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Villas of Distinction offers white-label partnerships to Travel Agencies – Travel Daily News International

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

WILMINGTON, MASS. According to Ketchum Travel, a global communications consultancy, 80 percent of Americans say they are willing to pay more for privacy and distancing. With this increase in consumers looking for private villa accommodations, Villas of Distinction, the worlds premier luxury villa rental company as part of World Travel Holdings, is increasing its portfolio of white-label partners.

While we already work with travel agency partners, the increase in popularity of private home rentals have many travel agencies looking to take their villa sales to the next level by having us provide a white-label solution through offering a villa-specific page on their website, said Willie Fernandez, vice president of Villas of Distinction. Travel agencies can feel confident when partnering with us because we offer a reputable product with villas that are vetted and following extensive health & safety guidelines from the Villa Rental Management Association.

The white-label partnership program provides travel agencies with the support they need to sell villa vacations. It offers a custom webpage on the agencys site; access to a Travel Agent Portal, which contains a library of marketing assets including images, videos, print pieces, social media ads and training webinars; and marketing support to assist travel advisors in crafting best-in-class and engaging marketing. In addition, travel agents will have access to Villa Specialists and Concierges who are available every step of the way through the booking and planning process.

As a result of COVID-19, our agents are seeing increased interest from their clients who want to stay in a private villa with friends and family they trust, instead of a resort with hundreds of guests, said Drew Daly, senior vice president and general manager of Dream Vacations. The villas-specific page on our agents website as well as the support our agents receive from Villas of Distinction gives them the tools they need to sell villa vacations to their clients.

In addition, through Villas of Distinctions #WithYouToStay campaign, the company is encouraging its guests to book with a travel advisor, offering bonus commissions of up to $1,500 and rich promotions throughout the year, and is committed to making the planning process seamless for the travel advisor and their clients.

Villas of Distinction offers white-label partnerships to Travel Agencies - Travel Daily News International

Cruise Ships Are the Cleanest Travel Environments – TravelPulse

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

The largest cruise lines are engaged in a battle to save their industry, which like other travel sectors is reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines, hotels, resorts and even the travel agents who sell them have been devastated by leisure travels coronavirus-driven collapse.

Yet cruise lines appear particularly vulnerable, with the popular view that cruise ships are coronavirus hotspots waiting to sail. U.S. government authorities have clearly linked cruise ships with the spread of coronavirus, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stating current scientific evidence suggests cruise ships pose a greater risk of COVID-19 transmission than other settings because of the high population density onboard ships.

That view seemed to receive confirmation earlier this month when four ships that were among the earliest to re-start service following cruisings global shutdown ended their voyages early after COVID-19 cases were reported onboard.

MORE Cruise Line & Cruise Ship

Yet scientists have since pointed out this is expected. There will be cases as operators resume operations, even with strict protocols in place. It is the very observation and study of those cases, and the measures utilized to fight them, that provide critical knowledge to help develop more effective preventative practices.

Furthermore, it pays to recognize the Hurtigruten and SeaDream cruise ships involved in August COVID-19 incidents had sailed since June without any reported cases. Hurtigrutens CEO attributed the outbreak to weaknesses in several of our internal procedures.

Like other travel operators, cruise lines are working to formulate standard practices to allow cruising to resume. The World Travel & Tourism Council has launched a Safe Travels stamp designed to establish standardized COVID-19 health and hygiene protocols across the travel spectrum, including cruise lines. Arnold Donald, Carnival Corp.s president and CEO, said recently cruise lines are working with Caribbean destinations to establish a model for the resumption of service in the region.

Im no scientist, but after personally having taken more than 100 cruises, I know this: there is no cleaner travel environment than a modern cruise ship.

Even before the pandemic, cruise ships Ive sailed aboard were singularly more sanitary than many of the far more than 100 hotel and resort rooms in which Ive dwelled as part of my journeys.

Ive stayed in hotel and resort rooms that have ranged from sparse to unkempt to downright shameful. Ill spare you the details, but Ill never forget one room I likened to a medium-security jail cell.

Thats never been the case on any cruise ship Ive sailed aboard. Cleaning is a fetish aboard cruise ships, and you wont fail to see some crewmember cleaning something aboard your ship on every single day of your voyage.

Cruise ships calling at U.S. ports are subject to unannounced health and cleanliness checks by the U.S. Public Health Service (ironically a division of CDC) and ranked according to cleanliness. If only that were the case for some of the hotels in which Ive stayed.

Millions of people take cruises every year, or at least they did prior to the pandemic, and often come back for more. Donald has said there is currently demand, and if CDC allowed it, there would be more cruises sailing with guests now.

While theres no question health authorities should ensure guests can embark in the safest possible environment, Im one of those folks who thinks cruise ships will develop the right environment to safely accommodate guests again soon.

Theyve already got the cleanliness part down. While theres no cause to rush, Ill be pleased to walk up the gangway again for my next seagoing voyage.

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Cruise Ships Are the Cleanest Travel Environments - TravelPulse

Nano Gas Sensors Market 2020 Growth Opportunities and Revenue Statistics to 2025 By Top Players | Raytheon Company, Ball Aerospace and Technologies,…

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Nano Gas Sensors Market With COVID-19 Analysis 2020-2025:

The report has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the Nano Gas Sensors market collected from specialized sources. The competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, new project launched, recent development analysis are the parameters included in the profile.

Company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, new project launched, recent development analysis are the parameters included in the profile. The study then describes the drivers and restraints forthe marketalong with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the market on a global level.Finally, the report in order to meet the users requirements is also available.

Request a Sample PDF with COVID-19 Impact Analysis @https://garnerinsights.com/2015-2025-Global-Nano-Gas-Sensors-Market-Research-by-Type-End-Use-and-Region#request-sample

The key manufacturers in this market include : , Raytheon Company, Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Thales Group, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Environmental Sensors, Emerson, Siemens, Agilent Technologies, Shimadzu, Futek, Dytran, Nemoto, Endress Hauser, Falcon Analytical, ,.

By the product type, the market is primarily split into : , Semiconductor Nano Gas Sensor, Electrochemistry Nano Gas Sensor, Photochemistry (IR Etc) Nano Gas Sensor, Others, ,

By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments : , Electricity Generation, Automobiles, Petrochemical, Aerospace & Defense, Medical, Biochemical Engineering, Others, ,

This study gives data on patterns and improvements, and spotlights on Markets and materials, limits and on the changing structure of the Nano Gas Sensors Industry. The key motivation behind the report is to give a proper and key examination of this industry.

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Moreover, the report includes analysis of different products available in the Nano Gas Sensors market on the subject of production volume, revenue, pricing structure, and demand and supply figures.The report highlights profitable business strategies of market competitors along with their business expansion, composition, partnership deals, and new product/service launches.

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Nano Gas Sensors Market 2020 Growth Opportunities and Revenue Statistics to 2025 By Top Players | Raytheon Company, Ball Aerospace and Technologies,...

Food dyes, tattoo ink can be used to detect cancer: Study – BusinessLine

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

New research carried out by the USC Viterbi Department of Biomedical Engineering has claimed that widely popular colouring agents including tattoo inks and food dyes could help improve the detection of cancer, as per the study published in the journal Biomaterials Science.

The researchers developed new imaging contrast agents using common dyes such as tattoo ink and food dyes to detect cancer.

They stated in their study that when these dyes are attached to nano-particles, they can illuminate cancerous cells inside the body, allowing medical professionals to better differentiate between cancer cells and normal adjacent cells.

Researchers maintained that the detection of cancer is tough without proper imaging agents; contrast materials which when injected into patients, allow for imaging such as MRI and CT to function with better sensitivity and specificity.

This further enables medical professionals to diagnose with accuracy, and for surgeons to identify the exact margins of tumours.

Cristina Zavaleta, lead author of the study, said in a statement: For instance, if the problem is colon cancer, this is detected via endoscopy. But an endoscope is literally just a flashlight on the end of a stick, so it will only give information about the structure of the colon you can see a polyp and know you need to take a biopsy.

But if we could provide imaging tools to help doctors see whether that particular polyp is cancerous or just benign, maybe they dont even need to take it, she noted.

The researchers further explained that the illuminated nano-particles move through a blood vessel to look for cancer. And, when the colouring dyes are used with the nano-particles, more sensitive imaging contrast can be done of the cancerous cells.

To achieve this, the team has discovered a unique source of optical contrasting agents from household colouring dyes.

These optical inks can be attached to cancer-targeting nano-particles to improve cancer detection and localisation.

Zavaleta and the team are considering using common food dyes that could be attached to the nano-particles. This may include the dyes found in colourful candies like Skittles and M&Ms. These dyes already have the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration Department (FDA) for human consumption.

If you encapsulate a bunch of dyes in a nano-particle, youre going to be able to see it better because it is going to be brighter. Its like using a packet of dyes rather than just one single dye, Zavaleta added.

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Food dyes, tattoo ink can be used to detect cancer: Study - BusinessLine

Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market Predicted to Accelerate the Growth by 2018-2028 – Scientect

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market: Introduction

Surgical instruments tracking systems have been accessible for use in medical field for several years. Today, surgical instruments tracking systems have turned into a need. The previous four to five years have witnessed major changes in tracking systems. Rapid advances in instruments tracking systems technologies such as nano-engineering and opto-electrical engineering have created new avenues in recent years. Need for unobtrusive and automated tracking systems will keep demands lucrative in coming years.

The report by TMR Research takes a closer look at recent trends impacting the revenue potential of various players and offers insights into imminent investment pockets in key markets.

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Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market: Key Development

Some of the most prominent competitors operating in the competitive landscape of global surgical instruments tracking systems market include

Most players are embracing a few organic and inorganic and natural systems, for example, new launches and product advancements, mergers and acquisitions, and collaborations alongside expansion on regional and global scale for serving the unmet needs of users.

Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market Dynamics

Rising instances of surgical instruments left in the human body after medical procedures and instrument scattering are the main considerations driving the evolution of the surgical instruments tracking systems market. As indicated by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the casualty rate of held surgical articles is around 2.0%. Along these lines, the requirement for cutting edge innovations, for example, 2D scanner tags and RFID to follow the held instruments while the patient is still in the task theater, is rising. This factor is anticipated to push the surgical instruments tracking systems market.

Rising popularity of instruments tracking devices by emergency clinics is another main consideration boosting the market development. Following healthcare gadgets and stock administration during work cycle including medical procedure, post-medical procedure, sanitization, and storage systems are a portion of the serious issues supervised by emergency clinics. Along these lines, they are embracing new technologies to follow these gadgets and systems, which thus is relied upon to stimulate the market.

A portion of the regular instruments that are accidently left in a patients body during medical procedure consists of sponges, blades, needles, electrosurgical adapters, clamps, scalpels, safety pins, scissors, and towels. Among these instruments, towels are probably the most common thing left behind by mistake. Surgical instruments left in patients bodies will in general cut veins and puncture blood vessels that might lead to internal bleeding, creating a pressing need for technologies to track these instruments.

Expanding requirement for stock administration and usage of Unique Device Identification (UDI) guidelines by the FDA are foreseen to drive the market. Innovative headways and initiatives by governments to adopt these gadgets is foreseen to additionally boost the market in the coming years.

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Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market: Geographical Analysis

In 2018, North America contributed sizable revenue shares in the global surgical instruments tracking systems market. The launch of unique device identification (UDI) framework by the U.S. FDA for accurately identifying proof of medicinal gadgets through their distribution networks is one of the central points credited to this lead. Moreover, the presence of well-established healthcare infrastructure, fast adoption of cutting-edge products, and high per capita healthcare consumption in other developed regions, such as Europe, are foreseen to fuel the global surgical instruments tracking systems market.

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TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.

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Surgical Instruments Tracking Systems Market Predicted to Accelerate the Growth by 2018-2028 - Scientect

3D Printed Implants Market: Growing Biomedical Applications of 3D Technology is Expected to Boost the Market – BioSpace

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Global 3D Printed Implants Market: An Overview

The global 3D printed implants market is an important part of the growing larger trend, the 3D printing in medical applications.

The global 3D printed implants market players are serving a crucial need of the medical sector. Medical processes can be enhanced with training on artificial models before surgeries. Additionally, the products in the global 3D printed implants market are helping reconstruction of entire facial features, limbs and tissue lost during serious illnesses such as Arthritis and much more.

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Moreover, due to growing advancements in technologies such as nano-materials, today physicians can recreate exact replicas of individual anatomy and extend their services naturally. Moreover, critical surgeries like heart replacement and total joint replacement have also become feasible, thanks to virtual planning and guidance provided by 3D printed technology.

Currently new material advances such as polymer based hearts and other organs are making their ways into the medical field. Orthopedic implants like the ones made up of metals are also on the rise. This new material promotes osseointegration and increase the ability of surface bearing load capabilities. Today, many healthcare institutions, especially hospitals are introducing 3D printed machinery in their operations through radiology departments.

Additionally, the devices created using 3D printed technology are superior to conventional ones. For example, printed casts for fractured bones can be open and custom-fitted. These enable wearers to scratch, ventilate, and wash the damaged area. Additionally, these can also be recycled.

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The growing advancements in materials, supporting technology, and increasing medical applications are expected to drive significant growth for the printed implants market in the near future.

Global 3D Printed Implants Market: Notable Developments

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Global 3D Printed Implants Market: Key Trends

The global 3D printed implants market is witnessing positive developments such as identical bone customized implants, CT-bone, and zygoma augmentation process. The additional control over medical processes provided by the 3D printed implant technology is expected to create many opportunities for various players in the market. Moreover, rising R&D development, increase in medical surgeries, and growing biomedical applications of 3D technology are also expected to boost the 3D printed implants market.

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However, high initial investments in the technology, lack of skilled technician, and longer production queues are expected to limit growth of the 3D printed implants market. However, the growth in cranial as well as orthopedic implants are likely to offset the setbacks in favor of the 3D printed implants market. The growth in the orthopedic segment reached an all-time high in 2018. It is expected to drive more tumor surgeries to create robust new opportunities.

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3D Printed Implants Market: Growing Biomedical Applications of 3D Technology is Expected to Boost the Market - BioSpace

Class Action Park Review: Thanks for the Injuries – The New York Times

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

For New Jersey youth in the 70s and 80s, visiting (and surviving) Action Park was a rite of passage. The sprawling combination of water park, motor park and general bacchanal was the brainchild of Gene Mulvihill, a disgraced former penny-stock pusher who counted the cash as his park became a rule-free stew of dangerous rides, teen guests, teen employees, raging hormones, 80s-style machismo and booze.

The HBO Max original documentary Class Action Park (one of the parks winking nicknames; Traction Park was another) attempts a tricky balancing act, reveling in the hedonism of the attraction while treating the consequences of that hedonism with appropriate gravitas. The directors Chris Charles Scott and Seth Porges sneak the viewer behind the turnstiles by deploying John Hodgmans wry narration, giddily kitschy archival materials and interviews with park employees, celebrity patrons and journalists. Scott and Porges spend a fair amount of their running time on a detailed walk-through of the rides (many of them designed by people on the fringes of the industry) and their various corresponding dangers and injuries as well as the shamelessly shady business practices of its owner.

The grimness begins to creep in around the hour mark, as cheerful injuries and battle scars give way to horrifying stories of electrocution and drowning, as well as details behind the parks first death, the 19-year-old George Larsson Jr., complete with wrenching testimonials by his surviving family. Shockingly, there were five more deaths in the next seven years; the filmmakers detail how Mulvihill used his increasing power, influence and checkbook to dodge responsibility for them.

Class Action Park loses its footing somewhat in the closing passages; Scott and Porges dont seem to know quite how to wrap things up, and the films big tonal shift is a turning point that is all but impossible to come back from. (The incongruent feel-good vibe of the Holladay Brothers score does more harm than good.) But that shift is effective, and necessary, slyly replicating the experience of visiting Action Park itself: its all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Class Action Park

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on HBO Max.

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Class Action Park Review: Thanks for the Injuries - The New York Times

Track by Track: International Teachers of Pop on the bombastic Pop Gossip | Gigwise – Gigwise

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

International Teachers of Pop released their nostalgically-futuristic Pop Gossip yesterday. Bombastic, brash and up-to-the-minute despite all the 1980's pomp, it's an album that lives and breathes club culture and hedonism. We love it. And we wanted to find out more. So we spoke to Leonore Wheatley and Adrian Flanagan about it...

Read on to delve deep into the big shoulder padded, gatefold sleeved, fairylight synth stabbing world of Pop Gossip.

Leonore Wheatley: I think Disco as a genre gets a bad rep. People will moan "ugh I can't stand Disco it's well cheesy" but then they'll listen to something which has heavily sampled it, or put on a Todd Terje record and dance around their house.I teach Music at a secondary school in Manchester and I think that from having to sit down and analyse different musical styles and then teach them, you see where influencers have come from and how important their role on the musical timeline is. 'Don't Diss The Disco' is a homage to that really, lyrically coming from the perspective of maybe taking something to enhance that experience or the internal feeling of the music; 'enter my mouth, slip down my tongue, fall in my arms, breathe through my lungs'. Imagine the absolute chaos of Studio 54?! I doubt there will ever be anything as outrageous as Grace Jones riding a horse through the middle of a packed club - not legally anyway - but living in Manchester there are still some people trying to keep the hedonism alive and I think Homoelectric is one of them. In fact I was in the pub the other day and someone I met on my last Homoelectric before lockdown was there too, the excitement and joy from that night was still as fresh as it was in February, the disco/club/fabulous community still in full swing as it was in the 70's.

LW: Strap in! Hold tight! Gaslighting in the moonlight! you take those tales you're telling me, and turn them to reality'. [Gaslighting is] a concept which has been around for quite a few decades since playwright Patrick Hamilton coined the term in the 30's with his play of the same name, the term 'gaslighting' has recently been given a new lease of life through social media platforms, empowering people to speak up, acknowledging what it means and how to spot it. As someone who has fallen victim to gaslighting the best way to describe it is utter confusion and hopelessness, where that person starts to change how you see yourself and your own identity; 'frog is in the frying pan, make me lose who I am, becoming you to be me, I'm not me.' The music itself can be quite menacing, it has a deep descending bassline but the strings add an element of hope, although that hope can seem far in the distance and the darkness takes over once again. The main feeling of this track is a sense of travelling, wanting to get away or escape, a modern-day Thelma and Louise. Ultimately 'Gaslight' is written from the victim's perspective whilst they're still in the depths of its grasp. I think I wanted to give hints of the signs of gaslighting within the lyrics, just in case anyone could relate and then may have some strength to speak up. We all need to have each other's backs, no matter what format it comes in!

LW: Following on from the dark feeling of 'Gaslight', 'I Stole Yer Plimsolls' is a more comedic reaction to past relationships. I attended Sheffield University in 2005 when indie nights at local grubby pubs and cheap lager was in full force and with that came indie boys and girls, who were never too far away from waking up on a random coach, making loose relationships and then outstaying their welcome by about 6 months. Unfortunately, I think some people are still trying to rock that look 12 years later: "windswept, cigarette, always in a cold sweat, look at you, 32, walking around without your shoe". When it came to getting Jason Williamson involved I couldn't believe he agreed as there wasn't anyone else more perfect to collaborate with on this track.He mentioned that he was once very similar to the type of 'softboi' we were describing and so maybe it was his way to redeem a bit of that guilt: we pretty much guilt tripped him into collaborating! Jason travelled to Sheffield to record his part and he pretty much just riffed it. After a bit of amateur dramatics fake arguing to get him in the mood, he managed to channel into his past demons and came up with the goods. There should be a separate track just for the outtakes, I nearly had an aneurism trying to hold in the laughter whilst he was recording.

LW: This song is about climate change. As I've mentioned before I'm a teacher for my day job, and so you do have a responsibility to discuss day to day issues and answer difficult questions about them.I also think that because it is what I do Mon-Fri it's hard to switch off from those issues and so lyrics tend to be a little bit more politically-based sometimes because you're so absorbed in the life of learning and teaching throughout the week. Last year lots of kids went on the climate strike, and we really started to see a change in ownership of the planet and their future. Children are acting way more responsibly than older generations and are articulate with it. Have you ever been to a school debate recently? They are so passionate. I teach in an inner-city school and so many kids are faced with challenges daily, where they argue and fight for what they know is right. So why not have a pumping dance track where the lyrics are about environmental issues and how complacent we can be?I also like the concept of that juxtaposition of a club/synth anthem mixed with lyrics based on global events heard on the news. It's like some kind of subliminal message, "here, dance to this but also be politically aware while you're at it!"

LW: I was listening a lot to Solange when I was thinking of the melody for this one. It's a lot different to the other tracks; always nice to throw in a cheeky curve ball. Normally Adrian and Dean will send me the instrumentals in advance and I'll tend to write some basic lyrics and melodies before our recording sessions. I remember I had written something completely different at first and it just wasn't working, I think because it was such a different vibe to what we had already got in the pipeline it was a switch in genre and so that's like stopping the train completely and changing tracks! We slept on it and that night I listened to Solange's second album When I Get Home and I just love how delicate her voice is and the harmonies are like they've been blown in on a summer breeze. Obviously, I thought I'd have a go. When writing lyrics sometimes I need the melody first, it helps me to form the shape of the lyrics and the word sounds.Lyrically it's mainly about being caught up in a thunder storm after the leaving the house on a sunny day without a brolly. Which I do quite often. Ironically living in Manchester I don't think I currently own one. So not the warm West Coast tones of Solange but more the unpredictable sounds of the North West.

LW: I think of all the tracks we've done this is the one that is most classic School Disco Cheese Pop and it's also the track which features main vocals of Katie Mason, who is my partner in crime on and off stage and has been for 20 years.As the title suggests, this is written about Prince and our love of him. Growing up he was my idol, and I was lucky to see him at Manchester Academy on his tour in 2014, not knowing at the time that it would be his last. "When I heard the news I went a little crazy, and the music then became a little hazy, I'd die for a chance to see you once again, our one and only Prince amongst men."I was doing Dry February and so pushed my way to be 14 people from the front and stayed there for the full 3 hour set.It's amazing how much you realise you miss when you're not frequently going to the bar and back. Prince and his all-female fronted band was probably the best live show I'd ever seen: I wanted to dedicate something to him. Dean and Adrian had already written this amazing instrumental which was like a mixture between 'Let's Go Crazy' and Yazz's 'The Only Way is Up', so the lyrics fall somewhere being upset about Prince passing away, but then on the chorus celebrating his legacy and wanting to learn from him because he was fucking ace.

LW: Ahhh internet dating. It's an absolute minefield and puts you off dating for life. I must have installed and deleted a few different apps over the course of 2 years, with probably only ever going on 4 dates in total as it would put me in total fear and panic that I was making a huge mistake. Maybe the gaslighting years had a bit of an effect...anyway, you see a lot of profiles of individuals hopefully giving away their stats and interests like it was a meat raffle at Bury market. And I started to notice that instead of people (and this includes myself) saying exactly what they thought of themselves, people would try and appeal more to what their ideal woman or man would want them to be, to adhere to the 'norm' which for me completely takes the fun and human feeling out of the process of getting to know someone: "you like your morning walks, take yoga seriously, in love with Sartre books, a blatant fitness freak, you say you're 6ft1 although begrudgingly, you love your neighbour's dog."By the way, there is totally nothing wrong with liking going to the gym, but I wouldn't necessarily call it part of your personality. We also decided to add an extract from 'The Age of Reason' just to send it a little bit more over the edge of Tinder pretence "who is it, that's cruel, jealous, hard, who cheats, when he can, hold, a card."

Adrian Flanagan: The title for this was taken from my old friend & journalist Martin Lilleker's book on Sheffield music in the 80's/90's. Martin was one of the first people I met when I moved to Sheffield from Salford: in fact he reviewed my very first Sheffield band for the local paper and gave us a pasting, he basically said my band was crap but "Adrian has something about him, I'm just not sure he has worked out what that is yet"..and he was right..After that I sacked that band off, went solo, started working with Sheffield producers Dean Honer & Ross Orton and everything changed.

Martin was a massive supporter through a lot of my musical projects, certainly locally and for the past 20 years I've kind of existed semi-professionally on the fringes of the music industry because of that one crap review..as a begrudging oddity! We became pretty close pals for years, we'd go to gigs together, hang out in the pub or he'd invite me over to his and we'd just play each other records all night, whilst drinking lots of wine. He even got me writing reviews of touring artists that he didn't like or random pop bands as he knew it would appeal to my twisted sense of humour. I wrote a great one about that awful pop group Hear'Say: Martin said he got loads of complaints off teeneage girls to the newspaper after it. Unfortuantly Martin got very ill and died a few years back which was tragic and really hurt, made worse as I couldn't attend his funeral as thousands of pounds on flights had been booked for a Moonlandingz session in upstate New York. I guess this little tribute to him is my way of saying both thank you and goodbye. He was just a really sweet guy, if you were out with him it was like being out with a celebrity as just everyone gravitated towards him to say "hello" or have a chat or some young kids wanting to give him their demos. A big loss personally and a big loss to Sheffield's music community.

AF: This is a cover of the Pink Floyd song 'Another Brick in the Wall' which is something that we have done in our live set since our very first live shows supporting Jarvis Cocker in a cave in Derbyshire. When we got the nod off Jarv that we were to do these shows with him we only had about 5 songs and needed to extend our set so we chucked in this Krafterwerkian type cover version of Pink Floyd and it ended up becomimg a staple of the live set as people really like it. It was my idea to sing it in German as I'm very against Brexit; very against leaving the EU. I wanted to annoy those fucking idiots who voted Leave.

As an artistic statement I wanted it to be a nod also to all the great things musically that were awarded to us by European musicians and artists and by being a part of Europe. Why anyone wouldn't want to be part of a universal community is beyond me. England is becoming a scary place to be: not only have we a pandemic to deal with and how that's impacting on everyone's lives and livelihoods, but we are being run in to the dirt by these complete fucking imbeciles who havent got a clue what they are doing, who are not only willing to murder half the nation with their 'go to work - but dont go to work' codswallop, but are about to plunge us into being this shitty little insignificant joke of an Island that will be riddled with homelessness. If i could afford it, I'd leave this country in a shot. Alas Im probably dooomed to be fighting over a shop doorway sleeping spot outside HMV. How have we allowed these fuckers to get us in such a mess, I'm truly ashamed to call myself English!

LW: Feminine + Energy = Femenenergy is a newly trademarked term by The International Teachers of Pop and it's a word which celebrates womxn, from all corners of the earth and the power that comes with it. ITOP has two driving forces behind it in my opinion. There is that of the studio, which you can't argue that Dean and Adrian rule the roost, and therefore the masculine drive is very present. However, on stage is where womxn have total power and I love every second of it. It's not every day where you're allowed to piss about on stage with your best mate in front of an audience and the bouncers aren't trying to drag you off your platform for being 20 tequila shots down and forcing people to do the Macarena. When we threw 'Femenenergy' into the mix and started to play it live I felt a change where both myself and Katie felt allowed to grab onto our own sexual power without care or worry. For some reason (maybe growing up in the 90's surrounded by bubble-gum pop) the thought of being sexy on stage felt out of our comfort zone, something the younger and more polished acts do. But then we thought fuck it, it's way more important to normalise womxn everywhere to completely express themselves the way that is inspiring for themselves and in turn for others. I think if we can go on stage with that mind set, anyone can and they should, and that's what it's all about, that's power and that's what 'Femenenergy' is all about. "Feminine ways, we entice you, we ignite you."

LW: As we come to the end of the record 'The Tower' is a final message to our younger listeners who I spend most of my life with when I'm not gigging or on tour. It's come at a time when politically I can't think of many leaders I wouldn't want to throw in the Tower of London. I think sometimes it's common to mistake pop as casual, where it shouldn't be the place you talk about serious issues, but Jarvis Cocker has done it for years and throughout the 60's/70's protest songs were part of popular culture: it's strange that we decided to deem it unnecessary in recent times. I also think that it's a huge platform to reach people of so many ages so why not talk about the corruption of our own government? "Children, welcome to heaven, where wealth is based on inheritance given, try not to be angry, you'll live as long as you're selling your country". I think it's absolutely the right time to speak up and be open about our views on the world, without being worried about the kind of backlash it will cause, I think they have bigger worries than an ITOP record. It's more about building that bond with others, sharing and connecting ideas and ideals and listening to an explosion of synth pop. "Take them to the tower it's a beautiful day, take them away take them away, can you hear the ravens call?"

AF: Another one of my great choruses (laughs) - we wrote this on the day The Queen kicked Prince Andrew out of her gaff, all our tunes will become incredibly relevant or bite you on your arse when you least expect it..

Read our review of Pop Gossip here.

Junk Explained: Why Recessions Hit Young People The Hardest – Junkee

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

"I wish I had good news on this, but certainly recessions hit the young the hardest."

The Roaring 20s one hundred years ago will forever be linked with a Golden Age of glittering decadence,Gatsby-esque hedonism and social upheaval a decade bookended by the Spanish Flu pandemic, and the Great Depression.

Unfortunately for this generation weve skipped over the fun bit and landed smack bang in the middle of the painful part.

Today Australia officially entered a recession, and young people are being told to brace themselves for the impact. Were not just talking about the impacts were already seeing (rising unemployment, sluggish wage growth, inaccessible housing options), but the impacts on our bank accounts that will continue to bite years after the recession is over.

Heres what you need to know about how it might affect you.

Australia is officially in its first recession for almost three decades. Its not as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s, but its worse than the recession of the 1990s.

As a rule of thumb, a recession is when Australias economic growth goes backwards for two consecutive quarters.

Economic growth is tied to its gross domestic product (GDP), which is the value of goods and services produced by a country stuff like exports, household spending, government spending and business investment.

Our economy declined by 0.3 percent in the March quarter; today we found out the June quarter contracted by 7 percent, the worst fall on record.

For comparison, the 1990s recession we had to have saw the economy shrink by 1.3 percent.

We already knew this was coming todays official GDP figures just confirmed what we expected.

Thats because coronavirus restrictions came into effect towards the end of the March quarter, which means the economy was going backwards before the worst of the pandemic.

The figures from today also dont reflect the massive economic hit from Victorias second wave, so prepare yourselves for more bad news down the track.

Dr Andrew Leigh has been there he graduated high school during the last recession.

The Federal MP is now theShadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, and spoke to Junkee about what the news means for young people.

I wish I had good news on this, but certainly recessions hit the young the hardest, he said.

Youre probably already feeling the impacts of this.

If youre out of work, its going to be harder to find a job. If youve landed a job, youre unlikely to get a pay rise. If youve kept your existing job, you might see your hours or pay cut.

Dr Leigh himself graduated in 1990, when Australia was entering its last recession. While he went on to further study to be an economist his friends and classmates who entered the labour market faced a huge struggle to find work.

I was certainly very influenced by seeing the human suffering that accompanied the early 1990s recession, he said.

The fact that it was the fault of these external circumstances and yet classmates of mine were paying the price, it really moved me away from any notion that life is all about how hard you work and your kind of moral character.

Sometimes bad luck just comes along and hits people. Thats what happened to people who left school in the early 90s, and its whats happening to people who are leaving school today.

Its the responsibility of policy makers to take the edges off that bad luck, even if we cant make it go away.

Even with government subsidies like JobKeeper, weve seen huge employment losses for the first time in 60 years, less than half our national income is going to employees (despite company profits rising by 11.4 percent thanks JobKeeper).

Despite those lost wages many households saw their income increase thanks to welfare payments like JobSeeker, which saved us from falling further into the hole.

We know that low-income earners are more likely to increase discretionary spending (good for the economy!) when they get a financial boost, whereas high-income earners are more likely to tighten the purse strings (bad for the economy!).

Thats why people are arguing that cutting those welfare payments (which the government is planning to do this month) would be a very bad idea.

Australias unemployment rate is currently at 7.5 percent its expected to reach 10 percent by Christmas.

Thats particularly bad news for young people because of a little thing called economic scarring.Weve done a bit of an explainer on this phenomenon before, which you can read more onhere.

Simply put, economic scarring refers to the long-term consequences that a downturn can have on people just entering the workforce.

Basically, youll be earning less (for longer), which puts you on the back foot compared to previous generations. Youll also be more likely to accept a lowly-paid job, or a job beneath your qualifications, which means it takes longer to climb the career ladder. This affects workers earning potential for years after a recession has officially ended.

Unemployment takes twice as long to come back down as it did to go up, because employment relationships, like emotional relationships, are easier to break than they are to create, Dr Leigh said.

Right now we know that theres 13 or 14 job seekers for every available job, so its an incredibly tough time to be looking for work.

Anything you can do to upskill in the current climate is a great idea vocational training, online learning, university study, it should all be on the table. But, as with everything, its not that simple.

As you might recall, in June the government decided to hike the price of some uni degrees to try and funnel people into certain more employable fields. Thats seriously limited students choice, especially those interested in humanities (the cost of which will more than double).

Dr Leigh called that a crazy decision.

This is the worst time to be curtailing opportunities to do vocational studies or go to university.Weve got to beopening upthose places because theres not the jobs available, so people need to train, he said.

Capping places and rising prices I think, to me, shows that the government dont see this through the eyes of young people. They dont realise what its like for a young person to be, in some cases, effectively shut out of thelabourmarket.In that environment the moral obligation of those who are in government is to create other pathways, provide people with other productive things to do.

In Question Time yesterday the Prime Minister was asked why the government is cutting JobKeeper. This month the wage subsidy will fall from $1,500 to $1,200 a fortnight, and less for people working less than 20 hours a week.

In response Scott Morrison said theyre hoping to see fewer businesses having to rely on JobKeeper to pay staff wages.

And we will continue to calibrate these measures, as we have always done, in response to the economic circumstances that we face. And that has been one of the haul marks of the governments response: To be balanced, to be carefully considered, to understand what can be sustained over the short, medium and longer term, to put in place the supports that Australians need but to also ensure that when businesses are in a position to employ again that they can do so.

In short: theyre not ruling out cutting income support.

Groups are also continuing to fight for a permanent increase to JobSeeker. The dole rate was effectively doubled by the coronavirus supplement, but come September 25 that payment will drop from $550 a fortnight to $250.

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Junk Explained: Why Recessions Hit Young People The Hardest - Junkee

I May Destroy You: The HBO series about consent we should all be watching (Trigger Warning-sexual assault, rape) – The Observer

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Streaming recommendation of the week 9/4/20

Shanice Gitau, Contributing ReporterSeptember 4, 2020

Trigger Warning: Sexual assault, rape.

Scrolling through HBO one day, looking for something new to watch, I was pleasantly surprised to come across I May Destroy You, a new BBC series written by and starring the phenomenal British-Ghanian screenwriter Michaela Coel. As a huge fan of her sitcom, Chewing Gum, about one religious 24-year-olds quest to lose her virginity, and familiar with her more serious transcontinental drama, Black Earth Rising, which explored the consequences of the Rwandan genocide from the perspective of an adopted survivor, I expected great things from this show.

It is safe to say that I May Destroy You smashed every expectation. Coel seamlessly blends humor and painfully realistic depictions of trauma to explore consent, race and friendship in the messy world of millennial hedonism. Coels acute and tender writing easily makes it one of the best dramas of the year.

The series follows Arabella, an up-and-coming writer, as she recollects the pieces of her life after being drugged and raped at a bar in London. She leans on her best friends, Terry and Kwame, for emotional support, and with a new perspective, reevaluates the relationships she has with friends, family and her career.

One would think that no TV writer could approach such heavy content with comedy, but Coel owns her story by re-telling it from in a voice thats uniquely hersnuanced and empathetic, yet powerful and unflinchingly funny.

Thats right, the show is based on Coels own experience with sexual assault. The same way Arbellas character attempts to heal her trauma through writing, Coel repackages hers into this wide-spanning series that reveals the complex, painful journey of recovering from sexual assault through creative processes and intense introspection. The result is an unsettling, groundbreaking project that will rightfully leave you questioning the way society treats women and especially Black women.

Tying this show together is a cast of unapologetically Black characters, whose own moral quandaries we see explored across different episodes. Pleasure-seeking Kwame struggles with meaningful romantic connections after endless Grindr exploits, and Terry is an aspiring actress that still struggles to be seen or heard, even in her sisterhood with Arabella.

Examining the intersections of racism and sexuality in a supposedly post-racial society, certain scenes beg certain questions: What is it like to be queer and African? Where does preference turn into stereotypes and fetish? What is consent and what isnt? Therein each episode lies a clear answer, but Coel would also much rather leave us to endure disquieting visual cues and open endings that force us to wonder, What would I do in this situation? and What should I do?

While most of us crumble in fear when faced with moral ambiguity, Coel stands up, and with a voice that speaks from experience, points out the hazy line that separates right from wrong. This project came just at the right time. On the eve of global racial unrest and at the peak of an era of survivors ending their silencea movement affecting our own campus here at Case Western Reserve UniversityI May Destroy You is a revolutionary must-watch.

See the original post here:

I May Destroy You: The HBO series about consent we should all be watching (Trigger Warning-sexual assault, rape) - The Observer

Blue sky thinking with the A-list’s favourite shrink – MSN UK

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Provided by Evening Standard

They say a writers environment is key to their creative process, so its no wonder Carder Stouts new memoir has received rave five-star reviews.

The Los Angeles film producer turned Hollywood therapist is showing me around the room where hes counselled Oscar and Grammy-winners, exchanged nostalgic lockdown emails with BFF Gwyneth Paltrow and most recently written a 300-page book about his escapades with old friends Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Anna Wintour.

The desk I can see over Zoom overlooks the Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains where Jimi Hendrix had a house and Neil Young wrote his album After the Gold Rush, and the room itself is the very space where record producer Steven Kipner wrote classics such as Olivia Newton-Johns Physical and Christina Aguileras Genie in a Bottle. Kipner owned the house before him, and Stouts now unassuming-looking office was his music studio, so I feel that creative spirit around me, he smiles, pausing occasionally to swat a mosquito.

Californias Covid situation is pretty dire, says Stout, 51, but there are worse places to spend lockdown than his hillside idyll. Mornings begin with praying, meditation and a walk along the beach with his dogs, and days are spent watching his son and daughter playing among olive, lemon and eucalyptus trees outside his window. Old friend Paltrow is always checking in, and five-time Grand Slam doubles winner Rick Leach is giving him tennis lessons.

Its all quite the world away from the focus of his new memoir, Lost In Ghost Town, about his days of drug-dealing, cocaine addiction and narrowly escaping death in the dangerous underbelly of Los Angeless Venice Beach in the early 2000s. But this is the point, says Stout. He wants his book to be a beacon of hope for anyone whos found themselves falling into a time of darkness, to show them there is a way out.

Stout had lived a privileged life before his days on the street. He had affluent parents, attended private school in Washington and later became a high-flying film producer with a plush penthouse in New York and a dinner party set that included the likes of Paltrow and Anna Wintour. Leo [DiCaprio] said that one day he wanted to have muscles like me so he could get the girls Liev [Schrieber] jumped into my blow-up pool with his wallet in his pocket Brad [Pitt] put his arm around me and suggested I put a putting green on my terrace so we could play golf at night, Stout writes among the celebrity anecdotes in his new memoir.

But the glamour and hedonism quickly disappeared when he discovered crack cocaine. Within a four-year period, I had lost it all, says Stout, recalling how he became homeless and fell out of touch with family and friends during those lost years of his early thirties in Ghost Town. The book details his escapades in the hood, from love affairs with prostitutes and escaping murder plots to befriending a fellow dealer named Flyn. Eventually, it was the love of Flyn and his grandmother, who took him into their home, which nurtured him back to health.

Stout credits Paltrow for later helping him realise his dream of becoming a writer. After getting sober and gaining Masters and doctorate degrees in psychology, he began writing for Paltrows lifestyle site Goop five years ago. One blog post denotes his own rock bottom, lying on the cold cement floor of an Albuquerque jail, but it was the response to a particular piece on addiction thats what he calls the tipping point. I said You know what, I can do this, I can sit down and create a schedule for myself and write this book. Two years later he had a finished manuscript.

The memoir is dedicated to Stouts older brother Craig, whom he describes as his hero. Their mother was an alcoholic and father a self-involved narcissistic man, so Craig, 15 months his senior, was his main guardian growing up. Losing Craig to cancer halfway through writing the book was arguably the most difficult period of [Stouts] life, and he is grateful that he was able to read the first half of the memoir to his brother in hospital before he passed away.

In many ways, Stouts own grief has helped him to connect on a deeper level with clients. He never planned to bring his book out during lockdown, but the timing feels fitting. As a psychologist, hes noticed a real uptake in feelings of fear and uncertainty over the last few months. His mission is to help clients use this strange time to their advantage, whether its taking a new class or developing deeper relationships with their children ideas that are just as relevant whether the patient is one of his pro bono clients or an Oscar or Grammy-winner (he insists he has many among his client base).

Stouts children, Sebastian, four, and Maxine, six, have walked in on several A-list therapy sessions over lockdown, but no one has minded, he insists. Celebrities are no different to the rest of us: everyone has experiences with their parents that are difficult, and difficult moments in their life and feelings of insecurity and doubt. We all share their common language of human suffering.

As a dream specialist, Stout is unsurprised many people are experiencing lockdown dreams about their exes because an ex represents a lost love during a collective time of grieving, and hes definitely seen a spike in people turning to drugs and alcohol during quarantine. Hes now 15 years sober so [doesnt] really think about [drugs] anymore himself but sees how people end up going down that track.

How does he look back on his own addiction now? Stout says he no longer feels ashamed or guilty, but this took some time. His wife of eight years, Jennie, knew roughly what had happened in Ghost Town but was shocked to read the details, and he would love for his children to read the book when theyre old enough. There are no secrets I want to keep from them, he says, recalling a moment on his recent US book tour when Sebastian stood beside him on the lectern, holding his hand and beaming with pride while he read a passage about a run-in with a murderous drug dealer.

Stout is currently writing a second book, a self-help guide called Everyone Is An Addict, to demystify the idea that addiction is simply drugs and alcohol, and says hes in talks with British actress Emily Mortimer about her production company turning his memoir into a film. There are a few actors involved already, he teases, tight-lipped on names. Hopefully old pals Leo and Brad will be keen for a re-run.

Remembering the time David Bowie and John Cale got wasted and jammed, 1978 – Far Out Magazine

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Were digging deep into the Far Out Magazine vault to bring you a special moment between two of the most influential artists to have ever walked planet earth; David Bowie and the Velvet Undergrounds John Cale.

Bowie made no secret of his huge admiration for The Velvet Underground throughout his glittering career, living his life entirely obsessed by the New York street culture, that was so perfectly defined in their records. Its a fascination that began after his then-manager, Ken Pitt, had visited iconic artist Andy Warhols Factory studio and returned to London with an acetate copy ofThe Velvet Underground & Nico.

The rumour goes that Bowie began performing songs from the album almost immediately after receiving the record. In fact, he was the first artist to perform the VUs songs in Britain. So, when Bowie eventually became friends with Lou Reed, John Cale and the rest of the band, its little surprise that he would end up collaborating musically with a lot of them.

In 1978, during a long, frivolous and somewhat debauched session in New York City, Cale and Bowie put some infamous jam sessions to tape. The results are a sparkling reminder of the rock n roll lifestyle they all led.

On the back cover of one recording of a bootleg single, the 45 rpm 7 description read: On October 5, 1978, David Bowie and John Cale went into the Ciarbis Studio, which is located on top of a house or apartment complex in the city of New York. They recorded some songs there. Here are some results of these unique rehearsals!

According to Cales own words, his artistic relationship with Bowie was so strong that he could never sit at the mixing desk and produce his work, as Bowie had done for Lou Reed. Instead, the duo preferred to have fun with music together, playing a few live shows and secretly jamming together. David and I didnt actually meet until I first went back to New York, after Id done Patti [Smith]. When we did that bootleg, it was like the good old bad old days. We were partying very hard. It was exciting working with him, as there were a lot of possibilities and everything, but we were our own worst enemies at that point, Cale has previously said.

The Velvet Underground man added: We also played that show for Steve Reich and Philip Glass. That was a lot of fun. That was when we were hanging out, so I asked David if hed like to come and play Sabotage with me. I ended up teaching him the viola part, which he had a whack at and then ended up playing on stage for the first time.

Acknowledging both Bowies and his own ability to fall headfirst into a pool of hedonism, Cale would prefer to keep the session between them purely fun, Did I ever want to produce Bowie? After spending time with him, I realised the answer was no. The way we were then would have made it too dangerous. Cale, is, of course, referring to the duos penchant for debauchery and theres a good case for seeing why working with one another would be too much to bear.

Cale continued: He could improvise songs very well, which was what that bootleg was all about. The great thing about when we met and then started hanging out in the 70s was that he would say [puts on thick Welsh accent] Thats Dai Jones from Wales, isnt it? He loved all that. That set us off. We got along really well, but most of what we were doing was just partying.

They may well have been partying a lot and drinking far too much but judging by the sessions below there was most definitely a Cale-produced album in there somewhere. It may have produced the same quality of work as the last Velvet Underground/Bowie crossover, Transformer.

Alas, we will never have the chance to see or hear such a thing. That said, we do have these candid moments between not only two of the most influential artists of modern music, but two good mates, David and John.

Enjoy a sample of the demos, below.

(Via: Dangerous Minds)

Go here to see the original:

Remembering the time David Bowie and John Cale got wasted and jammed, 1978 - Far Out Magazine

Liverpool are ready for another Jrgen Klopp journey, but this one carries biggest warning yet – Liverpool.com

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

"We are ready. We have no choice".

It wasn't the most inspiring battle-cry from Mikel Arteta yesterday when summing up his side's current state ahead of today's Community Shield. In fairness, Jrgen Klopp made similar overtones to the virtual press-pack when he emphatically stated his Liverpool team will be nowhere near their best because, well, how can they be after two weeks training.

There is something to be said for the need for this game in general. It currently feels of less use and relevance than winning the Asia trophy or the Audi Cup in pre-season, peddle Phil Neville and Leon Osman out to lift it to an empty stadium, only this time one so out of necessity, not choice. What to expect on the pitch today is genuinely anyone's guess - and could range from uber conservative, to cricket score, to a post-battle scene from Game of Thrones with wounded men being tended to while horses roam and wild fires smoke.

Indeed, any gloss the Community Shield once had will have fully dissipated come kick-off. That isn't to say both clubs won't be desperate to win sheerly out of hating losing. That competitive element will always remain present, but the barren spell of a whole six days without football means that the transition of season has left many wondering where 2019/20 ended and 2020/21 begins.

For Klopp, this is his most terrifying nightmare becoming a reality. He is a manager who has a checklist of supporter driven intensity, reasonable breaks and rest times for players and a schedule he deems manageable top. He will finally have the end of FA Cup replays and two-legged League Cup ties, but it has come at a cost of what is essentially 12 months of relentless football for his players.

What he has is his team around the team. Nutrition, physiotherapy and sports-science will play a leading role in Liverpool's achievements this season. Keeping the squad fit now matters more than ever before, he will need luck, more importantly he will need the version of his team which won the Champions and Premier League so impressively more than ever before.

Today is another journey, another go on the rollercoaster of Klopp that brings a city to life with a hedonism of relentless togetherness, drive and increasing wall art. Yet everything still somewhat feels on hold, as if waiting to still play the Merseyside derby in March. It's a reality that Klopp has had to adapt to quick. Today is the first day of judgement to how well he and his team have. But with what may transpire to be the mantra of the season, don't judge them too critically given the circumstances.

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Liverpool are ready for another Jrgen Klopp journey, but this one carries biggest warning yet - Liverpool.com

Op-Ed: To My Fellow Students, Please, Just Follow the Rules – The Tower

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

By Zoe Strozewski, Editor-in-Chief | Published by September 1, 2020

As we begin the fall semester, I want to impart a critical plea to my fellow students: do not treat this semester like semesters of the past because it is the opposite of ordinary. The consequences of irresponsible student behavior and a COVID-19 outbreak on campus could be devastating to the Kean community.

Kean has set social distancing guidelines for the semester.Photo courtesy of Kean website

The world has seen a minor return to normalcy, but it has already been proven that we are nowhere near ready to revisit our way of life before COVID-19 became a household name. However, Keans later-than-most start date has given us the chance to witness the consequences of partying in the COVID-19 era and learn from the mistakes of schools that have unsuccessfully tried to reopen.

The University of Connecticut, for example, recently quarantined a dorm of approximately 300 students after their building became a hotspot for COVID-19 infection, according to an article published by the CT Post.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has already topped 1000 cases between students and employees since reopening, according to the schools COVID-19 dashboard. Additionally, the university has suspended all face-to-face classes and asked residential students to start moving back home.

Regardless of every precaution and safety protocol that Kean has already put in place, this is a future that we will also face if the students themselves dont follow the rules. This three week buffer weve been allotted may be extended into the whole semester faster than you can shotgun a Natural Light.

In many ways, the charm of college is ingrained in breaking the rules, especially for the freshmen. Moving into a dorm and living without the constant supervision of parents is a completely groundbreaking level of independence, and I know that having the traditional college experience is something many high schoolers look forward to.

However, if we prioritize the traditional college experience over staying safe, then we will undoubtedly get shut down again and wont have a college experience period.

As far as breaking rules goes, anything outside of the COVID-19 safety protocols is still fair game. Go break those rules. (That was a joke. Heres another one: three people with COVID-19 walk into a house party. You can probably guess the ending)

Another thing to consider is the financial repercussions the university will face if forced to close again. The previously mentioned University of Connecticut is already facing a $74 million budget deficit due to outbreaks on campus, and that figure could grow substantially if the school fully shuts down, according to an article published by the CT Mirror.

At the end of the Spring 2020 semester, Kean responded to financial difficulties caused by the pandemic by laying off over two dozen faculty and staff and fully cutting some programs, including music, theater education and sustainability science. If irresponsible student behavior caused another campus closure, the resulting financial deficit may result in even more job and program cuts.

So much more is at stake here than a simple bout of the flu. People could lose their jobs, their educational programs, their housing and, ultimately, their lives.

Its important to note that following the rules does not mean students have to be antisocial hermits this semester. There are many ways to spend time with friends without putting the entire campus community at risk. That isnt possible in overfilled dorm rooms or basements that spit on the name of social distancing.

It was a long shot that Kean would open at any capacity this semester. Students have the rest of their lives to have fun, so its critical that we lay low for this semester and stay disciplined. Hedonism and pandemics really dont mix well.

Young people, me included, often have an invincibility complex, but this isnt something we can avoid because of our age. Kean is not going to just get lucky and avoid an outbreak if students resort to their usual hijinks and approach this semester like any other. This school isnt going to miraculously avoid getting shut down just because we want that outcome badly enough.

What happened to UConn and the University of North Carolina will happen to us too if we dont approach these coming months with extreme caution.

My fellow students, if youre not going to do it for yourselves, do it for the professors who are risking their health, as well as their familys, to teach you on campus.

Do it for those with a higher risk of severe illness who will walk onto campus every day scared because they dont have the luxury of being cavalier with their health.

Do it for the students who live in the dorms and will lose their housing if rulebreakers decide to play Russian roulette with a contagious disease.

Do it for the Kean athletes whose seasons were suspended seasons and for the Class of 2020, that had to graduate from college on a laptop because a whole lot of people in this country decided not to take a pandemic seriously.

Do it for the faculty and staff that recently lost their jobs and the students who lost programs theyre passionate about due to COVID-19s financial devastation..

Lastly, do it for the students who dont get the privilege of being on campus this semester. They might be surviving on the possibility of the Kean population avoiding an outbreak so they have a chance of returning next semester. That hope is going to be destroyed the second students choose themselves over the good of the entire school.

Only time will tell whether Kean was equipped to reopen in the first place, but the only way we have any shot at all is if everyone (and I mean everyone) takes personal responsibility. The butterfly effect is real and poignant. It may take one selfish act from an infected person to trigger an outbreak powerful enough to destroy the fragile semester were starting.

This issue, unlike many of the worlds problems, is black and white. Either we do what it takes to keep the campus open, or we dont. Its that simple.

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Op-Ed: To My Fellow Students, Please, Just Follow the Rules - The Tower

Bitcoin Cash Faces Third Blockchain Split in Under Four Years – Decrypt

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

The Bitcoin ABC development team yesterday released a new version of its latest, controversial upgrade. The upgrade includes a major change to take place on November 15, designed to fund blockchain development, but it's so unpopular it might split the blockchain in two.

This wouldnt be the first time Bitcoin Cash has broken in half. The cryptocurrency began as a fork of Bitcoin in 2017, providing increased block size so that more transactions could be processed. Then, just a year later, BCH went through a second fork, giving rise to Bitcoin SV which wanted even bigger blocks. Now, it looks like a third split may be lying in wait.

The current debate within the BCH community reflects that original endeavor of these former BTC developers to further decentralize the protocol development process. Whether this would again result in a split, remains to be seen, Nishant Sharma told Decrypt. Sharma was actively involved in Bitcoins famous scaling debate and later founded BlocksBridge Consulting, an international PR strategy and advisory firm focused on the Bitcoin mining industry.

It all started when the development team for Bitcoin ABC, a full node implementation of the BCH protocol, proposed an Infrastructure Funding Proposal on August 18. It would result in eight percent of mining rewards being used for infrastructure development. In other words, every time a block is mined on the blockchain, only 92% of the rewards produced will go to the minerthe rest would get sent to an account owned by the Bitcoin ABC team.

This proposal has proven controversial. Roger Ver, one of Bitcoin Cashs famous investors, tweeted, Diverting part of the Bitcoin Cash block reward to pay a single development team is a Soviet style central planners dream come true. Please stop.

If a split occurs, it could be bad news for the new coin. Theres a chance the new ABC cointhat would be created as a result of the splitwould lose mining support, as well as its current places on multiple crypto exchanges. Each exchange would have to look at supporting the coin and if theres no community momentum for it, they might choose not to list it.

An overwhelming amount of the BCH community doesnt support the ABC development teams proposals. In a statement, Simple Ledger Protocol said: We do not consider a protocol that redirects coinbase rewards, to be Bitcoin Cash (BCH), especially when such a rule was announced unilaterally.

Some miners are even writing PoweredByBCHN on Bitcoin Cash blocks to signify their rejection of Bitcoin ABCs controversial proposal, and to show their support for the current coin.

But with another split on the horizon, Bitcoin Cash needs to be careful that its not forked into obscurity.

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Bitcoin Cash Faces Third Blockchain Split in Under Four Years - Decrypt

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers September 4th, 2020 – FX Empire

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

It was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin recovered from an early dip to strike a late morning intraday high $11,461.0 before hitting reverse.

Falling well short of the first major resistance level at $11,861.0, Bitcoin slid to a mid-afternoon low $10,510.0.

Bitcoin fell through the first major support level at $11,069 and the second major support level at $10,730.

Finding late morning support, Bitcoin moved back through the second major support level before a 2nd sell-off. The sell-off saw Bitcoin fall to a late intraday low $9,990.9.

Bitcoin fell back through the second major support level to sub-$10,000 before wrapping up the day at $10,170 levels.

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

Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day for the majors on Thursday.

Trons TRX bucked the trend, surging by 15.94%.

It was a particularly bearish day for the rest of the majors, however.

Binance Coin (-17.53%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (-18.73%), Bitcoin Cash SV (-18.37%), Cardanos ADA (-17.64%), and Tezos (-18.54%) led the way down.

EOS (-15.65%), Ethereum (-12.98%), Litecoin (-13.85%), Moneros XMR (-14.71%), and Ripples XRP (-11.35%) also saw heavy losses.

Stellars Lumen saw a relatively modest 7.73% loss on the day.

In the current week, the crypto total market rose to a Tuesday high $379.05bn before sliding to a Thursday low $320.1bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $317.90bn.

Bitcoins dominance rose to a Monday high 60.44% before falling to a Wednesday low 58.79%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 60.07%.

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers September 4th, 2020 - FX Empire

Meet The 2 Newest Grayscale Products That Trade On OTC Markets – Yahoo Finance

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Traders and investors looking to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on the secondary market now have two new securities at their disposal.

What Happened

Two new Grayscale products began trading last month on the OTCQX Market: Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (OTCQX: BCHG) and Grayscale Litecoin Trust (Pink: LTCN). The new securities bring the total of Grayscale products that trade publicly on a regulated market to six.

The securities are structured as open-ended trusts. Similar to other Grayscale products, each trust will hold the underlying cryptocurrency and track its performance through the corresponding TradeBlock index (minus fees and expenses).

The Trusts will not generate any income and will regularly distribute Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin respectively to pay for its ongoing expenses, according to the company. Therefore, the amount of Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin represented by each respective share gradually decreases over time.

Since March of 2018 Grayscale has offered a private placement to accredited investors for each of the trusts. Those investors who participated will be eligible to sell their shares after a one year holding period.

As of August 31, 2020, there were 12,806,000 Shares Outstanding of BCHG, with each share representing 0.00939315 Bitcoin Cash/share, and 4,028,000 Shares outstanding of LTCN, with each share representing 0.09393145 Litecoin/share.

Why It's Important

According to the company, BCHG and LTCN are the first publicly quoted securities in the U.S. that track Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin respectively. The introduction of LTCN and BCHG on a regulated trading market makes the cryptocurrencies available to investors who might otherwise have been locked out of, or have restrictions operating within, the unregulated cryptocurrency market.

They also give investors the opportunity to buy and sell Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash without having to worry about going through an unregulated exchange and storing the asset directly.

Known largely for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC), Grayscale Investments is the world's largest digital currency asset manager with more than $6.1 billion in assets under management as of August 31, 2020.

The companys other products that trade on OTCQX include Grayscale Ethereum Trust (OTCQX: ETHE), Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (OTCQX: ETCG), and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (OTCQX: GDLC).

Through the first 10 trading days, BCHG averaged a daily volume of roughly 92,000 shares, while LTCN averaged 14,750 shares.

Benzinga's Take

For the first time, retail investors can now buy and sell Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on a public market. The introduction of BCHG and LTCN to public markets is another development in the continuing progression of crypto into the mainstream.

The two new crypto-related securities will also come at a welcome time for investors searching for alternatives to equities in light of the stock markets historic rally.

See more from Benzinga

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Meet The 2 Newest Grayscale Products That Trade On OTC Markets - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin Cash Analysis: Breakdown Could Extend Below $200 – Live Bitcoin News

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin cash price is declining and it is trading in a bearish zone below $250 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD is showing bearish signs and the bears might even attempt a break below $200.

In the past few sessions, there was a sharp decline in bitcoin cash price from well above $260 against the US Dollar. BCH price even traded below the $250 support and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours).

The decline was such that the price broke the $220 support and traded close to the $200 handle. During the decline, there was a break below a crucial bullish trend line with support near $275 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair.

A new weekly low is formed near $204 and the price is currently correcting higher. It recovered above the $215 level, but facing hurdles near the $226 level. It is close to the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent drop from the $297 high to $205 low.

The first major resistance is near the $240 level. The main resistance is now forming near the $250 level. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent drop from the $297 high to $205 low.

If there is an upside correction, bitcoin cash might find it difficult to clear the $240 and $250 resistance levels. Conversely, the price may perhaps continue to move down below the $215 support. The next major support is near the $205 and $200 levels.

If there is a bearish close below the $200 support, there could be a massive drop towards the $180 support or even $165 in the coming days.

Bitcoin Cash Price

Looking at the chart, bitcoin cash price is clearly trading in a bearish zone below $240 and $250. The price could correct higher in the short-term, but there is a risk of more losses below $200.

4 hours MACD The MACD for BCH/USD is currently losing momentum in the bearish zone.

4 hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BCH/USD is currently well below the 30 level.

Key Support Levels $205 and $200.

Key Resistance Levels $240 and $250.

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Bitcoin Cash Analysis: Breakdown Could Extend Below $200 - Live Bitcoin News

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 31st, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rose by 2.07% on Sunday. Reversing a 0.46% decline Saturday, Bitcoin ended the week up by 0.57% to $11,730.0.

It was a bullish start to the day. Bitcoin rallied from an early morning intraday low $11,480.0 to a late afternoon high $11,721.0.

Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $11,582 and the second major resistance level at $11,672.

Late in the day, Bitcoin fell back to $11,620 levels before breaking back through the second major resistance level at $11,672.

The late recovery saw Bitcoin strike an intraday high $11,730 in the final hour.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact, supported by the latest move through to $12,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

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

Ethereum (+7.62%), Litecoin (+10.45%), and Trons TRX (+8.65%) led the way.

Binance Coin (+2.87%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (+3.25%), Bitcoin Cash SV (+3.32%), EOS (+4.20%), Moneros XMR (+3.86%), and Ripples XRP (+3.28%) also made solid gains.

Cardanos ADA (+0.96%), Stellars Lumen (+2.01%), and Tezos (+1.13%) trailed the front runners.

For the week, it was a mixed bag for the majors, however.

Binance Coin (+8.00%), Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.11%), Ethereum (+9.73%), Litecoin (+3.76%), Moneros XMR (+6.38%), and Trons TRX (+11.05%) joined Bitcoin in the green.

It was a bearish week for the rest of the majors.

Bitcoin Cash ABC (-1.78%), Cardanos ADA (-3.48%), EOS (-1.92%), Ripples XRP (-0.62%), Stellars Lumen (-4.55%), and Tezos (-3.75%) saw red.

In the week, the crypto total market fell to a Thursday low $329.40bn before rising to a Sunday high $359.74bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $357.31bn.

Bitcoins dominance rose to a Thursday high 62.28% before falling to a Sunday low 60.17%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 60.54%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.04% to $11,735.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall to an early morning low $11,713.0 before striking a high $11,744.0.

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

Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day.

Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.77%), EOS (-0.24%), and Ethereum (-0.71%) saw red early on.

It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors.

At the time of writing, Tezos was up by 0.73% to lead the way.

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $11,647 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $11,813.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from this mornings high $11,744.0.

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

In the event of a crypto breakout, the second major resistance level at $11,897 and resistance at $12,000 would likely be tested.

A fall through the $11,647 pivot would bring the first major support level at $11,563 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$11,500 levels on the day. The second major support level sits at $11,397.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 31st, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Cryptocurrencies Price Prediction: Bitcoin Cash, Tron and Ethereum European Wrap 2 September – FXStreet

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin Cash Market Update: BCH fork is inevitable as Bitcoin ABC team separates from the project

In recent weeks the tensions in the Bitcoin Cash have been escalating rapidly as Bitcoin ABC development team adopted Jonathan Toomims ASERT Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA), and integrated Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP), which was opposed by many community members. Read more ...

TRON's TRX is gaining ground rapidly. The coin hit the intraday high at $0.0373 At the time of writing, XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.0363, which is over 20% higher from this time on Monday, September 1. TRON is now the 13th largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $2.59 billion and an average daily trading volume of $2.85 billion, which is 300% higher from the levels registered at the end of August.Read more ...

Ethereum (ETH) hit the multi-year high at $488 on September 1 and retreated to $461 by press time. The second-largest digital asset has lost over 1.2% since the start of the day. However, it is still in a green zone if compared to this time on Monday. ETH/USD has been moving in sync with the market, which has started a downside correction after a sharp rally of recent days. Ethereum happens to be one of the main beneficiaries of the rally with over 22% of gains on a week-on-week basis.Read more ...

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Cryptocurrencies Price Prediction: Bitcoin Cash, Tron and Ethereum European Wrap 2 September - FXStreet

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