NATO HQ (press release) | NATO - News: Progress report shows step change in cooperation ... NATO HQ (press release) NATO and the European Union reinforce each other better than ever and are making substantial progress in complementing each other's work. This is the ... |
Read the rest here:
NATO - News: Progress report shows step change in cooperation ... - NATO HQ (press release)
After reading through the 61 pages of redacted content of the August 2016 DOD Inspector Generals report on the National Security Agencys (NSA) implementation of the Secure-the-Net initiative, acquired by The New York Times via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the only image one can conjure up is that of the Katzenjammer Kids running amok.
The NSA data protection (or lack thereof) was thrust into the spotlight when Edward Snowden, then a contractor in Hawaii, purloined 1.5m documents. How Snowden carried out his massive data collection is interesting, as he used his natural access and then conned his colleagues into giving up their internal access credentials in his role as the system admin. In the months that followed there were no shortage of opinions on how the NSA could or should tighten up its ship.
The Secure-the-Net (STN) initiative was launched post-Snowden, which included 40 specific recommendations focused on insider threats to NSA systems, data, and infrastructure. Seven of those recommendations were designed to secure network access, protect against insider threats and provide increased oversight of the personnel with privileged access.
The seven STN initiatives were:
The Department of Defense (DOD) report reviewed the NSAs progress on tightening up its ship with respect to the seven STN recommendations. The audit was conducted at four facilities between January and July of 2016.
The DOD report takes the NSA to the woodshed. Not because the NSA didnt attempt to implement, but rather, because they did a half-ass job in the implementation.
The reports scorching verbiage surrounds this partial implementation of the recommendations: for example, the
NSA did not effectively implement the three privileged access related STN initiatives because it did not develop an STN strategy that detailed a structured framework and methodology to implement the initiatives and measure completeness.
For example, with respect to two-factor authentication (2FA), the NSA implemented it for system admins, but not for those with privileged access. It is well documented how Snowden bypassed the then presentprivileged access controls and conned his colleagues into giving him their credentials which he then went on to use to expand his access.
A 2FA requirement would have required the owner of the credentials to have been participatory in Snowdens use of their credentials. NSA implementation as described in the report shows how they opted to leave open the very window that Snowden climbed through to harvest the data he stole.
Furthermore, the report goes on to chastise the NSA for not having a clue about how many individuals had privileged access in 2014, nor in 2016, and nor could the NSA document how the purge/pruning had been carried out. That meant the inspection team couldnt find out exactly how many people had privileged access.
While focus has largely been on the trusted insider gone bad, Edward Snowden, the Shadow Brokers acquisition of NSAs Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO)collection tools compromise clearly indicates a need by the NSA to continue to place their focus on locking down their own house.
How the TAO compromise occurred remains a mystery. It could have been an insider (contractor or staff) or it might have been a result of the contractor alleged to have built the exposed tools, the Equation Group, having themselves been hacked. Coincidentally, the inspector general report was published the week after the Shadow Brokers offered the TAO tools for auction. An active August 2016 indeed.
But what of the NSA contractor Harold Martin, another NSA insider?Martin, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, he was found to have hoarded up to 50 terabytes of NSA information. The indictment on Martin was sealed until October 2016, but he was arrested on 27 August 2016, yes two days prior to the arrival of the inspectors general report. August 2016 was truly a busy month in the world of espionage and counterespionage.
Is it hard to catch an insider?Yes, it is. If the individual does not exceed their natural access, process and procedures, they will be difficult to detect, and while it is safe to say that 100% is not achievable, there are steps which can be taken to secure the environment to bring the risk as close to zero as possible. This was the intent of the STN.
Has there been any good to come out of the STN? Absolutely, the National Industrial Security Program of the United States, marshaled by the Defense Security Service, has brought into play their mandatory insider threat program at all cleared facilities and contractors. These programs became mandatory on June 1 2017.
One might recall the recent arrest of NSA contractor, Reality Winner, also a contractor from Booz Allen Hamilton, who took a highly classified document assessing and discussing the Russian military intelligence entitys (the GRU) hand in meddling in the US election. Winner, using her privileged access, printed out the report, and then mailed it to a media outlet. Once the NSA saw the document, they quickly determined who had had access, who had printed the document and then who had had contact with a media outlet.
What they apparently werent able to do was to determine how and why Winner had privileged access to information to information about which she had no need to know.
One could argue this rapid-fire capability used to identify Winner would not have been present without the STN initiatives. On the other hand, one might surmise the privileged access portion of NSAs STN program continues to need tweaking.
Here is the original post:
NSA failed to implement security measures, says damning report - Naked Security
In their Southern District Civil Practice Roundup, Edward M. Spiro and Judith L. Mogul write: Although a party or witness in civil litigation may invoke the Fifth Amendment, such invocation often comes at a high price, because, in contrast to the criminal context, the finder of fact in a civil case may draw an adverse inference against the party or witness who declines to provide evidence based on the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Recent decisions from the Southern District address when and how the Fifth Amendment can be invoked in civil litigation, and the ramifications to litigants when parties and non-party witnesses avail themselves of that privilege.
Edward M. Spiro and Judith L. Mogul are principals of Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello and co-authors of "Civil Practice in the Southern District of New York," 2d Ed. (Thomson Reuters 2016). Britton A. Kovachevich, an associate at the firm, assisted in the preparation of this article.
Here is the original post:
An Orlando businessman, Ishrat Rehmetullah, is citing the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination while arguing in federal bankruptcy court that he shouldnt have to disclose all of his assets.
Remetullah and his wife, Shama, filed a personal bankruptcy in 2014, citing almost $800,000 in debts, which included a $572,000 foreclosure on his home in Dr. Phillips. The debts were discharged and the case was closed.
But the case was reopened in 2015 when some creditors alleged that Rehmetullah had attempted to flee the country, and had failed to report a collection of gold coins, diamonds and real estate he owns in Karachi, Pakistan; those allegations were detailed in a filing by a court-appointed trustee assigned to the case, Richard Webber, .
Webber recently sought a judges order requiring Rehmetullah to report additional assets. Instead of complying, or denying the allegations, Rehmetullahs attorney filed a response saying that reporting additional assets could violate his clients Fifth Amendment rights.
According to a filing by Ishrat Rehmetullahs lawyer, Jeffrey Ainsworth, There have also been suggestions that the debtors in this case will be referred to the United States Attorneys Office for criminal prosecution, which further shows that the debtors fear of criminal prosecution in this case is legitimate.
In a court hearing Tuesday, Ainsworth suggested the political climate in the U.S. could spell trouble for his client: If you look at the current administration, a Pakistani national living in the U.S. is probably a real target.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cynthia Jackson said that the creditors in the case have a right to know if there were additional assets, but she took the matter under advisement and said she would give her opinion later.
Regarding the Fifth Amendment claim, she said: There has to be an imminent threat of criminal prosecution, and I dont see that.
Ishrat Rehmetullah sold a home in Pakistan shortly after filing for bankruptcy, and provided $75,000 from that sale to the bankruptcy trustee, but the trustee has questioned the value of that home. Rehmetullah also turned over some of his coin collection, which was sold for $2,400.
Rehmetullah is the father of two Orlando entrepreneurs who launched a financial technology startup in 2014 called Fattmerchant Suneera Madhani and Sal Rehmetullah. Both siblings were deposed in the bankruptcy case. In 2016, Sal Rehmetullah offered to pay $100,000 to prompt a settlement of his fathers debts, but later that offer was withdrawn. The siblings argued that their father is not formally part of the Fattmerchant business.
Ishrat Rehmetullah and his wife have registered several businesses with the state, including I Travel Florida LLC, Discount Holidays LLC, and Pizza Romas LLC, among others. They had also reported a loan of $100,000 from a Florida company called Oyster Bay Investments.
Got a news tip? pbrinkmann@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5660; Twitter, @PaulBrinkmann
Continued here:
Orlando businessman cites Fifth Amendment in bankruptcy case - Orlando Sentinel
When Zachary Wood arrived at Williams College his freshman year, he had high hopes for an academic environment that challenged his views. Now going into his senior year, Wood says he has faced backlash from students and administrators for inviting controversial speakers to campus.
Wood appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, part of a panel discussing free speech on college campuses.
Wood describes himself as a liberal Democrat, but he brought provocative speakers representing diversepolitical ideologies to campus. He wanted to expose students to ideas they disagree with.
One such speaker invitation prompted the Williams College administration to cancel the event and revise the campus speaker policies.
Wood said this was impermissible, undemocratic, and antithetical to the intellectual character of the college
Williams College is not alone in disinviting speakers. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has tracked attempts to disinvite college speakers since 2000. It documented an upward trend. In 2016, FIRE recorded 43 incidents in which students or administrators attempted to cancel a planned speech.
Senator Ted Cruz lambasted college administrators for acting as speech police.
If universities become homogenizing institutions that are focused on inculcating and indoctrinating rather than challenging, we will lose what makes universities great, Cruz said.
The issue of disinviting speakers gained national attention in February when violent protests broke out at the University of California, Berkeley in response to a scheduled talk by alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
More recently, Berkeley cancelled a talk by commentator Ann Coulter amid more threats of protest.
Ranking Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein pointed to these violent demonstrations as justification for college administrators cancelling speeches. The senator from California said university police forces often do not have the training and resources needed to handle these situations.
Feinstein argued that Berkeley has a right to protect its students from demonstrations once they become acts of violence.
While there was consensus among panel members on the importance of free speech on campus, the issue came to the application of that right in practice.
UCLA Law professor Eugene Volokh said it was important to punish violent protesters to ensure that they dont continue to disrupt speeches. He said this will sometimes require bringing in more law enforcement.
If you violate the law and by this I mean laws against vandalism, laws against violence, laws against physically shouting people down, then in that case you will be punished rather than having your goals be achieved, Volokh said.
Feinstein pushed back on the suggestion of more law enforcement to control college protests. She asked whether any lessons were learned fromthe 1970 Kent State shooting, in which Ohio National Guardsmen shotand killed four students and injured nine others.
Frederick Lawrence, secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, said colleges must start with a strong presumption in favor of the speech but make judgements based on the circumstances. As a former president of Brandeis University, Lawrence said it is greatly exaggerated to expect colleges to have the resources to deal with all types of violent protests.
Lawrence said that no matter the speakers beliefs, colleges should find ways to host the event. He suggested making speeches private events if needed, closed to people outside the university community.
Over the past few months, several states have taken up the issue of free speech on campus. A bill passed the North Carolina House in April that would ensure public universities be open to all speakers. It also would require sanctions on protesters who disrupt events.
Panelist Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment lawyer, said he was apprehensive about state legislatures getting too close to the university campuses. Abrams said state legislatures should not dictate what colleges can teach or cannot teach.
On the federal level, a bipartisan resolution calling for the protection of free speech was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in May. If passed, the resolution would condemn university free speech zones and restrictive speech codes. The Senate does not have any similar legislation.
Calling himself a small government guy, Sen. Ben Sasse said he wants to see as little of this adjudicated by coercion and power and possible. The Nebraska senator and former college president called on college administrators to defend free speech on their campuses.
Following the hearing Sen. John Kennedy agreed with Sasse, making clear to reporters that federal intervention was not needed to solve the problem.
I dont want the government to have to come in and say this is acceptable and this isnt, Kennedy said. I want a university president to do his job and to have the guts to do it. And if he cant do it he ought to quit.
Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.
Read the original post:
Balancing the First Amendment and Students' Safety - Roll Call
Progressive hysterics highlight the beauty of the First Amendment
American free speech is a wonderful thing, even when the speech is stupid
Free speech is indeed the great American right; our freedom of speech regime is perhaps the most liberated in the world. It is exceedingly difficult to get in trouble for saying something in America. This is a good thing.
Its a good thing even when the speech in question is irritating, hateful or profoundly stupid. Such was the case recently at the University of Georgia, where the colleges Young Democrats called for the beheading of congressional Republicans. The group of students was actually playing off of a professors earlier call for the firing-squad execution of Republicans. Both the professor and the students were demanding that Republicans be killed due to their efforts to repeal Obamacare and replace it with Trumpcare. (It seems to be an accepted part of the American political order that the Left, when confronted with politics they dont like, will often quickly and happily resort to violence or the threat of violence.)
There are several ways to look at this incident. On the one hand, this is simply an instance of childish political hysterics, something the American body politic must deal with every time theres a Republican in the White House. On the other hand this kind of thing could be an indication of a much more deep-seated political dysfunction, a sign that liberals are increasingly incapable of operating within the bounds of normal, healthy, rational political discourse.
But more broadlyand more importantlywe might look at this stupid dust-up as a key indicator of the free state of American speech and expression. The level of protection that speech is afforded in this country is frankly astonishing, not just compared to the tyrannies and tinpot dictator republics across the globe but even when stacked up against the relatively enlightened countries of Western Europe and the member states of the British Commonwealth. When a university professor and a group of college students can espouse this kind of reprehensible rhetoric free from the fear of prosecution, it says something special about our country (even as it says something rather dismal about the state of progressive politics).
Our college campuses, of course, have in recent years become hotbeds of censorship and anti-free-speech agitation, though such efforts have primarily been directed atconservativespeech: if a right-wing professor or a group of College Republicans had made these comments, you can be assured that the Office of Civil Rights would be mounting several investigations into the matter, and the campus mobs would have instituted a 24-hour vigil against the offenders. Culturally and sometimes legally, free speech is often a one-way street at American universities, and that is a disgrace. But in the country at large, we are more or less entirely free to speak our minds. And that is a blessing.
MORE: Berkeley op-ed: safety of marginalized more important than free speech
LikeThe College Fixon Facebook/Follow us on Twitter
Link:
Progressive hysterics highlight the beauty of the First Amendment - The College Fix
On Monday in Packingham v. North Carolina,the justices unanimously (minus Gorsuch) voted to invalidate a North Carolina statute making it a felony for a registered sex offender to access a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to create or maintain personal Web pages. But Justice Alito, joined by Roberts and Thomas, concurred only in the judgment. All eight Justices agreed that the statute wasnt sufficiently tailored. Both opinions emphasized the possible application of the statute to Amazon.com, washingtonpost.com, and webmd.com.
So where did the opinions differ? The central disagreement between the two opinions is how judges applying the First Amendment should respond to the changing nature of cyberspace. From the majority:
While we now may be coming to the realization that the Cyber Age is a revolution of historic proportions, we cannot appreciate yet its full dimensions and vast potential to alter how we think, express ourselves, and define who we want to be. The forces and directions of the Internet are so new, so protean, and so far reaching that courts must be conscious that what they say today might be obsolete tomorrow.
This case is one of the first this Court has taken to address the relationship between the First Amendment and the modern Internet. As a result, the Court must exercise extreme caution before suggesting that the First Amendment provides scant protection for access to vast networks in that medium.
And from the concurrence:
The Court is correct that we should be cautious in applying our free speech precedents to the internet. Ante, at 6. Cyberspace is different from the physical world, and if it is true, as the Court believes, that we cannot appreciate yet the full dimensions and vast potential of the Cyber Age, ibid., we should proceed circumspectly, taking one step at a time. It is regrettable that the Court has not heeded its own admonition of caution.
The majoritys point that that what [courts] say today might be obsolete tomorrow is an important one that I discussed in the Internet context almost 20(!) years ago in Stepping into the Same River Twice: Rapidly Changing Facts and the Appellate Process.
But I want here to highlight a slightly different point. When it comes to changing phenomena (like cyberspace), what is the best default position with respect to the First Amendment? Should judges err on the side of starchy application of free speech tests, or a more flexible approach? This are not new questions. For instance, back in 1996, in Denver Area Education Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. FCC, the Supreme Court considered regulation of indecency on public access and leased access channels. Justice Souter wrote a concurrence suggesting that, in the fast-changing world of telecommunications, judges should heed the admonition First, do no harm. Justice Kennedy responded: Justice Souter recommends to the Court the precept, First, do no harm. The question, though, is whether the harm is in sustaining the law or striking it down. As I noted in a different article, the injunction [f]irst, do no harm provides little guidance unless we can identify what the do no harm position is.
In Mondays case, Justice Kennedys majority opinion, consistent with his concurrence in Denver Area and his First Amendment jurisprudence more generally, treats broad and rigorous application of First Amendment tests as the do no harm position in the ever-changing world of cyberspace. Justice Alitos concurrence wants a default that takes smaller steps and gives judges (and thus legislatures) more flexibility. Obviously there is no ineluctable answer here. But, once again, baselines are doing a lot of work.
Read more:
What is the 'do no harm' position on the First Amendment in cyberspace? - Washington Post
As interest in cryptocurrency mining sparks GPU shortages, leads shares of GPU vendors to be upgraded and spawns articles on how to create a cryptocurrency mining rig, it's worth taking a trip down memory lane.
In late 2013, skyrocketing prices for Bitcoin and a sister currency known as Litecoin led to major shortages of AMD Inc. (AMD) GPUs that were well-suited for cryptocurrency mining. Stories abounded that year about large-scale mining operations, and the big profits that some of them were racking up.
But the party didn't last long. After peaking in December 2013, Bitcoin shed over 80% of its value over the following 13 months, and didn't really begin staging a recovery until late 2015. The GPU shortages, needless to say, soon disappeared. And with Bitcoin's architecture making mining less and less lucrative for small-scale participants over time, interest in the activity gradually diminished.
Today, to paraphrase an old saying, history isn't repeating, but it is rhyming. Bitcoin mining has made a bit of a comeback as the cryptocurrency's price soars to more than twice its 2013 peak and leads speculators to predict further massive gains are in store. But there's much greater mining interest in a rival currency known as Ether, whose price has risen by more than a factor of 40 since the start of 2017.
Ether's current total value of $33 billion is within striking distance of Bitcoin's $44 billion, and well above Bitcoin's value two months ago. And importantly, whereas Bitcoin mining is now largely done via expensive hardware rigs running specialized ASICs, Ether was designed to only be effectively mined via GPUs. That has opened the door for miners with limited computing budgets to join the fray.
Thanks to these miners, shortages have been reported in recent weeks for mid-range and high-end desktop GPUs based on AMD's power-efficient Polaris architecture. And on Tuesday, Pacific Crest upgraded Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to Sector Weightafter talks with Asian graphics card makers pointed to "surging demand from cryptocurrency miners in China and Eastern Europe since early May."
Pac Crest now expects desktop graphics card shipments to be up 10% to 20% sequentially in Q2, after previously forecasting a 10% to 15% decline due to lower gaming-related demand during the seasonally weak quarter. Both AMD and Nvidia cards are said to be on allocation due to plummeting inventory levels.
Link:
Nvidia and AMD Are Benefiting From Bitcoin and Ether Miners, but for How Long? - TheStreet.com
Skip to the Questions
Comets, meteors, and asteroids are often grouped together since they are all basically the same thing: small pieces of rock and/or ice that aren't part of a major planet.
Credit: S. Deiries/ESO
Comet McNaught over the Pacific Ocean. In this extraordinary picture taken from Paranal Observatory, the incomparable view offered by Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught), which reached its perihelion in January 2007, unexpectedly becoming the brightest comet in the previous 40 years. The majestic comet, accompanied by the crescent Moon (on the right) is setting at twilight over the sea of clouds which typically covers the Pacific Ocean, only 12 km away from the observatory. Comets are objects composed mostly of ice and dust that grow tails when they approach the sun. All comets have a nucleus, which is the hard rock/ice object. When a comet nucleus nears the sun, solar energy begins to heat the ice and vaporize it. The gas flies off the comet, sometimes violently enough to break the nucleus apart, and throws dust up with it. The gases form a cloud around the nucleus called the coma. Some of the gas is stripped of electrons and blown back by the solar wind. This forms a bluish colored ion tail. The dust particles are pushed away from the comet by solar radiation, forming a dust tail that can be many millions of miles long. The dust tail is the easiest to see with the unaided eye, but occasionally the ion tail is visible as well. Each time a comet passes close to the sun, it loses more of its ice. Eventually, after many passes, the comet may no longer have enough material to form tails. Its surface will be covered by dark dust and it will look more like an asteroid.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Comet 67P, Rosetta's target. Mosaic of four images taken by Rosetta's navigation camera (NAVCAM) on 19 September 2014 at 28.6 km (17.8 mi) from the centre of comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko.The images used for this mosaic were taken in sequence as a 22 raster over an approximately 20 minute period, meaning that there is some motion of the spacecraft and rotation of the comet between the images.Comets come from two places in the Solar System: the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt. The Oort Cloud is a spherical halo of comets surrounding the Solar System at a distance of around 50,000 Astronomical Units. (One Astronomical Unit equals the distance from Earth to the Sun.) Comets from the Oort Cloud have long orbital periods and can enter the solar system from many different directions. The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune (30-100 AU). It lies (more or less) in the plane of the solar system and is a reservoir for the short period comets that we see. The first Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) were discovered in the early 90s, and they captured the interest of astronomers because they are probably the oldest, most pristine material in the solar system. Studying KBOs is difficult because they are distant and very small, but more have been discovered over the last few years as telescope and instrument technologies have improved. Astronomers now know of a few hundred KBOs, including a large object called Quaoar which is half the size of Pluto. Quaoar is the largest solar system object discovered since Pluto and Charon, and it reinforces the idea that there might be other large KBOs that are still undiscovered.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Full View of Vesta. As NASA's Dawn spacecraft takes off for its next destination, this mosaic synthesizes some of the best views the spacecraft had of the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn studied Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. The towering mountain at the south pole -- more than twice the height of Mount Everest -- is visible at the bottom of the image. The set of three craters known as the "snowman" can be seen at the top left. More information about Dawn is online at http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov.Asteroids are the small rocky objects in the Solar System. The largest asteroid is Ceres, which is 933 kilometers (580 miles) across. The smallest asteroids that we've observed in detail are only tens of meters in size, but there are probably a great number of small rocks in space that are currently too small for us to detect. Many asteroids, including all of the largest asteroids, orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter in the Asteroid Belt. The Trojan asteroids share Jupiter's orbital path, but stay 60 degrees ahead or behind Jupiter. Near-Earth Asteroids orbit the sun in the vicinity of the rocky terrestrial planets and pose the greatest threat to Earth. We think that the total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of the Moon.
The asteroid population is amazingly diverse - each one seems different! Some asteroids such as Mathilde are very light and are probably "rubble piles" made up of lots of small particles loosely held together. Other asteroids are metallic (for example Psyche) or pieces of solid rock (Eros, visited by the NEAR spacecraft, is an example) . Sometimes asteroids have small moons or travel in equal-sized pairs. Most asteroids have unusual shapes because they have experienced many collisions and do not have a strong enough gravity to pull themselves back into a sphere. Asteroids are not visible to the unaided eye, but some can be seen with small telescopes or even binoculars.
Credit: slworking2 on Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Perseid meteor and the Milky Way in Borrego Springs, California.Meteors are the short, white trails across the sky that we call "shooting stars." They are caused by small pea-sized pieces of inter-planetary dust that burn up when they slam into the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through the orbital path of a comet that left a lot of dust behind. Earth plows through the dust, and the particles form meteors as they hit the atmosphere. Occasionally a small rock may fall through the atmosphere, causing an extremely bright and colorful streak across the sky called a fireball. (These are often mistaken for comets, but comets do not streak across the sky quickly; they are usually visible for many days.) Sometimes fireball rocks are not completely vaporized, and they impact Earth's surface. A rock that fell from space this way is called a meteorite.
If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on the side bar or search using the below search form.If you still can't find what you are looking for, submit your question here.
More here:
How do you go from space technology - in this case a machine built for Europe's Rosetta mission to analyze Comet 67P - to using that same technology to detect bedbugs in hotels or "sniffing" cancer?
Well, my background is as an analytical chemist, so I'm used to working in laboratories, building systems to answer a scientific question. And going into space is no different. You have a scientific question. You look at what resources you do and don't have, the budgets you're working with, and while money is not usually an issue in space, it tends to be the size and volume, the mass, the power and energy budget, the temperatures you have to work under, shock and vibration - on a rocket there are really bad vibration and shock loads. And to answer those questions you have to build a multidisciplinary team of people. You can't just have chemists or physicists, you have to have a mixture, including engineers and software engineers. So when you come to look at terrestrial challenges, you're in a good position to look at them from 360 degrees. There are less "unknown unknowns."
What was Ptolemy, the technology you developed for Rosetta's Philae lander?
The Philae lander had a miniature gas chromatograph isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The gas chromatograph is what separates the compounds to allow you to take a complex mixture and separate it into simple compounds. So on the comet it is things like water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and the organic compounds that are present in the dust - the kind of stuff we're all built from. The mass spectrometer identifies those compounds. And the isotope ratio allows to look not just at the chemistry, but also tells you a little bit about the history of the molecules you're looking at.
We had intended to use it to "fingerprint" the water on the comet. Water on Earth has a measurable ratio of hydrogen and deuterium, it also has a measurable ratio of oxygen isotopes, and we can fingerprint these ratios very accurately. By taking standards on the mass spectrometer to the comet we could compare the fingerprint on Earth to the fingerprint on the comet. Because the idea was whether water on Earth came from this comet?Sadly, due to our landing, we didnt get a chance to analyse ice core samples and determine these ratios though ROSINA, on the orbiter, did and they concluded that the signature was not the same. There are a trillion comets though.
But the Rosetta mission is over now. And the problem with space research, though, is that while it sounds exciting, many people don't see how it relates to everyday life on Earth - even if you're looking for the origins of water on our planet. But you've come across an application that does affect people daily, and yet they still might not know it. So tell us how you came to use this equipment to sniff out bedbugs and cancer.
Ptolemy up close. This machine could have compared water on Earth with water on a comet
It was serendipity. I took a phone call in a car park and I thought the guy, Jason Littler, was a nutter to start with, because he said to me, "I can smell bed bugs." And I was like, "Okay, really?" But I went away, did my due-diligence, looked it up, and found that you can. And actually the chemicals are quite amenable to the technology we already had, but we did have to make a few changes.
And what about sniffing cancer, in particular prostate cancer?
There was a study by Carolyn Willis in the British Medical Journal in 2004 which used dogs to sniff cancer. It was the first clinical trial that showed statistically that the dogs were not doing it by chance. The dogs were given seven pieces of filter paper onto which the researchers put urine and only one of those [samples] was positive. The dogs were trained to learn the smell for cancer and their performance was better than chance. They should have had a 14 percent chance, but they were much higher.
I then contacted Carolyn. I said I had a machine that could look for chemical signatures, and can we try it. So working with my PhD student, Diane Turner, and Dr Michael Cauchi, who was then at Cranfield University, we were able to develop an assay and an algorithm that did what the dogs did, and that was to look for patterns of compounds above the urine. There are over 970 compounds in the headspace above a urine sample. But it's very complicated. There's no individual biomarker that is either there or not there. What happens is the pattern changes. So you need big computers to develop the algorithms, but once you have them, they can run through a sample and within a few seconds tell whether the patient is positive or negative.
How soon do you expect to see the technology used in detecting cancer?
We are at least 5 years away from it being used in practice, probably nearer ten. The work on cancer has only been done with a commercial instrument. Once we understand the marker compounds then it is our intention to develop a point of care diagnostic device for a range of diseases, including cancer. We are at the beginning of the journey. We have the proof-of-principle data to show it has clinical potential. But there is a long road of qualification trials before it ever becomes used in practice. But, as with the Rosetta mission, where we spent 10 years chasing the comet, we are patient people.
Dr Geraint Morgan is with the Department of Physical Sciences at The Open University in the UK. The interview was conducted at the 2017 UK Space Conference in Manchester, UK.
Link:
Of comets and canines: transferring technology from space to 'sniff' out cancer - Deutsche Welle
The Workington Comets and Great Britain captain was the early favourite to come out on top in the British title chase and he dropped just one point in his five heats to qualify for the final.
Cook looked like becoming a four-time runner-up when he missed the start and his Belle Vue team-mate Steve Worrall dived for the inside line.
But he wound it on to burst to the front and, from then on, the result was never in doubt.
The delight and relief was etched on his face as his win sunk in, in front of a bumper crowd and the BT Sport television cameras.
He said: Its been a long time coming and to do it in that style, I didnt get it on a plate. Stevies a trapper and I was half tempted to take gate two because I knew what hed do, I knew hed clamp me.
I took a gamble on the gate with a little bit more grip on it but it didnt work out.
Cook paid tribute to his dad Will and sponsors after the meeting as thoughts turned to his upcoming wild card appearance in the British Grand Prix and Augusts GP Challenge, which could see him become a fully-fledged GP rider in next years series.
Ive worked extremely hard, this is my life, he added.
My team and I will be working extremely hard together. I want to be World Champion.
Comets team manager Tony Jackson travelled down to the National Speedway Stadium to support Cook and helped give his captain the bumps in front of a jubilant crowd.
He said: Absolutely brilliant. What a night, and no more than he deserves after all the hard work that he has put in.
He was so determined to finally get this title, which is one he has been unfortunate to miss out on in recent seasons due to circumstances not necessarily of his own making, but now he has finally done it and they cant take that away from him.
He was clearly the best rider on show all evening and he just took one ride at a time, with his pit crew making adjustments as needed, and we kept him abreast of what he needed to do with regards to the points situation.
Then he just went out and did the business with some incredible racing."
Following on from his success in the GP semi-final qualifier in Italy on Saturday, this caps an incredible three days for him, added Jackson.
He has raised the bar again this season and to claim the wild card berth at Cardiff is the icing on the cake.
He has had that wild card berth in the past.
But this year he is much more ready for it and could really do something he certainly wont be going there just to make up the numbers thats for sure and there are bound to be lots of Comets fans that are now planning a weekend in South Wales in July to cheer him on.
Comets are back in Championship action at Ipswich tomorrow night (7.30pm start) before Sundays back-to-back Knockout Cup ties home and away against Newcastle Diamonds.
Continued here:
Comets captain aiming for world glory after winning his maiden British title - News & Star
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales.
These patches normally appear on your elbows, knees, scalp and lower back, but can appear anywhere on your body.Most people are only affected with small patches. In some cases, the patches can be itchy or sore.
Psoriasis affects around 2% of people in the UK. It can start at any age, but most often develops in adults under 35 years old. The condition affects men and women equally.
The severity of psoriasis varies greatly from person to person. For some people it's just a minor irritation, but for others it can havea major impact on their quality of life.
Psoriasis is a long-lasting (chronic) disease that usually involves periods when you have no symptoms ormild symptoms, followed by periods when symptoms are more severe.
Read more about the symptoms of psoriasis.
People with psoriasis have anincreased production of skin cells.
Skin cells are normallymade and replaced every three to four weeks, but in psoriasis this process only lasts about three to seven days. The resulting build-up of skin cells is what creates the patches associated with psoriasis.
Although the process isn't fully understood, it's thoughtto be related to a problem with the immune system. The immune systemis your body's defence against disease and infection, but for people with psoriasis, it attacks healthy skin cells by mistake.
Psoriasis can run in families,although the exact role that genetics plays in causing psoriasis is unclear.
Many people's psoriasis symptoms start or become worse because of a certain event, known as a "trigger". Possible triggers of psoriasis includean injury to your skin, throat infections and using certain medicines.
The condition isn't contagious, so it can't be spread from person to person.
Read more about thecauses of psoriasis.
A GP canoften diagnose psoriasis based on the appearance of your skin.
In rare cases, a small sample of skin, called a biopsy, will be sent to the laboratory for examination under a microscope. This determines the exact type of psoriasis and rules out other skin disorders, such as seborrhoeic dermatitis, lichen planus, lichen simplex and pityriasis rosea.
You may be referred to a dermatologist (a specialist in diagnosing and treating skin conditions) if your doctor is uncertain about your diagnosis, or if your condition is severe.
If your doctor suspects you have psoriatic arthritis, which is sometimes a complication of psoriasis, you may be referred to a rheumatologist (a doctor who specialises in arthritis). You may have blood tests to rule out other conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and X-rays of the affected joints may be taken.
There's no cure for psoriasis, but a range of treatments can improve symptoms and the appearance of skin patches.
In most cases, the first treatment used will be a topical treatment, such as vitamin D analogues or topical corticosteroids. Topical treatments are creams and ointments applied to the skin.
If these aren't effective, or your condition is more severe, a treatment called phototherapy may be used. Phototherapy involves exposing your skin to certain types of ultraviolet light.
In severe cases, where the above treatments are ineffective, systemic treatments may be used. These are oral or injected medicines that work throughout the whole body.
Read more about treating psoriasis.
Although psoriasis is just a minor irritation for some people, it can have a significant impact on quality of life for those more severely affected.
For example,some people with psoriasis have low self-esteem because of the effect the condition has on their appearance. It's also quitecommonto developtenderness, pain and swelling in the joints and connective tissue. This is known as psoriatic arthritis.
Speak to your GP or healthcare team if you have psoriasis and youhave any concerns about your physical and mental wellbeing. Theycan offer advice and further treatment if necessary. There are also support groups for people with psoriasis, such as The Psoriasis Association, where you can speak to other people with the condition.
Read more about living with psoriasis.
Want to know more?
Page last reviewed: 27/05/2015
Next review due: 27/05/2018
View post:
So, what does this mean for other biologics in PsO? According to the report, Humira has seen a 16% offset to share over the past year and Enbrel has given up more than 20%. Although future projections show this erosion curve to continue, actual offsets may come at a slower pace, particularly for Humira, which is extremely well-entrenched as a first line biologic, as well as the preferred biologic for certain PsO patient types. Furthermore, AbbVie dominates when it comes to perceptions about manufacturer support for patients, providers, and the dermatology community.
Janssen's Stelara has carved out a solid position as the leading alternative mechanism biologic; however, the IL-17s are expected to catch up in the next six months, essentially flattening Stelara's growth. Indeed, among those expecting to increase their use of IL-17s, close to a third expect a corresponding decrease in the use of Stelara.
Lastly, Celgene's Otezla has maintained a solid position as a psoriasis treatment and dermatologists do project gains in patients with mild and moderate disease. However, only half of the current Otezla patients are classified as "well-managed" compared to 71% of biologic-treated patients. Furthermore, dermatologists identified multiple barriers to increased use of Otezla, including market access challenges, issues with GI tolerability, and sustained efficacy. Until additional oral small molecule products enter the psoriasis market, Otezla has the corner on a market very much in demand by patients.
The next wave of this study, RealTime Dynamix, will field in August and further drivers behind the evolution of this market will be explored next month in RealWorld Dynamix: Psoriasis, a large scale syndicated chart analysis of over 1,000 biologic/apremilast treated patients that have recently switched brands.
All company, brand or product names in this document are trademarks of their respective holders
About Spherix Global Insights Spherix Global Insights is a business intelligence and market research company, specializing in renal, autoimmune, neurologic and rare disease markets. Our aim is to apply our commercial experience and unique relationships within core specialty markets to translate data into insight, enabling our clients to make smarter business decisions.
For more information contact: Lynn Price, Immunology Franchise Head Email: info@spherixglobalinsights.com http://www.spherixglobalinsights.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novartis-cosentyx-and-eli-lillys-taltz-bring-disruption-to-the-psoriasis-market-as-il-17-share-increases-dramatically-300477250.html
SOURCE Spherix Global Insights
Read the original here:
The award was presented to her in front of over 200 other nursing professionals at the British Dermatological Nursing Groups annual conference in Belfast last week.
Being involved with psoriatic patients is part of my role that I thoroughly enjoy and feel passionate about
Zahira Koreja
She was nominated by her patients and stood out to the judges, they said, due to her dedication, compassion, and the support she provided to those in her care.
Hudson Parsons, who nominated Ms Koreja for the award, praised her ability to always find a solution, saying: I have lived with psoriasis for approximately 20 years and have had many dermatologists and nurses within this time.
I can safely say that the care that I have received from Zahira is the best I have ever had, he said. Zahira has been instrumental in helping me finally live a normal life by keeping my psoriasis under control.
Lancashire ANP named psoriasis nurse of the year
Lynne Skrine and Zahira Koreja
On winning the award, Ms Koreja said: I was honoured to receive the award for psoriasis nurse of the year.
Being involved with psoriatic patients is part of my role as an advanced nurse practitioner that I thoroughly enjoy and feel passionate about, she said. Our aim is to deliver safe, personal and effective care to all our patients.
It is important to empower patients by giving them the tools needed to manage their long term condition and support them through their journey, she said.
Therefore, receiving this award is a privilege not just for myself but is a reflection of the dedication of the whole of the East Lancashire NHS dermatology department, she added.
As reported by Nursing Times, the dermatology outpatients team at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was named team of the year at the same event.
Now in its second year, the Psoriasis Nurse of the Year Award recognises the work of psoriasis nurses delivering exceptional support and care to their patients.
The award was judged by both members of the British Dermatological Nursing Groups executive committee and representatives from the charity the Psoriasis Association.
Lynne Skrine, president at British Dermatological Nursing Group, said: Nurses have a vital role to play in the ongoing care of people with psoriasis, providing both clinical and practical support to help those affected cope with their day to day lives.
We were therefore delighted that the award is happening for a second time running and to receive such heartfelt nominations for nurses from all corners of the UK and Ireland, reinforcing just how much their support is appreciated by patients, she added.
Ms Koreja was presented with a bespoke trophy, created by a graffiti artist, that depicts the support given by nurses to people with psoriasis.
The Psoriasis Nurse of the Year award is fully funded by the biopharmaceutical company Celgene UK & Ireland.
Excerpt from:
Lancashire ANP named 'psoriasis nurse of the year' - Nursing Times
We named our Achievers entry #ObsessedWithEngagement because we recognize that an engaged and passionate workforce is critical to our overall success.
Wilmington, Mass. (PRWEB) June 21, 2017
World Travel Holdings, the worlds largest cruise agency and award-winning leisure travel company, today announced its recognition as one of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in North America. The annual award, issued by Achievers, an industry leading provider of employee recognition and engagement solutions, commends top employers that display leadership and innovation in engaging their workforces.
Employee experience remains a top priority for employees in 2017, observed David Brennan, Achievers general manager. The impressive Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Award winners are using rewards and recognition to foster positive, productive workplaces. Were excited to learn from them and honor their accomplishments.
World Travel Holdings believes an informed workforce is an engaged workforce. Education plays a vital role in many programs, giving employees the knowledge they need to drive individual results and have an impact on the companys bottom line. From financial update podcasts, town halls and informative newsletters to motivational communications, training programs and leadership development, employees have their finger on the pulse of industry events and company news, ultimately leading to record-high engagement levels and sales growth each year.
Because nearly 80 percent of our team works remotely, we pride ourselves on creating innovative ways for employees who work virtually to engage with each other and with our in-office employees, ultimately feeling part of something bigger than themselves, said Loren Kennedy, vice president of human resources. We named our Achievers entry #ObsessedWithEngagement because we recognize that an engaged and passionate workforce is critical to our overall success.
The Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Awards are judged by an esteemed panel of academics and thought leaders in the field of employee engagement. The 2017 judging panel also included representation from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR Technology Conference and HRO Today. The judges evaluated each applicant company based on the Eight Elements of Employee Engagement: Communication, Leadership, Culture, Rewards & Recognition, Professional & Personal Growth, Accountability & Performance, Vision & Values and Corporate Social Responsibility.
To be included on this prestigious list for six years in a row is an incredible an honor and testament to the passion our leadership, and management teams have for our company, added Kennedy. They lead by example and have cultivated our award-winning company culture.
In addition, earlier in 2017 for the third year in a row World Travel Holdings was listed as both one of the 100 Top Companies to Watch for Telecommuting and Remote Jobs from FlexJobs, and as one of the Top Workplaces in South Florida by Workplace Dynamics and South Florida Sun Sentinel.
World Travel Holdings will be honored alongside the other recipients of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces Award at an awards gala. The gala will be held on September 11th, 2017 at the historic Saenger Theatre in New Orleans as part of the Achievers Annual Customer Experience Conference (ACE).
About Achievers The Achievers Employee Recognition and Rewards solution provides companies with a robust foundation for their employee engagement initiatives by enabling both social and rewards-based recognition. Designed for todays workplace, Achievers innovative cloud-based platform can increase employee engagement and drive business success. It empowers employees to recognize and reward each other in real time and aligns employees with company values and goals. Delivering millions of recognitions annually, the Achievers platform inspires employee loyalty, engagement and performance. Visit us at http://www.achievers.com. Achievers is a Blackhawk Network company and is headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco.
About World Travel Holdings World Travel Holdings is the world's largest cruise agency and award-winning leisure travel company with a portfolio of more than 40 diverse brands. In addition to owning some of the largest brands distributing cruises, villas, hotels, resort vacations, cars and luxury travel services, World Travel Holdings has a vast portfolio of licensed private label partnerships comprised of top leisure travel providers, including almost every U.S. airline, leading hotel brands and prominent corporations. The company also operates a top-rated travel agency franchise and the country's original host agency, and is consistently recognized as an industry leader in work-at-home employment. Its global presence includes operating multiple cruise and vacation brands in the United Kingdom. World Travel Holdings has offices in Wilmington, Mass.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Chorley and Southampton, England. For more information, visit WorldTravelHoldings.com.
# # #
Note to editors: Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces is a trademark of Achievers. All other trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.
Share article on social media or email:
See the original post:
Photo: CSCS The Piz Daint supercomputer, housed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center, edged U.S. supercomputers from any of the top three positions.
In June, we can look forward to two things: the Belmont Stakes and the first of the twice-yearly TOP500 rankings of supercomputers. This month, a well-known gray and black colt named Tapwrit came in first at Belmont, and a well-known gray and black supercomputer named Sunway TaihuLightcame in first on Junes TOP500 list, released today in conjunction with the opening session of the ISC High Performance conference in Frankfurt. Neither was a great surprise.
Tapwrit was the second favorite at Belmont, and Sunway TaihuLight was the clear pick for the number-one position on TOP500 list, it having enjoyed that first-place ranking since June of 2016 when it beat out another Chinese supercomputer, Tianhe-2. The TaihuLight, capable of some 93 petaflops in this years benchmark tests, was designed by theNational Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology(NRCPC) and is located at theNational Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, China. Tianhe-2, capable of almost 34 petaflops, was developed by Chinas National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), is deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho, and still enjoys the number-two position on the list.
More of a surprise, and perhaps more of a disappointment for some, is that the highest-ranking U.S. contender, the Department of Energys Titan supercomputer (17.6 petaflops) housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was edged out of the third position by an upgraded Swiss supercomputer called Piz Daint (19.6 petaflops), installed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.
Not since 1996 has a U.S. supercomputer not made it into one of the first three slots on the TOP500 list. But before we go too far in lamenting the sunset of U.S. supercomputing prowess, we should pause for a moment to consider that the computer that bumped it from the number-three position was built by Cray and is stuffed with Intel processors and NVIDIA GPUs, all the creations of U.S. companies.
Even the second-ranking Tianhe-2 is based on Intel processors and co-processors. Its only the TaihuLight that is truly a Chinese machine, being based on the SW26010, a 260-core processordesigned by the National High Performance Integrated Circuit Design Centerin Shanghai.And U.S. supercomputers hold five of the 10 highest ranking positions on the new TOPS500 list.
Still, national rivalries seem to have locked the United States into a supercomputer arms race with China, with both nations vying to be the first to reach the exascale thresholdthat is, to have a computer that can perform a 1018 floating-point operations per second. China hopes to do so by amassing largely conventional hardwareand is slated to have a prototype system ready around the end of this year. The United States, on the other hand, is looking to tackle the problems that come with scaling to that level using novel approaches, which require more research before even a prototype machine can be built. Just last week, the U.S.Department of Energy announced that it was awarding Advanced Micro Devices, Cray, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, and NVIDIA US $258 million to support research toward building an exascale supercomputer. Who will get there first, is, of course, up for grabs. But one things for sure: Itll be a horse race worth watching.
IEEE Spectrums general technology blog, featuring news, analysis, and opinions about engineering, consumer electronics, and technology and society, from the editorial staff and freelance contributors.
Sign up for the Tech Alert newsletter and receive ground-breaking technology and science news from IEEE Spectrum every Thursday.
Piz Daint masters both speed and efficiency by keeping data close to its processors 27Jan2014
Silicon Valleys top employers made big staffing changes, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal 15Jun
Neuroscience will give us what weve sought for decades: computers that think like we do 2Jun
Why the merger of the Raspberry Pi and CoderDojo foundations makes senseand why it doesnt 2Jun
Large-scale brainlike systems are possible with existing technologyif were willing to spend themoney 1Jun
Massive efforts to better understand the human brain will deliver on the original promise of computer science: machines that think like us 31May
Modeling computers after the brain could revolutionize robotics and big data 31May
Researchers in this specialized field have hitched their wagon to deep learnings star 29May
Artificial intelligence might endow some computers with self-awareness. Heres how wed know 25May
By the end of 2017, Google hopes to make a 49-qubit chip that will prove quantum computers can beat classical machines 24May
Fujitsus new cooling system promises easy server maintenance while using less power and taking up less space 18May
Scott Borg, director of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, says hardware design engineers hold the future of cybersecurity in their hands 15May
Simulations suggest old ICs should consume less power than they did in their youth 12May
All the coolest 3D printing projects from CHI 2017 11May
All the weirdest computer interfaces from CHI 2017 9May
The headlines show big hiring sprees for Amazon, GE Healthcare, and other software-focused operations. Hardware? The news isnt as good. 9May
This short video was shot at SXSW this year, where the IEEE held a panel to discuss the future of computing 1May
Fake hardware could open the door to malicious malware and critical failures 24Apr
The mysterious XPoint memory in Intels new Optane solid-state drive is a step toward universal memory 19Apr
Avegant is confident enough about its light-field-based mixed-reality technology that it's willing to show and tell 18Apr
See original here:
US Slips in New Top500 Supercomputer Ranking - IEEE Spectrum
The Championship fixtures for 2017/18 have been announced and, here at talkSPORT, we cannot wait to get the season started.
Kick-off may still be around two months away, but it does not stop supporters fromdreaming about how their side will start the campaign.
READ MORE:EFL Championship fixtures 2017-18 in full: Every team, every match
The first gameyou look for is usually the season opener, followed by the final match, as well as the derby clashes home and away, plusmeetings with the newly-promoted sides.
Another thing is the first month or so of fixtures - how your side's start could determine the way the whole season pans out, whether it could see them pushing for the automatic spots, a battle for a play-off placeor scraping for points and playing catch up near the bottom.
Well, no fear - talkSPORT has done the hard work for you.
READ MORE: talkSPORT becomes the new home of the English Football League
We have fed the data into the super computer, assessing the opening five rounds of the second tier, with predicted rankings. Bear in mind plenty can change between now and the start of the season, as the transfer window opens and managers sort out squads.
According to our system, Sunderland will feel the full force of a late managerial appointment, play-off finalists Reading will have a slow start while Harry Redknapp will have his Birmingham side well prepared.
Of course, the standings above have been collated just for fun it is interesting to speculate, but as we all know, football has a funny way of turning expectations on their head.
Click the right arrow, above, to see how the Championship table might look after five games and comment with your predictions below...
talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 have exclusive radio rights to the Sky Bet EFL Championship,League OneandLeague Twofor the next three seasons.
The talkSPORT network will be the only place to hear 110 regular season EFL matches as well as the play-off semi-finals and finals - read more here.
Visit link:
Championship 2017/18: Super Computer predicts table after five games of new season - talkSPORT.com
All his life, the German philosopher and poet Johann Gottfried Herder grappled with issues of the Orient and Islam, preaching his vision of a society shaped by humanity, tolerance and the individual, spiritual practice of faith. By Melanie Christina Mohr
In "Gedanken einer Orientalistin zu Johann Gottfired Herder" (An Orientalists Thoughts on Johann Gottfried Herder, 1994), the German Islamic studies scholar Annemarie Schimmel wrote: "Neither in Yemen nor Iran, neither in Bengal nor in Pakistan could the listeners understand how a poet who had never come face-to-face with an Arab, a Persian or an Indian could empathise with foreign peoples to such a degree in spirit and form [...]." Her remark gives us some idea of Herders special significance, even today.
When Johann Gottfried Herder was born on 25 August 1744, the philosophy of the Enlightenment had already catapulted the century into the modern age. Voltaire was approaching his 50th birthday, while Kant who would later teach Herder was studying philosophy, physics and mathematics among other subjects at the Albertus University in Konigsberg. Prussia was heading for the Seven Year War, America for independence and France for a revolution. In the Islamic calendar, the year was 1157. The Ottoman Empire had reached the geographical extent of its power and would continue to exist into the first quarter of the twentieth century, while the Persians were living under the short-lived rule of the Afsharids, who were replaced just a few years later by the Zand dynasty.
The European image of Islam in the eighteenth century was ambivalent. The first two translations of the Koran had appeared in 1694 and 1698, but the negative picture established prior to this, largely due to the Islamic faith having been consistently slandered, seemed to be deeply anchored in the Christian consciousness and relativising that image using these flawed translations was a slow process.
Arab fame: a "miracle of nature"
In 1710, Leibniz had pointed out the clear crossovers between the tenets of Christianity and Islam, but Voltaire made no secret of his religious aversion and manifested his dislike of the Prophet in his tragedy Mahomet, which portrays the founder of the faith as a liar and a charlatan. But this was also the century in which European Orientalism first began to flourish and slowly moved away from theology with a lot of travel writing contributing to a better understanding of that "other", the Orient.
In the fourth and fifth chapters of his classic work Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, Herder discussed what he believed there was to say about the Arabs and their Prophet at that time. The fame of the Arabs was to be understood as a "miracle of nature" not as something initiated or consciously created something that had merely waited for "the man to appear" who could make the Arab people "blossom".
The Koran a mirror held up to Muhammads soul
Herder deliberately describes the Prophet a "curious being and a mixture of all that nation, tribe, time and place could bestow" as an individual, without any explicit divine connotation. "His Koran, this curious mix of poetic art, eloquence, ignorance, cleverness and hubris," was to be understood as a mirror held up to Muhammads soul.
But Herder personalised both the Korans content and its linguistic character and much like Goethe wanted the Prophet to be regarded as a poet. Faithful to his own beliefs with all due respect to tolerance he declared Protestantism to be the true faith and underlined this with an attestation that Muhammad and his faith community were "deceiving themselves".
Even so, this didnt mean that Herder regarded Islam and its founder with displeasure on the contrary, he believed that there was room for criticism in every well-founded study , as long as the necessary respect was maintained. The language, which he said had blossomed "long before Muhammad" and on which the pride of the whole people and the prophet was built, was the only thing Herder was willing to let himself be dazzled by.
Alongside the Koran, he also commends the fairy-tale and was keen to make it available to his readers, since it had made its mark "beneath the Eastern sky [as] the most marvellous element of the literary art".
Tolerance and reflection as features of faith
What makes Herder stand out, particularly in those times of vicious right-wing populism, is his pronounced sensitivity and the way he valued other cultures and ways of life. He was not only a committed anti-missionary, who understood faith as an "inner conscientiousness" something that could under no circumstances be forced or accelerated he also made no secret of the fact that he viewed the Church with scepticism, or even rejected it.
For him, it was a "political structure", an institution that should be regarded as separate from the essence of religion. It was no surprise, then, that Herder viewed the absence of a Muslim pope as an admirable thing. For him, faith embodied a kind of silent spirituality, not distinguished by a definite dualism, but manifested in tolerance and reflection. In his essay "The Oldest Document of the Human Race" (1774), he interpreted the Holy Scripture freely, recording at the end that it was "the oldest piece from the dawn of time" and in defiance of his own faith despite this, one of many.
Humanity and human kindness
According to Herder, humanity to which he devoted a great deal of thought was a latent, "undeveloped" quality in the individual. It was the character of the human race, he said and over the course of time was adopted and developed, ultimately distinguishing man from the animals. Gerhardt Schmidt gives a trenchant description of Herders imperative in an essay on the idea of humanity, calling it a "moral tautology" representing a smiling positivism, to be understood as a kind of bliss, which one should be in a position to celebrate without shame.
In his letters on the advancement of humanity, Herder regrets the fatal error of some of his contemporaries, who set the concept of humanity on a par with "lowliness, weakness and false pity". The term, he said, was even used with a look of disdain and "a shrug of the shoulders". With the utmost incomprehension and regret, Herder continues: "The lovely words human kindness have become so trivial [...] and yet this should be the goal of our striving."
This debasement of humanity should, by rights, be halted. Humanity and human kindness are as Herder rightly stated "the fine features of our existence" and as such they should be preserved and protected.
Melanie Christina Mohr
Qantara.de 2017
The rest is here:
In an e-interaction, she tells Pratyasha Nithin about her life as a yogi, about Bharatanatyam and the healing powers of yoga.
Tell us about your childhood.
I was born in London. As children, my brothers and I had a very international upbringing. My father worked in finance for a bank that had offices worldwide. So, every three to five years, we would transfer to a new place London, New York, Japan, Hong Kong, and India. My parents true passion, antiques, has manifested in me a respect for craftsmanship and a reverence for the old. They often took us on off-the-grid adventures, teaching us to respect different ways to live in this world. My parents came to the West by working hard in academia (my father was a graduate of LSE and Wharton; my mother of SOAS), so our studies were always greatly valued in our household. We were given the freedom to explore any endeavour as long as we maintained high grades, developing in us a diligent work ethic.
No matter where we were in the world, we would always spend our summers with our grandmothers in India. It became home. For several years now, I have been living in New York. I have also been spending more time at my parents ancestral property in Morjim, Goa, where I will be teaching soon.
You come from a lineage of renowned dancers. Tell us more about them.
My grandmother, my mothers mother, was Hima Devi. She was a classical Indian dancer, a drama teacher, an arts writer for Mumbais newspapers, as well as a devotee of Sri Aurobindo. Her aunt was Madame Menaka, a pioneer artist, dancer and choreographer. Her philosophy was that art should not only embody an aesthetic quality, but also spiritually uplift us and be relevant to our everyday lives. She was one of the first women to travel internationally on behalf of India, representing Kathak as a dance form. She also collaborated with Anna Pavlova. In her later years, she resided in Tagores Shantiniketan, where she shared her art and knowledge among like-minded intellectuals, like poetess Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, an active supporter of Indias traditional arts and crafts. Damayanti Joshi wrote a beautiful book documenting her life. The book is in the Sangeet Natak Akademi library, New Delhi.
What inspired you to take up yoga?
When I lived with my grandmother in Mumbai, she would get up around 3 am and begin her prayers. I would drift in and out of sleep, smelling the sweet aroma of burning incense and hearing her melodic chanting of mantras. I also witnessed her practising simple yoga asanas as part of her daily ritual. Yoga, as a part of life and as an offering, became a part of how I understood the world.
Our mother would also take us to a yoga therapist, whenever we were not feeling well, to receive asanas that would strengthen our internal system. I grew up with the understanding that yoga was a healing science as well. As life and its complexities began to unfold, I sought that feeling of inner fortitude and shanti as a prism to experience the world.
How is ashtanga more than a mere set of physical exercises?
Ashta means eight and Anga means limbs. The eight limbs are based on the knowledge given by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras and refer to the various dimensions or stages the sadhaka must cultivate in classical yoga practice (sadhana) to attain awakening. If one likens the limbs to the eight petals of a lotus flower, the petals bloom in harmony. All limbs external and internal in ashtanga yoga must be integrated with one another and be given due attention. When practising yoga in its wholeness, the impurities of the mind and body are removed, clearing the path for us to realise the true nature of the soul.
The very name ashtanga implies a way to bring together the human body, mind and consciousness. Asana and pranayama transform us at the core of our being so we can access the other limbs of our inner and outer observances to lead a meaningful life. It is essential not to get attached to the fruits of the practice, but to keep focused on the eternal path of our sadhana.
I think, in simpler terms, what that translates into is that with the practice of yoga we should live a life of greater compassion and love, become better human beings in our day to day interaction with people and the world around us.
On the age criteria for practising yoga:
I have been welcoming my children Asha, 9 years and Arjuna, 7 years, to join me when I practise, since they were toddlers, but I never push them. They are around it enough and the lessons are permeating naturally into them. They enjoy reading Indian epics like the Gita and the Mahabharata. Exposing children to yoga is a healthy experience for them so that they can create a positive relationship with their own body, mind and spirit. As their muscles and limbs are still growing and their intellect is developing, it is important to expose them to the discipline of yoga, but not push them in any way. The experience should be welcoming and healing.
Yoga in general is a helpful tool in life, no matter the age. There is nothing to consider before taking up yoga except to find a knowledgeable teacher. The rest automatically happens. A good teacher will individualise the practice, considering age, lifestyle and any ailments, so that the yoga process is therapeutic, joyful and brings oneness. Quite a few of my students are between the ages of 60 and 75; several are cancer survivors and others practice safely through their pregnancies and postpartum recovery. It is wonderful to witness that the practice continues to bring happiness and freedom, no matter what stage in life you are in.
How did you meet Shri K Pattabhi Jois? What were your first thoughts after meeting one of the most renowned yoga gurus?
In 1997, I was in India on a community service grant from Columbia University, when I heard about Guruji and ashtanga yoga. I took a train from Rishikesh to Mysore to meet him. I was not sure if he would accept me as a student, but I wanted to meet him and see if studying from the source was a possibility. One thing I learned from Bharatanatyam is that it is better to learn the correct method from the beginning. Otherwise, one spends a lot of time with a real guru just correcting all the mistakes before learning the actual form and being able to receive real knowledge. Guruji very kindly welcomed me into the afternoon class for Indian students and I started learning the practice from him as a total beginner. He and Sharathji taught me steadily through the advanced series, showing me the importance of teaching students with concentration and equilibrium from the very beginning.
Guruji had the real ability to dispel darkness with the light of his knowledge and for us practitioners of the form to experience deep reality under his watch is incredible. Being in his presence was equivalent to being in the grace of the divine. At the same time, Guruji was incredibly warm and down to earth. He always made time to ask after my family. He did that not only with me, but with everyone, which I believe added to how truly evolved he was as a human being. In transmitting the lineage of ashtanga yoga, today, Sharathji and Saraswatiji also pass on this unique quality of possessing great knowledge on the subject of yoga with a worldwide following, while also being relatable and inclusive to all students who come to study with them.
See the original post here:
Asanas, Mudras, Spirituality: A Life Where Bharatanatyam And Yoga ... - Swarajya
Q: I heard Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills and Nash on the radio recently. Is there really such a railroad and, if so, where is it?
A: There most certainly is a Marrakesh Express! It runs between the Moroccan cities of Casablanca and Marrakesh. The two cities lie roughly 155 miles apart in a north-south orientation, with Casablanca sitting on the Atlantic coast about 50 miles southwest of the Kingdoms capital, Rabat. Marrakesh Express was written by Graham Nash in August 1967 while he was still with the Hollies. During the mid-60s, Morocco had a reputation among the hippies as being a wildly exotic place full of interesting sights and experiences, including finding spiritual enlightenment. Nash decided to visit and boarded the Marrakesh Express in Casablanca.
He first started out in the first-class section, but he quickly found that boring and wandered back to where the third-class passengers rode.
There he found people sharing meals that were cooked on little wood-burning stoves. He found live farm animals, too. The whole experience resonated him, but it wasnt until the following year that he tried to write the song. The song did not fit well with the rest of his Hollies bandmates. So he put it aside until he teamed up with David Crosby and Stephen Stills in late 1968. He dusted it off and they recorded it for their debut album, Crosby, Stills & Nash. The song was also the first single from that album and peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart. It also was the only Top 20 hit CS&N had in the UK. On a side note, history buffs might be interested to know that Morocco has the distinction of being the first country to recognize the new United States as a country in 1777. This recognition was formalized in 1786 when the Moroccan-United States Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed by diplomats Thomas Barclay, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and Moroccan sultan, Muhammad III. Congress formally ratified it on July 18, 1787. It is still in effect today, making it the longest, unbroken treaty in our nations history.
Q: Ive heard many different stories about the identity of Angie in the famous Rolling Stones song. Has she ever been positively identified?
A: Over the years, there have been many persistent rumors about the identity of Angie. Angela Bowie, David Bowies wife at the time and the alleged lover of Mick Jagger, is the most common person identified as Angie. Another common rumor identifies Angie as Anita Pallenberg, Keith Richards girlfriend at the time. However, the title actually refers to Keith and Anitas daughter, Dandelion Angela Richards, who was born in April 1972 and was a baby when Angie was recorded in late 1972. In 1993, Richards stated that he came up with the songs melody and title.
Explaining that Angela had recently been born, he said the title refers to her. Angelas early life was not normal. Both of her parents famously struggled with heroin addiction. In fact, she was given to Keiths mother, Doris, to raise. It really was not until she was in her 30s that she was able to reconcile with both of her parents.
Whats the name of that song? Where are they now? What does that lyric mean? Send your questions about songs, albums, and the musicians who make them to MusicOnTheRecord@gmail.com. Bradford Brady and John Maron are freelance music writers based in Raleigh.
Excerpt from:
On the Record: Where is the Marrakesh Express? - Sanford Herald (registration)