Las Vegas HEALS March 2015 Medical Mixer at Parkway Surgical Center – Video


Las Vegas HEALS March 2015 Medical Mixer at Parkway Surgical Center
Become a member: http://www.lasvegasheals.org/join Thank you to all those who attended Las Vegas HEALS March 2015 Medical Mixer. This month #39;s mixer was hosted at an on site surgical center,...

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Las Vegas HEALS March 2015 Medical Mixer at Parkway Surgical Center - Video

Health care for veterans goes high tech

When Barbara Van Dahlen was brainstorming ways to address veterans mental-health needs 10 years ago, she was inspired by Craigslist and the way the site made it easy for buyers to find sellers.

I thought I should be able to use technology to connect mental-health professionals all over the country with veterans and their families, said Van Dahlen, a licensed clinical psychologist and president of nonprofit group Give an Hour. The organization gives troops and their families access to free mental-health services through video sessions with a network of volunteers.

Give an Hour was founded in 2005 when few had heard of telehealth and the iPhone did not exist yet.

Fast forward to 2015: The charity now teams up regularly with technology firms to help veterans. It has worked with the likes of Google to reach more veterans through a series of video chats. It paired with Booz Allen Hamilton to analyze program data to better deliver services. And it is exploring a partnership with Doctor on Demand, an app that gives users 15-minute appointments with doctors, virtually.

Technology is critical in overcoming the stigma around mental-health issues, said Van Dahlen, who launched a national campaign to raise awareness about the topic in Washington last week.

Technology allows people from the privacy of their own computer screen to say, I dont know if Im depressed, but Id like to find out more, she said.

In 2013, Give an Hour partnered with Googles veteran network group on an experiment called Google Helpouts that lets ordinary people connect with subject-matter experts using the video-chat platform Google Hangouts. Experts were available on a range of topics from health to cooking to home repair, some for free and others for a fee.

The partnership brought Give an Hours model to a vast network of Google users, Van Dahlen said, but Google said in a blog post that it would end Helpouts on April 20, because it hasnt grown at the pace we had expected.

Give an Hours technology initiatives come as the Department of Veterans Affairs ramps up its own efforts to integrate technology in its health-care system.

For example, VAs Connected Health program seeks to give veterans better access to medical care through smartphones, tablets and other mobile technology.

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Health care for veterans goes high tech

GAO: Vets' health care costs a 'high risk' for taxpayers

Published February 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015: Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Veterans' health care is a "high risk" budget issue that threatens to cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars unless longstanding problems are addressed, government auditors warned Wednesday.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said health care costs at the Department of Veterans Affairs have nearly tripled since 2002 -- to more than $59 billion a year -- as a result of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the aging of Vietnam-era veterans.

Costs are likely to continue to rise as the VA responds to "serious and longstanding problems with veterans' access to care," the GAO said.

The report praised a new law overhauling the VA in the wake of a scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking care. But it said officials must ensure that veterans obtain needed care, whether from the VA or from outside providers authorized under the 2014 law.

"While timely and cost-effective access to needed health care services is essential, it also is imperative that VA ensures the quality and safety of the services it provides," the report said.

The GAO report, issued every other year, identified 32 "high risk" areas that could cause significant budget problems due to waste, fraud, mismanagement or structural flaws. The list includes Medicare and Medicaid, as well as a host of Pentagon and nuclear security programs and the national flood insurance program, among others.

In 2013, the GAO added climate change to the high-risk list.

The GAO report is the latest in a series of reports and investigations highlighting problems at the VA, which has been under intense scrutiny since a whistleblower reported last year that dozens of veterans died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA hospital, and that appointment records were manipulated to hide the delays.

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GAO: Vets' health care costs a 'high risk' for taxpayers

Health care issues still a hot topic in the legislature

Note: This is the entire story; the overflow fromthefront page is missing in our printed edition.

Medicaid expansion is dead, but that doesnt mean looking out for the uninsured in Wyoming and the hospitals that serve them isnt foremost in the minds of legislators.

Representative Elaine Harvey

The week began in the House of Representatives with the second reading of the supplemental budget and numerous amendments. With the deadline past for introducing new bills, representatives are adding amendments to the budget as a last resort.

Everyone is kind of scrambling, trying to do things through the budget, explained Rep. Elaine Harvey of Lovell. People are trying to correct things through the budget.

We are looking at other ways to deal with health care costs. One of them is Senator Petersons bill that deals with the hospital end of things, but I also have an amendment in the works that could also provide some relief.

Harvey said she is submitting an amendment for consideration on the third reading of the budget, which is expected to take place on Thursday. The amendment would offer reimbursement to hospitals for uncompensated care. The amendment takes $4 million from an $8 million building project at the University of Wyoming. The $4 million would be funneled to community health centers and rural health clinics, compensating them for some of the uncompensated care they provide to the uninsured.

Community health centers operate in underserved areas and serve the needs of a wide variety of clients from the indigent to the fully insured. She said these clinics typically provide a wide array of services, even dental care in some cases, and are typically bigger and more comprehensive in services than rural health clinics.

In contrast, rural health clinics, such as North Big Horn Hospital, are typically located in smaller communities, offering limited services. They are spread throughout the state, which allows people in adjacent communities to drive a reasonable distance to the clinic for care.

Both types of clinics offer services on a sliding fee scale. The proposed amendment would allocate funds to reimburse the clinics for a portion of the uncompensated care they provide through the sliding scale method of billing. Harvey said the amendment would allow the clinics to bill the State Dept. of Health for reimbursement for uncompensated care. It differs from Medicaid expansion in that the money comes from the state instead of the federal government.

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Health care issues still a hot topic in the legislature

Health care options expanding in east and south Hillsborough

BRANDON As construction crews hammer away on new houses in Hillsborough Countys fastest-growing area, those moving in are going to need more than a few restaurants and service stations. Theyll need health services.

An $11 million medical office building going up at Kings Avenue and Oakfield Drive in Brandon, anchored by Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, is one of several recent projects in eastern and southern Hillsborough County related to the medical fields. The new construction is directly tied to the expanding customer base.

Brandon Regional Hospital is adding on and BayCare Health System just built a new hospital in Riverview that opened at the beginning of the year. A new partnership between Tampa General Hospital and Florida Hospital called West Florida Health plans to begin construction on a Falkenburg Road clinic later this year.

The new 38,400 square-foot Brandon Medical Pavilion is scheduled to open as soon as November and the developer is still seeking tenants for its second floor.

The 3.27-acre plot the former site of Lifestyles Fitness is just blocks from Brandon Regional Hospital.

We work with health care providers and this is an area a lot of groups are interested in, with so much growth in Brandon and to the south. But it doesnt have a lot of high quality medical office space, said Andrew Boggini, principal for developer Optimal Outcomes LLC.

Weve maximized the site, putting every bit of square footage in that we could and there will be more than adequate parking, something that some other medical offices in Brandon lack, he said.

Boggini said there are no county or state economic incentives tied to the project, but it is expected to result in at least a handful of new permanent jobs for the area.

Florida Cancer Specialists plans to hire eight new employees, in addition to a radiation oncologist, said Brad Prechtl, CEO of the 31-year-old Florida-based company.

Prechtls company, which has 90 locations throughout Florida, has been in Brandon for a decade already, but has outgrown its space on Parsons Avenue. At the new building, it will occupy all of the first floor and will continue to offer traditional oncology treatment, hematology services and research and will add radiation therapy.

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Health care options expanding in east and south Hillsborough

VA doesn't release 140 vet health care probe findings

WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) The Department of Veterans Affairs' chief watchdog has not publicly released the findings of 140 health care investigations since 2006, potentially leaving dangerous problems to fester without proper oversight, a USA TODAY analysis of VA documents found.

It is impossible to know how many of the investigations uncovered serious problems without seeing the reports, but all concerned VA medical care provided to veterans or complaints of clinical misconduct.

The VA inspector general declined to provide the reports, say what's in them or why the contents were kept from the public.

"We have not analyzed these reports and therefore cannot offer a specific description of the kinds of reasons," spokeswoman Catherine Gromek said.

She advised requesting the reports under the Freedom of Information Act. USA TODAY submitted a request in January for 23 reports. Joanne Moffett, a special assistant to the inspector general, said Friday officials are "working diligently" to fulfill the request.

Moffett said in general, reports may not be released if allegations are unsubstantiated and disclosing them could damage someone's reputation, when there is a pending lawsuit or when subjects of investigations are no longer working at the VA.

Officials from the inspector general's office did review 26 reports withheld from the public since January 2014 and found less than half -- 46% -- involved unsubstantiated allegations. They said in 42% of the cases, inspectors determined VA officials had already addressed their concerns so a public report was unnecessary. One was the subject of a pending lawsuit.

That's not good enough for Marv Simcakoski, whose son, Jason, a 35-year-old Marine veteran, died of an overdose five months after a report that raised "serious concerns" about "unusually high" opiate-prescription rates at the VA medical center in Tomah, Wis., was completed but kept secret from the public.

He believes there's a "good possibility" his son might be alive if the report had been released. Jason died as an inpatient days after doctors agreed to add another opiate to the 14 medications he was prescribed.

"When something is kept secret, it makes me wonder what else are they hiding?" he said. "If something doesn't get done, there could be other veterans that end up losing their lives."

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VA doesn't release 140 vet health care probe findings

Congressional auditors: VA health care is high-risk

The Department of Veterans Affairs' vast health network beset by a scandal last year over delayed care has been listed as a high-risk federal program by congressional auditors for the first time.

The report by the watchdog Government Accountability Office, which is issued every two years, includes a broad indictment of the $55.5 billion VA program, one of the nation's largest health care systems. USA TODAY obtained the VA section of the report, scheduled for release Wednesday.

The number of aging or disabled veterans treated by the VA has grown to 8.9 million from 6.8 million in 2002, and Congress has increased funding by 85% during that time.

Yet problems with poor health care, delayed doctor appointments and leadership accountability and oversight persist, according to the report. The GAO said it keeps issuing audits identifying problems eight just last year but more than 100 areas of mismanagement remain unresolved, according to the report.

VA spokesman James Hutton, in a response, said the department is committed to becoming a "model agency" and example for other government programs to emulate.

"In many ways, (the VA health care system) is on the cutting edge of the industry. In other areas, we realize we need to make significant improvements," Hutton said.

Federal agencies or programs are chosen for the high-risk list by the GAO based on such factors as health or safety, delivery of services and incidents of injury or loss of life.

"These risks to the timeliness, cost-effectiveness, quality and safety of veterans' health care, along with persistent weaknesses we have identified in recent years, raises serious concerns about VA's management and oversight of its health care system," the report said. "VA health care is a high-risk area."

The VA became enveloped in scandal last year over allegations that veterans had died waiting for care at a hospital in Phoenix.

The agency's Inspector General office, which launched a probe into the allegations, found that delays contributed to the deaths of VA patients. However, inspectors concluded that delays may have contributed to the deaths of some veterans and that the falsifying of appointment records by VA staffers to hide delays is a systemic problem within the VA health care system.

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Congressional auditors: VA health care is high-risk

Health care coverage gaps to hit local hospitals

ORLANDO, Fla. -

In just months, tens of thousands of central Floridians will lose their health care coverage. They fall into a gap -- uncovered by Medicaid and making too much for significant stipends afforded by the Affordable Care Act.

[WEB EXTRA: Read the proposed bill ]

"God forbid I get some kind of illness or whatever that I wont be able to get the health care that I need, said 31-year-old Charlene Caines.

Cainescan't get health care coverage. She works and goes to school but falls into the "no coverage" gap.

"She's in the gap. She's too low to qualify for subsidy through the market place or too high and doesn't qualify for the current Medicaid programs,"said Larri Thatcher, of Orange County Legal Aid Bar Association.

For example, a single parent with one child falls into the gap of no coverage if he or she makes between $5,436 a year to $15,730 a year.

More than 50,000 Orange County residents fall into this area.

"In the last month alone we have seen 37 people that have come to legal aid for some other reason, but while here have told us they do not currently have health care coverage,"Thatcher said.

Without Medicaid expansion, 1 million Floridians will continue to go without coverage.

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Health care coverage gaps to hit local hospitals

Big Precision Medicine Plan Raises Patient Privacy Concerns

White Houses move to develop customized care prompts worries about data security and informed consent

Credit: Thinkstock/ImageSource

A new effort to create tailor-made medicine for patients around the U.S. is getting a boost from a $215-million presidential initiative. Its an ambitious undertaking fraught with concerns about patient privacy, funding and how such data would be stored. But because its such an innovative idea, there are few blueprints to work with. The broad federal effort, first announced during Pres. Barack Obamas State of the Union address and then fleshed out with a few more details and a presidential East Room address last week, would create a personal health care information database of more than a million individuals. In addition to patient histories the endeavor would include genetic data and information from devices like wearable health monitors, and the collection of bacteria, fungi and viruses in and on the body called the microbiome. Armed with reams of such data scientists hope they could one day offer more personalized medical care, or precision medicine, that would differ from person to person based on their unique genetic makeups and other factors. The end result of the initiative, according to Obama, will be delivering the right medicine at the right time every time to the right person. Moreover, as the president envisions it, patients would also be able to access their own data. Rather than start culling data from scratch, however, the effort aims to tap existing info on patients in clinical trials and incorporate it into the new massive effort. And thats where it gets complicated, says Kristen McCaleb, program manager of the Genomic Medicine Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. Scientists often disagree on the importance or meaning of particular genetic variants for disease. When a sick patient agrees to get his DNA analyzed it triggers a string of decision-making. A doctor may tell the lab to only seek results about specific genes. And once the genome is sequenced, another expert makes a judgment callruling if a mutated gene identified by the sequencer is risky or not. Certain mutations, such as variants of the BRCA1 gene linked to breast cancer, are clearly defined. The significance of many others, however, remains muddier, so two scientists looking at the same list of more than 30,000 genetic variants for each person may have varying opinions about whether or not those genetic mutations are strongly linked to disease or worth exploring further. That ambiguity, McCaleb says, could spell trouble for the presidents precision medicine initiative. If they plan on incorporating all 30,000 variants coming from one million people, somebody better have a gigantic, honking-fast supercomputer capable of capturing all that raw data, she says, because otherwise investigators would be relying on a series of relatively subjective interpretations of that information, making it cumbersome to work with. As excited as we are that Pres. Obama has made this a priority, there are a lot of logistics to be worked out here, she says. Robert Green, the director of a genome research program, G2P, at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, says that a raw data set from a single genome takes roughly 100 gigabytes of storage. So all that data will also pose a computational challenge. When his team collected 800 genomes for a large Alzheimers study, the only way they could practically share the data, other than sending it around on hard drives as they do now, he says, would be to put it on a giant server in the cloud and then researchers could log in to access the server remotely and use analytic tools to explore the massive data set.* Thats the only way you could access 800 genomes, much less 10,000 or a million, he says. Naturally, this gives rise to privacy concerns. When information from one million people is brought together, it would make an attractive target for a hacker working to link the data back to individuals. Such a breach could rob both patients and their families of their privacy. Data for research are typically scrubbed of identifying factors like a patients name and birth date, but someone with enough information about an individuals family tree may be able to connect some dots. Such data privacy concerns already have a track record of scaring away a segment of potential research subjects. When people agree to be part of an academic study they sign a consent form that says they consent to have their data used in specific ways. Green, for example, heads up a whole genome-sequencing project geared toward incorporating genetic data into clinical medicine. To that end, his team has sequenced the genomes of more than 100 people who agreed to have their personal data shared with large government databases as well as Greens own biobank. Thats good news for the White Houses precision medicine initiative, says Green, who would like his data sets to be folded into the effort. But getting people to sign on after they learned all the ways their data could be used did prove challenging, he says. About 25 percent of research participants that bowed out during the consent processwhen they were in the office and talking in personcited fear of health insurance discrimination as the primary reason, he says. Still other projects, like U.C. San Franciscos, would have to go through an entirely new consent process as well as the time-consuming and expensive effort of recontacting patients. Their patients, McCaleb says, did not sign up to be part of larger databases like this one. And exactly who would pay for the staff time to do that remains unclear. Moreover, with different data sources coming togethersay U.C. San Franciscos genome sequencing alongside comprehensive patient histories from the long-standing Framingham Heart Studydifferent questions were asked and the data were organized quite differently, which, in turn, raises questions about the margin of error on the info when its all mashed together, she says. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, says that a board will be formed to advise on issues such as privacy and data reliability and to decide who will oversee the initiative and its details. Federal agencies, if awarded the $215 million outlined in the president's 2016 budget request, would be tasked with creating an easily accessible database with needed privacy protections and streamlining the regulatory approval process for the instruments that would help scientists find the data. Moreover, patient advocates and privacy experts will be at the table, Obama said in his public remarks on January 30. They wont be on the sidelines, it wont be an afterthought and we will protect patients in a responsible way, he said. Further details of the proposal, whenever they are released, could help patients decide how protected they should feel.

*Clarification (2/3/14): This sentence was edited after posting to more precisely describe how data from the large Alzheimer's study is currently shared.

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Big Precision Medicine Plan Raises Patient Privacy Concerns

Are 'Transhumanists' Trying to Play God?

February 12, 2015|8:10 am

In 2000, Craig Venter, along with Francis Collins, joined then-president Clinton in announcing the mapping of the human genome.

Since then, Venter has been a leader in the field of synthetic biology, a multi-disciplinary field related to genetic engineering.

And what he recently told the Wall Street Journal sent chills down my spine. Venter said, "We're going to have to learn to adapt to the concept that we are a software-driven species and understand how it affects our lives. Change the software, you can change the species, who we are."

The Journal's selected headline of the article described how we can now "control our evolution," which because evolution is supposed to be an unguided process, must be a misnomer. What Venter was actually describing would be better characterized as playing Creator to everyone else's Adam.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/when-adam-plays-god-why-transhumanism-wont-end-well-133846/

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Are 'Transhumanists' Trying to Play God?

A new twist on HIV vaccines shows results in monkeys, study says

An effective vaccine for HIV has eluded researchers for several decades, due to the pathogen's infamous shape-shifting abilities.

Even though researchers have identified certain broadly neutralizing antibodies that can conquer multiple strains of the human immunodeficiency virus, many strains of rapidly mutating HIV remain resistant to the these super antibodies.

In recent years however,researches have proposed a new method of battling the virus that involves gene therapy.

Instead of using a vaccine to stimulate the body's own immune system, so that it produces HIV antibodies, scientists are bypassing the immune system entirely.

In experiments involving rats and monkeys, the researchers have used non-life-threatening viruses to alter the animals' genome so that its cells produce designer molecules capable of neutralizing HIV.

In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a team of researchers said they had used the technique to protect rhesus macaques from repeated intravenous injections of a SHIV, a combination of simian immunodeficiency virus and humanimmunodeficiency virus.

The technique, researchers said, "can function like an effective HIV-1 vaccine." (HIV-1 is the main family of the virus, and accounts for most infections worldwide.)

When HIV enters the body, it attacks specific immune cells. As the virus copies itself over and over, and kills more and more host cells, the immune system grows progressively weaker. If left untreated, this progressive weakening will give rise to AIDS.

In most cases, the HIV virus begins its attack by latching onto two separate protein structures on the surface of its target white blood cells. One of these structures is called CD4, and the other is called CCR5.

In the Nature study, researchers set out to engineer an antibody-like molecule that would mimic both of these proteins, so that it would act as decoy of sorts for the virus. Instead of latching onto a host cell, HIV would latch onto a specially enhanced protein molecule, or eCD4-Ig, that was released by the cell.

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A new twist on HIV vaccines shows results in monkeys, study says

Clash DJ Mix – David Carretta

French electro-techno futurist David Carretta leads us on a journey down bleep street for the latest exclusive instalment of the Clash DJ Mix series.

After two decades in the game, Carretta has become known as something of a forward-thinking master at producing spiky, atmospheric electro that might work its way through anything from Italo-disco to noir-ish, cinematic electronica to the work of fellow French innovators like Laurent Garnier, Gesaffelstein and Arnaud Rebotini.

Thankfully, hes still crafting superb slabs of banging, synth-laden goodness that would sound perfect at any sweaty basement rave, as his latest EP, Land of Sin (released on The Hacker and Gesaffelsteins ZONE Records), demonstrates.

Carrettas exclusive Clash mix is a beguiling journey through electronic experimentation across the years, soundtracked by the likes of Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Gary Numan and Throbbing Gristle.

But well let the man himself explain more: "For this mixtape I selected songs from the late 70s and early 80s to show just how incredibly modern and futuristic music from this era can still sound. At the same time I also had in the back of mind to compile the soundtrack to the kind of movie that I would love to see."

"Anyway, the music, and indeed artists, on this mix are those that have inspired me over the past three decades, going right back to when I first discovered electronic music. When you listen to this music youll hear the sounds that have that inspired not only me, but so many others over the years, and not just electronic music producers or DJs, but pop, rock and hip hop acts too."

"Unfortunately, time is limited and there are still many of my favourite artists from this period who I couldnt feature in this mix its just impossible to fit everything into the space of just one hour! So who knows, maybe I will follow this up with both a Volume 2 and a Volume 3 and showcase some of my favourite EBM and Italo-disco bands too."

Check it out now.

Tracklisting: Peter Baumann - Romance John Carpenter - Escape From New York Goblin - Profondo Rosso Gary Numan - Down In The Park D.A.F - Der Rauber Und Der Prinz Throbbing Gristle - Hot On The Heels Of Love Cabaret Voltaire - Just Fascination Crash Course In Science - Flying Turns Kraftwerk - Radio Stern Kraftwerk - Europe Endless

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Clash DJ Mix - David Carretta

A Look Back: Futurist Joel Barker on the Challenge of Change

Editor's Note: In 1995, IndustryWeek asked 25 of the leading CEOs, management gurus and futurists what they saw coming for their companies, their jobs and their life between 1995 and 2020. While we are still five years away from 2020, we nevertheless are going to revisit those reflections, opinions and predictions in the coming weeks and months and see how well are they holding up. The first of the 25 trail blazers into the future (presented in alphabetical order) is:

Joel A. Barker, Futurist

In the last 25 years, managers -- and management philosophy -- have come to understand that there are multiple modes of change. One is what I call "paradigm enhancement," which the total-quality, continuous-improvement message has been all about.

The other is radical change -- or paradigm-shift change -- which is unlike any other kind of change that you must deal with as a manager.

... I think the challenge for management in the future is to substantially improve its ability to anticipate change. And there are two aspects of that:

One is to be able to spot a paradigm shift in its early formation -- because there is usually a five- to 10-year developmental life before it hits you between the eyes. Manager-leaders must also learn how to monitor what is happening outside the boundaries of their business, because often that is where radical change originates.

The typical manager reads inside his profession; but that's not where you find the future. My rule is to get into areas that you're unfamiliar with and look around and see what is going on. When I work with corporations, I set up teams of 50 people, having each person read five different magazines. So yon have 250 periodicals covered every month -- and they are all reading outside the boundaries.

The second thing is to understand the long-term implications of a new change when you find it. There are first-, second-, and third-order implications, which may be either positive or negative, and you have to discuss them in a patterned way.

If you don't take the time to think about the long-term implications, you will be seduced by the short term.

... The ability to understand the long-term positive and negative implications of potential decisions, before they are made, is the new frontier. And the responsibility we have for doing that is growing every day, because our information technology is so much more powerful than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

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A Look Back: Futurist Joel Barker on the Challenge of Change

Futurism Wire: Mussolini's 'Square Colosseum' Could Soon be a Fendi HQ

Monday, February 16, 2015, by Rachel B. Doyle

Photo by Jean-Pierre Dalbra via Flickr

Far from the tourist center of Rome, near the southern end of the Metro B line, there lies a 420-acre complex of ten monumental concrete buildings known as the Esposizione Universale Roma (or EUR). Spearheaded by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935, the campus was meant to showcase the glories of totalitarian architecture. The most famous of the buildings is the Palazzo della Civilt del Lavoro, dubbed the "Square Colosseum," a monolith with hundreds of identical arched loggias on its faade. Now, Italian papers are reporting that EUR's most imposing asset might be sold off to the fashion house Fendi, which already rents part of the fascist-era building.

The city of Rome is facing a cash crisis, and the state-owned firm that administers EUR was further weakened by revelations of a mafia-related corruption scandal in December. The public seems to be divided about the rumored sale of the Square Colosseum, which is an iconic piece of architecture in its own right but is hardly beloved in a city with so many impressive ancient sites. "The Italian state owns way too much heritage; with owning heritage comes vast responsibility," a former director of the British School in Rome told the Guardian. "It needs to concentrate on its priorities, like the real Colosseum."

Photo by Patrizio Boschi via Flickr

Rome may sell Square Colosseum to Fendi as city faces cash crisis [Guardian]

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Futurism Wire: Mussolini's 'Square Colosseum' Could Soon be a Fendi HQ

Gig: London Electronic Arts Festival LEAF 2015 Mar 6-7

This two-day celebration of electronic music is more than just a musos fantasy made real.

Combining electronic music, art, literature, records, technology and digital futurism, it is a cornucopia beyond even the wildest dreams of the most sonically-literate out there.

Day one will be when most of the talky stuff goes on, so to broaden your musical knowledge get down to this. Day two is when the tunes really kick into gear, with performances from some of the biggest and most progressive names in the electronic arts. It starts during the day and carries on all night with LEAF event taking place across the citys plethora of nightclubs. Tune-wise, we highly recommend catching Modeselektor, 808 State performing their 1989 LP Ninety as part of the classic album series and Kate Simko with the London Electronic Orchestra.

The whole thing is curated by Bestival mainman Rob Da Bank, which ensures amongst many things, its wildly diverse line up of persuasions. Fantastic.

When: Mar 6 & 7 / times vary Where: Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, E1W 2SF. And various venues across London. Check the website for full listings. Cost: 10+ Tube: Shadwell Web: leaflondon.net

Marina and the Diamonds - Mar 11 The first show in almost two years from the synth-pop superstar songstress who will be debuting new material from her Froot album, which is out next month. Shes already got a load of global fest shows lined up so you bet she will over here too, but for now, to whet your appetite, this is a sneaky little low key show. When: Mar 11 / 7pm Where: Oslo, 1a Amhurst Road, E8 1LL Cost: 16.50 Tube: Hackney Central Web: oslohackney.com

Underworld Mar 6 Underworld, who hit commercial paydirt when Born Slippy a-la-Trainspotting saw them go super global, started their career officially with this genre-bending debut. Celebrating its 20thbirthday, it is as ground-breaking and hip-shakingly super today as it was then. And after theyve rattled through this, if their show last year at the Royal Festival Hall is anything to go by, they'll be dipping into some other classics from their stupendous career that has seen them break all the rules. A techno act with a mumbly singer you say? Ooooh yes please.

When: Mar 6 / 7pm Where: Hammersmith Apollo, 45 Queen Caroline Street ,W6 9QH Cost: 20+ Tube: Hammersmith Web: eventimappollo.com

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Gig: London Electronic Arts Festival LEAF 2015 Mar 6-7