Select Page ::

LETTER: Political correctness has gotten way out of hand … – Peninsula Daily News

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

It had never occurred to me to think Asian if I see the word slant until I read the June 20 article in the Peninsula Daily News, High Court Strikes Down Part Of Trademark Law Over Speech.

If some members of the band the Slants are of Asian ancestry and are comfortable with the name for business sake, it is their right.

Political correctness has gotten out of hand.

When I hear [Washington] Redskins, I think football.

However, this is a great reminder for students to study the history books to find out how the name came about as it pertains to Native Americans.

In my opinion, it is not derogatory.

It is a word that has been used to describe a part of history.

The list could go on:

The Oakland Raiders use the logo of a pirate with a patch over one eye.

Is this offensive to folks with sight challenges?

Those who look for fault in everything around them should take time to work in the yard and enjoy the beautiful landscaping nature has provided or volunteer in an organization that assists others in need.

Thank you, Peninsula Daily News, for keeping us informed.

Now, lets take on the day.

Linda Hindes,

Sequim

Political Correctness Presents A Challenge For Progressives – The Daily Caller

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

A whole lot of sound and fury has been made over political correctness. Its impossible to avoid talking about it, given its important role in the culture wars.

The old conservative yarn about political correctness is that its a leftist tool to suppress free speech. It accomplishes this by conditioning political discourse according to the constantly evolving rules and mercurial sensibilities of the left. This set-up skews the conversation from the outset in favor of the left. In this sense, political correctness has mostly been bad for the right so far.

Political correctness has doubtless played a major role in transforming our society according to the progressive program, and it continues to be the lefts major weapon in the culture wars. But how long can this advantage last?

Because of the fragile sensibilities of progressives, the culture wars have become, increasingly, a battle about speech rather than ideas. And this is starting to be bad for progressives. A tool that was meant to give them an edge is turning on them, and making them look out-of-touch and foolish.

The thing about odd speech is that it excites our amusement involuntarily. Lewis Carrolls Jabberwocky is funny because its all nonsense. There is something inherently funny about nonsensical bullshit.

When leftists butcher language to make reality conform to their ideas, the results are often ridiculous and difficult for outsiders to take seriously. SJW talk has been the butt of internet jokes for a while now, long enough to almost stop being funny altogether. Once upon a time, it was edgy and original to satirize the odd lingo popularized on Tumblr to describe confused young people who didnt receive enough attention from their parents growing up. There was something funny about those non-binary conforming non-GMO eating otherkin because the language seemed innocuous.

Its not funny anymore because it has become obvious that the left was never joking. Recently, Cambridge University tutors were told to stop using the word genius because of its sexist assumptions. Too often, genius has been used to describe brilliantly inventive men; therefore, the term genius is offensive to women.

To observers outside this strange bubble, this linguistic revisionism is pretentious, confusing, and simply ridiculous. It does nothing but push people away.

Political correctness is not new, but there is a growing feeling, not only on the right but outside the extreme-left campus bubble generally, that it didnt used to be this crazy. It only seems new because it has reached such an intensity of ridiculousness as to impress itself as something completely original. We are free-floating in a whole new world of linguistic and logical possibilities. In this world, it is possible at one and the same time to be a radical feminist and a devout Muslim; race is a social construct, but whites are inherently guilty for past injustices; and cisgendered people, the normative group, are expected to treat transgendered people like the new normative group. Most people identify with their biological sex, so it goes without saying that most people would balk at being prompted to give their preferred gender pronoun. Only in the vacuum-sealed world of academia could a question like this make any sense.

This system of ideas, if it can be called that, has no internal logic because it is not based on time-honored common sense. We have become unmoored from the traditions that Westerners accepted for generations to make sense of the world, and in doing so, we have discarded common sense.

The left has become reliant on political correctness to conceal the illogic of this system. Open dialogue is threatening to the left because it risks exposing their ideology as illogical and indefensible.

Outside the campus leftist bubble, people in the real world arent taken in by this Panglossian junk.

All it does is hurt the left in the end. Jon Ossoffs electoral loss has demonstrated better than any recent election could that the left needs to rethink how it reaches the electorate. A platform based on political correctness and antipathy towards the President wont do.

Worse, political correctness brings down political discourse by making it all about speech and feelings rather than ideas. Part of having a productive conversation is having clear ideas. Every philosophy undergrad knows this. How is it even possible to have a productive discussion when the ideas arent at the forefront of the discussion? When the terms to signify those ideas are constantly evolving?

Political correctness has been helpful to the left so far, but it will only hurt the progressive cause in the long run. If progressives dropped the language games, the constant speech policing, and the histrionic hurt parades, they might well lose some support, initially. But if they want to stay in touch with the electorate, they will have to, at some point, reflect, develop a better strategy for reaching people, and come down to earth. Maybe, then, theyll start winning again.

Read the original post:

Political Correctness Presents A Challenge For Progressives - The Daily Caller

‘Liberal, politically correct culture leaves West vulnerable to acts of terrorism’ – RT

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Published time: 22 Jun, 2017 12:56 Edited time: 22 Jun, 2017 12:57

If we are not calling terrorism what it is, extremists like ISIS or radical Islamists will use Western liberal values of political correctness against it, Jennifer Breedon, international criminal lawyer and expert in extremism, told RT.

The FBI is investigating the stabbing of a police officer at an airport in the US state of Michigan as a potential terror attack.

The perpetrator, who was detained at the scene, holds a Canadian passport and reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar" before stabbing the officer in the neck. The officer is now in a stable condition in hospital.

RT discussed this attack with Jennifer Breedon, an international criminal law attorney and expert in extremism studies.

RT: The FBI said the suspect shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he carried out the attack on the police officer. Why did it take so long for the authorities to say the stabbing is being investigated as a terror attack?

Jennifer Breedon: Really, we are seeing this in media outlets throughout the West, not just the US, definitely in the US, but also in Europe, we are seeing this. For example, in the Manchester attack, they called it a balloon exploding. And there were about three other headlines that I saw that said he just shouted something while he was stabbing the police officer in Michigan. And it is crazy, we have to be calling it what it is it is a terrorist attack... but we refuse even to say that. And that is exactly what these extremists, like ISIS or their adherents or radical Islamists, are using against the West, specifically in the US and Europe are these liberal values. We are trying to be politically correct, and we are so concerned about offending people that we dont even tell the truth about what is happening.

There is always going to be usually a delay because they want to get the public relations correct. But this attack would be very much similar to other attacks that have been occurring: usually, almost self-radicalized individuals, using very low-tech weapons, like a knife or a vehicle... The good news, in this case, is that no one was actually killed. And when you are using low-tech weapons, it is not going to be a spectacular attack like 9/11, with thousands of people. So that is the good news. The bad news is that there is going to be many of them, essentially the propaganda and the wars are creating this self-radicalization. Unless something is done about stopping the underlying root problems, there wont be really a way to predict and prevent these lone-wolf attacks. - Coleen Rowley, former FBI agent

RT: The more these isolated assaults take place, the more police forces seem to be struggling with defining the reasoning behind them. In your opinion, will the latest crime wave affect our common understanding of terrorism?

JB: I think we should understand it now. There are a lot of countries where you dont see these kinds of things happening. But you are seeing it in the West, in the more liberal and democratic societies where we are trying carefully not to offend. For the last eight years, in the US we had policies that prohibited our law enforcement from looking into religious facets behind extremist attacks. It means any kind of religious extremism wasnt even allowed to be investigated. Thats why it is particularly in the West because of that and [the terrorists] are using that. Hopefully, we are going to see law enforcement start to notice these patterns. And because we see these stories as they come out and say, we dont know the motivation yet. If you are connected to Islamic State, or to Islamic extremism, it is always going to be the same motivation and intent, and that is to dismantle the West. And the West has made itself a very easy target, specifically Europe and the US, by not really investigating or allowing itself to look at that for fear of offending people or offending a religion.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Visit link:

'Liberal, politically correct culture leaves West vulnerable to acts of terrorism' - RT

How Close Are We to Successfully Cloning the First Human? – Futurism

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

When Will We Clone a Human?

Human cloning may endure as one of the go-to science fiction tropes, but in reality we may be much closer to achieving it than our fictional heroes might imply. At least in terms of the science required. On of the most prominent hurdles facing us may have less to do with the process and more to do with its potential consequences, and our collective struggle to reconcile the ethics involved.That being said, while science has come a long way in the last century when it comes to cloning a menagerie of animals, cloning humans and other primates has actually proven to be incredibly difficult. While we might not be on the brink ofcloning entire human beings, were already capable of cloning human cells the question is,should we be?Click to View Full Infographic

The astoundingly complex concept of cloning boils down to a fairly simple (in theory, at least) practice:you need two cells from the same animal one of which is an egg cell from which youve removed the DNA. You take the DNA from the othersomatic cell and put it inside the devoid-of-DNA egg cell. Whatever that egg cell goes on to produce for offspring will be genetically identical to the parent cell.While human reproduction is the result of the joining of two cells (one from each parent, each with their own DNA) the cellular photocopy technique does occur in nature.Bacteria reproduce through binary fission: each time it divides, its DNA is divided too so that each new bacterium is genetically identical to its predecessor. Except sometimes mutations occur in this process and in fact, that can be by design and function as a survival mechanism. Such mutations allow bacteria to, for example, become resistant to antibiotics bent on destroying them. On the other hand,some mutations are fatal to an organism or preclude them coming into existence at all. And while it might seem like the picking-and-choosing thats inherent to cloning could sidestep these potential genetic hiccups, scientists have found thats not necessarily the case.

Image Credit: Pixabay

While Dolly the sheep might be the most famous mammal science has ever cloned, shes by no means the only one: scientists have cloned mice, cats, and several types of livestock in addition to sheep. The cloning of cows has, in recent years, provided a great deal of knowledge to scientists about why the processdoesnt work: everything from implantation failure to those aforementioned mutations that render offspring unable to survive.Harris Lewin, professor in the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, and his team published their findings on the impact cloning has ongene expression in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesback in 2016. In the studys press release Lewin noted that the findings were certainly invaluable to refining cloning techniques in mammals, but that their discoveries also reinforce the need for a strict ban on human cloning for any purposes.

The creation ofentiremammals via reproductive cloning has proven a difficult process both practically and ethnically, as legal scholar and ethicist Hank Greely of Stanford University explained toBusiness Insiderin 2016:

The cloning of human cells,however, may be a far more immediate application for humans.Researchers call it therapeutic cloning, and differentiate it from traditional cloning that has reproductive intent. In 2014, researchers created human stem cells through the same cloning technique that generated Dolly the sheep. Because stem cells can differentiate to become any kind of cell in the body, they could be utilized for a wide variety of purposes when it comes to treating diseases particularly genetic diseases, or diseases where a patient would require a transplant from an often elusive perfect match donor.This potential application is already well underway: earlier this year a woman in Japansuffering from age-related macular degeneration was treated with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells created from her own skin cells, which were then implanted into her retinas andstopped her vision from degenerating further.

We asked the Futurism community to predict when they think well be able to successfully clone a full human, and the majority of those who responded agree that it feels like were getting close: nearly 30 percent predicted well clone our first human by the 2020s. We have replaced, and replicated almost every biology on earth, said reader Alicja Laskowska, [the] next step is for cures and to do that you need clean DNA, and theres your start.

Go here to read the rest:

How Close Are We to Successfully Cloning the First Human? - Futurism

Flight demands may have steered the evolution of bird egg shape – Science News Magazine

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The mystery of why birds eggs come in so many shapes has long been up in the air. Now new research suggests adaptations for flight may have helped shape the orbs.

Stronger fliers tend to lay more elongated eggs, researchers report in the June 23 Science. The finding comes from the first large analysis of the way egg shape varies across bird species, from the almost perfectly spherical egg of the brown hawk owl to the raindrop-shaped egg of the least sandpiper.

Eggs fulfill such a specific role in birds the egg is designed to protect and nourish the chick. Why theres such diversity in form when there's such a set function was a question that we found intriguing, says study coauthor Mary Caswell Stoddard, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University.

Previous studies have suggested many possible advantages for different shapes. Perhaps cone-shaped eggs are less likely to roll out of the nest of cliff-dwelling birds; spherical eggs might be more resilient to damage in the nest. But no one had tested such hypotheses across a wide spectrum of birds.

Stoddard and her team analyzed almost 50,000 eggs from 1,400 species, representing about 14 percent of known bird species. The researchers boiled each egg down to its two-dimensional silhouette and then used an algorithm to describe each egg using two variables: how elliptical versus spherical the egg is and how asymmetrical it is whether its pointier on one end than the other.

Next, the researchers looked at the way these two traits vary across the bird family tree. One pattern jumped out: Species that are stronger fliers, as measured by wing shape, tend to lay more elliptical or asymmetrical eggs, says study coauthor L. Mahadevan, a mathematician and biologist at Harvard University.

Story continues after graphic

By examining the eggs of 1,400 species (each species average egg is represented on this scatterplot by an pale orange dot), researchers found that the shape of bird eggs is determined by two variables: ellipticity and asymmetry. Dark orange dots mark species highlighted as examples.

Mahadevan cautions that the data show only an association, but the researchers propose one possible explanation for the link between flying and egg shape. Adapting to flight streamlined bird bodies, perhaps also narrowing the reproductive tract. That narrowing would have limited the width of an egg that a female could lay. But since eggs provide nutrition for the chick growing inside, shrinking eggs too much would deprive the developing bird. Elongated eggs might have been a compromise between keeping egg volume up without increasing girth, Stoddard suggests. Asymmetry can increase egg volume in a similar way.

Testing a causal connection between flight ability and egg shape is tough because of course we cant replay the whole tape of life again, says Claire Spottiswoode, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge who wrote a commentary accompanying the study. Still, Spottiswoode says the evidence is compelling: Its a very plausible argument.

Santiago Claramunt, associate curator of ornithology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, isnt convinced that flight adaptations played a driving role in the evolution of egg shape. Streamlining in birds is determined more by plumage than the shape of the body high performing fliers can have rounded, bulky bodies he says, which wouldnt give elongated eggs the same advantage over other egg shapes. He cites frigate birds and swifts as examples, both of which make long-distance flights but have fairly broad bodies. There's certainly more going on there.

Indeed, some orders of birds showed a much stronger link between flying and egg shape than others did. And while other factors like where birds lay their eggs and how many they lay at once werent significantly related to egg shape across birds as a whole, they could be important within certain branches of the bird family tree.

See the original post here:

Flight demands may have steered the evolution of bird egg shape - Science News Magazine

Researchers use supercomputers to study snake evolution, unique traits – Phys.Org

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

June 22, 2017 by Aaron Dubrow A Burmese python superimposed on an analysis of gene expression that uncovers how the species changes in its organs upon feeding. Credit: Todd Castoe

Evolution takes eons, but it leaves marks on the genomes of organisms that can be detected with DNA sequencing and analysis.

As methods for studying and comparing genetic data improve, scientists are beginning to decode these marks to reconstruct the evolutionary history of species, as well as how variants of genes give rise to unique traits.

A research team at the University of Texas at Arlington led by assistant professor of biology Todd Castoe has been exploring the genomes of snakes and lizards to answer critical questions about these creatures' evolutionary history. For instance, how did they develop venom? How do they regenerate their organs? And how do evolutionarily-derived variations in genes lead to variations in how organisms look and function?

"Some of the most basic questions drive our research. Yet trying to understand the genetic explanations of such questions is surprisingly difficult considering most vertebrate genomes, including our own, are made up of literally billions of DNA bases that can determine how an organism looks and functions," says Castoe. "Understanding these links between differences in DNA and differences in form and function is central to understanding biology and disease, and investigating these critical links requires massive computing power."

To uncover new insights that link variation in DNA with variation in vertebrate form and function, Castoe's group uses supercomputing and data analysis resources at the Texas Advanced Computing Center or TACC, one of the world's leading centers for computational discovery.

Recently, they used TACC's supercomputers to understand the mechanisms by which Burmese pythons regenerate their organsincluding their heart, liver, kidney, and small intestinesafter feeding.

Burmese pythons (as well as other snakes) massively downregulate their metabolic and physiological functions during extended periods of fasting. During this time their organs atrophy, saving energy. However, upon feeding, the size and function of these organs, along with their ability to generate energy, dramatically increase to accommodate digestion.

Within 48 hours of feeding, Burmese pythons can undergo up to a 44-fold increase in metabolic rate and the mass of their major organs can increase by 40 to 100 percent.

Writing in BMC Genomics in May 2017, the researchers described their efforts to compare gene expression in pythons that were fasting, one day post-feeding and four days post-feeding. They sequenced pythons in these three states and identified 1,700 genes that were significantly different pre- and post-feeding. They then performed statistical analyses to identify the key drivers of organ regeneration across different types of tissues.

What they found was that a few sets of genes were influencing the wholesale change of pythons' internal organ structure. Key proteins, produced and regulated by these important genes, activated a cascade of diverse, tissue-specific signals that led to regenerative organ growth.

Intriguingly, even mammalian cells have been shown to respond to serum produced by post-feeding pythons, suggesting that the signaling function is conserved across species and could one day be used to improve human health.

"We're interested in understanding the molecular basis of this phenomenon to see what genes are regulated related to the feeding response," says Daren Card, a doctoral student in Castoe's lab and one of the authors of the study. "Our hope is that we can leverage our understanding of how snakes accomplish organ regeneration to one day help treat human diseases."

Making Evolutionary Sense of Secondary Contact

Castoe and his team used a similar genomic approach to understand gene flow in two closely related species of western rattlesnakes with an intertwined genetic history.

The two species live on opposite sides of the Continental Divide in Mexico and the U.S. They were separated for thousands of years and evolved in response to different climates and habitat. However, over time their geographic ranges came back together to the point that the rattlesnakes began to crossbreed, leading to hybrids, some of which live in a region between the two distinct climates.

The work was motivated by a desire to understand what forces generate and maintain distinct species, and how shifts in the ranges of species (for example, due to global change) may impact species and speciation.

The researchers compared thousands of genes in the rattlesnakes' nuclear DNA to study genomic differentiation between the two lineages. Their comparisons revealed a relationship between genetic traits that are most important in evolution during isolation and those that are most important during secondary contact, with greater-than-expected overlap between genes in these two scenarios.

However, they also found regions of the rattlesnake genome that are important in only one of these two scenarios. For example, genes functioning in venom composition and in reproductive differencesdistinct traits that are important for adaptation to the local habitatlikely diverged under selection when these species were isolated. They also found other sets of genes that were not originally important for diversification of form and function, that later became important in reducing the viability of hybrids. Overall, their results provide a genome-scale perspective on how speciation might work that can be tested and refined in studies of other species.

The team published their results in the April 2017 issue of Ecology and Evolution.

The Role of Supercomputing in Genomics Research

The studies performed by members of the Castoe lab rely on advanced computing for several aspects of the research. First, they use advanced computing to create genome assembliesputting millions of small chunks of DNA in the correct order.

"Vertebrate genomes are typically on the larger side, so it takes a lot of computational power to assemble them," says Card. "We use TACC a lot for that."

Next, the researchers use advanced computing to compare the results among many different samples, from multiple lineages, to identify subtle differences and patterns that would not be distinguishable otherwise.

Castoe's lab has their own in-house computers, but they fall short of what is needed to perform all of the studies the group is interested in working on.

"In terms of genome assemblies and the very intensive analyses we do, accessing larger resources from TACC is advantageous," Card says. "Certain things benefit substantially from the general output from TACC machines, but they also allow us to run 500 jobs at the same time, which speeds up the research process considerably."

A third computer-driven approach lets the team simulate the process of genetic evolution over millions of generations using synthetic biological data to deduce the rules of evolution, and to identify genes that may be important for adaptation.

For one such project, the team developed a new software tool called GppFst that allows researchers to differentiate genetic drift - a neutral process whereby genes and gene sequences naturally change due to random mating within a population - from genetic variations that are indicative of evolutionary changes caused by natural selection.

The tool uses simulations to statistically determine which changes are meaningful and can help biologists better understand the processes that underlie genetic variation. They described the tool in the May 2017 issue of Bioinformatics.

Lab members are able to access TACC resources through a unique initiative, called the University of Texas Research Cyberinfrastructure, which gives researchers from the state's 14 public universities and health centers access to TACC's systems and staff expertise.

"It's been integral to our research," said Richard Adams, another doctoral student in Castoe's group and the developer of GppFst. "We simulate large numbers of different evolutionary scenarios. For each, we want to have hundreds of replicates, which are required to fully vet our conclusions. There's no way to do that on our in-house systems. It would take 10 to 15 years to finish what we would need to do with our own machinesfrankly, it would be impossible without the use of TACC systems."

Though the roots of evolutionary biology can be found in field work and close observation, today, the field is deeply tied to computing, since the scale of genetic materialtiny but voluminouscannot be viewed with the naked eye or put in order by an individual.

"The massive scale of genomes, together with rapid advances in gathering genome sequence information, has shifted the paradigm for many aspects of life science research," says Castoe.

"The bottleneck for discovery is no longer the generation of data, but instead is the analysis of such massive datasets. Data that takes less than a few weeks to generate can easily take years to analyze, and flexible shared supercomputing resources like TACC have become more critical than ever for advancing discovery in our field, and broadly for the life sciences."

Explore further: Team proposes new model for snake venom evolution

More information: Audra L. Andrew et al, Growth and stress response mechanisms underlying post-feeding regenerative organ growth in the Burmese python, BMC Genomics (2017). DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-3743-1

Technology that can map out the genes at work in a snake or lizard's mouth has, in many cases, changed the way scientists define an animal as venomous. If oral glands show expression of some of the 20 gene families associated ...

The Burmese python's ability to ramp up its metabolism and enlarge its organs to swallow and digest prey whole can be traced to unusually rapid evolution and specialized adaptations of its genes and the way they work, an ...

Senckenberg scientists have sequenced the entire genomes of four bear species, making it now possible to analyze the evolutionary history of all bears at the genome level. It shows that gene flow, or gene exchange, between ...

In a new study, researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science examined how the interaction of two genomes in animal cellsthe mitochondrial and nuclear genomesinteract ...

Only a few genetic changes are needed to spur the evolution of new specieseven if the original populations are still in contact and exchanging genes. Once started, however, evolutionary divergence evolves rapidly, ultimately ...

Researchers at the Centre for Crop and Disease Management are using big data approaches to study fungal genome evolution, which will one day lead to a better understanding of crop protection.

The evolution of the amniotic eggcomplete with membrane and shellwas key to vertebrates leaving the oceans and colonizing the land and air. Now, 360 million years later, bird eggs come in all shapes and sizes, from ...

Amid the incredible diversity of living things on our planet, there is a common theme. Organisms need to acquire new genes, or change the functions of existing genes, in order to adapt and survive.

Scientists are providing the clearest view yet of an intact bacterial microcompartment, revealing at atomic-level resolution the structure and assembly of the organelle's protein shell.

Honeybees may not need key brain structures known as mushroom bodies in order to learn complex associations between odors and rewards, according to new research published in PLOS Computational Biology.

(Phys.org)A team of researchers with the EcoHealth Alliance has narrowed down the list of animal species that may harbor viruses likely to jump to humans. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group outlines ...

Specialized cells in the gut sense potentially noxious chemicals and trigger electrical impulses in nearby nerve fibers, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco scientists. "These cells are sensors, like a window ...

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Go here to see the original:

Researchers use supercomputers to study snake evolution, unique traits - Phys.Org

Are aliens more likely by design than black holes? – SYFY WIRE (blog)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Darwinism extends far beyond Earths atmosphere, something Darwin himself could probably never even imagine. Cosmological natural selection (CNS) is based on its biological doppelganger, but evolutionist Michael Price has taken it where no theory has gone before.

Theoretical physicist Lee Smolin had previously suggested that black holes are adaptations of CNS, just as claws or night vision are adaptations born of biological natural selection. He theorized that life emerges from the selection of black holes because universes supposedly self-replicate through them, so those with more gravitationally superpowered star corpses have the advantage. Price has turned Smolins theory inside out to propose that it is actually intelligent life that is more likely to be an adaptation of CNS that results in universes replicating themselvesaka CNS with intelligence.

"Living organisms are the least entropic, that is, the most complexly ordered and improbable entities known to exist," Price insists in defense of his reverse theory that sees life as an adaptation rather than a by-product of universe replication.

The same biological natural selection that generates complex order and decelerating entropy is believed to have a mirror image in the cosmos. Cosmological natural selection depends on the existence of intelligent life because it is much less likely to spawn at random than a black hole, not to mention the most complex thing we know of and the one entity in the cosmos least prone to decay and degeneration.

Even before natural selection shot off into space, Darwin was onto something. Bio-natural selection is entropys worst enemy because it creates organisms rather than destroying them. Everything crawling, flying or swimming around Earth today is here because they run on genes with the most potential for survival. Not having an immune system resistant enough to killer microbes or teeth deadly enough to demolish prey meant your bloodline would perish, while having these survival traits meant your DNA would also survive. Universes with intelligent life (as compared to those without that cosmological boost) are assumed to level up the same way.

This doesnt necessarily send Smolins theory into the chasm of a black hole. While intelligent life may be the ultimate CNS adaptation, black holes could still be the reason universes beget other universes.

CNS may be the ultimate primary cause of cosmological order, just as BNS is the ultimate primary cause of biological order, said Price. In other words, BNS and CNS may together be ultimately responsible for much of the order that we observe in the universe.

(via Phys.org)

Go here to read the rest:

Are aliens more likely by design than black holes? - SYFY WIRE (blog)

From the Recesses of My Mind – ChicagoNow (blog)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

It was sort of like waiting for the other shoe to drop. You knew it was going to happen, you just didn't know when. Trumpcare! Now it's here and a joyful noise can be heard throughout the land. Well, perhaps not if you're poor and on Medicaid. But I'm sure tax accountants and tax attorneys have broken out the cases of Dom Perignon they put into storage at the beginning of the Obama Administration. As I wrote the other day, Trumpcare will hurt. We just didn't appreciate how much.

I suppose I could steep myself in the minutiae of the new American Health Care Act in order to truly appreciate the extent of the suffering it will impose. But it seems to me in this particular instance that the WHAT is not nearly as important as the WHY. While it wasn't altogether successful, the intent of the Affordable Care Act was to extend the benefits of the American health care system to as many Americans as possible. The intent of the American Health Care Act, on the other hand, is to limit access to quality, affordable health care to the privileged few. It's as simple as that.

Lurking beneath the surface, however, is the question that should be gnawing away at America's soul. Why would anyone want to limit sick people's access to health care? Doesn't that seem unreasonably cruel? Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Republican Party believes, as a matter of principle, that if you cannot afford medical care, you don't deserve it. Simple. Straight forward. To the point. Health care is a privilege for those willing and able to pay. The indigent and the financially struggling are simply on their own. One way to express it is Social Darwinism.

At its core, this is the opening shot in the Republican version of class warfare. In times past, Republicans would pull out that old chestnut in order to oppose any type of legislation they deemed contrary to the best interests of the wealthy. Genuine tax reform and the elimination of arcane tax loopholes, a rise in the income tax rate on the very rich, means testing for Social Security. All these proposals were equated with the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution.

But ever since January 20, 2017, class warfare has taken on a much more insidious face. The assault on America's economic underclass has become more direct and much more destructive. Today it's health care. Tomorrow it will be an attack on America's system of public education with the rise of non-union charter schools and the spread of school vouchers to further undermine American public education. In time, America's labor unions will come into the cross hairs, limiting the right of American citizens to band together for the purpose of collective bargaining. Next perhaps will see the end of any and all environmental regulations, making asthma and other respiratory diseases much more prevalent, especially in poor, urban areas. Finally will come the piece de resistance, severe voter suppression laws, thus making even the exercise of our voter franchise a privilege rather than a right. In that way it will make getting a redress of grievances that much more difficult, if not altogether impossible.

This isn't about a philosophy of government or a a string of public policy decisions. It's about how some people in the American ruling class view human life. Charles Darwin noted that, in nature, it was called survival of the fittest, and that's pretty much what it boils down to. The "worthy" rise to the top, where they belong. The rest of us are there merely to serve our betters. Period. Oh, they may not express it quite so dramatically, but that's the gist of it just the same.

It's important to understand one thing about this sorry state of affairs. We of America's economic underclass GAVE our wealthy brethren carte blanche. Don't believe it? Well, a self-professed billionaire now sits in the White House, when he isn't traipsing about Mar A Lago playing golf. The minions of America's upper class now control the other two branches of government. Ordinary citizens have been consigned to standing room only on the outside of the seat of power.

That's bad enough. But what we must all come to understand is that America's economic elite didn't stage a coup in order to seize power. We poor folk naively handed that power over to them. So that when the last door is locked and we have all be exiled to a permanent position of subservience in President Trump's even greater America, we ordinary citizens will only have had ourselves to blame.

Original post:

From the Recesses of My Mind - ChicagoNow (blog)

Germany’s biggest industrial robotics company is working on consumer robots – The Verge

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

You might not have heard of Kuka, but youll almost certainly know its products. The German firm is one of the worlds top manufacturers of industrial robots, and its robot arms are instantly recognizable thanks to their signature orange livery. But in the future, Kukas robots might become an even more familiar sight, with the company saying its now exploring the world of consumer robotics.

together we want to do consumer robotics.

In an interview with the Financial Times, CEO Till Reuter said the change was being pushed by Kukas new parent company, Chinese home appliance maker Midea. Midea is not doing any robotics or automation, so Kuka is automation for Midea, Reuter told the FT. And they are very well connected to the consumer industry. So together we want to do consumer robotics.

Midea bought Kuka last year for 4.5 billion. The Chinese firm makes a wide range of products for the home, including air con systems, washing machines, ovens, fridges, and more. Its not clear what sort of product Midea is aiming to produce, but Kukas expertise in automating heavy-duty physical tasks suggests the companies would be looking beyond simple home-hub robots. Instead, they might set their sights on more complex robot assistants, able to help with tasks like looking after the elderly. Robots like these are under development in a number of countries, including Japan, which faces the challenge of looking after an aging population.

Building a robot designed to work closely with humans would fit Kukas evolving interests, which have moved from just static industrial robots, to smaller bots that work side by side with people. These include its iiwa range of bots (the name stands for intelligent industrial work assistant) which are designed to give factory workers a third hand. Kuka told the FT: We come from this direction to the consumer market; Midea comes from the other direction and we meet in the middle.

Read this article:

Germany's biggest industrial robotics company is working on consumer robots - The Verge

The industrial robotics market will nearly triple in less than 10 years – Recode

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Most of the robots around the world are shipped to factories, where the machines will be used to make other machines, like cars, laptops and dishwashers.

As more people buy more new gadgets, the market for the industrial robots that build devices is poised to grow 175 percent over the next nine years, according to data from the International Federation of Robotics and Loup Ventures.

But the driver of much of that growth isnt going to be from the room-sized metal industrial arms that have been piecing together cars for decades.

Rather, a new generation of manufacturing robots is emerging that is more collaborative, smaller and more perceptive than traditional machinery. Collaborative robots, which Loup projects will account for 34 percent of the industrial robots sold by 2025, are designed to work safely with and alongside people in factories.

In 2016, collaborative robots only represented 3 percent of industrial robots sold.

These robots are smaller and have more sensors, which help them react faster and with more intelligence when approaching another object or a human, so as not to apply too much force and stop operating when appropriate.

Collaborative robots are generally cheaper than traditional robots too, ranging from $25,000 to $45,000, whereas traditional factory floor robots can cost upward of $100,000 each.

That cheaper price tag, combined with the fact that the collaborative robotic arms are typically also smaller and have more nimble movements, could open the doors to more types of manufacturing plants to start to adopt robots on their production lines.

Heres an example of a collaborative robot named Baxter made by Rethink Robotics, a U.S.-based robot manufacturer.

In another example, a medical device manufacturer that runs a smaller factory might be able to start automating some of its assembly line using smaller, less-expensive collaborative robots; traditional industrial robots were typically too big, dangerous or expensive to install to be worth the investment.

Robots for automotive manufacturing currently make up the bulk of the industrial robots sold in the world. But as robots get smaller, cheaper and become better at working alongside humans, Loup predicts robots in electronics manufacturing will match the demand of robots in automotive factories by 2025.

This year, the market value of industrial robots worldwide is estimated to hit $14 billion, up 13 percent from last year, according to the data from the International Federation of Robotics and Loup, with more than 20 percent more units sold than in 2016.

And by 2025, the market for industrial robots is projected to balloon to $33.8 billion. To put that in perspective, in 2016 the global industrial robot market was valued at $12.3 billion. So in less than 10 years, the market value of industrial robots could nearly triple.

Growth is already under way. Factories are actually buying a lot more robots now than they have in previous years. In North America alone there were 32 percent more robots bought in the first quarter of 2017 than at the same time last year. But more robots sold doesnt mean the market value of the industry will rise at the same rate, since the uptick in sales, in part, is due to the price of robots going down.

Additional reporting by Rani Molla.

Here is the original post:

The industrial robotics market will nearly triple in less than 10 years - Recode

Reduce, reuse, recycle and robots? – Boulder Weekly

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

At Alpine Waste and Recycling in Denver, Clarke uses its suction cup arm to sort through cartons from the conveyor belt alongside his fellow human workers. Its camera identifies a carton and the robotic arm quickly swoops down to grab it and toss it into a bin. This innovation in recycling is transforming the industry, making it more efficient and cost effective, while also filling labor shortages.

Clarke, named after the sci-fi author Sir Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame, is a recycling robot created by Autonomous Manipulation and Perception Robotics (AMP). Founder Matanya Horowitz, stumbled on recycling when looking for different sectors where artificial intelligence (AI) might be useful.

Right now recycling takes a tremendous amount of manual labor. Its a very challenging job; its very dirty, it smells bad, Horowitz says. Theres a lot of materials so you have to concentrate pretty hard.

As a result, retaining employees in material recovery facilities (MRF), where recycling sorting occurs, is difficult. Ive never seen a recycling facility without a now hiring sign out front, he says.

However, robots like Clarke are helping to change that by taking over some of the more labor-intensive tasks difficult for humans. They can, for example, handle dangerous materials found during sorting such as knives and hypodermic needles.

Robots can also recycle at a much faster rate and with more accuracy than human sorters. For example, Clarke can sort up to 60 cartons per minute, whereas humans usually only sort around 40 cartons per minute. Even better, Clarke can do it all with 95 percent accuracy. Plus, with the use of AI software, technology like Clarke will continually update to recognize new packaging.

They (the robots) have flexibility and the ability to take on new materials naturally without really changing the way the system works, Horowitz says. This will give MRFs the ability to have a higher rate of quality during sorting, and therefore gain more revenue from the materials they sell.

Another key to AMP Robotics technology is accessibility. We think its important to hit a really quick payback period, Horowitz says. He states that cost concerns for the robot are much lower than usual for the industry, which normally has a payback period of four to five years. AMP Robotics payback period is usually less than two, making it easier for MRFs to adopt the technology.

Alpine Waste and Recycling, which was the first MRF to allow AMP Robotics to pilot Clarke in their facility, recognized the potential of this new technology right away.

The future of the industry is finding ways to divert more types of materials, says Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling at Alpine. Technology is probably going to play a pretty big part of that.

Looking to further improve the efficiency of MRFs like Alpine, AMP Robotics is now working on other pilot programs that recognize different types of waste other than cartons for sorting. New projects addressing plastics, electronics and construction and demolition material will most likely be announced this year.

The Carton Council, formed in 2009, also contributed to AMP Robotics pilot program, consisting of leading carton manufacturers Elopak, SIG Combibloc, Evergreen Packaging and Tetra Pak, and associate member, Nippon Dynawave. The Council provided a grant to Alpine Waste and Recycling in order to install Clarke at their facility, and also hopes to see the use of this technology become popular among other MRFs.

The technology has widespread implications for carton recycling and the broader recycling industry, says Derric Brown, Carton Council member and director of sustainability for the Carton Council of North America and for Evergreen Packaging, via email. It can be adapted to other materials, including those considered hard to sort due to their shape or size or low volume in the recycling stream.

In the future, Alpine Waste and Recycling hopes to continue to find more ways to innovate in not only their facility, but the whole industry. If the technology continues to grow like it has over the last year, it will be one of the next important pieces to MRF operations, which helps drive those costs which on the supply chain will be passed along to the curbside recycling to make it more cost effective down the road, Hildebrand says. It will not only help our MRF but also MRFs across the country.

For now, Clarke stays busy at the facility in Denver sorting cartons, all while changing the face of the recycling industry.

Read the original:

Reduce, reuse, recycle and robots? - Boulder Weekly

Toy maker Sphero is starting a new company to put advanced robots in the home – The Verge

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Sphero is best known as the creator of toy robots, including popular movie merch for films like Star Wars, Cars, and Spider-Man. But the company has grander ambitions than that: today it announced that it has spun off its advanced robotics division to create a new firm, Misty Robotics, with the goal of putting a personal robot in every home and office.

Misty isnt sharing many details on what these bots will look like, and, according to a report from TechCrunch, the companys first products will be targeted at the hobbyist/maker market. The image below supposedly shows an early prototype, although its not clear exactly what were looking at. Perhaps the head of a home hub bot, like the Kuri or the Jibo? Its possible, though these bots are essentially glorified tablets-on-wheels, and their functionality has mostly been usurped by smart speakers from Amazon and Google. Misty has hinted its bots will be more sophisticated than that.

Its clear, though, that Misty has big ambitions, and is going to be moving slowly toward building more functional home robots. In a press release, the company says that robots in the future will be seen and treated as our friends, our teammates, and a part of our families, and will perform helpful tasks as well as interacting with humans in entertaining and friendly ways.

Misty Robotics has raised $11.5 million in initial funding, and employs a number of former Sphero employees, including co-founder Ian Bernstein, now Mistys head of product. Tim Enwall, who founded home automation company Revolv (before it was bought and killed off by Google) is taking on the role of CEO.

Soon robots will be a constant touchpoint throughout our lives, becoming commonplace and serving a variety of purposes that are very different than what exists today, said Bernstein in a press release. My vision is for Misty Robotics to lead this charge toward delivering the future we were all promised.

See the original post here:

Toy maker Sphero is starting a new company to put advanced robots in the home - The Verge

Ryerson and McMaster Universities launch joint robotics research project – BetaKit

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Ryerson University and McMaster University have launched the Smart Robots for Health Communication project, a joint research initiative dedicated to introducing social robotics and AI in clinical health care.

The Smart Robots for Health Communication project is a collaboration between David Harris Smith, a professor in the department of communication studies and multimedia at McMaster; Frauke Zeller, professor in the school of professional communication at Ryerson; and Hermenio Lima, a dermatologist and professor of medicine at McMasters school of medicine.

Ryerson and McMaster universities said they will use Softbanks humanoid robot Pepper and IBM Bluemix Watson Cognitive Services to study health information exchange. Through the project, the universities hope to develop and analyze physical and virtual human-robot interactions, which can also lead to insights on how to better understand patient behavior.

We see this as the initiation of an ongoing collaborative university and industry research program to develop and test applications of embodied AI, a research program that is well-positioned to integrate and apply emerging improvements in machine learning and social robotics innovations, said Harris Smith.

We are excited to have the opportunity to potentially transform patient engagement in a clinical setting. Hermenio Lima

Zeller said Pepper, which is capable of reading emotions, moving, and adapting to its environment, will help the universities identify important aspects and motives of human behavior and communication. The universities also said that with the support of IBM Canada and SOSCIP which are supporting the integration of IBM Watson and Pepper the researchers will gain access to high-performance research computing resources and staff in Ontario.

Zeller and Harris Smith have previously worked together on hitchBOT, a hitchhiking robot that travelled across Canada and the United States. Pepper was funded by the Co-lab at Ryersons faculty of communication and design.

We are excited to have the opportunity to potentially transform patient engagement in a clinical setting, and ultimately improve healthcare outcomes by adapting to clients communications needs, said Lima.

More here:

Ryerson and McMaster Universities launch joint robotics research project - BetaKit

A3 Fall Conferences Spur Manufacturing Growth and the Creation of Entirely New Categories of Jobs – Robotics Online (press release)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Robotic Industries Association Posted 06/22/2017

Conferences Provide In-Depth Training in Robot Safety, Motion Control, Vision Systems, and Collaborative Robots

ANN ARBOR, MI. Today, theAssociation for Advancing Automation(A3), the leading global advocate for the benefits of automating, announced a series of fall conferences that align with some of the hottest jobs of the future while providing insight into the latest automation innovations, in-depth technical training, practical strategies, and networking opportunities. Together, the three events address disciplines central to automationrobot safety, motion control, motor technologies, vision systems, and collaborative robots.

Automation technologies are fueling entirely new categories of jobsreally creating the jobs of the futurein addition to enabling companies to become more productive and create higher-quality products in safer environments, said Jeff Burnstein, A3 president. From instruction on implementing robot safety measures to helping attendees understand the latest collaborative robot, vision and motion control technologies, these conferences will present valuable training and networking opportunities while also, assisting companies in moving forward with automation advances. This enables them to grow their businesses, be more competitive in the global marketplace, and enrich the economic ecosystems of their communities.

National Robot Safety Conference: Oct 1012, Pittsburgh, PA The 29th annual National Robot Safety Conference will help businesses reduce risk by ensuring personnel are familiar with robot and machine safety as well as current robot safety standards. Industry leaders will provide real-world examples and identify best practices on how to incorporate safety into existing and new projects. In-depth sessions will cover:

MCMA TechCon: Oct 16-18, Minneapolis, MN This conference will include educational sessions and strategies for motion control, motor, and automation technologies and provide practical how-to information that everyone from machine builders and integrators to engineers designing systems can take back and implement. Sessions are taught by industry experts, and attendees have a chance to meet one-on-one with expert advisors, engineers, and technical staff as well as to network with other technology users.

Collaborative Robots & Advanced Vision Conference: Nov 1516, San Jose, CA Bringing together two disruptive technologiescollaborative robots and visionthat are extending automation capabilities, this conference will provide educational seminars and strategy sessions for collaborative robot users, suppliers, and integrators as well as an opportunity to showcase the latest technologies. In addition to receiving a detailed overview of ISO/TS 15066 Safety for collaborative applications, attendees will learn how machine vision and sensing is used in collaborative robot technologies.

About Association for Advancing Automation (A3) The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) is the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 promotes automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done. A3 is the umbrella group for Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA - Advancing Vision + Imaging, Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA), and A3 Mexico. RIA, AIA, MCMA, and A3 Mexico combined represent over 1,000 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, distributors, system integrators, end users, research groups, and consulting firms worldwide that drive automation forward. For more information, please visit our websites:A3;RIA;.AIA;MCMA;A3 Mexico.

Go here to read the rest:

A3 Fall Conferences Spur Manufacturing Growth and the Creation of Entirely New Categories of Jobs - Robotics Online (press release)

Is Chrome OS right for you? A 3-question quiz to find out – Computerworld

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Google's Chrome OS is one of the world's most misunderstood computing platforms. Chromebooks are foundationally different from traditional PCs, after all -- and consequently, there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work and what they can and cannot do.

Since people are always asking me whether a Chromebook might be right for their needs, I thought I'd put together a quick guide to help any such wonderers figure it out. Whether it's you or someone you know who's curious, the following three questions should help shed some light on what the platform's all about and for whom it makes sense.

Think carefully here, as the answer might surprise you: What do you do most often on a computer?

If the majority of your time is spent in a web browser -- whether it's reading news stories, surfing social media, or using web-centric services like Gmail and Google Docs -- then Chrome OS would probably meet your needs just fine. In fact, there's a good chance it'd actually make things easier than what you're used to with a traditional PC setup (more on why in a minute).

Now, it's important to note that just because something is "web-centric" doesn't necessarily mean you have to be online in order for it to work. One of the most common misconceptions I hear about Chromebooks is that they're completely useless without an active internet connection. In reality, a huge and ever-expanding number of Chrome OS-compatible apps works both online and off, including things like Gmail and Google Docs as well as calculator apps, calendar apps, news-reading apps, games, and even Google Play Movies. (You can browse through the "Offline" section of Google's Chrome Web Store for many more examples.)

The truth is that for most people, using a Chromebook offline isn't terribly different than using a traditional PC offline. You aren't going to be able to get on the web or download new content, obviously, but aside from things that inherently require an active connection, there isn't a heck of a lot you'd want to do that wouldn't be available.

Take a moment to think about what programs you use that are locally installed on your PC -- things like word processors, email apps, image and video editing software, resource-intensive games, or specialty software you need for your work.

Now think about how many of those programs could or couldn't be replaced with web-centric equivalents and/or Android apps -- the latter of which are now available to install and use on a growing number of Chrome OS devices (and make no mistake about it: Their presence is a pretty big deal).

If you use Outlook for email, for instance, would you be okay with using either Microsoft's Outlook.com or Google's Gmail instead -- or with using the Outlook Android app? If you rely on Microsoft Word on your PC, would Microsoft's Office Online app or Google's Google Docs utility do the trick just as well -- or could you get by with the Word Android app, which requires an active subscription for full editing functionality? If you use Adobe Photoshop for image editing, would a web-centric suite like Pixlr be powerful enough for your needs -- or would one of the many Android photo-editing apps (Adobe-made or otherwise) be sufficient for your needs?

If the answers are "yes" or even "maybe," then Chrome OS could work for you. If, however, you have specific local software that you absolutely need and that has no suitable web-centric or Android app equivalent, moving into a Chromebook might be a stretch. While Chrome OS has plenty of viable options for common everyday computing tasks, you aren't going to find any robust multimedia editors designed for the web, nor will you find web-centric versions of many specialty business programs that were created with Windows in mind. The Android app availability may fill some of those voids, but it can't cover all of them (especially when it comes to the custom corporate program category).

There is one more asterisk to that: Google offers a simple tool called Chrome Remote Desktop that lets you tap into a traditional PC from a Chromebook and work on it remotely. With that tool, you can effectively use local PC software via the Chromebook, provided you have a PC that's on and available for the remote session. It's not entirely ideal, but depending on your situation and how often you use the local PC software, it might be enough to bridge the gap.

This is the real test. And let's be clear: In order for this to work, you'll probably have to make some adjustments to your routine -- switching to web-centric apps like Docs for word processing if you haven't already, uploading any pertinent files to an online storage service like Dropbox or Drive, and so forth. Spend a few minutes browsing through the Chrome Web Store to find the tools you need, then give it an honest go.

Optional: If you feel like you need the presence of Android apps to bridge the gap, grab Bluestacks -- a free PC- and Mac-compatible program that lets you use Android apps on a traditional-OS computer. It isn't perfect and is far less native-feeling than what you'll get with Chrome OS (it basically just puts an emulated Android tablet into a window on your screen, and you then click around on it to install and run whatever apps you want), but for these test-run purposes, it should be good enough to give you a basic idea of what sorts of things you will and won't be able to do.

If you can ignore your local PC programs for a week and get everything you need accomplished in your browser and/or in Android apps without much trouble, Chrome OS will definitely work for you. If it's a struggle, you may want to think twice about going the Chromebook route.

Now, keep in mind that this is merely a simulation -- a test of the basic tools and limitations of the Chrome OS environment. Crucially, while the limitations are similar, using only a browser on a PC is not the same experience you'd get on an actual Chromebook, Android apps or not. (That's another one of those pesky Chrome OS myths.)

As I've noted before, the reason Chrome OS doesn't run regular local apps and act like a traditional PC environment is because the type of person the platform is designed for doesn't need regular local apps or a traditional PC environment -- and eliminating those elements allows some attractive benefits to be added in.

To quote a devastatingly handsome writer I know:

Startup speed aside, the Chrome OS systems make a lot of things about traditional computing environments feel outdated: the cumbersome setup and installation procedures; the annoying and time-consuming OS upgrades; the need to manually update applications over time; the need to use antivirus software (and the accompanying likelihood and potential consequences of infection); the reliance on complicated drivers; and the inevitable bogged-down, slowed-down effect that always seems to happen to PCs after you've had 'em for a few months.

Plain and simple, for folks sold on the cloud-centric concept, Chrome OS can take much of the hassle out of computing -- because as a result of the platform's very nature, you don't have to deal with the types of annoyances mentioned above. By utilizing Google's universal syncing system, the OS also allows any Chromebook to look and act like your own personal machine within moments of your signing in. All of your data, settings, extensions, and applications are instantly and continuously synced across all systems, so you're never tied down to any one device.

With all of those advantages, a Chromebook can be a refreshing alternative to the traditional PC environment -- if it makes sense for your needs. And it certainly won't make sense for everyone.

Answer the three questions above, and you'll know if it does for you.

NEXT: 6 important things you might not know about Chrome OS upgrades

Read the original post:

Is Chrome OS right for you? A 3-question quiz to find out - Computerworld

Mum drops off daughter at college then sends her hilarious texts with football team – NEWS.com.au

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Daughter receives hilarious text from mum at her college.

STARTING at a new school, university or workplace can be quite daunting, especially if youre doing it all alone.

But for one student in the US the experience was completely different.

Avery Leilani attended the Texas State freshman orientation day with her mum you know those uncomfortable events where a really passionate student takes you on a tour and you try and make new friends? Well, yes those.

But as Avery went off to do her own thing she received a strange text from her mum.

The text said, I made some friends. Dont wait up.

And then the photos came.

The young students mum was pictured among some very toned members of the college football team.

My mum dropped me off today for College freshman orientation and she sends me this ... Avery posted the string of messages to Twitter and it quickly went viral.

Since uploading it online the post has been retweeted more than 97,000 times with nearly half a million likes.

One Twitter user responded our mums should be friends, and shared a photo of her mum doing the exact same thing. Youre not alone, Avery.

We dont know why, but this scene from Mean Girls comes to mind ...

The best scene in Mean Girls.Source:YouTube

Original post:

Mum drops off daughter at college then sends her hilarious texts with football team - NEWS.com.au

Scammers selling fake cures for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are getting away with it – The Verge

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Nearly one-third of the advertisements for memory-boosting supplements reviewed by a government watchdog may be illegally claiming to cure or prevent diseases like Parkinsons or Alzheimers, according to a recent report. The report suggests that government regulation is failing to keep up with the growing supplement industry, but regulators arent prepared to actually fix the problem at its root.

Don't take your supplements lightly.

Over two months, investigators from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sorted through memory supplement marketing online, in print, on TV, and in stores. After analyzing 91 advertisements and labels in depth, they discovered 28 ads for 34 supplements that claimed a product could protect against or treat dementia, Parkinsons disease, or Alzheimers disease. Thats illegal; claims that a pill or concoction can treat, cure, or prevent diseases have to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The dietary supplement industry is massive, raking in an estimated $39 billion in sales in 2015. The portion catering to customers who want to improve their memories is growing nearly doubling from $353 million in 2006 to $643 million in 2015. Most of the advertising for these drugs is online, the GAO found. And the supplement makers are minimally regulated. Products can hit the shelves without being tested for safety or efficacy, and, often, without their labels being vetted for accuracy. "Its a challenge to take on an industry that's this large, says FDA spokesperson Lyndsay Meyer.

"Its a challenge to take on an industry that's this large.

The Senate Committee on Aging was concerned that aging consumers might be especially vulnerable to claims that one weird trick could stave off senior moments, so it asked the GAO to check in. The GAO shared the 28 examples it found with the FDA, which agreed 27 of them may have violated the law that generally bars supplement manufacturers from making disease claims.

But the agency has only taken action against a couple of the companies. It sent a warning letter to Utah-based Lifevantage Corp, and two online advisory letters to companies making similar statements: Healinginabottle.com for the product Immuno Boost Eximius, and Life Decoders, LLC, for Sheep Placenta Advanced Capsules marketed on stemcelltherapyplus.com. The FDA is monitoring the rest.

Healinginabottle.com has expired; an email to the account the FDA used to contact the company bounced, and the company didn't reply to a Facebook message. Stem Cell Therapy Plus' website still mentions Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease; spokesman Joe Cruz says the company has addressed the FDA's concerns.

Ryan Nadeau, a spokesperson for Lifevantage, noted that the website the FDA discussed in its warning letter, nrf2science.com, is not selling a Lifevantage product its discussing the protein that this product is purported to target. We definitely agree with the need for transparent advertising and making sure that you stay within the guidelines, Nadeau says. I mean youre talking about diseases its not something you want to con your way into.

The problem with deceptive marketing is that it could lead people to, at best, waste their money, and at worst, make dangerous health decisions. Most people believe when they go to the store and they're able to just pick it up off the shelf that this is something that the agency has reviewed for safety and efficacy. Or safety, at a minimum, the FDAs Meyer told The Verge. The way that the framework is set up for supplements in this country that's just not true.

Obviously its not ideal or optimal by any means for consumer protection.

Despite its latest findings, the GAO doesnt have any big regulatory or enforcement recommendations for the FDA, which oversees supplement labeling, or the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees advertising. Instead, the GAO recommended that the FDA and FTC clarify to consumers which agency to report concerns to involving Internet marketing. If this seems like an anemic response, thats because it is.

Obviously its not ideal or optimal by any means for consumer protection and other issues. But those were the cards we were dealt, says Seto Bagdoyan, a director of forensic audits and investigations for the GAO. And that's why we focused on our market research and also on the consumer awareness of these regulators respective roles.

The problems with supplement oversight go back to a 1994 law called the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, or DSHEA. Under this law, supplements are regulated as food, not drugs. That means that supplement makers arent required to prove their products are safe or effective before selling them. And while manufacturers are typically legally barred from making disease claims on product labels, the FDA generally doesnt approve labels before supplements hit the shelves.

So the agency can only reprimand companies that it catches breaking the rules. And catching wrongdoers is challenging, because the FDA doesnt have a comprehensive list of the supplements on the market. You can have concerns over products and then the products get renamed, says Joshua Sharfstein, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and former FDA deputy commissioner. There are so many aspects of this that are out of control at the same time.

Something negative has to happen before they take action.

In the past, the GAO has suggested that the FDA should come up with guidelines that spell out the scientific evidence companies need to back up claims like "calcium builds strong bones" on a products label. The GAO also said that the agency should ask Congress for the power to demand that supplement companies hand over that scientific evidence. Neither of these suggestions were implemented. They explained to us, once again, that they really are hamstrung in terms of their authorities, Bagdoyan says. The focus of their work is at the back end where something negative has to happen before they take action.

Thats why the GAOs recommendation is so unhelpful, especially since most consumers are unlikely to know whether a supplements advertising is illegal. Even if it were clearer where consumers should report concerns to, its hard to imagine that would make much of a difference. Adverse health events are already massively underreported (consumers and clinicians can report them here). Scientists with the CDC and FDA estimate that dietary supplements are associated with more than 23,000 emergency room visits annually. The FDA estimates that there are over 50,000 supplement-related health incidents each year. And yet only somewhere between 2 and 3 percent of these incidents are reported, according to a 2008 GAO report.

Until regulation of dietary supplements changes, Meyer sums up the bottom line for health-conscious consumers: Don't take your supplements lightly.

Follow this link:

Scammers selling fake cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are getting away with it - The Verge

North America Dietary Supplements Market 2014-2017 & 2025 – Market is Expected to Reach USD 68.22 Billion … – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The North America dietary supplements market is expected to reach USD 68.22 billion by 2025

Rising consumer awareness regarding proper weight management and improvement of muscular strength is likely to boost the demand of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in North America, over the years ahead.

Consumers belonging to all age groups are focusing on enhancing their diet intake through utilization of nutritional food ingredients, owing to increasing publicity through media houses and e-commerce portals is expected to promote the scope of nutraceuticals including dietary supplements.

Leading corporates including Microsoft, IBM, ExxonMobil, AT&T, GM, and GSK have increased expenditure for the development of gymnasiums and fitness centers in their commercial offices. As a result, the health & wellness segment is expected to witness a noteworthy increase that is ultimately expected to play a crucial role in promoting the use of dietary supplements over the forecast period.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Methodology and Scope

2. Executive Summary

3. North America Dietary Supplements Market Variables, Trends, & Scope

4. North America Dietary Supplements: Ingredient Estimates & Trend Analysis

5. North America Dietary Supplements: Product Estimates & Trend Analysis

6. North America Dietary Supplements: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis

7. North America Dietary Supplements: End-use Estimates & Trend Analysis

8. North America Dietary Supplements: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis

9. Competitive Landscape

10. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fspbgl/north_america

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-america-dietary-supplements-market-2014-2017--2025---market-is-expected-to-reach-usd-6822-billion---research-and-markets-300478286.html

SOURCE Research and Markets

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Go here to read the rest:

North America Dietary Supplements Market 2014-2017 & 2025 - Market is Expected to Reach USD 68.22 Billion ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Banned drugs in food supplement major challenge: FSSAI – The Statesman

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The FSSAI on Thursday said presence of doping substances in food supplements posed a major challenge and efforts were needed to save the reputation of the supplements industry.

Pointing out that India stands at third position in doping cases, the FSSAI cautioned food supplements manufacturing and processing industry to be aware of the threat of doping substances in supplements.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had circulated a list of banned drugs to the Food Safety Commissioners and Maharashtra had started enforcement against anti-doping practices, Food Safety and Standards Authority on India (FSSAI) CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said.

"Major enforcement exercise is going on in Maharashtra against anti-doping substances. You do need all these efforts to be taken up on an ongoing basis. It is to save the reputation of food supplements," he said at a seminar on nutraceuticals organised by FICCI here.

There have been reports that some supplement manufacturers add performance-enhancing and banned drugs in food supplements.

"In case of food supplements, major challenge we face is all kinds of spurious, dubious products in the market. There is growing instances of doping substances that are seen and being noticed in some of the food supplements," Agarwal said.

See the original post:

Banned drugs in food supplement major challenge: FSSAI - The Statesman

Twice Shy Brings The Irish To The Big Screen – TV3.ie

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

22nd Jun 17 | Entertainment News

A record breaking Irish independent film starring Ardal O Hanlon and Pat Shortt

For a country that loves the cinema so much, the Irish have a lot of trouble capturing the essence of what makes us so unique on the big screen. Director Tom Ryan is set to buck this trend with his sophomore outing; Twice Shy.

The coming-of-age drama centres around a young, unmarried couple (played by Shane Murray-Corcoran and Iseult Casey) as they make the journey from rural Ireland to London to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. The film flashes back to chronicle their relationship and turbulent lives that led them to the situation, with growing up, parental distresses and inabilities to communicate throwing up roadblocks in their fairy tale romance.

Twice Shy has no hesitations about latching on to the zeitgeist of modern Ireland, hitting many hot-topic buttons like the 'Repeal the 8th' movement, and the inadequate provisions for those suffering from depression. It's refreshing to see a take on Ireland that doesn't feel like a Hollywood imitation, but a more candid outlook on our lives.

Bringing together the impressive newcomers and TV veterans in Pat Shortt and Ardal O'Hanlon, coupled with a soundtrack filled with familiar Irish stars, director Ryan delivers a confident follow up sure to appeal to the Irish audience it is made for.

Twice Shy is in selected cinemas Friday 23rd June.

Richard Waters (@RichMWaters)

View original post here:

Twice Shy Brings The Irish To The Big Screen - TV3.ie

Select Page ::