Global Defence Technology: Issue 78 – Naval Technology

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In this issue: Autonomous systems for frontline resupply, electric hub-drive technology for armoured vehicles, the F-35s arrival in Europe, how to turn an air force base into a smart base, the future of littoral warfare and more.

Autonomous vehicles, augmented reality systems and advanced wireless networks were among the 50 technologies showcased during a recent US Navy and Marine Corps exercise. With a focus on ship-to-shore manoeuvre, weapons fire support, clearing assault lanes, command and control, and information warfare, we ask what this exercise tells us about the future of littoral combat.

Also in this issue, we take a look at Qinetiqs electric hub-drive technology for armoured vehicles and review the strategic role of the F-35 in Europe now that training is well underway.

Plus, we check in with a US Air Force pilot project testing a smart base concept and look at the UK MoDs efforts to improve the last mile of troop resupply with autonomous technologies by drawing on the rapid progress of innovations such as delivery drones in the private sector.

Revolutionising Vehicle Design A novel electric drive technology from QinetiQ could usher in a fundamental shift in the way armoured vehicles are built in future, as Dr Gareth Evans reports. Read the article.

Autonomy on the Last Mile The UK Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin has challenged industry and academia to design autonomous systems to resupply frontline troops. Claire Apthorp takes a look at the requirements and asks what the MoD hopes to achieve . Read the article.

Reducing Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Armed Forces Britains armed forces routinely battle a largely unseen enemy which, despite being responsible for significant loss of both operational readiness and ultimately even personnel from active service, nevertheless remains essentially unknown and often untreatable. Dr Gareth Evans reports. Read the article.

Up and Away The arrival of F-35 Lightning IIs at RAF Lakenheath at the start of their first ever deployment outside of the US back in April marked a significant milestone for an aircraft which has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Dr Gareth Evans reports. Read the article.

Maxwell: smart base pilot kicks off AT&T has announced it is working with Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, to pilot a more efficient and effective smart base. Claire Apthorp spoke to those involved to find out more about the pilot and talk early results. Read the article.

The Future of Littoral Warfare Autonomous vehicles, augmented reality systems and advanced wireless networks were among over 50 new technologies showcased during a recent US military exercise. Claire Apthorp tuned in as experts from across the industry and military came together to explore new avenues of technological development. Read the article.

The Netherlands annual defence expenditure is forecast to grow from $9.4bn in 2018 to $10.7bn by 2022, propelled mainly by a need to modernise and commitments to reach NATO guidelines to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence. We ask where the money is going and what role the Dutch defence ministry see for itself in the future global defence picture.

Also in the next issue, we check in on progress in the race to perfect missile interception systems, and take a look at a project by the US Air Force and Raytheon to provide secureidentification friend-or-foe equipment in a bid to help safeguard aircraft.

Plus, we speak to lawyers from the University of Exeter about their work on a manual setting out the legalities of warfare in outer space, investigate cyber security concerns surrounding the UKs Trident programme, and hear about the challenges of naval construction logistics.

You can read Global Defence Technology for free on the iPad. Download our app from the App Store to read the latest issue and browse the back issues in our archive.

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Global Defence Technology: Issue 78 - Naval Technology

Microsoft unveils technology to speed up blockchain and its adoption – Reuters

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is working on technology that it believes can make blockchain-based systems faster and more private, as it looks to speed up use of the distributed database software by enterprises.

The company said on Thursday that it had developed a system called Coco Framework, which connects to different blockchain networks to solve some of the issues that have slowed down their adoption, including speed and privacy concerns.

Coco, whose names stands for Confidential Consortium, will be ready and made open source by 2018, Microsoft said.

It is currently compatible with Ethereum, one of the most popular types of blockchains and can make it roughly 100 times faster, Microsoft said.

"We expect this to be the foundation for blockchain for enterprise," Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing division, said at a press briefing. "We think blockchain is going to potentially transform every industry."

Large businesses, including many of the worlds biggest banks, have been investing in blockchain in the hopes that it can help simplify and reduce the costs of some of their data-heavy processes.

The technology, which first emerged as the system underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin, is a shared public record of data that is maintained by a network of computers on the internet. This means every user on a network could potentially have access to all information.

While this makes the technology well-suited at ensuring the information's integrity, it also makes it inadequate for use by big businesses with strict data privacy requirements.

Microsoft's technology would make it easier for firms to control who can see what on a network without making the system slower.

The company plans to offer Coco for free, although it hopes that it will lead to more use of its cloud services.

It is being built in part with Intel Corp (INTC.O) hardware and will be compatible with all types of blockchains.

Planned adopters include Corda, the blockchain of bank consortium R3, Intel's blockchain Sawtooth and Quorum, the blockchain developed by JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N).

While the technology continues to draw interest from large firms, experts and skeptics caution that it is still in its early days and it may take years before its benefits are reaped.

Microsoft's system can process around 1,600 transactions per second. By comparison the network of payment card provider Visa can handle up to 24,000 transactions per second.

Reporting by Anna Irrera; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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Microsoft unveils technology to speed up blockchain and its adoption - Reuters

Back to school: parents and technology – KMTV – 3 News Now

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OMAHA, Ne - Its a yes answer for most students.

Do you guys use technology in the classroom, asked AM Anchor Emily Szink. Yup, computer and iPads, said one fifth grader. We just use it for looking up stuff and homework, said another student.

I know my son in the eighth grade is getting laptops this year, so it's a pretty big change from what it used to be, said LeAnn Welker.

According to statistics about 40 percent of students use computers during instructional time and about 15 percent of schools have an iPad or laptop for each student.

I think it is changing, but it's good for them because that's what everybody does, said one mom.

Most parents welcome the technology transformation.

"We can see how it is going to benefit them because they are starting to use it so much earlier than we did, said another mom.

But, as a parent wonder if you are not up to speed with the times? Andrea Riehl with the Geek Squad says most parents can perform basic computer functions, but if not, there is an easy way to learn.

Just sit side by side with them while they are going through things, see what they're learning. Kind of learn from the student, those kids are generally pros at using technology and having parents sit with them and learning from their student is a great way to go about it, said Riehl.

But, more important than being computer savvy is knowing how to keep your kids safe online. The Geek Squad has some simple suggestions like making sure all your devices and accounts have secure passwords and installing internet security software.

Keep an eye on them. Have an open conversation with them and just really make sure that you give them the tools to be safe to have a good experience online. You want them to understand that their digital footprint lasts forever and that they understand those ramifications, said Riehl.

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Back to school: parents and technology - KMTV - 3 News Now

Microwave technology improves the properties of grape-derived products – Phys.Org

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August 10, 2017

The WINESENSE project has successfully developed a novel extraction process for grape marc, resulting in higher polyphenol content. The consortium is already working on products for the cosmetics industry.

Beyond the fruit itself and the wine that results from its fermentation, grapes, and more particularly their polyphenolic content, holds much value for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. The WINESENSE (Research on extraction and formulation intensification processes for natural actives of wine) project is hoping to tap into this potential through an improved extraction process based on Solvent Free Microwave Extraction, Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE), and emulsion-Template techniques combining high pressure and antisolvent effects.

Prof Maria Jos Concero Alonso, coordinator of the project, discusses its results ahead of the final project conference that took place in June 2017.

What are the main shortcomings of current extraction processes?

One of the main shortcomings of natural product extraction processes is the degradation of active components under high extraction temperatures and duration. The properties of natural products, for example its antioxidant capacity, natural colour, or flavour, are lost to a great extent.

How is WINESENSE a solution to these problems?

WINESENSE has developed a process intensification to reduce operation time. Our microwave technology allows for obtaining more selective extracts with operation times of a few minutes.

In addition, the process intensification technologies used in our formulation of the final product improve its quality. Emulsion-template techniques combining pressure and antisolvent effects allow for achieving extract formulations of high quality. Formulation of non-water-soluble antioxidants in biopolymers has opened opportunities for the use of non-soluble polyphenols in food and cosmetic applications.

How did you proceed to improve the extraction of polyphenols?

The use of microwave technologies for the extraction of polyphenols from grape marc increases the contained amount of polyphenols, in particular anthocyanins and flavonoids. Anthocyanins are easily degradable polyphenols, and the reduction of extraction time to 2 minutes avoids its degradation.

Furthermore, the decrease in residence time reduces the concentration of sugars from the grape marc in the extract, so that post-treatment sugar fractioning steps are no longer necessary. Microwave extracts have an increased antioxidant capacity, mainly in easily degradable antioxidants.

What would you say were the most important achievements of the project?

The results of the project led to obtaining regional funding (Castilla y Len Equipment Funding) to develop a continuous microwave technology able to extract polyphenols from agricultural sub-products.

The collaboration with Prof Monzo Electrical Engineering Research Group from Cartagena University (Spain) has led to the development of a continuous microwave with an energy absorption efficiency of 98% and excellent heating homogeneity. The extremely high-energy efficiency allows for minimised consumption of microwave electrical power, which will in turn facilitate the commercialisation of microwave extract products.

What kind of products do you foresee for commercialisation? With what benefits?

I can give you two examples for the cosmetics industry. Quercetin booster (quercetin concentration 1800 ppm) encapsulated quercetin is enclosed in micronized liposomes made of natural lecithin. This formulation enhances penetration of the quercetin through the layers of your skin. Only natural compounds are used, and this formulation is produced by emulsion template technologies with pressurised water as an antisolvent. With this technology, we achieve a very efficient encapsulation, and it does not require expensive facilities. So, it could be used for small companies producing natural cosmetics.

Polyphenols extract formulates in food proteins are also undergoing epithelial cell in-vitro studies at the premises of WINSENSE partner IBET in Portugal, to develop new natural cosmetics.

What has been the feedback from industry so far?

Our results will be presented during the WINESENSE School being organised by WINESENSE partner The Matarromera Company in Valbuena de Duero (Spain), on 21-22 June 2017. The event is open to both companies and researchers. Ribera de Duero is one of the best-known vineyards and wineries in Spain.

When do you expect the first commercial products to enter the market?

We are ready for it, now the ball is in the hands of industry!

Explore further: Sustainable skincare range created from waste products of grapes

More information: Project page: cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/110027

University of Leeds spin-out Keracol Limited has teamed up with Marks & Spencer to produce a natural skin care range using the waste products of grapes.

The next time you walk down the produce aisle of your grocery store, you may want to reach for red onions if you are looking to fight off cancer.

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It's usually used as livestock feed, but wheat bran's value in human nutrition and medicine may soon reach its full potential with a new sustainable processing method developed by Swedish researchers.

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Food industry co-streams which could be upgraded to more valuable products than the original ones ending up as animal feed. Scientists developed feasible and gentle methods to make good use of fish filleting residues and ...

Researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Stony Brook University, and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered new effects of an important method for modulating semiconductors. ...

Clinicians today have an arsenal of more than 200 drugs at their disposal for treating a range of cancers68 drugs were approved between 2011 and 2016 alone. But many chemotherapeutic agents pose stubborn challenges: they ...

Scientists working toward the elusive lithium-air battery discovered an unexpected approach to capturing and storing carbon dioxide away from the atmosphere. Using a design intended for a lithium-CO2 battery, researchers ...

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have gained key structural insights into the machinery employed by opportunistic, disease-causing bacteria, which may help chemists design new drugs to inhibit them.

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It may not be as catchy as chains and weak links, but physicists and engineers know "a material is only as strong as its weakest grain boundary."

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The Note: Republican progress grinds to halt with infighting at fever pitch – ABC News

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THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein

It turns out you don't have to wait for 2020 to see the intraparty squabbles in action. A not-so-quiet summer is exposing old rivalries and sparking new ones inside the Republican Party, raising questions about the viability of the fall agenda. There's Sen. Ron Johnson venting about Sen. John McCain's health care vote. There's prominent Trump donor Robert Mercer putting his money up to take out Sen. Jeff Flake. And now there's President Trump joining powerful allies in questioning the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. We've seen Trump turn on some of his most loyal lieutenants in the past. But something different happens when he puts senators in that position: They lose maneuverability, and they may lose political incentive to stay on the Trump train. This is not about mere words: Actual governing has to happen, and fast, in the fall. Until then the drift of the agenda is being felt acutely in the GOP donor world. "It is hard to go and make the case, give us the majority again,' when we haven't accomplished the things that we ran on," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told us on the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast.

DANGEROUS AT THE TOP

Two of the most powerful Republicans in the country are on shaky ground, but for very different reasons. House Speaker Paul Ryan has, by most accounts, stood by the president as of late and is even now championing one of the president's prized promises: building that wall. But, the coming months may reveal some of the speaker's vulnerabilities as the House tries to pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling. Ryan used to be the torchbearer for fiscal conservatives, unflinching and unwilling to take on more debt without corresponding spending cuts. But this go-around, Ryan says he is with the White House. The administration wants less drama -- a clean deal with no strings attached. Could Ryan see a mutiny? On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking the heat from the outside. The president showed once again that no one is off limits for @realDonaldTrump, when he blasted the leader personally for not getting a health care repeal done. Obviously, he cannot remove McConnell from his post, but it would be awfully hard to stay if he said McConnell should go, ABC News' MaryAlice Parks writes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"General Kelly and others on the [National Security Council] team were well aware of the tone of the statement of the president prior to delivery. The words were his own." --White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Trump's "fire and fury" comment.

WHAT TO WATCH

ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos will sit down live with Anthony Scaramucci for his first interview since being fired from the White House, this Sunday on ABC News' "This Week."

NEED TO READ with ABC News' Daksha Sthipam

Trump could face GOP challengers in the 2020 election. As President Trump's approval among Republican voters drops, speculation looms about potential challengers from within the GOP ahead of the 2020 election. Some Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, are making moves -- such as meeting with donors -- that could be interpreted as signs of a 2020 run. http://abcn.ws/2vGbErS

RNC Chairwoman McDaniel: "We haven't accomplished the things that we ran on." Ronna Romney McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Republicans need to rack up some accomplishments to keep control of Congress on ABC's "Powerhouse Politics." "It is hard to go and make the case, give us the majority again,' when we haven't accomplished the things that we ran on," McDaniel said. http://abcn.ws/2usldqq

Suggestion McCain's tumor may have influenced health care vote "bizarre," spokesman says. Sen. John McCain's spokesman shut down a fellow senator's suggestion that the Arizona Republican's brain tumor may have affected his "no" vote on health care Wednesday. "It is bizarre and deeply unfortunate that Sen. [Ron] Johnson would question the judgment of a colleague and friend," McCain's spokesman told ABC News. http://abcn.ws/2ur4nfJ

Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School announces fall 2017 fellows. Harvard IOP

Unarmed Russian Air Force jet overflies the Pentagon, Capitol, CIA. CNN

Top Trump donor ponies up to take out Flake. Politico

Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he isn't seeking Trump's pardon. Associated Press

The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.

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The Note: Republican progress grinds to halt with infighting at fever pitch - ABC News

Scientists report progress on "liquid biopsies" for cancer screening – CBS News

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In this April 28, 2015 file photo, a patient has her blood drawn for a liquid biopsy during an appointment at a hospital in Philadelphia.

Jacqueline Larma / AP

Scientists have the first major evidence that blood tests called liquid biopsies hold promise for screening people for cancer. Hong Kong doctors tried it for a type of head and neck cancer, and boosted early detection and one measure of survival.

The tests detect DNA that tumors shed into the blood. Some are used now to monitor cancer patients, and many companies are trying to develop versions of these for screening, as possible alternatives to mammograms, colonoscopies and other such tests. The new study shows this approach can work, at least for this one form of cancer and in a country where it's common.

"This work is very exciting on the larger scale" because it gives a blueprint for how to make tests for other tumor types such as lung or breast, said Dr. Dennis Lo of Chinese University of Hong Kong. "We are brick by brick putting that technology into place."

He led the study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. Lo is best known for discovering that fetal DNA can be found in a mom's blood, which launched a new era of non-invasive testing for pregnant women.

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The study involved nasopharyngeal cancer, which forms at the top of the throat behind the nose. It's a good test case for DNA screening because it's an aggressive cancer where early detection matters a lot, and screening could be tried in a population where the cancer is most common -- middle-aged Chinese men.

Also, the Epstein-Barr virus is involved in most cases, so tests could hunt for viral DNA that tumors shed into the blood in large quantities, rather than rare bits of cancer cells themselves.

About 20,000 men were screened, and viral DNA was found in 1,112, or 5.5 percent. Of those, 309 also had the DNA on confirmatory tests a month later. After endoscope and MRI exams, 34 turned out to have cancer.

More cases were found at the earliest stage -- 71 percent versus only 20 percent of a comparison group of men who had been treated for nasopharyngeal cancer over the previous five years. That's important because early cases often are cured with radiation alone, but more advanced ones need chemotherapy and treatment is less successful.

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A government task force has released new guidelines for prostate cancer screenings. Meanwhile, a recent study reports confusion among doctors as ...

Screening also seemed to improve how many survived without worsening disease -- 97 percent at three years versus 70 percent of the comparison group.

Only one person who tested negative on screening developed nasopharyngeal cancer within a year.

The researchers estimate 593 people would need to be screened at a total cost of $28,600 to identify one cancer case. It may be worth it in Hong Kong, but maybe not in places like the U.S. where the disease is rare, and more people would have to be screened at a greater cost to find each case, said Dr. Richard Ambinder of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who wrote a commentary in the journal.

Still, "this is showing that liquid biopsies have great promise," he said. "This is an advance that will indeed save lives."

The study was sponsored by an Asian foundation and the Hong Kong government. Lo and some other authors founded Cirina, a Hong Kong-based company focused on early cancer detection, and get royalties related to DNA blood tests. In May, Cirina merged with Grail Inc., a California company working on cancer screening blood tests with more than $1 billion from drug companies and big-name investors such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Scientists report progress on "liquid biopsies" for cancer screening - CBS News

GTA 5 Project London mod is a work-in-progress map overhaul – PC Gamer

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Despite how the header image above may be construed, "England vs Scotland" as featured in KieranMerrilees' GTA 5 Project London mod pertains to the national football (soccer) teams and not an inter-British Isles battle royale.

The mod itself is a work-in-progress project of Merrilees' that's been in the works for the past several months. At present it recreates famous London landmarks in Grand Theft Auto 5, but in time hopes to "eventually do a full map overhaul with British textures [that] give it a London look."

For now, Project London includes Heathrow Airport, St Thomas Hospital, The Royal London Hospital, a few London Fire Brigade stations, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Some of those feature in the following screens:

Further down the line, Merrilees aims to finish creating Heathrow, and introduce London hotels, London bus stops, and "many other things" in their quest to reimagine the UK capital in the sprawling open world sandbox.

More information, including installation instructions and mods which compliment Project London, can be found in this direction.And since we're talking mods, check out our extensive list of the best GTA 5 mods via that link.

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GTA 5 Project London mod is a work-in-progress map overhaul - PC Gamer

Fix in progress – New Times San Luis Obispo – New Times SLO

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Picture this: You're a high school student, and the final bell of the day has just rung. You leave your un-air-conditioned classroom and start heading toward swim practice, thinking about how great jumping into a pool would feel after being in sweltering rooms all day. Unfortunately, most of your swim practices are on dry land. Oh, and when you decide to to take a quick bathroom break on your way to practice, you use a porta potty because your school's restrooms aren't currently functioning.

As awful and ridiculous as this scenario sounds, this has been the reality for the students of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay high schools. Thankfully, a massive, five-year construction plan called Measure D is in the process of fixing this.

"This summer we did a surge of work," said Anthony Palazzo, San Luis Coastal Unified School District director of facilities, operations, and transportation. "Now the students are going to see the changes."

It all began in 2014. Measure D, a $177 million bond measure, was proposed by SLCUSD and passed with 72 percent approval. However, it was not until two years later that any construction started happening.

"From the get-go, we got the community involvedstaff, students, parentsand said, 'Hey, what do we want to do?'" said Ryan Pinkerton, SLCUSD assistant superintendent of business services. "That alone took about eight months. Then we hired architects to design it all, and that can take nine months to a year ... . The hardest part is that it takes a long time."

Though every step of the plan took a while, Pinkerton said that the longest was the approval process. In order to become reality, Measure D had to be approved not only by local voters, but also by the DSA (Division of the State Architect), which takes about a year. Now that all the planning and preparation is out of the way, however, progress has become more visible.

Both high schools are getting new gyms, tennis courts, all-weather tracks, and, of course, pools. Construction for the gyms began in late July, which was ahead of schedule for SLO High since work on their gym was originally planned for winter 2018.

"Our budgeting has been spot-on for the first round [of projects]," Palazzo said. "And I'm not just blowing smoke ... . There have been hiccups, not fatal errors."

One of these "hiccups" came during the underground digging where Morro Bay High's old, filled-in pool once stood. Palazzo said that they found "a few surprises, so to speak," mainly in the form of pipes being different lengths, going in different directions, and being in different locations than expected. That stage of the project was successfully completed, though, and the current goal is to have the pool filled sometime in August.

"We're hoping we'll be swimming by early fall," Palazzo said.

These recreation-based projects are significant because they will benefit not only the schools but the community as well. According to both Palazzo and Pinkerton, SLCUSD will allow those facilities to be open to the public so that the cities can use them for programs such as swimming lessons or exercise classes.

There were rumors about this not being the case, specifically with the Morro Bay High tennis courts, after one Morro Bay resident wrote a letter to New Times saying that he was not able to access them during hours they were supposed to be open to the public.

"The tennis courts were inadvertently locked by a substitute custodian," Palazzo said. "We wrote a rebuttal and investigated it. ... [The custodian] didn't know better."

Pinkerton wrote the rebuttal, explaining the mistake and urging anyone confused about school or district policies to contact the school or district for clarification.

As for the more academic-oriented projects, several classrooms are being renovated on both campuses, including a robotics lab for SLO High that should be finished just in time for the new school year.

"We'll probably be pushing furniture in the night before school starts," Palazzo said.

According to Pinkerton, two model classrooms were set up in SLO High prior to construction to gauge student feedback.

"We had things like flat screens, white boards, all around the room," he said. "We figured we should test it out before spending all that money on 200 classrooms."

It's not just high school students who benefit, either. Pinkerton said the focus has been on the high schools since a different project, Measure A, had already been passed to improve the elementary and middle schools. But they are "trying to touch every campus in some way." This includes the installation of new phone systems, new fire alarms, and LED lights.

"They're huge energy savers, and they come on instantly," Pinkerton said in regards to the lights. "It used to take 15 to 20 minutes for the lights to warm up."

All of the construction projects are expected to be finished by summer 2021. For a complete timeline of projects or other information about Measure D, check out sanluiscoastalmeasured.org.

"I love turning it over to the teachers and students, seeing the smiles on their faces," Palazzo said. "That's always been my favorite. ... It sounds hokey, but it's true. I always say the best days are the day we start and the day we finish. In between, it's usually a nightmare."

Reach contributer Katrina Borges through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com.

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Fix in progress - New Times San Luis Obispo - New Times SLO

Hertz shares skyrocket nearly 20% after CEO says there’s been ‘significant progress’ in its turnaround plan – CNBC

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Hertz's luck may be turning around, but investors will need to wait longer to see results.

Shares of the rental-car company soared nearly 20 percent on Wednesday after positive comments by CEO Kathryn Marinello.

"We have made significant progress in the first half of the year, executing on our operating turnaround plan," Marinello said in a press release Tuesday. "Admittedly, we still have a lot of work to do, but these early wins are evidence that we have the right plan in place to ultimately achieve best-in-class outcomes."

The CEO says the company is focusing on downsizing its fleet of depreciating cars by increasing spending to complete its "transformation" of its fleet.

"Of course, the hard work always comes before the pay off as reflected in our second quarter results, where increased spending to fix areas of weakness and invest in areas of opportunity were exacerbated by a challenging vehicle residual environment in the U.S.," Marinello wrote.

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Hertz shares skyrocket nearly 20% after CEO says there's been 'significant progress' in its turnaround plan - CNBC

Hobby Lobby is one big arts and crafts project in progress – NewsOK.com

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The address for the latest million-square-foot Hobby Lobby warehouse will be 6701 SW 44. When it's complete next year, the closely held arts-and-crafts retail giant will have nearly 10.5 million square feet of warehouses in southwest Oklahoma City. [PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN]

A million square feet here and a million square feet there, and pretty soon you're talking about Hobby Lobby, which just started yet another nearly 1 million-square-foot warehouse near its corporate headquarters.

When the new distribution center at 6701 SW 44 is finished a year from now, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. will own nearly 10.5 million square feet of warehouse space, including a small percentage of office space in each structure, in industrial southwest Oklahoma City.

That's 241 acres, indoors, enough for 185 football fields.

That's about 10 percent of all industrial space in Oklahoma City, owned and leased, according to industrial broker Randy Lacey at CBRE.

Hobby Lobby "has by far the largest nongovernment owner-occupied industrial complex in Oklahoma," said industrial broker Bob Puckett at Price Edwards & Co.

But there's more: Hobby Lobby also has some 1,200 acres in hand for future expansion, said Bob Miller, communications coordinator.

Financials

Hobby Lobby ended 2016 with nearly 750 stores in 47 states, well on its way to a long-term goal of 1,000, according to retail consultancy Creditintell.

Hobby Lobby said it opened 56 new locations last year and planned to open another 60 and add 1,700 to 1,500 new employees this year.

Creditintell said the privately held company, which is affiliated with the Mardel Christian & Education and Hemispheres chains, had estimated revenue of $4.3 billion for 2016, an 8 percent increase compared with the previous year.

Hobby Lobby's rapid expansion is being funded with strong cash flow annual earnings of an estimated $860 million, or 20 percent before financial expenses with no debt, but $275 million in unsecured revolving credit with Bank of Oklahoma, according to Creditintell.

Retail acumen

Hobby Lobby also has been taking advantage of store closings in preferred community shopping centers and power centers. It often moves into spaces vacated by Sports Authority, Kmart, Sport Chalet and Sears, Creditintell said in a May 15 report.

"The glut of available real estate in the wake of the Sports Authority liquidation and Kmart's continued closings has allowed Hobby Lobby to opportunistically move into new locations at favorable lease terms," Creditintell said.

It is a well-run company, said Jim Parrack, retail specialist and vice president at Price Edwards & Co. commercial realty.

"They have no debt, which is almost unheard of in retail, and stick to what works," he said. "They value their employees and spend time training them, which leads to better customer experiences, critical in this day and age.

"And Hobby Lobby falls into the category of a value retailer, a category of which has held up well through the economic ups and downs of the last several years."

Industrial insight

Puckett said Hobby Lobby has been as savvy with its industrial development decisions at home as it has with retail property planning across the country.

"They have developed a supply and delivery system to their stores across the country that allows them to operate out of one location," he said. "This avoids expensively duplicating regional distribution centers in various locations. Part of this advantage is being centrally located in Oklahoma City with adjacent to major country-spanning interstate highways.

"Hobby Lobby is the best example of the transportation advantages to Oklahoma that the state Department of Commerce and the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce have been emphasizing for years."

Faith base

Parrack said the conservative Christian faith of the owners, the Green family, is an important part of the Hobby Lobby story even if it's a new warehouse getting attention.

Hobby Lobby stores are famously closed on Sundays out of the family's religious conviction, and the company has also been known since the mid 1990s for placing full-page newspaper ads nationwide celebrating Christmas, Easter and Independence Day.

Parrack said the Green family's faith, and its influence on its business decisions, are part of the extended Hobby Lobby saga, the chain's continued expansion nationally, and its growing industrial footprint in southwest Oklahoma City.

"You can't talk about Hobby Lobby without thinking of them as a faith-based company, and, while there are no analytics to determine what role that's played in their success, it's who they are and can't be overlooked," he said.

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Hobby Lobby is one big arts and crafts project in progress - NewsOK.com

Noir Thriller Wind River Examines An Ignored America – Willamette Week

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Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation is as sprawling as it is empty. It's prone to blizzards except for when it's too cold even for snow. It's a hell of a place to examine an ignored America and a fitting setting for a noir thriller.

In the directorial debut from Taylor Sheridan (writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water) a game tracker (Jeremy Renner) discovers the frozen body of a young Native woman. A hardscrabble investigation unfolds, and the tracker joins forces with an FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen), the tribal police chief (Graham Greene) and myriad snowmobiles.

Sheridan excels at simple turns of phrase and leading us into a rat's nest of violence. But Wind River meditates on loss more than it burns through plot, and it occasionally feels heavy handed. We get itRenner's character has a backstory that makes this crime personal. There are constant references to predators and prey, and it's fueled with male aggression and female pain.

But while those pitfalls are common, Wind River's unexplored geography, depth of spirit and honoring of survivalism are not.

CRITIC'S RATING: 3/4 Stars

Rated R. Bridgeport, Division, Tigard, Vancouver.

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Noir Thriller Wind River Examines An Ignored America - Willamette Week

Naked – slantmagazine

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Based on a Swedish film that itself was branded a shameless rip-off of Groundhog Day, Michael Tiddess Neflix production Naked feels stiflingly plastic-wrapped and freeze-driedan example of an elevator pitch literally becoming an elevator pitch. Beyond being retrograde, its anachronistic in the context of its distribution format. If streaming services offer the opportunity for filmmakers to explore their own freaky muses free from the expectations of mass crossover appeal, why does everyone here feel like theyre stuck on an assembly line? Sure, its a thematic mirror of the main characters plight, but that only makes the audiences journey toward the final credits feel as interminable as the main characters struggle to break his time loop.

Rob Anderson (Marlon Wayans) is a part-time English teacher at a swank prep school, asking his students to choose between The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies because he knows his students are far more likely to identify with the highly entitled form of rebellion of Holden Caufield than admit to wanting to kill Piggy, and loves throwing Lord of the Fliess island survivalism back in their faces. And yet, he doesnt have a thing in his life in order other than the fact that hes heading to the altar with Megan Swope (Regina Hall), a successful pediatric doctor with a formidable business-mogul father, Reginald (Dennis Haysbert), who, needless to say, looks at Rob like something sticking to the bottom of his shoe. Megan heads out for a day-before-the-wedding bachelorette party, and Rob and his best man head out for a quick nightcap. Then Rob wakes up naked on the floor of an elevator.

Right from the very beginning of Robs cruel cycle that sees him repeatedly returning to the floor of that elevator every time the church bells at his wedding begin to ring, Naked besmirches the reasons that Groundhog Days Mbius-strip construction worked. The 1993 film laid a trap out of mundanity, not extraordinary circumstances, highlighting the silently crippling weirdness of modern lifes patterns. Or, if youre particularly high on Groundhog Day writer-director Harold Ramiss intentions, it represents the spiritual journey toward the ultimate goal of self-transcendence in the Buddhist sense. Naked, on the other hand, doesnt suggest purgatory so much as hell, with Rob being punished by the universe and being forced to decipher the reason why.

Actually, its not even that abstract. Its rapidly clear that Rob needs to solve a mysteryhow did he end up naked on the floor of an elevator?in order to stop ending, as per the unofficial theme song from special guest star Brian McKnight, Back at One. And so, in contrast to Bill Murrays Phil Connors, Rob isnt tasked to become a better version of himself. Hes challenged to be the person his fianc and father want him to be, and the universe itself wont let him explore the very real possibility that he may simply be in the wrong relationship. Then again, in a world in which McKnight is the supreme muse, who are we mere mortals to question the vagaries of true love?

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Naked - slantmagazine

Silicon Valley luminaries are busily preparing for when robots take … – Mashable

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Image: tristan quinn / bbc

By Jamie Bartlett2017-08-06 16:55:52 UTC

Until a couple of years ago, Antonio Garcia Martinez was living the dream life: a tech-start up guy in Silicon Valley, surrounded by hip young millionaires and open plan offices.

He'd sold his online ad company to Twitter for a small fortune, and was working as a senior exec at Facebook (an experience he wrote up in his best-selling book, Chaos Monkeys). But at some point in 2015, he looked into the not-too-distant future and saw a very bleak world, one that was nothing like the polished utopia of connectivity and total information promised by his colleagues.

"Ive seen whats coming," he told me when I visited him recently for BBC Twos Secrets of Silicon Valley. "And its a big self-driving truck thats about to run over this economy."

Antonio is worried about where modern technology especially the twin forces of automation and artificial intelligence is taking us. He thinks its developing much faster than people outside Silicon Valley realize, and were on the cusp of another industrial revolution that will rip through the economy and destroy millions of jobs.

"Every time I meet someone from outside Silicon Valley a normy I can think of 10 companies that are working madly to put that person out of a job."

Antonio estimates that within 30 years, half of us will be jobless. "Things could get ugly," he told me. Its very scary, I think we could have some very dark days ahead of us."

Think of the miners strike, but in every industry. People could be be driven to the streets, he fears, and in America at least, those people have guns. Law and order could break down, he says, maybe there will be some kind of violent revolution.

So, just passing 40, Antonio decided he needed some form of getaway, a place to escape if things turn sour. He now lives most of his life on a small Island called Orcas off the coast of Washington State, on five Walt Whitman acres that are only accessible by 4x4 via a bumpy dirt path that just about cuts through densely packed trees.

Instead of gleaming glass buildings and tastefully exposed brick, his new arrangements include: a tepee, a building plot, some guns, 5.56mm rounds, a compost toilet, a generator, wires, and soon-to-be-installed solar panels. It feels a million miles from his old stomping ground.

Former Facebook executive Antonio Garcia Martinez at his remote island hideout, ready in case automation causes social breakdown

Image: tristan quinn / bbc

Antonio isnt the only tech entrepreneur wondering if were clicking and swiping our way to dystopia. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and influential investor, told The New Yorker earlier this year that around half of all Silicon Valley billionaires have some degree of apocalypse insurance. Pay-Pal co-founder and influential venture capitalist Peter Thiel recently bought a 477-acre bolthole in New Zealand, and became a kiwi national to boot.

Others are getting together in secret Facebook groups to discuss survivalism tactics: helicopters, bomb-proofing, gold. Its not all driven by fears about technology terrorism, natural disasters, and pandemics also feature but much is.

According to Antonio, many tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are just as pessimistic as he is about the future theyre building. They dont say it in public of course, because whats the point. Its inevitable, they say; technology cant be stopped. Its a force of nature.

Even just a couple of years ago, this would have sounded like just another exhibit in the long-tradition of American dystopian paranoia. But the robot jobs apocalypse argument is starting to sound more reasonable by the day.

"Ive seen whats coming, and its a big self-driving truck thats about to run over this economy."

The Economist, MIT Review, and Harvard Business Review have all recently published articles about how the economy is on the brink of transformation. President Obamas team suggested driverless cars would dispense with 3 million jobs pretty soon. According to the Bank of England, as many as 15 million British jobs might disappear within a generation.

I blame Hollywood for our lack of preparedness. Thanks to Blade Runner, Terminator, Ex Machina and the rest, artificial intelligence is now synonymous with sentient robots taking our jobs, our women, or our lives. Forget all that.

The A.I. revolution comes in the less sexy form of machine learning algorithms, which essentially means giving a machine lots of examples from which it can learn how to mimic human behaviour. It relies on data to improve, which creates a powerful feedback loop: more data fed in makes it smarter, which allows it to make more sense of any new data, which makes it smarter, and on and on and on.

Antonio thinks were entering into this sort of feedback loop. Over the last year or so, various forms of machine learning technology, teamed up with robotics, are making inroads into brick-laying, fruit-picking, burger-flipping, banking, trading, and driving. Even, heaven forbid, journalism and photography. Every year will bring more depressing news of things machines are better than us at.

New technology in the past has tended to increase markets and jobs. In the last industrial revolution, machinery freed up humans from physical tasks, allowing us to focus on mental ones. But this time, A.I. might have both covered.

Machine learning can, for example, already outperform the best doctors at diagnosing illness from CT scans, by running through millions of correct and thousands of incorrect examples real life doctors have produced over the years. Potentially no industry will be untouched.

Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, 27 year old founder of Starsky Robotics who are using $5 million of investment to develop self driving trucks.

Image: tristan quinn / bbc

The latest wave of machine learning is even smarter. It involves teaching machines to solve problems for themselves rather than just feeding them examples, by setting out rules and letting them get on with it. This has had particularly promising results when training neural networks (networks of artificial neurons that behave a little like real ones), using an approach called deep learning.

Recently, some neural network chatbots from Facebook were revealed to have gone rogue and invented their own language, before researchers shut them off. These simple chatbots were given a load of examples to spot basic patterns in human communication, and then conversed with themselves millions of times in order to figure out how negotiate with humans. What followed appeared as a stream of nonsense:

Bob: i can i i everything else.

Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to

Bob: you i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me

No human, with the possible exception of one Chuckle Brother, talks like this. But the failed experiment proved an important point. It seems these chatbots had calculated, within the parameters of their task, and without human intervention, a more efficient way of negotiating. This is the essence of deep learning: coming up with new ways to tackle problems that are beyond us.

In the same week, Elon Musk (who believes A.I. is a great threat to humanity) and Mark Zuckerberg (who does not) got into a public row about the risks of letting A.I. like this loose. Zuck said Musk was irresponsible. Musk said Zuck's understanding of the subject was 'limited.' But this misses the point.

A.I. is not about to go Skynet on us. These chatbots hadnt developed some sinister secret language. But mega-efficiency or neural network problem solving might be just as disruptive. True, some of the recent fear about the coming age of the robots is probably overdone. Were not all about to be turfed out by bots. And weve always had disruption: people were warning about a jobless economy 50 years ago too. Weve always found new jobs, and new ways to entertain ourselves.

Around half of all Silicon Valley billionaires have some degree of apocalypse insurance.

Let's not forget the wonders of A.I., such as dramatically improving how doctors diagnose, which will certainly save lives. It will stimulate all sorts of exciting new research areas. Replacing people with machines will have other benefits, too: driverless lorries would almost certainly be safer than exhausted driver-full ones.

The most likely scenario, reckons Antonio, is a gradual dislocation of the economy and an accompanying escalation of unrest. David Autor, an MIT economist, reckons we could be heading toward a bar-belled shaped economy.

There will be a few lucrative tech jobs at the top of the market, but many of the middling jobs trucking, manufacturing will wither away. They will be replaced by jobs that cant be automated, in the low paid service sector. Maybe there will be new jobs who imagined app developer would be a profession but will they be the same sort of jobs? Will they be in the same places, or clustered together in already well-off cities?

Drivers alone taxi or truckers make up around 17 percent of the U.S. adult work force. Taxis are often the first jobs for newly arrived, low-skilled migrants; trucking is one of the reasonably well-paid jobs for Americans that are not highly educated. What are they going to do instead? Are the cashier operators, and burger flippers going to retrain overnight, and become software developers and poets?

At the very least it seems economic and social disruption and turbulence as we muddle through are likely. The whole shape of the economy could change too. Some worry about the possibility of growing inequality between the tech-innovators who own all the tech assets and the rest of us. A world where you either work for the machines or the machines work for you.

What does that mean for peoples sense of fairness or agency or well-being? Or the ability of governments to raise taxes? The Silicon Valley survivalists fear that, if this happens, people will look for scapegoats. And they might decide that techies are it.

Jamie Bartlett outside Apples new $5 billion HQ

Image: Tristan quinn / bbc

One of the questions I asked as part of this programme is whether we are prepared. We dont even know how little we know; and our politicians seem to know even less. I found one mention of artificial intelligence in the 2017 party manifestos.

When asked recently about the future of artificial intelligence and automation, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin replied that its not even on our radar screen and that hes not worried at all. A couple of months back his boss climbed into a huge rig wearing an I love trucks badge, just as nearly everyone in Silicon Valley agreed that the industry was about to be decimated.

Antonio told me in the race between technology and politics the technologists are winning. They will destroy jobs and economies before we even react to them.

Still, guns and solar panels? Survivalism seems like overkill to me. "What do you have?" Antonio asks, fiddling around with a tape measure outside his giant tepee. "Youre just betting that it doesnt happen."

Before I can answer, he tells precisely me what I have: "You have hope, thats what you have. Hope. And hope is a shitty hedge."

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Silicon Valley luminaries are busily preparing for when robots take ... - Mashable

Webster – Soundblab

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In town for the Panorama music festival, Nine Inch Nails decided to drop by Webster Hall with Tobacco, fill it with fog, and slowly asphyxiate everyone inside with heat and punishingly loud music. While the size of the venue made it the definition of intimate (about a 1200 person capacity), it was more than that; Reznor forewent the subtle costuming from the festival shows and, right before introducing the band, stated you know who they are. And that was true. The show was announced on the Nine Inch Nails Facebook page eight and a half hours before doors, with tickets only available to fans who had a password or to those loyal nin.com store patrons via an email from the band.

The show featured the live debut of Shes Gone Away* and a few welcome surprises in the form of the tour debut of Sanctified, 1,000,000 and Somewhat Damaged, that last as the opener. Then there was the odd inclusion of about thirty seconds of How To Destroy Angels The loop closes. Since all of HTDA was there and on stage except for Mariqueen Maandig, the crowd was expecting a rare treat, but before everyone could really grasp what was happening, they stopped playing it and moved onto the next track. Gave Up, Reptile and Burning Bright" were devastating in the confined space and the addition of Survivalism had people screaming along and pumping their fists like protestors. The moment when all the lights went out during Burn" was truly terrifying; I thought Robin Finck was going to leap off the stage and stab me to death with a shard of shattered guitar, which, admittedly, would have been a pretty awesome way to die. Proximity, energy, and setlist aside, my absolute favorite moment of this evening was that, for the first time since I started seeing Nine Inch Nails almost twenty years agothey did not. Fucking. Play. The Hand That Feeds. The simple lack of that overused, cookie-cutter, threadbare-kitchen-rug of a song made this show stand out more than anything in recent memory. I am truly grateful. And spoiled.

Nine Inch Nails plans to tour in early 2018 in support of their trilogy of EPs, the third of which is slated for release in late 2017 / early 2018.

* From that episode of Twin Peaks.

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Webster - Soundblab

The Very Human Return of Kesha – The Atlantic

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To use the language likely heard in music-industry boardrooms circa 2010, around the time of the great female pop-superstar boom, Kesha once benefitted from strong market differentiation. She wasnt the cryptic alien provocateur Lady Gaga; she wasnt the coy Betty Boop update Katy Perry; she wasnt the unflappable fashion assassin Rihanna. She was the glorious, superheroic epitome of a very familiar typethe party girl. In neon face paint and with a dollar sign in her name, she squealed about brushing her teeth with booze and sleeping with the heirs to Mick Jagger. She was fun: the brand.

But this was, in a way, just a different flavor of the same product on offer elsewhere. Keshas music was powered by the backbeat of Dr. Luke, a producer whod helped set the template for 2000 club-pop and whod been groomed by Max Martin, the most important architect of hits for a few decades now. She also was on-trend thematically: Her hedonism handily doubled as capital-e Empowerment, serving as a rallying cry for misfits and the marginalized. She sassily bit back at male creeps (Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk), casually preached self-acceptance (We R Who We R), and insisted that girls could have as much a good time as guys without being called sluts. In their way, the likes of Gaga and Perry did something similarbaby, you were born this way; baby, youre a firework.

The Exquisite Horror in Lana Del Rey's Nostalgia

The novelty of such an act might be expected to wear off eventually, but the public never got a chance to fully get its fill of Kesha. Instead, about two years after her 2012 sophomore album, Warrior, she filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke alleging abuse, sexual assault, artistic tyranny, and general horrible behavior by the producer. The illusion of her invulnerable persona was smashed foreverand its origins given grim new context with the assertion that Dr. Luke had manipulated her starting in 2005, when she was 18. The suit sought to end her contract with him; he denied all allegations; a long legal battle has resulted in no ruling on the merits of the accusations but rather a series of procedural losses for Kesha. She recently announced her intention to move on from this ugly chapter by releasing new music.

Her comeback album, Rainbow, is fascinating in terms of narrative and fine-just-fine in terms of pop. It is being released by Kemosabe Records, the imprint that Dr. Luke founded but no longer runs, and has come out reportedly with his support but not involvement. It appears he will get a cut of the profits. Lyrically, Keshas show of resilience doesnt have a ton of specificity about what shes overcomingwhich is perhaps an artistic choice, or perhaps a sign of legally prudent caginess. Whats certain is that the outrageous character and commercial force Kesha once represented is gone, replaced by a human being: poignant, striving, and flawed.

Though Keshas situation isnt fully precedented in pop, the spectacle of resetting after a setback is, and the most common tropes of the licking-ones-wounds narrative are all here. Like Gaga with last years Joanne, Kesha trades thumping electro for analogue instruments and genres that, fairly or not, have an easier time being perceived as authentic: rock and roll, country, folk. Also like Gaga, she tries to execute this turn while tamping down, but not altogether ditching, her previous persona. Kesha opens the album with a slowly blossoming acoustic singalong, but she peppers it with motherfuckers and assholes as she would have with any given song five years ago. She goes full cowpunk on the love-crazed Hunt You Down, but harkens back to her old Cannibal shtick by saying, cheekily, that she probably wont murder a guy who cheats on her.

Somewhat stripped down as Kesha is here, you get a clear sense of what made her musically distinct all along. Its that voice, sharp and nasal and highly conversational, earning cringes from skeptics but a strong sense of kinship from fans. She can also belt with soul, and she cares about articulationno lyrics sheet required to follow along. With a writing credit on all but two songs (both of which are cowritten by her mom, Pebe Sebert, including a 1980 Dolly Parton cut updated here with Partons participation), its also as obvious as ever that Kesha is accomplished in the art of pop songcraft. The title ballad in particular, reportedly written while she was in rehab for an eating disorder, captures the sense of falling right back in love with being alive with remarkable finesse. Dense with syllables but also graceful, it could be a showstopper in Disneys follow-up to Frozen or Moanano small feat.

That track and the single Praying both stand out for their reconciliation of the limits of the radio-pop form with walloping trauma and emotion. Praying in particular just gets more brutal with each listen, both because of her vocal performance and because of the tricky way it threads the line between condemnation and acceptance. A slightly more uptempo single, Learn to Let Go, makes for a competent empowerment anthem in line with current radio trends (islands lilt? check). It also shows some nice self-awareness: I know Im always, like, telling everybody you dont got to be a victim I think its time to practice what I preach. The tracks currently sitting at the low end of the Hot 100, but just one good TV-drama soundtrack deployment could turn it into a hit.

Elsewhere, she determinedly signals that her old party-animal ways arent gone. Woman, a straightforward feminist cry with sax touches from the Dap Kings, is laced with snippets of laughtera winning, if not altogether convincing, touch. Boogie Feet, featuring the Eagles of Death Metal, has her screaming like a member of Sleater-Kinney before delivering her vintage so-dumb-its-fabulous rapping: Some people they got the big brains / They make all the computer games. The engines of the fast songs are purring guitars and live drums, and while the results are catchy and charmingly brash, theyre also a challenge to a pop-radio landscape that has mostly exiled rock.

Even on such highlights, though, theres a sense of tentative-ness that blunts the materials impact. For all the profanity she threads in, her account of the healing process doesnt quite transcend the generic; if only she were able to make like, say, Alanis Morissette, and use her sailors mouth for tarter, smarter poetry. Dont let the assholes wear you out / Dont let the mean girls take the crown / Dont let the scumbags screw you round / Dont the bastards take you down, she sings on the opener, Bastards, letting common teenage disses do most of the descriptive work.

There is one memorably unique through line, though, and its about religion. On songs like Hymn, Finding You, and Spaceship, she seems to be inventing her own faith, insisting on an afterlife of aliens and energy while noticeably avoiding Christian iconography: Lord knows this planet feels like a hopeless place, she sings on the closer. Thank God Im going back home to outer space. This cheeky new-age kick is also the direction hinted at in her trippy album art, but Rainbow itself is so caught up reacting to Keshas recent real-world narrative that it never fully develops its dreamscape. As she continues to rebuild her career, she might do well to find a way back to wild, uplifting fantasywhich she can, one hopes, now control more fully.

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The Very Human Return of Kesha - The Atlantic

Tom of Finland review intriguing biopic of a gay liberation hero – The Guardian

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A scene from Tom of Finland. Photograph: Josef Persson

Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, known by his nom de plume Tom of Finland, is brought above the radar of cultural history in this well-acted biopic.

In postwar Helsinki, in conditions of the gravest illegality, Laaksonen produced thousands on thousands of homoerotic fetish illustrations, showing bulgingly endowed leather-clad guys having an unapologetic good time. Tom of Finlands work reached the liberated US in the 1960s via mail order, and he became a counterculture hero of gay liberation, virtually inventing a whole language of hedonism that influenced Queen, the Village People and the club scene.

Pekka Strang is very good as Tom; the movie suggests that he was traumatised by his wartime experiences Finland being a co-belligerent of Hitlers axis powers. The film shows a perhaps imagined episode of Laaksonen killing a Russian parachutist. But something in his creative alchemy responded to the brutality of Nazis and Soviets in uniform, and then to the uniforms of the police employed to break up cottaging in the parks. His eroticism subversively reclaimed these styles.

So what was Tom of Finland, ultimately? A gay version of R Crumb? Not exactly. Interestingly, the movie doesnt locate a happy ending for him in being accepted by the contemporary art establishment: a much-discussed exhibition never happens in this film. Tom of Finland is perhaps closer to the 50s fetish pinup Bettie Page.

Either way, this drama suggests his importance is in something less culturally high-flown: simply being a rocknroll standard-bearer for gay men, he was the means by which happiness could be achieved. It is arguably a structural problem that the movie ends just as the HIV-Aids debate begins, with Laaksonen depicted fearing that he will be blamed, and rather earnestly promoting condom use.

Still: an intriguing demonstration of how eroticism in gay culture became overt, while straight porn retains its furtiveness and hiddenness.

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Tom of Finland review intriguing biopic of a gay liberation hero - The Guardian

Introducing Secret Stages, The Southern Festival Where Undiscovered Acts Shine Like Stars – UPROXX

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Darrell Nance/Tyler Woods/

Cuz Lightyear / Adam Torres / Jabee

Downtown Birmingham Alabama is facing the one thing in thirty years it never thought it would see renovation. The city happens to pack the largest population of any in the state. Through hilly regions, country sprawl and more collegiate joy than a frat party in nearby Tuscaloosa, Birmingham enjoys its status as both a crest of modernism and a hastily fastened 1960s time warp.

Churches adorn many a city block, both garish in design and some medieval. The local blues station plays the kind of beer-joint-blues where cheating on your spouse is the base template for all subject matter. Even the strip clubs, perhaps the holy mecca of both hedonism and self-restraint, are next to lots where a sign that asks for your salvation and time sticks out like a sore thumb.

Given that context and backdrop, Birmingham, Alabama is an absolutely perfect destination for a music festival geared around artist discovery, and thats exactly what last weekends Secret Stages offers.

Secret Stages is one of the few festivals that have stuck to the now antiquated South By Southwest model of throwing a ton of shows in a centralized location and keeping the commercialization factor down to zero. There was only one food truck placed in the middle the Loft District downtown, Secret Stages proverbial ground zero, and its only in the South that Ill get an oyster and shrimp po boy and ask myself, How seasoned is this? before devouring it in less than ten bites.

Starting from the centrally-placed Doubletree and walking downtown, I made my way down to the trio of buildings housing every Secret Stage performer. Hearing Austins Adam Torres wail with a haunting, yet relaxing voice was a definite mood shifter, and before long, I found myself close my eyes and picturing how his music couldve easily soundtracked Birmingham, from the daily grind of city workers attempting to maintain its look, to the various citizens who are unsure of what change and the Civil Rights movement would present.

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Introducing Secret Stages, The Southern Festival Where Undiscovered Acts Shine Like Stars - UPROXX

Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus review: Gossip – The Scotsman

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Published: 10:47 Thursday 10 August 2017

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Lenka Vagnerov is one of the Czech Republics brightest dance stars, known for blurring the border between choreography and theatre, and always thinking outside of the box.

Zoo Southside (Venue 82)

***

Her latest production, Gossip, continues in this vein, setting the action at a decadent birthday party where champagne flutes and fake laughter cover up the rotten inner-workings of the friendships at play.

There are moments when the action feels left-field almost for the sake of it, not to make any great point. But these are outweighed by inspired and surprising theatrical devices that catch you unawares and make their mark (giving them away here would spoil the fun).

When theatre hands over to dance, the choreography is fast and tough, with dancers gliding across the floor on their backs and jumping on each other in a maelstrom of movement. And then, in amongst the hedonism, the two-faced superficiality and the unidentifiably bizarre, comes a scene of true emotional integrity. A couple stands side-by-side, while the party host details all that is wrong with their relationship, highlighting how two people can view the same situation so very differently.

Its not for everyone, but if you like your dance served with a side order of the theatrically weird and wonderful, Vagnerov has something for you.

Until 15 August. Today 8:30pm.

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Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus review: Gossip - The Scotsman

Cologne’s Springinsfeld Festival ready for August 2017 launch … – DJ Mag

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Colognes new Springinsfeld Festival is ready to launch later this month, with doors opening to punters on Saturday 19th August, and the party running through the night.

The event boasts an enviable lineup, topped by tech house deity Solomun. Other names set to appear include Fritz Kalkbrenner, Don Diablo, Oliver Heldens, Yellow Claw, andhim, and Martin Solveig, who found himself back in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list last time round after a few years out.

Run by the crew behind the Bootshaus club and Prookaville festival, both also in Cologne, the party will take place in Fhlinger See, a series of connected artificial lakes spanning 100 hectares in the suburb of Fhlingen, just south of the city proper. Three main stages have been confirmed, dedicated to house, tech house, and bass, with the promise of letting revellers take a break from everyday life, its stresses and strains, and venture off into this urban wilderness to find pristine waters, unspoilt meadows, unadulterated hedonism, and the kind of side attractions and food offerings youd expect from a major outdoor session.

Tickets are priced at a bargain 59 per person, and weve included the trailer below to really whet the appetite. For more information, check the official website, here.

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Cologne's Springinsfeld Festival ready for August 2017 launch ... - DJ Mag

Love, Bombs and Apples raises dilemmas facing young Arabs in our times – CommonSpace

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CommonSpace
Love, Bombs and Apples raises dilemmas facing young Arabs in our times
CommonSpace
Over the course of their night together, the young actor discovers more hedonism and depth to the woman than previously thought. Swiftly and smoothly, with the help from sound designer and composer James Hesford, Khan transforms from his young ...

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Love, Bombs and Apples raises dilemmas facing young Arabs in our times - CommonSpace