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The Hate-Fueled Rise of r/The_Donaldand Its Epic Takedown – WIRED

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

On a long road trip, Taylor shared the video with their husband. Taylor says the couple appreciated Trumps apparent sense of humor. We streamed a lot of those videos on that drive.

By mid-December 2015, the subreddits subscriber base had doubled, and on December 21 it became one of the 10,000 biggest on the platform. That month, Trump called for banning all Muslims from traveling to the United States. Posts on the subreddit defended the proposal as not fascist and probably not unconstitutional. The day after his proposal, Trump led New Hampshire polling rival Rubio by 32 percent to 14 percent in the statewide running. Rubios subreddit, r/marco_rubio, floundered at a few hundred subscribers.

The day that poll came out, December 8, The_Donalds moderatorsmods, as they are known on Redditnoticed a spike in their daily viewership. Their unique viewers, usually around one or two hundred per hour, spiked to more than 2,000 per hour. The mods thought they knew why. Users from the r/Politics subreddit, a massive forum with a December 2015 total of 3.1 million users, had found out about T_D. Now they were flocking to it, often harassing and downvoting the regulars. It was among the first of many such incidents over the next four and a half years.

T_D moderator u/NYPD-32, then one of five volunteers on the page, made a post calling the visitors out.

TITLE: The Great /r/The_Donald Invasion

POST: When /r/politics sends their people they arent sending their best. Theyre losers, theyre Reddit TOS violators, some of them I assume may be good people.

The backlash from the new arrivals was swift and sustained.

REPLY BY u/InitiumNovum: There needs to be a total and complete shut down of libtard /r/Politics users entering this subreddit.

Yet there were also a fair number of positive comments, both about the volunteer moderators and the admins, or administrators, Reddits paid staff who run the sites deeper features. u/NYPD-32 wrote that the admins had been receptive and helpful in dealing with the brigade.

COMMENT BY u/TRUMPTRUMPTRUMPTRUMP: Admins, wonderful people! Do a great job, high energy people.

When Redditors or their communities misbehave, the sites paid administrators are the highest court. Volunteers such as T_Ds moderators have substantial power within their fiefs but can do nothing beyond them. The admins, meanwhile, can see everything and do anything. December 2015 marked one of the first interactions between the staff and The_Donald. Like that days battle between T_D and r/politics, it was not to be the last.

Reddit today employs just under 700 people. In 2016, as The_Donald began to emerge on the sitewide scene, the company staff stood at under 100, and in an interview with WIRED, CEO Steve Huffman says he wrote some of the sites early 2016 announcements himself.

No wonder, then, that Huffman was aware firsthand of T_Ds growth. They were a little dysfunctional, Huffman says of the T_D moderators, who first received disciplinary messages from the staff in April 2016. He says it was difficult to decide on how to handle T_Dor even to know when its users were for real.

In the early days of The_DonaldI wasnt a user myself, so pardon me for this being a little fuzzyit was like, half troll users saying ridiculous things as if they were Donald Trump supporters, and half actual Donald Trump supporters, Huffman says. I think if youve lived in America over the last four years, thats actually not as far-fetched as it sounds. Not being able to distinguish between parody and satire and reality was actually a truth that we lived.

In 2016, the policy team at Reddit consisted of Huffman and his general counsel. He says there were often debates about the subreddit among the sites staff, debates which he says evolved as the subreddit gained prominence.

We can make an educated guess about what was said in those debates. Over time, Reddit, like many other institutions, gradually stepped up its responses to Trumps rhetoric. Perhaps everyone at Reddit was united behind this slower response, but it seems more likely that internal division existed over when and how much to censure T_D. When asked what specifically came up in those years of debates, a Reddit spokesperson called Huffmans statements self-explanatory and declined to give further details.

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The Hate-Fueled Rise of r/The_Donaldand Its Epic Takedown - WIRED

The Book of VE Schwab’s Heart – Publishers Weekly

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

On lockdown at her parents 500-year-old stone farmhouse in the Sarthe region of France, Victoria Schwab is, like many of us, stressed out. I landed here an hour after lockdown, and I feel safe, from a very privileged perspective. Its like Im in a medieval village, says the Nashville-raised author, who now calls Edinburgh, Scotland, home.

I feel like the whole world is burning, and I cant do anything, says Schwab. Shes taken these feelings of helplessness and decided to focus on work. And Schwab, 33, is nothing if not a good worker.

Now a frequent bestseller, Schwab, whos notably prolific, is known for successful fantasy series like the Darker Shade of Magic trilogy and the Villains duology. She has published 17 titles (plus comics and graphic novels) since making her YA debut with 2011s The Near Witch (Disney).

A decade into her career and about to launch her next book, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Oct. 6, Tor), the publishing process should be old hat for Schwab. But this one feels different. Im coming up on my 10-year anniversary of my first book, she says, but in some form Ive been working on Addie since then.

Addie LaRue centers on a woman who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever, but soon realizes her deal with the devil comes with a curseshe can never be remembered. Its an ambitious historical fantasy that shimmers with shades of The Picture of Dorian Grey and Peter Pan, while covering 300 years and spanning from medieval Francenot far from where Schwab is nowto modern-day New York City.

The idea for the novel first struck when Schwab was 24 and living in a literal Home Depot shed in an exprison wardens yard in Liverpool, England. Those were the three most formative months of my life, she says, shaking her head at the memory. It was February and freezing, she recounts, and her grandmother had dementia. While hiking in Englands Lake District one day, she recounts, she began thinking about immortality. I started thinking about the heinously sad ending of Peter Pan. Hes already forgetting all of it, the magic, the people.

Given her grandmothers condition, I had very close-range experience, watching my mom being erased from my grandmothers mind. Forgetting is sad, but being forgotten is truly horrible. That really started the whole idea. An immortality tale, sort of an inverted Peter Paninstead of a boy who forgets, I wanted to write a girl who is forgotten.

The idea simmered for a decade, Schwab says, because she knew she wasnt ready. I checked in with myself about it every few years, she explains. By the time I hit 30, I started thinking to myself, Im going to die without finishing it. It became like this huge white whale. I knew it was going to be a monstrous process and I knew there was going to be more fear than joy in it.

Despite her fear about the difficulty of writing the novel, Schwab finally felt, at 30, ready to tackle it. Part of her readiness can be attributed to the empathy she began feeling for Addie. With years in publishing under her belt, Schwab felt like she, too, had made her own difficult bargains. Were all just trying to leave our mark, in some way or another, she says. Especially the artists and writers among us. It can be a really lonely, isolating business, especially when you only hear about the triumphs, never about the failures. At least that was how it was for me.

Schwab started her career off with a bang, selling her 2011 debut, The Near Witch, to Disney before shed even graduated from Washington University, in St. Louis. Witch, which didnt make much of a showing commercially, was followed by the YA fantasy duology The Archived (Disney, 2013). The duology was also released to little fanfare. I earned out, but was told Id failed to meet some arbitrary expectations, Schwab says. It was really rough, and I felt really alone. I was 21 when I debuted, and I remember feeling like I was washed up at 24.

Writing has always been my full-time job, she says. So I figured, just take it to the next step. If your career is going well, youre going to have to write another book. If your career is going poorly, youre going to have to write another book. The only proactive thing you can do in publishing is write another book.

Broke and living in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, she decided to move back to her parents home in Nashville. Her parents told her she could stay for three months; she wound up there for nine. Thats the only way I could make this career work, she says. I could always go home to them, and thats a huge privilege.

She also decided to shift gears. I figured, if I cant control the mechanisms of publishing, if I cant control whether or not my books are successful, at least I can control what I want to write. She started working on Vicious, a very weird supervillain bromance. According to Schwab, Miriam Weinberg at Tor bought Vicious with an eye toward what I would write next.

That next book, even then, was supposed to be Addie LaRue. Every so often, Miriam would ask, Hey, when are you going to get back to that project? Schwab says. But I wasnt ready yet, voicewise, timewise, agewise.

While she was working on Vicious and its follow-up, Vengeful, Scholastic reached out with a work-for-hire middle grade series about guardian angels. The series, Schwab recalls, laughing, was like the least on-brand thing ever. Nonetheless, she took the job. I ended up pitching this really Dr. Who-esque adaptation of it and said, What if I do this? The Everyday Angel series became the darling of the [Scholastic] book club and fair scene and sold almost a million copies.

Her next project was the Shades of Magic trilogy, centered on misfits, magic, and mayhem in four alternate versions of London. Looking back at these books, Schwab says, I think so much of my work has been about the fact that I didnt come out til I was 28, even to myself, Schwab says. Poor me, its like the throughline of all my books: This is a book about a person who doesnt feel at home in their skin and in their community. And then when I finally came out, I was like, Shit, thats what it is.

While the Shades series made her a bestseller, it didnt make her rich. I got paid $15,000 for A Darker Shade of Magic, she says. Her smaller advance checks required her to juggle multiple projects; while working on A Darker Shade of Magic, for example, she was also writing the YA fantasy This Savage Song. Like a lot of writers, I was constantly working, and constantly underpaid, and always scrambling.

Thats why she feels the constant need to remind writers that publishing is not a meritocracy. We assume that we are at fault for our own experiences, she says. We assume that if we are feeling sad or lonely or unheard, that its on us, not on the publisher or on our team. Its so difficult to feel like equals in this game. Its so important to find relationshipswith an agent, an editor, a teamthat make you feel like youre on equal footing. Were gaslit by this business every day, when it wouldnt function without us, the creators.

Next up for Schwab is the recently announced five-issue Extraordinary graphic novel series with Titan, set in the world of her Villains titles. Then she makes a return to the Shades world, with the three-book Threads of Power series. Im terrified, she confesses. I mean, 33-year-old me is going to write a different book. Im gayer, Im louder, Im weirder, and I care about different things. I just hope my readership gives me the space. I think they will, because I try never to do the same thing twice. I unfortunately have this complex where I need to challenge myself every book. I have to, because I live with the story for so much longer than anybody else does.

Thats certainly the case for Addie LaRue, whose time has come, for better or worse. Its crazy to have a book out this year, Schwab says. But what guarantee is there that the world will be better in 2021? Ive lived with this story in my head for a decade. Id rather people just read the damn book before the end of the world.

She also thinks the book can serve as an escapewith a relevant message. Its about survival and defiant joy, and Im hoping whoever does get around to reading it in this flaming hellscape will at least enjoy that, she says. The irony of me starting to write something considered hope-punk, though, is hysterical. Looking at my canon, which is so dark, and its like, I guess I write hope now? But I have to. Because I cant compete with reality at the moment.

A version of this article appeared in the 08/10/2020 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Time After Time

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The Book of VE Schwab's Heart - Publishers Weekly

Ring-like Structure on Ganymede May Have Been Caused by a Violent Impact – HeritageDaily

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Researchers from Kobe University and the National Institute of Technology, Oshima College have conducted a detailed reanalysis of image data from Voyager 1, 2 and Galileo spacecraft in order to investigate the orientation and distribution of the ancient tectonic troughs found on Jupiters moon Ganymede.

They discovered that these troughs are concentrically distributed across almost the entire surface of the satellite. This global distribution indicates that these troughs may be actually part of one giant crater covering Ganymede.

Based on the results of a computer simulation conducted using the PC Cluster at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), it is speculated that this giant crater could have resulted from the impact of an asteroid with a radius of 150km. If so, the structure is the largest impact structure identified in the solar system so far.

The European Space Agencys JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) mission, which will be launched in 2022 and arrive in Jupiters system in 2029, aims to increase our knowledge regarding Jupiters satellites, including Ganymede. It is hoped that this exploration will confirm the results of this study and further advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of Jupiters satellites.

The research team consisted of Kobe University Graduate School of Sciences Assistant Professor HIRATA Naoyuki and Professor OHTSUKI Keiji (both of the Department of Planetology), and Associate Professor SUETSUGU Ryo of National Institute of Technology, Oshima College.

Images of Ganymedes surface taken by Voyager 2 (left) and Galileo (right). The Dark Terrain and Bright Terrain areas can be recognized, with concurrent furrows present in these Dark Terrains. (Image credit: NASA)

Main Points

Research Background

Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have closely approached Ganymede in 1979 and 1980 respectively, taking detailed images of the surface. In addition, the Galileo spacecraft orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, obtaining a large amount of Ganymede image data. Ganymede is the largest satellite in the solar system and is bigger than both Pluto and Mercury.

The formation and evolution of Jupiters moons including Ganymede is strongly connected to the formation and evolution of the Jupiter system, and by extension, of the solar system. Consequently, there are various ongoing and planned spacecraft missions to explore the satellite system, including NASAs JUNO mission that is ongoing, the Europa Clipper scheduled to perform a detailed investigation of Jupiters moon Europa in around 2030, and the aforementioned JUICE mission.

The study was conducted with the aims of clarifying one aspect of the formation and evolution of Jupiters satellites and of contributing towards these spacecraft missions. The group reanalyzed image data of Ganymede. In particular, the researchers focused on furrows (Figure 1), tectonic troughs that are believed to be the oldest surface features on the satellite. Therefore, the research group hypothesized that they could reconstruct the early history of Ganymede by analyzing these geological formations.

Research Findings

Ganymedes surface is categorized into areas of Dark Terrain and Bright Terrain. Dark Terrain is extremely old and has many remaining craters, as well as trough formations (Figure 1). Bright Terrain is comparatively recent, with hardly any craters. These two types of terrain are not coherently arranged and are randomly distributed over Ganymedes entirety. Furrows are believed to be Ganymedes oldest geological features because they are only found on Dark Terrain and many impact craters (*1) have been formed on top of them later on.

This study reanalyzed the distribution of these trough formations over Ganymedes entire surface, revealing for the first time that almost all of these furrows are concentrically aligned around a single point (Figure 2). The study showed that these furrows form giant, concentric rings over the entire satellite. From this, it can be assumed that there was a giant multiring impact crater which covered the entire surface of Ganymede before the formation of the Bright Terrain areas.

A similar ring structure known as the Valhalla Crater remains on the surface of Callisto, another satellite of Jupiter. Until now, the Valhalla Crater has been the largest identified multiring crater in the solar system, with a radius of approximately 1900km. However, the multiring crater on Ganymede has a radial extent of 7800km measured along the satellites surface.

The research team conducted a simulation to estimate the scale of the impact that formed this giant crater. This was carried out using the PC Cluster at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The results indicated that an asteroid with a radius of 150km impacting Ganymede at a speed of 20km/s would be sufficient to form the observed structures on the satellites surface (Figure 3). It is believed that such an impact occurred around 40 billion years ago.

Further Developments

The discovery that the aftermath of a large-scale impact remains on Ganymedes surface is greatly significant in terms of the satellites formation process and evolution. For example, Jupiters satellite Callisto is around the same size as Ganymede, however it is believed that it doesnt have an internal structure composed of differentiated layers. On the other hand, Ganymede is thought to be composed of a differentiated layer structure consisting of rock, iron and ice. An enormous amount of heat is necessary to form these differentiated layers. It is possible that the aforementioned large-scale impact could have been the source of this heat.

This studys discovery will also have substantial significance for the Ganymede exploration programs scheduled in the coming decades. The image data from both Voyager and Galileo missions only provide partial views of the satellites surface. It is hoped that future explorations will be able to confirm or test this studys results by conducting detailed investigations into the multiring formations and whether or not there are any other remains of large-scale impacts. Hopefully, this will result in a deeper understanding of the origins and evolution of Ganymede as well as Jupiters other moons.

Kobe University

Header Image Credit : Public Domain

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Ring-like Structure on Ganymede May Have Been Caused by a Violent Impact - HeritageDaily

Where To Buy The Air Jordan 1 CO.JP Tokyo – Sneaker News

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

The once-exclusive-to-Japan Air Jordan 1 CO.JP Tokyo finally sees a global launch on August 7th.

While some sneaker enthusiasts may argue that better Jordans have released since this pairs original drop in 2001, whats undeniable is this iterations historical significance. Prior to the early 2000s, the Jordan 1 had only been outfitted in colorways from its inaugural 80s roster; therefore, Japan-exclusive pair effectively open the floodgates for some of the most beloved, sought-out arrangements of the last 19 years. Michael Jordans first signature sneaker has donned Neutral Grey, White, and Metallic Silver outfits before, but arguably none have captured the luster of this Japan Pack co-star. Despite not launching in an ultra-limited 2,001 quantity or Jordan 17-style briefcase, the retro arrives with nods to the special moment in Jordan Brands history behind the tongue and through its packaging.

Enjoy another look at the Jordan 1 CO.JP Tokyo here below, and find pairs available at Nike SNKRS on August 7th.

In other confirmed Jordan release dates, the Jordan 3 Denim launches stateside on August 27th.

Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG CO.JP TokyoRelease Date: August 7th, 2020$170/$130

Color: Neutral Grey/White/Metallic Silver

Style Code: DC1788-029 (Mens)Style Code: 575441-029 (Grade School)

Make sure to follow @kicksfinder for live tweets during the release date.

Where to Buy (After-Market)

Where To Buy

Where To Buy (GS)

Images: Sneaker Politics

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Where To Buy The Air Jordan 1 CO.JP Tokyo - Sneaker News

Michael Jordans Nike Air Ship Sneakers Banned by the NBA 36 Years Ago Are Returning Soon – Yahoo Lifestyle

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

The shoe that the NBA banned Michael Jordan from wearing 36 years ago is finally returning this weekend but it wont be easy to get.

Italian retailer Back Door Bottega on Instagram is currently hosting a raffle for a chance to buy the Nike Air Ship Pro when it releases tomorrow. Retail images show that the premium leather upper dons the iconic black and red or Bred color scheme inspired by the Chicago Bulls, while incorporating the original duo-lacing setup seen on the midfoot. The brand has given the classic shoe a modern twist by adding its latest React foam in the midsole and the sole unit of the classic Nike Pro Circuit tennis shoe.

Jordan Spieth’s 76 at PGA Championship Saturday puts Grand Slam out of reach – ESPN

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jordan Spieth's quest to achieve the career Grand Slam at the PGA Championship was over well before his early Saturday tee time with Justin Thomas.

It was probably done on Thursday when he shot an opening-round 73 at Harding Park and needed to rally with a 68 on Friday just to make the cut on the number, which saw him get a tee time with his longtime rival and friend.

And all it took was six holes on Saturday to once again show how much the two players have gone in different directions since the last of Spieth's 11 PGA Tour victories occurred three years ago at The Open.

Spieth played them in 4 over; Thomas in 4 under.

In the end, Spieth shot 76 to plummet to the bottom of the leaderboard. Thomas had what he called a frustrating 68, one that he felt should have been lower and put him in contention to challenge for a second major title on Sunday.

Thomas is concerned with his own game, and has plenty to keep his mind occupied. But surely he noticed the struggles of the guy playing alongside him, the one who took the PGA Tour on full steam while Thomas languished without the same success. And it made the career Grand Slam talk seem a bit silly given Spieth's struggles, which have seen him drop outside of the top 60 in the world.

"Well, I think he wants to win any tournament,'' Thomas said. "I'm not saying this in a disrespectful way, but you guys probably think he wants to win it [the PGA] more than he does, you know what I mean? He wants to win any tournament like all of us do, and especially you want to win any major, this one is always going to be put on more of a pedestal than the other ones for him.

"I know he's going to be fine. I'm not just saying it because he's one of my best friends. I've just seen him get it around when he's not playing well. I've seen him play well when he is playing well. All of us go through little spurts. It's just for him, this has been a tough one. He's going to be fine.''

While Thomas spoke, Spieth had already made his way to the driving range. He spent considerable time there with caddie Michael Greller after his round on Thursday. There has been a lot of searching for months on end without results. Spieth's last top-three finish came at the PGA Championship in May of 2019.

"All it takes sometimes is one week and all your confidence gets back,'' Thomas said. "I think Brooks [Koepka] kind of spoke on that a little bit, but he just found something last week and obviously he's playing well again this week. So that's golf.''

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Jordan Spieth's 76 at PGA Championship Saturday puts Grand Slam out of reach - ESPN

The Jordan Hawkins Blog: This is Why I Committed to Connecticut… – Sports Illustrated

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) shooting guard Jordan Hawkins committed to Connecticut over Notre Dame, Texas, Georgia, Wake Forest LSU and others. Hawkins wrote an exclusive blog for SI All-American to go in-depth about the thought process behind his decision.

Whats up world, this is Jordan Hawkins and I am officially committed to the University of Connecticut.

It feels good to be able to say that! For me, it was about how comfortable I felt there; me and my parents loved everything about it.

RELATED: Elite Center John Butler Picks Florida State

We love Coach (Dan) Hurley and the staff and we loved how committed they were to helping me reach my goals!

One thing I shared with the staff was that I wanted to be in college for one or two years and they understood and committed to helping me develop to fulfill that goal and hopefully achieve my ultimate goal of reaching the NBA.

Making a decision is hard but making a decision in a pandemic is definitely tougher.

I didnt get the chance to make any visits. I have never been to Connecticut!

I know that this has become normal for a lot of guys in my position since all travel is shut down for recruiting. The good thing for me is that the coaches and the situation made it easy at the same time.

I just felt in my gut that this was the right move for me.

RELATED: 2022 Center Enoch Boakye Commits to Michigan State

When I called Coach Hurley and the other assistant coaches, he ran off camera when we were on FaceTime because he was so excited. Haha!

It just let me know how much I was wanted there, and that was a good feeling.

This is such a weight off my shoulders. This is the biggest decision of my life and it was hard on me, just having everyone constantly asking where Im going. I feel good to have it out of the way.

I definitely want to bring in some talented players with me, but weve got a lot of talent there already with guys like Andre Jackson. Then weve got (Rahsool) Diggins in my class, so weve got a lot of good guys, and Im confident that we can make a deep run when I get there.

OK, Ive got to get going, but I just wanted to go a little more in-depth for you guys about why I picked UConn.

Go Huskies!

Dont forget to follow Jordan Hawkins:

Twitter: @golive23

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The Jordan Hawkins Blog: This is Why I Committed to Connecticut... - Sports Illustrated

Vigil to be held Saturday for victims of West Jordan plane crash – ABC 4

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC4 News) A vigil is planned Saturday night for the four people, including a homeowner, who died when a plane crashed into a West Jordan home last month.

Three people inside the plane died in the July 25 crash, Lee Wyckoff 43, who was the pilot, is 9-month-old daughter Coral Wyckoff, and a passenger, Milda Shibonis, 36.

Mary Quintana, 72, who was inside her home when the plane crashed through it, died on July 27, two days after receiving critical injuries when the small plane, carrying six people, crashed just after leaving West Jordans South Valley Regional Airport.

Quintanas family, friends, and community said they will remember her as a wonderful woman and a fierce advocate for her son Chris, who has very specific struggles due to a traumatic brain injury.

In her obituary, Quintana was described as a classy lady with her high heels, earrings, and mauve lipstick. When she wasnt dressed to the nines, you could find her in either her garden or your garden.

Milda Shibonis was an attorney in Salt Lake City. On the companys website, Shibonis is described as being known for being a perfectionist in her work who fights for her clients and wont back down from a challenge.

In the crash, a 12-year-old girl walked away uninjured, a 2-year-old received critical burns and a 36-year-old woman, the wife of the pilot, was critically injured.

The vigil is planned for 7 p.m. Saturday at the soccer fieleds located at 7800 South 4000 West in West Jordan.

*ABC4 was unable to find obituary information for Lee or Coral Wyckoff. If anyone has information about their lives they would like to share, please email us at News@ABC4.com*

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Vigil to be held Saturday for victims of West Jordan plane crash - ABC 4

Why Jordan Spieth is the most relatable (and likable) superstar in… – Golf.com

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

By: Michael Bamberger August 6, 2020

Jordan Spieth, pictured at Harding Park this week, hasn't won since the 2017 British Open at Birkdale.

getty

Ed. note: Weve heard the chanting outside our windows, at odd hours of the day and night, so here it is: the fourth of eight installments of Bamberger Briefly, PGA Championship-style. Previous installments: player-caddie relationships; Tigers memoir; Tour players grips.

***

A myth of the business is that the sportswriter doesnt root and a clich of the business, borne in truth, is that the sportswriter roots for the story. A famous example of the latter would be the 1971 Masters, won by Charlie Coody, with Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus finishing second. You dont have to wonder what Dan Jenkins was thinking on that Masters Sunday afternoon.

I have been rooting for Jordan Spieth since before he turned pro, and will be rooting for him this week, at the PGA Championship at Harding Park. Im drawn to his honesty, his intelligence, his memory, the way he interacts with his family, fans, reporters, fellow players, the wacky things he does on the golf course, his light steps in deep rough.

Hes 27 and he already has three majors: the 2015 Masters, the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2017 British Open. If he wins this week, he becomes the sixth: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods. You may know that when Sarazen did it, there was no catchy name for the feat, but now there of course is: the career Grand Slam.

At last years PGA in May, at Bethpage Black Spieth finished in a tie for 3rd, miles behind the winner Brooks Koepka. A fellow reporter and golf nut, Jeffrey Toobin, and I followed Spieth there, up and down the Bethpage hills, with Spieths teacher, Cameron McCormick, at times a chip shot away and looking worried. Jeff was there on a busmans holiday. His main beat is the Supreme Court and national politics. (When he arrived at a club for a game a while back, a club employee recognized him and said with notable nonchalance, Slow news day?) Jeff, like me, is a Spieth-o-phile.

I asked Jeff the other day what it is about Spieth he liked so much. He said, I love watching him because he doesnt just talk to himself and his golf ball but because he seems to have intelligent conversations with both.

Thats good. Spieth famously talks to himself and his golf ball on the course. The opening line of a three-part sonnet entitled Softly, by Spieth and edited by Alan Bastable after the 2015 Masters, begins majestically with this line:

hit it wind hit it wind just a little bit just a little bit

But Toobins insight here is that Spieth has a relationship with his golf ball, that its a two-way street. In other words, Spieth has all manner of internal battles. We all do, of course. But not many world-class athletes will admit to these internal struggles.

After he won the 2017 Open at Birkdale, Spieth described the dialogue inside him as he seemed to be kicking away the tournament. Stuff goes into your head, he said on that Sunday night. I mean, we walked for two minutes, three minutes in between shots. And you cant just go blank. You wish you could, but thoughts creep in.

As it happens, Spieth has not won a tournament, of any kind, since then. You dont hear people talking about the magic synchronicity between Spieth and his schoolteacher caddie, Michael Greller, anymore. Something has happened to Spieths boyish ease.

Justin Thomas, his close friend and fellow member of the class of 93 (Thomas is three months older than Spieth), is, like Tiger Woods, a bachelor who lives in South Florida. They play a lot of golf together, at home and on the road. Jordan, married to his college girlfriend, is in faraway Dallas. He didnt make Tigers 2019 Presidents Cup team on points and he wasnt one of his four captains picks, either. Woods picked Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Patrick Reed and, about a month before the event, Rickie Fowler, after Brooks Koepka pulled out with a knee injury.

I dont know how much that hurt Spieth, but I know how much it hurt me and I have a pretty good guess as to the pain Toobin endured, too. Jeff was trying to find hope for Spieth on the basis of his mans T-13 finish at the Memorial last month.

Were looking for this week to be even better.

Michael Bamberger may be reached at Michael_Bamberger@Golf.com

Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and contributes to GOLF.com. He also participates in podcasts, primarily in tandem with Alan Shipnuck. Earlier in his career, he was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated for 23 years and a reporter on The Philadelphia Inquirer for nine years before that. He has written a half-dozen books about golf and other subjects. His magazine work has been featured in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing. He holds a U.S. patent on a utility golf club called the E-Club. In 2016, he was given the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the organizations highest honor.

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Why Jordan Spieth is the most relatable (and likable) superstar in... - Golf.com

Former Hollywood Publicist Dishes on Some of the Nicest A-List Celebrities Like Michael B. Jordan and Jennifer Lopez – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Former Hollywood publicist Amir Yass says he has had the sweetest experiences working with some of the highest-profile names in the industry. In fact, A-list celebrities like Michael B.Jordan, Donald Glover, Jennifer Lopez, and more are some of the most down-to-earth people in the business.

Yasss Corny-Ass Celebs Ive Worked For TikToks recounts his encounters working with a slew of stars ranging from getting love from the Kardashians at a red carpet event to comedian Nicole Byer who he describes as fabulous.

Although hes touched on some of his celebrity interactions on TikTok, Showbiz Cheat Sheet wanted additional details on his encounters and Yass was more than happy to spill.

Every day we would get pizzas delivered to his house for Michael Jordan, the basketball player, Yass recalls when he worked on actor Michael B. Jordans management team. People would like to prank him. Wed get a lot of fan mail from Japan especially, drawing pictures of Michael Jordan. So it was really funny, I loved going through the fan mail.

So I ended up kind of being like his right-hand man, Yass says. I was in my early twenties and was quite young, he was becoming more and more famous. He was quite gracious, I spent a lot of time in his house and he was moving. A lot of people dont know but managers help you move as well. But he was a really gracious, down to earth person.

Hed walk around the house in his boxers and no shirt on and he had that Creed body, he recounts. I was being professional, but he was very flirtatious as a person and he flirts with everyone. But he was very playful and his family lived with him. Yass also remembers Jordans BMW sustained a scratch and how Jordan stressed about the ding. We were in a meeting with like 15 people and Im like, Just buy a new car, you just got a $4 million check!' he laughed.

RELATED: Michael B. Jordan Said These 4 Movie Roles Led Him to Join the Protests: Are Creed and Killmonger Included?

Yass also says most celebrities dont carry cash when they go out. We went to a dinner and he ordered a bunch of stuff on the menu and I had to pay for it because a lot of A-list celebrities dont carry cash, he said. Actually, the manager pays. So I got reimbursed but I was getting paid like $10 an hour and I paid like $1,500 for dinner.

I did a celebrity photoshoot with J. Lo [actor/singer Jennifer Lopez], Yass says. I got to be on set with J. Lo. She was wonderful. It was a nine-hour shoot and she was so nice to everyone and so gracious. She wanted a bunch of candles and cold water. But she wasnt a diva or anything, she was absolutely wonderful.

Actor Donald Glover insisted on getting his own coffee. I didnt have a whole lot of interaction with him but just a couple of times, I remember he was like, Youre older than me, dont make me a coffee, Ill make it myself. He was very down to earth, Yass says.

RELATED: How Did Jennifer Lopez Get Her J.Lo Nickname?

He also recalls how Melissa McCarthy was extremely generous with her lifetime supply of chocolate. She has a lifetime supply with some chocolate company, he says. And she really didnt like chocolate so we always had chocolate in the office.

Yass is a huge Scheana Shay stan from Vanderpump Rules. Scheana is wonderful, he says. Shes really great, so gracious. She was at the opening at TomTom and was absolutely wonderful. Hes also so here for Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval, also from Vanderpump Rules. Schwartz especially, hes a cuddler, he will just come up and hug you, Yass says.

Another famous reality team he loved was Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. He worked with them when they were shooting the series The Simple Life. I did L.A. Fashion Week and they were walking in the fashion show, he says. So I had to be backstage with them. And they were like, Youre one hot b*tch! Everything youd want from them. Paris was like, I wanna put you in my pocket and walk around and youd just come out when I need you. They were just everything youd want from a celebrity.

RELATED: RHOBH: Former Publicist Recounts Nightmare Encounter with Erika Jayne (Exclusive)

Years later, he bumped into Richie. And she remembered me, she was like, Hi girl! Shes very nice, very friendly. And then when I was walking away she was like, Yas, hot b*itch!'

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Former Hollywood Publicist Dishes on Some of the Nicest A-List Celebrities Like Michael B. Jordan and Jennifer Lopez - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

6 Health Benefits of Spirulina – Science Times

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Microalgaehave become essential to both marine ecosystems and human health. For years, medical experts have extracted components from microalgaeto create supplements since they are rich in vitamins, minerals, and numerous other benefits.

According to AmikamBar-Gil, the cofounderof Yemoja, 'Microalgaeare sunlight-driven, single-celledfactories, and by nature highly resilient. They also are a powerful source of natural, vegan, bioactiveingredients.' Yemojahas created a next-genplatform for creating 'pure, sustainable microalgae-derived products of the highest quality, and that can be naturally adapted into any desired matrix.'

One type of microalgaesuperfoodthat's become increasingly popular is spirulina, a blue-greenalgae that normally comes in the form of a dietary supplement as a dried powder. Here are six benefits of spirulina:

(Photo : Screenshot From pxhere official website )

The 'marine super crop' is rich with nutrition, containing vitamins A, B-6, C, and K. Dried spirulina, which can be easily added to food and beverages, is also rich in potassium, protein, sodium, magnesium, iron, and calcium.

A small amount of spirulinapowder contains a lot of nutrition with low calories. Regularly adding some powder to the diet can help people consume fewer calories without losing needed nutrition. A studyfrom 2016 showed that regular consumption of spirulinacan help improve body mass index (BMI)

Maintaining a healthy gut affects several areas of the body, such as the immune system fighting infections, the flow of hormones to and from the brain, and overall well-being. Although many studies are in favor of probiotics, it is not recommended for people with gastric conditions.

Spirulinais a great alternative to help maintain or improve gut health. The microalgaecan be easily digested and help preserve healthy bacteria in the body, making it a prebiotic.

Like all other superfoods, spirulinais rich in antioxidants, particularly the protein phycocyaninwhich helps protect the liver while getting rid of free radicals from damaged nerve cells.

During one study, spirulinaproved to help people recover from oral submucousfibrosis (OSMF), or precancerous lesions in the mouth. Another study showed that people regularly consuming the algae improved OSMFsymptoms more effectively than pentoxifylline, a drug used to treat the condition.

Read Also: Which Vitamin D Supplement is Best? Check Out This List!

People with allergic rhinitis suffer from numerous triggers such as dust, pollution, animal hair, second-handsmoke, and pollen. With severe allergies, people commonly take an antihistamine.

Spirulinais a great organic alternative that helps reduce inflammation on the nasal passageway. A studyfrom 2008 revealed that daily consumption of two grams of powder significantly reduced allergies.

The high-nutritionprofile of spirulinahas a positive effect on blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar. Consuming the microalgaehelps lower low-densitylipoproteincholesterol(bad cholesterol) while increasing high-densitylipoproteins(good cholesterol).

With regulated glucose and blood pressure levels, spirulinacan help reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.

Read Also: Scientists Find That Gut Bacteria Can Improve Memory in Yet Another Breakthrough Study About Probiotics

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Human Dietary Supplements Market 2020 Size by Product Analysis, Application, End-Users, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecast to 2027…

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

New Jersey, United States,- Market Research Intellect aggregates the latest research on Human Dietary Supplements Market to provide a concise overview of market valuation, industry size, SWOT analysis, revenue approximation, and regional outlook for this business vertical. The report accurately addresses the major opportunities and challenges faced by competitors in this industry and presents the existing competitive landscape and corporate strategies implemented by the Human Dietary Supplements market players.

The Human Dietary Supplements market report gathers together the key trends influencing the growth of the industry with respect to competitive scenarios and regions in which the business has been successful. In addition, the study analyzes the various limitations of the industry and uncovers opportunities to establish a growth process. In addition, the report also includes a comprehensive research on industry changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, helping investors and other stakeholders make informed decisions.

Key highlights from COVID-19 impact analysis:

Unveiling a brief about the Human Dietary Supplements market competitive scope:

The report includes pivotal details about the manufactured products, and in-depth company profile, remuneration, and other production patterns.

The research study encompasses information pertaining to the market share that every company holds, in tandem with the price pattern graph and the gross margins.

Human Dietary Supplements Market, By Type

Human Dietary Supplements Market, By Application

Other important inclusions in the Human Dietary Supplements market report:

A brief overview of the regional landscape:

Reasons To Buy:

About Us:

Market Research Intellect provides syndicated and customized research reports to clients from various industries and organizations with the aim of delivering functional expertise. We provide reports for all industries including Energy, Technology, Manufacturing and Construction, Chemicals and Materials, Food and Beverage, and more. These reports deliver an in-depth study of the market with industry analysis, the market value for regions and countries, and trends that are pertinent to the industry.

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Market Research Intellect

New Jersey ( USA )

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We must deal with drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal one – The RiotACT

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

The criminalisation of personal drug use has resulted in courts and jail systems overwhelmed by people who use drugs. Photo: File.

This week the ACT Greens will release its 2020 Election Drugs Policy package.

The plan responds to the reality that many people use drugs. It recognises that the war on drugs has failed and we need new approaches to keep people in our community safe. This means ending the unnecessary interactions with the police and justice system, and providing people experiencing drug dependency with the services and support they need.

Its easy to drag out slogans and frame every person who uses drugs as a criminal. But most people know by now that this doesnt help respond to the adverse effects of drug use in our community.

Instead, we know that the community wants evidence-based strategies that ensure that people are informed about the risks of drug use and are able to reduce harms associated with drug use. The community wants to be assured that people can access the support they need if they are struggling with dependency issues. This new approach isnt as easy, but its the right and the smart thing to do.

The criminalisation of personal drug use has resulted in courts and jail systems overwhelmed by people who use drugs, without any real strategy to support people dealing with a dependency issue. This is a plan that seeks to change that. Its also a plan that aims to redress a system where not every person who uses drugs is treated equally. We dont want to see a continuing situation where people of colour, First Nations people and people from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be penalised for minor drug offences than others.

These initiatives focus on people. This means providing more support. When people demonise drug use, they often forget we are talking about people someones son or daughter, their husband, mother, friend. These initiatives aim to ensure that people dont die or suffer irreparable harm because they make a poor choice or dont have enough information. They aim to stop the current situation where people unwilling to seek support when they need it because of fear, stigma and shame.

As part of this, a key initiative in the package is increasing funding for drug and alcohol treatment services. This is aimed at increasing the level of support available and in response to sustained calls from the sector and community that we need to provide more support.

It also includes initiatives to ensure that support and treatment are provided in ways that respond to peoples lives and needs services that are culturally appropriate and recognise that people live in families and communities rather than in a vacuum. It strives to increase diversionary programs, keeping people away from jail and putting them into programs that aim to constructively deal with the consequences of criminality related to drug use.

The ACT should be proud of the work that has occurred in recent years. It has seen significant collaboration between the Government, medical experts, services and the police, and has resulted in keeping people safer. Evaluations of the two-pill testing trials at festivals in Canberra also show what is possible, and how this work has saved lives and keep people safer.

Our future work needs to build on this good work, and there are initiatives contained in the package that do just this work to see how we can make people safer. These include regular pill testing at festivals and a permanent pill-testing site.

I think its time that we commit to addressing drugs as a health issue, not a criminal issue. I want a future where people are safer and where we respond to the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug and substance use in our community. What do you think?

Rebecca Vassarotti is an ACT Greens candidate for Kurrajong in the upcoming Territory election and the campaign spokesperson for drug policy.

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We must deal with drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal one - The RiotACT

5 science-backed benefits of vitamin B12 and how to get enough of it in your diet – INSIDER

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

There are a myriad of vitamins you need to maintain a healthy mind and body. An important one to keep track of is B12. It's involved in everything from red blood cell production to nail growth.

Here's what you need to know about vitamin B12, from the science-backed health benefits to recommended daily intake.

B12 plays a crucial role in the body's formation of red blood cells and neurological functioning. Therefore, it can boost overall health in a variety of ways and here are five of them:

Red blood cells carry oxygen from our lungs to tissues throughout our body. They also carry carbon dioxide a toxic by-product of cell functioning from those tissues back to the lungs where it's then expelled.

"Vitamin B12 participates in the production of red blood cells," says Vikram Tarugu, MD, a gastroenterologist and CEO of Detox of South Florida. "If the rates of vitamin B12 are too poor, red blood cell output is impaired, inducing megaloblastic anemia."

Megaloblastic anemia refers to anemia a lack of red blood cells specifically caused by lack of B12. It "causes symptoms like fatigue, difficulty concentrating, clumsiness, and dry skin," says Megan Wong, a registered dietitian at AlgaeCal, a company providing information on bone health.

While there are other reasons a person may develop anemia, such as excessive bleeding or low iron, maintaining healthy levels of vitamin B12 is one way to prevent it.

Another benefit of vitamin B12 is that it can slow brain atrophy in the elderly. Brain atrophy means an overall shrinkage in brain volume and also a loss of neurons, which can cause diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's making it difficult to function independently in society.

A 2008 study published by the American Academy of Neurology with 107 participants over 61-years-old, found that the brain volume lost over five years was greater for people with lower B12 levels in the blood.

"Vitamin B12 is crucial for a well-functioning brain and nervous system. Its role in the brain is so important that research suggests vitamin B12 might play a role in preventing dementia," says Wong.

However, there's no evidence that B12 supplements improve memory loss in those who are already suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

There is still debate over the extent of its impact, but research has shown a connection between vitamin B12 deficiency and neuropsychiatric manifestations. These include depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and mood swings.

"Vitamin B12 is required for serotonin development, which is a chemical that controls mood," says Tarugu. This link has led researchers to encourage vitamin B12 supplements as part of treatment plans for those with depression.

For example, in a study of 199 depressed individuals, 100% of those treated with antidepressants as well as injected vitamin B12 improved by at least 20%. Only 69% of people treated with antidepressants and not B12 reported similar improvements.

People who are pregnant have a higher recommended dose of vitamin B12. That's because the compound may help prevent severe birth defects like partial paralysis and an undeveloped skull. "Adequate amounts of vitamin B12 are important for a successful pregnancy," says Tarugu.

If someone with low levels of B12 becomes pregnant, they have a greater chance of giving birth to a child with neural tube defect. This class of birth defects includes anencephaly, a fatal condition where the baby's brain and skull are severely underdeveloped. Along with maintaining proper vitamin B12 levels, taking folic acid before and after conception can decrease the chances of a baby having neural tube defects.

Tarugu says maintaining healthy levels of vitamin B12 can also assist in hair, skin, and nail growth by providing oxygen to these tissues.

"However, if your [B12] levels are already adequate, consuming a supplement probably won't boost your health in those regions," he says.

If you do have a vitamin B12 deficiency, it may manifest as vitiligo a condition in which the skin has discolored patches, slower hair growth, or skin hyperpigmentation. In this case, adding vitamin B12 to your diet or taking a supplement may improve the condition.

The amount of vitamin B12 a person needs steadily increases as they age:

Older individuals may want to up their vitamin B12 intake. "Around the age of 50, it becomes harder to absorb vitamin B12, so older adults should aim to eat more B12-rich foods or take a supplement if needed," says Wong.

"The best food sources [of B12] are meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, and fortified cereals," says Wong.

B12 can be supplemented in four ways, says Taylor Graber, MD, physician and owner of ASAP IVs, a mobile IV hydration and wellness company:

As vitamin B12 is found naturally in animal-based food products, vegetarians and vegans may not get enough of it in their diet and require supplements. Medical conditions may also require a person to seek out additional amounts of the vitamin.

Between 1.5% and 15% of the general population is vitamin B12 deficient. Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include megaloblastic anemia in which abnormally sized or immature red blood cells are produced weight loss, weakness, neurological changes like memory loss and depression, as well as fatigue.

Your small intestine helps absorb B12 with help from a substance secreted by the stomach known as intrinsic factor. This makes people with certain health conditions more susceptible to B12 deficiency.

"Without intrinsic factor, the free vitamin B12 in the digestive tract is unable to be absorbed," says Graber. "Deficiencies of this glycoprotein, or a shortening of the small intestine where the B12 is absorbed, can lead to an inadequate amount of dietary vitamin B12."

People with Crohn's Disease, or complications due to intestine shortening from surgeries are often at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, says Graber.

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin meaning that your body only absorbs necessary amounts of B12, with the rest flushing out through your urine. That said, there can still be side effects of excess intake. These symptoms include headaches, anxiety, and nausea.

Vitamin supplements, such as B12, have previously been reported to interact with medicines and supplements, like colchicine and vitamin C supplements. Therefore, always consult your doctor before starting a new supplement or diet

5 science-backed benefits of vitamin B12 and how to get enough of it in your diet - INSIDER

A Unicorn Rivalry Shaping the Future of the Synbio Industry – SynBioBeta

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Two companies Ginkgo Bioworks and Zymergen are poised to shape the future of SynBio

Across industries as diverse as electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, and materials, industrial synthetic biology has begun to produce the goods we need more efficiently and sustainably. Using the synthetic biology approachor synbio for those familiar with the fieldstart-ups and Fortune 500 corporations alike are genetically-engineering microbes to manufacture a massive range of goods from the touchscreens in your phone, to the cotton in your t-shirt, to the meat in your plant-based burger.

Traditionally, this synthetic biology process has been a slow and hypothesis-driven endeavor, dependent on researcher geniusand a healthy dose of luckto design these microbial mini-factories. But not anymore.

Two companies have embraced the power of computational biology to take the guesswork out of synthetic biology and drive this young industry into the mainstream. Zymergen and Ginkgo Bioworks both use vast metagenomic databases, machine learning, and robust automated laboratories to design microbes custom-suited to manufacture a desired good. Both organizations have raised significant capital to build out their platforms, with Zymergen having raised a $400-million Series C in 2018 and Ginkgo Bioworks raising almost double that figure in multiple rounds over its lifetime.

Despite their shared mission to turn the art of engineering biology into a science, the two synbio pioneers are strongly differentiated by their respective technology stacks and business models. Analyzing the key differences between the two can help us understand how the synthetic biology industry as a whole may evolve and where the value levers are hidden in the synbio ecosystem.

At its core, industrial synthetic biology offers a path to both producing humanitys typical array of materialssuch as plastics, textiles, food, and medicinesmore efficiently, as well as creating completely new substances. To produce these goods with biology relies on a three-step process of:

1) Molecule Identification: Identifying the molecule you want to create;

2) Biology Design: Designing a microbe to manufacture the good; and

3) End-Product Manufacturing: Scaling the manufacturing.

Overlaying this simplified three-step value chain against each of these organizations core competencies illustrates where the two companies hope to compete in the industrial synbio field and how they will likely co-exist (or not) with other players in the space.

Both Zymergen and Ginkgo have established wide competitive moats around the Biology Design process. By constructing massive and growing metagenomic databasesmapping genes, proteins, and metabolic pathwaysand investing capital into automated labs capable of running high-throughput experimentation, the two companies have achieved a level of take-off velocity insulating them from would-be challengers seeking to enter the field.

Both companies have embraced an R&D process that creates a positive feedback loop, perpetually self-improving their ability to design microbes and putting greater distance between them and any potential competitors. Both companies leverage their massive datasets to train machine-learning algorithms that help design potential microbes for a given purpose. They then turn to their automated labs to test thousands of strains for performance, creating new data-points to further improve their machine-learning for the next batch of microbes.

While important differences exist between the two companies Biology Design stacks regarding the size of their datasets, the robustness of their software, and the automation of their hardware, both can claim strong proficiency in the Biology Design portion of the synbio value chain.

Beyond Biology Design, Ginkgo and Zymergen have taken divergent approaches to both Molecule Identification and End-Product Manufacturing. Regarding the former, Zymergen has developed chemistry and materials datasets and supporting lab infrastructure to rigorously scan their databases for promising molecules, predict their fit for a given purpose, and test those predictions empirically. To its credit, Zymergen has announced three products so fara biofilm for electronics, an insect repellent, and a crop pest control agentthat are all reported to be completely novel, never-used-before molecules.

Zymergen has also endeavored to internalize End-Product Manufacturing capabilities. After Zymergen designs a product, they turn to a network of close bio-manufacturing partners to produce the end-product in-house for downstream customers and partners.

While exceptions exist, Ginkgo has concentrated its focus almost solely on the Biology Design pieceperhaps with good reason. The ability to predict how a new molecule will behave varies across applications and necessitates a diverse toolkit: the analysis of a molecule to be used in electronic consumables varies greatly from that of one to be used in food or nutrition, diluting the scalability of a Molecule Identification skillset. For this reason, Ginkgo has focused their platform less on the discovery of totally novel substances, but more on finding a better means of manufacturing those we already know.

In regard to End-Product Manufacturing, commercial bio-manufacturing represents a fairly old technologyit relies primarily on the same fermentation process used to make beer.

Accordingly, Ginkgo believes that the End-Product Manufacturing element of the synbio process is relatively commoditized, and that their platform does not provide much marginal advantage here. In Ginkgos worldview, Molecule Identification appears to be too specialized beyond their core competency, while End-Product Manufacturing is perhaps too commoditized to offer much additional value.

In a nutshell, Zymergen has positioned itself as a products company with the infrastructure to cover the full product development process, while Ginkgo acts as a platform providing a modular solution at one valuable link in the synbio value chain. Under this strategy, Zymergen can produce differentiated products that cannot be found anywhere elseand Zymergen will be able to charge for that unique value.

Lacking an internal products engine, Ginkgo has cast a wide net of partnerships with industry innovators and internal spin-outs, in effect creating a decentralized product discovery network that can leverage its biology design platform to bring products to market.

While the two companies early strategies may not be indicative of their future evolution, their current directions do reflect their intended role within the larger synthetic biology ecosystem. On the one hand, Zymergen seems to be driving for a world where they can act as the one-stop-shop for anyones manufacturing or materials needsthey can ID the best substance, engineer the best organisms to produce it, and manufacture the product for sale to customers.

Alternatively, Ginkgos platform allows for a more distributed ecosystemwhere they can leverage their unique expertise in organism design to provide downstream partners with the crucial key to implementing their own bio-manufacturing processes.

If either approach can succeed in pulling synthetic biology into the mainstream, we could all benefit from a cleaner, healthier, and more abundant world.

Matthew Kirshner works in life sciences consulting at Putnam Associates, focused on pharma and biotech organizations commercializing novel therapeutics and diagnostics. He has no professional affiliation in his work with either company referenced in this article.

Originally published on Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News https://www.genengnews.com/gen-edge/a-unicorn-rivalry-shaping-the-future-of-the-synbio-industry/

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Protests have erupted across the nation and returned to St. Louis: Here are some of the leaders of the movement – STLtoday.com

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

The Rev. Darryl Gray sits at the intersection of Market Street and Tucker Boulevard for minutes of silence in memory of those killed by police officers, near City Hall in downtown St. Louis on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Protesters announced plans to camp in front of the building until their demands were met and Mayor Lyda Krewson resigns. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Protests dont just happen as spontaneous moments.

They are planned and executed by an array of people college students and politicians, lawyers and social workers, medical professionals and blue-collar workers spurred by outrage, activism or a sense of injustice.

Protesters who emerged as leaders six years ago after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer have in some cases carried their commitment in new directions of influence, including freshman state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge and Cori Bush, the Democratic nominee in the 1st Congressional District after Tuesdays primary election.

Aldridge and Bush have remained active in protests, including those sparked this summer by the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed while restrained by a Minneapolis police officer, as well as by the release of a video that showed a Florissant police detective hitting a man with his vehicle.

But they are not the only leaders of the movement.

At the center of the demonstrations are a mix of groups ExpectUs, RespectUs, Tent Mission STL, Occupy City Hall STL, Protest THAT, Action St. Louis and ClosetheWorkhouse whose opinions vary on the best way to seek justice.

And on the anniversary of Browns death, Aug. 9, 2014, protest leaders say underlying inequities and a lack of broad reform measures make the St. Louis area ripe for social unrest.

Meet a few of the leaders who carry the culture of protest in the St. Louis region.

The pastor

The Rev. Daryl Gray, 66, is a founder of the protest group ExpectUs. He is one of several Democratic leaders in the organization who doubles as both an activist and a politician. Others include Aldridge and Bush, who toppled longtime U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay in Tuesdays Democratic primary.

Among other calls for justice, ExpectUs has advocated for reparations for Black people and an end to police brutality. Gray said current protests are more of a movement than a moment.

Rev. Darryl Gray talks to police officers as protesters march at the Galleria in Richmond Heights on Black Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. About 100 people marched through the mall, calling for an economic boycott of area businesses. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Born in Boston and having grown up in both South Carolina and Canada, Gray moved to St. Louis after Fergusons uprisings. He emphasizes that when an organization like ExpectUs is grassroots, its bound to have more buy-in from its members.

If you own it, then youre going to go the extra mile for it, Gray said.

Gray attended a newly integrated high school in South Carolina, where he got a taste of standing up for what he believed in and the repercussions that often follow.

During a school pep rally, Gray said a man came riding into the gym on a horse waving a Confederate flag. He walked out, and hundreds of students followed him. He was suspended from school, he said, for inciting a disturbance.

I didnt know they were behind me. I didnt look back, he said.

Gray went on to join the U.S. Army, where he was honorably discharged. He then campaigned for presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Florida, worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, preached in both Canada and Atlanta, served as head of Atlantas NAACP, and briefly served as a state senator from Kansas City.

Now, he said, hes ready to make St. Louis his final destination.

With a history of frequently moving, proving himself in new cities has been the norm for Gray.

I think Ive gotten beat up enough in the streets. Ive shown up more than some people whove been here all their lives thats got to count for something, Gray said.

On July 6, a day after protesters say they were beaten while being arrested for protesting at Florissants police department, Gray asked officers in riot gear behind the gate of the police department to go back inside the police department as a sign of good faith. A white shirt officer agreed and instructed riot police to go inside, but a regular, uniformed group of police then came out another door.

Gray and other ExpectUs leaders told everyone to go home. Some in the crowd strongly opposed leaving though, and the two factions argued with one another.

That was our mistake the timing. For us to disperse while police were standing there could be perceived as a sign of weakness, Gray said. RespectUs felt disrespected at that moment, and they had reason to. Our timing was off. That was our mistake. We owned it.

The self-proclaimed radical

One of the protesters who stayed behind that night was Tauren Taylor, a 25-year-old University City resident.

A self-proclaimed radical, Taylor said he stayed because protesters were supposed to go out on their own terms. Taylor said protesters had to advocate for every inch of real estate on which to protest, including the parking lot across the street from the police station.

Tauren Taylor, center, talks with Dhoruba Shakur, left, and Tory Russell as they block the doorway to the Ferguson Market to shut it down for the night on Thursday, July 30, 2020, after St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell announced that after a review he would not charge police officer Darren Wilson in Brown's 2014 death. The store became a central part of the case after the teenager was accused of robbing it before he was shot. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Why keep letting them hand us stuff when our job is to take things? Were supposed to be forcing them to give us things they dont want to give us, Taylor said. They dont want to give us freedom. They dont want to stop killing us, they dont want to stop beating us.

Taylor has been arrested at several protests in the past year. He was also one of the protest leaders after Terry Tillman, 23, was killed last year by police near the St. Louis Galleria Mall in Richmond Heights.

Taylor remains vocal on the front line, but he says he will not join a protest group.

To be held under a name, youre held under their standards. ExpectUs, for instance, I love people in ExpectUS. I will ride for ExpectUs, but I dont think now is the time for us to try to ask for reparations.

Taylor moved to Missouri from California when he was a teenager. He said his family dealt with poverty, and he was bullied frequently for having a lisp and being studious.

One of his first successful protests, he said, was getting a neglectful teacher fired by collecting petition names.

Once I found out what the chain of the command was, I went up that ladder, he said.

Eventually, he said, he was kicked out of Vashon High School for fighting.

Taylor earned a diploma from the Fresh Start Academy program at 17, and briefly studied animal science and genetic engineering at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park.

He acknowledged some may see his protest methods as extreme, but he said his methods also help people understand someone is sticking up for them.

Taylor said hes not sure about a future career path, but hes working odd jobs, including selling homemade goods at Soulard Market. In the meantime, he said, he will continue to protest injustices wherever they spring up in the St. Louis area.

Tauren Taylor leads chants in the parking lot of the Florissant Police Department on Monday, July 6, 2020. Protesters held a demonstration against police brutality after a Florissant officer was fired and charged with hitting a fleeing subject with his vehicle. Those attending were seeking charges against two other officers involved in the incident. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Taylor was one of several protesters to take exception with comments in mid-July by Jimmie Edwards, the top law enforcement official in St. Louis. Edwards, at an anti-crime demonstration outside City Hall, said many protesters werent from the city, and he condemned violence that erupted at some of the protests.

I feel like violence happens everywhere, even in nature, said Taylor. Were all human, we all make mistakes. Theres no way to control every single person thats out there. Ive seen police hurt people and each other. You cant condone it on one end and condemn it on the other.

The elder

The perceived lack of government response when doorbell security footage showed former Florissant Detective Joshua Smith running over a fleeing suspect in early June led to the formation of another protest group, RespectUs, said one of the founders, Cathy Mama Cat Daniels.

Daniels, 59, said she and a group of other front-line Ferguson protesters went to the police station for answers about what had happened, but there were barricades around the police department.

Protester Cathy Daniels leads the chant opposing the King Louis IX statue in Forest Park, during a rally atop Art Hill on Saturday, June 27, 2020. About 200 people on opposite sides of the debate attended the rally in front of the St. Louis Art Museum. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

When they didnt answer us and treat us with the human respect as people who live in this town, youve got to stand up and fight back, said Daniels. Even the (city) council, anyone who spoke against their idea of democracy, they didnt feel the need to respect them. Thats why we are RespectUs.

Daniels said RespectUs has four core demands: fire, charge, arrest and convict Smith. Thus far, three of those four have happened Smith has not yet had his day in court.

Daniels has lived in Florissant since 2012. She grew up in New York City and previously lived in Chicago and San Diego. Since Fergusons uprisings, shes worked as a cook and founded PotBangerz, a nonprofit dedicated to providing food and clothing to families in need. The organization is now renovating a home in Pine Lawn for cis, queer and trans women in need and plans to open the home later this year.

Cathy 'Mama Cat' Daniels empties one of two massive bowls of salad with vegetables donated from area farms, as she cooks dinner for 130 people in the kitchen at First Congregational Church of St. Louis on Thursday, July 23, 2020 in Clayton. Daniels leads the PotBangerz, a group of volunteers, many who are active in area protests, who feed the hungry and the unhoused. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

An elder of the protest group, Daniels said she offers advice to protesters and watches from the back, cane and chair in tow. Still, she said, she doesnt always approve of the protest methods that unfold.

Theres no such thing as peaceful protest. Thats an oxymoron. If there was peace, we wouldnt need to protest, Daniels said. I dont support tearing up stuff. We had that happen during Ferguson. If were gonna burn it down, then do it the right way, and thats not in the literal sense. Burn down the system. Defund the police.

The congresswoman

Daniels stood behind Cori Bush, 44, as hundreds of protesters returned July 3 to Portland Place in St. Louis West End. The private street had recently made national news, as Mark and Patricia McCloskey waved guns at protesters in an effort to, as they said, defend their home. The couple has since been charged with unlawful use of a weapon.

There was nothing to defend, and thats what angers me so bad, Bush said.

Protest leader Cori Bush marches on Forest Park Parkway during a rally and march against police brutality in the Delmar Loop on Friday, June 12, 2020. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

In addition to rising as a leader of ExpectUs, Bush gained national notoriety in Tuesdays election. In a district that has historically voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, Bush will likely become the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress.

Bush said she learned about politics, protest tactics and demonstrations from her father, Earl Bush, who worked as a politician in north St. Louis County.

She attended high school at Cardinal Ritter College Prep and said she had no intention of starting a life in politics. She graduated from Harris- Stowe State University and Lutheran School of Nursing, then entered the fields of nursing and ministry.

Between Bushs unsuccessful runs for Senate and the House of Representatives in 2016 and 2018, respectively, St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley went on trial for shooting a Black man, Anthony Lamar Smith, in 2011. Stockley was charged with first-degree murder, and prosecutors claimed he planted a gun on Smith. When Stockley was found not guilty by a judge in 2017, protests erupted again, and Bush emerged as a leader of ExpectUs.

During those demonstrations, Bush said, the group began to change how it disseminated information.

With Ferguson, you didnt have to call and ask around to see what time a protest was going on. You could just show up. It was 24/7. With Stockley, we had to have a way to get the information out, said Bush, highlighting the organizations use of social media.

Now, both she and Gray agree the groups protests are more refined, pointing out the local history lessons they provide before the marching and chanting begin.

ExpectUs doesnt do violent things, but what were not going to do is turn our backs on people that do, as far as their form of protest, Bush said, referencing the violence that occasionally breaks out at protests, including an early June demonstration that included gunfire and widespread looting as the night wore on.

If I have a sandwich today for breakfast, lunch and dinner Im not going to loot a sandwich, Bush said. If they fix the problems, they wont have to worry about that.

Bush said shes aware she could get blamed for the violence that occurs during protests, but she stands by her decision to continually show up and call for change.

I know it every single time, and I make that choice to show up, she said. When we stop showing up, when we stop pushing, thats how they win, so Ill take that chance.

This story has been updated to correct the year of the shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.

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Protests have erupted across the nation and returned to St. Louis: Here are some of the leaders of the movement - STLtoday.com

Training neural circuits early in development improves response, study finds – University of Illinois News

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. When it comes to training neural circuits for tissue engineering or biomedical applications, a new study suggests a key parameter: Train them young.

Techniques for training engineered neural circuits usually involve training them after the cells have fully matured. Using light-sensitive neurons derived from mouse stem cells, researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign found that training them throughout early cell development and network formation led to lasting improvements in the connections, responsivity and gene expression of the resulting neural network. They published their results in the journal Scientific Reports.

Its like an old dog learning new tricks versus a young puppy, said graduate student Gelson Pagan-Diaz, the first author of the study. When were training a network, if we stimulate it when its still like a puppy, we can get a better response to the training than if it were already mature.

Improved neural training has many applications in bioengineering and regenerative medicine. For example, the Illinois team hopes to use trained neural circuits to control the movement and behavior of miniature bio-hybrid machines. The types of improvements yielded by early training could give the machines and circuits more functionality and give the researchers more precise control over those functions.

As we advance the field of building machines with living cells, being able to stimulate and program neuronal cells and networks with light early in their development could be an important tool in our engineering repository, said study leader Rashid Bashir, a professor of bioengineering and dean of the Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois. Furthermore, this work could have implications for developmental biology, regenerative medicine and brain research.

To train the neurons, the researchers used timed pulses of light to stimulate the cells. The researchers began the training regimen when the cells were early in their development clusters of stem cells, called embryoid bodies, primed to become motor neurons. They continued the training as the cells differentiated, becoming fully mature neurons, and further continued it after transferring the cells to plates to connect and form neural circuits.

They then compared the early trained circuits with those cultured first and trained later the usual method.

The researchers saw a number of differences between the groups, Pagan-Diaz said. In the neurons trained during development, they saw more extensions indicating connections between cells, an increase in neurotransmitter packages sent between cells, and more structured nerve firing, indicating greater network stability. The effects of the early training were long-lasting, whereas cells trained later tended to have transient responses.

You can think of the neurons being like athletes in training, Pagan-Diaz said. The light stimulation was like a regular workout for the neurons they were stronger and more athletic, and did their jobs better.

To determine the underlying basis for these changes, the researchers analyzed the neurons genetic activity. They saw an increase in gene expression for genes related to network maturity and neural function, indicating that the early training could have permanently altered genetic pathways as the cells developed, Bashir said.

The researchers are continuing to explore what kinds of activities could be enhanced or programmed by early neuron training in the embryoid body phase. Embryoid bodies could be useful building-block components for biological machines, Pagan-Diaz said, and also hold promise for regenerative medicine.

Previous studies have shown that embryoid bodies with motor neurons implanted into mice that had been injured could improve the regeneration of tissue, Pagan-Diaz said. If we can improve or enhance the functionality of these embryoid bodies prior to putting them into an injured model, then theoretically we could enhance the recovery beyond what has been seen with injecting them and then stimulating them later.

The National Science Foundation supported this work through the Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems science and technology center and through the Miniature Brain Machinery Research Traineeship. Research staffer Jenny Drnevich, graduate students Karla Ramos-Cruz and Richard Sam, and University of Illinois, Chicago bioengineering professor Perijat Sengupta were co-authors of the paper.

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Training neural circuits early in development improves response, study finds - University of Illinois News

The unexpected hair trend for 2020 every reality star is wearing right now – Who

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

If youre seeing red scrolling through your Instagram feed lately, youre not alone.

From copper colours and peachy hues to ginger sheens it feels as though many of our favourite celebs and reality stars have changed their look.

WATCH:MAFS' Martha Kalifatidis has a MAJOR hair transformation

What could have initially been passed off as another isolation transformation, or two, is fast becoming a growing hair trend.

Theres more to this hair colour than the isolation boredom fads we've become accustomed to (read: home-cut bangs and pastel wash outs).

Bold enough to make a statement yet natural enough to pass as your everyday colour, its no surprise so many stars are turning heads with a new copper colour.

Whether its a subtle wash to liven up your brunette locks or you go all out with a vivacious hue and highlights, theres a look to suit every style.

Take a peek below at the stars who are making a case for a rusty chic change.

Abbie

Instagram

We had serious curl envy when Abbie Chatfield wandered into The Bachelor mansion to meet Matt Agnew.

And now, shes added a killer colour to top it off.

The Bachelor In Paradise star recently swapped her bronde colour for a Ginger Spice look, complete with fringe highlights albeit much more subtle and stylish (sorry Geri!).

I take back every ranga joke I made circa 2009, she wrote when debuting her new look.

Martha

Instagram

If theres one reality stars beauty choices we watch closely, its Marthas.

The Married At First Sight bride always looks glamourous, and luckily for us, is always sharing her tips, tricks and favourite products with her followers.

When she began her transformation from a dark brunette to blonde, we relished the few weeks she spent as a red-head. And, so did she!

I wanted to keep this colour...@_ellewilliamson_said no. What do you think? she asked fans when making the transition.

Lauren

Instagram

Fellow MAFS star Lauren Huntriss swapped her blonde bob for a stunning red colour.

Floating between a bright copper colour and a subtle peachy hue, Lauren is a hair colour chameleon we can all take inspiration from.

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The unexpected hair trend for 2020 every reality star is wearing right now - Who

New Yorks Greenmarkets Boast Stone Fruit, Lettuce, and Cherries This Week – Eater NY

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Good news from the Union Square Greenmarket: When I arrived around 10 a.m. this past Saturday, there was no line to get in, whereas a couple months ago the wait at the three entrance portals was 15 to 20 minutes. In the hot sun, that can be unpleasant. Part of the reason for the lack of delay is that the market has expanded onto the cobbled street called Union Square West. There are now multiple means of entrance to the Greenmarket, making it easier to get in while preserving social distancing. And everyone I saw was wearing a mask unless they were eating something.

On that new cobbled extension of the Greenmarket, find S&SO Produce Farms from Goshen, New York. Its lengthy counter held more forms of lettuce than Ive ever seen at a single market stall, including red Boston, green Boston, frisee, red salad bowl, green salad bowl, green leaf, red leaf, lola rosa, romaine, red romaine, and summer crisp (a cross between iceberg and green leaf), in addition to radicchio, escarole, and treviso. Gosh, what a salad you can make.

When selecting lettuce, one is better off picking smaller, younger heads due to the tenderness of the leaves. Since lettuce is often sold per head, rather than by weight, its tempting to pick the largest head for the purpose of economy. If going that route, the inner leaves can be used raw, and the tougher outer leaves briefly poached and used in a salad or cooked vegetable melange.

This week, stone fruits are at the height of their availability. Freestone peaches, as well as doughnut peaches, are available at multiple stalls, with apricots near the end of their season. Plums are at their peak, and I counted several varieties, including red plums, shiro plums, sugar plums (a relatively modern variety named to take advantage of a Christmas poem), and plumcots, a dark-colored apricot-plum hybrid.

By the way, stone fruits are often hard when bought, and need to ripen a day or two before consumption. If you want to use them right away, the hard fruit does very well cut into small pieces and used in a salad.

Tomatoes have descended somewhat in price, and nearly all that youll encounter are field tomatoes rather than greenhouse grown. Dont miss the so-called Jersey tomatoes, big, bright red specimens that are as at home in a Caprese salad as in gazpacho. These are going for a standard price of $3 per pound, while heirloom varieties of which I saw a dozen or so, varying in color from purple to yellow to streaky green are available at a typical price of $5 per pound. Remember to use the heirlooms the evening they are bought, since they are way more perishable than Jersey tomatoes.

Corn is just arriving in area farmers markets. There are three common varieties: white, bicolor, and yellow, of which the white appears first. All the corn Ive seen so far is white, with small kernels and more sweetness than the same variety last year. It is currently a bit expensive at 80 cents per ear, but the price will come down as it becomes less scarce.

Now for some of the oddities Ive seen in my last couple of farmers market visits fruits and vegetables seen less frequently, often with short seasons. I stumbled on some cranberry beans, beautiful legumes with an ivory color and undulant, dark pink streaks. They must be shelled and soaked before being cooked, which means boiling at least 10 minutes. Dont be tempted to eat them raw, since they contain a toxin destroyed by boiling. Im using mine with fresh corn in a succotash.

Husk cherries are tiny and yellow, filled with seeds, like a tomato, that dribble out when bitten into, and covered with a papery husk that must be peeled off. They taste a little sweet and a little soapy, and at $10 a pint are way too expensive, but if youre looking for an exotic salad ingredient or an unusual birthday present, consider undergoing the expense.

TriStar strawberries are now available at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm at $5 a pint. Eat them immediately, because they soften and liquefy quickly. The taste is said to be much like that of wild strawberries, with a concentrated flavor. The stall also sells popsicles made of these berries, which concentrate the flavor further and make a nice break from shopping in the hot sun. But maybe step into the park or onto a side street to eat them, so as not to be too close to fellow shoppers.

Other interesting products which should be available for a short time: fresh horseradish with edible greens; bitter melon, an indispensable ingredient in Chinese and Indian cooking; turmeric rhizomes; sansho, green leaves with a peppery taste used in Japanese and Korean cooking; and green millet seeds in their husks, making them difficult to mill for eating, but constituting great bird food or an ornamental green. When dehusked, millet is used to make porridge in many West African cuisines.

Check out what was in the Greenmarkets a month ago.

New Yorks Greenmarkets Boast Stone Fruit, Lettuce, and Cherries This Week - Eater NY

Some red flags related to people’s experiences working in institutions that suffer from toxic whiteness (opinion) – Inside Higher Ed

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Danzig

Disclaimer: The list in this essay comes from a collective collaboration of Black Indigenous people of color (BIPOC) and other marginalized administrators and faculty members who wish to remain anonymous. As colleges and universities undergo restructuring due to COVID-19 and make new commitments to address systemic failings as invoked by the recent public murder of George Floyd, new spaces for revisioning real structural changes have materialized. Such attempts to address structural changes are a reminder that we continue to live in a culture where racial and gendered disparity and violence are pervasive, persistent, insidious and deep-seated.

Diversity workers, according to Sara Ahmed, are institutional mechanics, and like mechanics, they complain about various malfunctions that obstruct their work. In other words, filing complaints is a form of diversity work, according to Ahmed.

Unfortunately, when institutions target their own diversity workers for complaining that those institutions are failing to uphold their mission of enforcing best practices in diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice initiatives, we begin to lose our best and most idealistic professionals. Such targeting of diversity workers also creates purposefully hostile work environments.

Institutions continue to have various administrators and faculty members, predominantly white, whose primary function is to do damage control. Rather than developing a new culture of equity and justice that could move toward the creation of just colleges and universities, they actively participate in active and covert efforts to block such initiatives so as to protect white supremacist structures.

Additionally, human resource departments that should be protecting the most vulnerable and marginalized staff and faculty members (who are instrumental in systemic change) end up protecting the status quo of the most toxic individuals at many institutions.

While equity work requires constant disruptions, the disrupters are often punished. Disrupters are often courageous whistle-blowers, yet institutions are notorious for not protecting the inconvenient truths that whistle-blowers reveal. As you read these lists, you may hear your own experience in them, or you may start to wonder if that colleague who was deemed to be a problem and then left or dismissed was actually a whistle-blower who was summarily fired and slapped with a nondisclosure agreement to continue a culture of silencing.

Cornel West says, Justice is what love looks like in public. As you engage in these calls for justice and systemic change, we offer two sets of red flags to review regarding toxic environments in academe and encourage you to think whether your workplace would pass Wests litmus test.

We also encourage you to think about how you can use your platform and position of power to effect change instead of being a passive bystander next to someone who has been transitioned out for allying with BIPOC and GLBTQI students and faculty. As campuses rush to open in the fall while the threats of the pandemic still loom above our heads, we want you to think how you can advocate for administrators, faculty members and students using an equity lens to protect those who have much less power than you do.

Red Flags: Toxic Administrative Work Environments

The first set of red flags includes the following.

If reading this list made you uncomfortable, we suggest that you examine your complicity in creating toxic work environments. Racial literacy cannot be accomplished by reading the latest books. We recommend that you engage in active dialogue by discussing, questioning and interrogating your own racialized desire to maintain the race, gender and class caste system at work. Please make your actions match the Black Lives Matter sign on your car (and the BLM message youve been meaning to send out to the campus). Trust that your paycheck will continue to come and your whiteness will not be automatically undone. In the meantime, please pick up a new tool, because the masters house is coming down whether you and higher ed are ready for the collapse or not.

In a follow-up essay, we will discuss the second list of red flags, which is related to toxic faculty-related work environments.

More here:

Some red flags related to people's experiences working in institutions that suffer from toxic whiteness (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed

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Monthly Archives: August 2020

The Hate-Fueled Rise of r/The_Donaldand Its Epic Takedown – WIRED

The Book of VE Schwab’s Heart – Publishers Weekly

Ring-like Structure on Ganymede May Have Been Caused by a Violent Impact – HeritageDaily

Where To Buy The Air Jordan 1 CO.JP Tokyo – Sneaker News

Michael Jordans Nike Air Ship Sneakers Banned by the NBA 36 Years Ago Are Returning Soon – Yahoo Lifestyle

Jordan Spieth’s 76 at PGA Championship Saturday puts Grand Slam out of reach – ESPN

The Jordan Hawkins Blog: This is Why I Committed to Connecticut… – Sports Illustrated

Vigil to be held Saturday for victims of West Jordan plane crash – ABC 4

Why Jordan Spieth is the most relatable (and likable) superstar in… – Golf.com

Former Hollywood Publicist Dishes on Some of the Nicest A-List Celebrities Like Michael B. Jordan and Jennifer Lopez – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

6 Health Benefits of Spirulina – Science Times

Human Dietary Supplements Market 2020 Size by Product Analysis, Application, End-Users, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecast to 2027…

We must deal with drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal one – The RiotACT

5 science-backed benefits of vitamin B12 and how to get enough of it in your diet – INSIDER

A Unicorn Rivalry Shaping the Future of the Synbio Industry – SynBioBeta

Protests have erupted across the nation and returned to St. Louis: Here are some of the leaders of the movement – STLtoday.com

Training neural circuits early in development improves response, study finds – University of Illinois News

The unexpected hair trend for 2020 every reality star is wearing right now – Who

New Yorks Greenmarkets Boast Stone Fruit, Lettuce, and Cherries This Week – Eater NY

Some red flags related to people’s experiences working in institutions that suffer from toxic whiteness (opinion) – Inside Higher Ed