Monthly Archives: July 2020

Sunita Williams on her time in space and the Mars mission – Oneindia

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India

oi-Oneindia Staff

| Updated: Monday, July 20, 2020, 12:02 [IST]

New Delhi, July 20: Sunita Williams holds the record of the longest space flight for a woman but as a child, the Indian American astronaut had never thought about voyaging into space ever.

Williams, who has made 7 spacewalks and spent more than 321 days in space was addressing a webinar organised by the APJ Abdul Kalam Centre on "Our Place In Space", on Sunday evening.

"I grew up in a family with dad who immigrated from India, and my mother who was an X-ray technician in a hospital, they met each other when he was going through residency. I came from a humble family, me, my brother, we all knew that we should work hard, I never envisioned to be an astronaut. As a child I liked swimming, I was an athlete and I liked animals and wanted to be a veterinary doctor," Williams said.

The daughter of neuroanatomist Dr Deepak Pandya and his wife, Bonnie, of Massachusetts, Williams graduated from the US Naval Academy, became an engineer and a test pilot before being selected by NASA's Astronaut Candidate School in 1998.

Williams is among the four astronauts picked by Nasa on Friday to train for a programme which will one day land an American on Mars. She will be flying to the International Space Station in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in the next few months.

Nasa's unmanned Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which is provisionally slated for launch on July 30, could pave the way for a manned mission to the Red Planet subsequently, Indian-American astronaut, Sunita Williams, stated.

"We should go to Mars. It is entirely a different place and it is important we plan how to sustain there. I am sure this will happen in our generation," she said.

Watch the full interview here:

She said that Nasa's Artemis mission, which aims to put a man and the first woman in the south pole region of the moon by 2024, will also help in planning a human mission to the Red Planet.

"Nasa is working with oceanographic institutes, planning a flight to one of Jupiter's moons by sending a submarine to its ocean," she added.

The role of this mission will be in the area of astrobiology. She said that the view of earth from space leaves one awestruck.

"When I had my first glimpse I said vow, how peaceful, beautiful and incredible it is," she said emphasising that it gave sense of oneness.

Williams also shared her experience in space as she enjoyed eating samosas and took with her the Bhagwad Gita and the Upanishad which her father had gifted her.

"Working with our international partners drives cooperation and makes one think of just one world," Williams said.

Rajasthan Political Crisis: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat issued notice | Oneindia News

"Boundaries that divide countries disappear when scientists and astronauts work together to fuel scientific discovery on and off the planet", she added.

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Sunita Williams on her time in space and the Mars mission - Oneindia

Eyes on the stars: Launches continue as Alaska’s spaceport thinks expansion – Juneau Empire

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With a launch coming up in a matter of days the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska in Kodiak is looking at ramping up its capabilities and number of vehicles delivered into orbit.

Were licensed for up to 9 launches per year. Were working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to increase it to 36. You have room if a third commercial launch company wants to come on, said Mark Lester, the president and CEO of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which administers the spaceport, in a phone interview. I think thats a really good pace to make the spaceport vibrant.

The spaceport, which opened in 1998, had several launches scheduled for 2020 that the coronavirus pandemic has interfered with.

Historically, weve launched one a year, Lester said. This year we expected to launch six, but with COVID, things slowed down.

Working with the community

The spaceport, about 40 miles from the city of Kodiak, is scheduled to launch a commercial rocket, with the launch window beginning on Aug. 2 and closing on Aug. 7.

We can have really nice weather in Kodiak but we can get some storms, Lester said. Its really important for the local community and local aviators as well as trans-Pacific flights.

Launch schedules need to cleared with the FAA, as well as with the local community, to minimize disruption to flights, commercial fishing and people in the park the spaceport itself is sited in.

We have six launch pads. We have pretty robust capability. We have payload processing. Two command and control centers. I feel comfortable that our infrastructure is in a good place, Lester said. Now were using the spaceport as an economic hub to create more aerospace activity.

Unlike the launch pads NASA uses at Cape Canaveral, which loft their payloads in an equatorial orbit, PSCA launches into an orbital track, which is useful for different types of payloads.

[Mine developer sees review as positive for Alaska project]

The polar orbit is why Kodiak is valuable. The only other place you can go into polar orbit from the U.S. is Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Lester said. Theres a role here for Kodiak to support government missions, military missions and commercial missions.

Rockets and payloads are conveyed up to Kodiak by sea and then truck, Lester said.

Well ship it up in 40-foot containers. We get it at the port, Kodiak has a nice ice-free port, Lester said. Sometimes, theyll fly them in on C-130s if they need to get them up here faster.

The PSCA is also preparing to support human spaceflight, after a fashion, Lester said. Space Perspective, a Florda-based company that offers rides for eight passengers and crew in advanced balloons to the very edge of space.

This will be the first manned space launches from PSCA, Lester said. Space Perspectives is currently working with PSCA and the FAA to make sure operations are safe and efficient for everyone in the airspace.

Space Force and Space Command

With the standing up of the Space Force as the newest armed service, Lester said, theres rich potential for Alaska as an anchor point for U.S. national interests in orbit and on the surface that the spaceport can support.

The Space Force is exciting, said Lester.

While PSCA and the Alaska Aerospace Corporation dont have a contract with the new service yet, they do have work with the Space Development Agency.

Continuing to support national security missions is part of our portfolio, Lester said.

[Recent earthquake adds missing piece to puzzle]

Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently published an opinion piece urging the Department of Defense to base U.S. Space Command in Alaska. Space Command is a combatant command of the Air Force, different from the Space Force, responsible for military operations more than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) above the surface of the planet.

Alaska has been important to the military for a long time. The Arctic is certainly important, Lester said. Early warning, missile defense, air defense, the University of Alaska, the spaceport. Alaska offers a lot to U.S. Space Command.

For now, Lester said, PSCA will keep doing what it excels at, supporting launches and promoting economic growth in Alaskas aerospace industry.

This is my dream job, to be running a spaceport, to be defining what spaceport is. Spaceports can learn a lot from airports, Lester said. We look forward to seeing Astra launch and continuing to support their launch. Were continuing to try and think through how Alaska Aerospace brings economic value.

Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or lockett@juneauempire.com.

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Eyes on the stars: Launches continue as Alaska's spaceport thinks expansion - Juneau Empire

Trailer for Award-Winning Doc FEELS GOOD MAN Takes Viewers on an Artist’s Journey to Reclaim His Creation ‘Pepe the Frog’ – GeekTyrant

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A very interesting trailer has dropped for the film festival award-winning documentary Feels Good Man. The story follows artist Matt Furie, who created the underground comic book Boys Club in 2006, starring Pepe, a psychedelic frog, and his mischievous roommates. Then in recent years, the comic character was turned into an alt-right meme, and was adopted as a symbol of white supremacists, and Furie went on a crusade to see if he could undo what had been done.

Heres the full synopsis:

When Matt Furie first created Pepe the Frog, a character in his indie comicBoys Club, Matt was an easygoing San Francisco artist and Pepe was a chill frog dude. Through a series of unforeseen events and bizarre connections driven by the internet, Pepe came to be a symbol of hate for the far right. How that exactly happened is a wild journey into the heart of online life today and the memeification of our shared collective culture, where the meanings of images change moment to moment and cannot be controlled even by their creators.

Furie decides to fight to take back Pepe from the dark forces that have turned him from a silly comic-book character into their own symbol. But is it already too late? Debut director Arthur Jones takes us through a modern-day saga of the internet that must be seen to be believed or understood.Feels Good Manshows us how a character meant to provide joy and fun can slowly morph into something elsebut just maybe can change again.

The doc was helmed by Arthur Jones in his directorial debut, and he co-wrote the story with Giorgio Angelini and Aaron Wickenden. Check out the trailer below, and see Feels Good Man when it hits VOD on September 4th.

Excerpt from:

Trailer for Award-Winning Doc FEELS GOOD MAN Takes Viewers on an Artist's Journey to Reclaim His Creation 'Pepe the Frog' - GeekTyrant

Libertarianism – Libertarian philosophy | Britannica

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Classical liberalism rests on a presumption of libertythat is, on the presumption that the exercise of liberty does not require justification but that all restraints on liberty do. Libertarians have attempted to define the proper extent of individual liberty in terms of the notion of property in ones person, or self-ownership, which entails that each individual is entitled to exclusive control of his choices, his actions, and his body. Because no individual has the right to control the peaceful activities of other self-owning individualse.g., their religious practices, their occupations, or their pastimesno such power can be properly delegated to government. Legitimate governments are therefore severely limited in their authority.

According to the principle that libertarians call the nonaggression axiom, all acts of aggression against the rights of otherswhether committed by individuals or by governmentsare unjust. Indeed, libertarians believe that the primary purpose of government is to protect citizens from the illegitimate use of force. Accordingly, governments may not use force against their own citizens unless doing so is necessary to prevent the illegitimate use of force by one individual or group against another. This prohibition entails that governments may not engage in censorship, military conscription, price controls, confiscation of property, or any other type of intervention that curtails the voluntary and peaceful exercise of an individuals rights.

A fundamental characteristic of libertarian thinking is a deep skepticism of government power. Libertarianism and liberalism both arose in the West, where the division of power between spiritual and temporal rulers had been greater than in most other parts of the world. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), I Samuel 8: 1718, the Jews asked for a king, and God warned them that such a king would take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day. This admonition reminded Europeans for centuries of the predatory nature of states. The passage was cited by many liberals, including Thomas Paine and Lord Acton, who famously wrote that power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Libertarian skepticism was reinforced by events of the 20th century, when unrestrained government power, among other factors, led to world war, genocide, and massive human rights violations.

Libertarians embrace individualism insofar as they attach supreme value to the rights and freedoms of individuals. Although various theories regarding the origin and justification of individual rights have been proposede.g., that they are given to human beings by God, that they are implied by the very idea of a moral law, and that respecting them produces better consequencesall libertarians agree that individual rights are imprescriptiblei.e., that they are not granted (and thus cannot be legitimately taken away) by governments or by any other human agency. Another aspect of the individualism of libertarians is their belief that the individual, rather than the group or the state, is the basic unit in terms of which a legal order should be understood.

Libertarians hold that some forms of order in society arise naturally and spontaneously from the actions of thousands or millions of individuals. The notion of spontaneous order may seem counterintuitive: it is natural to assume that order exists only because it has been designed by someone (indeed, in the philosophy of religion, the apparent order of the natural universe was traditionally considered proof of the existence of an intelligent designeri.e., God). Libertarians, however, maintain that the most important aspects of human societysuch as language, law, customs, money, and marketsdevelop by themselves, without conscious direction.

An appreciation for spontaneous order can be found in the writings of the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu (6th century bce), who urged rulers to do nothing because without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony. A social science of spontaneous order arose in the 18th century in the work of the French physiocrats and in the writings of the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Both the physiocrats (the term physiocracy means the rule of nature) and Hume studied the natural order of economic and social life and concluded, contrary to the dominant theory of mercantilism, that the directing hand of the prince was not necessary to produce order and prosperity. Hume extended his analysis to the determination of interest rates and even to the emergence of the institutions of law and property. In A Treatise of Human Nature (173940), he argued that the rule concerning the stability of possession is a product of spontaneous ordering processes, because it arises gradually, and acquires force by a slow progression, and by our repeated experience of the inconveniences of transgressing it. He also compared the evolution of the institution of property to the evolution of languages and money.

Smith developed the concept of spontaneous order extensively in both The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). He made the idea central to his discussion of social cooperation, arguing that the division of labour did not arise from human wisdom but was the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility: the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. In Common Sense (1776), Paine combined the theory of spontaneous order with a theory of justice based on natural rights, maintaining that the great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government.

According to libertarians, free markets are among the most important (but not the only) examples of spontaneous order. They argue that individuals need to produce and trade in order to survive and flourish and that free markets are essential to the creation of wealth. Libertarians also maintain that self-help, mutual aid, charity, and economic growth do more to alleviate poverty than government social-welfare programs. Finally, they contend that, if the libertarian tradition often seems to stress private property and free markets at the expense of other principles, that is largely because these institutions were under attack for much of the 20th century by modern liberals, social democrats, fascists, and adherents of other leftist, nationalist, or socialist ideologies.

Libertarians consider the rule of law to be a crucial underpinning of a free society. In its simplest form, this principle means that individuals should be governed by generally applicable and publicly known laws and not by the arbitrary decisions of kings, presidents, or bureaucrats. Such laws should protect the freedom of all individuals to pursue happiness in their own ways and should not aim at any particular result or outcome.

Although most libertarians believe that some form of government is essential for protecting liberty, they also maintain that government is an inherently dangerous institution whose power must be strictly circumscribed. Thus, libertarians advocate limiting and dividing government power through a written constitution and a system of checks and balances. Indeed, libertarians often claim that the greater freedom and prosperity of European society (in comparison with other parts of the world) in the early modern era was the result of the fragmentation of power, both between church and state and among the continents many different kingdoms, principalities, and city-states. Some American libertarians, such as Lysander Spooner and Murray Rothbard, have opposed all forms of government. Rothbard called his doctrine anarcho-capitalism to distinguish it from the views of anarchists who oppose private property. Even those who describe themselves as anarchist libertarians, however, believe in a system of law and law enforcement to protect individual rights.

Much political analysis deals with conflict and conflict resolution. Libertarians hold that there is a natural harmony of interests among peaceful, productive individuals in a just society. Citing David Ricardos theory of comparative advantagewhich states that individuals in all countries benefit when each countrys citizens specialize in producing that which they can produce more efficiently than the citizens of other countrieslibertarians claim that, over time, all individuals prosper from the operation of a free market, and conflict is thus not a necessary or inevitable part of a social order. When governments begin to distribute rewards on the basis of political pressure, however, individuals and groups will engage in wasteful and even violent conflict to gain benefits at the expense of others. Thus, libertarians maintain that minimal government is a key to the minimization of social conflict.

In international affairs, libertarians emphasize the value of peace. That may seem unexceptional, since most (though not all) modern thinkers have claimed allegiance to peace as a value. Historically, however, many rulers have seen little benefit to peace and have embarked upon sometimes long and destructive wars. Libertarians contend that war is inherently calamitous, bringing widespread death and destruction, disrupting family and economic life, and placing more power in the hands of ruling classes. Defensive or retaliatory violence may be justified, but, according to libertarians, violence is not valuable in itself, nor does it produce any additional benefits beyond the defense of life and liberty.

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Libertarianism - Libertarian philosophy | Britannica

What Is Libertarian – Institute for Humane Studies

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Want to know what is a classical liberal? Visit our Core Classical Liberal Principles page.

The libertarian perspective is that peace, prosperity, and social harmony are fostered by as much liberty as possible and as little government as necessary.

With a long intellectual tradition spanning hundreds of years, libertarian ideas of individual rights, economic liberty, and limited government have contributed to history-changing movements like abolition, womens suffrage, and the civil rights movement.

Libertarian is not a single viewpoint, but includes a wide variety of perspectives. Libertarians can range from market anarchists to advocates of a limited welfare state, but they are all united by a belief in personal liberty, economic freedom, and a skepticism of government power.

According to American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000:

NOUN: 1. One who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.

The Challenge of Democracy (6th edition), by Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, and Jerry Goldman:

Liberals favor government action to promote equality, whereas conservatives favor government action to promote order. Libertarians favor freedom and oppose government action to promote either equality or order.

According to The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman, Open Court Publishing Company, 1973:

The central idea of libertarianism is that people should be permitted to run their own lives as they wish.

According to Libertarianism: A Primer by David Boaz, Free Press, 1997:

Libertarianism is the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others. Libertarians defend each persons right to life, liberty, and property-rights that people have naturally, before governments are created. In the libertarian view, all human relationships should be voluntary; the only actions that should be forbidden by law are those that involve the initiation of force against those who have not themselves used force-actions like murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud.

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What Is Libertarian - Institute for Humane Studies

Obesity kills – it’s important we realise this and stop making excuses – iNews

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Eat less, move more. The answer to tackling obesity, our most damaging health epidemic is simple, right? Except it really isnt despite the latest initiative from a born-again Prime Minister, whose personal Covid-19 experience has converted a libertarian to nannying.

With estimates suggesting that two-thirds of Britons are seriously overweight, the endless warnings, chastisements and diets are clearly not working. They do not address the greatest barrier to solving the problem: how we see ourselves.

Yes, I know the economic issue; that the poor spend a greater percentage of their earnings on food, much of which is so high in the fat, salt and sugar that contribute to obesity and the resulting Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and Covid-19 that are at least in part a result of so many of us being obese.

Whats needed is a way of getting through to our psyches, in the way we have with issues like smoking. We have all known for years that smoking kills. It still did not stop so many smokers for decades until it became socially unacceptable in so many contexts.

Sadly, obesity is not viewed in the same way yet. Despite Britain being the second most overweight nation in Europe (after Malta), there is currently still too much of the type of knee-jerk resistance to government interference that we see with face masks. We have to look at the complex, knotty issue of the balance between anti-obesity campaigning and the anti-fat-shaming lobby rather than the headline-grabbing easy win of banning junk food ads before the 9pm watershed.

Much centres on the word fat. We can scarcely use it for fear of appearing fattist. But mentioning someone has cancer, heart disease or Alzheimers is not deemed offensive. Yes, fat-shaming doesnt help. There is too much evidence that it leads only to resentment, anxiety and depression.

But too many who are overweight hide behind the observation that some cant help being fat. Many more can. The mistake is to believe in instant fixes.

We need re-education on both a personal and social level that obesity should not be a badge, but is a genuine problem, both for individuals and the NHS. We need more libertarians to have a Boris-like conversion to the nanny state.

The rest is here:

Obesity kills - it's important we realise this and stop making excuses - iNews

How Darwin Shaped the Young Joseph Stalin – Discovery Institute

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Photo: Paining of Stalin in the Joseph Stalin Museum, by Andrew Milligan sumo, via Flick (cropped).

Michael Egnor points out that Totalitarianism Is Darwinism Applied to Politics, citing Hannah Arendts famous book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, which draws the connection. The Nazis, as well as Marx and Engels, all drew from Darwins well.

Jonathan Wells notes that another figure in the totalitarian tradition was influenced by evolution from a very early age. As a boy, Joseph Stalin

talked about books all the time. If he coveted a volume, he was happy to steal it from another schoolboy and run home with it. When he was about thirteen, Lado Ketskhoveli took him to a little bookshop in Gori where he paid a five kopeck subscription and borrowed a book that was probably DarwinsOrigin of Species. Stalin read it all night, forgetting to sleep, until Keke [his mother] found him. Time to go to bed, she said. Go to sleep dawn is breaking. I loved the book so much, Mummy, I couldnt stop reading. As his reading intensified, his piety wavered. One day Soso [Stalin] and some friends, including Grisha Glurjidze, lay on the grass in town talking about the injustice of there being rich and poor when he amazed all of them by suddenly saying, Gods not unjust, he doesnt actually exist. Weve been deceived. If God existed, hed have made the world more just. Soso, how can you say such things? exclaimed Grisha. Ill lend you a book and youll see. He presented Glurjidze with a copy of Darwin.

The idea of an organic movement in history, sketched by Darwin, leads to thinking that seeks to seize control of society and forcibly direct that movement. Arendt needed a thick book to explain why. The case of Stalin, influential reading by a 13-year-old, is much more direct.

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How Darwin Shaped the Young Joseph Stalin - Discovery Institute

US Congress to question heads of tech giants on Wednesday – Yahoo News Australia

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A highly anticipated congressional hearing on anti-competitive practices, bringing together the heads of four US technology giants, has been rescheduled for noon (1600 GMT) Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee has announced.

The heads of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple -- the world's biggest technology companies -- will be testifying at a time of growing complaints about their dominance and amid calls by some politicians and activists to break them up.

The hearing, originally set for Monday, was rescheduled. The committee did not offer a reason, but civil rights icon and long-time congressman John Lewis will be lying in state in the US Capitol on Monday and Tuesday.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the four tech leaders -- Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Sundar Pichai (Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube) -- will be allowed to appear virtually if they wish.

It will be a first congressional appearance for Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

Pressure has been growing both from the right and the left -- and sometimes internally -- to do something about the overwhelming dominance of the internet platforms.

The Judiciary Committee has spent more than a year conducting a sweeping investigation into the four companies to determine whether they are guilty of any antitrust abuses and, if so, to consider possible remedies.

This file photo shows the logos of the four giant tech firms whose heads will testify before the US Congress on July 29, 2020, amid rising pushback against their market dominance

(L-R) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai; Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos -- the four are to testify before a US congressional committee on July 29, 2020

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US Congress to question heads of tech giants on Wednesday - Yahoo News Australia

Zuckerberg, Bezos, Other Tech CEOs Testify on Competition – The New York Times

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WASHINGTON Four Big Tech CEOs Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, Amazons Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple's Tim Cook will answer for their companies practices before Congress at a hearing Wednesday by the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust.

The panel has conducted a bipartisan investigation over the past year of the tech giants market dominance and their effect on consumers.

Its the first such congressional review of the tech industry. It has aimed to determine whether existing competition policies and century-old antitrust laws are adequate or if new legislation and more funding for enforcement are needed.

The four CEOs are expected to testify remotely.

The hearing originally was set for Monday. It was rescheduled to allow lawmakers who are committee members to participate in commemorations at the U.S. Capitol on Monday and Tuesday for Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon and longtime Georgia congressman who died July 17.

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Zuckerberg, Bezos, Other Tech CEOs Testify on Competition - The New York Times

Podcast of the Week: Land of the Giants – 9to5Mac

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Land of the Giants season one was a very interesting look at how Amazon is impacting our daily lives. Season 2 is now underway, and its looking at Netflix.

9to5Macs Podcast of the Week is a weekly recommendation of a podcast you should add to your subscription list

Facebook. Apple. Amazon. Netflix. Google. These five tech giants have changed the world. But how? And at what cost? Netflix now has nearly 200 million subscribers, and the biggest companies in media and tech are racing to catch up. In our new season, The Netflix Effect, Recodes Peter Kafka and Rani Molla examine the unique ways the company has disrupted entertainment and completely changed the way we watch

In episode two, Netflixs culture is discussed at length. One of the discussions I really enjoyed is how Netflix looks at employees like football teams do their players: if you can get a better player, why would you not?

Is working on a team of all-stars, excellent pay, and unlimited vacation worth the stress of constant criticism from co-workers and the knowledge that your boss is considering whether to replace you? Netflix execs will tell you that their internal culture is the key to their success.

Ive posed that question to a number of people in the weeks since, and while I dont agree 100%, I do think its an interesting question to answer. Netflix changed a lot with how TV shows and movies are created and consumed, so looking at their past is very interesting.

Subscribe to Land of the Giants on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Castro, Pocket Casts, Spotify, or RSS.

Dont forget about the great lineup of podcasts on the 9to5 Network.

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Podcast of the Week: Land of the Giants - 9to5Mac

TikTok lures Google and Facebook employees to fuel aggressive expansion plans – CNBC

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TikTok has been raiding the offices of U.S. tech giants on both sides of the Atlantic as it looks to significantly increase the size of its global workforce.

Despite the threat of a U.S. ban from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, TikTok announced this week that it plans to hire 10,000 people in the country over the next three years. Its largest U.S. offices are in Mountain View, California, and New York.

The Chinese-owned video sharing app, which already employs 1,400 people in the U.S., has hired dozens of staff from Google and Facebook including several high-profile executives. TikTok and Facebook declined to comment. Google did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Worldwide, TikTok employs 172 ex-Googlers and 165 ex-Facebookers, according to analysis on LinkedIn. Breaking out the U.S. numbers, TikTok employs 79 people who used to work at Google and 79 who used to work at Facebook. Some of them left Google and Facebook years ago but many of them have recently quit the Silicon Valley firms to join TikTok, which has become wildly popular in the last year.

Notable hires include Blake Chandlee, who was Facebook's vice president of global partnerships until recently. He left in January after more than 12 years at the company to become TikTok's VP of global business solutions, based in New York.

There's also Chen-Lin Lee, who left Facebook last year after nine years and now works as TikTok's director of partnerships in Mountain View. Prior to Facebook he worked at Google.

TikTok is also hiring recruiting professionals from U.S. tech giants to help it expand in the country. Kim Louie, a recruiting manager at Facebook until March, is TikTok's head of talent acquisitions, based in New York. Louie was a technical sourcer at Google before she joined Facebook.

Raymond Chen left his technical recruiter role at Google's New York office last month to join TikTok's talent acquisition team and hunt out security talent.

It's a similar story in Europe, where Facebook lost another veteran to TikTok recently.

Trevor Johnson, who spent over 11 years at Facebook before becoming Instagram's director of market operations in EMEA, joined TikTok as head of marketing and global business solutions in Europe this year.

Theo Bertram, Google's senior manager of public policy in Europe, left in December to join TikTok, where he is now director of government relations and public policy for Europe.

David Hoctor, who worked in Facebook's global accounts team in London, joined TikTok in April 2019 to work on building the company's partnerships with brands.

None of the TikTok hires immediately responded to CNBC's request for comment.

Timothy Armoo, chief executive of Fanbytes, a company that helps brands advertise through social video, told CNBC that people at Google and Facebook have the playbook for building a large advertising business.

"TikTok is at this crucial position where it's opening up commercially to the brand world, and they need people who can execute on this vision," he said.

Armoo also noted how Facebook has "been through the privacy rite of passage" that every dominant social network goes through. "By equipping themselves with people who understand this dynamic, they are making sure they are future proof," he said. "With the level of momentum they have, I think they can be a real challenge to the duopoly."

Elsewhere, TikTok has hired 57 people who used to work at Amazon and 40 who used to work at Apple, according to LinkedIn analysis.

TikTok has a total of 4,658 employees, according to LinkedIn. However, the actual number could be slightly more or slightly less than this.

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which reportedly made a profit of $3 billion on $17 billion of revenue last year.

ByteDance, which employs over 60,000 people worldwide, said in March it wants to have 100,000 by the end of the year.

Staff at the U.S. tech giants are paid some of the best salaries in the world.

However, TikTok is also offering big salaries. The company is willing to pay a lead machine-learning engineer an annual basic salary of 200,000 ($246,000), according to a tech worker who claims to have been approached for the role and spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Matthew Brennan, a China-based social media analyst, told CNBC that aggressive hiring practices and poaching of staff from rivals is the norm in the Chinese tech industry.

"Yet,even within that environment, ByteDance is notorious for its persistence and assertiveness," he said. "In the company's early years, the key technical talents were all poached from Baidu,the Chinese search equivalent of Google. The company is well known to offer generous above-market compensation to lure away those it wants."

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TikTok lures Google and Facebook employees to fuel aggressive expansion plans - CNBC

Tech Is About Power. And These Four Moguls Have Too Much of It. – The New York Times

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But a focus on the wealth also obscures the unprecedented accumulation of power by tech giants and the lack of any significant regulation or incentives for real accountability. They are always going to be very rich, so get used to it, but they dont necessarily have to be as powerful if we act now.

And this must be the main topic of a congressional hearing on Monday when the House Judiciary Committees antitrust subcommittee questions the four top tech leaders: Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg, Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, owner of Google and YouTube.

The gathering of all four chief executives is a big deal, even if some think that appearing as a group will give each individual leader cover, resulting in less substantive questioning. And there are worries that the event will lack the usual drama, since it is likely to be largely remote, due to the coronavirus.

But its critical that lawmakers block out all the noise that has grown around the industry and aim at only discussing the repercussions of unfettered power. All the major problems related to tech stem directly from this, whether it be privacy violations or hate speech and misinformation or unfair market dominance or addiction or fill in the blank.

We must think of it all as systemic, fueled by complete control over certain areas by tech companies, without adequate guardrails from publicly elected officials, which every other major industry has been subject to. Tech does not play by the rules only because there are no rules to speak of. So why shouldnt they do as they please?

Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google who more recently co-founded the Center for Humane Technology, put it perfectly in a podcast interview with me last year: We need to move from this disconnected set of grievances and scandals, that these problems are seemingly separate: tech addiction, polarization, outrage-ification of culture, the rise in vanities, micro-celebrity culture, everyone has to be famous. These are not separate problems. Theyre actually all coming from one thing, which is the race to capture human attention by tech giants.

And it has become a completely fixed race. Because of their heft, these behemoths block every lane and there is no space for innovative small companies to pass them, especially those that are faster or with better ideas. The debate about breakup or levying fines or writing regulations should also be a debate about innovation. What about all of the useful inventions that do not happen when there is only one or maybe two real games in town in social media, in search, in online video, in apps and in e-commerce.

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Tech Is About Power. And These Four Moguls Have Too Much of It. - The New York Times

Anti-trust hearing into Tech giants spoils market, Microsoft and Tesla continue to drive forward and IT is a big mover – Finfeed

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Anti-trust hearing into Tech giants spoils market, Microsoft and Tesla continue to drive forward and IT is a big mover - Finfeed

Tech Giants, Anti-trust and ESG – Morningstar

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On July 27 the chief executives of four of the worlds most prominent technology companies,Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB.), will appear before the US Congress as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation into their market power.

This is the latest in a series of developments that includes federal and state-level investigations in the US into the market practices of these companies. Back in 2018, as part of the Sustainalytics publication, ESG Risks on the Horizon, it was noted that the antitrust related scrutiny of major technology companies is likely to persist given the market concentration these companies had established within the digital economy.

While there is significant uncertainty as to the ultimate regulatory response, given the outsized position of these four companies in the S&P 500 and sustainability indices, this type of regulatory and market scrutiny is an area that is important for investors to examine in terms of long-term risks to the enterprise value of these companies.

Apple has just pledged to go carbon neutral across its entirebusiness, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030 (it's already carbon neutral in its global operations).

Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share,says its chief executive Tim Cook. This covers the "E" of ESG, but how do these tech companies score on the social and governance aspects of their business?

When it comes to online business models, the European Commission became the first regulatory agency to look into the market practices of tech companies when it launched a formal investigation into Google in 2010. Starting in 2017, the EC levied three multi-billion-dollar fines against Google totalling more than $9 billion, along with requiring changes to how it does business in certain segments.

The crux of the European regulatory view was and remains that Googles dominance has a negative effect on the online ecosystem as it prevents smaller competitors from offering comparable goods and services and reduces consumer choice. A similar view did not take hold in the US until recently as the existing antitrust regulatory framework there largely relies on pricing as a signal to determine abuse of market power.

Over the past year, tech companies have been at the forefront of several controversies related to anti-competitive behaviour. Indeed, 2019 marked the start of major anti-trust investigations led by both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the European Commission. The hearing on July 27 is the first time that chief executives from all four tech companies will be in front of US lawmakers and marks the first time that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos takes part in a congressional hearing.

All four companies have to been able to leverage the network effect to secure leading market positions for their offerings making it increasingly challenging for smaller players to succeed in the digital ecosystem. The network effect refers to the economic concept that states that a service becomes more valuable as more people utilise it, a characteristic that is particularly valuable in the digital ecosystem.

For example, Alphabets Google has established a competitive economic moat from network effects as the gateway to the internet through its online search offering. As a result, it has been able to secure leading positions for its comparison shopping, online advertising, and mobile offerings. This has, without doubt, created benefits for consumers in terms of convenience and cost, a point that is hard to argue against. However, there are implications to the market.

Our research indicates that all four companies have weak management of business ethics-related risks, which includes anti-competitive practices along with issues such as taxation. This, in part, stems from a combination of inadequate management systems to mitigate antitrust concerns over the long term but also the frequency of investigations, fines and lawsuits associated with their exercise of market power.

As part of the broader business ethics assessment, we also examine issues such as taxation, which is another area of where these companies are facing significant regulatory pushback. A case in point is Alphabet and its main subsidiary Google. Google has been the subject of regulatory scrutiny in the EU since 2010 and while it has attempted to address the ECs concerns, it has so far been unsuccessful and continues to appeal the three penalties that have been levied against it. Fundamentally, Google and most tech companies have a philosophical difference in what they view as anti-competitive behaviour. In Googles view, they have simply built better solutions that have resulted in its market dominance.

Source: Sustainalytics, 2020

Despite their lacklustre performance on business ethics management, the share price of all four companies experienced positive momentum in the past few months and often were a haven from market volatility caused by Covid-19. For example, Amazons share price has increased by almost 25% since the beginning of the year, driven by its position as the leading e-commerce solution in developed markets like North America. While these companies are attractive investments and rightfully so given their market positions and scale, we think that it is important to examine the implications associated with their market power and how they manage it. They all have the financial resources to absorb major penalties, it is this social licence to operate that may be subject to erosion from expanding regulatory and civil society scrutiny.

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Tech Giants, Anti-trust and ESG - Morningstar

8@eight: ASX set to rise as tech giants surge on Wall Street – Sydney Morning Herald

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The US VIX fell to 24 to trade at two-month low, aided by reports from Oxford University and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that their COVID-19 vaccine has shown early signs of producing anti-bodies. Though the initial rally on that news was faded by market participants, its added to hopes that the path out of the virus crisis is becoming slightly clearer.

3. EU leaders inch towards compromise on recovery fund: For the most part, it was all eyes on Europe overnight. European leaders have inched closer to an agreement on an economic recovery package for the bloc, after several days negotiations and brinkmanship.

Once again with the North-South divide apparent, reports have emerged that the EU will agree to 750 billion ($1.22 trillion) package, that will include a watered-down 390 billion, rather than 500 billion, in grants. The news underpinned a further push higher in the Euro in overnight trade, with European yield spreads narrowing significantly.

4. FX markets show a bias towards risk and growth: Price action in broader currency markets proved bullish, too. The stronger Euro pushed the Dollar down, and the general risk-on mentality of market participants bolstered growth currencies.

The Pound led the charge higher, making a foray into the 1.26-handle, while the safe-haven Japanese Yen was the major underperformer. The AUD/USD continued to grind its way higher, to push above the 70-cent handle, and eye down a challenge of technical resistance at Junes highs around 0.7050.

5. Bond yields and gold signal some degree of caution: There were perhaps some concerning signals in price action overnight. Despite the lift in risk-assets, and amidst talk of more economic stimulus in the US and Europe, sovereign bond yields continued to push lower last night.

Perhaps a reflection more of future monetary policy than economic fundamentals, the benchmark 10 Year US Treasury yield fell to 61 basis points overnight. The broad-based decline yields gave gold prices another boost, which fetched as much as $US1820 in US trade, to record a new 9-year high.

6. ASX200 to open higher, as focus remains on COVID-19: The ASX200 ought to follow Wall Streets positive lead this morning, with SPI Futures implying the index will open roughly 0.8 per cent higher.

Local investors will remain on virus-watch, as Australias COVID-19 second wave remains preciously at a crossroad. Intraday volatility has proven greatest around the times of the Victorian and New South Wales daily COVID-19 updates. The trend held true again yesterday, with yesterdays bank and energy 0.53 per cent drop in the ASX200 precipitated by the addresses.

7. RBA to highlight the calendar in the day ahead: Local trade will be highlighted by RBA news today. The central bank releases the minutes for its July meeting, while RBA Governor Lowe will deliver a speech shortly after that release titled COVID-19: The Labor Market and Public-sector Balance Sheets.

As always, the markets will searching for clues from the RBA about the changing outlook for the domestic economy, along with potential signs of greater and/or new policy support the central bank may ply if the countrys recovery begins to peter-away.

8. Market watch:

ASX futures up 42 points or 0.7% to 6012 near 7am AEST

This column was produced in commercial partnership between The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and IG

Information is of a general nature only.

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8@eight: ASX set to rise as tech giants surge on Wall Street - Sydney Morning Herald

Covid-19 and technology: This time has shown me that analogue life has its advantages – The Guardian

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Julia Carrie Wong, senior technology reporter, Guardian US: Good morning from Oakland. To kick us off, Id love to hear how tech reporting has changed for you since the lockdowns began?

Alex Hern, UK technology editor: Well, on the positive side, its got a lot more efficient. Stripped of the ability to invite me halfway across the city for a friendly chat, the largest companies in the world are now easier to get hold of on the phone, which saves everyone some time and me the cost of a tube fare.

Thankfully, for me at least, offline reporting has never been that important for tech. I probably have more trusted sources whose names, let alone faces, I dont know than the average journalist, but at least theyre as easy to get hold of as ever.

There have been a greater-than-normal number of tech stories that break out of the bubble in this period, too. First we had the wave of concern about Zooms security problems, and then the focus on the UK governments test and trace app first positive, as everyone wanted to know when it would come and how it could save us, but gradually turning sour as it became clear that the Department of Health had embarked on a costly, hubristic mission to build its own app instead of relying on technology provided by Apple and Google. More recently, the Facebook ad boycott and the renewed fears over TikTok, Huawei and Chinese influence have also become front-page news.

The biggest problem for me has been immersing too deeply: its easy to forget that the whole world isnt deeply obsessed with the text-generation capabilities of the new GPT-3 AI when you havent met a normal human being for several months.

How about you? Does Oakland feel as central to the tech world when you cant leave your home? And more generally, do you think all these new normals around tech hours on Zoom, a newfound reliance on online shopping, an awful lot more time on video games are they going to stick around?

JCW: Before the pandemic, I often felt that Oakland (where I live and where the Guardians west coast bureau is located) was very much not in the centre of the tech world. Its not on the straight line from San Francisco to Silicon Valley and while there are a few startups and tech companies here, its generally better known as a place where tech companies dont end up coming (eg Uber) than a place where they do.

Now that were all working from home, that feels incredibly silly. The centre of gravity has shifted to where people live instead of where they would commute for eight hours a day, and that has really thrown into relief how stark the differences between the places where we live are and how much we live on the internet. Different counties, let alone states and countries, are having completely different material experiences of the coronavirus, and talking to friends or family a few hundred miles away really reinforces how local our lives have become. At the same time, I think it has really thrown into relief how important digital spaces are, and raised the stakes for the debates and battles over how those digital spaces should be governed.

Has this experience changed your perspective on any aspects of the tech industry or tech reporting? What have you been most surprised by?

AH: Im surprised at how much of the tech backlash seems like a distant memory. The first few months in lockdown really opened up a well of goodwill towards the largest technology companies: from Amazon delivering Covid tests in the UK, to Google, Microsoft, Apple and Zoom becoming cornerstones of our social lives, it feels like the idea that we could ever feasibly boycott these companies is from a different era.

That early period was one of wild growth in the most unlikely areas. Im usually the one introducing my friends and family to new services, but the viral growth of services like Houseparty took even me by surprise. Our lives were turned upside down in a moment, and everyone was willing to try new things as a result. Some of those were, in hindsight, flashes in the pan (Ive not used Houseparty in two months) but others look like theyll stick around.

That said, the shine is clearly starting to wear off now. Where Apple and Googles exposure notification service was once welcomed with open arms, for instance, its now starting to raise uncomfortable questions about the two companies desire to overrule elected governments. And the BLM protests in the US threw Facebook in particular back into crisis.

Oakland has obviously been heavily involved in that wave of dissent. Does it make tech feel like a distraction, or are there links between the movement and our beat that youve enjoyed drawing out?

JCW: I dont know that the goodwill that tech giants were able to accrue during the early days of the pandemic was as pronounced here in the US, though perhaps my memory is clouded. Certainly our reliance on tech giant services has increased, but I also think that there has been some shine coming off the idea that tech companies are competent. We tend to be more suspicious of government than private companies in the US, so when Trump announced that Google was going to fix all our testing woes in the early weeks, it seemed like a classic American solution to a massive societal challenge: let the private sector innovate our way out of this mess. But the reality of what Verily was able to provide was far from what was promised, and five months later testing here is still a mess that neither Alphabet nor our government has fixed.

Meanwhile, Facebook courted good press with its supposedly aggressive stance toward coronavirus misinformation, but I think weve all seen that even when Facebook is willing to set aside its (supposed) principles about free expression, the companys enforcement is so lacklustre that misinformation is as bad as ever.

As for Oakland and Black Lives Matter, its been interesting to reflect on the roots of the movement, both locally and in social media. The phrase #BlackLivesMatter was coined in a Facebook post by Alicia Garza, a local activist, seven years ago this month. I used to do some activism work with Alicia back in those days (before I was a journalist), and its truly incredible to see how her influence has grown and how her words have helped define and propel this global movement. Part of that is down to the revolutionary power of the internet, but a huge amount of it is down to the organising work and sustained struggle of activists like her and so many others.

During the early days of the George Floyd uprising, I covered a youth protest in downtown Oakland that ended when the police, with almost zero provocation, deployed a huge amount of teargas against an overwhelmingly peaceful crowd. I ended up walking a long way through Oakland that evening to get back home, while helicopters overhead blared an announcement that I was subject to arrest for breaking curfew. It was an uncanny and somewhat frightening experience, and one that pushed me to try to tease out all the different ways that the internet and social media have created this new reality.

Has the social unrest around BLM and coronavirus changed how you think about tech?

AH: How could it not? One of the biggest, and scariest, examples for me was seeing what happened when an entire nation got forced into living an Extremely Online life. I, and I would imagine you as well, have spent a good chunk of my spare time communicating on the internet since I was about 11 years old, and I like to think Im quite good at it. But for a lot of people objectively, people with a healthier social life than me, really online socialising is just a small part of their life. Or was, until lockdown hit.

Misinformation online is nothing new, and Ive been covering the hoaxes and scams around 5G for well over a year now, but the whole thing kicked into a new gear in April, and it was upsetting to see. I spoke to some telecoms workers who had been attacked in the street for poisoning people with 5G (they werent actually working on 5G of course) and we saw a spate of firebombings across the nation.

I had thought that the more people were online, the better. Even despite all the ills weve both reported. But this period has shown me that, well, the analogue life has its advantages too.

But if Im looking for an upside, BLM has shown one obvious one: handing every single person in America a camera that they carry on their persons at all time is transformative in holding power to account. Black people have been killed by police for years. But it took the killings being caught on camera again and again and again and again for a nation, and a world, to finally admit that these werent one-off events, but were signs of a serious, and deadly pattern, that needed to be confronted and ended.

One last question for you: whats been your ray of light in the past four months?

JCW: Im grateful for the resilience and strength of the people who continue to protest. I also joined Nextdoor expressly to follow the intense drama over an aggressive wild turkey that menaces visitors to a local rose garden and well, that was worth it.

How about you?

AH: The most low-tech pleasure imaginable: I set up a bird feeder in the window next to my desk. I was worried it would be for nothing, because its so close to me that I assumed no bird would brave it while I was sitting there, but so far Ive had blue tits, robins, sparrows and even helped fledge a family of great tits. Ive even entertained thoughts of moving out of the city for good, on the assumption that some level of homeworking becomes the norm as we move out of this period.

Though Ive also become extremely good at the battle royale video game Apex Legends, so its not all pastoral loveliness.

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Covid-19 and technology: This time has shown me that analogue life has its advantages - The Guardian

Next on ballot: A cut in Ascension library taxes could redirect funds to more infrastructure – The Advocate

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PRAIRIEVILLEWhen Ascension Parish voters head to the polls Aug. 15, they will be asked to weigh in on an uncommon question whether to reduce a property tax.

Ascension Parish Library officials want voters to consolidate and renew the longstanding property taxes for the 60-year-old library system but at a rate 15% below current levels.

If approved, other parish officials say that could allow them to reroute money to improving roads without raising overall taxes.

Library officials say rising land values, new construction and an expanding industrial base will allow the four-branch library system to afford the cut in tax revenue and, along with reserves judiciously preserved by past leaders, continue previous expansion plans that include a new branch in St. Amant and big upgrades in Donaldsonville.

"We're hoping that this will be a good will gesture in our community and also show people that we are responsible with their tax money," said Jennifer Patterson, the library director.

This table shows the difference in revenue growth for the Ascension Parish Library system from 2021 to 2030 between the existing millage rate and a reduction proposed on the ballot Aug. 15. Library officials are seeking a tax renewal that would lower the current millage rate by .99 mills, from 6.59 mills to 5.6 mills. The library has rolled back its millage rate in recent years to the current level but retains the legal authority to levy up to 6.8 mills. The ballot measure would reduce the maximum levy to 5.6 mills. Ascension library and Assessor's Office officials developed this graphic.

In a parish that has roundly rejected new taxes for parish government over the past decade, some parish officials are now saying they may pursue the millage capacity the library could surrender to use for roads or other infrastructure.

"You know, I have had more than one councilman say to me, 'I would like to see it be utilized for roads,'" said Councilwoman Teri Casso, the council chair and a member of the library board. "I don't know of anything that is more needed in Ascension Parish than (roads) and that needs a dedicated revenue source."

If approved by voters, the library's two property taxes would be consolidated and reduced from a combined 6.59 mills to 5.6 mills. The tax is for 10 years. In 2020, 1 mill is projected to generate about $1.53 million.

A family with a $250,000 home would save $17.33 per year if voters approve the property tax reduction. Their annual tax bill for the library would drop to $98. Businesses would save considerably more.

The current library leadership has been willing to cut their tax levy before. During the 2016 reassessment year, the library board agreed to permanently give up 0.21 mills from the traditional 6.8 mills in combined property tax the system had collected for years beforehand with voter approval.

But, considered from a longer term view, the library's more recent push to trim its own tax rate represents a 180-degree turn from the past.

GONZALES Improving roads, drainage and other infrastructure in Ascension Parish and finding a way to pay for that work without new taxes wer

In 2010, as the council was then considering whether to put the library tax renewals on the ballot, then-Parish Councilman Chris Loar gave voice to an idea quietly discussed among some in the parish's political and business leadership at the time.

The parish library system and some other parish entities with longstanding dedicated property taxes were over-funded, they argued. Those taxes could be partially reprioritized toward the parish's ailing roads and other infrastructure needs without a tax increase and little pain to the entities that lost the revenue because of continued growth in land values and construction.

Loar proposed a 38% cut in the library's millage rate that could be rededicated later to roads. But he encountered opposition from the library's leadership and their patrons, who argued the reduction would gut services and expansion plans. Library officials prevailed in convincing a majority of the council to put the existing millage rates on the ballot that fall. Voters endorsed them more than 2-1.

A decade later, with those taxes back up for renewal, new leadership at the library system had gone into a two- to three-year dive into their finances and worked with the Assessor's Office before proposing the cut.

"We pretty much went down line by line and looked at expenses and what can we control and run better," said Henry Schexnayder, the chairman of the library board and a banker.

With the reduction, the library's annual revenue would drop by $1.5 million to $2.2 million annually. Based on the assessor's projections, the library would need six years to surpass what it would collect in the first year if the existing rates were renewed, when revenues are projected to hit nearly $11 million.

Large industrial tax exemptions granted in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when plants like CF Industries underwent major expansions, are expected to end in the mid-2020s.

Even with the downturn caused by the novel coronavirus shutdown, Assessor M.J. "Mert" Smiley Jr. said, the 10-year projections remain solid: "I dont have any doubt, unless the economy would just take a huge dive, and we're recovering already. I dont see those (revenue projections) as unrealistic at all."

The push to cut the library taxes has come as library officials are charting a more modern vision for the system. While plans include adding new buildings with plenty of books, the board has shifted from large stand-alone libraries toward a community center concept that joins them with other government entities and recreational amenities. These branches would also expand on electronic and other offerings to specific communities and younger generations more geared to online information.

"So, the library had to acknowledge, recognize and appreciate that it continues to have a role in this new way of gathering knowledge, but it has to be relevant. It could not continue to be the library of the '50s and '60s. It can't," Casso added.

GONZALES A debate over how much property tax voters should be asked to support this fall for Ascension Parish public libraries heads toward

Parish and library officials say the library's decision to seek a reduction in the rate is independent of the discussions to use the leftover millage for roads at some future date. Ideas about using that taxing capacity for infrastructure are in the discussion stage.

Traffic has been a chronic complaint in Ascension for more than two decades. The parish's top-ranked schools and booming industrial sector have allowed Ascension to flourish into a Baton Rouge suburb. The parish population has grown by 65% between 2000 and 2019, hitting an estimated 126,604 people in July 2019, census data show.

Parish government has adopted road impact fees, created special new taxing districts for maintenance of new neighborhood roads, and established the nearly $70 million Move Ascension road program to match local dollars with state and federal resources for smaller-scale capacity upgrades.

But the parish only has a two-thirds of a half-cent sales tax dedicated to road construction. Approved by voters in 1994, the sales tax generates around $8 million per year, which officials say isn't enough to finance major capacity road projects.

Councilman Aaron Lawler, who followed Loar in representing one of Ascension's high-growth Prairieville districts, said he is open to using the forgonelibrary millage for roads. He would prefer, however, a new sales tax because it generates more money and, he says, is more broadly shared. But Parish President Clint Cointment opposes the idea of a new sales tax.

"Right now, we're not keeping up," said Lawler, who is the council transportation chairman. "Not just with growth, but with what has happened in the past. We need improvements."

Ascension Parish Councilman Chris Loar didnt receive a lot of plaudits for form last week from some councilmen when he suggested taking a por

Early voting for the library tax renewal starts Saturday and ends Aug. 8

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Next on ballot: A cut in Ascension library taxes could redirect funds to more infrastructure - The Advocate

Ascension Via Christi offers tips on how to properly wear and take off a face covering – KSN-TV

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Ascension Via Christi on Tuesday demonstrated how to properly wear and take off a face covering.

Karen Bailly says there are a variety of masks out there, from cloth masks to paper masks, to disposable to reusable. The key she says is finding one that fits.

Anything that will cover your nose and your mouth really makes a good mask. Its all about the fit and how it works for your face type or style, she said. You dont want to wear it under your nose. I see that a lot when Im out and about in the public. Another mistake I see if people taking the mask and wearing it under their chin. Because it gets hot, theyre having difficulty breathing and thats another no in mask-wearing is you always want to make sure you have it tightly fitted on your nose and under your chin.

Bailey says dont touch the front of the mask because that is often the area that is most contaminated.

So when you go to put on a mask or take off a mask, you want to grab it by the ears or ear loops or grab it by the strings in the back, and be able to take it off and lay it upright on a flat surface, she added. Anytime you grab the front, youre at risk of contaminating yourself, and its best to grab it from behind, and then, as soon as you take it off, the number one rule is always handwashing.

It is recommended that you wash your cloth masks daily by hand or in a normal washer using a detergent like Tide or ERA. Dry them on high heat to kill any viruses.

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Ascension Via Christi offers tips on how to properly wear and take off a face covering - KSN-TV

With new disturbance in Gulf of Mexico, pumps to kick on again in Ascension – The Advocate

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Ascension Parish plans to begin drawing down water levels in some bayous and other waterways on the parish's east bank Wednesday morning in preparation for a tropical wave expected to enter the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Parish public works officials said Tuesday the access gates at the Marvin J. Braud Pumping Station in the McElroy Swamp will be closed 8 a.m. Wednesday so pumping can begin.

Parish officials use the pumps to lower water levels before storms hit to build in storage capacity for heavy rainfall and mitigate potential flooding.

In a statement Tuesday, the National Weather Service office in Slidell said that the tropical wave headed into the Gulf has a40% chance of developing into a tropical system in the next five days.

"Regardless, an enhancement of rain and storm coverage can be expected late-week along with above-normal tides," the statement adds.

Ascension Parish's regional pump station continued operations on Friday as more thunderstorms are expected through the weekend after heavy rai

The seven pumps at the Marvin Braud station send storm water into the Blind River swamp to the south and east. Officials and residents in next-door Livingston and St. James parishes have often complained the station can worsen their flooding.

The station went back up to full capacity earlier this month after the parish completed a three-month refurbishment of one of the station's original five pumps.

When open, the pump station's gate serves as a boating access way along the New River Canal. When closed, the gate helps somewhat seal off the St. Amant and Gonzales areas and eastern Sorrento from tidal influences and storm surge in Lake Maurepas that can flood lower eastern Ascension.

Once the gate is closed, parish officials then turn on the big station's pumps to drain waterways in the watersheds of Bayou Goudine, Bayou Francois and the New River Canal that are inside the parish's flood protection system and include Gonzales, part of Prairieville, St. Amant and part of Sorrento.

The station's pumps, which sit at the confluence of the New River and Saveiro canals, largely don't affect waterways in the Prairieville, Galvez, Lake, Burnside and Darrow areas, all of which rely more on natural drainage.

Thunderstorms popping up near each other and tracking back to join previously formed storms in Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes Monday

Parish officials said crews will also turn on the pumps near the town of Sorrento and at Henderson Bayou as needed, but those stations don't easily allow for proactive pumping efforts as the Marvin Braud station does.

The Sorrento pumping station doesn't move water downstream, as the Marvin Braud pumps do, but handles localized storm water runoff in town that is collected in a man-made reservoir. The pumps move water from the reservoir to Conway Bayou.

In the Henderson Bayou watershed in northeastern Ascension, the parish has a floodgate designed to halt backwater from moving upstream in the bayou from the Amite River. A pumping station also at that gate is designed to be used only when the floodgate is closed and water levels inside the protection system have risen due to rain.

Parish officials urged residents to monitor updates on the Ascension Parish and Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Facebook pages. Residents may also sign up for emergency bulletins using the Ascension Parish Community Alerting System, Everbridge, by going online to http://www.AscensionParish.net.

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With new disturbance in Gulf of Mexico, pumps to kick on again in Ascension - The Advocate

The Speedy ascension of Mark ‘The Young’ Pope – The Daily Universe – Universe.byu.edu

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In just one season as head coach, Mark Pope has proven himself as the best thing to happen to BYU Basketball since Jimmer Fredette

By Nate Schwartz

It didnt take long for Mark Pope to seal his name in the annals of BYU Basketball history.

In his debut season as head coach, the man who Fox Sports Tate Frazier refers to as Young Pope led the Cougars on a 24-8 campaign that, if not for the novel coronavirus, would have culminated with BYUs 30th-ever March Madness appearance.

By elevating the Cougars to their first AP Top 25 ranking since Jimmermania in 2011, Pope accomplished something that BYU fans have been waiting on for nearly a decade: he ushered the team back into college basketball relevance.

Pope, however, doesnt see himself as the impetus behind the Cougars sudden resurgence. He directs all the praise to the team he inherited, which included four returning starters.

They were so hungry and willing to set it all aside, Pope said in an interview on the Titus & Tate podcast in April. Nobody really sets aside their personal agenda, but what our guys were willing to do was try as hard as they could to trust the game. If they gave themselves to the game, then the game was going to pay them back double than their own agenda.

Of course, the players redirected that praise right back at their coach.

Hes brought so much to this program, but he just has so much energy and he works so hard. You never really see him taking days off or taking time off, starting guard TJ Haws told The Salt Lake Tribune in February. Hes always up in his office. Hes always working. Hes always trying to figure out what to do next and that kind of energy is contagious to all of our guys.

In addition to earning his players respect through his work ethic, Pope also managed to win over the hearts of the Cougar fan base with his enthusiasm. After BYUs surprising 91-78 victory over No. 2 Gonzaga in February, the coach invited fans to celebrate with him at a local eatery where he picked up a $1,800 tab.

Some may chalk up Popes impressive first year to beginners luck, and he could be in danger of a one-hit-wonder label if the 2021 season doesnt mirror success in 2020. While only the future can truly reveal Popes legacy as a coach, a closer look at his recent track record before BYU shows this might not be a fluke.

During his four years as head coach at Utah Valley University, Pope led the Wolverines to a 17-win season in 2017, a 23-win season in 2018, and a program-best 25-win season in 2019 before signing with BYU the following April. Pope isnt lucky, hes methodical.

Under Popes offense, BYUs three-point percentage jumped from 33.0% in 2019 (240th overall) to 42.3% in 2020 (first overall) notwithstanding that this year the three-point line was pushed back from 20 feet, 9 inches to 22 feet, 1 inches. At the seasons close, BYUs offense ranked third overall in efficiency according to teamrankings.com.

Popes scheming doesnt stop at the chalkboard either, as some of his most notable successes have occurred during the offseason. He has quickly built a reputation as a fierce recruiter.

In May, he landed Purdues star center Matt Haarms, a player who was being pursued by both Kentucky and Texas Tech. BYU was also in the conversation to pick up Georgetowns firecracker guard Mac McClung, who ultimately signed with Texas Tech. Before Pope, BYU was not known as a destination for high-profile transfers, but this offseason is showing signs that players are starting to see the program in a new light.

Theres a clear reason why Pope was a finalist for the 2020 Naismith Mens Coach of the Year Award and was labeled CBS Sports No.1 Most Rewarding New Hire, the first wave of what will surely amount to many accolades during his (hopefully) lengthy tenure at Brigham Young University. As a BYU student (probably) once said, Long live the Young Pope.

Nate Schwartz is a guest contributor for the Daily Universe. He is a BYU alumnus and recent graduate of the masters of journalism program at Northwestern University.

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The Speedy ascension of Mark 'The Young' Pope - The Daily Universe - Universe.byu.edu