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Research from University of Exter reveals the evolutionary reasons why we have friends – In Your Area

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

InYourArea Community

Professor Lauren Brent, an expert in animal behaviour from the University of Exeter has been awarded substantial funding to help uncover the evolutionary origins of friendship and social bonds

The quest to discover why friendship plays such a pivotal role in social and mental well-being has been given a significant boost, it has been announced.

Professor Lauren Brent, an expert in animal behaviour from the University of Exeter has been awarded substantial funding to help uncover the evolutionary origins of friendship and social bonds.

Prof Brent has received a 2 million grant to conduct ground-breaking new research to investigate not only social bonds are so important to the health and longevity of so many species, but also why evolution allows social isolation to persist despite its detrimental impact on individuals.

The multi-million pound funding was awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) under its Consolidator Grants scheme.

Prof Brent, an Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter said: Friendship may be one of the most important strategies humans have for surviving in large groups.

We know that friendship is crucial for human health and well-being - for example, people who are socially isolated have a greater risk of heart disease than heavy smokers or drinkers.

But to fully understand why we have such a fundamental need for friends, as well as the consequences of not having those relationships, we need to try and determine the origins of friendship itself. Unravelling friendship from an evolutionary perspective is a crucial step component of understanding what it means to be human.

Prof. Brents project, called FriendOrigins: The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship - A Cross-Species Comparison and Experimental Approach, aims to enhance our understanding of friendship structures by studying multiple species of macaque monkeys.

Prof. Brent added: By uncovering the factors that regulate and drive friendly relationships in other primates, we can potentially reveal the origins of human friendship and gain new appreciation of what we do, or dont, have in common with some of our closest living relatives

Prof. Brents research is one of 318 grants awarded to researchers across Europe totalling 635 million - in the most recent announcement.

The awards are given to outstanding researchers, with between seven and 12 years of experience after completing their PhD, and a scientific track record showing great promise.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 864461)

Billionaire Richard Livingstone to cash in his ‘lockdown winner’ stake in Evolution Gaming – Independent.ie

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Evolution Gaming's top shareholder Richard Livingstone is selling stock worth as much as 5.91bn kronor (574m)in the Swedish company, according to deal terms reviewed by Bloomberg.

The British billionaire, who currently owns a 16.4pc stake, is selling 8.5 million shares in an accelerated offering via Morgan Stanley, according to the terms. Evolution Gaming, one of the world's biggest online casino platforms, closed at 695 kronor yesterday, bringing the stock's gains to 140pc this year.

A number of large shareholders have taken advantage of rebounding equity markets to book a profit from so-called 'lockdown winners', or businesses that have thrived as a result of stay-at-home measures.

Evolution, which licenses gaming software, benefited from months of lockdowns across much of the world, as people increasingly rely on online entertainment to fight boredom.

Bloomberg

Irish Independent

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Billionaire Richard Livingstone to cash in his 'lockdown winner' stake in Evolution Gaming - Independent.ie

X-Men: Evolution Is the Perfect Model for the MCU’s Mutant Future – CBR – Comic Book Resources

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

While the X-Men's entrance into the MCU is far away, when the time comes, using X-Men: Evolution as a guide for the adaptation is the best bet.

The X-Men joining the MCU may be in the distant future but is still highly anticipated and will remain so until the day comes. With no clues as to how the X-Men will be introduced or integrated into the MCU, fans are left to speculate when and how.

While the live-action X-Men adaptations by Fox were movies, perhaps the best course of action for a X-Men adaptation in the MCU would be a TV show, especially now that Disney+ is being used to expand the MCU episodically with shows like WandaVision. If the MCU does in fact make their X-Men a TV show, a great model to follow would be the animated X-Men: Evolution.

Related: My Hero Academia Is Really Just Anime X-Men (If Magneto Won)

A TV show in general would benefit the property because of how the X-Men function as a group. While the Avengers are a superhero group, its members are also stand-alone characters. However, the X-Men are a package deal, which calls for an ensemble approach. A TV show would allow all X-Men to be developed and seen equally, which the films struggled to do. Some of the most beloved and important mutants, for instance, got pushed aside or wereunderutilized.

The X-Men comics also have very involved and engaging storylines that arehindered if rushed and condensed. A prime example of this happening is both attempts at "The Phoenix Saga" inX-Men: The Last StandandDark Phoenix. A TV format would allow for a much more fleshed out and satisfying take on treasured comic storylines.

Related: X-Men 20th Anniversary: Best Mutant Cameos in the Original Trilogy

Since MCU characterscurrently in the movies are getting their own TV shows on Disney+, this means the X-Men can still make appearances in movies as well as the shows. This would grant more in depth explorations of relationships with established MCU characters and the mutants, like Captain Marvel and Rogue, Kitty Pryde and the Guardians of the Galaxy and Storm and Black Panther, to name a few.

If a TV format is utilized, while many of the animated X-Men shows were great, X-Men: Evolution might be the best formula to follow for the MCU in particular, withX-Men: Evolutionutilizing the TV format perfectly. Its storylineshad origins in the comicsbut also allowed for breathing room and developed at a good pace. Meanwhile, the side stories in each episodeadded to the entertainment. It also had original takes on established characters, so the show wasnt a carbon copy of the comics, making it a great balancenew and classic. The show also wasnt hyper-focused on only a few characters, like Scott,Jean or Wolverine.

Furthermore, X-Men: Evolution introduced new characters,allowing for each to get their appropriate spotlight. Starting with a core group, more mutants joined as the show went on, allowing for them to be properly developed from the get-go and changing the team dynamic over time by adding allies and foes. The staggering of additions also allowed for a true ensemble feel and for the audience to form an opinionof each mutant as they settled into the show.

Related: Hasbro Unveils Marvel Legends X-Men 20th Anniversary Figures

Another key appeal of a live-action show with a X-Men: Evolution influence is the age range and subsequent tiers of mutant roles. The classic cartoon had layers to it because mutants of different maturity and expertise levels were explored. This also allowed for several kinds of relationships to develop, like romances, mentorships, friendships and rivalries.

Also, X-Men: Evolution benefited from having the younger mutants in high school and dealing with humans because they were faced with rejection as well as learning to move above this. Navigating normal teenage problems as well as superhuman problems created fascinating inner-conflicts; meanwhile, watching the mutants attempt to be part of society while also hiding who they really were was poignant. Lastly, with adversaries attending the same school as them, constant conflict was imminent and entertaining.

With differing age groups, excellently executed storylines and situations thatfeaturedconflicts with enemiesas well asinteractions with the general society, an X-Men: Evolution inspired take would be a great path for the MCU to follow, even if the X-Men aren't introduced in a serialized show.However, the episodic structure of television would serve an ensemble cast better than a film could.

READ MORE: X-Men: Iceman Is the PERFECT Character to Introduce Mutants to the MCU

Star Wars: What's the Status of Earth in the Galaxy Far, Far Away?

Gillian Madans is a freelance writer based in New York, NY. She has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. You can find her on Twitter at @GillianMadans.

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X-Men: Evolution Is the Perfect Model for the MCU's Mutant Future - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market 2020 and estimated to grow in near Future, Growth, Supply Demand and Analysis by Types 2020-2027…

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

The New Report Titled as Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market published by Reportspedia, covers the market landscape and its evolution predictions during the forecast period. The report objectives to provide an overview of global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market with detailed market segmentation by solution, security type, application and geography. The Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market is anticipated to eyewitness high growth during the forecast period. The report delivers key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and deals key trends and opportunities in the market.

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This research report also includes profiles of major companies operating in the global market. Some of the prominent players operating in the Global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market are:

ExteNet SystemsNEC CorporationCore Network DynamicsHuawei TechnologiesAthonetNokia CorporationZTE CorporationEricssonSamsungTelrad NetworksAffirmed NetworksCisco SystemsMavenir

The Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market for the regions covers North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Regional breakdown has been done based on the current and forthcoming trends in the global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market along with the discrete application segment across all the projecting region.

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CloudOn-Premises

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Telecom OperatorsEnterprises

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Chapter 1. Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Report Overview

Chapter 2. Global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Growth Trends

Chapter 3. Market Share by Key Players

Chapter 4. Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Breakdown Data by Type and Application

Chapter 5. Market by End Users/Application

Chapter 6. COVID-19 Outbreak: Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Industry Impact

Chapter 7. Opportunity Analysis in Covid-19 Crisis

Chapter 9. Market Driving Force

Continue for TOC

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Key questions Answered in this Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Report:

What will be the Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market growth rate and value in 2020?

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Global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market summary

Economic Impact on the Industry

Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Competition in terms of Manufacturers

Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market Analysis by Application

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Study on Market Research Factors

Table of Content & Report Detail @ https://www.reportspedia.com/report/technology-and-media/2015-2027-global-virtualized-evolved-packet-core-(vepc)-industry-market-research-report,-segment-by-player,-type,-application,-marketing-channel,-and-region/58512#table_of_contents

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Global Virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) Market 2020 and estimated to grow in near Future, Growth, Supply Demand and Analysis by Types 2020-2027...

Dinosaur diaries: this is what dinosaurs evolved from – The Natural History Museum

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

From gigantic sauropods trampling through Jurassic forest and lumbering tank-sized stegosaurs, to enormous pterosaurs that ruled the skies, these two ancient groups of animals contained some of the largest animals ever to evolve.

But dinosaurs and pterosaurs didn't begin their evolutionary journeys at such huge sizes.

A new paper by Christian Kammerer and his team from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the American Museum of Natural History shows that their early ancestors may have been much smaller than previously thought.

The team describes a new animal from the Late Triassic of Madagascar which is close to the ancestry of both dinosaurs and pterosaurs. It has been named Kongonaphon kely, meaning 'tiny bug slayer'.

Fossils of this age and type of animal are very rare and so any that are found are extremely important. Being only around 10 cm in height, Kongonaphon shows that during this time, around 200 million years ago, these early animals were very small indeed. This could be related to the end-Permian mass extinction event.

The ancestor to both dinosaurs and pterosaurs were likely tiny, insect-eating creatures that could have fit into the palm of the handAmerican Museum of Natural History

Occurring some 252 million years ago, this was the largest extinction event in the Earth's history, seeing almost 96% of marine species and 70% of land animals wiped from the planet. But it was in this aftermath that the ancestors of dinosaurs and pterosaurs arose.

The casualties of this extinction event are thought to have included many small-bodied insect-eating reptiles.Kongonaphonand several other archosaurs might have evolved to be a smaller size to eat insects, therefore taking advantage of this now vacant ecological role previously filled by the reptiles. This suggestion is backed up by the shape of their teeth.

The paper also suggests that the reduced size may have led to these animals developing primitive feather-like structures, which could have helped the smaller animals stay warm during a time of extreme climate fluctuations, a feature that they might have passed on to their pterosaur and dinosaur descendants.

The dinosaur Dilophosaurus is perhaps best known for its staring role in the original Jurassic Park film, with its distinctive hiss, rattling neck frill and venom-spitting antics.

But while there may not be any fossil evidence for these features, a new paper is revealing how the true dinosaur did possess an impressive double-crested skull and would have reached an intimidating seven metres in length, much bigger than its more famous movie depiction.

Adam Marsh and Timothy Rowe, based at the University of Texas and Petrified Forest National Park, have published a new and extremely detailed paper on the anatomy of Dilophosaurus, based on the original and more recent specimens that had not been described before.

The authors found thatDilophosauruswas far more 'advanced' than the older and smaller theropods from the Triassic. They show that the species is already starting to display some of the anatomical features that are usually only seen in later dinosaurs likeAllosaurus,Ceratosaurusand even present-day birds.

The first remains ofDilophosauruswere discovered in 1940 by a Navajo man called Jesse Williams, in Arizona, USA. He showed these fossils to Samuel P. Welles, a palaeontologist at the University of California doing fieldwork in the same area, who then dug it up the rest of the animal and named the new dinosaur.

These original descriptions ofDilophosaurus, which is one of the earliest large predatory dinosaurs, have played a significant role in how future researchers deciphered the relationship and evolution of theropods and early dinosaurs. But as new fossils have been found, and new knowledge gathered, Marsh and Rowe wanted to revisit these first descriptions to see how they fit in with our modern understandings.

Dilophosaurus looked a lot different to how it was depicted in Jurassic Park, although it still had an impressive double crest on its skullBrian Engh

They suggest that the distinctive double-crest on the skull was probably used to help animals recognise other members of their own species and potentially had a role during mating season. The authors also discovered thatDilophosaurushad much more powerful jaws than initially thought, which combined with its large size and strong arms would have made it one of the prominent predators of the time.

Finally, the researchers are keen to acknowledge the people of the Navajo Nation in welcoming the scientists and making palaeontological research possible on their lands, highlighting the need for any type of scientific research to respect and embrace indigenous cultures.

The question of what exactly caused the extinction of (non-avian) dinosaurs has puzzled palaeontologists for over a century, but ongoing discoveries have narrowed it down to two likely culprits at the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago.

One suggests that a series of protracted volcanic eruptions occurred in India, forming what is now known as the Deccan traps, released greenhouse gases that caused rapid global warming. The other is the impact of an asteroid with Earth that left a giant crater which is now buried under the Yucatn Peninsula in Mexico.

Scientists have continued to debate whether it was the volcanism, asteroid impact, or a combination of the two which killed off non-avian dinosaurs. New work led by Alessandro Chiarenza, a researcher at University College London, and colleagues has combined climatic and ecological modelling to finally settle this age-old question.

Chiarenza and colleagues first applied models used to predict future global warming, known as global circulation models, to simulate the effects of the Deccan volcanism and asteroid impact on Late Cretaceous climate. They then looked at the Late Cretaceous fossil record in order to establish the environmental conditions that made for prime dinosaur habitat.

North America, 66 million years ago. An Ankylosaurus drinks, ignoring the distant asteroid impact that sealed its fate Fabio Manucci.

By then combining these data, it allowed the researchers to assess how each natural disaster would have affected the dinosaurs employing a technique that is normally used by conservationists to predict how living animals will respond to climate change.

The team found that climatic changes caused by Deccan volcanism were insufficient to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Instead, the release of carbon dioxide by these eruptions led to long-term global warming, which would have produced conditions very hospitable to dinosaurs.

By contrast, the dust and gas thrown into the atmosphere by the asteroid impact would have blocked out the sun, leading to severe global cooling, as temperatures on land would have plunged by up to 35C following the catastrophic impact. This was sufficient to cause the complete collapse of most suitable dinosaur habitat.

These results firmly point to the asteroid impact causing the demise of non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. The prolonged 'impact winter' triggered by this cataclysm would have condemned the dinosaurs to starve to death in freezing temperatures, as the food chains and climatic conditions they depended upon collapsed.

Rather than causing extinction, the global-warming from the Deccan traps eruptions may instead have countered some of the asteroid-driven cooling, helping life to recover more quickly than it otherwise would. This highlights the sometimes-unexpected ways in which Earth systems interact with each other, but also warns that the fates of even the mightiest creatures rest on the health of the environment.

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Dinosaur diaries: this is what dinosaurs evolved from - The Natural History Museum

Global Chaos Is The Needed Catalyst To Evolve Consciousness

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Our world is currently ruled by outdated ideas, yet we are not choosing to update these ideas as we have not come to accept the obvious about our delusion in holding onto them.

Each new idea is a contribution to humanity, but it is not meant to get us stuck, so why do we? Why have we let economy's, business, and huge corporations slow and halt the ability for humanity to thrive?

The highest aspiration possible for humans would be to design governing, distribution, and monetary systems in ways that mimic the natural systems of a healthy jungle. Gilded Age ideas like Social Darwinism or survival of the fittest that attempted to justify racism, eugenics, oppression of immigrants, exploitation of workers, and massive economic disparity are woven into the very fabric of our current societal operating system.

These deep-rooted, oppressive ideologies still rule us today though they emerged over 500 years ago from feudalism and were brought to the New World merged together as colonialism and imperialism. This misguided ethos is embedded today in centralized, top-down structures including governance, monetary policy, healthcare, and more. In order to redesign these societal systems in a contemporary way that mimics the symbiotic networks in nature we must first recognize that we have bought into an unnatural delusion and change the way we see the world by addressing our core beliefs.

Outdated Ideas Rule Our World Today.According to Wikipedia, Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending a countrys rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Meanwhile, In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous peoples. These ideologies of domination, extraction, and exploitation are central to our relationship with the land, while also ruling global markets, scientific institutions, corporate culture, academia, religion, healthcare, and governments. Worst of all most individuals have adopted and accepted this worldview of humanity being separate, in competition with each other, and pitted against nature without even questioning it!

Featured in this composite image is Patricia Gualinga Montalvo, Kichwa defender of the Amazon.

Beliefs Shaped by History:When Columbus first looked out and saw the Caribbean Islands of the New World, he brought with him the belief systems of colonialism and imperialism. His ethos had been cultivated over centuries of royal hierarchies, feudalism, oppression, privatization, and subjugation from the Old World. Looking from the islands outward to see Columbuss ships on the horizon were the Native Taino People whose indigenous worldview, like all indigenous peoples, still sees the web of life as interconnected, sacred, commonly shared, and holistic. These two world-views clashed while the one with guns and superior weapons almost completely extinguished the perennial wisdom of the original people.

Some say that the plagues and Dark Ages that Europeans went through prior to the Renaissance played a role in shaping their cultural relationship with nature. Since so many people were dying from the Black Death, a belief system that humans were being punished by God or being punished by nature began to take hold. This entrenched two divergent worldviews: the sinner/redemption story of Christianity (religion) and the Newtonian Cartesian Paradigm (reductionist, mechanistic science).-Ending the Conquest of Nature

Beliefs Shaped by Observing Nature:Yet the Taino People of the Caribbean descended from those who had lived for centuries in the Amazon Jungle. They had witnessed the reciprocal, symbiotic networks of life that seamlessly flows between plants, animals, mycelium, pollen, bacteria, air, water, and earth. Though there is much to know and observe within the web of nature, there is also a reverence for the unknown, and the great mystery of life.The indigenous worldview is based on nature rather than the political hierarchies of Europes ruling families, their monetary systems, and religions.

Which is Delusion, Which is Reality?Just as the lineages of Europes ruling families (along with the material wealth and political clout they have passed down through the generations) are still with us today, so too are the descendents of the original people of the Americas. Natural, land-based worldviews may fade from dominating society for a time but they will never vanish altogether because they are perennial. The human species comes from the land, it is dependent on it for survival, it is completely intertwined with it, and it will return to the land upon death. However we are also seeing the great natural places, forests, oceans, and even the Amazon Jungle being decimated by humans under the spell of domination, extraction, and exploitation.

The Limits of Science:Newtonian Science has become the golden calf of the day but few recognize that it was shaped by the same old-world beliefs that influenced Columbuss colonial world view. Science has helped humans dominate the planet. In its infancy Western Science was a threat to the dominant power structure maintained by religion. We see this battle play out today as many religious people oppose climate science and theories of evolution. In order for early science to not tread on the territory of science it was forced into reductionism. Science was given the freedom to research the parts but not allowed to look at systems as a whole because the church deemed this as being the realm of the spirit, of God and thus their domain.

Science has brought such great innovations yet it has beentrained for centuries to have blindersand only see the world as separate parts. This is evolving slowly with integrative science, and holistic medicine but today it faces hurdles much bigger than the church. Today science and medicine are relatively beholden to research funding which usually comes from business investors looking to turn a profit, corporate financial endowments, or government grants. It doesnt matter which era we live in because the wisdom of, not biting the hand that feeds you still applies.

Money and politics now shape science. All of the above shape our belief systems yet we still find the common ethos of domination, imperialism, and colonialism at the root. It is amazing to consider that many of our world systems are still literally built on the foundations of Dark Ages thinking born from feudalism, religious fanaticism, as well as the rule of kings and queens. Who will liberate us if we are not willing to liberate ourselves from these underlying beliefs?

Welcome to Global Pandemic:Many historians believe that viruses, germs, and disease brought by Europeans to the New World killed more people than guns and swords. Europeans, having lived in close quarters with each other and with domesticated animals, have endured many plagues and developed antibodies. It could be argued that COVID-19 is natures response to the failings of human systems which are a reflection of cultural world-views. Monocropped agriculture, abuse of pesticides, meat/dairy factory farms, deforestation, overuse of antibiotics, polluted water along with poverty due to greed and economic disparity are just a few factors that contribute to a world prone to pandemics.

Empire Responds to a Virus:Centralized, top-down structures are systems modeled after kingdoms of the Middle Ages that require a central command that everyone must fall in line behind. With that must come a narrative to rally the troops to protect the kingdom from invaders. Who do we turn to in a moment of global crisis like this? Apparently the top of chain of command is theGlobal Preparedness Monitoring Board, an organizationcreated bythe World bank and the World Health Organization. This consortium of political leaders, lobbyists, bankers, billionaires, and pharmaceutical corporations utilizes public and private partnerships which funnel public funds from governments and foundations into private corporations for research. In the case of COVD-19, billions of dollars have gone into research for a vaccine.

We have all witnessed the battle to control the narrative about this process, the divide is exploding across social media. Are there conflicts of interest in this model? Are some banking on this crisis? Are governments using this to take civil liberties and increase surveillance? To wear a mask or not, to close down the economy or re-open it, to have mandatory vaccines or not, to have contact tracing or not? Doctors with dissenting opinions are being censored from social media and politicians are trying to squeeze this crisis into the conventional partisan boxes. It has become overwhelming to keep up with.

With so much at stake there is a fatal flaw in the centralized, top-down model. If there is an error, or corruption then the whole system becomes poisonous. This is why keeping all eggs in one basket is never a good idea. In contrast, a diversity of viewpoints and approaches, available in a decentralized model, allows for best practices to emerge rather than forcing one course of action. Sadly there is no silver bullet.

Madagascars President Andry Rajoelina has implied that we are potentially witnessing medical imperialism, as his nations herbal cure is discounted by wealthy nations. Why is vaccine research being funded by the billions whereas natural approaches are not considered or funded? Is it only worth investing in medicines that are profitable to large corporations? These and many more questions are being passionately debated across the planet right now.

One Thing is Certain:Uncertainty is becoming more certain. The models of control that have been used for centuries in the traditional top-down, centralized systems are imploding. There are more questions than answers yet there is another way to look at this situation. The indigenous perspective has been buried by centuries of conquest. It is nature-centric, and recognizes that humans dont have all the answers, it embraces the mystery while seeing all things as an interconnected whole.

Nature Conspires:The Latin roots of the word Conspire are con, meaning together, and spiremeaning breath. Literally it means to breathe together.When we look at and study how ecosystems work it is fair to say that nature is conspiring to sustain life. Even our very planet is the perfect distance from the sun, not too hot or too cold, allowing life to flourish. There is a natural cycle of life inherent in our planet that sustains every aspect of who we are and how we came to be. This is a conspiracy that I can get behind!

These plants are not really individuals in the sense that Darwin thought they were individuals competing for survival of the fittest, says Simard in the 2011 documentaryDo Trees Communicate?In fact they are interacting with each other, trying to help each other survive.-Plants Talk to Each Other Using an Internet of Fungus

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the popular film by Louie Schwartzberg,Fantastic Fungi. During the film I was particularly struck by the research showing that fungus mycelium acts as a sort of internet carrying information and nutrients to various plants, trees, and shrubs. This miraculous symbiosis between diverse species in the forests is not happening as the result of a top-down, centralized system. In the fall-time there is no president tree who decrees that it is time for all the trees to make their leaves change colors. These organisms are each sovereign yet they are all responding to the impulses of the seasons in unison. Bruce Lipton calls this phenomena, conscious evolution.

We know that we are made of bones, blood, cells, muscle, etc. and we tend to think that these are what makes us human. However, we often overlook the Human Microbiome. This is a naturally occurring community of microorganisms (microbes) in our body including diverse viruses, fungi, and protozoa that outnumber human cells almost two to one! While this might sound scary, this thriving community of microbes in our body is working in harmony with our human cells to create life as we know it.-The Self You Never Knew, The Human Microbiome

Shift the Narrative:Nature is dynamic and alive. She communicates if we listen and observe. The belief that humans are somehow above nature, like a king is above his subjects, is pure delusion. We are not in an either/or situation, things are not black and white. We have gained much understanding through reductionist, mechanistic science but we must recognize that it is most potent when science observes, mimics, and respects natural systems. Humans have a disease of the mind in the colonial, imperialistic ways we see each other, the animals, the plants, and the very elements that sustain our lives.

We can not solveour problems with the same level of thinking that created them. Albert Einstein

We are approaching our response to COVID-19 from the same materialistic, colonial, imperial, centralized, mono-cropped, chemical-driven, profit-centered, privatized model that has birthed this crisis in the first place.Lets take a good look at the outdated operating system and human beliefs that are embedded in our current centralized systems. This is the model, born from feudalism and the Dark Ages, that now rules our global markets, scientific institutions, corporate culture, academia, religion, healthcare, and governments. There IS another way.

If the wordconspiretruly means to breathe together then collectively maybe we should all do just that. We are woven together in this majestic web of life throughout all of time. We can create systems that mimic the way that mycelium nourishes a healthy jungle allowing it to thrive. It will not be a centralized top-down system,it will be a distributed networkto empower all the disjointed parts to flourish. Its time to upgrade our societys operating system.

Lets listen to the science so we can integrate the broken and disjointed pieces of the reductionist mindset to embrace a holistic approach. Nature has untold secrets but we have forgotten how to listen. Indigenous people are keepers of nature and hold a very profound understanding for us in this time. They have been warning that this day would eventually come. Their voices and cultures have been squashed by a worldview based on conquest that is as invasive to humanitys perennial wisdom as any virus. Perhaps it is time we take a moment and listen.

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You can stream conscious media 24/7 and enjoy mind-expanding interviews, original shows, and documentaries and guided programs.

Click here to start a FREE 7-Day Trial and watch 100's of hours of conscious media that you won't see anywhere else.

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Global Chaos Is The Needed Catalyst To Evolve Consciousness

Margo Price on the Bob Dylan Classic She Wishes She Wrote – Pitchfork

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Thats when I watched [the 1967 Dylan documentary] Dont Look Back for the first time, too. I was just hoping for that moment: to be burned out on the road, as tired as he was in 65 after touring England. At that point, I hadnt really traveled anywhere. Through the decade that I struggled to get my foot in the door, I had a lot of free time to immerse myself in every phase of his life. He could have just fizzled out after the folk period, like a lot of other people did at that time. The fact that he was always reinventing himself was important to me.

Is there a line or verse in this song that stands out to you?

The last verse is where it really hits home for me: When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose/Youre invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal. Hes writing to Miss Lonely, and it could have been Edie Sedgwick or Joan Baez. He always has a way to protect himself and wear this armor, but that verse feels very freeing. I think he was writing about himself.

I heard that it was 20 pages of word vomit, as he liked to call it. I cant imagine what the entire thing looked like. Even getting it down to six minutes seems like a feat. But you can feel that energy in the room. Everybodys just playing it from their gut. Youve got Al Kooper on the organhes not even an organ player!

Like a Rolling Stone also represents a turning point when Dylans writing became more imagistic and surreal. Ive noticed a shift in your work toward more open-ended songs. Is that a conscious evolution?

For sure. The first album ended up being a concept record about me, so I felt like I had to keep it all in the first-person. It was a good exercise in being honest with myself and getting things off my chest that I had been lying about to my family and friends. With this record, I wanted to find different ways to convey my thoughts. I found that Id be writing one song but directing it at three different people, because different people can make you feel the same emotion. I see songwriters make the same album over and over, and Im like, This is boring for me to listen to, so I know youve got to be bored. In the end, youre going to be more proud of your work if you keep things fresh.

Other than Bob Dylan, do you have other role models for maintaining longevity as an artist?

Linda Ronstadt did such a good job of following what was right in her heart and not what was going to be a commercial success. She was a massive pop star but then she put out an all-Spanish mariachi record. People told her, Dont do it. Its going to ruin your career. But it just made people love her more. Joni Mitchell is also highly underrated. She found a way to keep herself inspired, and thats important too. Reading all the time, writing, discovering new music, and watching filmsall those things are tied together in being turned on to the muse.

Have you ever run into Bob on the road?

Yes, I have! We were on the Outlaw Tour with Willie Nelson, and Bob was playing the Milwaukee show. It was amazing to see my name next to theirs, even though it was way down. Ive made it! When Bob came onto the premises, we were told that no one could be backstage. So we all hid inside our tour bus and looked out the window, like Santa Claus was coming. We were so excited. He pulls up with a motorcade of maybe 25 police officers on motorcycles. He was wearing a white suit coat and black pants and really cool shoes. We just watched him walk to the back of the stage as he was fixing his hair and his pant leg. We went out and watched the whole performance from the front of the house, which I never do. It was pretty incredible. I heard a story that day that Bob walked onto Willies bus wearing a towel over his head like a boxer and carrying an apple pie. He goes, Wheres the king? Take me to the king.

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Margo Price on the Bob Dylan Classic She Wishes She Wrote - Pitchfork

Netflix Cancels Production of Turkish Original If Only Over Censorship of Gay Character – Variety

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Netflix has canceled production of Turkish original If Only over government censorship of a gay character in the script, a source close to the streamer has confirmed.

The announced show was to have been produced by Turkish production powerhouse Ay Yapim and has been described in promotional materials as the story of Reyhan who is unhappy and disappointed in her marriage with Nadir. Ay Yapim has declined to comment.

Turkish authorities denied permission for If Only production to take place in the country after reviewing the script, in which one of the five characters was gay. Netflix refused to change the script and opted instead to cancel production of the show, while paying all preproduction costs, the source said.

Ay Yapim also produces another Netflix Turkey original, Love 101 (pictured), which recently stirred controversy in Turkey when speculation began circulating on Twitter in April that a character on the show would be revealed to be gay, reportedly irking Turkeys media authority. A Netflix spokesman has confirmed the show does not have a gay character.

Off the back of If Onlys cancellation, local reports in Turkey speculated that Netflix would pull all of its productions in the country. Variety has confirmed, however, that the streaming giant will continue with other projects.

Netflix remains deeply committed to our Turkish members and the creative community in Turkey. We are proud of the incredible talent we work with, the Netflix spokesperson said. We currently have several Turkish originals in production with more to come and look forward to sharing these stories with our members all around the world.

Netflix currently has five Turkish originals in various stages of production. The streamers first Turkish original The Protector has been a global hit and is considered a game-changer in terms of disrupting production models and storylines in Turkeys TV market.

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Netflix Cancels Production of Turkish Original If Only Over Censorship of Gay Character - Variety

Bari Weiss Resigns From The New York Times, Alleging That ‘Self-Censorship Has Become the Norm’ – Reason

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Bari Weiss, one of the most polarizing journalists in the country, has resigned from the opinion section of The New York Times, citing a "hostile work environment" and an institutional yielding to an increasingly extreme ideological "orthodoxy."

"The truth is that intellectual curiositylet alone risk-takingis now a liability at The Times," Weiss wrote in a scorching resignation letter self-published Tuesday morning. "Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher, when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world? And so self-censorship has become the norm."

This is the latest development in a remarkably turbulent and potentially far-reaching eight-week period within America's leading liberal institutions. Beginning with the videotaped police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May, then the subsequent protests, riots and crackdowns, the country's newspapers and universities and cultural organizations have experienced social media-fueled waves of internal revolts and leadership changes, frequently though not solely over questions of race.

One main fault-line, illustrated most starkly in the opposing open letters published last week about free speech and cancel culture (the first of which, in Harper's Magazine, was signed by Weiss and 152 others, including 15 Reason contributors), is the divide between those journalists and academics who feel like they are defending the very foundations of liberalism, and those who feel like they are chipping away at the institutions of systemic prejudice. To witness the two sides talking angrily past one another, open up your Twitter feed.

In Weiss's telling, the Times is retreating from the ethic of journalistic open inquiry and pluralistic debate, replacing it with a pre-baked notion of what readers ought to think.

"The lessons that ought to have followed the [2016 presidential] electionlessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic societyhave not been learned," she charged. "Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn't a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.[T]he paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative."

That last sentence in particular is surely a reference to the paper's controversial 1619 Project, helmed by Pulitzer-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, that seeks "to reframe American history, making explicit how slavery is the foundation on which this country is built." Hannah-Jones, who spearheaded the intentionally publicized internal revolt last month that resulted in the resignation of Opinion Editor James Bennett, has been a longtime public critic of Weiss.

"My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views," Weiss wrote, at the beginning of a three-paragraph section that carries the distinct whiff of both drama and potential legal action. "They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I'm 'writing about the Jews again.' Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly 'inclusive' one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are."

It is both easy and appropriate to be mostly irritated by the overhyped internal personnel battles of elite coastal institutionsincluding at New York magazine, which today lost star columnist Andrew Sullivan a few weeks after having spiked one of his pieces. In a country beset by an 11.1 percent unemployment rate, 139,000 coronavirus deaths, massive economic uncertainty, and the mental degradations of extended familial quarantine, it's hard to get exercised about a well-paid writer/editor noisily walking away from her job.

I have zero doubt that Bari Weiss (who is a friend), will not just land on her feet, but probably find herself at or near the center of a new media grouping of some kind. "As places like The Times and other once-great journalistic institutions betray their standards and lose sight of their principles," she wrote, almost teasingly, "Americans still hunger for news that is accurate, opinions that are vital, and debate that is sincere."

But even if you don't care about the ongoing nervous breakdown of the media, that doesn't mean the breakdown doesn't care about you. The New York Times, for better and worse, has been the go-to model for the country's other newspapers for at least the past half-century; what happens on 8th Avenue definitely does not stay on 8th Avenue. Basic media literacy suggests paying attention when an entire industry that contributes to the way we interpret the world announces loudly that it is rethinking its basic orientation.

More immediately, the name-and-shame defenestrations of the past two months have long since jumped the banks from media/academia to the more prosaic corners of the economy. "Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper," Weiss observed, "should not require bravery." Nor should it at a restaurant or software company, but there we might well be going.

Bonus links: In January 2018, Weiss came on The Fifth Column podcast to talk about, among other things, how she left The Wall Street Journal editorial page after it became too pro-Trump. And in July of that year, Nick Gillespie interviewed her for the Reason Podcast.

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Bari Weiss Resigns From The New York Times, Alleging That 'Self-Censorship Has Become the Norm' - Reason

Is Metacritics New Review Decision Leaning Towards Censorship? – Fortress of Solitude

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Metacritic is implementing a 36-hour review delay to ensure that people actually had enough time to play a game before sharing their thoughts about it online.

Speaking to Game Spot about the new policy, a spokesperson for Metacritic said

We recently implemented the 36 hour waiting period for all user reviews in our games section to ensure our gamers have time to play these games before writing their reviews. This new waiting period for user reviews has been rolled out across Metacritics Games section and was based on data-driven research and with the input of critics and industry experts.

Although Metacritic says the delay isnt in response to user reactions to any particular game, the announcement does come a few weeks after The Last of Us Part II was released. The game was review bombed on the site.

Review bombing happens when users give a large number of negative reviews to a game, typically as low as possible, in order to drop its overall score. The popularity of the game is then harmed, which has an impact on sales and the revenue it can generate.

Its worth noting that a lot of negative reviews on Metacritic (and other review sites) are based on reactions to leaks regarding games, not people actually playing them.

By delaying user reviews, anyone visiting the site after the release of a game wont be bombarded by unfounded hate towards it. And reviews from critics and gaming publications wont get lost in the noise.

Review bombing has been a major problem for every site which aggregates scores based on reviews of video games, films, TV shows and music albums. The most notorious incident being an attempt to drag down Captain Marvels score on popular review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Some gamers might view the move as an attempt to stifle their opinions, and perhaps it is. But is that really a bad thing?

Ever since the rise of social media, Joe Public has been given a platform to shift the narrative in various areas of the entertainment industry. It only takes a second for a seemingly harmless comment or tweet to spiral out of control, forcing studios to change their CGI graphics, fire a director or change their casting choice.

The truth is cancel culture hides under the guise of an opinion, which everyone is entitled to, regardless of the facts laid out in front of them.

However, there needs to be a line drawn between the need to express and opinion and causing financial ruin to a company. A few cranky gamers shouldnt have the power to create multiple accounts and bombard a platform with low scores, essentially destroying something that doesnt belong to them.

Perhaps Metacritic is leaning toward censorship, but what we really should be wondering is why arent we doing it everywhere else too?

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Is Metacritics New Review Decision Leaning Towards Censorship? - Fortress of Solitude

Censorship in a time of coronavirus – Ynetnews

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Israel's fight against the second wave of the coronavirus is thoroughly out of control.

Regulations are pulled out of thin air (shutting restaurants only to open them again too late to save the ditched produce), there is no organized database upon which to make decisions, people are confused due to the clueless leadership, and above all there is dwindling public trust in the government.

At war: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud MK Yifat Shasha-Biton

(Photos: Adina Wellman and Alex Kolomoisky)

To those who are looking for political motive behind every struggle or argument, this is no longer about left or right, it is about life itself.

This theater of the absurd reached a crescendo on Saturday night, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to fire his own Likud party's head of the Knesset coronavirus committee, MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, after she made it clear she was not going to automatically agree to every government decision.

Finance Minister Israel Katz also decided to reprimand his ministry's director-general Karen Turner-Eyal after she defended the head of the budget department Shaul Meridor against social media attacks from Netanyahu and other Likud members.

Meridor came under fire for daring criticize Netanyahu and Katz's plan to distribute money "to everyone" as part of their financial aid program.

The prime minister's son Yair Netanyahu even went so far as to brand anyone at the Finance Ministry who thinks before automatically reciting his father's talking points as "terrorists."

Under fire: Shaul Meridor

(Photo: Rafi Kotz)

It is not for nothing that Turner-Eyal said the comments directed at her colleague Meridor were "extremely violent."

Shasha-Biton, Turner-Eyal and Meridor are people who decided as part of their job to voice their concerns and expert opinion on the government's decisions decisions which are often controversial or downright motivated by foreign interests and political schemes.

They refused to align themselves with the narrative imposed on them from above. Yes, such officials might be a bit more "courteous" and express their thoughts via channels other than social media.

But to go for their heads? Is that how the Israeli government plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic?

Finance Minister Israel Katz and Director-General Karen Turner-Eyal

(Photo: Orel Cohen)

The preoccupation with what Meridor says or what Turner-Eyal is is tweeting is characteristic of a leadership that does not know how to handle a crisis such as the coronavirus.

True, the fight against the contagion is a tough one. It is much easier to blame political rivals, threaten anyone who does not toe party line and pit one against the other.

The politicians and the financial experts who criticize the government's decisions and warn of ill-advised plans are those certain they are doing their jobs as part of the fight against the contagion.

You can criticize them or disagree with them, but that is not the issue.

The problem is that anyone who thinks differently is being figuratively burned at the stake.

With such an attitude, it will be impossible to defeat the coronavirus.

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Censorship in a time of coronavirus - Ynetnews

Artist holds his tongue in protest of pandemic censorship in China – New York Post

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

SHANGHAI To protest censorship during the COVID-19 outbreak, a Chinese artist known as Brother Nut kept his mouth shut for 30 days, using metal clasps, gloves, duct tape and other items.

In the project #shutupfor30days he also sealed his mouth with packing tape with 404, the error code for a webpage not found, written across it, a nod to the blocking of online content that is common in China for sensitive issues.

If you ask me how an artist should digest unfair treatment, such as violence or censorship, my first reaction is: keep fighting, with art, said Brother Nut.

The 39-year-old artist has built a reputation for statement-making projects in a country where the room for dissent has shrunk and censorship has intensified under President Xi Jinping.

China faced a barrage of criticism over the virus that emerged late last year in Wuhan, from being slow to sound the alarm to the treatment of a doctor who tried to alert authorities about the outbreak but was reprimanded by police for spreading rumors.

The doctor, Li Wenliang, became a symbol of the outbreak in China and later died from coronavirus.

Sometimes I feel my job is similar to that of an NGO or a journalist seeking to raise awareness of social issues and the moves to counter them, said the soft-spoken, long-haired artist during an interview at a cafe in Shanghais M50 art district.

Brother Nuts previous performances include tugging a battery-powered vacuum cleaner around Beijing and creating a solid brick from polluted air.

In 2018, he invited a heavy metal band to play in a village polluted with heavy metals, prompting local environmental authorities to investigate the contamination.

To speak up for investors who lost their savings in a financial scam, Brother Nut staged a torch relay dubbed Good Luck Beijing, which in Chinese sounds similar to Beijing Olympics.

He was later detained for 10 days by police.

Threats and calls from police are commonplace, which he said makes him angry, rather than fearful, although he does not want his real name to be published.

Brother Nut acknowledged that during last months project to maintain silence, he sometimes spoke to himself while eating.

We need expressions of art whenever and wherever. Theyre like flowers growing in cracks and allow us to dance in the most desperate time, he said.

See the article here:

Artist holds his tongue in protest of pandemic censorship in China - New York Post

Spare us the Twitter zealots and their pious left censorship – Sydney Morning Herald

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Anyway, this was nothing compared to what the British writer Ian McEwan inspired on Twitter when he apparently poisoned the world by writing a novel narrated by a foetus. This was a sinister plot to humanise zygotes and, thus, outlaw abortion forever. According to NASA, which can heat-map Twitter outrages from space, there are about 4 billion collective spasms of strange and performative outrage each day, so the Foetal Narrator Controversy is naturally consigned to obscurity.

Except in my memory, where Ive installed a plaque to commemorate it. The contagious apoplexy that McEwans (unread) book generated seemed to me a form of significant but undiagnosed illness, and one regret of deleting my Twitter account is not being able to cite the unhinged responses I received from folks when I asked them, sincerely, if they were serious.

You can say that ridiculing Twitters exotic grievances is an easy sport. Sure, except that years ago it seemed to me that Twitter wasnt merely reflecting, but engendering and magnifying, a kind of wickedly censorious piety. And one that was increasingly influencing journalists and artists. Ive had editors more interested in avoiding controversy than in judging the accuracy and value of my work.

Online, piety has no trouble finding affirmation. But the thing with piety is that it stubbornly resists private examination. This might work for the seminary, but it seems ruinous for a writer. Unless youre an awful one. In which case, this is an optimal environment to work in so, congratulations on being born to an age that enthusiastically supports your mediocrity.

I suspect the most politically pious in this country wont be satisfied until certain professions have yielded their specific values and functions in deference to a vision of society that is perfectly liberated from aggravation. Its a vision of a giant creche.

All contest would be outlawed. Literature would become dogma. Universities would moonlight as daycare centres. The law would abandon its duty to evidentiary thresholds and the presumption of innocence, and become a place of infinite credulity. Comedy would cede the joys of irreverence, and prefer applause to laughter. Journalism would reject curiosity, exploration and corroboration, in favour of politically sanctioned advocacy and authentic personal essays. Increasingly, newsrooms will serve their readers a narrow, ideologically curated diet.

Ive disagreed with plenty of Bari Weisss work, but I agreed with her this week when she wrote, in her open letter resigning as an opinion editor at The New York Times, that a new consensus has emerged in the press ... that truth isnt a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.

These days, its quite common to hear: It is imperative that a writer of non-fiction write only about experiences theyve had. When confronted with this stupidity, I experience my own violent irrationality and consider applying the credo in extremis by torching all newsrooms and the history sections of libraries.

A common defence of the lefts censoriousness however venomous and trivial is that it is merely free speech deployed against anothers. Thats fundamentally true, and its also disingenuous: the threat of mobilised zealotry is chilling speech.

I cant prove the negative here I cant measure the things not written or said. But I can tell you that Ive spoken to a few eminent writers about this authors of works wed consider classics who have told me they would not dare to publish the work today. One writer told me she had not slept the night she spoke to me about such things, so fearful was she that Id publish it. Thats a problem.

Its also a problem when scholars are sacked for tweeting links to academic papers, when good faith cannot be distinguished from bad, when writers self-censor or have to explain that their insistence on complexity is owed to intellectual integrity and not, say, their belief in white supremacy or Satan.

Increasingly, those who have contributed to a culture of outrageous sensitivity are being impaled on the swords they helped sharpen. Past months have resembled a kind of woke purge. Which makes schadenfreude very easy to indulge, but well need to resist that dubious pleasure lest we perpetuate this cycle of mob-ruled destruction of careers and reputations.

This isnt either/or. It shouldnt be truth versus freedom. It shouldnt be inferred that criticism of this censoriousness means that the critic doesnt believe there arent righteous battles being fought. But you cant tell me that elements of this online piety arent absurd, indulgent or destructive.

You cant tell me that middle-class folk arent publicising interpersonal spats as proof of systemic violence, or that were not partially cannibalising culture in a moment of historic uncertainty and vast, easily industrialised disinformation. Or that I cant resist or make fun of Jacobin zealotry. You cant.

Martin McKenzie-Murray is a freelance writer.

Martin McKenzie-Murray is a regular contributor and a former Labor political speechwriter.

See original here:

Spare us the Twitter zealots and their pious left censorship - Sydney Morning Herald

Mauritius club fined for not doing the TMS paperwork – Inside World Football

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

July 20 FIFA has sanctioned a club in Mauritius for failing to use its Transfer Matching System (TMS).

Cercle de Joachim, has been fined more than $10,000 for failing to comply with FIFAs regulations governing the recruitment of foreign players.

In December 2019 the club recruited five footballers from teams in Madagascar but failed to use the TMS for four of those players.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee found the Cercle of Joachim Sports Club responsible for the infringement of the relevant provisions of the RSTP related to the mandatory use of TMS for all international transfers of professional players, FIFA said in a statement.

The club now has 30 days to pay the fine and was also given a warning over future infringements.

Mauritius Football Association president Samir Sobh told the BBC: We have paid half the sum, as it represents a significant amount.

We have asked FIFA (if we could) to pay the outstanding balance in three instalments, but we are yet to receive a reply from them. This is a complicated situation where we have found ourselves in.

You know we have players who went to France, Portugal, Spain, Australia, and Canada but they have only asked for manual transfers.

For the United States, they neither ask for the manual transfer nor for the TMS.

We found this sanction very unjust as we sent FIFA all the documents to prove our good faith but we are complying to the decision.

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1595346274labto1595346274ofdlr1595346274owedi1595346274sni@w1595346274ahsra1595346274w.wer1595346274dna1595346274

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Mauritius club fined for not doing the TMS paperwork - Inside World Football

New PwC and CV VC Report Highlights Blockchain in the Art World – Cointelegraph

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Big Four auditor PwC and Swiss blockchain investment firm CV VC, together with Cointelegraph, have released a preview for their new periodical report devoted to blockchain technology in various industries.

Published on July 21, the report provides an overview of the upcoming full release featuring the top global blockchain companies focused on implementing blockchain technology in art.

The report was co-authored by PwC and CV VC with contribution of PwC Switzerland and Nicolai Reinbold, ecosystem and incubator manager at CV VC.

As part of the upcoming full release, CV VC's ecosystem CV Labs will host an online panel to discuss the latest developments in the blockchain-powered art market. Scheduled for Aug. 12, the event will feature executives from major industry startups like 4ARTechnologies and Blockchain.art.

As blockchain technology has been rapidly spreading across a wide number of industries in recent years, blockchain-based tools in the art industry have been around for a while.

Reinbold says that the companies decided to cover blockchain in art as part of their periodical global report because it is a hot topic at the moment and there is a lot of movement in the sector.

Niko Kipouros, CEO and founder of 4ARTechnologies, is confident about the solid opportunities of blockchain use in the art industry. Founding 4ARTechnologies in 2018, Kipouros believes that blockchain provides more transparency, safety and process eciency across the entire art market:

Technology is changing the way art is both created and enjoyed. What remains unknown is how far will we take it? Undoubtedly, we need to adapt and drive this change eort.

The upcoming report by CV VC and PwC is part of the companies existing collaboration on covering major blockchain projects. The firms have already issued a number of reports on major companies in the blockchain ecosystem in Swiss Crypto Valley. Alongside blockchain in art, the firms are also covering issues like brokers and crypto banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, custody providers, token issuance companies, venture capitalists in blockchain and others.

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New PwC and CV VC Report Highlights Blockchain in the Art World - Cointelegraph

IIT Madras and Great Learning Introduce an Advanced Certification Program in Software Engineering for Cloud, Blockchain & IoT – PR Newswire India

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

NEW DELHI, July 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Learning, India's leading EdTech company for professional and higher education, and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), India's top ranked educational institution, today announced the launch of the Advanced Certification Program in Software Engineering for IoT, Cloud and Blockchain. This 9-month long online program will be co-developed and co-delivered by top-notch faculty and industry experts from IIT-Madras and Great Learning. The program offers 300 hours of robust online video learning sessions, live learning sessions, and a series of practical projects in cloud computing, block chain and IoT.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has been India's top ranked engineering institution for the past 5 years and is one of the most progressive institutions when it comes to offering industry relevant programs. The recent announcement of an online BSc in Data Science by IIT Madras and now this Advanced Certification Program in Software Engineering provide millions of students and technology professionals with the access to high-quality education from India's #1 ranked institute.

This program focuses on making current and aspiring software developers job-ready and future-proof by teaching them cutting edge technologies and is designed to bridge the talent shortage faced by the industry in the areas of Cloud computing, Block chain and Internet of Things. Mercer's Global Talent Trends Study 2020 highlights that 99% companies are embarking on digital transformation this year and are also reporting significant skill gaps. Moreover, Deloitte's outlook on the Technology industry for 2020 also states high adoption in the industry by technologies such as Cloud Computing and AI. This program aims to help learners develop the required skills for roles like Software Development Engineers, Software/Technical Architects, Solution Architects, Cloud engineers etc.

Dr. Janakiraman, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, said, "As the world increasingly adopts frontier technologies such as IoT, Cloud Computing and Blockchain, it is important for our software engineers and software professionals to master these technologies. This is important if India has to retain its edge in a Software-dominated world. As India's pioneering institution, we, at IIT Madras are happy to offer this Advanced Software Engineering program in collaboration with Great Learning."

Mr. Mohan Lakhamraju, Founder and CEO, Great Learning, said, "We are delighted to collaborate with IIT Madras to offer this program and further our mutual objective of making high quality education more accessible through online programs. This program marks the coming together of India's top engineering institution and India's top online professional learning provider and will immensely benefit millions of technology professionals and students in our country. Given the increasing demand for digital skills, upskilling in cutting edge technologies such as Cloud Computing, Block Chain and Internet of Things is the key to staying competitive in today's job market."

This Advanced Certification program begins with foundational knowledge of software engineering such as Data Structures, Software Architecture and Algorithm Design, and then dives deeper into IoT data sources, networking, implementation of IoT on the Cloud, Big Data and Analytics, Containers & Microservices, Cloud Deployment & DevOps. It will also provide an in-depth understanding of Blockchain fundamentals and creating Blockchain applications.

Upon completion of the program, the participants will be awarded a Program Completion Certificate from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. More details about the program can be found at http://www.greatlearning.in/iitmadras

About IIT Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, is one of the foremost institutes in India for higher technological education, and basic and applied research. It has been ranked India's best technical institute for higher education for the past five years by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), an initiative of the HRD ministry and is designated as an Institution of National Importance. The Institute today has sixteen academic departments and several advanced research centres in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical & supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras.

About Great Learning

Great Learning is India's leading professional learning company focused on upskilling working professionals and students. It offers comprehensive, industry-relevant programs in Business Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing, Design Thinking and more. Great Learning's programs are developed in collaboration with the world's foremost academic institutions like Stanford University, IIT Madras, the University of Texas at Austin and Great Lakes Institute of Management and are constantly reimagined and revamped to address the dynamic needs of the industry. Great Learning is the only ed-tech company to provide these programs in a blended mode, classroom mode and in purely online mode, relying on its vast network of expert mentors and highly qualified faculty to deliver an unmatched learning experience for learners in India and the world over. Having delivered over 25 million hours of transformational learning that has impacted 25,000+ learners from over 85 countries, Great Learning is on a mission to enable transformative learning and career success in the digital economy for professionals and students across the globe.

For more information, visit: https://www.greatlearning.in/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/900043/Great_Learning_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Great Learning

IIT Madras and Great Learning Introduce an Advanced Certification Program in Software Engineering for Cloud, Blockchain & IoT - PR Newswire India

Top 5 Robotics ETFs – ETFdb.com

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

This is a list of all Robotics ETFs traded in the USA which are currently tagged by ETF Database. Please note that the list may not contain newly issued ETFs. If youre looking for a more simplified way to browse and compare ETFs, you may want to visit our ETFdb Categories, which categorize every ETF in a single best fit category.

This page includes historical return information for all Robotics ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges that are currently tracked by ETF Database.

The table below includes fund flow data for all U.S. listed Robotics ETFs. Total fund flow is the capital inflow into an ETF minus the capital outflow from the ETF for a particular time period.

Fund Flows in millions of U.S. Dollars.

The following table includes expense data and other descriptive information for all Robotics ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges that are currently tracked by ETF Database. In addition to expense ratio and issuer information, this table displays platforms that offer commission-free trading for certain ETFs.

Clicking on any of the links in the table below will provide additional descriptive and quantitative information on Robotics ETFs.

The following table includes ESG Scores and other descriptive information for all Robotics ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges that are currently tracked by ETF Database. Easily browse and evaluate ETFs by visiting our Responsible Investing themes section and find ETFs that map to various environmental, social and governance themes.

This page includes historical dividend information for all Robotics listed on U.S. exchanges that are currently tracked by ETF Database. Note that certain ETFs may not make dividend payments, and as such some of the information below may not be meaningful.

The table below includes basic holdings data for all U.S. listed Robotics ETFs that are currently tagged by ETF Database. The table below includes the number of holdings for each ETF and the percentage of assets that the top ten assets make up, if applicable. For more detailed holdings information for any ETF, click on the link in the right column.

The following table includes certain tax information for all Robotics ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges that are currently tracked by ETF Database, including applicable short-term and long-term capital gains rates and the tax form on which gains or losses in each ETF will be reported.

This page contains certain technical information for all Robotics ETFs that are listed on U.S. exchanges and tracked by ETF Database. Note that the table below only includes limited technical indicators; click on the View link in the far right column for each ETF to see an expanded display of the products technicals.

This page provides links to various analyses for all Robotics ETFs that are listed on U.S. exchanges and tracked by ETF Database. The links in the table below will guide you to various analytical resources for the relevant ETF, including an X-ray of holdings, official fund fact sheet, or objective analyst report.

This page provides ETFdb Ratings for all Robotics ETFs that are listed on U.S. exchanges and tracked by ETF Database. The ETFdb Ratings are transparent, quant-based evaluations of ETFs relative to other products in the same ETFdb.com Category. As such, it should be noted that this page may include ETFs from multiple ETFdb.com Categories.

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Top 5 Robotics ETFs - ETFdb.com

The Best Robotics Kits for Beginners for 2020 | Reviews by …

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

Photo: Signe BrewsterOur pickLego Boost

The Boost kit is a joy to put together and the easiest to program, and because its based on Lego, the possibilities for creative expansion are almost limitless. Recommended for ages 7 to 12.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $160.

The Lego Boost robotics kit offers the best overall experience for those with no programming experience who want to start building robots. The 847-piece kit consists of Lego pieces, so its the most fun and the easiest to build among kits of its size, thanks to Legos familiarity and versatility. The instructions for building and programming the robot come in a simple tablet app that even non-readers can follow. Its programmable sensors can detect movement, distance, and color. And the fact that the kit is Lego-based and any Lego block can work in a project means you have a massive opportunity for expansion right out of the box. In contrast, you can extend Legos own Mindstorms kits using Legos Technics simple machine parts, but doing so is a lot more complex and expensive.

To test the building experience, we put together a humanoid robot called Vernie, which took just under two hoursright at the sweet spot for the most enjoyable amount of build time.

The Lego Boost app is compatible with a wide range of devices; you can find a full lineup on the Lego website. The app lays out building and programming instructions in an integrated curriculum. On the main screen, you begin by tapping an image of the robot you wish to build. Five suggested buildsVernie the humanoid, a cat, a rover, a building machine, and a guitarare included. These five amount to more than eight hours of guided building, which is on the higher end of the kits we tested; youre less likely to get bored with this kit than with others that include fewer projects.

We found the Boost kits instructions for building the robot the easiest to follow of the kits we tested. The app walked us through the steps to build Vernie piece by piece, which minimized the chances of our skipping steps and making mistakes. The standard Lego pieces are easy to work with and tough enough to withstand repeated useother kits we tested were difficult to snap together, and some had pieces that seemed flimsy. As with standard Lego sets, the Boost pieces come grouped in numbered bags, making them especially easy to find at the right time. However, if you want to preserve this system for subsequent builds, you have to place the pieces back in the right bag every time you take a build apart.

One drawback of piece-by-piece instructions is that they dont build a deep understanding of how the robot works mechanically. Instead, the focus of the Boost set is to make it easy to customize any of the five suggested builds. After we completed Vernie, the app offered us different options for add-on builds plus related programming challenges. The number and creativity of the add-ons were unmatched among the other kits we tried, which for the most part had only enough pieces to construct the guided robot builds. Legos more-expensive Mindstorms kit does offer add-ons, but not as many, while Vexs robot comes with some extra functional sensors.

The Lego Boost app combines building with programming for an easy-to-follow curriculum.

We made Vernie a bow tie and microphone, which unlocked programming options to make the robot sing and dance. More advanced builds, such as the cat and the guitar, unlock more sophisticated abilities for the kits sensors. For example, you can build a mobile robot that avoids obstacles, or one that senses the location of fingers to make a Lego guitar playable. If you care more about building than programming a robot, the Boost kit might be for youits the best at packing a lot of satisfying projects into one kit.

As we progressed through the Boost apps building instructions and our robot came together, the app interjected short programming challenges for teaching the basics of controlling Vernie. Beginning to program the robot before it is completely built is an effective way to learn the function of each part of the robot, and which commands control what. Other robotics kits wait to introduce programming until after youve built the robot, an approach that doesnt always illustrate what commands are connected to which motors, sensors, or other robot parts.

Legos programming language is completely graphical, which means that each command is represented by a symbol. From the main library of symbols, you can drag and drop each to create a sequence. Lego states that Boost is appropriate for ages 7 to 12, a range thats on the younger side of the kits we tested. Although the Boost app doesnt offer the fine-tuned programming options of more advanced software, you can still make the robot roll across the floor, dance, and sing. Its enough to provide hours of fun for anyone who is just looking to play with a robot.

Lego makes a similar robotics kit, the Droid Commander kit, that works a lot like the Boost set and would be a great option for kids who are big Star Wars fans. Its more expensive than the Boost kit and doesnt have instructions for as many models to build, but it does come with more pieces and the option to build an R2-D2. We havent tested the Droid Commander kit, but we have tested enough robotics kits to know that it should be a fun programmable addition to Legos huge array of Star Warsthemed building sets.

The Best Robotics Kits for Beginners for 2020 | Reviews by ...

Robotic Investing Gains Are Anything but Emotionless – ETF Trends

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

The gains in robotics have been anything, but emotionless. One only has to look at exchange-traded fund (ETF) performance from the likes of the Robotics & AI Bull 3X ETF(NYSEArca: UBOT).

Although the world is still processing the reality of what modern life looks like under threat of a global pandemic, one thing that seems clear to Wall Street is that it will involve far less human contact and a good deal more computerization and automation, a Direxion Investments The Xchange article noted. Look no further than the performance of the Indxx Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index (IBOTZNT), which has outperformed the S&P 500 by 35% since the March 16 low.

Not coincidentally, the Daily Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Automation Index Bull 3X Shares ETF (UBOT), has seen particular growth over the past few months, the article added further. The daily leveraged ETF, which aims to replicate 300% of the daily performance of IBOTZNT, has grown by more than 130% over the past two months.

UBOT data by YCharts

The top brass in companies are starting to understand the importance of deploying robotic technology thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Propelling this growth is a heightened awareness among executives, investors, and management teams that contemporary life is permanently and fundamentally changed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the article said. For good or ill, the virus has put centuries-old customs and practices that have prevailed in the corporate world under modern scrutiny.

Traders looking to capitalize on the move to robotics can use UBOT as a tool. UBOT seeks daily investment results equal to 300 percent of the daily performance of the Indxx Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index, which is designed to provide exposure to exchange-listed companies in developed markets that are expected to benefit from the adoption and utilization of robotics and/or artificial intelligence.

Key fund characteristics of UBOT:

For more market trends, visitETF Trends.

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Robotic Investing Gains Are Anything but Emotionless - ETF Trends

Robots with xenon ray blast viruses, bacteria – ZDNet

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Danzig

The pool in our building in Los Angeles is open, but only by reservation and under strictly enforced social distancing guidelines. Between visitors, an attendant armed with a bottle of disinfecting spray retraces guests' steps spritzing any surfacing they might have touched.

Clean is the new norm. Hospital-level sanitation is now expected in spaces like retail, restaurants, and, yup, pools, so it's no surprise that the automation sector is smelling opportunity. I thought of the poolside attendant -- a very nice guy who seems to do a wonderful job, for what it's worth -- when I got briefed on a new disinfecting robot hitting the market, this one from Fetch Robotics, which offers flexible autonomous mobile robots traditionally for logistics and inventory applications.

Fetch's new disinfecting robot joins a growing field that includes companies like UVD Robots. It's a collaboration with automated packaging solutions supplierPiedmont National, and it's meant to target a niche both companies are familiar with, like high-traffic warehouse facilities, as well as retail stores, office spaces and, hospital rooms. The robot, named the SmartGuardUV, uses pulsed Xenon UV lamp technology and adds advanced disinfecting reporting courtesy of the Piedmont 4Site cloud analytics platform. The result is a completely autonomous, broad spectrum UV disinfection robot that purportedly eliminates up to 99.9% of viruses and bacteria with UV-C, UV-B, and UV-A as well as reports on the results of the disinfection.

"The facilities best prepared to protect workers and customers from COVID-19 are taking extreme precautions when it comes to sanitization, and are placing their trust in automated solutions that can be deployed at any time," said Fetch Robotics Chief Product Officer Stefan Nusser. "Companies of every size recognize the need for reliable sanitization procedures, and SmartGuardUV provides reliable protection at every hour of the day, without taking employees away from their already existing job responsibilities."

This is another example of the surge in automation we're seeing as the pandemic grinds on. Robots are one of the clear winners of this losing situation, both in how they're received by the public and in continuing strong interest from investors and technology officers.

Using Fetch's cloud-based robotics architecture, SmartGuardUV can autonomously map and navigate throughout a facility, enter a desired space, activate the pulsed UV light for targeted, comprehensive disinfection, reposition in the space for maximum coverage, disinfect, and then move to the next space without any human intervention. According to the company, the robot's built-in motion sensor for automatic shut off prevents unnecessary UV exposure, and facility managers can customize the AMR's schedules and disinfecting paths, even remotely, as facility needs change.

"Legacy UV fluorescent-based solutions cannot target disinfection and can only operate for 2 to 2.5 hours on a single charge as the UV lamps have to stay illuminated for a significant amount of time draining battery life," said John Garlock, CSO of Piedmont National. "The PURO light engines on the SmartGuardUV AMR precisely target UV rays at high touch surfaces so are able to operate for 8 to 10 hours on a single charge. This combination of targeted disinfection within a space and longer operational time results in an autonomous disinfection robot that is much more effective than autonomous robots that use legacy mercury-based UV lamps."

Fetch previously released theBreezy One, a chemical disinfection AMR designed for large spaces over 100,000 square feet, signaling a strong push into disinfecting space.