgiev Diana Mincu Boxi Wu Salem Haykal Rachel Saputro Kiran Vodrahalli Core Contributors James Qin Zeynep Cankara Abhanshu Sharma Nick Fernando Will Hawkins Behnam Neyshabur Solomon Kim Adrian Hutter Priyanka Agrawal Alex Castro-Ros George van den Driessche Tao Wang Fan Yang Shuo-yiin Chang Paul Komarek Ross McIlroy Mario Lučić Guodong Zhang Wael Farhan Michael Sharman Paul Natsev Paul Michel Yong Cheng Yamini Bansal Siyuan Qiao Kris Cao Siamak Shakeri Christina Butterfield Justin Chung Paul Kishan Rubenstein Shivani Agrawal Arthur Mensch Kedar Soparkar Karel Lenc Timothy Chung Aedan Pope Loren Maggiore Jackie Kay Priya Jhakra Shibo Wang Joshua Maynez Mary Phuong Taylor Tobin Andrea Tacchetti Maja Trebacz Kevin Robinson Yash Katariya Sebastian Riedel Core Contributors Paige Bailey Kefan Xiao Nimesh Ghelani Lora Aroyo Ambrose Slone Neil Houlsby Xuehan Xiong Zhen Yang Elena Gribovskaya Jonas Adler Mateo Wirth Lisa Lee Music Li Thais Kagohara Jay Pavagadhi Sophie Bridgers Anna Bortsova Sanjay Ghemawat Zafarali Ahmed Tianqi Liu Richard Powell Vijay Bolina Mariko Iinuma Polina Zablotskaia James Besley Da-Woon Chung Timothy Dozat Ramona Comanescu Xiance Si Jeremy Greer Guolong Su Martin Polacek Raphaël Lopez Kaufman Simon Tokumine Hexiang Hu Elena Buchatskaya Yingjie Miao Mohamed Elhawaty Aditya Siddhant Nenad Tomasev Jinwei Xing Christina Greer Helen Miller Shereen Ashraf Aurko Roy Zizhao Zhang Ada Ma Angelos Filos Core Contributors Milos Besta Rory Blevins Ted Klimenko Chih-Kuan Yeh Soravit Changpinyo Jiaqi Mu Oscar Chang Mantas Pajarskas Carrie Muir Vered Cohen Charline Le Lan Krishna Haridasan Amit Marathe Steven Hansen Sholto Douglas Rajkumar Samuel Mingqiu Wang Sophia Austin Chang Lan Jiepu Jiang Justin Chiu Jaime Alonso Lorenzo Lars Lowe Sjösund Sébastien Cevey Zach Gleicher Thi Avrahami Anudhyan Boral Hansa Srinivasan Vittorio Selo Rhys May Konstantinos Aisopos Léonard Hussenot Livio Baldini Soares Kate Baumli Michael B. Chang Adrià Recasens Ben Caine Alexander Pritzel Filip Pavetic Fabio Pardo Anita Gergely Justin Frye Vinay Ramasesh Dan Horgan Kartikeya Badola Nora Kassner Subhrajit Roy Ethan Dyer Core Contributors Víctor Campos Alex Tomala Yunhao Tang Dalia El Badawy Elspeth White Basil Mustafa Oran Lang Abhishek Jindal Sharad Vikram Zhitao Gong Sergi Caelles Ross Hemsley Gregory Thornton Fangxiaoyu Feng Wojciech Stokowiec Ce Zheng Phoebe Thacker Çağlar Ünlü Zhishuai Zhang Mohammad Saleh James Svensson Max Bileschi Piyush Patil Ankesh Anand Roman Ring Katerina Tsihlas Arpi Vezer Marco Selvi Toby Shevlane Mikel Rodriguez Tom Kwiatkowski Samira Daruki Keran Rong Allan Dafoe Nicholas FitzGerald Keren Gu-Lemberg Mina Khan Lisa Anne Hendricks Marie Pellat Vladimir Feinberg James Cobon-Kerr Tara Sainath Maribeth Rauh Sayed Hadi Hashemi Richard Ives Yana Hasson YaGuang Li Eric Noland Core Contributors Yuan Cao Nathan Byrd Le Hou Qingze Wang Thibault Sottiaux Michela Paganini Jean-Baptiste Lespiau Alexandre Moufarek Samer Hassan Kaushik Shivakumar Joost van Amersfoort Amol Mandhane Pratik Joshi Anirudh Goyal Matthew Tung Andrew Brock Hannah Sheahan Vedant Misra Cheng Li Nemanja Rakićević Mostafa Dehghani Fangyu Liu Sid Mittal Junhyuk Oh Seb Noury Eren Sezener Fantine Huot Matthew Lamm Nicola De Cao Charlie Chen Contributors Gamaleldin Elsayed Ed Chi Mahdis Mahdieh Ian Tenney Nan Hua Ivan Petrychenko Patrick Kane Dylan Scandinaro Rishub Jain Jonathan Uesato Romina Datta Adam Sadovsky Oskar Bunyan Dominik Rabiej Shimu Wu John Zhang Contributors Gautam Vasudevan Edouard Leurent Mahmoud Alnahlawi Ionut Georgescu Nan Wei Ivy Zheng Betty Chan Pam G Rabinovitch Piotr Stanczyk Ye Zhang David Steiner Subhajit Naskar Michael Azzam Matthew Johnson Adam Paszke Chung-Cheng Chiu Jaume Sanchez Elias Afroz Mohiuddin Faizan Muhammad Jin Miao Andrew Lee Nino Vieillard Sahitya Potluri Jane Park Elnaz Davoodi Jiageng Zhang Jeff Stanway Drew Garmon Abhijit Karmarkar Zhe Dong Jong Lee Aviral Kumar Luowei Zhou Jonathan Evens William Isaac Zhe Chen Johnson Jia Anselm Levskaya Zhenkai Zhu Chris Gorgolewski Peter Grabowski Yu Mao Alberto Magni Kaisheng Yao Javier Snaider Norman Casagrande Paul Suganthan Evan Palmer Contributors Geoffrey Irving Edward Loper Manaal Faruqui Isha Arkatkar Nanxin Chen Izhak Shafran Michael Fink Alfonso Castaño Irene Giannoumis Wooyeol Kim Mikołaj Rybiński Ashwin Sreevatsa Jennifer Prendki David Soergel Adrian Goedeckemeyer Willi Gierke Mohsen Jafari Meenu Gaba Jeremy Wiesner Diana Gage Wright Yawen Wei Harsha Vashisht Yana Kulizhskaya Jay Hoover Maigo Le Lu Li Chimezie Iwuanyanwu Lu Liu Kevin Ramirez Andrey Khorlin Albert Cui Tian LIN Marin Georgiev Marcus Wu Ricardo Aguilar Keith Pallo Abhishek Chakladar Alena Repina Xihui Wu Tom van der Weide Priya Ponnapalli Caroline Kaplan Jiri Simsa Shuangfeng Li Olivier Dousse Fan Yang Jeff Piper Nathan Ie Contributors Minnie Lui Rama Pasumarthi Nathan Lintz Anitha Vijayakumar Lam Nguyen Thiet Daniel Andor Pedro Valenzuela Cosmin Paduraru Daiyi Peng Katherine Lee Shuyuan Zhang Somer Greene Duc Dung Nguyen Paula Kurylowicz Sarmishta Velury Sebastian Krause Cassidy Hardin Lucas Dixon Lili Janzer Kiam Choo Ziqiang Feng Biao Zhang Achintya Singhal Tejasi Latkar Mingyang Zhang Quoc Le Elena Allica Abellan Dayou Du Dan McKinnon Natasha Antropova Tolga Bolukbasi Orgad Keller David Reid Daniel Finchelstein Maria Abi Raad Remi Crocker Peter Hawkins Robert Dadashi Colin Gaffney Sid Lall Ken Franko Egor Filonov Anna Bulanova Rémi Leblond Vikas Yadav Shirley Chung Harry Askham Luis C. Cobo Contributors Kelvin Xu Felix Fischer Jun Xu Christina Sorokin Chris Alberti Chu-Cheng Lin Colin Evans Hao Zhou Alek Dimitriev Hannah Forbes Dylan Banarse Zora Tung Jeremiah Liu Mark Omernick Colton Bishop Chintu Kumar Rachel Sterneck Ryan Foley Rohan Jain Swaroop Mishra Jiawei Xia Taylor Bos Geoffrey Cideron Ehsan Amid Francesco Piccinno Xingyu Wang Praseem Banzal Petru Gurita Hila Noga Premal Shah Daniel J. Mankowitz Alex Polozov Nate Kushman Victoria Krakovna Sasha Brown MohammadHossein Bateni Dennis Duan Vlad Firoiu Meghana Thotakuri Tom Natan Anhad Mohananey Matthieu Geist Sidharth Mudgal Sertan Girgin Hui Li Jiayu Ye Ofir Roval Reiko Tojo Contributors Michael Kwong James Lee-Thorp Christopher Yew Quan Yuan Sumit Bagri Danila Sinopalnikov Sabela Ramos John Mellor Abhishek Sharma Aliaksei Severyn Jonathan Lai Kathy Wu Heng-Tze Cheng David Miller Nicolas Sonnerat Denis Vnukov Rory Greig Jennifer Beattie Emily Caveness Libin Bai Julian Eisenschlos Alex Korchemniy Tomy Tsai Mimi Jasarevic Weize Kong Phuong Dao Zeyu Zheng Frederick Liu Fan Yang Rui Zhu Mark Geller Tian Huey Teh Jason Sanmiya Evgeny Gladchenko Nejc Trdin Andrei Sozanschi Daniel Toyama Evan Rosen Sasan Tavakkol Linting Xue Chen Elkind Oliver Woodman John Carpenter George Papamakarios Rupert Kemp Sushant Kafle Tanya Grunina Rishika Sinha Contributors Alice Talbert Abhimanyu Goyal Diane Wu Denese Owusu-Afriyie Cosmo Du Chloe Thornton Jordi Pont-Tuset Pradyumna Narayana Jing Li Saaber Fatehi John Wieting Omar Ajmeri Benigno Uria Tao Zhu Yeongil Ko Laura Knight Amélie Héliou Ning Niu Shane Gu Chenxi Pang Dustin Tran Yeqing Li Nir Levine Ariel Stolovich Norbert Kalb Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez Sonam Goenka Wenny Yustalim Robin Strudel Ali Elqursh Balaji Lakshminarayanan Charlie Deck Shyam Upadhyay Hyo Lee Mike Dusenberry Zonglin Li Xuezhi Wang Kyle Levin Raphael Hoffmann Dan Holtmann-Rice Olivier Bachem Summer Yue Sho Arora Eric Malmi Daniil Mirylenka Qijun Tan Christy Koh Soheil Hassas Yeganeh Contributors Siim Põder Steven Zheng Francesco Pongetti Mukarram Tariq Yanhua Sun Lucian Ionita Mojtaba Seyedhosseini Pouya Tafti Ragha Kotikalapudi Zhiyu Liu Anmol Gulati Jasmine Liu Xinyu Ye Bart Chrzaszcz Lily Wang Nikhil Sethi Tianrun Li Ben Brown Shreya Singh Wei Fan Aaron Parisi Joe Stanton Chenkai Kuang Vinod Koverkathu Christopher A. Choquette-Choo Yunjie Li TJ Lu Abe Ittycheriah Prakash Shroff Pei Sun Mani Varadarajan Sanaz Bahargam Rob Willoughby David Gaddy Ishita Dasgupta Guillaume Desjardins Marco Cornero Brona Robenek Bhavishya Mittal Ben Albrecht Ashish Shenoy Fedor Moiseev Henrik Jacobsson Alireza Ghaffarkhah Morgane Rivière Alanna Walton Clément Crepy Alicia Parrish Contributors Yuan Liu Zongwei Zhou Clement Farabet Carey Radebaugh Praveen Srinivasan Claudia van der Salm Andreas Fidjeland Salvatore Scellato Eri Latorre-Chimoto Hanna Klimczak-Plucińska David Bridson Dario de Cesare Tom Hudson Piermaria Mendolicchio Lexi Walker Alex Morris Ivo Penchev Matthew Mauger Alexey Guseynov Alison Reid Seth Odoom Lucia Loher Victor Cotruta Madhavi Yenugula Dominik Grewe Anastasia Petrushkina Tom Duerig Antonio Sanchez Steve Yadlowsky Amy Shen Amir Globerson Adam Kurzrok Lynette Webb Sahil Dua Dong Li Preethi Lahoti Surya Bhupatiraju Dan Hurt Haroon Qureshi Ananth Agarwal Tomer Shani Matan Eyal Anuj Khare Shreyas Rammohan Belle Lei Wang Chetan Tekur Mihir Sanjay Kale Jinliang Wei Contributors Ruoxin Sang Brennan Saeta Tyler Liechty Yi Sun Yao Zhao Stephan Lee Pandu Nayak Doug Fritz Manish Reddy Vuyyuru John Aslanides Nidhi Vyas Martin Wicke Xiao Ma Taylan Bilal Evgenii Eltyshev Daniel Balle Nina Martin Hardie Cate James Manyika Keyvan Amiri Yelin Kim Xi Xiong Kai Kang Florian Luisier Nilesh Tripuraneni David Madras Mandy Guo Austin Waters Oliver Wang Joshua Ainslie Jason Baldridge Han Zhang Garima Pruthi Jakob Bauer Feng Yang Riham Mansour Jason Gelman Yang Xu George Polovets Ji Liu Honglong Cai Warren Chen XiangHai Sheng Emily Xue Sherjil Ozair Adams Yu Christof Angermueller Contributors Xiaowei Li Weiren Wang Julia Wiesinger Emmanouil Koukoumidis Yuan Tian Anand Iyer Madhu Gurumurthy Mark Goldenson Parashar Shah MK Blake Hongkun Yu Anthony Urbanowicz Jennimaria Palomaki Chrisantha Fernando Kevin Brooks Ken Durden Harsh Mehta Nikola Momchev Elahe Rahimtoroghi Maria Georgaki Amit Raul Sebastian Ruder Morgan Redshaw Jinhyuk Lee Komal Jalan Dinghua Li Ginger Perng Blake Hechtman Parker Schuh Milad Nasr Mia Chen Kieran Milan Vladimir Mikulik Trevor Strohman Juliana Franco Tim Green Program Leads Demis Hassabis Koray Kavukcuoglu Overall Technical Leads (equal contribution) Jeffrey Dean Oriol Vinyals The roles are defined as below: • : Individual(s) responsible for the sub-team throughout the project. Lead Individual that had significant impact throughout the project. • Core Contributor: : Individual that had contributions to the project and was partially involved with the effort. • Contributor Responsible for the organizational aspects of the Gemini effort • Program Lead: Responsible for the technical direction of the overall Gemini effort • Overall Technical Lead: Within each role, contributions are equal, and are listed in a randomized order. Ordering within each role does not indicate ordering of the contributions. Gemini is a cross-Google effort, with members from Google DeepMind (GDM), Google Research (GR), Knowledge and Information (K&I), Core ML, Cloud, Labs, and more. We thank our reviewers and colleagues for their valuable discussions and feedback on the report— Alexandra Belias, Arielle Bier, Eleanor Tomlinson, Emily Hossellman, Gaby Pearl, Helen King, Hollie Dobson, Jaclyn Konzelmann, Jennifer Beroshi, Joel Moss, Jon Small, Jonathan Fildes, Oli Gaymond, Rebecca Bland, Reena Jana, and Tom Lue. Our work is made possible by the dedication and efforts of numerous teams at Google. We would like to acknowledge the support from Abhi Mohan, Adekunle Bello, Aishwarya Nagarajan, Alaa Saade, Alejandro Lince, Alexander Chen, Alexander Kolbasov, Alexander Schiffhauer, Amar Subramanya, Ameya Shringi, Amin Vahdat, Anda Rabatić, Anthonie Gross, Antoine Yang, Anthony Green, Anton Ruddock, Art Khurshudov, Artemis Chen, Arthur Argenson, Avinatan Hassidim, Beiye Liu, Benjamin Schroeder, Bin Ni, Brett Daw, Bryan Chiang, Burak Gokturk, Carl Crous, Carrie Grimes Bostock, Charbel Kaed, Charlotte Banks, Che Diaz, Chris Larkin, Christy Lian, Claire Cui, Clare Bycroft, Corentin Tallec, Daniel Herndon, Dave Burke, David Battle, David Engel, Dipannita Shaw, Donghyun Koo, Doug Ritchie, Dragos Stefanescu, Elissa Wolf, Emre Sargin, Eran Ofek, Eric Herren, Estella King, Fatema Alkhanaizi, Felix Gimeno, Fernando Pereira, Florent Altché, Gabriel Carvajal, Gaurav Gandhi, George Powell, Goran Pavičić, Harry Richardson, Hassan Wassel, Hongji Li, Idan Szpektor, Igor Ivanisevic, Ivan Jambrešić, Ivan Jurin, Jade Fowler, James Assiene, Jay Yagnik, Jeanbastien Grill, Jeff Seibert, Jenna LaPlante, Jessica Austin, Jianxing Lu, Jim O’Keeffe, Jin Huang, Joe Heyward, Johannes Welbl, John Jumper, Jonathan Caton, Josh Woodward, Joshua Foster, Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool, Katrina Wong, Kavya Kopparapu, Kelvin Nguyen, Kira Yin, Konstantin Sharlaimov, Kun Li, Lee Hong, Lilly Taylor, Longfei Shen, Luc Mercier, Maciej Mikuła, Mania Abdi, Manuel Sanchez, Maria Ines Aranguren, Mario Carlos Cortes III, Matthew Tait, Matthias Lochbrunner, Mehdi Ghissassi, Micah Mosley, Michael Bendersky, Michael Figurnov, Michael Harris, Michael Mathieu, Michael O’Neill, Michael Vorburger, Mihir Paradkar, Nandita Dukkipati, Nathan Carter, Nathan Watson, Neil Rabinowitz, Nikhil Dandekar, Nishant Ranka, Obaid Sarvana, Olcan Sercinoglu, Olivier Lacombe, Ottavia Bertolli, Paul Caron, Pranesh Srinivasan, Praveen Kumar, Rahul Sukthankar, Raia Hadsell, Rajagopal Ananthanarayanan, Roberto Lupi, Rosie Zou, Sachin Menezes, Sadegh Jazayeri, Sam Cheung, Sameer Bidichandani, Sania Alex, Sanjiv Kumar, Sara Wiltberger, Sarah Fitzgerald, Saz Basu, Sebastian Nowozin, Shannon Hepburn, Shayne Cardwell, Sissie Hsiao, Srinivasan Venkatachary, Sugato Basu, Sundar Pichai, Sundeep Tirumalareddy, Susannah Young, Swetha Vijayaraghavan, Tania Bedrax-Weiss, Taylor Applebaum, Teiva Harsanyi, Terry Chen, Tim Blyth, Ting Liu, Tom Cobley, Tomas Izo, Trystan Upstill, Varun Singhai, Vedrana Klarić Trupčević, Victor Cai, Vladimir Pudovkin, Vu Dang, Wenbo Zhao, Wesley Crow, Wesley Szeng, Xiaodan Song, Yazhou Zu, Ye Tian, Yicong Wang, Yixing Wang, Yossi Matias, Yunlong Jiao, Zachary Jessup, Zhenchuan Pang, Žiga Avsec, Zimeng Yang, and Zoubin Ghahramani. We’d also like to recognize the AlphaCode team, the Borg Scheduling team, the Facilities team, the Gemini Demo Team, the Global Server Ops (GSO) team, the JAX team, the the Legal team, ML SRE team, the ML Supercomputer (MLSC) team, the PartIR team, the Platforms Infrastructure Engineering (PIE) team, and the XLA Compiler team. We thank everyone at Google not explicitly mentioned above, who have shared excitement, given feedback on early Gemini models or created interesting demo uses of Gemini, and worked with or supported the core Gemini team on many aspects of this project.

Gemini -  A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models: Contributions and Acknowledgments

Gemini - A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models: Discussion and Conclusion, References

Jingle Bells, Hackers Smell: Riding the CVE Sleigh to Cyber-Safe Holidays (Santa's Alert for Appearances!) While we deck the halls and rock around the Christmas tree, hackers treat CVEs like the ultimate Secret Santa—a gift that keeps on giving (them access to our networks). But don't let your sing the blues this festive season; with some smart moves, we can wrap those CVEs up tighter than the most stubborn of holiday gifts. 🎅🔒🎁 cybersecurity Introduction Imagine you're all snug in your bed while visions of sugarplums (or perhaps encrypted data) dance in your head. In the merry land of cybersecurity, however, there's no rest for the weary, as CVEs become the Grinch plotting to steal the Christmas of our network's tranquillity. But take heart! We can outsmart these humbugs and keep our cyber-chimneys clear of unwanted visitors. 🛡️🔒 The Advent Calendar of CVEs: A Not-So-Jolly Countdown Think of a CVE like the calendar countdown to the big day, but instead of chocolates, there's a different kind of surprise in every window: : This is when the elves spot a potential toy malfunction before it hits Santa's sleigh. 🕵️‍♂️🔍 Identification : Imagine announcing over the North Pole PA system which toys might break. 📢🎁 Disclosure : If the mischievous elves (aka hackers) get there first, it's coal for everyone. ⚠️👿 Exploitation Hackers' Winter Wonderland: Why They're Merrymaking with CVEs 'Tis the season for hackers to spread their malicious cheer, as they find joy in exploiting CVEs during the holiday season. Just like characters from Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas," these cyber-Scrooges have their own twisted version of festive fun. : Picture bots zipping through the digital snow faster than St. Nick's Midnight Express. These automated agents are quick to identify vulnerabilities, constantly searching for weaknesses in systems and networks. They navigate with precision, leaving no stone unturned in their quest to find a way in. Sleigh Ride Scouts : Unfortunately, patches sometimes arrive fashionably late, just like a Christmas card from your dear aunt in July. While security researchers and software vendors work diligently to develop fixes, there can be delays in their release. This gives hackers an extended window of opportunity to exploit the vulnerabilities, like a delayed gift that arrives just in time for the holidays. Patchwork Presents : Security teams find themselves bombarded with an overwhelming number of CVEs, much like trying to discern your own pitch in a chaotic round of '12 Days of Christmas'. With so many alerts, it becomes challenging for security professionals to prioritize and address each vulnerability effectively. Carol of Alerts But why do hackers find such delight in exploiting these vulnerabilities? The excitement and thrill of successfully exploiting a CVE and gaining unauthorized access to systems fuel their motivation. Just as a laser pointer captures a cat's attention, CVEs give hackers an enticing target to focus their efforts on. It's like watching a mischievous cat chasing a laser pointer. So, as we enjoy the holiday season, let's not forget that hackers are also in a festive mood, seeking opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities. By understanding their tactics and taking proactive measures to protect our systems, we can stay one step ahead and ensure a cyber-safe holiday season for ourselves and our organizations. The Naughty List: How the CVE System Can Coal Things Up Our digital Santa Claus faces challenges in keeping his list up-to-date when it comes to managing CVEs: : The teams responsible for managing CVEs are like Santa's reindeer powering a sleigh built for NASA—full of spirit but in need of an upgrade. They work tirelessly to identify and address vulnerabilities, but with the ever-growing software and hardware complexity, they could benefit from increased resources and support. 🦌🔌🚀 Reindeer Resources : Just like that fruitcake from last year that often goes unnoticed but has the potential to cause a disruption, many vulnerabilities may slip through the cracks. These vulnerabilities, although not always in the spotlight, can pose significant risks if left unaddressed. It's crucial to ensure comprehensive coverage and actively identify and patch these vulnerabilities to maintain strong cybersecurity defenses. 🎂🔍 The Great Gingerbread Gap : With millions of toys (or software components) being developed and deployed, Santa's workshop faces the challenge of checking every single one twice. It's a monumental task to ensure that each component is thoroughly vetted and free of vulnerabilities. This requires efficient coordination, collaboration, and quality assurance practices among developers, testers, and security professionals to minimize the chances of introducing vulnerabilities into the software ecosystem. 🧸✅✅ Toy Factory Tangles Expanding on these challenges and exploring how developers play a crucial role in addressing CVEs and strengthening cybersecurity defenses will be the focus of a future blog post. Stay tuned for more insights on this topic! A Carol of Cyber Tactics: How the Grinchy Hackers Move In the world of cybersecurity, hackers have mastered the art of exploiting vulnerabilities, and their tactics are as cunning as a Grinch stealing Christmas presents. Let's take a closer look at two of their most common tactics: : These villains are like carolers who show up at your door before you even have a chance to sing along. Zero-day exploits refer to vulnerabilities that hackers discover and exploit before developers are aware of them. It's like finding a flaw in Santa's sleigh and taking advantage of it before anyone has a chance to fix it. These exploits can cause significant damage as they target vulnerabilities that are unknown to the vendor and, therefore, unpatched. Zero-Day Carolers : Imagine if someone took apart Santa's toys to see how they were built, but instead of putting them back together, they created traps. That's what hackers do when they reverse-engineer patches. When a patch is released to fix a vulnerability, hackers can analyze it to understand the vulnerability and develop an attack to exploit systems that haven't been updated yet. It's like using Santa's own tools against him. Reverse-Engineering Workshop Understanding these tactics is crucial in the . By staying informed and implementing robust security measures, businesses and individuals can protect themselves from these Grinchy hackers and ensure a safer digital environment. 🎄🔒💻 fight against cybercrime Jingling All the Way: The Real-World Impact of CVE Delays In the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, every moment that vulnerabilities go unpatched is like leaving our holiday lights tangled in a box—frustrating and unproductive. Just as we eagerly anticipate the joy of unwrapping presents, cybercriminals eagerly await the opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities that have not been addressed in a timely manner. 🎄🔌 In this winter cybersecurity wonderland, losing time to a CVE is like dropping your roasted chestnuts all over the floor—annoying, messy, and entirely preventable with a little foresight. Just as Santa is said to be watching, hackers are vigilantly observing too, and instead of presents, they're ready to hand out security incidents. We must be proactive in addressing vulnerabilities to ensure a secure digital environment for ourselves and our organizations. 🌰🚫🔒👿💻 It's crucial to understand the real-world impact of CVE delays. Every minute that vulnerabilities are left unpatched increases the risk of data breaches, system downtime, and other costly incidents. These incidents can lead to reputational damage, financial losses, and compromised security. ⏰💥💻 To prevent such consequences, it is essential to prioritize timely patching and implement robust security measures. By promptly addressing CVEs and applying necessary security updates, organizations can minimize the window of opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. Remember, in the cybersecurity race, time is of the essence, and staying ahead requires proactive action. ⏳🔒🏃 Let us take the necessary steps to protect our valuable data and assets, ensuring a cyber-safe environment not just during the holiday season but all year round. 🛡️💻🔒 Wrapping Up Your Network: The Cybersecurity Gift-Giving Guide Fear not, for here are some effective strategies to secure your cyber defenses tightly, leaving Santa's elves unable to sneak a peek: : Just like Santa's fleet on Christmas Eve, ensure that your monitoring is omnipresent. Keep a watchful eye on your systems and networks, ready to detect any potential threats. 🦌👀🛡️ Reindeer Reconnaissance : Employ automated tools that tirelessly patch up vulnerabilities, much like Santa's elves wrapping gifts in his workshop. Let these tools work diligently to apply necessary security updates, minimizing the risk of exploitation. 🤖🔧🎁 Automated Elves : Train your team to be as vigilant and alert as a frosty friend. Equip them with the knowledge and awareness to identify and respond to phishing scams, ensuring that they don't fall for any tricks disguised as Santa's outfit. ⛄🎣🎅 Savvy Snowmen (and Women) With these powerful strategies at your disposal, you are not merely waiting for Santa; instead, you're joining him on the rooftop, standing ready to protect your valuable data and assets. 🎅🔒🍪 By implementing these proactive measures, you can confidently safeguard your digital environment, outpacing hackers in this ever-evolving landscape. Conclusion: Sleighing the CVE Grinches In our cyber fairytale, might seem like they're leading the Grinch-conga line toward our digital goodies. But even Santa needs a little help sometimes, and with our advanced preparation and cyber-smart strategies, we're ready to hang our stockings with care—and confidence. 🎄🎅🔒 CVEs Remember, in the cybersecurity night sky, be the brightest star atop the tree, guiding Santa’s sleigh through the fog—not the blinking warning light on a hacker's dashboard. ✨🌟🎅🔒 Because after all, 'tis the season to be secure! 🎄🔒 FAQ Can you give me a festive refresher on CVEs? 🎅🔒 Q: CVEs, also known as Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures, are like those tricky Christmas lights; if one bulb is faulty, the entire string can go dark. Just as you need to regularly check your Christmas lights to ensure they are all functioning properly, CVEs require constant monitoring to identify and address any vulnerabilities in software or hardware. 🕵️‍♀️💡 A: How do CVEs impact cybersecurity? Q: CVEs pose a significant threat to cybersecurity. When vulnerabilities are left unaddressed, hackers can exploit them to gain unauthorized access to systems, leading to data breaches, system downtime, and other costly incidents. Promptly addressing CVEs and implementing robust security measures are crucial to mitigating their impact and protecting valuable assets. 🛡️💻💥 A: What are some challenges with the CVE system? Q: While the CVE system serves as a valuable resource for cataloging and tracking vulnerabilities, it faces certain limitations and challenges. These include limited resources for assigning and tracking vulnerabilities, incomplete coverage of less popular or niche software and hardware, and the complexity of coordinating vulnerability identification and assigning CVEs across various vendors and organizations. 🚫🔍🌐 A: How can organizations defend against CVEs? Q: Organizations can adopt proactive measures to defend against CVEs. This includes staying vigilant through continuous monitoring of systems and networks, implementing automated patch management systems to ensure timely application of critical security updates, and educating employees about cybersecurity risks and best practices. By combining these strategies, organizations can stay one step ahead of hackers and enhance their cybersecurity defenses. 👀🔒🚀 A: May Infosec Be with You.

'Tis the Season to Secure: How CVEs Are the Grinch for Cybersecurity

*Note: a SWOT analysis is an evaluation of the fundamental, operational, technical, social, economic, and even to some degree administrative elements of a project. This is not a model to be used for trading purposes. (NFA, DYOR) Composed of four elements, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, a SWOT analysis framework provides excellent insight for establishing a high-level understanding of the state of a project’s well-being through the lens of a birds-eye view. It can help formulate decisions around which areas require more attention, set performance goals, and organize a foundational understanding of where a project is headed. Rarely (if ever) used in crypto, it is time to apply this timeless method of evaluation to the digital asset space. Today, Celo (CELO), the carbon-negative, mobile-first blockchain dedicated to “creating conditions of prosperity for all” through regenerative finance, will get a SWOT. 💪 Strengths (Internal) (Helpful) 1. REFI Positioning A combination of DEFI and social good, regenerative finance is a movement that taps into ecological benefits to society and/or the environment. No network has remotely as much of the intellectual mindshare around innovations happening in this space as Celo. Affiliating itself with social good from launch, Celo has become the host of today’s leading projects, including Toucan, Kolektivo, Flowcarbon, Gooddollar, Glo Dollar, Impact Market, and others. Considering how underserved and under explored REFI has been as a whole, there is no upper bound to model the potential returns this as a sector can attract during the seasonal capital shuffling. 2. On-Chain Metrics Blossoming After a painful bear market and drawn-out winter, the seasons have shifted, and the on-chain metrics have thawed. Celo has been showing strong, sustainable growth across the board. DAA (Daily Active Addresses) have been going parabolic since May 2023, rallying from 5k in December 2022 to around 200k exactly 1 year later, a clean 40x. Total addresses jumped from 1.5m to ~4m (a notable 2.67x). TVL has begun ticking up from ~$80m to ~$120m. Total amount of active, verified, smart contracts steadily rising beyond 33,000. Daily transactions have rebounded from their painful lows of around 100k per day earlier this year to around 400k now, and no signs of slowing down. 3. Focus on Stablecoin Payments Many people underestimate how still nascent and small crypto is relative to the enormous economic markets it is tackling. Remaining one of the largest financial sectors ripe for disruption, payments are tightly correlated with stablecoins, and stablecoins are tightly correlated with real commercial/retail adoption; therefore, the use case and value proposition that Celo is pursuing have universal appeal. Moreover, having a concrete vision and a clear market to innovate around does not receive enough recognition. The vast majority of alternative layer 1’s lack focus and try too hard to become the ultimate generalized solutions that can support every exotic use case under the degen sun. Celo can allocate its resources and efforts more efficiently and not waste time on things such as Memecoins. This is not to say memecoins are bad, just highlighting the nature of the project. 4. Network of Validators Home to 110 validator nodes, owned by 78 independent entities, including some of the most significant Web2 technology companies on the plant, such as Google Cloud, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, et al., as well as some of the most well-known crypto and Web3 entities such as Binance, Polychain Capital, Blockdaemon, and others; Celo has the material support from a set of validators many dream of. 5. One Block Finality A common area of concern in the context of public blockchain infrastructure, finality has become a definitive factor in the design preferences of financial institutions around the world. As it relates to retail finance, the quicker the finality, the more confidence the users have with their transactions, the more likely they are to return and use the product again. Celo has always had this at the front of mind in their operations. This “immediate” finality structure mitigates reorgs (something infinitely valuable at the enterprise level) and was possibly an important factor in Celo being able to build powerful relationships with legacy Web2 conglomerates. 6. Finite CELO Supply Inflation Launching with 60% (600m) of the total token supply circulating (depending on how it’s measured), Celo has an extremely smooth emission model to release the remaining 40% (400m) of tokens over the course of 30 years (ending in 2050). At the end of the emissions, the token supply model would, in fact, become slightly deflationary due to the transaction burns. Moreover, the emissions are primarily allocated to community building and validator/staking incentives, which means they would potentially foster economically resilient networks of aligned actors. This is, of course, in addition to the most sensitive benefit of balancing the impacts of dilution on existing/early participants. 7. Transaction Fee Payments While most major blockchains constantly deal with the friction of forcing participants to acquire native tokens in order to interact with the networks, Celo has introduced semi-agnostic network fee payments, allowing transactions to be paid for in any of the approved alternative assets. Opting for such a model seems counterintuitive as it would defeat the existential purpose of the gas token itself; however, it is not unlikely that this friendliness translates to a higher degree of adoption. By having multi-asset fee payments, the network can, in fact, help bolster asset velocity and become economically intertwined with other projects. 😞 Weaknesses (Internal) (Harmful) 1. Gingerbread Identity Crises Celo used to distinguish itself in the marketplace by playing the role of an independent, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain network focused on mobile clients and payments (aka stablecoins). Recently, however, the project has embarked on a technical restructuring (known as the “Gingerbread” hard fork) to transition into an extension of the Ethereum ecosystem by becoming an OP-stack-based Layer 2. Even though this action was enforced by the community itself through a governance proposal, such a fundamental pivot can result in organizational chaos, which, if untamed, can result in the collapse of interest. If the project built its community on a specific set of fundamental beliefs and those beliefs change, it runs the risk of alienating previous members. 2. Low Network Earning vs MCAP Validator earnings is a theme that plagues all low-fee, high-throughput layer 1 networks. Earnings are established based on how much validators accrue from transaction fees. Considering that most transactions on Celo are below <$0.001 and only a small portion of them are paid to validators, it comes as no surprise that the CELO network posted annual earnings around sub <$50,000 USD. When weighed against its floating capitalization of $324,577,949, we arrive at a ratio of 6,500:1. To be totally fair, as an individual metric to gauge a cryptocurrency’s “fair value,” this is incomplete, but can certainly be used as a component in building a more complete picture. 🧐 Opportunities (External) (Helpful) 1. Low DEFI Diversity Currently sitting at just three (3) with Mento, Curve, and Uniswap controlling over 90% of Celo’s total DEFI TVL, the decentralized financial scene on Celo is craving development. Of natively built Celo solutions, only Mento has any material relevance with its some odd 60 million collateralized stablecoins minted; otherwise, the leading DEX is non-native, lending markets are effectively non-existent, and no derivatives/perps built on it. Young projects looking to gain center stage in an ecosystem and old-timers looking to expand to new horizons would find Celo a pleasant opportunity due to its lack of competition and EVM compatibility. It is almost certain that over the course of the next 12–24 months, this balance will change; the projects that rise to capture market share will bring abundance to the Celo social sphere. 2. Gingerbread Hard Fork Activated at the End of Q3 as the initiation of Celo’s techno-economic restructuring, Gingerbread is a 2-phase process that will transform the network from an independent EVM-compatible Layer 1 to an ETH-aligned Layer 2. Introducing a multitude of changes, including the principle of “Ultragreen Money,” which will adjust the transaction mechanism to burn 80% of fees and funnel 20% towards a Carbon offset Fund. Supercharging finality guarantees with a second layer of security derived from the Ethereum epochs (so finality within Celo itself and the finality of its Data on Ethereum). Leveraging the OP-stack for its execution and EigenDA for posting its activity engenders Celo to both of those ecosystems, which could translate into powerful network effects. The existing validators will have their roles shift into sequencers, which would make Celo the first L2 to have a truly decentralized sequencer set. 3. Support from Ethereum Ecosystem By aligning itself with Ethereum, it seems more likely than not that many reputable protocols will extend operations over to Celo, especially when considering the extremely high level of compatibility that will be present. Already getting public praise from prominent members Vitalik and Joseph Lubin for their innovations, lending protocol AAVE has announced that it will be coming to Celo, bringing with it the mature infrastructure and stakeholder set already prevalent across many EVM-compatible networks. 😳 Threats (External) (Harmful) 1. DEFI Centralization With just 3 protocols controlling over 90% of the TVL on Celo, the ecosystem is at risk of over-concentrated protocols that disincentivize new competitors. Liquidity is highly reflexive; where there is liquidity, more shall flow; where there is little, it shall dry over time. Certainly, the argument can be made that centralization counteracts fragmentation and increases market efficiencies, but having a high degree of reliance on a small group of actors introduces unwanted risks for Celo itself. Without stimulating competition, new ideas will not make their way to Celo and instead be attracted to more conducive environments. 2. Weak Social Presence CELO does not have the ravaging maniacal die-hard community members or social presence common to most L1s. Even though this quaintness might seem understandable from the perspective of enterprise participants, those raw savage human emotions that drive market hype cycles through peek euphoria and keep it alive in the depths of winter are the foundation of markets. By not cultivating this kind of culture, it is only a matter of time until the projects that do capture all the creative imaginations and attract more users. Meme’s matter. Takeaway: Laying closer to the centralized side of Web3, Celo is a polished environment that emphasizes cooperation, coordination, and goodwill without degen tribalism. Carbon neutrality, prosperity, cooperation, and a smorgasbord of other ESG-conscious, purpose-driven material is woven throughout all of its branding and content. While generally tucked away from the average retail participant, Celo has received a lot of support and recognition from renowned industry insiders, including Vitalik Buterin, Sreeram Kannan, Joseph Lubin, et al., for its technical decisions, as well as operational integrations with global megacorps such as Kickstarter and Google Cloud. Conclusion: Fostering environmental well-being, supercharging capitalism with the narrative to become a tool for social good, and delicately balancing financial innovation, Celo is an intellectually stimulating project that has put considerable effort into distinguishing itself from others and defining its product market fit. In the unique position of abandoning its original architecture in hopes of reinvigorating market interest with technology, Celo has become an interesting project to watch, if not for price, then as a case study on the merits of such fundamental structural changes. One simply cannot fade the long-term potential of Celo. Thank you so much for reading, I hope this serves you well on your journey. Live long and prosper 🥂 Also published . here

Reviewing Celo, The Carbon-Negative, Mobile-first Blockchain

সেলো, কার্বন-নেতিবাচক, মোবাইল-প্রথম ব্লকচেইন পর্যালোচনা করা হচ্ছে

Überprüfung von Celo, der CO2-negativen, Mobile-First-Blockchain

Revisión de Celo, la cadena de bloques móvil y con emisiones negativas de carbono

Examen de Celo, la blockchain à carbone négatif et axée sur le mobile

सेलो, कार्बन-नेगेटिव, मोबाइल-फर्स्ट ब्लॉकचेन की समीक्षा

Celo のレビュー、カーボンネガティブ、モバイルファーストのブロックチェーン

탄소 배출 제로, 모바일 우선 블록체인 Celo 검토

Revendo Celo, o blockchain móvel com carbono negativo e primeiro

Обзор Celo, углеродно-отрицательного блокчейна, ориентированного на мобильные устройства

Karbon Negatif, Mobil Öncelikli Blockchain Celo'yu İncelemek

Đánh giá Celo, Blockchain tiêu cực, ưu tiên thiết bị di động

回顾 Celo，碳负、移动优先的区块链

ONCE AND NOW.

Are you tired of grammar mistakes ruining your writing? Do you want to write with confidence, knowing your work is error-free? If so, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll explore the best Spot and Solve Grammar Mistakes Solution and provide you with expert insights and practical tips to enhance your . writing skills Introduction Welcome to the world of spot-on writing, where are a thing of the past. Whether you're a student, a professional, or just someone who loves to write, it's essential to convey your thoughts clearly and effectively. Spot and Solve Grammar Mistakes Solution is the key to achieving this. grammar mistakes In this article, we will take you on a journey through the art of error-free writing, sharing the most efficient techniques to spot and solve grammar mistakes. From common errors to advanced proofreading tips, we've got you covered. So, grab your virtual red pen, and let's dive into the world of impeccable writing. Understanding Grammar Mistakes Grammar mistakes can be pesky little critters that sneak into our writing when we least expect them. They can undermine your credibility and make your content hard to read. Let's explore some of the common grammatical errors that can plague your writing. The Dreaded Apostrophe Catastrophe Apostrophes can be confusing, but they are vital for indicating possession and contractions. It's crucial to know when and where to use them. can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Incorrect apostrophe usage Subject-Verb Agreement: A Balancing Act Subject-verb agreement ensures that your sentences are structurally sound. When your subject and verb don't agree in number, your writing can sound awkward and incorrect. Punctuation Predicaments Misusing punctuation marks, like commas and semicolons, can lead to misunderstandings. The correct placement of these marks can significantly impact the clarity of your writing. The Art of Pronoun Usage Using the right pronouns is a must in writing. Incorrect pronoun usage can lead to confusion or even offense. We'll delve into the intricacies of pronouns and their usage in writing. Spellcheck Isn't Foolproof Relying solely on spellcheck can be a mistake. It may not catch contextual errors or misused words. We'll discuss the limitations of spellcheck and how to overcome them. Spot and Solve Grammar Mistakes Solution Now that we've identified the , let's move on to the exciting part: the solutions. We've compiled a list of the . common grammar mistakes most effective strategies to spot and solve grammar mistakes in your writing The Power of Proofreading Proofreading is your best friend when it comes to spotting grammar mistakes. Take your time to review your work carefully. Read it aloud, if possible, to catch errors you might have missed. Embrace Technology In this digital age, grammar-checking tools and software have become indispensable. We'll introduce you to some of the best grammar-checking tools available and how to make the most of them. Best Grammar Checker Websites: Grammarly MyEssayWriter.ai Grammar Checker Ginger Software LanguageTool ProWritingAid Learn how these tools can help you spot and solve grammar mistakes with ease. Please note that while all these tools are excellent, many consider to be the best grammar checker website. MyEssayWriter.ai Seek a Second Opinion Sometimes, a fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes you've overlooked. We'll discuss the benefits of peer editing and how it can enhance the quality of your writing. Learn from Your Mistakes No one becomes a grammar expert overnight. We'll provide resources and tips for improving your grammar skills over time, so you make fewer mistakes in the first place. Grammar Courses and Workshops If you're committed to becoming a grammar guru, enrolling in a could be a game-changer. We'll point you in the right direction to find the perfect course for your needs. grammar course or workshop Be Patient and Persistent Spotting and solving grammar mistakes is an ongoing process. Stay patient and persistent, and your writing will improve over time.

Spot and Solve Grammar Mistakes Solution: Your Guide to Error-Free Writing

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . THE NEW MAMMA. here CHAPTER XV. THE NEW MAMMA. On Tuesday afternoon Molly returned home—to the home which was already strange, and what Warwickshire people would call "unked," to her. New paint, new paper, new colours; grim servants dressed in their best, and objecting to every change—from their master's marriage to the new oilcloth in the hall, "which tripped 'em up, and threw 'em down, and was cold to the feet, and smelt just abominable." All these complaints Molly had to listen to, and it was not a cheerful preparation for the reception which she already felt to be so formidable. The sound of their carriage-wheels was heard at last, and Molly went to the front door to meet them. Her father got out first, and took her hand and held it while he helped his bride to alight. Then he kissed her fondly, and passed her on to his wife; but her veil was so securely (and becomingly) fastened down, that it was some time before Mrs. Gibson could get her lips clear to greet her new daughter. Then there was luggage to be seen about; and both the travellers were occupied in this, while Molly stood by trembling with excitement, unable to help, and only conscious of Betty's rather cross looks, as heavy box after heavy box jammed up the passage. "Molly, my dear, show—your mamma to her room!" Mr. Gibson had hesitated, because the question of the name by which Molly was to call her new relation had never occurred to him before. The colour flashed into Molly's face. Was she to call her "mamma?"—the name long appropriated in her mind to some one else—to her own dead mother. The rebellious heart rose against it, but she said nothing. She led the way upstairs, Mrs. Gibson turning round, from time to time, with some fresh direction as to which bag or trunk she needed most. She hardly spoke to Molly till they were both in the newly-furnished bedroom, where a small fire had been lighted by Molly's orders. "Now, my love, we can embrace each other in peace. O dear, how tired I am!"—(after the embrace had been accomplished). "My spirits are so easily affected with fatigue; but your dear papa has been kindness itself. Dear! what an old-fashioned bed! And what a— But it doesn't signify. By-and-by we'll renovate the house—won't we, my dear? And you'll be my little maid to-night, and help me to arrange a few things, for I'm just worn out with the day's journey." "I've ordered a sort of tea-dinner to be ready for you," said Molly. "Shall I go and tell them to send it in?" "I'm not sure if I can go down again to-night. It would be very comfortable to have a little table brought in here, and sit in my dressing-gown by this cheerful fire. But, to be sure, there's your dear papa? I really don't think he would eat anything if I were not there. One must not think about oneself, you know. Yes, I'll come down in a quarter of an hour." But Mr. Gibson had found a note awaiting him, with an immediate summons to an old patient, dangerously ill; and, snatching a mouthful of food while his horse was being saddled, he had to resume at once his old habits of attention to his profession above everything. As soon as Mrs. Gibson found that he was not likely to miss her presence—he had eaten a very tolerable lunch of bread and cold meat in solitude, so her fears about his appetite in her absence were not well founded—she desired to have her meal upstairs in her own room; and poor Molly, not daring to tell the servants of this whim, had to carry up first a table, which, however small, was too heavy for her; and afterwards all the choice portions of the meal, which she had taken great pains to arrange on the table, as she had seen such things done at Hamley, intermixed with fruit and flowers that had that morning been sent in from various great houses where Mr. Gibson was respected and valued. How pretty Molly had thought her handiwork an hour or two before! How dreary it seemed as, at last released from Mrs. Gibson's conversation, she sate down in solitude to cold tea and the drumsticks of the chicken! No one to look at her preparations, and admire her deft-handedness and taste! She had thought that her father would be gratified by it, and then he had never seen it. She had meant her cares as an offering of good-will to her stepmother, who even now was ringing her bell to have the tray taken away, and Miss Gibson summoned to her bedroom. Molly hastily finished her meal, and went upstairs again. "I feel so lonely, darling, in this strange house; do come and be with me, and help me to unpack. I think your dear papa might have put off his visit to Mr. Craven Smith for just this one evening." "Mr. Craven Smith couldn't put off his dying," said Molly, bluntly. "You droll girl!" said Mrs. Gibson, with a faint laugh. "But if this Mr. Smith is dying, as you say, what's the use of your father's going off to him in such a hurry? Does he expect any legacy, or anything of that kind?" Molly bit her lips to prevent herself from saying something disagreeable. She only answered,— "I don't quite know that he is dying. The man said so; and papa can sometimes do something to make the last struggle easier. At any rate, it's always a comfort to the family to have him." "What dreary knowledge of death you have learned for a girl of your age! Really, if I had heard all these details of your father's profession, I doubt if I could have brought myself to have him!" "He doesn't make the illness or the death; he does his best against them. I call it a very fine thing to think of what he does or tries to do. And you will think so, too, when you see how he is watched for, and how people welcome him!" "Well, don't let us talk any more of such gloomy things, to-night! I think I shall go to bed at once, I am so tired, if you will only sit by me till I get sleepy, darling. If you will talk to me, the sound of your voice will soon send me off." Molly got a book, and read her stepmother to sleep, preferring that to the harder task of keeping up a continual murmur of speech. Then she stole down and went into the dining-room, where the fire was gone out; purposely neglected by the servants, to mark their displeasure at their new mistress's having had her tea in her own room. Molly managed to light it, however, before her father came home, and collected and re-arranged some comfortable food for him. Then she knelt down again on the hearth-rug, gazing into the fire in a dreamy reverie, which had enough of sadness about it to cause the tears to drop unnoticed from her eyes. But she jumped up, and shook herself into brightness at the sound of her father's step. "How is Mr. Craven Smith?" said she. "Dead. He just recognized me. He was one of my first patients on coming to Hollingford." Mr. Gibson sate down in the arm-chair made ready for him, and warmed his hands at the fire, seeming neither to need food nor talk, as he went over a train of recollections. Then he roused himself from his sadness, and looking round the room, he said briskly enough,— "And where's the new mamma?" "She was tired, and went to bed early. Oh, papa! must I call her 'mamma?'" "I should like it," replied he, with a slight contraction of the brows. Molly was silent. She put a cup of tea near him; he stirred it, and sipped it, and then he recurred to the subject. "Why shouldn't you call her 'mamma?' I'm sure she means to do the duty of a mother to you. We all may make mistakes, and her ways may not be quite all at once our ways; but at any rate let us start with a family bond between us." What would Roger say was right?—that was the question that rose to Molly's mind. She had always spoken of her father's new wife as Mrs. Gibson, and had once burst out at Miss Brownings with a protestation that she never would call her "mamma." She did not feel drawn to her new relation by their intercourse that evening. She kept silence, though she knew her father was expecting an answer. At last he gave up his expectation, and turned to another subject; told about their journey, questioned her as to the Hamleys, the Brownings, Lady Harriet, and the afternoon they had passed together at the Manor-house. But there was a certain hardness and constraint in his manner, and in hers a heaviness and absence of mind. All at once she said,— "Papa, I will call her 'mamma!'" He took her hand, and grasped it tight; but for an instant or two he did not speak. Then he said,— "You won't be sorry for it, Molly, when you come to lie as poor Craven Smith did to-night." For some time the murmurs and grumblings of the two elder servants were confined to Molly's ears, then they spread to her father's, who, to Molly's dismay, made summary work with them. "You don't like Mrs. Gibson's ringing her bell so often, don't you? You've been spoilt, I'm afraid; but if you don't conform to my wife's desires, you have the remedy in your own hands, you know." What servant ever resisted the temptation to give warning after such a speech as that? Betty told Molly she was going to leave, in as indifferent a manner as she could possibly assume towards the girl whom she had tended and been about for the last sixteen years. Molly had hitherto considered her former nurse as a fixture in the house; she would almost as soon have thought of her father's proposing to sever the relationship between them; and here was Betty coolly talking over whether her next place should be in town or country. But a great deal of this was assumed hardness. In a week or two Betty was in floods of tears at the prospect of leaving her nursling, and would fain have stayed and answered all the bells in the house once every quarter of an hour. Even Mr. Gibson's masculine heart was touched by the sorrow of the old servant, which made itself obvious to him every time he came across her by her broken voice and her swollen eyes. One day he said to Molly, "I wish you'd ask your mamma if Betty might not stay, if she made a proper apology, and all that sort of thing." "I don't much think it will be of any use," said Molly, in a mournful voice. "I know she is writing, or has written, about some under-housemaid at the Towers." "Well!—all I want is peace and a decent quantity of cheerfulness when I come home. I see enough of tears at other people's houses. After all, Betty has been with us sixteen years—a sort of service of the antique world. But the woman may be happier elsewhere. Do as you like about asking mamma; only if she agrees, I shall be quite willing." So Molly tried her hand at making a request to that effect to Mrs. Gibson. Her instinct told her she would be unsuccessful; but surely favour was never refused in so soft a tone. "My dear girl, I should never have thought of sending an old servant away,—one who has had the charge of you from your birth, or nearly so. I could not have had the heart to do it. She might have stayed for ever for me, if she had only attended to all my wishes; and I am not unreasonable, am I? But, you see, she complained; and when your dear papa spoke to her, she gave warning; and it is quite against my principles ever to take an apology from a servant who has given warning." "She is so sorry," pleaded Molly; "she says she will do anything you wish, and attend to all your orders, if she may only stay." "But, sweet one, you seem to forget that I cannot go against my principles, however much I may be sorry for Betty. She should not have given way to ill-temper. As I said before, although I never liked her, and considered her a most inefficient servant, thoroughly spoilt by having had no mistress for so long, I should have borne with her—at least, I think I should—as long as I could. Now I have all but engaged Maria, who was under-housemaid at the Towers, so don't let me hear any more of Betty's sorrow, or anybody else's sorrow, for I'm sure, what with your dear papa's sad stories and other things, I'm getting quite low." Molly was silent for a moment or two. "Have you quite engaged Maria?" asked she. "No—I said 'all but engaged.' Sometimes one would think you did not hear things, dear Molly!" replied Mrs. Gibson, petulantly. "Maria is living in a place where they don't give her as much wages as she deserves. Perhaps they can't afford it, poor things! I'm always sorry for poverty, and would never speak hardly of those who are not rich; but I have offered her two pounds more than she gets at present, so I think she'll leave. At any rate, if they increase her wages, I shall increase my offer in proportion; so I think I'm sure to get her. Such a genteel girl!—always brings in a letter on a salver!" "Poor Betty!" said Molly, softly. "Poor old soul! I hope she'll profit by the lesson, I'm sure," sighed out Mrs. Gibson; "but it's a pity we hadn't Maria before the county families began to call." Mrs. Gibson had been highly gratified by the circumstance of so many calls "from county families." Her husband was much respected; and many ladies from various halls, courts, and houses, who had profited by his services towards themselves and their families, thought it right to pay his new wife the attention of a call when they drove into Hollingford to shop. The state of expectation into which these calls threw Mrs. Gibson rather diminished Mr. Gibson's domestic comfort. It was awkward to be carrying hot, savoury-smelling dishes from the kitchen to the dining-room at the very time when high-born ladies, with noses of aristocratic refinement, might be calling. Still more awkward was the accident which happened in consequence of clumsy Betty's haste to open the front door to a lofty footman's ran-tan, which caused her to set down the basket containing the dirty plates right in his mistress's way, as she stepped gingerly through the comparative darkness of the hall; and then the young men, leaving the dining-room quietly enough, but bursting with long-repressed giggle, or no longer restraining their tendency to practical joking, no matter who might be in the passage when they made their exit. The remedy proposed by Mrs. Gibson for all these distressing grievances was a late dinner. The luncheon for the young men, as she observed to her husband, might be sent into the surgery. A few elegant cold trifles for herself and Molly would not scent the house, and she would always take care to have some little dainty ready for him. He acceded, but unwillingly, for it was an innovation on the habits of a lifetime, and he felt as if he should never be able to arrange his rounds aright with this new-fangled notion of a six o'clock dinner. "Don't get any dainties for me, my dear; bread-and-cheese is the chief of my diet, like it was that of the old woman's." "I know nothing of your old woman," replied his wife; "but really I cannot allow cheese to come beyond the kitchen." "Then I'll eat it there," said he. "It's close to the stable-yard, and if I come in in a hurry I can get it in a moment." "Really, Mr. Gibson, it is astonishing to compare your appearance and manners with your tastes. You look such a gentleman, as dear Lady Cumnor used to say." Then the cook left; also an old servant, though not so old a one as Betty. The cook did not like the trouble of late dinners; and, being a Methodist, she objected on religious grounds to trying any of Mrs. Gibson's new receipts for French dishes. It was not scriptural, she said. There was a deal of mention of food in the Bible; but it was of sheep ready dressed, which meant mutton, and of wine, and of bread-and-milk, and figs and raisins, of fatted calves, a good well-browned fillet of veal, and such like; but it had always gone against her conscience to cook swine-flesh and make raised pork-pies, and now if she was to be set to cook heathen dishes after the fashion of the Papists, she'd sooner give it all up together. So the cook followed in Betty's track, and Mr. Gibson had to satisfy his healthy English appetite on badly-made omelettes, rissoles, vol-au-vents, croquets, and timbales; never being exactly sure what he was eating. He had made up his mind before his marriage to yield in trifles, and be firm in greater things. But the differences of opinion about trifles arose every day, and were perhaps more annoying than if they had related to things of more consequence. Molly knew her father's looks as well as she knew her alphabet; his wife did not; and being an unperceptive person, except when her own interests were dependent upon another person's humour, never found out how he was worried by all the small daily concessions which he made to her will or her whims. He never allowed himself to put any regret into shape, even in his own mind; he repeatedly reminded himself of his wife's good qualities, and comforted himself by thinking they should work together better as time rolled on; but he was very angry at a bachelor great-uncle of Mr. Coxe's, who, after taking no notice of his red-headed nephew for years, suddenly sent for him, after the old man had partially recovered from a serious attack of illness, and appointed him his heir, on condition that his great-nephew remained with him during the rest of his life. This had happened almost directly after Mr. and Mrs. Gibson's return from their wedding journey, and once or twice since that time Mr. Gibson had found himself wondering why the deuce old Benson could not have made up his mind sooner, and so have rid his house of the unwelcome presence of the young lover. To do Mr. Coxe justice, in the very last conversation he had as a pupil with Mr. Gibson he said, with hesitating awkwardness, that perhaps the new circumstances in which he should be placed might make some difference with regard to Mr. Gibson's opinion on— "Not at all," said Mr. Gibson, quickly. "You are both of you too young to know your own minds; and if my daughter was silly enough to be in love, she should never have to calculate her happiness on the chances of an old man's death. I dare say he'll disinherit you after all. He may do, and then you'd be worse off than ever. No! go away, and forget all this nonsense; and when you've done, come back and see us!" So Mr. Coxe went away, with an oath of unalterable faithfulness in his heart; and Mr. Gibson had unwillingly to fulfil an old promise made to a gentleman farmer in the neighbourhood a year or two before, and to take the second son of Mr. Browne in young Coxe's place. He was to be the last of the race of pupils, and as he was rather more than a year younger than Molly, Mr. Gibson trusted that there would be no repetition of the Coxe romance. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (2003). Wives and Daughters. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4274/pg4274-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

THE NEW MAMMA.

Dedicated to San Francisco's Booksmith, ensconced in the storied Haight-Ashbury 

It was the annual Solstice party at Wunderland Games, and I was especially excited to give my team a taste of old-school gaming magic. The star of the evening was the legendary Caroline, an interactive fiction pioneer who was going to showcase her retro text-based creations. Her passion had first inspired me years ago through the story of a young developer named Luna. Luna was a shy backend coder without much experience in game design. But she dreamed up the most wondrous text adventure ideas and would excitedly tell her friends about them. Most just laughed and told Luna to focus on “real” games with fancy graphics and sound. But Luna believed in the power of words and imagination, so she kept tinkering after hours on a passion project - a quirky text adventure she coded up on a terminal. It wasn't much to look at, just glowing green words on a black screen. But the world she conjured up was wildly creative. One day, veteran developer Gail happened to see Luna’s little game. She was utterly charmed by the ingenuity of the storytelling and gameplay. Thanks to Gail’s mentorship, Luna's text game became a cult hit, though she remained largely unknown. I was just starting out back then, but Luna’s story inspired me - proof that coding magic happens when you embrace creativity and imagination over industry norms. I vowed that if I ever ran a studio, I would champion provocative visions over profit-chasing. So when I became CEO of Wunderland Games, I recruited the legendary Caroline to help recapture the spirit of those text adventure pioneers like Luna. Caroline was delighted to accept. We planned an interactive showcase of her retro games for the annual holiday party. The office was buzzing with activity and laughter as we put the finishing touches on the decorations. Pixel art snowflakes and strings of 8-bit Christmas lights gave the space a deliciously retro vibe. The centerpiece was our huge Douglas fir Christmas tree, overflowing with gaudy 80's video game ornaments. I checked my watch. 5:15 pm. Caroline should've arrived by now for setup and rehearsal. Where was she? I felt a twinge of panic. Her interactive demo was meant to be the highlight of the whole evening! Just then, my phone rang. It was Caroline, speaking in a rush. "Bob! I'm so sorry, I'm running late. I'll be there in 15 minutes. Please stall for me!" she said breathlessly. I reassured her it was fine, we'll make it work. But inside, I was worried. This wasn't like Caroline to be late on such an important day. Right on cue at 5:30 pm, the doors opened and my team streamed in, laughing, trading gifts, and admiring the decor. The scent of fresh gingerbread and cinnamon wafted from the buffet. But still no sign of Caroline. I quietly asked someone to keep stalling as I slipped away to Caroline's demo room to check on things. Maybe she had arrived and was frantically getting set up? But when I entered the room, it was still and dark, empty except for a lone computer terminal glowing in the corner. Where was she? Just then my phone buzzed. It was Caroline, whispering. "I'm here but my codes got corrupted! I can't access my presentation. I'm so sorry..." She sounded near tears. My heart sank. After all this planning and anticipation, Caroline's big interactive demo wasn't going to happen. The team would be so disappointed. Then Caroline's face lit up and just winked conspiratorially. "Leave it to me, I’ll improvise something ten times better!" she whispered with a twinkle in her eye. I didn't know what she had up her sleeve, but I trusted her creative spirit absolutely. I hurried back to the party and grabbed the mic. "Sorry for the delay, everyone. I have a very special guest who's going to take you on an old-school adventure! Let's give a warm welcome to the legendary Caroline!" Right on cue, Caroline rushed onto the stage, slightly flustered but beaming. "Hi folks! So it seems technology has failed us tonight, but the human imagination never fails! Let's journey back to the magical days of text-based adventures. I'll be the computer, and you tell me what to do!" She turned to face the audience expectantly. They tittered, not quite sure what to do. "Come now, don't be shy! You there, in the holiday sweater - what's your name?" Caroline asked warmly. "Oh, I'm Susan." "Nice to meet you, Susan! What's your first command for me?" "Um, look around the room?" Susan offered tentatively. Caroline smiled delightedly. "Excellent! You look around the festively decorated room. Pixel art snowflakes twinkle down from the rafters, and the giant Christmas tree glows with 8-bit ornaments..." As Caroline brought the setting to life, people relaxed. Another person called out, "Open the present under the tree!" Caroline rolled with their idea. "You open the present and find a rare crystal orb, which begins to glow..." The audience oohed. Now they were getting into it, each building on the last. When someone yelled out, "Use the candy cane as a sword!" Caroline acted it out, getting laughs. Soon Caroline was effortlessly weaving each suggestion into an increasingly complex, fantastical world. Every detail she inventively improvised inspired new ideas from the crowd. As Caroline immersed the audience in her storytelling, I watched in awe from the sidelines. Her imaginative improv was far more engaging than any polished presentation could have been. The team hung on her every word, offering their input, laughing together. Caroline's passion was electric. Every new detail she conjured up made the world come more alive. I was transported back to those late nights as a kid, hunched over the glowing green terminal, getting lost in text worlds far more magical than reality. Time flew by in a blaze of laughter and curiosity. As Caroline brought the story to an uplifting conclusion, the room erupted in thunderous applause. She turned to me, eyes shining. "Thank you," she mouthed silently. I just smiled and nodded. No words were needed. The magic unfolding onstage said it all. As I looked around at the team's faces - delighted, inspired, connected - I knew my speech was pointless now. Caroline had already conveyed everything I yearned to say, and so much more. Her story was a gift from the heart that touched that childlike spark of imagination in all of us. As CEO, it was my job to provide direction to the team. But sometimes the best leadership is knowing when to step back and let creativity carry the torch instead. [Parts of this story were written using AI tools]

Ctrl, Alt, Imagine

THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE AND FRAMLEY PARSONAGE.

MR. FISKER'S SUCCESS

What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A SCRAP OF CURIOUS HISTORY here A SCRAP OF CURIOUS HISTORY Marion City, on the Mississippi River, in the State of Missouri—a village; time, 1845. La Bourboule-les-Bains, France—a village; time, the end of June, 1894. I was in the one village in that early time; I am in the other now. These times and places are sufficiently wide apart, yet today I have the strange sense of being thrust back into that Missourian village and of reliving certain stirring days that I lived there so long ago. Last Saturday night the life of the President of the French Republic was taken by an Italian assassin. Last night a mob surrounded our hotel, shouting, howling, singing the “Marseillaise,” and pelting our windows with sticks and stones; for we have Italian waiters, and the mob demanded that they be turned out of the house instantly—to be drubbed, and then driven out of the village. Everybody in the hotel remained up until far into the night, and experienced the several kinds of terror which one reads about in books which tell of night attacks by Italians and by French mobs: the growing roar of the oncoming crowd; the arrival, with rain of stones and a crash of glass; the withdrawal to rearrange plans—followed by a silence ominous, threatening, and harder to bear than even the active siege and the noise. The landlord and the two village policemen stood their ground, and at last the mob was persuaded to go away and leave our Italians in peace. Today four of the ringleaders have been sentenced to heavy punishment of a public sort—and are become local heroes, by consequence. That is the very mistake which was at first made in the Missourian village half a century ago. The mistake was repeated and repeated—just as France is doing in these latter months. In our village we had our Ravochals, our Henrys, our Vaillants; and in a humble way our Cesario—I hope I have spelled this name wrong. Fifty years ago we passed through, in all essentials, what France has been passing through during the past two or three years, in the matter of periodical frights, horrors, and shudderings. In several details the parallels are quaintly exact. In that day, for a man to speak out openly and proclaim himself an enemy of negro slavery was simply to proclaim himself a madman. For he was blaspheming against the holiest thing known to a Missourian, and could NOT be in his right mind. For a man to proclaim himself an anarchist in France, three years ago, was to proclaim himself a madman—he could not be in his right mind. Now the original old first blasphemer against any institution profoundly venerated by a community is quite sure to be in earnest; his followers and imitators may be humbugs and self-seekers, but he himself is sincere—his heart is in his protest. Robert Hardy was our first —awful name! He was a journeyman cooper, and worked in the big cooper-shop belonging to the great pork-packing establishment which was Marion City’s chief pride and sole source of prosperity. He was a New-Englander, a stranger. And, being a stranger, he was of course regarded as an inferior person—for that has been human nature from Adam down—and of course, also, he was made to feel unwelcome, for this is the ancient law with man and the other animals. Hardy was thirty years old, and a bachelor; pale, given to reverie and reading. He was reserved, and seemed to prefer the isolation which had fallen to his lot. He was treated to many side remarks by his fellows, but as he did not resent them it was decided that he was a coward. abolitionist All of a sudden he proclaimed himself an abolitionist—straight out and publicly! He said that negro slavery was a crime, an infamy. For a moment the town was paralyzed with astonishment; then it broke into a fury of rage and swarmed toward the cooper-shop to lynch Hardy. But the Methodist minister made a powerful speech to them and stayed their hands. He proved to them that Hardy was insane and not responsible for his words; that no man be sane and utter such words. could So Hardy was saved. Being insane, he was allowed to go on talking. He was found to be good entertainment. Several nights running he made abolition speeches in the open air, and all the town flocked to hear and laugh. He implored them to believe him sane and sincere, and have pity on the poor slaves, and take measures for the restoration of their stolen rights, or in no long time blood would flow—blood, blood, rivers of blood! It was great fun. But all of a sudden the aspect of things changed. A slave came flying from Palmyra, the county-seat, a few miles back, and was about to escape in a canoe to Illinois and freedom in the dull twilight of the approaching dawn, when the town constable seized him. Hardy happened along and tried to rescue the negro; there was a struggle, and the constable did not come out of it alive. Hardy crossed the river with the negro, and then came back to give himself up. All this took time, for the Mississippi is not a French brook, like the Seine, the Loire, and those other rivulets, but is a real river nearly a mile wide. The town was on hand in force by now, but the Methodist preacher and the sheriff had already made arrangements in the interest of order; so Hardy was surrounded by a strong guard and safely conveyed to the village calaboose in spite of all the effort of the mob to get hold of him. The reader will have begun to perceive that this Methodist minister was a prompt man; a prompt man, with active hands and a good headpiece. Williams was his name—Damon Williams; Damon Williams in public, Damnation Williams in private, because he was so powerful on that theme and so frequent. The excitement was prodigious. The constable was the first man who had ever been killed in the town. The event was by long odds the most imposing in the town’s history. It lifted the humble village into sudden importance; its name was in everybody’s mouth for twenty miles around. And so was the name of Robert Hardy—Robert Hardy, the stranger, the despised. In a day he was become the person of most consequence in the region, the only person talked about. As to those other coopers, they found their position curiously changed—they were important people, or unimportant, now, in proportion as to how large or how small had been their intercourse with the new celebrity. The two or three who had really been on a sort of familiar footing with him found themselves objects of admiring interest with the public and of envy with their shopmates. The village weekly journal had lately gone into new hands. The new man was an enterprising fellow, and he made the most of the tragedy. He issued an extra. Then he put up posters promising to devote his whole paper to matters connected with the great event—there would be a full and intensely interesting biography of the murderer, and even a portrait of him. He was as good as his word. He carved the portrait himself, on the back of a wooden type—and a terror it was to look at. It made a great commotion, for this was the first time the village paper had ever contained a picture. The village was very proud. The output of the paper was ten times as great as it had ever been before, yet every copy was sold. When the trial came on, people came from all the farms around, and from Hannibal, and Quincy, and even from Keokuk; and the court-house could hold only a fraction of the crowd that applied for admission. The trial was published in the village paper, with fresh and still more trying pictures of the accused. Hardy was convicted, and hanged—a mistake. People came from miles around to see the hanging; they brought cakes and cider, also the women and children, and made a picnic of the matter. It was the largest crowd the village had ever seen. The rope that hanged Hardy was eagerly bought up, in inch samples, for everybody wanted a memento of the memorable event. Martyrdom gilded with notoriety has its fascinations. Within one week afterward four young lightweights in the village proclaimed themselves abolitionists! In life Hardy had not been able to make a convert; everybody laughed at him; but nobody could laugh at his legacy. The four swaggered around with their slouch-hats pulled down over their faces, and hinted darkly at awful possibilities. The people were troubled and afraid, and showed it. And they were stunned, too; they could not understand it. “Abolitionist” had always been a term of shame and horror; yet here were four young men who were not only not ashamed to bear that name, but were grimly proud of it. Respectable young men they were, too—of good families, and brought up in the church. Ed Smith, the printer’s apprentice, nineteen, had been the head Sunday-school boy, and had once recited three thousand Bible verses without making a break. Dick Savage, twenty, the baker’s apprentice; Will Joyce, twenty-two, journeyman blacksmith; and Henry Taylor, twenty-four, tobacco-stemmer—were the other three. They were all of a sentimental cast; they were all romance-readers; they all wrote poetry, such as it was; they were all vain and foolish; but they had never before been suspected of having anything bad in them. They withdrew from society, and grew more and more mysterious and dreadful. They presently achieved the distinction of being denounced by names from the pulpit—which made an immense stir! This was grandeur, this was fame. They were envied by all the other young fellows now. This was natural. Their company grew—grew alarmingly. They took a name. It was a secret name, and was divulged to no outsider; publicly they were simply the abolitionists. They had pass-words, grips, and signs; they had secret meetings; their initiations were conducted with gloomy pomps and ceremonies, at midnight. They always spoke of Hardy as “the Martyr,” and every little while they moved through the principal street in procession—at midnight, black-robed, masked, to the measured tap of the solemn drum—on pilgrimage to the Martyr’s grave, where they went through with some majestic fooleries and swore vengeance upon his murderers. They gave previous notice of the pilgrimage by small posters, and warned everybody to keep indoors and darken all houses along the route, and leave the road empty. These warnings were obeyed, for there was a skull and crossbones at the top of the poster. When this kind of thing had been going on about eight weeks, a quite natural thing happened. A few men of character and grit woke up out of the nightmare of fear which had been stupefying their faculties, and began to discharge scorn and scoffings at themselves and the community for enduring this child’s-play; and at the same time they proposed to end it straightway. Everybody felt an uplift; life was breathed into their dead spirits; their courage rose and they began to feel like men again. This was on a Saturday. All day the new feeling grew and strengthened; it grew with a rush; it brought inspiration and cheer with it. Midnight saw a united community, full of zeal and pluck, and with a clearly defined and welcome piece of work in front of it. The best organizer and strongest and bitterest talker on that great Saturday was the Presbyterian clergyman who had denounced the original four from his pulpit—Rev. Hiram Fletcher—and he promised to use his pulpit in the public interest again now. On the morrow he had revelations to make, he said—secrets of the dreadful society. But the revelations were never made. At half past two in the morning the dead silence of the village was broken by a crashing explosion, and the town patrol saw the preacher’s house spring in a wreck of whirling fragments into the sky. The preacher was killed, together with a negro woman, his only slave and servant. The town was paralyzed again, and with reason. To struggle against a visible enemy is a thing worth while, and there is a plenty of men who stand always ready to undertake it; but to struggle against an invisible one—an invisible one who sneaks in and does his awful work in the dark and leaves no trace—that is another matter. That is a thing to make the bravest tremble and hold back. The cowed populace were afraid to go to the funeral. The man who was to have had a packed church to hear him expose and denounce the common enemy had but a handful to see him buried. The coroner’s jury had brought in a verdict of “death by the visitation of God,” for no witness came forward; if any existed they prudently kept out of the way. Nobody seemed sorry. Nobody wanted to see the terrible secret society provoked into the commission of further outrages. Everybody wanted the tragedy hushed up, ignored, forgotten, if possible. And so there was a bitter surprise and an unwelcome one when Will Joyce, the blacksmith’s journeyman, came out and proclaimed himself the assassin! Plainly he was not minded to be robbed of his glory. He made his proclamation, and stuck to it. Stuck to it, and insisted upon a trial. Here was an ominous thing; here was a new and peculiarly formidable terror, for a motive was revealed here which society could not hope to deal with successfully— , thirst for notoriety. If men were going to kill for notoriety’s sake, and to win the glory of newspaper renown, a big trial, and a showy execution, what possible invention of man could discourage or deter them? The town was in a sort of panic; it did not know what to do. vanity However, the grand jury had to take hold of the matter—it had no choice. It brought in a true bill, and presently the case went to the county court. The trial was a fine sensation. The prisoner was the principal witness for the prosecution. He gave a full account of the assassination; he furnished even the minutest particulars: how he deposited his keg of powder and laid his train—from the house to such-and-such a spot; how George Ronalds and Henry Hart came along just then, smoking, and he borrowed Hart’s cigar and fired the train with it, shouting, “Down with all slave-tyrants!” and how Hart and Ronalds made no effort to capture him, but ran away, and had never come forward to testify yet. But they had to testify now, and they did—and pitiful it was to see how reluctant they were, and how scared. The crowded house listened to Joyce’s fearful tale with a profound and breathless interest, and in a deep hush which was not broken till he broke it himself, in concluding, with a roaring repetition of his “Death to all slave-tyrants!”—which came so unexpectedly and so startlingly that it made everyone present catch his breath and gasp. The trial was put in the paper, with biography and large portrait, with other slanderous and insane pictures, and the edition sold beyond imagination. The execution of Joyce was a fine and picturesque thing. It drew a vast crowd. Good places in trees and seats on rail fences sold for half a dollar apiece; lemonade and gingerbread-stands had great prosperity. Joyce recited a furious and fantastic and denunciatory speech on the scaffold which had imposing passages of school-boy eloquence in it, and gave him a reputation on the spot as an orator, and his name, later, in the society’s records, of the “Martyr Orator.” He went to his death breathing slaughter and charging his society to “avenge his murder.” If he knew anything of human nature he knew that to plenty of young fellows present in that great crowd he was a grand hero—and enviably situated. He was hanged. It was a mistake. Within a month from his death the society which he had honored had twenty new members, some of them earnest, determined men. They did not court distinction in the same way, but they celebrated his martyrdom. The crime which had been obscure and despised had become lofty and glorified. Such things were happening all over the country. Wild-brained martyrdom was succeeded by uprising and organization. Then, in natural order, followed riot, insurrection, and the wrack and restitutions of war. It was bound to come, and it would naturally come in that way. It has been the manner of reform since the beginning of the world. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). What Is Man? and Other Essays. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70/pg70-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

A SCRAP OF CURIOUS HISTORY

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