Poker Strategy: In Omaha, Outs Aren’t Everything, It’s Whether You Improve Enough – Poker News Daily

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There are a few rules that players overlook when they are playing Omaha Holdem. One is the cardinal rule of the game you MUST play two cards from your hand in making your best five card combination. But there are a couple of other axioms that are overlooked also. One of those is, when trying to determine your best hand, it isnt so much as your outs that you must look at, it is the likelihood of improving your hand.

One Pair Isnt Going to Win Often in Omaha

This isnt a news flash for those who play Omaha frequently, but youre not going to win many hands with a singular pair and especially if youre playing any form of Eights or Better. Thus, when you have an A-A-x-x in your hand, you cant get married to those Aces because theyre going to be crushed by the end of the hand. That singular pair of Aces will, to be honest, get you in more trouble than you might think.

Omaha is a game where the object is to always have the potential to draw into a better hand (unless you flop it, of course), which makes double suited, multi-card hands extremely popular. Lets say you have a J-1098 double-suited. Thats a great starting hand, especially if the flop were to come J-10-x. In this example, youve flopped the world with the top two pair, but youve also got the ability to improve with your 98 (remember, you MUST use two cards in Omaha) to a straight and, if the board has two of the same suit that you have, youve also got a four flush, a draw at a flush (not a huge flush, mind you, but a flush draw).

A Lead on the Flop Is Run Down by the River

In Omaha, normally the hand that starts with the lead on the flop is the losing hand by the river. People forget the simple fact that they, in all likelihood, will have to vastly improve that hand to stay in the lead and get married to that flopped two pair or even trips or a set that doesnt improve. It isnt critical to count the outs that you have, but look at how your hand can improve and whether that is going to be good enough for you to win the pot with the board texture and how your opposition is betting.

For example, using the above situation, lets say that flop is J-10-A. That shrinks up your potential 98 significantly as anyone on a K-Q-x-x has flopped Broadway and your potential Jack high straight is already drawing dead. Or lets say the flop is J-105 and your opponent has 55-x-x. Now lets have the turn and river come with two of the same cardlets say it finishes out with two treys. Your two pair, which never improved from the flop, was beaten by a flopped set and (although it wasnt necessary) crushed by a runner-runner full house.

What Do I Look For?

Instead of counting outs, this is the time you must be able to examine at the potential of what your opponents hold. Just because you have hit everything in our example hand, you could be virtually drawing dead from the start. Your hand in Omaha must always have the potential to improve or be so strong from the start that you can withstand action. Then again, this is pokeryou cannot sit around and wait for dominant hands to come along and, it is arguable, in Omaha, they just dont exist. Thats when the skills of the game come into play.

This is one of the things that draws the action players to Omaha. The potential for the lead in the hand to change on each street ensures there is plenty of betting action and plenty for players to take into consideration. While the outs are nice, you must be able to improve and then is that improvement enough? Those are the things to be looking for in Omaha Holdem.

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Poker Strategy: In Omaha, Outs Aren't Everything, It's Whether You Improve Enough - Poker News Daily

RIP Arnold Trebach, Who Helped Make Opposition to the Drug War Respectable – Reason

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Arnold Trebach, who died last week at the age of 92, started the Drug Policy Foundation in the heat of Ronald Reagan's war on drugs. It was the same year that Joe Biden, a Democrat who is running for president this year as a criminal justice reformer, wrote the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which prescribed new mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and created the notorious weight-based sentencing distinction that treated crack cocaine as if it were 100 times worse than cocaine powder.

It did not seem like an auspicious time to be urging a reconsideration of drug prohibition. Three years later, when President George H.W. Bush announced yet another escalation of the war on drugs while waving a bag of crack on national television, Biden, then a Delaware senator, delivered the Democratic response. "Quite frankly," he said, "the president's plan's not tough enough, bold enough, or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand." Calling drug use "the No. 1 threat to our national security," Biden said "what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam."

In this context, with Democrats outbidding Republicans in their zeal to deploy violence against people with politically incorrect pharmacological tastes, it took a certain kind of chutzpaha good kindto start an organization dedicated to the proposition that there might be a more tolerant approach. But Trebach, a middle-aged lawyer and professor of justice at American University, figured someone should be talking about downside of this bipartisan chemical crusade and suggesting an alternative he called "drug peace."

Even before he started the Drug Policy Foundation, Trebach's skeptical treatment of the war on drugs in the courses he taught prompted a telegram to the president of American University. "Close your doors immediately," it said. "Do not continue to corrupt any more American youth." The idea that questioning current policy was tantamount to corrupting "American youth" suggests the level of debate that was typical at the time.

"We must convince people that it is respectable, it is rational, it is decent, to oppose current drug laws," Trebach toldReason in 1987, the year he published The Great Drug War. "The major thing I want to do is replace hate with love or intolerance with tolerance. The drug law does not deal with some of the major problems connected with drug abusecrime and corruption. The law only makes the corruption worse, makes the crime worse, and does not help the simple addict. I know of no addict who has been helped by being treated as the enemy."

In The Great Drug War, Trebach highlighted the cruel, perverse, and invasive consequences of using force to prevent people from altering their consciousness in ways politicians did not like. The fallout included widespread drug testing, humiliating border searches, civil asset forfeiture, imprisonment of nonviolent drug offenders, police corruption, undertreatment of pain, misinformation about the relative hazards of drugs, coercive "rehabilitation" programs like Straight Inc., vain and destructive efforts to stamp out drug production in other countries, and a running battle between domestic marijuana growers and cops determined to eradicate their crops and livelihoods.

"We are losing the great drug war because our leadershave declared all users of illicit drugs to be 'the enemy,'" Trebach wrote. "Thus, they refuse to distinguish between drug use and drug abuse, between responsible drug use and compulsive addictive use." They have "therefore declared at least 50 million Americans to be enemies of the state."

The book's subtitle originally touted Radical Proposals That Could Make America Safe Again, although Trebach stopped short of recommending the legalization of all drugs. In the 2005 edition, which did call for a broad dismantling of prohibition, the subtitle was changed to Rational Proposals to Turn the Tide, a revision that may have been motivated by marketing considerations but also reflected a change in public opinion that Trebach helped bring about.

The percentage of Americans who favored legalizing marijuana had by that point begun an upward trend that would lead to majority support within a decade. Meanwhile, politicians were beginning to question the mandatory minimum binge that politicians like Biden had promoted. Two years later, Biden himself would introduce a bill aimed at eliminating the unjust and irrational distinction between the smoked and snorted forms of cocaine, which had led to strikingly unequal treatment of black drug offenders.

Trebach's D.C.-based organizationwhich in 2000 merged with Ethan Nadelmann's Lindesmith Center in New York, an amalgam now known as the Drug Policy Allianceplayed a seminal role in encouraging that evolution in thinking by bringing together antiprohibitionists from across the political spectrum. As my formerReason colleague Virginia Postrel noted in 1989, the Drug Policy Foundation's conferences offered fresh perspectives on drug use and addiction that went beyond "medicalization," which would treat consumers of currently illegal substances as patients rather than criminals. These were gatherings where libertarians influenced by Thomas Szasz and Milton Friedman mingled with public health specialists, left-leaning critics of the carceral state, and conservatives troubled by the myriad ways in which prohibition undermines law and order.

Writing forReason in 1988, by which time he had turned fully against prohibition, Trebach argued that even the "worst-case scenario" of substantially increased addiction under legalization would be better than the disastrous consequences of the war on drugs. "Everything we know about the dynamics of drug use suggests that the real scenario will be even better," he wrote. "If we legalize the currently illegal drugs, teach temperance and moderation regarding all drugs, and treat addicts and cancer patients alike with compassion and sound health care, the whole topic will be reduced to a mid-level and, hopefully, boring issue of national health policy."

We have not yet reached the point where drug policy is boring. But discussion of the subject is notably calmer, more compassionate, and less reflexively punitive than it was in the 1980s, when Trebach dared to question the aggressive, indiscriminate approach favored by Democrats and Republicans alike. The ongoing collapse of marijuana prohibitioncombined with the shift embodied by Biden, who now says he wants to abolish the mandatory minimums and death penalties he once championedsuggests that Americans are thinking about drugs a little more rationally than they did a few decades ago. That's no small achievement, and Trebach's advocacy, as he hoped, helped make opposition to the war on drugs respectable.

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RIP Arnold Trebach, Who Helped Make Opposition to the Drug War Respectable - Reason

Feds: Operation Legend will add agents to focus on Detroit gun violence – The Detroit News

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Detroit Dozens of federal agents are being assigned to Detroit to root out violent criminals under an expansion of a Trump administration "law-and-order" initiative, although authorities insist agents here won't getinvolved in protests, as they have inother cities.

Detroit U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider joined Wednesday with leaders from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service to detail enhancements to what is being described as Operation Legend.

Those include the creation of an ATF unit to focus on gun violenceas well as a mix of new permanent and temporary agent assignments to target gun and gang violence, fugitive apprehension, illegal firearms and drug trafficking.

"The amount of violent crime plaguing our city was unacceptable," Schneider said during a news conference inside the ATF offices in Detroit."More and more, our children are being caught in the crossfire and murdered in senseless gun violence."

The announcement comes as the state's largest city has experienced a surge in gun violence and the White House listed Detroit as one of several cities in the country where federal agents will bedeployed as part of a Trump program to curb violence.

Schneiderhas noted homicides in Detroit are currently up 31% and shootings 53% in recent months.

"This is a flood of more resources that we haven't seen before," he said. "The violent increase here in Detroit is significant."

Overall, 19 new permanent ATF agent assignments will be added in Detroitand 30-plusother ATF and FBI agents will be reassigned or sent in from across the country for temporary detail work.

The FBI is directing personnel already working in Detroit to the initiative. ATF is bringing in special agents from other sites nationally. Some are currently undergoing training at the federal law enforcement trainingcenter in Georgia.

Matthew Schneider, United States Attorney, Michigan, shows the many weapons taken off the streets of Detroit and announced the expansion of Operation Legend at ATF Headquarters in Detroit on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.(Photo: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News)

The project will be funded in part with a $1 million Bureau of Justice Assistance grant. Another $100,000, officials said, will be used toward "acoustic gunshot detection technology and equipment."

The effort, Schneidernoted, is an extension of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a program rolled out in Detroit last winter by U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

ATF Special Agent in Charge James Deir said Wednesday that 15 agents are detailed here on a 90-day assignment and a handful of others will be here permanently.

The enforcement group will target gun violence in police precincts including the 6th, 2nd, 8th and the 12th, he said, adding it's a "priority mission" and "Detroit matters."

"Senseless gun violence is taking over the streets of Detroit," he said. "Whether we want to admit it or we want to stick our heads in the sand, at the end of the day, statistics do not lie."

Deir said recent spikes in violence havehomicides in the 6th Precinct up 42% and nonfatal shootings 67%; in the 2nd Precinct, homicides have gone up 25% and nonfatal shootings 123%; the 8th Precinct also has seen homicides surge by 25% and nonfatal shootings climb 80%; and the 12 Precinct, he said, has a homicide rate that's up 90% and 44% more fatal shootings.

"What is happening on the streets of Detroit has to end," he added. "I think those stats speak for themselves."

The Trump administration's program, referred to as Operation Legend, builds off the crime-fighting strategy that'scommitting $71 million toward battling drug trafficking, street gangs and other violent crime.

Schneider said newly assigned DEA agents assigned to Michigan under Operation Legend executed a search warrant in Detroit last week and found drugs, nine guns, including assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and three body armor vests.

Schneider has said the federal help will mean more funding for Detroit and hopefully more agents to work alongside local partners.

Gov. GretchenWhitmer told CNNs Erin Burnett Wednesday that its fine for federal authorities to come in and supplement local police forces in combating crime. If the federal governments intention is something different, thats not going to be OK, Whitmer said.

What we are worried about, of course, is that the federal government is going to come in and do what they did in Portland, Whitmer said. That is not acceptable. That is not necessary. We have seen peaceful protests in Detroit.

Activists Tristan Taylor and Nakia Wallace during a Detroit Will Breathe picket at entrance to 1155 Brewery Park in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 2020.(Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

The Justice Department last week noted plans to send resources to Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland as Trump vowed federal agents would head to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to aid local law enforcement amid ongoing protests in the wake of the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, noting "a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence."

Schneider, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and police Chief James Craig have stressed the daily rallies and marches in Detroit won't be a focus of Operation Legend.

"There are no federal troops coming to Detroit or any other area in Michigan to interfere with protesters," Schneider reiterated Wednesday.

Deir notedATF resources already have been in Detroit for more than a week.

"To be clear, ATF and none of my federal partners here are going to be driving around the streets in unmarked cars to somehow make contact or swoop up protesters and demonstrators," he said. "Its not going to happen.I have no interest in that. Its not my mission. Its not our lane.

At the same time Wednesday, outside the office, protesters with Detroit Will Breathe gathered to oppose Trump's initiative.

We don't need vigilante federal agents brutalizing the black community, because that's what they're coming to do. We need resources. So that's why we're out here, said Lloyd Simpson, a Detroit Will Breathe organizer.

Organizers believe bringing more police force into Detroit will cause violence.

We vehemently oppose Operation Legend. ... The thing is is that police are causing violence in our communities," added Simpson, noting three recent police-involved shootings in the city. "What we need is we need federal dollars for support in our communities, not police."

Duggan and Craig, in a statement released Wednesday, said the additional federal agents were not prompted by the city but acknowledged a dire need to"address the unacceptable level of gun violence."

"So long as those staff are used in the continuing effort to enforce federal laws on illegal gun trafficking and gang violence, DPD will continue its strong partnership with those agencies," the statement read.

The city's statement notes the police department has responded to protests over the last two months by "relying on the support of the Detroit community, not by asking for intervention by the National Guard or Homeland Security."

Schneider said there are people in the community whosay "we don't want federal agents in Detroit."Butfederal agents "have been in Detroit for decades," he said.

"Some of what we are doing is no different than what I did as an assistant U.S. attorney many years ago when my bosses were (former U.S. Attorney General) Eric Holder and President Barack Obama," he said. "I'm doing the same thing now as I did then; working with the FBI, ATF and DEA to make our community safer."

Federal agencies have been providing information, training, financial assistance and manpower to local law enforcement for decades, but the practice ramped up in the 1980s and 1990s with increased narcotics use, and the War on Drugs.

However, Detroit police didnt officially begin entering federal task forces until 1994 because former Mayor Coleman Young didnt support them.

During the Young years, some officers said, Detroit police sometimes had to resort to clandestine, unauthorized meetings with FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents to share information, according toaDetroit News report from July 5, 1994, announcing the citys first official Detroit police-federal task force.

Detroit Board of Police Commissioners chairman Willie Bell, who was a police officer throughout Youngs administration, said the late mayor was suspicious of federal law enforcement agencies. Thosepartnerships began in Detroit as Young left office.

Given the issues hed had with them before, he wasnt in favor of bringing in federal agents, said Bell, referring to FBI investigations into Young, which were uncovered by The News in 2000. He was strongly against it.

Bell said during his time as an officer, he didnt notice any hardships Detroit police endured by not augmenting their force with federal agents but he said, things are different today.

Local police are always more effective than federal agencies, because they know the community, and people can relate better to the local officers, he said. And without community cooperation, youll never have effective law enforcement.

"With the protesting and the increased violence, and all the reckless driving, DPD is stretched thin. It would be foolish not to take advantage of an offer for help.

Bell said the police board will carefully monitor the federal agents working in Detroit.

Recent Detroit Police-federal initiatives include Detroit One, an effort to get illegal guns off the streets, which was launched in 2013 by former Detroit U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and former Mayor Dave Bing, and Operation Ceasefire, also started in 2013, which aims to stop gang violence.

The collaborations do not always go smoothly.

In 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Mitchell Quinn was working with a Detroit police task force when he fatally shot 20-year-old Terrance Kellom. Last year, a federal jury cleared Quinn of wrongdoing in a wrongful death lawsuit.

In February, there was a flap between Craig, the DEA and ATF after an informant, Kenyel Brown, allegedly went on a crime spree that left six people dead. Craig complained the federal agencies wouldnt admit Brown was one of their informants. Brown shot himself in the head in an Oak Park backyard as he fled from policeand later died from the injury.

Detroit Will Breathe picket at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 2020.(Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

The program to assist local law enforcementto track down the most violent offenders also is targeted atMemphis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Albuquerque, Barr said in December when he announced the initial program alongside Craig and leaders of the FBI, ATF, DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Detroit has shared a portion of $10 million that went out to several cities, Schneider said.

That funding, he added, has enabled the office to get about 400 fugitives off the streets, tackle more gun violence cases, bring more charges and get more offenders behind bars.

Schneider said the operation beganwith U.S. Marshals. Officials planned to augment that withother agents from ATF, FBI and DEA. But the plan was curtailed when the pandemic hit.

cferretti@detroitnews.com

Staff Writer Ariana Taylor contributed.

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Democratic committee OKs platform with progressives’ input – The Associated Press

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WASHINGTON (AP) Reflecting presidential candidate Joe Bidens careful positioning, a key Democratic Party committee on Monday approved a 2020 platform that presents a liberal outline for the country but rejects many policies pursued by the lefts most outspoken progressives.

The document, approved by Democrats platform committee on a voice vote, now goes to more than 4,000 Democratic delegates who will vote by mail on whether to approve the document ahead of the partys August convention, which will take place almost entirely online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final draft endorses universal health care coverage but, as Biden does, calls for a public option insurance plan to compete in existing private insurance markets as the next step. Committee members overwhelmingly rejected amendments to more explicitly endorse the single-payer insurance model like what Bernie Sanders pushed.

In a lengthy passage demanding an overhaul of the criminal justice system, Democrats decry the effects of a decadeslong war on drugs. But committee members rejected an amendment calling to legalize marijuana. The same section demands an end to police violence against Americans, but it does not endorse some activists calls to defund the police.

In total, the platform is part of Bidens effort to balance the center-left establishment that has been his political home for decades with the partys ascendant progressive wing represented by high-profile figures like Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In fact, the drafting process included a series of policy committees that Bidens campaign convened with Sanders campaign after the Vermont senator finished as runner-up in the nominating fight. Ocasio-Cortez was included in that process, while Warren has emerged as a key policy adviser who talks regularly with Biden.

Bidens goal has been to avoid the kind of rancor that hobbled Hillary Clintons general election campaign four years ago, even as President Donald Trump and Republicans lambaste the former vice president as captive to a radical left.

The platform committee voted repeatedly Monday not to modify language that would push the party closer to embracing Sanders Medicare for All health insurance model, sticking with Bidens preferred language promising to build on the 2010 health care law signed by President Barack Obama.

Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former health commissioner for the city of Detroit, argued that the coronavirus outbreak demonstrates why the country needs a single-payer system like Medicare for All rather than just an expansion of the Affordable Care Act.

We have an opportunity to go bigger because this moment demands it, El Sayed said, arguing for an amendment that was eventually defeated.

Cecilia Muoz, who was director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Obama, countered that the platform was already shaping up to be the most progressive ever proposed by Democrats. She also noted that it incorporated the work of the Biden-Sanders task forces that had labored to craft language to appeal across the Democratic spectrum.

Im proud and thankful that the Biden-Sanders unity task force has outlined such a progressive statement on our partys views on this issue, Muoz said. I believe we should retain that language, the language that they negotiated.

On climate, the platform calls for rejoining international alliances of nations agreeing to sharp reductions in carbon pollution. Biden, after working with progressives, agreed explicitly to the goal of making the nations energy grid carbon neutral by 2035. That detail does not appear in the platform. The document also makes no mention of some Democrats Green New Deal legislative proposals that includes even more aggressive timelines.

The partys discussion of law enforcement reflects the nations reckoning with systemic racism.

Our criminal justice system is failing to keep communities safe, the draft reads, adding that police brutality is a stain on the soul of our nation. The platform calls for strict national standards governing the use of force and for the nation to reimagine policing for the benefit and safety of the American people, with the U.S. Justice Department taking a more active role in collecting statistics on police violence and investigating departments where it is alleged. But the document stops short of activists calls to defund the police, reflecting Bidens position on the matter.

Trump has sought to link Biden to the activists calls for eliminating traditional law enforcement.

Still, Democrats draft language on policing and law enforcement is significantly sharper than a much shorter section on the matter in 2016. That platform called for improving police-community relations but emphasized: Across the country, there are police officers inspiring trust and confidence, honorably doing their duty demonstrating that it is possible to prevent crime without relying on unnecessary force. They deserve our respect and support.

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The pro-drug war movies that tried to make a case for Oplan Tokhang – CNN Philippines

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Manila (CNN Philippines Life) In 2019, James Cuenca starred in what was then promoted as the wokest film of the year, a two-and-a-half-hour long action-thriller titled KontrAdiksyon. In it, he played Alexis, an anti-drug war activist who abandons his advocacy after a gang of masked meth addicts break into his comfortable middle-class home, rape his wife, and kill his family. Alexis begins to work with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in support of Oplan Tokhang. After getting fired, he becomes a vigilante and kills several drug users. The big plot twist comes when a congressman who opposes extrajudicial killings is exposed as the head of a massive drug cartel. His plan is to funnel drugs into government-funded rehab centers (one of which is lavishly shown) so that detainees attack PDEA agents, leaving them with no choice but to shoot. The movie takes glee in implicating the political opposition in this grand conspiracy, and all throughout, every government talking point on the drug war is upheld.

Oggs Cruz, a film critic for Rappler, called KontrAdiksyon blatant propaganda. Palanca Award-winning writer Njel De Mesa, who wrote and directed the movie, is a public supporter of Rodrigo Duterte, and created online videos to bolster his 2016 campaign. After Dutertes election, De Mesa was appointed to the board of directors at the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). When KontrAdiksyon was released, the president gave a speech at the premiere (I don't give a shit about human rights, he said.) De Mesa denied that his movie was propaganda: I did this project not because I needed the money but because I wanted to move people and I want people to open their hearts and understand each others point of view.

KontrAdiksyon grossed 300,000 on its first day, prompting several theaters to pull it out. De Mesas movie had high production value, a plot tailor-made for drug war hawks, and an endorsement from the president. Still, the political base it pandered to never fully materialized.

While the Duterte era has certainly made its mark on cinema, with several films and documentaries examining the drug wars adverse effects on the Filipino poor, a small group of movies also exists in contrast to them, attempting to justify Oplan Tokhang as a necessary crackdown. But, like KontrAdiksyon, none of them have been successful financially or critically. And its mostly because none of them are good.

The 2017 film Kamandag ng Droga, for instance, is not so much a movie as it is a series of dismal just-say-no sketches, spliced together to chaotic effect. A zombie-like drug user climbs up a telephone pole and dies of electrocution. Teenagers take drugs at a concert and die. The singer at the concert, dejected at having had her spotlight stolen, gets depressed and takes drugs. She dies too. Christopher De Leon plays a father who incessantly asks his son whether he might be on drugs. The son is not on drugs, but is so saddened by his fathers lack of faith in him that he breaks down and takes drugs (Christopher De Leon is later revealed to be on drugs.) The son enters a coma. With all hope lost, his mother, Lorna Tolentino, euthanizes him by removing his oxygen mask, which isnt how euthanasia happens.

At one point, Mocha Uson, who does not play herself, appears. Her brother is on drugs. She gets help from Dante L.A. Jimenez, the president of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), who does play himself. After reassuring her, he turns directly to the camera and talks to the audience about VACCs services. Duterte comes out to give a speech, urging the public to report drug users so that they can be shot by the police (Or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support.) Persida Acosta and Senator Koko Pimentel also make cameos. This movie is not backed by Duterte, said Peach Caparas, the associate director, in a promotional interview with the government-owned Peoples Television Network. Kamandag had a 100,000 opening.

Photo from KAMANDAG NG DROGA/FACEBOOK

In another 2017 movie, DAD: Durugin ang Droga, Allen Dizon plays a father whose drug addiction fractures his family, sending his wife and son on their own respective roads to vice. The movie uses this scenario not to provoke a meaningful discussion on substance abuse, but to impart a flimsy legitimacy to what Duterte has often framed as a crusade against the collapse of the Filipino family.

But none of that really matters, because like its fellow not-propaganda flops, DADs political messaging is largely sidelined by its inability to be a good movie. There are several glaring blunders in production: out-of-focus camerawork, shoddy sound, and some very jarring creative choices. The film does have the greatest flashback of all time, tweeted the film critic Philbert Dy. Black and white, with all the actors playing the same characters, 20 years younger [...] Rey Abellana is wearing a cap with 1996 on it, so we know what year it is. In one scene, Dizons character hooks up with a woman in his car. The next day, the woman has departed, but her dress is still in the car. DADs final scene, its literal ending, is a clip of Duterte saying My God, I hate drugs. I have not been able to find anything about how much this movie grossed.

In an email interview, Dy talked to me about the failure of these movies in appealing even to Dutertes base. Movies are a business, and they dont really seem to be the best way to get a message out now, he wrote. Theres just too much competition, and no one's going to sit through a cheap-looking flick with the title DAD: Durugin ang Droga when they could be watching the new Avengers movie. And theyre also all laughably bad. Good films have a hard enough time getting word-of-mouth. Bad films like these have zero chance of capturing the public imagination.

If theres one filmmaker whos come close to giving his pro-drug war projects a patina of seriousness, its Brilliante Mendoza, who has directed two of the presidents State of the Nation Addresses (SONA). Mendozas technical skill as a director, as well as his access to production funding, lend his movies a sort of aesthetic gravity, even though his drug war plotlines are almost completely devoid of nuance. His series Amo, which became the first Filipino show to be picked up by Netflix, is about a drug-dealing teenager named Joseph, though Mendoza mostly uses him as an excuse to render the ugliness of crime. In Amo, corruption within the police system is acknowledged; Derek Ramsay plays Josephs uncle, a dirty cop. But the police force at large is mostly depicted as a fair, merciful entity, with many drug pushers walking away unscathed.

Mendoza has also directed a full-length movie, Alpha: The Right to Kill, which also stars Allen Dizon. Like Amo, it examines police corruption only as a systemic anomaly, not as a feature of an innately broken institution. Extrajudicial killings are also upheld as a valid form of law enforcement. As Dy pointed out, Alpha makes it very clear that everyone who is killed was wielding a gun and threatening the lives of policemen.

For Cruz, the Rappler film critic, the apparent sobriety of Mendozas camera is also what makes his work so insidious. [Mendoza,] whose documentary-style of filmmaking has been lauded in various circles as reflective of reality, is using the same style in a depiction of a society that favors Duterte's anti-drug war, he told me in an email. Note that Mendoza's films are never blatant like the rest of the B-flicks that have come out of the propaganda machine. Its politics is reflected by the decision the director has made to create a Philippine society that is consumed by narcotics in a style that apes journalism.

Brilante Mendoza's "Alpha" made the film festival rounds in Asia and Europe (such as in Bucharest, San Sebastian, and Warsaw) and won accolades. It's cumulative worldwide gross is $2,632. Screencap from SINGAPORE FILM FESTIVAL/YOUTUBE

In 2018, just before Amo was released, a Change.org petition was started by Luzviminda Siapo, a woman whose 19-year-old son was killed by unidentified gunmen after a neighbor tagged him as a drug dealer. In the petition, Siapo urged Netflix to cancel the show. Netflix refused. Netflix offers a diverse choice for consumers to decide on what, where and when they want to watch, a rep for the company told BuzzFeed. "We understand that viewers may have opposing opinions but leave it to them to decide. Netflix doesnt share view counts for its shows, so theres no way of knowing how many people watched Amo. Nevertheless, its been consistently criticized for its poor pacing, the flatness of its characters, and its skewed depiction of the drug war.

Alpha didn't do so well either. Though Mendozas films have always fared better as festival contenders than as commercial prospects, Alpha only had an international gross of $2,632 according to IMDB, a sharp decrease from Mendozas previous film, Ma Rosa, which grossed $88,390.

If propagandas success rests on the impact of its reception, then it is true that none of these projects were good at being propaganda. But at the same time, it would be a mistake to read their failure as indicative of a disapproving public. Pro-drug war rhetoric continues to be propagated through much more effective means: Facebook trolls, fake news, lopsided police reports. Dutertes base may not have been able to reinforce the governments narratives cinematically, but, box office hits or none, those same narratives continue to hold sway over Filipinos, destroying real lives as a result. We cannot forget that Oplan Tokhang was the platform that put the president in office. Duterte promised the people action, he cast himself as their hero, and he thrilled voters with visions of state-sanctioned murder. That movie sold.

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The pro-drug war movies that tried to make a case for Oplan Tokhang - CNN Philippines

Trumps Secret Police Have Never Been a Secret to Brown People – The Nation

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Federal police clash with protesters in front of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse as the city experiences another night of unrest on July 25, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

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As I see white mothers and mayors being teargassed on the streets of Portland, Ore., one word keeps bubbling up from my bleeding heart: Welcome. Welcome to the world of secret police and nighttime raids. The world where you can be snatched by an unidentified officer in an unmarked van. The world where you get to see an attorney, maybe, after the government is done beating you. Welcome to the world as experienced by brown people with foreign-sounding names in this country since 9/11.Ad Policy

Welcome, and let us now join together to battle the enemy we all clearly have in common: the Department of Homeland Security. Because, while Donald Trump is currently responsible for deploying this army disguised as an agency against peaceful white protesters, the DHS has been deployed against peaceful immigrants regardless of status, peaceful citizens who look like recent immigrants, and peaceful worshipers who pray while Muslimor, simply, brownsince its inception.

White moms (and dads, and now vets) are being assaulted by the government, but we should have dismantled their attackers a long time ago. The people of Portland are merely the latest victims of a department that has been terrorizing innocent victims since it was formed.

The Department of Homeland Security has been a disaster from the very start. It was created by the 2002 Homeland Security Act, a post-9/11 bill that is basically what a spooked herd of antelopes would write while running away from a lion. The department was given a broad mandate: Prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, which is Congress-speak for apple pie good, everybody else bad. Because terrorism isnt really a defined term, we end up with the situation in which we find ourselves todaywith Trump people deploying DHS agents to defend statues in Portland while the department ignores white supremacists in Charlottesville.

To fulfill its mandate, the DHS absorbed a hodgepodge of other agencies, but (as this Washington Post article from way back in 2005 explains) the process of determining which agencies to place under the DHS umbrella was haphazard, resulting in an incoherent collection of powers. This was predictable. The DHS was, after all, George W. Bushs idea, and the departments organization reflects his administrations general incompetence. There are examples of this chaos and inefficiency throughout the DHS, but I always come back to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Part of the DHS mandate is to assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that occur in the United States, and so the DHS took over FEMA. That doesnt make a lot of sense when you consider that terror attacks are relatively rare, while an angry planet is consistently buffeting our country with storms and fire. From 1979 to 2003, FEMA was a wholly independent agency, and if you dont think that matters, Id like to introduce you to some people in Puerto Rico who received thoughts, prayers, and a roll of Bounty, The Quicker Picker Upper, thanks to DHS-led recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria.Current Issue

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The DHSs broad mandate is the reason Trump can turn whole sections of the department into his personal storm troopers. It would be illegal, say, for commandos operating under a directive from the Central Intelligence Agency to be deployed under Trumps Operation Legend to protect statues; the CIA is not allowed to operate on domestic soil. It would be a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act for Trump to deploy the Army, because the armed forces cannot be used for domestic police actions. And it would be illegal to deploy FBI agents on the streets to keep the peace against citizens who are not charged with nor suspected of committing federal crimes.

But with the DHS, Trump doesnt have to worry about any of this. The DHS isnt hamstrung by any of the laws that normally prevent the government from using troops on domestic soil, because preventing terrorist attacks can mean pretty much whatever the president says it means, including teargassing protesters to protect federal buildings from meanies.

Still, the reason the DHS has teeth doesnt actually have much to do with terrorism. For much of its existence, the department has been used to continue this countrys war on drugs. Homeland Security was given control over Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to, get this, monitor connections between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, and that is why this Frankensteins monster of an organization has troops to deploy against citizens far from the border. The Wall of Moms are, in many ways, just the latest victims of this countrys drug war against its own people.

An organization that can deploy troops on the ground in your town at the sole discretion of the president, without consent from state or local officials or oversight from Congress, is too dangerous for any president to have control overnot just this one. Some weapons cannot be used for good, even when theyre wielded by those with the best of intentions. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote three books you could consult for a more thorough examination of this point.

The DHS has been a Trojan Horse for state-sponsored violence since the day it was written into existence. Its just that, up until now, brown people have borne the brunt of the violence. It is Muslims who have been snatched out of line at the airport and questioned without an attorney. It is Mexicans whose homes and places of business have been raided. It is brown children who were denied toothbrushes in those cages at the direction of (wait for it) former director of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

The brutality and terror being visited upon Portland is just a taste of what some communities of color have been experiencing for going on 20 years. And moms in Portland know it. These moms are out there putting their bodies on the line to protect protesters. They know what the government is capable of doing.

Still, some pundits are more interested in saving the DHS from Trump than saving us from the DHS. Writing in The Atlantic, former DHS official and author of Security Mom Juliette Kayyem came to this conclusion about the future of the agency: If progressives respond by demanding the abolition of Homeland Security, much as many demanded an end to ICE, they will give Trump the fight he wants. To blame the bureaucracy is to lose sight of the real problem: Trump himself.

Frankly, I expect this view to hold sway with the next Democratic administration. Instead of removing the power Trump has abused, moderate Democrats promise only to use the power more appropriately. Dont give unaccountable power to that guy. Give it to me, because Ill use it only against the people who deserve it. Promise.More from Mystal

For politicians who arent likely to be rounded up and sent back to where they came from, Im sure Trumps use of the DHS seems like an aberration. But of all the aberrant things Trump does, his use of the DHS is not one of them. The aberration is the people hes using it against.

When Trump is gone, I hope our elected officials remember that. I hope they remember that tear gas stings regardless of the color of your eyes. I hope they remember that people who use leaf blowers for their livelihoods are just as deserving of rights and respect as dads who now use leaf blowers to thwart tear gas. I hope they remember to remove the structure Trump used against us, as opposed to just removing Trump from atop the structure.

Now that the leopards are eating white faces, I hope Congress stops writing legislation calling for face-eating leopards.

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Trumps Secret Police Have Never Been a Secret to Brown People - The Nation

Barriers Prevent The Cannabis Industry From Being Inclusive – Green Entrepreneur

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July30, 20206 min read

Racial and gender diversity in the marijuana industry "is still lacking especially in ownership and executive positions,"according toMJBizDaily Research Editor Eli McVey.

While the industry has taken steps to improve, more is required from it, McVey noted.

RELATED:One Million Cannabis Cans Sold: How Two Entrepreneurs Tapped Into A Hot Market

With the national spotlight currently focused more intently on civil justice reform, changes could be on the horizon.

Minority business leaders say there are significant barriers incritical institutions that keep many from becoming significant players in the space.

Mark Slaugh, CEO of regtech companyiComply, told Benzinga he feels hes made a mark in the industry since launching in 2011 and can stand on his credentials. However, the power structures in place created a negative experience for him and other minorities in the space.

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"Being a minority in cannabis, in Colorado, has not been the most positive experience and is quite isolating when I can literally count the number ofminority cannabis business ownersthat I know on one hand," Slaugh said.

See Also:How The 'War On Drugs' And Foster System Harm Minorities And Low-Income Families

The CEO also reported instances where his attempts at collaboration have been dismissed, while also being targeted for hostile takeovers.

"I've never been offered investment, strategic partnerships, or a buyout that didn't try to take advantage of what I've built and hijack it for the purposes of privilege," he said. "While no one has been overtly racist, there seems to be a sense of elitism among a select few who are culturally different than myself."

Barriers exist in financial institutions as well.

Marie Montmarquet is a 13-year industry veteranand co-founder ofMD Numbers Inc., a brand with a line of vertically integrated cannabis products.

There is no blueprint for industry success in the nascent market, Montmarquet explained. However, minorities often face additional challenges due to a lack of capital and real estate.

Most minoritiesdo not have accessto bank lending, lines of credit or other loan opportunities," Montmarquet said, citing howthe issue spans across all industries.

The co-founder says she had beendenied property and banking during most of her cannabis career.

Dhaval Shah, CEO of Lullaby Wellness, echoed similar sentiments, noting alack of investmentin minority ventures.

Investors just aren't backing enough minority-owned businesses, and you see it everywhere," Shah said.

There wererespondents who reported feeling welcome in the space.

"The cannabis community has largely welcomed me with open arms, said Rob Mejia, founder of the cannabis education platformOur Community Harvestandadjunct cannabis professor atStockton University. There is a feeling of excitement for the future, and Ive been surprised by the amount of expertise and connections Ive been able to access."

RELATED:Critics of "Big Weed" Fret Over Retail Cannabis Slotting Fees

Still, there are oversights stemming from the failed drug war, saysiComply's Slaugh.

"The cannabis community has to understand the impact of the war on drugs on Black and other communities most affected," he said."Cannabis legalization is accelerating, yet the people most impacted by its prohibition are being denied access to a multi-billion dollar market and the opportunity to create generational wealth legally."

The CEO, who said many people like him grew up with families broken by marijuana-based prison sentences, said minority owners need more access to begin creating a level marketplace.

"Without access to education in legal market opportunities, investment and capital, and resources to run a cannabis business effectively, we are being marginalized to MSO companies and white wealth taking what we built," he added.

See Also:65 Outstanding Black And Hispanic Men Leading In Cannabis

Others emphasized that having representation in all aspects of the market, from billboards to the boardroom, is required.

Martine Francis Pierre, a growth and marketing strategist, is a recent entrant to the sector. While building her marketing brand and establishing a hub for Black-owned businesses, she noted how numerous companies lack diversity in its leadership.

"Within weeks, I realized that the big issue so many of these major cannabis brands had came to being inclusive across the board," Francis Pierre said. "We're talking about corporate offices, but even more so when you scroll through Instagram or going through billboards. You do not see Black or brown faces."

Many respondents called for states to revise their cannabis programs, overhaul their licensing processes, and vetsocial equity programs to determine theiractual impact on affected communities.

"The silver lining in the industry is that these points are being heard by local governments and, more importantly, entire states," noted iComply's Slaugh, who wants to see more people of color being educated on the market opportunity while receiving adequate assistance as their company develops.

Its simply not enough to provide the opportunity without the engagement of the people most impacted by the mistakes and detriments of the past," Slaugh said.

Montmarquet hopes to see more minority owners in the space as well. The co-founder noted that those entrepreneurs must be ready for the seemingly ever-changing cannabis industry landscape.

RELATED:7 Relaxing Cannabis Strains For Stress Management

Montmarquet also offered some advice tobusiness hopefuls.

Educate yourself as much as you possibly can, she said. If you have researched the laws, permit process, regulations, costs, taxes etcetera, for the area you want to operate in, that will allow you to make decisions more confidently and faster.

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Barriers Prevent The Cannabis Industry From Being Inclusive - Green Entrepreneur

Sex with spirits and alien DNA: The controversial views of doctor whose coronavirus theory got Trump Jr suspended from Twitter – The Independent

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A doctor who went viral in a video shared by Donald Trump in his latest attempts to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus has on more than one occasion promoted controversial medical theories and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes.

Dr Stella Immanuel, a physician from Houston, Texas, appeared in a video on Facebook which was removed on Monday, insisting that the malaria drug is an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus, a claim that has not been proven.

Facebook is trying to remove any re-uploads of the video because it is sharing false information about cures and treatments for Covid-19, a spokesperson said. One version of the video had more than 17 million views before the platform managed to remove it.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Dr Immanuel was among a number of physicians named Americas Frontline Doctors making misleading claims about the virus at a news conference Monday in Washington.

The paediatrician and religious minister has emerged as a figurehead in light of her speech at the conference, with both Mr Trump and his oldest son singing her praises on social media.

However, a report by The Daily Beast delved into more of Dr Immanuels unconventional public appearances, revealing the doctors spiritual beliefs regarding demon sex, alien DNA in medicine, conspiracy theories, and anti-LGBTQ+ views.

In one video from 2013, the doctor attributes medical conditions such as endometriosis, fibroids, and cysts to spirit husbands, demons that have sex with women while they sleep.

They are responsible for serious gynaecological problems, Dr Immanuel said. We call them all kinds of namesendometriosis, we call them molar pregnancies, we call them fibroids, we call them cysts, but most of them are evil deposits from the spirit husband.

She also offers guidance against these spirits in an article titled Deliverance from Spirit Wives and Spirit Husbands on her website, first reported by The Daily Beast.

According to the outlet, she also speaks of a conspiracy theory in which a witch attempts to use abortion, gay marriage, and childrens toys to destroy the world and claims that alien DNA is being used in medicine to treat humans.

No hype, just the advice and analysis you need

Theyre using all kinds of DNA, even alien DNA, to treat people, she reportedly says in one sermon from 2015.

Dr Immanuel has also frequently used her platform to spread homophobic and anti-transgender views, protesting against the legalisation of gay marriage and abortion on her YouTube page.

How long are we going to allow the enemy to take over our beloved nation. How long are we going to allow the gay agenda, secular humanism, Illuminati and the demonic New World Order to destroy our homes, families and the social fiber of America, the caption of one video reads.

She has also previously suggested that the government is run in part by non-human reptilians in a 2015 sermon, according to The Daily Beast.

There are people that are ruling this nation that are not even human, Dr Immanuel reportedly said in a 2015 sermon.

Dr Immanuel has not yet replied to The Independents request for comment.

The doctor has more recently been propelled to online fame for her discussions of the coronavirus, claiming to have treated 350 people and counting for the virus.

In the video footage, the doctor says that you dont need masks, there is a cure.

Experts have in fact warned against the potentially severe side effects of taking the drug, which has been continually touted by Mr Trump, to treat the novel coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration has also recently revoked emergency authorisation of its use.

Nonetheless, Mr Trump Jr retweeted the footage of Dr Immanuel which had tens of millions of views, calling one version of the video a must watch. Twitter later suspended his account for posting misleading and potentially harmful information about coronavirus.

The president also retweeted a post including the now-deleted video with a caption referring to Dr Immanuel as a fearless warrior for the truth.

The doctor has since angled for a meeting with the president following his apparent support of her message tweeting: Mr President Im in town and available. I will love to meet with you.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been removing the hydroxychloroquine video when it has been posted, in line with policies intended to stop the spread of misinformation about coronavirus.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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Sex with spirits and alien DNA: The controversial views of doctor whose coronavirus theory got Trump Jr suspended from Twitter - The Independent

From Myth to Reality: Olympia and the Ancient Greek Olympics – Ancient Origins

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The Olympics, as they exist today, are but a shadow of their former glory. Though there are more activities and participants in the modern games, they do little to entice and arouse the Greek concept of glory and pride that once made them renowned throughout the ancient world. While the prizes might be considered miniscule by todays standards, the olive wreaths and crowns that were bestowed upon the victors were more valuable than the medallions used today.

Aerial drone photo of the enthralling ruins of ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games. ( aerial-drone / Adobe Stock )

The Olympic Games of ancient Greece adhered to certain codes and regulations, just as they do today, and each challenge had to abide by certain rules. Those who were chosen to judge the events were well informed and kept up-to-date of those rules with rigorous training in anticipation of every Olympic cycle. The judges of the Olympic Games were called the Hellanodikai. Their responsibility was not merely to pick the victors of each of the games, but also to maintain the steadfast peace declared during each period. Their role was therefore both political and religious.

An artist's impression of ancient Olympia. ( Public domain )

As Elis was the region within which Olympia resided, the Eleans were responsible for choosing the judges. This prevented bias. Though the post of judge was originally hereditary, over time this changed to the choosing of judges from each of the Elean ruling families. This ensured a constant rotation of judges for each Olympic Games and helped prevent bias from repeat judges. After a case in which a judge won two events and was accused of corruption, Hellanodikai were no longer allowed to participate in the Olympic events.

Image of a Boxer from Olympia crowned with an olive wreath. The olive wreath was known as kotinos and was the official prize for victors at the Olympic Games held at Olympia. The wreaths were made from the branch of a sacred wild olive tree that grew at Olympia. ( shako / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The games frequently took place at Olympia, in Greece, the site giving its name to the events. While there were various games throughout the ancient world, the most famous were those at Olympia, where a colossal statue of Zeus once stood. Sculpted by the master sculptor Phidias, the massive chryselephantine figure of Zeus was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World . The subsequent games that took place at Delos and Nemea, for example, were not comparable in terms of grandeur and prestige. The Olympian games were revered for generations in odes, art, and literature.

The purported workshop of Phidias at Olympia, where the famed sculptor fashioned the chryselephantine statue of Zeus. ( Alun Salt/ CC BY SA 2.0 )

As with everything in the ancient world, legend has it that the first Olympics took place amongst the gods. There are different versions of the story, as recorded by ancient authors including Pausanias and Pindar. Writing years after the first mortal games (c. 776 BC), Pausanias, Pindar, and their successors received the stories second, third, or fourth hand, and each story was likely tainted by the values of the audiences to which they were told.

One of the origin myths features five brothers, one named Herakles, who raced to Olympia to entertain Zeus in his youth. Whoever arrived at the site first, was awarded with an olive wreath, as became tradition during the Olympic games. In Pausanias Description of Greece , the number of brothers indicates the number of years which pass between the gamesfive brothers means that the games happen every fifth year, after four years of rest. Another myth claims that Zeus son Herakles began the games for the purpose of honoring his father. While both of these stories discuss a certain Herakles, it is not the same one: the first story describes a Zeus too young to have had children.

The statue Zeus at Olympia, was created by the Greek sculptor Phidias and was 39 feet (12 m) tall. It was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. (barringtheaegis.blogspot.com)

The games were intimately linked with the religious values of the ancient world and associated with the sacred site of Zeus at Olympia. Ancient Greek mythology closely associated religion with life, and idealized the so-called Golden Age, where the gods walked among men. The games themselves were therefore considered to be continuation of this golden age, whereby men participated in feats of bravery, skill, strength, and finesse, just as their legendary predecessors had done before them.

As such, scholars have concluded that the games were not just sporting events, but religious rituals as well. To participate in the games meant to participate in religious practice: honoring the gods, engaging in feasting and sacrificing, and even in ceasefire between communities that were otherwise at war. The games were considered sacred territory, and thus the participants were sacred players.

Crowning of victors of the Olympic Games at Olympia. ( Public domain )

Participants in the Olympic Games were far more limited than they are today. Only free Greek males could participate in the games, meaning that no slaves or women were allowed entrance. This is likely due to the political prestige associated with victory in the games. The city-states of Greece were independent entities, who relied on one another for trade, military aid, and alliances. However, they were always in competition to be the best of the city-states in trade, military power, and wealth. The games, therefore, served as a peaceful competition in which to prove the value of one city-state over another, without (usually) any loss of life. Women and slaves were not useful for this purpose, as land-owning men were the only individuals allowed roles in the political sphere.

Interestingly, a truce was always enacted during the Olympic Games, allowing safe passage of participants to the city of Olympia, and placing any wars effectively on hold until the games were completed. Politically, this allowed males to participate in the events without forfeiting military duties, as well as enabling city-states to gain and solidify alliances during a period of forced peace and stability. This forced stalemate further demanded no armies could invade Olympia during the games, and the temporary pause on the use of the death penalty. The advocacy for peace during these times was definitive. More interestingly, this peace was almost always honored, despite instances of unease between the two strongest city-states, Athens and Sparta.

Three ancient Greek runners on a Panathenaic prize amphora at the British Museum. Olympic athletes are said to have competed in the nude as a symbol of Greekness, probably from the fifteenth Olympiad onwards. ( British Museum / CC BY 2.5 )

The types of games which were part of the Olympic Games were very different from the ones that take part today. One could argue they were simpler, however due to their simplicity it can also be said that it was far more difficult to succeed. Over the course of 500 years, there were up to 23 games played at the Olympics, which always fell within one of three categories: racing, combat, and equestrian.

The athletes chosen to participate were trained in their respective events by individuals hand-picked by the Hellanodikai. Their training was supervised and served as a trial run, allowing the judges to reject from the games anyone who wasnt up to the challenge. If the participants were able to hold their own during the training period, they were allowed to progress to compete in the games themselves.

One of the most popular sports was running. There were various types of running which took place during the games, and they developed over time. Originally, the stade was a simple sprint from one location to the next. From here the diaulos developed, wherein runners raced in lanes one way and then looped back to the start line. Added later was the long race, called the dolichos, where it is believed that runners had to lap a minimum of twenty times. In the long race, speed was still paramount but it also required good endurance on the part of the runner.

The final running test was to run in full hoplite armor, and was thus called the hoplitodromos. Runners had to wear full military gear and complete two diaulos, adding strength onto the already difficult task of speed and endurance. As one can see, running was considered a paramount aspect of the Olympic games, and is recorded as one of the most valuable tests of honor by Xenophanes, a famous philosopher from the 6 th century.

Wrestling and boxing were valued sports during the ancient Olympic games. The bronze Boxer at Rest or the Boxer of the Quirinal, is a Hellenistic Greek sculpture of a nude resting boxer excavated in Rome. ( Paolo Monti / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Another valued theme in the Olympic games was combat, most specifically evidenced in the tournaments of wrestling and boxing. In fact, one of the most valued pieces of art which survive from the ancient Hellenistic art is the Boxer, a bronze statue of a bearded man, seated, injured from a rough run in the boxing tournament. The statue is renowned for its realistic perspective of a weary, beaten man, his face tired and torn, his hands wrapped in leather as he takes a break from the match. While the piece is renowned in Greek art for its humanism and imperfections, it is also a valuable piece to show how important combat based games were in the Olympics.

Though wrestling came first (called pale), boxing quickly became the hot game when it was introduced in 688 BC. Possibly stemming from the demi-god Theseus game of beating a seated opponent, boxings supposed inclusion in the funeral games of fallen warriors during the Golden Age (as seen in the Iliad) further enhanced its prestige among participants. Boxers were chosen by lot rather than by weight class, and the rules encouraged beating rather than holding, as the latter was considered a wrestling move. However, wrestling and boxing were allowed to cross paths in another format: the pankration.

The excitement of boxing and wrestling led to the invention of a specialized set of games called the pankration, wherein techniques from both could be utilized to determine the victor. The intention was to determine the all-powerful champion in games of strength and might. Supposedly having first been invented by the demi-gods Herakles and Theseus, the pankration is believed to have filled the desire among audience members and participants for violent sport, later revered in the Roman amphitheater arena. More intense than wrestling or boxing alone, the pankration originally had no rules before eventually banning eye gouging and biting from the game for safety reasons, though nothing else was off limits. Whoever submitted first lost, regardless of their injuries.

Only wealthy members of the Greek elite could afford to compete in ancient Greek chariot racing. ( Public domain )

Throughout the centuries, only men were allowed to participate in most of the Olympic Games. The only exception applied to the equestrian tournaments, which were also considered the most elite of the games. Only the wealthy had access to horses and riders, and only the richest could afford the chariots needed to participate in the racing games. The chariot races could be with four horses or two, and there were also games which allowed single horseback riding races without the use of chariots.

Women could participate in horse and chariot racing, in part because the rider was chosen by the elite and therefore the women were still kept at arms length from the games themselves. The difficulty of such games lay in the control and mastery of the horses, as well as in balance. Falling off the chariot led to disqualification. Saddles were not permitted, which served to make the games more difficult as riders had to be accustomed and skilled at riding bareback, holding onto the horses mane for dear life.

The chariot race was a dangerous and captivating sport. ( trolldens.blogspot)

The Olympic Games were a paramount aspect of ancient Greek life, and were even used by ancient scholars as a time-keeping device. Years were determined in relation to the Olympics, based on the four year periods which were referred to as Olympiads. Thus, not only were the games significant politically and religiously, but they also held important civil value as well. That the games continue into the present day, albeit in a different format, is evidence of their significance as champion of peace and civic ties, as they were in the ancient Greece .

Top image: Ancient Greek Olympics were a fundamental aspect of ancient Greek culture. Various types of running took place during the games, along with equestrian sports and combat sports. Source: sebos / Adobe Stock

By Riley Winters

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From Myth to Reality: Olympia and the Ancient Greek Olympics - Ancient Origins

GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce The individual versus the need to have a cohesive society – thedailyblog.co.nz

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An underlying, but often unspoken, theme in political debate is the issue of the rights and wants of the individual versus the need to have a cohesive society.

One way to think of it is as a continuum . At one end is the tyranny of the autocratic State in which individuals who seek to assert their individual rights are imprisoned, tortured or killed. At the other end are the extreme Libertarians who believe the rights of the individual are the only thing that matter and we have no responsibility to anyone else but ourselves.

There are of course other ways of thinking about the relationship between the individual and society but, however you imagine it, when we vote at election time its something we ought to consciously consider .

Do you want a WE society in which we all pay our fair share to look after one another? Or ME society in which the individual gets maximum freedom of choice and pays as little as possible to the upkeep of the State .

Cartoonists, at their best, often point up the absurdity of some of the things we believe .

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Like todays one on the Libertarian belief that whatever people choose to do or whatever happens to them in life isnt any of our responsibility.

It raises, yet again, the age old questionAm I my brothers keeper?.

Ive figured out where I stand on this issue.

How about you?

Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.

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GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce The individual versus the need to have a cohesive society - thedailyblog.co.nz

Ethereum as Lifestyle Brand: What Unicorns and Rainbows Are Really About – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

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The lights were dimmed during the last day of Devcon in October 2019. A hush fell over the auditorium in Osaka, Japan. A haunting melody rippled through the crowd of roughly 1,000 people. Everyone knew the dance was about to begin.

Ethereum leaders, such as Hudson Jameson and Aya Miyaguchi of the Ethereum Foundation, would lead a goofy dance to close out the annual tech conference.

Cheers erupted when the Ethereum influencers took the stage, nodding respectfully to conference organizers and thanking the crowd. Soon the whole crowd was following along, jumping up and down, turning in circles. Critics might say they were simply mimicking the technologists on stage, but on the ground, people were adding their own moves or simply nodding along. Every Etherean dances his or her own way, or smiles and sways timidly. (Ethereum Foundation developer Vlad Zamfir, for example, dislikes the dance and said he prefers not to partake.)

The tongue-in-cheek ritual offers a microcosm of the carefree Ethereum lifestyle brand, inspired by the cryptocurrency founded in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and others. Over the past five years, Ethereum, the blockchain platform that birthed so many ill-fated ideas, also launched a crop of products and services that are currently multibillion-dollar endeavors.

The dance is a promise until next year, the leaders say on stage. Its a celebration of what the community has achieved so far and what it will achieve. The dance is a way to communicate with Ethereans from all around the world, even if they dont speak English.

There is roughly $3.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency locked up in Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms used by people around the world like Gerald Nash, a computer science student who interned at Coinbase and leads programs at the Howard University Blockchain Lab.

I wouldnt consider it a hard money because of the economic decisions the core team makes, Nash said, describing the difference between bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin is digital money, he said, unlike ether.

But I am fascinated by the other technological aspects [beyond money], like Turing-complete smart contracts, he added.

As a young Black man, Nash said he uses DeFi to access more complex or sophisticated finance [tools], than he previously could through banks. He acknowledges these are risky software projects and uses them with deliberate caution. That hasnt damped the allure.

Scaling diversity

Ethereum was able to outgrow the pop culture affiliations of its predecessor, Bitcoin, and develop a distinct culture where more people feel welcome to participate.

Law professor and Maker Foundation board member Tonya Evans offers another example of a DeFi fan.

Im a Black, queer woman in crypto focused on education and financial inclusion, she said. You dont have to come from a technical background to have a lot to add.

From her perspective, cryptocurrency projects should start off with some level of control then work toward decentralization. She added this may not be the Bitcoin approach, often referred to cheekily as Satoshis Vision. Although different, she said, Ethereum represents a good-faith march toward a similar goal.

These platforms and protocols arent developed in a vacuum, especially those developed for heavily regulated industries like finance and healthcare, she said, describing Ethereum experiments. Its not about a foundation or any one person.

Indeed, the DeFi industry attracted some of the shrewdest women in the blockchain industry, from Evans to Volt Capital co-founder Soona Amhaz and Optimism co-founder Jinglan Wang. None of these women danced with developers in Japan in 2019. But they may engage with the Ethereum lifestyle brand in other ways, like wearing unicorn swag.

Ethereum chic

Its impossible to mistake an Ethereum event, which may include dancing or goofy rap performances (like the one at EDCON 2019 in Australia), in addition to unicorn graphics and rainbow or pastel-colored decor.

Attendees often dress with more pizazz than other tech conferences and may be openly inclined to use recreational drugs.

Like many digital countercultural movements, who have always been anchored in a bohemian and hippie-like ethos, Ethereum is no exception, said anthropologist Ann Brody, a crypto fan in attendance in Japan during the fifth Devcon.

She compared Ethereum to thought leader Stewart Brand and his Bay Area circles of influence in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the contemporary band of Ethereum thought leaders isnt yet a social movement, Brody said.

There are also those in the community that treat Ethereum simply as an experiment and thats why I hesitate to call them a social movement at this time, Brody said. I think the dancing in itself speaks so much about Ethereums cultural values related to freedom, creative expression, fun, unconventionality, and even the desire for collective unity to some extent.

TikTok commonalities

After all, the younger generation has a different relationship with brands than those who grew up before social media was omnipresent.

As the New York Times reported, its a popular pastime for teenagers to impersonate brands on platforms like TikTok and act out fictional storylines that often include dance moves. Likewise, Ethereans identify themselves with the Ethereum lifestyle brand, acting out the meme of a socially awkward nerd in the form of interpretive dance.

TikTok and Ethereum influencers can motivate thousands of people to download an app, sometimes garnering thousands of dollars in the process.

Ethereum has spawned many subcultures, comparable to how Twitter became a jungle of amorphous social groups like Weird Twitter and Bitcoin Twitter. Yet, even Ethereans who never attended a conference use the same iconography, the ether symbol or pink-haired unicorn, often illustrated with rainbows. This visual aesthetic sets it apart from the (generally older or more academic) Bitcoin community.

On the other hand, one tendency crypto fans, Bitcoiners and Ethereans alike, share with teens on TikTok is the preoccupation with identifying posers who dont belong to Elite TikTok or to a chosen crypto revolution.

At their core, TikTok, Twitter and Bitcoin are platforms. Ethereums tech platform cannot handle comparable volumes yet, but the Ethereum community is motivated to achieve that goal and maybe even become tech unicorns.

There is something nave and childlike to these symbols, Brody said of the uncorrupted youth aesthetics in Ethereum. She added that, to some people, the rainbow world computer is subconsciously a metaphor for global unification.

Unicorns

Many people believe they can use the wizardry (Ethereans love magical metaphors) of software to fix the failures of previous generations.

Ethereum is a wonderland, a confusing wonderland for abstractions, said the Ethereum Foundations Zamfir. It represented a super ambitious decentralization agenda that was very general and took Bitcoins ethos to the next level. It was never just about finance.

Camila Russo, founder of the Ethereum-centric newsletter The Defiant, said token creator Fabian Vogelsteller used cartoon unicorns in his videos, similar to the small unicorn and rainbow featured on early Devcon conference shirts and decorations, long before the token boom in 2017. Plus, unicorn has long been slang for a tech company evaluated at $1 billion. The aspirational unicorn metaphor was already common among young developers. Then, when Buterin was photographed in 2017 wearing unicorn shirts at tech events, Russo said the trend blew up.

This is all in the context of the ETH community being young, millennial developers, where all these internet memes and unicorn images are already popular, she added.

Years later, the Ethereum Foundation and the Brooklyn-based conglomerate ConsenSys, headed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, are still busy evangelizing their blockchain. While Lubins companies run a considerable chunk of the infrastructure supporting the DeFi ecosystem, Buterins nonprofit donates ether to organizations like the United Nations Childrens Fund. Both companies sponsor a variety of grants and scholarships, and they are rarely short on unicorn swag.

Most of the dozen or so Ethereum co-founders pivoted to their own projects long ago. Those that remain, like Buterin and Lubin, remain consistent.

Vision

One common gripe among Ethereum critics, that the project keeps changing focus, doesnt hold up if we consider the communitys goal rather than its tools.

Longtime Bitcoin advocate Bruce Fenton said he met Buterin at a conference in Miami back when Ethereum co-founders were just starting to crystalize their idea. In the years to come, Fenton said Lubins ConsenSys sponsored many fun and relaxed events with unicorn art and hip vendors. He said hacker commune-style spaces popped up from Zug to San Francisco, all revolving around similar aesthetics and values.

Ive always loved the energy at Ethereum events lots of excited builders, Fenton said. What this ultimately means is democratizing finance. They dont need to go beg the establishment for money, they can go directly to the people.

Token Summit co-founder William Mougayar, author of the Business of Blockchain, said the projects 2020 brand strategy is still similar to conversations he had with Ethereum co-founders in 2014.

According to Mougayars consultation documents from 2014, the project aimed to be inclusive, empowering and visionary in order to bring people together from all disciplines for the common goal of something bigger than themselves.

The Ethereum community has generally followed these principles across a variety of software experiments over the past five years.

Roots

Millennials didnt invent this moralistic and social approach to technology, as historian Benjamin Peters showed in his writings about Soviet tech culture. The Russian-Canadian Buterin said in public interviews he was interested in both socialism and libertarianism, offering a unique cultural mix. Ethereans, including fans of all backgrounds, are now putting their own spins on blockchain technology.

MyEtherWallet co-founder Kosala Hemachandra, who has been involved with the token economy since 2015, now spearheads a team of 18 employees. Last month the mobile app alone served at least 326,000 monthly active users, according to MyEtherWallet site data shared with CoinDesk. The website logged 1.7 million visitors.

Volumes went up nine times since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, starting in February, compared to previous months, Hemachandra said. We have way more help requests now than before [2017], which means new users are coming in.

Bitcoin purists who claim Ethereum is failing arent measuring success the same way as Ethereans. Hemachandra said he is confident Eth 2.0, the blockchains latest technical overhaul, will launch a usable beacon chain in 2020. Regardless of the current state of the software, Ethereum fans see the experiment as a success. It inspired research and community-building efforts that changed thousands of lives, for better or worse.

ConsenSys alum Andrew Keys said he met Lubin in 2014 and was instrumental in helping create Ethereums first cooperation with Microsoft in 2015. In May 2020, he described Ethereum as a huge success in its opening act.

It has proven the ability to digitize all assets, automate agreements and empower self-sovereign identity, Keys said. Were still in the first inning, though, and bleeding-edge technology that already garners billions in value takes time to upgrade properly.

Global reach

Even Ethereums critics cant deny the lifestyle brand went global in 2017.

In addition to dozens of central bank experiments, Ethereum also inspired grassroots education initiatives that draw more emotional nourishment from the founders than financial incentives.

Awosika Israel Ayodeji, an Ethereum advocate in Nigeria since the token boom of 2017, said hes helped train 150 local developers on how to write Ethereum smart contracts since October 2019. After having an amazing experience at the EthCC 3 conference in Europe in March 2020, he returned home feeling confident in his work and supported by the global community.

While Bitcoiners are often individualistic, Ethereans tend to be more collectivist. For Ayodeji, Ethereum is more than a software or even a project. It is a way of thinking.

The fact that Ethereum allows everyone an [opportunity for] expression is why I personally like Ethereum, he said. The image I see of Ethereum is an innovation giving power to groups of people to express and govern themselves.

Like Evans and Nash, Ayodeji is a token user, including the dai stablecoins minted on MakerDAO.

I earn in ETH and convert to fiat when I need to spend, he said. Ethereum culture for me is decentralization. Although we might still be far from decentralization, as it might still be early, its gradually coming along.

At least in terms of geographic decentralization, the Ethereum community has achieved some degree of diversity. Over in Taiwan, marketing associate Yahsin Huang has been involved with a local Ethereum meetup group since 2016.

Im interested in building the next generation of the internet, she said. For her, getting involved in blockchain projects is less about investment or career development and closer to activism.

Im more of an idealist, very purpose-driven, believe in the core values, and also strongly believe in the future of the web, she said.

Likeminded Ethereum Foundation developer Danny Ryan said that from his perspective Ethereum is about freedom of choice on the internet. He added Hemachandra is correct to believe the Eth 2.0 beacon chain will go live this year.

Im deeply concerned about the trajectory of technology. Ethereum might help us disrupt that and push it in the right direction, Ryan said. The beacon chain is the core of this new consensus mechanism.

His coworker Zamfir said Ethereum is also associated with a type of discipline or practice beyond coding. Zamfir doesnt dance, like some of his fellow Ethereans, but even he cant deny the narrative-shaping power of the moment at Devcon when the lights turned low.

I still believe that Ethereum, Bitcoin and the blockchain space create an incredible opportunity to do interesting research, Zamfir said. Im more optimistic than ever about what it could be, despite not being optimistic about what it is now.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Ethereum as Lifestyle Brand: What Unicorns and Rainbows Are Really About - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

DataDash: Two Crypto Newcomers Will Surge Alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP in New Bull Cycle – The Daily Hodl

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Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten says two mid-cap crypto assets will soar along with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP as a new bull market emerges.

On the latest episode of DataDash, Merten says a broad correction in the altcoin markets is offering investors a chance to hop in before the next big rally explodes. He says traders should keep an eye on the relative crypto newcomers Cardano (ADA) and Tezos (XTZ) in preparation for the next bullish breakout.

Now that we have had this pullback here, [it] does provide an opportunity for some bulls who have missed out on a lot of this kind of exponential portion of the rally to get back in

The major thing to focus on, as I think really a lot of the large caps and a lot of the established protocols, so some of the new emerging protocols, I know some of you are going to be excited for me to say this. Plays like Cardano, plays like Tezos, some of the other ones alongside some of the large caps like Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, this is going to be our major focus here.

As for Litecoin, Merten says bulls will spark a new rally if they can capture a key level.

Just like Bitcoin, just like Ethereum, building up long-term technical formations, Litecoin has very clear points of resistance and support. It looks like here, if you really take a look at the log chart, we just need to basically get above $70, we could really start to see this take off.

Meanwhile, the crypto analyst is also long-term bullish on Ethereum. He believes the second-largest cryptocurrency will continue its hot streak en route to a new all-time high as long as the coin properly scales.

Its already built up support on previous resistance and broken out here I think its going to continue to go up, eventually to set all-time highs and accelerate towards even higher levels.

I

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Art Furnace

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Aave announces new token: Next Ethereum based DeFi token to skyrocket? – Crypto News Flash

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The Ethereum-based Aave protocol will initiate the process of transition to a decentralised governance model. Via the Aavenomics proposal, the team behind the protocol announced the introduction of a new token, AAVE, which will replace LEND. The process of replacing the token will begin with a vote on the genesis governance model. According to data from DeFi Pulse, the AAVE credit protocol accounts for $400 million of ETH in Total Value Locked (TVL).

The Aavenomics proposal contemplates a series of changes and additions with the objective of sharing a vision of alignment among the various shareholders and improving the functionality of the protocol. The new governance model will have the AAVE token as a basic security element. In that sense, Aave will migrate the 1.3 billion LEND token to 13 million AAVE tokens. Thus, the tokens will have an equivalency of 100 LEND for 1 AAVE.

While these 13 million AAVE will be claimable by LEND holders at the aforementioned rate, 3 more millions AAVE will be allocated to the Aave Ecosystem Reserve a bootstrapping fund for protocol incentives governed by AAVE token holders.

Migration will begin with a vote using LEND in a Genesis governance poll. The poll will serve as a mechanism to deploy the smart contract responsible for converting LEND to AAVE. Once completed, the AAVE holders will determine how funds in the Aave Ecosystem Reserve will be used. Below you can see a summary of how the Aave protocol will operate and what role the AAVE token and its holders will have.

As can be seen in the image above Aave will launch a security (SM) module so that the AAVE token can be delegated as last resort collateral. Stakeholders will earn AAVE as a security incentive along with a percentage of the protocol fees. In addition, staking in Aave will allow for the delegation of AAVE and the AAVE/ETH pair.

The AAVE/ETH pair will also be used as a liquidity incentive for the market through a pool from the provider Balancer. Therefore, holders will also earn rewards on Balancer and rewards for trading fees. In order to trade the AAVE token it is necessary to wait for a cool-down period. Rewards on the new token will be distributed while the AAVE is removed or transferred from the security module.

Another important change in the protocol is the introduction of the Aave Improvement Proposals (AIP). This will allow holders to vote for protocol changes to be ratified on-chain. In that regard, the Aave team stated the following:

The goal is to create a future-proof framework which relies on systemic incentives and multilevel governance to create an efficient equilibrium that stimulates long-term growth and optimization of the protocol.

The decentralized governance model seems to be a new trend in the Ethereum DeFi sector. Other protocols such as Compound, Synthetix and yearn.finance have launched governance tokens to enable their users to participate more. The token of the latter protocol, YFI, recorded a daily gain of 2000% on the day of its launch and 11,000% within the first week. The new AAVE token could follow a similar path, if investors find the incentives offered by the Aave protocol attractive.

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Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD plummets like dead weight in the air after hitting a one-year high at $400 – FXStreet

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Ethereum has back in the $300s range after briefly trading above $400. The tremendous price action occurred in tandem with Bitcoins surge above $12,000. Ripple also stepped above the critical $0.30. On the other hand, ETH/USD ascended to new 2020 highs above $400. A yearly high was traded at $416.48 (on Coinbase) before the devastating plunge occurred.

Ether is currently trading at $373.74 which is marginally above 2019 high at $361. Support at this level is expected to continue to hold as buyers focus on making the bullish case to $400. Resistance is expected at $380 but if broken, gains above $400 are likely to materialize.

Technically, Ethereum is in the hands of the bulls as seen with the RSI position above 70. The reversal from the levels above $400 is reflected in the RSI drop from 88 to 85. The Elliot Wave Oscillator is also in a bullish session, which means that gains will continue in the near term.

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Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD plummets like dead weight in the air after hitting a one-year high at $400 - FXStreet

Accelerator aims to boost Filecoin adoption in Ethereum and DeFi – Decrypt

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In brief

ConsenSys Labs Tachyon Web3 accelerator program is back again this autumn. To kick things off, ConsenSys Labs has launched an accelerator with Protocol Labs, the creator of decentralized storage protocol Filecoin.

Powered by the Tachyon Accelerator, the Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator will accept between 15 and 20 startup teams that are building Ethereum projects that incorporate elements of IPFS, a peer-to-peer protocol for decentralized file sharing and web hosting, or Filecoin, a marketplace for decentralized file sharing.

Filecoin allows users to essentially rent out their excess computer storage space to others for a fee. Data is spliced into portions and spread across multiple devices. Because the network is distributed, data won't be lost in case a single hard drive or server fails. The protocol raised $257 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 and its currently in testnet.

The Accelerator will provide teams with $80,000 each for a 12-week program that includes mentorship from both Protocol Labs and ConsenSys (which funds an editorially independent Decrypt).Following a demo day at the end of the accelerator program, the Accelerator will help the teams raise funds.

This is the first time that the Tachyon accelerator has been presented in partnership with Protocol Labs, but the timing makes sense: the Protocol will launch the incentivized Filecoin testnet next week (i.e., a testnet that uses real money) in advance of a planned mainnet launch sometime this quarter. With the initiative, Protocol and ConsenSys Labs aim to increase the usage of Filecoin within Ethereum and its burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

its

According to the program page, more than two dozen mentors and speakers have signed up to help guide the Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator startups, including ConsenSys founder and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, ChainSafe co-founder and CEO Aidan Hyman, and MetaMask lead developer Dan Finlay. (Disclosure: Decrypt co-founder Ryan Bubinski, who previously co-founded Codecademy, is also on that list.)

The Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator is currently accepting applications through August 21, with the fully remote program set to take place from mid-September through December.

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Accelerator aims to boost Filecoin adoption in Ethereum and DeFi - Decrypt

Trader Who Correctly Called Bitcoin Crash Predicts Ethereum, XRP and EOS Will Surge If BTC Follows One Rule – The Daily Hodl

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A trader who correctly predicted Bitcoins big crash to around $4,000 in early 2020 is back after taking a three-week hiatus.

The pseudonymous analyst known in the industry as Capo tells his 16,000 followers on Twitter that hes bullish on three altcoins if BTC can remain strong.

The trader says he just bought Ethereum, EOS and XRP in anticipation of a rally in the weeks ahead. He believes Ethereum looks ready to continue breaking out against Bitcoin, after the second-largest cryptocurrency broke through a key level of resistance.

The analyst says EOS is also looking strong against both BTC and the US dollar.

As for XRP, the trader points to the third-largest cryptocurrencys past price history, noting that its current trajectory appears similar to what happened back in 2017 before the coins epic breakout to an all-time high of $3.84.

When it comes to the crypto bellwether Bitcoin, the analyst says the leading cryptocurrency must turn resistance at $10,500 into support.

As Ive said many times, $10.5k is the key level. Above it, first target is $12k.

Im not bearish above that level, but the bearish scenario will be in play again if BTC consolidates below this level. Im only trading bullish altcoins setups now.

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Look Up One Night and See the International Space Station – Yonkers Times

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Look up as the International Space Station cruises by every night through Aug 6

If you want to find something interesting to do one night without leaving your home, check out the International Space Station, ISS, which, for the next few days (through Aug 6) will be visible every night from Westchester County, NY.The space station is Earths only microgravity laboratory. This football field-sized platform hosts a plethora of science and technology experiments that are continuously being conducted by crew members, or are automated. Research aboard the orbiting laboratory holds benefits for life back on Earth, as well as for future space exploration. The space station serves as a testbed for technologies and allows us to study the impacts of long-term spaceflight to humans, supporting NASAs mission to push human presence farther into space.The ISS circles the Earth every 90 minutes. It travels at about 17,500 miles (28,000 km) per hour, which gives the crew 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. In the more than 15 years that people have been living onboard, the Station has circumnavigated the Earth tens of thousands of times.All sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. This is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.The space station looks like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane, which generally fly at about 600 miles.You can see the space station with your bare eyes, no equipment is required. NASA had made it easy to look up viewing times online at Spotthestation.nasa.gov.Westchester native, and NASA astronaut Ron Garan made two trips to the ISS, in 2008 and 2011. In 2008, Garan Ron flew his first mission to space as a crew member on Space Shuttle Discovery to carry up and install the Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station. In 2011, Garan was a fully integrated member of a Russian spacecraft crew for a six month mission aboard the ISS.

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Marshall Space Flight Center moving to less-restrictive operation rules – WAAY

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Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville announced Friday that it will transition from Stage 4 to Stage 3 of the NASA Framework for Return to On-Site Work on Monday.

This allows some limited on-site work, the re-opening of day care centers and more. (See those details HERE)

The center moved to Stage 4 when coronavirus cases began to increase in Alabama.

Despite an increase in coronavirus cases across Alabama this month, weve actually seen a sustained downward trend of new infections in Madison and surrounding counties, and transitioning to Stage 3 allows us to continue making progress on our mission by allowing more on-site mission critical and essential work, said Shannon Ridinger Segovia, the centers spokesperson.

Now that we better understand how to mitigate the risk of coronavirus transmission, we are confident we can conduct work safely with the precautions we have put in place.

Center Director Jody Singer released this statement:

After careful consideration and consultation with agency leadership and other appropriate officials, Marshall Space Flight Center will transition from Stage 4 to Stage 3 of the NASA Framework for Return to On-Site Work on Monday, Aug. 3.

Weve used a methodical, risk-based, and data-driven approach to reach this decision, and I am confident we are ready for this step. Despite an increase in coronavirus cases across Alabama this month, weve actually seen a sustained downward trend of new infections in Madison and surrounding counties.

Transitioning to Stage 3 allows us to continue making progress on our mission and, now that we better understand how to mitigate the risk of coronavirus transmission, we are confident we can conduct work safely with the precautions we have put in place.

Since the onset of this pandemic, the health and safety of the Marshall Team has been our top priority. We are continuing to take informed, deliberate steps to ensure the safety and health of our employees, as well as that of our families and community.

Marshall will remain in mandatory telework status. Access to the center will remain restricted to those allowed on-site for approved mission-critical and mission-essential work. Center leadership approval is required for all on-site work and employees will be notified by their supervisor if their work activities are approved to return on-site.

Increasing on-site work will be a gradual process, as center leadership is conducting thorough facility and work-area reviews to ensure all available protective measures can be implemented effectively before making these decisions. Protective measures include work areas that minimize physical interaction with other employees and ample supply and access to hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment.

Each of us have a part to play in safety during this time. All on-site employees will continue to follow the Safe at Work Protocol Guidelines, and continue to practice good health and safety measures, such as washing hands and wearing face coverings.

I want thank those who are working on-site for their dedication to protecting astronauts, maintaining our facilities and completing critical-path tasks. The dedication our employees have shown ensuring our mission continues during the COVID-19 pandemic has been remarkable.

I am incredibly proud to be a part of this talented team and I look forward seeing all employees again when it is safe to do so!

Jody Singer, Marshall Space Flight Center Director

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Interloper, the wonderfully stylish spaceflight combat sim, blasts off on iOS today – Pocket Gamer

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Interloper, developer Anchorite's spaceflight combat sim, has blasted off on iOS today. This one sees you going up against an oppressive regime using an advanced, combat-ready spacecraft that you can kit out with all manner of weaponry and upgrades.

The missions here are wave-based and typically require you to complete a single objective before warping to the next area. They feel perfectly calculated for on-the-go play, providing a few minutes of fast-paced action at a time.

Interloper also blends in some roguelike elements to add to the intensity. Dying during a mission results in you losing your current ship's loadout. You can, however, bail out of a mission if you feel things are going a bit pear-shaped. There's a huge element of risk/reward decision-making here, as holding out in the hopes of finishing the mission could result in you losing your fancy new weapons or utilities.

While you do often feel quite powerful in your ship, it's important not to get too cocky. After all, you'll be facing off against swarms of fighters, deadly frigates, and mammoth capital ships.

We first covered it late last month, which was when I put together a small video preview. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the pre-launch version, and I know that the latest build has ironed out some of the minor blemishes that were present there.

I was happy to find that Interloper supports MFi controllers from the get-go, as that'll always be my preferred way to play any sort of flying game. It's also playable in both landscape and portrait modes, and the touchscreen controls make use of haptic feedback.

Interloper is now available for download from over on the App Store. It's a premium title priced at $5.99, meaning no ads or IAPs. More content is expected to arrive post-launch, including new gameplay features, ship attachments, scenarios, and more.

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Interloper, the wonderfully stylish spaceflight combat sim, blasts off on iOS today - Pocket Gamer

How Tom Cruise & Doug Liman Pitched Way To $200 Million Universal Commitment On Space Film With Elon Musk – Deadline

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EXCLUSIVE: What did Universal Pictures execs require to commit to liftoff of the first ever narrative feature film to shoot in outer space? According to sources, all it took was an exuberant Zoom call with Tom Cruise, director Doug Liman, Christopher McQuarrie and PJ van Sandwijk. They pitched the picture with no script (Liman is writing it), and came away with a production commitment around $200 million.

Sources said that Space Xs Elon Musk will be a partner in the project and the expectation is that is that McQuarrie Cruises writer-director on the Mission: Impossible films will have a ground control role as story advisor and producer alongside Cruise, Liman and van Sandwijk.

The $200 million figure is an estimate, considering the project is still being scripted and the unprecedented logistics, but it costs more to make space-set blockbusters that never require breaking through the atmosphere. It seems a reasonable sum to make movie history for a movie studio in this pandemic moment when streamers are making all the noise.

Related StoryDeadline Launches DeadlineNow: Tom Cruise's Movie Shot In Space Is Budgeted At $200 Million, And That's A Steal

Deadline revealed in early May that Cruise was working on the space-set action adventure and that he was serious about doing it and that Musk was involved. Deadline broke later that month that Doug Liman would be making the trip with him, and the director who helmed the Cruise pics American Made and Edge of Tomorrow, then went to Florida to witness the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying two American astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center, an historic public-private partnership that put the U.S. back in the business of human spaceflight for the first time in a decade.

Cruise and McQuarrie are back shooting Mission: Impossible 7 but this is looking more real by the minute. Dont expect Cruise and Liman to lose their nerve. Both are pilots and their adventurous spirit shows in their filmmaking. As for Cruise, he is a meticulous planner, but fearless in doing his own stunts that have included hanging from a helicopter and the side of a jet plane during takeoff in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. In Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol he scaled the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai skyscraper, and executed stunts 123 floors up.

No comment all around.

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