"Rampant community transmission of the coronavirus and a crippled vaccine rollout have boxed people into a corner: Many are relying on negative test results, inherently limited in usefulness, as a certificate of clearance to see family and friends.
While testing is critical to containing the outbreak, a negative test result is not a free pass to forgo social distancing, mask-wearing and other mitigation measures. Here are a few reminders about what a negative coronavirus test means and doesn’t mean."
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Washington Post: "Three reasons a negative coronavirus test doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not infected"
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
FM #432 Talk Franklin - 1/08/21 (audio)
FM #432 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 432 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares my "Talk Franklin" conversation with Town Administrator Jamie Hellen and Marketing and Communications Specialist Anne Marie Tracey. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
We talk about:
- Town Council recap
- Hazard plan
- Beaver St interceptor authorization
- Playground donation
Pandemic
- Updated COVID-19 dashboard
- Restrictions extended 2 weeks – Jan 24
- Vaccine for first responders, handling the media
Looking ahead
- Listening session – Jan 13
- Council preview items
- storm water
- complete streets
Links to the key topics covered here are included in the show notes.
The recording runs about 32 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jamie and Anne Marie. Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/6b4b58ab-ae0d-4a59-84e0-0147680b0c03
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Agenda document (and released supporting materials in one PDF)
https://franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/agendas/01-06-2021_town_council_agenda.pdf
Hazard Mitigation presentation doc https://franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/mai/files/8a._hazard_mitigation_presentation_2020_update_presentation_handout.pdf
Hazard Mitigation Plan
https://franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/mai/files/10a._hazard_mitigation_0.pdf
Beaver St summary document https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/mai/files/10b._21-02_beaver_street_interceptor.pdf
My notes from the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/01/town-council-meeting-jan-6-2021-recap.html
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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
- If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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FM #432 Talk Franklin - 1/08/21 (audio) |
School Committee: Budget Sub Committee Meeting - Jan 14, 2021
"The listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law."
-FY 21 Budget Discussion
-FY 22 Budget Development
Agenda doc and connection info
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School Committee: Budget Sub Committee Meeting - Jan 14, 2021 |
Franklin Public Schools: Jan 12, 2021 Re-opening Update on Pool Testing
January 12, 2021
Both FHS swim teams top King Philip on Tuesday
Girls Swimming = Franklin, 93 @ King Philip, 75 – Final
๐Big win for JV!! ๐Final score 7-4 vs Canton. Goals by Dennett (2), Greco (2), Ford, Puleo, and Iannuzzi. Great work girls!
Follow the Girls Varsity Ice Hockey game at KP live: https://t.co/bT8W1VNPMQ @FHSGirlsPuck
— FranklinAthletics (@FHSSports) January 13, 2021
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Both FHS swim teams top King Philip on Tuesday |
Franklin Public Schools, MA: School schedule reminders
Please make note of the upcoming schedule for FPS.
You can always find the 20-21 school calendar on our website at https://t.co/pFrWeBYdv8
Franklin Public Schools, MA: School schedule reminders |
"systems couldn’t tell when words in a sentence were jumbled up"
From the MIT Technology Review, we find that while Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to make strides, it also contains a significant flaw.
"Many AIs that appear to understand language and that score better than humans on a common set of comprehension tasks don’t notice when the words in a sentence are jumbled up, which shows that they don’t really understand language at all. The problem lies in the way natural-language processing (NLP) systems are trained; it also points to a way to make them better.
Researchers at Auburn University in Alabama and Adobe Research discovered the flaw when they tried to get an NLP system to generate explanations for its behavior, such as why it claimed different sentences meant the same thing. When they tested their approach, they realized that shuffling words in a sentence made no difference to the explanations. “This is a general problem to all NLP models,” says Anh Nguyen at Auburn University, who led the work."
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From the MIT Technology Review, we find that Artificial Intelligence (AI) contains a significant flaw |