Boris must act now before its too late! Navy chief calls for UK to stand up to China – Express

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World War 3: Vision 2020 outlines plans for full dominance

Ex-First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, Lord Alan West, toldExpress.co.ukthe UK could do more to support its Five Eyes ally against China. Lord West also criticised Beijing for its appalling behaviour towards Australia. A deepening rift between has emerged between China and Australia resulting most recently with the publication of an altered image of an Australian soldier on social media.

The incident comes amid a series of crippling trade actions taken against Australia by the Chinese government.

Lord West toldExpress.co.uk: China has acted appallingly.

The way they have bullied Australia has been outrageous.

We do have strong ties with the Australian government but we probably could do more for the state.

China has placed severe tariffs on Australian wine, barley and enforced a reduction in coal trade between the states.

The tariffs on wine have risen to up to 212 percent and are crucial as China accounts for 39 percent of Australian exports of the product.

Prior to the move from Beijing, Australia had also admitted its concern over the outbreak of coronavirus and also banned Huawei kit from its 5G network.

Australia has also strengthened its naval ties with India, Japan and the US in order to a show of force against Chinas aggressive land grabs in the Asia-Pacific.

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Lord West has also called on the UK to increase its naval presence in the region.

In October, the UKs Carrier Strike Group assembled to conduct drills ahead of its first operational exercise next year.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will lead the group through its exercises in the Asia-Pacific in 2021.

It is also expected the NATO group will join exercises with Japan and Australia next year.

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Lord West labelled the strike group as essential in maintaining Britains interests abroad, while also claiming the UK Government must make sure the Navy retains its place as one of the strongest in the world.

The Navy chief also claimed the increase in funding for the armed forces from the spending review was a welcome boost.

Last month, the Prime Minister told MPs a four-year funding deal would create thousands of jobs in the industry while ensuring the safety of the nation.

Overall, the Prime Minister pledged 16.5billion in defence spending after years of cuts to the sector.

Mr Johnson said: The international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies.

To achieve this we need to upgrade our capabilities across the board.

This is our chance to end the era of retreat, transform our Armed Forces, bolster our global influence, unite and level up our country, pioneer new technology and defend our people and way of life.

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Boris must act now before its too late! Navy chief calls for UK to stand up to China - Express

Ivanka Trump blasted over India intervention as POTUS set to leave White House – Daily Express

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The First Daughter praised the countries alliance in promoting global security, stability, and economic prosperity.In a tweet published on Monday, Ms Trump said: Fond memories from the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India with Prime Minister@narendramodi!

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, our countries strong friendship in promoting global security, stability, and economic prosperity is more important than ever.

Ms Trump also shared some pictures of her alongside Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the message did not go down well with some of her followers, some of whom accused her of pulling cons.

One Twitter used said: Ivanka has so many memories visiting countries in an official capacity while seeing to Trump family business.

Trumps are always working angles and pulling cons. Its in their DNA.

Another person added: Id swear you're living in a parallel universe.

You're talking about prosperity when food lines are longer than they've ever been, unemployment off the charts, people being evicted.

Im amazed at how out of touch you are.

But other followers took to Instagram, where she posted the same images, to praise the First Daughter.

One person wrote: "No doubt you have unconditional love towards India and you're the best."

Another Instagram user added: "I love what you have done for the Trump administration.

The msm has not reported any of your accomplishments but we the patriots are aware of what you have done for America and other countries. Kudos to you Ivanka."

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Recently Ms Trump received criticism over a tweet in which she said she was deeply thankful for our President and my father this holiday season!

But the tweet, which gathered over 145,000 likes, received replies from outraged followers who claimed Mr Trump was incompetent when it came to handling the pandemic and hence why the country had soaring coronavirus figures.

Others simply called on President Trump to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

One person said: While others are missing their Dads this holiday season because of your Fathers incompetence in a pandemic.

Yes you should be grateful hes alive and he was one of the very fortunate to get excellent health care. Just keep rubbing peoples noses in it we wont forget.

Another person added: Then tell him to let the country move on. How about showing some class and dignity for once.

He should call Joe Biden, concede the truth - that Biden won, and tell Biden he will support the transition now that his legal efforts to overturn the election have failed.

Mr Trump is yet to concede the US 2020 election despite Mr Biden being projected as the next President to take office.

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Ivanka Trump blasted over India intervention as POTUS set to leave White House - Daily Express

There’s an ecosystem beneath your feetand it needs protection, new report says – Science Magazine

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Plants, insects, and other organisms depend on and sustain soil ecosystems.

By Elizabeth PennisiDec. 4, 2020 , 4:00 AM

Reach down and scoop up some soil. Cupped in your hands may be 5000 different kinds of creaturesand as many individual cells as there are humans on the globe. That random handful might hold microscopic fungi, decomposing plant matter, a whisker-size nematode munching on the fungi, and a predatory, pinhead-size mite about to pounce on the nematode. One bacterium may fend off another with a potent antibiotic. Its a whole world of often overlooked biodiversity.

Today, on the eve of World Soil Day, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has released its first ever global assessment of the biodiversity in this underground world. Some 300 experts have pooled their knowledge and data to describe the diversity of these organisms, the roles they play in both natural and agricultural environments, and the threats they face.

The organisms below ground are arguably just as important, if not more important, than whats above ground, says Noah Fierer, a soil ecologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who did not contribute to the report. The report details how they boost crop growth and purify soil and water. Together with plant root systems, these organisms store more carbon, potentially for longer, than the aboveground parts of trees do. Depending on how we handle soil, it could become a help or a burden to face the crisis of biodiversity or climate change, says Francisco Pugnaire, a soil and plant ecologist at the Spanish National Research Councils Experimental Station of Arid Zones.

Yet with each pass of the bulldozer or tractor, each forest fire, each oil spill, even the constant traffic of hikers along a popular trail, more and more soil organisms are being killed off. By compiling research on these subterranean ecosystems and how they affect visible ones, the reports authors hope to convince scientists, policymakers, and the general public to take steps to slow this loss.

You just cant have a Mars-like soil and expect to maintain the food supply and forests, warns Diana Wall, an ecologist at Colorado State University who contributed to the report. Current conservation efforts are not helping much, she adds. For example, soil biodiversity hot spots arent necessarily in the same place as the biodiversity hot spots that conservationists focus on. We are managing [conservation] by what we see above ground, which doesnt necessarily match whats below ground. In contrast, Fierer says, If you preserve the soil, you will likely preserve the whole ecosystem.

Soil is a mix of organic material, minerals, gases, and other components that provide the substrate for plants to grow. About 40% of all animals find food, shelter, or refuge in soil during part of their life cycle.

Scientists have mostly focused on the largest and smallest soil creatures. For centuries, natural historians have observed ants, termites, and even earthworms and moles that chew, wiggle, and dig their way among soils particles, some feasting on decaying leaves and other debris and some feasting on each other. Those ecosystem engineers aerate the soil and create underground passageways that make soil more amenable for other life. And over the past several decades, microbiologists sequencing soil DNA have discovered an astonishing diversity of bacteria and fungi, which process that litter into organic material.

But in between the scales of macroscopic animals and microbes lie thousands of long-overlooked tiny creaturesthe micro- and meso-fauna. Microscopic protists, nematodes, and tardigrades inhabit the watery films surrounding soil particles. Slightly larger animals up to 2 millimeters in size, such as mites, springtails, and insect larvae, live in the airy pores between those particles, helping make soil one of the most biologically diverse habitats on Earth. How little we know [about these creatures] is a bit overwhelming, Fierer says.

This diversity creates a rich, complex ecosystem that boosts crop growth, breaks down pollutants, and can serve as a nearly inexhaustible sink for carbon. Some soil organisms promote plant diversity and many have yielded important compounds, from antibiotics to natural pesticides. Without soil organisms and the activities they carry out, it would be impossible for other organisms to survive, says Stephen Wood, a soil ecologist at the Nature Conservancy.

Hidden below ground, these ecosystems seemed immune to aboveground disturbance, Wood says. For a long time, soil scientists thought that soil microorganisms were so well spread around the world that land management would not harm them, he explains. We now know that soil microorganisms can be very specific to very specific habitats and species, habitats that are rapidly disappearing as farms and cities expand.

The report lists a dozen human activities taking a major toll on soil organisms. They include deforestation, intense agriculture, acidification due to pollutants, salinization from improper irrigation, soil compaction, surface sealing, fire, and erosion. If you pave over a site, you are sealing off an entire belowground ecosystem, Fierer says. And thats happening all over the globe.

A few governments and companies are making some progress. Several states are considering legislation that would help protect soils from destructive human activities. In China, the Agricultural Green Development program works to conserve soil by avoiding tilling and by interweaving different crops to preserve biodiversity. However, Most organizations want to protectsoilbiodiversityas a means to an end[to] the benefit of people and/or nature, Wood points out.

Some researchers hope the report will encourage protecting soil organisms for their own sake. Soil biodiversity is huge, and we must not destroy it without knowing what potential there is for improving sustainability, says Mary Scholes, a biogeochemist at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand.

Fierer thinks the new assessment will also awaken a sense of wonder. My hope is people will look at this document and say Huh, I never thought about [soil organisms] and all the things they do for me.

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Apple M1 is the boost the Windows ecosystem needed: Qualcomm – ZDNet

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The Snapdragon 888

With recent tests showing that putting Windows onto Apple Silicon absolutely spanks the performance currently available on Qualcomm-made processors, one could be forgiven for thinking Qualcomm was apprehensive about its future desktop prospects.

However, Qualcomm SVP and general manager for mobile, compute, and infrastructure Alex Katouzian told journalists on Wednesday that Apple's new chip was a validation for putting mobile chips into laptops.

"As we've seen during the pandemic age and I think this is going to continue for many years to come, video conferencing and remote working locations are going to become more and more important which means you have to have the capability of great video conferencing, you have to have the camera capability, you have to have the longevity of the battery, you should be able to work from any place that you are, inside your house or outside your house, and reach your work environment in a secure fashion," he said.

"All of those things are validation of what we've been preaching and I think the strength is going to come from the fact that our partnership with Microsoft is going to be much stronger and extended into the future.

"I think many, many parties realise that the Windows-based ecosystem needs a boost like this, and we're the partner of choice to make that happen -- so, it's a great opportunity and a great validation for Qualcomm."

Hours earlier, Qualcomm took the wraps off its new Snapdragon 888 chip, which will support 5G at millimetre-wave and sub-6GHz frequencies on "all major bands worldwide". It will also support carrier aggregation, standalone and non-standalone modes, and dynamic spectrum sharing.

The company said it "completely re-engineered" its Hexagon processor that can now perform at 26 tera operations per second and updated its Sensing Hub to allow for lower-power, always-on AI processing.

On the image front, the chip can capture photos and video at 2.7 gigapixels per second, a 35% boost on the prior generation.

A notable absence among the list of Android phone makers that said they would use the 888 was Samsung. Those on the list included Asus, Lenovo, LG, Meizu, Motorola, Nubia, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo, Sharp, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.

Last month, it was reported the United States had granted approval to Qualcomm to sell 4G chips for mobile phones to Huawei.

Speaking on Wednesday, Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon said the company was in the fortunate position of being able to "meet the objectives of both sides" of the trade war.

"We look at ourselves as probably a company that provides a lot of stability ... in our sector of technology between the two countries, so I think if you look in the essence of our business model, we have a licensing business model. We don't need to transfer technology. We open license that technology, and there's respect of intellectual property which is consistent with some of the United States' claims," Amon said.

"I think all of our customers in China are licensed, and when we see the respect of intellectual property, we provide export of semiconductors which is in, from my United States perspective, it's in the direction of increasing commerce of exports to China.

"We allow the China ecosystem with the Belt and Road Initiative building, on our platform, the mobile ecosystem of China to not only support the transition of China domestic to 5G, but to expand to other markets."

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Apple M1 is the boost the Windows ecosystem needed: Qualcomm - ZDNet

An overview of key players in the private network ecosystem – RCR Wireless News

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Private cellular networks are seen by many as a major opportunity to set up bespoke networks in support of industrial internet of things projects and in service of applications where data sovereignty is paramount. While enterprises can build their own network with dedicated spectrum that they either own or lease, that is not the only way that private 5G networks are being put together.

According to Karim El Malki, the CEO of Athonet, the past few years have witnessed an underlying paradigm shift when it comes to who is involved in delivering network connectivity to enterprises.

Were going from a world where it used to be telecommunications was a sector that was mainly focused on giving people phones or giving them connectivity at home, so it was very a consumer-centric vision, Malki explained. Now, were moved into an area with 5G where its not about the consumer anymore. Its the enterprise, the industry, the hospitals, the airports.

As a result, what used to be within the realm of big telco players the average consumer is now moving towards the big enterprise, and therefore, there is no guarantee that telcos are equipped to serve the growing private network market, leaving a wide opening for new players. Furthermore, those who traditionally served the enterprise space the Wi-Fi guys now have additional competition.

The Wi-Fi players have been good at giving the enterprise what they really want, which is a product that is simple and gives them what they need, provided Malki, adding that the telco sector has always been more complex and less transparent in comparison, making it slightly less desirable for an enterprise IT team that wants near-complete control over its network and data.

Simple, though, will no longer cut it for those enterprise who are finding that the number of devices and assets that need reliable connectivity continue to grow.

We are left with a growing demand for the coverage, security and predictability of cellular connectivity, but with the ease and control that is reminiscent of Wi-Fi. It is precisely this emerging balance that has led to new players entering the market to offer private cellular networks, whether 4G LTE or 5G.

Big names in cloud computing, such as Google and Microsoft, are already well-positioned to sell private wireless networks because they are already actively deploying edge-clouds into enterprises to run IoT and other applications.

System integrators (SIs), whose have a much narrower focus in the sense that they tend to work with specific verticals, are also major players in this space. Due to the level of vertical specialization that they bring to the table, SIs are often highly trusted by enterprises and are thought to have deep understanding of a particular customers needs.

Telecommunications equipment vendors, like Nokia, are working closely with system integrators and according to Stephane Daeuble, Nokias head of enterprise solutions marketing, there is an understanding that a single company cant tackle every single segment.

Weve decided to focus on a set of industries and the other ones are handled by partners, he explained further. Weve developed a lot of vertical skillset and understanding.

Nokias recent partnership with Germany-based industrial IoT specialist MYNXG, which offers networking integration for the industrial sector, is a solid example of how equipment vendors are working with system integrators. MYNXG recruited Nokia to deploy a private 5G campus network at its development center in Nuremburg to explore using the technology as a platform for industrial-grade networking and integration with its own IoT platform offering.

In addition, because vendors like Nokia recognized the need for private networks early on, Daeuble said that they also focused on partnering with those on the industrial device side of things to ensure that there were enough devices and systems capable of communicating with private cellular networks.

There was no reason to put a fantastic network in a port or mine, for instance, if you cant find port and mine things that talk to it. That was a big upfront realization at Nokia. The industrial ecosystem aspect is in a position where we have a good base today with 4G LTE technology where we can almost always find the right device and assets that talk the language, he stated.

But, then, he continued, we have to start again with 5G. There is no point in implementing a 5G network if nothing can talk to it. This will take another three to five years.

For more information on private networks and how they compare to Wi-Fi and public networks, check out RCR Wireless News upcomingwebinaron the topic.

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An overview of key players in the private network ecosystem - RCR Wireless News

Polkadot Joins Hands with Chainlink to Overcome Decentralized Nature of Its… – Coinspeaker

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For people who are interested in running a Polkadot node, there is a thousand validators program in the pipeline that aims at boosting the number of validators by 1000.

In a bid to help overcome the decentralized feature of its ecosystem, Polkadot has announced an alliance with Chainlink. Using the Polkadot network, the ground would be provided for its community to engage in a discussion with the Oracle Network Chainlink recognized as part of its founding members.

The announced decentralized finance alliance makes them the latest rival of Ethereum to do so. Tidal finance, Plasm network, Polkaswap, non-custodial automated market maker, layer-2 technology provider and decentralized insurance market are the other known founding members. The idea is to create and promote discussions that have to do with DeFi on the platform.

For people who are interested in running a Polkadot node, there is a thousand validators program in the pipeline that aims at boosting the number of validators by 1000. This is much similar to the Kusama network introduced with just 25 validators but surged to 180 by February. As of now, the number of validators is around 700 with about 393 in the waiting. Kusama, an unrefined and unaudited release of Polkadot is now seeking to scale to thousand validator nodes.

Dan Kochis, the global head of business development at Chainlink has expressed his excitement about being part of the team that seeks to change the direction of Polkadots growing ecosystem of the decentralized financial application. According to him, there is a higher chance of the Polkadot ecosystem becoming stronger when they consider promoting the best practices for DeFi protocols by developers. Currently, developers who intend to build applications on the Polkadot network are most welcome by the team.

Interestingly, a lot of stakes are considering third-party service providers with just 249 validators spotted on the network. This is very surprising because two out of three of the Polkadots supply is being staked.

With $4.6 billion, Polkadot is the 9th highest ranked cryptocurrency by market cap. The Polkadot network takes advantage of Parachain, a part of the blockchain designed to run higher transactions than Ethereum. Transactions on parachains are spread across different computers and so can process more transactions than the blockchain.

Many people refer to Polkadot as the Ethereum killer as it offers better services than the network. Contrary, KR1s Van Schreven says Polkadots ecosystem shareholders do not think Polkadot is an Ethereum killer but complements it. Having tracked about 230 projects built on the platform, he believes that the Polkadot ecosystem is a natural progression of the entire ecosystem.

Polkadot can attract more developers as there has been an issue of throughput and bottlenecks associated with Ethereum. These stated issues have caused congestion and higher transaction fees on the network recently.

Schreven believes that the aspect of Polkadot that has to do with cross-chain will help the growth of economic activities from all the known chains.

Excellent John K. Kumi is a cryptocurrency and fintech enthusiast, operations manager of a fintech platform, writer, researcher, and a huge fan of creative writing. With an Economics background, he finds much interest in the invisible factors that causes price change in anything measured with valuation. He has been in the crypto/blockchain space in the last five (5) years. He mostly watches football highlights and movies in his free time.

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Programme launched to strengthen tech ecosystem in Western Cape – – Ventureburn

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The Western Cape Governments Digital Economy Unit within the Department of Economic Development and Tourism has launched the regions first programme dedicated to strengthening the local tech startup ecosystem.

The launch of the programme further affirms the Western Cape as Africas tech hub

Titled the DashTech programme, it aims to support the regions tech ecosystem by optimising growth for local tech startups and enabling job creation in the digital economy of the Western Cape.

David Maynier, Western Cape Governments Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities sheds light on the launch of the new programme and its overall aims.

To further strengthen our position as Africas tech capital, Digital Economy Unit in the Department of Economic Development, have launched the first DashTech programme to build on the local startup culture, to support the tech ecosystem and create an enabling environment for future growth and job creation in the digital economy in the Western Cape.

The programme kicked off its first session of events in November, coinciding with tech month in the region. The programme held events that facilitate a platform where startups could connect with potential investors, generate innovative ideas, collaborate with other businesses, enter new markets, improve local product development, and more.

With an innovative approach, the DashTech programme aims to fill existing gaps within the funding scene along with available accelerators and incubators.

The Dash-Tech programme held in November 2020 covered the following areas of the tech ecosystem:

Following the launch of the Western Capes tech ecosystem initiative, the Dash-Tech programme is an extension of the regions intentions to establish itself as the continents tech hub. (see this story)

The programmes overall objective is to create the best environment for companies to come together and drive business growth which will contribute to the economy in the Western Cape.

According to a statement by the Western Cape Government, the region is home to many tech and digital businesses that are primarily based in Cape Town and Stellenbosch.

Various companies include Silicon Cape Initiative, Loudhailer, IEASA Interactive Entertainment South Africa), CiTi (Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative) and KPMG will function as hosts for DashTech programme events.

The programmes overall objective is to create the best environment for companies to come together and drive business growth which will contribute to the economy in the Western Cape.

Read more: Western Cape launches tech ecosystem initiativeRead more: Google invests R2.2-billion into Western Cape

Featured image: Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis via Unsplash

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Programme launched to strengthen tech ecosystem in Western Cape - - Ventureburn

Update on Intel’s Neuromorphic Ecosystem Growth and Progress – Business Wire

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SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Whats New: Today, Intel shared an update on progress within the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC). The group has grown rapidly since its inception in 2018 and now includes more than 100 members, with Intel announcing today the addition of Lenovo, Logitech, Mercedes-Benz and Prophesee to explore the value of neuromorphic computing for business use cases. Additionally, Intel summarized a growing body of research results from INRC members that used the companys neuromorphic research test chip, Loihi.

In two short years, weve formed a vibrant community comprising hundreds of researchers around the world inspired by the promise of neuromorphic computing to deliver orders of magnitude gains in computing efficiency, speed and intelligent functionality. For the first time, we are seeing a quantitative picture emerge that validates this promise. Together with our INRC partners, we plan to build on these insights to enable wide-ranging disruptive commercial applications for this nascent technology.Mike Davies, director of Intels Neuromorphic Computing Lab

Why It Matters: Intel created the INRC because it believes no one organization alone will effectively unlock the full potential of neuromorphic computing. By collaborating with some of the leading researchers in this field spanning academia, industry and government, Intel is working to overcome the challenges in the development of neuromorphic computing and to progress it from research prototypes to industry-leading products over the coming years.

Intel and its partners have demonstrated orders of magnitude gains for real-world edge use cases and are seeing early progress in scaling these workloads to solve larger computational problems. As neuromorphic computing continues to advance, Intel and the INRC have also uncovered various potential real-world use cases for neuromorphic technology, such as enabling more efficient and adaptive robotics; rapidly searching large databases for similar content; and allowing edge devices to make difficult planning and optimization decisions in real time. The addition of Lenovo, Logitech, Mercedes-Benz and Prophesee to the INRC along with existing Fortune 500 and government members showcases the steady maturing of neuromorphic technology and its coming graduation from academic laboratories into industry applications.

Results: Through ongoing development, prototyping and testing of applications built on Intels neuromorphic systems, Intel and INRC members are compiling a growing body of results that show consistent gains across a wide range of workloads. Existing results, such as mimicking the human olfactory system and bringing event-based touch sensing to robotics, combined with new benchmarks outlined at Intel Labs Day, paint a picture of neuromorphic computing being well-suited for an emerging class of bio-inspired intelligent workloads that also have commercial relevance.

Benchmarking updates highlighted at Intel Labs Day include:

Additionally, Intel and partners unveiled two state-of-the-art neuromorphic robotics demonstrations at Intel Labs Day. Working with researchers from ETH Zurich, Intel showed Loihi adaptively controlling a horizon-tracking drone platform achieving closed-loop speeds up to 20 kilohertz with 200 microseconds of visual processing latency. This represents a 1,000 times gain in combined efficiency and speed compared to conventional solutions. Tackling the neuromorphic software integration problem, Intel and researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) demonstrated the operation of multiple cognitive functions running together on Loihi in IITs iCub robot platform. These included object recognition with fast, few-shot learning, spatial awareness from those learned objects and real-time decision-making in response to human interaction.

Whats Next: As the INRC grows, Intel will continue investing in this unique ecosystem and working with members to provide technology support and explore where neuromorphic computing can add real-world value for problems big and small. Additionally, Intel is continuing to take learnings from the INRC and incorporate them into the development of the companys next-generation neuromorphic research chip, which will be coming soon.

About the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community: The Intel Neuromorphic Research Community is an ecosystem of academic groups, government labs, research institutions and companies around the world working with Intel to further neuromorphic computing and develop innovative artificial intelligence applications. Researchers interested in participating in the INRC and developing for Loihi can visit the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community website. A list of current members can also be found at the site.

More Context: Intel Labs Day (Press Kit) | Neuromorphic Computing (Press Kit) | Intel Labs (Press Kit) | How Neuromorphic Computing Uses the Human Brain as a Model (Video)

About Intel

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moores Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intels innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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Students are drawn into the ecosystem through real impact and relevant goals – not with Brainport-lingo – Innovation Origins

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The Brainport region is an important growth engine of the Dutch economy. It is therefore very important, both for the region itself and for the country, to further strengthen this position. The fact that this not only increases the earning capacity but also makes it possible to tackle numerous societal challenges, makes that goal all the more relevant. In a series of 12 articles, Innovation Origins looks at the most striking issues within this endeavor. In this, we are guided by the research report Brainport at the top thatRabobankpublished in collaboration withStrategy Unit. Today, in the tenth articlein this series, in which we look at the accessibility of the ecosystem for students.

Innovation Space is the appropriate name for the concept (and building) in which students of the Eindhoven University of Technology and increasingly Fontys University of Applied Sciences are given the space to experiment with their innovative ideas. Based on the ideas around challenge-based learning, they work on projects that have a clear link with the major societal challenges of today. Instead of endless theoretical hardships, its all about really contributing to a better world, using your freshly acquired knowledge.

Innovation Space is the example (and at the same time still the opportunity) for this valuable connection between knowledge and society and therefore between students and the city. That there is still room for improvement is evident from the reactions of the participants in the Rabobank survey. Currently, students have little contact with the rest of Brainport, it appears. A number of students contact companies within the Brainport region on their own initiative, but this is only a small percentage and is not immediately region-specific. Brainport needs to become a clear concept among students so that they feel more connected to the Brainport region, is the advice.

And that applies especially to students who do not live or study within the Brainport region. Students at the Delft University of Technology, for example, usually have no idea what Brainport means and what the possibilities are in the region, according to an inventory. Sanne van Kouwen, herself an Innovation Sciences student at the TU/e, participated in the research on behalf of Rabobank. She came to the conclusion that both the city itself and the reputation of Brainport as an important ecosystem are rather lacking. The region really needs to become better known among pupils and students in the Netherlands. Brainport has so much to offer, really sad that this is so poorly visible. For a potential tech student from the Randstad, Eindhoven is barely in sight, although there would be every reason for it.

According to Van Kouwen, this is partly due to the story that needs to be told in a better way but partly also to external circumstances. Eindhoven is not seen as a characteristic city with facilities in the field of culture and nightlife that fit in with what a student is looking for. Its industrial character is outweighed by, for example, Delft. Even for students who are already in Eindhoven, the temptation of the Randstad is still great after graduation. Living at Strijp-S is beautiful, but hardly feasible. If it turns out that the really interesting companies are often located in Amsterdam or elsewhere in the Randstad, it will remain difficult to hold on to talents for Brainport.

Apart from the big players like Philips and ASML, there are not enough iconic companies within Brainport, according to the complaint of the students. There should be more variety in the type and range of companies, they say. Vincent Ruis, a specialist in start-ups and scale-ups for Rabobank, questions this. Indeed, appealing names like Mollie or Adyen are located in Amsterdam, but Amber and Sendcloud are well on their way to becoming at least as iconic.

Ruis suspects that Brainport wrongly suffers from an already outdated image. Many people still think that this is an area of the old-fashioned industry, but of course this is no longer the case. This ecosystem has a lot to offer students. Look at the knowledge institutes, the business community, the High Tech Campus, its all world-class: an ideal environment to grow your talents as a student or a graduate. But thats all insufficiently highlighted. There are promotional events, but I still feel that this is too old-school. If Brainport would be better able to show what kind of impact youre making on the world when youre working here, youd make students feel that way. And then you really achieve something.

According to Ruis, this means that youngsters should be in touch with this message long before they start studying. Moreover, think about it together with those young people. If you really want it to be about this group, involve them in your plans. So, no old-fashioned information meetings, but a hackathon, for example, of which you dont determine in advance what the result will be. Generation Z grew up with tech and social, so thats where their communication channels are. Make sure that not only the message but also the medium with which you communicate can connect credibly to their world of experience.

Such a hackathon as a means of connection also has the advantage that it is no longer about abstract concepts, adds Ruis. You make it concrete. A spokesperson who says that we are good at collaborating may sound nice, but it doesnt say anything. But if by actually working together, you can create something that could help the world move forward, then this would appeal directly to this generation.

The idea of the hackathon as a means of communication also appeals to Bert-Jan Woertman, known as a booster, connector, and builder within Eindhovens innovative ecosystem. From his positions at the university and in the business world, he has a good insight into the achievements of Brainport and what young people can achieve within it. Its all about giving students the feeling of being part of that great adventure. Just like that young soccer player who dreams of playing for Barcelona, we have to show technical students that playing in the Champions League of high tech is within reach. Hackathon-like events for teenagers already do exist in the city, by the way, Woertman says. Take the Maker Faire, or Night of the Nerds during Dutch Technology Week: these are the moments when children can get in touch with technology in a playful way.

These are also clear examples in which as Vincent Ruis also points out people think from the teenagers point of view and not on behalf of that teenager. Woertman: Young people have a completely different dictionary than we do. Terms like ecosystem, value chain, but also the word Brainport itself, they all mean very little to them. And as long as they dont know the lingo, they cant relate to it, its as simple as that. Once theyre inside, theyll be fine, but to get them here, you have to change your tactics.

What does appeal to young people, even if they dont use the term themselves, are the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For them, its not about innovation as an activity, but about its impact. As a student or graduate, what problems can you help to solve? The fact that photonics is important, well, that is at best a theoretical statement. But the fact that you can use it to accelerate the energy transition is interesting. The complicated machines of ASML? Duh. But the fact that thanks to ASML, your smartphone, and your future smart car can function, appeals to them. And from there, its a much smaller step to those beautiful machines.

It is not for nothing that many of these iconic or near-iconic companies from Brainport have close ties with the Eindhoven University of Technology. Through TU/e Innovation Space, the guru network, challenge-based learning, the Eindhoven Engine, or the institutes, for example, they keep abreast of developments and start new collaborations. After all, nobody wants to miss the next big wave. Some of them even came directly from one of the student teams active there. Lightyear,DENS,TailorenSolid, for example, are all taking big steps in the real world. A proud Bert-Jan Woertman assures us that these will certainly not be the last examples. We see time and again that students who come into contact with companies through one of these initiatives will see and feel it immediately. They automatically become part of that large ecosystem, a source of talent and technology for the region. That way, you can be assured of a constant stream of impactful solutions to the major challenges of our time.

Read the other articles published so far in this 12-part series here.

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Students are drawn into the ecosystem through real impact and relevant goals - not with Brainport-lingo - Innovation Origins

The Greater Data Ecosystem: Driving Decision-Making | Data & Data Analytics – Supply Chain Digital – The Procurement & Supply Chain Platform

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The phrase data is the new oil has found its way into just about every business presentation since it was first coined by Clive Humby back in 2006. The statement, although contestable (since not all data has the same octane content), does beg the question that should always follow: what data?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the majority of industries, its impact on supply chains has been nothing short of seismic. As teams face increasing pressure to make the right decisions at the right time, squeezing every last drop of insight and information out of your vast amounts of data has never been more important.

These tricky times call for a new approach to data-driven decision making, and theres now a real need for supply chains to focus on, what we call, the greater data ecosystem.

Yes, you can make effective decisions based on data from your current systems, or by joining up a few previously-siloed sources across your organisation but theres potential to go even further than this. The more data you have to play with, the more informed your supply chain decisions will be. Lets take a closer look at a few different data sources that Peak is exploring with our customers to drive intelligent supply chain decisions.

This is all about linking data from your own supply chain systems with your customers, as well as consumer behaviour data points (for those with direct-to-consumer channels.) For instance, this could be their ERP system or even the logistics systems between your business and your customer.

For example, suppose youre a consumer packaged goods business or a manufacturer, with a better handle on Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) and any other sell-out data from your customers systems. In that case, you can better predict what demand is going to be like, and better understand their stock levels in order to help you anticipate yours. You could even factor into account things like receipts data; what baskets are shoppers generally buying together, and how can this help you better anticipate how groups of products are going to sell together.

This closer relationship with your customers systems allows you to better serve them and increase efficiency and anticipate demand fluctuations. In short, its all about creating more competitive supply chains which are more cost-effective, with better service levels and a more accurate view of demand.

By leveraging data points from your suppliers systems, you can plan ahead in the most efficient way and execute an effective just-in-time (JIT) inventory management strategy, holding minimal assets to save cash and space whilst still fulfilling customer demand. Our customers who are employing this methodology are able to understand when a supplier is going to deliver, to what location, and anticipate the arrival of goods and raw materials whilst also better understanding working capital implications.

Dont underestimate the power hidden away in external, third-party data sources and the impact it can have on your supply chain decision making. Think about the ways your business can utilise, lets say, macroeconomic data to understand what could be driving issues connected to supply and demand. Yes, we immediately think of things like GDP, or maybe even exchange rates, but there is now a plethora of data out there, that may be more industry and company-specific, that helps predict demand or implications for business performance. For instance, a sad but apposite data feed could be the level of COVID-19 near a supplier, which may hamper their ability to supply. Potentially, AI and machine learning could help understand the impact of these incidents with supply performance.

If companies begin to institute data sharing in their supply chains at the same time, they will be in a much better position to deal with a future shock.World Economic Forum

This one may seem a little more blue sky for many businesses at first, but the benefits can be enormous if you can imagine not just working closely with your retailers, but also with competitors and those providing similar products allowing you to gain a unique view of exactly what is happening across the rest of the market. This leads to a better understanding of wider trends and the ability to make better smarter decisions. With a mutually beneficial relationship with the wider network, you can understand supply issues, and work with competitors or neutral parties to deliver better products and services to your customers creating a form of coopetition.

Tapping into the greater data ecosystem and utilising it in your decision making offers an untold number of benefits for supply chain teams. However, to truly unlock this potential, a new approach and a modern architecture is needed.

In the same way that business functions have their own systems of record, the ability to power decision making based on a wide range of data sources hinges on the introduction of a new, centralised enterprise business system. For Peak, this is our AI System, which gives teams the ability to leverage unlimited data points at scale and speed.

With artificial intelligence (AI), were able to connect the dots between data points and prescribe recommendations and actions to help you optimise your decision making across the entire supply chain.

For instance, by feeding external data into both demand and supply planning systems and leveraging it with AI, you can optimise that connection between these two core areas of your business. Not only does it allow you to better sense demand with a higher degree of accuracy, but also enables a better understanding of how supplier and operations constraints are affecting supply automatically making micro-adjustments to optimise the way demand is being fulfilled.

Get in touch to find out more about the impact AI-powered decision making and the potential access to the greater data ecosystem carries for your supply chain.

Sign up to our upcoming webinar alongside AWS to learn how to accelerate your D2C strategy.

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The Greater Data Ecosystem: Driving Decision-Making | Data & Data Analytics - Supply Chain Digital - The Procurement & Supply Chain Platform

How KubeLinter fits in the CNCF Ecosystem – Security Boulevard

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The State of Kubernetes Security in 2020

There has been a significant shift in the Kubernetes community to security topics in the past year. According to the StackRox State of Container and Kubernetes Security Report, Fall 2020, human error causes most security incidents in Kubernetes, with misconfigurations contributing to roughly 67% of cases reported by survey respondents. At KubeCon and Cloud-Native Con North America, Kubernetes security topics made up the largest percentage of overall sessions this year. The CNCF survey report in 2019 highlights security, cultural, and complexity challenges as the most significant issues facing Kubernetes adoption. It would seem that the community is looking for reasonable solutions to their Kubernetes security concerns.

StackRox took note of these issues early on in the development of our Kubernetes-native security platform. By recognizing that people and security go hand in hand, we created a platform that enables security and engineering teams to protect Kubernetes clusters. The usual implementation question remains: where do we implement security and configuration fixes? There has been a significant push to perform security checks as early as possible. The term shift left is often used to describe this movement of empowering developers to implement security controls and checks. However, this does not solve the issue of complexity and cultural challenges. With shift-left, we require our developers to understand the application, Kubernetes, security considerations, and more. This overhead cuts against the goal of using cloud-native technologies to empower developers to release software more quickly.

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KubeLinter is an open-source static analysis tool to identify misconfigurations in Kubernetes objects. KubeLinter offers the ability to integrate security checks of Kubernetes YAML files and Helm charts before deployment into a Kubernetes cluster. The security checks validate that a Kubernetes cluster configuration follows security best practices. With standard built-in checks, developers and teams can get immediate feedback about misconfigurations and violations of Kubernetes policies. This enhances developer productivity, integrating security-as-code with DevOps and DevSecOps processes while ensuring the automatic enforcement of hardened security policies for Kubernetes applications.

KubeLinter analyzes YAML files and Helm charts and runs Kubernetes-native security checks to identify elevated access, misconfigurations, and general best practice violations. KubeLinter is a Go-based binary used on the command line or part of a CI pipeline and gives developers the necessary security checks before allowing any Kubernetes configuration changes. There are currently 19 security checks that come built into the CLI. Some examples include:

KubeLinters defaults are security-centric, so users will have to explicitly opt in to configure Kubernetes in an insecure manner. The built-in checks provided by KubeLinter can be extended to include custom checks for many Kubernetes configuration parameters. Individual checks can be enabled or disabled as well, with annotations giving the ability to pass single specific configuration checks. As an open-source tool available under the Apache 2.0 license, users can also contribute to the project by extending KubeLinter with additional checks.

KubeLinters focus on being a Kubernetes-native tool leads to the following advantages:

KubeLinter go-based CLI architecture allows it to be easily installed in existing pipelines or used on the command-line. It uses a similar package and CLI architecture as kubectl, leading to little knowledge required to test and use it. KubeLinter policies can be enabled or disabled, and the checks can be ignored with annotations. KubeLinter gives immediate feedback about how to rectify a misconfiguration or security issue. This approach to security means reasonable checks with little to no workflow changes. KubeLinter means declarative security and Kubernetes-focused security rules that can be easily accessed and viewed.

KubeLinters success will rely on the community. As Kubernetes continues to grow, StackRox views KubeLinter as a security enablement tool that simplifies security and makes the day-to-day usage of Kubernetes by community end users safer and more secure.

Watch the lead developer Viswa Venugopal talk about KubeLinter basics

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How KubeLinter fits in the CNCF Ecosystem - Security Boulevard

Report finds the CSS ecosystem is going through a renewal with new features – SDTimes.com

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CSS users have a lot to reconsider when it comes to the changes this year, according to the recently released State of CSS 2020 report. The report found that CSS has seen a surge of new features over the last couple of years.

Forget everything you know about CSS. Or at least, be ready to reconsider a lot of it. If like me youve been writing CSS for over a decade, CSS in 2020 looks nothing like what you were used to, the team behind the State of CSS 2020 wrote in its findings.

For instance, users can now leverage CSS Grid to make dynamic, responsive layouts that adapt to any viewport size with fewer lines of code.

Instead of relying on global stylesheets, CSS-in-JS lets users collocate styles with components to build themeable design systems.

Tailwind CSS has burst onto the scene and, through its use of utility-first CSS, forced us to reconsider the traditional dogma of semantic class names, the team wrote. The CSS ecosystem is going through a renewal of sorts, as older mainstays like Bootstrap now have to accomodate newer entrants like Tailwind CSS. To say nothing of the whole CSS-in-JS movement which, while it has yet to cross over to the CSS mainstream, is nonetheless quite dynamic.

The features with the closest ratio of users knowing about it and actually using it went to @font face and Line Breaking Properties on the typography front. Other highly used features include FlexBox, Transitions, Transforms, Animations, and calc().

Meanwhile the features with the lowest usage ration include color-gamut, CSS Houdini, Contain, and Subgrid.

The survey found that the majority of respondents knew between 50-70% of the features mentioned in the survey. According to the team, youd expect adoption is lagging a bit behind as the community takes its time to absorb new properties.

CSS Grid Layout, which excels at dividing a page into major regions or defining the relationship in terms of size, position, and layer, between parts of a control built from HTML primitives saw a large jump in usage from 54.7% last year to 73.3% this year.

Also, CSS Flexible Box Layout, which is a module of CSS that defines a CSS box model optimized for user interface design, and the layout of items in one dimension inched up 3% from last year and landed at 97.5% of respondents using it.

The technologies that saw large usage and a high satisfaction percentage included PostCSS, Sass, Styled Components, and BEM. The infrequently used and poorly rated technologies included Radium, Foundation, Fela, and Styletron.

Chrome was the most widely used browser for testing, followed by Firefox and Safari.

Each of the many tools, methodologies, frameworks, and libraries featured here has its place in the vast front-end ecosystem. Building a complex React app? Styled Components is a great option. Designing a static landing page? You cant go wrong with Sass! And even though Bootstrap has lost some of its original hype factor, you cant beat it when it comes to sheer number of themes and plugins, the CSS 2020 team wrote. So while we keep an eye on the shiny new toys popping up on GitHub every week, lets not forget the tools, techniques, and most of all people who have carried the CSS torch up to now.

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Report finds the CSS ecosystem is going through a renewal with new features - SDTimes.com

Im planning a summer of post-vaccine hedonism… and the shame of Spotify Wrapped – Evening Standard

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N

EXT year will be the year of hedonism for millennials. I know this because as of yesterdays announcement, my twenty-something serious friends with serious jobs are acting like theyre 16 and Van-Tam is giving us fake IDs rather than a vaccine in spring; everyones dropping links to grimy nightclubs and all-inclusives to Ibiza in the group chat. Today a friend who works as a civil servant sheepishly confessed to me she shed a tear at the thought of being able to sesh at Bestival this summer. Not partying for nine months has left people with a dopamine deficit they need to relieve and a cash surplus.

Not that well need to spend much. A heavy night will probably consist of spritzer given our alcohol tolerance these days. Especially for me, given it would be my first drink in three years in theory Ive given up alcohol, but Im desperate for a release to mark the end of lockdown. I know that the lesson of Covid is supposed to be along the lines of those swirly-lettered quotes which pepper my Instagram feed, that slowing down has been good for us and made us appreciate what we have. Were supposed to have learnt that wild swimming is forever, but booze and sex are transitory pleasures. But if theyre transitory, surely all the more reason to pursue them while we can we never know when we might lose them again to seasonal Covid.

So well all be making some big life changes post-vaccine. I plan to go to more parties it took one year being squirrelled away to Covid to realise I squirrelled away one too many years to work, and vague, long-term career objectives over immediate pleasures. But thats nothing compared to some people one of my old colleagues is planning to try drugs for the first time, lockdown made her regret all the things shed never done. Young people viewed their lives as over for the last year so theyre celebrating coming back to life with cocaine instead of swimming with dolphins. And, of course, single Londoners will have a years worth of pent-up frustration. I can only imagine therell be some sort of collective climax in April (and hope chlamydia wont be the new Covid). Were on a ridiculous quest for hen do hedonism, desperately clutching at willy straws because were trying to get something we cant have a refund, two years worth of hedonism in compensation for the one we lost. To be honest though, well probably settle for an exchange. As one friend whos listened to Radio 2 since Covid says: I just want to go back to Radio 1.

SOCIAL media has become a group confessional. Were bringing up repressed memories in the way you do in an AA circle, but in the form of screenshots from Spotify Wrapped the music streaming platforms summary of what we listened to this year. 2020 has been bleak, but knowing Celine Dion helped you get through it all is the digital equivalent of caressing our wounds with Maldon salt crystals. I can almost hear Spotifys Silicon Valley programmers sniggering as they realise theyre far from the uncoolest people on Earth. I can only hope the trend for wrapping 2020 wont extend to other platforms. I imagine a lot of guys would be scarred for life by a Pornhub Wrapped, but can you imagine Hinge telling you about the number of times youve been rejected this year, and Citymapper saying you barely left the house in 2020? Ignorance is bliss, and Ill be using the incognito tab in 2021.

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Im planning a summer of post-vaccine hedonism... and the shame of Spotify Wrapped - Evening Standard

BLACK SABBATH: Breaking The Band To Premiere This Sunday; Trailer Available – bravewords.com

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December 5, 2020, 12 hours ago

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This Sunday, December 6th, Reelz will air Black Sabbath: Breaking The Band at 8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST. Following is the program overview courtesy of Reelz.com:

"Black Sabbath: One of the greatest rock bands on the planet the so called fathers of heavy metal came from very humble origins to become among the most successful and outrageous of rock stars. Their hedonism was legendary, as was their volatility. Black Sabbath: Breaking the Band will follow their journey from their early beginnings to sell-out tours and chart-topping success, to their eventual break up. Combining high-end stylized drama reconstruction, extensive archive and revealing interviews, well chart the turbulent history of a band who battled with egos, Satanists, crippling drug and alcohol addictions and music business mobsters who robbed them of everything they had."

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BLACK SABBATH: Breaking The Band To Premiere This Sunday; Trailer Available - bravewords.com

Film review: the immoderate adventures of Oliver Sacks – The Conversation AU

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Review: Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, directed by Ric Burns

Apropos of nothing but a bowl of jello placed before him, a stifled laugh escapes from Oliver Sacks, the famed neurologist, writer and public intellectual.

What are you thinking about? asks a voice offscreen.

Sacks demurs at first or perhaps feigns reluctance then relents.

Until a few years ago, I would wake up at night with an erection. Nothing to do with sexual excitement But it was at times irritatingly persistent. So, I would sometimes cool my turgid penis in orange jello.

Such vignettes from Oliver Sacks: His Own Life reveal the usually shy, but often cheeky and sometimes shockingly honest character of the late Sacks.

Shortly after receiving a fatal diagnosis in January, 2015, Sacks invited documentarian Ric Burns and crew for a series of interviews in his New York City apartment. Sacks second memoir, On the Move, would be published in April. He passed away just a few months later.

Read more: 'I want to stare death in the eye': why dying inspires so many writers and artists

The film is structured around Sacks reading brief passages from his memoir, accompanied by archival footage of the avuncular physician in action. Also interspersed are pithy recollections from fellow neurologists, writers, editors, patients, family and friends.

Rather than retreading previous thoughts on Sacks style of romantic science, its worth considering what the documentary offers that existing memoirs, biographies and other accounts do not.

Firstly, for those unfamiliar with Sacks, the film provides the most efficient but palatable jello anecdotes aside summary of his life, work and character.

Moreover, it reconciles how Sacks seemingly wild contradictions would (eventually) become complements. A recurring theme is that Sacks was immoderate in all directions, living a life that whiplashed between extremes of hedonism and self-discipline.

Sacks possessed a curious mix of extraordinary erudition, voracious appetite and self-destructive tendencies. This was leavened by seemingly boundless empathy for the neurologically marginalised, for whom he so poetically advocated.

Read more: How Oliver Sacks brought readers into his patients' inner worlds

By all accounts, including those of his partner Bill Hayes, Sacks could be painfully shy, yet effusively gregarious when taken by sudden, ebullient outbursts of boyish enthusiasm.

As a young man wracked with anguish regarding his sexuality and unrequited affections, Sacks once resolved never to live with anyone again. So began 35 years of celibacy, when Sacks took on an almost monastic dedication to his work.

However, Sacks first turned to drugs as a sort of compensation, acquiring a fierce amphetamine habit that proved inspiring and corrosive.

Yet Sacks also sought mastery over his body, becoming an exceptional weightlifter.

Oscillating between roles as Dr Squat the athlete, Wolf the speedfreak biker, and Ollie the kindly but unconventional neurologist, Sacks often remained ill at ease.

Perhaps only in his very late years, through his relationship with Hayes including a very late discovery of French kissing on his 76th birthday did Sacks find comfort.

Read more: Oliver Sacks, the brain and God

Born into a typical, Orthodox Jewish, middle-class family during the 1930s, Sacks father, Sam, was an affable GP, while his mother, Elsie, was a highly regarded gynaecologist, and among the first women surgeons in England.

Sacks reports an an uneasy closeness with his mother.

I think she wanted me to be like her. Sometimes, especially when I was very young she would bring a fetus home, and suggest I dissect it. That was not so easy for a child of ten or eleven.

Later, upon discovering Oliver was gay, his mother declared him an abomination. Though they remained close, Sacks lamented that her words haunted me for much of my life.

Sacks and his brother Michael were sent to boarding school during the Battle of Britain. Soon after this harrowing experience Michael was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Sacks became both terrified of him, terrified for him and retreated into a fondness for chemistry.

Only after many years could Sacks work his way back towards contemplating the minds of others.

Famously clumsy, Sacks initially aspired to be a lab scientist, but after numerous calamities was instructed to Get out, see patients, youll do less harm.

His vocational approach as a neurologist often more resembled a naturalist than a clinician. For Sacks, observation and play trumped diagnosis and prescription.

Indeed, in a biography by Lawrence Weschler, Sacks notes his main neurological tool is the ball You can learn much from how patients play.

Read more: Celebrating Oliver Sacks' romantic science and a life now ending

To compress any life let alone one as Forrest Gumpian as Sacks into a two hour film is something of a fools errand.

Hence, narrative compromises were always likely. Sacks travels in Canada, where he briefly tried joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, are skipped entirely.

Similarly, perhaps in deference to a subject granting privileged access during his last days, the documentary veers ever so slightly into hagiography, framing Sacks as a unifying figure between the clinical and experimental neurosciences.

Still, Sacks influence is undeniably staggering, and His Own Life provides a compelling account of the empathetic labours needed for otherwise lost souls to be storied into the world.

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life is in cinemas now.

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Film review: the immoderate adventures of Oliver Sacks - The Conversation AU

Yinka Ilori brings much-needed cheer with the launch of his debut homeware range – Creative Boom

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Yinka Ilori with his new homeware collection. Photography by Andy Stagg

Yinka Ilori has just revealed his first-ever homeware collection, bringing his contemporary, colourful patterns and distinct personality to what he deems "unexpected and functional" household items that remind him of his own childhood.

Inspired by his British Nigerian heritage, the new range begins with a focus on tabletop accessories and textiles, all complemented by a mix of accent pieces to inject some positive and vibrant colour into any home. "It's a colourful celebration of two cultures expressed through abstract, technicolour pattern and contemporary craft," explains Yinka. "Each has its own narrative and back-story, meant to instil a sense of optimism and joy, to act in their own small way as a distraction to the dark times that we're facing this year."

The collection comes after Yinka noticed a growing audience interacting with his works that promote positivity and, "act as a form of creative hedonism on social media". Of course, with a number of in-the-flesh installations put on hold this year, Yinka found the time to work on this "joy project", something that could "translate this creative optimism offline".

Yinka Ilori Homeware collection. All photography by Andy Stagg

Yinka Ilori Homeware collection. Photography by Andy Stagg

"Ive worked on several functional items to act as individual canvases, using various forms, scales, materials and techniques to translate pattern in different ways. It is left to you to decide whether they will be functional or art," says Yinka, who has spent a lot of time sourcing specialist suppliers with a focus on craft and quality to ensure he's creating designs that will have a long life-span.

"Hand-turned stoneware comes from Portugal, along with luxury jacquard table linens and cushions," he adds. "Industrial enamelware is handmade in Poland. Hand-knotted wool rugs are crafted in Nepal, whilst tableware comes from here in the UK."

OMI Cushions by Yinka Ilori. Photography by Andy Stagg

Yinka Ilori Homeware collection. Photography by Andy Stagg

There are trays, bowls, plates, enamel mugs, tea towels, cushions, rugs even placemats and coasters, which feature some of Yinka's famous chair designs. "Chairs have been central to my design work for well over a decade as I see them as inspirational, powerful objects that have many stories to tell. Status, hierarchy, wealth, chairs they all have their own individual narratives which I've explored through a number of re-interpretations my most meaningful of which I've included as illustrations in the Parable collection of placemats and coasters."

The only problem now is figuring out what to snap up. Discover Yinka Ilori's new Colour Happy collection at yinkailori.com.

AAMI Tablecloth by Yinka Ilori. Photography by Andy Stagg

OMI Rug by Yinka Ilori. Photography by Andy Stagg

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Yinka Ilori brings much-needed cheer with the launch of his debut homeware range - Creative Boom

MEDA: The Drinks Brand Designed With The Healthy Hedonist In Mind – The Handbook

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First launched in January 2019, MEDA is a drinks brand thats designed to help you to bring balance to your everyday life, without having to forgo on flavour. From targeted functional wellness drinks that can help you ease tension, stress and anxieties to the Espresso Medatini, the healthy alternative to the cocktail classic, these drinks are designed to help you stay calm, focussed and centred, whilst also having a bit of fun.

The Handbook has teamed up with MEDA to offer our readers an exclusive 20% off all orders (excluding alcohol).

Simply use the discount code HB20 at the checkout. Excludes alcohol, T&Cs apply. Valid until the end of January 2021.

Read on to find out more about MEDA and why its our CBD favourite.

With the importance of keeping fit and healthy so prevalent right now, were all searching for ways to help be a little kinder to ourselves and become more aware of what were putting into our bodies. Designed with the Londoner lifestyle in mind, MEDA drinks are formulated to bring balance to an active lifestyle, across their award-winning range of Functional Wellness concoctions, NO-LO Mixers and their pre-mixed Espresso Medatini Cocktail, which contains half the sugar and calories of the traditional serve but with the same full flavour. Meaning you can enjoy the flavours you crave, whilst still being kind to yourself and your body.

Weve all heard about the CBD revolution; its full of so many wide ranging health benefits, from helping to relieve stress and anxiety to reducing inflammation and helping you sleep better at night.

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MEDA: The Drinks Brand Designed With The Healthy Hedonist In Mind - The Handbook

Inside the most extravagant aristocratic Christmas parties of all time – Tatler

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Has your inbox felt surprisingly empty lately? Is your doormat strangely free of reassuringly thick invitations? Tis traditionally the season to be out, out, out, but thanks to the pandemic Christmas parties are, by and large, off the cards this year. But dont be too downcast: there are no rules against opening countless bottles of champagne and slipping into your finest festive outfit on a casual Wednesday at home. Cast your mind back to the best and most extravagant parties from years gone by when social distancing simply meant ignoring the bore in the corner and take inspiration from their hedonistic traditions.

Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall on a beach in Mustique, 1987

Georges De Keerle / Getty Images

With a bit of imagination, you may even be able to transport yourself from a damp, grey England to the shores of Mustique, where Lady Anne Glenconner and her husband, Colin Tennant, would spend Christmas. Genial and hugely popular local Basil (who still runs a bar on the island today) would dress up as Father Christmas in a red suit and fake beard though he was famous for arriving by boat, rather than a sleigh. The festivities were also enjoyed by rock royalty, from Mick Jagger to David Bowie, who would uproot thorn bushes in place of fir trees and festoon them with fairy lights. Carol services hosted in the tiny bamboo church and attended by global superstars, rather than those from the neighbouring estate were also an update on the traditional. These days, Mustique is popular with the Royals all year round; the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge even invited Basil to their wedding.

Lady Mary Charteris and Poppy Delevingne at the LOVE Christmas Drinks, 2019

Dave Benett / Getty Images

Back in Europe, parties are notoriously high-voltage: billionaire banker Maurice Amon, for example, is known for hosting bombastic annual get-togethers in jet-set ski resort Gstaad, complete with bowls of cigarettes and bottomless champagne. Those with no invite dont go without fun, however after a significant amount of Glhwein from the little stand in the village (known by all to sell the best) or fondue at Le Cerf in Rougemont (keep your eyes peeled for an appearance from local resident, Julie Andrews) everyone ends up downstairs at The Gstaad Palace hotels GreenGo nightclub. The next day? Its best spent having lunch at the Eagle Club, avoiding the slopes until your headache has died down.

Sabine Getty at the launch of the Claridge's Christmas Tree 2019 designed by Christian Louboutin

Dave Benett / Getty Images for Claridge's

Closer to home, the smart set know how to do Christmas right. The Marchioness of Bath and Sabine Getty are known to frequent the Claridges bash (last year hosted by Christian Louboutin and featuring by far the most popular canape of the season, Lobster Wellington). Alice Naylor-Leyland, Poppy Delevingne and Mary Charteris all of whom can be relied upon to know a good party rarely miss the famously good LOVE magazine shindig, always attended by the brightest designers of the day (and, on occasion, Coco the Camel).

Youd be forgiven for thinking Christmas parties held at country estates would be more low-key, but English aristocrats arent always known for their best behaviour. Lady Annabel Goldsmith recalls her first Christmas at the family pile, Wynyard Park, with her then-husband Mark Birley, as a rather eventful one: Mark remained quite calm one evening when Daddy persuaded the local vet's daughter to remove her clothes and dance naked on the dining-room table, she has said. He drank champagne from one of her shoes, held impassively by Robert the butler. Its food (or indeed champagne) for thought, should spending the Christmas season at home seem rather gloomy. And if all else fails, take a leaf out of the Queens book: her traditional, black-tie dinner on Christmas Eve may be cancelled this year, but we doubt shell be forgoing a Zaza, her favourite cocktail. Pass the Dubonnet

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Inside the most extravagant aristocratic Christmas parties of all time - Tatler

The untimely death of Led Zeppelin – The Independent

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J

ohn Bonham threw his fourth quadruple vodka of the morning down his neck and took a single bite of a ham roll. He grinned at Led Zeppelins assistant Rex King, charged with getting one of rocks most mercurial and hedonistic drummers to rehearsal in a fit state to play. Breakfast, he said.

It would be the last of his life. Back in the car en route to Berkshires Bray Studios on 24 September 1980, Bonhams mood turned sour, hinting at a devastating split approaching far faster than anyone could have imagined. As we drove to the rehearsal, he was not quite as happy as he could be, Zeppelin singer Robert Plant said later, recalling the events that led up to the break-up of one of the biggest and most influential bands of the Seventies, 40 years ago on Friday (4 December). He said, Ive had it with playing drums. Everybody plays better than me. We were driving in the car and he pulled off the sun visor and threw it out the window as he was talking. He said, Ill tell you what, when we get to the rehearsal, you play the drums and Ill sing.

At rehearsal, for the bands first US tour since 1977, in support of their eighth album In Through the Out Door, Bonham Bonzo to his friends never slowed down. Having collapsed onstage during the third song at a show in Nuremberg a few months earlier (the band claimed he had overeaten), his furious alcohol intake had made him prone to blackouts, and as he worked his way through a reported 40 units of vodka during the 12-hour rehearsal his playing began to deteriorate. Bonzo had been getting a bit erratic, said Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. I cant say he was in good shape, because he wasnt. There were some good moments during the last rehearsals but then he started on the vodka I think he had been drinking because there were some problems in his personal life.

When the band retired to guitarist Jimmy Pages home at the Old Mill House in Windsor for the night, Bonham passed out on a sofa at midnight and was put to bed by an assistant, lying on his side. The following day, when he hadnt arrived for rehearsal by 1.45pm, Jones and Zeppelins tour manager Benji Lefevre went to check on him.

We tried to wake him up, Jones said. It was terrible. Then I had to tell the other two I had to break the news to Jimmy and Robert. It made me feel very angry at the waste of him.

Billy Connolly, left, interviewing John Bonham in 1979, the year before Bonhams death

(Rex)

Bonhams death from inhalation of vomit that night, aged just 32, didnt just mark the tragic loss of one of rock historys most celebrated drummers, famed for his incendiary 20-minute live solos and the bedrock of Led Zeppelins elemental power John Bonham played the drums like someone who didnt know what was going to happen next, like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff, said Dave Grohl but also the demise of a band that would come to represent the cornerstone of both classic rock and heavy metal.

The North American tour was cancelled and six weeks later, on 4 December, Led Zeppelin announced their dissolution with a short press statement. We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were. The band swore publicly at least not to continue without a founding member and, bar the occasional charity and anniversary reunion, have kept their word ever since.

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After losing John I didnt want to touch the guitar, and that feeling lasted for quite a few months, Page writes in his new book Jimmy Page: The Anthology, while Plant recently spoke about the split inspiring him to go solo during his Digging Deep podcast. I was just 33, he said, and the whole [of] my last previous 12 years have been in the warmth and occasional tepid and freezing climate of Led Zeppelin. So when we all lost John there was only one thing to do and that was to carry on, to try and carry on and distance myself if I could from the wondrous shadow of the past.

Bonhams son Jason, who performed with the remaining members at several one-off shows, told Billboard that after their much-lauded 2007 reunion at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at Londons O2 hed asked Plant if Led Zeppelin were going to reform. He said, I loved your dad way too much I cant go out there and fake it. I cant be a jukebox. I cant go out there and try to do it that way He told me, When your father left us, left the world, that was it for Led Zeppelin. We couldnt do what The Who did. It was too vital. Elsewhere, Plant has been more figurative. It would be like sleeping with your ex-wife again, hes said, without having sex.

Zeppelin were certainly behemoths of the Seventies rock kingdom. Over 12 years and eight albums they recast the blues rock, folk psychedelia and powerhouse pop of Sixties greats such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who (along with plenty of Tolkein references and borrowed blues tunes) into a primal new form of hard rock: the heaviest band of all time according to Rolling Stone. Along the way they sold anywhere between 200 and 300 million copies of seminal albums such as Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti and their self-titled early records, and condensed the hedonistic and mystical leanings of the likes of Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison into a unified symbol of classic rock mythology, peppered with notorious tales that make uncomfortable reading in 2020: under-age girlfriends, the red snapper incident, Pages rumoured Satanic rituals.

Their final two albums, Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979) might not have matched the critical acclaim or phenomenal sales of Physical Graffiti or 1971s 37 million-selling Led Zeppelin IV, but both topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and went multi-platinum. When this Zeppelin went down it wasnt, from the outside at least, in flames. Hence, the bands bow-out in 1980 has become seen as a benchmark of brotherhood in rocknroll. By emphasising the sacred, almost psychic bond between a close family of tuned-in musicians, it was seen as a statement of magical creative unity that many acts have adhered to since: acts as diverse as Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, The Cribs and Coldplay have decided that their bands would cease to exist if one member was lost.

Beyond their vast musical impact then, Zeppelins split also helped instil, in more righteous acts, the tenet of music over money. Led Zeppelin wasn't a corporate entity, Page told Rolling Stone in 2012. Led Zeppelin was an affair of the heart. Each of the members was important to the sum total of what we were. I like to think that if it had been me that wasn't there, the others would have made the same decision. And what were we going to do? Create a role for somebody, say, You have to do this, this way? That wouldnt be honest.

All was not quite as Musketeers-like as it seemed, however. The couldnt do it without him story is just an excuse, argues Mick Wall, author of Led Zeppelin biography When Giants Walked the Earth, Zeppelin were in a completely awful place when Bonham died. Its one of the reasons he died, they were rotting from the head down. Wall argues that the heroin abuse and tragic events of the bands late-Seventies era had exacerbated animosities between Page, Plant and Bonham and driven the band to the brink of collapse some years earlier.

Struggling with touring and recording in the aftermath of a 1975 car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes, which almost killed his wife Maureen and confined him to a wheelchair for several months, Plant had long felt frustrated with the Zeppelin machine. I was furious with Page and [band manager] Peter Grant, he told biographer Chris Welch. I was just furious that I couldnt get back to the woman and the children that I loved. And I was thinking, is all this rock and roll worth anything at all?

The 1977 US tour was, according to tour manager Richard Cole, f***ing horrible. There was no camaraderie between anyone. Fuelled by vodka, Bonham was becoming unruly and violent a written set of backstage rules warned journalists not to look him in the eye for your own safety. Pages heroin habit, meanwhile, made him a surly presence, darkening the mood in the Zeppelin camp and spitting at sound technicians mid-set. There were bodyguards everywhere, and that was a real big sea change from 75 to 77, journalist Jaan Uhelski told Barney Hoskyns for his 2012 oral history Trampled Under Foot. There was just a cloud that seemed to hang over everybody.

Page, Plant and Bonham performing during Led Zeppelins 1977 tour

(Getty Images)

It was just a mess, Plant added. Where was the actual axis of all this stuff? Who do I go to if its really bad for me? There was nobody. Everybody was insular, developing their own worlds.

That last ever American Zeppelin tour was cut short in New Orleans when Plant received word of the death of his five-year-old son Karac from a stomach infection. In the wake of such a devastating loss the band were put on hold; Plant no longer cared about strutting around stages singing Whole Lotta Love. I lost my boy, he told Rolling Stone, I didn't want to be in Led Zeppelin. I wanted to be with my family. I didn't really want to go swinging around, he explained to Q in 1990. Hey hey mama, say the way you move didn't really have a great deal of import anymore.

Quitting all of his drug habits in one day, he even strongly considered swapping life as a golden rock god for the blackboard jungle. All of us had been thinking about what would happen next because the illusion had run its course, he told the BBC in 2010. Id already lost my boy and then you think, I really have to decide what to do. I applied to become a teacher in the Rudolf Steiner education system. I was accepted to go to teacher training college in 1978. I was really quite keen to just walk.

I just thought there was something far more honest and wholesome about just digging in and putting the ego away in the closet, he told GQ in 2011. Because no matter what we say, entertainers are usually quite insecure, wobbly characters underneath and maybe that bit of glory or that bit of expression or whatever it is compensates in some area. But I thought I should be rid of it.

His bandmates differing reactions to the tragedy drove further wedges between them. During the absolute darkest times of my life when I lost my boy and my family was in disarray, it was Bonzo who came to me, Plant said in 2005. The other guys were [from] the south and didnt have the same type of social etiquette that we have up here in the north that could actually bridge that uncomfortable chasm with all the sensitivities required to console.

Wall cites Page not attending Karacs funeral as an unforgivable breaking point, dissipating Plants mystique for his guitarist foil and giving him the power of being willing to walk away. Bonzo was the only one who went to the funeral, he said. Plant understood that when youre with people that are deep into heroin multi-millionaires with ounces and ounces, their whole life, their religion, their heart is all heroin it produces bad s***. Plant being the eternal hippy who believes in karma, felt convinced that every rotten thing that had happened to him and Zeppelin, which had begun in 1975 with the terrible car crash, all related back to the fact that Zeppelin had taken a very dark turn Plant left the group at that point, he was gone, they just didnt announce it because they were hoping to get him back.

It fell to Bonham and Page to hold the band together. I was thinking about leaving the group, but Jimmy Page kept me from doing it, Plant told German magazine Bravo at the time. He said without me, the bands nothing. He wanted me to take a break until I felt ready for playing again. I realised that we are more than business partners. We are real friends.

The only reason Plant went back in 1979 was because Bonzo more or less begged him, says Wall. After Jimmy became completely incapacitated [by drugs] it was all about keeping Robert happy. The way they kept him happy on those final shows in Europe in 1980 was to cut their hair, stop wearing flares, lets not do Stairway To Heaven, lets make the songs shorter and tighter.

Jones remembers 1980 as the point where we had all come back together again we had high hopes it was all coming right. But according to Wall, Plant could hardly bear to be in the same room as Page They were completely in disarray, utterly hanging on by a thread. Page, who was literally over the other end of the rainbow, a major junkie for at least five years at that point, beyond Keith Richards, he had it in his head well go to America and itll rekindle the spark. When Bonzo died, everybody got found out that day, the whole rotting edifice exposed itself.

Bonhams death was a definitive full stop for Plant. John had been incredibly supportive to me, he told the BBC, so to lose him, that was the end of any naivety. It was very evident that my last connection was severed. As far as strong affairs of the heart and a confederacy, it was gone.

Following 1982s swansong rarities compilation Coda, the band retreated into myth-shrouded legend. A reunion for the Philadelphia leg of Live Aid with an un-rehearsed Phil Collins sitting in fresh from a Concorde flight from Wembley only justified Plants stance that it wouldnt be Led Zeppelin with any other drummer. It was a f***ing atrocity for us, Plant said. It made us look like loonies.

As a result, the band turned down $90 million each to tour the US in the wake of Live Aid, and Plant also scuppered plans for a year on the road following the O2 reunion. Page and Jones rehearsed with Steven Tyler standing in for Plant and Jason Bonham on drums, but that unprecedented payday never happened. The Roger Waters tour around the same time grossed about $700 million, Wall says. Zeppelin wouldve doubled that. Robert walked away from it to do a tour of college towns with Alison Krauss, partly because the whole experience of getting back together was so awful. At the O2, Jimmy was in his own enclave with armed guards. The Zeppelin fables of recent years have been more financial than hedonistic; in 2014, rumours circulated that Plant had ripped up an $800 million offer from Richard Branson to reform.

Their split might have come about due to internal fractures more than band-of-brothers unity, and their reluctance to tour may be far from unanimous, but as Led Zeppelins influence swamped the coming decades, inspiring vast swathes of acts as cool as The White Stripes and as corny as The Black Crowes, Plants refusal to capitalise on their history since Bonhams death has smacked of a certain nobility, leaving the Zeppelin legacy untainted and the arcane fantasy of their mystical bond intact. The truth may be messy, sour and inconvenient but, with Zeppelin, the myth always mattered most.

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The untimely death of Led Zeppelin - The Independent

Is this app going to save clubbing in 2021? – Dazed

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The coronavirus pandemic forced clubs and live music venues across the world to close, while festivals and other large gatherings were cancelled or indefinitely postponed. However, there may now be hope that partying could return sooner rather than later with the help of a new app, Liberty Pass, which could pave the way for a return to clubbing next year.

The app was announced at the virtual edition of the seventh annual International Nightlife Congress, an organisation committed to promoting positive contributions from nightlife entrepreneurs. It works by collecting official information from medical centres regarding antigen testing, PCR tests, and vaccines. The app then displays a QR code with a green tick if an individual's tests come up as negative, allowing them access to particular venues or events.

The results stay active for 72 hours for each individual, allowing them to access clubs and events over that time period. Once the QR code expires however, they will need to produce another negative test. If a user is vaccinated then their status will remain active for the length of time the vaccine is valid.

The Spanish party island of Ibiza could be an early adopter of the technology in a bid to get its vibrant clubbing scene back in motion. Spain Nightlife and International Nightlife Association secretary-general Joaquim Boadas, told DJ Mag that the app could be used to open venues in 2021, along with other health measures including regular hand sanitising and the wearing of masks when not drinking.

The Spanish nightlife association, Spain Nightlife, has made an agreement with Liberty Pass to introduce the app, although a launch date is yet been announced. In the UK, however, there are no plans to adopt this type of technology as the nightlife sector continues to struggle after many venues have been closed since March.

Michael Gove, Minister for the Cabinet Office said on Tuesday that: There were no plans for vaccine passports to allow people into pubs and restaurants. He told Sky News: Certainly I do not plan to introduce any vaccine passports and I do not know anyone else in the government who is planning it.

Last month, experts warned that UK nightclubs face extinction due to the coronavirus pandemic. While other venues such as pubs, bars, and cafs have been able to reopen in some capacity since the first UK lockdown in March, nightclubs have for the most part remained closed. Speaking to Dazed, Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said: The failure in many ways has been (the exclusion of nightlife) from the narrative, as well as the lack of economic and cultural recognition and value, robust financial support packages for businesses, and an exit strategy or direction of travel.

Back in October the iconic LGBTQ+ club G-A-Y launched a lawsuit against a 10pm curfew imposed by the government to try and curb rising levels of coronavirus cases in the UK. It questioned the arbitrary decision which led to many pubs, bars, and clubs taking heavy financial hits from having to close early. The result of G-A-Ys hearing, held on December 3, is yet to be disclosed.

In the wake of closed venues and curfews, partygoers in the UK have been flocking to illegal raves to get their hit of hedonism. Back in July, pictures emerged from a lockdown rave near Manchester showing large crowds, thought to be approaching 4,000-strong, drinking, dancing, and inhaling nos in a woodland opening. It was just one of many illegal parties held across the UK since the outbreak, with several others popping up in London, Leeds, Norfork, Essex and various other locations.

Lockdown in the UK was lifted on December 2 and the country has transitioned to a tiered system. In tier one, pubs and bars can open but must stick to table service, while in tier two, the sale of alcohol is only permitted alongside a substantial meal. In tier three, pubs, bars, and restaurants must stay closed. This approach has been widely criticised as many venues must remain shut without the same level of support offered to them during the country-wide lockdowns.

With no vaccine passport technology planned for implementation in the UK, and many clubs still facing an uncertain future, Kill suggests that staying tuned in and engaging with your favourite venues is a good way to support them, whether thats financially, or through sharing messages of support.

Read our feature here on the future of post-pandemic partying.

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Is this app going to save clubbing in 2021? - Dazed