Author Archives: Danzig

An AI hiring firm promising to be bias-free wants to predict job hopping – MIT Technology Review

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The firm in question is Australia-based PredictiveHire, founded in October 2013. It offers a chatbot that asks candidates a series of open-ended questions. It then analyzes their responses to assess job-related personality traits like drive, initiative, and resilience. According to the firms CEO, Barbara Hyman, its clients are employers that must manage large numbers of applications, such as those in retail, sales, call centers, and health care. As the Cornell study found, it also actively uses promises of fairer hiring in its marketing language. On its home page, it boldly advertises: Meet Phai. Your co-pilot in hiring. Making interviews SUPER FAST. INCLUSIVE, AT LAST. FINALLY, WITHOUT BIAS.

As weve written before, the idea of bias-free algorithms is highly misleading. But PredictiveHires latest research is troubling for a different reason. It is focused on building a new machine-learning model that seeks to predict a candidates likelihood of job hopping, the practice of changing jobs more frequently than an employer desires. The work follows the companys recent peer-reviewed research that looked at how open-ended interview questions correlate with personality (in and of itself a highly contested practice). Because organizational psychologists have already shown a link between personality and job hopping, Hyman says, the company wanted to test whether they could use their existing data for the prediction. Employee retention is a huge focus for many companies that we work with given the costs of high employee churn, estimated at 16% of the cost of each employees salary, she adds.

The study used the free-text responses from 45,899 candidates who had used PredictiveHires chatbot. Applicants had originally been asked five to seven open-ended questions and self-rating questions about their past experience and situational judgment. These included questions meant to tease out traits that studies have previously shown to correlate strongly with job-hopping tendencies, such as being more open to experience, less practical, and less down to earth. The company researchers claim the model was able to predict job hopping with statistical significance. PredictiveHires website is already advertising this work as a flight risk assessment that is coming soon.

PredictiveHires new work is a prime example of what Nathan Newman argues is one of the biggest adverse impacts of big data on labor. Newman, an adjunct associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, wrote in a 2017 law paper that beyond the concerns about employment discrimination, big-data analysis had also been used in myriad ways to drive down workers wages.

Machine-learning-based personality tests, for example, are increasingly being used in hiring to screen out potential employees who have a higher likelihood of agitating for increased wages or supporting unionization. Employers are increasingly monitoring employees emails, chats, and other data to assess which might leave and calculate the minimum pay increase needed to make them stay. And algorithmic management systems like Ubers are decentralizing workers away from offices and digital convening spaces that allow them to coordinate with one another and collectively demand better treatment and pay.

None of these examples should be surprising, Newman argued. They are simply a modern manifestation of what employers have historically done to suppress wages by targeting and breaking up union activities. The use of personality assessments in hiring, which dates back to the 1930s in the US, in fact began as a mechanism to weed out people most likely to become labor organizers. The tests became particularly popular in the 1960s and 70s once organizational psychologists had refined them to assess workers for their union sympathies.

In this context, PredictiveHires fight-risk assessment is just another example of this trend. Job hopping, or the threat of job hopping, points out Barocas, is one of the main ways that workers are able to increase their income. The company even built its assessment on personality screenings designed by organizational psychologists.

Barocas doesnt necessarily advocate tossing out the tools altogether. He believes the goal of making hiring work better for everyone is a noble one and could be achieved if regulators mandate greater transparency. Currently none of them have received rigorous, peer-reviewed evaluation, he says. But if firms were more forthcoming about their practices and submitted their tools for such validation, it could help hold them accountable. It could also help scholars engage more readily with firms to study the tools impacts on both labor and discrimination.

Despite all my own work for the past couple of years expressing concerns about this stuff, he says, I actually believe that a lot of these tools could significantly improve the current state of affairs.

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An AI hiring firm promising to be bias-free wants to predict job hopping - MIT Technology Review

Meet the AI that can write – Axios

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A new general language machine learning model is pushing the boundaries of what AI can do.

Why it matters: OpenAI's GPT-3 system can reasonably make sense of and write human language. It's still a long way from genuine artificial intelligence, but it may be looked back on as the iPhone of AI, opening the door to countless commercial applications both benign and potentially dangerous.

Driving the news: After announcing GPT-3 in a paper in May, OpenAI recently began offering a select group of people access to the system's API to help the nonprofit explore the AI's full capabilities.

How it works: GPT-3 works the same way as predecessors like OpenAI's GPT-2 and Google's BERT analyzing huge swathes of the written internet and using that information to predict which words tend to follow after each other.

Details: As early testers begin posting about their experiments, what stands out is both GPT-3's range and the eerily human-like quality of some of its responses.

Yes, but: Give it more than a few paragraphs of text prompts and GPT-3 will quickly lose the thread of an argument sometimes with unintentionally hilarious results, as Kevin Lacker showed when he gave GPT-3 the Turing Test.

The big picture: Just because GPT-3 lacks real human intelligence doesn't mean that it lacks any intelligence at all, or that it can't be used to produce remarkable applications.

Of note: OpenAI has already begun partnering with commercial companies on GPT-3, including Replika and Reddit, though pricing is still undecided.

The catch: As OpenAI itself noted in the introductory paper, "internet-trained models have internet-scale biases." A model trained on the internet like GPT-3 will share the biases of the internet, including stereotypes around gender, race and religion.

The bottom line: Humans who assemble letters for a living aren't out of a job yet. But we may look back upon GPT-3 as the moment when AI began seeping into everything we do.

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Meet the AI that can write - Axios

AI in the field of transportation- a review – AI Daily

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The applications for AI in urban mobility are extensive. The opportunity is thanks to a mixture of factors: urbanization, a focus on environmental sustainability, and growing motorization in developing countries, which results in congestion. The rising predominance of the sharing economy is another contributor. Ride-hailing or ride-sharing services enable drivers to access riders through a digital platform that also facilitates mobile money payments. Some examples in developing countries include Swvl, an Egyptian start-up that enables riders heading an equivalent direction to share fixed-route bus trips, and Didi, the Chinese ride-hailing service. These can help optimize utilization of assets where they are limited in EMs, and increase the standard of obtainable transportation services.

By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 10 million self-driving vehicles and more than 250 million smart cars on the road. Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes have already launched their autonomous cars, and they have proven to be very successful. We can gain tremendous productivity improvements in several industrial areas. As the transport industry becomes more data-driven, the talent profile will also shift as new skills will be needed in the workforce to keep up with ongoing changes. AI is already helping to form transport safer, more reliable and efficient, and cleaner. Some applications include drones for quick life-saving medical deliveries in Sub-Saharan Africa, smart traffic systems that reduce congestion and emissions in India, and driverless vehicles that shuttle cargo between those who make it and people who pip out in China. With great potential to extend efficiency and sustainability, among other benefits, comes many socio-economic, institutional, and political challenges that have got to be addressed to ensure that countries and their citizens can all harness the power of AI for economic process and shared prosperity.

Reference: How Artificial Intelligence is Making Transport Safer, Cleaner, More Reliable and Efficient in Emerging Markets- by Maria Lopez Conde and Ian Twinn, International Financial Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group.

Thumbnail credit: Forbes.com

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AI in the field of transportation- a review - AI Daily

Prof. Hilbert: ‘The merger between biological and AI has already crossed beyond any point of return’ – AI in Healthcare

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Commenting on what name historians might settle on to label our interesting times, Hilbert notes that this most recent period of ancient and incessant logic of societal transformation took a series of titles between the 1970s and the year 2000.

In chronological order, he recounts, these have included post-industrial society, information economy, information society, fifth Kondratieff, information technology revolution, digital age and information age.

While only time will provide the required empirical evidence to set any categorization of this current period on a solid footing, recent developments have suggested that we are living through different long waves within the continuously evolving information age, writes Hilbert, who holds separate doctorates in communication and economics/social sciences.

Considering the outlook for AI, he sees some already achieved advancementscancer diagnostics, speech recognitionas dazzling.

And in case its been stealthy enough in its march forward to escape the attention it ought to be getting, note well that AI has become an indispensable pillar of the most crucial building blocks of society.

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Prof. Hilbert: 'The merger between biological and AI has already crossed beyond any point of return' - AI in Healthcare

Caption Health AI Awarded FDA Clearance for Point-of-Care Ejection Fraction Evaluation – HIT Consultant

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What You Should Know:

Caption Health AI is awarded FDA 510(k) clearance forits innovative point-of-care ejection fraction evaluation.

Latest AI ultrasound tool makes it even easier toautomatically assess ejection fraction, a key indicator of cardiac function, atthe bedsideincluding on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caption Health, a Brisbane,CA-based leader in medical AI technology, today announced it has received FDA510(k) clearance for an updated version of Caption Interpretation, whichenables clinicians to obtain quick, easy and accurate measurements of cardiacejection fraction (EF) at the point of care.

Impact of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction

Left ventricular ejection fraction is one of the most widelyused cardiac measurements and is a key measurement in the assessment of cardiacfunction across a spectrum of cardiovascular conditions. Cardiovasculardiseases kill nearly 700,000 Americans annually, according to the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention; furthermore, considering EF as a new vital signmay shed light on determining cardiac involvement in the progression of COVID-19. Arecent global surveypublished inEuropean Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imagingreportedthat cardiac abnormalities were observed in half of all COVID-19 patientsundergoing ultrasound of the heart, and clinicalmanagement was changed inone-third of patients based on imaging.

How Caption Interpretation Works

Caption Interpretation applies end-to-end deep learning toautomatically select the best clips from ultrasound exams, perform qualityassurance and produce an accurate EF measurement. The technology incorporatesthree ultrasound views into its fully automated ejection fraction calculation:apical 4-chamber (AP4), apical 2-chamber (AP2) and the readily-obtainedparasternal long-axis (PLAX) viewan industry first. While ejection fraction iscommonly measured using the more challenging apical views, the PLAX view is ofteneasier to acquire at the point of care in situations where patients may not beable to turn on their sides, such as intensive care units, anesthesiapreoperative settings and emergency rooms. This software provides unprecedentedaccess for healthcare providers to bring specialized ultrasound techniques tothe bedside.

Developing artificial intelligence that mimics an expert physicians eye with comparable accuracy to automatically calculate EFincluding from the PLAX view, which has never been done beforeis a major breakthrough, saidRoberto M. Lang, MD, FASE, FACC, FESC, FAHA, FRCP, Professor of Medicine and Radiology andDirector of Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging Laboratories at theUniversity of ChicagoMedicine and past president of the American Society of Echocardiography. Whether you are assessing cardiac function rapidly, or looking to monitor changes in EF in patients with heart failure, Caption Interpretation produces a very reliable assessment.

Caption Interpretation Benefits

At the point of care, a less precise visual assessment of EFis frequently performed in lieu of a quantitative measurement due to resourceand time constraints. Using Caption Interpretation in these settings providesthe best of both worlds: it is as easy as performing a visual assessment, butwith comparable performance to an expert quantitative measurement.

Caption Interpretation was trained on millions of imageframes to correctly estimate ejection fraction, emulating the way an expertcardiologist learns by evaluating EF as part of their clinical practice. Whilevirtually all commercially available EF measurement software works by tracingendocardial borders, Caption Interpretation analyzes every pixel and frame in agiven clip to produce highly accurate EF measurements.

Caption Health broke new ground in 2018 when it received thefirst FDA clearance for a fully automated EF assessment software. Two yearslater, Caption Interpretation remains the only fully automated EF toolavailable to providers, and, with todays clearance, continues to be the pacesetterin ultrasound interpretation.

We are pleased to have received FDA clearance for our latest AI imaging advancementour third so far this year, said Randolph P. Martin, MD, FACC, FASE, FESC, Chief Medical Officer of Caption Health, Emeritus Professor of Cardiology atEmory University School of Medicine, and past president of the American Society of Echocardiography. An accurate EF measurement is an indispensable tool in a cardiac functional assessment, and this update to Caption Interpretation makes it easier for time-constrained clinicians to incorporate it into their practice.

Recent Traction/Milestones

Caption Interpretation works in tandem with CaptionGuidance,cleared by the FDA earlier this year,as part of the Caption AI platform. Caption Guidanceemulates the expertise of a sonographer by providing over 90 types of real-timeinstructions and feedback. These visual prompts direct users to make specifictransducer movements to optimize and capture a diagnostic-quality image. Incontrast, use of other ultrasound systems requires years of expertise torecognize anatomical structures and make fine movements, limiting access toclinicians with specialized training.

The company recently closedits Series B funding round with$53 millionto further develop andcommercialize this revolutionary ultrasound technology that expands patientaccess to high-quality and essential care.

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Caption Health AI Awarded FDA Clearance for Point-of-Care Ejection Fraction Evaluation - HIT Consultant

Shining stars: The Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist – New Atlas

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The Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year is one of the worlds top astrophotography competitions, and the 2020 shortlist offers a sublime selection of this years best entries, from some mind-bending close-ups of the suns surface to a series of magnificent Milky Way skyscapes.

The contest is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, an iconic scientific institution founded nearly 400 years ago. There are eight key categories in the contest, spanning a broad spectrum of astrophotography styles, from skyscapes incorporating land perspectives, to more focused categories looking at galaxies and aurorae.

BEN BUSH

As with previous years, the contest illustrates the incredible skill and determination these photographers display to create these images. UK photographer Ben Bushs shot of an aurora over Icelands famous Vestrahorn is a great example. To get the perfect shot of the aurora reflecting over the water, Bush waded out into the freezing North Atlantic ocean in the middle of night.

Mathew Browne

Other shortlisted images highlight the patience and timing needed to compose the ideal frame. Matthew Browns shot of the Moon passing behind Londons Shard skyscraper is an example of a fleeting moment in time that took the photographer days to catch.

Kirsty Paton

The winning photographs will be revealed later in the year, sharing 10,000 in prize money.

Take a look through our gallery at more shortlisted images from this years contest.

Source: RMG

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Shining stars: The Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist - New Atlas

How this e-learning platform on Astronomy can answer all your questions about the universe – EdexLive

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Everybody is curious to know about the universe but in the process of knowing it, we also learn and develop some superstitious beliefs. Shweta Kulkarni was also curious to know more about the universe but she channelled her interest in the right direction. That's how she was able to start the digital platform AstronEra. This 24-year-old, who is a Royal Astronomical Society fellow, tells us about her interest in the subject, "I was only 16 years old when my parents bought me my first telescope. I would show my friends the stars and other interesting things in the sky. They were really impressed with me. Gradually, I read more and learnt more about astronomythrough various platforms. When I was 18, I co-founded a non-profit organisation called Astron-SHK."

While educating youngsters about astronomy, she met several experts like Dr Govind Swarup, Professor Jayanth Narlikar and many others. That's when she got the idea to create astronomy-based videos, which eventually won her international fame. Shweta explains, "I wrote to the Department of Science and Technology about the lack of astronomical videos available for learners and our interest to create some of them. They gave us a grant of `2.5 lakh and we were able to produce five videos especially for the beginners in astronomy. We were invited to the International Astronomical Youth Camp held in the UK and were surprised to see that most of the people had already watched our videos. What they liked about them was the contribution of Indian scientists in the field of Astronomy."

With this newfound popularity for her videos, she decided to start AstronEra, an e-learning platform, in 2018. "Everybody has the right to learn about this subject and develop a scientific temperament, and AstronEra facilitates the same. This digital platform, incubated at IIMB'sNSRCEL, provides a wide range of astronomical courses for people of all agegroups." Currently, Shweta who is pursuing a BSc in Astronomy with Honours from theUniversity of Central Lancashire through distance learning, builds the content for these courses with the help of mentors and her friends who are also experts in the field. She explains, "There are different courses including space exploration, Hubble space telescope, a guide to buy a telescope, exploring the solar system, astronomy without a telescope and so on. As many students have shown an interest in studying Astronomy during the lockdown, we are offering most of these courses at half price. Over 2,000 students have taken up these courses so far."

Shweta also goes to government schools or schools in tribal regions to create awareness about the universe and various eclipses so that they don't follow superstitious beliefs. A few months ago, Shweta's team visited around 500 tribal schools in Maharashtra with a telescope and helped students observe the Moon. "They were surprised, happy and found it amazing. What more can I ask for? We also gave them two of our online courses for free which were translated to Marathi and Hindi. All I dream is to spread the knowledge of Astronomy and bring that interest for this subject among the youngsters," she concludes.

To know more about their interesting courses, you can checkastronera.org

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How this e-learning platform on Astronomy can answer all your questions about the universe - EdexLive

The wheel with 12 spokes: Astronomy in ancient India – The New Indian Express

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There are very many references to the Sun, Moon, stars, planets, meteors, etc., in Vedic literature before 1500 BCE. The Sun is the Lord of the universe, and the Moon shines by the Suns light. The Earth is described as a sphere.

Even casual observations of the sky would reveal that there are three clear time-markers in the sky, namely, a day, a lunar month and a year. All the major civilisations tried to understand the correlations among these time units. A verse in Rigveda says: The wheel (of time) formed with 12 spokes, revolves round the heavens, without wearing out. O Agni, on it are 720 sons (that is, days and nights).

So, a year has 12 months and 360 days. Later in Taittireeya Samhitaa, there is a clear mention of a solar year of 365 days. The names of the 12 months are given in this Samhitaa as: Madhu, Maadhava, Shukra, Shuci, Nabhas, Nabhasya, Isha, Urjaa, Sahas, Sahasya, Tapas and Tapasya. Now a lunar month is nearly 29.5 days, and 12 lunar months make 354 days. To align the lunar months and the solar year, there would be an extra intercalary month or adhika maasa called samsarpa in some years.

In the Rigveda, it is stated that God Varuna charted a broad path for the Sun in the sky. This obviously refers to the ecliptic, which is the path of the apparent motion of the Sun around the Earth in the sky, in the stellar background. It is inclined to the celestial equator, which is a large circle in the sky in the plane of Earths equator. This is depicted in the picture above.

Here S1, S3 are the equinoxes, S2 is the summer solstice, and S4 is the winter solstice. Vedic literature describes the apparent half-yearly northern (Uttaraayana; from S4 to S2), and southern (Dakshinaayana; from S2 to S4) motions of the Sun, and equinoxes in Taittireeya Samhitaa, Aitareya Braahmana and other texts.

The Moons sidereal period is nearly 27 days, and its path is only slightly inclined to the ecliptic. Then it is convenient to divide the ecliptic into 27 equal parts called nakshatras. This concept is essentially Indian, and the names of the 27 nakshatras, Ashvini, Bharani, ... Revati are also listed in the Taittireeya Samhitaa. The Samhitaa also refers to a five-year yuga cycle, wherein the Sun and the Moon return together at the same position in the sky after five years. All in all, there are rudiments of a calendar with 12 months in a year, inclusion of intercalary months appropriately, and 27 nakshatras as markers of the Moons movement. But it is not formulated mathematically and there are no clear rules.

It is in Vedaanga Jyotisha, ascribed to sage Lagadha, that we have a quantitative calendrical system, with a five-year yuga. One of the verses in it says: When the Sun and Moon occupy the same region of the zodiac together with the asterism of Vaasava (Shravishthaa), at that time begins the yuga, the synodic month of Maagha, the solar month called Tapas, the bright fortnight (of Maagha) and their northward course (Uttaraayana). So, winter solstice is at the beginning of Shravishthaa (Delfini) constellation. This corresponds to some time between 1370 BCE and 1150 BCE, though the text could have been composed a little later.

In the Vedaanga Jyotisha calendar, one has a yuga with five years, 60 solar months, 62 lunar months and 1,830 civil days. There are two adhikamaasas in five years. The concept of a tithi, which is 1/30 of a lunar month, is mentioned, perhaps for the first time. Vedaanga Jyotisha is the first text in India to give simple arithmetical algorithms in calendrical astronomy for finding tithi, nakshatra, the positions of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, and so on. There is nothing on planetary motion.

Compared to the actual value of 365.2564 days for a sidereal year, the Vedaanga Jyotisha value is 366 days. It has been suggested that this was for ease of calculations, with corrections introduced appropriately.

The Vedaanga Jyotisha gives a formula for the duration of day time (sunrise to sunset), according to which it is 12, 15 and 18 muhoortas, when the Sun is at the winter solstice, equinox and summer solstice respectively (one muhoorta is 48 minutes). The formula is reasonably correct for a latitude around 28.

The Kaatyaayana Sulbasutra (composed around 5th century BCE) describes the determination of the east and west directions from the shadows of a gnomon. Data for the annual and diurnal variations of a gnomon-shadow, given in Arthashastra and many Jaina and Buddhist texts around 300 BCE, seem to be based on observations. Recent research indicates that an eclipse cycle of nearly 18 years was in vogue even before the Vedaanga Jyotisha.

There is a long gap between 300 BCE and Aryabhateeya, the first extant text on full-fledged mathematical astronomy in India, composed in 499 CE. However, there were 18 siddhaantas earlier, five of which were summarised in Varaahamihiras Pancasiddhaantikaa composed around 520 CE. Exciting research on pre-Aryabhatan astronomy is going on.

M S Sriram

Theoretical Physicist & President,Prof. K.V. Sarma Research Foundation

(This is the fourth article in the series on Indias contributions to science and technology)

(sriram.physics@gmail.com)

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The wheel with 12 spokes: Astronomy in ancient India - The New Indian Express

The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda – Scoop.co.nz

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If people in power were no longer able to hide secretsand spin lies about what's going on in the world, all of ourmajor problems would come to an end. Because secretive andmanipulative power structures are the source of all of ourmajor problems.

If the public could see what'sactually happening in their world, they would immediatelybegin using the power of their numbers to overhaul ourcurrent system. This is why our current system pours so muchenergy into preventing the public from seeing what'sactually happening in their world.

If it weren't forthe constant campaign of obfuscation and manipulation ofpublic perception via veils of government secrecy andpropaganda, humanity would naturally find its way out of thepower-driven tribulations it now faces, as surely as you'llavoid obstacles and hazards in your path when you arewalking with your eyes open. The only problem in this caseis that our eyes have not been permitted toopen.

May All BeRevealed

"The fight for humanitys futurebegins at your own eyelids."https://t.co/j1JQcolxIh

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) June24, 2020

It isn't actuallynecessary to hold a bunch of hard, rigid ideas about exactlywhat kind of society we should have, what kind of politicalsystem we should have, what kind of economic system weshould have. There's nothing wrong with promoting ideas andhaving preferences of course, but really if you just gavehumanity the ability to navigate through its own troubles byremoving the blindfolds of propaganda and power opacity, itwould organically create a healthy society, andrealistically such a society probably won't look a whole lotlike our mental models.

You do have the option, then,of simply promoting the end ofgovernment/political/corporate/financial opacity and the endof establishment perception management. Wanting humanity tosee with clear eyes so that it can make its own informeddecisions about where to take itself is a complete politicalposition, in and of itself. You don't have to hold any otherpolitical preferences of any kind if you don't wantto.

The desire for an end to the obfuscations andmanipulations of the powerful so that humanity can find itsown way is the most anti-authoritarian position you canpossibly take, because it also protects the world from yourown authoritarian impulses.

I personally am veryleftwardly inclined and believe that if humanity had itsperception management blindfolds removed it would naturallycreate a world where we're all truly equal and everyone istaken care of by the collective each according to theirneed, but what the hell do I know? Maybe if the blindfold isremoved I'd be proven wrong. I respect human sovereigntyenough to want to find out, free from my own politicalpreferences. I should not be the one making such societaldecisions, society as a whole should. I just want humanperception to be freed up enough to make thatcall.

How To Defeat TheEmpire

"What I do advocate, in as manydifferent ways as I can come up with, is a decentralizedguerrilla psywar against the institutions which enable thepowerful to manipulate the way ordinary people think, actand vote."https://t.co/4F5dWaURdq

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) September10, 2019

If you choose to makethe end of perception management your foremost priority,that means you push for government transparency at everyopportunity and support any movement to take away secrethiding places from the powerful.

It means opposing theway the powerful bolt shut all the doors on public scrutinyof their behavior, smear anyone who speculates about whatthey might be up to as a crazy conspiracy theorist, andimprisons anyone who leaks information about what they'rereally doing to the people.

It means you supportwhistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden whohelp shine light on the things power tries to keep hidden inthe dark.

It means you support WikiLeaks and JulianAssange and any journalist who helps expose the secrets ofthe powerful.

It means you fightthe empire's propaganda machine at every opportunity tobreak public trust in its manipulations.

It means yousupport breaking up the monolithic mass media and givingeveryone the equal ability to influence the dominantnarratives.

It means opposing internet censorship,since Silicon Valley plutocrats proppingup the establishment their kingdoms are built upon bycensoring anti-establishment voices is another way ofkeeping people from being shown the truth about theirworld.

I personally would add that it means supportingthe decriminalization of psychedelics, because seeing withinourselves is just as important as seeing what's happening inour world and entheogens can facilitate this seeing, butmaybe that's just me.

Cancel GovernmentSecrecy: Notes From The Edge Of The NarrativeMatrix

"Government says it needs secrecy tomake war on its enemies effectively, and, curiously, themore secrecy we allow it the more wars and enemies it seemsto have."https://t.co/fLWa478cva

Caitlin Johnstone

(@caitoz) July20, 2020

Again, there's no harmin engaging in politics and pushing for the changes you'dlike to see in your world, and there can be many benefits todoing so. But as long as people are successfully preventedfrom seeing and understanding what's really happening intheir world by the obfuscation of information and by themanipulation of people's perception of that information, thestatus quo will always remain in place.

So in myopinion this is the most sensible point upon which toconverge our energy. I personally have no interest incontrolling what humanity does, and desire only that peoplecome to see freely enough to make their owndecisions.

It's absolutely insane that informationwhich affects us all is kept hidden away from our clearvision by secrecy and propaganda. It's even crazier thatthey shame us when we wonder what's really going on andthrow us in prison when we try to find out. We must liberateourselves from this madness so we can create a healthy worldtogether.

_______________

Thanks for reading!The best way to get around the internet censors and makesure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to themailing list for my website,which will get you an email notification for everything Ipublish. My work is entirelyreader-supported, so if you enjoyed this pieceplease consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook,following my antics onTwitter,checking out my podcast on either Youtube,soundcloud,Applepodcasts or Spotify,following me on Steemit,throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreonor Paypal,purchasing some of my sweetmerchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation:Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstoneand Woke:A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more infoon who I am, where I stand, and what Im trying to do withthis platform, clickhere. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, hasmy permission to republish, use or translate anypart of this work (or anything else Ive written) in anyway they like free ofcharge.

Scoop Media

Rogue journalist

Caitlin Johnstone is a 100 percent crowdfunded rogue journalist, bogan socialist, anarcho-psychonaut, guerilla poet and utopia prepper living in Australia with her American husband and two kids. She writes about politics, economics, media, feminism and the nature of consciousness. She is the author of the illustrated poetry book "Woke: A Field Guide For Utopia Preppers."

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The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda - Scoop.co.nz

$6M Worth of Tether on the Bitcoin Cash Chain Highlights the Benefits of SLP Tokens | Technology Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News

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During the first week of July, crypto supporters noticed that Tether issued 1,010 stablecoins via the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) framework on Bitcoin Cash. Now theres a much larger amount of SLP-based tethers in circulation as the company has minted a total of 6 million on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

Digital currency enthusiasts have been watching the Tether project grow for years now and to-date the firm has $9.8 billion in total liabilities according to the companys transparency page. The USDT stablecoin is spread across various blockchains including Ethereum, Tron, Algorand, and EOS. Just recently, USDT was migrated onto the Bitcoin Cash blockchain by leveraging the Simple Ledger Protocol.

Bitcoin Cash supporters are now aware that there are over 6 million SLP-based USDT in circulation today. Data stemming from simpleledger.info and a BCH blockchain explorer shows that SLP-based tethers are circulating quite frequently. A number of BCH supporters have been discussing the benefits of SLP-based stablecoins and the Cointext CTO, Vin Armani, discussed the subject on July 11.

Armani tweeted a link from news.Bitcoin.com, which reported on millions of dollars worth of USDT stablecoins frozen in 40 addresses. You cant stop me from using a Bitcoin address for which I have the key(s). Theres no freeze address function on Bitcoin, as has been added to these Ethereum stablecoin contracts, Armani said. The Cointext founder further stated:

USDT is now available as *uncensorable* SLP tokens on BCH.

In addition to the permissionless benefits the Bitcoin Cash chain offers, the network fees needed to interact with SLP-based USDT on the BCH chain is quite minimal. A typical fee on the BCH network is only $0.003 per transaction or a third of a U.S. penny. Just recently, members of the Reddit forum r/cryptocurrency discussed how interacting with ERC20s on the Ethereum chain was quite costly. The author of the original post shared a gas fee which was $16 and said and you guys were complaining about high BTC fees WTF!? One commenter responding to the post wrote:

Sending transactions on ETH is still cheap. Interacting with smart contracts is another story

Another concept that stems from the mind of Vin Armani could essentially do away with the already inexpensive gas fees needed to push SLP-based transactions. For instance, the crypto community could leverage the Simple Ledger Postage Protocol Armani invoked in November 2019. The Postage Protocol allows SLP-based tokens to be sent without using fees (generally known as gas) to complete transactions.

In essence, the Postage Protocol allows users to pay for their miner fees using the SLP token itself, Armani explained last year. This is accomplished through the use of an intermediary server called a post office. The user sends the post office the requisite value of the needed BCH as an additional output in a transaction. Upon receiving and validating the otherwise invalid transaction, the post office attaches additional input containing native BCH (stamps) and then broadcasts the postage paid (valid) transaction to the network.

The fact of the matter is, stablecoins and any type of tokens, like non-fungible assets are much cheaper to send via the Bitcoin Cash chain. Many BCH supporters believe that in time, the market will realize this fact and migrate and build token infrastructure using the Simple Ledger Protocol. Besides being cheaper, SLP-based tokens are also permissionless and anyone from anywhere around the world can have full control over their tokens if they possess the private key(s).

What do you think about the $6 million worth of tether on the Bitcoin Cash chain? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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$6M Worth of Tether on the Bitcoin Cash Chain Highlights the Benefits of SLP Tokens | Technology Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Down $2.45 Over Past 4 Hours, Fares the Worst Out of Top Cryptos to Start the Day; Eyes 100 Day Average – CFDTrading

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Bitcoin Cash 4 Hour Price Update

Updated July 24, 2020 11:19 PM GMT (07:19 PM EST)

The end of a 3 four-hour candle positive run has come for Bitcoin Cash, which finished the previous 4 hours down 1.03% ($2.45). Those trading within the Top Cryptos asset class should know that Bitcoin Cash was the worst performer in the class during the previous 4 hours.

238.62 (USD) was the opening price of the day for Bitcoin Cash, resulting in yesterday being one in which price moved down 0.67% ($1.6) from yesterday. As for how volume fared, yesterdays volume was up 18.26% from the previous day (Wednesday), and up 54.85% from Thursday of the week before. On a relative basis, Bitcoin Cash was the worst performer out of all 5 of the assets in the Top Cryptos asset class during yesterday. The daily price chart of Bitcoin Cash below illustrates.

Coming into today Bitcoin Cash is now close to its 20, 50 and 100 day averages, located at 232.14, 235.13 and 237.9 respectively, and thus may be at a key juncture along those timeframes. Trend traders will want to observe that the strongest trend appears on the 90 day horizon; over that time period, price has been moving down. Or to view things another way, note that out of the past 14 days Bitcoin Cashs price has gone down 8 them.

Over on Twitter, here were the top tweets about Bitcoin Cash:

My guilty pleasure is sleeping in an oversized Bitcoin Cash TShirt

@RyanSAdams @BanklessHQ It was done in the context of LINK making to the top 10.Grouping Cardano with Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Silver (shitcoins)as a project that has no place competing as a currency makes no sense. There was tribalism among AOL, Netcom,etc in Now we just call it the internet.

@lasvegaspokers I enjoy ACR a great deal, regardless of hiccups that occur from time to time. I was nervous about Bitcoin cash outs but my first two have been a great experience.

As for a news story related to Bitcoin Cash getting some buzz:

Bitcoin Cash Leading Dev Announces Bitcoin ABC is Moving Forward with the Grasberg DAA CoinSpice

Schet and Bitcoin ABC, however, found issues with Toomims proposal such as it was, ultimately preferring Grasberg.Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) lead maintainer freetrader took issue with Schets characterization of no concrete proposal having reached ABC.False: the concrete proposal (with code) of an integer-approximation ASERT by Jonathan Toomim reached ABC (and everyone else) and was discussed in the last DAA meeting, freetrader insisted in comments on read.cash.

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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Down $2.45 Over Past 4 Hours, Fares the Worst Out of Top Cryptos to Start the Day; Eyes 100 Day Average - CFDTrading

Cryptocurrencies Price Prediction: Bitcoin Cash, NEO and Ripple European Wrap 22 July – FXStreet

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Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: BCH/USD short term falling wedge pattern breakout flashing buy signals

Bitcoin Cash advanced higher following the announcement that Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust had finally been approved for public listing on the stock market. The announcement came when the market was mostly lifeless. Following last weeks deep to $216 (support), Bitcoin Cash recovery stalled in a range between the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level and the 50% Fibo taken between the last swing high of $232.63 to a swing low of $216.91. Read more ...

NEO is the 21st largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $787 million and an average daily trading volume of $285 million. The coin is most actively traded on Binance and OKEx against USDT and BTC. At the time of writing, NEO/USD is changing hands at $11.42. The coin has gained over 6% in the recent 24 hours and stayed mostly unchanged since the start of the day. Read more ...

Ripple re-embarked on the journey of breaking barriers after testing the support at $0.19 last week. The recovery took place in tandem with other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin which this time joined in the rally closing in on the resistance at $9,500. Ripple majestically rose upwards but encountered acute resistance within a whisker of $0.20. Read more ...

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Cryptocurrencies Price Prediction: Bitcoin Cash, NEO and Ripple European Wrap 22 July - FXStreet

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers July 22nd, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

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Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rallied by 2.43% on Tuesday. Reversing a 0.56% decline from Monday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9.402.0.

It was a bullish start to the day. Bitcoin rallied from an early morning intraday low $9,174.4 to an early afternoon intraday high $9,457.2.

Bitcoin broke through the major resistance levels before falling back to $9,340 levels.

The pullback saw Bitcoin fall through the third major resistance level at $9,358.03 before returning to $9,400 levels.

Resistance at $9,400 capped the upside late in the day.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

Across the rest of the majors, it was a bullish day on Tuesday.

Tezos led the way, rallying by 9.29%.

Bitcoin Cash SV (+5.60%), Cardanos ADA (+4.66%), Ethereum (+4.13%), Litecoin (+4.53%), also found strong support.

Binance Coin (+1.43%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (+2.60%), EOS (+2.32%), Moneros XMR (+0.68%), Ripples XRP (+2.53%), Stellars Lumen (+2.59%), and Trons TRX (+2.42%) trailed the front runners.

At the start of the week, the crypto total market cap fell to a Monday low $262.70bn before striking a Tuesday high $274.62bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $270.71bn.

Bitcoins dominance fell to a Monday low 63.20% before rising to a Tuesday high 64.08%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 63.76%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.30% to $9,373.9. A bearish start to the day saw Bitcoin fall from an early morning high $9,402.1 to a low $9,373.9.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. Moneros XMR bucked the trend at the time of writing, rising by 0.03%.

It was bearish for the rest of the majors, with Tezos down by 1.60% to lead the way down.

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $9,345 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,515.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from Tuesdays high $9,457.2.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could test the second major resistance level at $9,627 before any pullback.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $9,345 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,232 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,100 levels. The second major resistance level sits at $9,062.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers July 22nd, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

The Crypto Daily The Movers and Shakers July 19th, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

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Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rose by 0.24% on Saturday. Following on from a 0.19% gain on Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,189.1.

It was another bearish start to the day. Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $9,120.1 before making a move.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,114.93, Bitcoin struck a late morning high $9,217.0.

Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $9,206.83 before easing back to $9,170 levels.

Late in the day, Bitcoin broke back through the first major resistance level to an intraday high $9,217.1 before easing back.

Steering clear of the days pivot level at $9,155 through the afternoon was key to avoiding a day in the red.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

Across the rest of the majors, it was yet another mixed day on Saturday.

EOS (-0.04%), Stellars Lumen (-3.04%), and Tezos (-4.87%) saw red to buck the trend on the day.

It was a bullish day for the rest of the pack, with Ripples XRP rallying by 2.94% to lead the way.

Bitcoin Cash ABC (+1.01%), Ethereum (+1.33%), Litecoin (+1.36%), Moneros XMR (+1.17%), and Trons TRX (+1.31%) also found strong support.

Binance Coin (+0.59%), Bitcoin Cash SV (+0.64%), and Cardanos ADA (+0.60%) saw modest gains on the day.

In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose to a Monday high $273.18bn before falling to a Thursday low $258.89bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $266.27bn.

Bitcoins dominance fell to a Monday low 63.09% before rising to a Thursday high 64.28%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 63.55%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.06% to $9,194.3. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall to an early morning low $9,185.7 before striking a high $9,194.4.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. At the time of writing, Tezos was up by 1.21% to lead the way.

Binance Coin bucked the trend early on, with a 0.24% loss.

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $9,175.43 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,230.77.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from Saturdays high $9,217.1.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Saturdays high would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin should break through the second major resistance level at $9,272.43. Resistance at $9,300 would likely cap any upside.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $9,175.43 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,133.77 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,000 levels. The second major resistance level at $9,078.43 should limit any downside.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily The Movers and Shakers July 19th, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Elon Musks performance award could reach $55 billion (U.S.) and that is unacceptable – Toronto Star

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Earlier this week, shares in Tesla Inc. the electric car giant led by CEO Elon Musk, were evaluated at just over $330 billion (U.S.) on the New York Stock Exchange.

To put this number in perspective, it is equivalent to the joint market value of Canadas big 6 banks, or about three times the market value of General Motors, Ford and Honda combined.

While it is debatable whether the market is assessing Tesla correctly or whether it is a bubble about to be burst, one thing is certain: the talent, vision and passion of the charismatic, outspoken some say genius entrepreneur who has led the company since 2008 are key to its success. For that, Musk should be rewarded.

But how exactly should he be compensated for his leadership role?

Paying a handsome remuneration for a successful and dedicated CEO is probably a good idea for any company. Making sure that the principle of pay-for-performance is kept and verifying that the CEO isnt rewarded for luck is also important.

But as it turns out, the compensation package that Musk received at Tesla is unparalleled. Inspired, one may say, by the name of another company Musk is leading SpaceX.

Back in January 2018, when Teslas value was about $85 billion, Musk was awarded a 10-year compensation plan which has the features of a video game.

According to the plan, there are 12 different milestones (tranches) that Musk could reach, or unlock, and his compensation is tied to those milestones. The first milestone (which was recently met) is for the company to have a market value of $100 billion. From there, each subsequent tranche is $50 billion higher.

The terms of Musks plan require that the market value of the company for each threshold, for example, $100 billion, be kept on average for at least six months.

If the condition is met, Musk becomes eligible for options equal to one per cent of the number of shares outstanding, or about 1.69 million options. Musk could exercise each option at a price of $350 a share.

To give an example, if the current share price of Tesla is $1,500 a share, and each option allows Musk to buy one share at $350, each option is worth $1,150.

If all goes according to the plan, and Musk clears the last tranche a market value of $650 billion for Tesla he will be granted in total just over 20 million options. This translates to a staggering 10-year compensation of $55.2 billion (or $5.5 billion annually).

To be clear, this is just Musks current compensation contract. In addition, he already owns 38.7 million shares or about 21 per cent of all outstanding Tesla shares worth about $60 billion at current market price.

To understand how outrageous and disconnected from reality Musks potential maximum annual pay of $5.5 billion is, a few comparisons are required:

The median compensation for an employee at Tesla was $56,163 in 2018. Musk could make about 100,000 times that amount annually.

The average pay of the top 100 highest-paid Canadian CEOs in 2018 was $11.8 million (CND) according to a recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Musk could make 630 times that amount annually.

The median CEO compensation for the largest American firms, those listed in the S&P 500 index, was $12.8 million (U.S.) in 2018. Musk could make 431 times that amount annually.

Americas top earner Alphabet Inc.s CEO Sundar Pichai received a stunning $281 million in 2019. Musk could make 20 times that amount annually.

How could anyone justify such pay?

How can Musk justify it to himself? Does he really believe that he should get a contract worth about twice the annual GDP of Nepal, a country with a population of 28 million people?

Moreover, the fact that neither Musk nor the board of Tesla see fit to consider modifying the stratospheric compensation package in the midst of a global pandemic with historic high unemployment rates, shows how disconnected they are.

The company is defending the plan using a typical capitalist argument: Elons compensation will be 100 per cent aligned with the interests of our stockholders. That is, if the share price goes up, shareholders cant complain.

But for a company that is bragging about creating a better, sustainable world, and aspires to be instrumental in creating a green future, focusing solely on shareholders and share price is not what youd expect. What about other stakeholders? What about values related to equity and social justice?

Read the business news and analysis that matters most every morning, including the latest on what the coronavirus means for you, in our Star Business email newsletter.

Sure, create incentives, but $55 billion is excessive.

Elon Musks performance award is simply outrageous. The fact that he doesnt see this is disappointing. It also sets an inflated and problematic benchmark for other companies about to offer compensation plans to their CEOs.

But with pressure from activist shareholders, institutional investors and regulators, this can change. After all, Tesla is a public company, and its ordinary shareholders shouldnt sponsor what seems to be a pissing contest between Elon Musk and the richest person in the world Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

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Elon Musks performance award could reach $55 billion (U.S.) and that is unacceptable - Toronto Star

Passing a new stimulus measure should not be that hard – USA TODAY

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The Editorial Board, USA TODAY Published 9:25 p.m. ET July 22, 2020 | Updated 6:42 a.m. ET July 23, 2020

Where does the U.S. stimulus money come from? Here's how the Federal Reserve is saving the economy from the COVID-19 crisis. USA TODAY

The congressional debate over the next stimulus measure should be fought along the normal lines. It is almost reassuring that Democrats want more spending,Republicans less. Despite COVID-19, at least some things stay the same. But President Donald Trump's populist excesses ruin the picture of normalcy.

Democrats, who control the House, have already passed a $3 trillionmeasure. That is the size of the previous stimulus, plus an emergency measure to refill a depleted fund for small businesses.

Republicans, who control the Senate, wantsomething in the range of $1 trillion.

In normal times the two parties, the two camps, would work out some kind of a deal that includes the top priorities of both sides, makes no one totally happy, and demonstrates an ability to compromise.

President Donald Trump during a news conference about his administration's response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

But Trump is never content with normal. He wants to cut out funding for COVID-19 testing and contact tracingwhile making in-person classes a requirement for receiving school aid. These proposals would yield more sickness, death and economic pain merely to let Trump show how unwilling to he is to admit mistakes and make adjustments.

OPPOSING VIEW: Workers, businesses need payroll tax break

Trump also is pushing for a payroll tax cut. Unlike his other ideas, this one is not horrible, merely bad. If Republicans want to cut taxes, they should cut the income tax and leave Social Security alone. Most Republicans are not enthusiastic about a payroll tax cut, but may go along with it anyway in an effort to quiet Trump down.

Social Security is not a cash drawer to raid every time Congress or a president needs money. It is apension fund that is partially self-sufficient. If its funding source is cut, it will reach insolvency sooner.

Congress can and should ignore Trump's destructive ideas and draft a reasonable plan, one that helps make a bad public heath and economic situation somewhat better and reflects the political balance of power.

The measures price tag should be somewhere in the $2 trillion range, halfway between the two parties starting points. It should include a continuation of the $600 supplemental unemployment payments that were part of the first stimulus measure, and are set to run out this weekend.

Republicans have refused to consider the idea so far, which seems a bit hard-headed given the bleak economy. But they are right that the payments could be a disincentive for people to return to work. Rather than continuing the payments in full through the end of the year, as Democrats would do, the payments could be gradually reducedover time, or pegged to the unemployment rate so that they drop automatically if and when the economy picks up steam.

Money for states and localities, including for schools and for the holding of safe and fair elections during a pandemic, should be part of the package. Payola to special interest lobbies (including those preaching the virtue of limited government) who glommed onto funding in the first round, should not be part of the package. We should not be reading in coming days that the Ayn Rand Institute or Citizens Against Government Waste took advantage of sweetheart deals from federal tax payers.

And granting businesses immunity from lawsuits should people get sick on their premises is a worthwhile trade-off that Democrats should accept.

Put the package together and the legislation kind of writes itself. If only members of Congress can ignore the counterproductive ideas coming from the White House.

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Passing a new stimulus measure should not be that hard - USA TODAY

Believe the Hype: ‘Watchmen’ is the TV Show of the Moment – International Policy Digest

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When Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons collaborated on what would become their magnum opus, Watchmen, starting in 1986, they had no idea the effect it would have on the comics medium, and on popular culture more broadly. Watchmen, which takes place in an alternate-universe 1985 and dealt with the lives of several superheroes in a world where vigilantism has been outlawed, ushered in a darker, more mature sensibility to comics. Comics werent just for kids anymore, and soon, others began to emulate what had made Watchmen stand out: relatable characters with very human flaws; political and social themes, as well as meta-text about the nature of comic book storytelling itself; a frank approach to violence and sex; the idea that not everything was as clean-cut as they were in most other DC or Marvel storylines. From the omnipotent existentialist Dr. Manhattan to the nihilistic vigilante Rorschach, from a bloody smiley face to a giant squid plopped in the middle of New York, the imagery, characters, and themes of the graphic novel are likely to stick with anyone who engages with it.

Its important to note that Watchmen is an inherently political text, written at the height of Reagans America. In the text of the graphic novel, Richard Nixon is still president, and Dr. Manhattan was used to win the Vietnam War and annex Vietnam as the 51st state. From the gung-ho nationalism of the Comedian to Rorschachs Ayn Rand-inspired personal philosophy, each character has political baggage indicative of the era. Its climax is about an incident that takes the United States and the Soviet Union away from the brink of nuclear war and instead creates world peace. The simple fact is that Watchmen was always an inherently political text, even in the guise of a comic book superhero story.

My personal relationship with Watchmen started in my sophomore year of high school. I wanted to get back into comics, and everyone and everything I read pointed me in the direction of the classic graphic novel. I was enthralled, my first girlfriend even remarked at the time that she had never seen me so riveted by anything I was reading before. Watchmen remains a fundamental text in my life, still residing on my bookshelf reserved for my favorite books. And subsequently, both its film adaptation, directed by Zack Snyder and released in 2009, as well as a comic book prequel miniseries called Before Watchmen in 2012, were entertaining and fun to engage with when they were first released, but havent been as worth revisiting as much as the original text.

Tim Blake Nelson as Looking Glass in HBOs Watchmen.

So imagine my surprise that, in the year of our Lord 2020, Watchmen is the most relevant it has been in years, thanks to an HBO miniseries that served as a continuation of the storyline that first aired last year. I was reluctant to start watching the show, in a year that included such misfires in long-standing franchises as the final season of Game of Thrones and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, I was afraid that this fundamental book in my life would have its legacy and reputation tarnished. It also didnt help that it was being developed by Damon Lindelof, most famous for writing the underwhelming ending to the TV show Lost and the Alien-prequel dud Prometheus.

But somehow, like its time-jumping protagonist Dr. Manhattan, despite being released in 2019, it feels like the show of the current moment. Here is a follow-up to one of (if not) the most beloved comic stories of all time that dealt with issues of over-policing and police brutality, race relations, security, the fight against white supremacy, and reexamining American history in a much more critical way through the lens of racial dynamics. The show takes the inherently political message of its predecessor and doubles down on it. In 2020, the world caught up to Watchmen. Now its just a matter of what we do with it.

The show, which takes place 34 years after the events of the graphic novel, primarily deals with Angela Abar (the impeccable Regina King, looking like a shoe-in for her fourth Emmy and solidifying her as one of the best actresses of her generation), a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma who operates under the alias of Sister Night. She and a fellow detective who wears a reflective mask named Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson, in his best role since O Brother, Where Art Thou?) stumble onto a vast conspiracy once her boss, the police chief (Don Johnson) is murdered. This allows Angela to discover her own familys history and ties to the events of the original text, as her grandfather, Will Reeves (played by Louis Gossett Jr. when hes old, Jovan Adepo when hes young), was actually a famous superhero vigilante named Hooded Justice and a member of the Minutemen, a progenitor group to the Watchmen.

Meanwhile, mainstays from the original, including Ozymandias (Jeremy Irons) and Silk Spectre, now called Agent Laurie Blake (Jean Smart), are still out there. Ozymandias seems to live in a utopian castle in the countryside, surrounded by loyal servants, but he is desperate to get out. Laurie seeks to find out what happened to her one-time lover, Dr. Manhattan, as well as investigate the murder of the police chief and the appearance of Angelas grandfather. In so doing, she encounters Lady Trieu (Hong Chau), a rich and powerful Vietnamese businesswoman who is surprisingly invested in a major project she is developing in Tulsa.

And then, once its revealed where Dr. Manhattan has been hidingstop, wait, thatd be giving away too much.

It would have been too easy, too convenient to merely reconvene the original characters and have them reenact their adventures 30 years ago. Similarly, anything that made the material more marketable, such as incorporating the Watchmen characters and concept into the larger DC cinematic universe, would have felt sleazy. (Though that very thing happened recently in the DC comic book universe in a miniseries called Doomsday Clock, which I didnt even bother picking up.) But it felt like the creators of the show had a story, a vision that they wanted to convey. Rather than just mere fan-service, they expanded the lore of the mythology and took the material into bold, exciting new directions.

The creators of the Watchmen miniseries also had a take that was unique, and spoke to these times as much as the original text did to its time. Beyond the aesthetic of the police wearing yellow masks over their nose and mouths (a look so prescient to COVID-preventing facemasks that its almost eerie), Watchmen uncovers truths that would be points of public discussion come 2020, spoken through its main character, a woman of color. In the Watchmen miniseries, President Robert Redford (only slightly less ridiculous than the current holder of the office) passes reparations for Black Americans, referred to in-universe as Redfordations. Angela is accused of using her Redfordations to open a bakery by a combative student in her sons class. The show is also critical towards police and their complacency in structural racism, while still maintaining a protagonist who is both a police officer and a Black woman. The fictional white supremacist organization, the Seventh Kavalry, attacked police officers, including Angela, in an incident that predates the events of the show called the White Night, leading to increased paranoia on the part of the Tulsa P.D. The Seventh Kavalry has misinterpreted and misappropriated the writings of the late Rorschach from the original source material, with its members donning his iconic mask.

The Seventh Kavalry pictured in the Watchmen. (HBO)

Just as the original book was a critique of Reagans America, the show seems intended to be a rebuke of Trumps America, presenting the audience with uncomfortable truths that were about to be brought to the surface. One of the main points of the show is white supremacist infiltration of police units, now at the forefront of the national conversation. Soon after the police chiefs death, Angela stumbles onto Klan robes hidden in his bedroom. That she had a friend and mentor whom she trusted so deeply be revealed to be so despicable is not only indicative of the nature of racism itself, but the social dynamics and struggle that people of color face every day in this country.

The miniseries features flashbacks to a young Black boy escaping from the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. The series was credited for raising awareness to what happened in Tulsa, and was highlighted in several publications after the nationwide George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests as a positive example of promoting largely unacknowledged events of racial violence in America. Additionally, in an episode entitled This Extraordinary Being, Angela begins to see her grandfathers personal history, after she overdoses on a drug called Nostalgia that has preserved her grandfathers memories. She learns of the racism he encountered as one of New Yorks first Black policemen, as well as a plot to hypnotize Black people that even Jordan Peele might call high-concept. The message of these subplots is clear: the present is in constant conversation with the past, its just a matter of what you do with it.

And sure, the show isnt just heavy politics and flashbacks to racial unrest. Its rousing conclusion is different than most other miniseries, which usually start strong and end more-or-less as expected (looking at you, Chernobyl). Watchmen switches it up towards the end, incorporating more of the mythos of the universe and revealing how closely tied all of the events depicted really were the whole time. Rather than feeling contrived, it works ingeniously, solving mysteries the audience has had the entire season and clearing up ambiguities so you can appreciate the thrust of the story as a whole. The penultimate episode, entitled A God Walks Into Abar, is the perfect example of this, filling in the holes of the narrative while at the same time giving the audience a more-or-less complete view of the central relationship of the show.

Watchmen feels like a miracle. Not just because of incredible imagination and thoughtfulness that went into making it, a follow-up to classic source material that should not have been feasible, but that it arrived at this time specifically. Now, more than simply being a water-cooler conversation or an interesting sequel to a beloved comic series, Watchmen is a resource. Its a resource about engaging with the past and confronting the difficult parts of American history. Its a blueprint about how to tell captivating, relevant storylines using established characters and canon. Its a template for success: in an era where big ideas are more likely to breakthrough in the era of peak TV, here was a show committed to being something deeper and authentic. Beyond great dialogue, solid performances, and commendable visual effects, Watchmen sort of transcends all of it, becoming something greater than the sum of its parts. Like the comic book source material, it is the successor to, Im confident it and the themes it imparts will both be with us for years to come.

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Believe the Hype: 'Watchmen' is the TV Show of the Moment - International Policy Digest

Ukrainian Azure Expert MSP Partner strengthens its Azure skills with achieved two Microsoft Advanced Specializations – Microsoft

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As companies look to modernize their applications and take full advantage of the benefits that cloud computing can deliver, they are looking for a partner with advanced skills to migrate, optimize, and manage their existing web workloads to the cloud. With the recent end-of-support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2, customers are looking for a partner with advanced skills to assess, plan, and migrate their existing workloads to the cloud and Windows Server and SQL Server Migration advanced specialization helps to indicate trustful partners with profound experience to move workloads to cloud securely and efficiently.

Cloud Serviceshas earned the Modernization of Web Applications in Microsoft Azure advanced specialization, and Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure advanced specialization, a validation of a solution partners in-depth knowledge, extensive experience and proven expertise in migrating and modernizing production web application workloads and managing app services in Azure as well as extensive experience and expertise in migrating Windows Server and SQL Server-based workloads to Azure.

Long transformational journey was made to achieve this status. I am thankful to the hard-working team and our customers. Nowadays, the value of cloud and technologies is unprecedented, and we strongly believe that our specialists can advocate for a better world with our Microsoft Azure-based services. IrynaMoiseyevasays, CEO of the Company.

Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President, One Commercial Partner (OCP) at Microsoft Corp. added, The Modernization of Web Applications in Azure Advanced Specialization and Windows Server specializationhighlights thepartners who can beviewedas most capable when it comes to migrating, modernizing, and managing web applications and Windows servers in Microsoft Azure.Cloud Servicesdemonstrated that they have both the skills and the experience to offer clients a path to start enjoying the benefits of being in the cloud.

Only partners that meet stringent criteria around customer success and staff skilling, as well as pass a third-party audit of theirmigration practices and web workload deployment and management practices, including their ability to implement Azure App Service, are able to earn the Modernization of Web Applications in Microsoft Azure advanced specializations and Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Azure advanced specialization.

Headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, Cloud Services (SYNTEGRA) is a fully cloud-oriented managed services provider, specialized at cloud assessments, migrations, and modernization in the cloud. CLOUD SERVICEScoversthe full cycle of cloud adoption stages, starting from setting long-term business goals for cloud, also providing consultancy and works for migration and modernization of resources through cloud technologies.

With 10+yearscloud experience, our team is keen on technologies that make the world better, our clients happier, and people smarter. As a trustful cloud partner, CLOUD SERVICES successfullyprovidesvarious migrations and cloud management and monitoring for customers in Ukraine, the Middle East, Asia, and Central Eastern Europe.

CLOUD SERVICES is a company that counts with relevant project references, such asGoodvalley, Kernel, Delivery Auto,Pandora, MTI, and other valued clients with various projects on infrastructure modernization, data modernization, refactoring and rearchitecting of web apps and databases.

Tags: Microsoft Azure, Ukraine

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Ukrainian Azure Expert MSP Partner strengthens its Azure skills with achieved two Microsoft Advanced Specializations - Microsoft

Why IoT Needs an Open Ecosystem to Succeed – The Union Journal

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Imagine if the web had actually been developed as a closed ecosystem managed by a little set of companies. It would look really various from the web we understand and count on today. Perhaps this alternate variation would operate on a pay-per-use design, or absence tools and services that have actually been established for many years by independent factors and scrappy start-ups. Here is why IoT needs an open ecosystem to succeed.

Instead, of a closed web we primarily delight in an open web. This remains in part due to its origins: the web was developed to be basically open, and this is what has actually enabled it to grow, alter, and be embraced as rapidly as it has actually been. In reality, the pattern of an open technique moving development is one that we see consistently for emerging innovations.

IoT is slated for explosive development: by 2021, Gartner anticipates that 25 billion linked things will remain in usage, allowing our wise houses, factories, cars, and more.

As a growing number of IoT gadgets come online, edge computing will end up being a need. Edge computing allows information to be processed and evaluated in real-time for business-critical usage cases, such as self-driving cars and trucks, security and security, and commercial automation.

As with the web, we require an open, constant facilities structure for IoT and edge computing in order for these innovations to reach their complete capacity. While the difficulties of structure an open IoT are various than those we confronted with structure an open web, this is an essential issue for our market to fix now, prior to we witness even more fragmentation and supplier lock-in.

Were presently in what I like to call the AOL stage of IoT the stage of getting gadgets linked at scale, and overcoming the balance of exclusive vs. open methods.

Back in the 1990 s, America Online opened gain access to to the web to the masses with an simple-to- usage CD; by popping it in, anybody might quickly register and get linked. However, the tradeoff for this simpleness was getting locked into the AOL ecosystem as the avenue for interaction and search.

Over time, users ended up being savvier, understanding they might link to the web straight through their ISPs and gain access to more effective search abilities (Google, for instance). As more individuals came online through their medium of option, development gained ground, delivering to the web boom and the ecosystem we understand today.

IoT is naturally heterogeneous and varied, comprised of a wide range of innovations and domain-specific usage cases.

To date, the marketplace has actually produced an excessive landscape of proprietary IoT platforms to link individuals and operations, each with extremely various techniques for information collection, security, and management. Its like having several AOLs attempting to link gadgets to the web needless to state, this fragmentation has actually led to unneeded issues.

Companies starting their IoT journeys are secured with the supplier they begin with, and will be subject to extra expenses or combination concerns when they look to scale implementations and handle brand-new usage cases. Simply put, IoTs variety has actually ended up being a barrier to its own development.

To prevent decreasing this course, we need to construct an open ecosystem as our structure for IoT and edge computing. Its just when open requirements are set that we can scale the commercialization of offerings and services, and concentrate on understanding ROI.

What would an open ecosystem for IoT appear like? When developing an ecosystem, theres a spectrum of methods you can take, varying from closed to open viewpoints. Closed communities are based upon carefully governed relationships, exclusive styles, and, when it comes to software application, proprietary APIs

The tight control of closed communities in some cases referred to as walled gardens, can offer fantastic consumer experience, however included a premium expense and less option. Apple is an extensively pointed out example of this technique.

There are open methods that use APIs and tools that you can honestly configure.

The open technique tools allow an ecosystem of product or services where the worth is originated from the amount of its parts.

Open- source software application like Android is an example; its a crucial chauffeur of a genuinely open, vendor-neutral ecosystem due to the fact that of how it empowers designers. Having an open requirement like Androids running system for designers to build on not just promotes additional development however likewise reinforces a network impact.

To totally comprehend business compromises of closed vs. open communities, lets compare Android and Apples iOS. While Apple offers a curated experience, Android gadget makers have less control over the total experience through deep software/hardware combination, and for that reason requirement to discover other differentiators.

Nevertheless, openness helps with option and scaleAndroid has over 70 percent of the worldwide mobile OS market share Even with Androids openness, companies like Samsung have actually still been able to take market share by buying development and a wider gadget ecosystem technique.

The IoT can have as fantastic of an effect as the web has actually had, however creating numerous closed, siloed communities determined by supplier option is not the course to scale. A brilliant future for IoT depends on our capability to come together as an market to construct an open ecosystem as our structure.

Across hardware, running systems, connection, applications, and cloud, we need to bridge crucial elements and merge, instead of transform, requirements in order to empower designers to concentrate on worth production.

Commercial offerings developed on top of that open structure might extremely well take a more closed technique; nevertheless, beginning advancement with an open structure will constantly offer the most scalability, versatility, and openness to take full advantage of choices for the long term.

Open- source cooperation is an exceptional accelerator for this open structure. The Linux Foundations LF Edge and Kubernetes IoT Edge Working Group, and the Eclipse Foundations IoT and Edge Native Working Groups are simply a few of the efforts checking out architectures and constructing structures to join market efforts and allow IoT and edge computing communities to scale.

As they state, the entire can be higher than the amount of its parts, and I look forward to seeing the tremendous capacity of coming true when we have a typical structure to innovate on.

Jason Shepherd is VP of Ecosystem at edge orchestration business ZEDEDA. Prior to signing up with ZEDEDA, Jason was CTO for the Dell Technologies Edge and IoT SolutionsDivision His tested performance history as an idea leader in the market is evidenced through his management developing the acclaimed Dell IoT Solutions Partner Program and developing the vendor-neutral, open source Edge X Foundry job to assist in higher interoperability at the IoT edge. Jason is active in LF Edge and other essential market efforts concentrated on IoT and edge computing. He was acknowledged as one of the Top 100 Industrial IoT influencers of2019 He holds 14 given and 25 pending United States patents.

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Why IoT Needs an Open Ecosystem to Succeed - The Union Journal

Zero MDR had a negative impact on payments ecosystem: RBI – Entrackr

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The Reserve Bank of India, which had set up a committee to study the use of Quick Response (QR) codes to process contactless transactions, is now placed for public comment. RBI constituted the Committee on December 23, 2019 under the Chairmanship of D.B. Phatak, Professor Emeritus, IIT-Bombay.

As per the report of the committee on the analysis of QR Code published by RBI, the apex banking body has asked for comments and suggestions on the report from all stakeholders and members of public before August 10, 2020.

The committee mainly setup for the adoption of QR Code payments, has discussed various aspects of the digital payment system such as interoperability, scalability, innovation, awareness, privacy and security.

One of the most critical recommendations by RBI was allowing a lower fee instead of zero MDR, which was imposed by the government in December 2019. The government should allow a lower controlled interchange instead of zero MDR on QR code, UPI and RuPay debit card transactions, as well as give tax incentives to merchants who accept electronic transactions and promote incentive schemes to improve popularity of QR code-based transactions, mentioned the report.

The RBI has highlighted that opting for zero MDR by the government had a negative impact on the payment ecosystem that is impacting the survival of payment gateway entities, hampering innovation efforts and resulting in job losses and a slowdown in the expansion of the digital payment infrastructure in India. The impact was maximum for the SME sector, and several jobs are directly or indirectly disappearing as there are no incentives or incomes for deploying QR codes.

Extending his support in favour of MDR, NPCIs MD & CEO Dilip Asbe said that MDR is necessary because it funds the acceptance, servicing and acquiring infrastructure for UPI. We are trying to get MDR back, he said at the Global Fintech Festival 2020.

If the government rethinks its decision over zero MDR then it would be a pivotal decision for the merchants and consumers. As per the RBI data, over 20 million UPI QRs have been deployed in the market and the volume of digital payments using UPI QR are approximately over 250 million on a monthly basis.

Besides the government, RBI has also notified its role in the adoption of QR Code payments where it can provide a clear plan to phase out proprietary, closed-loop QR codes in favour of open, interoperable standards.

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Zero MDR had a negative impact on payments ecosystem: RBI - Entrackr