‘Away’: Hilary Swank series should be much better than it is – Newsday

Posted on by

SERIES "Away"

WHERE Streaming now on Netflix

WHAT IT'S ABOUT An international space crew led by Hillary Swank's Emma Green departs on the first mission to Marsin "Away," a new Netflix series from creator Andrew Hinderaker that's based on a Chris Jones article for Esquire.

The others on this pioneering journey aboard the spaceship AtlasareLu (Vivian Wu) from China; Russia's Misha (Mark Ivanir); Kwesi (Atoh Essandoh), a British-Ghanaian; and Ram (Ray Panthaki), of India. Over the course of 10 episodes, the series chronicles their yearslong trip to the Red Planet, paying especially close attention to the emotions in leaving loved ones behind to make such an unprecedented journey.

Back on Earth, Emma's husband Matt (Josh Charles) and teenage daughter Alexis (Talitha Bateman) must adjust to three years without mom in person and an unexpected health challenge that adds to the difficulty.

MY SAYThis is a perfect premise for a TV show: you don't have to be a sci-fi aficionado or obsessed with space travel to be fascinated by the particulars involved in conquering the next extraterrestrial frontier.

In the coming years, NASA has plans to begin the process of launching just such a mission to Mars and "Away" derives a lot of its appeal from the fact that nothing on-screenseems especially far-fetched. This isn't "Total Recall" or even "The Martian" it's a glimpse at a future that's much closer than one might think.

We want to learn about the science, the stresses and the otherspecifics of how this major moment in exploration might unfold to understand what astronauts can expect on the arduous trip through the cosmosand upon arriving on another world, and precisely why this is such a priority for not only the space agency, but humankind.

With the exception of a handful of moments, "Away" offers preciously little of that through its first five episodes.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

It is instead painstakingly focused on the back stories of the astronauts, rife with flashbacks to traumaand difficult moments with the family members back home who seem to recede further into the distance with each passing day.

We're talking tear-streaked conversations between Swank's Emma and Bateman's Alexis that come complete with dialogue that would be a better fit for a bad family drama.

"And boys," mom says to daughter, "I know they're beautiful, I get that, I do, but honey they're bucks is what they are, wild bucks."

There's a Christmas episode, another onebuilt around the married Lu's love for a female co-worker and a whole lot of time spent on Alexis and Matt adjusting to their new reality. None of this is inherently objectionable, were it balanced with a focus on the mission at hand, but other than some drama involving a spacewalk, the characters might as well have been self-isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic, or just about anywhere else.

Their spaceship is a metaphor, you see, their journey through the stars representing the walls that are built even among those closest to us.

Hinderaker and the various directors, including the Oscar winner Edward Zwick ("Glory") on the pilot, achieve some moments of transcendent beauty, including a gift for montage linking the experiences of Emma with her family. If you're going to take the "Away" plunge, do it on the biggest possible screen.

It's just sad that the primary emotion that resonates above all else is boredom.

BOTTOM LINE: "Away" should be much better than it is, squandering a fascinating subject on pedestrian family drama.

See original here:

'Away': Hilary Swank series should be much better than it is - Newsday

Mission Gaganyaan: Training Indias Astronauts for Space Travel – The Quint

Posted on by

Space travel can be challenging, and astronauts will have to handle conditions such as handling life in isolation over long periods of time, space disorientation, and microgravity the condition of weightlessness that astronauts experience in their spacecraft on space missions.

To train for such circumstances, simulator training is crucial. The Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) has simulators that are capable of simulating or 're-creating' the conditions of microgravity for the training of astronauts. IAM also boasts of a simulator that can simulate temperatures ranging from minus 20 degrees centigrade to 60 degrees, for training purposes.

The astronauts will also undergo training in the isolation and disorientation chambers. In this training, different illusions are created to disorient the trainees. Another simulator provides training in handling atmospheric pressures as high as six times that on earth.

Similar training will be provided to these astronauts at Russias Yuri Gagarin Centre as well, which is named after the first person ever to travel to space.

See the article here:

Mission Gaganyaan: Training Indias Astronauts for Space Travel - The Quint

Cosmonaut Brain Scans Show Space Does Weird Things to Motor Skills And Vision – ScienceAlert

Posted on by

Imagine you could throw the perfect bullseye, but you'd have to wear glasses to do it. That's a trade-off some space travellers may unwittingly make when they venture off the planet.

A study published Friday examined the brains of eight male Russian cosmonauts roughly seven months after they returned from lengthy missions to the International Space Station.

The researchers discovered minor changes in the cosmonauts' brains that suggested the men were more dexterous but had slightly weaker vision.

"They actually acquired some kind of new motor skill, like riding a bike," Steven Jillings, the study's lead author, told Business Insider.

The researchers used a type of MRI to produce 3D images of the cosmonauts' brains.

The scans showed an increased amount of tissue in the cerebellum: the part of the brain responsible for balance, coordination, and posture (shown in green in the video below).

Illustration from Steven Jillings and Ben Jeurissen using MRtrix3. (University of Antwerp)

But the scans also showed that people living in space could wind up with trouble seeing up-close. Both of those changes could potentially be long-lasting.

Any human brain, whether it has been to space or not, can adapt to new environments and experiences. Many athletes, for instance, acquire specific motor skills directly related to their sport.

"If you were to do an MRI study where you compare normal people to athletes or people who really use motor skills like dart players, for example, you would hypothesize to find changes in the cerebellum," Jillings said.

"This is not just because they trained once and then it changes and goes back. It's actually something that lasts in the brain."

On average, the Russian cosmonauts in the study spent six months onboard the space station. Researchers expected to see temporary changes in the cosmonauts' brains, but they were surprised to discover that the improved motor skills were still there several months after they'd returned to Earth.

"The difficulty with studying these cosmonauts is you don't really have a reference - nothing on Earth that it really can be compared to," Jillings said.

"It's possible that when they go to their next mission that they actually are able to adapt more quickly."

Many previous studies have revealed that astronauts experience physical changes in microgravity, including muscle and bone loss.

Astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS typically exercise more than two hours a day to combat this process. They can also feel disoriented or motion-sick while their body adjusts to a weightless environment.

One important difference between life in space and on Earth is that our blood and bodily fluids normally move against the downward tug of gravity, whereas in space, astronauts' bodily fluids shift upward.

The new study found that microgravity causes the brain to shift upward as well. This in turn redistributes the fluids in which the brain floats.

Jillings said his study found evidence that the fluid may pile up behind the eye, causing swelling. This could impair astronauts' near vision, resulting in a condition called spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome.

A 2012 survey found the same effect among many NASA astronauts - up to 60 percent of those studied said they were seeing less clearly onboard the ISS. NASA even flies prescription glasses to space just in case an astronaut's vision changes.

But Jillings said there's still more to learn about this phenomenon, especially because not all astronauts or cosmonauts return to Earth with bad vision, and most astronauts studied only developed impaired vision in one eye. Some also recover their vision shortly after returning to Earth.

What's more, many Russian cosmonauts have extremely sharp sight to begin with, so even after they complete a stint in space, their vision is still normal compared to the average person.

"The fact that we do see the small decrease probably means that there are some common effects across all people who spend six months in space," Jillings said.

Scientists are still trying to determine the degree to which the impaired eyesight could be permanent.

An April study from the University of Texas found that swelling in astronauts' brains persisted one year after their return to Earth. But Jillings said there are no long-term follow-up studies to see how long the condition really lasts beyond that.

"There are not many studies looking into the brains of astronauts," he said.

Overall, Jillings added, it's good news that his study didn't pick up on any serious health effects linked to space travel.

Previous studies, by contrast, have suggested that radiation in space could lead to neurodegeneration, which might accelerate the development of Alzheimer's disease among astronauts.

"We did not find any evidence of detrimental changes to the brain," Jillings said. "It's actually more of an adaptation."

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

More from Business Insider:

See the original post:

Cosmonaut Brain Scans Show Space Does Weird Things to Motor Skills And Vision - ScienceAlert

What Is It Like to Actually Parent From Space? – Yahoo Lifestyle

Posted on by

I've been in this business for 29 years, so to find projects that are authentic and unique is hard, Hilary Swank tells me. Away, now streaming on Netflix, was that rare jewel: a heartwarming family drama that showed real reactions to the (mostly) real situations playing out onscreen. Think This Is Us or Friday Night Lights, just with more space travel.

Swank plays Emma Green, the commander of the first-ever mission to Mars. It's dangerousand to go, she must leave behind her teen daughter (Talitha Eliana Bateman) and husband (Josh Charles) for three years. That dynamic is the heart of the show's drama: How do you navigate being a good partner or parent when you're literally on a different planet? And is there anything we non-space-travelers can learn from that experience?

Here, we invited Hilary Swank, showrunner and writer Jessica Goldberg, and Karen Nyberg, the real-deal astronaut who helped Swank with research for the show, to discuss.

Glamour: To start, tell me what drew you to Away?

Jessica Goldberg: I had never seen a working mother portrayed like this onscreen. A woman can love her work and her family equally, and I felt so excited to tell that story truthfully. Also, we were already in a divisive moment internationally when I got the show. The knee-jerk reaction seems to be in television to write dystopian bleak programs, but I wanted to be a part of something that imagined the world coming together.

Hilary Swank: [I appreciated] the idea of being a commander on a mission to Mars where the drama isn't that she's a womanshe's the person best suited for the job. The drama is around normal stuff, like building trust. You have these human beings who are all on this journey toward a common goal with no borders. Jessica, you talked so beautifully in one of the episodes you wrote about hope and how it is really everything. It's what we all can understand and relate to in life, no matter your gender, no matter your race, no matter your creed. Hope is what you have to hold on to in order to persevere. This show encapsulated all of these things without forcing it.

Story continues

Glamour: Karen, as an astronaut, what stuck out to you as being particularly resonant?

Karen Nyberg: When they were showing the family experience before Emma goes to Mars, I was tearing up. I was feeling what I've felt before I went to space, as well as when my husband [Doug Hurley, who is also an astronaut] went just a couple months ago. I think the show really captured that. I felt it as a memory. My son is 10 now. He was only three when I went for my six-month-long flight. I didn't have to explain things quite the same, but there was still things to deal with.

Hilary: Karen, if you wouldn't mind sharing the story you told me. You don't have to, but I find it really fascinating.

Karen: Yeah, I don't mind sharing it because there was a lot of emotion with it. After my first space shuttle flight, in 2008, I was really eager to go again. Extremely eager. But Doug and I were trying to have a child when I was assigned to the space mission STS-132. I was assigned to the flight and going to do spacewalksand then I got pregnant. The frustrating part was that my baby was due well before the mission. I had gone to my commander, and we thought I could continue training, have the baby, and then do this mission. We had a planwe had a backup in case something happened and I couldn't continue training.

And then I was taken off the flight. It was disappointing. But, like most things, it all worked out fine in the end. Peggy Whitson was the chief of the astronaut office at the time, and as soon as I came off maternity leave, she assigned me to a long-duration mission. She took care of me.

Hilary: Didn't they call it a health crisis or something?

Karen: The official word that went out from NASA was that I was removed from the flight for a temporary medical condition. My son wasn't quite so temporary. [Laughs.]

Glamour: One thing that struck me was watching Emma, a mother, trying to parent from space. Karen, you can actually speak to that unique experience.

Karen: I had to travel a lot for training. It was hard, but I had to learn to give up control. Doug was training when we first had my son Jackfor the first 18 months he was training for a space flight, so he was very busy. I was in control of Jack's schedule, what he ate, and any activities he did. So when I was training, I would try to micromanage what was happening in Jack's life. I had to let go of that. By the time I flew in space, I had worked through it.

The key is to have support and people you trust. My husband was home, but he was working. We had an amazing nanny, Lucy, who we just adored, and my mother-in-law helping. When I was in space, my husband and I had very good communication. I could talk to him on the phone every single day. But for a three-year-old, it was a little difficult. I made a video for him every single day on my iPad that I sent home. I had 166 videos saying, "Good night, I love you."

I did prepare myself for something, and I'm glad I did: coming home and him not wanting to come to me as the primary caregiver. And it happened. Jack had spent a lot of time with my mother-in-law. So the first night I was home, he wanted her to put him to bednot me. Luckily, I prepared myself for that. I told myself, I haven't been here. I haven't been the motherly figure to him for six months. It only took a few days, and he was back to coming to me.

Jessica: Now that your son is 10, would it feel harder to go to space?

Karen: I think so. I think it would be a lot harder to go right now than when he was three. I think he was fine with my husband going [a few months ago], but it probably was a little stressful for him. I anticipate it might have been more so if it had been me going this time.

Jessica: When we met, Hilary, one of the things that struck me was that you take care of your father. That resonated with a lot of the themes we were discussing in the writers room, which is: How do you go away when there's someone...

Hilary: Yeah, there was a conversation at one point if we could film the show in Bulgaria or something. At that point I wouldn't have been able to commit because my dad wasn't in a position where I could be on a flight that long as his health advocate. Vancouver quickly became the obvious choice, thankfully, so that I could get back home within three hours.

Jessica: For some reason I've never been able to work in Los Angeles. Nothing shoots here. So I always have to leave my daughter. Luckily, my mother lives a mile down the street, but you do miss things like the tooth fairy. It's amazing how much those little thingsa toothcan really spiral you.

Karen: When I left for space, Jack was at the level where he could take a crayon and draw lines and shapes. When I came home, he was turning those shapes into people. In that amount of time, he had gone from just doodling to actually drawing people. I made a little quilted art piece of his first drawing that he made when I came back, because it was so special. Things like that made me realize the length of time.

Jessica: Would you go to Mars, like Emma?

Karen: It's easy right now to say no because it's not a possibility. I think we're far enough away from that. It's such a commitment. If we were in a position where we were actually doing Mars missions right now, I don't know how I would feel.

Jessica: With COVID, did your experience of being isolated on a ship prepare you for the isolation people are doing now? And the way people are communicating now?

Karen: I was telling Hilary earlier that I don't mind being alone. I don't mind being stuck in my house. That part of being on the space station wasn't challenging. Of course, being away from Doug and Jack was.

One thing we deal with when we're talking to mission control is that when you don't have a face-to-face, all you're doing is talking via the communication loops. You lose that human connection, and you can find yourself getting angry at the other person or thinking, Well, that's a dumb idea. Why are they making me do that? You wouldn't do that if you were in the same room with them. I can imagine that happens with Zoom calls too.

Jessica: Yeah, that makes sense. Did you two talk before the show?

Hilary: Yeah, I spent a lot of time one-on-one with Karen down at mission control. We had a whole day together. I feel like we really got to know one another.

Swank and Nyberg at the Johnson Space Center in February 2020

Glamour: Did anything really surprise you?

Hilary: The story she just shared about getting pregnant and not being able to go on that mission really paralleled what Jessica had written in one of my favorite episodes. Also, Karen told me that the press always asks the women, Oh, what's it going to be like for you when you leave your family? But they asked 20% of the men that question. It boggles my mind that a man wouldn't feel the same about leaving his family, or that the family doesn't feel the same about losing their dad for a certain amount of time. They doit's just stereotypes.

Glamour: In the pilot we learn Emmas husband dreamed of going to space as well but didnt meet the requirements. I thought it was really beautiful that his reaction was to tell her, Okay, were all in on you.

Hilary: Karen and her husband, Doug, are both astronauts, so they understand on a deep level what that's like for the other person. Emma is going on this mission, and her husband is left behind, but it's not a masculinity thing. That's not the drama of the story. There's sadness that he's not fulfilling a dream of his, which is understandable, but it's not about her. It's not about how she has to underplay her joy or shining her light in order to make him feel better about himself.

That was a plus for me. That there was this man who was like, Oh, hell yeah, you're going to go. Every time I think about that in the through line of the story, how it's woven in, it makes me cry. Josh Charles was an anchor to me. His ability to have understated strength and the way he delivers his lines in support of herit's so beautiful.

Jessica: To me, it's the sexiest man in the world that can say, You go. When we first started thinking about this couple, we were like, What couples share a vision? We thought of the Obamas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband. Usually you see a husband get jealous, but what if there was a shared dream at the heart of this love story? It's something I haven't seen a lot of couples portray on television. Karen, you must have that in your marriage?

Karen: Absolutely. I could not have left a three-year-old for six months if my husband wasn't completely on board and supportive. He was fine being the primary caregiver. If he was at all jealous, it wouldn't have worked. He wanted me to reach my dream too. We talked about it when Peggy offered me the six-month flight. I asked, Should I not go because of our son? He helped me make the decision to do it.

Glamour: Karen, we talked the experience of mothering from space, but Id also love to hear from your experience about being a partner as well. Is your marriage dynamic different when youre so far away?

Karen: Communication is key. We speak every day, and I would still participate in the household. When Doug was in space recently, I was going to make sure the bills got paid and everything. But he had an internet access, so sometimes I would log on and a bill's already been paid. When he had time, he would take care of those things. Another important thing is that when you are gone for that amount of timeand a three-year mission to Mars would be even more soyou have to realize that your family has come up with their own routine and ways of doing things. You have to assimilate back into that and not expect things are going to be exactly how they were when you left.

Hilary: That's like being on a movie set. You leave for six months, things were run a certain way, and you have to reassimilate back in after having a journey with all these other people. Can you imagine going into space without Wi-Fi anymore?

Glamour: Hilary, what do you hope people take away from the show?

Hilary: I feel like the show, now more than ever, resonates because we've all been in this type of isolation. Sometimes our only way of communicating with loved ones is via Zoom. I think we'll have a deeper appreciation for what the crew is going through with missing their loved ones and only being able to have this way of communicating. That deep desire to see your loved one and hope that they're making it through this.

Jessica: I have a 13-year-old daughter, and there's so few things that you can watch with your kid that you enjoy as much as they do. For the first time, she got what I did. That's an amazing thing. Karen, do you experience that feeling with your son?

Karen: He's now old enough to understand it more. He's not interested in being an astronaut and following in our footsteps. He told me one time, a few years ago, Mom, all you do is go to space and do stupid interviews. I think seeing Doug go and all the hoopla around that and watching the launch, he's now old enough to feel it and understand it.

Also, that feeling [on the show] of hope and no borders and people just working togetherthe International Space Station has been doing that for 20 years. It goes beyond politics. It's working together for this common goal. Sometimes I'd be up at the space station and think, Why aren't we all doing this? Don't we all have the same goal? It works so well in exploring spaceit's too bad it doesn't translate so easily to other areas.

Jessica: That is something that blew us away, that none of the politics of earth mattered. Can you describe what it's like seeing earth from up there?

Karen: It's more than just what you're seeing; it's what you're feeling as you're looking at it. One morning I was watching the news while eating breakfast, and there was a conflict in Syria at the time. And you know when you're watching the news and you don't fully understand it because you're not there? Later that day I was looking out the window and realized we were right over Syria. I'm looking down and thinking, They're right there. There was this connection I started feeling. Those types of experiences really increased my empathy for others. If everybody could get that feeling, I think it would be a good thing.

Anna Moeslein is the senior editor at Glamour. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Originally Appeared on Glamour

Go here to read the rest:

What Is It Like to Actually Parent From Space? - Yahoo Lifestyle

German rocket start-up inaugurates production site in Bavaria – The Star Online

Posted on by

BERLIN, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The production site of the German rocket start-up Isar Aerospace near the city of Munich was inaugurated by Bavaria's minister president Markus Soeder on Monday.

"We believe that the next big technological revolutions will take place in space," the German start-up announced on Linkedin. "We are building the first German launch vehicle in Bavaria and feel proud to lead the way as local pioneering project."

The 27-meter-long launch vehicle, a rocket called Spectrum designed for satellite constellation deployment, is expected to reach earth orbit for the first time next year, Isar Aerospace co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Daniel Metzler confirmed to the German Press Agency (dpa).

Isar Aerospace which was founded in 2018 closed an investment round of 17 million U.S. dollars at the end of last year, said the company.

A total of around 100 million euros would be available by the end of the year through a second investment round. "We want to build a European SpaceX, a privately financed company for the construction of space rockets," Metzler told the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Monday.

To support German start-ups, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) called for a German launch platform for small carrier rocket. "A mobile launch platform in the North Sea is technically feasible and makes strategic and economic sense," said BDI Director General Joachim Lang on Monday.

The BDI presented a concept to the German government for the realization of a mobile launch platform in the North Sea which could be realized within two years as a private operator scheme with state support.

Germany's Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier already expressed interest in the idea of a spaceport in Germany at the end of last year. "Space travel inspires many people and secures thousands of jobs in Germany. We are a leader in satellite technology," he noted.

Here is the original post:

German rocket start-up inaugurates production site in Bavaria - The Star Online

A NASA Warp Drive Could Be a Reality in the Distant Future – Interesting Engineering

Posted on by

That's it. You have decided 2020 has been enough. You have created a spaceship and have made the choice to leave for the closest habitable planet. None of the traditional potentially habitable nearby neighbors like Mars, Venus, or Titan will make the cut. Rather than risk living through anymore 2020 catastrophes, your best bet is to fly out to one of our closest interstellar neighbors. In 2017, astronomers reported that our nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, has several potentially habitable exoplanets. It looks like this may be your next destination. However, how long will it take for you to get to your new home with our current technology? For reference, consider that the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo 11 spacecraft into space traveled at just over 40,000 kilometers per hour.

However, let's assume that your spaceship can reach the same top speed as the Parker Solar Probe, right under 700,000 kilometers per hour. How long will it take you to get to Proxima Centauri, which lies approximately 4.2 light-years from Earth? A few months? Years? Decades? Assuming that you can travel as fast as the Parker Solar Probe, it would take approximately 6,600 years to arrive at your destination. No amount of gameplay will keep you entertained for that long, given that you have found a way to survive. Say, if you were only able to travel at the speed of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, it would take you 113,000 years to get to Proxima Centauri.

Perhaps we have a solution to your conundrum. A warp drive. Before we even jump into warp speed, you need to fully grasp our universe's massive size and the concept of light-years.

As the universe is unimaginably big, researchers tend to use light-years to describe the distance between objects. In short, a light-year is the distance light travels in one Earth year. Light is the fastest thing in our universe, traveling at a speed of approximately 186,000 miles or 300,000 km per second. One light-year is approximately 6 trillion miles or 9 trillion km. If you wanted to travel to something a little closer like the Sun it would take 8.3 minutes to reach your destination traveling at the speed of light.

However, if you wanted to go to our closest big galaxy, Andromeda, it would take you 2.5 million light-years. Even if humans were able to create a ship that could travel at the speed of light, our potential destinations would still be limited. Much easier, but still annoying. As we said, the universe is unimaginably large. However, could we create a ship that travels faster than light? Though this sounds like something out of your favorite science fiction show or movie, a warp drive may not be as unrealistic as once thought.

In fact, it may be crucial to our survival. "I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars," said the late Stephen Hawking.

17 FACTS ABOUT INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL THAT WILL HAVE YOU DREAMING OF SPACE

In the legendary Star Trek film and television show franchise, warp drive technology was described as a machine designed "to manipulate space, to violate the laws of motion. You make the tiniest mistake, you'll collapse the warp field, you'll crush this ship."

Sounds cool, right?

Basically, a warp drive allows space explorers to travel faster than the speed of light. In Star Trek, it worked by generating "warp fields" to form a subspace bubble that enveloped the starship, distorting the local space-time continuum and moving the starship at velocities that could significantly exceed the speed of light. This fictional 24th-century device makes all interstellar exploration and commerce possible in Star Trek. However, what about in reality?

As mentioned, in our fictional world, a warp drive would allow us to manipulate space-time itself, very literally taking advantage of a loophole in physics to move faster than light. The closest thing to a real warp drive is known as the Alcubierre Warp Drive, which is still only a theoretical construct. It is based on a highly speculative physics paper published in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, who proposed a purportedly valid solution to how space-time and energy interact.

Why would we do something like this? You can thank Einstein. Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity has driven our understanding of the universe for over a century. Scientists have been operating under the restrictions imposed by a relativistic universe. One of these proposed restrictions centers around the idea that the speed of light is an unbreakable universal speed limit.

This means things like faster-than-light space travel is impossible. Alcubierre's answer? He believes that bending space-time could be the solution. How would that work?

Let's go back to our space trip to Proxima Centauri example. In this case, rather than have a standard space ship, we have a new and improved ship with Alcubierre's warp drive technology installed. How would it work? Simply put, as your ship travels to Proxima Centauri, it would cause space ahead of it to contract while the space behind it would expand. Your ship would be moving in space-time within a bubble, or what is known as a "warp bubble" of flat space.

The solution to Einsteins field equations that would allow this warp-speed travel is called the "Alcubierre metric". Imagine you and your roommate picked up the sheet on your bed and straightened it, holding each corner so that it was suspended above the bed, completely flat and stable. If you were to drop a round crystal ball and let it sit on this sheet, it would create an indent, "bending" the fabric. This is going to be your spaceship within its warp- bubble, and the sheet is space-time. Our spaceship is not only making a dent in space; it is pulling part of space-time towards it (expanding) and pushing space-time behind it (contracting).

Two-dimensional visualization of an Alcubierre drive, showing the opposing regions of expanding and contracting spacetime that displace the central region,Source: Allen McC/WikimediaCommons

As described by Matt Williams of Universe Today, "Since the ship is not moving within this bubble, but is being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation would not apply. Hence, the rules of space-time and the laws of relativity would not be violated in the conventional sense."

Our ship is not violating Einstein's equations thanks to the "Alcubierre metric". This phenomenon would give our unique spaceship special properties. We could reach our destination faster within our bubble than a beam of light traveling outside our warp bubble. Interestingly, the fabric of space-time is not limited by the speed of light as proposed by Einstein.

What type of spaceship would we need to create to do this? We would need to create a football-shaped spacecraft with a massive ring encircling it for our faster than light travel to be possible. Think of the enormous ship presented in Interstellar or even in 2001: Space Odyssey. The ring circling the ship would be made of "exotic matter" that would cause space-time to warp around it, creating the scenario described above. Going back to our warp bubble explanation we would be able to travel about ten times the speed of light.

So why are we not funding this? To build a space-ship powerful enough to warp, space-time would need to be massive. The minimum amount of energy required would be about equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.

Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center says, "There is hope." At the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss interstellar spaceflight, he talked about the possibility of creating an Alcubierre warp drive. Initially, it was believed the ring on our ship needed to be a perfect circle, making further complicating its design. However, White's new calculations propose that the ring circling our ship be more donut-shaped.

This could power a spacecraft with the mass-energy of the Voyager 1 probe. Even more recently, a report published by NASAhas insinuated that the space agency has at least taken a serious look at warp drive technology there are multiple steps required to achieve interstellar travel, and it could take countless years before we become an interplanetary species. Whats more, there are multiple other steps we need to take to get there. Simply, creating a self-sustaining civilization on Mars is going to be a monumental task.

As Elon Musk once said, There needs to be an intersection of the set of people who wish to go, and the set of people who can afford to go...and that intersection of sets has to be enough to establish a self-sustaining civilization."

However, warp drive technology could be an important first step. Until then we can put our hopes in the development of ion propulsion.

Do you think we will have warp drive technology in the near future? Where would you travel?

See original here:

A NASA Warp Drive Could Be a Reality in the Distant Future - Interesting Engineering

UK’s big advantage that will spark European dominance in post-Brexit space tourism – Daily Express

Posted on by

The UK's rural areas are being scouted for a big space tourism project by Virgin Galactic, a British spaceflight company within the Virgin Group.Space tourism seeks to give tourists the ability to become astronauts and experience space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.Conservative Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee David Morris spoke to Express.co.uk about why this was good news for the UK.

He said: "The reason that Virgin want to have a space port down in the southwest of England is because space tourism would work so well from that point there.

"If you put a spaceship up into the upper atmosphere of the Earth into lower space, from there you will see literally everything from the north down to the equator.

"You will see quite a large area of the Earth from up there so space tourism is very beneficial for the UK.

"We're placed to do that and the weather is more conducive further south we go to doing this kind of a project."

READ MORE:WATCH: SpaceX rocket booster fails to land correctly - misses ship

Mr Morris continued: "The UK is not just about putting up satellites. We've got space tourism coming along, we've also got other applications that we can use, and we're very good at doing that.

"So I do think it's a very positive outlook for the UK industry.

"The UK Space Agency has been working very hard over the years to ensure that.

"I do think it's now time that we had a dedicated Space Minister that brings all of this together and brings partners in touch with one another under a banner of where we want to go with it."

The Space Committee Chair also spoke about why it was necessary for the UK to develop its space industry.

He told Express.co.uk: "You can see there's quite a lot of people employed in the space sector, it's a high tech, high quality jobs industry.

"This is how we can actually spread it out across the UK and bring all the talent together."

DON'T MISSMars mission warning: 'Exciting' search for life on planet hampered[WARNING]Taal volcano: SHOCKING images show eruption visible from space[PICTURES]NASA news: Unexpected Mars mission discovery shocks scientists[INSIGHT]

Mr Morris added: "To give you an example, the preferred areas for space ports are rural areas.

"We have mainly ballistic capabilities that we're trying to develop so we can send our own satellites up into orbit in the more remote rural areas, the ones that are more north because of trajectories and securities as far as sending any ballistic missiles into the air.

"So we're looking at trying to put investment into those areas so that we can enhance the capabilities of ballistics.

"We have the ITAR agreement with the Americans so if we send anything up it doesn't contravene anything to do with ballistic missiles and military.

"It's very beneficial for Scotland and the rest of the UK to remain a united kingdom in that respect."

See the rest here:

UK's big advantage that will spark European dominance in post-Brexit space tourism - Daily Express

Nashville eyes sidewalk dining as a tool to keep restaurants afloat. Could the idea outlast COVID-19? – Tennessean

Posted on by

As Nashville's hospitality and food service industry fights to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, the city is eyeing a potential lifelinefrom the pages of the European restaurant playbook: al fresco dining.

Metro Council is considering legislation for final approval on Sept. 15 that could give way for Nashville restaurants to temporarily allow sidewalk cafe dining.It's aimed at giving restaurants an avenue to expand their outdoor seating while still complying with capacity limitations imposed by the city.

While Metro's existing sidewalk cafe permit program predates the pandemic, it's only been an option offered to businesses downtown. If approved, the ordinance would extend the choice throughout the the county, and also allow businesses to utilize some of their private parking spots not includingAccessible Parking Spaces for additional seating.

"Thiswas a result of the conversations I had with small business owners in the East Nashville community sort of about finding ways that we could, within the context of safe social distancing and reduced capacity, allow them to see some more customers and provide some opportunity for people to better weather this unprecedented situation," said Council Member Sean Parker, who is sponsoring the bill.

The legislation has wide support on council and comes at a time when businesses have had tofind creativeways to adjust their operations under health restrictions.

Puckett's Wayne Johnson takes Jonathan and Leslie Godfrey's lunch order on Puckett's outdoor patio in downtown Nashville on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

Supporters hope the ordinance, which would expire at the end of the calendar year unless extended by council, will be a time to learn lessons and see how it could change how Nashville utilizes public space and right-of-way in the future with potential shifts and changes in a post-pandemic world.

"Maybe some of this will be a permanent fixture and the city will be better off,"Metro Public Works Assistant Director Jeff Hammon said. "We're happy to use bad situations like we're in with COVID, and experiment and change minds."

While "sidewalk" is in the title of the permit, it's notjust limited to sidewalks. Public Works has the authority to extend the use of other public right-of-way to businesses, including on-street parking, travel lanes and curbs.

It willall be determined on a case-by-case basis, Hammon told The Tennessean.

Restaurants must still get a permit fromPublic Works the $100 fee is waived during the duration of the ordinanceand comply with existing provisions, including at least a 4-foot sidewalk clearance as required by theAmericans with Disabilities Act.

In some cases more clearance for pedestrians might be required.

While safety remainsparamount, Hammon said thedepartment is trying to strike a balance between due diligence and not overthinking the process.

"We have one objective right now and that is to try and do just enough to allow this to happen and then get out of the way. Time is a bit of the essence for thesebusinesses and there's pressure to make it happen," he said. "There may be less oversight than what we might normally do, but there's also not as heavy of pedestrian traffic as (pre-COVID-19). It seems like a reasonable trade-off."

Officials will do an initial look at a site plan and then examinehow operations are set up.The city already has a mechanism in place for concerns related to public rights-of-way, and deploys inspectors whenany complaints are filed with the city.

Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant on 5th Avenue and Church Street worked with the Nashville Downtown Partnership and the city to create a sidewalk dining spaceabout four years ago.

But while sidewalk dining is not new to Nashville, it's one idea that hasn't been put to much use, according to Hammon, who could think of maybe one other restaurant downtown who holds a permit.

Much of that, he suspects, has to do with little knowledge about the process.

"I have learned more about sidewalk cafes as a result of this conversation," saidDowntown Council Member Freddie O'Connell. "There's a new level of interest, especially about public spaces, and that's a good thing. Particularly because it's better for people to be outdoors right now."

COVID-19 has brought on a particular set of challenges on Lower Broadway, including enforcement of the city's mask mandate asfoot traffic remains high on weekends with tourists continueto flock to the popular street.

Images from the holiday weekend showed packed sidewalks with no social distancing as patrons mingled as they waited to get inside businesses.

Leslie Godfrey eats lunch on Puckett's outdoor patio in downtown Nashville on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

While the city has already closed down some lanes to extend space for walkability, including this Sunday when officials completely shut down traffic between 4th and 5th avenues, some businesses lining Lower Broadway have tried to set up tables and chairs outside to optimize sales and profits with reduced capacity indoors. But because it's a state route, they're prohibited from conducting operations on state right-of-way.

Puckett's is one of several restaurants run by A. Marshall Hospitality under CEO and founder Andy Marshall, who said the sidewalk dining option was part of an effort by the Nashville Downtown Partnership to bolster a "community feel" downtown.

Puckett's outdoor seating lines the sidewalk near the street, leaving a pathway for pedestrians between the restaurant and sidewalk dining space.

"For us, it's been popular, and now it's even more popular than it was when we started it," Marshall said.

He supports the ordinance, which he noted could boost both sales and morale in Nashville's restaurant industry during the pandemic. But he doesn't think it has to end there.

"I think if the room allows it on the sidewalks, for a clear pathway for pedestrians and the outside dining, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't want this to be a permanent ordinance for restaurants and cafes to participate in," Marshall said. "It adds a wonderful atmosphere, not only downtown but in the neighborhoods, and I think it would be something that should be long term."

Meitra Aycock, president of the 12 South Neighborhood Association, said she was surprised an ordinance like this wasn't introduced sooner.

"This has been going on in cities across the U.S. for months now, and it seems like such an obvious solution for these small business owners," she said.

The 12 South neighborhood is lauded as one of the most walkable in Nashville, with its streets particularly a half-mile stretch on 12th Avenue South lined with local small businesses and restaurants.

Aycock said she thinks the ordinance will be helpful for some businesses on 12 South that have parking spaces they could convert into seating areas, or areas where roadways could be closed to accommodate pedestrian traffic (the latter idea is not part of the ordinance currently under consideration). For other businesses, the logistics would be more complicated.

"Do I support that our merchants (would) have an enhanced ability to thrive? Absolutely," she said. "Do I want to forego the walkability of 12th Avenue? No."

Businesses thathave already pivoted and adapted operations in the past five monthswill have to decide which revenue model works best for them, said Council Member Colby Sledge, who represents the 12 South area.

For some, it might make more sense to retain parking spots for increased vehicle turnover due to upticks in take-out orders, or continue to use space out front for curbside or window pick up.

Ownersat Edley's Bar-B-Que recently redid theoutdoor dining area on their 12th Avenue South location'sexisting outdoor deck, and told Sledgedeliverieshave greatly increased making on-street parking in front of their businesses important to keep available.

Not all sidewalks are created equally, and Nashville is not known for its walkability, Sledge added.

Before the slowdown brought by COVID-19, the idea of sidewalk cafes along the popular avenue likely wouldn't have been feasible, he said. At least not without a lot of work.

Sledge said he doesn't see ordinance resulting in "cafe style" seating everywhere in Nashville in future, butthat the lesson could be the city creativelyrethinking already made spaces within the city particularly in the Urban core, such as the Gulch, or Houston Street in his district.

Adding sidewalk dining space has already benefited Lockeland Table, among the first restaurants in Nashville to request permission to do so from the city during the pandemic.

Metro worked with the restaurant and the Civic Design Center to provide a different temporary process dubbed the "tactical urbanism" permit.

Civic Design Center is an organization that works with various groups and Public Works to reclaim public space, using short-term, low costs projects to improve safety and pedestrian-friendly spaces.

The restaurant, located in the Lockeland Springs neighborhood, lined the sidewalk on one of its outside walls with seven small tables, two seats each. Co-owner Cara Graham said it's made a world of difference in helping the business survive while following mandates limiting its indoor space to half capacity.

"14 seats in a situation like this is huge for us, and people want to be there," Graham said. "That's where they request to sit 90% of the time."

East Nashville's Lockeland Table added a bunch of tables on the sidewalk on the 16th Street side of the restaurant(Photo: Submitted)

Graham said the restaurant's attorney handled the application process, which went smoothly. The planning commission inspected the sidewalk setup and determined that the sidewalk was wide enough to accommodate tables and still comply withADArequirements.

"I think it's really an example of the city recognizing that we need to re-imagine public spaces and how these public spaces can be activated in positive ways," Graham said.

Making this process easier for restaurants could be their saving grace, she added.

"We just feel like we've consistently been doing our part for the city ... we were doing the things that were mandated before they were mandated," Graham explained. "...We feel like this is just a way for the city to give back to small businesses that are trying to survive right now."

Yihyun Jeong covers politics in Nashville for USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE.Reach her at yjeong@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @yihyun_jeong.

Cassandra Stephenson covers business for The Tennessean. Reach her at ckstephenson@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @CStephenson731.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/08/nashville-eyes-sidewalk-dining-tool-keep-restaurants-afloat/5684325002/

View original post here:

Nashville eyes sidewalk dining as a tool to keep restaurants afloat. Could the idea outlast COVID-19? - Tennessean

The Care Bears, Roger Ver, and Tesla shenanigans: Bad crypto news of the week – Cointelegraph

Posted on by

While Bitcoin stays under its $12,000 ceiling, you can take your pick of future price predictions. The Winklevoss Brothers say that the coin will reach $500,000 and maybe even $600,000 if governments start to include it in their currency reserves. The twins didnt put a date on that prediction but Ecoinometrics, a data analysis firm, thinks that the post-halving pattern points to a $41,000 price before the end of the year. Bitcoin will then hit six figures in mid-April, they say. Or you can take the advice of Max Keiser. The RT host sees Warren Buffetts recent investments in Japan as a sign that the Sage of Omaha is getting out of dollars. Bitcoin, he says, will soon see all-time highs.

Buffett himself has called Bitcoin rat poison squared but hes not the only person to be skeptical about digital currencies. Users on Reddit have uncovered a thread showing the response to Satoshis initial posts. It looks like no one liked it except Hal Finney.

Roger Ver feels the same way now about Bitcoin ABC. The new Bitcoin Cash fork wants to implement a coinbase rule that would move 8 percent of new Bitcoin Cash to a development fund. The question is who gets to keep the Bitcoin Cash name. Ver wants to be sure its not ABC.

In friendlier news, Indian exchange CoinDCX will hold an online training and blockchain certifications course. The company hopes to reach 50 million users in India. Portbase, a logistics solution provider, has completed the first phase of its integration with the blockchain platform Tradelens. The companies will manage operations and processes for ports in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. And Spartan Black, an Asian cryptocurrency fund, sees good things in store for Polkadot. The price of the new protocols DOT increased by 200 percent within eight days of launch, and analysts think it still has a way to go. The protocol scales fast, costs less than Ethereum, and is made by Gavin Wood who was responsible for much of Ethereums development.

Polkadot isnt the only blockchain protocol that might be useful in the future. FinID is a Brazilian project developed through CPqD, a telecommunications research and development center. The project aims to use the blockchain to create sovereign, decentralized digital IDs.

Tommy Leas, also known as DJ PLS&TY, has used Foundation, the Ethereum-based art and culture platform, to launch his vinyl Very Special EP. The platform sells tokens that buyers can redeem for a physical good, raising the price in line with demand. Leas started his limited edition record at $50. Twelve sales later, its selling for $68.27.

If that price sounds like a steal, youre hearing what one Tesla employee heard recently. The employee was approached by someone offering them $1 million worth of Bitcoin in return for placing malware on Teslas computers. The hacker planned to demand $4 million not to publish the companys stolen data online. But the employee told the FBI and worked with law enforcement to trap the hacker. A Russian national, Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, has been charged.

Despite having such honest workers though, Teslas stock price has been less than stellar. The share fell 4.7 percent in a day, following the companys decision to sell stock to raise capital. Zoom, however, zoomed up 41 percent in a day. That makes for a rise of 571 percent this year.

And finally, the Care Bears will be joining Cryptokitties and Atari on blockchain-based gaming world The Sandbox. The eighties toys will be releasing NFTs that players can use in the Care-a-Lot environment. Who would have predicted that?

Check out the audio version here:

Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host of The Bad Crypto Podcast. Thats a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

See the original post:

The Care Bears, Roger Ver, and Tesla shenanigans: Bad crypto news of the week - Cointelegraph

Unhealthy crypto knowledge of the week | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom – Fintech Zoom

Posted on by

Whereas Bitcoin stays beneath its $12,000 ceiling, you presumably can take your resolve of future price predictions. The Winklevoss Brothers say that the coin will attain $500,000 and presumably even $600,000 if governments begin to embody it of their overseas exchange reserves. The twins didnt put a date on that prediction nonetheless Ecoinometrics, an knowledge evaluation company, thinks that the post-halving sample components to a $41,000 price earlier to the proper of the 12 months. Bitcoin will then hit six figures in mid-April, theyre saying. In one other case you presumably can take the recommendation of Max Keiser. The RT host sees Warren Buffetts current investments in Japan as an indication that the Sage of Omaha is getting out of {dollars}. Bitcoin, he says, will shortly see all-time highs.Buffett himself has referred to as Bitcoin rat poison squared nonetheless hes not the one specific specific individual to be skeptical about digital currencies. Prospects on Reddit have uncovered a thread exhibiting the response to Satoshis preliminary posts. It seems to be like nobody most popular it aside from Hal Finney.Roger Ver feels the equal technique now about Bitcoin ABC. The model new bitcoin cash fork should implement a coinbase rule that may change eight p.c of latest bitcoin cash to a enchancment fund. The query is who will get to deal with the bitcoin cash decide. Ver desires to verify its not ABC.In friendlier knowledge, Indian exchange CoinDCX will defend an web based totally based mostly completely educating and blockchain certifications course. The corporate hopes to achieve 50 million customers in India. Portbase, a logistics dedication supplier, has achieved the primary a part of its integration with the blockchain platform Tradelens. The businesses will preserve operations and processes for ports in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. And Spartan Black, an Asian cryptocurrency fund, sees good components in retailer for Polkadot. The price of the model new protocols DOT elevated by 200 p.c inside eight days of launch, and analysts suppose it nonetheless has a technique to go. The protocol scales quick, prices lower than Ethereum, and is made by Gavin Wooden who was accountable for a great deal of Ethereums enchancment.Polkadot isnt the one blockchain protocol that may be helpful lastly. FinID is a Brazilian enterprise developed via CPqD, a telecommunications analysis and enchancment coronary coronary heart. The enterprise objectives to profit from the blockchain to create sovereign, decentralized digital IDs.Tommy Leas, moreover referred to as DJ PLS&TY, has used Basis, the Ethereum-based work and customised platform, to launch his vinyl Very Special EP. The platform sells tokens that patrons can redeem for a bodily good, elevating the price in step with demand. Leas began his restricted model report at $50. Twelve product product gross sales later, its promoting for $68.27.If that price seems like a steal, youre listening to what one Tesla worker heard not too technique as soon as extra. The worker was approached by anybody providing them $1 million worth of Bitcoin in return for putting malware on Teslas laptop computer pc computer methods. The hacker take into accounts to demand $Four million to not publish the corporates stolen knowledge on-line. Nonetheless the worker fast the FBI and labored with regulation enforcement to lure the hacker. A Russian nationwide, Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, has been charged.Irrespective of having such dependable staff although, Teslas stock price has been lower than stellar. The share fell 4.7 p.c in a day, following the corporates various to promote stock to boost capital. Zoom, nonetheless, zoomed up 41 p.c in a day. That makes for an increase of 571 p.c this 12 months.And in the end, the Care Bears shall be turning right into a member of Cryptokitties and Atari on blockchain-based gaming world The Sandbox. The eighties toys shall be releasing NFTs that gamers can use contained throughout the Care-a-Lot setting. Who would have predicted that?Try the audio model proper right correct proper right here:Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Occasions best-selling creator, futurist speaker and co-host of The Unhealthy Crypto Podcast. Thats a flowery technique of claiming he writes phrases, says components and likes to play with cryptos.The views, ideas and opinions expressed listed beneath are the creators alone and dont primarily replicate or signify the views and opinions of Fintech Zoom.

Read the original post:

Unhealthy crypto knowledge of the week | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom | Fintech Zoom - Fintech Zoom

YouTube Removes Crypto Video Again For Violating ‘Harmful And Dangerous Policy’ – International Business Times

Posted on by

KEY POINTS

YouTube stopped popular cryptocurrency YouTuber Sunny Decrees livestream for violating its "harmful and dangerous policy."

In a tweet, Sunny Decree said he was doing a livestream entitled "Bitcoin Dump or Dip? CME Gap, BTC Dominance, Altcoin, Stocks, Gold" when it was suddenly halted. By then, he received a warning about his violation. The notice from YouTube said because it was his first time, he will only receive a warning. He would receive a strike after every next violation and if he gets three strikes, his channel would be removed.

This is not the first time the video sharing platform has banned crypto videos. In December 2019, YouTube banned multiple videos of well-known crypto-influencers. Trader and YouTuber Chris Dunn had the majority of his crypto-related videos removed on YouTube.

Another mass banning of videos happened in January 2020, although YouTube reversed the bans, admitting an error in their system, thus allowing banned channels to return. One high profile incident occurred June 13, 2020, when the channel of popular news website Bitcoin.com was removed for violation, prompting its owner Roger Ver to consider alternative video platforms. This is an ongoing headache to deal with, and makes us even more eager to support censorship resistant platforms like memo.cash, and lbry.tv, he said. YouTube unsuspended his account two days later with its 40,000 subscribers, citing error in the termination.

However, while YouTube has been swift in banning videos of legitimate channels, it appeared to be having a hard time eliminating cryptocurrency-related fraud in its network. In June, multiple fake live streams showing footage from SpaceX and NASAs SpaceX Crew Dragon launch began appearing on the platform. Each livestream is offering a Bitcoin giveaway which entices people to send Bitcoins and receive double the amount they sent in return. As soon as YouTube deleted one live stream, a new one came out in its place.

Instances like fake livestreams have forced prominent people, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, to sue YouTube for not shutting down crypto scams that use his name and likeness. He criticized YouTubes failure to stop BTC scams from proliferating in the platform, while at the same time praising Twitter for handling the high profile hack that compromised many peoples accounts into posting Bitcoin giveaway scams.

Bitcoin Photo: Getty

Link:

YouTube Removes Crypto Video Again For Violating 'Harmful And Dangerous Policy' - International Business Times

Tracking racism’s symbols and reality – Camden New Journal newspapers website

Posted on by

Francis Galton (by Charles Wellington Furse)

WHILE, as a libertarian, I have my doubts at times about toppling statues or removing a pedestal of Hans Sloane, the founder of the British Museum, I can understand why so many academics at London University decided to rename the lecture theatre honouring Francis Galton, whose theories about the selective breeding of humans to increase desirable characteristics engaged a wave of intellectuals in the 19th century, all following what became known as eugenics.

It found curious support among such eminent public figures as George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells.

But eugenics certainly found a home in Germany, and later in the Nazi culture, feeding its racist beliefs and poisoning scientific and medical circles.

Mary Fulbrook

One of London Universitys eminent academics, Mary Fulbrook a world recognised author on the hideous ramifications of the Holocaust stood slightly aside while debate raged in the halls of learning about what to do with the Galton name. She is now immersed in researching the role of bystanders in Nazi Germany, who either literally stood by and allowed the abhorrent persecution of Jews and minorities to take place or even participated in them. The professions in science or medicine were not exempt from what became a genocide. Her next book will describe this tide of hate.

Racism, of course, is abhorrent but it can be so easily manipulated as an idea and found where, perhaps, it does not exist.I wrote last week about a Jewish lawyer in Islington who has been suspended from membership of the Labour Party for alleged anti-semitic remarks. I hear that Bindmans, the firm of solicitors in Euston, is now representing eight Labour Party members who are either being investigated by Labour officials or accused of making alleged anti-semitic remarks. A crowdfunding site has so far raised 27,000 for legal fees.

Somewhere, it seems, a legal argument begins as to whether critical statements about the Israeli government get entangled and confused with remarks deemed to be anti-semitic.

See more here:

Tracking racism's symbols and reality - Camden New Journal newspapers website

Americans Could Learn a Lot from the Friendship of These Two Celebrated Authors | John Tuttle – Foundation for Economic

Posted on by

Throughout literary history, without concern for era or genre, there have been a slew of authors who happen to strike up long-lived friendships with fellow writers. Tolkien and Lewis, Emerson and Louisa May Alcott, and Twain and Ulysses S. Grant comprise a few exemplary pairs of writer-friends.

However, one relationship among literary giants is often forgotten. It involved two British writers who had equally grandiose personalities, though rather opposing perceptions of the world.

One was an atheistic socialist; the other a faith-based conservative. One was a science-fiction novelist and historian; one a columnist, poet, and mystery novelist.

These two men respected each other, despite their clashing dispositions, and were able to communicate on polite terms, something modern debaters could take a cue from. They were the well-revered H.G. Wells and G.K. Chesterton.

Their charm matched with their tempered persistence made for appealing, intellectually-stimulating conversations. Or at least they thought so.

Chesterton was rather known for his open affiliation with individuals whose beliefs he firmly disapproved of. Wells stood just as firm in his own ideals. He openly stated he was immoral, referring to his sexual tendencies, though on what rationale he based this it is uncertain.

But on one occasion Wells is also noted for saying, If I ever get to Heaven, presuming there is a Heaven, it will be by the intervention of Gilbert Chesterton.

Chesterton, likewise, held his friend Wells in high esteem for his willingness to explore varying realms of philosophy. The columnist once hailed Wells as the only one of many brilliant contemporaries who has not stopped growing.

Wells insisted on the theory of eugenics, a concept that may likely have influenced the degenerated depiction of humanity's future in The Time Machine (1895). Wells was quite involved with eugenics theory, though the concept would eventually show signs of societal damage. Chesterton challenged this mentality of Wells (and others) in Eugenics and Other Evils (1922) with responses such as:

The Eugenic optimism seems to partake generally of the nature of that dazzled and confused confidence, so common in private theatricals, that it will be all right on the night.

Nevertheless, in the coming decades, eugenics proved itself to be a driving factor behind the master race ideology of Nazism and the subsequent Holocaust of World War II, which took the lives of millions.

In many of his own fictional novels, Wells explored a bestial dimension of humanity, while Chesterton viewed the human person as made in the image of the Divine. It comes as no surprise then when we notice Wells promoting Darwinism and see that Chesterton is unexcited by the idea of macroevolution.

These two men could not be more different. But their relationship displays an equilibrium in the faculties of listening to one another and having mutual respect. The result was a shared understanding. The aura of this friendship is something that ought to be envied by modernity, especially under the current political climate in the United States.

The current state of American politics is plagued by partisanship and polarization. It's been building for years. As opposing sides drift farther apart, the less they perceive as having in common. Policymakers and citizens continually grow more staunchly unwelcoming to the ideals of their opponents.

Moreover, they begin to look at one another in disgust, associating a dirty name with the people of dissimilar political agendas. These unassociating parties develop what is commonly referred to as their own political bubbles.

This phenomenon might be uncomfortable to discuss, but it's happening. Analysts and critics from varying positions have frowned upon this ongoing, contrasting dissemination and have warned about its damaging consequences.

According to Pew Research, polarization is included as a defining feature of American politics today.

A 2013 report from The Breakthrough Institute points to rampant and severe polarization within Congress and within various states at that time, claiming this as detrimental to the functionality of liberalism.

Additionally, both national political parties struggle with partisanship within their own ranks, which becomes particularly evident come election time. This not only inhibits individual ideological goals, it makes it very difficult to come to an agreement on weighty issues.

Currently, with regards to policymaking, the polarization witnessed between parties is making it harder to deliberate on COVID-19 precautions and subsequent action. This is a case in which public safety has become jeopardized through the incapacitation resulting from polarization.

A mentality similar to that within policy is seen in voters, as noted by the Breakthrough report. Political differences cause apparent enmity between neighbors.

Friendships are dissolved, and arguments degenerate into personal attacks laced with hateful rhetoric. And there are plenty of tweets to support this.

As experienced by the American public, different beliefsboth presently as well as historicallyhave brought about societal strife leading to belligerent yelling matches, physical antagonism, or worse.

We look around, and it seems like no one can debate among friends. I rather think healthy debate should be fostered between friends as it was in the relationship shared between Wells and Chesterton.

A number of psychologists have looked unfavorably on polarization. Research in recent years, undertaken by psychologists at universities such as Stanford and Princeton, has suggested that political preferences have become deeply ingrained social identities. These tests also supported an argument proposing political polarization as being more stringent than racial polarization.

It's clear that polarization damages relationships, hurts society, and stifles necessary action. The biggest problem with it is that it severs communication and cooperation between people. However, the friendship that Wells and Chesterton enjoyed offers diplomats and debaters something extraordinarily superior to polarization: a conversation.

Wells and Chesterton had a bond, the likes of which have seldom been replicated in either the 20th or 21st centuries.

The amazing thing is that in their encounters they were not enemies at heart. Certainly, each disapproved of many of the positions the other took. Their inner lives were comparatively as similar as a frosted cake and broccoli.

But they did not let mere differences force them into immediate and unrelenting harshness, which is so typical of debates between people nowadays. They were fully themselves and open with one another.

Even in their paper correspondence, the 20th century equivalent to tweets, they were quite diplomatic. They realized a belligerent inflection isn't going to get one's point across any clearer. And each knew that breaking a relationship would be of no benefit to either.

Perhaps they shared something more. An adherent of Darwinism, Wells would have a difficult time denying that a lack of cooperation can lead to self-destruction. Cooperation is a key ingredient in the prospects of survival. Similarly, Chesterton, holding high his Christian beliefs, recognized division as a breakdown of community.

Perhaps this was something that each could not walk away from. Instead, they embraced it.

Wells and Chesterton not only recognized the dignity of one another; they also listened to one another. Each internalized the other's perspective. This kind of relationship is something humans should seek to emulate.

In both American politics and sociability, we need more unbashful, polite friendships like that of H.G. Wells and G.K. Chesterton.

See more here:

Americans Could Learn a Lot from the Friendship of These Two Celebrated Authors | John Tuttle - Foundation for Economic

The Racism of the Abortion Industry VCY America – VCY America

Posted on by

Date:September 2, 2020Host:Jim SchneiderGuest: Mark CrutcherMP3|Order

According to numberofabortions.com, since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, there have been more than 18 million 662 thousand 172 black babies killed by abortion in the U.S.

Why dont these black lives matter?

Mark Crutcher is calling for a congressional investigation to defund big abortion for matters related to racial discrimination and hate crimes. Mark is the founder and director of Life Dynamics. He may be best known for his bold undercover operations that have exposed shocking and even illegal activities inside the abortion industry. Life Dynamics is the producer of Maafa 21 which exposes the black genocide thats underway in the 21st century.

Mark began by noting his organizations 3 year-plus research project called Maafa 21. The idea behind this now 11 year old movie was to show that the original motivation for the legalization of abortion had nothing to do with womens rights, reproductive freedom or choice. It was strictly about eugenics in order to wipe out minorities and primarily the black community.

Mark indicated that Planned Parenthood knows exactly what the history is of their organization. Its about racism, black genocide and eugenics. When Life Dynamics first started studying this issue, they found that the first anti-abortion organizations in America werent Christian pro-life groups and churches. It was actually the radical civil rights groups such as the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam. They realized that the legalization of abortion was being touted as a way to get rid of the black community.

Maafa 21 came out to expose this reality to the American public. Its been documented that over 2 million people have viewed it. As a result, Life Dynamics has seen an explosion of black people coming into the pro-life movement.

This situation is best summed up by the following statement from Mark as quoted by Jim: What the Ku Klux Klan could only dream about, the abortion industry is accomplishing. Its a statement Mark can back up and you can hear it all when you review this Crosstalk broadcast.

More Information

lifedynamics.com

Maafa21.com

Go here to read the rest:

The Racism of the Abortion Industry VCY America - VCY America

Book review: ‘The Organ Thieves’ recounts troubling tale of 1968 heart transplant – Fredericksburg.com

Posted on by

On Friday, May 24, 1968, Bruce Tucker celebrated the end of his work week at an egg-packing plant in Richmond by gathering with friends and sharing wine.

But the camaraderie ended early when the 54-year-old African American fell off the wall on which he was sitting, suffered a serious head injury, was taken to Medical College of Virginia Hospital and admitted as a charity patient.

A day later, the Dinwiddie County native was pronounced dead, and his heart and kidneys were harvested. His heart went to Joseph Klett, a 54-year-old white businessman from Orange County. The heart transplant was the 16th in the world, the ninth in the United States and the first to involve different races.

Meanwhile, younger brother William Tucker, who owned a shoe-repair shop near MCV, had learned of Bruces presence there through a friend. But when he sought information from the hospital, he received nothing that was helpful.

Longtime Virginia journalist Chip Jones tells the tale in The Organ Thieves, an exploration of ambition and researchand the lingering ghost of Jim Crow.

Despite police efforts, MCV was unable to locate Bruce Tuckers relatives. And the transplant took place sooner than the 24-hour waiting period required by Virginia law before the disposal of unclaimed bodies or for their use in research.

View original post here:

Book review: 'The Organ Thieves' recounts troubling tale of 1968 heart transplant - Fredericksburg.com

That’s all folks, the singularity is near. Elon Musk’s cyber pigs and brain computer tech – Toronto Star

Posted on by

Goodbye Dolly. Hello Gertrude and Dorothy.

Joining the first sheep that was ever cloned as a sign of our science fact future, this past week, celebrity entrepreneur Elon Musk gave a presentation about Neuralink, his company that is focusing on creating technology that links with brains. As part of it, he introduced pigs who had the prototype devices implanted in them. The internet dubbed them Cyber Pigs and portions of readings from Gertrudes brain were played.

Brain computer technology is at a point where the potential medical implications are so exciting many players are pursuing different approaches to the field. The ethics of using this technology are sometimes best explained in science fiction like Black Mirror and The Matrix.

To discuss the latest in brain computer technology and the Neuralink presentation, we are joined by Graeme Moffat. He is a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and also the Chief Scientist and cofounder of System 2 Neurotechnology. He was formerly Chief Scientist and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs with Interaxon, a Toronto-based world leader in consumer neurotechnology.

Listen to this episode and more at This Matters or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.

Read more:

That's all folks, the singularity is near. Elon Musk's cyber pigs and brain computer tech - Toronto Star

Microsoft’s New Deepfake Detector Puts Reality to the Test – Singularity Hub

Posted on by

The upcoming US presidential election seems set to be something of a messto put it lightly. Covid-19 will likely deter millions from voting in person, and mail-in voting isnt shaping up to be much more promising. This all comes at a time when political tensions are running higher than they have in decades, issues that shouldnt be political (like mask-wearing) have become highly politicized, and Americans are dramatically divided along party lines.

So the last thing we need right now is yet another wrench in the spokes of democracy, in the form of disinformation; we all saw how that played out in 2016, and it wasnt pretty. For the record, disinformation purposely misleads people, while misinformation is simply inaccurate, but without malicious intent. While theres not a ton tech can do to make people feel safe at crowded polling stations or up the Postal Services budget, tech can help with disinformation, and Microsoft is trying to do so.

On Tuesday the company released two new tools designed to combat disinformation, described in a blog post by VP of Customer Security and Trust Tom Burt and Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz.

The first is Microsoft Video Authenticator, which is made to detect deepfakes. In case youre not familiar with this wicked byproduct of AI progress, deepfakes refers to audio or visual files made using artificial intelligence that can manipulate peoples voices or likenesses to make it look like they said things they didnt. Editing a video to string together words and form a sentence someone didnt say doesnt count as a deepfake; though theres manipulation involved, you dont need a neural network and youre not generating any original content or footage.

The Authenticator analyzes videos or images and tells users the percentage chance that theyve been artificially manipulated. For videos, the tool can even analyze individual frames in real time.

Deepfake videos are made by feeding hundreds of hours of video of someone into a neural network, teaching the network the minutiae of the persons voice, pronunciation, mannerisms, gestures, etc. Its like when you do an imitation of your annoying coworker from accounting, complete with mimicking the way he makes every sentence sound like a question and his eyes widen when he talks about complex spreadsheets. Youve spent hoursno, monthsin his presence and have his personality quirks down pat. An AI algorithm that produces deepfakes needs to learn those same quirks, and more, about whoever the creators target is.

Given enough real information and examples, the algorithm can then generate its own fake footage, with deepfake creators using computer graphics and manually tweaking the output to make it as realistic as possible.

The scariest part? To make a deepfake, you dont need a fancy computer or even a ton of knowledge about software. There are open-source programs people can access for free online, and as far as finding video footage of famous peoplewell, weve got YouTube to thank for how easy that is.

Microsofts Video Authenticator can detect the blending boundary of a deepfake and subtle fading or greyscale elements that the human eye may not be able to see.

In the blog post, Burt and Horvitz point out that as time goes by, deepfakes are only going to get better and become harder to detect; after all, theyre generated by neural networks that are continuously learning from and improving themselves.

Microsofts counter-tactic is to come in from the opposite angle, that is, being able to confirm beyond doubt that a video, image, or piece of news is real (I mean, can McDonalds fries cure baldness? Did a seal slap a kayaker in the face with an octopus? Never has it been so imperative that the world know the truth).

A tool built into Microsoft Azure, the companys cloud computing service, lets content producers add digital hashes and certificates to their content, and a reader (which can be used as a browser extension) checks the certificates and matches the hashes to indicate the content is authentic.

Finally, Microsoft also launched an interactive Spot the Deepfake quiz it developed in collaboration with the University of Washingtons Center for an Informed Public, deepfake detection company Sensity, and USA Today. The quiz is intended to help people learn about synthetic media, develop critical media literacy skills, and gain awareness of the impact of synthetic media on democracy.

The impact Microsofts new tools will have remains to be seenbut hey, were glad theyre trying. And theyre not alone; Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have all taken steps to ban and remove deepfakes from their sites. The AI Foundations Reality Defender uses synthetic media detection algorithms to identify fake content. Theres even a coalition of big tech companies teaming up to try to fight election interference.

One thing is for sure: between a global pandemic, widespread protests and riots, mass unemployment, a hobbled economy, and the disinformation thats remained rife through it all, were going to need all the help we can get to make it through not just the election, but the rest of the conga-line-of-catastrophes year that is 2020.

Image Credit: Darius BasharonUnsplash

See the original post here:

Microsoft's New Deepfake Detector Puts Reality to the Test - Singularity Hub

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ashes Of The Singularity 4K Benchmarks Leaked? – Wccftech

Posted on by

A single measly point of data for the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's performance improvement over the 2080 Ti leaked out earlier today courtesy of _rogame (via Videocardz). Before we begin - a warning. This represents a single point of data - of a particularly controversial title featuring drivers that may or may not be optimized yet. Take it with a grain of salt and always wait for third party reviews before making a decision. With that out of the way, let's dig into it.

The RTX 3080 features a 100% improvement in CUDA cores compared to the RTX 2080 Ti (8704 cores vs 4352 cores) and this is something that should easily translate into slightly less than double the gaming performance (assuming a slight dip in clocks and increased thermal limiting) in most titles with very little optimization. This, however, for some reason, does not appear to be the case in this single data point. The RTX 3080 coupled with an i9 9900K (which is a very capable CPU) produces just over 88 frames in 4K with a score of 8700.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Flagship Is 68% Faster On Average Than RTX 2080 In OpenCL & CUDA Benchmarks, Up To 2X Faster In Some Cases

I do wish to iterate again here that there could be multiple reasons why this is not even close to being indicative of final performance: for one we dont know the clock speed this was run at. We don't even know for sure if this is the actual RTX 3080 (AotS scores are not impossible to fake). In fact this score is just about the same as a highly overclocked RTX 2080 Ti which leads us to believe that this is actually an RTX 2080 Ti masquerading as an RTX 3080.

_rogame was also able to get some stock numbers to compare this score against:

As you can see this particular RTX 3080 scores around 27% more than a bone stock RTX 2080 Ti, which is a performance increase that can be achieved just by using very high clock rates and a closed-loop liquid-cooled. The performance shown here absolutely does not make sense considering the RTX 3080 rocks a 100% more CUDA cores. If this score is true, then there is something very wrong happening in this test, either through the driver stack or through the software stack. Our money however, is on this benchmark being fabricated.

Read more:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ashes Of The Singularity 4K Benchmarks Leaked? - Wccftech

Early-stage VC StartupXseed hits first close of new fund – VCCircle

Posted on by

Early-stage venture capital firm StartupXseed Ventures LLP has hit the first close of its second fund that will focus on deep-technology startups, according to multiple media reports.

The fund has raised Rs 65 crore ($8.84 million at current exchange rates) and expects to mop up the full Rs 150 crore over the next six to nine months, The Economic Times reported.

This new fund comes almost four years after StartupXseed raised its first fund, which had a targeted corpus of Rs 100 crore.

The second vehicle has received commitments from several family offices and professionals from the information technology sector.

It will focus primarily on investments in the deep-technology segments, including semiconductors, cybersecurity, drones and aerospace. It will also look to invest in the artificial intelligence and machine learning sectors.

The fund will look to make around 15 investments with ticket sizes ranging between Rs 3 crore and Rs 10 crore, StartupXseed managing partner BV Naidu and co-founding partner Ravi Thakur said, per the report.

The firm was founded by Naidu, Thakur, TV Mohandas Pai (through Aarin Capital) and Ramakrishna V.

VCCircle has reached out to the venture capital firm on the details of this new fund and will update this report accordingly.

The vehicle will also look at potential investments in the financial- and health-technology sectors, and says it aims to deploy the entire corpus over the next 24-30 months.

Our goal from the first fund was to stabilise the process, identify the thesis of our process and provide post-investment support, Naidu said. StartupXseed says it has made around 12 investments from Fund-I and has recorded three exits so far.

Two of these are complete exits from bot management solutions provider ShieldSquare and fabless semiconductor firm Siliconch Systems. It has also recorded a partial exit from the human resources-focussed software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Darwinbox.

Last month, StartupXseed took part in a Rs 8 crore (around $1.07 million) pre-Series A funding round in SmarterBiz, an AI-based customer experience platform. Other portfolio companies include Bellatrix Aerospace and Singularity Dynamics.

Continue reading here:

Early-stage VC StartupXseed hits first close of new fund - VCCircle

David Beckhams Esports Organization is Set to Participate in Rocket League – The Game Haus

Posted on by

Over the last few years, Rocket League has been one of the most popular esports titles. Having amassed a significant following since its release in July 2015, Forbes believes that the vehicular soccer game is poised to be the next major title in competitive gaming. Crucially, there are many reasons behind the titles unprecedented success. That said, Rocket Leagues cross-platform compatibility and multi-console accessibility have undoubtedly played a pivotal role in its recent development.

Because of that, on an esports level, the title has since become associated with world-renowned names in both mainstream entertainment and sport. As well as being a sponsor for pay-per-view WWE events, Rocket League has also peaked the interests of Champions League-winning footballer, David Beckham. So, lets take a look at the 45-year-olds plans for competitive Rocket League.

According to a report by Front Office Sports, the recently-created team is co-owned by Beckham, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid winger. Although new to competitive gaming, the organization looks set to explore some of the sectors most popular titles, such as FIFA, Fortnite, and Rocket League. From a general standpoint, Beckhams involvement in esports is a natural fit. Having spent the bulk of his career playing in footballs most famous competitions, the six-time Premier League winner knows what it takes to succeed.

At the time of writing, Guild Esports are still very much in the development stage as they seek to acquire a team of high-caliber players. To date, Beckhams organization currently has two players on their roster in the form of Joseph Kidd and Thomas Binkhorst, who both used to represent Team Singularity. During his time at Team Singularity, Kidd was part of the side that beat AS Monacos esports team 3-0 in a competitive Rocket League event.

According to their profiles at esports earnings, Beckhams team has acquired two players with a lot of experience in Rocket League. As of August 26th, 2020, Binkhorst is ranked as the 58th best player in Holland regarding the Psyonix publication. Kidd, on the other hand, is listed at 231st for UK gamers.

Although Guild Esports have yet to achieve anything on a competitive level, Beckhams involvement, albeit in an ownership capacity, is a testament to Rocket Leagues appeal. Despite now being released five years ago, the title continues to grow in popularity. TwitchTracker states that the Psyonix game averages 57,323 viewers on Twitch, the worlds leading live streaming service for video games.

Source: Unsplash

Both in-game and in the mainstream, Rocket League is enjoying a period of expansion. As well as more teams entering the fray,Psyonixdecision to expand NA and EU to ten teams means that organizations will need to be on form to achieve future success. This, combined with the emergence of well-backed brands, will only ensure that the title retains its relevancy and becomes even more significant to the esports industry in the next decade.

Furthermore, the involvement of Beckham may also be central to expanding the markets audience base. In recent years, esports has adapted to cater to growing interest, as evident from the rise of esports betting. Having taken the world by storm, several trusted bookmakers now offer in-depth markets on some of the industrys most popular titles, such as FIFA and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. For example, operators like Betway and bet365 are considered to be two of the best esports betting sites currently on the market, as their extensive offerings are coupled with sign-up bonuses.

While it remains to seen whether Beckhams Guild eSports can hit the heights on the competitive stage, their involvement is unquestionably positive for the sector. Ultimately, this expansion is symbolic of the appeal that Rocket League has been able to generate since its release. As a result, the future is undoubtedly bright for the Psyonix publication.

See the original post:

David Beckhams Esports Organization is Set to Participate in Rocket League - The Game Haus