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Cryptocurrency Mania Goes Beyond Bitcoin – Bloomberg

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Think bitcoins surge of more than 30 percent in the last week is impressive? Check out what some of its cousins are up to.

The market capitalization of digital currencies has soared over 50 percent to more than $90 billion in the past seven days asthe frenzy around cryptocurrencies reaches a fever pitch. Demand is swelling as more companies embrace the technology backing the method of exchange and some investors see it as a haven from political uncertainty across the globe.

Numerous alternative cryptocurrencies, or "altcoins," have emerged since bitcoin broke into public consciousness in 2013. Companies can sell new tokens through initial coin offerings, or ICOs. Ether, a digital currency linked to the Ethereum blockchain, has more than doubled its worth in the last week and is currently the second most valuable cryptocurrency, behind bitcoin. The value of zcash, the cryptocurrency that announced a partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Monday, has grown by nearly 200 percent.

Read more on industry perspective about the surge in bitcoin

Bitcoins slice of the pie has shrunk recently as its peers have gained share. It now dominates about 45 percent of the overall digital currency market, down from around 85 percent in February,according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. Meanwhile, Ethereums share has increased to more than 20 percent from 7 percent in February.

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Cryptocurrency Mania Goes Beyond Bitcoin - Bloomberg

Aberdeen Says Cryptocurrency Bubble Will Burst Even If Coins Change Finance – Bloomberg

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, said were in the midst of a virtual currency bubble, and like all bubbles, it will eventually burst.

That doesnt mean investors should necessarily steer clear. Aberdeens venture capital arm, which has about $1.8 billion entrusted in early stage funds, is considering investing in funds that hold blockchain-based companies and digital coins, Denious said. Still, he said the cryptocurrency boom thats attracting millions into startups and spurring triple-digit gains in their digital tokens isnt sustainable.

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A lot of lessons will be learned and a lot money will be lost, before a lot of money can be made, Denious, who is based in New York, said in an interview. Prices right now arent being driven by network usage, theyre being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. Its a gold-rush mentality. The winners will be those who are really creating highly disruptive, network-based businesses.

Technology companies have raised $646 million this year in so-called initial coin offerings, more than six times the total raised last year, according to Coinschedule.com. The rapid surge in token prices, doubling on average since they start trading, has convinced investors to hand over millions to early stage developments in fundraising rounds that often close in minutes. The hype has driven coins for ethereum, the network on which many of the projects are built, to surge to about $300 from $8 at the start of the year.

All that hype is making Denious, and many others, a little skeptical. Digital currencies potential to disrupt venture capital is also raising flags.

Read more on how network congestion is hindering trading in digital coins

ICOs are allowing early stage companies to bypass venture capital. Denious said this funding mechanism will persist even after the market cools, but it will co-exist with VCs as token sales only make sense for companies that benefit from a blockchain-based decentralized network. Venture capital firms can also be more helpful in building companies, through expertise and connections.

So whats an institutional investor to do with a world-disrupting asset, thats also over-heated? Denious said hes focused on finding funds with expertise in the field and a good track record. He has talked to four or five funds focusing on blockchain-based companies so far, declining to name them.

Aberdeens interest is a sign that blockchain companies and their digital tokens have the potential to reach a wider investor base in the future. Denious said he doesnt doubt that will be the case.

The ingredients are all there for a new asset class, he said. Were in need of restoring what the internet initially offered, which is the power of decentralization. The power has re-centralized in the hands of a few market participants and this technology can disrupt that. The potential is exciting.

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Aberdeen Says Cryptocurrency Bubble Will Burst Even If Coins Change Finance - Bloomberg

Why Nvidia and AMD Continue to Ride the Cryptocurrency Mining Wave – TheStreet.com

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Shares of GPU makers Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) havegotten a shot in the arm recently thanks to a resurgence in the cryptocurrency mining market.

But what's behind the recent boost in cryptocurrency mining demand? It's coming from China and Eastern Europe, where miners of an alternative cryptocurrency called Ethereum are buying desktop graphics cards in droves, according to analysts. Mining is the process of verifying cryptocurrency transactions, at which point the transactions are added to the public ledger, called the blockchain. New cryptocurrency is created every time a transaction is verified, and those mining it make money whenever they do so.

The growing cryptocurrency mining market has contributed $100 million worth of GPU sales for Nvidia in the last 11 days alone, according toRBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves.The demand has led to greater confidence on Wall Street that Nvidia and AMD will be able to rise above a seasonally weaker fiscal second quarter.

Shares of AMD were rising 2.7% to $14.36 on Thursday afternoon, after climbing 16.9% in the past five trading sessions. Nvidia stock was down 0.3% on Thursday but has advanced 6.5% in the past five days.

There is a frequent misconception that GPUs are primarily used to mine Bitcoin, the more common cryptocurrency, but in recent years, people have switched to ASICs chips because Bitcoin requires more powerful processors.Any time a bitcoin is mined, it gets harder and harder to mine the remaining ones,said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. Users will build small, high-end computers and download programs to mine the currrency, which means that the GPUs are usually running all day long.

As Bitcoins became harder to mine, users began to switch to custom-designed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit) chips because they needed more powerful equipment that could run the mining programs and still make a profit. If miners used GPUs to mine bitcoin, they would spend more money on electricity than they would make in profit, said RBC analyst Mitch Steves.

Ether, meanwhile, was designed to consume less electricity and tobe mined via GPUs.

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Why Nvidia and AMD Continue to Ride the Cryptocurrency Mining Wave - TheStreet.com

Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget … – CoinDesk

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The FBI is requesting $21m and 80 new employees in abid to investigate emerging tech that could help the agency combat cybercrime.

In a budget request for fiscal year 2018, sent on 21st June, Andrew McCabe, acting director of the FBI, testified to the White House that the agencyis facing what it believes aresignificant challenges in gaining access to digital information even when it has the legal authority to do so. This notably includes cases that involve "drug traffickers using virtual currencies to obscure their transactions".

It is also the same narrative that the FBI's former DirectorJames Comey put forth last monthbefore theSenate Judiciary Committee.

The challenge, the agency has said,is that the FBI now requires more financial resources to investigate technologies and decipher information transmitted on the darknet. Elsewhere, it is also engaging in dialogues with companies that provide suchtechnology to educate them on the "corrosive effects" that information inaccessibility has on "public safety and the rule of law".

Earlier this year, the privacy-encrypted digital currency Monero (XMR), for example, drew attention from FBI for similar reasons.

A special agent working at the FBI's Cyber Division in New York City said at an event that the agency has concerns such technology will set roadblocks for criminal investigations.

"Developing alternative technical methods is typically a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process," the agency said.

FBI image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget ... - CoinDesk

Bitcoin Startup Blockchain Taps $40 Million in New Funding – Bloomberg

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Blockchain, the London-based bitcoin currency service provider, has raised $40 million of fresh funding, representing one of the largest investment rounds in the financial technology sector since Britains vote to leave the European Union.

New investors in the company, which provides technology such as virtual bitcoin wallets and analytical tools for the digital currencys underlying system, include Googles GV, which led the funding with Lakestar. Existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sir Richard Branson, provided new financing.

The pace of innovation in the digital currency space is unmatched, said Tom Hulme, a partner at GV. We were impressed by Blockchains consistent market traction and dedication to building secure financial products for an increasing number of users.

Bitcoin, and the blockchain system that powers it, is one of several virtual currencies and the value of one bitcoin skyrocketed more than 300 percent in the last year.A competing currency, Ether, based on the ethereum blockchain, reached a record $402 earlier this month.

Blockchain Chief Executive Officer and co-Founder Peter Smith said his companys new funding was raised before bitcoin and ethers recent run up. "We did it a few months ago," he told Caroline Hyde in an interview on Bloomberg Television Thursday.

While it has been accepted for legitimate transactions by companies such as Microsoft Corp., Expedia Inc. and social media platform Reddit, it is also a favorite tool for criminals seeking ways of anonymously sending and receiving money, such as during the May WannaCry ransomware attack that affected countless businesses and hospitals worldwide.

In a press release, Blockchain said its new investment will support a wider global expansion and related localization efforts, as well as further research and development for its product.

The 14 trillion dollar financial services industry hasnt meaningfully changed in over a century, said Smith in the release. Blockchain is on a mission to create a financial system that is faster, more inclusive, and radically different than the status quo.

Blockchain had previously raised $30.5 million in 2014.

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Bitcoin Startup Blockchain Taps $40 Million in New Funding - Bloomberg

This play beats bitcoin with 100%-plus returns and it’s less risky – MarketWatch

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Summertime and the living isnt so easy, if youre a stock investor looking over your shoulder at oil.

The hesitation we saw yesterday, as we adjust to the oil-in-a-bear-market world, looks set to continue today. So you just might just like to escape to another investing world where there is no Fed, OPEC or FANG stocks throwing curveballs.

Fatigue for traditional investors may be one reason why the excitement is booming in the wild west of the cybercurrencies right now. Over on Reddit, one forum dweller said they were ready to drop $20,000 into bitcoin after doing some research and concluding the only way was up for the crypto cash. It beats $20k sitting in a safe-deposit box, the poster said.

Only invest what you are willing to lose, was one response.

And that leads us to our call of the day, which says theres some big money being made on cybercurrencies but the risk is on the same scale. And where theres an opportunity, there are hedge funds.

Blogging for ValueWalk, Rupert Hargreaves took a deep dive into the Crypto-Currency Fund Index from Eurekahedge. The data firm uses the index to track the performance of five actively managed hedge funds with holdings in bitcoin, ethereum and other digital cash.

The findings? The Eurekahedge index not only beat traditional hedge funds, it even blew bitcoin itself out of the water.

Between June 2013 and April this year, the index shows eye-popping cumulative returns of 2,152.32%, versus 1,408.11% for the Bitcoin Price Index. Looked at annually, thats a return of 125.35%, compared with 102.96%.

The funds on the index seem to offer a less volatile way to bet on cryptocurrencies over just buying bitcoin or ethereum, even though the level of volatility for the index itself is off the chart, Hargreaves notes in his blog post.

In its report on performance, Eurekahedge said that over a period of 14 months between December 2013 and January 2015, the Eurekahedge Crypto-Currency Fund Index lost almost 73% of its value from its 2013 high. In contrast, the Bitcoin Price Index lost almost 81% of its value, according to Hargreaves

Whether were on the edge of a South Sea Bubble or greatness for the cybercurrency faithful, bitcoin and its pals have been bringing the drama meanwhile.

Popular rival ethereum suffered a flash crash yesterday, which CoinDesk blamed on an influx of new users, pumped on media hype. ZeroHedge said it was caused by one seller trying to dump $30 million of ETH in one go.

Just a day in the life of a brave new world.

Check out: How big is bitcoin, really? This chart puts it all in perspective

The Dow DJIA, +0.13% S&P SPX, +0.17% and Nasdaq COMP, +0.25% are trading into the black a bit. Europe SXXP, +0.01% is looking at its third-straight loss on weak energy names.

Crude CLU7, +0.51% is bouncing back. Some metals are on the rise, and that has lifted parts of Asia ADOW, +0.52% MSCIs inclusion of China stocks continued to boost the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.28% .

Risk off? Gold GCU7, +0.00% is up.

Read the latest in Market Snapshot

Its not just oil thats hurting these days. Check out whats happening with some soft commodities, via these charts from The Wall Street Journals Daily Shot.

Heres sugar futures:

And cocoa:

I love all people, rich or poor. But in those particular positions, I just dont want a poor person. Does that make sense? That was President Donald Trump at a rally in Iowa Wednesday evening, in reference to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, also present.

Trump said he needs people great, brilliant business minds, so that the world doesnt take advantage of the U.S. anymore, said POTUS. Watch that clip here:

More than 600 Thats how many buildings in England are estimated to have been fitted with the cladding that is suspected to have led to the deadly Grenfell Tower fire:

Oracle ORCL, +8.84% is up as it looks like its cloud transition has hit a turning point.

Staples SPLS, +7.04% has been lifted by a Reuters reported that Sycamore Partners is in advanced talks to buy the office supplies retailer.

Steelcase SCS, -13.96% dived late Wednesday after a miss from the office-furnishing companys earnings.

Nike NKE, -0.17% plans to sell some its products directly to Amazon AMZN, +0.07% , according to a source. Check out a preview of Nikes earnings, due June 29.

Read: Amazon Wardrobe is another blow to department stores

Twenty-five companies, including GE GE, -0.49% and Microsoft MSFT, +0.11% will attend the White Houses tech summer event later today. Theyll talk about emerging technologies and the effect on U.S. industry jobs, says CNBC.

Residents remain trapped in Isis-occupied Philippines city

Meanwhile, another piece of cultural heritage has been lost in Syria

The Richest Person in Every State? Most of them are self-made

With the help of a giant squirrel, John Oliver is now getting sued by a coal magnate

Millionaire may call off treasure hunt after a deadly turn

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

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This play beats bitcoin with 100%-plus returns and it's less risky - MarketWatch

Bitcoin Price Analysis – Bitcoin erases losses – Brave New Coin

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Bitcoin experienced a 20% down day this week after a bitmain blog post outlining a UASF/BIP148 contingency plan for a hard fork. The spot price has now recovered to previous levels, ending flat on the week.

Currently, 85% of mining pools support SegWit2x which is taken from the New York Agreement, which states that SegWit will be adopted followed by a 2MB hard fork. This has largely been seen as a compromise between bitcoin core developers, nodes, Blockstream, miners, and others who wanted a hard fork block size increase. The implementation of SegWit is expected to be a large bullish event for price, as it will be seen as a piece of the solution towards network scalability. More on which developers and companies support which proposal can be found here.

Despite the SegWit2x proposal, support for UASF/BIP148 continues to rise among nodes. This is in large part because the hard fork will not be coded by the core developers, is not complete at the present time, and has not been tested.

Network difficulty is now up 84.25% for the year. Difficulty increases as a function of hash rate, which also continues to break all time highs, and now sits at just over 5 trillion GH/s.

Global Over The Counter (OTC) volume on LocalBitcoins continues unabated. India recently announced legalization and further regulation of Bitcoin, which should continue to bring legitimacy for traders and businesses. As a measure of interest, OTC volume in India has also shown parabolic growth.

US Dollar denominated trading volume continues to dominate the markets. Most of the non-US Dollar trading includes a premium, with South Korea $200+ over USD spot.

There is currently an inverted head and shoulders pattern on the 1h timeframe. The pattern has completed with matching descending volume profile. Fibonacci extensions and the measured move suggest a $3200 target upon completion. There are often throwbacks to the resistance turned support neckline (yellow diagonal), which is likely happening now. Should price break down further the pattern would be invalidated.

There is always a concern for health of trend after a -20% down day near all time highs. However, the weekly candle closed with a strong reversal wick, suggesting a failure to break down further. Just as the long wick on the candle close two weeks ago had a small chance of breaking higher statistically, this candle structure suggests continuation over reversal.

Traders can also use Ichimoku Cloud to asses health of trend. The Ichimoku Cloud is a constant, auto-drawn indicator which quickly offers an immense amount of valuable information on any time frame. The Cloud is best used at higher time frames as more data generally provides more accurate signals and less false positives.

The indicator uses moving averages and dynamic support and resistance to make projections of key zones, as well as capturing 80% of any given trend. As long as the price remains above the Cloud, sentiment remains bullish. Price in the Cloud indicates a neutral trend, and below the Cloud indicates a bearish trend.

When the Tenkan (T) is over the Kijun (K) sentiment is bullish. K over T would indicate bearish sentiment. When the Lagging Span (LS) is above the Cloud and above the price sentiment is bullish, below the Cloud and price would indicate bearish sentiment.

The best entry signals for the Cloud occur when the trend is obvious, but 1 or 2 of the signals have yet to become confluent with a higher time frame trend. All signals on this timeframe are bullish, and should therefore not be used as a measure of current entry signals.

On the daily timeframe, before the drop, cloud was printing support at the Tenkan and Kijun. Both levels were reached. For this reason, traders will typically consider high timeframe bids or asks at these levels as a safe re-entry zone. A touch of the Kijun is traditionally followed by trend continuation, and is known as the Kijun Bounce (white arrow). There are no other actionable entry signals at this time on the daily timeframe.

On the four hour timeframe, price has dipped below the cloud and reset. Price had a kumo breakout when breaking the inverted head and shoulders neckline, and will likely retest the Kijun and kumo support. These supports also match the neckline support test. Long trades will likely be entered at $2550 with stops around $2475, of the bottom of the right shoulder. A TK cross and recross above cloud would be another long entry signal.

On the one hour timeframe, there are fractal and 50/200EMA crosses that we last saw in May. Should the bearish 50/200EMA cross not recur expect price to break for new local and all time highs.

Lastly, a Pitchfork can be applied to the recent high and low. The median line (red) of the Pitchfork gives the expected mean of the trend. Price will continually attempt to return to this diagonal. Each diagonal of the Pitchfork can be thought of as a potential reversal zone or support/resistance line. The upper yellow diagonal zone being most overbought, or the top bounds of the trend, and lower yellow diagonal zone being most oversold, or the bottom bounds of the trend. The multiple price touches of the diagonals thus far suggests the Pitchfork has high validity, therefore, traders can project the trajectory of future price with a reasonable degree of certainty.

As long as price remains in the Pitchfork, the lower yellow boundary is considered a buy. The median line should be a high probability target from that zone. To further visualize how this might play out, look to the Pitchfork established from the March high and low. Should price fall out of the current Pitchfork, expect price to find support on the previous Pitchfork.

Any compromise or solution to the block size and scalability debate should be welcomed by the entire community. All sides of the debate have essentially agreed that SegWit will be a step in the right direction. Despite the SegWit2x agreement, users remain concerned about a hard fork, which has not been coded or tested. Worldwide demand, interest, and growth continues, with India becoming the most recent country to begin regulation surrounding Bitcoin and Bitcoin companies. After a 20% news driven correction, price has erased those losses, with technicals showing a price structure suggesting $3200 in the near future. Look to the Ichimoku Cloud on the four hour timeframe and the most recent Pitchfork for support and resistance targets.

Bitcoin Price Analysis - Bitcoin erases losses - Brave New Coin

Workington manager Tony Jackson: Comets clash with Ipswich … – Times & Star

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Comets captain Craig Cook took the British title from Danny King at Belle Vue on Monday night and the pair will go head-to-head in the Championship at the Witches Foxhall Stadium tonight.

Jackson said: Obviously, Danny goes very well around Ipswich but Craig has had some great meetings there, as well.

It should be quite enthralling speedway between those two.

Its quite unlike our track but I think the team weve got this year might just do a bit better than we have recently there.

They are one of the strongest teams on paper.

After a strong May which saw them climb into the play-offs places, Comets have raced just one fixture so far this month, so Jackson is keen for them to shake off the rust.

Reserve Rob Shuttleworth has recovered from the effects of his crash while racing against the Witches at Derwent Park last month, while Matt Williamson and James Sarjeant will swap places in the team order due to new averages which have come into effect since Comets last meeting.

Jackson said: Matt is confident and, although he realises its going to be harder, he also knows its going to be the next step in his progression.

Now hes in the main body of the team, he wants to stay there because hes got plenty of ambition.

James started off in the top five and was struggling a little bit so hopefully this will help get his confidence back.

Jackson will be absent for tonights meeting, with Comets co-promoter Steve Whitehead taking on managerial duties.

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Workington manager Tony Jackson: Comets clash with Ipswich ... - Times & Star

Dara Torres Is ‘Ready to Talk’ to Her Daughter About Body Confidence After Managing Psoriasis and an Eating Disorder – PEOPLE.com

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Between overcoming an eating disorder in college and managing her psoriasis for the last 25 years, swimmer Dara Torres is fully prepared for any body image conversations her 11-year-old daughter Tessathrows her way.

The 12-time Olympic medalist says the questionshave already started.

She has talked to me actually a few weeks ago about body confidence, because she had to go to an end of the year school party and it was a pool party, and she wanted to talk to me about her body and what swimsuits to wear and having confidence, Torres, 50, tells PEOPLE. And it was the first time she ever really approached me about that on her own. So I was proud of her for being open about that.

Torres says her own background made it easier to relate.

I think the fact that I had an eating disorder in college, and then developing plaque psoriasis, I definitely had some confidence issues and self-esteem issues, she says. So I definitely am completely educated and ready to talk to her about any body image questions she has.

RELATED VIDEO:9 Celebrities Who Struggle with Psoriasis

Dealing with her plaque psoriasis as a young swimmer Torres first noticed the itchy, red rashes as a 25-year-old during the run up to the 1992 Barcelona Games was tough at first.

I was really embarrassed by it, because my business suit is a swimsuit. I needed to be on the pool deck in a little Speedo with these red patches all over me, Torres says.

But gaining the confidence to ignore her psoriasis was key to managing it, particularly because Torres is triggered by stress. Now she works to share that strength with other psoriasis sufferers by working withOtezla and Celgene on their Show More of You campaign.

I want to get the word out that you can have confidence and you can follow your dreams, Torres says. You can be yourself and not worry about what other people think.

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Dara Torres Is 'Ready to Talk' to Her Daughter About Body Confidence After Managing Psoriasis and an Eating Disorder - PEOPLE.com

Oasis fan mistook Liam Gallagher’s psoriasis for cocaine at … – Metro – Metro

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Liam Gallagher (Picture: Rex)

Bad boy rocker Liam Gallagher has many a vivid tale of debauchery to proudly share with the world but this particular story makes even him scratch his head in disbelief.

The former Oasis frontman recalled upon his first experiences of Glastonbury, when the band first played the festival in 1994 and told a backstage story in which a fan mistook hispsoriasis a flaky and itchy skin condition for cocaine.

I remember coming off stage and I got my clothes robbed, told Liam in a recent interview with Noisey.

I remember meeting someone, some very strange kid, who come up to me and thought I had cocaine in my hair, he said.

I got psoriasis so I had obviously been scratching it during the day and that, and there were little white bits and shit, the singer eloquently put.

They were takingit out of my hair and putting it on their gums and putting it up their fucking nose. I went like, Okay

I think we were a bit too laddy or English for them the Morning Glory singer added.

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Meanwhile, Liam was also confirmed to appear at Worthy Farm on the Pyramid Stage this year, as well as showing that he also has the chops for spitting grime bars.

Speaking to Christian OConnell on Absolute Radio, he told how his second son Gene really likes the Skepta stuff prompting the host to encouraging the Wonderwall hitmaker to have a go at so-called Skepta stuff.

It was a little inaudible at first but on a second listen we could tell that he rapped: You aint road! The only road you sweep are paved with gold.

Liam has reportedly finished work on his solo album As You Were, and will release it in the autumn only a month before brother Noels new album.

We wonder how much of his sons grime influence will have on his new record.

MORE: Liam Gallaghers had a pop at Liam Payne, just for a change

MORE: Skepta ave it mate: You need watch Liam Gallagher spit some grime

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Oasis fan mistook Liam Gallagher's psoriasis for cocaine at ... - Metro - Metro

Liam Gallagher says that Oasis fans tried to snort his psoriasis at … – NME.com

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Liam Gallagher has recalled Oasis first Glastonbury appearance, revealing how fans of the band tried to snort hispsoriasis backstage.

The Britpop groupfirst played Glasto in 1994 and Gallagher remembered a story from that years festival in a recent interview with Noisey.

I remember coming off stage and I got my clothes robbed, Gallagher said. I [also] remember meeting someone, some very strange kid, who come up to me and thought I had cocaine in my hair.

Liam explained: I got psoriasis [skin condition that causes itchy, scaly rashes] so I had obviously been scratching it during the day and that, and there were little white bits and shit. They were takingit out of my hair and putting it on their gums and putting it up their fucking nose. I went like, Okay'.

Watch in the video below at the 2.04 mark.

Earlier today, bookies announced 12/1 odds that Liam and Noel would reunite at Glastonbury 2017.Liamis set to play The Other Stage on Saturday afternoonwhereas his brother is also due to appeartointroduce a special screening of Oasis movie Supersonic.

Elsewhere in the interview, Gallaghershared an anecdote about hanging out with Steve Cooganand gavehis take on why Oasis never fully broke America.

Liam said: I think we were a bit too laddy or English for themIm quite happy with the way it went down in America to be honest. I think if we got big in America id be a proper c*nt.

Liam Gallagher says that Oasis fans tried to snort his psoriasis at ... - NME.com

WSU professor turns world travel into art, education, research, service – WSU News

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

By Adriana Aumen, College of Arts and Sciences

PULLMAN, Wash. Malaysia to Morocco, New Mexico to the Netherlands WSU fine arts professor Dennis DeHart is globetrotting with a purpose, weaving his world travels into art, education, research and community service.

An interdisciplinary artist and photographer, DeHart is on one-year sabbatical from teaching at WSU to work on three distinct projects, including an innovative, arts-based examination of water rights issues in the U.S. and abroad. Discrete aspects of place and time figure prominently into each project.

My goal is to connect with diverse audiences through transdisciplinary works while I innovate and educate myself and others, DeHart said.

We live in a highly complex and interconnected global society, and the United States is composed of a rich tapestry of cultures from around the world. Traveling teaches patience, adaptability, tolerance, curiosity, open mindedness all skills that I will bring back to the classroom. Travel also helps me, as a teacher, to have a context for our students from other countries and to better navigate cultural differences.

Since August, DeHart has visited more than a dozen countries on four continents, stopping at universities, museums, cultural sites and artist retreats to teach, study, explore and make art.

Water: A force that transcends boundaries

In his work focused on water, particularly rivers, DeHart explores the interconnections of water and culture and ponders the role of water as a force that transcends social constructs and boundaries. It is part of his ongoing research and creative project Confluences: Circumnavigating the Territory.

As population grows worldwide and climate change alters critical ecosystems, societys demand on water resources will only intensify, DeHart said. Designing solutions to alleviate pressure on this precious natural resource will require collaboration across disciplines, cultures and institutions. This particular research is oriented towards collaboration, social practice, joint authorship, experimental media and publication, he said.

Art is often at the locus of providing a nuanced perspective on being a human and all the consequences of our choices, said WSU interim fine arts chair Squeak Meisel. Denniss creative research demonstrates what the arts can remind us through means beyond words. I greatly anticipate the outcomes of his sabbatical research and the impact it will bring to his family, our community, the department, college, university and world at large.

Now global in scope, Confluences initially focused on water issues in the Columbia River Basin of Washington and Oregon, where the artist grew up and wandered widely.

Through images of lakes, rivers, dams and both pristine and human-impacted waterways, the broader work, which includes some narrative, examines various stories and mythologies associated with water and its social, cultural and economic significance. Informed by his recent far-flung travels, it explores, for example, the universal understanding of water in terms of survival: Can we drink the water? Where does it come from? Where do I get it?

Blending art, travel, intercultural experience

This fall, DeHart will return to his position as an associate professor and photography area coordinator at WSU.

Before returning stateside, he will have collected several new stamps in his passport along with many teachable insights from firsthand views of critical infrastructure and important historic and cultural sites, including storm-water systems in Seattle, aqueducts in Portugal, water temples in Bali, desalination plants in Dubai, the Mekong River in Cambodia, water gardens in Marrakesh, and the canals of Amsterdam.

His wife, Jesica, and two young sons joined in the journey and play a significant role in the second of his current projects, a photo journal called Errare (Wandertime). http://www.dennisdehart.com/wandertime/

The work blends the boundaries of art, travel and intercultural experience in a post-studio, hyper-locality context, DeHart said. From a vibrant Cambodian wharf scene to a monochrome vista of Sahara sands, the images capture vivid moments ranging whimsical to sublime.

Meanwhile, his third project combines temporal sculptures and still lives constructed from bits of flora and other natural materials, and produced in collaboration with Jesica during artist residencies in Malaysia and Thailand.

Designed for a fine art gallery context, they reflect a synthesis of long-simmering creative ideas about connections, conflicts and intersections of nature and culture. Native plants, architectural spaces, quality of light and some distinctly Asian influences inform the works.

In May, DeHart completed an artist residency focused on water issues held near the Rhine River in the Netherlands. In July, hell wrap up his sabbatical with a monthlong residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, whose yearlong theme centers on water rights. His sights also are set on presenting his art and research at River Arts, a symposium for artists, writers, geographers, biologists, community members and others interested in water issues, at Selkirk College, Canada, next year.

This month, he is working with his family on an organic farm in rural England near the River Arrow and the Welsh border, making art and connecting with nature and people from diverse cultures and communities.

DeHarts scholarly and creative work focused on water issues aligns with WSUs Grand Challenges, a suite of research initiatives aimed at resolving large societal issues, including resource sustainability.

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WSU professor turns world travel into art, education, research, service - WSU News

The World Health Organization spends more on travel than on key diseases. That’s actually okay. – Washington Post

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

By Mara Pillinger By Mara Pillinger June 22 at 8:00 AM

A recent AP article (carried byThe Washington Post) grabbed widespread attention with the charge that the World Health Organization [WHO] routinely spends about $200 million a year on travel far more than what it doles out to fight AIDS, tuberculosis [TB] or malaria. At face value, this is an alarming statistic. As the AP points out, the United Nations health agency is perpetually cash-strapped and pleads for more money. And it feeds into more general condemnation of international bureaucratic practices President Trump, for example, calls the United Nations a waste of time and money.

Criticisms such asthis are facile. Of course, bureaucratic dysfunction and waste are real, but much alleged waste is not really as wasteful, nor problems as problematic, as critics suggest. More importantly, complaints about U.N. spending and priorities tend not to understand how U.N. agencies such asthe WHO work, and who gets to decide what these agencies do and how they spend money. Heres whats really going on.

WHO is doing what states want it to do

Claims that the WHO secretariat spends $200 million annually on staff travel are a misrepresentation. Staff travel accounts for about 40 percentof that figure. About60 percent of the budget pays for WHO member state representatives to attend biannual governance meetings, and for experts from around the world to serve on advisory panels and provide technical assistance to governments.

All this travel is the direct byproduct of the many roles that states want the agency to play.

First, WHO is the chief normative and convening authority in global health. It develops global strategies, regulations, standards and technical recommendations, and it coordinates collaboration and knowledge-sharing among all types of global health actors. This work requires hosting dozens of expert advisory committees, review panels, planning meetings, intergovernmental working groups and other consultations every year.

Why does WHO pay for government representatives and expert committee members to attend meetings? Technically, it does it because member states tell it to. Substantively, WHO does it because this allows both rich and poor states to participate. Some states would otherwise not be able to afford to participate in WHO governance giving them help provides the WHO with international legitimacy, and inputs and perspectives that it otherwise would not have.

Second, WHO is also the leading technical agency in global health, assisting states with surveillance, strengthening health systems andpreparing grant applications. To do this effectively, the agency dispatches staff and external experts to address regional needs or respond to state requests.

WHO needs to know what is happening in the world.

Without travel, WHO would have a hard time knowing what is happening on the ground. WHO headquarters is often accused of being out of touch, because most of the information that its staff receives comes through official channels (i.e., health ministries, country and regional offices). Vital data are routinely delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate. Fundamental problems for example, in medicine and vaccine supply chains may escape attention until they become crises. Sending headquartersstaff (or experts who report back to headquarters) into the field provides an alternative to official channels and helps improve information quality.

An even bigger problem is the disconnect between Geneva and WHOs regional and country offices. As in any organization, personal relationships among staff at different levels are how things really get done, allowing staff to cut through red tape and work around turf wars. There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction when it comes to building relationships.

Finally, WHOs travel spending is occasionally driven by circumstances. For example, the AP reports that during the Ebola crisis, Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward sometimes [flew] by helicopter to visit clinics instead of traveling by jeep over muddy roads. But while this might sound like luxury travel to U.S. or European audiences, Aylward wasnt taking a helicopter to avoid traffic. The truth is that during the rainy season in West Africa, muddy often means nearly impassable. So taking a helicopter was the most efficient and effective way for the official directing WHOs Ebola response to do his job.

The WHO secretariat doesnt set its own priorities or budget

Criticisms comparing WHOs travel expenses with its spending on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosisand malaria create the impression that the agencys priorities are severely off-base. After all, as former U.S. vice president Joe Biden said, show me your budget, and Ill tell you what you value. But in this case, Bidens axiom does not hold, because WHOs overall budget and spending limits are set by member states, including the United States.

Additionally, 80 percent of WHOs funding comes from voluntary contributions by states and private donors (as opposed to the assessed contributions that all states have to pay). Donors almost always earmark their contributions for particular purposes. For example, in 2016, the United States gave $381 million, of which 85 percentwas voluntary and earmarked. Consequently, the vast majority of WHOs spending is dictated by donors and directed toward the diseases/issues on which they choose to focus through WHO.

That last part is key. Donors sometimes work through WHO and other times prefer to give bilaterally or through specialized partnerships, often depending on the issue (Check out IHMEs visualizations.) For example, based if you look at IHME data, 80to 90 percent of all multilateral funding for HIV, tuberculosisand malaria goes through the Global Fund meaning that WHO is not the only agency on the sidelines. In contrast, 60 percent of funding for polio ($670 million) goes to WHO.

The upshot is that WHOs budget says much less about the secretariats independent priorities than about state and donor priorities for the agency. The real choices about how WHO does or does not spend money are made by those who cast votes and write checks. People who are unhappy with WHOs spending priorities shouldnt blame the bureaucrats. They should blame the politicians.

To be clear, the WHO secretariat does have its own agenda priorities and voice and, as Nitsan Chorev shows, it is able to push these even against the preferences of major donors. It just does so using nonfinancial strategies.

Of course, there is still some waste

The big sweeping claim, that WHOs travel spending epitomizes bureaucratic waste and warped priorities, is wrong. That said, the AP report raises important issues. Staffers do sometimes buy more expensive tickets than theyre entitled to (although the article doesnt say how common this is). And perceived extravagance, such as the organizations director-general flying business class, can make a donor-dependent organization look bad, even if its not strictly against the rules.

All the same, these problems are not unique to WHO all organizations, including private sector businesses, have to deal with them around the edges. Nor are they breaking news. Senior WHO officials have acknowledged and are attempting to curb these problems (with limited success). Most important, they represent bad individual behavior, not bad policies. In other words, they do not alter the fact that, on the whole, WHOs travel spending is a basic feature of its mandate as an international organization, not a symptom of bureaucracy run amok.

Mara Pillinger is a PhD candidate in political science at George Washington University. Follow her on Twitter @mplngr.

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The World Health Organization spends more on travel than on key diseases. That's actually okay. - Washington Post

Our Outdated Debates – First Things

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Could the intensity of Americas abortion debate be like the last burst of light from a dying star? Thanks to social trends, especially those arising from technology and transhumanism, our familiar forms of argument are becoming obsolete.

The New York Times recently ran a series of opinion pieces for and against abortion, framing the debate in familiar terms. The pro-life movement is increasingly young, female, and spunkyso it does not appear to be on its way out. Statistics indicate that Americans, especially younger Americans, favor some restrictions on abortion, and a record number of millennials think abortion should be illegal altogether. Meanwhile, abortion-rights advocates have turned up their rhetoric, seeking to celebrate or normalize abortion. Presenting abortion stories as a badge of honor is increasingly popular. Teen Vogue has spent the better part of a year aggressively marketing abortion to pre-pubescent girls.

Structured in this way, this debate will have no winner and no loser. Abortion and the arguments surrounding it will slowly become antiquated. I believe this for three reasons.

Abortion rates are decliningas are rates of conception. In 2016, birth rates in the United States hit an all-time low: 59.6 births per 1,000 women. Both these trends are due in part to the effectiveness of long-term contraception. Abortion providers have hitched their wagons to universal access to low-cost contraception; ironically, this choice is hurting their business. It turns out pregnancy is a pre-condition for abortion, and Western Europe and North America are no longer fertile markets. This likely accounts for Planned Parenthoods aggressive efforts to relax abortion restrictions abroad, in Africa and South America.

The fewer abortions and fewer pregnancies we have, the less salient the abortion issue will become. The pro-life movement has done little to combat the poverty of imagination that makes children into commodities to be discarded or fetishized. This singularity of vision means that we have failed to make a positive case for children as a social good, a sign of a society that is vibrant and alive, a source of joy, and a sign of hope. Addressing this poverty is a complex intellectual task, one that requires articulating the humanness of the human, and presenting children and childrearing as fundamental to the common good. It requires making a case for having children. This task is more difficult, and for a long time it seemed less urgent, than arguing against violent death and Roe v. Wade. But today we see the consequences of not adequately attending to it.

Finally, technological advances are enabling transhumanist ideologies and eroding our understanding the humanness of the human.

Transhumanism holds that, with the aid of technology, human beings can and should evolve beyond our current physical and mental limitations. Transhumanists point to the history of human manipulation of the environment, of medicine, and of bodily ornamentation to argue that transhumanism is merely one step on the road of progress. Absent a persuasive and compelling vision of human nature and human dignity (in other words, of the humanness of the human), transhumanism exerts enormous pressure on the social imagination. In less than a decade, scientists have perfected human cloning and gene editing. They have created the first inter-species entitya human-pig chimeraand developed a functional artificial womb. Such technologies hold tremendous possibilities, but it would be nave to imagine that they dont pose fundamental challenges to our ideas of what it means to be human.

These scientific and technological innovations should spark lively debate and fresh articulations of what it means to be human and what role technology should have in shaping culture. Yet the sacred neutrality of science shields technology from serious critique. In a study released earlier this year, scientists from the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia detailed artificial womb technology, which has the possibility of revolutionizing care for pre-maturely born infants. This study seems to have been met with general indifference.

What public conversation did take place occurred within a legal-moralistic framework, a framework that fails to persuade when we lack a vision of what it means to be human. Pro-choice and pro-life advocates both focused on the same reality: the visibility of developing life. Pro-choice advocates were predictably concerned that the advent of artificial womb technology will have the adverse effect of humanizing the unborn. Pro-life advocates, on the other hand, expressed cautious enthusiasm that artificial wombs might humanize the unborn.

Scientists and researchers tell everyone not to worry. The lead researcher on artificial womb technology insists that scientists will never push the limits of viability to the point where womens bodies are functionally replaced by technology, and human gestation becomes mechanized. When you do that, he says, you open a whole new can of worms. But thisassurancerings hollow in an age governed by an ethos of what we can do, we may do. Thus, when legitimate ethical concerns are met with dismissals like Thats a pipe dream at this point, one ought to beware the qualifier, at this point. The scientific community has shown very little ability to regulate itself.

Technological possibility will increasingly eclipse the very terms of our debate over abortion, and I suspect that abortion politics as we know it is on its way to being a relic of the pasta particularly brutal way we eliminated human life back when humans used to have children.

Jessica Keating is director of the Office of Human Dignity and Life Initiatives in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

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Our Outdated Debates - First Things

Simply Beautiful: MareNorstum4 Supercomputer Sports 13.7 Petaflops – insideHPC

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Over at Lenovo, Gavin OHara writes that the worlds most beautiful supercomputer center now sports a 13.7 Petaflop system so novel in design that it has captured the attention of the global HPC community.It landed at #13 on the TOP500 this week, and thats just the beginning.

In a converted 19th-century church on the outskirts of Barcelona sits a computer so overwhelmingly powerful, it could someday save us all.

Save us from what? Were not sure yet. But one day soon a scientific or medical research breakthrough will happen and its origins will be traced back to a glass-encased room inside the Torre Girona Chapel. Sitting within is a hulking mass of supercomputing power: a whopping 3,400 servers connected by 48 kilometers of cable and wire.

Torre Girona, nestled inside the Barcelona Supercomputing Center on the campus of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, was used as a Catholic Church until 1960. The church was deconsecrated in the 1970s but, the longer you spend here seeing how supercomputing speed can enable lightning-fast insight, the more you start to sense the presence of a higher power.

This is technology at its inquisitive best. And it all starts with the specs of the monster they call MareNostrum.

Specifications

To consider the sheer power and scale of MareNostrums High Performance Computing capabilities is to test your own knowledge of large-scale counting units. You see, for supercomputing nerds its all about FLOPs, or Floating Point Operations/Second. The original MareNostrum 1, installed in 2004, had a calculation capacity of 42.35 teraflops/second. Which meant 42.35 trillion operations/second. Not bad, I guess, until you consider that the 2017 version (MareNostrum 4) blows that out of the waterit possesses 322 times the speed of the original.

The new supercomputer has a performance capacity of 13.7 petaflops/second and will be able to carry out 13,677 trillion operations per second, says Lenovo VP Wilfredo Sotolongo as we gaze upwards inside the chapel. Sotolongo not only works closely with the BSC, he actually lives near Torre Girona in Barcelona.

As I try to get my head around all these unfamiliar units of measure, Sotolongo lays it out for me: In computing, FLOPs are a measure of computer performance. Node performance My mind wanders a bit before I tune back in. A petaflop is a measure of a computers processing speed and can be expressed as a quadrillion, or thousand trillion, floating point operations per second. A thousand teraflops. 10 to the 15th power FLOPs. Etc etc.

He sees my head spinning so, mercifully, he simplifies it. Basically, MareNostrum 4 is 10 times more powerful than MareNostrum 3. OK, I can relate to that but I one-up him anyway: How many times more powerful is it than my 2016 ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop? He laughs. About 11,000 times. Gulp.

Its Really About the Workloads

What kinds of workloads require the type of computing power found in the MareNostrum cluster? There are a lot, it turns out. Because HPC systems deliver results in a fraction of the time of a single desktop or workstation, they are of increasingly vital interest to researchers in science, engineering and business. They are all drawn by the possibility of solving sprawlingly complex problems in their respective fields.

Over the years, MareNostrum has been called on to serve more than 3,000 such projects. On any given day, as the Catalonian sun streams through the stained-glass windows of Torre Girona, MareNostrum manages mountains of data and spits out valuable nuggets of insight to a staff of more than 500 that could someday help solve some of humanitys greatest challenges.

Gavin OHara leads Lenovos Global Social Content & Community team. Hes been with Lenovo since 2005 and, in 2010, became the second person in the company to do social media. He is a big believer in unselfish brand storytelling and lives by the mantra people before products. As Lenovos chief storyteller, he scours the Earth in search of the inspiring and the unexpected. In a previous life, he worked as a writer, journalist and musician. Gavin is a Virginia native, a Syracuse University graduate and a long-time North Carolina resident.

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Simply Beautiful: MareNorstum4 Supercomputer Sports 13.7 Petaflops - insideHPC

AMD Challenges Intel’s Datacenter Dominance with New EPYC Processors – TOP500 News

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

For the first time in several years, AMD has brought a server chip to market that provides some real competition to Intel and its near total domination of the datacenter market. The new AMD silicon, known as the EPYC 7000 series processors, come with up to 32 cores, along with a number of features that offer some useful differentiation against its Xeon competition.

The new AMD processors are broadly aimed at the cloud and datacenter markets, including the high performance computing space. With regard to the latter, EPYC is going to have some challenges in HPC environments, but AMD definitely has a case to make for its use there. Before we dive into that subject, lets look at the feature set of the new products.

The EPYC processors launched this week come with 8 to 32 cores, and like their Xeon rivals, can execute two threads per core. AMD has decided to offer only single-socket and dual-socket versions, leaving the much smaller quad-socket-and-above market to Intel.

Clock frequencies dont vary all that much across the range of EPYC SKUs; they start at 2.0 GHz and top out at 2.4 GHz. As youll note from the tables below, the frequencies arent necessarily higher at the lower core counts, as one might expect. The same holds true for the max boost clock frequencies.

EPYC also features a new interconnect known as the Infinity Fabric, which takes the place of AMDs HyperTransport bus on the old Opterons. Except in this case, the fabric is used to connect the internals of the EPYC MCM the individual dies that make up the chip as well as the memory and the processors themselves (in a dual-socket setup). Socket-to-socket communication is up to 152 GB/second, while memory bandwidth tops out at 171 GB/sec.

Across the EPYC product set, AMD is claiming significantly higher integer performance 21 to 70 percent higher compared to comparably priced Xeon Broadwell processors, based on SPECint_rate_base2006. And for the top-end 32-core EPYC 7601 chip, AMD says its floating point performance is 75 percent higher than that of Intels Broadwell E5-2699A v4 processor, based on SPECfp_rate_base2006.

No doubt, some of the better performance is due to the generally higher counts of the EPYC parts compared to the comparably priced Xeon Broadwell SKUs. But thats sort of beside the point. The real issue is that, for the most part, EPYC processors will not be competing Broadwell, but rather against Intels new Skylake Xeon processors, which are expected to launch in July.

The Skylake design should offer better overall performance than Broadwell. More importantly, Skylake will support the AVX-512 instruction set, which will boost vector math performance (both integer and floating point) significantly compared to its predecessor. So AMDs performance-per-dollar comparisons will have to be revisited once Skylake launches, but its reasonable to assume that Intels top-end chips will outrun the EPYC 7601 in floating point performance, even if AMD manages to offer more value.

AMD does appear to have a clear advantage in memory support. Each EPYC processor is equipped with eight memory channels, which supports up to 16 DIMMs of DDR4 DRAM of speeds up to 2,666 MHz. So each socket can access up to 2 TB. On a dual-socket system, that doubles to 4 TB. Two EPYC 7601 processors in a server delivers 146 percent more bandwidth on the STREAM benchmark than a comparable Broadwell Xeon box. And even though Skylake Xeons will supposedly support six memory channels to Broadwells four, it looks like EPYCs memory advantage will prevail for the time being.

EPYCs support for a bigger memory footprint, and by extension, higher bandwidth, is designed to offer more performance for data-demanding applications, which are particularly sensitive to the worsening bytes/flops (or ops) ratio of modern processors. AMDs calculation here is that is that for most datacenter applications these days, memory access, rather than compute, is the limiting factor. The bigger memory footprint also makes the single-socket EPYC solution more attractive, since many customers often populate the second socket solely for the purpose of adding more memory.

The EPYC processor also offers an ungodly amount of PCIe support 128 lanes per socket, as compared to the expected 48 lanes for the Skylake Xeon processor. 128 lanes is enough to attach four to six GPUs or up to 24 NVMe drives. This also buttresses the case for single-socket servers, since, once again, you can avoid using the other socket to get access to additional devices. In fact, in a dual-socket configuration, you get the same 128 PCIe links, since the Infinity Fabric uses 64 of the PCIe links to connect to the other processor.

In summary, while even the fastest EPYC processors are unlikely to outperform the top Skylake parts in pure computational horsepower, from a performance per dollar or performance per watt per dollar, they may be extremely competitive. And for memory capacity and performance, as well as PCIe connectivity, they will outshine their Intel counterparts. Apparently, that was enough to attract Baidu and Microsoft, who are early customers of record

For HPC use, EPYC may appear to be something of a tradeoff. Its worth considering, though, that in 2017, the cheapest and most efficient flops are found on GPUs or other manycore processor, and not on multicore CPUs (with the caveat that not all flops are equally accessible to every application across these platforms). In addition, for many HPC applications, memory access is the most critical bottleneck.

With that in mind, AMD does have a high performance story to tell. Its regrettable that the company did not use the recent ISC conference to tell it. Instead, the EPYC launch was announced in Austin, Texas, during the companys Financial Analyst Day on June 20, and no one from the server side was dispatched to Frankfurt, Germany this year. (AMD did talk about their new Radeon Instinct GPUs for deep learning work at ISC, and well be reviewing those in an upcoming article.)

Its certainly understandable the AMD is focusing on the cloud and hyperscale space for the initial EPYC launch, given that it represents a bigger and faster growing market than that of HPC. But as Intel discovered awhile ago, being a leader at the high end of the market has downstream benefits as well.

The next time the HPC faithful are gathered in large numbers will be in November at SC17, and by that time the Skylake Xeon processors will be available for head-to-to-head comparisons on real applications. It would serve AMD well to be ready to talk about their HPCambitions for EPYC at the Denver event.

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AMD Challenges Intel's Datacenter Dominance with New EPYC Processors - TOP500 News

Patient with severe burns treated using stem cell therapy – Business Standard

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

IANS | Mumbai June 23, 2017 Last Updated at 00:16 IST

Raising hopes of new and less painful treatment for burn injuries, a 26-year-old patient with Grade 2 burn injuries was successfully treated using stem cell therapy at a city-based hospital, doctors said on Thursday.

Anand Tiwari suffered burns after accidentally falling in a boiler unit while at work. He sustained Grade 2 and early Grade 3 burns in all parts of the body below his neck.

When admitted to the city based StemRx Bioscience Solutions hospital, he had severe burning sensation and pain all over the body. Blisters and swellings were noticed in many areas of his chest and limbs.

According to doctors, after initial care and stabilisation of the patient, for treatment of burns, a treatment protocol was prepared by Pradeep Mahajan, a regenerative medicine researcher at Stemrx Bioscience Solutions Hospital.

Explaining the treatment procedure, Mahajan said: "This involved the use of growth factors and fibroblasts and collagen based gel. These biological agents stimulate natural healing mechanisms in the body."

"The advantage of these growth factors is that they can be obtained from the patients' own body and hence are safe and effective. Additionally, unlike conventional treatment options, biological agents promote faster recovery," he said.

Under the stem cell therapy, the treatment process has to be repeated continuously so as to get rid of the problem completely and accordingly the procedure was performed.

"During the entire treatment, the patient was not given any closed dressing. He also underwent blood and supplementary fluid transfusion as required to maintain systemic homeostasis," said Mahajan.

He said that changes in the patient were observed as early as two-three days after the initiation of therapy. Drying of superficial burns began and swelling started reducing.

"Gradually, dry crusts started peeling and by the end of the third week, initial healing of most areas was complete. There was no odour or oozing from any wound and he did not complain of pain or burning sensation anymore.

"After a month-long treatment, healthy skin formation is being observed and further healing is progressing at an impressive rate," said Mahajan, adding that in treatment through conventional modalities, it takes more than eight weeks for healing to happen and further several months for patient to be able to regain joint and facial movements.

--IANS

rup/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Anand Tiwari suffered burns after accidentally falling in a boiler unit while at work. He sustained Grade 2 and early Grade 3 burns in all parts of the body below his neck.

Under the stem cell therapy, the treatment process has to be repeated continuously so as to get rid of the problem completely and accordingly the procedure was performed.

"During the entire treatment, the patient was not given any closed dressing. He also underwent blood and supplementary fluid transfusion as required to maintain systemic homeostasis," said Mahajan.

He said that changes in the patient were observed as early as two-three days after the initiation of therapy. Drying of superficial burns began and swelling started reducing.

--IANS

rup/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

IANS

http://bsmedia.business-standard.com/_media/bs/wap/images/bs_logo_amp.png 177 22

Patient with severe burns treated using stem cell therapy - Business Standard

Video: Weed Nuns talking about spirituality is the coolest thing you will watch today – The Indian Express

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

By: Trends Desk | New Delhi | Published:June 22, 2017 9:55 pm How cool is this? (WatchCut video/Youtube)

The word nun evokes a rather a sombre image of someone stern wearing a habit. The one who has shunned all the materialistic pleasures of life, and has dedicated her life to God. This image may well be true but can you imagine nuns smoking weed, and saying that Jesus lived he probably smoked weed?

No?

Well, youre permitted to be shocked but that does not mean they dont exist. Yes, you read that right. There are nuns known as weed nuns who grow marijuana and talk about spirituality, while taking long drags from a joint. Recently, actress Aubrey Plaza sat down with Sisters of the Valley, also known as weed nuns and spoke about spirituality, marijuana and, you guessed it, Jesus Christ. Plaza was promoting her convent-set film comedy The Little Hours.

Watch the video here.

One of them, Sister Kate, revealed that they founded the convent in 2011 after being aware of Michelle Obamas efforts to revamp the nutrition of school lunches.Michelle Obama tried to talk to Congress about how unhealthy our childrens meals are. Congress declared pizza a vegetable because it made our childrens meals look healthier than they are. So I declared myself a nun. I said, If pizza is a vegetable, Im a nun.' she said. The video ends with Plaza expressing her desire to be a weed nun as well.

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Video: Weed Nuns talking about spirituality is the coolest thing you will watch today - The Indian Express

Spirituality, ecology and science weave together to form Web of Life … – Global Sisters Report (blog)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

In the tiny country where a slice through the Earth connects its two greatest oceans, Maryknoll Sr. Melinda Roper and her fellow sisters have staked a claim to protect a bit of Panama's lush biodiversity and are working to rekindle a spiritual connection to the planetary ties that bind us all.

The new eco-spiritual retreat and study program they have launched, the Web of Life, begins today, June 22, and Global Sisters Report invites readers to follow along in a series of blogs, videos and photo galleries. This union of spirituality and science will be articulated in a series of reflections by theologians and scientists in settings as diverse as bustling Panama City, an organic farm and a tropical forest.

"It's a whole historical moment that we're living in, when not only human rights are on the table but the rights of the Earth," Roper said. "What happens when the rights of the Earth come into conflict with human rights, and those rights, at least in the West, come from a very capitalistic, very individualistic, very big business philosophy and way of living?

"Many of us think we've come to a moment in history where that paradigm has got to shift, so that we in the human community can situate ourselves within the whole community of life."

Shifting that paradigm is the aim of the Web of Life program. Beginning in Panama City and then moving to the Maryknoll Pastoral Center in Santa Fe, Darin, the sisters will lead a 10-day series of explorations of the interconnections of all life. Each day will begin and end with reflection, prayer and ritual to help integrate the "experiential scientific study" along the way.

The Santa Fe Pastoral Center is energy independent; solar panels are the principal energy source. (Provided by Maryknoll Sisters)

For more than two decades, the sisters have worked to set an example for a different way of life, one in harmony with their surroundings. The 100-acre forest they have preserved is a model of sustainable living, with an organic farm, solar power, rainwater catchment, a holistic health care team and a creative arts-based curriculum aimed at helping people to fall in love with sustainable ways of living on the Earth. At the same time, they've accompanied their neighbors and friends over the years in the fight to defend the natural world around them.

Those two decades of changing lives at the local level is now going global with the Web of Life.

"What we're trying to do with these 10 days is to make a real contribution to the future of the quality of life on Planet Earth," Roper said. "I think religion has a big role to play in that. The scientific world is challenging us to new lifestyles, to new ways of living our faith, and that's very important to understand as we make political decisions and try to discover new lifestyles that don't harm the planet."

Sr. Jocelyn "Joji" Fenix shares a plant with Pastoral Center member Marcelina, a member of ECODIC, a Christian organization founded by the pastoral center to promote community development and ecologically sustainable sources of income. (Provided by Maryknoll Sisters)

They couldn't have found a better setting to explore the theme. The Isthmus of Panama has long served as the biological bridge of the world, a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that is explored abundantly in the tour of the Biomuseo, Panama's much-heralded Biodiversity Museum, on June 23. Brothers Patrick and Mark Dillon, an architect and a builder who worked alongside Frank Gehry to help create it, will begin our first day by introducing us to Panama's place in the world.

Then it will be time to head southeast to the province of Darin, which despite the rapid rate of deforestation remains a hotspot of biodiversity.

Not far from the Maryknoll Pastoral Center in Santa Fe lies Matusagarat, Panama's largest wetlands and one of the three largest in Central America. The wetlands are important breeding grounds for aquatic species of all kinds and essential feeding and watering grounds for animals that come down from the highlands: jaguars, anteaters, agoutis and coatimundis, to name a few.

The sisters developed a holistic education program that incorporates art and theater with environmental education. (Clara Meza)

This ricefield is one of many thousands of hectares of commercial agribusinesses threatening the biological integrity of Matusagarat. (Ligia Arreaga)

However, this vast ecosystem, which La Prensa of Panama City called an "ecological jewel," is under siege on all sides by cattle ranchers and industrial agriculture businesses.

"When big companies come in, the first thing they do is drain the wetlands, eliminating biodiversity, which has many, many repercussions throughout the whole ecosystem," Roper said. "Then industrial agriculture makes intensive use of chemicals. Then what happens when big money comes in, if the government does not have clear policies and people strong enough to implement them, the lands begin to be negotiated, and there's all kinds of corruption."

Thousands of acres have already been drained to make way for vast expanses of rice and African oil palm, and toxic pesticides and herbicides have been sprayed on the fragile ecosystem. The government designated a portion of the wetlands a biosphere reserve in January, but the illegal canals that are draining the wetlands are still in place, said journalist Ligia Arreaga in a Skype interview with GSR. Arreaga, a vocal defender of Matusagarat, covered the issue before being forced into exile last year after she received death threats.

The wetland areas of Matusagarat form an essential breeding ground for aquatic and terrestrial species alike. (Ligia Arreaga)

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"Religions and some spiritualities very prevalent today reinforce the idea the human community is the best thing that ever happened on Planet Earth and that we have the right to impose ourselves on other species and control everything for our own well-being," Roper said.

"We have to find ways of living without damaging the Earth, but we have to go way beyond that to a much more creative way of relating to the whole community of life on this planet and toward a more harmonious future," she said. "It has to go way beyond changing lifestyles. We have to create a new spirit and new values with which to relate to one another."

The Pastoral Center works with local artists to incorporate their work in a variety of ways, including murals like this one. (Provided by Maryknoll Sisters)

[Tracy L. Barnett is an independent writer, editor and photographer specializing in environmental issues, indigenous rights and sustainable travel.]

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Discover the culture, history and spirituality at the heart of Tibet | The ...
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