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Train your brain at Ky learning centre – Shepparton News

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

WHEN we think of working out at the gym, we dont normally think of working out our brains.

But thats just what Kyabram Community and Learning Centre (KCLC) are passionate about.

Described as a brain gym and fitness program, NeurOptimal is a brain-training neurotechnology currently on offer at KCLC.

So what does that mean?

Essentially, the program reorganises your brain, enabling it to function at its best.

It helps you think more clearly, boosts quality of sleep and improves thought processes, KCLC chief executive Jen Savage said.

Weve had people report that they feel calmer, less worried and more focused and positive.

Were the only centre we know of offering NeurOptimal in the region.

For those hesitant to try out the new technology, Ms Savage encourages them to give it a crack.

You dont know if you dont try, she said.

Sessions are $35 each or $25 concession.

For more information, call KCLC on 5852 0000.

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Train your brain at Ky learning centre - Shepparton News

While some airlines and restaurants cater to kids, what’s a parent to do when others don’t? – National Post

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

By Sabrina Maddeaux

Its the finest place in Paris to treat yourself to a $1,000 dinner. Swathed in gold and softened with a showering of crimson blooms, a sizeable chunk of the Four Seasons Htel George Vs $1 million-a-year flower budget scents a restaurant so opulent it would please Louis XIV. Le Cinq is one of a handful of 3-Michelin star-restaurants in the city of lights. It serves dishes like a line-fished sea bass with caviar and buttermilk alongside Australian beef covered in truffled mozzarella. Among the usual litany of corporate executives, socialites and adept foodies, you may find something unexpected milling about the restaurant: a child.

This isnt a case of Richie Rich gone rogue or a breach of protocol by overly entitled parents; Le Cinq is one of a growing handful of Michelin-star restaurants that offer a kids menu. Dishes include Iberian beef hamburgers, croque-monsieurs and even chicken nuggets. After their meal, children can indulge in Four Seasons child-size bathrobes, hands-on pastry making workshops, tours of secret passageways and even excursions to the Paris Opera Ballet. Children of all ages arent just welcome, theyre encouraged to explore and play at one of Pariss most refined hotels.

For some, the idea of a youngster in a Michelin-star restaurant or five-star hotel is more horrifying than spotting a stray rodent. After all, who wants to deal with a (potentially) screaming, slobbering, spilling miscreant when shelling out a months rent on a meal? Beyond fancy restaurants, there are some amongst us of the mindset that children should be banned from any eatery that doesnt boast a ball-pit. While child-friendly and child-free zones used to be strictly defined, the lines are blurring.

Operas, ballets and theatre are all fair game for pint-sized critics, as are business-class seats on planes and luxury spas. Dinner parties, weddings and cocktail parties are expected, by some, to be all-age events. For others, the presence of a child at a traditionally adult gathering is greeted with the same sort of reaction a package of anthrax might receive.

The question of where kids do or dont belong has never been a hotter topic. A new generation of parents seems determined that their children share in every part of their lifestyle no matter how their inclusion affects others. They remain devoted to ensuring their kids not feel the same angst-ridden youths they did. That instinct, combined with tough economic times, has resulted in a parenting culture that can generously be described as competitive (and more accurately described as all-encompassing insanity).

For such parents, childfree occasions and establishments arent merely a preference or inconvenience; theyre highly personal insults. Some would rather not attend a dinner party or wedding at all than leave their kids at home. Dress your newborn in pint-sized Prada all you like, but should you assume your kids are welcome everywhere? There seem to be mixed messages coming from all corners, with some establishments determined to cash in on the trend while other prioritize old-fashioned adult customers.

Things are only getting more complicated when it comes to travel. After a flurry of restaurants controversially banned youngsters in recent years and some theatre chains have said kids arent welcome after 6 p.m., adults-only hotels have become one of the hottest travel trends. In addition, Malaysian Airlines banned kids under 12 from premium seats and Richard Branson expressed interest in segregated kids cabins for Virgin Airlines. The trend should have been seen coming as the internet is littered with people seeking advice on how to delicately throw a child-free dinner party or tell friends that their wedding will be an adults-only affair.

Who wants to deal with a (potentially) screaming, slobbering, spilling miscreant when shelling out a monthu2019s rent on a meal?

On the other hand, some luxe hotels are creating entire childrens programs. Airlines such as EVA, Etihad and Emirates offer Hello Kitty-themed food, animal blankies and personal nannies. A New York-based kiddie dining club rents out Michelin-star restaurants for parents to attend with their babies for a cool $125 per head tasting menu. Some couples plan kids menus, virgin cocktails and activities including rooms full of bunnies and puppies and video game stations for their wedding receptions.

So, what should parents expect when it comes to hospitality both in terms of the industry and among friends?

Etiquette experts tend to agree on one golden rule: you should never assume you kids are welcome somewhere thats traditionally adults-only in nature, and you should never pressure a host to accommodate your offspring. One delicate way of handling an adults-only invite is to respond by saying youd love to attend, but your child isnt ready for a sitter or you cant arrange for a sitter. This puts the ball in the hosts court, allowing them to politely accept your declining or let you know that your little one is welcome.

On the flip side, hosts shouldnt feel like misanthropic trolls because they want to host an adults-only gathering. However, its important to be clear about your wishes if thats your intention. Diplomatic ways of wording this request include, For the enjoyment of all children have not been invited, or, We love your kids too, but tonight is for grownups only. On a wedding invite, you could write, We regret we are unable to cater for children at the reception.

No matter how tactfully a host deals with such a situation, however, there are some psychologists (and internet commenters) who remain adamantly against child-free public spaces, even going as far to call their rise baby apartheid. They would suggest that it can make kids feel like undesirables or second-class citizens and robs society of opportunities to engage in communal child rearing, practice tolerance and empathize with others. Kids and adults alike benefit from interacting with each other, and exposing youngsters to diverse cultural, culinary and social experiences can be key to their development as global citizens.

When it comes to the hospitality industry at home, the landscape is even more difficult to traverse. Legally, the question of whether a Canadian establishment can discriminate based solely on age is up in the air. In 2010, an Ottawa mother filed a human rights complaint against a fashionable restaurant who turned away her and her child. They reached a private settlement, so no court was able to give an official ruling on the matter. However, its worth noting the place in question now admits kids.

At the end of the day, theres no easy answer about where and when its appropriate to bring your little anklebiter. The best way to avoid issues is to research whether kid-friendly amenities such as kids menus, childcare or activities meant to entertain wee ones are being offered. If they arent, its best to proceed with caution, communicate clearly and remember your child isnt being personally targeted.

The world will be a much friendlier place for grown-ups and minors alike if we could exercise a little empathy, a dash of self-restraint and stop acting like the very children were fighting over.

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While some airlines and restaurants cater to kids, what's a parent to do when others don't? - National Post

How Political Correctness Doomed a Broadway Show – LifeZette

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

When theBroadway musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 had to replace former Hamilton cast member Okieriete Oak Onaodowan, the producers turned to Tony Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin. The problem some people had with this casting decision? Onaodowan is black. Patinkin is white.

Patinkin was to join the play for a limited run from August 15 to September 3 to keep the production running after Onoadowans departure. But given the backlash from the theater community as well as social media outrage, Patinkin backed out of the play.I hear what members of the community have said, and I agree with them. I am a huge fan of Oak and I will, therefore, not be appearing in the show, the Homeland actor tweeted when he bowed out officially on Friday.

Show creator Dave Malloy tweeted an apology to those outraged, saying,We regret our mistake deeply, and wish to express our apologies to everyone who felt hurt and betrayed by these actions. Malloy had also explained that the bringing in of Patinkin was an effort to boost profits with star power, as ticket sales were catastrophically low after August 13, the date that Onaodowan is set to leave the production.

But what's most fascinating about this entire story is this: The musical is based on a portion of the Leo Tolstoy book "War and Peace," which has an entirely white cast of characters. Onoadowan had even previously replaced Josh Groban, who is white, in his role of Pierre. No one complained then. Not only that, but in the book Pierre is described as "an outcast. The awkward, illegitimate son of a dazzlingly wealthy Count, he was educated abroad but returns to Russia now [that] his father's health is in decline."

The casting of a white actor and then a black actor and then finishing with a white actor suggests the producers were doing exactly what should satisfy social justice warriors: They weren't thinking about race. They were hiring the best actors for the job. Why should the role be an exclusively black role after a black actor does a run as the character?

Most people arefamiliar with the #OscarsSoWhite debate of the past few years, a legitimate observation that the Academy Awards historically have been almost exclusively rewarding Caucasian performers. That situation is clearly improving, but the theater has always faced a tricky balancing act between available talent and available roles in plays and musicals.

Unlike cinema, however, Broadway productions have a fairly non-representational audience. Industry research published by Quartz last year showed that a full 83 percent of domestic theatergoers are white while 4.9 percent are Hispanic, 4.8 percent are black, and 3.9 percent are Asian. Almost exactly paralleling that, 84 percent of actors in Broadway plays are white 74 percent in musicals while only 11 percent of plays and 17 percent of musicals have black performers.

Related: Attacks on Trump at the Tony Awards Fall Flat

The fact of the matter is, too many people who have never actually attended a play or musical are happy to gripe from the sidelines, whatever the imagined slight or offense. And that's what torpedoed Patinkin's chance of playing Pierre in "Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812" even though the original actor was white in the production and even though the original character in the novelthe musical's based upon is white.

Related: Social Justice Warriors Are Trying to Censor This Show

These are the times we live in, when people look at a tiny facet, a sliver, of a far larger story and make snap, knee-jerk decisions about whether it aligns with their sense of fairness and justice or not. As American humorist Mark Twain once wrote, "Never let truth get in the way of a good story." Perhaps he was ahead of his time.

Dave Taylor, based in Boulder, Colorado, has been writing about consumer electronics, technology and pop culture for many years and runs the popular site AskDaveTaylor.com.

The Fight for the Fate of Richmond’s Confederate Monuments Begins – LifeZette

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

First they came for New Orleans Confederate monuments. Then they came for the Johnny Reb memorial to Confederate soldiers in Orlando, Florida. The Robert E. Lee statue in Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, is slated for removal pending a court decision. Now, the forces of political correctness have their sights on the five Confederate monuments that line Richmond, Virginias famed Monument Avenue.

The citys Monument Avenue Commission, established by Mayor Levar Stoney to examine the controversy surrounding the monuments in Richmond, began its deliberations on Monday as the commissions first subcommittee the State of Confederate Memorials Group, which is tasked with reviewing how other localities are handling their Confederate monuments, met to examine the issue.

The commissions three other subcommittees are the Historians Review Group, the New Monuments and Interpretation Group tasked with answering the question if monuments are added, where can they best be erected and interpreted? and the Community Engagement Group. These other subcommittees will all have met by Thursday evening, at which time will be held the first of two public hearings on the monuments.

While the commission is an attempt to examine all sides of the monuments controversy, critics say that the fact the monuments are controversial at all is a symptom of left-wing political correctness run amok.

"Contemporary Americans have a tendency to 'forget who we are' and engage in what has become known as political correctness," said Dr. Lee Cheek, dean of East Georgia State College and a senior fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute, to LifeZette. "The advocates of political correctness want to corrupt history for temporary political gains more than they desire to keep or restore it, and their efforts are, sadly, a disease on the body politic."

One such advocate is a local radical left-wing group The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, which is transparently calling for the commission to manipulate the odds in favor of removal. Not only does the group wish the commission to declare publicly that it is considering the option of removing them, but it also wants to stack the commission with proponents of removal.

The area NBC affiliate, WWBT, reported: "The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality are calling on the commission to ... invite Richmonders who have already called for the statues to be removed to be on the commission."

"Put these statues in a museum. Not on public land maintained by my tax dollars for a statue that represents something that I hate with every fiber of my being," Phil Wilayto of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality told WWBT. "As long as this statue is up, we are telling the rest of the world that Richmond thinks Robert E. Lee was a pretty cool fellow and the cause he fought for was noble."

"Mr. Wilayton and others want to destroy an historical consciousness that is necessary for our republic to persevere," said Cheek. "As former Secretary of State Rice argued recently, to 'sanitize' history is to do a disservice to the living and the dead. To so freely and cavalierly dismiss Robert E. Lee, for example, who was a truly great figure in American life, is [to] basically suggest the only important people are those in political favor at present."

Unfortunately, if the now fallen monuments in New Orleans and elsewhere are any indication not to mention the countless other examples of political correctness gone mad Wilayton and his allies may be successful in their anti-Confederate crusade. "The operatives of political correctness in New Orleans and Richmond and in other locales have met with some success of late," he observed.

"With Orwellian irony, they succeeded in having a U.S Navy ship named for a person who hated the Navy (Cesar Chavez) and have imposed 'speech codes' (with the actual purpose of restricting speech) on many college campuses as well as more destructive examples of assaulting First Amendment rights and redefining history," Cheekcontinued.

Ultimately, according to Cheek, an assault upon First Amendment rights is fundamentally at the heart of theLeft's assault upon Confederate monuments. "The greatest threat to Mr. Wilayton and his fellow zealots is an environment in which free and uninhibited discussion and disagreement can take place," he said.

"In fact," Cheek said, "diversity of thought is the opposite of political correctness, and is at the heart of a free society. The advocates of removal are really advocating censorship against free and diverse discussion."

(photo credit, homepage image: Billy Hathorn; photo credit, article image: Ron Cogswell)

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The Fight for the Fate of Richmond's Confederate Monuments Begins - LifeZette

A Dam in Brazil Has Altered the Course of Evolution – Atlas Obscura

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Part of the reservoir created by the Serra da Mesa Dam. Felipe Venncio/CC BY 2.0Thanks to the Serra da Mesa Dam in central Brazil, close to 300 islands were created in the span of just two years. More than 650 square miles of the Cerrado region were inundated by the reservoir, which finished filling in 1998. The region is considered a biodiversity hotspot. By so altering the landscape, the dam and reservoir threaten that, but by creating new environments and isolating species, theyre showing how life adapts to all the changes we throw at it.

The hilltops that became islands were once home to a variety of lizards that eat termites, and isolation impacted different varieties of lizards in different ways. Larger species died out (though they survive on the mainland) because they couldnt find enough termites on their islands maintain large body size. So Gymnodactylus amarali, a small gecko, inherited a whole termite buffet.

There was just one problem. For most of the G. amarali geckos, the termites were too big to eatbigger than their mouths. But some of the individual lizards were lucky enough to have slightly larger heads. So they gobbled up termites, thrived, and passed the large-head trait on to their offspring. When scientists from Brazil and the United States compared the island-dwelling lizards with their mainland relativesseparated by only 15 years and a short stretch of waterthe researchers found the island lizards had heads that are about four percent larger. The researchers write in their report that the shift is astonishing because it was so rapid and the lizard populations on the five islands they studied evolved the same trait independently of each other.

It is possible, Science reports, that the larger head size isnt a result of evolution, but rather better growth thanks to the new environment and altered diet. However, the researchers believe evolution explains the size difference, and plan to check for genetic changes in the future.

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A Dam in Brazil Has Altered the Course of Evolution - Atlas Obscura

Jump for joy: researchers make huge leap in understanding frog evolution – The Guardian

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

) at a the laboratory of Santa Fe zoo in Medellin, Colombia. Many species of frogs, including the Golden Frog, the most venomous frog in the world, are in danger of extinction. Photograph: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images

Although Kermit the Frog has always struggled with body image, in evolutionary terms, the frog body plan is a rather successful one. With a short, stout body, protruding eyes and strong, flexible limbs with webbed feet, the world can be your swamp. The frog body plan has remained rather similar for almost 200m years, and with only limited tweaks in anatomy, frogs (Anura) have managed to occupy a range of different habitats, from muddy pools in Alaska to tree tops in the tropics. Currently, over 6700 species are known from all continents except Antarctica, which makes frogs one of the most diverse and species-rich groups of tetrapods. Never change a good thing. However, this limited variation in the frog body plan over time and space has made it difficult for biologists to reconstruct the evolutionary history of frogs and to sort out who is related to who.

Frogs are amphibians, and the oldest member of the frog lineage the stem-frog Triadobatrachus massinoti which lived during the Early Triassic (~250m years ago) in what is now Madagascar still retained primitive features, such as a tail and the likely inability to jump, that distinguish it from modern frogs. By the Early Cretaceous (131-120m years ago), the first members of the modern frogs have evolved, such as the three-dimensionally preserved Liaobatrachus zhaoi from the Yixian Formation in China (Dong et al., 2013).

The rise of molecular techniques enabled scientists to use DNA instead of morphology to try to unravel the frog family tree. Initial studies focused only on a limited number of genes, and as a result, age estimates for certain groups of frogs varied wildly. Moreover, these studied did little to understand relationships within frog groups, particularly for those groups that contain massive numbers of species, such as the Hyloidea which includes the glass frogs and poison-dart frogs.

A new study by Yan-Lie Feng and colleagues from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, set out to change this by using an extensive molecular dataset that included 95 different genes from 156 species of frogs. Their dataset represents a major leap compared to previous studies, and has resulted in the best supported timescale of frog evolution thusfar.

By using such a large number of genes and species, this new analysis indicates that the major frog groups are younger than previously thought. The last common ancestor of all living frogs (crown-group Anura) is estimated to have lived during the Upper Triassic at 210m years ago. This is in contrast to previous studies that placed the last common ancestor much further back in time at around 250 million years.

When plotting the diversification of frogs on a geological time scale, it becomes clear that diversification events in frogs coincide with break-ups of major prehistoric landmasses. The first split within Anura is that between the Neobatrachia and other anurans. This split occurs at ~ 180 Mya (Middle Jurassic), at around the same time as the breakup of Pangaea into the two supercontinents Laurasia (northern hemisphere) and Gondwana (southern hemisphere). A second break up occurred at around 135m years ago, when two major lineages of Neobatrachia split into Proceola, containing the superfamily Hyloidea, and Diplasiocoela including the Ranoidea. This split coincides with the separation of South America and Africa and the spreading of the South Atlantic Ocean sea floor in the Early Cretaceous.

Interestingly, three major lineages of frogs, the Hyloidea, Microhylidae and Natatanura, have a near-synchronous origin at around 66m years ago. That estimate overlaps with a major extinction event, the Cretaceous Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction, during which two-thirds of life on earth, including the non-avian dinosaurs, marine reptiles and pterosaurs, went extinct.

Although there is little fossil evidence to show how the K/T mass extinction impacted frogs, it is not unlikely that a number of frog species went the way of the dinosaurs. However, when researchers looked at the rate at which species originated during that time period, the analysis indicated that there was a surge in frog diversification immediately following the K/T boundary. Quite ribbiting, perhaps, is the fact that 88% of current frog species originated in this relatively short time period after the K/T mass extinctions.

Mass extinctions leave behind a wasteland of empty ecological real estate. Species that survive can take advantage of this empty ecological space, and as different organisms invade different niches, they adapt and diversify. This is why mass extinction events are often followed by periods of rapid adaptive radiation and speciation.

The demise of non-avian dinosaurs and many other groups at the end of the Cretaceous triggered explosive radiations of mammals (Alroy, 1999) and birds (Ksepka et al., 2017). This new study on frogs shows that the aftermath of the K/T mass extinction may have provided new ecological opportunities for amphibians as well. Particularly, the increase in forest habitats after the massive loss of vegetation that happened at the K/T boundary is thought to have played a major role in enabling adaptive radiations for arboreal taxa. Truly arboreal species of frogs are limited to groups that originated after the K/T boundary, demonstrating how mass extinctions in the past have shaped the current diversity of frogs. However, as past performance is no guarantee for future success, it remains to be seen how frogs will do in the next round of mass extinction.

References

Alroy, J. 1999. The fossil record of North American mammals: evidence for a Paleocene evolutionary radiation. Systematic Biology 48 (1).

Dong, L., Roek, Z., Wang, Y., and Jones, M.E.H. 2013. Anurans from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of Western Liaoning, China. PLoS ONE 8 (12)

Feng, Y-J., Blackburn; D.C., Liang, D., Hillis, D.M., Wake, D.B., Cannatella, D.C., and Zhang, P. 2017. Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous Paleogene boundary. PNAS 114(29)

Ksepka D.T., Stidham, T.A., and Williamson, T.E. 2017. Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the KPg mass extinction. PNAS 114 (30)

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Jump for joy: researchers make huge leap in understanding frog evolution - The Guardian

Pregnancy loss and the evolution of sex are linked by cellular line dance – Phys.Org

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

August 1, 2017 by Eric Hamilton Credit: CC0 Public Domain

After Dan Levitis and his wife lost two pregnancies, before having their three children, he was drawn to investigate why pregnancy loss is so common, and whether other living beings face the same struggle his family did.

Levitis, a scientist in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Botany, had one main suspect in mind: meiosis, which organisms use to produce sperm and eggs for sexual reproduction. He describes meiosis as an intricate cellular line dance, one that mixes up chromosomes to reshuffle genes. This rearrangement helps create offspring that are different from their parents, offspring that might be better equipped to survive in a changing world.

But meiosis is also one of the most complex processes that cells undergo, and a lot can go wrong as chromosomes tangle and untangle themselves. Levitis figured that this complexity might lead to problems creating healthy progeny.

In new research published this week (Aug. 1, 2017) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Levitis and his collaborators report that meiosis takes a heavy toll on the viability of offspring. And not just for humans. Creatures from geckos to garlic and cactuses to cockroaches pay a price to undergo sexual reproduction.

The work provides deeper context on the fundamental biological causes behind pregnancy loss, and suggests that the advantages of sexual reproduction must overcome the severe constraints imposed by meiosis.

"It's known that for humans, the primary cause of pregnancy loss is chromosomal abnormalities arising from meiosis," says Anne Pringle, a professor of botany at UW-Madison and another author of the research. "But what wasn't at all clear was whether meiosis is a leading cause of inviability not just in humans, but wherever it occurs."

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To answer this question, Levitis compared the viability of offspring produced by three different kinds of reproduction. Sexual reproduction, where two players make a genetic contribution, always requires meiosis. On the other hand, asexual reproductionwhere the offspring are clones of their parentsusually uses the much simpler mitosis, a comparatively easy cloning of cells, no genetic reshuffling required. When asexual reproduction does use meiosis, it is even more complicated than sex.

In this three-way comparison, Levitis found that more complex reproduction resulted in lower offspring survival. For example, asexual lizards that use meiosis had lower viability than sexual lizards that also use meiosis because asexual meiosis was more complicated. Yet the organisms that used the simpler mitosis, like palm trees and damselflies, produced healthier offspring.

This pattern held true in 42 of 44 species. "When you get a result that consistent across such a wide range of organisms, it's suspicious," says Levitis. But even after a second look, the data checked out. Something about meiosis, seemingly its complexity, kills offspring.

"If you're making your tally sheet, all the pluses and minuses of sex, the fact that sex requires this deadly process is pretty clearly a disadvantage," says Levitis.

Regarding the evolution of sex, Levitis' findings suggest that the advantages of going through meiosis must be significant enough to balance that tally sheet. The reshuffling of genes between two parents during sex might provide even more of an advantage than previously thought.

The other takeaway, says Levitis, is that although it's easy to think that natural selection can solve every problemand that we might wish it had, such as for high rates of pregnancy losssometimes it comes up against fundamental constraints. Meiosis seems to be one of those insurmountable barriers.

Yet the tradeoff, offspring that are truly unique, with novel genetic combinations to face a challenging world, must be worth it.

Explore further: Researchers identify traffic cop mechanism for meiosis

More information: Is meiosis a fundamental cause of inviability among sexual and asexual plants and animals? Proceedings of the Royal Society B, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rspb.2017.0939

Researchers at NYU and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have identified the mechanism that plays "traffic cop" in meiosisthe process of cell division required in reproduction. Their findings, which appear ...

Researchers at New York University and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have identified the mechanism that plays "traffic cop" in meiosisthe process of cell division required in reproduction. Their findings, ...

Alternative splicing significantly expands the form and function of the genome of organisms with limited gene numbers and is especially important for several stages of mouse spermatogenesis.

Why is sex so popular among plants and animals, and why isn't asexual reproduction, or cloning, a more common reproductive strategy?

Where would we be without meiosis and recombination? For a start, none of us sexually reproducing organisms would be here, because that's how sperm and eggs are made. And when meiosis doesn't work properly, it can lead to ...

Geneticists have identified an enzyme which regulates the production of sperm and egg cells in human reproduction.

All animals use a combination of senses to survive. But where the majority typically rely on one or two especially sensitive sensory systems, the oilbird excels by apparently having keen senses all-around.

An unspoken frustration for evolutionary biologists over the past 100 years, says Craig Albertson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is that genetics can only account for a small percentage of variation in the physical ...

Interpreting relationships between species and their environments is crucial to inform ecosystem-based management (EBM), a priority for NOAA Fisheries. EBM recognizes the diverse interactions within an ecosystemincluding ...

The first flower to appear along the path of plant evolution, during the time of the dinosaurs, was a hermaphrodite with petal-like organs arranged in concentric circles, researchers said Monday.

Dietary restriction - the reduction of a specific nutrient or total dietary intake without triggering malnutritionincreases longevity and improves learning, but are these processes regulated separately? A new study publishing ...

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Pregnancy loss and the evolution of sex are linked by cellular line dance - Phys.Org

Wednesday’s best TV: Hyper Evolution Rise of the Robots; Fargo – The Guardian

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots, BBC4. Photograph: BBC/Windfall Films/Ed cave

No royal goes unmocked as the family plan a gathering at Balmoral. Camilla (Haydn Gwynne) wants revenge on Theresa May, and Charles (Harry Enfield, giving it the bumbling brilliance) makes waves in Scotland when its revealed hes wearing nae skiddies beneath his kilt. Prince Harrys relationship with Meghan Markle reaches new heights when the actor gets a part in Hollyoaks, but Pippa plans to scupper their love. Gloriously silly stuff. Hannah Verdier

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help two more families pulled apart by the cruellest of circumstances. Andy McNicol from Walsall, along with wife Hazel, has devoted years of his life to fostering children. But the McNicol family album is lacking any pictures of one person: Andys biological son from a previous relationship. We also meet Mary Davies from Hounslow, as she tries to find the mother forced to offer her up for adoption at six weeks old. Mark Gibbings-Jones

If humanity is doomed to be crushed by Skynet or similar, boffins Danielle George and Ben Garrod are determined to look our future metal overlords right in the eye-sensor. In the concluding part of their lively R2-detour, the pair criss-cross the globe to fistbump with state-of-the-art robotic AI, from Nasas bipedal would-be Mars rambler Valkyrie to darling little Kirobo, a Japanese chatterbox designed to cheer up lonely astronauts. Graeme Virtue

The season finale of what has been a superb series, of which you trust the Coens themselves would have been proud. Theres a warehouse shootout involving the formidable Kikki and Wrench, Ruby Goldfarb reveals her true colours, and Emmit teeters ever nearer to the brink to which he has been nudged throughout the series. Meanwhile, Gloria and the almost engagingly villainous Varga push towards their final confrontation. Immensely satisfying TV. David Stubbs

Because hip millennials need reality TV, too, you know. This new show follows comedians and real-life couple Bobby Mair and Harriet Kemsley as they plan their wedding. The theme this week is money the pair dont have much, and everything involved with weddings is expensive. Some amusing moments for sure, but the fact is, when youre dealing with a life event like this, its impossible to see the funny side all of the time. John Robinson

In which modern confectioners undertake a time-travelling busmans holiday, recreating the sweets of ye olden days using the ingredients and equipment of the time. Tonight, in the final episode of the series, its the turn of the Victorian era. Historians Emma Dabiri and Annie Gray provide deft social and economic context as the confectioners stock their shop with items up to and including an immense Easter egg. Andrew Mueller

The host of BBC2s The Mash Report takes his turn in the standup showcase. Confidence and likability power him through a series of anecdotes that expend a lot of energy setting up often gentle punchlines. Among the best stories are Kumars trip to see Shame at the cinema accompanied by his father, his response to a racist press question, and his attempt to rebrand as a cooler version of himself at uni. Jack Seale

Arbitrage (Nicholas Jarecki, 2012) 1.30am Thursday, Channel 4

Robert Miller is a crooked, silver-haired hedge fund manager suddenly on the verge of ruin when he and his art dealer mistress (Laetitia Casta) are involved in a fatal car crash. Its a role tailor-made for Richard Gere and the Armani suits fit immaculately. Theres nothing too original, but its a sleek and lustrous affair, with fine support from Susan Sarandon as the wronged wife and Tim Roth as the LA detective investigating Miller. Paul Howlett

Horse Racing: Goodwood Festival 1.30pm, ITV. The second day including the Qatar Sussex Stakes.

Cycling: Tour of Poland 2.30pm, Eurosport 2. Coverage of stage five featuring a 130km route from Olimp to Nagawczyn.

T20 Blast Cricket: Leicestershire Foxes v Nottinghamshire Outlaws 6pm, Sky Sports Cricket. A North Division match which takes place at Grace Road.

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Wednesday's best TV: Hyper Evolution Rise of the Robots; Fargo - The Guardian

Evolution of Panthers won’t be noticeable until ball is in the back of the end zone – Charlotte Observer

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Evolution of Panthers won't be noticeable until ball is in the back of the end zone
Charlotte Observer
What they did in free agency and the draft, for the offense, could probably be qualified more as progressive tweaks than a complete offensive evolution. It's the same playbook, but based on personnel like rookie running back/receiver Christian ...

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Evolution of Panthers won't be noticeable until ball is in the back of the end zone - Charlotte Observer

Home Movies/Out on Digital: Aug. 3, 2017 – Shepherd Express

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Several documentaries have just been released on DVD or Blu-ray, including Kansas vs. Darwin, Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary, I Am the Blues and Alive and Kicking.

Alive and Kicking glances back at swing dancings roots in 1920s Harlem and its ancestral ties to hip-hop. But the documentary focuses on the present, showcasing comments from young dance partners for whom swing is a way to dress up, have fun, improvise within set boundaries and develop personal skills. For some, its a finger in the eye of contemporary digitalized existence, a way to feel alive. Many scenes were shot at high-stepping ballroom contests.

The great postwar blues artiststhe Muddy Waters and the John Lee Hookersare gone, but their musical children continue. I Am the Blues is a journey through the muggy backcountry of the American South with Grammy-winner Bobby Rush and less-known 70-something-year-old survivors of an earlier era. All are filled with memories, are still musically proficient and often capable of moving performances. Tin-roofed juke joints and dusty rural roads are among the settings.

As astronauts first ventured into outer space, Harvard psychology professors Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) began exploring inner space through psychedelics. Narrated by Robert Redford, Dying to Know crisscrosses around the lives of those two academic adventurers with emphasis on a conversation between them shortly before Learys death (1996). They werent playing around for kicks but used science to transcend science in an exploration of the human psycheand perhaps the divine.

The 2005 hearing by the Kansas Board of Education on the validity of Darwinism drew international attention and is the subject of this documentary. What emerges is the self-perception of many creationists as rebels, kicking against elitists trying to impose an alien worldview. Their fundamentalism is aided, ironically, by the pervasive relativism of our time in which sincerity trumps factuality. Several Kansans interviewed by director Jeff Tamblyn intelligently blend science with philosophy and faith.

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Home Movies/Out on Digital: Aug. 3, 2017 - Shepherd Express

Creationism vs. Darwinism – Creation – AllAboutCreation.org

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

QUESTION: Creationism vs. Darwinism Are they compatible?

ANSWER:

Definitions in Creationism vs. Darwinism, as described by the by the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary states that creationism is: A doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in Genesis.

The definition for Darwinism is, A theory of the original perpetuation of new species of animals and plants that offspring of a given organism vary, that natural selection favors the survival of some of these variations over others, that new species have arisen and may continue to rise by these processes, and that widely divergent groups of plants and animals have arisen from the same ancestors; biological evolution.

Are the two theories of Creationism vs. Darwinism capable of existing together in harmony? In order to be compatible, there needs to be a number of similarities between the two theories. Do similarities exist?

Creationism states that God created matter and life forms out of nothing. Theistic evolutionists believe that God or gods created matter originally then left it to evolve on its own. Darwinism does not allow for the presence of God or gods in the origin of life. Darwinism states that various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types. This means that in evolutionism, a form of matter existed from which all life came.

The compatibility of creationism vs. Darwinism is faint, although some agreements between the two do occur. Both agree that DNA strands cause the varieties we see within a genus, like some people are short, while others are tall. There are color variations in people, plants, and animals. Aside from these points, there seems to be good evidence to suggest that Creationism vs. Darwinism have too little in common to call them compatible with each other.

What is your response?

Yes, today I am deciding to follow Jesus

Yes, I am already a follower of Jesus

I still have questions

Creationism vs. Darwinism - Creation - AllAboutCreation.org

Home Ashburn Robotics

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

While originally a coalition of robotics teams in Ashburn Virginia, Ashburn Robotics has grown into a non profit (501(c)(3)) organization dedicated to the promotion of STEM education throughout our community, both through STEM outreach and our support of local FLL and FTC teams. Each of our teams is formed and managed by the parents of the children on that team. While each of our teams have their own unique identities they all share a common belief that kids discover more when they explore the world around them through a hands on approach to science and technology.

Ashburn Robotics was established in 2006 with the simple goal of starting a FIRST Lego League (FLL) program in our neighborhood. Over the years the program has grown and now includes both FLL and FTC teams. Ashburn Robotics FLL and FTC teams are respected not only for the many local, state and international awards they have won, but more importantly, for their commitment to helping spread FIRSTs mission to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. Our teams understand the value of gracious professionalism and giving back to our communities through volunteering as mentors, coaches and passionate advocates for science and technology. If you are interested in finding out more about FLL or FTC visit FIRSTinspires.org or us contact us.

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Snap is in talks to buy Chinese selfie drone maker Zero Zero Robotics for $150M-$200M – TechCrunch

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

It looks like Snap is enlisting outside help to advance its expansion into new hardware projects. The U.S. company is in talks with China-based drone maker Zero Zero Robotics over an acquisition, according to a source with knowledge of discussions.

The deal, which was first reported by The Information, is in the range of $150 million-$200 million, the source told TechCrunch. That price would represent quite an outlay, but Snap previously paid upwards of $250 million for social map company Zenly which is its most expensive acquisition to date. (Although Snap hasnt confirmed its price for Zenly.)

Neither Snap norZero Zero Robotics had returned our requests for comment at the time of writing.

Zero Zero Robotics is best known for its Hover Camera drone, which is designed for taking aerial selfies and was on display at our TechCrunch China event in Shanghailast year. The device launched to the public in October, it is sold exclusively by Apple for $500 via both its online and physical retail stores.

When we first began to hear rumors that Zero Zero Robotics had been acquired by a major U.S. company earlier this summer, it was easy to assume that it had followed the fate of other drone companies in struggling to build a sustainable business and was seeking a soft landing. Most prominently, Lily, a Kickstarter success story, was forced to shutter earlier this year due to financial issues.

Snap does have a track record in shopping for bargains among defunct drone companies.The fact that Lily had held unsuccessful acquisition talks with Snap as an alternative to closing and that Snap reportedly did acquire drone firmCtrl Me Robotics, which was about to shutdown,played into that theory. While increased competition from drone pioneer DJI, which announced its own take on Hover Camera, the $499 Spark drone, may well have put some heat on the Hover Camera.

However, these negotiations are not driven by failure.Not only is Snap in talks to pay a lot more than the $25 million which Zero Zero Robotics has raised from investors to date, but, according to The Information, the Chinese company actually approached Snap over a potential investment and that turned to a prospective acquisition.

For Snap, the deal makes sense as it looks to push its hardware business on from its Spectacles product. While another, more advanced iteration of the wearable camera glasses that could include augmented reality technology is currently under development, as TechCrunch recently reported, Snap has shown a desire to get into drones as part of its broadening focus on being a camera company.

Snap once looked into developing its own dronesin house, according to a New York Times report, but in the end it looks to have opted to lean on specialists outside of the company.

Snap is under pressure from Wall Street to show growth, which could explain why it is prepared to pay a large sum to get a product that is already in the mark. Its stock just came out of the dreaded lock-up period, when insiders are able to sell their shares, relatively unscathed, but its current value of $13.10 is well down on the $17 that it priced its IPO at in March.

OBGYN Fairfax, VA – Robotic GYN Surgeons of Nova

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Why Choose Us

Fairfax OB-Gyn Associates, P.C. is a group practice of board certified obstetrician/gynecologists, certified nurse midwives, and certified nurse practitioners specializing in providing the highest quality care with a level of personalization to meet the individual needs of our patients. Fairfax OB-Gyn Associates, P.C. has been serving the Northern Virginia/Greater Washington area since 1980, with three convenient area locations. We are proud to be affiliated with the INOVA Health System and our births and most surgeries take place at INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital. Fairfax OB-Gyn Associates, P.C. is a practice with a focus on quality, personalization, and compassion for the needs of all women.

It is our belief and goal here at Fairfax OB/GYN Associates, P.C. to provide top quality health care using a minimally invasive technique while integrating an individualized approach. Fairfax OB/Gyn Associates, P.C. combines the latest in innovation and technology with personalized care to meet the needs of our patients. We have been performing Laparoscopic surgery for over 30 years and introduced Robotic surgery within the last4 years. Our staff of highly skilled surgeons has now completed over 350 Robotic cases with 98% of our patients going home the same day and resuming normal activities with 2 weeks. Our innovative services include complete obstetrical care with nurse-midwifery services, gynecologic care offering the latest in laparoscopic-assisted surgical techniques, robotics, infertility, pre-conception counseling, contraception, Nexplanon, Gardasil, Well Women and menopausal management. We offer in-house ultrasonography, Dexa Scans, Urodynamic Testing, NovaSure Endometrial Ablation procedure, Essure Sterilization procedure, and childbirth classes.

Our office is affiliated with the following hospital(s):

CommonSense Robotics raises $6M seed round to make on … – TechCrunch

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

As e-commerce giants like Amazon continue expanding their on-demand offerings, retailers are struggling to keep up. CommonSense Robotics wants to make near-instantaneous deliveries accessible to smaller businesses with micro-fulfillment centers that can be built inside existing retail spaces. The company announced today that it has raised $6 million in seed funding from Aleph VC and Innovation Endeavors.

CommonSense Robotics was founded by Eyal Goren, Ori Avraham, Shay Cohen and Elram Goren after they became curious about why more grocery stores dont offer online shipping and on-demand delivery. They discovered that its just not economically sustainable for most supermarkets (or even well-funded startups for that matter, as the recent flurry of consolidation in the food delivery space shows). The team decided to work on ways for retailers to be able to deliver orders within an hour and keep margins the same as it would be in their brick-and-mortar stores, but without having to charge fees or higher prices.

CommonSense Robotics is now getting ready to deploy its micro-fulfillment centers for the first time and is not giving away a lot of details until they start operating. Each one combines robotics and artificial intelligence to automate the preparation of orders, including receiving inventory, picking orders and packing them. Then deliveries are carried out by the retailers themselves or third-party services. Building micro-fulfillment centers into stores means retailers can save on overhead and sell more things to their existing customers.

Retailers that use our platform arent just catching up to leaders, they are positioning themselves to set new standards for the industry, says Goren.

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CommonSense Robotics raises $6M seed round to make on ... - TechCrunch

Students get hands-on experience with robotics at summer camp – KATV

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Students attending the camp at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will learn hardware design, programming, teamwork, problem solving and leadership skills. (KATV Photo)

A new summer camp for elementary students interested in robotics began this week at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Students attending the camp will learn hardware design, programming, teamwork, problem solving and leadership skills.

In addition to students, elementary teachers who are interested in starting robotics programs at their schools are encouraged to attend.

Sandra Lieterman, a math specialist at the university and robotics coach, says the camp is a great way to introduce robotics to students who may not have the opportunity at their schools.

"They can take that into the computer science courses that are required for middle school and high school right now and, hopefully, into a STEM field in college," Lieterman said. "They're learning life-long skills in here."

The camp runs through Friday, August 4.

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Students get hands-on experience with robotics at summer camp - KATV

Australian team wins Amazon Robotics Challenge – Electronics Weekly (blog)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

BBC News reported the winning entry to be Cartman a budget-priced robot from Australia.

The robot was designed by a team calling itself the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ACRV), which featured engineers from the Queensland University of Technology, the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University. Their cash prize was US$80,000 (60,980).

The bot was designed from scratch for the challenge and, unlike past winners that used a robotic arm, used a sliding mechanism to pick up products.

According to the BBC report, the winning team believes its Cartesian co-ordinate robot design was better suited to the task than the arm-like designs of others.

The robot uses a frame to move in straight lines across three axes at right-angles to one another. It supports a rotating gripper fitted with suction cups and a two-fingered claw to hold and manipulate the items.

The parts used to make it were cheap by the standards of typical industrial robots, according to professor Jonathan Roberts, robotics lab leader at Queensland University of Technology.

It could be built for under A$30,000 (18,245), he told the BBC. However, he noted the many thousands of hours of team effort that went into the design, testing and programming.

The online retailer sponsorsthe event to strengthen ties between the industrial and academic robotics communities and to promote shared and open solutions to the practical hurdles of running a global supplier.

The competitions tasks tested the robots ability to identify products, pick them up from a mixed batch of goods of differing shapes, sizes and weights, and place them in appropriate boxes for shipping to a customer.

Amazon is one of the biggest public companies in the world. Its logistics and warehousing operations serve a business with a global reach, so in a search for technical solutions to automated product picking it set up competitions to encourage the design of warehouse robots in 2015 and 2016.

This year it combined those competitions into the Amazon Robotics Challenge. This was a seven-day event held at Nagoya, Japan in July. Sixteen teams from universities and research institutes around the world brought robots they had designed, and assembled them to attempt a series of tasks to identify the winners.

Images: Amazon

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Australian team wins Amazon Robotics Challenge - Electronics Weekly (blog)

SD dairy looks to future with robotics – The Capital Journal

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

TABOR If you travel about three miles northeast of Tabor, there is a hillside that is home to the Pechous Dairy. It might not look different from the average dairy operation on the outside, but inside its a different story.

Housed inside the walls of the Pechous Dairys newly built free-stall barn is a high-tech system of four robots working 24/7 to milk 230 cows an average of 2.8 times per day. The new barn and advanced machinery are investments in the familys legacy as dairy farmers for future generations. Tabor is in Bon Homme County, northwest of Yankton.

Having grown up and lived on dairy farms only two miles apart, Bob and Nancy Pechous took over Bobs parents operation in 1980 before getting married in 1981. The couple started with 30 cows in a stanchion barn and had to physically haul their own buckets of milk to the cooler. In 1986, the couple expanded their operation and built a 12-station milking parlor with a pipeline for hauling milk. The upgrade allowed them to gradually begin increasing their herd size to around 125 cows.

The addition of the milking parlor was great because everything became centralized, Nancy Pechous told the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. We could have six cows on each side. Once we finished milking on one side, we could switch to the other side and rotate in six new cows.

The Pechous Dairy operated out of its 12-station milking parlor for the next 30 years with help from two hired hands and family support before changing to their current operation.

Out of their three children, only the Pechous youngest son, Kyle, decided to join the dairy as a partner. Their oldest son, Justin, operates Pechous Repair in Tabor and their daughter, Jennifer, teaches in Brandon.

Kyle was adjoined at the hip with Bob since he could walk, Nancy said. We knew he was going to be our farmer. He was always helping out at the dairy as soon as he was old enough.

Kyle obtained a degree in diesel mechanics from Northeast Community College before returning home as a full-time partner in 2005. It was his idea to upgrade to the new robotic milking system in 2016.

We got to the point where the old barn was falling apart, Nancy said. We either needed to repair it or start new. Bob and I were actually thinking about getting out of the dairy business at the time, but Kyle came up with the idea to implement the new robotic system. We decided that we were all in this together and went full speed ahead.

Construction on the new barn and the installation of the robotic milking system began in January 2016 and finished late last September.

We are now nine months into the new system, Nancy said. For the first three months, we practically lived up in the barn after it was built. Thats how long it took before the cows adjusted to the new system.

Built with the potential for expansion in mind, the new barn is divided into two main sections capable of housing 120 cows on each side. Both sections are outfitted with access to a feeding trough, back scratchers and bedded stalls. The barn is also outfitted with fans that create a constant five-mile-per-hour breeze that keeps the cows comfortable and the bugs out. Adding to the overall automation of the Pechous Dairy, manure is also automatically scrapped from the floors by a robotic system and pressed into dry bedding to be put on top of the rubber mats that cover the stall floors.

We built this for future generations, Bob Pechous said. We want to keep this dairy going and pass it down to our grandchildren.

Installed in each section are two fully-automatic milking machines, each with the capability of milking 60 cows. All the cows at the dairy have been trained to come to one of the four milking machines through the use of special protein pellets that are delivered by the robots. When a cow walks into the stall next to a machine, it reads the chip inside of a collar placed around the cows neck. The cow is then weighed and fed according to how much milk it produces.

While the cow is feeding, the machine washes each teat and hooks up to them automatically, guided by lasers. The system records how much time each cow has been attached to the machine; it even measures down to the exact time that each teat is attached and how much milk each one produced. All the milk is then automatically transported from the machine to the cooler where it waits to be hauled out by truck every other day.

If something were to go wrong with the machine, like a computer glitch or a milking cup getting knocked out of position, the system automatically calls for assistance until someone responds. As an added safety net in case of power outages, the whole dairy is also backed up by a diesel generator to ensure that the system never goes offline and the cows are always milked.

The automated system also offers total monitoring of the herd from an office computer. It notifies the dairy of which cows are in need of artificial insemination and which cows need to be dried up. It also records the weight and body temperature of each animal, as well as notifies the dairy of abnormal milk, mastitis and other potential illnesses.

The new system allows us to get to the cows before they get sick, Nancy said. It helps us to head off a lot of things before they become a real problem.

Under the new milking robotic milking system, the Pechous Dairy has seen an increase of approximately 10 pounds of milk per cow. The daily average at the dairy is currently about 80 pounds of milk per cow. Overall, the dairy produces approximately 20,000 pounds of milk per day.

My goal per cow was 86 pounds per day, Bob said. We are not far from that right now. We actually have 33 cows producing over 100 pounds of milk per day, and our top producer is at about 145 pounds per day.

Currently, two-thirds of the Pechous Dairys herd is first-time heifers who dont produce as much milk until their second lactation.

Next lactation, we are going to probably get another 10 pounds of milk per cow from the majority of our herd, Nancy said. After our first-time heifers have their second calf, they will produce more milk.

Already the largest of three dairies in Yankton County, the Pechous family said it wants to continue to lead local dairy production well into the future with the technological investments they have made at their facility.

We want to help educate people on where their dairy products come from, Bob said. A lot of people might not know what goes into the process of getting their milk from the cow to the table.

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SD dairy looks to future with robotics - The Capital Journal

Person to Person Is an Indie Comedy for Music Nerds Like You – Pitchfork

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Person to Person is one long string of great scenes, but theres this beautifully horrendous moment that captures the farcical strain of comedy running through the new indie ensemble with a music tinge. It involves Michael Cera and Abbi Jacobson (of Broad City fame) sitting in a car, chanting SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! along with a fictional metal song called Suck on Greed. I like to bang my head a little in the morning before coming into work, metalhead investigative reporter Phil (Cera) tells trainee Claire (Jacobson), an introvert who prefers Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Claires face, as shes subjected to Phils morning metal routine, reads fear and crippling anxiety; certainly its not helped by the fact that shes assigned a murder case on her first day. Later, Phil attempts to get Claire out of her shell by inspiration-quoting a line from his own metal band (fear is the rape of the mind); you can tell its completely unhelpful.

This memorable dynamic captures just one part of Person to Person, the second feature from writer and director Dustin Guy Defa. The film loosely weaves its three main stories of random New Yorkers without striving for some forced connection. Its casta mix of indie veterans and newcomerskeeps the acting naturalistic, while the low-key, talky sense of humor (reminiscent of early Woody Allen or Richard Linklater) makes something as dark as a murder case come off as just another quirk of the Big Apple.

Even as Phil and Claire team up to track down their possible suspect, the victims widow (Michaela Watkins), cynicism isnt the occupying force of Person to Person. In fact, its quite the opposite. Person to Person is a warm movie: autumnal colors fill the screen while the textured 16mm film it was shot on gives its New York that nostalgic glow. This comes from the lens of cinematographer Ashley Connor, whose rsum includes Josephine Decker films and a long list of memorable music videos familiar to Pitchfork readers (Jenny Lewis Just One of the Guys, Mitskis Your Best American Girl, and Angel Olsens Shut Up Kiss Me, to name just a few).

When Connors lens isnt fixed upon Phil, Claire, the suspect, and the watchmaker who may hold the clues (Philip Baker Hall), it wanders over to Wendy and Melanie, two high school girls skipping school. Continuing to prove her acting chops, Rookie wunderkind Tavi Gevinson plays a sarcastic teen who spends her screen time grumbling to her best friend (Olivia Luccardi), who in turn invites her boyfriend along so they can make out. Ambushed with a double date, Gevinson is a delight to watch as she navigates that space between angst and curiosity.

But the films most touching vignette is of two roommates, Bene and Ray, the latter (George Sample III) fleeing from a much-deserved beating after uploading naked photos of his ex-girlfriend online. Portraying a music fanatic of the same first name, breakout star Bene Coopersmith is the far more lovable half of the duoif not the best part of Person to Person overall, then at least the films heart. Bene spends his day chasing down a rare Charlie Parker LP (The Bird Blows the Blues) and asking strangers if they think he can pull off his new floral shirt. During his scenes, the films soundtrackfull of obscure R&B and funk jams like Shirley Ann Lees Time, the Volumes Im Gonna Miss You, and Greenflows I Gotchacomes alive. As Bene goes after the record seller who ultimately scams him, the title of Person to Personabout the serendipitous, sometimes inconvenient connections strangers can make in the big cityreally comes into focus.

Despite appearances and interests, Bene isnt some hardened middle-aged man constantly griping about the good old days. In fact, its his unabashed earnestness that ends Person to Person on a touching note. After his record-chasing mishap, Bene delivers a speech far too sincere and real to knock down: Me, Ive got music in my heart. Ive got love for it, I seek it out. I find records, I collect them, I sell them to people who have that same love inside. Its a tender spot, its vulnerable. Its a spot that you think nobody is gonna take advantage of. Then you go around and you let that love be known. You share it, you share it with people and you trust that they wont violate you. Person to Person is the kind of movie that asks its viewers to open up that tender spot inside. Once you do, itll completely charm you.

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Person to Person Is an Indie Comedy for Music Nerds Like You - Pitchfork

How good is the Nokia 5? – Mazuma Mobile (blog)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Danzig

Anyone who experienced the early days of the mobile phone will fondly remember the Nokia brand. Its handsets were great to use, durable and of course, they included the brilliant game Snake if you had a few minutes of boredom to pass (who are we kidding, sometimes hours went by playing that). This nostalgia was part of the reason behind the huge buzz when it was recently announced that Nokia is back on the scene and producing mobile phones again. Okay, so the parent company and production is now different, but the name is there and fans felt excited to have another choice when it came to smartphones. Not only is there now a new Nokia 3310 (cue excited squeals), but there are also Android smartphones the first ever from this brand. The Nokia 3 came first back in February and next, it's the turn of the Nokia 5 on August 16th in the UK. So, if you're thinking of splashing some cash on a new Nokia and have the 5 in your sights, you might be wanting to know just how good it is. With this in mind, we've rounded up a few reviews and comments from tech experts to help you. The basics First, the specs and basics. The Nokia 5 offers: A choice of blue, matte black, silver and copper casing 5.2-inch, 720p display 13 megapixel rear camera 8 megapixel front camera 16GB storage microSD slot Fingerprint scanner for security Punches above its weight The Independent's David Phelan has been testing the Nokia 5 and he's been especially impressed by the sleek design of the handset, commenting that it "punches well above its weight" for the price around 179.99. He pointed out that the phone is created from a single piece of metal, the same technique used by Apple, resulting in a solid design despite the external antenna band. The expert also praised the camera for well-lit situations, although he acknowledged that it is no match for really high-end camera phones, as you'd expect from a budget device. Battery life and general performance also came in for high marks in this review. However, Mr Phelan did pick out the borders at the top and bottom of the screen for slight criticism, stating that they look quite noticeable at a time when other brands are offering wall-to-wall displays. "Overall, this is a highly attractive phone. Though it can't match the super-fast processors or dual-lens cameras of flagship phones, it looks fantastic and performs better than the price point suggests," he concluded. The best-looking phone at this price point John McCann of Techradar also had praise for the Nokia 5's ergonomic design, commenting on the "surprisingly premium construction" for the price point. He also spoke favourably of the clear display, Android software, fingerprint scanner and cost. However, Mr McCann was perhaps more critical of the phone's performance, pointing out that load time and battery life can suffer when the handset is used for things like streaming and gaming as opposed to just emails, calls and social apps. The writer also warned that a microSD card is a "must", as 7.5GB of the storage space is taken up by the operating system and so the device will soon fill up once you start taking photos and uploading music. "It is the best-looking phone at this price point [and] aimed at anyone who's looking for an affordable smartphone from a brand they can trust," Mr McCann concluded. Cheap and cheerful with an impressive design You'll no doubt spot a running theme here, as Max Parker of Trusted Reviews also praised the good looks of the Nokia 5, as well as the price. He commented favourably on the software too and suggested that this may well prove to be the best product in the brand's line-up. The one feature the writer suggested might be detrimental to this was the 720p display, which he said should probably have been upgraded to 1080p at a slightly higher price. Mr Parker concluded: "The cheap and cheerful Nokia 5 doesn't impress in every area, but it's a good-looking device with clean software and an impressive design." Consider us impressed Finally, Ashleigh Macro of Tech Advisor was another expert to praise Nokia's design and Android OS, as well as the price. However, she criticised the 720p display too, suggesting it's the one thing that lets the handset down. On the whole, though, the writer concluded: "Consider us impressed. We expect the Nokia 5 could become a really popular choice for anyone in the market for a mid-range phone, and a strong contender for the Moto G5." So, there you have it: hopefully everything you need to make an informed choice on whether or not the Nokia 5 is for you. Happy shopping!

Mazuma Mobile is the UK's most trusted mobile phone recycling service.

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