Guy Quits Miserable Cubicle Job To Travel Around The World With Fiance, Then Lands Book Deal – Bravo (blog)

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Kyle James and Ashley Grigsbyhave been together since college, moving from North Carolina to Denver, CO., to start their lives as adults right after school.

For two years, theyd been saving for a house of their own, and had a little stash when they found themselves itching to travel (on more than just a vacation) before the summer of 2015. At the time, Kyle had started what he thought was a dream job, which was really soul-crushing cubicle sitting, cold-calling people to persuade them to buy billboard space. Ashley, a school teacher, was wrapping up the school year and was free for the summer.

After talking and deciding the time was right, the two took a leap, quit their 9-to-5s and bought one way flights from Denver to New York, and from New York to Paris. They spent the next 114 days backpacking 15 countries and 38 cities together.

Ashley was 23 and I was 24 at the time, Kyle tells Personal Space. Ashley was teaching, I made cold calls all day. I was cold calling from this cubicleI struggled with [spending the money] mentally. I was very scared that we were gonna go through all our money or we werent going to come back and find jobs. But Ashley wanted to go, she said lets do this now, and we left June 1, 2015.

Kyle, skilled at Excel, made them a spreadsheet to budget out $150 per day to spend for the both of themincluding food, transport, and lodging. They Airbnbd it the entire way, it was both cheaper and more interesting than hostels.

Some days we had 50 cents left and its noon, Kyle laughed. But if we overspent it would auto adjust and wed spend less the next day. We found Airbnbs that were like 30 dollars a night for both of us, you can find entire studio apartments in the middle of Budapest, its great.

They planned their next steps only a week-and-a-half ahead of time, spending some evenings looking on their laptops as to where they wanted to head next.

Then wed buy the next two cities, Kyle says. We never thought we were gonna go to Croatia then we got hammered in Budapest and we thought it was Italy. It was so beautiful.

Now the two are getting married in Croatia next June.

But the lovebirds didnt go without a few meltdowns. Dont we all have them while traveling?

We were in a two seater kayak in Croatia traveling around this mountain in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. We were exhausted, we were together 24/7, a month at that point in the heat, half the air conditioners in the Airbnbs were broken, we had built up anger. That day, on the water, I jumped off a crazy rock all to get a go pro videoI scaled a mountain, jumped off this crazy rock, almost killed myself, and Ashley had hit record by accident then stopped it by accident when I jumped, and missed it. Were in a two seater kayak in the Adriatic screaming at each other.

It lasted only a few minutes before they broke into laughter, realizing all the moments of the trip were important moments. Among the most moving?

We took a bus two hours at 5 A.M. into the middle of the jungle in Thailand where they rescued elephants from torture and carnivals, Kyle says. We were sleeping with them, they trumpeted through the night, Ashley was crying.

As for what they both learned, beside that they love each other a lot, Kyle says hes lost some of the fear that he used to have, saying fear is just the unknown.

For Ashley, this trip solidified her. She was always a shy southern girl, soft spoken, self conscious, this trip were just living and learning from all these different cultures. She started meditating, Kyle says.

I try to explain the type of benefit long term travel has on you, he adds.

Along the way, Kyle wrote in a a leather-bound journal every night, detailing the events of the day for their future grandkids, and had no intention of turning it into a book. But it was too good not to.

Not Afraid Of The Fall is out now, and Kyle now has over12,000 Instagram followers who tracked his adventures with Ashley.

If you read the book, the pictures there go along with it, he says.

But the best part of the book is the dedication. Its how Kyle proposed.

Ash, you are the wind to my sails and the ink to my pen. No matter where I go or what I do, the only thing I am sure of is that I want you by my side. Every cliff I jump off, every moped I crash, every morning after a night of food poisoning, every Mediterranean sunset, I want you by my side. I never want to stop exploring with you, Ash.

Will you marry me?

The two are now in Asheville, N.C., near family. Ashley is teaching kindergarten while Kyle is working for a nonprofit. They are planning on another adventure soon.

Personal Space is Bravo's home for all things "relationships," from romance to friendships to family to co-workers. Ready for a commitment? Then Like us on Facebook to stay connected to our daily updates.

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Guy Quits Miserable Cubicle Job To Travel Around The World With Fiance, Then Lands Book Deal - Bravo (blog)

Transhumanism: Can technology help mankind transcend its natural limitations? – Scroll.in

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The rapid development of so-called NBIC technologies nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science are giving rise to possibilities that have long been the domain of science fiction. Disease, ageing and even death are all human realities that these technologies seek to end.

They may enable us to enjoy greater morphological freedom we could take on new forms through prosthetics or genetic engineering. Or advance our cognitive capacities. We could use brain-computer interfaces to link us to advanced artificial intelligence.

Nanobots could roam our bloodstream to monitor our health and enhance our emotional propensities for joy, love or other emotions. Advances in one area often raise new possibilities in others, and this convergence may bring about radical changes to our world in the near-future.

Transhumanism is the idea that humans should transcend their current natural state and limitations through the use of technology that we should embrace self-directed human evolution. If the history of technological progress can be seen as humankinds attempt to tame nature to better serve its needs, trans-humanism is the logical continuation: the revision of humankinds nature to better serve its fantasies.

As David Pearce, a leading proponent of transhumanism and co-founder of Humanity+, says:

If we want to live in paradise, we will have to engineer it ourselves. If we want eternal life, then well need to rewrite our bug-ridden genetic code and become god-like only hi-tech solutions can ever eradicate suffering from the world. Compassion alone is not enough.

But there is a darker side to the naive faith that Pearce and other proponents have in transhumanism one that is decidedly dystopian.

There is unlikely to be a clear moment when we emerge as transhuman. Rather, technologies will become more intrusive and integrate seamlessly with the human body. Technology has long been thought of as an extension of the self. Many aspects of our social world, not least our financial systems, are already largely machine-based. There is much to learn from these evolving human/machine hybrid systems.

Yet the often Utopian language and expectations that surround and shape our understanding of these developments have been under-interrogated. The profound changes that lie ahead are often talked about in abstract ways, because evolutionary advancements are deemed so radical that they ignore the reality of current social conditions.

In this way, transhumanism becomes a kind of techno-anthropocentrism, in which transhumanists often underestimate the complexity of our relationship with technology. They see it as a controllable, malleable tool that, with the correct logic and scientific rigour, can be turned to any end. In fact, just as technological developments are dependent on and reflective of the environment in which they arise, they in turn feed back into the culture and create new dynamics often imperceptibly.

Situating transhumanism, then, within the broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts within which it emerges is vital to understanding how ethical it is.

Max More and Natasha Vita-More, in their edited volume The Transhumanist Reader, claim the need in transhumanism for inclusivity, plurality and continuous questioning of our knowledge.

Yet these three principles are incompatible with developing transformative technologies within the prevailing system from which they are currently emerging: advanced capitalism.

One problem is that a highly competitive social environment doesnt lend itself to diverse ways of being. Instead it demands increasingly efficient behaviour. Take students, for example. If some have access to pills that allow them to achieve better results, can other students afford not to follow? This is already a quandary. Increasing numbers of students reportedly pop performance-enhancing pills. And if pills become more powerful, or if the enhancements involve genetic engineering or intrusive nanotechnology that offer even stronger competitive advantages, what then? Rejecting an advanced technological orthodoxy could potentially render someone socially and economically moribund (perhaps evolutionarily so), while everyone with access is effectively forced to participate to keep up.

Going beyond everyday limits is suggestive of some kind of liberation. However, here it is an imprisoning compulsion to act a certain way. We literally have to transcend in order to conform (and survive). The more extreme the transcendence, the more profound the decision to conform and the imperative to do so.

The systemic forces cajoling the individual into being upgraded to remain competitive also play out on a geo-political level. One area where technology R&D has the greatest transhumanist potential is defence. DARPA (the US defence department responsible for developing military technologies), which is attempting to create metabolically dominant soldiers, is a clear example of how vested interests of a particular social system could determine the development of radically powerful transformative technologies that have destructive rather than Utopian applications.

The rush to develop super-intelligent AI by globally competitive and mutually distrustful nation states could also become an arms race. In Radical Evolution, novelist Verner Vinge describes a scenario in which superhuman intelligence is the ultimate weapon. Ideally, mankind would proceed with the utmost care in developing such a powerful and transformative innovation.

There is quite rightly a huge amount of trepidation around the creation of super-intelligence and the emergence of the singularity the idea that once AI reaches a certain level it will rapidly redesign itself, leading to an explosion of intelligence that will quickly surpass that of humans (something that will happen by 2029 according to futurist Ray Kurzweil). If the world takes the shape of whatever the most powerful AI is programmed (or reprograms itself) to desire, it even opens the possibility of evolution taking a turn for the entirely banal could an AI destroy humankind from a desire to produce the most paperclips for example?

Its also difficult to conceive of any aspect of humanity that could not be improved by being made more efficient at satisfying the demands of a competitive system. It is the system, then, that determines humanitys evolution without taking any view on what humans are or what they should be. One of the ways in which advanced capitalism proves extremely dynamic is in its ideology of moral and metaphysical neutrality. As philosopher Michael Sandel says: markets dont wag fingers. In advanced capitalism, maximising ones spending power maximises ones ability to flourish hence shopping could be said to be a primary moral imperative of the individual.

Philosopher Bob Doede rightly suggests it is this banal logic of the market that will dominate:

If biotech has rendered human nature entirely revisable, then it has no grain to direct or constrain our designs on it. And so whose designs will our successor post-human artefacts likely bear? I have little doubt that in our vastly consumerist, media-saturated capitalist economy, market forces will have their way. So the commercial imperative would be the true architect of the future human.

Whether the evolutionary process is determined by a super-intelligent AI or advanced capitalism, we may be compelled to conform to a perpetual transcendence that only makes us more efficient at activities demanded by the most powerful system. The end point is predictably an entirely nonhuman though very efficient technological entity derived from humanity that doesnt necessarily serve a purpose that a modern-day human would value in any way. The ability to serve the system effectively will be the driving force. This is also true of natural evolution technology is not a simple tool that allows us to engineer ourselves out of this conundrum. But transhumanism could amplify the speed and least desirable aspects of the process.

For bioethicist Julian Savulescu, the main reason humans must be enhanced is for our species to survive. He says we face a Bermuda Triangle of extinction: radical technological power, liberal democracy and our moral nature. As a transhumanist, Savulescu extols technological progress, also deeming it inevitable and unstoppable. It is liberal democracy and particularly our moral nature that should alter.

The failings of humankind to deal with global problems are increasingly obvious. But Savulescu neglects to situate our moral failings within their wider cultural, political and economic context, instead believing that solutions lie within our biological make up.

Yet how would Savulescus morality-enhancing technologies be disseminated, prescribed and potentially enforced to address the moral failings they seek to cure? This would likely reside in the power structures that may well bear much of the responsibility for these failings in the first place. Hes also quickly drawn into revealing how relative and contestable the concept of morality is:

We will need to relax our commitment to maximum protection of privacy. Were seeing an increase in the surveillance of individuals and that will be necessary if we are to avert the threats that those with antisocial personality disorder, fanaticism, represent through their access to radically enhanced technology.

Such surveillance allows corporations and governments to access and make use of extremely valuable information. In Who Owns the Future, internet pioneer Jaron Lanier explains:

Troves of dossiers on the private lives and inner beings of ordinary people, collected over digital networks, are packaged into a new private form of elite money...It is a new kind of security the rich trade in, and the value is naturally driven up. It becomes a giant-scale levee inaccessible to ordinary people.

Crucially, this levee is also invisible to most people. Its impacts extend beyond skewing the economic system towards elites to significantly altering the very conception of liberty, because the authority of power is both radically more effective and dispersed.

Foucaults notion that we live in a panoptic society one in which the sense of being perpetually watched instils discipline is now stretched to the point where todays incessant machinery has been called a superpanopticon. The knowledge and information that transhumanist technologies will tend to create could strengthen existing power structures that cement the inherent logic of the system in which the knowledge arises.

This is in part evident in the tendency of algorithms toward race and gender bias, which reflects our already existing social failings. Information technology tends to interpret the world in defined ways: it privileges information that is easily measurable, such as GDP, at the expense of unquantifiable information such as human happiness or well-being. As invasive technologies provide ever more granular data about us, this data may in a very real sense come to define the world and intangible information may not maintain its rightful place in human affairs.

Existing inequities will surely be magnified with the introduction of highly effective psycho-pharmaceuticals, genetic modification, super intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, nanotechnology, robotic prosthetics, and the possible development of life expansion. They are all fundamentally inegalitarian, based on a notion of limitlessness rather than a standard level of physical and mental well-being weve come to assume in healthcare. Its not easy to conceive of a way in which these potentialities can be enjoyed by all.

Sociologist Saskia Sassen talks of the new logics of expulsion, that capture the pathologies of todays global capitalism. The expelled include the more than 60,000 migrants who have lost their lives on fatal journeys in the past 20 years, and the victims of the racially skewed profile of the increasing prison population.

In Britain, they include the 30,000 people whose deaths in 2015 were linked to health and social care cuts and the many who perished in the Grenfell Tower fire. Their deaths can be said to have resulted from systematic marginalisation.

Unprecedented acute concentration of wealth happens alongside these expulsions. Advanced economic and technical achievements enable this wealth and the expulsion of surplus groups. At the same time, Sassen writes, they create a kind of nebulous centrelessness as the locus of power:

The oppressed have often risen against their masters. But today the oppressed have mostly been expelled and survive a great distance from their oppressors The oppressor is increasingly a complex system that combines persons, networks, and machines with no obvious centre.

Surplus populations removed from the productive aspects of the social world may rapidly increase in the near future as improvements in AI and robotics potentially result in significant automation unemployment. Large swaths of society may become productively and economically redundant. For historian Yuval Noah Harari the most important question in 21st-century economics may well be: what should we do with all the superfluous people?

We would be left with the scenario of a small elite that has an almost total concentration of wealth with access to the most powerfully transformative technologies in world history and a redundant mass of people, no longer suited to the evolutionary environment in which they find themselves and entirely dependent on the benevolence of that elite. The dehumanising treatment of todays expelled groups shows that prevailing liberal values in developed countries dont always extend to those who dont share the same privilege, race, culture or religion.

In an era of radical technological power, the masses may even represent a significant security threat to the elite, which could be used to justify aggressive and authoritarian actions (perhaps enabled further by a culture of surveillance).

In their transhumanist tract, The Proactionary Imperative, Steve Fuller and Veronika Lipinska argue that we are obliged to pursue techno-scientific progress relentlessly, until we achieve our god-like destiny or infinite power effectively to serve god by becoming god. They unabashedly reveal the incipient violence and destruction such Promethean aims would require: replacing the natural with the artificial is so key to proactionary strategy at least as a serious possibility if not a likelihood [it will lead to] the long-term environmental degradation of the Earth.

The extent of suffering they would be willing to gamble in their cosmic casino is only fully evident when analysing what their project would mean for individual human beings:

A proactionary world would not merely tolerate risk-taking but outright encourage it, as people are provided with legal incentives to speculate with their bio-economic assets. Living riskily would amount to an entrepreneurship of the self [proactionaries] seek large long-term benefits for survivors of a revolutionary regime that would permit many harms along the way.

Progress on overdrive will require sacrifices.

The economic fragility that humans may soon be faced with as a result of automation unemployment would likely prove extremely useful to proactionary goals. In a society where vast swaths of people are reliant on handouts for survival, market forces would determine that less social security means people will risk more for a lower reward, so proactionaries would reinvent the welfare state as a vehicle for fostering securitised risk taking while the proactionary state would operate like a venture capitalist writ large.

At the heart of this is the removal of basic rights for Humanity 1.0, Fullers term for modern, non-augmented human beings, replaced with duties towards the future augmented Humanity 2.0. Hence the very code of our being can and perhaps must be monetised: personal autonomy should be seen as a politically licensed franchise whereby individuals understand their bodies as akin to plots of land in what might be called the genetic commons.

The neo-liberal preoccupation with privatisation would so extend to human beings. Indeed, the lifetime of debt that is the reality for most citizens in developed advanced capitalist nations, takes a further step when you are born into debt simply by being alive you are invested with capital on which a return is expected.

Socially moribund masses may thus be forced to serve the technoscientific super-project of Humanity 2.0, which uses the ideology of market fundamentalism in its quest for perpetual progress and maximum productivity. The only significant difference is that the stated aim of godlike capabilities in Humanity 2.0 is overt, as opposed to the undefined end determined by the infinite progress of an ever more efficient market logic that we have now.

Some transhumanists are beginning to understand that the most serious limitations to what humans can achieve are social and cultural not technical. However, all too often their reframing of politics falls into the same trap as their techno-centric worldview. They commonly argue the new political poles are not left-right but techno-conservative or techno-progressive (and even techno-libertarian and techno-sceptic). Meanwhile Fuller and Lipinska argue that the new political poles will be up and down instead of left and right: those who want to dominate the skies and became all powerful, and those who want to preserve the Earth and its species-rich diversity. It is a false dichotomy. Preservation of the latter is likely to be necessary for any hope of achieving the former.

Transhumanism and advanced capitalism are two processes which value progress and efficiency above everything else. The former as a means to power and the latter as a means to profit. Humans become vessels to serve these values. Transhuman possibilities urgently call for a politics with more clearly delineated and explicit humane values to provide a safer environment in which to foster these profound changes.

Where we stand on questions of social justice and environmental sustainability has never been more important. Technology doesnt allow us to escape these questions it doesnt permit political neutrality. The contrary is true. It determines that our politics have never been important. Savulescu is right when he says radical technologies are coming. He is wrong in thinking they will fix our morality. They will reflect it.

Alexander Thomas, PhD Candidate, University of East London.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

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Transhumanism: Can technology help mankind transcend its natural limitations? - Scroll.in

A Super Computer has predicted exactly where Cardiff City will finish in the Championship this season – WalesOnline

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A Super Computer has predicted the Championship table for the 2017-18 season... and it's not good news as far as Cardiff City are concerned.

The Bluebirds have been heavily active in the summer transfer window, with Neil Warnock signing no fewer than seven players ahead of his side's league opener against Burton at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.

Some bookies have already written off Cardiff's hopes of gaining promotion into the promised land of the Premier League this season while journalists from their 23 Championship rivals also believe the Bluebirds will miss out on a place in the top six .

And TalkSport's Super Computer - which uses a wide range of data to determine the final table - has also predicted the Bluebirds will miss out on promotion, by some distance too.

Their table has Cardiff finishing in 14th place, behind the likes of Wolves, Birmingham and Nottingham Forest, who all finished below the Bluebirds last season.

It has Garry Monk's Middlesbrough down to win the league title, with big-spending Wolves also set to gain automatic promotion into England's top flight.

Aston Villa, Fulham, Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday are the teams the gadget has predicted to make up the play-off places, with Leeds, Brentford, Reading and Hull among those expected to secure top 10 finishes.

It has newly-promoted Millwall down to be relegated along with Nigel Clough's Burton and Cardiff's Severnside rivals Bristol City, who the gadget predicts will finish at the bottom of the pile.

So while we suspect Neil Warnock (and most probably the Cardiff faithful) won't be bothered in the slightest that a computer is tipping them for a bottom half finish, the Yorkshireman will certainly relish proving all of his doubters wrong by enjoying a memorable campaign in the Welsh capital and leading the club into the Premier League next year.

1 - Middlesbrough

2 - Wolves

3 - Aston Villa

4 - Fulham

5 - Norwich

6 - Sheffield Wednesday

7 - Leeds United

8 - Brentford

9 - Reading

10 - Hull

11 - Derby

12 - Nottingham Forest

13 - Birmingham

14 - Cardiff City

15 - Sheffield United

16 - Queens Park Rangers

17 - Sunderland

18 - Preston

19 - Barnsley

20 - Ipswich

21 - Bolton

22 - Millwall

23 - Burton

24 - Bristol City

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YES, they'll be in the top two YES, via the play-offs NO, they'll lose in the play-offs NO, they'll finish outside the top six

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A Super Computer has predicted exactly where Cardiff City will finish in the Championship this season - WalesOnline

Wolves to finish above Aston Villa and Birmingham City – ‘Super Computer’ predicts final Championship table – Birmingham Mail

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Wolverhampton Wanderers will finish above Aston Villa and Birmingham City in the Championship next season, according to a so-called Super Computer.

talkSPORT have simulated the Championship season to predict the outcome of what promises to be an intriguing tussle in English footballs second tier.

And Wolves, who made their 11th signing of the summer yesterday in the form of Brazilian forward Leo Bonatini, have been backed to come out on top.

Wolves are predicted to finish in second spot behind Garry Monks Middlesbrough, who are thought by many to be promotion favourites.

Nuno Espirito Santos men just pipped Steve Bruces Aston Villa, who finished in third spot with Fulham, Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday also in the play-off spots.

Harry Redknapps Birmingham City, who are expected to be the busiest of the West Midlands three second tier clubs in the final month of the transfer window, finished in 13th position.

1 Middlesbrough

2 Wolves

3 Aston Villa

4 Fulham

5 Norwich City

6 Sheffield Wednesday

7 Leeds United

8 Brentford

9 Reading

10 Hull City

11 Derby County

12 Nottingham Forest

13 Birmingham City

14 Cardiff City

15 Sheffield United

16 QPR

17 Sunderland

18 Preston

19 Barnsley

20 Ipswich Town

21 Bolton Wanderers

22 Millwall

23 Burton Albion

24 Bristol City

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Wolves to finish above Aston Villa and Birmingham City - 'Super Computer' predicts final Championship table - Birmingham Mail

Chinese Supercomputer Runs Record-Breaking Simulation of … – TOP500 News

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Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science have run the largest simulation of the universe on TaihuLight, the worlds fastest supercomputer.The record-breaking achievement was described last week in the South China Morning Post, which reported that the supercomputer was able to simulate the early expansion of the universe using 10 trillion virtual particles.

Leading the effort was Gao Liang, chair scientist of the computational cosmology group in the National Astronomical Observatories at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who said that TaihuLight used 10 million processor cores to accomplish the simulation. The 125-petaflop (peak) machine, which is housed at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, is equipped with a total of 10,649,600 cores.

With a Linpack performance mark of 93 petaflops, TaihuLight has been ranked as the fastest supercomputer in the world since June 2016, according to the TOP500 list. The system contains more computational capacity than the next four top-ranked supercomputers on the list, combined.

TaihuLight is powered by the ShenWei SW26010 processor, a 260-core CPU developed in China specifically for HPC work. The fact that the system used this custom chip meant the Gao and his team had to write their own software, rather than relying on existing codes developed for more conventional processors.

According to the Post report, the research was made public on July 26, in an article published in Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of Chinas Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The computational run to perform the simulation was performed in May.

Like most codes used to model the universe, the Chinese version was based on the N-body simulation, which approximates the motion of particles, which are driven principally from gravitational forces. As more particles are simulated, the computation effort intensifies accordingly, which effectively restricts these universe-scale simulations to the very largest supercomputers. As the Post report noted:

It was only possible to simulate over 1,000 particles with the best computers in 1970s. In recent years scientists reached the trillion-particle level on some of the worlds most powerful machines such as the Titan in the US, the K computer in Japan and Tianhe-2 in Guangzhou.

The TaihuLight universe simulation broke the record obtained in June by the 19.6-petaflop Piz Paint supercomputer in Switzerland. The Swiss model used 2 trillion particles, which were used to catalogue about 25 billion galaxies. To accomplish this, the Swiss astrophysicists executed their code for 80 hours.

In the TaihuLight effort, the simulation was maintained for just over one hour. But according to Gao, that was due to the fact that the system had other users waiting to use the machine. During this relatively short run, the simulation had run the model to tens of millions of years after the Big Bang. The current age of the universe is around 1.3 billion years.

This is just a warm-up exercise, said Gao. We still have a long way ahead to get what we want.

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Chinese Supercomputer Runs Record-Breaking Simulation of ... - TOP500 News

Championship 2017/18: Super Computer predicts table ahead of the new season – talkSPORT.com

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The new EFL season is about to get under way and you can hear 110 regular season matches on talkSPORT and talkSPORT2.

READ MORE: talkSPORT becomes the new home of the English Football League

On Friday night, the Championship will kick off live on talkSPORT as Sunderland host Derby County, while over the opening weekend you can also hear Wolverhampton Wanderers v Middlesbrough AND Aston Villa v Hull City on Saturday, and on Sunday you can listen to Bolton v Leeds.

Everyone has their views on who will win the title, promotion to the Premier League, and who will get relegated, but what does talkSPORTs famous Super Computer make of it?

Click the right arrow above to see how we think the Championship 2017/18 table will finish.

Of course, no one knows for sure what the final table will look like, but it is fun to speculate.

talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 have exclusive radio rights to the Sky Bet EFL Championship,League OneandLeague Twofor the next three seasons.

The talkSPORT network will be the only place to hear 110 regular season EFL matches as well as the play-off semi-finals and finals - read more here.

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One of the world’s most powerful computers lands at University of Texas – CultureMap Austin

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The University of Texas at Austin is now home to one of the world's most powerful computers. In late July, Texas Advanced Computing Center unveiled a new supercomputer, dubbed Stampede2, at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus.

Supercomputers are the bodybuilders of the computer world, andStampede2 has the processing power of about 100,000 of desktop computers. It is the most powerful supercomputer at any U.S. university and the 12th most powerful in the world.

"Stampede2 represents a new horizon for academic researchers in the U.S.," says Dan Stanzione, TACC's executive director, in a release. "It will serve as the workhorse for our nation's scientists and engineers, allowing them to improve our competitiveness and ensure that UT Austin remains a leader in computational research for the national open science community."

Thanks to a $30 million award from the National Science Foundation, TACC designed and constructed Stampede2 with help from Dell, Intel, and Seagate. TACC also received an additional $24 million to cover operations costs for the system.

UT will collaborate with other universities Clemson University, Cornell University, Indiana University, The Ohio State University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder to tackle problems they never could have tackled before. Early research computed on Stampede2 includes tumor identification with magnetic resonance imaging at UT, real-time weather forecasting at the University of Oklahoma, and earthquake prediction at the University of California.

Stampede2builds on the technology from its predecessor, Stampede, which was introduced in 2013. Stampede helped researchers study a wide range of topics, from the earth's mantle to gravitational waves in space.

But, as the release put it, "supercomputers live fast and retire young." Stampede was retired in 2017 after a five-year run. Stampede2 is expected to operate until 2021.

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One of the world's most powerful computers lands at University of Texas - CultureMap Austin

AMD reveals PetaFLOP supercomputer in a single rack – Next Big Future

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Yesterday, AMD revealed the Project 47 supercomputer was powered by 20 AMD EPYC 7601 processors and 80 Radeon Instinct GPUs. It is a petaFLOP supercomputer in a rack. Other hardware included 10TB of Samsung memory and 20 Mellanox 100G cards (and 1 switch). Project 47 is capable of 1 PetaFLOP of single-precision compute performance or 2 PetaFLOPS of half-precision.

Project 47 is built around the Inventec P47. The P47 is a 2U parallel computing platform designed for graphics virtualization and machine intelligence applications. A single rack of Inventec P47 systems is all that was necessary to achieve 1 PetaFLOP, and it does so while producing 30 GigaFLOPS/Watt, which AMD claims is 25% more efficient than some other competing supercomputing platforms. A petaFLOP system uses 33,333 watts. A thousand of PetaFLOP racks would use 33.3 MW and have an exaFLOP.

Thanks to its 32-core / 64-thread EPYC processors and Radeon Vega GPUs, which feature 4,096 stream processors each, AMD also claims that Project 47 rack has more cores/threads, compute units, I/O lanes and memory channels in use simultaneously than in any other similarly configured system.

In a little over 10 years, AMD has managed to make a system that consumes 98% less power and takes up 99.93% less space compared to the first PetaFLOP supercomputer (the Roadrunner).

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Seth Meyers’ Breakdown Of Trump’s Spirituality Will Make You Cringe – HuffPost

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Despite President Donald Trumps attempts to pass as a pious Christian, late night host Seth Meyers is not convinced.

In an episode that aired Tuesday night, Meyers unpacked Trumps claims of religiosity and introduced viewers to the presidents spiritual adviser, prosperity gospel preacher Paula White.

The presidents journey with religious has been a winding one. From casually affiliating as a Presbyterianto apparently being born again,Trump has doubled down on his religious image since becoming president.

In May he signed an executive order on religious libertyaimed at giving churches greater leeway to get involved in politics, but which left many evangelicals nonplussed.

Last week, Trump made waveswith a bizarrely timed and strangely zealous tweet and Instagram post, proclaiming: In America we dont worship government, we worship God.

The declaration came the same day Trump tweeted out of the blue about a new policy to ban transgender people from serving in the military, which similarly seemed aimed at his Christian base.

Trumps track record of adultery, divorce, vulgar language and predatory behavior hasnt turned off his conservative Christian base. Nor has his basic lack of understanding of the Christian faith or disregard for the tenets and rituals of the religion he claims as his own.

More than 80 percent of white evangelicals supported the unlikely candidate at the polls last November, and some have even claimed it was the hand of God that made Trump president.

Come Inauguration Day, Trump tapped White to deliver an invocation. The preacher has amassed a huge wealth largely thanks to donations from her followers and was part of a Senate investigation of six televangelistsfrom 2007 to the beginning of 2011. She and Trump have been friends for at least 15 years.

As Meyers summed up: Trumps surrounding himself by people who seem to prioritize wealth over faith, while using his friends to convince others that he himself is a man of deep faith.

For some truly cringe-worthy moments, check out Meyers clip above.

Originally posted here:

Seth Meyers' Breakdown Of Trump's Spirituality Will Make You Cringe - HuffPost

Foodie Chap Visits Dick Grace at ‘Grace Family Vineyard’ – CBS San Francisco Bay Area

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ST. HELENA (CBS SF) Dick Graces personal values and commitments have shaped not only his own life, but those of countless others worldwide. We met in recent years working with Family House a non profit near and dear to both myself and Dick and Anne Grace.

First as a United States Marine Corps Officer, and then as a senior Vice President for Smith Barney, Dick spent over thirty years cultivating his professional and financial success. According to Dick however, the real story of his success began when he turned his focus outward and embarked on a path of compassionate action.

In the mid 1970s, Dick and his wife Ann started a small winery in the Napa Valley of California. Although the family began their venture with virtually no experience in wine making, The Insiders Wine Line says, the Cabernet Sauvignons that have evolved from the original one-acre vineyard on the property have now become legend, bringing at charity auctions more money than any other wine made in America.

And it is charity that is at the heart of Graces personal transformation and the mission of the Grace Family Vineyards. Known as much for its mission statement, Wine as a catalyst towards healing our planet, as for its prized wine, Grace Family Vineyards raises over a million dollars annually for charitable causes. Among those who have benefited from the profits of the vineyard are organizations caring for children with cancer, pediatric AIDS organizations, services for abused women, and organizations serving the children of Tibet, the country Grace feels is his spiritual home. Most recently, the Graces have been involved in relief work directed towards Nepal where the devastating earthquake has altered the lives of millions of people. They have brought both aide and comfort to millions of Nepalese.

Grace is emphatic about his belief that donating money is only one third of the charitable equation. As he explains, the other two thirds include personal involvement and personal commitment to raising others awareness of the need to act compassionately.

Therefore, Grace volunteers at Mother Theresas hospitals in Kathmandu, at the homes of disabled persons, at childrens camps, and for a variety of other organizations alleviating the suffering of children and adults who are physically, emotionally, or financially disenfranchised. He also financially and personally supports a number of Buddhist causes including the Tibetan refugees in Katmandu, Nepal and Dharamsala, India, the monks at Shechen Monastery, and many Tibetans seeking both higher education and the opportunity to become productive world citizens.

Grace also commits a significant portion of his time and resources to raising awareness about the need to act compassionately. Grace uses every tour of his winery, every speaking engagement, and every possible personal encounter to share his stories and remind people that active participation in the lives of people in need can be more spiritually rewarding than inward-focused religious or meditative practice. Although his own spiritual path is centered in Buddhism, Grace focuses his practice on the universal importance of caring and compassionate action that unites all religions and spiritual teachings. We met at Grace Family Vineyard in St.Helena recently for our Foodie Chap chat. I discoverered a man who with his wife Anne walks the walk and is as proud (perhaps moreso) of his philanthropic accomplishments as he is of his wines. Dick and Anne Grace are a wine country couple on a mission one to do good and they are far from done.

Enjoy an intimate conversation about philanthropy, spirituality and wine with a very special chap Dick Grace.

Cheers, Liam!

(credit: Foodie Chap/Liam Mayclem)

The 2014 vintage is hallmarked by purity, freshness, and silkiness. The dry, warm winter led to an early season with a lighter set, slightly thinner skins, and moderate growing season. This resulted in a wine with incredible vibrancy, drive, complexity, and precision, while still having tannins sufficient for extended cellaring. The 2014 Grace has a beautiful nose of black currant, forest floor, clove, juniper, rose oil, and just a hint of bay leaf. There is incredible purity and drive in the mouth, with flavors of early blackberry, pipe tobacco, black licorice, and cedar framed by fresh acidity, silky tannins, and structure to age long term. -Helen Keplinger Winemaker

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E-mail Liam Mayclem Emmy Award winning radio & TV personality Liam Mayclem is best known as the host of EYE ON THE BAY on KPIX 5 and as The Foodie Chap celebrating our home grown culinary stars(daily on KCBS).He will soon be seen on the...

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Foodie Chap Visits Dick Grace at 'Grace Family Vineyard' - CBS San Francisco Bay Area

Camden Diocese Charismatic Conference – CatholicPhilly.com

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Posted August 2, 2017

Event Name

Camden Diocese Charismatic Conference

Event Location

Wildwood Convention Center, WIldwood, New Jersey

Start Date and Time:

October 6, 2017 at 5 PM

End Date and Time

October 8, 2017 at 3 PM

Event Description

Come to Wildwood New Jersey for the 29th Annual Camden Diocese Charismatic Conference to be held October 6th through the 8th at the Wildwood Convention Center on the Boardwalk.

The Camden Diocese Charismatic Conference is an awesome weekend of spiritual enlightenment and all our tracks are age appropriate for Adults, High School and Junior Youth.

The theme for this year will be When Elizabeth heard Marys greeting, the infant leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:41.

We will also be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Fatima and the 50th Anniversary of the Charismatic Renewal.

Our Master of Ceremonies will be Father Rene Canales and our guest speakers will be, Father Jim Blount, Father Yvans Jazon and Kathleen McCarthy, with Music by Tommy Doyle.

Come enjoy a weekend filled with prayer, praise, worship, Mass, adoration, the rosary, confession, healing & deliverance through the Graces of God in the Holy Spirit.

Doors open Friday Evening at 5 p.m. and finishes on Sunday afternoon with the completion of the Celebration of Sunday Mass to begin at Noon, Free Admission on Sunday for the Noon Mass.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.camdencharismatic.org.

or call 609-652-7729 or email support@camdencharismatic.org

PREVIOUS: Creighton Model Fertility Care System and NaPro Technology

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Camden Diocese Charismatic Conference - CatholicPhilly.com

Check out these incredible photos from the ISS of Earth’s strongest storm in 2017 – Washington Post

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A monster typhoon has been swirling in the Northwest Pacific Ocean for over a week. On Sunday, it became the strongest storm on Earth so far this year, with 160-mph winds.

It seems inevitable, given the projections, that this storm will track over Japans southern prefectures of Okinawa and Kagoshima as a very strong typhoon. On Wednesday morning, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted it would be near northern Okinawa on Saturday evening, Eastern Time, as the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.

Japan has already endured several spates of extreme weather this summer, the AP reports, with heavy rains triggering deadly landslides on Kyushu in June that killed 37 people and left six missing. Torrential rains in northern Japan flooded parts of northern Honshu island in late July.

Astronauts on the International Space Station fly over the Pacific Ocean several times per week. Every summer, they have the opportunity to see incredible storms like Typhoon Noru.

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Check out these incredible photos from the ISS of Earth's strongest storm in 2017 - Washington Post

First African-American woman set to live long-term at International Space Station – New York Daily News

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First African-American woman set to live long-term at International Space Station - New York Daily News

See the International Space Station, Moon and Saturn in the UK sky … – Astronomy Now Online

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Soon after the onset of nautical dusk on 2August, observers in the British Isles can see not only the 10-day-old waxing gibbous Moon within a low-power binocular field of the ringed planet, but the International Space Station makes a flypast too! Outshining the brightest stars, the ISS rises low in the west soon after 11:16pm. It passes a span of an outstretched hand at arms length above Saturn low in the south-southwest a few seconds before 11:20pm for skywatchers in the heart of the UK but dont leave it too long as the spacecraft fades from view into the Earths shadow around 11:20:30pm (all times British Summer Time). AN graphic by Ade Ashford.

If you see a bright star slowly crawling across the sky in an arc from west to east, an object that doesnt flash or possess red and green running lights like an aircraft, then you can be sure that youve spotted the International Space Station (ISS). The 400-tonne orbiting laboratory is so large 73 109 x 20 metres that it can be viewed with the unaided eye from the heart of the most light-polluted town or city. Fortunately, its current orbit carries it over the British Isles and Western Europe for the next few nights.

As an added bonus, the ISS passes close above an attractive conjunction of the 10-day-old Moon and Saturn late into the evening of Wednesday, 2August 2017 for observers in the British Isles. On this night the ringed planet and waxing gibbous Moon lie just 5degrees apart, so the pair will fit in the same field of view of a low-magnification binocular. As seen from the heart of the UK, the International Space Station passes just 18degrees the span of an outstretched hand at arms length above Saturn and the Moon a few seconds before 11:20pmBST.

If you have a clear quadrant of sky from the south to the west, look low in the western sky of the British Isles at 11:17pm for the spacecrafts ascent but be vigilant as the International Space Station is only in sunlight for a further 3minutes before fading into the Earths shadow in the south close to 11:20pm+30sec. BST.

Using Astronomy Nows Almanac to make ISS viewing predictions Many of you may have used our online Almanac to obtain information about lunar phases, or the rising and setting of the Sun, Moon and planets for wherever you may live, but the Almanac can also tell you when and where to see the International Space Station.

In the Almanac, select the closest city to your location from the Country and City pull-down menus before ensuring that the box beside AddISSpasses? has a tick in it and just as importantly the DaylightSavingsTime? box, if applicable to your time and location. The table underneath the months Moon phase data then shows current nighttime passes of the International Space Station over your chosen location during the next five days, if any.

For the given Date in year/month/day format, LocalTime is the instant the ISS first becomes visible and Duration indicates the length of the sighting in minutes. At the given LocalTime, look in the direction indicated by Approach and, weather permitting, you should see the ISS as a slowly moving, bright star. Max.elevation is how high the Station will get above your horizon (90 is overhead, while 20 is about the span of an outstretched hand at arms length) and Departure indicates where the ISS will be when it vanishes from sight. Sometimes an appearance or disappearance occurs well up in the sky when the Station emerges into sunlight or slips into the Earths shadow, respectively.

Here is an example from last year computed for the centre of the UK:In the example above, as seen from the heart of the BritishIsles on the evening of Tuesday, 2August 2016, the ISS first appeared 16 (a span and a half of a fist at arms length) above the west-southwest (WSW) horizon at 10:09pmBST in a viewing window lasting five minutes. It attained a peak altitude of 50 above the south-southwest (SSW) horizon before sinking down to 15 above the eastern (E) horizon at 10:14pmBST. One orbit later, the ISS rose again at 11:46pmBST.

Note: the actual times of events in the future will change as the orbit of the ISS varies over time; Almanac predictions made on the day are more accurate.

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See the International Space Station, Moon and Saturn in the UK sky ... - Astronomy Now Online

Our Spaceflight Heritage: 40 years after launch, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft continue to return valuable data – SpaceFlight Insider

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Curt Godwin

August 3rd, 2017

An artists concept depicting one of the twin Voyager spacecraft. Humanitys farthest and longest-lived spacecraft are celebrating 40 years in August and September 2017. Image & Caption Credit: NASA

Well past their expected lifetime, and farther from Earth than any other human-designed spacecraft, the Voyager robotic explorers are approaching another significant milestone: 40 years of operation. The two interplanetary travelers, each launched in 1977, have traveled billion of miles and expanded humanitys understanding of the Solar System and beyond.

Voyager 1 launches aboard a Titan IIIE on Sept. 5, 1977. (Click to enlarge) Photo Credit: NASA

Beginning in the 1960s, scientists realized that a coincidental alignment of the outer planets would allow a visit by a single spacecraft. Utilizing a gravitational assist by each, the spacecraft would be able to alter its trajectory and speed to allow the encounters with very little expenditure of fuel.

This plan, coined the Grand Tour, was initially to be a single spacecraft with multiple, redundant systems designed to survive the journey. High costs, however, induced a change to the program resulting in the twin Voyager spacecraft each with a primary mission to Jupiter and Saturn, with an extended mission to the remaining outer planets on the table should funding and conditions allow.

Though christened the first of the line, Voyager 1 was actually the second of the pair to launch. Lifting off from Launch Complex 41 (LC-41) atop a Titan IIIErocket on September 5, 1977, the spacecraft was set on a course to visit the two largest planets in the Solar System: Jupiter and Saturn.

Reaching the Jovian system 18 months later, Voyager 1 provided data leading to many monumental discoveries.

One of the most surprising findings was the presence of active volcanoes on Jupiters moon Io. These features the first of their kind found anywhere beyond Earth were unexpected and were determined to be the primary source of material interacting with Jupiters strong magnetic field.

After collecting scientific and photographic data on other moons in the Jovian system, Voyager 1 continued on its journey to Saturn, a destination nearly 20 months and 401 million miles (646 million kilometers) distant.

Adding to the observations already collected by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 made its fair share of discoveries at the Ringed Planet. Unexpectedly, Saturn was found to have a significantly different concentration of helium in its upper atmosphere as compared to Jupiter. This discrepancy may be attributed to the helium molecules sinking through the lighter hydrogen and collecting deeper in the planet.

Beyond the planet itself, a primary target in the Saturnian system was the moon Titan. Long known to harbor a thick atmosphere, the moon was such a vital target that mission planners opted to plot a trajectory to allow for the best observations of Titan rather than travel a path that would have taken it to Pluto in 1986.

An image of Voyager showing the location of the Golden Record. Image Credit: NASA

Voyager 2 launches aboard a Titan IIIE on Aug. 20, 1977. Photo Credit: NASA

Voyager 2, though second in number, was launched 16 days before its speedier sibling. Perched atop a Titan IIIE, the interplanetary spacecraft lifted off from LC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 20, 1977.

Like its counterpart, Voyager 2s early targets included Jupiter and Saturn. However, unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2s trajectory allowed for some flexibility the spacecraft could be repositioned to make further observations of Titan, or it could be adjusted to also visit the outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune.

At Jupiter, Voyager 2 witnessed the same volcanic activity on Io, as well as discovered a few, faint rings around the gas giant. Data collected at Europa lead scientists to believe the ice-encrusted moon holds a deep below the surface, and several new moons were discovered before the spacecraft sped out of the system on its way to Saturn.

Upon reaching the second-largest planet in the Solar System more than two years later, Voyager 2 confirmed many of Voyager 1s discoveries, in addition to collecting atmospheric and temperature data.

With its primary mission complete, Voyager 2 was given the go-ahead to begin its extended mission by visiting Uranus and Neptune.

The spacecraft became the first man-made object to visit Uranus (January 1986) and Neptune (August 1989), providing scientists with their first-ever close observations of the two planets, and earning the record of being the first spacecraft to fly by four different planets.

The 64-meter-wide antenna dish in Goldstone, Calif. was expanded to 70 meters in the 1970s. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In order for NASA to communicate with the two Voyager spacecraft, the space agency had to expand its Deep Space Network (DSN) of radio communication antennas.

One legacy of those antennas used for the Voyager mission is still visible in the Mojave Desert, California: NASAs Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex.

At Goldstone, in the 1970s, construction crews began building new dishes and expanding old ones to enable NASA to communicate with the two probes as they traveled farther out into deep space. These dishes now dominate the landscape; the largest of them is 230 feet (70 meters) in diameter a true colossus, which was expanded from its original 210-foot (64-meter) width.

The smaller dishes at the complex are 112 feet (34 meters) in diameter, which were also increased in size from their original 85-foot (26-meter) diameters.

Expansions of antenna dishes were also carried out at NASAs other DSN sites around the world, located in Madrid (Spain) and Canberra (Australia). The Voyager program helped to accelerate these upgrades to the network.

In a sense, Voyager and the DSN grew up together, said Suzanne Dodd of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), director of the Interplanetary Network Directorate and Voyagers project manager since 2010. The mission was a proving ground for new technology, both in deep space as well as on Earth.

By the late 1970s, NASA began to explore the concept of antenna arrays by combining the signals from multiple dishes pointed toward the Voyager probes, thereby giving them the equivalent sensitivity of one giant antenna.

With their primary missions complete, and their planetary targets investigated, the two spacecraft began their journey into interstellar space.

Indeed, Voyager 1 now more than 13 billion miles (20.92 billion kilometers) from Earth and on a northbound trajectory out of the Solar System was the first of the pair to reach interstellar space, generally accepted to have occurred on August 25, 2012.

Voyager 2, traveling slightly slower than its partner, is on a southbound exit, but it will probably not reach interstellar space until late 2019 or early 2020.

Though the spacecraft have exceeded expectations, their power supply continues to drain and will no longer be able to provide electricity to the explorers scientific instruments by the mid-2020s. Moreover, the computers and systems designed to support operations rely on an increasingly rare skill: the ability to work with 1970s-era hardware.

The technology is many generations old, and it takes someone with 1970s design experience to understand how the spacecraft operate and what updates can be made to permit them to continue operating today and into the future, stated Suzanne Dodd in a release issued by NASA.

Nevertheless, the two groundbreaking spacecraft have provided invaluable information to scientists.

I believe that few missions can ever match the achievements of the Voyager spacecraft during their four decades of exploration, noted Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate at NASA, in the release. They have educated us to the unknown wonders of the universe and truly inspired humanity to continue to explore our solar system and beyond.

This montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2 was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the two Voyager spacecraft. Image & Caption Credit: NASA/JPL

Video courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Tagged: Heritage Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lead Stories NASA Voyager

Curt Godwin has been a fan of space exploration for as long as he can remember, keeping his eyes to the skies from an early age. Initially majoring in Nuclear Engineering, Curt later decided that computers would be a more interesting - and safer - career field. He's worked in education technology for more than 20 years, and has been published in industry and peer journals, and is a respected authority on wireless network engineering. Throughout this period of his life, he maintained his love for all things space and has written about his experiences at a variety of NASA events, both on his personal blog and as a freelance media representative.

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Our Spaceflight Heritage: 40 years after launch, NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft continue to return valuable data - SpaceFlight Insider

Stellar radiation may preclude Earth-like atmosphere on Proxima b – SpaceFlight Insider

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Laurel Kornfeld

August 3rd, 2017

This artists impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image. Proxima b is a little more massive than the Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Image & Caption Credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser

The exoplanet closest to the Solar System, Proxima b, is located in its stars habitable zone but may be unable to support life because radiation from its host star is likely to strip away its atmosphere, according to a new study based on a computer simulation.

A group of scientists led by Katherine Garcia-Sage of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, created a computer model that placed Earths atmosphere, magnetic field, and gravity at the location of Proxima b.Using data obtained by NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory, they determined the level of radiation emitted by the host star, Proxima Centauri.Their goal was to determine the fate of Earth if it orbited in Proxima bs location.

At its orbit, the exoplanet Proxima b likely couldnt sustain an Earth-like atmosphere. Credits: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith

The nature of the real Proxima bs atmosphere is unknown because scientists have not observed the planet passing in front of its star. Observation of transits is the method researchers use to learn about planets atmospheres.

We decided to take the only habitable planet we know of so far Earth and put it where Proxima b is, Garcia-Sage said.

A stars habitable zone is defined as the distance an orbiting planet can have liquid water on its surface. But being in a habitable zone does not guarantee a planet is habitable.

To be habitable for life as we know it, a planet must have an atmosphere one that regulates climate, maintains a surface pressure capable of supporting liquid water, enables the presence of lifes chemical building blocks, and protects it from dangerous radiation and space weather.

Significantly closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun, Proxima b is subject to the stars regular flares and intense radiation hundreds of times the amount Earth receives from the Sun. In the computer model, that radiation stripped away the planets atmosphere at a rate up to 10,000 times greater than solar radiation does to Earth.

Red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1, another star with planets in its habitable zone, emit extreme ultraviolet radiation, which ionizes gases in the atmosphere of an orbiting planet. The process removes electrons from its atmosphere, creating a stream of electrically-charged particles that are energetic enough to completely escape the planets gravity.

The high level of radiation that planets such as Proxima b are exposed to is enough to strip away heavier elements in an atmosphere, such as nitrogen and oxygen, in addition to hydrogen.

This was a simple calculation based on average activity from the host star, Garcia-Sage said. It doesnt consider variations like extreme heating in the stars atmosphere or violent stellar disturbances to the exoplanets magnetic field things wed expect provide even more ionizing radiation and atmospheric escape.

Two other factors that could affect the rate of atmospheric loss were also inputted into the computer model. These are the temperature of the planets neutral atmosphere, also known as its thermosphere, as well as the size of the area on the planet that experiences atmospheric escape.

Stellar radiation was found to heat up the thermosphere, increasing the rate of atmospheric loss.Areas on a planet over which atmosphere is lost are known as polar caps.The level of atmospheric escape is affected by a planets magnetic field lines. If the magnetic field lines at a planets magnetic poles are closed, the size of the polar cap is limited, and charged particles remain trapped, reducing the escape level.In contrast, if magnetic field lines are open, the escape rate of charged particles increases.

If Proxima bs thermosphere has very high temperatures and its magnetic field must remain open, it could lose an atmosphere equivalent to Earths in just 100 million years. Low thermosphere temperatures and a closed magnetic field extend the duration it would take to lose an Earth atmosphere to slightly more than two billion years.

Proxima b is estimated to be approximately four billion years old.

Jeremy Drake of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who took part in the study, said the level of atmospheric loss on Proxima b makes its habitability implausible and calls into question the habitability of Earth-like planets orbiting other red dwarf stars.These cool stars, the most common in the galaxy, have topped scientists searches for habitable worlds.

NASAs Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) coalition, which is charged with searching for life on exoplanets, and NASAs Astrobiology Institute contributed to the study. Those findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Tagged: Alpha Centauri Chandra X-ray Observatory Proxima b Proxima Centauri The Range

Laurel Kornfeld is an amateur astronomer and freelance writer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program. Her writings have been published online in The Atlantic, Astronomy magazines guest blog section, the UK Space Conference, the 2009 IAU General Assembly newspaper, The Space Reporter, and newsletters of various astronomy clubs. She is a member of the Cranford, NJ-based Amateur Astronomers, Inc. Especially interested in the outer solar system, Laurel gave a brief presentation at the 2008 Great Planet Debate held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD.

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Stellar radiation may preclude Earth-like atmosphere on Proxima b - SpaceFlight Insider

Insider Fact Check: Is NASA hiring someone to protect Earth from aliens? – SpaceFlight Insider

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Jason Rhian

August 2nd, 2017

A recent rash of stories would have you believe that NASA is in need of someone who can defend the Earth from Alien attack. How accurate are these stories and what is the truth behind NASAs Office of Planetary Protection? Image Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

It never fails. Let the news cycle get a little slow and someone decides to get creative with the facts. Such was the case Wednesday, Aug. 1 on, when supposedly credible and professional sites such as USA Today and Newsweek dropped the ball and resorted to good ole fashioned clickbait-ing. It was a sign of the times that highlighted the current state of journalism in the U.S.

According to USA Today, NASA is hiring a Planetary Protection Officer to Protect Earth from Alien Harm (note to USA Todays editors, get a Thesaurus you should always use synonyms instead of the using the same word over and over again). Of course, as soon as one clicks the link they are hit up by a tsunami of ads.

Newsweek apparently opted to up the ridiculous ante by having a disco-themed score added to their video that leads their story on the subject (once you get past the advertising that is). Their article is likely to make Woodward and Bernstein blush with jealousy (or, more likely, embarrassment for what this story says about the current plight of their profession). One NASA official made his thoughts about the rash of articles that are spreading misinformation about the position plain.

Depictions showing aliens attacking Earth have nothing to do with NASAs Office of Planetary Protections, making their use 100 percent false. With their use, the decline that journalistic ethics has been on continues to erode. Image Credit: Nathan Moeller / SpaceFlight Insider

While Im far from hopping on a fake news bandwagon, I am growing tried of legitimate media trivializing stories, such as the most recent NASA wants to pay someone $180k to protect us from aliens, NASAs Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications Bob Jacobs said via a Facebook post. Seriously, are we devolving into little more than clickbait media environment without any attention to fact?

So what are the facts and is NASA actually looking for its own version of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to defend us from aliens? In a word no. According to the official post on USA Jobs, the Planetary Protection Officers duties include the following:

The Planetary Protection Officer (PPO) is responsible for the leadership of NASAs planetary protection capability, maintenance of planetary protection policies, and oversight of their implementation by NASAs space flight missions. The PPO also supports the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Technical Authority and serves as a principal advisory resource for the Chief, SMA and other senior officials on matters pertaining to planetary protection. The PPO is the Agencys focal point for interactions with external organizations on matters related to planetary protection. Primarily the Planetary Protection Officer performs the following:

Leads planning and coordination of activities related to NASA mission planetary protection needs.Leads independent evaluation of, and provides advice regarding, compliance by robotic and human spaceflight missions with NASA planetary protection policies, statutory requirements and international obligations.

Advises the Chief, SMA and other officials regarding the merit and implications of programmatic decisions involving risks to planetary protection objectives.In coordination with relevant offices, leads interactions with COSPAR, National Academies, and advisory committees on planetary protection matters.Recommends and leads the preparation of new or revised NASA standards and directives in accordance with established processes and guidelines.

In essence, the job makes sure that any potential contamination that comes in from the probes NASA sends out into the solar system does not come back with extraterrestrial biological contamination. So, think lessIndependence Day and moreAndromeda Strain.

In terms of what the office does, their duty is to ensure that unknown and potentially hazardous organisms dont find their way back to Earth. The office also works to preserve life that has evolved on distant worlds or in the oceans of moons in our own solar system. Spacecraft such as Galileo, that orbited the gas giant Jupiter and Cassini (which has been in operation around the ringed planet Saturn Since July of 2004) have and will end by taking plunges into the clouds of these massive worlds (Galileo was safely deorbited in 2003).

Are you musing at this point that our response to the reporting that has appeared on this subject is too harsh? Business Insider used art from the 1996 Twentieth Century Fox film Independence Day to promote this article, you know, giant spaceship, over New York, shooting a death ray (no were not joking). How one can tie a job posting about a science position where one considers biological contamination issues to a ginormous alien death machine destroying New York defies all definitions of honesty.

What makes the so-called reporting on this matter all the more disappointing is the fact that it isnt even a new position. It has been around for at least a decade, with people actually handling the responsibilities of the position for much longer.

While Jacobs might not have much time for bloggers pretending to be journalists, he had some salient points about NASAs Office of Planetary Protection.

Consider how many people have the technical and scientific credentials to execute the job.By the way, if you know of anyone qualified, encourage them to apply. Lets leave the alien hunting to someone on the SyFy channel, Jacobs told SpaceFlight Insider, denoting why the position pays so well.

The mainstream media no longer has qualms about hunting down a teenage blogger for making a funny meme that mocked them, nor do they see anything wrong about posting pictures of the Greys working out at Area 51 in regards to a story about the prevention of possible biological contamination. Perhaps the reporting originated from the same place where those Greys tend to use their probes. While the over-sensationalizing of this mundane job listing might achieve the short term goal of gaining them a few more clicks it also means the continued degradation of how the public views the media.

Video courtesy of NASA

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not, necessarily reflect those of SpaceFlight Insider

Tagged: Cassini Galileo NASA Office of Planetary Protection Newsweek The Range USA Today

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.

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Insider Fact Check: Is NASA hiring someone to protect Earth from aliens? - SpaceFlight Insider

Eastern Range ready to return with two key launches after stand down – NASASpaceflight.com

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August 2, 2017 by Chris Gebhardt

With a busy year already in the books, the Eastern and Western Ranges in the United States are readying for the next salvo of missions from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance following a stand down of launch operations to provide time for maintenance. Specifically for the Eastern Range, the stand down period allowed the Air Force to complete more than 70 operations that will enable the Range to maintain its commitment and support to its users.

Eastern Range maintenance and stand down:

While not usually visible to the public, this years first semi-annual multi-day stand down period on the Eastern Range became a much more noticeable affair thanks to SpaceXs rapid fire pace of missions which from 1 May through 5 July averaged an impressive one launch every two weeks off of LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

With this rapid pace of missions, the last month has been a newly strange time on the Eastern Range with a total launch drought of 39 days (assuming a 13 August launch of SpaceXs CRS-12 mission to the Space Station) seeming like a time of nothings happening.

Indeed, that could not be further from the truth.

While part of the launch drought is due to pacing and mission order, with United Launch Alliances (ULAs) and NASAs TDRS-M mission delaying from 3 Aug, the stand down period known as recapitalization was initiated by the U.S. Air Force and the Eastern Range itself so that critical maintenance work could be performed on Range assets.

Eastern Range recapitalization is used as a predictable pause in operations for range users and the range itself so we can perform semi-annual maintenance requirements encompassing critical engineering projects, more intrusive maintenance actions and infrastructure work, said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing Commander.

During recapitalization, we can perform maintenance and sustainment actions not possible during our busy launch schedule that includes not only launches, but daily pre-launch major milestone operations.

The planning process is collaborative in nature and includes all range users in determining the dates for range closure.

This collaborative nature became a prime talking point for those eagerly following the Intelsat 35e launch by SpaceX in July.

An initial launch attempt on 2 July was halted by a faulty ground computer at T-9 seconds pushing the next attempt to 3 July.

When that attempt was stopped by the same ground computer at T-9 seconds again, SpaceX opted to forgo a launch attempt on 4 July in favor of additional testing of the ground computer to ensure the issue didnt repeat a third time.

This caused some to wonder when the hard cutoff for Range down time was and how far into July SpaceX could continue to attempt to launch Intelsat 35e.

In the end, the 5 July attempt was a success, and according to Brig. Gen. Monteith, the range down period began the very next day.

The first Eastern Range recapitalization period of 2017 was conducted July 6-18. More than 70 planned tasks were accomplished 26% quicker as opposed to working these items around an active range, noted the Brig. Gen.

Of the work performed in the 12-day stand down period of recapitalization, some of these efforts included work to the Range Communications Facility Corridor Military Construction and replacing the uninterruptable power supply at the Falcon launch support facility.

Moreover, the Digital Range Communications Switch enhancement projects and server re-host for the 45th weather squadron were also completed.

This period also allowed us to focus on maintaining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station infrastructure as well as training and testing our crews so we can continue keeping pace with our high launch ops tempo, notes Brig. Gen. Monteith.

This work is not only necessary to the continued smooth operation of the Range, but also represents a concerted effort to avoid unanticipated issues and outages at the Range.

Range recap has proven successful in our ability to plan longer periodic, more intrusive, maintenance and sustainment projects on a stable schedule.

Not only does range recap allow us to take care of our mission critical assets, but it supports Air Force Space Commands commitment to sustaining the worlds premier spaceport of choice as our team drives to executing 48 launches a year.

The semi-annual maintenance ability to maintain Range readiness was seen last year with 2016 being the healthiest in range history at Cape Canaveral with 34 consecutive days of no significant instrumentation issues.

Launch schedule shuffle:

While the down period prevented SpaceX from launching missions, it did not stop them from getting some needed work accomplished at LC-39A mainly fixing the ground computer that twice stopped the Intelsat 35e countdown and removing a significant portion of the no-longer-needed Shuttle eras RSS while prepping for their first mission following the Range closure.

The CRS-12 flight, now scheduled to launch from LC-39A at 12:57 EDT on Sunday 13 August, will serve to end the 39 day launch drought in the U.S.

In fact, SpaceX has advanced the CRS-12 launch date from 14 August and in turn has also advanced the static fire date from 9 to 8 August.

The original mission that was to have been the first off the ground from the Range stand down was another NASA mission, TDRS-M. Up until last week, that was still the case, with TDRS-M originally maintaining its status as being more important in terms of launch order over CRS-12.However, when it became known that the replace and repair option for TDRS-Ms omni S-band antenna would take 10 days longer than originally expected, with a launch not possible until at least 20 August, priority in the launch order shifted to CRS-12 which at that point was targeting 14 August for launch.

With CRS-12 now at the top of the pecking order, SpaceX and NASA reviewed their schedules and determined it was possible to pull the mission one day back to the right to the 13th.

Likewise, as TDRS-M repairs progressed, NASA realized that the craft would actually be ready by 18 August, not the 20th. However, the TDRS-M date remains Under Review.

With CRS-12 now set for 13 August and TDRS-M for 18 August, the knock on effect to the launch manifest began to bear out on both coasts.

The first major shift occurred on the Western Range, with ULA having to move the 14 August scheduled launch of the NROL-42 mission by nearly a month to 11 September.

The shift of NROL-42s launch on an Atlas V 541 from SLC-3E did not impact SpaceXs plan for the Formosat 5 satellite launch for Taiwans National Space Organization which held steady on its planned 24 August launch date.

Back on the Eastern Range, the realignments of CRS-12 and TDRS-M did not have an effect on the Minotaur 4 launch on 25/26 August with the U.S. militarys Operationally Responsive Space program 5 mission, also called SensorSat.

However, the first flight of the Air Forces X-37B spaceplane aboard the Falcon 9 did move from its 28 August target to 7 September with processing notes acquired by L2 noting that the timeline to a 7 September launch is tight and had nothing to do with CRS-12s slip.

However, exactly which pad OTV-5 will now launch from is unknown.

Recent statements by Elon Musk of a planned November debut for SpaceXs heralded Falcon Heavy rocket point to SLC-40 being on track for an August completion making a 7 September OTV-5 mission a contender for first flight from SLC-40 after the AMOS-6 static fire conflagration.

Regardless of the pad OTV-5 uses, ULA is now expected to return on 25 September for the NROL-52 launch from the Cape, delayed in the wake of TDRS-M from 31 August.

This will then be followed two days later by SpaceXs SES-11/EchoStar 105 mission on 27 September.

(Images: SpaceX, Air Force, NASA, and Chris Gebhardt andBrady Kennisonfor NASASpaceFlight.com)

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Eastern Range ready to return with two key launches after stand down - NASASpaceflight.com

Shakira Is Now A Redhead: See the Photo – Us Weekly

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Shakira John Parra/Getty

Shakira has joined the redhead club. The singer took to Instagram on Saturday, July 29, to show off a new hue from the set of the video shoot for her song Perro Fiel.

The Hips Dont Lie singer, 40, captioned one picture she regrammed from singer Nicky Jam, Redheads have more fun. She also topped her locks off with a black hat for the shot but went hat-free for a second pic.

The question: Is this her real hair or a wig? The former Voice coach has been known to sport a faux-topper for a quick change as she did with a purple piece in February.

But shes also known to play around with her hair color as well. In fact, the blonde shade shes known for is lightened considerably from her natural brunette tone!

The song is the latest from her new album El Dorado released in May of this year, her first in three years. In between she's been keeping busy the mom of two (with long-time partner Gerard Pique) devotes much of her time to humanitarian causes and organizations, including her own Fundacion Pies Descalzos. But now that she has new songs to promote and perform, we can expect to see a lot more of her and lots of style changes along the way!

Tell Us: What do you think of Shakira's new color?

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Shakira Is Now A Redhead: See the Photo - Us Weekly

This attraction is offering FREE entry on World Orangutan Day – if you’re a redhead – Birmingham Mail

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Twycross Zoo is offering FREE entry to people for World Orangutan Day - if they have ginger hair.

This is the third year the zoo has run the promotion.

But there are conditions.

The zoo said: "It's free for redheads - this is hair on top of your head. Natural red hair, dyed red hair or red wigs. NOT red beards or other red facial hair."

Anyone who doesn't comply with the conditions of the offer pays regular zoo admission at the gate, or can save 5 per cent on that by booking online.

The zoo is open 10am to 6pm.

A zoo spokesman said: "World Orangutan Day is celebrated internationally and aims to highlight the beauty of the these amazing animals and the dangers currently facing them in the wild - mainly from habitat destruction.

"Come and see our TWO new orangutan babies - and learn about why these new babies so important in terms of conserving the species and how Twycross Zoo is working at the forefront of ape conservation.

"Also - find out more about how can you help. Whilst the red hair offer and the day is fun for all, please remember this event, and similar that are organised all over the world, are deigned to help encourage the you to take action in preserving this amazing species."

Twycross Zoo is at Burton Road, Atherstone, CV9 3PX.

World Orangutan Day is on Saturday, August 19.

Standard admission is: Adults 16.80, children (aged 3 to 16) 12.40, concessions 14.68.

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This attraction is offering FREE entry on World Orangutan Day - if you're a redhead - Birmingham Mail