Absolute Liberty (2003-2020) – United States Eventing Association

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Mar 11, 2020

The USEA is saddened to share the news that Absolute Liberty (Aberjack x Chestnut Lady), a 15.3 hand bay Oldenburg mare, passed away earlier this month at the age of 17. Absolute Liberty was owned by Sharon Will and competed through the four-star level by Buck Davidson.

It is with great sadness that I share that Absolute Liberty had to be put down the other day due to some medical issues that could no longer be maintained to keep her comfortable, Davidson shared in a statement. It was a privilege to compete such an incredible horse who became part of some of the best memories and moments in my career.

Davidson and Absolute Liberty completed the mares first event at Training level in the spring of 2009, moving up to Preliminary shortly thereafter and earning several top-10 finishes at the level.

In 2010, Davidson moved Absolute Liberty up to Intermediate, placing second in the CIC2* (now CCI3*-S) at Poplar Place in March and fourth in the CCI2* at Florida International in April. That fall, Davidson and Absolute Liberty were third in the Intermediate division at the USEA American Eventing Championships and completed the Fair Hill International CCI2*.

In 2011, the pair made the move up to Advanced, completing the CIC3* at The Fork and Jersey Fresh before going to the Bromont Three-Day Event, where they were fourth in the CCI3*. Davidson and Absolute Liberty were selected to represent the United States at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where they were fourth individually, helping to earn the team gold medal.

Absolute Liberty continued to compete at the Intermediate and Advanced levels in 2012 and 2013, prior to her retirement.

The USEA sends our condolences to Will, Davidson, and all of Absolute Libertys connections.

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Absolute Liberty (2003-2020) - United States Eventing Association

Human Genetics Market Higher Growth Rate / CAGR over the Forecast Period to 2026 by Key Players like QIAGEN, Agilent Technologies, Illumina – New Day…

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The Human Genetics Market report shows a brilliant presentation of regional growth, competition and provides accurate statistics with the price and gross margin and other essential factors to grow in the Human Genetics market. The Human Geneticsmarketreportdigs deep intoessentialaspectsof key subjects which help market players to make appropriate changes in their approach and help you craft better strategies. Thereportis made with amixtureof detailedrecordsrelyingupon the importantinformationresearchedviaour analysts.

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Major Key Players in Human Genetics Market: QIAGEN, Agilent Technologies, Illumina, Promega, Thermo Fisher Scientific, LabCorp, GE.

Our analysts used advanced primary and secondary research techniques and tools to compile this report using top-down and bottom-up approaches. Our research sources and tools are extremely reliable. The report offers effective guidelines and recommendations to players to ensure a strong position in the Human Genetics market. We provide a full competitive analysis that includes the detailed profile of the main players, a study on the nature and characteristics of the supplier landscape and other important studies.

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Segmentation by product type: breakdown data from 2014 to 2019 in Section 2.3; and forecast to 2024 in section 10.7.CytogeneticsPrenatal GeneticsMolecular GeneticsSymptom Genetics

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Human Genetics Market Higher Growth Rate / CAGR over the Forecast Period to 2026 by Key Players like QIAGEN, Agilent Technologies, Illumina - New Day...

Researchers study irregular horse heartbeats, hoping to find a cure – Minnesota Daily

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University of Minnesota researchers are looking at cardiac conditions in racehorses to point toward a solution for both horses and humans.

Researchers are examining the effects of irregular heartbeats in racehorses, which are more frequently affected than average horses. Many racehorses die suddenly on the racetrack for unexpected reasons that may be due to irregular heartbeats, known broadly as arrhythmias. Researchers said they can examine which arrhythmias cause disease and which ones are specific to horses or humans.

The prevalence in horses is not common, but in racehorses with poor performances, its about 2%, said Sian Durward-Akhurst, lead author of the study and a University graduate student. Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of irregular heartbeat in horses.

The researchers examined the genes of 534 horses and found greater variations of disease in them, she said. Researchers are analyzing the disease-causing variants identified in both horses and humans.

Its something thats really interesting because why is it causing disease in humans, but not in horses? Durward-Akhurst said.

They will test these variants in more horses this summer and aim to produce a research paper by next year. Earlier this month, the researchers presented their recent findings at the Santa Anita racetrack in Los Angeles, California.

Atrial fibrillation is the most abnormal heart rhythm in humans, in cattle, in dogs. Its actually an interesting disease because of its impact on multiple species, including us, said Molly McCue, the principal investigator of the research and the associate dean of research in the Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine.

The irregular heartbeats of atrial fibrillation are sometimes referred to as a quivering heart due to how they affect the heartbeats pace. According to a veterinarian from the Paulick Report, the irregular heartbeat sounds like shoes in a dryer.

Racehorses are bred to have higher functioning cardiovascular systems than other horses, McCue said. Because of this, racehorses are expected to have a higher capacity for exercise.

They have this really frequent occurrence of arrhythmia, she said. The issue now is to figure out why. Then researchers can determine if arrhythmias are contributing to why racehorses are dying on the race track and if they can prevent it.

James Mickelson, a University professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, has studied the genetics of diseases in various animals for more than 20 years.

The condition of atrial fibrillation and heart arrhythmias is very likely responsible for sudden death of horses on race tracks, just like similar conditions in people, in human athletes, are responsible for sudden fatal deaths as well, he said.

If researchers can find a new mutation in horse genetics, they can use that to see if the same gene is responsible for any of the human cases, Mickelson said.

Lynn Hovda, chief commission veterinarian for the Minnesota Racing Commission, said horses dont have heart attacks like humans do because of their different cardiovascular systems.

[Horses] have cardiac rhythm disturbances, most often atrial fibrillation, that may result in sudden death. I say may as we dont really know yet, she said.

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Researchers study irregular horse heartbeats, hoping to find a cure - Minnesota Daily

Coronavirus is hard on older people and scientists aren’t sure why – NBCNews.com

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Older adults appear to be more severely at risk from the new coronavirus, while young children seem to be largely spared and understanding why could be crucial to treating people with the illness it causes, according to scientists.

Much remains unknown about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that is rapidly spreading around the world, but researchers have seized on a factor that seems to influence the severity of infections: the patient's age.

People over age 60, and particularly those with pre-existing health conditions, appear to be most vulnerable to the virus, which has spread to more than 110,000 people in at least 97 countries.

While that is not particularly surprising, the statistics show that young children have made up very few of the confirmed cases so far, a divergence that isn't true for every illness.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

While the immune systems of older people are typically not as robust as those of younger people, leaving them more vulnerable to a wide variety of illnesses, scientists say they can't definitively say why the coronavirus has been harder on people of advanced ages.

"We're trying to figure out why age is a primary feature of this infection, but from a biological perspective, we don't have that answer," said Dr. Srinivas Murthy, a clinical associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Understanding that question could help researchers figure out how to treat the illness, particularly in the older populations that appear to be more susceptible to it.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams, speaking Monday afternoon at a news conference, confirmed that the virus had been more severe for older people based on the data currently available.

The first death in the U.S. from COVID-19 was that of a Washington state man in his 50s with underlying health conditions. Since then, the state's health officials have also been battling the spread of the respiratory illness at a nursing facility in Kirkland, where 19 people have died.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

In China, where the coronavirus first emerged, early research also suggests that the coronavirus may pose a graver risk to some populations over others. In a report released last month by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an analysis of 1,023 deaths out of 44,672 confirmed cases diagnosed through Feb. 11 found that 21.9 percent of deaths occurred among patients who were over 80 years old.

Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Most people who have been infected have experienced mild to moderate symptoms, which Murthy said likely means either that the virus is not penetrating beyond the upper respiratory tract or that patients' immune systems are preventing it from reaching deep into the lungs.

It's thought that the virus spreads through close contact, traveling through tiny droplets and secretions when a patient coughs, sneezes or breathes.

Typically, when a virus infects a cell in the human body, the cell's so-called innate immune system kicks in if foreign genetic material is detected. This is considered the body's first line of defense against invading pathogens. The second line of defense is known as the adaptive immune system, which first has to detect foreign invaders before producing antibodies and T cells to counteract the infection.

But as people age, both of those systems can break down.

"We don't truly know why, but as you get older, the functionality of the innate immune system and adaptive immune system wanes," said Timothy Sheahan, an epidemiologist at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina.

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Coronavirus is hard on older people and scientists aren't sure why - NBCNews.com

Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation seeking to fund community-based organizations with major grant dollars – Miami’s Community Newspapers

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The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation is seeking to fund community-based organizations throughout Miami-Dade County with grants up to $50,000 each. Qualified tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations conducting grass-roots work that improves, preserves, or restores the health and healthcare of local area citizens have until April 15 to apply.

Since 1992, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation has responded to identified community needs, said Aldo C. Busot, Chairman of the Coral Gables-based nonprofit foundation. Our board is appreciative of the work being done by our grant recipients throughout the community. The Board of Directors remains committed to sustaining its support in meeting the needs of our local community-based organizations. Busot is a senior vice president and financial advisor with Busot Group at Morgan Stanley in Coral Gables, and a graduate of the University of Miami.

From its earliest days, the foundation board wanted the foundation to serve the immediate grassroots needs of both children and adults and has successfully done so by awarding 468 grants to more than 300 community-based organizations over the years.

According to Charles Dunn, M.D., Chairman of the Community Grants Committee, The Community Grants program is the backbone of the foundation. The local organizations that receive funding are providing much-needed services and contribute to the well-being of our community. A graduate of University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Dunn is a long-established family medicine practitioner in Coral Gables.

Local organizations that qualified last year for the first-time, during the foundations 2019-20 funding cycle, included Friendship Circle of Miami offering behavioral physical and occupational therapies for children with special needs in Miami-Dade County; and Iam Able, with a county-wide reach for its Able 2 Adapt program that provides mentoring and exercise-based therapy for individuals with paralysis.

Whispering Manes Therapeutic Riding Center also has been funded in past years to support scholarships and new equipment for their equine-assisted program for special needs children all across the county.

Other award recipients include Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, , Fishing With Americas Finest, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, Canine Assisted Therapy, Good Hope Equestrian Training Center, the Coral Gables Womens Club Childrens Dental Clinic, and Epilepsy Foundation of Florida, among many others.

In addition to community grants, the foundation also has undertaken three signature initiatives in conjunction with UMs Miller School of Medicines Dept. of Pediatrics with the establishment of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation School Health Initiative, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Dept. of Human Genetics, and the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute.

According to the Foundations Managing Director John Edward Smith, Since its inception as a grant-making institution, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation has invested some $48 million into our community. Foundation grants serve as recognition of the admirable work so many community-based organizations are doing across the county to improve the quality of life for citizens.

The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation is accepting letters of inquiry for the 2020-21 grant cycle now through April 15, 2020. Funding priorities include:

Projects that promote health education and prevention, and early detection of disease;

Health related projects that assist children and the economically disadvantaged; and

Projects that target medical care.

Qualified organizations that propose to conduct projects or programs related to the health needs of the citizens of Miami-Dade County, and are seeking funding support from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, should first submit a letter of inquiry. Programs and projects are funded depending upon the budget in the $5,000 $50,000 range. Applications are available online at http://www.JTMacdonaldFDN.org.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

With a long legacy of service to the local community, Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables is the genesis of todays Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation. The foundation grew from the sale of the hospital in 1992. Starting as a grant-making institution with an initial fund balance of $12 million, over the course of the past 20 years, the foundations fund balance has appreciably grown. Today, the foundation continues funding and invest in the healthcare and medical needs of the local community.

The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation is located at 1550 Madruga Ave., Suite 215, Coral Gables, FL 33146. For information, call 305-667-6017 or send an e-mail to info@jtmacdonaldfdn.org.

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Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation seeking to fund community-based organizations with major grant dollars - Miami's Community Newspapers

A book that could save lives: Adam Rutherford’s How to Argue with a Racist reviewed – Spectator.co.uk

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How to Argue with a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality

Adam Rutherford

Weidenfeld, pp. 206, 12.99

In the award-winning musical Avenue Q, filthy-minded puppets sang about schadenfreude, internet porn, loud sex, the uselessness of an English literature degree and racism. Or, more specifically, they sang about the ubiquitous human habit of

stereotyping people by race:

Everyones a little bit racist, sometimes.

The puppets were right: everyone makes judgments based on race. Humans are lazy creatures who like mental short cuts. Thinking in shades of grey is more effortful than thinking in black and white. Evaluating a new person afresh, based on their unique characteristics, is slower than falling back on a ready made judgment. If youve spent time with a two-year-old, or if youve used psychedelic drugs, you might have glimpsed what its like to see an individual blade of grass as itself, and not just as an exemplar of the category grass. Its exhausting.

In How to Argue with a Racist, Adam Rutherford uses his expertise in genetics to try to get us to see people the way a person on LSD might see a field of grass. That is, he wants us to see individual humans as themselves, rather than as exemplars of racial categories. Overcoming deeply ingrained patterns of mind, while also providing a crash course in genetic biology, is a tall order for any book, particularly one so brief. To accomplish his goal, Rutherford has densely packed each section of his book with scientific and historical details, all of which converge on a central theme its wickedly complicated.

Part I begins by challenging the apparent simplicity of racial distinctions based on skin colour or other observable physical characteristics. Consider, for instance, that two Africans, who would both be assigned the same race based on their skin colour, might be more different genetically than the Scots are from the Japanese.

Part II then challenges the idea of racial purity, the fiction that there are groups of people (like the Scots or the Japanese) who can trace their blood to just one set of ancestors living in one particular place. No such pure bloodlines exist; there really is no true Scotsman. Because people have had sex wherever and whenever they could, we dont have to go back too far in history to find a time when everyone alive then was the ancestor of everyone alive now. You and your immigrant neighbour are all part of the same family tree.

Next, parts III and IV challenge the idea that some racial groups are naturally more athletic, more musical or more intelligent. Do African-Americans dominate certain track and field events because they have a speed gene? Are the genetic diseases more common in Ashkenazi Jews evidence of selection for high intelligence? One by one, Rutherford picks up an apparently neat story about racial differences and turns it this way and that, exposing its holes and flaws and tattered seams.

Some of the science here has been explained in other books, including Rutherfords own A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, and more recently, David Reichs Who We Are and How We Got Here. What makes the organisation of the scientific material different in this book is right there in the opening sentence: This book is a weapon. Rutherford continues: These pages ... will provide a foundation to contest racism. Yet despite its confident title, How to Argue with a Racist is not entirely sanguine about the power of scientific argument. Arguing with racists, Rutherford says, is a fairly fruitless endeavour, and exhausting and he quotes Jonathan Swift: Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired.

Rutherfords uncertainty regarding how useful science is for combatting racism reflects a deeper uncertainty about what, exactly, is the relationship between sciency-sounding ideas about biological differences between racial groups and the violence and vitriol that he calls avowed or overt or extreme racism. After all, as the puppets of Avenue Q cheerfully protested, the use of racial judgments doesnt mean we go around committing hate crimes.

But ideas about racial difference can, indeed, incite violence. Consider Dylann Roof, who gunned down nine black parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina church after being radicalised on the internet. Before the massacre, Roof penned a racist screed that asked the exact same question about racial differences that How to Argue with a Racist considers at length: How could our faces, skin, hair and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same?

It is tempting to answer that incendiary question by insisting that everyones brains really are exactly the same. As the great evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky observed back in the 1960s, if you maintain that people should be equal, then it is convenient to argue that the differences between them are accidental and trivial. This, for instance, is the argument that Ibram Kendi made in his similarly titled How to Be an Antiracist. An anti-racist is someone who is expressing the idea that races are meaningfully the same in their biology.

Rutherford avoids the temptation of insisting that everyone is the same. Instead, he presents a more difficult but more accurate argument, describing both the reality of human genetic variation and the fiction of racial purity. Yes, genetic differences between people are important, not just for their bodies, but also for their brains and behaviours. But the physical characteristics that we use to lump people together into races are terrible indicators of how genetically similar those people are. And when considering achingly complex domains of human achievement, such as music, sport, art and science, it has proved nearly impossible to separate out genetics from the messiness of human history, from colonialism and culture.

Rereading How to Argue with a Racist a second time, I began to imagine it as a letter, directed to one racist in particular to a younger Dylann Roof, as he was being drawn into the darker corners of the internet, before he picked up a gun to commit mass murder. Could science and history, clearly presented, have cut through the thicket of poisonous ideas that ultimately choked off Roofs capacity for the most basic human empathy? Could arguing with that particular racist about genetics have saved lives? That possibility, slim as it might be, is why How to Argue with a Racist is an important book.

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A book that could save lives: Adam Rutherford's How to Argue with a Racist reviewed - Spectator.co.uk

Validea’s Top Five Healthcare Stocks Based On Motley Fool – 3/15/2020 – Nasdaq

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The following are the top rated Healthcare stocks according to Validea's Small-Cap Growth Investor model based on the published strategy of Motley Fool. This strategy looks for small cap growth stocks with solid fundamentals and strong price performance.

ZYNEX INC. (ZYXI) is a small-cap growth stock in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool is 76% based on the firms underlying fundamentals and the stocks valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Zynex, Inc. operates through the Electrotherapy and Pain Management Products segment. The Company conducts its business through its subsidiaries and the operating subsidiary is Zynex Medical, Inc. (ZMI). Its other subsidiaries include Zynex Monitoring Solutions, Inc. (ZMS) and Zynex Europe, ApS (ZEU). ZMI designs, manufactures and markets medical devices that treat chronic and acute pain, as well as activate and exercise muscles for rehabilitative purposes with electrical stimulation. ZMS is in the process of developing its blood volume monitoring product for non-invasive cardiac monitoring. ZEU intends to focus on sales and marketing its products within the international marketplace, upon receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. It markets and sells Zynex-manufactured products and distributes private labeled products. Its products include NexWave, NeuroMove, InWave, Electrodes and Batteries. ZMI devices are intended for pain management to reduce reliance on drugs and medications.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ's Guru Analysis tool, click here

CHINA BIOLOGIC PRODUCTS HOLDINGS INC (CBPO) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool is 72% based on the firms underlying fundamentals and the stocks valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is principally engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and sales of human plasma-based biopharmaceutical products in China. It operates through the manufacture and sales of human plasma products segment. China Biologic has a product portfolio with over 20 various dosage forms of plasma products and other biopharmaceutical products across nine categories.The Company's products include human albumin, human immunoglobulin, immunoglobulin for intravenous injection (IVIG), human hepatitis B immunoglobulin, human rabies immunoglobulin, human tetanus immunoglobulin, placenta polypeptide, Factor VIII and human prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC).

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

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MEDPACE HOLDINGS INC (MEDP) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool is 72% based on the firms underlying fundamentals and the stocks valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Medpace Holdings, Inc. is a clinical contract research organization. The Company provides clinical research-based drug and medical device development services. The Company partners with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies in the development and execution of clinical trials. The Company's drug development services focus on full service Phase I-IV clinical development services and include development plan design, coordinated central laboratory, project management, regulatory affairs, clinical monitoring, data management and analysis, pharmacovigilance new drug application submissions, and post-marketing clinical support. The Company also provides bio-analytical laboratory services, clinical human pharmacology, imaging services, and electrocardiography reading support for clinical trials. The Company's operations are principally based in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ's Guru Analysis tool, click here

FULGENT GENETICS INC (FLGT) is a small-cap growth stock in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool is 69% based on the firms underlying fundamentals and the stocks valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Fulgent Genetics, Inc. is a technology company. The Company offers genetic testing to provide physicians with clinically actionable diagnostic information to improve quality of patient care. The Company has developed a technology platform that integrates data comparison and suppression algorithms, adaptive learning software, advanced genetic diagnostics tools and integrated laboratory processes. As of December 31, 2015, the Company's test menu includes approximately 18,000 single-gene tests and over 200 pre-established, multi-gene, disease-specific panels that collectively test for approximately 7,500 genetic conditions, including various cancers, cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders. The Company's gene probes are specifically engineered to generate genetic data that is optimized for its software, which enables to rapidly incorporate new genes into its test menu, develop new panels of disease-specific tests and customize tests for its customers.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ's Guru Analysis tool, click here

MASIMO CORPORATION (MASI) is a large-cap growth stock in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool is 68% based on the firms underlying fundamentals and the stocks valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Masimo Corporation is a medical technology company that develops, manufactures and markets a range of non-invasive patient monitoring technologies. The Company's business is Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry monitoring, known as Masimo Signal Extraction Technology (SET) pulse oximetry. Its product offerings include non-invasive monitoring of blood constituents with an optical signature, optical organ oximetry monitoring, electrical, brain function monitoring, acoustic respiration monitoring and exhaled gas monitoring. In addition, the Company has developed the Root patient monitoring and connectivity platform, the Radical-7 bedside and portable patient monitor, and the Radius-7 wearable wireless patient monitor. It offers Patient SafetyNet remote patient surveillance monitoring system, which allows patients to be monitored through a personal computer-based monitor or by care providers through their pagers, voice-over-Internet Protocol (IP) phones or smartphones.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ's Guru Analysis tool, click here

Since its inception, Validea's strategy based on Motley Fool has returned 413.50% vs. 172.71% for the S&P 500. For more details on this strategy, click here

About Motley Fool: Brothers David and Tom Gardner often wear funny hats in public appearances, but they're hardly fools -- at least not the kind whose advice you should readily dismiss. The Gardners are the founders of the popular Motley Fool web site, which offers frank and often irreverent commentary on investing, the stock market, and personal finance. The Gardners' "Fool" really is a multi-media endeavor, offering not only its web content but also several books written by the brothers, a weekly syndicated newspaper column, and subscription newsletter services.

About Validea: Validea is an investment research service that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Validea's Top Five Healthcare Stocks Based On Motley Fool - 3/15/2020 - Nasdaq

Fighting the coronavirus outbreak with genetic sequencing, CRISPR and synthetic biology – Genetic Literacy Project

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The rapid and frightening spread of the coronavirus has sparked a battle thats drawing on a host of emerging technologies. Government, industry and academic researchers are scrambling to improve our ability to diagnose, treat and contain a virus thats threatening to reach pandemic status.

This isnt the first time researchers have faced off against a dangerous member of this family of viruses. But it is the first time theyve done it with a toolbox that includes the gene-editing tool CRISPR and the emerging field of synthetic biology.

Indeed, weve known about coronaviruses for nearly 60 years. But for several decades, they attracted little attention, causing symptoms similar to the common cold.

That changed in 2003, when a deadly member of the coronavirus family, SARS-COV, spread to 29 countries, killing 774 people. Suddenly, a coronavirus found previously in animals had managed to jump to humans, where it killed nearly 10 percent of those infected. The virus sparked fear across the globe, but was brought under control within a year. Only a small number of cases have been reported since 2004.

Then in 2012 came MERS-COV. The virus emerged in Saudi Arabia, jumping from camels to humans. The virus has never caused a sustained outbreak, but with a mortality rate of35 percent, it has killed 858 people so far. Infections have been reported in 27 countries, with most in the Middle East. The virus is considered by the World Health Organization to be a potential epidemic threat.

Interestingly, neither of these previous coronavirus threats were stopped by a cure or a vaccine. MERS still lurks in the background, while SARS was contained by what amounts to old-school practices, according to a 2007 article in Harvard Magazine:

Ironically, in this age of high-tech medicine, the virus was eventually brought under control by public-health measures typically associated with the nineteenth centuryisolation of SARS patients themselves and quarantine of all their known and suspected contactsrather than a vaccine.

There currently is no cure for this new wave of coronavirus infections (the resulting disease is called Covid-19), even though some antiviral therapies are being tested and one experimental vaccine is ready for testing in humans. The virus genome has been sequenced and its genetic code may shed light on how the disease starts and spreads, as well as inform on potential pharmaceutical targets for drug development. The Covid-19 virus similarity to the SARS-COV may mean that cures developed for one strain may prove effective for the other. The Canadian company AbCellera plans to test its antibody technology, already tried against MERS-COV, to neutralize the Covid-19 viral bodies.

What is really encouraging is the level of international collaboration aimed to fight this health emergency. Funding bodies, scientific societies and scientific journals have signed a joint statement, agreeing to openly share research findings with the global research community as soon as they are available. The very quick information dissemination gave scientists around the globe several RNA sequences of the virus genome. And these sequences can be used to better understand the epidemiology and origins of the virus. Moreover, the advancements in DNA technology let research groups in academia and industry synthesize the viral genetic material to use in the two areas of focus: detection of virus and vaccine development.

One of the trickiest things about the coronavirus is its speculated transmission by asymptomatic patients. This increases the number of infections and makes containment measures less effective, spreading fears that the virus may establish a permanent presence in some areas. There are also fears that many incidents lie undetected, spreading the virus under the radar. As of March 9, the virus has infected more than 110,000 people, killing nearly 4,000, in 97 countries.

Several biotech companies have scrambled to provide kits and resources for early and reliable detection of the new coronavirus. Mammoth Bioscience, a San Francisco-based startup, is already working on a detection assay using their CRISPR technology. The DNA technology companies IDT and Genscript already distribute PCR-based kits for detection for research purposes. The Chinese companies BGI and Liferiver Biotech use the same PCR technology for the kits they provide to their countries health authorities.

The French-British biotech Novacyt announced the launch of a diagnostic kit for clinical use in middle February. The kit will also use quantitative-PCR, developed by their sister company Primerdesign. Its high specificity will reduce the analysis time to less than two hours. The companys CEO Graham Mullis told Reuters that each kit will cost around $6.50, and that they have already received more than 33,000 orders.

The only way to effectively control and even eliminate the outbreak is to develop a vaccine. Unfortunately, the new outbreak hasnt attracted the attention of the lead vaccine manufacturers. Non-profit organizations, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), have jumped in to fill the gap. But despite the emergency, a vaccine may be several years away from being available

The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, announced that theyre working on a coronavirus vaccine which they hope to have ready within the next few months. The molecular clamp approach the Australian researchers have developed is designed to boost the immune system response and work against several viral infections. GlaxoSmithKline has offered its adjuvant technology adjuvants are added to vaccines to boost their efficiency to speed up the process.

The Cambridge, MA-based Moderna uses a different approach to make vaccines. Their mRNA technology is modular and very adaptable to use for a new disease or when the epitope (the vaccines target) mutates. The company says its vaccine is ready for human trials.

The Covid-19 outbreak has rightly gained the attention of health authorities and the media. If the virus were to reach countries with weaker healthcare systems than Chinas, the number of deaths will rise significantly and containment will be even harder. Moreover, the long incubation time of the disease, combined with the asymptomatic spread, make quarantine and isolation measures less effective. The biggest risk is for the new coronavirus to become endemic in certain areas, where the disease is never truly extinct and displays seasonal outbreaks. We dont want the Covid-19 to become a new flu.

The health authorities of 2020, the biotech industry, and the society in general are better prepared for a coronavirus outbreak than a few years ago. The situation is less risky than MERS and SARS, though the new virus is harder to contain. This outbreak offers a chance for everyone to become more aware of viral infections, the appropriate precautions and get vaccinated according to the official recommendations. And keep in mind that the best way to stay informed is through official sources, such as the WHO and the CDC.

As for the biotech industry, are they playing their part? The answer is a partial yes; there are several companies that immediately scrambled to help the situation. But the big players within the field could be doing more.

Kostas Vavitsas, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Athens, Greece. He is also a steering committee member of EUSynBioS. Follow him on Twitter @konvavitsas

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Fighting the coronavirus outbreak with genetic sequencing, CRISPR and synthetic biology - Genetic Literacy Project

Sam Ross Jr. | Coronavirus stops the motor of the sporting world – TribDem.com

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Many sports fans, bless them, are blissfully disinterested in the world at large, a fact reinforced in the days following Johnstowns 1977 flood.

Remarkably, staff were in this papers newsroom (fortuitously located on the second floor of the building) not that many days after the flood, commuting into an otherwise deserted downtown in a van and the driver often me needed a signed pass from the military commander to get past checkpoints.

It was a monumental moment when a makeshift line was strung from the telephone company, across the alley, and into the newsroom through a window. This was a link to the outside world and a conduit to be used to gather information.

Cell phones werent an option then. Remember, 1977 was the year of the very first cell phone call, but it was a time very far removed from the current proliferation of handheld communication devices.

The cell phones of that time were rare and huge, about the size of those military walkie talkies you see in World War II movies.

Eventually, the newly activated land-line phone rang in the newsroom and, when it was answered, a gravelly voice asked Howd the Dodgers do last night?

Imagine that. Many lives had been lost in Johnstown and surrounding communities. Homes and businesses had been washed away, literally. The economic future of the area was uncertain, and this guys most pressing information need was for a baseball score.

Fast-forward to the present and the COVID-19 coronavirus a disease some conspiracy theorists believe to have been genetically engineered for nefarious reasons has pulled an Atlas Shrugged and stopped the motor of the sporting world.

NHL and NBA seasons have been suspended. March Madness is now March No-Go.

Major League Baseballs spring training is on hold and the start of the regular season delayed.

Soccer here and around the world is paused. The PGA, the XFL, theyre not playing. Motorsports such as NASCAR and IndyCar are late arrivals to the postponement crowd, but have joined the club and put a temporary halt to their scheduled events.

This stoppage of big-time sports across the board was a product of momentum, the intangible quality that in a touch of irony so often is credited with deciding sporting contests.

At first there were plans floated to wait and see how the virus infections progressed.

This melted into the possibility of playing games without spectators and, in a sudden rush, games and tournaments were called off and seasons were put on hold.

Speculation in the sporting world now has shifted from trying to identify potential championship teams to wondering when, or if, the whole thing gets going again.

We are left to search for previous experiences as reference points.

One such example was the Spanish Flu outbreak, which hit full-stride in the United States in the fall of 1918.

World War I also ended in November of that year.

Many sporting events were canceled or shortened on a regional basis due to the flu.

Major League Baseball ended a shortened regular season with a World Series contested in September, won by the Boston Red Sox.

As a concession to health concerns, the spitball was banned in that World Series.

Many decades later the NFL and commissioner Pete Rozelle came in for great criticism when the league played on despite the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in late November 1963.

Terror attacks on the United States in September 2001 caused stoppages in sports, but more temporary than what we are facing now.

Uncertainty is rampant now regarding sports and our way of life the near-term future.

If the virus seems to be under control, and if it once again is presumed safe for people to congregate in large numbers to watch events, things could get back to normal in short order perhaps a month.

But what happens if the uncertainty over the spread of the virus still remains months, or even a year, into the future?

This is uncharted territory for sports and for the fans who follow the games and athletes.

And theres not even a Dodgers score to be requested.

Sam Ross Jr. is a freelance journalist who writes a weekly column for The Tribune-Democrat.

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You Don’t Need A Clone To Do It All – Entrepreneur

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Five recommendations on when and how to leave work at work.

March9, 20206 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Dad, did you hear me?

This wasnt the first time Jons son noticed his fathers distraction at the table.

For the past few weeks, theyd be sitting as a family over supper and hed try to tell his dad a funny story about his day.

Then Jons phone would ping and hed miss the punchline. Again.

On the outside, Jon was on autopilot thoughtfully nodding along to his son. But on the inside, his mind kept lingering on that unanswered email.

As the line between Jons work and home life became more blurred, he struggled to be present during these smaller intimate moments with his kids. It was obvious he was missing out, but how could he fix it?

While he was passionate about his new venture, he didnt know how to be available to everyone without cloning himself (an idea that crossed his mind on more than one occasion). As a result, his performance started going downhill and his relationships at home became strained. He simply couldnt do it all.

But what Jon failed to grasp, was that duplicating himself wasnt the answer.

What he needed was to leave work at work.

Related:The Importance of Respecting YourPriorities

You should not confuse your career with your life Dave Barry, American author

Many of us have experienced Jons situation. Feeling frustrated that we cant juggle all of our responsibilities and maintain a fulfilling personal life at the same time.

In a story for Harvard Business Review, author and time management coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders, illustrates how a lack of boundaries can often creep into our after hours.

Some jobs have very clear lines between when youre on and when youre off, while in others the lines are blurred or potentially nonexistent. That makes not being distracted by work, especially mentally, a major challenge.

For busy founders, its easy to have your work take over almost all of your waking thoughts.

I can speak to this. When I began building my company, JotForm 13 years ago, I personally felt that I had to be everywhere at once. Especially in those early days I gave into the pressure of answering emails long into the night and even on weekends.

But stretching myself thin began affecting my relationships outside of work, too. I was veering toward work addiction carrying around a full cup of concerns that threatened to overflow at any moment.

Then one day it dawned on me that if I didnt make it a point to shift mental gears, Id risk passing on my work-related stress onto family and friends. Or worse, miss out on being present and engaged when it matters most.

Over the years, its been a constant and dynamic struggle to find the perfect balance between my work as an entrepreneur and my home life. Here are fiveprinciples Ive learned along the way for managing both.

Related:Defining Your Own Version ofWork-Life Balance

Marking the transition between your work and home life like tidying up your desk before leaving the office can help you find the closure needed to be more present later. Instead of rehashing the days events, allow your daily commute back home to be a time for listening to a relaxing podcast or noticing the environment around you with curiosity. Having an end-of-workday wrap-up, as Saunders suggests, where you look over your calendar and to-do list for the next day can also offer more mental clarity.

Defining when youll be on and off the clock is an important first step in setting boundaries. Saunders puts it this way: Think through how many hours you want for activities like sleep, exercise, family, friends, cleaning, finances, etc. Then see how much time you need to reserve on a daily and weekly basis to fit in those personal priorities. That then defines the parameters of when you want to be off hours.

Turning off notifications when I get home has been an important facet in being more present. In a revealing survey carried out by Wakefield Research for Comcast, researchers found that more than half of parents have been told by their children to put their cell phones away during meals. Staying unplugged during key moments at home allows you to shift your focus to other things and the people that matter.

For CEO, Arianna Huffington, another key to setting work boundaries involves making it a point of charging her phone outside her bedroom as a regular part of her bedtime routine.

Create clear expectations with colleagues. For example, I set up guidelines for when Im available to people by encouraging them to reach me at a specific time and letting them know when I wont be able to respond. But Ive also taken this one step further in making it one of our core company values. At Jotform, our commitment to work-life boundaries is a form of prioritizing balance.

Of course, nothing will create change as effectively as giving yourself permission to actually leave work at work. When I first started my business, I was still working at another software company, and I suddenly had more on my plate than I could handle. This meant that I was finishing projects during my lunch hour and even after I got home.

Fast forward to over a decade of entrepreneurship later, and Ive found that assigning myself regular work hours has given me more freedom and peace of mind. When I leave work, I make it a point to switch off and mentally wipe away the days concerns.

The bottom line is that by guarding your time and spending it on what matters most, you can re-align yourself with your sense of purpose. An added perk? Youll never miss another punchline.

Related:Work-Life BalanceIs Simple. To Succeed at Work, Get a Life.

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You Don't Need A Clone To Do It All - Entrepreneur

Gang of hi-tech criminals cloning debit cards busted in Kochi – The New Indian Express

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By Express News Service

KOCHI: A three-member interstate gang involved in cloning debit cards and withdrawing lakhs of rupees from ATMs in the city landed in police net on Sunday.

Kasaragod native Mohammed Nuhman aka Newman, 35, and his aides Shahjahan, 50, of Kochi and Joseph Sakharia aka Tijo, 26, of Kannur were arrested in a joint operation by the city shadow police and Thoppumpady police, following an inquiry into the case pertaining to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1 lakh from a doctors bank account on December 2 last year.

The fraudsters had allegedly cloned the debit card of Dr Mohammed Shabeer and withdrawn the money from his account from South Indian Bank and IndusInd Bank ATMs between 6.50 am and 7.20 am.

The gang had similarly siphoned off around Rs 10 lakh from people in the city and was involved in identical frauds in other states, said a police official.

Modus operandi

The gang led by Newman made use of the ATM skimming method, in which a small device is fitted in a card swiping slot. When a card is swiped, the machine captures the information stored in the cards magnetic strip.

Newman had provided Tijo, who worked in a petrol bunk at Thoppumpady, with such a device and tasked him with swiping the debit cards of customers in the machine. Newman had imported the machine from abroad, said Thoppumpady SHO N A Anoop.

Anoop said Tijo would also obtain the debit card PIN by noticing the customers finger movements while using the card and would pass on the information to Newman.

Newman would copy data from the machine to his laptop and then to another device. Then, he would clone the data to an old ATM card. Using the PIN he received from Tijo, Newman would withdraw the money. He preferred early hours of the day to commit the crime and would wear a helmet, Anoop said.

Shahjahan assisted Newman and provided him with his two-wheeler to commit the fraud.

Newman and Shahjahan were also involved in similar frauds in Puducherry, said a police official.

How they were nabbed

The gang used the clone of Dr Shabeers debit card and withdrew the money from an ATM at Mundempilly in four transactions and from another ATM in the city in six transactions within a few minutes.

However, Dr Shabeer received SMSes about the withdrawals and immediately alerted the police.

The police tracked down the accused based on the clues received after examining the CCTV footage from the two locations, said an officer. The accused were produced in court and remanded in judicial custody.

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The Rise of Skywalker’s Palpatine Clone Is Taken From Star Wars Legends – Screen Rant

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Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker brought Emperor Palpatine back as a clone, something Star Wars Legends did decades prior. The Rise of Skywalkerdid not make it a priority to explain the Emperor's survival; after all, his death seemed absolute in Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi. However, reveals from the film's novelization have since confirmed thatPalpatine was in an artificial clone body. This idea is actually not new, first occurring in Star Wars: Dark Empire.

Though it was implied, the film didn't address Palpatine's reemergence head on.Cloning was alluded to on screen, but never made official until recently. The novelization of Rise of Skywalker confirmed his consciousness was in fact occupying a different body and his disciples had been working on such technology at his facility on Exegol. Though altered, the basis of this story calls back to aStar Wars Legends plot line.

Related: Why Star Wars Fans Have Forgiven George Lucas

Star WarsLegends refers to theexpandeduniverse series that populated much of Star Wars media after the end of the original trilogy and before the prequel trilogy was released.The non-canon Star Wars: Dark Empirecomicfirst proposed a clone emperor back in 1991.

In Star Wars: Dark Empire, six years afterReturn of the Jedi, the Imperial remnants are rallying around a new leader. Now a seasoned Jedi, Luke Skywalker seeks to find out who is responsible. He travels to the planet Byss, a world enveloped in Dark Side energy. To his surprise, he comes face to face with a youthful clone of Emperor Palpatine. In his lair reside endless bodies, waiting to be activated. Whenever necessary, he transfers his consciousness from one being to another. The Dark Side has effectivelygranted him immortality.

The comic rendition is not so different from its The Rise of Skywalkercounterpart. Both versions of Palpatine plan to rule the galaxy, destroying their opposition. In the comic, Palpatine has created a fleet of ships called World Devastators, which are capable of destroying entire planets in one fell swoop. They are not unlike the vaguely explained Sith Fleet in Rise of Skywalker. Understanding his growing power, he takes Luke on as his apprentice, bribing him with the ability to command of the World Devastators. This is also eerily similar to the deal he strikes with Kylo Ren in the film. In the comic, the Rebel Alliance mounts an attack to stop the fleet. Palpatine manifests a Force Storm to destroy their ships, just as he does to the Resistance in the finale of episode 9, instead using Force Lightning.

Whether or not borrowing from Star Wars Legends was the betterfor this movie is subjective. Perhaps the The Rise of Skywalker's creative teamthought this was the best course to take, but the concept of the Emperor being a clone has proven divisive. At the very least, the idea is not original, as theparallelsbetween Star Wars: Dark EmpireandThe Rise of Skywalkercannot be ignored.

Next: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Is Not The Ending Of George Lucas' Story

The Rock & Vin Diesels Feud Will Become Marvel vs. DC In 2021

Shane O'Neill is a writer, moviegoer, gym addict and all around nerd. From Marvel to Star Wars, he's never too busy to catch a movie on opening night. He is currently attending the University At Buffalo for a Bachelors in Film Studies and has been studying film independently for years. For the past year he has reviewed films as a hobby and has been itching to share his thoughts with the world.

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The Rise of Skywalker's Palpatine Clone Is Taken From Star Wars Legends - Screen Rant

Car washer confesses to cloning client’s key, stealing vehicle – The Observer

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A car washer in Kamwokya,Ronald Tugeine alias Kanaabe in Kamwokya is battling accusations of stealing his client's vehicle, a Toyota Mark X registration number UBG 116D.

Tugaine works at a washing bay opposite Acacia Place on John Babiiha Avenue. He is accused of having stolen the vehicle of his client of more than 4 years, Henry Kata, an advocate with Acadia Advocates at Acacia Place on February 27, 2020.

Tom Opakasi, an eyewitness and security guard with G4 Security, which guards Acacia Place, told City Hall magistrate Valerian Tuhimbise early this week that Tugeine approached him on February 26, 2020, at around 7 pm and informed that Kata had asked him to take the car for washing just like it had been in the past.

Opakasi asked the suspect to first call Kata.

"He made a call and spoke to someone and then told me that Henry said that he should pick the car in the morning," narrated Opakisi.

He explained that Tugaine returned the following morning at around 6:30 am and picked the car that was parked in basement one. According to Opakasi, he informed Kata around 7 am that the person he had asked to pick up the vehicle had taken it.

"I told him the person you sent to come and pick your car yesterday has come and picked the car. And then he (Henry Kata) said, but I have my keys," narrated Opakisi.

It is then, that the two learnt that the car had been stolen. Opakisis description of the person who took the car fitted that of Tugaine. Kata reported the matter to Kira Road police station where Opakasi was asked to make a statement.

He was detained and released on police bond two days later. Kata says police reviewed footage from CCTV cameras at Acacia Place and on the streets. Footage from Acacia Place showed Tugeine walk swiftly towards the car and drive off. Police cameras also spotted the car in Kyengera at 6:55 am on the same day.

"At first I couldn't believe he was the person who had taken my car...he was my trusted car washer," Kata said.

He then went to the washing bay to talk to Tugeine's colleagues. He was told that Tugaine had landed into trouble with traffic police in Mpigi for driving without a permit. They asked if he could bail him out with Shs 100,000 but when Kata tried contacting the suspect his contacts were off.

He later revealed to Tugaine's colleagues what had happened. They told him that Tugaine had spent the night of February 26th at the bay and left at around 4 am.

"It's like he had spent the whole night planning," Kata said.

Kata says that police then told him they would pitch camp in Mbarara that evening. On February 29, Kata received a call from police indicating that Tugaine had been arrested with his vehicle in Kabale and transferred to Kira Road police station. According to Kata, he recovered his car intact except for a dent at the front bumper.He reportedly asked the suspect why he had taken his car.

He told me that the devil had tempted him. He said the temptation was caused by the very many needs he had at home," narrated Kata.

Detective Albert Tumuhaire from Nsoba police post, which is under Kira Road police station, who recorded Tugaines charge sheet and caution statement told court that the accused was brought to him by another detective called Bine.He said the suspect confessed to have stolen the vehicle with intentions of selling it.

"He said that when he reached Ntungamo, he wanted to sell the car at Shs 6 million but was called to attend to an emergence in his village home in Kabale. So, instead of selling the car he went home," Tumuhaire told court.

He explained that it is in Kabale where the suspect was arrested. Tumuhairwe also told court that the suspect told him he had duplicated the vehicle keys days before he used them.

Tugaine dismissed the testimony of the last witness but neither denied nor confirmed those of the first two witnesses. Magistrate Tuhimbise remanded the suspect further to Luzira prison until March 17 after denying bail for failing to present substantive sureties.

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Car washer confesses to cloning client's key, stealing vehicle - The Observer

Be a good neighbor in the days of coronavirus – Citrus County Chronicle

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This is like nothing weve ever experienced before.

It isnt all hype. It isnt an exaggeration. Coronavirus has arrived and soon we will feel it in full force.

Sometimes life in a small place has its value. In moments like these when entire cities are shutting down, it can feel like a distant problem. For the most part, up until now, Citrus County is moving forward normally with caution but as normally as possible. Cities like Seattle are reeling from the complete upheaval of life. Schools are closed. The vast majority of major businesses have transitioned to a remote platform.

Places that are usually bustling are ghost towns. I stumbled across a website the other day that showed places with typically huge crowds. They had posted pictures of these places just one month ago compared to today.

It felt surreal.

That was just a picture. I wasnt even there. And it was eerie.

Even if Citrus County isnt feeling it yet, it will. And given the nature of the demographic of the area, we should be fully prepared to walk through this as a community using caution and wisdom.

Obviously, we need to engage in the personal hygiene guidelines being laid out for the general population. Wash our hands. Use hand sanitizer. Wipe down surfaces. And the one thats probably the hardest to manage use the practice of social distance.

Thats disruptive especially for those who dont feel sick, who havent been traveling, who arent around people who show symptoms. But in all reality, we need the disruption. Disruption is the necessary evil that helps contagion decrease. It doesnt eradicate it. But it definitely slows its progress.

And slower progress of the virus is what is absolutely essential.

This is, of course, an introverts dream. Stay home. Work in pajamas. Dont talk to anyone. Communicate via the written word. What could be better?

But in all truth, we need community. We need one another. And so this will test the foundation of our relationships and the strength of our bonds as a community. Were blessed to live in an age of technology. We can still see family and friends face-to-face without risk of perpetuating the problem.

We should make use of those tools. Theres no reason to socially isolate when we can communicate in other ways.

So what does it look like to be a good neighbor in the days of corona?

Practice caution. At this point, there isnt really a risk of overreacting. The risk is far more dangerous if we under react. Do all of the things that our health officials are telling us. Dont shrug off the need to sing Happy Birthday while washing your hands.

Keep distance. If we do it well it wont last forever.

The reality is that if we get to the end of all this chaos and it feels like it was for nothing then it was successful. The point is for nothing to happen. We want to stop the movement of the virus. The best measure of success would be that life just goes back to normal.

We need to be extra aware of how this virus affects the senior citizens in our communities. Read what there is to read. Get good information. Be conscious of all the ways that our normal behavior can negatively impact the people around us who have chronic illnesses and compromised immune systems.

Being a good neighbor doesnt change just because were facing a new challenge. The foundational understanding of being a good neighbor follows the same rule: think of others; care for others; and treat our neighbors they way we would want to be treated.

The Golden Rule still applies in the age of corona.

Cortney Stewart is a 2003 graduate of Lecanto High School. She has bachelors degrees in political science and international affairs, a masters degree in intercultural studies and is currently working on her Ph.D. in international conflict management. She most recently spent two years teaching and training students, teachers and government officials in Baghdad, Iraq. Email her at seeingbeyondccc@gmail.com.

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Be a good neighbor in the days of coronavirus - Citrus County Chronicle

Spreading Mustard Seeds – The Good Men Project

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Because you have so little faith

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 17:20

Recently, a close friend of mine, an astrophysicist and astronaut-just a really good person-moved to the Seattle area where I had lived for eight years in the 90s. I have a couple of friends who have lived there for many years, one a retired senior business executive I worked with for eleven years, the other a senior public service official I worked with for eight years. I have known these men for many years since, having numerous conversations with them, sometimes monthly, but certainly quarterly to this very day. In short, we are close.

When my astrophysicist friend decided to accept a senior executive position with Amazon he moved to Seattle from Colorado. I told him I had lived there and would reach out to my two friends to see if they could connect with him as a friendly gesture. No substantive expectations other than a perfunctory touch base. I sent a note to both men, copying my newly relocated friend. My friend then sent a note, reaching out to my two friends, copying me, closing the loop.

After three weeks of silence, I sent a note to one of these men asking if he had a chance to connect with the Seattle transplant. No answer. I asked once more. The answer I received: Im sure hes very busy with moving to the area. I know were busy too. In other words, Im not interested in reaching out to your friend: period. And dont ask me again.

Honestly, I was flabbergasted. My wife pointed out that I had really put a burden on these two friends and my consternation reflected more on my own bruised ego than the actual substance of the request. Perhaps there was a part of that. But my initial thoughts were that this was rather sad.

I ruminated about this much longer than warranted, I suppose, but I just couldnt shake it. I had been very close to these two friends over the years, extending myself many times. Furthermore, I thought if either of them had asked me, it wouldve been a no-brainer simply because they asked. So, I stewed over this for a few days, finally asking one of my closest friends, a retired executive vice president of Disney what he thought. His answer was quite instructive and exactly what I expected; not that I was a little crazy as my wife continued to suggest: Im concerned about your inability to let this go. She had said.

First, he was nonplussed because it was one of those things, in his opinion, you just do because a close friend asked. Second, and this is the larger issue, nobody knows what opportunities may have sprouted within the chemistry of bringing these people together. I do not mean this in any manipulative or strategized networking opportunity. Not at all. Who knows? The wind spreads mustard seeds. Some grow and others lie dormant.

My friend from Disney went on to list numerous times when he did, and continues to do, something for someone in this same way with absolutely no expectations and received opportunities he could never have guessed would ever occur. He speaks from the experience after 14 years in retirement and well into his own global leadership consulting / speaking company, with five internationally acclaimed books, multimedia platforms including his work with theAmerican Military JCS among many other companies and organizations. In short, he turns down three times more business than he could ever handle at 76 years old and going like a house afire. I thought: Why is it this man with so many, many accomplishments and years of experience leading thousands of people at Disney has the time and understanding to do something for a friend when my other friends just decided to let it go? Maybe thats a partial explanation of how and why he enjoys the success he has had over his career and continues to this day. Maybe thats why hes an exceptional leader and person.

I then began to look back on my own career, trying to find this same connection. The answer was just the Golden Rule I suppose. If someone asked and I could help I just did. No, certainly not every time. But many times. I liked people. I learned it from my parents. Its a gift they gave me that I so cherish. In fact, what success I did enjoy in my career came, many times, from relationships that sprouted from mustard seeds like this with few expectations.

My wife continued to ride me because I couldnt seem to shake my disappointment, chalking it all up to my weak ego. During this same time, I went with my wife to a doctors appointment. In the waiting room there was a TED Talk on the TV monitor about the top five things that prolong life. The number one qualifier was consistent social interaction. This I think is the essence of my dilemma. When I told this to my wife she said: Well, if thats true youll live well past 100.

Being a very private person, my wife has four of her own friends: me, her mother, our daughter and our son. Thats it. Why should I have been so surprised that she cant even begin to understand the power of a mustard seed and a lost opportunity? Its simply not in her genetic wiring. This is not an indictment of my wife, being married to her for over half a century. Its just her disposition. I know this to be true because no matter how many times I explained my thinking she simply could not understand what I was saying other than considering it to be highly self-centered and egotistical. My friend from Disney understood it before I could finish explaining it.

I think it comes down to attitude and temperament. In the end its certainly the obvious nice thing to do. But there is something else thats undefinable. Its being enthusiastic about people simply because they exist in this world and getting to know them is like opening a gift on Christmas morning. Two people can look at a piece of land. One can see nothing but dirt. The other can see verdant fields of beauty for a dynamic future. Same piece of land. Totally different perspective.

There is no right answer to this conundrum. Each of us sees the world through our own set of glasses. Ill rely on my own, which in this case, gave me a unique vision I trust: to keep spreading those mustard seeds. One of them just might move a mountain.

Photo: Pexels / Shutterstock

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Spreading Mustard Seeds - The Good Men Project

NASAs future monster rocket is once again over budget and behind schedule – The Verge

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NASA is still having trouble managing the development of its next big rocket, the Space Launch System, a new audit has found. The report is the latest in a string of damning reports from NASAs inspector general, which has been warning about scheduling and budget problems with the rocket for years.

The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the epicenter of NASAs Artemis program, the agencys plan to return humans to the Moon by 2024 and put the first woman on the lunar surface. Once complete, the SLS is set to be the most powerful rocket in the world, capable of lofting more than 200,000 pounds of material into low Earth orbit. NASA plans to fly people on top of the SLS, sending them to dock with a small station around the Moon where they will then journey down to the surface in a lander.

Since the SLS is so crucial to NASAs lunar ambitions, the inspector general did a complete assessment of the contracts for all of the major elements of the rocket. Three government contractors Boeing, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Northrop Grumman are working on the rocket; Boeing is handling the majority of the vehicle, while Aerojet makes the engines and Northrop is making boosters that will give the rocket extra thrust at liftoff. All of the contractors have experienced technical problems and setbacks, resulting in $2 billion of cost increases and two years of delays, the report said. In fact, the entire SLS program is over budget and behind schedule by more than 33 percent, compared to the baseline figures NASA gave Congress for 2019. And that will probably grow to 43 percent, the report says, as more schedule delays occur.

NASA originally hoped the rocket would make its debut in 2017. But Boeing only finished building the core of the rocket earlier this year before shipping it to Mississippi for testing. For a while, NASA has been targeting the SLS to launch on its first uncrewed test flight in November of this year, but officials at the agency have conceded that SLS wont fly until 2021 at the earliest.

In the meantime, the cost of the program has ballooned. Until December 2019, the SLS program had cost a total of $14.8 billion, and its expected to grow to $17 billion by the end of this year, according to the inspector general. Of that total, $6 billion isnt being reported or tracked. Regardless, the total cost is 60 percent more than the $10.8 billion that NASA had originally envisioned for the project back in 2014, the audit said. The program will likely grow to $18.3 billion by the time the rocket actually flies next year if the vehicle can make the new 2021 deadline. If the second flight of the SLS slips to 2023, the entire program will probably be $22.8 billion by then, according to the audit.

The inspector general chalks these problems up to technical issues, bad management, and poor performances from the NASA contractors. NASAs scope for the SLS has constantly been in flux, with the agency changing the design of the vehicle for various upcoming missions. Additionally, the inspector general admonishes NASA for continuing to hand over award fees to Boeing and other contractors, despite missing deadlines and bad performance. Boeing and NASA have blamed their poor performance on the fact that its been 50 years since anyone has developed a rocket of this size, and that expertise has thinned since then.

NASAs inspector general, along with the Government Accountability Office, has been warning about the mismanagement of the SLS program for years. Audit after audit has questioned NASAs timetable for the rocket and pointed out flaws in the way Boeing has managed the program. This particular report also comes at a vulnerable time for Boeing, just a few months after the companys other spacecraft in development, the CST-100 Starliner, made a less-than-stellar debut flight for NASA. A recent investigation into the Starliners botched mission revealed 61 corrective actions that Boeing needs to take to fix the problems experienced during the flight.

As for the SLS, the inspector general has some suggestions about how to address those issues. The audit says that NASA needs to let Congress know that the program has exceeded its timeline and budget, take a closer look at how people are managing these programs, and develop a new cost accounting model.

In response to the audit, NASA agreed to make all of the changes the inspector general suggested, and it plans to create a new timetable for the program moving forward. NASA has already begun implementing improvements to better track cost and schedule and to report progress against baseline, NASA officials said in response.

Boeing also argued that it has learned a lot while developing the SLS. The hard-earned experience acquired during initial SLS development is resulting in significant savings and efficiencies in subsequent development and production, Boeing said to The Verge in a statement. Were committed to supporting NASAs vision to having boots on the moon by 2024.

Seeing as how the SLS program has continually struggled with timelines, its unclear if the rocket will actually meet its deadline next year. And with all of these delays, it becomes increasingly unlikely that NASA will be able to meet its goal of sending humans back to the Moon by 2024, especially if the SLS is a central part of that plan. No matter what, the SLS program promises to be a very expensive endeavor for NASA. The inspector general estimated that the entire SLS program, along with the Orion crew capsule needed to carry humans and the ground systems needed to support the rocket, will have cost NASA $50 billion by 2024.

Updated March 10th, 3:30PM ET: This article was updated to include a statement from Boeing.

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NASAs future monster rocket is once again over budget and behind schedule - The Verge

NASA and private sector have big plans for space travel and they’re recruiting – New York Post

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Amid all the coronavirus worries, heres a positive development: NASA this month began taking applications for new astronauts.

You probably wont qualify: Candidates must have STEM backgrounds, and the odds of being accepted in the last round were 50 times worse than those for Harvard applicants.

Plus NASAs at least four years away from getting anyone to the moon though thats far from the only manned mission now on the planning boards.

On the other hand, firms like Axiom Space and Elon Musks SpaceX are starting to offer regular commercial trips that are (literally) out of this world and you dont need to be a real astronaut.

Its not cheap: You need to fork over $55 million for a seat on the first fully private-sector spaceflight, slated for next year complete with two days of space travel and eight days at the International Space Station. (Better act fast: Only two of the three available seats are left, reports The New York Times.)

But prices will come down, as the long-term prospects for off-planet exploration and residency are improving.

NASA is forging ahead with its Moon to Mars program, with a planned lunar landing date in 2024.

The moon leg, called Artemis (Apollos twin sister), includes an orbiting spacecraft with room for astronauts to live for up to three months, while shuttling back and forth to the lunar surface.

Thatll allow for extended periods of exploration and access to more moon sites, including, notably, the lunar South Pole, which is thought to hold hundreds of millions of tons of ice. (Off-Earth ice is a huge asset for further space exploration.)

NASA hopes to establish a permanent human presence on the moon as it searches for scientific discoveries and lays the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.

Artemis will also help NASA prepare for a trip to Mars in the 2030s. And the agencys not alone with its Martian dreams: SpaceX and other private firms are eyeing colonization of the next planet out from the sun.

Its important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars, says Musk, whose company is working on plans to get there. The Red Planet is far enough away that, in the event of a war, its more likely mankind can survive there than on the moon.

Musk hopes to ferry 1 million people to Mars by 2050 via 1,000 Starships a year, each with 100 people and materials to sustain them, for 10 years.

Such visions are ambitious. But space exploration and development come with big payback: They broaden knowledge, create possibilities for new applications and hold out enormous economic potential, with resources to be mined and space jobs to be filled.

And even if Musks worry about a humanity-ending war is excessive, having an off-Earth refuge may be handy for other reasons such as an outbreak of something even worse than COVID-19.

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NASA and private sector have big plans for space travel and they're recruiting - New York Post

NASA fixed its Mars mole problem in the most unusual way – BGR

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NASAs InSight lander has performed a lot of great work since its arrival on the Red Planet many months ago. Its provided scientists with insights (no pun intended) into the planet, revealing that marsquakes frequently rumble across its rocky surface, and even sent back timely weather reports. Just about everything is going well for the high-tech robot. Just about.

The one instrument that has seriously failed to meet expectations is the self-hammering mole tool that was supposed to dig itself up to 16 deep. Its first attempts were lackluster, and even when NASA tried new techniques, Mars barfed the probe back up again. Now, NASA is pulling out all the stops, and its newest plan appears to be working.

Weeks back, NASA announced that it would use the InSight landers robotic arm to physically push the probe into its hole. This strategy, NASA said, could give the probe enough traction in the loose Martian soil to dig itself deeper. The probe is only useful to NASA if it can dig way, way down, so this new technique is something of a hail mary.

The mission team plans to command the scoop on InSights robotic arm to press down on the mole, the mini pile driver designed to hammer itself as much as 16 feet (5 meters) down, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory said at the time. They hope that pushing down on the moles top, also called the back cap, will keep it from backing out of its hole on Mars, as it did twice in recent months after nearly burying itself.

Nobody knew whether the strategy would work, or if it would even be possible to push on the end of the probe without damaging the connections between the instrument and the lander itself. After all, cutting the probe off from the lander would mean an abrupt end to that particular mission objective, so great care had to be taken to avoid pinching the cords and causing damage.

Today, NASAs InSight team tweeted something that looks rather promising. Its a very brief video that appears to show the robotic arm giving the probe a gentle nudge. The probe inches deeper into the Martian soil just before the looping video ends. Check it out:

The team seems very encouraged by the results, noting that the technique appears to be working. Still, its far too early to declare this a total success. The troublesome mole has been rescued before, and each time it appears to be working, something else goes wrong and it ends up on the surface again.

Well have to wait a while before we know if the mole will actually be able to complete its job, but for now, well be cautiously optimistic.

Image Source: NASA/JPL

Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. His love ofreporting is second only to his gaming addiction.

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NASA boosts existing astronaut health protection measures in light of coronavirus – TechCrunch

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NASA is supplementing its standard protocols and processes for ensuring the health of the astronauts meant to take part in the initial commercial crew spaceflight program with added measures designed to protect them against the possibility of contracting COVID-19, Business Insider reports. Its standard practice for the U.S. space agency to institute practices designed to reduce the chances any crew flying to space will contract any illnesses on the ground prior to their trip, but extra steps are now in place to specifically address coronavirus risks.

BIs report notes the added measures in place in addition to the standard two-week quarantine leading up to the commercial crew mission, which is currently set to take place sometime in either April, May or June aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. These include an improved emphasis on surface cleaning and disinfection, social distancing and hand cleaning, all of which is in keeping with the CDCs recommendations when it comes to prevention among the general population.

NASA has also suspended tours at the facilities where the astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, undergo training ahead of their flight, and to further limit potential exposure, its asking its own staff to say home if they have any feeling that they might potentially be sick.

The health of anyone tasked with traveling to and working while in space is obviously paramount. NASAs existing procedures, which include extensive testing and monitoring leading up to the actual flights, have a great track record of preventing anyone from taking any unwanted viral guests on their trips to space. Coronavirus may present a new challenge to the agencys precautionary measures, but it shouldnt functionally differ all that much from the other viral illnesses that astronauts typically seek to avoid before a mission.

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Ford’s secret weapon has a passion for batteries and came from NASA – Stuff.co.nz

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The little boy who grew upin Los Angeles never thought he'd wind up living in Detroit - and never dreamed he would want to stay. Blame his passion for batteries. That's right, batteries.

It's one thing to dash across town to pick up a tube of toothpaste. It's another story to travel all the way to Jupiter. But the technology can be the same. And it's designed by a guy named Bob Taenaka.

He's the man, whether it's powering the Galileo space probe at Jupiter or engineering the power source behind the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 hybrid pickup and Police Interceptor hybrid.

He's the top battery technology guy at Ford Motor Co. He came from NASA's world, working at Hughes Space & Communications Co. in El Segundo, California.

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"I'm not a rocket scientist but I worked with rocket scientists," Taenaka said. At NASA, battery engineers sometimes actually get top billing over actual rocket scientists, he said. Who knew?

Anyway, Taenaka is senior technical leader on advanced battery systems at Ford - designing the range, charge and power of battery packs. For auto companies, this is the secret sauce.

He has been creating car batteries at Ford for nearly two decades, after earlier designing space batteries for NASA and for the U.S. Air Force for almost two decades.

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Bob Taenaka is the main battery man at Ford. He came from NASA.

"Bob is passionate about batteries, whether they're going in an interplanetary space probe or the Ford Escape (hybrid) or (Mustang) Mach-E that's parked in your driveway," said Mike Levine, Ford North America product communications manager. "You need a reliable, dependable, affordable battery, whether hybrid or all-electric."

This is the key to the future. Figuring out how to keep batteries warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This tech is used in cars and spaceships.

Speaking about Galileo's mission to Jupiter, Taenaka said, "The batteries provided power for all science instruments. If the battery fails, the whole mission fails. This is pretty much true of any system as complex as spacecraft or automotive. Reliability is really critical."

Dependability is just one reason why Oakland County Sheriff's Major Christopher Wundrach said the agency ordered two hybrid Police Interceptors in April 2019.

"It's more efficient. We like it because it uses less fuel," he said. "It keeps our carbon footprint down. We want to do our part to help out. Sheriff (Michael) Bouchard likes to keep us on the cutting edge of technology."

Taenaka said, "This is a new design, new technology and we need to prove it out. The battery in space needed to last a really long time or the whole plan would collapse. In a vehicle, we want the battery to last the whole life of the vehicle. That would be mission accomplished."

He is the kid who spent his days playing Hot Wheels for hours. Once a month on a Saturday, he and his father drove to the family's combination grocery store and barbershop in Watts for haircuts from his grandma.

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The Ford Police Interceptor Hybrid is fast, high-tech and frugal. And the Police love it.

"It was nice back then," Taenaka said.

But when he attended elementary school, the smog was so bad some days that kids couldn't go outside to play at recess.

"I still remember a slight burning sensation in my eyes, and beginning to cough and wheeze if you took too deep a breath while playing outside," Taenaka said. "Those experiences motivated me to work on alternative energy. I had no idea it would lead me to a 37-year career as a battery engineer."

That is when he thought about his way of helping to change the world. The rest of his extended family went into fields such as earthquake engineering and aerospace engineering. Bob Taenaka studied chemical engineering.

"Electrified vehicles and a spacecraft are actually very similar. They both have energy storage systems and propulsion and vehicle launches," he explained. "We have launch dates for both cars and spacecraft. The common thread between spacecraft and car batteries is reliability and durability. If you don't have those attributes, they will never be good products."

Fully electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions but making them and powering them still requires energy that can generate pollution. Longer-range electric vehicles require more energy and use up more natural resources to make them than shorter-range versions. Hybrid vehicles, on the other hand, have very low emissions, they don't need to be plugged in and there's no limit to the distance they can travel with just short stops for gasoline fill-ups.

"Hybrids and fully electric vehicles are both really important to achieving long-term air quality goals and environmental solutions," said Taenaka, who is 61 and lives in Plymouth. He drives a 2019 Ford Fusion hybrid. "I love that car."

"In the industry, a battery is typically referred to as a grouping of cells," Taenaka said, "like a group of students makes up a class."

He and his team have developed and delivered hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric vehicles including the F-150, Explorer, Police Interceptor, Escape, Transit, Lincoln Aviator and Corsair.

He has worked on design, development, testing, and validation at the battery cell and pack level, and - most important - the vehicle level, in manufacturing, field issue support and post-production battery quality.

"The first task I would get involved in is determining what the size of the battery needs to be," Taenaka said. "Vehicles will have a certain set of requirements - power, energy and lifetime required. The faster you want to accelerate the vehicle, the more power you need to discharge out of the battery. The other thing is energy, which translates directly to vehicle range. By putting more cells into the system, you can go further and have more power. The combination of power and energy determines the right size of the battery."

"Historically, you usually never have enough space to fit all the energy desired," Taenaka said. "That's why the electric vehicle range has been increasing over the years, because battery cell technology has been advancing."

Fact is, battery tech is so simple it can be explained to a kid with ease:

"A battery is just like you. Fill it with food (electricity) and tender love (treat it nicely), and it becomes full of energy to make things go. It works best at the same temperatures that you like - not too hot and not too cold. It likes to take a break from time to time to rest and rejuvenate itself, just like you do. And when it gets low on energy, that's the time to recharge it with food (electricity) so that it becomes full of energy again," he wrote while travelling Iceland in recent days to see the Northern Lights.

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The Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Galileo space probe might be quite different, but their battery tech is the same.

Over the years, Taenaka has taken time to reflect on his work and its impact.

"My most personally satisfying moment since I joined Ford in 2001 took place when I took a personal trip to New York City in 2017," he said. "I exited the subway at Madison Square Garden and walked along the nearby city streets, and it became clear to me that about 30 per centof the yellow taxis were Escape Hybrids. But we had ended production of the Escape hybrid five years earlier, in 2012. It was concrete proof we had designed a durable, dependable vehicle. About 70 per centof all Escape hybrids ever produced from 2004 to 2012 are still on the road today, and some taxi vehicles have more than 400,000 miles, almost all with their original traction battery."

Jeremy Acevedo, senior manager of insights at Edmunds.com car appraisal site, said battery technology is the "final frontier." And having NASA expertise at Ford enhances the company's credibility in a highly competitive space.

"It's uncharted territory for the industry," he said. "That's huge. And it's about the industry getting it right."

In fact, Ford is investing more than US$11.5 billion in electrified vehicles by 2022, including the all-new fully electric Mustang Mach-E SUV in 2020 with a targeted range of 300 miles and an all-electric F-150 in a few years, Levine said. A hybrid version of the best-selling F-150 pickup coming later this year will join new Ford Escape and Explorer hybrids, he said.

But Taenaka won't predict his future.

"When I was 9, I was certain I was going to pitch or play first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I am left-handed and that's an advantage in baseball," he said. "In junior high, a career survey said I should become a national park ranger. So I figured I'd be a park ranger after playing baseball. But I got cut from the varsity team in 11th grade. Maybe I'll work for the Detroit Tigers one day as an usher after I retire from Ford."

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Ford's secret weapon has a passion for batteries and came from NASA - Stuff.co.nz