Weight

Paper math, here’s a treat. The term ‘lbs’ (referring to the pound) and is a method used to determine the thickness of the paper. The paper mill will weigh 500 sheets (known as a ream) in its original uncut size and voila,  they now know how thick each sheet is. Sort of. The higher the number the thicker the paper. Bond and text paper will weigh between 20lb and 80lb, card or cover stock between 65lb and 140lb.

Disappointingly you won’t always get an accurate idea of the paper’s real thickness until you have it in your hand. That’s because the paper is weighed before it is coated. Depending on the type of coating the paper might feel thicker or even thinner as the fibres can be compressed down during the coating process.

Coated and Uncoated

Uncoated stock typically absorbs more ink, and the effect is often softer and more muted. Giving it an earthier, more natural feel. Coated paper comes in a range of finishes: matte, semi-gloss, and silk matte laminate. Coated is more durable and gives a zesty pop to the color.

Acidity

Most standard office paper terms itself “acid-free” which seems like a plus. I like the idea of not having acid on my printer paper, but what does this mean exactly? And why do all the paper brands seem so proud of it? Acid-free paper is more durable and it doesn’t yellow as easily. Under normal usage and storage conditions, acid-free paper will last 200 years. A  high acid paper for example is a newspaper (the paper, not the subject matter.) It will survive a measly 20 years and only if carefully stored. Don’t worry though, the acid isn’t dangerous. Unless consumed. Not that many make a habit of eating paper. 

Brightness

Paper brightness refers to the measurement of a specific wavelength of blue light. Which is a convoluted way of saying it measures how bright the paper is. To add a little fun and uncertainty to your search for the right paper there are three standards tests used to determine brightness, TAPPI, ISO, and D65. All three use a rating system between 0 and 100% while acknowledging that it may exceed 100%. 

As a general guide the higher the number the more your text or images will pop on the page. Whale high brightness is perfect for photographs and full-color printing it can strain the eye on longer documents. Brightness is more important on matte paper as glossy and semi-glossy paper will be more reflective. Brightness can be hit and miss, and often consumers can be disappointed when they order online expecting bright white and don’t get it. You will be able to hold up to sheets with the exact same rating that look entirely different.

Environmental Considerations

The Climate Pledge Friendly is an Amazon initiative that helps customers find products that meet sustainability standards. And those three words aren’t in the wrong order, it is indeed, Climate Pledge Friendly, not climate friendly pledge. Go figure. The FCS, The Forest Stewardship Council is a non-profit organization that promotes responsible forestry.

Renato Sanchez, PT, DPT, C.S.C.S., a physical therapist from Bespoke Treatments San Diego recommends first asking yourself why you’re considering a massage gun in the first place.

"What are you looking to get out of one? Is it for recovery, pain relief, or helping you reach your fitness goals?" Depending on your answer, different features may matter more or less to you.

To learn more about what to look for in a massage gun, we spoke with Pham and Josh Orendorf, a physical therapist, certified personal trainer and the owner of Paceline Physical Therapy, in Franklin, Tennessee.

“The three most important things for me are reliability, noise, and battery life,” says Orendorf. “I need something that I know is well-made and won’t malfunction during operation, especially because I’m using it on injured athletes." Noise is the next most important factor, because you don't want your massager to drown out everything else whenever you use it, he explains.

Reliability: Orendorf notes that reliability is still key and that it’s worth investing in a legitimate brand with high-quality standards rather than a knockoff. “Be prepared to spend at least $250 to $350 for a quality product,” he says. “I would be very suspect of guns in the $100 range.”

Noise: Pham agrees that keeping treatment quiet is a major priority. “Personally, noise to me is number one,” says Pham. “I want to be able to use the massage guns in public, and having it sound like a power tool would make it unusable.”

Battery life: Next up is battery life, as Orendorf says he also can’t have guns dying in the middle of treatment. He says that he expects a massage gun to last several full days without requiring a charge. “You’ll also want to be able to throw the gun in your bag or take it on a weekend trip without worrying about finding an outlet,” he says.

Power and speed: Sufficient power and speed is essential to effectively penetrate the muscles and promote blood flow. Look for a massage gun with a high percussive force and adjustable speed settings so you can deliver adequate force to different muscles.

Attachments: Different attachments can provide different massage techniques and sensations that may be suitable for different muscles. Look for a massage gun that comes with a variety of attachments to target different muscle groups and areas of the body.

Portability: A portable and lightweight massage gun is ideal, especially if you plan to use it on the go or travel with it. Consider the weight, size, and the case included.

Additional accessories and features: Of course, even the best guns leave room for improvement. Some options come with convenient travel cases and charging stands—something Orendorf would like to see more products offer. He also mentions that dishwasher-safe attachment heads would make for easier cleaning. And, as the market continues to progress, he hopes for smaller (yet still powerful) designs and Bluetooth app integration.

In its quest to develop AI that can understand a range of different dialects, Meta has created an AI model, SeamlessM4T, that can translate and transcribe close to 100 languages across text and speech.

Available in open source along with SeamlessAlign, a new translation dataset, Meta claims that SeamlessM4T represents a “significant breakthrough” in the field of AI-powered speech-to-speech and speech-to-text.

“Our single model provides on-demand translations that enable people who speak different languages to communicate more effectively,” Meta writes in a blog post shared with TechCrunch. “SeamlessM4T implicitly recognizes the source languages without the need for a separate language identification model.”

SeamlessM4T is something of a spiritual successor to Meta’s No Language Left Behind, a text-to-text machine translation model, and Universal Speech Translator, one of the few direct speech-to-speech translation systems to support the Hokkien language. And it builds on Massively Multilingual Speech, Meta’s framework that provides speech recognition, language identification and speech synthesis tech across more than 1,100 languages.

Meta isn’t the only one investing resources in developing sophisticated AI translation and transcription tools.

Beyond the wealth of commercial services and open source models already available from Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI and a number of startups, Google is creating what it calls the Universal Speech Model, a part of the tech giant’s larger effort to build a model that can understand the world’s 1,000 most-spoken languages. Mozilla, meanwhile, spearheaded Common Voice, one of the largest multi-language collections of voices for training automatic speech recognition algorithms.

But SeamlessM4T is among the more ambitious efforts to date to combine translation and transcription capabilities into a single model.

In developing it, Meta says that it scraped publicly available text (in the order of “tens of billions” of sentences) and speech (4 million hours) from the web. In an interview with TechCrunch, Juan Pino, a research scientist at Meta’s AI research division and a contributor on the project, wouldn’t reveal the exact sources of the data, saying only that there was “a variety” of them.

Not every content creator agrees with the practice of leveraging public data to train models that could be used commercially. Some have filed lawsuits against companies building AI tools on top of publicly available data, arguing that the vendors should be compelled to provide credit if not compensation — and clear ways to opt out.

But Meta claims that the data it mined — which might contain personally identifiable information, the company admits — wasn’t copyrighted and came primarily from open source or licensed sources.

Whatever the case, Meta used the scraped text and speech to create the training dataset for SeamlessM4T, called SeamlessAlign. Researchers aligned 443,000 hours of speech with texts and created 29,000 hours of “speech-to-speech” alignments, which “taught” SeamlessM4T how to transcribe speech to text, translate text, generate speech from text and even translate words spoken in one language into words in another language.

Meta claims that on an internal benchmark, SeamlessM4T performed better against background noises and “speaker variations” in speech-to-text tasks compared to the current state-of-the-art speech transcription model. It attributes this to the rich combination of speech and text data in the training dataset, which Meta believes gives SeamlessM4T a leg up over speech-only and text-only models.

“With state-of-the-art results, we believe SeamlessM4T is an important breakthrough in the AI community’s quest toward creating universal multitask systems,” Meta wrote in the blog post.

But one wonders what biases the model might contain.

A exact piece in The Conversation points out the many flaws in AI-powered translation, including different forms of gender bias. For example, Google Translate once presupposed that doctors were male while nurses were female in certain languages, while Bing’s translator translated phrases like “the table is soft” as the feminine “die Tabelle” in German, which refers to a table of figures.

Speech recognition algorithms, too, often contain biases. A study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that speech recognition systems from leading companies were twice as likely to incorrectly transcribe audio from Black speakers as opposed to white speakers.

Unsurprisingly, SeamlessM4T isn’t unique in this regard.

In a whitepaper published alongside the blog post, Meta reveals that the model “overgeneralizes to masculine forms when translating from neutral terms” and performs better when translating from the masculine reference (e.g. nouns like “he” in English) for most languages.

Moreover, in the absence of gender information, SeamlessM4T prefers translating the masculine form about 10% of the time — perhaps due to an “overrepresentation of masculine lexica” in the training data, Meta speculates.

Meta makes the case that SeamlessM4T doesn’t add an outsize amount of toxic text in its translations, a common problem with translation and generative AI text models at large. But it’s not perfect. In some languages, like Bengali and Kyrgyz, SeamlessM4T makes more toxic translations — that is to say, hateful or profane translations — about socioeconomic status and culture. And in general, SeamlessM4T is more toxic in translations dealing with sexual orientation and religion.

Meta notes that the public demo for SeamlessM4T contains a filter for toxicity in inputted speech as well as a filter for potentially toxic outputted speech. That filter’s not present by default in the open source release of the model, however.

The larger issue with AI translators not addressed in the whitepaper is the loss of lexical richness that can result from their overuse. Unlike AI, human interpreters make choices unique to them when translating one language into another. They might explicate, normalize or condense and summarize, creating fingerprints known informally as “translationese.” AI systems might generate more “accurate” translations, but those translations could be coming at the expense of translation variety and diversity.

That’s probably why Meta advises against using SeamlessM4T for long-form translation and certified translations, like those recognized by government agencies and translation authorities. Meta also discourages deploying SeamlessM4T for medical or legal purposes — presumably an attempt to cover its bases in the event of a mistranslation.

That’s wise; there have been at least a few of instances where AI mistranslations have resulted in law enforcement mistakes. In September 2012, police erroneously confronted a Kurdish man for financing terrorism because of a mistranslated text message. And in 2017, a cop in Kansas used Google Translate to ask a Spanish-speaker if they could search their car for drugs, but because the translation was inaccurate, the driver didn’t fully understand what he’d agreed to and the case was eventually thrown out.

“This single system approach reduces errors and delays, increasing the efficiency and quality of the translation process, bringing us closer to making seamless translation possible,” Pino said. “In the future, we want to explore how this foundational model can enable new communication capabilities — ultimately bringing us closer to a world where everyone can be understood.”

Let’s hope humans aren’t left completely out of the loop in that future.

Family is important and if you're looking to treat the tribe this autumn, our roundup of exciting days out and nifty purchases has got you covered.

Get your kids moving with a virtual reality fitness app, track the whereabouts of your pooch with a GPS pet tracker and create your dream garden for special family get-togethers.

If you're looking for holiday or activity inspiration, how about a day trip to The Bear Grylls Adventure Centre in Birmingham or an action-packed jaunt around the Isle of Wight?

Get money for your unwanted devices

Tired of your family's old tech cluttering up the house? Compare and Recycle is a comparison site that helps you get the best price for your mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches and other devices.

With an average payout of £218 for used devices, it allows users to sell their old gadgets without the hassle of dealing with time wasters or searching for endless quotes online.

The process is quick and easy, thanks to its vast network of recycling partners who can offer an instant evaluation while making a positive impact on the environment.

In 2022, consumers generated more than £41 million for their redundant devices with Compare and Recycle and prevented 28.1 tonnes of mobile phones from becoming e-waste.

Start Compare-ing and Recycle-ing your tech at compareandrecycle.co.uk today.

Create special memories for you and your baby

Teach your baby how to swim and create a lasting connection with your child with Water Babies.The programme nurtures your baby's development while creating precious memories in a safe, fun environment.

Classes are available across the UK, each of which is tailored toward babies and children — from newborns to five-year-olds.

Benefits include water safety and confidence, enhanced motor skills, coordination and muscle strength — as well as sensory stimulation.

It also allows babies and parents to create lasting connections through close physical contact in the water.

Enquire now and learn a skill for life with Water Babies.

Workout via virtual reality with this high-tech fitness app

Get the whole family fit with these gamified workouts that teens and adults alike will love. Virtual reality fitness app FitXR makes exercising fun and convenient thanks to its immersive VR workouts.

Hundreds of on-demand classes are available across five interactive studios: Box, HIIT, Dance, Sculpt and Combat. With FitXR, you can exercise for as little as 15 minutes each day in a virtual environment, anytime, anywhere.

One day you'll be strengthening and toning your muscles, the next you'll be dancing to your favourite tunes.

Music from Lady Gaga, Green Day, Pink and Backstreet Boys is on hand to provide essential motivation and all classes are choreographed by certified professional instructors and athletes.

FitXR is available on Meta Quest and PICO stores worldwide and offers a free seven-day trial, giving you access to all classes (with the monthly subscription after that costing £9.99). Get started at fitxr.com.

Regain your confidence with healthier-looking hair

When you find that your hair isn't what it once was, it's best to deal with the issue by addressing it head-on. Take back control by giving your locks the care they need with Watermans — a kiss of life for hair.

Its products are packed with natural ingredients that help fight against hair frustrations and come with a 10-year proven track record. They're also 100% cosmetic and don't contain any medicinal ingredients, making them great for all hair types.

Watermans has been recognised with the prestigious Queen's Award, a symbol of trust and quality that customers can rely on.

Try Watermans today and get 30% off your first purchase using the code wat30off. Valid until 31 August 2023. Visit watermanshair.com.

Keep track of your pooch

If you're a dog owner, you're likely to have experienced the fear of not being able to locate your pet when they've roamed out of sight.

Rest assured, the Pawfit GPS pet tracker has been designed to deliver you and your family peace of mind.

The advanced waterproof tracker provides live location updates every five seconds through the Pawfit app. The tracker also features a remote voice recall and an LED light so you can spot your furry friend even on your midnight walks.

As well as the GPS functionality, the device can help to monitor your pet's activity levels – simply click on the app and set your pup some fitness goals.

Be confident in the safety of your pets and purchase your tracker now. Shop at pawfit.com.

Unleash your inner explorer

Located next to the NEC in Birmingham, The Bear Grylls Adventure boasts 11 thrilling activities to choose from, all in one place.

This includes everything from archery, axe throwing and shooting, to climbing, high ropes and zip-lines — not to mention snorkelling, diving and assault courses too.

The high ropes are the tallest in Europe and have 36 different obstacles, perfect for budding adrenaline junkies.

The climbing wall is modelled on real-life mountains including El Capitan, and Fontainebleau and all archery instructors are Archery GB trained. The venue is also home to one of only five indoor iFly skydiving wind tunnels in the UK.

And for families who are feeling extra adventurous, consider a dive in the ocean tank where you'll be surrounded by exotic marine life, including Blacktip sharks, Nurse sharks and tropical fish.

Plan a family day out with a difference at beargryllsadventure.com.

Give your family camping trips an extra boost

Going away with the family on a fun camping adventure is a walk in the park with Jackery's solar generators.

Camping is taken to another level, with your Jackery charger powering everything from kettles and grills for a morning cuppa and breakfast rolls, to fairy lights in the evening and toastie machines for late-night snacks.

Jackery solar generators are good for the planet, too, providing power on the go in a sustainable, environmentally sound way through its powerful solar panels.

For more information and seasonal deals, visit uk.jackery.com or search on the Amazon store.

What's more, if you buy now, you'll get 15% off the Jackery Solar Generator 1500Pro with code SG1500PRO, valid until 6 September 2023.

Achieve your dream garden

Make the most of the British weather with a tasteful and contemporary outdoor solution from Fleming Verandas.

Designed for year-round usage, every veranda is unique — whether it's a bespoke, made-to-measure option, or a fixed-size structure. They are highly customisable, with an array of colours and design options to complement your garden.

Choose from glass and polycarbonate walls, glass sliding doors and louvred roof systems, all designed to help increase your overall living space, come rain or shine.

More convenient and efficient than a conservatory or extension, verandas and glass rooms can be fitted within days, instead of weeks, and can help raise the value of a home while helping cut household bills in the long term.

If you're interested in discussing your dream outdoor living space, call 01902 212331, or visit flemingverandas.com today.

Embark on a family-friendly day out steeped in history

With its stunning stained-glass windows, masterful architecture, and beautiful grounds, it's no surprise that Canterbury Cathedral is one of the UK's most-visited historic sites.

The 1,400-year-old cathedral offers a fascinating insight into the nation's history. Whether you're hunting dragons and gargoyles, or looking to admire the carved tombs, there's something for the whole family to enjoy.

Stroll through the Crypt exhibition and get close to the unique artefacts on display, including the armour of the legendary Black Prince.

Plus, if you take a trip back through time now, all kids go free (the offer applies to a maximum of two children per adult and ends 31 December 2023).

Book your visit at canterbury-cathedral.org.

Say yes to family fun on the Isle of Wight

If you're looking for the perfect autumn getaway, the Isle of Wight is just the ticket.

With more than half the island being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, autumn brings spectacular shades of glorious rust and burnt orange to the island.

Embrace the crisp autumn air with an adventure on bike or foot, with 500 or so miles of pathways to explore giving you and the family access to many hidden gems that aren't accessible by car.

Elsewhere, discover an array of local artisan producers who specialise in exceptional gastronomy, with the finest in-season game, vegetables and fruits served at several restaurants across the island.

Whether it's a stylish short break for two or a fabulous holiday for the whole family, you'll discover a massive range of places to stay on the island.

Plan your trip today at visitisleofwight.co.uk.

This content is brought to you by Living360, a digital lifestyle destination keeping you up to date with health and fitness, food and drink, homes and gardens, beauty, travel, finance trends and more

Breastfeeding is natural — but, as Keke Palmer recently put it, for many, it is “not instinctual.” 

The actress, who gave birth to son Leodis on Feb. 27, has been open about her journey with breastfeeding. She told People magazine, “It’s been a doozy,” and in a exact cover story for Essence‘s fashion issue, she explained that despite wanting to deliver up at times, it’s been “very empowering because it was so difficult.” 

Palmer prevailed with the help of a professional lactation specialist. She admitted to People she didn’t know where to begin when searching for help but ultimately found the right source. 

“Shout out to all the lactation consultants because mine really, really made the difference for me,” Palmer told People.

Palmer’s experience is one shared by many. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60% of nursing parents stop breastfeeding sooner than they initially intended, and Black babies are consistently breastfed the least. The low breastfeeding rates in this country across the board and the lack of societal acceptance have led to the creation of both National Breastfeeding Month, commemorated each August, and Black Breastfeeding Week, celebrated Aug. 25 through Aug. 28. While there have been some improvements to the rates over the years, many still deliver up on the task out of frustration and reach for the bottle. 

“There’s such a stigma associated with [breastfeeding],” Sterling Grey-Simmons, a certified lactation specialist based in Atlanta, told theGrio. “Some people associate it with slavery because there were wet nurses and those types of things.”

She added that on the heels of slavery during the Jim Crow era, manufacturers began marketing formula to Black families as an upper-class luxury.  

“They marketed it to them by saying only poor Black women breastfed their babies. If you could afford formula, that would make you a higher-class person. I think that a lot of that is still ingrained in the culture,” she said, adding that Black families are offered formula at higher rates. 

Beyond stigma, Grey-Simmons said lifestyle and work can get in the way of nursing. Many new parents must return to work within weeks of giving birth, preventing them from bonding effectively with their new baby or generating enough breast milk. And then there’s knowledge and support. 

“It all comes down to education and support,” Grey-Simmons said, adding that it’s not just getting the education but when it’s received that could make a difference. She recommends parents begin learning about breastfeeding before the baby is born.

“It’s a lot easier to learn about breastfeeding before you have a crying baby who you’re trying to figure out how to latch on to your nipples and you’re leaking, and you’re sleep deprived, and you’re bleeding,” she said. 

Grey-Simmons teaches breastfeeding prenatally and said she urges parents to begin their search for lactation specialists in their area before they deliver birth to avoid scrambling post-birth like Palmer and others have had to do. She also suggests it isn’t just the nursing parent who invests in the knowledge. 

“When I’m teaching a breastfeeding class, I want you to invite your partner; I want you to invite your mom; I want you to invite your best friend. Whoever is gonna be there with you most of the days,” she said. 

Grey-Simmons said inviting someone else along gives the pregnant person another set of ears and eyes during the lesson, picking up on things they may miss. During late-night nursing struggles or any other time, having someone else on hand who can accurately help with the nursing process will be invaluable support. 

Learning about nursing and baby hunger cues before birth better equips parents overall. First-time nursing parents can be confronted with an array of unexpected developments when nursing a baby. Grey-Simmons said they can experience anything from cluster-feeding, when the baby eats several times within a certain time frame versus throughout the day, to overproducing milk, all of which a certified lactation specialist can prep families for.   

Getting the hang of breastfeeding isn’t just a matter of preference; Grey-Simmons explained breast milk “is the gift that keeps giving.” According to the CDC, breastfeeding can protect against both short and long-term illnesses as breast milk adapts to the infant’s needs. Breastfed babies are less likely to develop allergies, diabetes, eczema, ear infections, stomach bugs, and the like. The benefits go both ways; the CDC also reports that parents who nurse can decrease their risk of developing type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even some cancers, including breast cancer. 

“[Breastfed babies] tend to be calmer because they’re usually comforted and content right there by their parents,” Grey-Simmons added. 

While the benefits abound, the stigma and lack of common knowledge continue. Grey-Simmons said she got into her work line to answer her needs. Twelve years ago, when she had her first child, Grey-Simmons became what she calls a “first-generation breastfeeder.” 

“I was the first one on both sides of my family that I knew wanted to breastfeed. When I chose to breastfeed my oldest, everybody was looking at me like I was crazy. They were like, ‘That’s nasty. Why would you want that baby sucking on you all the time?’ Zero support and just lots of backlash,” she said. 

Grey-Simmons remembers being unable to pick up the phone and call her mom or grandmother for advice on nursing. She recalled not being able to find help outside of the overwhelmed hospital.

“I just realized that there was a gap that needed to be filled,” she said. 

She added, “I think it’s important to let people know that they can have access to breastfeeding support outside of the hospital setting.”

Grey-Simmons said it’s important for nursing parents to find the right resources and accurate sources of information — and advises taking uncertified social media influencers’ advice with a grain of salt. She also noted that what’s healthy in terms of milk production for one baby and parent may not be healthy for another.

For any first-time nursing parents out there, Grey-Simmons offers assurance. “It definitely gets easier,” she said. Reach out to support the first time you feel like there’s a problem.” For more seasoned nursing veterans, Grey-Simmons advises they “Understand that each journey is different. Every baby is different. So just because you breastfed the first two and didn’t have an incident, now you have a problem with the third, this is OK. Everybody’s different.” 

As for society at large, Grey-Simmons hopes breastfeeding can become more normalized. Ideally, that includes employers designating nursing rooms with lockers and refrigerators only nursing parents can access. Family members and friends can also be more supportive and accepting, especially when a nursing parent opens up about challenges. Push them toward finding the right support rather than throwing in the towel.

She said, “Normalize breastfeeding so Mama doesn’t feel like she has to be thinking about what people are going to say or how she’s going to be received.”

Kay Wicker is a lifestyle writer for theGrio covering health, wellness, travel, beauty, fashion, and the myriad ways Black people live and enjoy their lives. She has previously created content for magazines, newspapers, and digital brands. 

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. TheGrio’s Black Podcast Network is free too. Download theGrio mobile apps today! Listen to ‘Writing Black’ with Maiysha Kai.

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