The Ongoing Genocide in Iceland, Eugenics and Down Syndrome – The Narrative Times (blog)

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Following nearly 100% of prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome in Iceland, parents chose to kill their child in the womb, according to a recent report by CBS News. The almost complementary twitter caption for this articlesuggested that the people of Iceland had found a cure for Down syndrome, rather than simply killing countless children for their disability. The media reaction to eugenics has been disturbingly positive.

If this slaughter was not horrifying enough, consider all the people who view it with indifference or even approval. Parents ask for tests to decide whether their child has a right to life and their society behaves as if nothing is amiss. The desire to live in comfort leads so many to ignore the horrible price, the uncomfortable truth. In Iceland, your humanity is conditional.

A society ostensibly dedicated to combating ableism eradicates a condition by killing those who have it. It indicates not only enormous selfishness and moral decay but also the return of an evil ideology from the past, eugenics.

Initially, many saw eugenics as simply a step towards improving society by applying the research of Mendel and Darwin to humans. However, eugenics quickly became an instrument of the culture of death and a source of countless violations of our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Parts of the United States, including Virginia, embraced this practice. The state government sterilized countless people with mental illness and other conditions. At the same time, Margaret Sanger, a chief proponent of eugenics and the founder of Planned Parenthood sought to prevent minorities from having children. Just as some eugenicists killed the disabled to improve humanity, Sanger sought to limit the number of African-American births in the country. Her legacy lives on in Planned Parenthood and the alt-right. The first is responsible for the murder of countless unborn African-Americans, while many in the latter group support abortion for the same reason.

The National Socialists in Germany adopted many of these ideas. The elderly, the mentally disabled, the physically disabled, the Jews, and many minorities within the region conquered by the Nazis were systematically slaughtered, ostensibly in pursuit of a better mankind. The horror which the widespread application of eugenics in Nazi Germany caused would temporarily damage the popularity of the practice throughout the West. It seems we are beginning to forget.

Of course, Icelanders do not openly claim to be improving the human race by aborting those with Down syndrome. As in the case of Charlie Gard, many claim to be acting in the interests of the child. They weigh the childs future quality of life, but almost always determine that this life is not worth living.

They do not have the right to speak for anyone else in this way, yet they routinely do so. However, this quality of life debate is not just a violation of basic human rights. It is the mark of a society without God, a decaying society. A society that kills those who inconvenience it, wherever and whenever they cannot speak for themselves. This culture of death, often condemned by Pope Francis, pressures the elderly and the sick to consider euthanasia. It kills the unborn, whether for mere convenience or some perceived imperfection.

They have never met those who love their brother, sister, son or daughter who has Down syndrome. They are friends, employees, altar servers, and contributors to our society. I know this from experience because my Catholic community loves each and every one of its children. We recognize their right to life, their humanity. They love life just as much as the rest of us if not more. The eugenicists cannot comprehend this. Icelanders will never give them the chance to love or be loved.

A society that permits such evil will not and should not long survive. Many right-wing observers, rightly or wrongly, fear the combination of falling European birth rates and refugees. Yet this would not be such a great concern if the refugees assimilated and Icelanders raised a new patriotic generation. Iceland has failed on both counts, while this is unlikely to change in the future.

As Icelanders have fewer and fewer children, I see no reason why the next generation there should feel any attachment to their culture.

The potential danger of disaffected youths joining a variety of extremist movements is manifested as they grow to despise their own civilization or even all mankind. Homegrown extremists commit acts of terror, while girls travel abroad to become brides of ISIS. Birth rates decline and native populations age. Religiosity falls as the few who remain wonder how their society eroded so quickly. Mene. Mene. Teckel. Upharsin.

Follow the author on Twitter at: @TOsh0w

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Alt-Right & Abortion: Richard Spencer & Co. Uphold Margaret … – National Review

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The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) is good at what it does. Thats why it is now trying to tie the white supremacists of the alt-right to the pro-life movement, even though the opposite is closer to the truth. White supremacists at #Charlottesville have close ties not just to Trump, but GOP & anti-choice groups, NARAL announced on Twitter. After connecting one racist marcher to a College Republicans chapter and pointing out that another attended a March for Life, the group rested its case:

It should be no surprise why white supremacists promote #antichoice policies. They disproportionately harm women of color.

This doesnt make much sense. For it to be true, the alt-right would have to want to keep abortion away from racial minorities, even though it knows that abortion reduces Americas black and Hispanic populations. Indeed, NARALs point can be made more effectively the other way around: It is not anti-abortion laws that disproportionately harm women of color, but abortion itself, which has claimed the lives of 19 million black babies since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

That is the reason why, contrary to NARALs protestations, the leaders of the alt-right are actually pro-choice. They dont oppose abortion because its good for racial minorities; they support abortion because it kills them. They hate black people and think America would be better if fewer of them were born.

Though this is terrifying to contemplate, it should not be unfamiliar. In fact, the alt-right tends to praise abortion for the same reasons that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, praised birth control: They helpto rid the country of undesirables.

Richard Spencer, the keynote speaker in Charlottesville and the central figure of the alt-right movement, finds abortion useful. He has explained that abortion will help to bring about his vision of an elite, white America: The people who are having abortions are generally very often Black or Hispanic or from very poor circumstances. The people whom Spencer wants to reproduce, he says, are using abortion when you have a situation like Down Syndrome. It is only the unintelligent and blacks and Hispanics, he claims, who use abortion as birth control.

On this understanding, abortion is a form of eugenics, helping to shape the population to produce more desirables and fewer undesirables. This is why Spencer supports the practice not because he believes that it is a moral good or that women are owed the right to choose, but because he views it as a morally neutral tool that improves the American gene pool by making it whiter and richer.

Spencer has specifically contrasted his position on abortion with that of National Reviews Ramesh Ponnuru. Spencer mocks Ponnurufor undertaking a human rights crusade, built on the assumption that every being that is human has a right to life. Spencer, of course, doesnt believe that is true.

He has openly mocked conservatives who worry about a black genocide or how [abortion] is destroying black communities. He knows that an estimated 75 percent of women who have abortions are poor. He knows that black women, receiving an outsize 36 percent of all American abortions, are almost five times as likely to terminate their pregnancies as white women. Nothing could make him happier.

Also secure in that knowledge is the pseudonymous alt-righter Aylmer Fisher, who writes in Spencers Radix Journal. It is important we not fall prey to the pro-life temptation, Fisher proclaims. Her reasoning is predictable: The only ones who cant [avoid an unwanted pregnancy] are the least intelligent and responsible members of society: women who are disproportionately Black, Hispanic, and poor.

This sort of racism is largely foreign to todays pro-choice movement. Its members genuinely believe that a fetus either does not count as human life or does not carry moral value. The task of pro-lifers is to convince them on the science and ethics, and show that abortion preys on women more than it empowers them.

But abortion hits racial minorities harder than any other group, and this fact has not been incidental to its history in America. As National Reviews Kevin Williamson detailed extensively in a cover story earlier this year, progressive eugenics was the intellectual ferment out of which rose the American birth-control movement.

Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, wanted to make the coming generation into such physically fit, mentally capable, socially alert individuals as are the ideal of a democracy. In other words, she sought to improve the human race.

However, she faced an obstacle the same one that so troubles Richard Spencer and his acolytes: The feebleminded are notoriously prolific in reproduction, wrote Sanger in Woman and the New Race.This would be a problem with a solution to which Sanger devoted her lifes work: controlling the birth rate, especially among the unfit (read: the poor, blacks, and Catholic immigrants).

This goal brought her into contact with Charles C. Little, the president of the American Eugenics Society (AES), and a founding board member of the American Birth Control League (ABCL), which eventually became Planned Parenthood. Littles two associations are not coincidental: The ABCL, founded by Sanger in 1921, even shared office space with the AES. Moreover, as Williamson notes, Little believed that birth-control policy should be constructed in such a way as to protect Yankee stock referred to in Sangers own work as unmixed native white parentage.

Linda Gordon, author of The Moral Property of Woman: A History of Birth-Control Politics, examined the ABCLs in-house publication, the Birth Control Review. She reports that, A content analysis of the Birth Control Review showed that by the late 1920s only 4.9 percent of its articles in that decade had any concern with womens self-determination. Furthermore, It was Sangers courting of doctors and eugenists that moved the ABCL away from both the Left and liberalism, away from both socialist-feminist impulses and civil liberties arguments toward an integrated population program for the whole society.

There is little doubt that the alt-right would like to pursue just such an integrated population program for the whole society. Unlike pro-lifers, its acolytes have no desire to protect life for its own sake.

Or, as Spencer himself has put it, pro-lifers want to be radical...human rights thumpers and theyre not us. On this point, I wont argue. Neither should anyone whose movements intellectual progenitor is Margaret Sanger.

READ MORE: In Charlottesville, the Alt-Rights Chickens Come Home to Roost Conservatisms Game of Footsie with the Alt-Right Campus Conservatives Gave the Alt-Right a Platform

Elliot Kaufman is an editorial intern at National Review.

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Pro-Choicers Should Explain Why They Think Eugenics Is Acceptable – The Federalist

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Due to the rise of prenatal screening tests, the number of babies born with Down syndrome in the Western world has begun to significantly diminish. And no one, as CBS News puts it, is eradicating Down syndrome births quite like the country of Iceland.

Now, the word eradication typically implies that an ailment is being cured or beaten by some technological advancement. Not so in this case. Nearly 100 percent of women who receive positive tests for Down syndrome in that small nation end up eradicating their pregnancies. Iceland averages only one or two Down syndrome children per year, and this seems mostly a result of parents receiving inaccurate test results.

Its just a matter of time until the rest of the world catches up. In the United States around 67 percent of women who find out their child will be born with Down syndrome opt to have an abortion. In the United Kingdom its around 90 percent. More and more women are taking these prenatal tests, and the tests are becoming increasingly accurate.

For now, however, Iceland has completed one of the most successful eugenics programs in the contemporary world.If you think thats overstated, consider that eugenics the word itself derived from Greek, meaning well born is nothing more than an effort to control breeding to increase desirable heritable characteristics within a population. This can be done through positive selection, as in breeding the right kinds of people with each other, or in negative selection, which is stopping the wrong kinds of people from having children.

The latter was the hallmark of the progressive movement of the 1900s. It was the rationalization behind the coerced sterilization of thousands of mentally ill, poor, and minorities here in America. It is why real-life Nazis required doctorsto register all newborns born with Down syndrome. And the first humans they gassed were children under three years old with serious hereditary diseases like Down syndrome.

Most often Down syndrome isnt hereditary, of course, but for many these children are considered undesirable really, they are considered inconvenient although most are born with moderate cognitive or intellectual disabilities and many live full lives.

If Icelands policy reflects a relatively heavy-handed genetic counseling, as geneticist Kari Stefansson admits in a video, then what will it mean when we have the science to extrapolate on these tests and pinpoint other problematic traits in people? How about children with congenital heart defects or cleft palates or sickle-cell disease or autism? Eradicate?

One day a DNA test will be able to tell us virtually anything we want to know, including our tendencies. So heres the best way to frame the ugliness of these eradication policies in terms more people might care about: Iceland has made great strides in eradicating gay births or Iceland has made great strides in eradicating low-IQ births or Iceland has made great strides in eradicating births of those who lean towards obesity or Iceland has made great strides in eradicating births of mixed-race babies. Feel free to insert the fact of humankind that gets you most upset.

How about, Iceland has made great strides in eradicating female births?

From what I could tell admittedly, this is through social media; I see no polling on the issue most people, many liberals included, reacted to Icelands selective eradication of Down syndrome children negatively. Polling from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institutehas found that 77 percent believed abortion should be illegal if the sole reason for seeking an abortion was to have a boy or girl.

I dont understand why.If your circumstance or inconvenience is a justifiable reason to eradicate a pregnancy who wants to be punished with a baby, after all? why wouldnt a sex-selective abortion be okay? Does the act of abortion transform into something less moral if we feel differently about it? Does the act change because it targets a group of people that we feel are being victimized? What is the ethical difference between a sex-selective abortion and plain-old abortion of a girl?

One imagines that most women carrying babies with genetic disorders in Iceland did not opt to have abortions because they harbor hate or revulsion towards Down syndrome children. I assume they had other reasons, including the desire to give birth to a healthy child and avoid the complications that the alternative would pose.

A number of U.S. states have passed or want to pass laws that would ban abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome, or because of the race, sex, or ethnicity of a fetus. Such a U.S. House bill failed in 2012. Most Democrats involved claimed to be against sex-selective abortion, but not one gave a reason why. Probably because once you admit that these theoretical choices equate to real-life consequences, like eugenics, you are conceding that these are lives were talking about, not blobs. In America, such talk is still frowned upon.

Icelanders, apparently, are more honest:

Over at Landspitali University Hospital, Helga Sol Olafsdottir counsels women who have a pregnancy with a chromosomal abnormality. They speak to her when deciding whether to continue or end their pregnancies. Olafsdottir tells women who are wrestling with the decision or feelings of guilt: This is your life you have the right to choose how your life will look like.

Well, not everyone gets to choose what his or her life looks like. Certainly not those who are eradicated because they suffer from genetic disorders.Then again, We dont look at abortion as a murder, Olafsdottir explains later. We look at it as a thing that we ended. A thing? Using an ambiguous noun is a cowardly way to avoid the set of moral questions that pop up when you have to define that thing. And science is making it increasingly difficult to circumvent that debate.

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Pro-Choicers Should Explain Why They Think Eugenics Is Acceptable - The Federalist

One island ecosystem | SunStar – Sun.Star

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When the Negros Island Region (NIR) was declared as a unit separate from Regions 6 and 7, a lot of us in the environmental groups were glad for the islands natural resources.

Finally, the island, the fourth largest in the country, can be managed as one whole ecosystem, with better coordinated efforts for sustainable agriculture, wildlife conservation, ecotourism, and a green economy.

Despite differences in dialect, the people of Negros were ready to build and sustain the connections between the Occidental and Oriental sides.

Weve seen that dream shot down again. This is not an essay attempting to unravel the political complications of both the establishment and the dissolution of the NIR. In the movement for sustainability, one can be overwhelmed with politics at play, sometimes at the expense of our environment.

What we could talk about now is how the current generation of Negrosanons from the two provinces (and now two separate regions) see that even though we are divided in administration, we could still definitely continue to work together for our shared goals.

People will ask why there would even be a divided Negros. This is a question we could start with. Perhaps for a long time, has it been difficult to travel through the terrain in the middle of the island?

Roads were not well-paved, safety amid insurgency was an important concern, and it took more than half of the day to get to the other side of Negros. I grew up in Bacolod City and honestly I wasnt able to memorize what cities and municipalities are in Negros Oriental. When I was learning more about geography, the farthest in my memory of Negros were Hinoba-an in the south and San Carlos City on the other end.

It was only in the last three years that Ive come to truly appreciate connecting with Negros Oriental. The millennial trends in social media have brought us the stories and images of the beautiful other side. It does hit you: How come weve traveled to other islands when we havent fully explored our own?

My questions to fellow young people from Negros Occidental: Have you been to the caves of Mabinay? Have you enjoyed the air in Canlaon? Have you seen the beauty of the Balinsasayao? Mt. Talinis? There must be a lot more to appreciate in Negros Oriental.

And with the better road system now, and information easier to find through the Internet, we have to encourage the visiting exchanges between Occidental and Oriental. The travel routes in between will hopefully usher new businesses, products, and experiences for the locals of Negros Island.

In terms of ecology, even if NIR is no longer an entity, our island remains to be an ecosystem we all need to take care of, even if it is divided into two different jurisdictions.

The NIR team of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was one of the very active NIR-borne agencies that I was optimistic about.

I was disappointed with Regional Director Al Orolfos departure and now even more with the dismantling DENR-NIR just when we were starting to gain momentum in the continued fight for our protected areas. But then again, we must continue to protect our islands ecological wealth, even through changes in political landscapes.

Our meager three to four percent primary forest cover is delicate, and as Negrosanons we need to be aware of all the efforts past and present to conserve Negros forests and reefs.

Barely scratching the surface of Negros Islands environmental concerns, I am aware there are readers here who are passionate and eager about the status of different projects that may affect our islands resources.

As stewards of our one island ecosystem, valuing interconnectedness of our remaining forests and reefs, we need to have a discourse thats not an all-or-nothing for any side. I invite different parties to send this newspaper letters about issues you care about so that theres a space for these participatory discussions.

***

In Dumaguete City last weekend for the Students Environmental Writing Initiative (Camp SEWI), I had a meaningful time with 15 young and aspiring environmental journalists.

Organized by Silliman Mass Communications magna cum laude and TOSP finalist Val Vestil with the support of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA (where Vestil was an academic fellow earlier this year), the US State Departments Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), and the American Studies Resource Center of Silliman University Library, the event provided training to improve budding journalists skills in reporting environmental stories. More of this workshop and its outputs in my next column.

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One island ecosystem | SunStar - Sun.Star

Winnemem Wintu, fishing groups sue to block ecosystem-killing Delta Tunnels – Intercontinental Cry

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On August 17, a California Indian Tribe,two fishing groups, and two environmental organizations joined a growing number of organizations, cities and counties suing the Jerry Brown and Donald Trump administrations to block the construction of the Delta Tunnels.

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe,North Coast Rivers Alliance (NCRA), Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations (PCFFA) and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association filed suit against the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in Sacramento Superior Court to overturn DWRs approval of the Twin Tunnels, also know as the California WaterFixProject,on July 21, 2017

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe has lived on the banks of the McCloud River for thousands of years and our culture is centered on protection and careful, sustainable use of its salmon, saidCaleen Sisk, Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe near Mt. Shasta. Our salmon were stolen from us when Shasta Dam was built in 1944.

Since that dark time, we have worked tirelessly to restore this vital salmon run through construction of a fishway around Shasta Dam connecting the Sacramento River to its upper tributaries including the McCloud River.The Twin Tunnels and its companion proposal to raise Shasta Dam by 18 feet would push the remaining salmon runs toward extinction and inundate our ancestral and sacred homeland along the McCloud River,Chief Sisk stated.

The Trump and Brown administrations and project proponents claim the tunnels would fulfill the coequal goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration, but opponents point out that project would create no new water while hastening the extinction of winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species

The project would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers that have played a central role in the culture, religion and livelihood of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes for thousands of years.

The tunnels would divert 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from the Sacramento River near Clarksburg and transport it 35 miles via two tunnels 40-feet in diameter for export to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests andSouthern California, according to lawsuit documents. The projectwould divert approximately 6.5 million acre-feet of water per year, a quantity sufficient to flood the entire state of Rhode Island under nearly 7 feet of water.

The groups pointed out that this staggering quantity of water equal to most of the Sacramento Rivers flow during the summer and fall would exacerbate the Deltas severe ecological decline, pushing several imperiled species of salmon and steelhead closer to extinction.

Stephan Volker, attorney for the Tribe and organizations, filed the suit.The suit alleges that DWRs approval of the California WaterFix Project and certification of its Environmental Impact Report violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, and the Public Trust Doctrine.

The Public Trust Doctrine protects the Deltas imperiled fish and wildlife from avoidableharm whenever it is feasible to do so, according to lawsuit documents. Contrary to this mandate, the Project proposes unsustainableincreases in Delta exports that will needlessly harm public trust resources, and its FEIR dismisses fromconsideration feasible alternatives and mitigation measures that would protect and restore the Deltas ecological functions. Because the Project sacrifices rather than saves the Deltas fish and wildlife, itviolates the Public Trust Doctrine.

Representatives of the fishing and environmental groups explained their reasons for filing the lawsuit.

The... Twin Tunnels is a hugely expensive boondoggle that could pound the final nail in the coffin of Northern Californias salmon and steelhead fishery,statedNoah Oppenheim, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations (PCFFA).There is still time to protect these declining stocks from extinction, but taking more water from their habitat will make matters far worse.

Larry Collins, President of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, stated, Our organization of small, family-owned fishing boats has been engaged in the sustainable harvest of salmon and other commercial fisheries for over 100 years.By diverting most of the Sacramento Rivers flow away from the Delta and San Francisco Bay, the Twin Tunnels would deliver a mortal blow to our industry and way of life.

Frank Egger, President of the North Coast Rivers Alliance, stated that the imperiled salmon and steelhead of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers are one of Northern Californias most precious natural resources.They must not be squandered so that Southern California can avoid taking the water conservation measures that many of us adopted decades ago.

Chief Sisk summed upthe folly of Browns legacy project, the Delta Tunnels, at her speech at the March for Science on Earth Day 2017 before a crowd of 15,000 people at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

The California Water Fix is the biggest water problem, the most devastating project, that Californians have ever faced, said Chief Sisk. Just ask the people in the farmworker communities of Seville and Alpaugh, where they cant drink clean water from the tap.

The twin tunnels wont fix this problem. All this project does is channel Delta water to water brokers at prices the people in the towns cant afford, she stated.

To read the full story, go to:www.sandersinstitute.com/...

The lawsuit filed by Volkers joins an avalanche of lawsuits against the Delta Tunnels.Sacramento, San Joaquin and Butte Counties have already filed lawsuits against the California WaterFix and more lawsuits are expected to join these on Monday, August 21.

On June 29, fishing and environmental groupsfiled two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's biological opinions permitting the construction of the controversial Delta Tunnels.

Four groups the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Defenders of Wildlife, and the Bay Institute charged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species (ESA), a landmark federal law that projects endangered salmon, steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species. The lawsuits said the biological opinions are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion."

On June 26, the Trump administration released a no-jeopardy finding in their biological opinions regarding the construction of the Delta Tunnels, claiming that the California WaterFix "will not jeopardize threatened or endangered species or adversely modify their critical habitat." The biological opinions are available here: http://www.fws.gov/...

Over the past few weeks, the Brown administration has incurred the wrath of environmental justice advocates, conservationists and increasing numbers of Californians by ramrodding Big Oils environmentally unjust cap-and-trade bill, AB 398, through the legislature; approving the reopening of the dangerous SoCalGas natural gas storage facility at Porter Ranch; green lighting the flawed EIS/EIR documents permitting the construction of the California WaterFix; and issuing a take permit to kill endangered salmon and Delta smelt in the Delta Tunnels.

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Winnemem Wintu, fishing groups sue to block ecosystem-killing Delta Tunnels - Intercontinental Cry

A Look at Broadcom’s Business Ecosystem – Market Realist

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Opportunities and Challenges Surrounding Broadcom in Fiscal 3Q17 PART 1 OF 16

After multiple mergers and acquisitions, Broadcom (AVGO) became the worlds largest fabless IC (integrated circuit) design company by revenue in 2Q17, according to Trendforce. Broadcom was followed by Qualcomm (QCOM) and NVIDIA (NVDA) in second and third place, respectively. Broadcom has a vast portfolio of 18 IC components used in the communications market.

Broadcoms business segments are Wired Infrastructure, Wireless, Enterprise Storage, and Industrial. Its products and services include data center networking, set-top boxes, broadband access, smartphones, factory automation, and electronic displays.

TrendForce analyst CY Yao stated that Broadcom became a leader in IC design due to strong growth momentum in network infrastructure,data center applications, and automotive electronics. He expects that companies with exposure to the above three markets would witness strong growth in 3Q17 as well. Yao added that companies with exposure to smartphone chipsets or display drivers could face a slowdown in growth.

Qualcomm, which has a large exposure to smartphone chipsets, is seeing a slowdown in growth. NVIDIAand Xilinx (XLNX), which have large exposure to network infrastructure and data center applications, are enjoying strong growth.

Broadcom has exposure in each of these markets, and it earns around 10% of its revenues from Apple (AAPL). Some analysts believe that Broadcom would be the biggest beneficiary from the iPhone 8.This growth comes along with several challenges.

Broadcom is acquiring Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD) to expand its reach in the enterprise and data center storage market. However, this acquisition has been facing stringent scrutiny from regulators, which delayed the deal by a few months.

Broadcomrecently came under negative news after a flaw in its chips exposed several smartphones to a bug. Although the issue has been resolved, it prompted the company to improve the security of its chips.Despite these challenges, Broadcom has posted strong earnings, and it is on track to meet or exceed its target financial model.

In this series, well look at the opportunities and challenges that could impact Broadcoms fiscal 3Q17 earnings.

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A Look at Broadcom's Business Ecosystem - Market Realist

Cybercrime Is on the Rise in the Ethereum Ecosystem The Merkle – The Merkle

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Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts see Ethereum as a project that has a lot of potential. Itstechnology most notablysmart contracts is certainly worth exploring. Unfortunately, any new form of technology will also attract people with less-than-honest intentions. The Ethereum ecosystem has become a home to cybercrime in a disturbing way. Millions of dollars have been stolen over the past few years, and it looks like things will not be improving anytime soon.

Most Ethereum enthusiasts will agree that the technology used by project developers leaves much to be desired. This is especially true on the security front. Some very disturbing exploits have been discovered and taken advantage of in recentyears. A new post on the Chainalysis blog explains how cybercrime related to Ethereum is on the rise, as it has proven to be a very profitable undertaking. Whether a DAO or cryptocurrency ICO, hackers will exploit any weakness they can find.

Cryptocurrency userswill remember how Ethereum started gaining a lot of momentum when The Dao was announced. This massive project had a lot of promise, and itsbusiness model is still considered to be solid to this very day. Unfortunately for The DAO and the team behind this project, their dream concept quickly turned into a nightmare. Raising around US$177 million in funding was a big milestone, but was also bound to attract criminals. It did not take all that long for smart contract flaws to be discovered, eventually leading to 40% of all ICO funds being stolen. Some of this money was eventually recovered, but it showed how immature the technology was at that time.

Unfortunately for Ethereum, things have not improved all that much in the past year. Cryptocurrency ICOs have become more popular than ever. Not only do these crowdsales cripple the blockchain on a regular basis, there is also a significantsecurity risk associated with such projects. There are dozens of scam sites and phishing attempts to steal investors funds in one way or another. According to Chainalysis, around 10% of Ethereum holdings inICO investments are in the hands of criminals. This means nearly US$150 million worth of Ether has fallen into the wrong hands. Thatis a substantial amount that will most likely never be recovered.

As more cryptocurrency ICOs take place, there will naturally be more ERC20 tokens. That in itself is not a big deal, for the time being. With over US$1.6 billion raised by most recent projects, there is a lot of money movingaround in the cryptocurrency world. This will always attract people with both honest and malicious intentions alike. In a recent incident, one cryptocurrency ICO saw the smart contract address on itswebsite changed by a hacker. This situation was resolved quickly, but not before some customers had sent a lot of money to the wrong address as a result.

Bugs found in the code used by Ethereum-based projects are just one of the potential threats. Phishing attacks are the main concern, with the number of victims well above the 16,000 mark. Exploits are the second-most commonthreat, followed by effective hacks and Ponzi Schemes. All of this goes toshow that most projects themselves have nothing but honest intentions. Whether or not that will remain to be the case is anybodys guess.

Having entities such as Chainalysis keep tabs on these trends and highlight bad elements is quite beneficial to the Ethereum community as a whole. Clearly there is work to be done in this regard. The technology itself is improving, which is a positive trend. Protecting users from phishing attacks is a different matter altogether. If auser cannot tell the difference between a fake and genuine email or website, there is very little project operators can do to make it more obvious.

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Cybercrime Is on the Rise in the Ethereum Ecosystem The Merkle - The Merkle

Cyborg anthropology – Wikipedia

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Cyborg anthropology is a discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology from an anthropological perspective. The discipline is relatively new, but offers novel insights on new technological advances and their effect on culture and society.

Donna Haraways 1985 ""A Cyborg Manifesto" was the first widely-read academic text to explore the philosophical and sociological ramifications of the cyborg.[1] A sub-focus group within the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting in 1992 presented a paper entitled "Cyborg Anthropology", which cites Haraway's "Manifesto". The group described cyborg anthropology as the study of how humans define humanness in relationship to machines, as well as the study of science and technology as activities that can shape and be shaped by culture. This includes studying the ways that all people, including those who are not scientific experts, talk about and conceptualize technology.[2] The sub-group was very closely related to STS and the Society for the Social Studies of Science.[3] More recently, Amber Case has been responsible for explicating the concept of Cyborg Anthropology to the general public.[4] She believes that a key aspect of cyborg anthropology is the study of networks of information among humans and technology.[5]

Many academics have helped develop cyborg anthropology, and many more who haven't heard the term still conduct research that may be considered cyborg anthropology. Amber Case likes to tell people that the actual number of self-described cyborg anthropologists is "about seven".[6]The Cyborg Anthropology Wiki, overseen by Case, aims to make the discipline as accessible as possible, even to people who do not have a background in anthropology.

Cyborg anthropology uses traditional methods of anthropological research like ethnography and participant observation, accompanied by statistics, historical research, and interviews. By nature it is a multidisciplinary study; cyborg anthropology can include aspects of Science and Technology Studies, cybernetics, feminist theory, and more.

The object of study for cyborg anthropology is the cyborg. Originally coined in a 1960 paper about space exploration, the term is short for cybernetic organism.[7] A cyborg is traditionally defined as a system with both organic and inorganic parts. In the narrowest sense of the word, cyborgs are people with machinated body parts. These cyborg parts may be restorative technologies that help a body function where the organic system has failed, like pacemakers, insulin pumps, and bionic limbs, or enhanced technologies that improve the human body beyond its natural state.[8] In the broadest sense, all human interactions with technology could qualify as a cyborg. Most cyborg anthropologists lean towards the latter view of the cyborg; some, like Amber Case, even claim that humans are already cyborgs because people's daily life and sense of self is so intertwined with technology.[5] Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto" suggests that technology like virtual avatars, artificial insemination, sexual reassignment surgery, and artificial intelligence might make dichotomies of sex and gender irrelevant, even nonexistent. She goes on to say that other human distinctions (like life and death, human and machine, virtual and real) may similarly disappear in the wake of the cyborg.[1]

Digital anthropology is concerned with how digital advances are changing how people live their lives, as well as consequent changes to how anthropologists do ethnography and to a lesser extent how digital technology can be used to represent and undertake research.[9] Cyborg anthropology also looks at disciplines like genetics and nanotechnology, which are not strictly digital. Cybernetics/informatics covers the range of cyborg advances better than the label digital.

Questions of subjectivity, agency, actors, and structures have always been of interest in social and cultural anthropology. In cyborg anthropology the question of what type of cybernetic system constitutes an actor/subject becomes all the more important. Is it the actual technology that acts on humanity (the Internet), the general techno-culture (Silicon Valley), government sanctions (net neutrality), specific innovative humans (Steve Jobs), or some type of combination of these elements? Some academics believe that only humans have agency and technology is an object humans act upon, while others argue that humans have no agency and culture is entirely shaped by material and technological conditions. Actor-network theory (ANT), proposed by Bruno Latour, is a theory that helps scholars understand how these elements work together to shape techno-cultural phenomena. Latour suggests that actors and the subjects they act on are parts of larger networks of mutual interaction and feedback loops. Humans and technology both have the agency to shape one another.[10] ANT best describes the way cyborg anthropology approaches the relationship between humans and technology.[11]

Researchers like Kathleen Richardson have conducted ethnographic research on the humans who build and interact with artificial intelligence.[12] Recently, Stuart Geiger, a PhD student at University of California, Berkeley suggested that robots may be capable of creating a culture of their own, which researchers could study with ethnographic methods. Anthropologists react to Geiger with skepticism because, according to Geiger, they believe that culture is specific to living creatures and ethnography limited to human subjects.[13]

The most basic definition of anthropology is the study of humans.[14] However, cyborgs, by definition, describe something that is not entirely an organic human. Moreover, limiting a discipline to the study of humans may be difficult the more that technology allows humans to transcend the normal conditions of organic life. The prospect of a posthuman condition calls into question the nature and necessity of a field focused on studying humans.

Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci argues that any symbolic expression of ourselves, even the most ancient cave painting, can be considered "posthuman" because it exists outside of our physical bodies. To her, this means that the human and the "posthuman" have always existed alongside one another, and anthropology has always concerned itself with the posthuman as well as the human.[15] Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Welsch point out that the concern that posthumanism will decenter the human in anthropology ignores the discipline's long history of engaging with the unhuman (like spirits and demons that humans believe in) and the culturally "subhuman" (like marginalized groups within a society).[15]

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Unblocked: Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino Basking In Glow Of UFC Gold … – FloCombat

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Unblocked: Cris 'Cyborg' Justino Basking In Glow Of UFC Gold

Cris "Cyborg" Justino reached the pinnacle of any MMA career onJuly 29 at UFC 214, when she finally became a UFC world champion by finishing Tonya Evinger to claim the promotion's featherweight belt.

The triumph was also a statement for the many critics Justino amassed over the years -- two of whomwere inside the cage when she received the belt last month: UFC PresidentDana White and commentatorJoe Rogan.

While White has publicly talked about Justino's alleged doping in the past and criticized her for business decisions,Rogan received heat when he joked about Cyborg having testicles on his podcast. Ironically, the first of the two put the belt around Justino at UFC 214, and the latter interviewed the Brazilian after she was declared the winner.

"At that moment, I really thought about talking [about the controversy]," Justino said. "But this was my moment, and I think [Rogan] interviewing me there and Dana White putting the belt around my waist was already an answer. He didn't have to say anything else. I think they reflected and didn't need to spoil the moment that was so special to me. It was a normal [post-fight] interview and I don't say that we'll be friends, but he'll do his job and I'll do mine."

Cyborg's relationship with White hasn't been the best for some time. But while White even said in the past that he blocked Justino on his social media accounts so he wouldn't have to deal with the fighter, it seems that the two are slowly making peace.

"He already unblocked me, yes," Justino laughed. "I think a lot has happened between Dana and me. He even admitted that he made a mistake with Cris Cyborg. Only the person who says he or she has made a mistake can open the door for improvement. I think it touched me and that's fine. Let's work together and we'll both be happy."

Having won her third fight in the UFC, again by way of technical knockout, Justino has plenty of reasons to be happy. But despite her impressive streak and the dominance that has fans wondering who might be able to stop her, Justino still thinks she hasmore to show inside the cage.

"I showed my work a little more to my fans," Justino said of her third-round finish of Evinger, the first time since 2013 that she needed more than two rounds to end a fight. "Of course, I wanted to finish her as soon as possible, but she was a tough athlete []. Everybody thinks I have no ground game, but I'm a brown belt [in Brazilian jiu-jitsu]. Who knows, next time, [maybe] I can show my skills on the floor and my complete game."

So, where does Cyborg go from here, atop a new division that has only featured a small handful of fighters, most of whom usually compete one weight class below at bantamweight?

That's a question Justino herself can't answer definitively right now.

"We have not talked about [renewing the contract] yet," she said. "I believe that after my next fight, we'll sit down and talk."

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AI Killer robot fears – ISIS could use cyborg terrorists, campaigners … – Express.co.uk

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The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots officially demanded the international organisation create a ban on the production ofweaponisableartificial intelligence tech.

The group brings together 116 enterprise leaders headed by business magnate Elon Musk.

Mary Wareham, the founder of the campaign, discussed the reasons for the move withChannel 4 NewsKrishnan Guru-Murthy.

She said: "The letter issued by the companies' directors has highlighted that they worry not only about responsible countries who might use these things responsibly.

CHANNEL 4/ GETTY

"What about despots and dictators? What about non-state armed groups such as the IslamicState?"

Ms Wareham explained the group recognised the benefits of artificial technology development but worried about the long-term implications for active combat.

She said: "Over the short term these weapons systems could be more useful and faster and more powerful than human soldiers.

"We need to look at the long term concerns and the protection of civilians."

In the letter sent to the UN, the group stated that robots represent a dangerous development for the weapon industry.

The companies' directors write: "Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the thirdrevolution in warfare.

"Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be foughtata scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend.

"We do not have long to act. Once this Pandoras box is opened, it will be hard to close."

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A Master in Three Fights: Analyzing the progression of Cris Cyborg … – Bloody Elbow

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Cris Cyborgs development as a fighter can be difficult to appreciate. The UFC featherweight champion has been so dominant that every conceivable challenger seems hopelessly outmatched. To the point where the discussion becomes less about her individual displays of skill, and more about the ease and ferocity with which she dispatches opponents.

This is a shame, because the narrative behind her in-cage development is, in stark contrast, one of subtlety. With an overwhelming gap in talent separating her from her contemporaries, it would be easy for Justino to coast, but there is no complacency in her game. With each fight, she shows the gradual growth of a veteran craftswoman. It can be difficult to track this progression on a fight to fight basis, but becomes much more apparent when considering what her identity was, as a technician, during various stages of her career. As such, here are three pivotal bouts, representing the Cyborg who broke onto the scene, the champion who established her dominance, and the more refined force weve come to know today.

The fight that introduced Cyborg to the mainstream showcased three of her most recognizable traits: aggression, brutality, and overwhelming physicality.

Storming forward, she was intent on imposing offense above all else. Trading jabs, she flurried on a defensive Carano; as the American covered up, Cyborg clinched, and immediately attempted an ill-fated lateral drop. Carano, close to attaining mount, found herself threatened with a heel hook, from which Justino was able to secure a ride. Constant strikes followed as Carano returned to her feet, only to be met with another ferocious flurry of hooks. Another attempted throw found Cyborg on bottom, but this time, she was mounted.

One of the key differences in approach between a then-inexperienced Justino and her modern day counterpart was a sense of recklessness. This recklessness was highly exploitable and while this fight is often remembered as a blowout it serves as a great example of the weaknesses previously present in her style.

Carano returned to her feet soon after and, for a fleeting moment, she found respite from the continuous onslaught of offense. Justino seemed somewhat discouraged. This did not last long.

Frantically pushing forward, Cyborg struck, and struck, and struck. Her inexperience was obvious, but her aggression was magnetic. At range, Carano was met with hooks and low kicks. If she stopped circling or found herself pinned to the fence, she was handily controlled and thrown to the ground from the clinch. She wilted. Quickly.

With a minute left, Cyborg muscled her to the mat and after giving up on an Americana stood over Carano, landing vicious power punches with her foes head pinned against the fence. Carano covered up and, a split second before the bell sounded, Cristiane Justino was the inaugural Strikeforce Womens Featherweight champion.

Cyborgs clinch game has always been devastating, but it was in this fight a rematch of their 2010 bout that ended in a third-round TKO for the Brazilian that she established it as arguably her strongest skill set.

In stark contrast to the Carano fight, Coenen was the one to initiate the in-fight early, attacking with slashing elbows. The Dutch native, a ground specialist, was quickly taken down from the clinch. But, these takedowns were unlike the domineering ones executed by the former Strikeforce featherweight champion four years earlier. Rather than overwhelm, Cyborg was content to displace; the throw came as much from manipulation of balance as from physical strength. On the outside, Coenen never really had trouble landing strikes, but ate sharp return fire much of it in the form of counters and exchanges never favored her.

There has been (and continues to be) a narrative of trade-off regarding Cyborg. The sustainability of her explosive offense is often questioned, and the path of attrition is often prescribed as the most viable (or only) route to victory for her opponents. Survive long enough, and fatigue is inevitable. This bout serves as, to date, her longest, but it is far from providing proof of any presumed stamina issues.

Methodical scrambles littered the first three rounds. Coenens repeated clinches resulted only in high-amplitude throws from the Brazilian, easy control from top position, posturing power strikes, and disengagement when the submission specialist came close to anything even resembling a submission attempt.

Coenen was surviving and, on some level, she may have even felt as if things were going according to plan. Cyborg was being forced to work. Each throw, each scramble, each battle for posture was another presumed mark against the Brazilians gas tank. But in the beginning of the third round, any illusion of success was shattered.

Another clinch, another easy takedown. Coenen reached for a leg and Justino swiftly stood, backing off. As referee John McCarthy called for Coenen to stand, the narrative was inverted. Visibly winded, she struggled to stay on her feet as Cyborg walked her down. A knee to the body, and she was flung to the mat like a sandbag. Cyborg didnt even take top position. Again, she stood. Again, her foe struggled to stand.

It was almost as if she had a point to prove. Sustained top position is a more energy-efficient alternative to the takedown, strike in transition, stand, repeat formula of fighters such as Cain Velasquez. Certainly, it seemed an odd choice for a fighter who could easily maintain control or just as easily never hit the mat and instead leverage a substantial ranged striking advantage. Far from taxing, it seemed like easy work for the woman who would come to be regarded as arguably the greatest woman ever to step into a cage.

Process was interwoven with bursts of ferocity; flurries came, but they were timed more deliberately than those of the woman who bludgeoned Gina Carano years prior.

Cyborg managed to catch a front kick in the fourth round, and an overhand right seemed to stop Coenen in her tracks, before another landed solidly to the temple, leaving her off balanced and stumbling to the floor. Side control, knee on belly, mount, and the Dutchwoman had neither the energy nor the technique to defend herself for much longer.

Punches rained down with the same power and precision as they had almost 20 minutes prior. And the woman whose fights seemed to produce more questions than answers closed out her featherweight championship bout with the sense that there was nothing left to ask.

In 19 minutes and 10 seconds, she never once seemed threatened. She barely even seemed human.

A fighters identity as a technician tends to spend a lot of time in flux during their formative years. Her most recent bout over twelve years into her professional career saw Cyborg at her most realized.

The activity of her footwork was unmistakable. The minute adjustments with which she maneuvered around a circling Evinger in the early goings were a far cry from what had been relatively stationary performances against both Carano and Coenen. Cris Cyborg, in her current iteration, dominates angles with a control that, though subtle, bears a ferocity befitting the raw talent who broke onto the scene eight years ago.

As she retreated out of range of a low kick and evaded a left hook, the fighter who absorbed several head strikes from Marloes Coenen seemed a distant memory.

Evinger, a career opportunist, managed to lock her hands around her larger opponents hips in the first round, briefly bringing her to the mat on two occasions. But, Justino effortlessly returned to her feet, and offered Evinger an authoritative knee to the gut for her troubles.

While defensive adjustments are more subtle, the differences in Cyborgs present-day offense are obvious. The fighter who was more talent than skill is long since gone, but so too is the fighter who alternated between the two in bursts. As she walked Evinger down throwing punches, kicks, and knees to the body at a hellacious clip the synergy between physicality and technique was remarkable. Never before had technical proficiency served as such a fluid avatar for her violence. And as the divide between mastery and savagery crumbled, both properties were highlighted to the fullest.

When Evinger worked behind a jab, Cyborg countered with precise overhand strikes. When her arms came down to dig for underhooks in the clinch, Cyborg disengaged, and kicked high. Jabs were slipped with Cyborgs tightest head movement to date, and Evingers commitment of her weight was punished with kicks to the lead leg.

Towards the end of the second round, Cyborg keyed in on the fact that Evinger was leaning out far too wide in response to her lead power punches. Throwing an overhand right, she baited the reaction and started following up with round kicks, which crossed through the path of Evingers head.

The third round saw more low kicks both inside and outside and some hand-fighting, before an overhand right sailed towards Evingers chin. She did not dip her head, and visibly wobbled as the blow crashed into the side of her skull. In the very next moment, she chose to slip her head, but she again chose wrong and was met with a glancing high kick. Another overhand right dropped her, but grit brought her back to her feet.

Closing the distance between them with a superman punch, Cyborg dug for an underhook, controlled the head with her free hand, and teed off with knees as Evinger was left defenseless. With those final blows the fight was mercifully halted in the third round.

Cris Cyborg was playing the game at far too high of a level for the less polished woman to keep up. Far higher of a level than was even necessary. And in a world where none seem prepared for even the Justino of old, it stands to wonder exactly how large the gulf between the Brazilian master and her contemporaries has become.

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‘Terminator 2’: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s surprisingly nice cyborg is back onscreen in 3-D – USA TODAY

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Arnold Schwarzenegger went good, really, in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day.'(Photo: Distrib Films/Studio Canal)

Arnold Schwarzenegger's infamous murderous cyborg made a shocking transformation in his second screen appearance.

In 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the Terminator turned good.

Schwarzeneggershotinto the Hollywood stratosphere after1984's The Terminator, in which he starred as the cold-blooded assassin from the future. The character's rewiring was so dramatic, even Schwarzeneggerhad to be convinced it wasn't insanity.

Arnold hated the idea. He tried to talk me out of it," director James Cameron recalls of the action classic, which has been converted to 3-D for a one-week re-release in AMCtheaters nationwide starting Friday. "He said, 'Jim, Im the Terminator. I kick in the door and shoot everybody. Its what I do. Its what everybody wants to see me do. Don't fix something that's not broken.'

"And I said, 'Yeah, thats why peoplewont see this coming. This is going to work.' He eventually said, 'All right, I trust you.' "

"Terminator Genisys" star Arnold Schwarzenegger gives USA TODAY's Bryan Alexander a lesson in walking like 'The Terminator.'

Arnold's begrudgingtrust was well-placed:Terminator 2becamethe highest-grossingfilm of 1991 (and of Schwarzenegger's career) and sits at No. 77 on the American Film Institute's list of top thrillers.

He said, 'Jim, Im the Terminator. I kick in the door and shoot everybody. Its what I do. Its what everybody wants to see me do. Don't fix something that's not broken.'

"I like challenges, and the idea of making the Terminatorinto a hero seemed adelicious concept," Cameron says. "I set myself a goal of having the audience cry for a machine that had beenthe ultimate killer."

It was hard not to fall for Schwarzenegger as the emotionally clumsy cyborg who bonds with 10-year-old John Connor (Edward Furlong), the future rebel leader whose very existence the Terminatorhad tried to wipe out.

Sent back in time to protect John and his mother Sarah(Linda Hamilton), the machineutteredclassic Terminator lines, in Schwarzenegger's thick Austrianaccent, like "Hasta la vista, baby."

"I was searching for that signatureline, the equivalent of 'Ill be back' from (the first)Terminator,"says Cameron. "I waswatching MTV and the Tone Loc Wild Thing video came on. He sings, 'Hasta la Vista, baby.' I thought, 'That works.' "

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Audiences were captivated by the movie's cutting-edge special effects, andtouched by theemotion and pathos. (Spoiler alert, 26 years after the fact: The Terminator is lowered into molten steel to destroy his lethal technology.) The cyborgnever sheds a tear, but he could have.

"In the first movie, we showed that the Terminatorcan sweat and hadbad breath,hes indistinguishable from living beings. Theoretically, he could've cried," Cameron says. "But I felt it was a step too far in his humanization. Itwas more poignant asthatline he couldnt cross."

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The success of Terminator 2kicked the franchise fully into gear, with three additional films and a TV series. Schwarzenegger returned fora fifth film installment, 2015's Terminator Genisys,to again protect Sarah Connor (now played by Emilia Clarke).

Thoughthe Genisys reboot flopped critically and at the box office, the director, who hasn't been involved since T2,isin talks to "reinvent a franchise thats sort of run its course."

Schwarzenegger would likely figure intoany sequels, Cameronsays. But the actor, now 70,would pass the torch to new Terminators.

Director James Cameron (right) looks on as John Connor (Edward Furlong, left) says "Hasta la vista" to the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day.'(Photo: Lightstorm Entertainment)

"We have to create something new and fresh that stands on its own," Cameron says. "I would like to think that Arnold would be a part of it. But I think it would a mistake to make him as central as he has been."

The director has long forgivenSchwarzenegger'sinitial doubts.

"He's a smart man. We live in a Hollywood world withmany unpredictable variables and an audience that'sfickle. So you try to play by a certain logical set of rules," says Cameron. "But sometimes, you just have to throw that logic out."

Edward Furlong and Arnold Schwarzenegger make their escape in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day.'(Photo: Distrib Films/Studio Canal)

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Top 25 finishes in Invicta FC history (Nos. 20-16): A Cris Cyborg destruction – MMAjunkie.com

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More than five years have passed since Invicta FC hosted its first event. During that time, the all-female organization has gone through a number of different incarnations.

Despite having roster members consistently plucked up by the UFC, Invicta FC frequently hosts solid fight cards to help further the growth of womens MMA. The fighters do their part by delivering inside the cage, and with the 25th event in company history set to go down later this month, Invicta FC has decided to highlight its young history.

Invicta FC 25 takes place Aug. 31 at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, Calif. Ahead of the event, Invicta FCs social media team is rolling out a countdown of the 25 best finishes in its history.

Check out the first portion of the list here, and the second installment below counting down No. 20 to No. 16.

* * * *

Womens MMA pioneer Roxanna Modafferi punched her ticket to Season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter reality series and a chance at the inaugural UFC womens flyweight title when she put away Sarah DAlelio with a third-round TKO at Invicta FC 23.

Katja Kankaanpaa won the vacant Invicta FC strawweight title when she rallied from a huge deficit on the scorecards to submit Stephanie Eggink with a fifth-round rear-naked choke for a stunning come-from-behind win at Invicta FC 8.

After losing a unanimous decision to Shayna Baszler at a regional event in 2010, former UFC title challenger Alexis Davis got revenge in the rematch when she choked Baszler out cold with a rear-naked choke at Invicta FC 4.

Mexican standout Irene Aldana began her run toward a bantamweight title shot when she made quick work of The Ultimate Fighter 18 cast member Peggy Morgan courtesy of a first-round rear-naked choke.

Cris Cyborgs dominant 5-0 run through the Invicta FC organization included a lot of dominant performances. Her 45-second destruction of Faith Van Duin at Invicta FC 13 was the quickest of all. In trademark fashion, the Brazilian charged her foe and ended the fight with strikes for a TKO.

Check out the Blue Corner on Wednesday for the next installment of Invicta FCs top 25 finishes countdown.

And for more on the Invicta FC schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkies official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.

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Top 25 finishes in Invicta FC history (Nos. 20-16): A Cris Cyborg destruction - MMAjunkie.com

Public to tackle rowdy beaches in Dennis – Cape Cod Times (subscription)

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Madeleine List

SOUTH DENNIS The public will have a chance to weigh in on worries about town beaches, which have been a concern after allegations that teenagers were drunk and having sex in plain view at Mayflower Beach on the Fourth of July.

At the first meeting Monday of the Beach Safety and Monitoring Committee, a seven-member ad hoc committee created by the Dennis Board of Selectmen in response to resident complaints, members drafted a long list of problems they hope to address by November.

The committee will host a public hearing Sept. 11 to gather comments from community members, committee chairwoman Connie Mooers said.

A major issue the committee hopes to address is beachgoers bringing alcohol onto town beaches.

After the Mayflower Beach incident, the Beach and Recreation Department and Dennis Police Department increased beach patrols and began checking all coolers that enter town beaches for glass containers and alcohol, which are prohibited. Despite the efforts, beachgoers are finding creative ways to get around the rules, said Dustin Pineau, director of the Beach and Recreation Department.

Over the weekend, a woman with a metal detector came across a cooler full of beer buried in the sand at a town beach, Pineau said at the meeting.

Another major issue committee members said they will address is the lack of revenue from beachgoers who walk onto the beach or get dropped off by Uber and avoid paying for parking.

Committee member Wendy Thurmond suggested that charging individual beachgoers for day passes could be a solution, but some other committee members said they opposed the idea.

Other issues committee members plan to discuss include traffic congestion, garbage and increased hours of beach monitoring by police or beach staff.

The committee will meet again at 6 p.m. on Aug. 28.

Follow Madeleine List on Twitter: @madeleine_list

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Bacteria warning: Midtown, Phipps beaches closed to swimmers – Palm Beach Daily News

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Midtown Beach and Phipps Ocean Park beaches are both temporarily closed to swimming because of bacteria levels, the town said.

The Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County sampled the water on Monday and found the water tested poor for enterococci, a type of bacteria normally found in feces.

In a public notice just before 5 p.m. today, the town announced the closing of the beaches and said it is working to have the water quality resampled in order to reopen the beaches as soon as possible.

The health department issued an advisory, noting a potential health risk to the bathing public, after poor water quality samples were found at Midtown Beach, Phipps Ocean Park, the Lake Worth Beach/Kreusler Park, Jupiter Beach Park, and Carlin Park in Jupiter.

Midtown Beach was last underan advisory in June, along with other county beaches.

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Beaches close after sharks are spotted off Cape on Monday – The … – The Boston Globe

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A shark took a fatal bite out of a seal off Cape Cods Nauset beach, and the water turned red, while a man swimming nearby and two surfers scrambled for shore.

Pat OBrien was swimming with his 9-year-old daughter when the shark bit the seal 25 feet behind him, he said.

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I was in the water with my daughter, he said. She had just gotten out and I was looking up at her, and she yelled something down to me, but I didnt hear what it was.

When other beachgoers started yelling, Shark! Pat made his way to shore.

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He said he could hear the stricken seal and see its blood in the water near him.

I turned to my left, and I could see it and I could hear it, he said. The seal was making a lot of noise, like it was screaming, Ive never seen so much blood in my life.

The surfers were farther away and didnt think much of the excited crowd on the beach. Pat said they later told him they thought everyone was screaming about the eclipse, which happened about an hour later.

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When Pat was safe on the sand, he saw the injured seal desperately swimming along the shore, trying to escape the shark.

It was headed straight for the surfers.

It looked like the seal was trying to get on the shore, but there were so many people it was afraid, Pat said.

The surfers, two teenage boys, eventually realized there was a shark in the water and jumped off their boards, trying to swim to shore.

Pat said he saw one of the surfers was still attached to his board by an ankle strap, which was slowing him down and tiring him out.

When the surfers started calling for help, Pat and another beachgoer got back in the water and pulled the boys to safety.

Ill never forget the look on his face, Pat said of the boy he helped to shore.

I heard yelling and screeching and thought the world was over, said Samuel Scholonger, 16, of Brooklyn, New York, who was vacationing on Cape Cod with his friend and surfing for the first time.

Pats sister, Meg OBrien, also witnessed the incident, and said although the seal made it away from the shark and the crowd, it bled to death on the shore a little further down the beach.

She took video that showed the seal in the water, leaking blood, and the surfers scrambling to get out.

Nauset Beach was closed indefinitely after the incident, according to Orleans police dispatcher Hannah Green.

A shark was also located by a spotter plane in Truro, resulting in closures at Ballston Beach, Longnook Beach, Coast Guard Beach, and Head of the Meadow Beach, said Damion Clements, the interim recreation and beach director for the town of Truro.

The beaches all closed at different times, but the shark was spotted off the coast of Ballston Beach at 11:27 a.m., Clements said. All the Truro beaches have reopened for swimming.

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Drinking alcohol on St. Pete Beach beaches now allowed for hotel guests only – Tampabay.com

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ST. PETE BEACH Guests at gulffront hotels here can now drink alcoholic beverages in permitted hotel beach cabana areas.

Residents and other beachgoers who are not registered guests of the hotels continue to be barred from imbibing anywhere on the city's beaches.

The retreat from the city's previous total ban on alcohol drinking on both public and private beaches was passed unanimously Tuesday night by the City Commission.

"This is not a free-for-all for drinking on the beach," said Commissioner Rick Falkenstein, stressing that alcohol is still not allowed on Pass-a-Grille or other city beaches.

Commissioner Melinda Pletcher, who said she is concerned about possible extra law enforcement costs, nonetheless supported the move, saying "it is reasonable to expect (hotel guests) to order a libation, a beverage, while laying out there on the beach."

Only two people spoke in opposition to the new ordinance.

Bill Pyle, president of the Silver Sands Condominium that's adjacent to the Postcard Inn, said his neighbors are "intimidated when walking up and down the beach by drunken, unruly behavior" from people on the beach.

David Westmark, representing the environmental group Blue Turtle Society, did not object to serving alcohol to beachgoers, but pressed the city to require hotels to use biodegradable cups instead of plastic.

Mayor Alan Johnson suggested that Westmark speak directly to the city's hoteliers.

St. Pete Beach now joins neighboring cities in allowing drinking on the beach, at least for hotel guests.

Treasure Island and Madeira Beach both allow drinking by all adults on their city-owned and public beaches, with one exception: Drinking is not allowed at a Madeira Beach beachfront park at 14400 Gulf Blvd. that is owned by Pinellas County. The county bars alcohol at its parks.

Clearwater Beach, the county's other major tourist beach destination, bans alcohol for beachgoers.

The ordinance was written last year after the city's staff met with hoteliers and representatives of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

The new law allows drinking on the sandy beach only by people registered with or renting rooms and cabanas from permitted hotels.

There are currently 17 hotels on the Gulf of Mexico that rent cabanas in an area stretching from the Don CeSar Hotel to the Postcard Inn.

Annual permits will be granted after a review by the city's technical review committee.

Those permits could be rescinded if hotels fail to follow city rules:

Hotels must hold an active business tax receipt for cabana rentals.

The sale and serving of alcohol is permitted only within 10 feet of hotel-owned or licensed cabanas.

Cabanas must be at least 75 feet from abutting residential properties (this restriction affects only the Silver Sands Condominiums) and no closer than 50 feet to the wet sand.

All cabana occupants must wear a wristband identifiable to the issuing hotel.

Alcoholic beverage service is restricted to designated cabana areas between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

All drink containers must carry markings identifiable to the related hotel, but glass and plastic straws are prohibited.

If a hotel violates any of the above rules, there are escalating penalties: on the first violation, a written warning; on the second violation, a written warning that the beach-alcoholic beverage permit will be revoked if any additional violations occur within a six-month period; and on the third violation, revocation of the hotel's beach-alcoholic beverage permit and a ban on reapplying for one year plus an additional six months for each additional violation.

"They (the hotels) wanted this and we've given it to them. Now we need to make sure it is carried out in a proper way," said Commissioner Terri Finnerty.

Drinking alcohol on St. Pete beaches now allowed for hotel guests only 08/22/17 [Last modified: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 9:46pm] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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Drinking alcohol on St. Pete Beach beaches now allowed for hotel guests only - Tampabay.com

Health department issues advisory for four county beaches – Palm Beach Post

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A health advisory has been posted at four Palm Beach County beaches that have shown elevated levels of bacteria in the water, state health officials said.

Jupiter Beach Park, Carlin Park, Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach all showed bacterial levels greater than 71 colonies per 100 milliliters of marine water, putting those beaches in the poor category. Water quality is divided into poor, moderate and good ranges, said the Florida Department of Health for Palm Beach County.

Contact with water exhibiting containing high bacteria rates may pose increased risk of infectious disease, especially for susceptible individuals, the health deparment said.

The causes for the elevated bacteria levels that forced the advisory are unknown, but are likely related to wildlife, heavy recreational usage, high surf from high winds and high tides or runoff following heavy rains, health officials said.

The health department recommends that swimmers always rinse off with fresh water after using a natural body of water.

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Health department issues advisory for four county beaches - Palm Beach Post

Watch The Harrowing Trailer For A, The New Film Starring Dirty Beaches’s Alex Zhang Hungtai – The FADER

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On Wednesday, POP Montreal will announce the final wave of artists and films playing the festival from September 13-17. Kicking off Film POP this year is A, a new movie from director Mitchell Stafiej and starring Alex Zhang Hungtai, the musician behind the now-disbanded Dirty Beaches.

Hungtai plays Konrad, an acclaimed musician and alcoholic whose work on an album is derailed by a relapse. The film covers seven days in Konrad's struggle from inside his apartment, with a cast of other Canada-based musicians like Romy Lightman of Tasseomancy, Bernardino Femminielli, and Alexis O'Hara as members of Konrad's community.

"I dont mean to shock for the sake of shock," Stafiej told The FADER over email. "Through all of my films, I work tirelessly to portray a very specific truth that I understand and care about deeply. This truth is usually related to suburbia, youth issues and mental health. There have been so few works that accurately depict what it feels like to be in an alcoholic bender; the fear, the chaos, and the complete lack of control. I wanted to create a piece that truly depicts this shocking and nightmarish insanity.

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Watch The Harrowing Trailer For A, The New Film Starring Dirty Beaches's Alex Zhang Hungtai - The FADER

OSU uses eclipse to promote astronomy classes – NBC4i.com

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COLUMBUS (WCMH) Jim DeGrand of the Ohio State University Geography department brought his telescope to the oval Monday afternoon. He was pleasantly surprised by the turnout and the level of interest in the eclipse. Its fantastic, DeGrand said. Its great that people are engaged in a celestial event you know. How often does that happen?

With the start of classes still a day away, hundreds of students and faculty poured onto the oval to watch and to share the experience with others.

Very, very exciting, said first-year student Claire Cary from Cleveland. I dont have any other word for it. Its just thrilling to be able to experience it.

Cloud cover obscured the view from the oval throughout much of the eclipse. But watchers were in awe when the clouds gave way. They watched through eclipse glasses, cameras and pinhole box projectors.

Astronomy professor David Weinberg said the astronomy department distributed thousands of eclipse-watching glasses including 1,400 over the past two days. We have been shamelessly promoting our undergraduate astronomy courses and yesterday when we gave out a thousand glasses, we also gave out lists of all our courses.

Astronomy major Gaby Torrini said the cloud cover did not take away from how special it was. This is pretty exciting for me because its the first solar eclipse Ive been old enough to enjoy and really want to see, Torrini said.

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OSU uses eclipse to promote astronomy classes - NBC4i.com