Select Page ::

How to post a GIF to Facebook – Tech Advisor (registration)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Sometimes a smiley or a meme isn't enough to convey your feelings on Facebook. We show you how to post a GIF to Facebook. Sometimes a smiley or a meme isn't enough to convey your feelings on Facebook. Here we show you how to upload a GIF to Facebook

By Mohamed Wahid | 15 mins ago

Facebook has in the pastavoided the use of GIFs on its social network, fearing that along with its autoplaying video the News Feed would become overly cluttered. But Facebook users love a meme, and memes and GIFs go hand in hand. Also see: How to stop autoplaying video on Facebook.

Uploading a GIF to Facebook is simple, although you can't simply attach a GIF to your post as you would do a photo or other image. Below we show you step-by-step how to start using animated images on Facebook. Also see: How to create a GIF.

A GIF is a short animated image that plays in a loop, and can be viewed anywhere. In comparison to a video, GIFs are much smaller files that are more suitable for viewing over slow internet or mobile connections. It's faster to upload, too.

1.As you can't upload your own GIF files to Facebook, you'll either need to create your own and upload it to another hosting site, or find a GIF you like on Tumblr, Imgur, Giphy or elsewhere. Open the GIF, then right-click on the image. Also see: Best Facebook tips and tricks.

2.In Google Chrome select the option to Copy Image URL. If you're using Firefox, instead look for and select 'Copy Image Location'. In Opera you want 'Copy Image Address'. Other browsers will have slightly different options, but in all cases you're looking for an option that allows you to copy the URL that takes you directly to the GIF.

3. Next, log into your Facebook news feed in a new browser window and paste the link into the 'What's on your mind?' status field at the top of the page. You can use Ctrl, V on your keyboard, or right-click in the box and select Paste.

4.Give it a second and the GIF will automatically appear below the URL. You can delete this URL or leave it there - it's up to you.

5.To post the GIF simply click Post - it's that easy!

Follow PC Advisor on Facebook!

Read the original post:

How to post a GIF to Facebook - Tech Advisor (registration)

Imagine Dragons bring hits to life in Virtual Reality concert – Daily Trojan Online

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

While there was no lightning on Thursday, thunder erupted inside the Belasco Theater as Imagine Dragons took the stage for an intimate concert with L.A. fans.

The show was first in a four-part virtual reality concert series hosted by Citi, Live Nation and NextVR, and was recorded in VR for fans to enjoy at home.

As the lights dimmed to glimmers of blues, violets and pinks, drummer Daniel Platzman, guitarist Wayne Sermon and bassist Ben McKee appeared. After several booming drum beats, lead singer Dan Reynolds finally appeared to perform the first song of the night, Thunder.

Heavy drum beats, electrifying guitar melodies and roaring applause filled the venue as the indie rock band played popular songs throughout its discography. Following Gold, Reynolds took a quick break from the music to share an appreciation story about Sermon, whose birthday was on the same night.

He was born to be a musician, Reynolds said before resuming with a lively performance of the bands all-time hit Its Time.

With fan favorites such as Its Time, Amsterdam, and Hear Me, fans throughout the venue chanted and sang along to every chorus with Imagine Dragons.

A spectrum of colors filled the stage for each song, seemingly resonating with Imagine Dragons concept for its upcoming album Evolve. While the band didnt perform its newest song Walking the Wire which was released the same day it did play two other songs from the highly anticipated project: Whatever It Takes and Believer.

Slowing down the pace of the night halfway through the set, Reynolds sang part of Bleeding Out as an interlude before leading fans to an emotional rendition of Demons.

The band continued to fluctuate between electrifying and emotional songs, keeping fans engaged while also giving them small breaks in between Platzmans thunderous drumbeats and Reynolds habit of belting out every final chorus.

In the final four songs of the night, Imagine Dragons kept fans on their toes by tricking them into thinking the show was over. Perhaps an intentional move to surprise and excite the audience, the trick caused some members in the audience to exit the venue prematurely before the set even ended.

Reynolds thanked fans for their commitment and loyalty over the past eight years and spoke about the bands upcoming album.

[Going back home] gave me perspective to look back on everything thats happened, Reynolds said. Im overwhelmed with appreciation.

Fans cheered and sang along to the upbeat tune I Bet My Life before the entire band left the stage for a couple minutes. Then, Platzman returned to deliver a deafening, yet impressive solo as a prelude to On Top of the World.

What could have been a positive ending to the show ended up becoming the build-up to a dramatic, jolting finish to Imagine Dragons concert. Multi-colored lights flashed across the stage as the band passionately carried through a captivating performance of Believer, the lead single off Evolve.

After a moment of darkness, the show finally came to an end with what was arguably the best performance of the night. A stream of green lights permeated across the stage as Imagine Dragons delivered an extra rock-and-roll rendition of Radioactive. The band rocked the night away with a two-minute instrumental segment that pulsated throughout the venue even after the lights dimmed.

While the show only lasted about 90 minutes, Imagine Dragons filled the time with a well-balanced setlist that captivated fans and casual listeners. Reynolds, McKee, Sermon and Platzman all had their own shining moments something often rare among bands with only one leading vocalist. Moments like Reynolds banging on Platzmans cymbals or Sermon and Platzman strumming melodies together made the bands chemistry come to life on stage.

Though it would have perhaps been a more strategic move to preview some of their upcoming songs, Imagine Dragons nonetheless owned the night with passionate deliveries and great fan interaction.

Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

"I think it's reasonable to suppose that one could oscillate between being biologically 20 and biologically 25 indefinitely." -- Aubrey de Grey

Time may indeed be on your side. If you can just last another quarter century.

By then, people will start lives that could last 1,000 years or more. Our human genomes will be modified to include the genetic material of microorganisms that live in the soil, enabling us to break down the junk proteins that our cells amass over time and which they can't digest on their own. People will have the option of looking and feeling the way they did at 20 for the rest of their lives, or opt for an older look if they get bored. Of course, everyone will be required to go in for age rejuvenation therapy once every decade or so, but that will be a small price to pay for near-immortality.

This may sound like science fiction, but Aubrey de Grey thinks this could be our reality in as little as 25 years. Other scientists caution that it is far from clear whether and for how long science can stall the inevitable.

De Grey, a Cambridge University researcher, heads the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) project, in which he has defined seven causes of aging, all of which he thinks can be dealt with. (Senescence is scientific jargon for aging.)

De Grey also runs the Methuselah Mouse prize for breakthroughs in extended aging in mice. The purse of the M Prize, as it is called, recently grew beyond $1 million.

LiveScience recently spoke with de Gray about his idea of living longer, and perhaps forever.

LiveScience: What is your definition of aging?

Aubrey de Grey: The definition that I like is not very good if you want to cover all species, but it's pretty good if you want to do something about it. I define aging as the set of accumulated side effects from metabolism that eventually kills us.

Is your goal to just extend the human lifespan substantially or to enable us to live forever?

I don't see any inherent limit to how long it would be desirable to live. If life is fun at the moment, because one is healthy and youthful, both mentally and physically, then one is not likely to want to die in the next year or two. And if a year or two down the road, life is still fun because one is still youthful and so on, then the same will apply, and I can't see a time when that would cease to be true.

When did you first come up with idea for your SENS project?

Well, I've always considered aging to be undesirable, but I didn't begin to consider that I could make a contribution until about ten years ago. I suppose the major breakthrough was when I came up with the scheme that I now describe as SENS, and that happened about four years ago.

Nuclear Mutations/Epimutations These are changes to the DNA, the molecule that contains our genetic information, or to proteins which bind to the DNA. Certain mutations can lead to cancer.

Mitochondrial Mutations Mitochondria are components in our cells that are important for energy production. They contain their own genetic material, and mutations to their DNA can affect a cell's ability to function properly.

Intracellular Junk Our cells are constantly breaking down proteins that are no longer useful or which can be harmful. Those proteins which can't be digested simply accumulate as junk inside our cells.

Extracellular Junk Harmful junk protein can also accumulate outside of our cells. The amyloid plaque seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients is one example.

Cell Loss Some of the cells in our bodies cannot be replaced, or can only be replaced very slowly.

Cell Senescence This is a phenomenon where the cells are no longer able to divide. They may also do other things that they're not supposed to, like secreting proteins that could be harmful.

Extracellular Crosslinks: Cells are held together by special linking proteins. When too many cross-links form between cells in a tissue, the tissue can lose its elasticity and cause problems.

What happened was that I was gradually learning a lot of biology because my wife is a biologist. I was originally trained as a computer scientist, and I regarded aging as obviously undesirable but not my problem, that someone else would be working on it.

But the more biology I learned, the more I also learned about biologist and about the attitudes toward working on the biology of aging that biologists tended to have, and basically, I wasn't very impressed. I found that rather few biologists were interested in the problem at all, and I thought, "Well, that isn't very good,", so I thought I'd see what I could do.

Your background is in computer science. How does that qualify you to spearhead a project on aging?

My background is enormously beneficial. There are really very important differences between the type of creativity involved in being a basic scientist and being an engineer. It means that I'm able to think in very different ways and come up with approaches to things that are different from the way a basic scientist might think.

Could you give me an example of when your background has proven useful?

Well, I suppose that the whole SENS project is one big example. What I've done there is I've identified a set of things to fix, a set of aspects of aging that we have some respectable chance to repair, and I've realized that if we can do all of these things reasonably well, then we're done.

Basically, we'll have made the age related problems that we suffer from these days no longer an inevitable consequence of being alive. What I've done is basically factored out all the complicated details of how metabolism causes these things in the first place. It will be many decades before we understand the way cells and organs work well enough to be able to describe in detail the mechanism of how these problems actually occur.

But my way of thinking is that we don't need to know the details of how they happen. So long as we know what these things are that do happen, we can figure out ways to fix them. This is counter to the ways that scientists think, because scientists are interested in knowledge for its own sake, whereas I'm interested in knowledge as a means to an end.

Could you give me a timeline for how you envision your project succeeding?

The first part of the project is to get really impressive results in mice. The reason that's important is because mice are sufficiently furry and people can identify with them. If we get really impressive results in mice, then people will believe that it's possible to do it in humans, whereas if you double the lifespan of a fruit fly, people aren't going to be terribly interested.

Now, what I want to do in mice is not only develop interventions which extend their healthy lifespan by a substantial amount, but moreover, to do so when the mouse is already in middle age. This is very important, because if you do things to the mouse's genes before the mouse is even conceived, then people who are alive can't really identify with that.

I reckon it will be about 10 years before we can achieve the degree of life extension with late onset interventions that will be necessary to prove to society's satisfaction that this is feasible. It could be longer, but I think that so long as the funding is there, then it should be about 10 years.

Step two will involve translating that technology to humans. And because that's further in the future, it's much more speculative about how long that's going to take. But I think we have a fifty-fifty chance of doing it within about 15 years from the point where we get results with the mice. So 25 years from now.

What do you think about the idea that with so much life at stake, people would be less willing to take risks?

I used to be more pessimistic about this than I am now. Five or six years ago I wrote a book in which I predicted that driving would be outlawed because it would be too dangerous to other people, but now I think that what's actually going to happen is that we'll just throw money at the problem. Rather than simply avoiding activities that are risky, we'll make them less risky through technology. For example, it's perfectly possible already to build cars that are much safer than those which most people currently drive, and it's also possible to build cars that are safer for pedestrians--with auto sensors and auto braking to stop from hitting a kid running out in the road and things like that.

It's just a matter of priorities. When there isn't that many years of life to lose, the priority isn't there to spend the money. It's all a matter of weighing out the probabilities.

Once the technology is available, nearly everyone is going to want it. Of course, there's going to be a minority of people who think it's better to live more naturally in some way or other. We have parallels like that in society today, like the Amish for example.

Some would say that death is a part of life. What would be your response to those people?

Death will still be a part of life when we haven't got aging anymore. If you mean that some people would say that aging is a part of life--well, that's certainly true, but a couple hundred years ago tuberculosis was a part of life, and we didn't have much hesitation in making that no longer a part of life when we found out how.

What do you say to critics who think that this money could be better spent towards curing diseases like cancer?

This is a very important point. Because we're going be in a situation where we can extend lifespans indefinitely, this argument doesn't work. If it were a case of simply having a prospect of extending our healthy lives by 20 or 30 years, then one could legitimately argue that this would be money more ethically spent on extending the lifespan of people who have a below average lifespan. But when we're talking about extending lifespans indefinitely, I don't think that really works. The other thing to bear in mind, is that it's not an either or thing. The reasons why people in Africa for example, have a low life expectancy is not just because of medical care, but also because of political problems.

What kind of life will the immortal or nearly-immortal lead? Will they have to be on a special diet, or have constant organ transplants?

Like any technology, when it first starts off, it will be a bit shaky, a bit risky, it will be very laborious and expensive and so on, but there will be enormous market pressures that will result in progressive refinement and improvement to the technology so that it not only becomes more effective, it becomes more convenient and so on. This will be an example of that.

In a very general sort of sense, one could probably think in terms of having to go in for a refresh every 10 years or so. Exactly what would be involved in that will change over the years. It might start off as lets say a month in the hospital, and 10 years down the road, that will turn into a day in the hospital.

A good parallel is vaccines. For example, when we take a holiday in Africa or Southeast Asia or whatever, we get a shot to make sure that we don't get malaria. And that's all we have to do, and when we get there we can eat Mc Donald's as much as one likes.

So you think it'll one day be as easy as getting a vaccine?

Yes, that's right. A lot of these things, even in the early stages will amount to vaccines and drugs. Though of course, there will also be a lot of gene therapy and stem cell therapy and much more high tech stuff.

Why did you establish both an institute and a prize?

I think it's very important to have this two-prong approach. The idea here is that we don't really know what's going to work, but we have a fair idea of approaches that have a good probability of working.

If you look at past technological achievements, some of them succeeded by just throwing serious effort and serious resources at the problem, and people were pretty sure of what they had to do to make the thing work. The Manhattan Project is a fine example of that. Everyone basically knew how to build the atomic bomb, it was just a question of working out the kinks.

Then we've got things where there were loads of different possibilities about how the thing might be done, and it was important to motivate people and give incentives. For example, when Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic, that won a prize. And when someone invented a chronometer that worked properly at sea, that won a prize. Things like that. That was where you wanted to give incentives for people to follow their hunches, because it wasn't very clear which approach was going to work.

I think that when we're talking about life extension, we're sort of halfway between these two situations. We have a bunch of ideas which one can make a good case that it's going to work, but we also want to hedge our bets, and let people follow their hunches as well.

Of your seven SENS targets, which do you consider to be the most important?

It's not possible to say. I don't think we will be able to achieve more than a relatively modest amount of life extension, if any, until we can get at least five or so of these things working, and we might need to do all seven before we get more than a decade of life extension.

Why do you personally want to live forever?

It's not really a matter of living forever, it's just a matter of not wanting to die. One doesn't live forever all in one go, one lives forever one year at a time. It's just a case of "Well, life seems to be fun, and I don't see any prospect of it ceasing to be fun unless I get frail and miserable and start declining." So if I can avoid declining, I'll stay with it really.

What would you do if you could live substantially longer?

They say variety is the spice of life, so I don't think I would do the same things every day. I'd like to be able to spend more time reading, and listen to music, and all that sort of thing, things that I never get to do at all at the moment.

You think this project is going to succeed in your lifetime?

I think it's got a respectable chance. I'm definitely not relying on it. My main motivation comes from the thought of how many lives will be saved.

Your strategy would involve not only preventing aging, but reversing it as well. Does that mean people will get to choose what age they want to remain?

Absolutely. So the idea is that we wouldn't be eliminating aging from the body. It'll be a case of going in periodically and having the accumulated damage repaired. So exactly what biological age you actually have at any point is really just a question of how often you go in for rejuvenations and how thorough they are.

So the more treatments you undergo, the younger you can be?

That's right. I think it's reasonable to suppose that one could oscillate between being biologically 20 and biologically 25 indefinitely.

Scientist Say Lack Of Funding Is Biggest Obstacle To Immortality – EconoTimes

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Old Age.Vinoth Chandar/Flickr

For centuries, humanity has been searching for ways to live longer, resist diseases, and generally have a happier life. Throughout the centuries, people thought that the biggest challenge to discovering the secret to immortality is knowledge. According to one scientist specializing in this field, however, its the lack of funding thats to blame for why humans are still dying of old age.

The scientist in question is Aubrey de Grey, who is arguably one of the most enthusiastic minds tackling the matter of aging in the world, Futurism reports. What de Grey wants to achieve, above all else, is to give humans eternal life. To this end, he co-founded SENS Research Foundation and became editor in chief of the publication, Rejuvenation Research.

Researchers belonging to the Foundation are conducting studies at the Mountain View, Californias SRF Research Center (SRF-RC). There, the scientists try to cure the body of aging at the molecular level as well as develop advanced rejuvenation technology. Although much of their work is still proof of concept, their projects do hold promise.

Unfortunately, there are still many obstacles that the researchers need to overcome, the biggest of which is the lack of funding. As de Grey said, there are always money shortages that slow the rate of progress.

The most difficult aspect [of fighting age-related diseases] is raising the money to actually fund the research, de Grey told Futurism.

Its the age-old quandary that has plagued the scientific community since the dawn of time. No money equals no advancements. Thats why the most successful societies in history are those with a thriving scientific and technological industries.

With regards to the fight against aging, the problem is particularly acute. The best example of how skewed research funding distribution is, a recent report by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicates that $5.5 billion went to cancer research compared to the $52 million allocated for researching amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

This kind of discrepancy is exactly what prevents scientists like de Grey from solving the ultimate illness of humans. Its why immortality is still so far out of reach.

New Study Could End Insulin Dependence Of Type-1 Diabetics

Infertility in men could point to more serious health problems later in life

Electrically stimulating your brain can boost memory but here's one reason it doesn't always work

Fainting and the summer heat: Warmer days can make you swoon, so be prepared

Why bad moods are good for you: the surprising benefits of sadness

Here's why 'cool' offices don't always make for a happier workforce

Four myths about diabetes debunked

What are 'fasting' diets and do they help you lose weight?

Placebos work even when patients know what they are

Read the original:

Scientist Say Lack Of Funding Is Biggest Obstacle To Immortality - EconoTimes

North America Dietary Supplements Market is expected to reach USD 68.22 billion by 2025 – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

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.

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.

The North America dietary supplements market is expected to reach USD 68.22 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. 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.

Further key findings from the report suggest: In terms of revenue, minerals segment is estimated to be one of the fastest growing segments and is likely to expand at a CAGR of 6.7% over the forecast period, owing to significant usage of mineral-based dietary supplements in the U.S. and Canada Liquid product segment is expected to provide considerable scope for market growth and is estimated to account for a revenue of USD 10.40 billion by 2025, as a consequence of rising clinical nutrition products demand for prevention of malnutrition Medicinal supplements application constituted a revenue of USD 6.40 billion in 2016 and is likely to expand at a robust growth rate by 2025, owing to rising health risks pertaining to cardiovascular, obesity, and gastrointestinal disorders Mexico is projected to witness fastest industry growth during the forecast period, owing to rising usage of ingredients such as botanicals and vitamins among children, infants, and adult age groups Amway Corporation, Pfizer Inc., NBTY, Inc., and Herbalife International are the key players that collectively accounted for over 15% market share of the global industry in 2016 Companies are focusing on strengthening their presence as key players, by forward integrating their business operations across the value chain and through implementing strategies such as distribution agreements and new product launches. In April 2016, Amway Corporation launched a new sports nutrition product line to cater to the regional demand. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04946474/North-America-Dietary-Supplements-Market-Analysis-By-Ingredient-Botanicals-Vitamins-Minerals-By-Product-Tablets-Capsules-Gel-Caps-By-Application-By-End-use-And-Segment-Forecasts.html

About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

http://www.reportlinker.com

__________________________ Contact Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-america-dietary-supplements-market-is-expected-to-reach-usd-6822-billion-by-2025-300476128.html

SOURCE Reportlinker

http://www.reportlinker.com

Go here to read the rest:

North America Dietary Supplements Market is expected to reach USD 68.22 billion by 2025 - PR Newswire (press release)

Life Extension News | March 2017 Issue | Life Enhancement …

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Select an Issue Date: March, 2017 February, 2017 January, 2017 December, 2016 July, 2016 June, 2016 May, 2016 April, 2016 February, 2016 January, 2016 December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 November, 2014 September, 2014 August, 2014 July, 2014 June, 2014 May, 2014 April, 2014 February, 2014 January, 2014 December, 2013 November, 2013 October, 2013 September, 2013 August, 2013 July, 2013 June, 2013 May, 2013 April, 2013 March, 2013 February, 2013 January, 2013 December, 2012 October, 2012 September, 2012 August, 2012 July, 2012 May, 2012 April, 2012 January, 2012 November, 2011 September, 2011 June, 2011 April, 2011 February, 2011 December, 2010 October, 2010 August, 2010 June, 2010 April, 2010 January, 2010 December, 2009 October, 2009 August, 2009 June, 2009 April, 2009 February, 2009 December, 2008 November, 2008 September, 2008 July, 2008 May, 2008 March, 2008 January, 2008 September, 2007 June, 2007 February, 2007 October, 2006 July, 2006 March, 2006 December, 2005 September, 2005 June, 2005 March, 2005 November, 2004 August, 2004 July, 2004 April, 2004 February, 2004 November, 2003 August, 2003 June, 2003 April, 2003 February, 2003 January, 2003 November, 2002 March, 2002 February, 2002 January, 2002 November, 2001 September, 2001 July, 2001 June, 2001 May, 2001 March, 2001 November, 2000 October, 2000 August, 2000 June, 2000 April, 2000 February, 2000 December, 1999 November, 1999

APPETIZERS

WHERE MOST OF THE WORK IS DONE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT

MAGNESIUM REDUCES ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY, INCLUDING STROKE, HEART FAILURE, AND DIABETES

ARGININE FOR PAIN: SICKLE CELL DISEASE

RUTIN, A COLD MIMETIC, ACTIVATES BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE TO INCREASE ENERGY EXPENDITURE FOR WEIGHT LOSS

PERSISTENT INFECTIONS CAN BE SILENT KILLERS: HELICOBACTER PYLORI

TIME IS ON MY SIDE YES, IT IS

WHATEVER YOU MAY THINK OF MR. TRUMP

See the original post here:

Life Extension News | March 2017 Issue | Life Enhancement ...

Blue State, Red State – Fayette Newspapers

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

A civil war may be defined as a violent clash within the boundaries of a particular country initiated by radicals who are unwilling to accept the governance of anyone not chosen by them. The goal of the radical element is to regain power to the ends that abolish, by any means necessary, the existing government policies. An integral part of any civil war is the undermining of the party du jour, i.e., spreading scurrilous and false information to the people without naming any sources. This insures that the population would have no way to challenge the information. Once this operation has placed a seed of discontent and suspicion against the ruling party, the radicals then move to phase two: Visual displays that graphically depict the party in power as vile racists and xenophobes? The modern day radical has the same modus operandi, but it is more refined. I digress. The question is: What drove these modern day radicals to such extreme measures? Simple answer: Donald J. Trump. And who is to blame for the flame out of the Democrat party? Well, lets see. How about Hillary? I would quote Camille Paglia who said, With her supercilious, Marie Antoinette-style entitlement persona, who was a disastrously wrong candidate to begin with, and secured the nomination only through overt chicanery by the Democratic National Committee, assisted by a corrupt national media who, for over a year, imposed a virtual blackout on potential primary rivals. The most fervid Hillary acolytes (especially among young and middle aged women, show biz types, and denizens of the unisex movement) were so obtusely indifferent to Hillarys incompetence as Secretary of State, they failed to recognize that the only accomplishments of note (but those only deserve a Bronx cheer) by Hillary was her piling up air miles, lying to the family of the Ben Gazi victims, and the destabilization of North Africa. After Hillarys loss, her dazed and confused sycophantic pant-suit gang expected some sort of salvivic sermon of regret, or in the least a mild crimination, but no. Hillary went hiding into the woods and just recently (to receive a big fat check for a speech) emerged. Subsequently, after the retirement of Harry Reid as Democratic Leader, the disingenuous Chuck Schumer, who had neither a care nor concern for moral authority, ascended to the leadership role. There were no statesman-like words of caution and restraint from either Reid or Schumer. Thus, there was none. The crazies among the radicals took the gloves off. One hack comedian published on national social media the (beheaded) bloody head of President Trump; a theatre troupe in New York put on a play ostensibly about Julius Caesar, when in actuality it graphically showed the assassination of President Trump and his wife; Madonna expressed her desire to blow up the White House (I suppose with the President in it). Now for the denouement by the crazy left. Some hayseed Trump hater from Illinois moved bag and baggage into his van, put sheets over the windows, and drove on down to Alexandria, Virginia to be near Congressional goings on. After his shower at the YMCA, he produced an assault rifle and began to fire indiscriminately at a baseball practice squad consisting of a bunch of republicans. A left wing radicals dream. Edward Gibbon said in his Magnus Opus, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some convenient difference in age, character, or station, to justify the distinction.This was the prevailing zeitgeist in 476 A.D. at the fall of the Roman Empire. Does it have a familiar ring in 2017 A.D?

comments

Read the original here:

Blue State, Red State - Fayette Newspapers

Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies – Financial Post

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Financial Post

Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies
Financial Post
Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies ... It involved the sale of a school for heavy-equipment operators earth graders, bulldozers, mining equipment, the bedrock of Canada's economy.

Original post:

Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies - Financial Post

Pro teaches nature, landscape photography basics – Coast Weekend

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Submitted photoA photo by Jim Young, teacher of the photography class.

NETARTS Friends of Netarts Bay WEBS will offer a free course for emerging landscape and nature photographers 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 25, in the Netarts Bay area. Participants must register for details.

Jim Young, a professional photographer and marine scientist, will teach the basics of photography and how to take a good image.

The course is part of the Explore Nature series of hikes, walks, paddles and outdoor adventures. Series events are hosted by a consortium of volunteer community and nonprofit organizations. They are meaningful nature-based experiences highlighting the beauty of Tillamook County and the work done to preserve and conserve the areas natural resources and natural resource-based economy, organizers said.

The class is limited to 10 people, who will need to bring their own cameras and be familiar with transferring photos to computers. WEBS will provide transportation to natural areas.

Donations for Netarts Bay WEBS are encouraged.

Contact Young at jimyoung4990@gmail.com, or call 503-842-2153 for more information.

Stay on topic - This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

Share with Us - We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism.

Be Civil - It's OK to have a difference in opinion but there's no need to be a jerk. We reserve the right to delete any comments that we feel are spammy, off-topic, or reckless to the community.

Be proactive - Use the 'Flag as Inappropriate' link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.

More here:

Pro teaches nature, landscape photography basics - Coast Weekend

Should all Americans receive a guaranteed income? – KPNX 12 News TV

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Magnify Money and Kalyn Wilson , KHOU 11:10 AM. MST June 20, 2017

Photo: Thinkstock (Photo: Phekthong Lee)

Having a monthly, tax-free, no-strings-attached income that would cover the basics for life may sound too good to be true, but its no fantasy. The idea of universal basic income (UBI) already has been implemented in some regions, such as Canada, Europe, and even Alaska, and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently revitalized discussion about the concept.

Zuckerberg endorsed UBI during his 2017 commencement speech at Harvard University as a means of leveling the economic playing field and opening the doors of entrepreneurship to everyone.

"We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas," Zuckerberg told graduates. Now its time for our generation to define a new social contract.

What Is Universal Basic Income?

Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and other tech executives, including Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, have turned to this notion in response to the re-emerging concern about unemployment in the tech sector.

But the concept was originally developed hundreds of years ago as a way to lift citizens out of poverty.

Universal basic income (UBI) actually dates to the 16th century and the Renaissance, when the idea of a minimum income guarantee originated as a way to help poor people. Then in the 18th century, the idea of a basic endowment emerged to help alleviate theft, murder, and poverty in Europe.

The concept has changed through the years. When people talk about UBI today, theyre referring to an unconditional cash grant regularly distributed to all members of a community without any means test or work requirements, according to the Basic Income Earth Network. The concept means that everyone receives a set amount of money each period, no matter their circumstances.

Despite its existence for even centuries, UBI did not take the stage like other social assistance programs, such as Social Security, food stamps, and unemployment benefits, which some critics believe would be outperformed by UBI, if implemented.

Jason Murphy, assistant professor of philosophy at Elms College in Chicopee, Mass., and U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) coordinating committee member, says UBI would remove the conditions placed on existing social assistance programs that limit who receives help and how. The program would better target communities that are especially vulnerable and overlooked ensuring that no one has to go hungry and everyone starts on equal footing, he adds.

Still, with UBI in place, Murphy says he thinks not only does it give everyone a chance to cover essential needs, but it also opens the door for others to invest, start businesses, and create more jobs for the economy.

Critics argue that UBI could cause inflation, cause people not to work, or be an unfair tax on the rich, but research shows this isnt likely. A study by MIT and Harvard economists found that "no systematic evidence that cash transfer programs discourage work" in poor countries and, in some cases, encourage it.

Karl Widerquist, an economist, philosopher, Basic Income Earth Network board member, and visiting associate professor at Georgetown University-Qatar, says he thinks with a decent tax policy, the program would serve as an automatic stabilizer, alleviate income inequality, and help everyone financially.

The average worker is no better off than they were in the 1970s when you adjust for inflation, Widerquist says.

Some Places Are Already Benefiting

Regions around the globe including Ontario, Canada, and Finland, and, in the U.S., North Carolina, and Alaska are putting UBI to the test.

In the late 1990s, a tribe of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina began distributing some of the profits from the tribes casino to its 8,000 members, the New York Times reported. It amounted to about $6,000 per year for each member.

A long-term study on the tribes universal income experiment was published in 2016 by Duke University epidemiologist E. Jane Costello. She found that children in communities with a basic income experienced improvement in the education system, better mental and physical health, lower stress levels and crime rates, and overall economic growth.

Finland began a similar experiment in 2017, promising to give 2,000 citizens $600 per month through 2019. And Alaska has offered a basic income to its residents since the early 1980s.

With these small, pilot projects, social scientists and politicians are observing the effects of a basic income on the economic, social, and personal well-being of residents before launching large-scale programs.

Can UBI Really Level the Playing Field?

With a cushion, Widerquist says people will be less likely to settle for certain jobs and living arrangements, causing employers and property owners to cut better deals and prioritize clients, customers, and employers.

I think it will promote growth, Murphy says.

The rich and well-off may use the extra money to invest, and possibly begin investing in low-income communities, which works in favor of those in both social classes, Murphy says. He also says it could revitalize local economies, because those who rely heavily on the cash grants are more likely to spend locally.

Whats the Catch?

Murphy says the tax reform needed to make UBI a reality must be progressive. That way, it will avoid a major concern for the middle class the upper class will evade taxes, and the middle class will have to fit the bill for the non-workers of the world.

Photo: Thinkstock (Photo: utah778)

Widerquist argues that implementing this program requires open minds that are willing to move away from an economic system where the upper class maintains control over the flow of cash through ownership and stringently structured government programs. Instead, he thinks the government and society should first focus on eradicating poverty, and the roads to economic prosperity will follow.

The con is that the devil is in the details, Widerquist says. There are some [programs] that want to redistribute less to the poor that would not be better than the programs we already have.

Is UBI Feasible?

The answer is yes, Widerquist says.

The net cost of a basic income, large enough to eliminate poverty in the United States, is $539 billion a year, Widerquist says. Thats only a fourth of what the government is spending on entitlements.

Although it would be a big item in the federal budget, Murphy says he thinks its even cheaper to implement and maintain than Widerquists projections suggest.

Its going to take a commitment, but some of the calculations that are out there are actually way too high, he says.

With no means testing, Murphy says, there is no need to hire people to interview citizens, which saves money compared to requirement-driven social assistance programs.

The money poured into a basic income program would represent about 3% of the gross domestic product, which would put everyone above the poverty line, Murphy says.

Also, Widerquist and Murphy suggest that while universal basic income is possible without drastically cutting other programs, like unemployment benefits or universal health care, there are other ways to keep costs down. Those include trading UBI for programs like food stamps (since it is a cash grant), or taxing items like pollution, traffic, and electronic financial transactions.

MagnifyMoneyis a price comparison and financial education website, founded by former bankers who use their knowledge of how the system works to help you save money.

MagnifyMoney

Excerpt from:

Should all Americans receive a guaranteed income? - KPNX 12 News TV

Will Automation Solve the Ongoing Risk of Aviation Crew Fatigue? – BRINK

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Some have suggested that automation can relieve crews from having to deal with routine tasks to ease their workday, and thanks to the data generation and advanced computational capabilities of the newest generation of aircraft, more options for task automation are emerging.

Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Like most prescription drugs, the remedy sometimes has unexpected side effects. So it is for automation, when applied as a solution to aviations ongoing problem of crew fatigue. While artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics hold much promise for task automation on aircraft, airlines may want to coordinate any automation efforts with state-of-the-art crew fatigue management plans for the best results.

The risk of crew fatigue persists for airlines, despite the 2013 flight-time regulations known as FAR 117 from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The rules incorporated the latest in fatigue science, but similar rules have yet to be adopted worldwide, and the science of fatigue management itself has continued to advance.

Fatigue is not just about being tired; sleep will remedy being tired. Fatigue is cumulative, the product of an incomplete recovery from days of insufficient sleep. It affects people who consistently work long hours under stressful conditions, and for aviation, its consequences include declining health and productivity of flight crews, rising staff attrition and safety concerns.

While airplanes have long been able to fly on autopilot, researchers are now testing resilient machine-learning-based autopilot systems that can adapt to changing conditions and even crises. These systems learn from experienced pilots how to react to situations, rather than having to be explicitly hard coded with instructions for every conceivable circumstance.

Ultimately, technology is likely to evolve over time to the point where one cockpit crew member is able to handle a sizable chunk of a flight, with automation as the co-pilota potential boon given the anticipated pilot shortage. Eventually, a remote pilot on the ground could take the second cockpit seat on some flights or flight segments. But those advances are many years off.

Among other future automation possibilities are artificial-intelligence-based weather and radar monitoring that allows pilots to see a more complete picture of the weather ahead without consulting several different monitoring systems and electronic stability and protection systems that monitor and maintain the altitude of an airplane even when autopilot is off. Also being tested are virtual assistants that use speech recognition and voice commands to alert crew members of cockpit tasks that need to be completed.

Of course, technology is even tackling the fatigue question with the development of machines that monitor fatigue and adjust the level of automation to ensure sufficient crew engagement. For instance, the trucking industry already uses a system to monitor eye and eyelid movements of drivers to ensure they are alert.

Still, automation is not a panacea and may introduce unexpected risks. Research suggests that reducing or eliminating the stimulation of manual tasks may slow reaction times and bring other fatigue symptoms to the fore. One danger is the phenomenon of microsleepingmoments when part of your brain goes offline, so to speak, while other parts may remain in wake mode. The phenomenon has been identified as a frequent cause of automobile accidents.

The smart way to incorporate automation is by developing a long-term crew fatigue strategy that recognizes automations risks as well as its rewards. A robust fatigue management strategy includes conducting a detailed assessment of fatigue causes; correlating data on actual duty times and activities with fatigue reporting; gathering crew feedback through interviews; and developing a fatigue risk management system that focuses first and foremost on fatigue prevention.

A big part of prevention is developing realistic and resilient crew schedules that incorporate the latest in fatigue science and accurately reflect the challenging operational environment. FAR 117 has gone a long way to begin that process, but in some cases, regulations have fallen short on addressing the full spectrum of issues that lead to fatigue.

While rules exist that govern how many hours crews can work (and how often they can work overtime), regulations vary by geographic market, and limits on flight duty periods do not always take into account more qualitative factors, such as tough routes, cumulative schedule intensity (such as during the busy summer travel season), and the impact of standby duty.

Before making decisions on task automation, it is important to determine which phases of flight present higher risks for fatigue. And, for days when things dont go as planned, standard protocols need to include enough emphasis on crew fatigue and the impact of the disruption on crews.

As airlines adopt technology to collect and analyze the reams of technical flight and equipment data being generated, they have an opportunity to incorporate into those new systems capabilities to gather more information on human factors that could provide greater insights into fatigue.

No doubt, this is a tricky balancing act for both airlines and regulators. Still, the payoff for good fatigue management coupled with cautious adoption of AI systems can be substantialexcellent safety records, higher crew productivity, and happier customers.

URL: http://www.brinknews.com/will-automation-solve-the-ongoing-risk-of-aviation-crew-fatigue/

See the original post:

Will Automation Solve the Ongoing Risk of Aviation Crew Fatigue? - BRINK

As automation threatens job market, employees opt for e-learning courses to upskill – Moneycontrol.com

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Moneycontrol News

With the threat of automation looming over the job market, many employees are looking to upskill themselves in order to keep themselves from getting the pink slips. As bots start doing humans' work and skill sets get redundant, online certification and courses can help employees stay up to date with technology.

Started in 2010, Intellipaat is a platform that provides online e-learning courses on big data, business intelligence, data science, cloud and business courses like Hadoop, building recommendation engine,python and many more.

Sharing his e-learning experience, ISS Softech employee Nitesh Kumar Dash, said, I had applied for a combination of courses including Big Data and Hadoop, which helped me get a Big Data job at my firm. Usually, people with a lot of experience are hired for such jobs but I got the opportunity with 2.5 years experience due to the online course.

Looking at the positiveside of automation, Dinesh Goel, CEO & Co-Founder of Aasaanjobs says, Automation has been revolutionary for the tech industry and its not just taking away jobs but generating new ones. Only way this opportunity can be grabbed, should the employees decide to upskill themselves in the technologies they work in.

He added that automation has caused the collaboration of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data and has started to give machines more human-like abilities to reason and to solve many new types of problems.

Big data is an area, which is going to boom in the coming years and employees who are prepared will reap the benefits, he added.

According to a KPMG report, Indias online education market is set to grow to USD 1.96 billion and around 9.6 million users by 2021 from USD 247 million and around 1.6 million users in 2016.

The report adds that reskilling and online certification courses currently account for a significant part of the online education market in the country with a share of 38 percent. This is largely driven by a healthy adoption rate amongst the significant population of IT professionals in India.

Apart from e-learning, education technology firms are also providing placements. Dash, who found out about Intellipaat through Quora said the platform also provides job support.

These edtech companies rope in industry veterans to impart knowledge about the new technology. Intellipaat has more than 600 trainers on board who are freelancers and have been working in the industry for a long time.

Reiterating the automation threat, Goel says it had a tremendous impact on the IT sector with Cognizant Chennai laying off 6000-10,000 odd and Wipro and Infosys laying off about 56,000 employees in this fiscal year.

Hiring process for 2017 is likely to be slow with IT majors expected to cut by 40 percent of the engineering graduates they had planned to hire, he added.

Due to the fear of losing jobs, more and more people are opting for e-learning courses. Online reskilling continues to be in demand as employees see them as a ticket to retention and professional growth.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Intellipaat founder Diwakar Chittora said that the company saw 15-20 percent jump in the last 1-2 months in people asking to upskill. From 600 learners in 2013, the company now has about 4 lakh people on board who are opting for e-learning courses.

Chittora added that corporates are also focusing on upskilling their workforce. In the initial days of our operations, we had received a call from telecommunications equipment company Ericsson asking to provide training to 60 people.

Moving ahead, the edtech firm added companies like Genpact, Sony, CISCO, TCS, Wipro, and Tata Communications among others in its kitty.

To keep pace with technological transformations, employees are investing in learning these new-age skills. On Intellipaats platform, the cost of these courses range from Rs 5,000, which goes up to Rs 25,000.

Continue reading here:

As automation threatens job market, employees opt for e-learning courses to upskill - Moneycontrol.com

Israeli workers get more skilled as automation looms, study says – The Times of Israel

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Israels labor force is undergoing a modernization process with fewer workers at risk of losing their jobs due to automation, according to a study by the Taub Center For Social Policy Studies in Israel.

The study examined the dangers posed by automation to the workforce as the nation moves from a traditional economy driven by manufacturing and production to an information technology and services economy, where high-tech and services are the major growth engines.

As a result of the market increasingly demanding high-skilled workers, the share of those whose jobs are highly vulnerable to automation went down between 2013 and 2015, the period covered by the study. However, this is less true for Arab Israelis and immigrants than for the native-born Jewish working population.

The study finds that the relative portion of workers in low-risk occupations has risen, while the share of workers in high-risk occupations has declined evidence of a continued labor force modernization process, the Taub Center said in a statement.

The findings of the study come as policy makers and business leaders in Israel convened for two days in Jerusalem, on Monday and Tuesday, to discuss the challenges automation poses to Israels labor market.

The former president of Intel in Israel, Mooly Eden, warned on Monday that the government was not doing enough to deal with the blow being inflicted on the labor market by automation.

Thanks to the likes of autonomous cars, chatbots and digital banking, he sees tens of thousands of people unemployed, he said. We can prepare for this, he said. But in my opinion we are completely unprepared.

The Taub study, by Prof. Claude Berrebi and Kyrill Shraberman, shows that changes among women were greater than among men with a significant drop in women employed in clerical work, indicating that these positions might have already undergone a process of automation as bank branches close, secretarial services become outsourced and offices computerize administrative tasks.

In the Arab Israeli sector the study shows a decline in the share of skilled workers in production and manufacturing considered at high risk from automation and a relatively strong rise in their share in sales and service as well as clerical work.

Women working in a matza factory (photo credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

There was just a small change an increase of 1% in the share of Arab Israeli workers in occupations requiring an academic education. This is low relative to the Jewish population, which posted an increase of 1.9%. As a result, the average salary rise among Arab Israelis is also lower.

A possible reason for this is the relatively low skill level within the Arab Israeli sector: the share of those with high-level skills in reading comprehension and mathematics among Arab Israelis aged 16-64 is only 1%, versus 10-13% among the Jewish population, according to the OECDs PIAAC survey of adult competencies.

Among Jewish immigrants, there has been a rise in the share of unskilled workers and a smaller increase in the share of workers in academic professions, relative to long-time residents or the native-born. An exceptional rise in the share of unskilled workers (like cleaning and security workers) is seen among men ages 45-54 who came to Israel between 1990 and 1995. According to the researchers, the data point to the difficulties of integration among this adult male immigrant group who have been in Israel over a decade and have experienced difficulties adjusting to the modern labor market.

The major impediment to immigrant integration in the labor market is language issues Hebrew and sometimes English. Immigrants in general, and female immigrants in particular, are characterized by higher rates of academic education that do not match the local labor market. Thus, they often compromise by accepting employment in occupations that do not require an academic education. That said, immigrants are employed at slightly higher rates than Jewish long-time residents/native-born Israelis.

The study also examined to what degree a year of formal education improves hourly average salary, and found that since 2003 there has been an overall rise in return on education. This return encourages workers to get more education, and thus improves the quality and the skill level of the labor force.

But this rise also contributes to increasing wage gaps between workers. In 2014, the hourly salary for men with 18 years of schooling, equivalent to a masters degree, was 35% higher than for those with 12 years of schooling equivalent to a high school diploma.

This gap was higher for women at 41%. But for Arab men the return on education declined between 2011 and 2014, as the rise in wages over those years for Arab Israeli men was more moderate than among the general male population. Among immigrant men, there was also a rise in return on education, although the gaps remained lower than among the general male population, the study showed. Wage gaps between immigrants with 18 years of schooling and those 12 years of schooling were 22% in 2014.

The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel is an independent, nonpartisan socioeconomic research institute.

Israeli workers get more skilled as automation looms, study says - The Times of Israel

Outsourcing: The source of modern day slavery Opinion … – Guardian (blog)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Outsourcing which is an indirect method employers devised in getting employees to execute various tasks began in Nigeria in the early 1980s with low cadre jobs as gardeners, cleaners and security guards that formed only a tiny part of the workforce. This was followed by organisations contracting out their book keepings to account firms, a phenomenon that has now assumed a monstrous dimension as contract staffs now constitute a major percentage of the workers of most companies in Nigeria. If it could be ignored back then because contract staffs constituted only a negligible part of the manpower, it should give cause for worry now that the reverse is the case. Like a malignant cancer that starts by manifesting seemingly harmless symptoms, the malaise of outsourcing has over the years spread all over the entire system.

First generation Labour leaders as Pa Michael Imodu and Hassan Sunmonu fought against poor remuneration leading to the institulisation of minimum wage in Nigeria. Successive leaders as Wahab Goodluck, Pascal Bafyau and Adams Oshiomhole fought vehemently against casualisation, the evil that plagued industrial society in their day. Up till recent past, a number of firms including financial institutions were picketed at the instance of labour leaders for gross violation of labour regulations as regard engagement of casual staffs and succeeded in reducing the menace to its bearest minimum. A greater evil is here and there is no one to speak against it.

The idea of an organisation sourcing its manpower should not be a deplorable one if the process had not been attended by acute poor remuneration and overall appalling condition of service. Under this scheme, the worker is reduced to a mere industrial adjunct. Benefits as medical care, annual and maternity leaves that were taken for granted in the past are now a luxury to the worker while welfare programmes that formed part of the their incentive are now beyond the reach of the average worker in Nigeria. A good number of these hapless ones work for 12 hours a day and seven days a week against the International Labour Organisation (ILO) stipulated 40 hours work week.

By its nature, mobility along the vertical and horizontal progressions is difficult if not impossible for the contract worker. Gone are the days when Nigerians felt proud working in multinational corporations and a number of local industries and banks whose identity cards they flaunted at any given opportunity to the envy and admiration of their less privileged friends and relations. Government officials make much effort to woo foreign investors to Nigeria for the opportunity which gainful employment offers to the youth. With the trend of outsourcing, this aim has been flatly defeated. Multinational conglomerates that were once the workers haven including foreign investments that enjoy a fabulous tax incentives and duty wavers in collaboration with local predators mercilessly feed fat on the sweat of the Nigerian worker. Contract workers like their casual hands counterparts do not get annual increment, neither do they have benefit in the NLC and TUC neither negotiated minimum wage nor enjoy any of the benefits secured by its 29 affiliated industrial unions at their triennial collective bargaining. An employment letter of a typical contract worker bears the following austere features: basic salary- N73, 440.00; housing allowance- N42, 200.00; transport allowance- N34, 560.00; feeding/utility allowance- N64,800.00; all totaling N216,000.00 per annum.

Save for public corporations/civil service where the trend is yet to gain dominance as contract jobs are limited to menial and technical fields, most jobs from the plumber to the driver and from the blue collar to the white collar are executed by contract hands who are compelled to make do with 25 to 35 per cent of what was hitherto paid for the same positions. While the worker pines away the unscrupulous slave drivers smile to the bank. Outsourcing is monkey de work baboon de shop writ large. The worker in Nigeria today is coerced into high productivity rather than being induced with incentive. A good number of these so called workers trek far distances, some as far as 10 to 15 kilometers to work daily and are constrained to make do with just one square meal for the whole day.

The condition of workers in Nigeria is pathetic and shabby to say the least. In their wretchedness, many employees have become so morally bankrupt as to engage in all sorts of criminal acts in their desperation to survive. Child and gender rights activists need to look into the difficulties faced by workers in Nigeria to nip in the bud the incidents of child abuse and rape rampant in the society. Frequent infighting and the quest for pecuniary gains have combined to render the Nigeria Labour Congress incoherent, inconsistent and emasculated while, workers groan under hardship.

At May Day rallies one finds members of the NLC executive council file out in their colourful regalia chorusing solidarity forever (x2) we will always fight for our rights. They will pontificate on the relevance of the trade union movement to the socioeconomic and political development of the nation and as the bulwark for the defense of the workers rights. But will prevaricate on being confronted with the challenges confronting workers in Nigeria. The NLC slogan: We are committed to ensuring the protection of job, full employment and humane working environment, is all a farce or at best a mere rhetoric. The trade union movement has for long lost its voice in Nigeria. Since the NLC has lost its relevance, it should be shoved aside for a more purposeful, vibrant and dynamic labour union to step in and save Nigeria workers.

Agenro lives in Lagos.

8 hours ago Opinion

Here is the original post:

Outsourcing: The source of modern day slavery Opinion ... - Guardian (blog)

Queen’s Speech: Full text – Spectator.co.uk (blog)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons.

My governments priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union. My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the countrys future outside the European Union.

A bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses. This will be complemented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture, and fisheries.

My government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with European allies and to forge new trading relationships across the globe. New bills on trade and customs will help to implement an independent trade policy, and support will be given to help British businesses export to markets around the world.

My ministers will strengthen the economy so that it supports the creation of jobs and generates the tax revenues needed to invest in the National Health Service, schools, and other public services.

My government will continue to improve the public finances, while keeping taxes low. It will spread prosperity and opportunity across the country through a new modern, industrial strategy.

My government will work to attract investment in infrastructure to support economic growth. Legislation will be introduced to ensure the United Kingdom remains a world leader in new industries, including electric cars and commercial satellites. A new bill will also be brought forward to deliver the next phase of high-speed rail.

My government will continue to work to ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly funded. My ministers will work to ensure people have the skills they need for the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, including through a major reform of technical education.

The National Living Wage will be increased so that people who are on the lowest pay benefit from the same improvements in earnings as higher paid workers. My ministers will seek to enhance rights and protections in the modern workplace.

My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Legislation will be brought forward to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse.

My government will reform mental health legislation and ensure that mental health is prioritised in the National Health Service in England.

Proposals will be brought forward to ban unfair tenant fees, promote fairness and transparency in the housing market, and help ensure more homes are built.

My ministers will work to improve social care and will bring forward proposals for consultation.

My government will ensure fairer markets for consumers, this will include bringing forward measures to help tackle unfair practices in the energy market to help reduce energy bills.

A priority will be to build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

My government will work in cooperation with the devolved administrations, and it will work with all of the parties in Northern Ireland to support the return of devolved government.

A new law will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online.

Legislation will also be introduced to modernise the courts system and to help reduce motor insurance premiums.

My government will initiate a full public inquiry into the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower to ascertain the causes, and ensure that the appropriate lessons are learnt.

To support victims, my government will take forward measures to introduce an independent public advocate, who will act for bereaved families after a public disaster and support them at public inquests.

My ministers will continue to invest in our gallant Armed Forces, meeting the NATO commitment to spend at least two per cent of national income on defence, and delivering on the Armed Forces Covenant across the United Kingdom.

My government will bring forward proposals to ensure that critical national infrastructure is protected to safeguard national security.

A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.

In the light of the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my governments counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.

My ministers will ensure that the United Kingdoms leading role on the world stage is maintained and enhanced as it leaves the European Union.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, committed to spending zero point seven per cent of national income on international development, my government will continue to drive international efforts that increase global security and project British values around the world.

My government will work to find sustainable political solutions to conflicts across the Middle East. It will work to tackle the threat of terrorism at source by continuing the United Kingdoms leading role in international military action to destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It will also lead efforts to reform the international system to improve the United Kingdoms ability to tackle mass migration, alleviate poverty, and end modern slavery.

My government will continue to support international action against climate change, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Prince Philip and I look forward to welcoming Their Majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on a State Visit in July.

My government will host the Commonwealth Summit in April of next year to cement its relevance to this, and future generations.

Members of the House of Commons:

Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:

Other measures will be laid before you.

I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

Go here to see the original:

Queen's Speech: Full text - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

Queen’s Speech: Theresa May has lost her mandate but her Brexit stance remains the same – New Statesman

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

In a pastpolitical universe, the Conservatives spoke of winningLabour MP Dennis Skinner's seat of Bolsover. But as Black Rod summoned MPs to the Lords for the Queen's Speech, there the Beast was heckling away as usual: "Get yer skates on, the first race is at half post two," he remarked of Ascot.

This was not the occasionthat Theresa May wanted.When the Prime Minister called an early general election on that now-distant April day, she was hopeful of winning the Conservatives' first landslide majority since 1987. She ended up without one at all.

The consequence is a programme shorn of the most divisive measuresfrom the Conservative manifesto: the "dementia tax", grammar schools, the abolition of universal free school meals and the means-testing of Winter Fuel Payments. Not since1978 has a minority government presented a Queen's Speech. Unsurprisingly, only those policies with a chance of achieving consensus endure: a ban on letting agent fees, new measures to tackle domestic violence, a Space Industry Bill and further HS2 legislation.

Theplanet-sized exception to this is Brexit. In her foreword to the Speech, May declared that "over 80 per cent of the electorate" backed EU withdrawal at the election (by voting for Labour and the Conservatives). But that does not amount to a mandate for her Brexit. The Speech, however, showed little acknowledgment of this reality.

There was a tonal change: talk of "no deal" being better than a "bad deal" was replaced by a commitment to secure the "best possible deal". The Speech vowedto work "with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus".

But the fundamentals are unchanged: the government remains committed to leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union and legislation (the Repeal Bill, the Trade Bill) will be introduced to this end. Yet without a majority, May can no longer claim a mandate for this stance. It is MPs, not ministers, who will determine the outcome. The nascent majority for a "soft Brexit" can now be activated.The House of Lords, too, freed from the need to obey the Salisbury Convention, will not hesitate to obstruct May.

The Prime Minister called the election, despite the comfortable passage of Article 50, with the insistencethat she needed a bigger mandate. Having been denied one by the voters, parliament will now seek to take back control.

Read the original:

Queen's Speech: Theresa May has lost her mandate but her Brexit stance remains the same - New Statesman

Trump visit targets technology, politics – Quad City Times

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

CEDAR RAPIDS Whether by coincidence or coordination, Gov. Kim Reynolds agenda for a meeting Wednesday with President Donald Trump in Cedar Rapids is on the same wavelength as the presidents Technology Week focus.

The president will visit Kirkwood Community College to see examples of technology that frankly, may not be at the top of your mind when you think about technology advancements in the United States, said Ray Starling, a special assistant to the president for agriculture, agricultural trade and food assistance as part of the White House Economic Council.

After the Kirkwood visit, Trump will have a campaign-style rally at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 1st Ave. NE. in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Trump is visiting the college, in part, because it is home to one of the first programs in the country to focus on agricultural geospatial technology and precision farming, Starling said in amedia briefing. The program has been honored by the National Science Foundation.

Among the demonstrations Trump will see is technology that guides farm implements and allows farmers to collect data about pesticide and fertilizer needs, soil moisture and yields, Starling said. That takes on added importance this year because net farm income is expected to decline for a fourth year in a row, falling to half of what it was four years ago, Starling said.

Much of precision agriculture technology and other technology used on the farm and in rural American is dependent upon access to the web, he said. The president recognizes that the penetration of the availability of the web has obviously lagged in rural areas.

Connectivity is one of the priorities Reynolds will be lobbying the president on at Kirkwood.

We want Iowans to be able live anywhere in the state of Iowa no matter the size of the community or where it is located to have high-speed internet and connectivity where they can take an idea, create a business, grow it into a successful company and market their products to the world, Reynolds said at a news conference. Its really important that we continue to provide that level of high-speed internet to every single corner of the state.

At Kirkwood, Trump and Reynolds will be joined by Sonny Perdue and Wilbur Ross, secretaries of the Agriculture and Commerce departments, respectively, and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey.

It also will serve as a send-off for former Gov. Terry Branstad, who will leave Friday for China where he will serve as ambassador.

Reynolds also plans to lobby for White House approval of Iowas stopgap health insurance proposal to provide a coverage option for 72,000 Iowans on individual plans.

The plan, put forth last week by Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen, asks the federal government to approve a measure he hoped would both keep a statewide health insurer in the state and also lure others to the states marketplace. The measure contingent on approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would provide consumers with age- and income-based tax credits as well as use a reinsurance mechanism for costly medical claims.

In response to the Trump visit, a protest is planned from 5-7:30 p.m. outside the Cellular Center. And at 2:30 p.m., Linn County Democrats will be hosting a community conversation in Room A, Beems Auditorium, the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 5th Ave. SE. The event is open to the public.

Continued here:

Trump visit targets technology, politics - Quad City Times

Biotech startup Rubius raises $120m to develop red blood cell technology – The Boston Globe

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Red blood cells.

Rubius Therapeutics Inc. of Cambridge is set to announce Wednesday that it has raised $120 million one of the largest biotech financing rounds this year to develop a novel drug-making technology.

The funding, led by life sciences venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge, will let Rubius step up work on its drug discovery technique, which genetically engineers red blood cells so they can produce drugs for a range of diseases. The company had been operating in what is known as stealth mode, with plans under wraps.

Rubius has already made and tested about 200 red cells, each producing different proteins, and plans to use them as catalysts for medicines to fight cancers, enzyme deficiencies, autoimmune and infectious diseases, and rare blood disorders such as hemophilia.

Were developing a new class of medicines that no one else is working on, Rubius president Torben Straight Nissen, a biopharma industry veteran, said. The ultimate goal is to bring as many red cell therapies to patients as possible.

Get Talking Points in your inbox:

An afternoon recap of the days most important business news, delivered weekdays.

Rubius, which raised an initial $25 million in early 2015, started in Flagship VentureLabs, a Kendall Square incubator that has spawned dozens of companies. It now employs about 40 cell therapy scientists and researchers in larger space at 325 Vassar St., near Memorial Drive, and could grow to nearly 100 employees in the coming year, Nissen said.

Nissen said the company could be moving to even bigger quarters as it advances its experimental therapies into clinical trials. Were looking to expand our footprint over the next six to 12 months, and were looking to stay in Cambridge or Boston, he said.

The companys scientific approach is part of a broader Flagship strategy to focus not on individual drug candidates but on platform technologies capable of generating many medicines, said Flagship chief executive Noubar Afeyan, Rubius cofounder.

Were looking for first-of-its-kind platforms, Afeyan said. The risk of doing anything new in our business is so high that theres more reward if youre developing new approaches that can create multiple drugs. Once you can show that one or two [drug candidates] can become drugs, then 10 or 20 of them can.

After the Rubius scientists genetically engineer the red cells, they can be grown in bioreactors, the stainless steel tanks used to produce biotech drugs. We are basically using a manufacturing process where the actual art of making the protein is done by the cells, Afeyan said.

The companys financing round includes co-investors, including large publicly traded institutional firms that werent identified by Flagship.

See the original post here:

Biotech startup Rubius raises $120m to develop red blood cell technology - The Boston Globe

Technology further influencing benefits management – Employee Benefit News (registration)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

HR technology is not only helping professionals manage benefits and make their jobs easier, its also helping them gain C-suite influence.

According to the inaugural Paychex Pulse of HR Survey, more than two-thirds of HR leaders at small and mid-sized companies say they have grown beyond serving a traditional administrative function to taking on a more strategic role within their respective organizations. And technology is helping to drive that shift.

A growing number of HR leaders (41%) are meeting with their CEO or CFO or both on a weekly basis, according to the survey, while close to one-third have access to top management when they need it.

Three-quarters of respondents said that HR technology has enabled them to become more strategic and efficient on the job. In addition, 60% of respondents considered their HR technology to be very effective for payroll, retirement and benefits administration, and time and attendance tracking, indicating they feel that technology is allowing them to maximize their effectiveness when it comes to the administration of critical business functions.

Further, a vast majority of respondents (95%) find their technologies to be either somewhat or very effective for the full range of HR tasks, including onboarding, recruitment, performance management, and other administrative functions.

Technology is a powerful tool in our everyday lives and especially for HR leaders, with the right solution offering countless opportunities for increased accuracy and efficiency, says Martin Mucci, president and CEO of Paychex, a payroll, HR, retirement and insurance services provider.

But despite the high levels of satisfaction, the survey suggests that leaders recognize that digital transformation in HR is not quite complete.

As HR technology exponentially evolves, HR leaders are working to keep pace: 48% said theyve changed their technology solutions in the past one to three years, according to Paychex. And, as in other areas where state-of-the-art technology is a moving target, adopting point solutions versus a single platform may be creating new challenges.

Further enhancing the influence of HR leaders is their ability to make data-driven recommendations and decisions, the study notes.

A large majority of respondents (86%) said analytics help them to be more informed and objective, but nearly half are unsure if theyre leveraging the correct data to meet business goals.

With the vast array of data now available, new analytics tools are becoming a key tool for HR leaders. These range from straightforward reports of current data to AI-driven predictive modeling and recommendation engines.

Eighty-six percent of HR leaders said analytics help them be more informed and objective but nearly half arent sure if theyre leveraging the correct data. Further, those who are using analytics are doing so mainly to target HR communications more effectively.

Technology, combined with knowledgeable service professionals, can empower todays HR professionals to make objective, data-driven workforce recommendations to the C-suite that will ultimately help achieve the organizations overall business goals, Mucci says.

Continue reading here:

Technology further influencing benefits management - Employee Benefit News (registration)

Technology To The Rescue: Blockchain Method Can Tidy Up Property Title Transactions – Swarajya

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Dealing in real estate in India is hard. According to the World Banks Ease of Doing Business survey, India ranks at hundred and thirty-eighth in the world in difficulty in registering property. But we dont need an international survey to tell us this.

As anyone who has transacted with property in India will testify, everything to do with transferring interest or title in real estate, be it something as simple as leasing a flat or as complex as developing a commercial project across multiple land parcels, is complicated and mired in intricacy and uncertainty.

Central to any real estate transactions is the question of title, and unfortunately, it is still very hard to confirm whether a seller in India has title to the property he intends to sell.

While the law requires transfers of title and interest in the property to be registered, this only provides limited assurance as transfers can be assailed in many ways from family members who claim title through inheritance to unknown third parties who try and assert their right to specific performance.

In India (as is true of most common law countries), ownership rights to property are proved through title deeds a chain of documents that evidence the transfer of title from person to person over the years all the way to the current owners. The problem is that any one of these intermediate transactions is capable of being challenged under the principle of nemo dat quod non habetone cannot give that which he does not own. If we are to introduce greater certainty into the real estate business, we must devise a mechanism by which transfers cannot be set aside.

In 1858, Sir Robert Richard Torrens, the third premier of South Australia, proposed a revolutionary new system of land registration designed to do just that. Under the Torrens system, the title is established solely by the facts recorded in the land register, making title deeds completely irrelevant.

Once so recorded, the state guarantees indefeasible title to all those whose land is included in the register and, if in the process, someone can prove that they illegitimately lost their title due to private fraud or state error, rather than revoking the transfer, the state is bound to compensate such person for his loss.

Rajasthan recently passed the Urban Land (Certification of Title) Act, 2016, and became the first state in India to enact a title guarantee legislation. If implemented successfully and eventually rolled out across the country, this could transform the Indian real estate industry. That said, there remain legitimate concerns that this new system will be plagued by the same malaise of corruption that affects our current land registration process.

Title guarantee relies on the accurate and exhaustive inclusion of every single property transaction in a centralised register maintained by the state. Since this register is the sole determinant of ownership, it is essential that the bureaucratic machinery responsible for its maintenance operates with the highest standards of probity and integrity. If the officials tasked with its maintenance can be suborned to manipulate dates or alter the records in any other manner, the entire system will fall apart. It is therefore critical to the success of this model that the mechanism for recording transfers is tamper-proof.

Sir Torrens did not have the benefit of modern technology when he invented this system. We do and should use it to our advantage to ensure that our registers are tamper-proof. One technology that immediately comes to mind is the blockchain and the elegant way in which it uses distributed ledgers. Every user of the blockchain has a copy of the entire ledger of transactions that have taken place with that crypto-currency, and every subsequent successful transaction is uploaded onto each such copy of the ledger. If we can, in a similar manner, record property transfers on a blockchain ledger, wed have an immutable history of every property transaction that can be viewed by everyone and yet tampered by no-one.

There are many other benefits to using blockchain for land records. Every entry will be accurately time-stamped significantly reducing the chance for fraud. While transfers can be recorded on a public block-chain to ensure transparency, it is possible to store them on a private block-chain by turning the record into a cryptographic hash which will make the data verifiable without anyone seeing the data itself.

If necessary, ancillary features such as notarial services and escrow can be easily added.

The Republic of Georgia has recently implemented a land titling system based on blockchain technology and allegedly recorded over 1,00,000 title transactions within the first two months of its launch. The state of Rajasthan, as the forerunner in the adoption of this new system in the country, should seriously consider following suit.

Then we might, finally, have a modern solution to a very old problem.

This article was originally published in Mint and has been republished here with permission.