Video highlights Alabama aerospace growth for Paris Air Show – Made In Alabama

To make sure that growth continues, Alabama is sending a team of business recruiters, government leaders and university representatives to next weeks Paris Air Show.

A new video, created for Made in Alabama for use at the air show, highlights the strengths of the states aerospace sector. The video will be on display at the Made in Alabama booth, the state teams base for the industrys premiere 2017 trade show.

Securing aerospace work and jobs is a global competition, and the Paris Air Show provides us with an opportunity to talk about Alabamas strengths in aerospace with the major players in the sector, said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.

Our advantages include a trained workforce, deep capabilities in research and engineering, expertise in advanced materials, and experience with game-changing new technologies including 3-D printing.

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Secretary Canfield said companies in Alabama are involved in practically every activity in the sector, from passenger jet assembly, component fabrication, aircraft maintenance and repair, rocket and missile development, raw material production, engineering, research, aviation flight training, and more.

Alabama is also home to many of the biggest names in the business Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Safran, UTC Aerospace, GKN, and GE Aviation.

Last year alone, aerospace companies announced projects involving more than $242 million in new capital investment and 1,500 anticipated jobs. Since 2011, more than $1.5 billion in new investment has flowed into the Alabama aerospace sector.

Alabamas economic development team at the Paris Air Show is working to make sure more companies are on the way.

Other positive trends:

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Video highlights Alabama aerospace growth for Paris Air Show - Made In Alabama

Where do SpaceX and other aerospace companies find engineers? On the race track – Los Angeles Times

Over the last decade, entrepreneurial space companies in Southern California have set their sights on such goals as launching small satellites, carrying space tourists and colonizing Mars.

As they hire numerous young engineers, those companies and more traditional aerospace giants are finding talent in an unlikely place: a college race-car competition.

Next week, 100 university teams will bring their prototype race cars to the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competition in Lincoln, Neb., where they will be judged on design, manufacturing, performance and business logic.

The aerospace leaders who help judge the contest say its also an opportunity to see students explain design and production decisions, present their business cases and adapt on the fly.

Race cars and rockets are pretty similar, said Bill Riley, a Formula SAE alumnus from Cornell and competition judge whos now a senior director of design reliability and vehicle analysis at SpaceX. Its lightweight, efficient, elegant engineering. Those basic principles are the same, no matter what youre designing.

SpaceX has had fantastic success recruiting new hires and interns from Formula SAE teams, as well as from sister competition Baja SAE, which focuses on building an off-road vehicle, and other hands-on engineering competitions, said Brian Bjelde, the Hawthorne companys vice president of human resources.

Out of the 700 students who intern at SpaceX each year, about 50 or 60 come from Formula SAE. And as of three years ago, about 50% of the companys 300-person structures team had worked on some sort of project-based design team in college.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA students Brent Kyono, right, and Luke Allee, left, compare parts for UCLA Formula SAE team car in the Westwood campus workshop.

UCLA students Brent Kyono, right, and Luke Allee, left, compare parts for UCLA Formula SAE team car in the Westwood campus workshop. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

For any candidate, the ones that are most successful at SpaceX have a combination of passion, drive and talent, Bjelde said. And to me, [Formula SAE] plays into the passion piece.

Aaron Cassebeer experienced the highs and lows of competition firsthand 10 years ago as captain of a Lehigh University team that captured several design awards at competitions. But when a hose came loose and spilled oil into the cars chassis, a few drips landed on the track and the Lehigh team was disqualified.

It all ended well for Cassebeer, though. His work with light, composite materials eventually impressed Scaled Composites, a cutting-edge Mojave aerospace firm. That led to a nine-year career where, among other things, he designed flight controls for an early version of the space plane that Virgin Galactic aims to use to fly tourists to space.

The type of work I did happens to fit in really well with what Scaled Composites does design and prototype, over and over again, Cassebeer said.

The basis of the Formula SAE competition is that a fictional manufacturing company contracts teams to build a prototype race car that is low-cost, high-performance, easy to maintain and reliable.

Industry judges grill students on the design process, scrutinize their cost sheets and inspect the vehicles to make sure they are technically sound. The internal combustion engine car competition is the most popular, though an electric vehicle contest was added in 2013.

Race cars that pass technical inspections get the green light to hit the course for performance trials, testing things such as maneuverability, acceleration and endurance.

During the endurance test, two people drive the car around a course marked by traffic cones for a little more than 13 miles, which can take about half an hour and involves a driver switch. Many teams, such as UCLAs, have a hard time finding a large, open space for testing, meaning the endurance test could be one of the few times the car runs that long without breaks.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA student Ben Gerber custom fabricates a part for the UCLA Formula SAE team car on a lathe in a machine shop on the Westwood campus.

UCLA student Ben Gerber custom fabricates a part for the UCLA Formula SAE team car on a lathe in a machine shop on the Westwood campus. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The great thing about [Formula SAE] is its a full production cycle, said Dolly Singh, SpaceXs former head of talent acquisition who now serves as chief executive of high-heel designer Thesis Couture. These kids build the car from scratch. They have to test in a high-pressure situation and see how it performs.

Preparing for the competition gives students a taste of the grind that goes into meeting real-world project deadlines.

David Hernandez, 21, laughed when asked how many hours he and other members of the Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE team have spent working on their car.

Last night, I left early, and that was at 10 p.m., said Hernandez, a fourth-year aerospace engineering student.

Cal Poly Pomona has done well in the competition. Last year, the teams sleek, green vehicle with an aerodynamic wing placed third overall in Lincoln, the highest of any California team there.

The Cal Poly shop, which is on the base floor of an engineering building and is shared with the Baja SAE team and other clubs and project teams, is crammed with tools, machinery and previous years cars.

The teams 2014 car is encased in glass at the front of the engineering school along with a number of trophies. That car placed fourth in Lincoln and ninth in an international Formula SAE competition.

Hernandez applied his software knowledge, acquired through classes and Formula SAE, to his internship last summer at Raytheon Co. He uses the same software to analyze data points from the teams car.

There are very few times you feel as passionate about the same thing, Hernandez said of the groups camaraderie. Theres nothing better than this.

Scaled Composites, which is now part of Northrop Grumman Corp., has mentored a handful of Southern California teams, including UCLAs, and recruited students in their shops for full-time jobs or internships. Several of the companys engineers have also volunteered to offer feedback ahead of the competitions.

Scaled Composites is particularly interested in students who work on design and analysis.

We do look for engineers that are hands-on, said Kelsey Gould, executive assistant to the companys vice president of engineering. Theyre really committed to figuring things out on their own.

As the competition nears, pressure mounts.

Each Saturday for the last few months, about 30 members of the UCLA Formula SAE team pumped up the music in their ground-floor shop on campus and worked almost all day on their car. Thats in addition to the hours they spend there in between classes.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA student Owen Hemminger works on UCLA Formula SAE team's car on the Westwood campus workshop.

UCLA student Owen Hemminger works on UCLA Formula SAE team's car on the Westwood campus workshop. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The UCLA team has already made several changes to avoid challenges it ran into last year, when it finished 59th out of 80 teams. A new, tunable muffler has been added that should help the team pass a sound requirement during the technical inspection. Last year, UCLA just barely passed that test by using a special exhaust plug and two mufflers packed with steel wool to deaden the sound.

Students on the team get greater hands-on engineering experience than they might in academic classes, said Owen Hemminger, 20, a mechanical engineering student and financial director of UCLAs team.

Everyone learns how to use engineering software and do machining in school, but not to the depth we use it, he said.

Dan Rivin, 22, said his experience making steering wheels and drivers seats for UCLAs cars prepared him for an internship at Northrop Grumman, where he worked extensively with composites.

Last fall, the materials engineering student, who graduated this spring, gave a Northrop recruiter a tour of UCLAs Formula SAE shop. Later, the recruiter asked Rivin for a resume. After several interviews, he was offered a full-time job with the aerospace giant and will start at the end of this month.

He said his work with Formula SAE came up in a number of interviews. Hes convinced it got him onto recruiters radar screens.

This is very unique in the way that youre involved in the entire process, he said. No ones holding your hand through the whole thing.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

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Where do SpaceX and other aerospace companies find engineers? On the race track - Los Angeles Times

The Super Bowls For Aerospace, Bank Giants: Investing Action Plan – Investor’s Business Daily

Here's your weekly Investing Action Plan: what you need to know as an investor for the coming week.

For investors in aerospace and bank stocks like Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC), the coming week will feature the the Super Bowl for those respective industries. The aerospace sector will have the Paris Air Show, and the bank sector will have the first part of the stress test results. Meanwhile, a top emerging-market index will decide whether to include mainland Chinese stocks, and the tech sector will get earnings reports from Oracle (ORCL), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Red Hat (RHT).

As the Nasdaq is nearing a test of its 50-day moving average, several big-name tech stocks are finding themselves in similar positions.

Amazon.com (AMZN), fueled by its Whole Foods Market (WFM) buyout announcement, is rebounding higher after testing support at the 50-day line, which marked the second pullback for the stock since its mid-March cup-with-handle breakout. Friday's move puts Amazon in a follow-on buy area.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) have both found support at their 50-day lines too. When deciding if you should buy on a pullback to the 50-day, look for declining volume as the stock falls and rising volume as the stock bounces from the line.

Apple's (AAPL) chart is in a worse condition than its big-cap tech peers. The stock has sliced below its 50-day line and has now triggered a sell signal: Apple has nearly made a round trip from its follow-on entry at 141.12. And for those who bought in at the 118.12 handle entry back in January, the stock is now up about 20% from that level, after gaining as much as 34% from the buy point.

Apple chip supplier Broadcom (AVGO) is nearing a test of support at the 50-day line (or the 10-week line on a weekly chart). After breaking out of a flat base with a 227.85 buy point in early May and running up as much as 13% from that level, shares are now back within the 5% buy range.

Midrange jets will likely rule the Paris Air Show, which starts Monday. Boeing is expected to unveil the 737 Max 10, the largest version yet for that narrow-body family, and announce Indonesia's Lion Air as a launch customer. More interestingly, new details will likely emerge about a brand-new midrange plane being designed to take back market share from Airbus' (EADSY) A321neo, while the European rival is already planning to counter what some have dubbed the 797. Still, the total number of commercial plane orders is expected to be down this year. On the defense side of the Paris Air Show, Lockheed's F-35 is scheduled to make a flashy flight demonstration as more European countries like Germany evaluate the stealth fighter.

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Boeing, Apple Could Build A New Internet In Space

The Federal Reserve will release results from the first portion of its annual stress tests on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET. This part basically results in a pass-or-fail grade for each bank in a hypothetical economic downturn and financial crash, whose precise conditions differ from year to year. The grade gives investors a clue as to which banks will get approval for their plans to return capital to shareholders. The Fed will announce its approval or disapproval on those plans on June 28 at 4:30 p.m., after which individual banks will start saying how big their dividends and buybacks will be.

Index provider MSCI (MSCI) is poised to decide Tuesday whether to include mainland China stocks, or A-shares, into its main emerging market index. That matters to U.S. investors because dozens of funds track or are benchmarked to that index, including the $31.65 billion iShares Emerging Markets ETF (EEM). A nod would raise China's profile in global capital markets while requiring fund managers in the U.S. and abroad to pour billions into China stocks traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

MSCI has nixed the inclusion of A-shares on three previous occasions, citing accessibility issues for foreign investors in China's $7 trillion stock markets. Will the fourth time be the charm? A Bloomberg poll of analysts and managers in March found expectations for inclusion to be low. MSCI itself told the publication in May that a "lot of issues" remain. (China stocks listed in the U.S. like Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD) belong to the N-shares class.)

Oracle reports fiscal Q4 results after the close Wednesday. The consensus estimate on EPS is 78 cents, down 4% year over year, with revenue falling 1% to $10.47 billion. Oracle stock is up 17% this year as the software giant shifts to a cloud-based model and as short and long-term fundamentals continue to take a more positive turn. Oracle began a concerted push into the cloud three years ago, and some analysts have said the company has finally turned the corner after a rocky transition.

The maker of digital media and marketing software is scheduled to report fiscal Q2 results after the market close Tuesday, and analysts are looking for continued momentum in its cloud computing transition. Analysts expect EPS to climb 34% to 95 cents, on sales of $1.73 billion, up 24%, in Q2. Adobe stock has found support at its 50-day moving average after a flat-base breakout in late January. It hit an all-time high of 144.34 on June 5.

TheNo. 1 provider of open-source Linux software for corporate data centers reports fiscal Q1 earnings late Tuesday. Analysts expect EPS to grow 6% to 53 cents with revenue rising 14% to $647.8 million. Wall Street has been looking for traction in Red Hat's public cloud business as customers shift computing workloads to cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, which is a Red Hat partner. Shares in Red Hat have weakened ahead of earnings, dropping below their 50-day moving average.

Homebuilder Lennar (LEN) will report fiscal Q2 numbers early Tuesday, and Wall Street sees EPS falling 18% to 78 cents, while revenue rises 5.4% to $2.895 billion. The National Association of Realtors will release May data on sales of existing homes on Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will report its April home price index on Thursday, and the Commerce Department will come out with May new-home sales next Friday. Builder stocks had been showing signs on strength but sold off this week amid weak economic data, and the latest report on housing starts today showed a surprise decline.

YouTubers and content creators are heading to VidCon in Anaheim, Calif., on Wednesday to watch and fete online video. Last year's multiday convention drew in over 26,000 attendees. As the traditional entertainment industry assesses the emergence of online pure-plays, some are looking to get in on the action and attract younger viewers. TBS Digital, New Form and Dunkin' Donuts (DNKN), for instance, are hosting a pilot-pitch competition at the convention.

The Dublin-based global-tech consulting and services company reports fiscal Q3 earnings early Thursday. Analysts expect EPS growth of 7% to $1.51 with revenue rising 4.7% to $8.83 billion. Currency headwinds may have eased a bit, analysts say. Accenture (ACN) has been investing in digital, cloud and security services and competes against IBM (IBM), Infosys (INFY) and Tata Consultancy Services.

The shipping giant reports fiscal Q4 results late Tuesday, and EPS is expected to climb 18% to $3.89, on revenue of $15.56 billion, up 20%. E-commerce and Amazon have fueled FedEx's (FDX) rise, but the internet juggernaut is expanding its own delivery operations, and is even leasing its own fleet of planes. FedEx shares are in buy range, following an early June breakout, and are up 13% year to date.

The used-car superstore reports Q1 results early Wednesday and is expected to post EPS of 98 cents, up 8.9%, on revenue of $4.51 billion, up 9.2%. A flood of cars coming off lease is expected to slam the market for new and used cars, hitting prices, sales and dealers like CarMax (KMX) as well as the automotive industry more broadly. CarMax also cited headwinds related to its subprime car-loan business in its April earnings report.

5:40 PM ET If Boeing and Apple form a partnership to provide broadband access via thousands of satellites, it could transform how you...

5:40 PM ET If Boeing and Apple form a partnership to provide broadband...

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The Super Bowls For Aerospace, Bank Giants: Investing Action Plan - Investor's Business Daily

Long Island aerospace company reopens old F-14 facility – Fox5NY

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A Long Island aerospace company has reopened an old building where Navy fighters used to be built.

Since Luminati's flight demo last year, the Calverton-based company has already set up 70,000 square feet of production line inside Hangar 6 where Grumman once built F-14 Tomcats and other jets for the U.S. Navy.

Luminati creates ultralight composite material and builds solar-powered aircraft. There has been a lot of speculation about who the company is partnering with. The Town of Riverhead revealed it had been Facebook, but the companies are no longer working together.

Luminati CEO Daniel Preston said he is already flying solo. While Preston said he isn't going to bring the 20,000 jobs there once were back to Long Island he plans to employ at least 2,000 people as part of his five-year plan.

Luminati received a contract from the Town of Riverhead to buy the remaining 2,300 acres at Enterprise Park. The company hopes to close as soon as possible.

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Long Island aerospace company reopens old F-14 facility - Fox5NY

CU Boulder to build new $82.5 million aerospace building on campus – The Denver Channel

BOULDER, Colo. The University of Colorado Board of Regents has approved plans to build a new $82.5 million aerospace engineering building on the CU Boulder campus.

The 139,000-square-foot facility will offer a state-of-the-art learning environment for students in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

In addition to a 200-seat auditorium, offices and other classroom space, the new building will include an indoor flight environment for testing unmanned craft and it will be built with a roof design that allows for the sight lines needed to track satellites in orbit.

The building will be located along Discovery Drive, between the existing Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Space Science Building on CU Boulders East Campus.

CU Boulders aerospace program has seen a lot of growth in recent years enrollment grew from 647 students in the fall of 2011 to 946 in fall 2016 and this new building will help the university keep its momentum going.

This is a watershed moment, not just for CU aerospace, but for our entire college, the university and the state of Colorado, said Bobby Braun, dean of engineering. CU Boulder is already recognized as a national leader in aerospace, and this state-of-the-art facility will take us to the next level. This facility will be a beacon of innovation for the students, researchers and industries of the future.

Fundraising for the building is already underway and a $15 million gift earlier this year puts the university well on its way toward its goal.

Construction on the new facility is expected to begin in the fall, with an anticipated completion date in July 2019.

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CU Boulder to build new $82.5 million aerospace building on campus - The Denver Channel

Alphabet Chairman Urges Aerospace Industry to Revamp Air-Traffic and Plane Development Systems – Fox Business

PARIS Alphabet Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday called on the aerospace industry and its regulators to embrace advanced software systems to shed big costs and reduce development time for new equipment.

"When I think about aviation I think of a proud industry that doesn't use software very much," said Mr. Schmidt, who is also a pilot. The software backbone currently used is largely old, he said, adding "there is an opportunityto actually accelerate change by virtue of the use of software."

Revamping how flights are routed in the U.S. and Europe should be one of the first targets for using advanced software systems, Mr. Schmidt said at the Paris Air Forum. "Improvements in air-traffic control will yield very, very big improvements in airplane efficiency and climate-change carbon emissions," he said.

The Trump administration last month launched a controversial plan to transform the federal air-traffic control system into an independent, nongovernmental organization that is opposed by some lawmakers and aviation groups.

Mr. Schmidt said he had discussed possible improvements to the U.S. air-traffic system with the Obama administration, but not yet with the new government.

Tom Enders, chief executive of Airbus SE, the world's No. 2 plane maker behind Boeing Co., said the company's studies have shown that 10% of airline fuel burn in Europe alone could be saved if air space was revamped. He expressed hope the political will that has lacked to push through those changes in Europe could regain momentum with the recent election of French President Emmanuel Macron, who ran on a reformist platform.

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Mr. Schmidt said Alphabet is looking to be a technology supplier to the aerospace industry on several fronts. Alphabet and Airbus recently began working together to help analyze satellite pictures. Alphabet also has developed a searching mechanism to find air fares.

The Alphabet chairman also suggested advanced algorithms could help boost self-flying cars and improved drones. The technology that allows computers now to have better vision than humans, which underpins the push for self-driving cars, could eventually have aerospace applications, he said.

Mr. Schmidt also criticized the aerospace sector for failing to move quickly. "The aviation industry as a whole has product cycles that are getting longer and longer and longer. That is especially true of the military," he said. "An enormous amount of citizens' money is wasted."

He said companies should embrace an approach of repeatedly trying and improving designs.

It is a sentiment echoed by Mr. Enders, who has been pushing Airbus to embrace tech-sector approaches. "That can bring huge efficiency gains," he said, cutting development and manufacturing times, yielding and promising multi-billion dollars savings on big new development programs.

-Write to Robert Wall at Robert.Wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2017 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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Alphabet Chairman Urges Aerospace Industry to Revamp Air-Traffic and Plane Development Systems - Fox Business

Health Risks of Sleeping in on Weekends – Anti Aging News

Posted on June 16, 2017, 6 a.m. in Sleep Cardio-Vascular

Social jet lag, which occurs when you go to bed and wake up later on weekends than during the week, is associated with negative health outcomes.

What is social jet lag? That occurs when you purposely go to bed later and wake up later on the weekends compared with during the week. It has been found to be associated with increased sleepiness, fatigue, being in a worse mood, and poorer health consequences. Every hour is also associated with an 11 percent increase in the possibility of heart disease. These effects are independent of sleep duration and symptoms of insomnia, which are related to both social jet lag and health.

Study Research

Social jet lag was studied by a research team headed by Michael A. Grandner, PhD, MTR, the Sleep and Health Research Program director and the senior author of the study. Data was utilized from the Sleep and Healthy Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study, which analyzed the responses given by 984 adults who were between 22 and 60 years old.

The Sleep Timing Questionnaire subtracted weekday from weekend sleep. Overall health used a standardized scale and was self-reported. Survey questions assessed sleep duration, sleepiness, fatigue, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, and more. Recommendations

To promote optimal health, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) strongly suggests that adults sleep seven or more hours each night on a regular basis. Healthy sleep also requires good quality and appropriate timing. AASM promotes high quality, patient-centered care through its membership of 10,000 accredited member sleep centers, physicians, scientists, other health care professionals, and individual members.

Presentation

The research abstract was presented on June 5 in Boston at SLEEP 2017, the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC 's 31st Annual Meeting, a joint venture of the Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Conclusion

Sierra B. Forbush, an undergraduate research assistant in the University of Arizona's Sleep and Health Research Program and the study's lead author, states that the study results suggest that an inexpensive, simple, and preventative treatment for heart disease and other health problems is a regular sleep schedule. Sleep regularity plays a significant role in our over-all health.

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Health Risks of Sleeping in on Weekends - Anti Aging News

Are All Calories the Same? – SELF

There's a lot of confusing messaging when it comes to health, nutrition, and weight loss . Imagine my surprise when I read that several foods listed under the headline 30 Foods Never to Eat After Age 30 were also in a story called 10 Foods to Boost Libido. As a thirtysomething woman, I really wondered if the wellness industry was trying to tell me something.

(Whatever it is, you can tell it to my medicine cabinet full of antiaging skin-care products and my armoire of sex toys . Yes, I have a literal armoire. Who needs a list of libido boosters anyway?)

With all the conflicting information floating around the Internet, its no wonder we have so much confusion about what we should eat, how much of it, and how to stay healthyand why we're convinced that some foods are good, some are bad, and some you absolutely shouldnt eat.

The easy answer is that you shouldnt eat raw chicken , anything that you have a diagnosed allergy to, and any overpriced magical brew claiming it will detox you . Other than that, if you want to know how and what to eat for health, you can learn about the basics and figure out from there what works for you.

In the scientific sense, a calorie is the unit of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. When you think of calories, think of them like that: as energy. The stuff that keeps you going. Dont overfill your tank and flood the engine, but youre going to have a lot of problems trying to run on empty.

Calories come from three main macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Everything you eat is some combination of macronutrients (except maybe mushroomsand whatever Gwyneth Paltrow lives on). They all have uses in the body in appropriate amounts, even cholesterol , which is a type of fat, and sugar, which is a carbohydrate. Each macronutrient can be used as an energy source, and technically each produces the same unit of energy per calorie. That being said

The macronutrients all have very different chemical structures and complex sets of jobs in your body. Let's take a look at each one.

At 4 calories per gram, we generally think of carbohydrates mainly as a source of energy, and thats pretty accurate. Theyve gotten a bad rep in the last few decades or so, but your brain lives on sugar . Remember eating Cocoa Pebbles before big exams? Fine, maybe that was just me, but it actually was based on sound science. If youre active, carbs are a great source of energy. The "problem" with carbs, which isn't actually a problem, but rather just a question of math, is that when you're not active, or you eat way more simple carbohydrates than your body can use for energy, it gets stored as fat. And the truth is, yeah, a lot of us eat a lot more carbs than our bodies need.

You also may have read recently that sugar is as addictive as cocaine, which sounds bad, but actually isn't the case. While the lure of sugar can be strong for some people, current science just doesnt seem to support that headline-friendly notion. Really, when was the last time someone sold their possessions for a cronut? A 2014 study from the University of Edinburgh found that people could show addiction-type patterns around eating, but that sugar and fat themselves did not promote addictive behavior. So enjoy carbohydrates in the right amount for your activity level.

Fat has multiple uses in the body. Its used in cell wall repair, hormone regulation, and storage of fat-soluble vitamins. An extreme lowfat diet can impede any one of these. The reason why fat gets a bad reputation is that it packs 9 calories per gram, and a lot of high-fat foods are not extremely nutrient-dense. You dont need to be scared of bacon (because bacon), but moderation is key when it comes to keeping your caloric intake from fatty foods in line with what your body needs for fuel.

And speaking of bacon, lets talk protein, that thing were never quite sure if were getting enough of but are strangely lured in by if we see the number of grams of it on a label. Protein is responsible for a lot of the little repairs your body needs done on a daily basis and, of course, building muscle. Like carbohydrates, protein has 4 calories per gram. But unlike carbs, a huge advantage of protein is that its the best macronutrient for satiety, according to a meta-analysis from a 2016 study from Purdue University. A lot of people worry about getting enough protein , but all reports show that youre getting plenty of it just by eating a varied diet. Dont be dragged in by the labels that say added protein unless youre trying to grow biceps on your biceps.

Yes , but your body can also convert protein and fat into sugar. When needed, there are pathways for each calorie source to be converted to a usable form of fuel. Conversely, every calorie source can be converted and stored as fat if you have an excess of calories in your system. Busting a related myth, you do not convert fat into muscle when you lose weight. You can lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously giving the impression that this happens, but fat deposits cannot be converted directly into muscles.

It really depends on your caloric needs, but in general terms foods that we consider healthy tend to have a high ratio of micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) per calorie. Vegetables, lean meats, fruits, berries, whole grains, and lentils are all examples of foods that easily meet this criteria.

Theres no morality with food or calories. The food simply is, and its up to you to make intelligent choices with the food and your health and once in a while, with your taste buds, because godammit, cronuts exist. Moderation, but get the veggies first!

A lot of that comes down to personal preference. Nobody is great at tracking calories not even registered dietitians because we all tend to incorrectly estimate our intake. So how do we manage this? Find what works for you. Long term, theres no advantage to a low-carb diet versus a lowfat diet for weight loss, because both work the same way: by inducing a caloric deficit. For every story like Supersize Me , theres a guy who loses 56 pounds eating nothing but McDonald's while meticulously counting calories. Every diet plan will work if you stick to it because, no matter what, diets work by inducing a caloric deficit. Truly, the best diet plan is one that you can stick to. (Not that sticking to a diet is an easy featit isn't, and dieting can be a complicated journey. But that's another story.)

Fruits and vegetables are mainly carbohydrate, fiber, and water. Lentils are protein and carbs. Meats are protein and fat. And processed foods, well, read the labels and find out. But theres nothing intrinsically wrong with any of them, not even candy. Theyre all just combinations of calories. If you want to enjoy something thats a dense source of calories, enjoy it. If youre trying to lose or maintain your weight, just keep track of it. And never let an online list tell you that there are caloriesor anythingthat youre too old to enjoy.

Yvette d'Entremont holds a B.S. in chemistry,B.A. in theatre,and a master's degreein forensic science with a concentration in biological criminalistics. She worked for eight years asananalytical chemist before her blog focused on debunking bad science, scibabe.com , turned into a full-time job in science communications. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook .

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Are All Calories the Same? - SELF

Ditmas Park’s City Council Candidates Debate Major Issues – BKLYNER

(Photos by Liena Zagare/BKLYNER)

On June 5, City Council Candidates for District 40 (Ditmas Park, Flatbush, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens) held a debate on the most pressing issues facing our district.

In case you missed it, check out this comprehensive review of the issues that matter most, before heading over to the third debate tonight (with candidates from District 45 and the Brooklyn district attorney race).

Interest in political engagement is at a high in Brooklyn, and with a total of five candidates in play, the event was packed. (Thanks to neighbors who organized the event Seth Kaplan, Calista De Jesus with support from Cheryl Sealey, Brenda Edwards, Emily Leshner, and BKLYN Commons.)

Only one chair was empty for the first part of the debate, the one reserved for incumbent Councilmember Mathieu Eugene, who arrived late (had was with a police officer who was in a coma, he said later). When he did arrive, he referred to the other candidates as his opponents throughout the evening.

The organizers reached out to local political rockstar Duane Joseph and asked him to play moderator. Duane Joseph is a long-time resident of Flatbush via the Caribbeanand describes himself as a concerned resident looking to bridge the information gap.

You can watch the entire, 2-hour debate here, or read our edited synopsis below:

While waiting for Eugene to arrive, each candidate introduced themselves and their goals.

Brian Cunningham, who announced his candidacy last May, focused on his experience in government. I am running because I have seen a lot of changes in the last ten years, he said. I love this community, I was born and raised in this community and after this race is over, my commitment to public service will not be over.

Pia Raymond, who we interview in February, emphasized her work with economic engines along Nostrand Avenue and on the board of CB9. My story is part of your story, she said. I know what it means for a business to be displaced. Raymond reiterated what would become some of the ongoing themes of the night: changes, rent costs, and young people in need to engage. But she also focused on crime. in the midst of all the things happening here, we are still dealing the persistent crime problem.

Jen Berkely focused on an issue she has worked on for the last decade. I am here because our community is in a housing crisis. It not being addressed. How do I know its not being addressed? she asked out loud. Because I looked to see the how many affordable units we had when the City Councilmember took office. We have 15,000 less affordable units than we did when he took office.

Rose St Albord explained she is a masterpiece and a work in progressrunning because it is time for us to re-invent ourselves. Her objectives focused on our need to makes homes affordable, schools accountable, our streets safer for all residents.

Then, the questions began.

Given the importance of transportation as it provides access to getting an education and to economic opportunity. How would you improve it?

Brian Cunningham:Many simply cannot afford the cost of the subway, he said. Cunningham was the only candidate to suggest a solution, citing the 1700 people who use the Church Avenue train station between 6 and 9am every weekday morning: He believes we should mimic what the both the subway in the West Coast and the Metro North here do, make off-peak hours cheaper.

Pia Raymond:cited her experience increasing transportation options along the Nostrand business strip, like the select bus service, and a metro card to encourage shopping along the Nostrand strip. Raymond also cited her role in helping to create bike lanes and bike parking options to encourage business and travel options. Obesity is the number one health issue in Brooklyn, she said, with a commitment to simplify walking and biking options.

Jen Berkely:highlighted repeated fare increases when the service has been getting worse and worse and worse. She felt strongly that we need to send the message that we wont continue to foot the bill as service gets worse. She will do whatever she can to make sure the service gets better.

Rose St Albord:suggested a discount for families and for older straphangers. She also agreed that select buses were a great idea, but that select busses have angered some residents who see multiple select buses pass by while regular service seems to be suffering. This comment appeared to have hit a nerve and triggered a round of applause.

How Do You See Yourself Being An Advocate For Safer Streets?

Pia Raymond:said encouraging walking is a path toward safer streets, especially for seniors. She discussed her work in getting Citibike to come to her areaand wants more benches and bus shelters to encourage more outdoor activity.

Jen Berkley:said the current bike lanes are a great idea but painted lanes on the street force you to take your life into your hands. Its a delicate balance to increase foot traffic and other forms of transportation, she said, and intends to conduct a survey on it.

Rose St Albord:believes it takes a village we have to increase accountability for both bikers and walkers. We cannot look only at our side. People are reckless when they ride, people are reckless when they walk while texting.

Brian Cunningham:complemented the Mayor on the success of Vision Zero and cited the need for protected bike lanes. There are parts of the city where there is a row of parked cars or other dividers insulating the bike lanes.

Explain Your Plan for Tackling the Housing Crisis

Jen Berkely:given the high numbers of property violations against landlords, she would create a registry of the worst violators and aggressively fine them. She cited her work as a fighter for victims of landlords looking to push people out of their homes.

Rose St Albord:cited landlords who refuse to make repairs to inspire non-payment for which they can evict. Albord would make all landlords fill out a form of what kind of maintenance they would be expected to keep up and force them to either make repairs or forfeit the rent. She would also provide more pro bono legal help in fighting for tenants rights.

Pia Raymond:cited continued work with Impact Brooklyn and Brooklyn Legal Services, and the Flatbush Tenant Coalition. She will use her platform at City Council to educate the public and support these groups.

Brian Cunningham:feels strongly about land and tax abatements. We need to use the possibility of canceling them as a tool, he said. If you take city dollars you have responsibilities to uphold.

Councilmember Eugene:Housing is one of the biggest crises in the nation, he said, citing funding he gave tonon-profitsand testimony he gave before the DOB against raising rents.

What Are Your Plans To Push For a Fair Property Tax Program (because many taxes are going up to cover the new values because of buildings that are getting abatements)?

Rose St Albord: Property taxes are already high. Her goal will be to work to find ways to make new developments pay for the new costs to cover older residents raises in costs.

Brian Cunnigham:said that the 421A tax abatementneeds to be killed outright because any tax abatement is a zero sum effect. He would like to downzone, to disincentivize 421A. Cunningham also cited specifics numbers regarding the percentage of affordable housing being delivered for tax breaks.

Pia Raymond: Shared the commitment to downzoning. She cited her history on CB9 for support for downzoning.

Councilmember Eugene: said he voted to downzone Victorian Flatbush. He also said we need to lower the tax cost for retirees. It is very complicated, there is no one answer.

Jen Berkeley: Downzoning is only one answer to the problem. She says the Community Boards play a big role in downzoning and believes that City Council can play a bigger role in negotiating with developers.

What is your position on Charter Schools and the effect they have on public schools?

Councilmember Eugene: We have to invest in [public] education. But if there are other schools, we should support them.

Brian Cunningham: It is the citys responsibility to take care of the public schools first. He cited an example of how a school got a 501C3 attached to their school to allow them to pursue outside funding. He also cited the difference between Capital funding and other monies, saying we need to generate funding for both.

Pia Raymond:served as a program director in a public school and feels its critical to support public schools, college preparation, and fighting the digital divide. She would also support existing charter programs but not focus on new ones for the future.

Jen Berkely:Our city is one of the wealthiest in the world and the schools and should not have to hold bake sales to pay the bills. She also called out our low graduation rate in nyc as a particular issue she would address.

Rose St. Albord:said many kids arent learning but rather are taught to memorize She feels that many school problems need to be dealt with by instituting accountability for our school leadership and not just throwing money at problems.

Councilmember Eugene: Explained that he gives money to every school, supporting chess programs and other special events.

Joseph then switched gears and called on audience questions, like: How would you intervene in gang violence? (Create more community centers and vocational training, said Albord; raising rates of summer jobs, said Eugene; expand interest-based social development programs, said Raymond; make every school a beacon instead of creating new spaces, said Cunningham.)

What can you do to help the small businesses keep up with the rising cost of rent?

(specialized commercial rent control, saidBerkeley;encourage the SBA to take over a percentage of the store rent, saidSt. Albord; more programs like shop local supported by city council, and a separate stream to help preschools, said Raymond; explore landmarking small businesses integral to the cultural landscape, said Cunningham. Everyone who comes to Brooklyn wants to go to Juniors Cheesecake. We have places that could have that kind of draw.)

The last question was a personal one for Joseph and the immediate community. Since we are in the area covered by CB9 can you tell us what you would do to make it more functional. This question got applause and clearly was important to this room.

Pia Raymond, the only candidate onCB9, said, Unfortunately we have had a lot of discord and changes in leadership which has held up voting on things like liquor licenses. But she said we have new leadership and expressed confidence that things would go smoother this year.

Cunningham called for a more formal application process and training for Community Board leadership. He also felt strongly that there should be term limits on Community Board service. This last point received applause from the audience.

Learn more about each candidate, with videos, here.

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Ditmas Park's City Council Candidates Debate Major Issues - BKLYNER

Amazon Still Leads Cloud Rankings, But Competition Is Coming On Strong – Fortune

When it comes to major cloud providers, there are three top contendersand then everyone else.

That was reflected once again in market research firm Gartner 's latest annual scorecard of the top public cloud providers that showed Amazon Web Services, Microsoft , and Google retaining the top three spots once again.

Below the top three there were a few surprises.

These so-called public cloud companies amass pools of computers, storage, and networking that they rent to business customers who don't want to spend more money running their own data centers. The Gartner ( it ) report, released Thursday, is closely watched by businesses pondering a shift to cloud computing, and by the vendors themselves who use it for marketing.

Here are a few takeaways.

Amazon Web Services, which is expected to bring in $14 billion in revenue this year, remains the biggest player by far. It also leads the pack based on Gartner's measure of its strategic visionbased on the services it plans to provide customers over timeand its ability to actually deliver those services. For what it's worth, AWS has topped this list since at least 2013, which is no surprise, given that it was first to market 11 years ago.

Related: Amazon Remains Tops in Cloud

AWS offers the widest selection of services overall, again in part because its been in the market longest but also because it's shown little sign of slowing down. On the flip side, buying and implementing AWS services often requires a lot of technical expertise, which is not necessarily a good thing. Some joke that even figuring out an AWS bill can require a graduate degree.

For the past two years, Gartner estimated that Amazon ( amzn ) ran more than ten times the computing capacity as the next 14 cloud providers combined. There was no mention of a similar measure this year and the report itself did not break out market share figures.

To get an indication of that, Synergy Research published a report in February estimating that Amazon's "dominant" 40% market share was flat year over year as measured across several cloud computing categories. Microsoft ( msft ) , Google ( goog ) , and IBM together accounted for 23% of the market across those same categories. Microsoft and Google, in particular, showed year-over-year growth at the expense of smaller competitors, according to Synergy.

Related: Oracle CEO Says We Can Beat Amazon, Microsoft in Cloud

But back to Gartner: The report stated that No 2 Microsoft remains the cloud of choice for many businesses that have run Microsoft software in their own data centers for years. Gartner estimates that Azure revenue will be nearly $3 billion this year (Microsoft, itself lumps Azure revenue in with other, non-cloud products so it's hard to see how much the cloud service alone makes).

Microsoft's large, experienced sales force is a boon for its cloud efforts. However, for a company that has grown up selling to and supporting corporate customers, some Gartner clients cited surprising tech support and training issues.

Related: Gartner Calls Two Horse race in Cloud

Google rounds out the big three. The Internet search and ad giant has invested heavily in the Google Cloud Platform and improved its sales approach to appeal to business customers in bigger companies as well as new startups that tend to be cloud-oriented. But Google still lacks some key cloud features, compared to AWS, Gartner said.

As for the next tier of providers, there were two new to Gartner rankings overall. Chinese retail giant Alibaba ( baba ) , which is backing its Aliyun public cloud both in and outside of China, made its first appearance as did Oracle ( orcl ) , the business software giant that arrived late to the public cloud market.

IBM also had a bigger presence in part because Gartner now looks at IBM's combined Bluemix and SoftLayer businesses, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Lydia Leong told Fortune. Bluemix is cloud technology for building business software while SoftLayer is more basic data center infrastructure that IBM acquired a few years ago. Last year, Gartner focused only on SoftLayer.

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Amazon Still Leads Cloud Rankings, But Competition Is Coming On Strong - Fortune

Accenture, 1QBit partner for drug discovery through quantum … – ZDNet

Accenture has partnered with quantum software startup 1QBit to develop a quantum-enabled molecular comparison application for US multinational biotechnology firm Biogen.

The application is expected to improve advanced molecular design to speed up drug discovery for complex neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.

Researchers at Accenture Labs worked with 1QBit to create the new application, which enhances Biogen's existing molecule comparison method through quantum computing.

Molecular comparison is a crucial part of early-phase drug design and discovery, Accenture explained, and involves intensive computational methods to review molecule matches and predict the positive effects of a therapy or drug while reducing negative side effects.

As quantum computing has the potential to find the answer to complex problems millions of times faster than classical computing by leveraging the properties of quantum physics, Accenture said the new application provides insights into the molecular comparison process as well as much deeper contextual information about how, where, and why molecules match.

This is expected to enable scientists and researchers to analyse large collections of molecules more quickly and cost effectively.

"At Biogen, we're always looking to harness cutting-edge technologies that push the boundaries of traditional pharmaceutical research to discover new treatments and cures for complex neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions," Govinda Bhisetti, head of Computational Chemistry at Biogen, said.

"Collaborating with researchers at Accenture Labs and 1QBit made it possible to rapidly pilot and deploy a quantum-enabled application that has the potential to enable us to bring medicines to people faster."

Accenture Labs said it has identified more than 150 use cases with clients where quantum computing would be relevant, and is working with clients across multiple industries to prepare for the arrival of mainstream quantum computing.

Also on Friday, Accenture expanded its partnership with SAP to include working with SAP Leonardo, the ERP giant's digital innovation system that combines differentiating software capabilities in machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, analytics, and blockchain on its SAP Cloud Platform.

Accenture will be integrating more than 50 of its enterprise analytics applications with SAP Leonardo, spanning finance and accounting, supply chain, procurement, human capital management, and sales and customer service.

"Today, we're at an incredible tipping point," said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture chairman and CEO. "We're face to face with an era of tremendous business transformation where the fundamental rules of how we create value are being rewritten. What we're announcing today is a bold step in defining the rules for the intelligent enterprise."

The companies first began working together 18 months ago on SAP S/4HANA, aiming to simplify and fast-track the "digital journeys" of its clients. SAP and Accenture had partnered back in 2010 for Business ByDesign and in 2014 expanded their global alliance through an agreement to offer cloud-based offerings designed for industry-specific and technology-enabled operations.

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Accenture, 1QBit partner for drug discovery through quantum ... - ZDNet

Get ahead in quantum computing AND attract Goldman Sachs – eFinancialCareers

http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/285249/machine-learning-and-big-data-j-p-morgan/

40 years ago a personal computer cost around $500k in todays money and was accessible only to large corporations. Today, as the clich goes, that kind of processing power is available to most people in an affordable mobile phone. Quantum computing, however, is a different matter. Quantum computers are stuck in the 1950s: there arent many of them, they cost tens of millions of dollars, and they take up entire rooms.

One of todays very rare and very costly quantum machines is being developed by D-Wave Systems Inc., a company whose CEO happens to be Vern Brownell, a former CTO of Goldman Sachs. Goldman is one of several lead investors in D-Wave, which its described as having a head start in the field. While most quantum computing rivals are still in their infancy, D-Wave has already been using its system for machine learning. Competitors are eyeing the same plot: 1QB Information Technology Systems Inc (1QBit), a Vancouver-based quantum computing, counts derivatives exchange CME Group among its investors. An RBS banker who led 1QBits 2015 finance round toldBloombergquantum computing is perfect for the data-rich time-sensitive world of financial markets.

Interestingly, therefore, an opportunity has arisen to write machine learning algorithms for quantum computers and then implement them using D-Wave 2000Q, the companys first commercially available quantum computer. Training on the system will be made available too.

The quantum machine learning program is being run by the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed funding program for science-based companies based in Toronto. Last month, it invited applications for 40 places on an initiative intended to develop and sponsor a wave of quantum machine learning start-ups. The next (and last) round of applications closes on Monday July 24th.

Daniel Mulet, associate director of machine learning at CDL says theyve already received 42 applications, around 10% of which are biased towards financial services. Some are very early stage and have been submitted by students, but others are companies that have already been launched, says Mulet. - Theres one thats working with a hedge fund looking for patterns with trading data.

Traditional computers use binary code to solve problems: a bit can be a 1 or a 0. Quantum computers use qubits: a bit can be a 1 or a 0 or a 1 AND a 0 As Bloomberg points out, therefore, if you have two qubits you can have four potential states: 00, 01, 10, and 11. Moreover, the number of states a quantum computer can take into consideration is2 raised to the power of the number of qubits: if you had a 50-qubit universal quantum computer, you could explore1.125 quadrillion states simultaneously.

Quantum computers are able to process much larger quantities of data much faster, says Mulet. Its our belief that these new quantum hardware platforms built by D-Wave or IQB will be used for various machine learning applications in the next few years. When that happens, we want to be ready to leverage that. One day all Bloomberg terminals will be run on quantum computers.

Its not hard to see why Goldman is interested.

If youre interested too and want to apply, you have 39 days to polish your application. As a further lure to candidates, those selected will be mentored by the likes of William Tunstall-Pedoe, a Cambridge AI entrepreneur, and Barney Pell, chief strategy officer at San Francisco-based Loco-Mobi (which is applying AI to parking your car).Those graduating from the program, which begins in September, will receive $80k in funding in return for 8% of the equity in their company.

Mulet says ideal applicants will have a Masters or PhD in a quantitative subject, and be proficient in programming in Python and the use of Tensor Flow, Googles open source library for machine learning.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit:Quantum foambyAlex Sukontsevis licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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Get ahead in quantum computing AND attract Goldman Sachs - eFinancialCareers

KPN CISO details Quantum computing attack dangers – Mobile World Live

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Quantum computing will present a very real threat in the next ten years and operators will have to rethink how they handle their data privacy and security, KPN chief information security officer (CISO) Jaya Baloo (pictured) told Mobile World Live.

When there is a viable quantum computer it will change the way we handle the current mechanism to protect our data secrecy which is cryptography, she explained, adding operators will have to rethink every type of cryptography they use and design new algorithms capable of resisting a quantum computing attack.

When it comes to operators offering personalised services, she said it is not possible to be 100 per cent privacy preserving while offering customised services.

However, operators should willingly and knowingly and very transparently inform customers about what they are doing with user data and how they maintain or securely delete that information.

Thats more important than the technology behind it having that dialogue is the most fundamental thing we can do.

She also shed light on the security implications of IoT and how KPN views the EU General Data Protection Regulation as much more in line with our current way of working rather than a burden.

Click here to watch the full interview.

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KPN CISO details Quantum computing attack dangers - Mobile World Live

Popular Quantum Physics Books – Goodreads

Om-nipotent, Om-nipresent, Om-niscient, Om all is wholly undivided, instructed the physicist, David Bohm the enfolded and unfolded, that of formlessness and form from the implicate unmanifest to the explicate manifest born originating from an underlying nonphysical order emerges physical reality with its illusory borders the whole of existence exists in every wee part all is here nowthe cosmos' stern, bow, starboard and port the invisible portion of existence is pure potentiality awareness itself as a field of infinite possibility physical reality a holographic illusion science says sothat's its conclusion the new science is within and is up to you a simple experiment with loving prayer will do following science honestly, one is led inward too with zero biases, mind and reality are seen as not-two who cares what proofs others are uttering live it yourself or you know nothing make a cloud square shape in a oneness experiment repeat thank you square cloud with joyous, grateful intent the results of this being easily duplicatable shows that a unitive conscious universe is no fable Native Americans have their time-tested rain dance a prayer to the Great Spirit resulting in watered plants Jarett Sabirsh, Love All-Knowing: An Epic Spiritual Poem

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Popular Quantum Physics Books - Goodreads

Chinese satellite breaks a quantum physics record, beams entangled photons from space to Earth – Los Angeles Times

Chinese scientists have just set a record in quantum physics.

For the first time, pairs of entangled photons have been beamed from a satellite in orbit to two receiving stations almost 1,500 miles away on on Earth.

At the same time, the researchers were able to deliberately separate the entangled photon pairs along a greater distance than has ever been recorded.

The experiment, described Thursday in the journal Science, represents the first measurable proof of an idea that has long been theorized but never tested, experts said.

This is the first time you have a quantum channel between a satellite and the ground that you can actually use, said Norbert Ltkenhaus, a professor at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada who was not involved in the new work. People have been talking about doing it for many, many years, but these guys actually did it.

Keep reading to learn what this new work means, and why it matters.

Great question. For starters, a photon is a tiny particle of light. In fact, it's the smallest unit that light can be broken into. It has no mass and no charge.

Entangled photons are a pair of photons whose properties are linked, and remain that way no matter how far apart they get.

If you make a measurement on one of the photons, you get a perfectly correlated outcome on the other member of the pair, Ltkenhaus said.

And that will hold true not matter how many times you look at them.

One measurement alone doesnt tell you they are entangled, you need to repeat it many times, he said. With entangled photons no matter what you measure, or how many times you measure, or which side of the pair you measure, you always get perfect correlation.

Another great question. This one is more difficult to answer.

Scientists have not been able to explain why entanglement occurs. All they know is that it exists.

Einstein referred to the phenomena of entanglement as spooky action at a distance. Others have said it is kind of like the physics version of voodoo.

They built a special satellite to do it.

The spacecraft, nicknamed Micius after a famous 5th century Chinese scientist, launched in August 2016.

It is loaded with a special crystal that can split a single incoming photon into two daughter photons with joint properties. For this experiment, instruments on the satellite separated the entangled photons and sent them to different receiving stations on Earth.

To do this, Micius had to aim at its targets with an amazing degree of precision, said Jian-Wei Pan, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China who led the work.

Its the equivalent of clearly seeing a human hair at a distance of 900 feet away, he said.

It is extreme. And, experts say, challenging.

Designing, launching and operating a satellite with this capability is no easy feat, Ltkenhaus said. I see this as a great engineering triumph.

But, as the study demonstrates, using a satellite to send beams of entangled photons to Earth is a better strategy than using optical fibers to distribute them.

The greatest distance scientists have been able to separate entangled photons using optical fibers is 62 miles. By sending the entangled photons through space, Pan and his team were able to separate entangled photons by more than 620 miles.

Not immediately, but eventually, it probably will.

For example, distributing entangled photons over large distances could be used to establish unhackable communications via whats known as quantum cryptography.

This application relies on another strange aspect of quantum mechanics namely that the simple act of observing a photon disturbs it and causes it to change its orientation.

Scientists have already been able to establish secure, quantum channels using fiber optics, but there is a limit to how far those can stretch.

Using the space-based quantum channel, the authors have shown it is possible to significantly extend the distance over which one can perform such a secure communication, said Jrgen Volz, a physicist at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology who was not involved in the work.

In the time of the Internet, when more and more sensitive information is shared and exchanged via the web, this is of tremendous importance, he said.

But experts say an application like that may still be 10 years away.

Although the experiment was successful, the rate of sending and receiving entangled photons described in the paper was still quite low. Of nearly 6 million entangled photon pairs generated by Micius each second, only one pair was detected at stations here on Earth.

The communication rates here are not yet sufficient for a practical application, said Wenjamin Rosenfeld, a physicist at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.

However, he added that the mission represents a proof-of-principle demonstration of a quantum communication protocol that could be available in the near future.

Pan put it this way: This is the first baby step for quantum entanglement experiments going into space. It is really new!

deborah.netburn@latimes.com

Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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Chinese satellite breaks a quantum physics record, beams entangled photons from space to Earth - Los Angeles Times

Memo to Donald Trump: The election ended 219 days ago. You won. – CNN

That was 219 days ago.

And yet, on Thursday afternoon, Trump sent two tweets attacking his former opponent.

What these twin tweets suggest is something we already knew: Trump just can't quit the 2016 election, and Clinton.

He spent weeks reveling in his stunning win. He reminded anyone who asked -- and lots of people who didn't -- that he had won over 300 electoral votes, a feat people said was impossible for any Republicans. As his 100th day in office approached, Trump handed out electoral maps to reporters coming to talk to him about what he had done for those first 100 days.

Huge framed electoral maps were shown being brought into the White House.

The 2016 election represented Trump's greatest triumph, his life's work: Proving that all the elites who mocked him or said he couldn't do something were mistaken all along. They had to eat their words. He was right. Everyone else was wrong. The end.

Then there's the fact that Trump also works better when he has someone or something to run against. In Clinton, he found a perfect opponent -- someone as cautious as he was risky, someone as insider as he was outsider, someone as mannered as he was unruly.

The problem for Trump is that he won the election. It's over. Has been for a long time. (We are now closer to November 2017 than we are to November 2016.)

In winning, he became the president. And what the current president does or has done matters a whole lot more than what a losing candidate for president does, in the eyes of our criminal and legal systems.

(That's not unique to Trump. Many members of Congress -- of both parties -- have resigned in the face of legal problems, knowing that a former House member is a lot less juicy of a target than a sitting one.)

Then there are the specifics of the allegations Trump is making against Clinton in his tweets.

Here's the key paragraph:

"As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One's chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well."

What Trump is arguing is, essentially, that the questions about the uranium mine sale and the plane visit should take precedence over the "hoax" that is the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, potential collusion with his campaign and the possibility that he obstructed justice in the probe.

That is, of course, a matter of personal opinion -- and one Trump is very much entitled to. But remember that the special counsel was appointed by the deputy attorney general within the Trump administration. Bob Mueller was deputy AG Rod Rosenstein's pick, not Clinton's, or anyone else's. This was not a partisan action.

Trump is a victim of his own success here.

He won the election. He is the President -- and the most powerful person in the country. That means he gets a level of scrutiny no one else does. Particularly when there is so much smoke swirling regarding the ties between Russia and his campaign, and his decision to fire Comey in the midst of a federal investigation into those allegations.

Trump can try to distract. He can try to deflect. He can complain about Clinton's alleged transgressions. But what he can't change is the fact that he is President, and this investigation isn't going to disappear just because he sent two -- or two hundred -- tweets about Clinton.

Continued here:

Memo to Donald Trump: The election ended 219 days ago. You won. - CNN

Donald Trump doesn’t get the special counsel investigation. And he’s never going to. – CNN

From his rise in Manhattan social circles to his career as a real estate developer to his time as a reality TV star, he's always employed these same basic tactics. If someone writes or says something Trump doesn't like, he either threatens to or actually sues while simultaneously pushing out a counter-narrative aimed at discrediting the initial report and turning the story toward more favorable ground for him.

Everything is to be treated as a tabloid story that can be shaped, changed, rebutted, knocked down and torn apart though force of will -- and words.

It's worked remarkably well for Trump. And so it shouldn't be all that surprising that he's brought that blueprint to Washington with him.

Except that the White House -- and the political and legal worlds it touches -- isn't the same thing that Trump is used to facing. Not at all. The rules governing this world aren't the rules of the tabloids of New York City media. Bob Mueller isn't some "Page Six" reporter.

Trump doesn't seem to have even the slightest understanding of that distinction. His twin tweets Thursday morning make that point better than I ever could.

This is standard-issue stuff in the Trump playbook. When attacked, attack back -- harder. Go after the story in big, broad ways -- "total hoax" is one way Trump has described the federal investigation -- and assume that the average person won't consume enough details or follow it closely enough to see whether you're right or wrong.

But this investigation isn't anything like what Trump has faced before. He can't simply say this is all a "witch hunt" or a "hoax" and have it disappear. Short of firing Mueller, which seems to me incredibly unlikely -- particularly after the leak of the obstruction investigation -- Trump can't stop it. The investigation will proceed no matter what Trump says about it or who involved in it he calls names. It will also, eventually, reach some conclusions about the nature of Russia's hacking of the election and whether or not there was any collusion in that effort by any member of the Trump campaign.

That train has already left the station. And Trump's ability to derail it is decidedly limited.

That doesn't mean Trump's use of his tried and true "attack, pivot, declare victory" strategy against Mueller and the special counsel investigation won't have any impact.

The more Trump casts the investigation as biased and unfairly targeted at him, the more his supporters will believe that it is. Which means that if Trump either fires Mueller -- again, that is so hard to imagine -- or works to discredit the final conclusions of the special counsel, there will be a ready bloc of his supporters eager to adopt and spread that message.

"I told you this whole special counsel was a witch hunt," you can imagine Trump saying to nods from his supporters. "Of course they concluded I was in the wrong. They had decided that before they even started investigating. We need to drain the swamp and make America great again."

That line will work with his supporters. But it won't change the underlying facts Mueller unearths -- and the reverberations they could cause among everyone outside of Trump's most loyal backers.

Trump is a blunt instrument. He knows one way of doing things. And that way has always worked for him. But this investigation is both more serious than anything Trump has faced before.

Almost everyone grasps that. Everyone except Donald John Trump, that is.

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Donald Trump doesn't get the special counsel investigation. And he's never going to. - CNN

Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba – New York Times


New York Times
Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba
New York Times
WASHINGTON President Trump on Friday will move to halt the historic rapprochement between the United States and Cuba set in motion by former President Barack Obama, delivering a speech in Miami in which he plans to announce he is clamping down ...
Trump to unveil new Cuba travel restrictions in aim to slam regime's human rights recordCNBC
Trump to announce Cuba policy changesWashington Times
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Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba - New York Times

Flattery is Donald Trump’s cocaine he’s addicted to it – USA TODAY

Windsor Mann, Opinion contributor Published 3:54 p.m. ET June 15, 2017 | Updated 10 hours ago

Great president or greatest? That appeared to be the question at President Donald Trump's first meeting of his full Cabinet on Monday, as top aides took turns piling praise on the boss. (June 12) AP

President Trump(Photo: Pool photo by Olivier Douliery)

President Donald Trump and his cabinet both have the same job: praising and overpraising Trump on camera. Thats what happened on Monday. The job is so demanding that Trump cant do it alone.

Never has there been a president, with few exceptions who has passed more legislation and who has done more things than what weve done, Trumpsaid, proving himself to be a student neither of history nor of the present.

Trumps message of how awesome he is resonated with members of his cabinet, who took turns thanking and praising him.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta: I am privileged to be here deeply honored and I want to thank you...

Chief of staff Reince Priebus: We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda.

Vice President Mike Pence: The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to the president. Being his wifes husband and his childrens father are probably not far behind.

Monday was Thanksgiving Day at the White House. In all, Trumps cabinet thanked him 46 times. They said great 32times, honor 15 times and privilege seven times. They found a thesaurus zero times.

History repeats itself, and so does the Trump administration, which has a history of praising itself. In April, the White House issued a press release declaring its support of itself: Senior Administration Officials Praise President Donald J. Trumps Buy American, Hire American Executive Order. This is what happens when only a third of Americans approve of the job youre doing and a large percentage of those people work for you.

Smart cookies Trump might be honored to meet: Windsor Mann

Lessons from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting would serve us well today

Flattery is Trumps cocaine hes addicted to it and, like cocaine, its not always genuine. Listening to Youre the Best from The Karate Kid soundtrack does not make you the best. Trust me, Ive tried. Likewise, praising Trump does not make him praiseworthy. This I havent tried.

Trumps dependency, enabled by his sycophantic staff, distorts his grasp of reality. If he ever holds a debate at the White House, it will be about whether he is the best president ever or the best human ever. When his children got good grades at school, Trump probably forced them to give him a round of applause.

After the meeting with his cabinet-cult, Trump tweeted that hes bringing real change to D.C., which unfortunately is true. The change is of the North Korean variety, and its real. Kim Jong Don is not entirely a figment of our paranoid imaginations. As were learning daily, reality is sometimes more cartoonish than cartoons.

Tuesday was the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Courts Miranda decision a reminder that Trumps staff has the right to remain silent. Wednesday was Flag Daya reminder that the Pledge of Allegiance is to the flag, not to The Donald.

Trumps slogan is America First, but his policy is Me First. Whats disconcerting about this policy is how swiftly it is being executed. While Trump is free to speak his mind about anything, no one else in the administration has this privilege. They speak honestly only when anonymously. Their privilege is thanking Trump for the privilege of thanking him and getting paid for it.

POLICING THE USA:Alook atrace, justice, media

We need patriotism, not severed heads, to make America great again

Checks and balances, as David Frumpointed out inThe Atlantic, are a metaphor, not a mechanism. Someone must do the checking and balancing, and so far theres no sign of either in Trumps coterie.

Speaking of balancing, Id like to take this opportunity to balance my criticisms with some praise. Trump makes my job easy by doing his job poorly, and for that I am (sort of) thankful.

Windsor Mann is the editor ofThe Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism. Harass him on Twitter@WindsorMann.

You can readdiverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers ontheOpinion front page,on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our dailyOpinion newsletter.To submit a letter, comment or column, check oursubmission guidelines.

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Flattery is Donald Trump's cocaine he's addicted to it - USA TODAY

Australian leader is on the hot seat for making fun of Donald Trump – Washington Post

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull mimicked President Trump during a leaked speech at a ball in Australia hosted by the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery on June 14. (AP)

You know what they say: In the age of smartphones, there's no such thing as off the record.

It's a lesson Australias prime minister just learned the hard way.

On Thursday, Malcolm Turnbull delivered a jovial speech at Parliament House's annual press ball, the equivalent of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. In it, he made fun of the Australian government's dismal poll rankings. And he did so usinga verbal tick made popular by a certain world leader.

Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls, Turnbull said. We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before.To raucous laughter, he continued: We are winning in the polls. We are, we are not the fake polls, not the fake polls theyre the one were not winning in. Were winning in the real polls, you know, the online polls. They are so easy to win.

Though the speech was off the record, it was recorded on a phone and broadcast by the Nine Network.

Turnbullalso referenced Trump's Russia troubles. Referencing his supposed glowing polls, Turnbull asked: Did you know that? I know that, did you know that? I kind of know that. I know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy.

The prime minister later tried to walk back his remarks, telling Melbourne Radio 3AW that he was disappointed by the leak. Its a breach of protocol; its a breach of faith and all those things, he said. Though he also noted the obvious:He was only kidding. Its lighthearted, its affectionate, good-natured and the butt of my jokes was myself, the prime minister said.

The U.S. Embassyin Canberra released a statement saying it takes the impersonation with the good humor that was intended.

We understand that last nights event is equivalent to our own White House correspondents dinner, the embassy's statement reads.

Historically, Australia has been one of America's closest allies, though that relationship has been tested under Trump. Turnbull's first telephone call with Trump was, in the president's words, testy.Trump was surprised and angry to learn about a deal that required the United States to accept about 1,250 refugees who had made their way to Australia.

Since then, though, the pair has made an effort to appear close, at least in public. Turnbull is rarely critical of the U.S. president, and even shares some of his hard-line views about immigration.

The head of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, which hosted the event, said he was disappointed that the non-publication agreement had been breached. But Laurie Oakes, who broke the story, said he had not attended the ball and did not think that journalists should be in the business of letting politicians go off the record at events they host.

The idea that there be no leak with hundreds of people in the room armed with mobile phones is just ridiculous, Oakes told the Associated Press.

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Australian leader is on the hot seat for making fun of Donald Trump - Washington Post