We Implemented Cryptocurrency In Our Cannabis Business. Here’s What We Found. – Green Entrepreneur

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March24, 20205 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If youre a cannabis entrepreneur, you already know that banking and payment processing are major issues in the cannabis industry.

There are limited payment options if you sell CBD.It is magnitudes more difficult if you are selling THC-centered products.

RELATED:How To Guerilla Market Your Cannabis Brand

Last year, banking issues in the cannabis industry reached the national spotlight when NPR published the aptly-titled article Bags Of Cash, Armed Guards And Wary Banks: The Edgy Life Of A Cannabis Company CFO.

Once (or if) you can find a bank to work with, your bank account runs the risk of being shut down at a moments notice.

Then, you face the challenge of payment processing. Its more difficult for startups with no payment processing history to obtain one. And if a payment processor decides to ban you, your business will be left temporarily unable to accept credit cards.

On top of that, processing fees in the cannabis industry are significantly higher when compared to traditional commerce. We are talking between 4 percent and 6 percent, triple the average of other industries.

A solution is on the horizon.

An emerging, immature, and often misunderstood Bitcoin cryptocurrencytechnology was unleashed on the world in 2009.11 years later, it hascome a longway. Bitcoin can be bought and sold in every country. Mainstream financial channels like CNBC and Bloomberg have teams dedicated to Bitcointechnology.

The promise is appealing. You can be your own bank. No more frozen funds. Transactions cant be censored and the fees cost next to nothing. Plus, payment processing cannot be shut off, unlike traditional banking.

RELATED:Coronavirus Spikes Demand For Cannabis Delivery As People Stockpile Products

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum intend to solve the problems faced by high-risk banking industries. Its worth noting that on a dark web marketplace known as the Silk Road,thenumber oneproduct sold (by far) was marijuana. The Silk Road is now defunct, but when it was still functioning back in 2011, it showed that Bitcoin has a role to play as a digital currency.

Is cryptocurrency a viable payment solution for your cannabis business?

Like many new technologies, cryptocurrency is not easy to understand. The complexity is where most people lose interest.

Heres something to think about:Most of us do not know how the internet works.Transferring data via "packets," the interaction of protocols like TCP, SMTP, and HTTPS, its all quite detailed under the hood. But this does not prevent you from shopping online, sending an email, or reading this article.

Our company hadprior experience with cryptocurrency, so it made the decision easier than it would be for other cannabis entrepreneurs.

Now that you want to enable the payment option, you have to get set up.

To acceptonline payments, we used the free tool Coinbase Commerce, which integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce and most major platforms. It took us about 30 minutes from signing up to having it live.

We were set up and ready to go, except for one thing: customers.

If you spend even 15 minutes interacting with the cryptocurrency community on Twitter, Reddit, or anywhere else, youll quickly see they are a passionate, enthusiastic (albeit tribal) group.

By sharing a few links on Reddit channels, we received cryptocurrency orders on the first day.

The most interesting and effective part was our charity initiative. By using cryptocurrency to cross borders and feed people in Venezuela and South Sudan, two countries with extremely limited banking options, it showed a fundamental advantage cryptocurrency holds over traditional banking.

RELATED:Cryptocurrency and the Allure of a Cashless Cannabis Industry

It sparked some sales and press for our startup. A few CBD stores reached out to us asking how they could accept cryptocurrency.Even our coffee supplier is open to receiving Bitcoin.There is a lot of underlying interest in the cannabis industry, but they are primarily spectators who arent sure how to participate.

After a few months of time has passed using cryptocurrency, it has been a positive experience. We think all cannabis companies should consider accepting Bitcoin at their business. Keep in mind, cryptocurrency orders are only a small fraction of our total orders. Thatshould be expected at any cannabis company. Your dollars will not turn into Bitcoin overnight.

Thats not to say there arent some drawbacks to consider. First off, if you use Coinbase Commerce, youll have to manually convert your cryptocurrency back into U.S. Dollars. There are services like GoCoin that do this for you for a 1 percentfee (still a lot cheaper than credit card processing).

Second, if you have storefront locations, the cashiers will have to know how to accept payments. AnyPay offers a free POS app, but like any software, it still takes some time to learn.

In the coming years, cryptocurrency has the potential for exponential growth, and there are perks to being an early adopter.Id encourage you to be skeptical of experts who dismiss cryptocurrency in its early days.Remember, Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, once predicted: "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.

Cryptocurrency will not be a magic bullet for your business. But in an industry that has an uncertain banking future, why not offer your customers an additional payment method and get some free press in the process?

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We Implemented Cryptocurrency In Our Cannabis Business. Here's What We Found. - Green Entrepreneur

Cryptocurrency Donations Bring an Advanced Medical Post for Coronavirus Victims to Italy – The Merkle Hash

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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can often be used to support charitable events. During the novel coronavirus outbreak, Italys Red Cross is accepting Bitcoin donations for an advanced medical post.

It is evident that a lot of countries will need help to keep the novel coronavirus in check.

In Italy, the situation has spiraled out of control completely in the past week.

With so many patients awaiting treatment, new solutions need to be found.

One campaign on HelperBit was designed to achieve funding for an advanced medical post for pre-triage.

A goal of 10,000 Euro was set, which was reached on March 15th.

Following the success, the campaign was extended to complete core infrastructure with necessary accessories.

At the time of this campaigns creation, the number of confirmed cases and deaths was much lower compared to today.

These developments only highlight the need for medical supplies in Italy as of right now.

What makes the campaign so interesting is how all of the funding can be done through cryptocurrencies.

Both Bitcoin and various altcoins are accepted under the current circumstances.

It is a great way for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to contribute to the greater cause.

More efforts like these may need to be launched in the near future, as the coronavirus crisis is far from over.

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Cryptocurrency Donations Bring an Advanced Medical Post for Coronavirus Victims to Italy - The Merkle Hash

Oxford academic claims future humans could live for thousands of years – Express.co.uk

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The comment was made by Anders Sandberg, a senior research fellow at the universitys Future of Humanity Institute. His work focuses on the potential risks future technology could pose to human civilisation.

Mr Sandberg has also spent decades involved with the transhumanist movement, which consists of people who believe humans can and should use technology to artificially augment their capabilities.

Speaking to Express.co.uk he argued humans in the future could enjoy greatly expanded lifespans and could even have their brains uploaded onto computers for safekeeping.

Asked how long humans could live Mr Sandberg replied: There is no fundamental ceiling but you are going to need to solve certain problems.

Accidents is the first one cryonics wont help you if a bus runs over you and turns you into mush.

Even if ageing and disease is not a problem you need to handle accidents and probably that means having some form of backup copies. You need some form of uploading or artificial body.

Probably the human brain cant handle that much information so you need to extend it as you get older.

You want to remember what needs to be remembered and maybe put other stuff in cyber storage.

Transhumanists believe humans can halt the ageing process and natural death.

According to Mr Sandberg this is one of the most provocative aspects of their programme.

He explained: Transhumanists have essentially since day one been saying we should really extend the human lifespan and this is perhaps one of the most controversial claims ever made.

We get way more pushback when talking about life extension than cloning or uploading into computers or going to space or taking drugs to become a more moral person.

Thats nothing compared to the potential of oh you might live much longer than you expected.

READ MORE:Academic explains how humans could become part mechanic cyborgs'

That is kind of dreadful to many people so they get very upset and start defending disease, sickness and death very strongly.

Its weird because if one believed their arguments we should be shutting down hospitals left and right and having people naturally and painfully die which of course people dont normally do. Normally we are very keen on having good hospitals and ambulances.

Mr Sandberg is the co-founder of Swedish thinktank Eudoxa and previously chaired the Swedish Transhumanist Association.

Transhumanist ideas have been gaining ground over recent years, with transhumanist political parties emerging in countries across the world including the UK.

An American transhumanist, Zoltan Istvan, recently ran against Trump for the 2020 Republican Presidential nomination.

Mr Sandberg also suggested advances in AI and drugs that improve human abilities are likely to play a role in the future.

READ MORE:US Presidential hopeful plans to ABOLISH DEATH using technology

He asserted: Its very likely artificial intelligence is going to become extremely powerful relatively soon.

Not necessarily the kind of self-willed Hal like being but at least very smart services that can solve problems for us which might speed things up.

I also have been working quite a lot on the ethics of cognitive enhancement. What about making ourselves smarter?

The good news is there are various things like smart drugs that might be helpful for certain mental tasks.

The bad news is there doesnt seem to be anything that really boost intelligence itself. That seems to be very complicated and we dont understand the brain well enough.

Oxford Universitys Future of Humanity Institute was founded in 2005 to focus on the opportunities and threats that could emerge for the human species.

It is headed by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, who grabbed wide attention with his 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.

Asked what the world could look like in 40 years time Mr Sandberg replied: think a time traveller going 40 years into the future is first going to be super disappointed because it looks almost the same.

On the surface I think its going to be very similar theres going to be vehicles moving around, maybe without any drivers, there are going to be houses around and so on and then they start interacting with people and theyre going to realise this society works completely differently.

We most likely are going to have quite a lot of enhancements around that are regarded as everyday.

People are not going to think that the morning cognition enhancing pill is any weirder than the morning coffee they might even be the same thing.

The existence of a lot of machine learning and probably nanotechnology making a lot of material way more alive than they used to.

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Oxford academic claims future humans could live for thousands of years - Express.co.uk

Electioneering on the Eve of the Virus Nathan Thornburgh and photographer Shane Carpenter were in New – Roads and Kingdoms

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Nathan Thornburgh and photographer Shane Carpenter were in New Hampshire last month for their longterm reporting project on the states odd presidential primary. In hindsight, it looks more surreal than ever.

It is unnerving to look at the pictures at this moment, in this week. Photographer Shane Carpenter and I have been working on a longterm project about the New Hampshire presidential primary for four election cycles spanning 16 years, but the things Ive come to love about the campaign up therethe intimacy of retail politicking, the electricity of the big ralliesnow just trip alarms in my mind. All the handshakes. All the pressed flesh, the leaning in, the campaign buses filled with coughing staffers, the moist microphones, the communal pens at the polls. The collective spittle of a talkative, aging electorate grabbing the shoulders of talkative, aging candidates. The entire thing feels so antediluvian.

But still, this is how it was just a few weeks ago. Were at the end of New Hampshire series of The Trip Podcastthe final episode is with Zoltan Istvan, who is both a lesser-known candidate for president and an avowed transhumanist obsessed with using technology to defeat deathso it seems a good time to publish a few of Shanes photographs from our time there.

We spent some time, as we always do, getting to know the brave and occasionally delusional lesser-known candidates who pay to be on the official ballot in the hopes of stealing some votes for themselves or their cause. And there were mainstream moments, like the Mcintyre-Shaheen candidate cattle-call in the big downtown arena. That one was cathartic for Shane and me in particular; the last time we were at that arena was for Trumps final 2016 rally before the primary in New Hampshire. He used the word pussy while ad-libbing with the crowd; he booed and badgered the press as they stood in their pen. It was the kind of monster truck rally political event that has become all too familiar over the last four years. The next day, Trump won.

This year, the New Hampshire primary was held on February 11, twelve days after the first U.S. coronavirus patient had been diagnosed in Washington State. No candidate mentioned it once while we were there; no voter asked any questions about it. On Primary Day, Shane and I drove down from Dixville Notch, where we had witnessed the campy traditions of the midnight vote. The next day we left the state; I drove back to Boston and took the Acela to New York City.

Less than two weeks after that, the Biogen conference kicked off at the Marriott Long Wharf in Boston. So far, 97 confirmed cases have been reported among conference attendees, spreading throughout the U.S. and even to China.

Now the virus is everywhere, and these pictures are unnerving to look at, but somewhere in here youll see the next president of the United States (and no, Im not talking about our lesser-known candidates like self-described jailhouse lawyer Mary Maxwell, Arkansan actual lawyer Mosie Boyd, or Zoltan Istvan). And though its hard to know what the half-life of social distancing will be after this pandemic ends, I do know that many of the building blocks of the new America we get after this one has molted are in these photos. The fervor, the turnout, the radical belief in participatory democracy. Well need them all.

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Electioneering on the Eve of the Virus Nathan Thornburgh and photographer Shane Carpenter were in New - Roads and Kingdoms

MultiBrief: Surviving coronavirus: Bravery, health, and strength – MultiBriefs Exclusive

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Be Brave. Good Health. Stay Strong. These three (albeit optimistic) convictions grace childlike artwork pinned to an overturned wooden cable spool in an Albuquerque neighborhood near the University of New Mexico. As coronavirus spreads, a yard full of art reminds us to keep our convictions.

Big Techs version of cable no longer signals a 5G future filled with exuberant STEAM lesson plans guaranteeing a creative class career. Coronavirus has frozen the future in time, requiring repurposed cable spools as tables, with the cable itself used to rig some backyard makeshift permaculture system, at best.

Artwork expresses much more than our irrelevant textbooks and quickly outdated news reports. While stocking up on beans and rice is essential, bravery, health, and strength is more essential in the sink or swim chance environment of COVID-19 contagion. This is a viral contagion that, in addition to its disconcerting capacity to mutate, can also ostensibly live much longer than three days on surfaces. Cruise ships have incubated viral traces living up to 17 days: hows that for an epidemiological learning curve?

Its fortunate schools are closed: what can teachers tell students? Fearful and grumpy, from pre-K to college, they miss their friends desperately, hopefully shuttered in the home their parents secured for the family before the virus hit hard. Homeless students didnt fare that well in this high-stakes game of life they are learning about too young.

Far from Big Techs imposter educated-class vision of a transhumanist egalitarian future with optimized minds delivered by Artificial Intelligence/Big Data, even if your gifted children are quarantined for their own protection, viral contagion of pandemic proportions is not the future trans-humanists plan for.

Hiveminds be damned, the children are still going to sit in parks and hold hands!

At least big boxes like Walmart and Amazon are mass hiring for warehouse work. You might find work making ventilators and masks at one of the repurposed factories. Or you can help innovate the 3-D-printed kind.

Commissary-style prices are looking quite attractive to big-box retailers, as usually spoiled companies adjust profit margin expectations, since prisoner releases will make it harder to price gouge prison commissaries anyway. Healthcare workers, too, are paying dearly, some with their lives.

The global COVID-19 toll surges upwards toward half a million official cases; the line between death and life blurs depending on your chance lot. Whether grave illness, layoff stress, or rent relief describes your days better, life has changed, and uncertainty abounds, especially regarding the newly reconfigured social sphere.

The stock market is trying something new by surging upwards, just as news of a $2 trillion bailout has arrived at a pandemic near everyone. New York states cases double every three days, possibly leaving Wall Street rather empty with no one left to ring that opening bell.

COVID-19s dramatic and tragic spreading has fingers pointing in all directions: plenty of culprits to blame. Death kindly stops for too many, and Trump-era deregulation appears to be curtailed momentarily, but its effects are everywhere when you look closer.

For example, nuclear weapons make the list of essential businesses to remain open, while some nuclear industry employees are encouraged to work from home if possible.

COVID-19 takes no hostages. Many lessons are lost. Setting better priorities and being better prepared for next time or taking time to stop and smell the flowers are quaint lessons from already bygone days that seem more indulgent than the new realities suddenly thrust on everyone living and breathing.

The virus lives longer and spreads faster, winning the race against our now humbled science. Real-time, tech-savvy data on Twitter can update the most well-intentioned graphic renderings, but neighborhood artwork, guided by children, is our real-time information, emerging from imaginations with more time on their hands than ever, but with less certainty than we could have ever imagined.

Adult reality consoles little, with little to show but a nightmare in exchange for all our hard work.

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Coronavirus and the Rise and Fall of Humanism – CounterPunch

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Contemporary engraving of Marseille during the Great Plague in 1720 Public Domain

It is a truism that the Black Death helped produce the age of humanism. Through making death ever-present, the plague undermined a system of religious authority in which the church and the church alone claimed to have answers to the fundamental questions of human existence; the priests naturally still asserted that this was the case but were now as likely as not to drop dead once they did so. Amid the dissolution of the churchs legitimacy as well as, more specifically, its monopoly on truth and salvation, survivors began tending to all that was immediate and material, specifically in the form of the particular and the human.

It was out of this reorientation in which humans became the central focus of concern and inquiry a worldview in which the secular and the particular were seen as valuable in and of themselves that the Mona Lisa and Vitruvian Man, Rousseau and Marx, and Hitchcock and Dylan emerged.

Humanism has simultaneously been cogently condemned, as the civilizational project elevating above all else human interests has led to a particularly ferocious rapacity that views other animals and the environment as means merely to be exploited for human ends. It is but one of many ironies that Europes mining industries, and with them European concentrations of lead, dramatically expanded in the centuries following the Black Death. And, of course, in reality there exists not some monolithic humanity but instead a minute ruling class that justifies its atrocities through speaking for, while extracting the life and wealth from, the vast majority. From the annihilation of the Peasants Revolt to the mass slaughters committed by Leopold II and George W. Bush, the exaltation of humans always implied in practice not humanity per se but a self-appointed elite living through the subjugation of everyone else.

That said, it is interesting to note that the current pandemic is, aside from its exponentially growing number of victims, primarily being experienced through highly mediated online apparatuses including so-called social media. If 9/11, perhaps the most recent major crisis of a comparable order in the US, was largely experienced passively through watching television, coronavirus has of yet been experienced mainly through not only reading but also writing out ones fears and anxieties to an audience of readers on attention-economy sites such as Facebook.

Such virtual interaction laid the groundwork for and meshes with the physical distancing that governmental and other authorities are currently mandating. All you had to do was observe some friends hanging out in a bar to see that we have long been isolated from one another. This goes beyond the supposedly stodgy lament of one who agrees that attention is the highest gift we can give each other. If the discourtesy of not listening to a friend is supposedly beyond politics, the reason that we are ignoring each other is not. We are lost not in beautiful mountains or other wonders of existence when we endlessly ask our interlocutors to repeat themselves but in social media and dating sites in which algorithms determine the distribution of physiologically addictive rewards and thereby shape intrinsically individualistic and competitive behavior that not only isolates but also homogenizes us. Quarantining us in our apartments or houses, proscribing human interaction within six feet, and sanctioning societys revulsion toward human secretion, breath, odor, and matter, the state has committed its authority and coercive force to the digital revolution as well as the broader transhumanist projects of Musk and other powerful misanthropes whose fantasies of self-obliteration are peddled as mystical transcendence.

Locked into a hyper-capitalistic internet whose material purpose is the commodification of our subjectivity and an ensuing eradication of our interiority, the particular is, more systematically than ever, being erased from human reality. If the Black Death helped usher in humanism, coronavirus, for better or worse, may well hasten its end.

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The Innovia Foundation’s former president has finally won his three-year battle to stop the organization from donating to a racist website – Pacific…

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Young Kwak photo

Last week, Innovia Foundation CEO Shelly O'Quinn initially refused to say whether the foundation would stop contributing to the alt-right website VDare.

There's one thing the Innovia Foundation can never say: That it hadn't been told.

Mark Hurtubise, the outgoing president of the foundation then known as the Inland Northwest Community Foundation was first alerted by his grants department in late January of 2017 that his organization was being used as a middleman to help fund VDare, a racist alt-right website.

So way back in February of 2017, Hurtubise says, he sent a six-page letter to the foundation's board members, warning them that the institution's integrity was at stake, and laying out a number of noxious statements that had been published on VDare.

There were articles accusing black people and immigrants of having lower IQs, arguing that America was founded explicitly as a "white nation, for white people," blaming Jews for "weakening America's historic white majority," and a quote, from VDare's founder, that "Hispanics do specialize in rape, particularly of children."

A wealthy donor wanted to use the "donor-advised fund" he'd set up with the community foundation to donate thousands of dollars to VDare.

Legally, the ultimate destination of his money was solely controlled by the community foundation. But the foundation's board chair at the time, Bob Bishopp, argued that they had "no legal basis" to not send the money to the hate group, although he also noted that, in the near future, the board should revisit the issue, and potentially rewrite their policies.

Hurtubise refused to sign the check, but the board which included community figures like Patricia McCrae, president of KHQ, Inc., and Sandi Bloem, former mayor of Coeur d'Alene went forward with the donation anyway.

For the next three years, Hurtubise repeatedly pleaded with the foundation's leadership to officially commit to no longer funding hate groups. But records suggest that Hurtubise was rebuffed, accused of trying to hurt the foundation and told he might need to consider getting a lawyer, all while Innovia continued lavishing increasingly large sums upon VDare.

Since Hurtubise stepped down as the foundation's president in June of 2017, the group has sent an additional $34,500 in donor-advised funds to VDare.

"I had concluded there was no empathy, no real concern for people who were being affected by these grants," Hurtubise says. "It's not moral."

But last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-hate group, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a white paper on how charities contribute to hate groups. It starred Innovia under a section titled "Donor Recommends a Grant to a White Nationalist Organization."

Within six days, Innovia announced that they would no longer support VDare, and that a new anti-hate policy would be passed next month to ensure they "never again provide grant funds to organizations that promote hate."

Innovia says that they'd spent years laying the groundwork for the new policy.

Daniel Walters photo

Betsy Wilkerson, recently appointed to the Spokane City Council, rejoined the Innovia board in 2018.

"The community has taken the foundation out behind the woodshed and we got spanked. We did," acknowledges Spokane City Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson, a black woman who rejoined the Innovia Foundation board in 2018. "We were slow in responding. But we had to work through the process."

TRUTH OR VDARE

Named after "Virginia Dare," supposedly the first white child to be born in America, VDare's mission goes beyond the rhetoric of a typical anti-immigration group and into claims that changing the country's racial balance threatens the very survival of America's identity.

"VDare.com also regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites," notes the Southern Poverty Law Center in an article labeling VDare a "hate group."

Conservatives often reflexively dismiss the SPLC, accusing them of tarring even mainstream conservative groups by calling them bigots. But many of those conservative groups also accuse VDare of bigotry. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, for instance, calls VDare a "white supremacist" website. In 2018, the Trump administration fired speechwriter Darren Beattie just for speaking at a panel with the founder of VDare.

And when conservative outlets exile a right-wing figure as too beyond-the-pale for their views to be even published, VDare welcomes them with open arms. The conservative National Review magazine fired John Derbyshire for writing a piece for another publication urging parents to tell their children to avoid "events likely to draw a lot of blacks."

But he found a home at VDare, where he quickly wrote that "white supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements history has come up with."

The conservative Canadian outlet Rebel Media fired commenter Faith Goldy after she celebrated a "rising white racial consciousness" at the infamous 2017 alt-right rally in Charlottesville and then appeared on a neo-Nazi Daily Stormer podcast. Today, Goldy publishes podcasts with titles like "Whites Have Rights: It's Time to Get Serious About Secession" on VDare.

While VDare founder Peter Brimelow denies he's a white nationalist he's said that his "heart is with civic nationalism," but his "head is with racial nationalism" he's repeatedly celebrated the fact that VDare publishes white nationalists. Fifteen years ago, Brimelow was publishing a far-right figure named Jared Taylor, praising him as "the most brilliant and accomplished figure among white nationalists."

The month before the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, one of the organizers had penned a VDare article titled, "Yes Virginia (Dare), There Is Such a Thing as a White Genocide." When a woman was killed by a white supremacist in the rally, even the online payment service PayPal refused to process donations to VDare.

But for two and a half years after Charlottesville, donor-advised funds continued to support VDare. In 2018, the Inland Northwest Community Foundation spent $90,000 and held numerous meetings with around 50 different stakeholders to rebrand itself as "Innovia," but continued to shell out increasing amounts of funding to VDare on behalf of its mystery donor.

Their tax records released that year show that during the first year of the foundation's new CEO, former County Commissioner Shelly O'Quinn, donor-advised grants to VDare cracked the $5,000 threshold for the first time.

In June of 2018, Hurtubise wrote about his frustrations in Alliance, a magazine about the philanthropic world: "In my long career," he wrote, without naming Innovia, "I believe passive racism was ratified over my objection when the board unanimously favored the biases of a wealthy donor instead of supporting the advancement of all races."

In September of 2018, he sent a letter to the board and O'Quinn. He cited the Alliance article and pleaded with them to explicitly guarantee that foundation funding would not be used to support "racist/and or discriminatory endeavors."

But Innovia quadrupled down. Between the summer of 2018 and the summer of 2019, it quietly channeled $22,000 more in donor-advised funding to VDare. Hurtubise had no idea it was that much. But he kept pestering the board to change their policies.

"I even said to the board, 'I'm assuming most of you are Christian,'" Hurtubise says. "'It's easy to say that you're a Christian if you've never had to be one.'"

By June of 2019, legal action was being discussed.

"As I am reading through emails you have sent to others over the past six months, including this weekend, I have to ask: What is your motivation?" O'Quinn wrote to Hurtubise. "Is it to: Destroy the foundation? Indict certain board members? Right a perceived wrong? If this is the case, then perhaps we both need to 'weigh seeking legal counsel.'"

In the email, O'Quinn stressed that she didn't want to get lawyers involved, but also that she refused to discuss what happened in the past.

Today, O'Quinn tells the Inlander that Hurtubise first raised the prospect of legal counsel and that she'd invited him to work with Innovia to change their donor-advised fund policy.

Hurtubise disputes that characterization and says O'Quinn's email was the final straw. In August of 2019, he sat down at a symposium about nonprofits funding hate groups that included the Southern Poverty Law Center and shared his story.

Still, the Innovia spigot continued flowing to VDare, with Innovia donating an additional $7,500 between September and November of last year. It was only this week that Innovia was willing to say they'd no longer fund VDare.

O'Quinn, however, claims the board hadn't been ignoring the issue. Instead, she says they'd been on a "journey over the last two and a half years" to change the board's policies.

"We did take action. It was not as fast as I would have liked," O'Quinn says. "It's not as simple as simply adopting an anti-hate statement."

NEVER AGAIN

But Hurtubise says it was as simple as telling the donor "no."

For wealthy donors, donor-advised funds offer an appealing deal: They can donate assets including money, stocks and land to a community organization, get a big, immediate tax write-off for it, and get to suggest how the funds should be spent. The catch? According to the IRS, the community organizations "must have the ultimate authority over how the assets in the funds are invested and distributed."

But O'Quinn says that, in the case of the donor recommending Innovia donate to VDare, he had the "expectation" that Innovia would donate to whatever 501(c)(3) nonprofit he recommended. O'Quinn argues Innovia had to consider issues like avoiding potential litigation. (Some donor-advised fund providers have been sued by donors who accused them of breaking promises.)

Hurtubise, however, notes that the attorney's law firm for the foundation was also the attorney's law firm for the donor.

"There's obviously an appearance of a conflict of interest," Hurtubise says.

But it's complicated, O'Quinn says. During her half-hour interview with the Inlander on Monday, O'Quinn uses the phrase "legal complexities" or "legally complex" nine times.

"Do you realize that of the 750-plus community foundations in the country, there's only a handful that actually developed anti-hate policy statements and we are going to be among them?" O'Quinn says. "Most of them have not, because it is not a simple issue."

Indeed, in a 2019 article in Sludge, a left-leaning journalistic website, investigative reporter Alex Kotch calculated that two of the largest donor-advised fund providers, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund and Vanguard Charitable, donated a combined $46,100 to VDare over a three-year period.

And as Kotch argues, these foundations aren't just giving the donors the right to donate to controversial organizations, they're giving them the power of anonymity. The IRS doesn't know who the donor is sending his money to VDare through Innovia. Even VDare doesn't know.

"The new white hood is the anonymity that is provided by foundations to facilitate the awarding of millions of dollars going to hate organizations," Hurtubise says.

For all his brashness, even Hurtubise isn't willing to identify the name of the donor, feeling bound by his fiduciary duty to the organization he just led.

But, increasingly, nonprofits are pushing back against the issue. Last year, the Amalgamated Foundation launched a "Hate Is Not Charitable" campaign to urge nonprofits to promise to no longer allow donor-advised funds to go toward hate groups.

And, next month, Innovia will officially be making that promise, part of what Wilkerson and O'Quinn characterize as their larger commitment to diversity and racial equity.

Hurtubise says that, at least, is a cause for celebration.

"It can be a model for what other community foundations can do," he says. "This is exactly what I thought the foundation should have done back in January of 2017."

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Young Knives announce first new album in seven years ‘Barbarians’ – DIY Magazine

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Announcing their first full-length album since 2013s Sick Octave, Young Knives will release their fifth album Barbarians on 4th September.

As with every Young Knives album, me and House always need a good reason to make it, Henry explains. We often start with some high concept that we feel passionate about and use it like a framework to build lyrics and motifs around. As confirmed but self-aware nihilistic miserabilists we often have to dig our way out of a spiralling bleak world view that would make for a super depressing listen. This album is no different. But I think thats the point of the records we make: how can we turn the worse aspects of humanity into something really fucking entertaining? Obviously there was a lot going on around the world at the time we were writing the record, with the rise of the alt-right and politics designed to divide us. All this fed into a sense that humans are always going to have this battle between our collective existence and the existence of the individual, some days we give and some days we take.

I read Straw Dogs [2002 book by philosopher John Gray] after having put it off for years because of the hype. Its something you cant un-read. Its key point is that no matter what scientific progress we have made, what advances we have made in our understanding of how the universe works, we have not become better humans, we are no less barbaric. I just thought that it was such an undeniable point; we are obsessed with self and social improvement, but we dont get any better as human beings. What if cruelty to others is just part of who we are? How do we live with that?

Sharing raucous lead track Sheep Tick, accompanied by a weird AF video, Henry adds, Music videos are awful and we wanted to lean into that. The idea behind this one was to make a video that you couldnt have pitched. We just started shooting without knowing what it was, our goal to make it as baffling and entertaining as possible. Weirdly, the great thing is that some of the video started to make sense with the song after we had finished it: Houses goblin character is the voice inside that tells you how worthless you are, and you have to make peace with him. Most of it doesnt make any sense though.

Check it out below.

'Barbarians' Tracklisting:

1. Swarm

2. Society for Cutting Up Men

3. Jenny Haniver

4. Red Cherries

5. I Am Awake

6. Holy Name 68

7. Barbarians

8. Sheep Tick

9. Only a God

10. What I Saw

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Young Knives announce first new album in seven years 'Barbarians' - DIY Magazine

Astronomers group celebrates Iowa’s ‘unheralded’ contributions to space travel for Apollo 13 50-year anniversary – The Gazette

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ELY A local astronomers group is celebrating the major yet unheralded roles played by Iowas three state universities in the history of astronomy and space travel in connection with the Apollo 13 50-year anniversary.

During the Apollo 13 mission, which was April 11 to 17, 1970, an explosion on board the spacecraft left the fate of three astronauts unknown for seven days as people around the world feared they may never make it back to earth.

Historian David V. Wendell, curator of an exhibit called Our Finest Hours: Apollo XIII and Iowas Universities in Space Exploration, had planned an event with panel discussion on the date of the launch April 11 at the astronomical research complex operated by the Cedar Amateur Astronomers, 1365 Ivanhoe Road, in rural Ely. The COVID-19 crisis has put the event in doubt, as some of his planned speakers backed out.

Wendell still hoped to pay tribute to Iowas space travel efforts in conjunction with the anniversary.

Perhaps the virus, therefore, gives us a deeper insight into the psyche of what it was like to be on that fateful flight not knowing if one would survive or not, Wendell said. Just as today, on Earth, we wonder in the back of our mind if we will make it safely through a daunting ordeal, they, too, faced this dilemma of uncertainty, but came through successfully.

Wendell highlighted the contributions of three scholars:

Gurnett, professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Iowa, was a protege of James Van Allen, the UI professor who designed and built the experimental equipment aboard Explorer 1, Americas first man-made satellite to circle the Earth. Gurnett went on to assist and engineer experiments on board Injun 1, Americas first satellite designed by a college, and to create the instruments aboard the Voyager Spacecraft, the first man-made object to fly out of the solar system and into interstellar space.

The event also was to celebrate Gurnetts 80th birthday on April 11.

Willson, professor emeritus of astronomy at Iowa State University, has been one of the nations leading experts in variable star research in this century and the latter half of the last. Variable stars are those that vary in intensity. She has used the worlds most advanced telescopes, including Hubble, to identify planets in orbit around stars far distant from our solar system.

Morgan, chairwoman of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Northern Iowa, is recognized as one of the states leading authorities on stellar pulsation in an effort to understand how stars evolve and its implication for the future of our planet, as well as others like it in the universe.

Comments: (319) 398-8310; brian.morelli@thegazette.com

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Astronomers group celebrates Iowa's 'unheralded' contributions to space travel for Apollo 13 50-year anniversary - The Gazette

Opinion | Jeff Bezos can’t save the Earth by leaving it – Crosscut

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What does wealth at that scale even mean? For one thing, obviously, it means you can buy whatever you want anything money can buy. A $65 million private jet? No problem. A $165 million estate in Beverly Hills? Go for it. But consumer goods, even the most luxurious of luxury consumer goods, cant adequately convey the significance of this much money.

More than buying power, its a form of social power essentially, the ability to command the labor of other human beings. A person living on Seattles minimum wage would find it a stretch to enlist the labor of, say, a massage therapist for the occasional hour. A well-off homeowner, on the other hand, can set in motion a small crew of skilled workers to remodel a kitchen or build a deck. Bezos, with his billions, is in another league altogether. He can call into existence vast armies of human beings to do, within the broad bounds of the law and what people are willing to do for pay, whatever he desires. He could, if he wanted, pay thousands of workers to try to dig a hole through the Earth to China, and when they couldnt dig any further, he could pay them to fill it all in again.

In fact, Bezos has decided to journey in the opposite direction not to the center of the Earth, but outward, into space. Blue Origin, the space flight enterprise funded entirely from his personal fortune, is headquartered in Kent, right here in King County. In 2018, just a few days before Amazon took the gloves off to kill a modest Seattle tax on big business, Bezos explained in an interview: The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is by converting my Amazon winnings into space travel. That is basically it. The Twitterverse latched on to this remark and was pleased to suggest some other uses for Bezoss billions. It was easy to hear in his words a kind of flippancy, the out-of-touch attitude of a man so unimaginably rich that not merely the world, but the universe, has become his playground.

But theres more to the story, as becomes clear if you actually listen to the interview, or even better, read Franklin Foers excellent piece on Bezos that appeared in The Atlantic last fall. For one thing, Bezos has a lifelong obsession with space travel. As a child he devoured science fiction, and he was and is a total Star Trek nerd. As a teenager he read a book by the physicist Gerard K. ONeill, who imagined human civilization expanding into space, not by colonizing other planets, but by constructing enormous habitats to float between the Earth and the moon, spinning to simulate gravity. Above all else, Blue Origin is about building the infrastructure that will allow a new generation of entrepreneurs to realize that vision.

This all may still sound frivolous. But Bezos is not merely the exceptional geek who, entertaining the idle thought, Whoa, wouldnt it be cool if , can actually make a serious go at whatever comes out of his mouth next. In fact, he ardently believes that we must go to space on a mission to save Earth.

Bezos believes we are running out of room, resources and energy on our home planet. In 2016, speaking at Seattles Museum of Flight, he explained: We need to go into space if we want to continue to have a growing civilization. If you take baseline energy usage on Earth and compound it at just 3% a year for less than 500 years, you have to cover the entire surface of the Earth in solar cells. Thats just not going to happen. Without new room to grow, humanity faces a grim future of stasis, rationing, stagnation. But if we can mine the moon and the asteroids and build ourselves some ONeill cylinders, the Earth can be salvaged and turned into a paradise or, more prosaically, end up zoned residential and light industry. Eventually our solar system could support a trillion humans, with a thousand Einsteins and a thousand Mozarts.

Lets take a moment to appreciate what is admirable in all this. When it comes to billionaires peering anxiously into the crystal ball of the future and making plans, things could be much worse. Bezos is not investing in a palatial underground bunker, or scheming to upload his consciousness to the cloud, or preparing some other personal escape from the coming apocalypse. He has a vision that includes the rest of us, too, still in our flesh-and-blood forms, enjoying Maui on its best day, all year long. Hes genuinely worried about humanitys future, he has a plan and hes doing his best to execute it.

Theres something else to appreciate, too. Jeff Bezos is a man whose day job is basically to stoke the fires of global consumerism, spurring on the devastation of the Earth in the name of profit (sorry, the customer). So its nice to hear him acknowledge that we have a problem. Bezoss choice of 3% sounds suspiciously like whats often considered the ideal growth rate for a developed capitalist economy. Sure, hes talking about energy, and you might argue that long before we run out of that, well run out of other things untapped markets, debt-fueled demand, docile workers. But you dont have to agree precisely with Bezoss analysis of the problem, or buy into his solution, to appreciate that hes grappling with a question many of his peers would prefer to avoid altogether: Jeff thinks we cant keep this up much longer unless we go to space. Whats your plan?

And this brings us to the limits of the Bezos vision. For him, its space or bust. He is apparently unable to imagine the continuing progress of science and technology, or the flourishing of art and culture, on any basis other than an ever-expanding whirlwind of production, distribution and consumption, resource extraction and the endless piling up of material wealth. Its notable that in fishing for exemplars of creative genius, Bezos reached back centuries, to times when the Earth supported a fraction of todays population. Maybe, just maybe, a societys artistic and scientific achievements, its capacity for ingenuity and originality, dont have all that much to do with the sheer quantity of human souls. Maybe what we need most today is to find a way to live that doesnt systematically snuff out, misdirect or neglect the human potential of the great mass of people who already exist.

Im not saying that our grandchildrens grandchildren will never live in great rotating cylinders filled with elk, elevated trains and replicas of medieval cities. I was never a Bezos-level nerd, but my adolescence contained its share of Carl Sagan and wormholes and gazing up at the stars. I have nothing against mining asteroids. I just think that when humanity does expand into space, it will be a collective endeavor, filled with purpose and adventure, not something were driven to do because the imperative of 3% GDP growth is coming up behind us like the yawning jaws of a bear. Lets climb that tree because we want to see the view.

For now, though, its a billionaires world. We can keep fighting to wrest away some of their wealth in taxes, and we can pressure them to make better choices. But in large measure, Jeff Bezos and his ilk get to decide what our problems are and what solutions deserve attention, labor and resources. But lets finish on the bright side. Space tourism may soon be a thing this year, in fact and the man behind it has a track record of customer obsession and cutting costs. Start saving those quarters!

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Opinion | Jeff Bezos can't save the Earth by leaving it - Crosscut

NASA: Super-Earth and Asteroid Taller Than Empire State Spotted; Here’s the Best Space Travel You Might S – Tech Times

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While people now panics over a deadly virus, space experts are now making marvelous space findings that you would love to see! Within this week, another asteroid might hit planet Earth as NASA identified this as another detected'Near-Earth Object'or NEO that is possibly taller than the whole building of Empire State in New York! Meanwhile, a space study about a low-mass planet candidate now found that has Earth-like features called 'Super-Earth'!

(Photo : NASA on Unsplash )Space: Super-Earth and Comet Spotted Near Earth and Sun; Here's the Best Galaxy Travel You Might See Soon

For those people out there that love the information about NEOs, here comes another potential asteroid that might hit Earth soon. According toUK Daily Express, an asteroid identified as Asteroid 2012 XA133 with a size of 390m or meters taller than the Empire State Building is expected to be seen in Earth skies on Friday, Mar. 27.

As National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA reported on Sunday, Mar. 22, the agency is now tracking the possibility of collision between the asteroid and the planet. Luckily, for now, NASA found no evidence that it will crash on Earth but might just swing by on the planet. Here comes the interesting part, though.

Asteroid 2012 XA133 is now fast-approaching compared to when it was identified eight years ago. This space rock was about 4.1 million miles or 6.66 million km from the Earth-- if you compare it to the distance of the planet from the Sun, which is about 93 million miles or 149.6 million km.

As clarified by the agency, there are a lot of NEOs that surrounds planet Earth. Most of them do not have any impact on the planet, and only some are reported to have the possibility of having a collision with Earth.

"Some asteroids and comets follow orbital paths that take them much closer to the Sun and therefore Earth - than usual-- just like Asteroid XA133," said NASA. "In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years."

(Photo : NASA on Unsplash )Space: Super-Earth and Comet Spotted Near Earth and Sun; Here's the Best Galaxy Travel You Might See Soon

Arecent studyfrom space experts Mario Damasso and colleagues, are now giving more clarity on Earth-like planets called'Super-Earth'lurking in deep space. According to the research study led by Damasso, a low-mass planet candidate has been seen behind the nearest star from the Sun called Proxima Centauri. It has a distance of 1.5 AU and might be orbiting near the star.

Every 5.2 years, the Super-Earth was seen orbiting near Proxima Centauri, and recently, the potential planet did it again. Researchers suggest that this Super-Earth could have a higher mass than planet Earth but can't exceed the masses of bigger planets like Uranus and Neptune.

Once the findings are proven to be accurate, experts said that it could be one of the highlights in space for the year 2020 since there are still questions regarding the impact and how Super-Earth is born in space.

For now, let's just wait for a while.

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NASA: Super-Earth and Asteroid Taller Than Empire State Spotted; Here's the Best Space Travel You Might S - Tech Times

Distant ‘quasar tsunamis’ are ripping their own galaxies apart – Live Science

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At the center of almost every galaxy in the universe is a supermassive black hole gobbling up incredible amounts of matter, and belching out incredible amounts of radiation. The biggest and hungriest of these gobblers called quasars (or quasi-stellar objects, because they look deceptively like stars when seen through most telescopes) are some of the most energetic objects in the universe.

As infalling matter swirls around the quasar's maw at near-light-speed, that matter heats up and flies outward, propelled by the incredible force of its own radiation. All that intergalactic indigestion makes a quasar an awesome sight, capable of shining a thousand times brighter than a galaxy of 100 billion stars. However, a series of new papers suggests, the very same radiation that puts quasars on our maps of the universe may be devastating the galaxies that host the insatiable objects.

In six studies published March 16 in a special edition of The Astrophysical Journal supplemental series, astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to spy on 13 quasar outflows that is, gusts of high-speed radiation pouring out of distant quasars. By observing the outflows over several years and in many wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum, the team found that the wind and gas gushing out of a quasar can travel at more than 40 million mph (64 million km/h) and reach billions of degrees in temperature.

Related: The 15 Weirdest Galaxies in Our Universe

One outflow the team studied accelerated from nearly 43 million mph (69 million km/h) to roughly 46 million mph (74 million km/h) over a three-year period the fastest-accelerating wind ever detected in space.

This hot, fast gas is capable of causing incredible damage to a quasar's host galaxy, the researchers found, rampaging through the galaxy's disk like a tsunami and blasting potential star-forming material deep into space. In a single year, one quasar outflow can push hundreds of suns-worth of matter into intergalactic space, the researchers found, creating a stunning fireworks display while preventing new stars from forming.

These findings could help answer a long-standing conundrum about our universe: Why do large galaxies seem to stop growing after reaching a certain mass? When the team plugged their new quasar outflow data into models of galaxy formation, they found that the gales of radiation were capable of stunting the birth of new stars in large galaxies.

"Theoreticians and observers have known for decades that there is some physical process that shuts off star formation in massive galaxies, but the nature of that process has been a mystery," Jeremiah P. Ostriker, an astrophysicist at Columbia University in New York and Princeton University in New Jersey not involved in the study, said in a statement. "Putting the observed outflows into our simulations solves these outstanding problems in galactic evolution."

Further study of these mighty outflows, which the researchers believe will only accelerate as their quasars suck in more material, could fill in more details about how the universe's most energetic objects make (and break) entire galaxies.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Let’s move to Mars: the best books about our future in space – The Guardian

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Its no longer a question of whether were going to Mars, but when. By the time we reach a second planet probably in the 2030s well probably have a base or two on the moon as well. But will people ever live beyond Earth permanently?

Hazards abound on the red planet, a world that is colder and drier than Antarctica and without the luxury of breathable air. Andy Weir provides an excellent picture of the struggle to survive in his novel The Martian. Kim Stanley Robinson takes a deeper dive with his Mars trilogy. The series follows the first 100 settlers, a hand-picked crew of scientists and engineers who gradually transform the climate. There is plenty of engineering and biology, but Robinson broadens into philosophy when he explores how some settlers want to keep Mars pure and red, while others view the life that greens the planet as a gift from humanity. And alternative history is just around the corner when another wave of colonists arrive, dreaming of breaking away from planet Earth.

Women may require fewer calories, reducing kilograms and cost for any mission launching from Earth, but governments have proved unwilling to let them take the lead. Martha Ackmanns The Mercury 13 tells the story of the women Nasa trained as part of the Mercury programme in the 1960s, and how the US president Lyndon Johnson denied them the opportunity to fly. It wasnt until 1983 that Sally Ride became the first US female astronaut in space, and the sexist culture at Nasa is the backdrop for To Space and Back, a book for younger readers that is as informative as it is aspirational. She explains what its like to eat, sleep, bathe or use the toilet in zero gravity subjects that Mary Roach expands on in her lighthearted study of living in space, Packing for Mars. Sex, in particular, is fraught with difficulties in zero gravity, where Newtons third law can make action and reaction a messy affair.

Mars may be cold and dry, but a gravitational field 38% as strong as Earths may be enough to support growth and development in humans. Robert Zubrin provides a blueprint for settling the red planet in The Case for Mars, laying out how we can get there, establish camps and harvest energy, oxygen and food from the materials we find. He ventures further in The Case for Space, where he outlines the opportunities for mining in the asteroid belt and beyond. Gravity on the frigid moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune is likely to be too weak to support humans. But perhaps the next century will find us using artificial gravity to live throughout the solar system. In 1977, Gerald ONeill described in The High Frontier how the massive rotating spheres this would require are surprisingly straightforward to build.

Our dreams of voyaging in space are even older than that. Jules Vernes 1865 adventure story From the Earth to the Moon is eerily prescient. More than a century before Apollo 11, Verne imagines a giant cannon built in Florida with great controversy and at great expense, which launches three men in a capsule. They fire retrorockets to land on the moon and eventually return to splash down in the Pacific Ocean. The next few centuries may see us travel to Mars and beyond, but human explorers will find that writers have already planted the flag of the imagination on all these new horizons.

Spacefarers by Christopher Wanjek is published by Harvard.

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Let's move to Mars: the best books about our future in space - The Guardian

The best movies on Kanopy – Digital Trends

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We could all use some adventure during these difficult times, and thats where Kanopy steps in. The online streaming service is an educational platform of sorts, with a focus on documentaries, education, and indie cinema. Compared to other streaming services, Kanopy puts more of a focus on the enrichment and fulfillment of knowledge and culture. It features a variety of subjects and categories, from science to history to LGBTQ culture and technology. Best of all, its completely free for those who have a library card or university credentials.

There is much to discover on Kanopy, but for those new to the platform, here are a few of the better films to look out for.

Life has a way of changing plans, and for Carmin, those plans change drastically. Originally heading to the American Mainland to be with her mom, a sudden change of events leaves her on the island with her strict, conservative grandmother. Now living in the mountainous region of Barranquitas, Carmin learns many lessons in the absence of a normal teenage life.

There are not many coming of age stories that come from Latin America, let alone Puerto Rico. Director Ar Manuel Cruz and screenwriter Kisha Tikina Burgos display a sharp, conflicting drama of a woman coming into terms of what is happening to her, lead by an unflinching performance in actress Miranda Purcell. Before A Rooster Crows: A Puerto Rican Coming of Age Storyis a familiar, yet refreshing story , set within the island of Puerto Rico.

Kanopy

War never changes, but how it is fought always changes. In the secrecy of special forces warfare, a top-secret drone operation unfolds in Kenya. Colonel Katherine Powell leads an operation to stop an incredibly dangerous terrorist network deep within the heart of the country. To do so, drones are at the forefront, providing lethal surgical strikes, but also putting civilians at risk. When a 9-year-old girl enters the area of operation, an international dispute will be set off, creating a calamity of moral, political, and personal conflict. Helen Mirren leads this sharp military thriller alongside Aaron Paul and the late great Alan Rickman. Through their talents, Eye In The Sky provides a haunting but realistic depiction of the new age of modern warfare, along with the toll it takes on both military pilots and innocent civilians.

Kanopy

Its a high-profile heist, but not where youd expect. Recently laid off from his job, Jimmy Logan falls on hard times. With money tight and no other options, a trip to the bar with his brother helps Clyde, but a fight with a NASCAR-team owner sees his car torched. Looking for payback, and a big payout, Jimmy turns to Clyde and assembles a rag-tag team of rebellious professionals to infiltrate the Charlotte Motor Speedway for one of the strangest heists ever attempted. Up-and-coming actor Adam Driver stars in this wildly eclectic heist film from director Steven Soderbergh. Alongside Channing Tatum and Seth MacFarlane, Logan Lucky is eclectic and highly entertaining heist comedy delivers the thrills, wits, and cheers that one would expect from the director of the Oceans franchise.

Kanopy

From the The Magnificent Seven to The Mandalorian, the influences and impacts of 1954s Seven Samurai are immense. Regarded as one of the most thrilling and sweeping epics of all time, Seven Samurai tells the tale of a 16th-century village, whose inhabitants suffer from the intimidation of ruthless bandits. With no one else to turn to, the villagers plea with a group of aimless Samurai to pick up their swords and defend the village.Seven Samurai was directed by Akira Kurosawa, whose film style was extraordinarily ahead of its time. This three-hour epic paved the way for hundreds of stories in pop culture as it weaves the themes of honor, hope, heroism, and sacrifice in the face of great injustice.

Kanopy

The year is 1959 and it is the height of the Cold War. There is little difference between a nuclear missile and a manned rocket, and the Russians have put their first man into space. Space is soon becoming a new arena to which to wage a world war. Great Britain launched its first manned mission to space, but the capsule malfunctions and the astronaut is left to cope with the effects of low oxygen. Its a dangerous race against time as the oxygen runs out.

This Cold War thriller was nominated for Best Narrative at Venice Film Week and won the award for Best Sci-Fi Film at the American Movie Awards. Capsule is a fictional, but mesmerizing, take on the early days of space travel and the looming threat of The Cold War.

Kanopy

In strange land of fantasy and nature, a lone automaton girl pairs with a fierce tortoise as a grave threat looms over them. A sinister mechanized army stands before them, ready to destroy all in its path. Hope for the future lies in securing an ancient, legendary relic that can defeat the army and save the creatures of their homeworld. With each other and a band of reluctant outlaws hope for the future lies in courage. Yamasong March of Hollows uses a combination of animation and modern puppetry to tell its fantastical tale across its wondrous world. Yamasong March of Hollows features an incredibly talented voice cast, too, including Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Cullen, George Takei, Nathan Fillion, and Abigail Breslin, among others.

Kanopy

Loss and grief are never easy, but comfort and hope can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Michael Kingsley is a recently retired businessman, and as he enjoys his newfound, workless life, he comes across his granddaughter and tells her a story of his friendship with an orphaned pelican named Mister Percival. Storm Boy is based on the novel of the same name by author Colin Thiel, and the movie is powered by the performance of Geoffery Rush. The story and its themes of grief, loss, and unconditional love have been hallmarks of the book, and have given readers valuable lessons. In addition to releasing this newest film adaptation, Storm Boy has recently been adapted into a video game for modern consoles and systems by Blowfish Studios.

Kanopy

It is the middle of the night and darkness envelopes the road. When a recently-divorced mother and her headstrong daughter venture out into the night on an emergency trip, tragedy strike in the form of a collision. While they are fine, their vehicle is disabled. Suddenly, a strange, mysterious creature stalks them in the dark. With only the interior of their car to defend themselves, mother and daughter cling to survival against this strange and unknown menace. The Monster evokes a kind of old-fashioned horror that plays into childhood fears with a sense of entertaining uneasiness and sharp simplicity. The Monster is driven by sharp directing and pacing from filmmaker Bryan Bertino, who wrote and directed 2008s The Strangers.

Kanopy

Quiet, secluded Adam spends his life as a college lecturer with a troubled personal life. His relationship with his current companion is ending and his life feels unfulfilled. Suddenly, when watching an older film at the recommendation of one of his students, Adam spots an actor who looks nearly identical to him. Adam tracks the actor down and begins to engage in a dangerous and twisted scheme of madness and manipulation. Enemy is a surreal psychological thriller of identity and personality. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a cunning and uneasy performance, guided by visionary director Dennis Villeneuve, whose works include Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and the upcoming sci-fi epic, Dune.

Kanopy

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The best movies on Kanopy - Digital Trends

Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailer And What Is The Space Journey? – Pop Culture Times

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MCU is entering into phase 4, and this means we are going to have a lot of awesome movies. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is also one of them. With the way Avengers End game ended, we can expect a lot of new things from this movie. We will have these people gearing up and traveling across planets just to save the galaxy. We will see more about the movie in this article.

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The movie is confirmed, but the release date is not. According to the plan, the filming should have started in May 2020. The film might be released somewhere in the year 2022. The date will be confirmed soon.

Chris Pratt will be back as Star-Lord, Dave Bautista will be Drax, and almost all the guardians will be back. We will have Karen Gillan playing Nebula. The Groot and Rocket will also be back playing their cute roles. This will be done by Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. We do not know if Zoe Saldana will be back as Gamora. There are chances that Chris Hemsworth makes an appearance in this film.

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Gamora, we saw in the End game, is not the actual present Gamora. She had come from the past and did not remember being with the Guardians at all. This movie might focus on that too. Since Thor left with the Guardians at the end of the End Game, he might come back.

This time, there will be a lot of space journey to fight a new anti-hero and save that planet. We do not know much about any of this as the filming has not started yet. An official trailer will also come out at the end of 2021. So the answers to what happens to Gamora? Will there be space travel? Will we have a new guardian added to the team? will all come out soon.

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Our Responsibility to Deal more Kindly with One Another – The Planetary Society

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Bill Nye March25,2020

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration... than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

As CEO of The Planetary Society, I would like to share information about how the Society is responding to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) around the world. Our response focuses on two important priorities:

In making decisions about how the Societys programs and activities proceed, we are above all else guided by the advice of medical and public health professionals.

Our efforts to inspire people around the world with the passion, beauty, and joythe PB&Jof space exploration are more important than ever. Space exploration is an inherently optimistic enterprise that unites science with adventure and promises a better future for all humankind. Thats a welcome message of hope for everyone right now.

While you are spending some unexpected time at home, why not check these out and share them with family and friends:

And once youre done with all of that, be sure to see whats up with our LightSail 2 solar sailing mission.

Going forward, we will continue to provide you, our members and supporters, with the tools to share the PB&J with others through our weekly e-newsletter, The Downlink.

And if you are looking for a real space party, you should check out the Yuris Night 2020 Global Webcast coming up on April 11.

Recognizing that the pandemic appeared to be accelerating and our responsibility to help limit its spread, our staff leadership team began planning our workplace changes three weeks ago. As a result, we began telecommuting on March 9, and only essential staff are continuing to work in our Pasadena headquarters. Those in the office are practicing social distancing as well as adhering to stringent hygiene.

Effective last week, all Planetary Society public events, including events involving our volunteers, have been canceled or postponed. Likewise, all business travel by staff, volunteers, or board members has been suspended.

It also bears mention that, to continue our work during this time of crisis, we will also need to rely on generous members and supporters like you to support our efforts financially. If you are in a position to be able to provide support during this time, we will be deeply appreciative.

Together, we are going to get through this global crisis. Our collective actions to inhibit the spread of COVID-19 will slow the progress of the disease and save lives. To borrow some words from one of our founders, Carl Sagan, this unprecedented challenge underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another. Please take precautions to keep yourself, your family, and community safe.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.

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Our Responsibility to Deal more Kindly with One Another - The Planetary Society

How CNC Machining is Utilized in the Aerospace Industry – Techiexpert.com – TechiExpert.com

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All forms of air travel are included in the aerospace industry. Everything from planes used by commercial airlines to spacecraft designed for travel outside the comforts of our atmosphere. If it flies, it is a product of the aerospace industry. As youd probably imagine, pinpoint accuracy and razor-sharp precision are vital when designing machines that will take to the skies.

Thats why it is no surprise really that CNC or computer numericalcontrol, is used so extensively in this field.

As aircraft in its many forms moves at high speeds and needs to be asdurable and safe as possible, specialized industrial-standard CNCmanufacturing setups are used. There is a lot of money required tofund the various components and parts of aircraft. As such, only the wealthiestbusinesses around the world can invest in the automation required to buildthese forms of transportation.

Accuracy is important in aircraft construction. Whether it is fighterjets, cargo planes, passenger airlines. The accuracy required extends to allparts of the aircraft production process. That includes everything from theouter shell of the innermost parts. CNC machining can be integral tomanufacturing the necessary tools accurately and at speed to ensure each partof the plane functions properly.

For instance, the engine inside a plane needs to be able to keep the planein the air for the duration of its flight, which means it needs to be able touse and process fuel. Some of the most seemingly insignificant pieces that arecrucial to the running of an engine can be made using CNC machining.

Consider also the cockpit. CNC machining could be used to create all thesmall and connected components that form the computer navigational system thathelps the plane to get from a to b. Moving to the exterior of the plane, vitalparts like the wings can be finetuned and tweaked with CNC machining to ensurethey move through the air efficiently and safely.

What organizations do you think of when you think of space travel? NASAand Space-X probably fall quickly off your tongue. It makes sense as thesecompanies are responsible for designing and manufacturing some of the mostpowerful and technologically advanced rockets and spacecraft to allow formanned and unmanned missions across our solar system.

To be able to do that, CNC machining has played an important role in thedesigning, planning and building of various parts of all kinds of rockets andother similar crafts. From the smallest and most minute fixtures and componentsto the body design of rockets.

Spacecraft needs to be built to last and withstand life in space forlong periods, ranging from a few weeks to many years. Because of this, thatgolden word accuracy comes in to play again in this part of the industry. Notonly do all the parts need to work well, but they need to ensure the spacecraftoperate safely, to protect not just the crew (if there is one) but theexpensive equipment on board as well as the craft itself.

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How CNC Machining is Utilized in the Aerospace Industry - Techiexpert.com - TechiExpert.com

Satyaniti and Swaraj: The True Twin Pillars Of Society – Youth Ki Awaaz

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The society which we know as India in modern times was once a society firmly placed on the twin-pillars of self-governance and voluntaryism [1-5]. Voluntaryism is a philosophy that posits that all forms of human association should be voluntary [6 and 7]. A voluntaryist society is one where people live, socialise, transact and trade without any structures of power and hierarchy, without any coercion or regressive power dynamics. The decentralisation of power, which ends with a community or family in modern times, ended only with the individual politically, socially and spiritually in ancient India.

Spontaneous order in the political and economic realms was respected and harmonized. While in the past I have written on Dharmocracy, comprehensive (political, economic and spiritual) democracy; in this piece, I go one step further in decentralisation and renegotiation of the normative to the individual. In ancient India, at least in spirit, it was Swarajya (self-rule of people within picayune kingdoms/republics so much so, that even in 1947, India had 565 princely states) not Samrajya (imperial rule), catallaxy (a synchronisation of individual economics and interests) not a modern economy (transactions with assumed common goals and interest) [8, 9]. This was the perspective that prevailed, and in such a liberal society, people lived with responsibility, peace and rationality: traits of a rarely found, open, free and transparent society [10-12].

The Vedas are the fountainhead, the spring of profound and beautiful philosophical, soteriological and spiritual principles and ideas [13-18].

Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the Vedas constitute the oldest layer of scriptural literature within the Sanatana Dharma, with Hindus considering the Vedas to be apaurueya, not authored by a man. While monarchies prevailed in the Vedic society [19, 20]; not only was there a movement away from pre-eminence given to political power towards a more spiritual one [21, 22], but also the existence of ancient Indian republics Ganatantra, which contributed towards the decentralisation of power [23]. Whether this directly took the form of anarchism is debatable, but there was a move towards reducing the importance of the construct of a primary, overarching state and constructs of powers [24].

The Dharmic path has always been about a fearless trek into the unknown, about seeking the truth of reality [25-27]. It throws out any and every imposed normative ideal of political philosophies, and in doing so, calls for the sacrifice of attachment of the human mind with dogma and rigid political alignments. While this perspective highlights societys ills and even prescribes possible solutions, it lays a greater emphasis on mutual respect, cooperation and harmony in society rather than rigid loyalties to political constructs of the state or ideologies. This is part of the greater Dharmic realisation of the futility and fleeting nature of all constructs be it political, social or economic, in the pursuit of the Absolute Truth.

Satya, the Absolute Truth, is beyond constructs of politics and society, particularly those of state and (political) ideologies

And in doing so, it had anarchist undertones, when one considers politics: it highlighted the fallibility of human power and reasoning that can be applicable to one and all. The importance of spontaneous self-organisation and unconscious design in political entities, the significance of innovation and influence of factors and forces beyond the control of a central authority.

Satyaniti, this Dharmic anarchism, is the result of the Indic civilisation embracing the dynamism of life, and the spontaneity and capacity to the self-organization of human beings.

The principle of self-governance naturally arises from this realisation. Instead of imposed structures, the emphasis is on peaceful emergent orders without any rigid conservatism regarding hierarchy, power dynamics, and coercion. A truly Dharmic society has at its foundations a pre-eminent place for honest introspection, self-improvement and evolution of thought, and individuality thereby. This is a dynamic way of determining ones purpose of life, of ones role within society, and the key to ones happiness.

There is a distinct difference between western anarchism and Dharmic anarchism. While western anarchism is about negation and oft-violent insurrection against political structures, the Dharmic version preoccupies itself with the realisation of why the obsession with these political elements is naturally at odds with ones existence and well-being. The Rishis (seers) since times immemorial led by example in highlighting how self-governance and self-rule are significant, coupled with anarchist tendencies of not placing much importance with control of the state.

They dwelled in forests outside the control of any government be it of a monarchy or republic of ancient India. They brought forth a spiritual mooring for education and existence, a values-based living and a realisation of Rta (cosmic order) and Dharma (the path that facilitates this order, the universal cosmic principle as well equilibration in nature).

While western anarchism emphasised anti-state policies, Dharmic anarchism emphasised self-consciousness. While western anarchism went against specific rulers, Dharmic anarchism went for decentralised and non-hierarchical polities. The latter prioritises community living, sensitivity to holistic living and ecologically sustainable lifestyles. This was done with a combination of grassroot democracy (that was centralised around the unit of the Gram, village), Dharma, Varnasrama (not Jaativad) and socio-spiritual realisation of Satya, Truth.

Grassroot democracy can be seen even today with the Panchayati model. Over millennia, this turned India into not only a village-based society but also a strongly community-based, resilient society. The movement towards making these fundamental units of politics and society self-governing and self-sufficient has been seen over the ages. This was in a cooperative model, which was sustainable and nature-bound, and most importantly, independent from the state and its associated politics. Orientalists such as Metcalfe, Munroe and Wilks have described the importance of these communities in India. Kings came and went, dynasties came and went, power exchanged powers, wars took place, but what never changed beyond a point was the underlying social fabric of India, which is based on the village- and community-based model.

C. F. W. Hegel highlighted how this system made India impervious to the vagaries of despotism and subjugation by rulers and invaders, even during the colonial era. The achievement of this high level of decentralisation was that there never was a political monolith that a coloniser or invader could demolish for the Indians to fall as a people. It is this rich political heritage that naturally translates to the principle of self-governance, self-rule and Swaraj. And it is this rich political heritage that I would like to stand by.

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of the socio-political order of India, through the ages.

References:

[1] Talwar, Balvir. Sustainable growththe Vedic way.International Conference on Quality (ICQ05), Tokyo, September. 2005.

[2] Rammohan, Sethuraman. Improving Governance In The Light Of Ancient Indian Heritage Texts. (2018).

[3] Jha, Pradip Kumar. Decentralization in India: Reflections from Bihar.Journal of Politics and Governance3.4 (2014): 149-155.

[4] Singh, Gurdeep. Swami Dayananda Saraswatis Instruments in the Reformation of Indian Society.

[5] Mohapatra, Amulya Ranjan.Swaraj: A Multi-Dimensional Concept. Readworthy, 2009.

[6] Herbert, Auberon Edward William Molyneux.The principles of voluntaryism and free life. Free Press Association, 1897.

[7] Watner, Carl. Stateless, not lawless: voluntaryism and arbitration.The voluntaryist84 (1997): 1-8.

[8] Tilak, Deepak, and Geetali Tilak. Swarajya and Tilak. (2019).

[9] Nikam, N. A. Indian Thought and the Philosophic Bases of Responsibility of Man.Revue Internationale de Philosophie(1957): 75-87.

[10] Kuppuswamy, Bangalore.Dharma and society: A study in social values. Macmillan, 1977.

[11] Londhe, Manali. Vedic Concept of Rta: The Cosmic Order.Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy. Vol. 16. 2018.

[12] Saravanamuthu, Kala. Gandhian-Vedic.Envisioning a New Accountability (Advances in Public Interest Accounting, Volume 13). Emerald Group Publishing Limited(2007): 177-235.

[13] Halbfass, Wilhelm. The Idea of the Veda and the Identity of Hinduism.Defining Hinduism. Routledge, 2017. 16-29.

[14] Goodall, Dominic, ed.Hindu scriptures. University of California, 1996.

[15] Macnicol, Nicol.Hindu scriptures. Univ of California Press, 1996.Remove featured image

[16] Zaehner, Robert Charles.Hindu scriptures. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2001.

[17] Frawley, David.Wisdom of the ancient seers: Mantras of the Rig Veda. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1994.

[18] Wilson, H. H. Rig-Veda Sanhita: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Hymns, Vol. (1888).

[19] Bedekar, V. M. VEDIC FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN CULTURE. (1976): 223-226.

[20] Singh, Sarva Daman. Monarchy in the Vedic Age.Australian Journal of Politics & History35.3 (1989): 338-352.

[21] LINDBLAD, J. THOMAS. The Ultimate Implications of the Ancient Hindu Concept of Sovereignty: The Principle of.Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume(1973): 193.

[22] Sinha, Braj M. SVADHARMA AND SVABHVA IN THE BHAGAVADGT.Journal of South Asian Literature23.2 (1988): 144-149.

[23] Pandey, R. B. Vedic origin of Indian republics. Proceedings of Indian History Congress; 15th. session, Gwalior. 1952.

[24] Weir, Kay. A brief history of anarchism.Pacific Ecologist19 (2010): 48-50.

[25] Agarwal, Manjul K.The Vedic Core of Human History: And Truth Will Be the Savior. iUniverse, 2013.

[26] Edgerton, Franklin. The Upanisads: what do they seek, and why?.Journal of the American Oriental Society(1929): 97-121.

[27] Nigal, Sahebrao Genu.Vedic philosophy of values. Northern Book Centre, 2009.

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Satyaniti and Swaraj: The True Twin Pillars Of Society - Youth Ki Awaaz

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of the socio-political order of India, through the ages – OpIndia

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Society in the lands we know in modern times as India once was a society firmly placed on the twin-pillars of self-governance and voluntaryism [1-5]. Voluntaryism is a philosophy that posits that all forms of human association should be voluntary [6, 7]. A voluntaryst society is one where people live, socialise, transact and trade without any structures of power and hierarchy, without any coercion or regressive power dynamics. The decentralisation of power, which ends with a community or family in modern times, ended only with the individual, politically, socially and spiritually, in ancient India. Spontaneous order in political and economic realms were respected and harmonized. While in the past I have written on Dharmocracy comprehensive (political, economic and spiritual) democracy, in this piece, I go one step further in decentralisation and renegotiation of the normative to the individual. In ancient India, atleast in spirit, it was Swarajya (self-rule of people within picayune kingdoms/republics so much so, that even in 1947, India had 565 princely states) not Samrajya (imperial rule), catallaxy (a synchronisation of individual economics and interests) not a modern economy (transactions with assumed common goals and interest) [8, 9]. This was the perspective that prevailed, and in such a liberal society, people lived with responsibility, peace and rationality, in what was a rarely found open, free and transparent society [10-12].

The Veda are the fountainhead, the spring of profound and beautiful philosophical, soteriological and spiritual principles and ideas [13-18].

Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the Veda constitute the oldest layer of scriptural literature within Santana Dharma, with Hindus considering the Vedas to be apaurueya, not authored by man. While monarchies prevailed in Vedic society [19, 20], not only was there a movement away from preeminence given to political power towards a more spiritual one [21, 22] but also the existence of ancient Indian republics Ganatantra, which contributed towards decentralisation of power [23]. Whether this directly took the form of anarchism is debatable, but there was a move towards reducing the importance of the construct of a primary, overarching state and constructs of powers [24]. The Dharmic path has always been about a fearless trek into the unknown, about seeking the truth of reality [25-27]. It throws out any and every imposed normative ideal of political philosophies, and in doing so, calls for the sacrifice of attachment of the human mind with dogma and rigid political alignments. While this perspective highlights societys ills and even prescribes possible solutions, it lays a greater emphasis on mutual respect, cooperation and harmony in society rather than rigid loyalties to political constructs of the state or ideologies. This is part of the greater Dharmic realisation of the futility and fleeting nature of all constructs, be it political, social or economic, in the pursuit of the Absolute Truth:

Satya, the Absolute Truth, is beyond constructs of politics and society, particularly those of state and (political) ideologies

- article continues after ad -- article resumes -

And in doing so, it had anarchist undertones, when one considers politics: it highlighted the fallibility of human power and reasoning that can be applicable to one and all, the importance of spontaneous self-organisation and unconscious design in political entities, significance of innovation and influence of factors and forces beyond the control of a central authority.

Satyaniti, this Dharmic anarchism, is the result of the Indic civilisation embracing the dynamism of life, and the spontaneity and capacity to self-organize of human beings.

The principle of self-governance naturally arises from this realisation. Instead of imposed structures, emphasis is on peaceful emergent orders without any rigid conservatism regarding hierarchy, power dynamics and coercion. A truly Dharmic society has at its foundations a preeminent place for honest introspection, self-improvement and evolution of thought and individuality thereby. This is a dynamic way of determining ones purpose of life, of ones role within society and the key to ones happiness.

There is a distinct difference between western anarchism and Dharmic anarchism. While western anarchism is about negation and oft-violent insurrection against political structures, the Dharmic version preoccupies itself with the realisation of why obsession with these political elements is naturally at odds with ones existence and well-being. The Rishis (seers) since times immemorial led by example, in highlighting how self-governance and self-rule is significant, coupled with anarchist tendencies of not placing much importance with control of the state. They dwelled in forests outside the control of any government, be it of a monarchy or republic of ancient India. They brought forth a spiritual mooring for education and existence, a values-based living and a realisation of Rta (cosmic order) and Dharma (the path that facilitates this order, the universal cosmic principle as well equilibriation in nature).

Read- Satyatva or the Absolute Truth: Resonances across Religions and Rejection of Exclusivism

While western anarchism emphasised anti-state policies, Dharmic anarchism emphasised self-consciousness. While western anarchism went against specific rulers, Dharmic anarchism went for decentralised and non-hierarchical polities. The latter prioritises community living, sensitivity to holistic living and ecologically sustainable lifestyles. This was done with a combination of grassroot democracy (that was centralised around the unit of the Gram village), Dharma, Varnasrama (not Jaativad)and socio-spiritual realisation of Satya Truth.

The grassroot democracy can be seen even today with the Panchayati model. Over millenia, this turned India into not only a village-based society but also a strongly community-based and resilient society. The movement towards making these fundamental units of politics and society self-governing and self-sufficient has been seen over the ages. This was in a cooperative model, which was sustainable and nature-bound, and most importantly, independent from the state and its associated politics. Orientalists such as Metcalfe, Munroe and Wilks have described the importance of these communities in India. Kings came and went, dynasties came and went, power exchanged powers, wars took place. What never changed beyond a point was the underlying social fabric of India, based on the village- and community-based model. C. F. W. Hegel highlighted how this system made India impervious to the vagaries of despotism and subjugation by rulers and invaders, even during the colonial era. The achievement of this high level of decentralisation was that there never was a political monolith that a coloniser or invader could demolish for the Indians to fall as a people. It is this rich political heritage that naturally translates to the principle of self-governance, self-rule and Swaraj, and it is this rich political heritage that I would like to stand by.

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of the socio-political order of India, through the ages.

References:

Read more:

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of the socio-political order of India, through the ages - OpIndia

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of India – Global News Hut

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Society within the lands we all know in fashionable occasions as India as soon as was a society firmly positioned on the twin-pillars of self-governance and voluntaryism [1-5]. Voluntaryism is a philosophy that posits that every one types of human affiliation needs to be voluntary [6, 7]. A voluntaryst society is one the place individuals stay, socialise, transact and commerce with none constructions of energy and hierarchy, with none coercion or regressive energy dynamics. The decentralisation of energy, which ends with a group or household in fashionable occasions, ended solely with the person, politically, socially and spiritually, in historical India. Spontaneous order in political and financial realms had been revered and harmonized. Whereas previously Ive written on Dharmocracy complete (political, financial and religious) democracy, on this piece, I am going one step additional in decentralisation and renegotiation of the normative to the person. In historical India, atleast in spirit, it was Swarajya (self-rule of individuals inside picayune kingdoms/republics a lot so, that even in 1947, India had 565 princely states) not Samrajya (imperial rule), catallaxy (a synchronisation of particular person economics and pursuits) not a contemporary economic system (transactions with assumed frequent targets and curiosity) [8, 9]. This was the attitude that prevailed, and in such a liberal society, individuals lived with duty, peace and rationality, in what was a not often discovered open, free and clear society [10-12].

The Veda are the fountainhead, the spring of profound and exquisite philosophical, soteriological and religious rules and concepts [13-18].

Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the Veda represent the oldest layer of scriptural literature inside Santana Dharma, with Hindus contemplating the Vedas to be apaurueya, not authored by man. Whereas monarchies prevailed in Vedic society [19, 20], not solely was there a motion away from preeminence given to political energy in direction of a extra religious one [21, 22] but in addition the existence of historical Indian republics Ganatantra, which contributed in direction of decentralisation of energy [23]. Whether or not this straight took the type of anarchism is debatable, however there was a transfer in direction of lowering the significance of the assemble of a main, overarching state and constructs of powers [24]. The Dharmic path has all the time been a couple of fearless trek into the unknown, about searching for the reality of actuality [25-27]. It throws out any and each imposed normative best of political philosophies, and in doing so, requires the sacrifice of attachment of the human thoughts with dogma and inflexible political alignments. Whereas this angle highlights societys ills and even prescribes doable options, it lays a better emphasis on mutual respect, cooperation and concord in society fairly than inflexible loyalties to political constructs of the state or ideologies. That is a part of the better Dharmic realisation of the futility and fleeting nature of all constructs, be it political, social or financial, within the pursuit of the Absolute Fact:

Satya, the Absolute Fact, is past constructs of politics and society, notably these of state and (political) ideologies

article continues after advert article resumes

And in doing so, it had anarchist undertones, when one considers politics: it highlighted the fallibility of human energy and reasoning that may be relevant to every body, the significance of spontaneous self-organisation and unconscious design in political entities, significance of innovation and affect of things and forces past the management of a government.

Satyaniti, this Dharmic anarchism, is the results of the Indic civilisation embracing the dynamism of life, and the spontaneity and capability to self-organize of human beings.

The precept of self-governance naturally arises from this realisation. As an alternative of imposed constructions, emphasis is on peaceable emergent orders with none inflexible conservatism relating to hierarchy, energy dynamics and coercion. A very Dharmic society has at its foundations a preeminent place for trustworthy introspection, self-improvement and evolution of thought and individuality thereby. This can be a dynamic means of figuring out ones function of life, of 1s position inside society and the important thing to at least ones happiness.

Theres a distinct distinction between western anarchism and Dharmic anarchism. Whereas western anarchism is about negation and oft-violent rebellion in opposition to political constructions, the Dharmic model preoccupies itself with the realisation of why obsession with these political components is of course at odds with ones existence and well-being. The Rishis (seers) since occasions immemorial led by instance, in highlighting how self-governance and self-rule is important, coupled with anarchist tendencies of not inserting a lot significance with management of the state. They dwelled in forests outdoors the management of any authorities, be it of a monarchy or republic of historical India. They introduced forth a religious mooring for training and existence, a values-based dwelling and a realisation of Rta (cosmic order) and Dharma (the trail that facilitates this order, the common cosmic precept as nicely equilibriation in nature).

Learn- Satyatva or the Absolute Fact: Resonances throughout Religions and Rejection of Exclusivism

Whereas western anarchism emphasised anti-state insurance policies, Dharmic anarchism emphasised self-consciousness. Whereas western anarchism went in opposition to particular rulers, Dharmic anarchism went for decentralised and non-hierarchical polities. The latter prioritises group dwelling, sensitivity to holistic dwelling and ecologically sustainable life. This was carried out with a mix of grassroot democracy (that was centralised across the unit of the Gram village), Dharma, Varnasrama (not Jaativad)and socio-spiritual realisation of Satya Fact.

The grassroot democracy might be seen even right this moment with the Panchayati mannequin. Over millenia, this turned India into not solely a village-based society but in addition a strongly community-based and resilient society. The motion in direction of making these elementary items of politics and society self-governing and self-sufficient has been seen over the ages. This was in a cooperative mannequin, which was sustainable and nature-bound, and most significantly, impartial from the state and its related politics. Orientalists resembling Metcalfe, Munroe and Wilks have described the significance of those communities in India. Kings got here and went, dynasties got here and went, energy exchanged powers, wars happened. What by no means modified past some extent was the underlying social cloth of India, primarily based on the village- and community-based mannequin. C. F. W. Hegel highlighted how this method made India impervious to the vagaries of despotism and subjugation by rulers and invaders, even in the course of the colonial period. The achievement of this excessive degree of decentralisation was that there by no means was a political monolith {that a} coloniser or invader may demolish for the Indians to fall as a individuals. Its this wealthy political heritage that naturally interprets to the precept of self-governance, self-rule and Swaraj, and its this wealthy political heritage that I wish to stand by.

Satyaniti and Swaraj represent the historic spine of the socio-political order of India, via the ages.

References:

More:

Satyaniti and Swaraj constitute the historical backbone of India - Global News Hut