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Welch: Industry partnership driving environmental progress in the Permian – Midland Reporter-Telegram

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

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George R.R. Martin making good progress on The Winds of Winter – Winter is Coming

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: George R. R. Martin attends the "Game Of Thrones" Season 8 Premiere on April 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Okay, lets get the obvious questions out of the way: No, George R.R. Martin hasnt finished writingThe Winds of Winter. In fact, it sounds like he still has a ways to go. But writing the other day on hisNot a Blog, theSong of Ice and Fireauthordoessound optimistic about his progress, which continues a trend I think bodes well.

This writing stuff is hard, Martin begins. Even so, it has been going well of late. Three more chapters completed this past week. And good progress on several more.

Thats good to hear, although of course then he has to throw in this: Still a long long way to go, though. Do not get too excited.

Ill be honest: after waiting forThe Winds of Winterto hit store shelves for nearly a decade, I dont think many people are going to gettooexcited. Weve been here before.

At the same time, Martin seems to be writing much more frequently than usual about the progress hes making on the sixth installment of his series, even giving us specifics.Of late I have been visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah. I will be dropping back into Braavos next week, he wrote in June. Now you will have to excuse me. Arya is calling. I think she means to kill someone.

You can tell by the jokey way hes writing that he feels pretty good about it, which is great news. Perhaps the end of Game of Thronesreally has taken some of the pressure offand let Martin relax back into his work.

But of course, considering his normal writing pace, we still probably have a long while to wait. That warning about not getting excited is all too real.

Me and the Frog are headed back to Westeros, Martin finishes, referring to this:

Thatll do, frog.

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George R.R. Martin making good progress on The Winds of Winter - Winter is Coming

Karyopharm’s XPOVIO Progress And Other News: The Good, Bad And Ugly Of Biopharma – Seeking Alpha

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Karyopharm Collaborates with National Cancer Institute for XPOVIO Research

Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (KPTI) announced that it has inked a new collaboration with National Cancer Institute. The partnership will mainly focus on developing XPOVIO, an oral Selective Inhibitor of Nuclear Export (SINE) compound. Both the parties will work together on studies to assess the efficacy and safety of XPOVIO in various oncology indications.

Karyopharm will be dealing with National Cancer Institutes Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, as stated in Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). Sharon Shacham of Karyopharm said, The studies conducted under this partnership will be designed with the goal of identifying and optimizing combinations and indications that hold the greatest chance of clinical success. This CRADA is an important collaboration for Karyopharm as we work to realize the full potential of XPOVIO and bring this novel medicine to as many patients as possible. It is also expected that NCI may support non-clinical studies for exploring teaming XPOVIO with different targeted or standard of care cancer agents.

XPOVIO works by blocking XPO1, a cellular protein. This protein plays a prominent role in controlling the actions of various relevant oncoproteins including tumor suppressing proteins. XPO1 is found to be overexpressed in solid tumors as well as in hematologic tumors. There have also been indications that such overexpression is directly correlated with poor overall patient survival and higher tumor grade.

XPOVIO was endorsed by the FDA under its accelerated approval pathway. The drug candidate was approved to be used in conjunction with dexamethasone for treating adult patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma who have given at least four prior therapies and whose disease is refractory to at least two proteasome inhibitors, at least two immunomodulatory agents, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.

Karyopharm has submitted a Marketing Authorization Application with the European Medicines Agency seeking conditional approval for Selinexor for treating relapsed refractory multiple myeloma. Further, its Supplemental New Drug Application is also pending with the FDA. This application pertains to label expansion for including treatment for patients with multiple myeloma after at least one prior line of therapy. The company has used the positive data from its Phase 3 BOSTON study for backing its application.

XPOVIO is also approved by the FDA for treating adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. It may also be used for treating DLBCL arising from follicular lymphoma, after at least two lines of systemic therapy. Selinexor is currently being assessed in various mid stage and later stage clinical trials for different cancer indications. It is under evaluation as a potential backbone therapy in combination with approved myeloma therapies for treating liposarcoma and endometrial cancer among others.

Karyopharm Therapeutics is mainly engaged in developing novel therapies directed against nuclear export and related targets for treating major diseases including cancer. XPOVIO is the lead drug candidate for the company while it also has several other investigational programs in different stages of development including clinical and pre-clinical stage. The company also plans to test the drug candidate for treating severe COVID-19 patients.

ADC Therapeutics SA (ADCT) announced initiating the dosing of patients for its pivotal Phase 2 portion of LOTIS3 clinical trial. The study has 161 patients enrolled in it and will assess the efficacy and safety of Loncastuximab Tesirine. This phase of the trial will have three cohorts which are on-germinal center B-cell-like (non-GCB) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, GCB diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma.

Interim data from the Phase 1 portion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial demonstrated an overall response rate of 75.0% and complete response rate of 58.3% at the Lonca dose of 60 g/kg. Phase 2 of the trial will be conducted using this dosage. Jay Feingold of ADC Therapeutics said, We are pleased to have dosed the first patient in the pivotal Phase 2 portion of this trial as we continue advancing Lonca as both a single agent and in combination with other therapies for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company plans to use the data for supporting the submission of its supplemental Biologics License Application to the FDA.

The earlier data for the drug candidate showed manageable toxicity profile. The most common grade adverse events in patients were thrombocytopenia and anemia. Lonca is a CD19-targeted ADC while ibrutinib is a small-molecule inhibitor of Brutons tyrosine kinase. Their combination is expected to have high potential to treat the conditions.

Loncastuximab tesirine was formerly known as ADCT-402. It is an antibody drug conjugate and consists of a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against human CD19. In LOTIS 2, the drug candidate is being evaluated for its potential to treat patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. LOTIS2 is a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial. LOTIS3 is a pivotal Phase 1/2 trial and is designed to evaluate the drug candidate in conjunction with brutinib for treating patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL or mantle cell lymphoma.

Luminex Corporation (LMNX) announced that it has received the FDA approval for emergency use of its xMAP SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen IgG assay. As per the notification by the FDA, the product is intended for use as an aid in identifying individuals with an adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2, indicating recent or prior infection.

The test works by detecting antibodies of the immunoglobulin class G (IgG), which are an important component of an adaptive immune response. The company had filed for the FDA authorization in June this year. At the time, the company CEO Nachum "Homi" Shamir had said, Our xMAP technology is ideally suited for serology testing because of its proven ability to deliver extremely high specificity and sensitivity on a high-throughput, gold-standard multiplex platform."

Luminex already has two SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests out in the market. These tests, Magpix and Aries, are designed to be used by high-complexity, high-throughput reference labs as well as by moderate complexity, sample-to-answer testing locations. ARIES can process up to 144 tests per day and does not require any special training for this purpose. xMAP Technology uses a bead-based multiplexing assay approach for rapid detection and quantification of multiple analytes in a single sample.

The xMAP SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen IgG assay uses multiplexing for simultaneous detection of antibodies to three SARS-CoV-2 antigens. It is equipped with multiple internal controls to provide a comprehensive and reliable evaluation of the immune response.

Luminex is mainly engaged in clinical diagnostics development, genomic and biomedical research and pharmaceutical drug discovery. The company also deals with food safety and biodefense research.

Thanks for reading. At the Total Pharma Tracker, we do more than follow biotech news. Using our IOMachine, our team of analysts work to be ahead of the curve.

That means that when the catalyst comes that will make or break a stock, weve positioned ourselves for success. And we share that positioning and all the analysis behind it with our members.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Karyopharm's XPOVIO Progress And Other News: The Good, Bad And Ugly Of Biopharma - Seeking Alpha

Points of Progress: Elk return to strip mining sites, and more – The Christian Science Monitor

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

1. United States

Elk have returned to Kentucky, providing an economic boost to 16 counties of coal country. Elk were once common in the western part of the state, but development pushed away many native game species by the 20th century. In eastern Kentucky, minings mountaintop removal process decimated local landscapes and ecosystems, but as theindustry has receded, it has left behind a new landscape of uninhabited, grassy plateauswhere elk can thrive.

Elk roam the Starfire mine site near Hazard, Kentucky, on Jan. 15, 2004. Approximately 250 elk live on the reclaimed strip mine. Throughout eastern Kentucky, the species appears to be thriving.

Through an aggressive reintroduction effort, the reclaimed mines are now home to roughly 13,000 elk, the largest population east of the Mississippi. The state fish and wildlife department reports the emerging elk market including sightseeing tours and hunting guides contributes $5 million to local economies, which have some of the highest poverty rates in the country. (The New York Times)

Feminist organizer Eileen Flynn has become the Republic of Irelands first Traveller senator. There were about 30,000 Travellers, a formally recognized Indigenous ethnic minority, living in Ireland during the 2016 census. Travellers face many forms of discrimination, including barriers to education, derogatory language, and being denied service at shops and hotels. Ms. Flynn made headlines in 2008 when she and her sister became the first Travellers from their neighborhood to pursue higher education.She narrowly missed out on an elected Seanad seat earlier this year, but landed one of 11 appointed seats in the new coalition government. Ms. Flynn, a community development worker with the National Traveller Womens Forum, aims to introduce anti-hate crime legislation and to help break down the barriers for Traveller people and also for those at the end of Irish society. (BBC)

Germany has committed to banning the sale of single-use plastic products, bringing the country in line with a European Union directive to reduce plastic waste. As of July 3, 2021, people will not be able to buy plastic cutlery, straws, cotton swabs, and other single-use products that take decades to degrade.

Plastic trash clutters a Berlin park on Aug. 12, 2019. Single-use food containers account for much of the waste in public spaces.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze hopes the move will combat Germanys throw-away culture, saying many of the banned products are superfluous and non-sustainable use of resources. Germanys Federal Environmental Agency reports the country collected a record 18.7 million tons of packaging waste in 2017, and up to 20% of trash found in public spaces is single-use plastic.(Deutsche Welle)

Real Madrid has officially launched its first womens soccer team after merging with Madrid-based womens club CD Tacon. The acquisition was approved last year, but Tacon operated under its original name for the last season. Now, it is Real Madrid Femenino.Worth $4.24 billion last year, Real Madrid is the most valuable soccer club in the world. Womens soccer has long been popular in Spain, and fans criticized the 118-year-old organization for being one of the last elite clubs to not offer a womens team.But now, theres hope that Real Madrid Femenino will inspire long-term investment in the sport. Its a huge positive that you have the biggest mens club in the world now investing in the womens side, said Ada Hegerberg, a Norwegian soccer player. It sends out a message to other clubs. ... I hope they go all in. (CNN, Yahoo News)

The city of Lagos is giving 300,000 children cellphones preloaded with data and an educational app called Roducate in an effort to level the playing field for remote students. The city has already distributed 20,000 phones.Nigeria has seen a rise in smartphone and internet use in recent years, but the high cost of data and devices means many families with children in public school dont have as much access to the technology as those whose children attend private school.The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the education department to find ways to help teachers and families become less reliant on classrooms, and officials expect the cellphones to help students stay engaged for at least the next year while schools are still reopening. Its quite clear we are not going to go back to how things were, said the citys education commissioner, Folasade Adefisayo. Weve found e-learning to be efficient and interesting. The children love the app, and so far we see it as being a part of how they can learn going forward. (The Guardian)

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U.S. skincare giant Johnson & Johnson will discontinue product lines that promote skin-lightening amid global demonstrations against racism. The company said it is dropping the Neutrogena Fine Fairness line, which is sold throughout Asia and the Middle East, and the Clean & Clear Fairness line, sold in India. The Fine Fairness product promises to double your skins whitening power for even-toned lasting translucent fairness.

A customer examines one of Hindustan Unilevers Fair & Lovely products in Ahmedabad, India, June 25, 2020. Critics say such products promote colorism, discrimination based on lightness of skin tone.

Although these lines together represented less than 1% of the companys global beauty sales in 2019, the popularity of whitening products has long been a controversial issue in Asia, and particularly in India, where Bollywood stars have endorsed lightening creams. Critics say these products and their advertisements perpetuate colorism, a form of discrimination that favors people with lighter skin over those with dark skin.Other beauty companies are rethinking their branding. LOral is removing references to white, fair, and light from its skincare products, and Hindustan Unilever has vowed to stop playing up the benefits of fairness, whitening, and skin lightening in its marketing materials. (CNN)

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Points of Progress: Elk return to strip mining sites, and more - The Christian Science Monitor

Progress Days to look different this year – Kenai Peninsula Online

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

The Soldotna Chamber of Commerce was planning to have a different Progress Days celebration this summer.

Just not this different.

Shanon Davis, executive director of the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce, said that before the new coronavirus pandemic, the chamber had planned to expand Progress Days to a four-day event, with three days of concerts at Soldotna Creek Park followed by a parade on July 25.

Due to the pandemic, the chamber has cut Progress Days down to one day. Wednesday, the chamber will put on a Soldotna Strong Progress Day Celebration from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Soldotna Creek Park.

Davis said losing the four-day event is tough. At the same time, the chamber is happy to salvage something for Progress Days.

It is bittersweet, she said. We are a chamber that is well-known for engaging with our community. Its been a huge adjustment for us to continue to try to find ways to support the business community in any way we can.

Were encouraging people that even though the summer looks different, they can still get out and enjoy Alaska.

Davis said the first big blow to the chambers original Progress Days plan came at the end of June, when the Soldotna City Council said there will be no music concerts at Soldotna Creek Park this summer.

Then, as COVID-19 cases continued to rise, David said chamber board and staff decided a parade wouldnt happen.

We agonized over it and really went back and forth and back and forth, she said.

Chamber staff then brainstormed and worked with Annette Villa of Soldotna Wednesday Market to come up with the new plan.

The plan started with the Soldotna Strong Shop Local Campaign. Shoppers grab a card from any participating location and get a stamp for every $10 spent in participating stores. A card is filled up with 10 stamps.

Participating businesses are available by navigating through the events tab to Progress Day at visitsoldotna.com.

Wednesday, all full cards will be put in a drawing for a $500 Visa card.

Its been going great, Davis said. Several of the businesses that are a part of it reached out for more shopper cards. People have definitely been using them.

The Wednesday event also will included a live radio remote, a 1:30 p.m. performance on the big stage by Forever Dance Alaska and an expanded Soldotna Wednesday Market.

In addition to the normal vendors, Davis said the market will include businesses looking to engage with the community, but not necessarily selling anything.

There hasnt been a lot of opportunity to engage with the community this summer, Davis said.

The finale of the event will be the Amazing Chamber Chase. Up to 20 teams can sign up for the event. Davis said five teams are signed up thus far. The cost is $25 per four-person team, with $5 for each additional member and teams capped at six.

At 5:30 p.m., teams will be emailed 20 clues to find locations within 1.5 miles of Soldotna Creek Park. Teams will find selfie stations at the spots. Teams report back to Soldotna Creek Park at 8 p.m. Prizes will be available for most selfies and best team costume.

Its going to be very fun, Davis said. Weve been having fun going over clues and making sure theyre not too hard and theyre not too easy.

Continued here:

Progress Days to look different this year - Kenai Peninsula Online

Pillars of Progress: Mobility Maritime hydrogen, the next big wave – H2 View

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

The maritime sector includes activities as varied as cruise-boat tourism, freight shipping and ferry transport. Its also a big contributor of CO2 emissions.

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH2 JU) is promoting research to develop and integrate efficient hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuel cells on ships and boats.

The results could help to slash CO2 emissions by a minimum of 50% by 2050 which is the target defined by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

New fuel for an expanding market

Cargo vessels, cruise ships and ferries are all important parts of the global economy. For example, about 90% of all freight goods are transported at sea, but most ships burn fossil fuels for power, emitting CO2 and other pollutants.

Ocean freight shipping alone releases about 3% of global greenhouse gases, a figure which is predicted to grow as the maritime sector continues to expand.

In April 2018, the shipping industry committed to a greenhouse gas (GHG) target of reducing emissions by at least 50% by 2050. Achieving this target will require new ships, new engines and above all a new fuel.

Clean fuel in cool conditions

Two FCH2 JU-funded projects are researching the use of hydrogen fuel cells to replace fossil fuels to power ships.

The MARANDA project, which started in 2017, aims to develop a 165kW fuel cell powertrain able to provide power to a research vessels electrical equipment and its dynamic positioning while in research mode, in the extra cold of the Artic and Baltic seas.

FLAGSHIPS

The FLAGSHIPS project is demonstrating that two commercial vessels, a push boat for river navigation and a passenger and car ferry, could operate on hydrogen fuel cells.

Charting a new industry course

MARANDAs researchers have designed a hydrogen-storage container and a fuel cell system that are currently being tested and improved before their integration onboard the ship.

Meanwhile, partners of the recently launched FLAGSHIPS project have integrated safety aspects of hydrogen applications on push boats for inland waterways, and finalised the design of the push boats before starting its building.

Once completed, both projects will disseminate their results widely to boost the market potential of fuel cells in the maritime sector.

Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels have great potential to meet the same operational requirements (range, refuelling time) as conventional fuels for ships. This is the task for the FCH2 JU in the future.

Widening the horizons for hydrogen fuel cells

To increase the market potential of hydrogen fuel cells in the maritime sector, FCH2 JU brought together fuel cell manufacturers, shipyards and ship operators.

The goal? To demonstrate that hydrogen fuel cell technology can power ships and boats whilst also withstanding the shocks, vibrations and saline environments of maritime use.

FLAGSHIPS

The Two FCH JU-funded projects, MARANDA and FLAGSHIPS, will demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell power.

Key results? Outcomes will show that hydrogen fuel cells can compete with their fossil fuel equivalents, enabling the broader market adoption of this technology and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The FCH JU has achieved a lot in the twelve years since its inception, as it strives to make hydrogen and fuel cell products an everyday reality.

Working in partnership with the FCH JU, H2 View is celebrating the organisations success stories in this Pillars of Progress Series and bringing you, our readers, an exclusive article every fortnight.

Creating low-carbon and sustainable solutions, enabling market entry for new products, developing next generation products based on previous research and opening new markets for European expertise in fuel cell and hydrogen technology are just some of the FCH JUs success stories, as you will read about over the coming months.

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Pillars of Progress: Mobility Maritime hydrogen, the next big wave - H2 View

American Airlines Warns Employees of Up to 20000 Job Cuts – The New York Times

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Heres what you need to know:American Airlines plans to send out legally required warnings to 25,000 employees, although it said it expected to be overstaffed by about 20,000.Credit...Nick Oxford/Reuters

American Airlines told employees on Wednesday that it could furlough as many as 20,000 people starting Oct. 1, after federal stimulus funds expire.

We know American will be smaller going forward and we must right-size all aspects of our airline to adjust to that new reality, the airlines chief executive, Doug Parker, and president, Robert Isom, said in a letter to employees. Although this is a day none of us wanted to see, we have created new, generous programs intended to help offset as many front line furloughs as possible.

Despite planning to send out legally required warnings to 25,000 employees, American said it expects to be overstaffed by about 20,000 workers this fall. The warnings, which the airline started sending on Wednesday, will go to nearly 10,000 flight attendants, 3,200 maintenance workers, 2,900 passenger service employees and 2,500 pilots, among others. Last week, United Airlines said it could furlough as many as 36,000 workers in the fall.

Both airlines hope to reduce those numbers by encouraging employees to retire early or accept buyout packages. American said it would offer some employees the option to take leave from the company for up to two years while receiving part of their salary and retaining health and travel benefits.

Passenger airlines were able to avoid draconian cuts after Congress passed the CARES Act in March, which set aside $25 billion to help the companies pay workers, provided they refrain from substantial cuts through Sept. 30. American was the largest recipient, receiving $5.8 billion in mostly grants and some loans. Delta Air Lines received $5.4 billion and United received $5 billion.

The unions that represent pilots, flights attendants and other workers at American and other airlines have voiced support for extending that funding through March 31. In the letter on Wednesday, American echoed that support.

Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have warned that they may also make similar cuts this fall.

Officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia said Wednesday that cuts in oil output that had helped shore up the energy market in recent months would be eased modestly in August, as detailed under an agreement reached in April.

Oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other producers met Wednesday by video conference to review market conditions. The group said in a statement after the meeting that there were encouraging signs of improvement as economies around the world open up.

The lockdowns, intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, slammed demand for oil by reducing driving, air travel and other activities that use the fuel. But demand has slowly risen in recent months.

Beginning in August, the cuts in output will be reduced from 9.7 million barrels a day or about 10 percent of global production in normal times to around 8.1 million barrels a day, according to Saudi Arabias oil minister, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, who ran the meeting.

The production increases will come at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is surging in some countries, including the United States and Brazil, potentially jeopardizing recovery of demand for oil.

However, the Saudi oil minister said that with countries having gained experience in dealing with the virus in recent months, he thought any outbreaks were likely to be contained.

On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up about 2 percent to more than $43 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the American standard, also rose, to about $41 a barrel.

J.C. Penney, the 118-year-old retailer that filed for bankruptcy in May, said on Wednesday that it would cut 1,000 corporate, field management and international jobs, as the company shrinks and closes 152 stores.

The layoffs are separate from job cuts tied to the retailers first round of store closures, where most liquidation sales have started. A spokeswoman for J.C. Penney has said that the retailer plans to close up to 250 locations over all, which would leave it with roughly 600 stores.

J.C. Penney, which is based in Plano, Texas, said in bankruptcy filings that it had nearly 85,000 associates, but did not specify how many were full or part time.

The cuts at the corporate level add to the broader pain in the retail industry, which has been left reeling from the pandemic. The disruption has forced a spate of bankruptcies since May and spurred layoffs at surviving retailers. Macys said last month that it would cut about 3,900 corporate and management jobs, or 25 percent of that staff.

Walmart will begin requiring that all of its customers wear masks in its stores, starting on Monday.

The new rule from the nations largest retailer, which has more than 5,000 stores nationwide, is a strong statement about wearing masks in public space at a time when the issue has become politicized.

In a statement, Walmart said that 65 percent of its stores, which include Walmarts and Sams Clubs, are in areas where there is already some form of government mandate to wear masks.

At Sams Clubs, the company said that it would provide complimentary masks to customers who did not already have one. (Sams Club customers have to pay a membership fee to shop there.)

But in Walmart stores which are far more numerous the details for this new policy are still being ironed out.

The company said it was creating a new job called a health ambassador. That person will be stationed next to the front door and will remind customers of the new rule.

Ambassadors will receive special training to help make the process as smooth as possible for customers, Walmart said, and will work with those who show up at a store without a face covering to find a solution that works for everyone.

The retailer did not immediately identify what those possible solutions might be or say that it would provide masks to customers who didnt have one.

Walmart joins a growing list of companies that are requiring customers to wear masks, including Starbucks and Best Buy. The retailer Kohls said on Wednesday that its customers would be required to wear masks starting Monday, and the grocery chain Kroger announced on Twitter that its customers would, too, starting July 22.

Black business owners are more likely to be hindered in seeking coronavirus financial aid than their white peers, a new study has found.

The study looked at how more than a dozen Washington-area banks handled requests for loans under the federal governments Paycheck Protection Program. It was conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit organization in Washington, in partnership with researchers from universities in Utah and New Jersey.

From late April to late May, the researchers and the nonprofit group, which advocates better access to capital for low-income and minority communities, sent pairs of would-be loan applicants to branches of 17 banks. In each pair, a Black borrower and a white borrower shared similar credit and asset characteristics. To make the study more conservative, the researchers gave each Black borrower a slightly better financial profile than his or her white counterpart.

The Black borrowers were offered different products and treated significantly worse by employees than white borrowers in 43 percent of the tests, the study found. Of the 17 banks, some of which were tested through multiple branches, 13 had at least one test in which a white borrower was treated better than his or her Black counterpart. In the rest of the tests, the pairs were treated relatively equally or the difference wasnt significant enough to count as a violation of fair lending laws, in the researchers view.

Critics of the $660 billion program which was intended to prop up small businesses through forgivable loans have said that its structure was likely to perpetuate historical inequalities in the financial system, where Black Americans have struggled to obtain credit and capital.

Buoyed by heightened activity in the markets, Goldman Sachs reported its highest bond-trading revenue in nine years, helping it to deliver a solidly profitable quarter despite increased costs and a slowdown in other areas of its business.

Revenue spiked in Goldmans trading area, more than doubling the units performance from a year ago, and rose dramatically in its investment-banking business. Overall, the firms revenue for the second quarter was $13.3 billion, a 41 percent upswing from the same period last year. Its earnings were $2.4 billion, essentially the same as a year ago.

During the quarter, compensation costs rose substantially, as did other expenses that were not specified, perhaps reflecting an increasing set-aside for future legal costs. That theme has been borne out by other large banks this week, whose quarterly profits plunged as they stowed away money to protect them from future losses.

BBC News is cutting 520 jobs as part of a sprawling cost-cutting plan, 70 more jobs than previously announced because the pandemic has put more strain on the British broadcasters budget.

In January, 450 job losses were announced but then postponed in March to meet the demands of covering coronavirus and its impact. The reactivated plan, detailed on Wednesday, will be even more sweeping. The Andrew Neil Show, hosted by the longtime political interviewer, will be cut, business news coverage will be scaled down, and there will be reductions in World Service programming, among other changes.

The increased financial pressure on the BBC as a result of Covid-19 means the number of job losses in BBC News will rise to around 520, the organization, which has been financed by an annual license fee paid by listeners and viewers for nearly 100 years, said on Wednesday. This will include senior management posts.

In 2016, the BBC announced it needed to save 800 million pounds ($1 billion), with about a tenth of that coming from the 6,000-person news department. In addition to the 520 job losses in BBC News, the BBC said in recent weeks it would cut 600 jobs from regional services in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The BBC has also renewed its plan to end free TV licenses for people over 75, a move that has caused clashes with the government.

Earlier on Wednesday, The Guardian newspaper said it planned to cut 12 percent of its work force, about 180 jobs.

Stocks rose on Wednesday, lifted by a drugmakers report of progress with a promising, but early-stage, candidate for a coronavirus vaccine, and data on industrial production added to evidence of the economys recovery.

The S&P 500 jumped about 1 percent. Markets in Frankfurt, Paris and London also rose sharply.

Oil prices were also higher, on a day when major producers decided to ease restrictions on output. The production curbs were approved in April when the industry was facing a calamitous fall in oil demand, and any relaxing of the rules would signal stronger energy markets.

The gains on Wall Street were largely spurred by news from the biotech company Moderna, based in Cambridge, Mass., which said an experimental drug provoked a positive immune response and appeared safe among the first 45 people who received it. It is the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in humans, and Modernas shares were sharply higher.

Policymakers and economists have long predicted that a complete recovery in growth depends on the development of a vaccine, and investors have been quick to respond to even the slightest signs of progress toward one.

On Wednesday, the rally was led by companies that have the most to gain from a return to pre-pandemic levels of travel and consumption. American Airlines, Gap, and MGM Resorts which have become a proxy for the markets enthusiasm about a rebound were all among the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500.

Investors also learned that industrial production in the United States jumped by more than expected in June, recovering from earlier declines as factories were reopened. The report is just the latest of several from data on housing sales to hiring that highlight the economys bounce back from the depths of a recession earlier in the year.

That recovery, however, is threatened by a rise in new coronavirus cases around the world. And as governments reimpose restrictions on activity and government assistance programs come to an end, some economists have warned that the recovery is likely to take longer than investors anticipate.

The United States economy is headed for a tumultuous autumn, with the threat of closed schools, renewed government lockdowns, empty stadiums and an uncertain amount of federal support for businesses and unemployed workers all clouding hopes for a rapid rebound from recession.

For months, the prevailing wisdom among investors, Trump administration officials and many economic forecasters was that after plunging into recession this spring, the countrys recovery would accelerate in late summer and take off in the fall as the virus receded, restrictions on commerce loosened, and consumers reverted to more normal spending patterns. Job gains in May and June fueled those rosy predictions.

But failure to suppress a resurgence of confirmed infections is threatening to choke the recovery and push the country back into a recessionary spiral one that could inflict long-term damage on workers and businesses large and small, unless Congress reconsiders the scale of federal aid that may be required in the months to come.

The looming economic pain was evident on Tuesday as big companies forecast gloomy months ahead. Delta Air Lines said it was cutting back plans to add flights in August and beyond, citing flagging consumer demand. The nations biggest banks warned that they were setting aside billions of dollars to cover anticipated losses as customers fail to pay their mortgages and other loans in the months to come.

The earlier-than-anticipated resumption in activity has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the virus spread in many areas, Lael Brainard, a Federal Reserve governor, said on Tuesday. Even if the virus spread flattens, the recovery is likely to face headwinds from diminished activity and costly adjustments in some sectors, along with impaired incomes among many consumers and businesses.

The Paper Store filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday citing the financial strain caused by closing all of its stores for weeks at a time because of coronavirus lockdowns. The chain, which has sold specialty gifts for 55 years, operates a warehouse and 86 stores throughout the Northeast and employs roughly 2,000 people. The company hopes to sell by late August in order to get the cash needed to buy millions of dollars worth of inventory for Christmas, its busiest season.

The Trump administration, which mistakenly sent $1.4 billion of stimulus money to dead people, has begun canceling checks that were delivered to the deceased. The Internal Revenue Service said in an update on its website that such checks should still be returned to the federal government but that it was taking action to ensure they cannot be cashed. A Government Accountability Office report released last month found that about $1.4 billion of the $270 billion of direct stimulus payments went to the deceased.

Three of the nations biggest banks revealed that they had set aside billions of dollars to cover potential losses on loans, signaling that they do not expect consumers and corporations to be able to pay their debts in the coming months as the pandemic continues to gut employment and commerce. Collectively, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo have put aside $25 billion during the second quarter, they said. As a result, their quarterly profits plunged. It was Wells Fargos first quarterly loss since 2008.

Lael Brainard, a Federal Reserve governor, warned that a second wave of coronavirus cases could imperil the economy and markets once again, even though financial conditions have calmed since the wild days of March and the labor market has begun to mend. A broad second wave could reignite financial market volatility and market disruptions at a time of greater vulnerability, Ms. Brainard said, speaking to the National Association for Business Economics. And in any case, the strength of the recovery will depend importantly on the timing, magnitude and distribution of additional fiscal support.

Best Buy, the electronics retailer with about 1,000 locations in the United States, said on Tuesday that it planned to require customers to wear face coverings in its stores starting Wednesday. The company said that it would provide masks to customers who did not have one, and would make exceptions for small children and people who could not wear masks for health reasons, according to a blog post.

See the article here:

American Airlines Warns Employees of Up to 20000 Job Cuts - The New York Times

Pfizer’s Progress | In the Pipeline – Science Magazine

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

I wanted to point out an interesting interview given by Pfizers CEO Albert Bourla to Time. I have made some pointed remarks about Pfizer over the years, but this is one of the better Q&A pieces like this that I have seen youll see why in some of the answers below.

Bourla is actually quite optimistic about the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine program (four different mRNA attempts, as fans will recall). He says that they should have enough data in the September time frame to submit to the FDA, with approval, he hopes, in October if the data are strong enough. Is that realistic? Well, if the data are strong enough, yes. But as with all these timelines, thats what can happen if everything works right the first time (and with enough vaccines being tried, one or more of them could indeed come through like this). What well have are short-term efficacy and safety data: real-world data on protection against coronavirus infection and on adverse reactions on dosing. What we wont have are the data on duration of that protection, nor a read on long-term safety. But were not going to know those for *any* of the vaccine candidates those are the big corners that the world is going to cut, and I agree that its the right move.

He goes on to say that

. . .it was the moment when I saw the data, plus many other data that we havent published yet, [that] made me say that until now I was thinking if we have a vaccine. Now Im discussing when were going to have a vaccine. . .We have a lot of indications that make me feel that really it should make it.

Remember that earlier this month the company published Phase I data on one of the four vaccine candidates; I very much look forward to more information of this kind. This is where I should mention that (at least as I write this) we still dont have such information about the competing mRNA vaccine from Moderna, and it has now been eight weeks since they press-released their first results. (Update: they just published this afternoon! Blog post on the way). Meanwhile, on Monday morning Pfizer announced that the candidate they published on (BNT162b1) and one of the other three (BNT162b2) have been fast-tracked by the FDA for development. The former is one of the two base-modified RNA candidates, and despite some digging around this evening I have been unable to figure out which is the other one. From the looks of the number code, it might be the other base-modified one? We shall see. At any rate, they apparently have enough convincing data on that one to show the agency as well.

Bourla goes on to say that they will be starting manufacturing soon on a risk basis (something theyve never done with a vaccine candidate), and that the company plans to be ready with up to 100 million doses by the end of the year and over a billion doses next year. When the Time reporter asked what theyll do if the vaccine doesnt turn out to work in Phase II/Phase III, Bourla responded We will just have to write it off and call it a day. We will throw it away. Its only money were going to lose. More in this vein:

. . .if you were calculating return on investment, we would never do these things. We were discussing that back in March, what that means to human lives, to the economy of the world. So it was a must, that we must take those measures. . .The vaccine should be free to all people.We are not giving it away to governments. We are going to charge governments a very, very nominal value. But our intent is to ask governments that they should, for these prices, they should provide it free of charge to all citizens.

He makes the point, as others have, that this is a chance for the drug industry to show what it can deliver for the world. And hes right: no one else can do the things that the biopharma industry of the industrialized countries are doing right now. If theres going to be a cure, its going to come from us. No ones going to combine two things from the grocery store and find the wonder drug thats what you get from lazy screenwriters cranking out a cheap movie. My God, thats it!Nutmeg and anchovies! Under our noses all along! Nope. Its going to be the result of a lot of hard work and a lot of expertise in immunology, molecular biology, formulations, pharmacokinetics, protein science, clinical trial design, statistics, toxicology, manufacturing logistics and a whole lot of other subjects that many people would rather break rocks all day than have to pass an exam on. Oh, and a lot of money, too: Pfizer (just one company in the race) is apparently spending about $2 billion this year on this program, and as many have noted, in their case none of it has come from the US government. The folks who claim that new drugs only cost a few million and that they all come from the NIH anyway are going to have to make an exception this time, looks like.

So good luck to Bourla and to the Pfizer/BioNTech collaboration as they push on in the clinic. Those Phase II/III trials are where all of this is going to be settled, because there is simply no other way to find out what works. Not everything will. Were heading into an immense, unprecedented, and incredibly expensive and nerve-shredding pile-up in the clinic later this summer and fall, and Ive said it before weve never seen anything like this, and I hope we never have to again. Hold on tight.

Excerpt from:

Pfizer's Progress | In the Pipeline - Science Magazine

How Woodrow Wilson Tried to Reverse Black American Progress – History

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Woodrow Wilson is best known as the World War I president who earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to found the League of Nations. A progressive reformer who fought against monopolies and child labor, he served two terms starting in 1913.

But Wilson was also a segregationist who wrote a history textbook praising the Confederacy and, in particular, theKu Klux Klan. As president, he rolled back hard-fought economic progress for Black Americans, overseeing the segregation of multiple agencies of the federal government.

While Wilson was lauded for his role in World War I, historians and activists have long called attention to his other actions. And institutions have grappled with how to respond to this side of his legacy. In June 2020, Monmouth University announced it would rename its Woodrow Wilson Hall. And after years of protests, Princeton University said it would remove his name from its prestigious public policy school, explaining that his segregationist attitudes and policies made Wilson an especially inappropriate namesake. In places like Washington, D.C., historians and parents have called for removing his name from public high schools.

In reevaluating Wilsons legacy, its important to understand not only his leadership through a world war, or his business and labor reforms. Its also important to know that, on the home front, he perpetuated violence and inequality for Black Americans. Here's how.

President Woodrow Wilson, seated far left, at the Arlington National Cemetery where Robert E Lee III, grandson and namesake of the Confederate general, speaks at the dedication of a Confederate monument in Arlington, Virginia, 1914.While Wilsons speech that day focused on national unity, his historical writings have romanticized the Confederacy.

Harris & Ewing/PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Wilson is often associated with the state ofNew Jersey because thats where he served as governor and as president of Princeton University. But he was born in antebellum Virginia in 1856 and lived in Georgia during the Civil War. His parents supported the Confederacy, and Wilsons five-volume history textbook, A History Of The American People, echoes those attitudes. The book adheres to what historians call the Lost Cause narrative, a non-factual view of history that romanticizes the Confederacy, describes the institution of slavery as a gentle patrician affair, recasts the Civil War as being about states rights instead of slavery and demonizes Reconstruction-era efforts to improve the lives of the formerly enslaved.

READ MORE: How the Cult of Robert E. Lee Was Born

Wilson wrote that Reconstruction placed southern white men under the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of ignorant negroes, and that those white men responded by forming the Ku Klux Klan. He described the Klan as an Invisible Empire of the South, bound together in loose organization to protect the southern country from some of the ugliest hazards of a time of revolution.

In reality, the KKK was a violent terrorist group that targeted Black Americans. Confederate veterans founded the paramilitary group after the Civil War ended in 1865. The first wave of the KKK only disbanded in the early 1870s after President Ulysses S. Grant pushed through laws allowing him to go after it with military force.

White historians like Wilson helped popularize the Confederate Klansmen, who became the heroes of D.W. Griffiths 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The movies villains were Black Americans portrayed by white actors in blackface. Wilson agreed to screen the filmwhich quoted his own book in its title cardsat the White House.

The blockbusters popularity led white men to re-found the KKK, which flourished across the country in the 1920s. Wilson played an active role in promoting the ideology that led to this revival.

READ MORE: How The Birth of a Nation Revived the Ku Klux Klan

Woodrow Wilson riding in a carriage with First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, 1921.

Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Wilsons views on race also informed his time in the Oval Office. While he campaigned and legislated as a Progressive who fought to break up big businesses and improve the plight of America's workers, his administration squelched opportunity and worsened conditions for some Black Americans in the workforce.

After Reconstruction ended in the 1870s, southern white men began erasing Reconstructions reforms by using laws, violence and intimidation to prevent Black men from voting and pushing them out of local and state governments. Within the federal government, things were different. Black men began working in the federal government during the Civil War, and by the turn of the century, Black men and women made up about 10 percent of that workforce.

READ MORE: How Power Grabs in the South Erased Reforms After Reconstruction

When Wilson entered office in 1913, he was the first southerner to be president since Reconstruction. His cabinet included several white southerners, who really had no idea how integrated the federal service was, how [relatively] unsegregated Washington, D.C. was,"says Eric S. Yellin, a professor of history and American studies at the University of Richmond and author of Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America."And when they arrive some of them are really in shock.

Immediately, these cabinet members began to talk about segregating federal government employees by race. Wilson allowed his cabinet to do this despite protests by civil rights activists like W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotterwhom Wilson angrily threw out of the Oval Office during a 1914 meeting in which Trotter made the case against segregation.A transcript of that meeting reveals that Wilson had argued, Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.

During Wilsons presidency, he allowed his cabinet to segregate the Treasury, the Post Office, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Navy, the Interior, the Marine Hospital, the War Department and the Government Printing Office. This meant creating separate offices, lunchrooms, bathrooms and other facilities for white and Black workers. It also meant dismissing Black supervisors, cutting off Black employees access to promotions and better-paying jobs and reserving those jobs for white people.

The federal government was one of the few employers in the whole country that gave African Americans a shot; in particular a shot at career and social mobility, Yellin says. In Washington D.C., where most of these federal jobs were based, this led to increases in homeownership among Black families. After Wilsons presidency, Black homeownership fell in D.C., Yellin says, in part because Black federal employees no longer had access to those better jobs and salaries.

Even though these practices werent codified by federal law, segregation persisted in the civil service over the next several decades, preventing Black Americans in D.C. and throughout the country from obtaining better jobs and pay to support themselves, their families and their communities.

Link:

How Woodrow Wilson Tried to Reverse Black American Progress - History

Jorgen Vik: Progress may not sell, but it pays off in the long run – The Daily Progress

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

We do our best to exercise and watch what we eat.

But how about the news we digest?

Regarding investing, if you were asked to describe what could happen in the next five to 10 years, how would you answer?

The answer likely is closely related to the investment stories you watch and read:

Five reasons the market has risen too far.

Coronavirus could wipe out trillions of dollars.

Unemployment rate down.

Sadly, the last of those three imaginary but realistic headlines either gets skipped or can make the reader think, Yeah, but its still horrible.

Progress is gradual, incremental and rarely dramatic.

It just doesnt sell.

Bad news grabs us in an instant and pushes all else aside.

Scary news triggers the fear of the proverbial lion hiding in the grass that our ancestors imprinted on the DNA they passed on down to us.

But instead of lions, we worry about our financial security.

Could I lose my job? Could my savings evaporate? Could the stock market go down and stay down?

Its healthy to keep an eye on downside risks in life, but I think some of us spend far too much time worrying about what could go wrong.

If you spend most of your time thinking about potential bad outcomes, it becomes easier to believe that it not just may happen, but that it will happen.

Some people sold all their stocks after 9/11, or during the recent corona crash. They lost faith and got out; they worried things would never get better.

Its fair to guess they watched a lot of news about things being bad, and how it could get worse still. Better sell stocks.

All this worrying, in my opinion, warps our view of the future.

So what can we do to counter this understandable fear and negativity bias?

I think we need to train ourselves to look for good news. Itll give us a more complete picture of the world.

When you see a positive story, read it or watch it. Let it sink in.

When you see a negative story, consider skipping it.

This sounds simple. Maybe even a little silly. But I think its important. Sadly, you may have to do a little digging to find the good news.

If you did so over the past 10 years, youd see a story about a treatment that allows most people to get rid of hepatitis C.

Or that you now can get a vaccine against shingles.

Or that hundreds of millions of people are no longer dirt poor.

Or that most cellphones come with a GPS and map so you can find your way around anywhere. Order a cab, even.

All right; what does all this have to do with money and investing? A lot.

When you invest for the long term, you invest for what lies years ahead.

Above, I mentioned just a few recent advances.

Do you think these kinds of advances will stop or continue? I believe its much more likely progress will accelerate.

In the end, be careful when you take in news. It can quickly scare you into thinking the future is bleak.

Good luck.

Jorgen Vik is a certified financial planner and partner with SKV Group LLC.

Link:

Jorgen Vik: Progress may not sell, but it pays off in the long run - The Daily Progress

Eyes on the Street: New Bus and Bike Lanes in Progress in Downtown and South L.A. – Streetsblog Los Angeles

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

None of them are quite done, but they are getting there. New bus lanes have been striped on 5th and 6th Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The eastern half of these will include new protected bike lanes. Also downtown, the existing Olive Street buffered bike lane is being moved to the left side and made parking-protected. In South L.A., the new 6.3-mile-long Avalon Boulevard bike lanes are nearly complete.

LADOT spokesperson Colin Sweeney estimates that all four of these projects 5th, 6th, Olive and Avalon will be completed in August.

5th Street

Pavement markings appear to have been completed (though no red paint) on the new 5th Street bus lane, which extends 1.2 miles from Central Avenue to Flower Street. Fifth is one-way westbound. The project will include a left-side one-way protected bike lane east of Main Street, through Skid Row.

6th Street

Very similar to its westbound couplet partner 5th Street, the new 6th Street eastbound bus lane has pavement markings extending from 1.2 miles from Grand Avenue to Central Avenue. Like 5th, 6th will also feature a one-way left-side protected bike lane east of Main.

Olive Street

Olive Street was also supposed to have a bus lane soon, though there is no anticipated schedule for it yet. The city recently repaved Olive as part of its ADAPT accelerated repaving program. An existing right-side buffered bike lane is being moved to the left, and will be upgraded to a parking-protected bike lane. Crews were out today striping the street.

The new bike lane striping appears nearly complete, though no bollards have been installed. The one-way northbound protected bikeway extends 0.7-mile from Pico Boulevard to 7th Street.

Avalon Boulevard

LADOT is also installing new bike lanes on Avalon Boulevard through South Los Angeles. They will extend 6.3 miles from 120th Street to the five-way intersection at San Pedro Street and Jefferson Boulevard. These will be among the longest continuous on-street bikeways in the city of Los Angeles. They appear to be the third longest, after Venice Boulevard and Devonshire Street.

Much of the new Avalon bikeway was created mostly by removing a car lane, called a road diet. The new bike lanes are mostly buffered or conventional bike lanes, with about a dozen blocks of parking-protected bike lane.

View post:

Eyes on the Street: New Bus and Bike Lanes in Progress in Downtown and South L.A. - Streetsblog Los Angeles

Progress still needs to be made | Letters To The Editor – Osceola Sun

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

I am replying to Haley Blaynes letter which appeared in the July 1 Sun. She apparently likes to take statements out of context.

For one, I never stated this was an Us versus Them problem. My original reply was the injustice to Black WWII veterans who did not receive GI benefits. I agreed that this was an injustice, but I stated that was 75 years ago, and we have made progress. I never stated the task was complete at this time. There is still progress to be made.

I also never compared Martin Luther King to protestors in Michigan at their State Capital. The only statement was that the Michigan protestors, both black and white, were making a 2nd Amendment statement by peaceful protest. This is what MLK would have preferred.

I also never made any statements about the police or activity surrounding George Floyd or that I have done enough for my neighbor. Haley Blayne surmises all this. Haley Blayne never states what heavy lifting changes should be made. I have a business and I work with minorities and various nationalities. I make no distinction in their heritage, nationality, or color. I believe in his final statement from the North Star in 1847 and MLKs statement to judge an individual by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

DeFi Tokens Outperformed Bitcoin in Q2 but Will the Rally Continue? – Cointelegraph

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Compound, the Decentralized Finance protocol, reached the $1 billion dollar mark in funds borrowed from its protocol on June 13, with its top three markets being the DAI and USDC stablecoins followed by Ether (ETH).

Currently, MakerDAOs DAI takes the lead with 79.88% of value borrowed from its protocol. Stablecoins seem to be popular in Compound due to its COMP reward mechanism which gives users COMP tokens according to the dollar value borrowed.

Compound allows users to deposit certain cryptocurrencies to earn interest and to borrow different tokens or stablecoins (useful for short-selling for example), while providing users with COMP token rewards for engaging in both activities.

Over the past few weeks this system has made Compound protocol extremely popular and it currently has $1.6 billion in assets locked to their liquidity pools. At the moment, a number of DeFi protocols are also showing considerable increases in the amount of borrowed and locked funds. For example, Aave currently holds over $250 million in its liquidity pools, according to data from Aavewatch.

DeFi has been making huge progress in terms of visibility, especially following the disproportional buzz created by the Coinbase-backed Compound project. At least 10 DeFi-related tokens have seen more than 100% gains and this in part due to the COMP reward mechanism and yield farming which allows users to act both as lenders and borrowers in order to earn COMP tokens for this dual role.

In its first week of trading, COMP rose by 233% and has since been listed on Coinbase and Kraken. Aaves LEND token has rallied more than 1000% in the last 3 months, from around $0.02 to $0.24.

Not only are the price of DeFi-related tokens rising along with the value locked and borrowed from these protocols, the tokens that are available in these protocols have also been generally performing well.

Coupled with the high interest rates and yield farming possibilities, its safe to say that DeFi has been a gift that keeps on giving for early adopters of the platforms and of their respective tokens.

Examples of this include Chainlink (LINK) which is the biggest cryptocurrency on the Aave protocol following the LEND token itself.

The impact of the defi protocols on other tokens was most visible through Basic Attention Token (BAT) which became the most used ERC-20 token in all of DeFi, surpassing even ETH and DAI, for two weeks, before the COMP reward mechanism was updated.

While it is easy to understand that DeFi is growing, the price surge in the associated tokens like LEND and COMP is somewhat unrelated. Although tokens like NEXO give users a share in the revenue, LEND and COMP do not.

These tokens, however, give their holders voting rights over the protocol. In other words, they are governance tokens and do not pay any dividends.

While there is no immediate monetary benefit, having a stake in the future of these platforms may hold some unmeasurable value depending on how they scale over time. Moreover, hype and right-out speculation around the DeFi space has surely helped some of these governance-associated tokens.

As the DeFi sector continues to break record numbers in activity and the amount of funds locked and lent increases, it seems possible that DeF tokens will continue to outperform Bitcoin, especially as the digital assets volume and volatility continues to dwindle.

See the article here:

DeFi Tokens Outperformed Bitcoin in Q2 but Will the Rally Continue? - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin And Modern Soft Fork Activation – Bitcoin Magazine

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Taproot, a proposed protocol upgrade that would improve Bitcoins privacy and flexibility, is in its late stages of development. Bitcoin Core contributors agree that the upgrade would benefit Bitcoin, and so far it generally appears to be welcomed by the wider Bitcoin ecosystem as well. Its therefore likely that Taproot will make its way into a Bitcoin Core release, with other Bitcoin implementations possibly to follow.

But one question remains: how should the Bitcoin network itself upgrade? Taproot is a consensus protocol change, which means that Bitcoin nodes must somehow switch from the old rules to the new rules without splitting the network into factions enforcing different rules. For various reasons, this has in the past sometimes proven to be a challenge.

Improved strategies to activate protocol upgrades are now being contemplated.

The good news is that Taproot will be a soft fork. This type of upgrade adds or tightens rules as opposed to a hard fork which removes or loosens rules. The nice thing about adding or tightening rules is that anything that an upgraded node considers valid, a non-upgraded node considers valid, too. (If an old node accepts both transaction types A and B, but new rules only allow transaction type A, the old node would remain compatible on a network enforcing the new rules.)

Bitcoins earliest soft forks were activated though flag days. Developers (in particular, Satoshi Nakamoto) embedded a future date in the code of a new Bitcoin software client release, specifying a point in time where upgraded nodes would enforce the new rules. Miners and users were encouraged to upgrade before that date to avoid network splits. (As an aside, in those days, miners and users were in these days more often than today the same people.)

Since non-upgraded nodes remain compatible with new rules, a handy benefit of soft forks is that if a majority of hash power enforces the upgrade, the entire Bitcoin network finds consensus on their version of the blockchain. This also means there is less of a pressing need for all nodes to be upgraded immediately when the new protocol rules are enforced, allowing users some flexibility. (Though users are encouraged to upgrade nonetheless; they are ultimately the ones enforcing the new rules by rejecting transactions and blocks that break them.)

Since about 2012, soft forks have increasingly utilized hash power as a coordination mechanism to coordinate a switch to new rules. By embedding a bit of data in their blocks, miners can signal to other miners and the rest of the network that they upgraded their software, and thus are ready to enforce the new rules. Once enough hash power signals support, all upgraded nodes are triggered to enforce the new rules.

Over the course of a few upgrades, this strategy evolved into Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 9 (BIP 9). BIP 9 was, for example, the mechanism used to activate Bitcoins last soft fork upgrade, Segregated Witness (SegWit). Miners were given a year to activate the upgrade, requiring 95 percent of blocks within any difficulty interval to include a readiness signal bit. If after a year this hadnt happened, the activation period would expire, and the upgrade would have failed. (It could then of course simply be tried again.)

For SegWit, however, BIP 9 did not play out smoothly. As with some of the previous upgrades, some miners probably didnt get around to upgrading for some time due to apathy: there often isnt a very big incentive for miners to upgrade fast. But a bigger problem was that some miners had come to understand the signaling process as a sort of vote on the upgrade, where instead of signaling readiness, they would (or would not) signal support for it. Worse, some miners ended up using this vote to block the upgrade in order to try and gain political leverage over the Bitcoin development process, and/or they voted against the upgrade in order to covertly benefit from a quirk in the Bitcoin protocol which the upgrade would fix.

After an extended period of intense drama, SegWit ultimately did activate, but only after alternative Bitcoin clients included new activation schemes. BIP 148, included in the BIP 148 client run by some users, was programmed to only accept blocks signaling support for the protocol upgrade starting on a flag day. Meanwhile, BIP 91, included in the btc1 client and run by miners just ahead of the BIP 148 flag day, effectively lowered the hash power requirement from 95 percent to 75 percent. Faced with a potential split network and a possible loss of income, the obstructing miners conceded. But for most Bitcoin Core developers, BIP 9 had revealed itself to be a suboptimal solution, and they started thinking of alternatives.

BIP 8 was an early alternative for BIP 9, proposed by BIP 148 author Shaolinfry and Bitcoin Knots and Bitcoin Core contributor Luke-jr. It initially resembled BIP 9, but with one crucial difference: instead of the upgrade failing after a year of insufficient hash power support, it would do the exact opposite and activate the soft fork at that point in time. Similar to a flag day, all upgraded nodes would from then on start enforcing the new rules. Miners whod still have failed to upgrade would risk mining blocks that upgraded miners and users would reject.

The main idea behind BIP 9 is that assuming of course that users upgrade miners cant block the soft fork and therefore cant use this leverage to their benefit. They can speed activation up and help coordinate a smooth protocol upgrade, but the upgrade will eventually happen even if they dont activate it themselves.

A more recent draft of BIP 8 includes some notable changes. For one, BIP 8 allows nodes to be configured for two different policies when the signaling period is about to expire: forced activation, as explained in the previous two paragraphs, or no forced activation, like with BIP 9. Furthermore, instead of activating the upgrade itself, nodes (if so configured) actually enforce signaling for the upgrade. Blocks that do not signal support for the upgrade are then rejected, hence still guaranteeing the upgrade, at least for the upgraded nodes. The combination of these two changes has the interesting property that if a majority of all Bitcoin hash power is compelled to signal support for the upgrade, even BIP 8 nodes that arent configured to enforce signaling will go along with the upgrade,

An argument against BIP 8, and its forced signaling (or automatic activation) in specific, is that it can be risky, especially on a shorter timeline. If a hash power majority and at least some users dont upgrade, this scheme could split the network between upgraded and non-upgraded nodes. Assuming most users support the upgrade, this would likely resolve in favor of the upgraded part of the network eventually. But non-upgraded users would risk losing funds in the meantime, while non-upgraded miners would waste hash power to the detriment of Bitcoins security.

This risk is probably best countered by offering enough time to upgrade. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on how much time is enough; some think forced signaling could start within a year, others believe it should take several years.

Another complication with BIP 8 is setting defaults for forced signaling. If forced signaling is switched off by default, users could find themselves uncoordinated, increasing the risk of network splits. If on the other hand forced signaling is chosen as the default in a Bitcoin Core release, the historically widespread adoption of Bitcoin Core virtually guarantees that the upgrade will happen. Some believe this would give Bitcoin Core developers too much influence over Bitcoins protocol rules. For this reason, BIP 8 coauthor Luke-jr prefers BIP 8 with forced signaling to exclusively be deployed through special clients, similar to the BIP 148 client.

Others argue that Bitcoin Core developers always release software to their best judgement, while keeping user demand in mind and avoiding contentious upgrades; setting BIP 8 defaults should be no exception to this policy. If anyone disagrees with the choices Bitcoin Core developers make after all, they can simply choose not to upgrade to a new release or even fork the Bitcoin Core code to launch a competing client altogether.

While Bitcoin Core developers indeed seek to take user demand into consideration and try to avoid contentious upgrades, not everyone is convinced this is always perfectly possible. Perhaps concerns about a proposed upgrade only surface when the software is deployed in a new release. Perhaps whole new issues arise after this release. Or perhaps Bitcoin Core developers simply missed something.

This is one reason why Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallo proposed a strategy dubbed Modern Soft Fork Activation. Modern Soft Fork Activation consists of three steps, together essentially realizing a combination of BIP 9 (or: BIP 8 without forced signaling) and BIP 8 with flag day activation (though forced signaling could be an option as well).

As the first step, BIP 9 would allow miners to activate the soft fork through hash power. If miners dont activate it in (say) a year, the first activation window expires. Then, as the second step, developers take some time to analyze why activation failed, and reconsider the proposal if they do find a concern with it. If they find there was no problem with the proposal, however, the third step is redeployment of the soft fork, this time using BIP 8 with flag day activation: miners get another chance to activate the proposal with hash power, but if they fail again, the soft fork activates when this second signaling period ends. (During this second signaling period, the hash power activation threshold could also be incrementally lowered over time, Bitcoin Core contributor AJ Towns suggests.)

By explicitly committing to BIP 8 redeployment if it turns out theres nothing wrong with the proposal, Corallo believes the strategy would offer the benefits of BIP 9 without the downside. The code is put out there during the first signaling period for everyone to consider, miners can coordinate a smooth upgrade if they so choose, and with no forced activation developers can take their time to reconsider the proposal if activation does initially fail. Meanwhile, miners would have much less to gain from blocking the upgrade for no good reason, as everyone knows it will eventually activate anyways.

The main argument against Modern Soft Fork Activation is that without miner cooperation, the process would take relatively long, and some consider the BIP 9 step a waste of time altogether. Corallos original proposal includes one year of BIP 9 signaling, followed by six months to reconsider, and finally two years of BIP 8 signaling before automated activation: a total of three-and-a-half years. While this timeline is of course not set in stone yet, shortening the different steps by too much would leave less time for reconsideration and/or upgrading (increasing the risk of network splits).

Due to the long time until potential forced activation, some also argue that miners can try and gain some political leverage after all: they can delay the upgrade for years.

Another, recent suggestion circulating through Bitcoins tech channels is perhaps best described as a bit of a merger between BIP 8 and Modern Soft Fork Activation, at least in spirit. The unnamed proposal would deploy a long BIP 8 signaling period, perhaps as long as Modern Soft Fork Activations three-and-a-half years, after which forced signaling triggers. However, if after (say) one year the upgrade didnt activate yet, developers would take some time to reconsider the proposal, like they would with Modern Soft Fork Activation.

If developers would find no problem with the proposal, and instead were to conclude that it simply hadnt activated due to miner apathy or another invalid reason, they could opt to deploy a new soft fork in the style of BIP 91, used during SegWit activation. This would effectively lower the hash power threshold for activation, presumably speeding up the process.

If, on the other hand, developers would find a problem with the proposal after all, they could deploy a new soft fork that would fix the problem, or even undo the original soft fork (in this case, Taproot) altogether. Assuming Modern Soft Fork Activations three-and-a-half-year timeline until forced signaling, there ought to be enough time left to take care of this.

The main argument against this proposal is probably that its not very elegant to deploy a soft fork that undoes another soft fork, if so needed. More concretely, it requires that miners and users upgrade to new releases before deadlines are reached, or risk splitting the network.

Finally, as a bit of an outlier proposal, Bitcoin Core contributor Jeremy Rubin suggested that a concept he invented called Probabilistic Bitcoin soft forks, or Sporks, might be an interesting alternative.

The heart of the problem of BIP 9, Rubin argues, is that miners can delay upgrades at no cost of their own. Simply refusing to signal readiness for an upgrade is free, while it potentially offers them political leverage.

With Sporks, the readiness signal is no longer taken from a bit of data that miners include in the blocks they mine, but derived from the block header hash: the randomly generated proof of work they produced by investing time and resources. Upgraded nodes would agree that a small subset of valid block header hashes statistically to only be found every six months or so would trigger the upgrade.

Per the randomness of hashes, a miner would not control whether he produces regular block header hashes or upgrade-activating block header hashes; hed statistically just happen to churn out one of the latter sporadically. So, if his invested resources happen to generate an upgrade-activating block header hash, hed have two choices. Either, publish it to the Bitcoin network, earn the block reward, and activate the soft fork. Or, withhold from publishing, delaying the soft fork by about six months on average in our example but in doing so also giving up the block reward. Delaying the upgrade would come at a significant cost.

The main problem with Sporks right now is probably that its a relatively new idea, that hasnt been developed yet let alone tested in the wild. While some do consider the concept interesting, its as of yet not the most likely contender for Taproot activation.

Authors note: The debate on soft fork activation (and Taproot activation in specific) is in flux; this is a non-exhaustive overview of the different upgrade proposals, especially when it comes to variants of the proposals with alternative parameters and other tweaks, and all their pros and cons.

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Bitcoin And Modern Soft Fork Activation - Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Scammers Claim To Have Compromising Videos Of Victims – Rye Daily Voice

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin scammers have been threatening to expose sensitive videos of their victims if they are not paid off.

Fraudsters have been sending spam emails that allege they have recorded video of you getting yourself off, which they threaten to expose if they are not paid off.

The emails claim that the scammer is from out of the country, and cannot be targeted by local law enforcement.

Scammers allege that based on their potential victims visiting bad websites that infected computers with malware, they now have video of lewd acts that they threaten to share with friends and family.

In order to obviate the disgrace for the term of life, you should send 18 Dash coins to a certain address, and your prestige will not be damaged, the fraudsters wrote in an email to Daily Voice.

The scammers offer a 24-hour deadline to transfer the bitcoin, with the compromising video allegedly being disseminated within 48 hours.

The FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center said it has seen an increase in reports of online extortion scams during the current "stay-at-home" orders due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Because large swaths of the population are staying at home and likely using the computer more than usual, scammers may use this opportunity to find new victims and pressure them into sending money, they wrote in a report.

The scammers are sending emails threatening to release sexually explicit photos or personally compromising videos to the individual's contacts if they do not pay. While there are many variations of these online extortion attempts, they often share certain commonalities.

Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.

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Bitcoin Scammers Claim To Have Compromising Videos Of Victims - Rye Daily Voice

Bitcoin and Other Blockchain Networks May Not be Decentralized as Recent Cloudflare Outage led to Lower BTC Transaction Confirmations – Crowdfund…

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

San Francisco-based Cloudflare, a web-infrastructure and website-security firm, offering content-delivery-network services, DDoS mitigation, Internet security, and distributed DNS services, experienced downtime again on July 17, 2020.

Whenever Cloudflare goes down or has some other type of technical difficulties, it immediately affects millions of websites that use its software. The recent downtime also resulted in a considerable decline in the number of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions that could be confirmed.

Jameson Lopp, the CTO at CasaHODL, a Bitcoin security firm, noted via Twitter (on July 17, 2020):

The Cloudflare DNS [Domain Name System] outage can be seen reflected in the rate of Bitcoin transactions broadcast, presumably because popular web wallets became inaccessible.

Lopp shared a chart that confirmed that there was a significant decline in the number of BTC transactions being processed every second.

Cloudflares management had noted on the providers official website (at around 10 p.m. UTC on July 17, 2020):

This afternoon we saw an outage across some parts of our network, [however] it was not as a result of an attack. It appears a router on our global backbone announced bad routes and caused some portions of the network to not be available. We believe we have addressed the root cause and are monitoring systems for stability now.

At around 10:57 p.m. UTC, a final update confirmed that the issue had been resolved.

While the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain network itself did not experience an outage when Cloudflare went down, many traders or investors may not have been able to conduct transactions because crypto wallets and exchanges use Cloudflare (which is a centralized solution).

Centralized exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and just about all others have to regularly go offline to perform scheduled or unscheduled maintenance work. One of the main value propositions of cryptocurrencies are that theyre decentralized, meaning theres no central authority that can step in to shut down a platform or system.

However, these types of events indicate that cryptocurrencies are not truly decentralized because they still depend on centralized infrastructure (like Cloudflare). Nearly all the so-called blockchain or crypto projects also use Github to upload their projects source code.

Github has a centralized management which has, on many occasions, restricted or denied access to users in certain parts of the world, like Iran. During an interview with Crowdfund Insider, Ray Youssef, the CEO at P2P Bitcoin marketplace Paxful, clarified that the platform was peer to peer but not decentralized. Thats because Paxful needs to follow strict KYC/AML guidelines, which are required by regulatory authorities across the globe.

It is highly unlikely that cryptos main value proposition, which promises decentralization, will ever become a reality. Many so-called decentralized platforms like IOTA, bZX, and dForce (among many others) have been launched so that users can participate in permissionless markets or platforms, however, many of them were hacked and their creators had to step in to address the issue. This means theyre not truly decentralized.

See the article here:

Bitcoin and Other Blockchain Networks May Not be Decentralized as Recent Cloudflare Outage led to Lower BTC Transaction Confirmations - Crowdfund...

Where’ve the butterflies gone? Our eco-system’s in danger, fixing it can also heal T&T’s anger issues – Wired868

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Opposite West Mall, on the Western Main Road, a mysterious derelict colonial buildingrumoured to have been a churchstood like a prehistoric dinosaur skeleton peeking out from hectares of bush.

As a child, when adults said bush they always conveyed the idea of something unwanted and to be cut down so the land could be made useful. I suppose we inherited from those who colonised these islands the idea that land domination made you prosperous.

However, for me, the word bush always meant healing, adventure and discovery. I believe I must have once been a wild plant growing in neotropical bush myself.

On a whim I drove over and was greeted by preparations for the new West Parks openingscheduled for 2nd June for an invitation only of 50 guests. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was to symbolically turn the sod for the new Diego Martin Regional Complex and the Diego Martin Vehicular Overpass.

Elderly couples walked on the circular paved track, mothers with small children congregated, youngsters jogged solo or in pairs, others strenuously worked out. South-winds distanced the traffic on the Western main road and surrounding urban sprawl ceased to exist; only the salty caressing breeze blew softly while waving at the river glinting to the west.

Like tailgaters at a football game in the United States, car trunks were open and stacked with beverages in coolers, snacks ready to share, and pop up chairs occupied by peoplewith dogs on leashesfaced the wide open green fields in anticipation of a golden sunset to frame mountains that looked to the east while holding hands in the north.

Southern lapwings strolling along the waters edge took wing. Was this the same day, crowds of protesters burned tires, blocked traffic, and shut down the capital?

The protests had been triggered by the death of three men in Movant, due to inexcusable police fire; only to be followed by the gunning down of a pregnant mother of fiveallegedly by the policeduring the protests.

As I considered the disparities that exist all around us, I became distracted by a bouquet of white spider like petals fringed with delicate whiskery protrusions. Could it be Redwhisker clammyweed?

Suddenly, I found that my sandalled feet were on fire. Id never stood in an enraged ants nest before so I couldnt understand what this hot peppery flame was moving up my bare legs until I saw the tiny creatures.

I hobbled, bare footed, in my white daisy dress, out of the recently bulldozed area and threw my sandals, again and again, at the newly pitched walking path, to shake the ants off while doing a frantic fire dance.

A large colony of ants, possibly half a century old, or more, had had their world destroyed by an earth scrapper in preparation for lawn. No wonder they were angry.

I felt properly chastised and began to think about the new West Park from a different angle: A tiny case-study of what has been done by those who colonised this land centuries ago; and, now, we who continue to colonise nature in the 21st century.

Due to Covid-19 we learn how easily nature can decimate humanity, where our food comes from, and how what we do to our forests and wild life has consequences for the global environment. Neglect and lack of foresight can have alarming repercussions.

Those who live on the north-west peninsular have just been given the gift of a marvellous green space to relax and enjoy natures gifts. To do so, twenty five acres of bush had to be destroyed. Many essential, almost invisible creaturesoccupants of this land long before colonisationhave had to endure constant displacement, starvation and death.

I wondered how could we give some of it back?

Worldwide there is an alarming disappearance of butterflies and pollinators. While chatting about this to Wayne Simmons, one of the decorators for the event, he said as a child growing up in the mountains of Diego Martin he loved waking up in the morning to watch the butterflies in his yard.

You hardly see them anymore, he lamented.

This conversation is taking place worldwide: Where have the butterflies gone, the honey bee, the pollinators?

Mass extinction of native, irreplaceable, food plants for pollinators, is being caused by pesticides, herbicides, commercial fertilizers and land clearing. The bush we call weeds, such as Asclepias curassavica, is indispensable to the Queen butterfly (cousin to the northern monarch), as is Paragonia pyramidata to the Morpho butterfly.

Like our complex populations of Asian, African, and the entire hybrid-rainbow of people in between, much of our flora are transplants. We exist in a state of amnesia, as the majority of us have no pre-colonised memory of these islands. What we think of as local botany, and native, was brought in by Great Britain, Spain and France!

Native pollinators pre-existed all botanic immigration. They have not changed their reproductive habits nor have they changed the food their young eat.

Without them we could not grow food. In fact, without pollinators, 80% of trees and plant life worldwide would go extinct.

Sure, butterflies can feed from immigrant flowers; but to procreate the pre-colonial host plant is indispensable to prevent starvation and extinction. Their young cannot eat Ixora leaves because its a native to Madagascarnamed after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, a British 19th century botanist who worked for the Royal Botanic Gardens, UK.

Bougainvillea is native to Brazil and named after Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French admiral and explorer during his voyage of circumnavigation in 1768. Botanists believe that the Hibiscus is a designer flower, whose ancestors were native to India, China, Mauritius, Hawaii, Fiiji, or Madagascar.

Flaming Torch ginger is native to Malaysia, where indigenous people eat its flowers as a garnish or use them in spicy fish broth called Assam laksa. The native ancestor of the anthurium flower from South America did not look like the version we have now, that was hybridized by Samuel Damon in Hawaii 1889 (Damons family had migrated to Hawaii in 1842 from the USA mainland).

It was then imported to other tropical places. Bird of Paradise flower is from South Africa, introduced to Kew Gardens, Britain, 1773. The list of outsiders is long and extends to many of our trees such as mango, coconut, orange and breadfruitall iconic trees to our understanding of self, but not native.

The following day, I went back to West Park hoping to find someone who I could talk to about what was missing from this beautiful space; the native plants that could feed the caterpillars of the missing butterflies.

Why not create on this scrapped canvas a commitment to plant flowers endemic to our island? We could plant them along the walking and running pathways.

In my minds eye, the chain-link fence along Western Main road was already full of Passion caterpillars, munching happily on climbing wild Passiflora vines. The seasonal pond could grow Bacopa monniera, so the White Peacock butterfly larva would have food.

Lavender blooming water hyacinths would be busy with dragon flies and the Scarlet Peacock butterfly, from my childhood, would proliferate in clouds celebrating our national flag of red, black and white.

Perhaps, we could ask our businesses and schools, to pair up with field naturalists, UWI students, interested neighbours, Amerindian botanists and communities.

Different groups could adopt a wildflower bed that would feed our pollinators. They in turn, would help pollinate our local gardens, farms, forests and foster bio-diversity for others, such as birds, vertebrates (lizards, toads, salamanders) and bats, etc.

Not only would our children learn how crucial the wellbeing of the small is to the well being of the big, and vice versa, but those who sponsor a bed can proudly display their names and information about the plants and pollinators.

Our citizens could learn about the place we call home. Additionally, native plants are cost-effective, they are dry weather resistant because it is in their DNA to expect dry season.

The saying you make your bed you lie in it applies to both flower-beds and the eco-systems that depend on them, and the beds of our childrens minds and hearts. By building community and cross-pollinating more privileged with less privileged, elders with youngsters, field naturalists with urban gardeners, architects with botanists, by coming together to create sustainability for all, we build goodwill.

Goodwill is infectious. It heals trauma.

My musings were suddenly interrupted by a man and woman who asked to have a word with me. They identified themselves as police and wanted to know why I was taking photographs on my walk around the periphery.

I explained that I was very excited about how wonderful the new park was and that I wanted to write about it. They requested my name and wrote it down. I asked if I looked dangerous?

They smiled at me, a middle aged woman, in my flowery skirt and sandals. They asked if I had been given permission? I said that I didnt know I needed permission because I had not planned on crashing their event.

Did they want me to leave?

The police referred me to UDECOTT and NIDCO officials who politely, but firmly, made it evident that my presence at the park was undesirableso I left.

But I knew I would return and the truth is, in starting a conversation with myself about our duty to the land I call home,I hope to continue this conversation on a national scale; for when we act as if we are above the laws of nature, like those who make laws and then put themselves above it, we endorse our own demise.

As a nation we need clarity on what it means to become one people with each other and with this lands indigenous biodiversity, to make it a place where hybrids like us can bloomand not at the expense of our environment, and each other, as those who brought us here did.

Original post:

Where've the butterflies gone? Our eco-system's in danger, fixing it can also heal T&T's anger issues - Wired868

How one successful venture changed the narrative of an entire ecosystem – Economic Times

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

MUMBAI: It takes just one startup to change the narrative of an ecosystem. Last week, Chandigarh-based PrepLadder became that startup, when the medical entrance test preparation platform was acquired by Facebook-backed educational technology company Unacademy for $50 million in a cash-and-stock deal.

The exit, hailed by founders and investors alike, is indicative of a fledgling startup ecosystem in Chandigarh, which a clutch of homegrown venture capital-backed companies in sectors such as ed-tech, agri-tech, content tech, Software as a Services (SaaS) and consumer goods call home.

The founders of these startups, both native to the city and outsiders, prefer Chandigarhs lifestyle to that of startup hubs like Bengaluru, with its traffic snarls, and Delhi-NCR, with its pollution woes.

According to startup analytics firm Tracxn, there are over 700 active startups in Chandigarh as of July 9 and more than one-third of these were founded in the last four years.

How one successful venture changed the narrative of an entire ecosystem - Economic Times

Mesothelioma: What Is Malignant Mesothelioma Cancer?

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

Mesothelioma: What Is Malignant Mesothelioma Cancer?

Alert: We're here for you. Learn how COVID-19 may affect mesothelioma patients.

Mesothelioma is a malignant tumor that is caused by inhaled asbestos fibers and forms in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. Symptoms can include shortness of breath and chest pain. The life expectancy for most mesothelioma patients is approximately 12 months after diagnosis. Treatment may improve prognosis and can include surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

Learn more about mesothelioma and the steps you can take to fight this disease.

Mesothelioma is an incurable, asbestos-related cancer that typically affects the lining of the lungs. However, mesothelioma tumors can develop in the lining of the abdominal cavity or heart.

Key Facts about Mesothelioma

Symptoms of mesothelioma appear when tumors spread, grow and press against the chest wall and the abdominal cavity. Chest pain and shortness of breath are the most common symptoms.

A balanced mesothelioma diet can help ease your symptoms and speed recovery. Get a free nutrition guide with quick and easy recipes that can help improve your quality of life.

A biopsy is the only mesothelioma test that confirms a diagnosis. Doctors may use additional diagnostic procedures. An early mesothelioma diagnosis may increase a patients eligibility for all treatment options.

Most people initially undergo a basic chest X-ray to check for any abnormalities. If an abnormal growth or fluid around the lung is detected, doctors will recommend a more detailed imaging scan such as a PET scan, CT scan or MRI.

If cancer is suspected, doctors will recommend taking a sample of tissue, also knowns as a biopsy. Doctors use this tissue sample to definitively confirm the presence of malignant mesothelioma cells.

Blood tests may be used but do not confirm the presence of mesothelioma. Researchers are evaluating if blood tests can aid in the early diagnosis of at-risk former asbestos workers.

Doctors use at least five staging systems to stage pleural mesothelioma. The IMIG staging system is preferred. No universal staging system exists for the other mesothelioma types.

Asbestos exposure is the primary cause of mesothelioma. People exposed to asbestos at home, work or in the military have a higher risk of developing the cancerous disease.

A person inhales or swallows microscopic airborne asbestos fibers.

The asbestos fibers become lodged in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart.

Embedded fibers damage mesothelial cells and cause inflammation.

Over time, tumors form on the damaged mesothelium, leading to mesothelioma.

People most at risk of developing mesothelioma handled asbestos for a prolonged period of time or were exposed to large amounts of asbestos as part of their career.

Secondhand exposure is also common, especially among the spouses and children of people who worked with asbestos.

Firefighters, construction workers, power plant workers, shipyard workers and others are among these types of workers.

U.S. Navy veterans are most at risk. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard veterans also face health risks.

Spouses, children and others who lived with a person who was regularly exposed to asbestos fibers are at risk.

Experienced mesothelioma attorneys will help you get compensation for treatment costs, lost wages and other expenses.

The stages of mesothelioma range from 1 to 4 and are based on tumor size and location.

Early-stage mesothelioma is usually more confined to one site, while late-stage mesothelioma shows tumors spreading beyond the chest or abdominal cavity. Staging is an important part of determining treatment.

The cancer is localized. Surgery is most effective at this stage. Survival rate is higher. A patients median life expectancy at stage 1 is 22.2 months.

Tumors have spread from the original location and moved into adjacent structures. Surgery is still an option. Median life expectancy at stage 2 is 20 months.

Cancer has spread into the regional lymph nodes. Surgery is an option in select circumstances. The patients median life expectancy at stage 3 is 17.9 months.

Tumors have spread into distant organs. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy ease symptoms. Median life expectancy at stage 4 is 14.9 months.

The four types of mesothelioma cancer are identified by the location in the body where tumors develop. Pleural and peritoneal types of mesothelioma are the most common. Pericardial mesothelioma accounts for 1% of cases.

Prognosis, symptoms and treatment options vary by mesothelioma type.

There are three cell types of mesothelioma named for the cancerous cells found in the tumors: Epithelioid, sarcomatoid and biphasic. Some are more common and respond well to treatments. Others are rarer and more resistant to therapies.

These cells are the most responsive to treatment. This type of mesothelioma accounts for 70% of mesothelioma diagnoses. It also leads to improved prognosis and life expectancy.

Cells of this type are least responsive to treatment. Patients with these cell types have poorer diagnoses and shorter life expectancies. This mesothelioma type accounts for 10% of all cases.

This is a combination of epithelioid and sarcomatoid cells. Its less responsive to treatment. Prognosis and life expectancy depend on the ratio of both cell types. It accounts for 30% to 40% of cases.

Mesothelioma cancer is treated with conventional therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. But not every patient is eligible for each type of mesothelioma treatment. Some patients also opt for emerging cancer treatments, including clinical trials, and alternative therapies.

This therapy is used for diagnosing, removing tumors or easing pain. It offers the greatest chance of survival for patients with strong health and limited cancer spread.

More than 70% of patients undergo chemotherapy. The therapys strong drugs shrink tumors and kill cancer cells, but it also presents severe treatment side effects.

The therapy can be used at any cancer stage. Doctors perform it to reduce pain and slow tumor growth. It is often combined with surgery and chemotherapy.

Researchers and doctors offer these experimental therapies across the nation to eligible patients. Clinical trials lead to new or improved treatments.

Most doctors have never encountered mesothelioma because it is a rare cancer. Doctors who focus on mesothelioma at specialty treatment centers provide patients the best chances of extending life and improving prognosis.

In fact, a 2009 Journal of General Internal Medicine study showed cancer care requires skills of specialty physicians such as medical oncologists, surgeons and radiation oncologists.

Mesothelioma specialists encompass a number of specialties, including surgery, medical and radiation oncology, radiology, pathology and palliative care. All can be part of a patients treatment plan. Working with an experienced mesothelioma doctor can make all the difference.

The most-regarded treatment centers attract people from across the country. Renowned for their cutting-edge technology and groundbreaking research, these centers can connect you with a multidisciplinary team of physicians with years of experience in treating asbestos-related diseases.

Research, get a second opinion from a mesothelioma specialist and dont be afraid to ask questions. You cant make an informed decision if you dont have the information.

Emily Ward

Pleural Mesothelioma Survivor

The prognosis for mesothelioma is not good. The life expectancy for most patients is about 12 months after diagnosis. Those who can undergo multimodal therapy, which is a combination of two or more treatments, have an improved prognosis.

Factors that most affect mesothelioma prognosis are stage and cell type. Age, gender and exposure history also affect outlook. Younger patients and women have a better mesothelioma prognosis than older men. People diagnosed with the peritoneal mesothelioma type also have a higher chance of survival.

Patients can improve prognosis by eating a nutrient-rich diet, staying healthy, undergoing cancer treatments and making healthier lifestyle choices such as quitting smoking.

Legal and financial options for mesothelioma patients and their families can provide financial compensation to pay medical bills, cover lost wages and other expenses. A mesothelioma lawyer can review your case, so you receive the highest compensation.

A mesothelioma patient can file a personal injury lawsuit. The estate of the patient who died from mesothelioma can file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Bankrupt asbestos companies established trust funds to provide compensation for people exposed to asbestos because of company negligence.

Because the U.S. military relied heavily on asbestos, veterans diagnosed with mesothelioma may be eligible for financial and medical benefits.

Many forms of support are available for mesothelioma patients, survivors, loved ones and families.

Mesothelioma survivors, caregivers and family members often need a place where they can share their ongoing struggles and amazing accomplishments. We offer a support group, hosted by a licensed mental health counselor, that offers a safe place for all mesothelioma survivors.

You and your loved ones can advocate for others who are going through the same cancer journey. Getting involved in the move to ban asbestos and raise mesothelioma awareness can have long-lasting and positive effects.

Request a comprehensive mesothelioma guide to gain a deeper understanding of the cancer and how you can help your loved one during this difficult time. We can provide you with a free must-read book that answers frequently asked questions about mesothelioma.

Our latest guide for patients and loved ones is shipped overnight and includes treatment information, legal resources, mesothelioma books and support wristbands.

Common Questions About Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma Patients Can Safely Get Treatment Through Telehealth and Video – MesotheliomaHelp.org

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Danzig

The COVID-19 virus has disrupted all of our lives and routines. Things that we always did and places we always went are no longer available. The pandemic has forced us to all look at things we routinely do and challenged us to do them differently.

Like in business, in medicine sometimes small disruptions can lead to larger innovative changes. In the treatment of malignant mesothelioma, disruptors have led the way. Over the years we have seen doctors challenging the previously held belief that there was no treatment for malignant mesothelioma time and time again. The treatment options and longer quality of life that many mesothelioma patients are now able to be part of was not an option 20 years ago.

Before the pandemic, having a doctors visit for the vast majority of people involved going to the office or clinic at an appointed time, waiting, and meeting with the doctor. Patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma had the option of travelling to a Mesothelioma Center of Excellence to consult with experts in the field. Since the pandemic, with social isolation and doctors offices and clinics closed to prevent the spread of the virus, there has been a surge of tele-health visits.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for the Advancement of Telehealth promotes the use of telehealth technology for health care. Their definition of tele-health is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications.

In 2018, tele-health was 0.1 percent of all medical claims filed. Since the pandemic those numbers are exploding.

Tele-health has made possible consults and reviewing of scans and meetings with mesothelioma experts. As things are starting to open back up, so are the patients coming back to the mesothelioma centers for in-person consultations.

Like any new technology telehealth has pros and cons. Some people have commented that you have the MDs full attention without the distractions of an office and other responsibilities. Other people have missed the personal interaction and meeting in person with their doctor.

The coronavirus has brought to the forefront a technology that can benefit a lot of people as they search for the best advanced personalized care for themselves or loved ones with mesothelioma. Tele-health can help malignant mesothelioma patients connect with a mesothelioma center without having to travel. It will take awhile to assess how tele-health will be accessed and have the best results for patients. For patients, their satisfaction with tele-health will need to be studied and evaluated to continue to efficiently access tele-health with the best results.

If you or a family member is diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma reach out, either electronically or in person for the best possible care. Our experts can help connect you with both the medical and legal resources you need to move forward.

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Mesothelioma Patients Can Safely Get Treatment Through Telehealth and Video - MesotheliomaHelp.org

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