Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) Foundation

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Video:ACGT fellow, Dr. Samuel Katz,Yale Medical Center, speak about cell and gene therapies for cancer treatment.

See all ACGT videos here

July 12, 2017

STAMFORD, Conn., July 12, 2017 Today the FDAs Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, an independent panel of experts, voted unanimously to recommend to the FDA Read More

June 26, 2017

On Saturday, June 24, 2017, more than 300 swimmers made waves in the fight to defeat cancer at the 11th annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Read More

May 25, 2017

Dear Friends: I have always considered myself to be a very lucky person, but I wasnt feeling very lucky the day I was told I Read More

June 22, 2017

I have always considered myself to be a very lucky person, but I wasnt feeling very lucky the day I was told I had chronic Read More

June 3, 2016

In 2012, Bob Levis, an Allentown, Pennsylvania resident, believed he had come to the end of his life. Diagnosed in 2002 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Read More

March 16, 2014

They took my cancer cells and irradiated them, and then injected them back into my body so my immune system would kick in, Morrow said. Read More

June 21, 2017

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy fellow, Dr. Samuel Katz at Yale Medical Center, speaks about cell and gene therapies for cancer treatment. There has been Read More

October 5, 2016

Dr. Stephen Eck, Member of Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapys Scientific Advisory Council, talks about the importance of personalized therapies for cancer. Historically, weve tried Read More

October 5, 2016

Dr. Michael Lotze, Member of Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapys Scientific Advisory Council speaks about progress in the fight against cancerhe has witnessed during his Read More

The mission of ACGT is to seek out and support revolutionary scientific research into the causes, treatment and prevention of all types of cancer using cells and genes as medicine.

Cell and gene therapies are destroying tumors every day in the laboratory and in human trials, targeting only the cancer with few side effects to healthy tissue. ACGTs rigorous grant review process, under the guidance of a preeminent Scientific Advisory Council, have resulted in some of the most successful breakthroughs in the history of cancer treatments and led to many patients in complete remission.

100% of our funding supports innovation and translational science that is proving again and again to offer better treatment options than the traditional therapies of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Every donation brings us closer to saving lives and changing the way we treat cancer forever.

Video:ACGT fellow, Dr. Samuel Katz,Yale Medical Center, speak about cell and gene therapies for cancer treatment.

See all ACGT videos here

At the ACGT anniversary gala in April, Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research and newly appointed Director of the Abramson Read More

This fourth in our blog series on the progress of cell and gene therapy for cancer focuses on a treatment that has made huge strides Read More

In our last blog, we described the progress and promise of CAR-T, an immunotherapy that has been particularly successful with leukemia and lymphoma. As a Read More

2017 All rights reserved by ACGT. ACGT is a 501(c)(3) organization and all contributions are tax-deductible under the law of your state.

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Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) Foundation

Krystal files for IPO to move gene therapies into clinic | FierceBiotech – FierceBiotech

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Krystal Biotech has filed to raise about $35 million in a Nasdaq IPO. The money will equip Krystals ex-Intrexon executive team to file an IND for its rare skin disease gene therapy in the first quarter of next year.

That gene therapy, KB103, is designed to treat dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare disease that makes the skin fragile and susceptible to blisters and tears. Krystal thinks it can improve outcomes in these patients, who currently only have palliative options, by using a HSV-1-based vector to fix defects in the COL7A1 gene.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Krystal has yet to back up the idea with clinical data. But having run preclinical tests of topical and intradermal formulations of KB103 and met with the FDA late last year, it plans to embark on a whistle-stop development program. The plan is to file an IND in the first quarter, have results by the middle of the year and use that readout to guide the design of a pivotal trial.

Krystal will need more than the forecast IPO haul to execute that strategy, although it does expect to have some money left over from the Nasdaq listing to fund work on its follow-up program, KB104. That gene therapy treatment for Netherton syndrome is due to reach the IND stage by the second half of next year.

The early-stage nature of Krystals pipeline is one of several characteristics that mark it out as a biotech trying to make the leap to public markets early in its development as a company. Notably, given the financial reporting requirements for public companies, Krystal has yet to hire a full-time CFO or in-house principal accounting officer. The biotechs seven-person team is heavily skewed towardR&D.

Krish Krishnan, CEO, and Suma Krishnan, COO, lead this small team. The pair have worked together for most of the past 13 years, starting at New River Pharmaceuticals in the run-up to its takeover by Shire. Both Krishnans popped up next at Pinnacle Pharmaceuticals, where Krish was CEO, before reuniting with their former New River boss Randal Kirk at Intrexon.

Krystal sees the pair strike out on their ownand stand to win big if their gene therapies succeed.A family trust owned by Krish and Suma owns more than two-thirds of Krystals stock. The only other organization to own more than 5% of the company is Sun Pharma, which bought its 16.5% stake in a $7 million series A round earlier this month. That round bolstered Krystals cash position, which stood at $3.5 million at the end of June.

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Krystal files for IPO to move gene therapies into clinic | FierceBiotech - FierceBiotech

MHRA backs gene therapy in battle with ‘bubble baby’ disease – The Pharma Letter (registration)

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MHRA backs gene therapy in battle with 'bubble baby' disease - The Pharma Letter (registration)

Gene therapy darling Oxford BioMedica pares losses – Telegraph.co.uk

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A darling British biotech that is working on the development of the worlds leading gene therapy for cancer has posted reduced losses and a leap in sales.

Oxford BioMedica signed a deal worth up to $100m (77m) with Swiss drugs giant Novartis last month to supply cell material for its potential blockbuster treatment, known as CTL019, for a type of leukaemia.

The living drug was recommended for approval by US regulators in June, with a final determination expected this autumn.

It would be the first gene therapy for cancer and if approved is expected to generate a spike in revenues for Oxford BioMedica, with the potential for further tie-ups on other cancer treatments.

Oxford BioMedica is also trialling its lentiviral vectors, which help manipulate genes, in potential treatments for Parkinsons Disease and an eye condition.

In half-year results today, Oxford BioMedica pared back losses to 2.2m, compared to 6.9m in the red the previous year. Revenues jumped 26pc to 15.7m.

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Gene therapy darling Oxford BioMedica pares losses - Telegraph.co.uk

Apic Bio Launches to Advance First-in-Class Gene Therapy for … – Business Wire (press release)

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apic Bio, Inc., a pre-clinical stage gene therapy company leveraging its proprietary platform to advance therapies to treat rare diseases with complex mechanisms, in particular Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha 1), launched today with an initial investment led by the venture philanthropy arm of the Alpha-1 Foundation and a private investor with the disease.

Its lead product, APB-101, targets the liver via an AAV delivered Dual Function Vector (df-AAV) whereby the Z-AAT protein is silenced and M-AAT protein is augmented. APB-101 has achieved a pre-clinical proof of concept with efficacy demonstrated in vitro and in vivo. It is currently undergoing pre-clinical GLP toxicology studies in non-human primates. Patients living with Alpha 1 lack sufficient levels of circulating AAT protein to protect lung tissue against damage from proteases, and experience the accumulation of mutant AAT polymers in the liver. Clinically, the deficiency is manifested by progressive emphysema and the accumulation presents a significant risk of liver cirrhosis.

John Reilly, Co-Founder & President said: We are grateful to TAP and A1AT Investors, LLC who have supported the successful start of Apic Bio by providing the first tranche of our seed financing round allowing us to secure key intellectual property rights and operational support. With such strong support from the advocacy and patient community, we are confident that we will identify the right corporate partners to help us achieve our business development goals and bring this exciting new therapy to patients.

The df-AAV platform allows treatment of other diseases with complex mechanisms where the mutant gene product must be reduced and the normal gene product must be augmented.

Dr. Chris Mueller, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Apic Bio said: We are encouraged by the feedback that we have received during our pre-IND meeting with the FDA that there is a clear path for us to conduct a first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical study. Furthermore, we are very much looking forward to demonstrating the benefit of APB-101 to patients that have been living with alpha-1 and have had very little hope for a cure. Our data suggests this is a liver sparing approach for gene augmentation which may exceed the therapeutic and safety margins when compared to a strict gene augmentation without gene silencing that may exacerbate the underlying liver disease.

TAP is very pleased to provide this funding to Apic Bio. Their cutting-edge work on a therapy that addresses both the liver and lung disease brings us closer to finding a cure for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, thus fulfilling our mission, said Jean-Marc Quach, CEO for The Alpha-1 Project.

Todays launch of Apic Bio has been a long time coming for the hundreds of thousands of people who are challenged by Alpha 1, said Ed Krapels, who has been living with Alpha 1 and is the new companys first individual investor. Now that we are moving forward, we hope to work with patients, their advocates and researchers to make a cure readily available. Krapels added.

About Apic Bio: Apic Bio, Inc. is a spin-off from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and is based upon nearly 30 years of gene therapy research by its scientific founders Christian Mueller, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and a member of the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor in Medical Education, dean of the School of Medicine and provost and executive deputy chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School; and colleagues at the Horae Gene Therapy Center. Their research is funded in part by an $11M grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

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Apic Bio Launches to Advance First-in-Class Gene Therapy for ... - Business Wire (press release)

Acclaimed Visual Futurist Syd Mead to Deliver Keynote Address at 2017 VES Summit – Animation World Network (press release) (registration) (blog)

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LOS ANGELES -- The Visual Effects Society, the industrys global professional honorary society, has announced acclaimed visual futurist and VES Visionary Award honoree Syd Mead as a keynote speaker at its ninth annual VES Summit, Inspiring Change: Building on 20 Years of VES Innovation. The 2017 VES Summit takes place on Saturday, October 28th at the Sofitel Hotel Beverly Hills.

Featured Speakers will include President of IMAX Home Entertainment Jason Brenek and renowned online security expert and founder of SSP Blue Hemanshu Nigam. The interactive forum on Saturday, October 28th celebrates the Societys milestone 20th Anniversary and will bring together top creatives, executives, thought leaders and visionaries from diverse disciplines to explore the dynamic evolution of visual imagery and the VFX industry landscape in a TED Talks-like atmosphere.

Keynote speaker Syd Mead is an acclaimed visual futurist and conceptual artist whose storied career spans almost six decades. He was honored as the recipient of its VES Visionary Award at the 14th Annual VES Awards in 2016 for his unique ability to create unforgettable images and advance storytelling through his futuristic design aesthetic. Meads career began as he created characters and backgrounds for animated cinema intermission trailers just out of high school. After serving in the U.S. Army and receiving his education at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, Ford Motor Companys Advanced Styling Studio recruited Mead. After Ford, he took on high-profile design assignments for blue chip companies including U.S. Steel, Philips Electronics and Intercontinental Hotels.

In 1979, Meads projects expanded to designing for Hollywood as he began to work with most major studios. His cinema entre was legendary, starting with the creation of the Vger entity for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, followed by two cult classics -- Bladerunner and Tron. Meads designs for robots, vehicles and other-worldly environments have also been featured in films including 2010, Short Circuit, Aliens, Time Cop, Johnny Mnemonic, Mission Impossible 3 and Elysium.

Concept art for director Ridley Scotts 1982 classic feature Blade Runner by Syd Mead.

With transportation design as his first love, Mead seldom misses an opportunity to provide his unique blend of futurism and believability to designing vehicles -- from concept cars, cruise ships and hypervans to interplanetary cinematic spacecrafts that transport audiences to new worlds. In the 1980s, Mead established close working relationships with a number of major Japanese companies including Sony, Minolta, Dentsu, Dyflex, Tiger, Seibu, Mitsukoshi, Bandai, NHK and Honda as well as contributing to Japanese film projects, Yamato 2520 and Solar Crisis. In the 1990s, he supplied designs for all eight robot characters in the Turn A Gundam mobile suit series and TV show. Extensive collections of Meads work have been exhibited worldwide, drawing record crowds and he continues an active schedule of one-man shows and presentations.

Featured speaker Jason Brenek joined IMAX Corporation in 2015 as President, IMAX Home Entertainment, where he oversees a series of global initiatives designed collectively to translate elements of The IMAX Experience to the home setting, including the IMAX Private Theatres, an over-the-top movie service for delivering IMAX-enhanced Hollywood films into homes, and IMAX technology licensing into premium consumer electronics. He also oversees virtual reality content acquisitions and curation for the new IMAX location-based VR centers.

Prior to joining IMAX, Brenek spent more than a decade in senior management at The Walt Disney Studios. He led Disneys international teams and sub-distributors in the commercialization of Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies in New Media/Digital, Television and Retail channels. His teams have led the industry in the launch of innovative and lucrative partnerships and products around the world. In his concurrent role of Head of Global Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Brenek was later responsible for sourcing new revenue opportunities, business models, investments, establishing strategic partnerships, and digital product strategy and incubation for the Studios multi-billion dollar Global In-Home Distribution segment.

Prior to these roles, Brenek worked in Disneys Global Theatrical Distribution division as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Digital Cinema and Cinema Programming where he was responsible for setting and executing Disneys global cinema strategy, overseeing Digital Cinema Operations, negotiating Digital Cinema deployment and digital 3D deals around the world, as well as developing and overseeing 3D and Cinema Programming. He was instrumental in Disneys emergence to the forefront of the Digital Cinema and Digital 3D world. In 2015, the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society awarded Brenek with its first Founders Award.

Featured Speaker: Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam has worked inside the largest prosecuting agencies, software companies, media and entertainment giants, and most influential trade associations in the world. Nigam served as the Chief Security Officer of News Corporation and Fox Interactive Medias digital properties, as CSO of MySpace, and as a security executive in Microsoft. He was also the Vice President of Worldwide Internet Enforcement at the Motion Picture Association of America. He began his career as Los Angeles County prosecutor specializing in sex crimes and child abuse before serving as a federal prosecutor against online crimes against children and computer crimes in the US DOJ. Today, he is the founder of SSP Blue, a cyber security advisory company that has helped companies like Participant Media, SnapChat, Microsoft/Xbox, Disney, AT&T, Microsoft, JustFab, and others deal with challenges in cyber security, privacy, and safety.

A veteran of online security, he brings over 20 years of experience in private industry, government, and law enforcement. Nigam has been a keynote speaker at the United Nations on stopping cyber hate, and has been a member of the White Houses cyber stalking task force and co-chair of President Obamas Online Safety Technology Working Group. Nigam has spent a career chasing bad guys online and offline bringing them to justice. He was one of U.S. DOJs first online crimes prosecutors who took down an international child sex trafficking ring as well as prosecuted online child predators and hackers. His insightful expert commentary on cyber security offers an insiders view of the dark online underworld. Nigams personable style coupled with his unique ability to simplify cyber security for viewers to understand makes him a frequent guest on U.S. and international media. He also has a video blog at http://www.InsideCyberCrime.com where he breaks down cyber security, privacy, and safety topics in accessible segments.

Source: Visual Effects Society

Jennifer Wolfe is Director of News & Content at Animation World Network.

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Acclaimed Visual Futurist Syd Mead to Deliver Keynote Address at 2017 VES Summit - Animation World Network (press release) (registration) (blog)

New series of The Futurist Report explains effects of AI – IT News Africa – IT News Africa

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August 21, 2017 East Africa, General, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

The new The Futurist Report explains how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation will affect the way we live our lives.

Ericsson, together with AT&T Foundry and RocketSpace have released the third series of TheFuturist Report. The report gives an inside look into the cutting-edge technologies and companies that are shaping the future of artificial intelligence (AI), and what this means for consumers.

Over 50 successful entrepreneurs, executives and academics leading the charge on new technologies and applications were interviewed tobetter understand developments in the AI space.

The report also explains how artificial intelligence and automation will affect the way we live our lives, and how brands will adapt and cater to changing consumer experiences.

AI will have an enormous impact on our daily lives. From enabling hyper-personalisation to saving huge amounts of time on routine tasks, these new tools will fundamentally shift the way we interact with technology in our day-to-day lives.

The impact is already happening in sub-Saharan Africa, with start-ups developing solutions that have the potential to impact key socio-economic issues. For example, a Cape Town based company created an AI system to assist farming consultants in Africa to identify problem areas in crops such as wheat, macadamia nuts, citrus and sugar cane. This technology will enable farmers to develop variable rate fertilisation application maps, predicting the yield of crops and identifying problem areas.

This is one example of how developing markets are adapting AI to address specific issues that are unique to regional challenges while taking advantage of the predicted mobile broadband growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to our latest Mobility Report, Mobile Broadband subscriptions in Middle East and Africa are expected to grow by almost 3 times between 2016 and 2022. This clearly illustrates the potential that AI will have across the region with the ability to impact growth in key areas that are critical for economic progress including agriculture, healthcare, education and infrastructure development said Rafiah Ibrahim, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa.

In addition, five bold projections that showcase how AI will impact the consumer experience in coming years were developed.

Edited By: Fundisiwe Maseko Follow Fundisiwe Maseko on Twitter Follow ITNewsAfrica.com on Twitter

Artificial IntelligenceAT&T FoundryericssonIT Newsmobile broadbandRocketSpaceStart-upstech news

Disrupt or optimise When to choose which approach to innovation Cloud Technology: Discussing data compliance and security

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New series of The Futurist Report explains effects of AI - IT News Africa - IT News Africa

New series of The Futurist Report explains effects of AI – IT News Africa

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August 21, 2017 East Africa, General, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

The new The Futurist Report explains how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation will affect the way we live our lives.

Ericsson, together with AT&T Foundry and RocketSpace have released the third series of TheFuturist Report. The report gives an inside look into the cutting-edge technologies and companies that are shaping the future of artificial intelligence (AI), and what this means for consumers.

Over 50 successful entrepreneurs, executives and academics leading the charge on new technologies and applications were interviewed tobetter understand developments in the AI space.

The report also explains how artificial intelligence and automation will affect the way we live our lives, and how brands will adapt and cater to changing consumer experiences.

AI will have an enormous impact on our daily lives. From enabling hyper-personalisation to saving huge amounts of time on routine tasks, these new tools will fundamentally shift the way we interact with technology in our day-to-day lives.

The impact is already happening in sub-Saharan Africa, with start-ups developing solutions that have the potential to impact key socio-economic issues. For example, a Cape Town based company created an AI system to assist farming consultants in Africa to identify problem areas in crops such as wheat, macadamia nuts, citrus and sugar cane. This technology will enable farmers to develop variable rate fertilisation application maps, predicting the yield of crops and identifying problem areas.

This is one example of how developing markets are adapting AI to address specific issues that are unique to regional challenges while taking advantage of the predicted mobile broadband growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to our latest Mobility Report, Mobile Broadband subscriptions in Middle East and Africa are expected to grow by almost 3 times between 2016 and 2022. This clearly illustrates the potential that AI will have across the region with the ability to impact growth in key areas that are critical for economic progress including agriculture, healthcare, education and infrastructure development said Rafiah Ibrahim, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa.

In addition, five bold projections that showcase how AI will impact the consumer experience in coming years were developed.

Edited By: Fundisiwe Maseko Follow Fundisiwe Maseko on Twitter Follow ITNewsAfrica.com on Twitter

Artificial IntelligenceAT&T FoundryericssonIT Newsmobile broadbandRocketSpaceStart-upstech news

Disrupt or optimise When to choose which approach to innovation Cloud Technology: Discussing data compliance and security

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New series of The Futurist Report explains effects of AI - IT News Africa

Renowned futurist to speak at SA top 100 event – InDaily

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Adelaide Friday August 18, 2017

The futurist who predicted the 2008 financial crash will give a keynote address on the future of energy at this year's event to unveil South Australia's top 100 businesses.

InDailys South Australian Business Index an independent ranking of the top 100 South Australian companies will be announced at an Adelaide Oval lunch on September 28.

The event, which will be part of the Open State festival for the first time, will feature guest speaker Richard Watson a leading English futurist, author and lecturer who has worked with many leading companies to help them improve the quality of their thinking and plan for the far future.

He will speak about Future Energy a topic of close interest to all South Australians as we grapple with life on the sharp edge of the transition of the electricity market from the old to the new.

Watson has written five books, including Future Files, published in 2007, which warned about the inevitability of a systemic shock to the financial system. He warned this was not a debt mountain, but an avalanche waiting to descend. big banks, in particular, will come under increasing scrutiny about their lending practices, and there will be calls for salary and profit caps.

A year later, the prediction came to pass, almost in those exact terms, with a mountain of US bank debt cascading through the worlds financial system to create what we now call the Global Financial Crisis.

Watsons keynote address will be followed by a local expert panel discussing the issues affecting South Australian business, particularly energy.

To book your ticket to the South Australian Business Index lunch, click on the banner below.

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Renowned futurist to speak at SA top 100 event - InDaily

Universal Basic Income Examined by Futurism Blog – Basic Income News

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The Futurism blog, which describes itself as reporting on the breakthrough technologies and scientific discoveries that will shape humanitys future, has published a post on basic income as a response to increasing automation of the workplace.

Although universal basic income (UBI) is neither a technology nor a scientific discovery, Futurisms FAQ page lists UBI as one of the topics that it is particularly interested in.

The article sets out the nature of basic income, explores arguments for and against it, lists a number of recent and upcoming experiments, and provides quotes from a number of supporters of UBI throughout history. It is written by Luke Kingma, Futurisms Head of Creative and a former copywriter for companies such as Hasbro, Toyota and Warner Brothers.

Futurism has appeared in a list of top futurist blogs on Quora, a popular question-and-answer site. It states that it has approximately 200,000 subscribers to its regular newsletter.

More information at:

Luke Kingma, Universal Basic Income: The Answer to Automation?, Futurism, 22th April 2016

Claire Bott has written 6 articles.

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Universal Basic Income Examined by Futurism Blog - Basic Income News

Astrophysicists Believe They’ve Found Another Earth-Like Planet in a Nearby Star System – Futurism

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In BriefAstrophysicists have discovered a probable Earth-likeexoplanet that is 23 light-years closer than the Trappist-1 system.It has sparked new hope for finding extraterrestrial life in theuniverse. Hope for Exoplanets

Last year, the Trappist-1 system was discovered, and it reignitedhumanitys hope of finding planets that could one day (or currently) sustain life. Butthere has been much debate over the probability that planets within that system, which is located 39 light-years away,could hold life as we know it. While Trappist planets might fall within what is known as the habitable zone, other factors, such as the factthat they orbit a red dwarf, might make them less prone to sustaining life than initially thought.

This uncertainty might get you down until you read that astrophysicistsat the University of Texas at Arlington(UTA) have predicted the existence of a much closer planet that is Earth-like in nature. Published as Dynamics of a probable Earth-Like Planet in the GJ 832 System in The Astrophysical Journal, this planet is only 16 light-years away, within the star system Gliese 832, and it appears to be both stable and Earth-like.

Lead author Suman Satyal, UTA physics researcher, stated in an UTA press release that, According to our calculations, this hypothetical alien world would probably have a mass between 1 to 15 Earths masses.

This is an important breakthrough demonstrating the possible existence of a potential new planet orbiting a star close to our own, UTA Physics Chair Alexander Weiss said in the press release.The fact that Dr. Satyal was able to demonstrate that the planet could maintain a stable orbit in the habitable zone of a red dwarf for more than 1 billion years is extremely impressive and demonstrates the world class capabilities of our departments astrophysics group.

According to Satyal, The existence of this possible planet is supported by long-term orbital stability of the system, orbital dynamics and the synthetic radial velocity signal analysisAt the same time, a significantly large number of radial velocity observations, transit method studies, as well as direct imaging are still needed to confirm the presence of possible new planets in the Gliese 832 system.

So, it is not yet 100 percent certain that this unicorn of a planet exists. However, these predictions are strongly supported by evidence garnered by the research group. But what could this mean if and when these scientists prove the existence of such a planet?

Technologies which allow us to explore further and further into the cosmos continue to develop. From SpaceXs advances to the Breakthrough Initiatives, it is becoming ever-more possible to reach previously unseen corners of the universe. Now, Mars is only an average of 12.5 light-minutes from Earth, so 16 light-years might seem like an unconquerable distance.

However, compared to the distances of other promising exoplanets, this could be one of the best shots we have to survey and study an exoplanet that fits many habitable criteria. The exploration of the universe is a never-ending journey that will only continue to further our knowledge and curiosity.

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Astrophysicists Believe They've Found Another Earth-Like Planet in a Nearby Star System - Futurism

Elon Musk Leads AI Experts With Letter Urging UN to Consider Threat of Autonomous Weapons – Futurism

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In Brief In an open letter addressed to a special convention set up by the United Nations to study the implications of autonomous weapons, a group of 116 AI experts urged decisive and immediate regulation. A Clear Danger

Elon Musk has long been warning us against the dangers he believes to be inherent to unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) development. Hes called the threathumankinds biggest risk, and even said that its greater than any threat posed by North Korea. While some AI experts have criticized Musk for this, the OpenAI CEO is hardly the only one in the industry thats offered warnings about the potential danger of AI systems.

In fact, 115 other experts including DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman have joinedMusk in calling for stronger regulation for AI. As companies building the technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics that may be repurposed to develop autonomous weapons, we feel especially responsible in raising this alarm, the group wrote in an open letter to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare.

The UN has just created the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), which will discuss and study the implications of modern weapons powered by AI. Musk, Suleyman, and the other experts urge the UN to act decisively and clearly on the matter, urging them to work hard at finding means to prevent an arms race in these weapons, to protect civilians from their misuse, and to avoid the destabilizing effects of these technologies.

The group of experts, obviously, arent against developing AI after all, theyre all involved in AI work from 26 countries. The problem is how AI is used: the group is wary of is using the technology to build autonomous weapon systems, a trend thats already begun.

Unlike other potential manifestations of AI which still remain in the realm of science fiction, autonomous weapons systems are on the cusp of development right now and have a very real potential to cause significant harm to innocent people along with global instability, Clearpath Robotics founder and one of the signatories Ryan Gariepytold The Guardian.

Their letter continues: Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways.

And asMusk has been sayingin regards to AI all along nows the best time do implement all the regulation necessary. We do not have long to act, he said earlier this month, Once this Pandoras box is opened, it will be hard to close.

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Elon Musk Leads AI Experts With Letter Urging UN to Consider Threat of Autonomous Weapons - Futurism

Further Research into Artificial Wombs Brings Us Closer to a Future Where Babies Grow Outside the Body – Futurism

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In Brief Innovative artificial womb technology successfully incubated lambs for one week and might soon be helping preterm babies to fully develop. The device and its accompanying unique method was developed by a collaboration of scientists from Australia, Japan, and elsewhere. An Innovation in Artificial Incubation

Around 15 million babies are born preterm or premature every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This number is expected to rise, bringing moreinfants into the world before completing 37 weeks of gestation. How we are going to care for a growing number of premature infants is a real concern: preterm birth complications were responsible for almost a million deaths in 2015, making it the leading cause of death among children below 5 years of age.

Thankfully, there are a number of interventionsthat can help, many of whichinvolve developing better incubation chambers evenartificial wombs and placentaswhere the premature infants can continue their growth outside the womb. One of these is an artificial womb developed by a combined team of researchers from the Women and Infants Research Foundation, the University of Western Australia, and Tohoku University Hospital, Japan.

Designing treatment strategies for extremely preterm infants is a challenge, lead researcher Matt Kemp said in a press release. At this gestational age the lungs are often too structurally and functionally under-developed for the baby to breathe easily. Their work, published in The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, took a different approach. The key was treating the preterm infants not as babies,but as fetuses.

Their device and method successfully incubated healthy baby lambs in an ex-vivo uterine environment (EVE) for a one-week period. At its core, our equipment is essentially is a high-tech amniotic fluid bath combined with an artificial placenta. Put those together, and with careful maintenance what youve got is an artificial womb, Kemp explained.

He added in the press release, By providing an alternative means of gas exchange for the fetus, we hoped to spare the extremely preterm cardiopulmonary system from ventilation-derived injury, and save the lives of those babies whose lungs are too immature to breathe properly. The end goal is to provide preterm babies the chance to better develop their lungs and other important organs before being brought into the world. Its this approach that makes it revolutionary.

The scientists hope that this EVE therapy could soon help bring preterm human babies to term. We now have a much better understanding of what works and what doesnt, and although significant development is required, a life support system based around EVE therapy may provide an avenue to improve outcomes for extremely preterm infants, Kemp said.

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Further Research into Artificial Wombs Brings Us Closer to a Future Where Babies Grow Outside the Body - Futurism

NASA: We’re Going to Try and Make Oxygen From the Atmosphere on Mars – Futurism

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In BriefFor any Mars exploration plans, surviving on the Red Planet isas important as getting there. This is why NASA is looking forwardto its Mars 2020 Rover mission, which would include a test formaking oxygen on the Red Planet's surface. Small Steps for Man

Getting humans to land on Mars is the biggest space project this generation will ever see. Such a bold endeavorgetting humans to another worldcomes with a cornucopia of nitty-gritty details to iron out. These details need to be set before we can even begin to proceed with a manned mission.

The most obvious is the needto build rockets and spacecraft able to ferry probes (carrying food and other supplies) and people. For NASAs mission to Mars, this also entails the construction of a lunar space station thatll serve as a jump-off point to the rest of the solar system.Click to View Full Infographic

Speaking to Futurism after the successful launch of SpaceXs CRS-12 mission on Monday, NASA Acting Chief Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Jr. explained how getting to Mars requires small, incremental steps, and he noted that NASA has a remarkable project in the works. When you look at our plans today [for getting to Mars], we use the International Space Station as much as we canfor example, our life support systems, we test them up there. He added that the Moon would be the next logical step in this process.

But getting to Mars and surviving there are two disparate yet equally important aspects of the same mission. We try and make sure that, when we do a science mission or a human spaceflight mission, that we have a cross between the science and the human exploration, Lightfoot explained.

Now no one wants to fly to Mars, land on the ground, yawp I did it!and then turn around and head home. Space exploration is more than symbolic pretense. We want to stay on Mars and install a colony. Of course, the eventual plan is to terraform Mars, but that could take thousands ofyears to accomplish if its at all possible.

So, in Lightfoots mind, we ought to start small, and theres nothing more basic for survival on Mars (or anywhere) than having a secure source of air to breathe. The next lander that is going to Mars, Mars 2020, has an experiment where we are going to try and actually generate oxygen out of the atmosphere on Mars, clearly thats for human capability down the road, Lightfoot said.

What we know is that the Red Planets atmosphere is thinner than Earths, with some 95.32 percent carbon dioxide, 2.7 percent nitrogen, 1.6 percent argon, and about 0.13 oxygen, plus a bunch of other elements in even smaller amounts. By contrast, the Earths atmosphere has 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. Water wont be much of a problem, though.

Is it possible to make oxygen from Mars atmosphere? NASAs had plans for this since 2014, when it first revealed the Mars 2020 Rover. It involves bringing some microbial life to Mars, perhaps bacteria or algae, that would would use Martian soil as fuel and then pump out oxygen as a product. The oxygen could then be harnessed and made available for breathing and also to make rocket fuel for return flights to Earth.

It may sound like science fiction right now, but lab experiments have shown that its possible. Thats why the Mars 2020 Rover mission is crucial. Other efforts to make Mars habitable include plans of building a magnetic shield around the planet, similar to Earths, building a nuclear reactor, as well as growing potatoeslike in Matt Damon inThe Martian.

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NASA: We're Going to Try and Make Oxygen From the Atmosphere on Mars - Futurism

China Is Reviving the World’s Fastest Train – Futurism

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In Brief After 6 years, China is reclaiming its title for the world's fastest train. In September, a new series of bullet trains capable of reaching speeds of 400 km/h (248 mph) will go into operation.

China once held the title for the worlds fastest train, but a devastating crash in 2011 forced the country to slow down their transits, lest they experience another tragic event.

Next month, however, China will regain is lost title, as it plans to introduce several new bullet trains that will move at the speeds necessary to once again be the worlds fastest. Prior to the aforementioned accident, Chinas bullet trains traveled at 350 km/h (217 mph), but were then reduced to 250-300 km/h (155-186 mph).

Come September 21, when the new trains are up and running, speeds will return to 350 km/h, but will be capable of going 400 km/h (248 mph). For comparison, the still-in-development Hyperloop One recently reached speeds of 308 km/h (192 mph), though the plan is to hit 402 km/h (250 mph) while still in testing.

Zhao Jian, Beijing Jiaotong University professor and a leading researcher on Chinas high-speed railway network, told the South China Morning Post that in order to avoid more accidents at higher speeds, the railway operator will need to reduce the number of trains in use at one time.

According to the Associated Press, China has laid over 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles) of high-speed rail, and intends to add another 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles) by 2020. To date, over $360 billion has been spent on the railways creation.

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China Is Reviving the World's Fastest Train - Futurism

Uber’s new app features give its drivers more freedom to decline … – The Verge

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Uber is adding more features to its app that are designed to benefit its drivers. Now drivers will be able to set their arrival times and trip preferences, get notifications if a trip is going to take 45 minutes or longer, and set more preferred destinations.

Prior to this update, drivers could set two destinations a day, allowing them to make a trip only in a preferred area, which is supposed to make commuting to and from home more convenient. Uber has now increased the limit to six destinations.

Setting trip preferences means that Uber drivers can switch to making deliveries for UberEats, the companys food delivery service, when car riding requests are slow. By getting a notification if a trip is going to take 45 minutes or longer, drivers will be better informed to decide whether they want to turn down the trip request. And most notably, Uber has made declining a trip less impactful to a drivers account standing.

Its part of the companys PR effort to court drivers after a disastrous couple of scandal-ridden months, which resulted in the companys CEO Travis Kalanick and other top-ranking executives stepping down. The effort, called 180 Days of Change, was announced back in June. As part of the initiative, Uber added tipping for drivers as an option back for Seattle, Minneapolis, and Houston in June. Every month, Uber plans to announce more changes as part of the effort.

Setting an arrival time.

Long trip notification warns driver if a trip will take 45 minutes or more.

Uber increased the driver destination limit from two trips to six.

Drivers can now become UberEats deliverers during slow hours.

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Uber's new app features give its drivers more freedom to decline ... - The Verge

7 Steps to Achieve Financial Freedom – Entrepreneur

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Achieving financial freedom doesn't necessarily mean becoming filthy rich -- not that that hurts.

In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Brian Tracy explains the seven steps you need to take to achieve financial freedom. Now, financial freedom doesn't mean becoming filthy rich -- lottery winners go bankrupt all the time. Instead, financial freedom is about becoming disciplined and using your money in a way that ensures you can live the sort of life you want both now and in the future.

That's why the first step isn't about getting a lot of money. Instead, it's about teaching yourself to think positivelyaboutmoney. That way, you'll be in the right mindset to move forward.

Click play to learn more.

Related:Brian Tracy's Best Advice for Young People: It's Never Too Early to Find Your Purpose

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7 Steps to Achieve Financial Freedom - Entrepreneur

Former Slave’s Dream Of Freedom Lives On In Central California Town – CBS San Francisco Bay Area

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August 22, 2017 12:52 PM By Christin Ayers

ALLENSWORTH, Tulare County (KPIX 5) California was once the promise land for a former slave who settled a town where his dreams of freedom would become a reality.

That place still exists. Its called Allensworth and if you didnt know it was here, you might never find it.

This blink-and-youll-miss-it former agricultural town, smack in the middle of California, four hours from San Francisco, three hours from Los Angeles, suspended in time looks just the way it did 100 years ago.

Today Allensworth has been preserved as a California state historic park.

But its not just any park.

This is the only California park that deals with black history, said park ranger Steven Ptomey. Its very unique in that.

In its heyday, Allensworth was not just any town.

This was the only endeavor, especially in California that was fully financed, governed, built and designed by African Americans solely, said Ptomey. There was no one else involved in that outside the black community.

Steven Ptomey knows Allensworth better than most anyone. Hes the resident park interpreter, an archaeologist by trade. He has spent years studying Allensworth and the man it is named for, Colonel Allen Allensworth.

He was born in 1842, born a slave, got his freedom during the civil war, served in the U.S. Navy, was a restaurateur, then got the call to go into the ministry, became an ordained Baptist minister, got his doctorate in theology from the same seminary as Booker T. Washington and then got an appointment as the Chaplin of the 24th Infantry Regiment one of four all-black regiments in 1884 where he served until 1906, said Ptomey. And upon his retirement he was the highest ranking African American officer in the U.S. Army. He was also only the second man in history at the time to receive the rank of Lt. Colonel as a Chaplin.

But Colonel Allensworth wasnt finished making history. In the early 20th centuy he decided his next venture would be wildly ambitious.

He had a vision for California.

Even though they were 50 years out of slavery, they were physically free but they were not economically free so his idea was to found a community where they could live apart and prove that they were worthy of everything that America had to offer by being businessmen and entrepreneurs and gentleman farmers if you would, said Ptomey.

It was a time in history when racism dictated where African Americans could live and where they could not. There were Jim Crow laws in the South and aggressive redlining throughout the country, including California.

They had doctrines and covenants on pieces of property where they would agree not to sell to a person of color, added Ptomey.

Allensworth was supposed to solve those problems as a utopian black community.

(Wikimapia)

Looking out from the library you could see the First Baptist Church. A brown building was the home of the Philips family. Off to the left is the Colonels home. There was a school house a hotel, a general store, and fertile land as far as the eye could see.

So what would a typical day in Allentown be like?

Overall this was a small town and this was a quiet, country life, said Ptomey. They never had any serious crime in Allensworth during the historic period. They had a town constable. He only investigated one robbery and the guy who got caught gave everything back.

At its peak, it was a town of some 250 people, families such as Alice and James Hackett. They took a chance and moved to Allensworth from Alameda. Their home looks like a page from history a piano, chandeliers, lace doilies filled with turn-of-the-century antiques.

There were some conveniences in Allensworth. The Santa Fe Pacific Railroad line cut right through town.

Col. Allensworth hoped residents could live off the land, growing crops thanks to the Tulare Lake bed. But that was a crucial miscalculation. About a decade after the town was established, the water would dry up.

The drought that happens in 1913-1914 The railheads moved from Allensworth to Alpaw, and right around that same time, the Colonel was killed in 1914. He was hit by a motorcyclist, said Ptomey.

His death ended one of the Colonels greatest dreams for Allentown.

They lost their bid to build a black college here, said Ptomey. They were going to build the Tuskegee of the West, a black polytechnical college. That was killed in the California legislature after the death of the Colonel because he was the guy with the political connections.

Ptomey believes had they built that college here, Allensworth probably would have survived into the 20th century as a more thriving community.

Nonetheless, Colonel Allensworths dream lasted several years. In 1915, the town was still thriving.

But as the 1920s approached, Allensworth declined. World War II dealt a final crushing blow to the town. After the war, its educated young people migrated to places like Richmond, California, abandoning farm work for factory jobs.

It wasnt until the 1970s, some 50 years after the demise of Allensworth, that it was named a state park. The town was restored back to its original glory and is now in the National Registry of Historic Places.

Tourists travel from far and wide to see Allensworth, like Don Billberry and Betty Lee from Stockton.

It was very interesting, said Billberry after touring with Ptomey. I learned a lot. I never heard of this place really.

Lee believes Allensworth holds an important place in history.

You cant know where youre going until you know where youve been, she said. History is really important for us, and especially black history.

The town is a testament to true grit. They had to be really strong people to be out here in the middle of nowhere not really knowing what your future held, and to keep going anyway, said Lee. Its a whole lot of drive, determination and just the will to say we can make a difference in this world.

Its still standing after 100 years. Can you imagine? Its still standing, says Lee.

As short-lived as its life span was, Allentown made its mark and left a legacy for generations to come.

The Colonel Allensworth State Historic Parks Visitor Center and campgrounds are open daily. There are Juneteenth celebrations and other events all year round.For more information, directions and events, go to the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park web page.

Christin Ayers is a general assignment reporter for KPIX 5 News.Ayers is excited to return to Northern California, where she was born and raised. Ayers grew up in Sacramento and trained to be a journalist in the Bay Area.She received her bachelors...

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Former Slave's Dream Of Freedom Lives On In Central California Town - CBS San Francisco Bay Area

What is true freedom? – Uinta County Herald

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Freedom is the song of the human heart. Our forefathers crossed the sea to find freedom on these shores. They forged the U.S. Constitution to protect this freedom from governmental tyranny. And they shed their blood on every continent to defend human freedom from the armed assaults of evil governments.

From Francis Scott Keys, the land of the free, to Sammy Davis Jr.s Ive Got to Be Me, to Lady Gagas Born This Way, freedoms song still rings out in every generation. Thats the good news.

We still have common ground. We all yearn to be free. We all have the same indomitable desire to be the person that we are, to be true to ourselves. This desire for liberty strikes such a deep chord in us that it is unarguable. It is common ground. It binds us together as human beings.

So why is it that this solid common ground does not seem to be holding us together anymore, but tearing us apart? In times past, Freedom! was a rallying cry that united us in a common struggle against every oppressor. Today, Freedom! is more often a cry that divides us into a million individuals competing against one another for power to make others bend to my will.

In times past, fighting for freedom meant fighting both Nazis and Communists, totalitarians of all sorts who would undermine or destroy the constitution of the United States. Today so-called freedom-fighters may openly oppose the constitution and believe that it is a hindrance to their true freedom.

What happened? The answer is fairly straightforward. While the definition of freedom has remained the same, the definition of who we are, has been turned on its head. Freedom remains the ability to be who I am; to think, speak and act according to my true humanity. All of us still agree on this. But we have become divided on the more foundational question: What IS my true humanity?

Who ARE you? Who AM I? Are we the same, or are we utterly different? And if we are the same, how are we the same and what unites us?

This is the root problem in public discourse today. Everybody is yelling out freedom. Everyone wants to be free to be who you are. But there are two wildly different accountings of who we are.

One accounting says that we are creatures, first and foremost. The Declaration of Independence says, all men are created equal. Our equality is firmly grounded in a common Creator: They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. Human rights are not given by governments but by our Creator.

Because there is a common Creator above us all, our individual human rights cannot be in conflict, but must be in perfect harmony with everyone elses rights. And governments, because they neither created us nor gave us our rights, are duty-bound to recognize and protect the God-given rights of every individual.

This accounting of human nature was the bedrock of our US constitution. It is also found embedded within the constitution of every state. All 50 states in our union have reference to God or the divine in their constitution.

The other accounting of human nature denies a common Creator. This denial comes in so many shapes and sizes that it is impossible to enumerate them all here. For the moment, it is enough to say that a common Creator is denied either explicitly or implicitly.

But without a common creator, it is practically impossible to account for human rights. If there is no common Creator above us, are there multiple creators so that we are divided one from another and fundamentally different? Or is there no creator at all, so that each person is his or her own creator?

Either way, rights come into conflict. Interests cannot be harmonized. People are pitted against each other. We are tribalized, or atomized into a million competing individuals with no real hope of harmony. This world-view raises some serious questions both about human rights and about the nature of government.

If I am not endowed with full human rights by virtue of my conception as a human, just exactly how and when do humans get any rights at all? We see these confusions at work in everything from embryonic ethics to assisted suicide debates. For these unfortunate people, right to life and liberty is not absolute, but depends entirely upon what other people think about them.

If there is not a God who transcends every human being and every human institution, just exactly who are we responsible to? What principle limits government?

America was not born in a vacuum. The founding fathers did not simply assume a Creator because they didnt have the imagination to think any other way. At the writing of the Declaration of Independence, there were already philosophers and ways of thinking that discounted God, and posited that human beings alone were the source and measure of all things.

Those philosophies led France to a completely different kind of revolution than America experienced. The history of the French Revolution is bloody and hellish. Those who seized power from the crown were not humble and restrained like the authors of the U.S. Constitution.

Heads rolled. A lot of them. The guillotine first killed the royalty. Then, it turned on the people. Without accountability to a Creator, the revolutionary government became a god unto itself.

We saw the same thing happen in Hitlers Germany with its extermination of 10 million, and in Stalins Russia which liquidated 50 million of its own citizens, and in Maos China, which is still killing and imprisoning its own people and the list goes on and on.

Each of these places tried to replace the common Creator with a different basis for unity. Each made the sovereign individual the basis of freedom, and wound up denying rights to millions of those same individuals.

So back to the question at hand. What is true freedom? I am thankful that we have such a solid common ground. That we all want to be free to live true to ourselves provides us with a huge potential for unity around this idea.

But whether or not we achieve that unity, depends entirely upon how we answer the prior question: Who are we?

Are we fundamentally creatures, accountable to a Creator? If so, the path to true freedom lies in knowing who I am through His eyes, through His revelation. And seeing myself through Gods eyes, I can have every confidence that my freedom serves my neighbor and does not impinge on the freedoms of those created by the same God.

But if we are fundamentally independent and sovereign beings, with no Creator, we have a challenge before us that no country has ever yet figured out how to live with. If my true freedom depends only on actualizing self-will, how can I ever be confident that my freedom serves my neighbor and is not in direct competition with everyone around me?

Each person must wrestle with these questions for himself or herself. My only purpose here is to point out the necessity of thinking this through. I know where I stand. I hope you will stand with me. But either way, the more thought we give to these questions, the better chance we have to understand ourselves and one another.

Jonathan Lange has a heart for our state and community. Locally, he has raised his family and served as pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Evanston and St. Pauls in Kemmerer for two decades. Statewide, he leads the Wyoming Pastors Network in advocating for the traditional church in the public square.

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What is true freedom? - Uinta County Herald

US and South Korean Troops Have Started Annual Joint Military Drills Amid a Tense North Korea Standoff – TIME

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Updated: Aug 21, 2017 1:13 AM ET

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) U.S. and South Korean troops kicked off their annual drills Monday that come after President Donald Trump and North Korea exchanged warlike rhetoric in the wake of the North's two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month.

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills are largely computer-simulated war games held every summer and have drawn furious responses from North Korea, which views them as an invasion rehearsal. Pyongyang's state media on Sunday called this year's drills a "reckless" move that could trigger the "uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war."

Despite the threat, U.S. and South Korean militaries launched this year's 11-day training on Monday morning as scheduled. The exercise involves 17,500 American troops and 50,000 South Korean soldiers, according to the U.S. military command in South Korea and Seoul's Defense Ministry.

No field training like live-fire exercises or tank maneuvering is involved in the Ulchi drills, in which alliance officers sit at computers to practice how they engage in battles and hone their decision-making capabilities. The allies have said the drills are defensive in nature.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said Monday that North Korea must not use the drills as a pretext to launch fresh provocation, saying the training is held regularly because of repeated provocations by North Korea.

North Korea typically responds to South Korea-U.S. military exercises with weapons tests and a string of belligerent rhetoric. During last year's Ulchi drills, North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile that flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in the longest flight by that type of weapon. Days after the drills, the North carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test to date.

Last month North Korea test-launched two ICBMs at highly lofted angles, and outside experts say those missiles can reach some U.S. parts like Alaska, Los Angeles or Chicago if fired at normal, flattened trajectories. Analysts say it would be only a matter of time for the North to achieve its long-stated goal of acquiring a nuclear missile that can strike anywhere in the United States.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump pledged to answer North Korean aggression with "fire and fury." North Korea, for its part, threatened to launch missiles toward the American territory of Guam before its leader Kim Jong Un backed off saying he would first watch how Washington acts before going ahead with the missile launch plans.Hyung-

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US and South Korean Troops Have Started Annual Joint Military Drills Amid a Tense North Korea Standoff - TIME