The Line Between Inventive and Invasive
🚼 A baby monitor that uses AI comes to Nashville · English: The Second Language · Lights Too Bright · Film rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Understandably, there is some anxiety around the emergence of AI and how it will affect everything from education to the economy. As the technology advances, we're bound to see many products that blur the line between invasive and inventive.
This morning, we talk to the creator of one of these products: a baby monitor that utilizes AI to track childhood development. But what was especially compelling about this particular story is that the founder, Ami Meoded, chose Nashville as the city to bring his product forward into brick-and-mortar stores, due in part, to the large presence of young families in Middle Tennessee.
One of my favorite data points to trot out to bring this point home is that between 2020 and 2022, there were only five states in the US in which the number of children aged 0 to 4 increased: Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Tennessee. In Tennessee, most of this growth occurred in the ring counties surrounding Nashville.
Read on and decide for yourself. In other news, we'll be taking Monday off for Columbus Day.
Onward.
A few decades ago, Ami Meoded spent his days ensuring that the Ninja Turtles and Dora The Explorer could set up shop in the Middle East. But after a career in a medium that far too often becomes a virtual babysitter for busy parents, he became increasingly concerned about how an ever-digitizing world could affect childhood development. With his background in marketing children’s products, Meoded seized an opportunity to co-found LittleOne.Care, a company that aims to use AI to further parents’ knowledge of childhood development and promote sustained daily interaction in the areas where individual children need it the most.
After years of research and beta tests, LittleOne.Care announced Elora, a groundbreaking baby monitor that uses A.I. to provide real-time data to parents so they can document trends and make the necessary interventions to ensure their children have every opportunity to thrive. Fresh from launching Elora in Nashville earlier this year, Meoded sat down with The Pamphleteer to talk about the challenges of parenting, public perceptions of AI, and Music City’s appeal for entrepreneurs in the childcare field.
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🗣️ English: The Second Language Middle Tennessee ESL teachers are overwhelmed by an influx of students who don’t speak english. According to Fox 17, a teacher wishing to remain anonymous informed the local news outlet that there are almost 1,000 ESL students in their district alone—a number that has nearly doubled since last year. “It’s hard to put yourself in one place where they’re all at because they’re scattered around in different classrooms,” the ESL teacher explained. “They’re really stretching us thin.”
Last night, three Davidson County Republican candidates weighed in on how immigration is affecting Nashville during the Lady Up podcast hosted by Diane Canada. Here’s what they had to say:
“Crime, education, you know…illegal immigration is [the] number one [issue] that I'm hearing on the campaign trail,” said current Councilmember Jennifer Frensley Webb, who is running against incumbent Democrat Representative Bo Mitchell for the Tennessee House seat in District 50. “A lot of people in my area…are school teachers, and the classrooms just keep getting bigger and bigger which makes it impossible for them to do their job.”
“The immigration issue…everybody is affected by that,” said Chad Bobo, who is running for the vacated Tennessee House seat in District 60. “You have illegal immigrants who are here, and they're not registered on anything…. They're also being assaulted by other illegals. So those crimes are not getting reported, as well. So everything about how our borders have been open has been a really bad thing for Davidson County.”
“Illegal immigration, we've got to stop it,” said Wyatt Rampy, who is running against incumbent Democrat Senator Heidi Campbell for the Tennessee Senate seat in District 20. “We have to work with law enforcement to identify them, and I have a problem extending constitutional rights to noncitizens. That's a problem for me, and certainly allowing them any kind of voting rights. It's an issue we've got to face.”
🛋️ Illuminating Nashville Yesterday, at-large Councilmember Burkley Allen sent out a newsletter with fall updates, including a note on the 55,000 street lights being replaced with LEDs throughout Nashville. “Council members have been receiving lots of emails about the streetlight replacement project,” she wrote. “Most are concerns about excessive brightness.”
Last year, questions were raised when Nashville Electric Service entered into a no-bid agreement with a Memphis-based company to replace the lights. At the time, Vice President of T&D operations at NES, Vaughan Charles, defended their decision by explaining that a bidding process may have delayed the city’s transition to LEDs.
In April, Mayor Freddie O’Connell celebrated the switch, highlighting that the new lights will cut energy consumption by 60 percent. Councilmember Allen reassured constituents that the replacement process accounts for the areas where lights are swapped. “There are differences between the output levels of fixtures on residential streets versus corridors and highways,” she explained. “Fixtures actually differ not just between the type of area, but also depending on the individual application (corner vs straightaway, presence of turn lane vs not, etc.). All fixture decisions are analyzed by NDOT who provides the direction to NES (and then to the contractor) regarding what fixture needs to be installed in which location.”
🌊 A Time For HEALing Yesterday afternoon, Governor Lee announced that a $100 million fund will be set up to help the twelve Tennessee counties recovering from Hurricane Helene. The Helene Emergency Assistance Loans (HEAL) Program will provide $35 million to address water and wastewater system damage, and $65 million to remove dangerous debris.
“Hurricane Helene was an unprecedented disaster for Tennessee, and many local communities don’t have the resources to recover on their own,” said Lee in a press release. “Federal dollars will be available later, but these communities need immediate relief. Tennessee’s record of fiscal conservatism has placed us in a strong financial position to make government work for the people and step up to help in this time of need.”
DEVELOPMENT
- Nashville Yards announces first retail tenants, Salt Lake City-based brands (NBJ)
- Green Hills intersection realignment project faces delay (Post)
- Chestnut Hill property offered for sale (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Vampire Weekend @ Ascend Amphitheater, 7p, $45+, Info
🎸 Cavefest @ The Caverns, $49.50+, Info
+ Railroad Earth, The Travelin' McCourys, Yonder Mountain String Band, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn and more...
🪕 Tim Shelton Syndicate @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🎸 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit with Garrison Starr @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $59.75+, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: October 11-17
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming releases, check out our 2024 Film Guide.
The Apprentice (Dir. Ali Abassi; Starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong) This origin story traces how The Donald’s friendship with infamous attorney Roy Cohn fueled his rise in late-70s NYC. Read our review here. Now playing in theaters.
Saturday Night (Dir. Jason Reitman; Starring Dylan O'Brien and Rachel Sennott) The director of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Up in the Air recounts the turmoil of the two hours before the premiere of SNL. Now playing in theaters.
Average Joe (Dir. Harold Cronk; Starring Amy Acker and Eric Close) A former marine becomes an inspirational small-town high-school football coach. Now playing in theaters.
Shocktober @ The Belcourt Nashville’s arthouse has our Halloween needs covered this month with a curated selection of 15 horror movies ranging from all-time greats like Carrie to cult classics Jennifer’s Body and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This week’s offerings include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s 50th-anniversary restoration, Night of the Living Dead, Scary Movie, and Brian DePalma’s exquisite The Phantom of the Paradise.
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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