First Amendment Group Threatens Legal Action Against Trump for Blocking People on Twitter – The Intercept

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Columbia Law Schools Knight First Amendment Institute is asking President Donald Trump to unblock people on Twitter and threatening him with legal action if he doesnt comply.

Trump, like many other Twitter users, routinely blocks critics, trolls, and other neer-do-wells from following him on the social media platform. But, as president of the United States, Trump is not like any other Twitter users.

The Knight Institute decided to let Trump know in a letter written on behalf of individuals who have been blockedthat he could be running afoul of the Constitution.

We write on behalf of individuals who have been blocked from your most-followed Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, because they disagreed with, criticized, or mocked you or your actions as president, the Knight Institute letterreads. This Twitter account operates as a designated public forum for First Amendment purposes, and accordingly the viewpoint-based blocking of our clients is unconstitutional. We ask that you unblock them and any others who have been blocked for similar reasons.

Several users are cited, including Holly OReilly, who goes by the Twitter handle @AynRandPaulRyan. She was blocked after the following Tweet:

The letter complains that the blocking violates the First Amendment because Trumps account constitutes a designated public forum, much like White House press briefings or a city council meeting.

Still, the letter wasnt all criticisms: The Knight Institute praised the president for his use of the social medium to communicate with the public.

Your vigorous use of Twitter to comment about matters mundane as well as momentous has afforded Americans valuable insight into your policies, actions, and beliefs, the letter said. It has also supplied the public with a means of engaging you directly.

The Knight Institute is just trying to make sureallAmerican Twitter users have the chance to share their thoughts with the president.

Top photo: President Donald Trump heads to the Oval Office after speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 1, 2017.

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First Amendment Group Threatens Legal Action Against Trump for Blocking People on Twitter - The Intercept

Wikipedians Want to Put Wikipedia on the Dark Web – Motherboard

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Wikipedians want to give users the ability to access the world's most popular encyclopedia in the most secure way possible: On the dark web.

Cristian Consonni, Former Vice President of Wikimedia Italy, proposed Monday that Wikipedians should create a dark web version of the site accessible only via the Tor Browser.

It's possible now to access Wikipedia via the Tor Browserwhich is popular with activists and among people living in countries with censored web traffic because it encrypts web traffic and routes it through a series of different IP addresses called "nodes"but the connection is less secure than it would be if the site was accessible as a "hidden service" on the dark web.

As a hidden service (also called an onion site), Wikipedia would not need to direct its traffic through an exit node, a point where internet traffic "emerges" from the Tor network and connects to sites on the regular web. Exit nodes are known to be a seriously vulnerable portion of Tor's security.

Consonni shared the proposal on Wikimedia-L, a listserv where prominent Wikipedians discuss the future and internal politics of the site.

There, several editors, like David Cuenca Tudela, endorsed the idea, but many disagreed with Consonni on one major point. Consonni believes Tor users should have the ability to edit Wikipedia articles, which is currently not allowed, except under special circumstances.

A number of Wikipedians don't want Tor users to have the ability to edit, "due to high volume of known abuse from that vector," as one user put it.

Abusive editors have been known to use Tor to circumvent being banned. Wikipedia blocks problematic users based on their IP address, but the encrypted browser can be used to quickly obtain a new one.

Creating a dark web version of Wikipedia would make the encyclopedia available securely in the many places where it's censored. Countries like China, Iran, and Russia, have chosen to block their citizens ability to view a significant portion of the site's entries, or sometimes even the entire encyclopedia altogether.

Even seemingly liberal countries like the United Kingdom and France have attempted to censor portions of the site in the past.

It would be far more difficult for governments to censor or monitor Wikipedia's dark web version. But Consonni and like minded editors aren't just concerned with surveillance.

He hopes bringing Wikipedia to the dark web will also help improve Tor's reputation. The browser is often thought of as a tool for drug dealers and other criminals, instead of say, encyclopedia readers trying to avoid government surveillance.

"...providing Wikipedia over Tor would promote awareness of Tor itself as a technology for protecting user privacy," Consonni wrote in his proposal.

Wikipedia wouldn't be the first mainstream website to move towards the dark web. In 2014, Facebook launched a version that runs on Tor. ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet, followed suit last year.

"It can be argued that the privacy gain of having an onion service over visiting Wikipedia with HTTPS over Tor is minimal, but I think it is worth having this option," Consonni told me via Twitter DM.

"I think that all major websites should serve a version over Tor," he went on.

If Wikipedia were to build a Tor version, Consonni hopes the project would be organized through the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, instead of through a third party that could potentially "be evil and snoop on users."

Building a darknet version of any site isn't terribly difficult. Easy-to-use tools even exist to help streamline the process, if you want to get your own open source encyclopedia on Tor while Wikipedians continue to debate the idea.

The Tor Project had no comment.

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Tor Browser 7.0 arrives with multiprocess mode, content sandbox, and Unix domain sockets – VentureBeat

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The Tor Project today released the first stable release of Tor Browser 7.0 (the previous version was 6.5.2). You can download the latest version, which includes many security and performance improvements, from the project page and the distribution directory.

Tor offers anonymous communication by directing internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer network consisting of more than 7,000 relays. The goal is to conceal users location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.

The Tor Browser, which automatically starts Tor background processes and routes traffic through the Tor network, is built on top of Mozillas Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR), a version designed for schools, universities, businesses, and others who need help with mass deployments. Firefox ESR releases are maintained for one year. In addition to the Tor proxy, Tor Browser includes the TorButton, TorLauncher, NoScript, and HTTPS Everywhere Firefox extensions.

The 7.0 release brings Tor Browser up to date with Firefox 52 ESR. This brings two major features: multiprocess mode and content sandbox. Both are enabled by default on macOS and Linux, while the Tor team is still working on the sandboxing part for Windows. Mac and Linux users also have the option to further harden their Tor Browser setup by using only Unix domain sockets for communication with Tor.

Switching to ESR 52 also brings new system requirements for Windows and macOS users. On Windows, Tor Browser 7.0 will not run on non-SSE2 capable machines, while for Macs, Tor Browser 7.0 requires OS X 10.9 or higher.

There are also tracking and fingerprinting resistance improvements. Cookies, view-source requests, and the Permissions API are now isolated to the first party URL bar domain to enhance tracking-related defenses. On the fingerprinting side, several new features were disabled or patched, including WebGL2; the WebAudio, Social, SpeechSynthesis, and Touch APIs; and the MediaError.message property. Other changes include updating HTTPS-Everywhere to version 5.2.17 and NoScript to version 5.0.5.

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What the hell is happening to cryptocurrency valuations? – TechCrunch

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The total market cap for all cryptocurrencies just surpassed $100 billion. The vast majority of these gains have come in just the last few months on April 1st the total market cap was just over $25 billion representing a 300 percent increase in value in just over 60 days.

While some of these gains are from bitcoin itself (BTC is up ~160 percent in the same two-month time frame), other digital currencies like Ethereum are also responsible for the increase, which on its own has increased ~439 percent over the last two months.

Theres perhaps no better way to show this diversity in gains than by looking at a chart of bitcoins dominance i.e. what percent of the entire cryptocurrency market cap is represented by bitcoin. For years this had always hovered around 80 percent, but in the last few months has fallen to below 50 percent with currencies like Ethereum and Ripple taking its place.

Source: coinmarketcap.com

Bubble talk?

Its hard to be an experienced investor, or even an at-home part-time trader, and not think of a massive bubble when you see that some asset has increased more than 400 percent in just a few months. Its just how history works when an asset rises that fast its a near certainty that it will come back down. Markets are irrational, after all.

So dont be surprised if theres at least some type of correction. There already was, a few weeks ago bitcoin pulled back from a high of $2,700 to around $2,000, but, as of today, has slowly climbed back up to a new all-time high of ~$2,850.

That being said, we may look back in 12 months and realize that this two-month period of insane growth was less of a bubble and more of a rebirth of cryptocurrencies as a whole.

The fact that these gains have come from currencies other than bitcoin are a good sign that this is less of a bubble and more of a resurgence of interest in crypto. It makes sense that Ethereum is on a tear the cryptocurrency has technological improvements over bitcoin, including the ability to code smart contracts directly into the blockchain, which in turn allow for things like the ability to build totally new tokens and even host ICOs (initial coin offerings).

And similarly, Ripple, a cryptocurrency based on inter-bank settlements, has signed up more than 100 banks worldwide. Even if this takes a while to implement (which anyone who works in the old-school banking industry will confirm), its still tangible news and a reason for people to get excited about the currency.

These recent developments certainly dont justify increases of 400 percent in 60 days. Both Ethereum and Ripple have been around for a lot longer than a few months. Soif these were publicly traded companies, there would be (almost) no reason for drastic rise in value. But cryptocurrencies are new most of the world has no idea what bitcoin is, let alone Ethereum and Ripple and other currencies.

The public has never been able to put their money directly into a technology that has so much potential but is still developing.

For example, a technology enthusiast in the 1990s may have foreseen the rise of the internet, but had no way to directly take a stake in the technology.The idea of applying cryptography to the storage and transmission of data is still very new. And the fact that anyone can directly buy the currency that powers these cryptographically securedblockchains is much like the public actually getting a chance to invest in the internet during its infancy.

There is one rational explanation that, if true, would totally justify this rapid increase in price across some of the major cryptocurrencies. And that is, maybe these currencies are actually worththese high prices, and maybe even worth many times more than that at which they are currently trading.

But the problem is we have no way to figure out their value. Cryptocurrencies arent public companies with earnings and expenses and EPS. For example, we can look at Apples financials and determine its book value what the companys assets would be worth if hypothetically liquidated today. Of course, stocks trade at a premium to this, because people are enthusiastic that Apple will continue to perform well and this book value will continue to rise.

But we cant do this with cryptocurrencies. We could guess and compare it to things like the total money or gold supply in the U.S. For example, if youre someone who thinks of cryptocurrencies as a store of value, the total estimated value of all gold in the world is more than $8 trillion dollars meaning if bitcoin would ever replace or supplant gold, its current value is pennies on the dollar.

If youre someone who thinks of cryptocurrencies as a genuine currency, you could compare the market cap to M2, which is the total money supply in the U.S. cash and checking accounts, as well as near-money accounts like savings, mutual funds and money-market securities. The total value of M2 is about $13.5 trillion, also meaning cryptocurrencies are just a small fraction of that.

Ive long cautioned readers (and friends) from buying cryptocurrencies because they have seen it rise and just want to make a quick buck. The past two months have led to a tremendous surge in public interest, with mainstream news like CNBC and CNN explaining how to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Just make sure youre doing it for the right reasons. Buy cryptocurrency to learn about it and transact with it. Or buy it because you are betting that this new technology will change the world by:

These are just a few options, and if youre in tune with the cryptocurrency world, youll know the opportunities are endless. So if youre going to buy cryptocurrency, do it because you see the long-term vision (and sure, ostensibly the financial gains that may come from them), not because you think it will blindly appreciate and give you a good return on your investment.

The author holds bitcoin and Ethereum and other smaller cryptocurrencies.

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The consequences of allowing a cryptocurrency takeover, or trying to head one off – FT Alphaville (registration)

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The consequences of allowing a cryptocurrency takeover, or trying to head one off
FT Alphaville (registration)
In this guest post, economics professor and former Bank of England economist Tony Yates talks about the potential for cryptocurrencies to compete with government-backed money, and what central banks can do about it. The total value of all ...

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Derivatives The Missing Link in The Cryptocurrency World? – newsBTC

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The blockchain and crypto industry is currently replete with innovations looking to advance the technology and bring about the best results. But could there be a missing link, which when identified can lead to better investments and proper mitigation of risks?

A section of the industry insiders believe that Derivatives could be that missing link, and introducing derivatives to the blockchain could possibly enable investors to better mitigate risks involved in trading cryptocurrencies and allow them to hedge their bets. The success of derivatives has already been proven in the world of securities trading, which can be replicated in the crypto world as well.

The benefits of derivatives will be wide ranging as they will include non-stop trading, instantaneous transactions for fraction of the current fee, nearly no need for third parties except for traditional assets, no downtime, no DDOS type attacks, anonymity and the possibility to execute trades without logging in.

The process of bringing the power of derivatives to the blockchain community is being spearheaded by DCORP. DCORPP has created a platform that will allow derivatives trading in the form of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain where the exchange exists. Users will be provided with a friendly interface and since the exchange is decentralized and operates autonomously there is no need for intermediaries like market makers, bankers or third parties.

The exchange will generate value for the investors, the proceeds of which can be used by DCORP to carry out its venture capitalist activities. DCORP being autonomous and democratic, will, in turn, lead to the democratization of venture capitalism.

Derivatives trading has the potential to unleash revolutionary change in the way cryptocurrencies are traded today, as more investors are bound to be attracted by the opportunity to use hedging mechanisms, which will only enhance the value of blockchain.

The ability to enter derivatives contracts anonymously will also provide additional value to investors and they will also be able to trade existing derivatives contracts by sending Ether to them.

Investors stand to benefit by harnessing the power of derivatives. Traditional derivatives like futures and options will be available, and the investors will also benefit from Futures with Ascending Stakes. The whitepaper elaborates upon the type of derivatives that will be made available on the exchange.

There is also a plan to use the blockchain and smart contract technology to enable talented entrepreneurs and ventures to gain access to funding. DCORP will make it possible for anyone to join the organization either as a shareholder or as a talented contributor. Investors can also participate in the ongoing DCORP crowdsale.

The DCORP exchange promises complete transparency in its operations as the Board of Directors will comprise of 7 elected individuals. Frank Bonnet, the founder of DCORP who will also be a member of the Board of Directors, explains that the voting behavior of the members will be recorded on the blockchain, public and immutable. The members can also be replaced by submitting a proposal and getting the token holders to vote in favor of it.

DCORP intends to carry out a streamlined democratization of venture capitalism, which is not only an interesting idea but also novel, as it enables even non-technical persons to benefit from it.

The introduction of derivatives to crypto can only generate further investor interest as it brings in an element of risk management to venture capitalism.

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DAO Casino wants to use cryptocurrency to disrupt online gambling – Yahoo Finance

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Imagine an online gambling ecosystem that is decentralized, meaning that it cuts out the typical middleman between a game-maker or betting operator and the player or bettor. Thats the pitch of Russian company DAO.Casino, a decentralized platform for online gambling operators that runs on the Ethereum blockchain.

In its white paper on the developer site Github, DAO.Casino says it can solve common headaches of online gambling that afflict both game developers and game players, such as: fraud risk; hidden fees; high cost of entry for game developers; operational overhead; player access to funds; player withdrawal delays; and general lack of trust.

If that sounds like a mouthful, lets take a step back. In the cryptocurrency world, much of the press and attention right now is around bitcoin, since the price of bitcoin is flying: its up 200% in 2017 so far.

But the price of a rival cryptocurrency, ether, has seen a bump as well: its up 174% in the past month, to $263. Ether is the currency of the Ethereum network, which is a blockchain for smart contracts.

Price of ether in 2017. (CoinMarketCap)

While bitcoin runs on the bitcoin blockchain, a decentralized, permissionless ledgerand blockchain technology originated with bitcoin in 2009Ethereum runs on its own blockchain specifically designed for smart contracts.

Smart contracts are coded agreements that live in a permanent address on the Ethereum chain. These agreements can interact with other contracts to automatically enact functions.

In other words, smart contracts is a fancy way of saying computer programs. For example: on Ethereum, we could exchange the title deed to a car, directly from seller to buyer. In a recent Cognizant survey of 578 financial service firms, 78% of respondents said their firm is exploring multiple blockchain platformsof those, 49% listed the bitcoin blockchain, 42% said Ethereum.

While bitcoin is soaring as a speculative investment, there arent yet obvious mainstream uses for the currency beyond trading and holding it; many in the industry await the killer app for bitcoin.

There is arguably more excitement right now around the uses of Ethereum, since it was created specifically for smart contracts (not for the currency, which is just an incentive token for developers). TechCrunch writes that Ethereum is poised to overhaul open-source development. And Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin (just 23 years old) met with Vladimir Putin this week, who praised Ethereum.

That brings us to DAO.Casino, one of the many startups that believes it can solve a problem using Ethereum. On June 29, DAO.Casino will launch an ICO (initial coin offering), a popular new way of raising money for cryptocurrency startups in which investors buy up the startups own coin and pay for it with a more established coin. Ethereum did its own ICO in 2014, in which investors bought ether using bitcoin. An ICO typically lasts for a month. Think of an ICO as the equivalent of a VC round for cryptocurrency startups. In DAO.Casinos ICO, it will sell BET, its own token, in exchange for ether.

Just dont associate DAO.Casino with The DAO, a leaderless, decentralized network that launched in May 2016 (via an ICO that exchanged tokens for ether) as a platform for Ethereum-based projects and was quickly hacked, one month later, to the tune of $50 million. The entire Ethereum blockchain had to perform a split known as a fork in order to restore all the funds stolen in The DAO hack.

DAO.Casino is not an actual casino itself, but an open protocol for online gambling companies (like an online casino, blackjack game operator, or sports betting site) to build on. (DAO.Casino will also build its own branded games.) It isnt aimed at the end userif an online betting site were to use it, the bettor wouldnt have toknow or see that theyre using a system built on Ethereum. (I could even develop my own gambling site on top of DAO.Casinos protocol and pay out users in BET tokens, but rename them Dancoins.) The companys hope is that online betting sites will integrate with its network to offer games without the casino, a middleman that takes a big cut and may not always be trustworthy.

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If youre confused, dont feel bad. In a blog post back in March, the company addressed the confusion its name creates. Many people wonder why do we have DAO in our name, when the term has previously been associated with a hacked investor-directed venture capital fund. They think and we dont blame them for it that is somewhat an extension of an organization whose security loop couldve cost them millions worth of ether. The post goes on to acknowledge that using the DAO acronym is somewhat giving us bad publicity.

Nonetheless, the company embraced the DAO acronym because of what it stands for, a decentralized autonomous organization (which any blockchain-based project is), even if it now carries the stink of The DAO.

Of course, online betting operators may be hesitant to jump on an Ethereum-based protocol for reasons that have nothing to do with DAO.Casinos name.

For starters, the entire cryptocurrency space still has an air of distrust to it; blame the high-profile Silk Road drug market trial, or periodic hacks of bitcoin exchange sites, all of which stoke negative headlines. As one West Coast bankruptcy lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells Yahoo Finance, I get clients all the time that say, I want to take X and make it better by using cryptocurrency, and its always either a way to try to get around something illegal or it solves a problem that really didnt exist.

Keep in mind also that online gambling (or iGaming) is still illegal in most states in the US, even when the website taking a bet is based outside the US. But online gambling thrives outside America, and is a $46 billion market globally.DAO.Casino could face regulatory scrutiny in the US, even though the company would likely make the argument that it is just an Internet protocol, not the gambling operator.

As of January, nearly 25% of all smart contracts on Ethereum were game-related. Thats why DAO.Casino CEO Ilya Tarutov honed in on a gambling protocol. Traditional server-based online gambling sites dont engender enough trust, he says, but using a decentralized network can add transparency.

Tarutov explained it to Coin Telegraph thusly: Game outcomes are determined by equally unpredictable pseudorandom values, and anyone can audit this. Once the game software is audited and deployed, no one can fiddle with it and change it.

To ensure fairness of games, DAO.Casino implements randomness through PRNGs (pseudorandom number generators), and incentivizes users who develop new games, fund the development of new games, operate casinos, and contribute random-number algorithms by rewarding them in BET tokens. The games built on DAO.Casino will operate in BET. (Grossly simplified, Tarutov explains, BET is a security measure.)

For now, DAO.Casino is in beta, and offers a simple dice game as an example of what it can do. More games are coming, Tarutov says, from online gambling operators ready to put their games on DAO.Casinos testnet. In the next few days, the site will add a blackjack game.

You can register right now and youll get a free token to try these games. But their real purpose is to show developers, Tarutov says, that it is possible to implement serverless and fast PRNG methods on Ethereum. It shows that theres hope and direction. Were confident that we can implement one more method before the end of this year which is suitable for multiplayer games. But this is just a start.

Daniel Roberts closely covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

Read more:

Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency

More than 75 banks are now on Ripples blockchain network

Expect more blockchain hype in 2017

Heres why 21 Inc. is the most exciting bitcoin company right now

How bitcoin company Coinbase is staying relevant amid the blockchain craze

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So, you’ve bought Bitcoin. Now what? – GQ.com

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So, youve bought Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) and hey! its shot up in value. Good for you. But what do you do with your digital money now? If youve made a serious profit, you might be wary of leaving it on an exchange such as Coinbase or stashing it in an online wallet (after all, North Korean hackers have reportedly stolen almost $90,000 of Bitcoin in the last two years). The most secure alternative is to take your currency offline altogether with a hardware wallet. This is a purpose-built, secure device for cold-storing the private keys that allow you to spend your digital currency. Two of the most popular are the Ledger Nano S and the Trezor, both of which employ open-source code (meaning that even if the companies were to fold, the devices would not be rendered obsolete). We tested them both

The Ledger Nano S looks like a USB stick, except it comes with a tiny screen that means you can operate it independently of your computer (as otherwise it would be vulnerable to malware). The controls are pared back to two buttons on the top of the device, which are used for everything from scrolling through menus to entering your PIN.

Set-up is simple. On-screen instructions take you through configuring your PIN and randomly generating your passphrase. The passphrase is important. If you were to lose or break the device, you can restore your entire balance on a new Ledger by entering this 24-word phrase.

Next, you download a set of Chrome extensions: a main device manager, and wallets for the different currencies you hold. Ledger currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum / Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Zcash, Dash and Stratis. If you wish to send or receive currency you do so via these browser-based apps, and your Ledger will ask you to press buttons to confirm that you do indeed want to carry out that function. Without the Ledger plugged in, moving your currency is impossible.

Pros: This is a compact device that has found clever systems to make a two-button control system viable. It supports a multitude of currencies, and is the most affordable of the two hardware wallets on test.

Cons: The build quality on our model could have been better. The left-hand button often registered one click as two, and it encountered problems a number of times during setup, though we succeeded eventually.

61, ledgerwallet.com

The Czech-built Trezor which translates as vault in its native language has many similarities with the Ledger. It, too, has a screen that means you can use it to keep your money safe even on an infected computer, and operating it also comes down to two buttons. The set-up is similar as well its all about choosing a PIN and a 24-word passphrase that allows you to restore the device. How you interface with this dongle from your computer, however, is rather different.

Whereas the Ledger asks you to tap away on its buttons in order to input your PIN, the Trezor displays the numbers 1 - 9 in a random formation, and asks you to click the corresponding buttons on a digit-less pad displayed on your computer screen.

The Chrome app through which you control your Trezor and your wallets is slicker than the Ledgers. It involves opening fewer windows, and the visuals are rather more glossy though it essentially offers the same functionality. It feels like a more expensive product, and it is. The only downside is that, for now, it lacks support for currencies such as Ripple.

Pros: Higher production values, both in terms of software and hardware.

Cons: Fewer currencies supported.

76, trezor.io

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So, you've bought Bitcoin. Now what? - GQ.com

Bitcoin Is At An All-Time High, But Is It About To Self-Destruct? – Forbes

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Forbes
Bitcoin Is At An All-Time High, But Is It About To Self-Destruct?
Forbes
The bitcoin price has been on a tear recently, more than doubling to about $2,900 over the last three months. (It didn't hurt that Sunday, the popular Tim Ferriss podcast released a two-and-a-half-hour episode on the subject.) But its meteoric rise ...
Mark Cuban Asserts That Bitcoin is Not CurrencyFuturism
Mark Cuban's Twitter Trolling Sent Bitcoin Prices TumblingFortune
Will Bitcoin ETF Ever Be Accepted by US Regulators?CoinTelegraph
CNBC -Bloomberg -The Merkle
all 59 news articles »

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Bitcoin Is At An All-Time High, But Is It About To Self-Destruct? - Forbes

Ask the Sketch Guy: Should I Finally Buy Some Bitcoin? – New York Times

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New York Times
Ask the Sketch Guy: Should I Finally Buy Some Bitcoin?
New York Times
To kick off things, Shawn Cook from San Diego asked a question about Bitcoin. (For an explainer on Bitcoin, see this article by Nathaniel Popper of The New York Times, who literally wrote the book on the topic.) His hipster friend is constantly bugging ...

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Roundup: Comets sweep Waukon – Mason City Globe Gazette

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BASEBALL

Cole Reams was 3 for 3 with two RBI and a run scored Tuesday night in Charles City. Elliott Sinwell was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI. The Comets broke the game open with a five-run sixth inning.

Theo Arndt picked up the win, striking out three and allowing both Waukon runs. Sinwell struck out two in an inning of relief.

The Comets broke a 6-all tie to win the game of the bottom of the seventh inning.

Drew Mitchell went 2 for 4. Cole Reams was 2 for 5 with two RBI and a run scored. Reams also pitched the last five innings, striking out six.

Mason City 7, Indianola 6

Trailing 5-3, the Mohawks rallied with a four-run seventh to pick up the road win Tuesday night.

Hunter Dingman was 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Mac Skogen drove in two on 2 of 4 hitting.

Weston Schultz picked up the win, striking out one in the seventh.

It was a total team effort," said Mason City coach Troy Rood. "Indianola was 10-3 coming in and on the verge of being in the top 10.

Hitting is definitely contagious. We just need one or two guys to get hot and the whole group will get hot. We did it in dramatic fashion tonight.

OTHER SCORES: Clear Lake 8, Central Springs 3; North Iowa 9, West Bend-Mallard 8.

Rockford 12, West Hancock 0 (3 innings)

Marissa Norby was 3 for 3 Tuesday with three runs scored and an RBI. Amber Staudt was 1 for 2 with two RBI and a run scored. Emma Ramon struck out four in the winning effort.

Charles City 10, Forest City 0 (5 innings)

Samantha Heyer spun a no-hitter Tuesday in Forest City, striking out 11 batters. The Comets put five runs on the board in second inning, added a run in the fourth, and the capped the night with a four-run fifth inning.

Osage 14, GHV 1 (3 innings)

Autumn O'Malley earned the win Tuesday, stiking out three and holding GHV to just two hits. Kourtney Chambers finished the night with three hits, including a double.

CAL 8, Northwood-Kensett 7

CAL picked up its second win of the season Tuesday night. Dusti Bratrud was the losing pitcher.

Clear Lake 12, St. Ansgar 11 (8 innings)

Macy Mixdorf led off the eighth inning with a triple and scored on a hit by Michaela Niles.

Niles finished the night 2 for 5 with three RBI and three runs scored. Mixdorf was 2 for 5. Rachel Barillas went 3 for 4 with four RBI.

OTHER SCORE: West Bend-Mallard 4, North Iowa 2.

Rottinghaus and VandenBerg take fourth at state co-ed

ANKENY | Sydney Rottinghaus and Josh VandenBerg faced along day of co-ed tennis but emerged with the best finish by a Mason City High School doubles team at the state co-ed tennis meet on Tuesday.

Rottinghaus and VandenBerg played six matches on the day two of which went three sets en route to a 4-2 overall record and a fourth-place finish.

A more complete story will appear in Thursdays Globe Gazette.

The Saints scored twice in the fifth to pick up the road win Monday night. Lily Walk earned the win, striking out two and surrendering one hit. Kylie Juenger was 1 for 3 with a run scored.

Jamie Schuster Schuster struck out six for Rockford. Emma Ramon and Skylar Schmitt each went 1 for 3.

Riceville 3, North Tama 2

The Wildcats scratched out three runs on three hits Monday at North Tama. Tommu Bauer pitched the win, striking out six. Kyler Bauer struck out one and earned the save in an inning of relief.

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Coach conducts Lady Comets camp to create confidence – Newsbug.info

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Even though Emery Podowicz has graduated from Central High School, she has left her imprint on the school in a number of ways. When someone with that talent has played for a program, its inevitable that a legacy is created.

The Lady Comets coach, Rebecca Swigert-Fenton, was conducting a girls basketball camp for about 25 high schoolers Tuesday morning and through the rest of the week. She hopes to find players to emulate that legacy.

Podowicz was one who pushed her younger counterparts and it was effective.

I have seen some of my sophomores start to do things as juniors that Emery and her class did, Swigert-Fenton said. Clearly, they have paid attention. I dont remember them doing those things before and yet now I see that today.

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Comets make Vikings earn 16th Region baseball championship … – Journal-Times

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Too young? Guess again.

In Rowan County baseball year one A.P. after Planck a lineup including five sophomores and a freshman held off West Carter 6-3 on Wednesday night for the Vikings first 16th Region championship since 1983.

Matthew Gagliano, part of the sophomore gang, pitched into the seventh inning for the victory.

Im just stunned, said Gagliano, who posted five no-hit innings while the Vikings built a 5-0 lead. At the beginning of the season, we werent even looked at as a contender.

Rowan County graduated star pitcher Cameron Planck, who was an 11th-round draft pick by the New York Mets.

But the Vikings young talent meshed with senior starers Harlan Carter, Peyton Fannin and Ethan Ratliff. Rowan County, a 25-game winner, rolled through the 61st District tournament and never trailed during its three-game region run at Larry Addington Field.

We are playing well, Rowan County coach Keith Prater said. Were seeing the ball at the plate, were making plays and the pitching has been really good. I couldnt be more proud of this team. To be honest, nobody gave them a chance after we lost Planck.

Sophomore Shane Taylor played a key role in the late innings. He doubled and scored in the Vikings three-run fifth and hit a sacrifice fly the next inning to make it 6-0.

Its the greatest feeling I've ever had in my life, Taylor said. I'm so happy right now.

West Carter (20-15) made the Vikings earn it. The Comets, playing in their first region title game, came alive with three hits in each of the final two innings to slice the lead in half. Dalton Brown, JT Johnson and Kaden Rose hit consecutive singles to produce the first run.

We have to give West Carter props, Prater said. They hit the crap out of the ball. Fortunately, several of them were right at us.

Gagliano exited with one out in the seventh inning to a round of applause from Rowan Countys fans. Fellow sophomore Cory Binion surrendered RBI singles to Albert Mercado and Dalton Brown allowing West Carter to bring the potential tying run to the plate with two aboard and two outs.

JT Johnson hit a sinking liner to left field that a diving Taylor plucked off the top of the grass.

I saw it hang up in the air a little bit and I knew I could get it, Taylor said. It was instinct for sure.

Said Binion: I love that dude, man. I love that dude. We've played baseball since we were 3 years old. We've been together all this time and I knew he was going to make that catch when I saw him dive for it.

The catch foiled the Comets latest final-inning comeback. The previous night, they scored four in the seventh to rally past Boyd County 9-8.

I'd take that swing 100 out of 100 times, West Carter coach Tim Johnson said. He hit it right on the button, on the barrel. The kid made a good play in left field. If you smoke a line drive into left field, that ain't nothing to hang your head at there.

Johnson praised his teams never-say-die attitude.

Hey, it's not over until the last out's made, he said. That's one thing I'll say about this team. All year long, we've lost some games by a large margin of runs, but we never quit in one game. When the last out's made, you see our guys in the dugout, Oh, I can't believe it's over. We think, as long as there's an out left, we got a chance. We played really hard tonight.

Rowan County players rushed to celebrate the last out by mobbing each other behind shortstop.

This is a dream, Binion said. I wanted to do this this year, next year and the next year. But this year, heck, everybody said we weren't gonna do it, but we did it.

Carter had another big game, going 2-for-3 with a double and used some smart baserunning to score the first run.

Oh my goodness, its fantastic, Carter said afterward. Our team has been 100 percent heart. We battled all year for this. Its surreal.

Carter hit a leadoff double in the third inning and later got trapped between third and home on Fannins one-hopper back to Rose. As soon as Rose threw to third, Carter quickly broke for the plate and slid in safely without a throw.

He didnt hesitate, Prater said. He made a commitment to go. It was a great play. Harlan became a complete player for us this year. Its been fun to watch.

Fannin also chipped in two hits and sophomore AJ Hacker scored twice and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly that West Carter dropped for a two-base error.

Rowan County advances to meet Third Region winner Muhlenberg County Thursday (1:30 p.m.) in the opening round of the State Tournament at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington.

Gagliano said he would have never guessed at the beginning of the season that he would be pitching in the region final.

Im glad they chose me, he said. Getting ahead in the count was big for me. Im just blown away right now.

WEST CARTER 000 001 2 3 6 3

ROWAN CO. 002 031 x 6 6 1

Rose, Thornsberry (6) and McGlone; Gagliano, Binion (7) and Fannin. WGagliano. LRose. 2BCarter (RC), Ratliff (RC), Taylor (RC).

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Our Travel Advisors are your travel specialists. We understand you travel for many different reasons, and that travel planning may be a daunting experience. One of our Travel Advisors will work with you to streamline this process and utilize your most valuable asset: your leisure time. We can plan and manage every aspect of your trip, and maximize the travel research and ideas you might have done yourself.

World Travel takes pride in providing an elite level of service that is backed by 77 years in the travel industry. The key to our success is the high-touch personal travel planning service we offer our clients. All our Travel Advisors utilize their extensive industry knowledge and experience to ensure the best experiences for their clients. We know each traveler has unique intricacies when it comes to travel planning needs and expectations. Understanding this concept is so crucial that our first goal is to learn about those intricacies so we can create memorable trips for our travelers.

There are five core areas of our travel planning expertise, which allow us to be the best at what we do; knowledge, quality, service, adaptability, and advocacy.

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TUTC wins World Travel Award for the second year – eTurboNews

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The Ultimate Travelling Camp (TUTC) was named Asias Leading Luxury Camping Company at the 24th Annual World Travel Awards presented at a glittering ceremony in Shanghai, China. TUTC, which has a host of accolades against its name, retained this title for the second consecutive year, believed to be the ultimate accolade in the travel industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajnish Sabharwal, COO, TUTC said, It feels great to be recognised by your guests and industry peers at such a prestigious platform, not once but twice. The luxury travel space is fast evolving and to keep up with the pace, our constant endeavour is to offer travellers an outstandingly-crafted experience that is second to none. We would like to thank all our clients and partners who have supported and encouraged us on this journey.

Known to have introduced glamping in challenging landscapes of India, TUTCs nomadic super luxury camps in Thiksey and Diskit in Ladakh and Kohima in Nagaland not only introduce guests to different adventures in the backdrop of mesmerizing landscapes but also offer immersive experiences that celebrate the culture, festivals, food, sports and indigenous identity of the region. The Chamba camps in Ladakh ensure patronage to various aspects of the Ladakhi and Buddhist way of life. Similarly, the camp at Kohima aims to revive, protect and preserve the richness and uniqueness of the 16 tribes native to Nagaland. TUTCs seasonal camps in Leh and Nubra Valley have begun operations from 15th May, 2017 until end of September, a favourable time to visit Ladakh.

Visit them on http://www.tutc.com

The World Travel Awards is considered by many as the Oscars of the Travel Industry that celebrates excellence in global tourism. The ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities within the travel and tourism industry, attended by the whos who of the travel industry.

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InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa Awarded "Australasia’s Leading Green Hotel" In The 2017 World … – PR Newswire (press…

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"We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award which recognizes our environmental efforts at the resort," said Stephane Massarini, General Manager, InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa. "We are truly honored and look forward to providing our guests with an extraordinary stay at our property."

InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa was the first resort in the world to implement Sea-Water Air-Conditioning (SWAC) technology, using deep seawater for all the cooling requirements of the resort. SWAC is clean, quiet, maintenance-free, and a fully renewable non-fossil source of environmentally friendly energy that results in electricity savings of more than 90 percent for the resort in comparison to conventional cooling methods. The resort also utilizes InterContinental Hotel Group's (IHG) Green Engage system, an innovative online environmental sustainability system that allows the resort to measure and manage its impact on the environment.

The InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa is located on a virgin beach on Motu Piti Aau with breathtaking views of Bora Bora's majestic Mount Otemanu, and offers luxurious overwater villas. This year, the resort will see the addition of four, new two-bedroom overwater villa suites along with the addition of private infinity pools to 10 existing one-bedroom overwater villas. The resort's Deep Ocean Spa by Algotherm is the first spa to utilize the benefits of deep-sea water and minerals extracted from the Pacific Ocean in its signature spa treatments. And, two of the finest culinary experiences in French Polynesia are offered at its restaurants Reef and Le Corail. The resort also features the first overwater wedding chapel in French Polynesia with a glass bottom floor with views into the lagoon below.

The InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso has been recognized by notable names in the travel and lifestyle industry including being recently honored as one of the "Top 10 Honeymoon Resorts in the South Pacific" in the 2017 Honeymoon Awards by BRIDES magazine, the "Top Resorts in Australia & the South Pacific" in Cond Nast Traveler's 2016 Readers' Choice Awards, and one of "The Best Resort Hotels in the South Pacific" as voted by readers in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards 2016.

For information and rates for the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, call 1-888 IC HOTELS (1-888-424-6835) or visit InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa.

About InterContinental Resorts French PolynesiaOwned and operated by Richard H. Bailey and his company, Pacific Beachcomber S.C., there are four InterContinental Resorts in French Polynesia: InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort, InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa, and InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa. Each of these award-winning resorts has completed multimillion dollar enhancements over the course of the last five years and is committed towards achieving environmental and social sustainability.

Media Contact:Vanessa Bloy InterContinental Resorts French Polynesia (425) 440-6255 vbloy@pgcruises.com

Image link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/icfp/collections

About the World Travel AwardsWorld Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. World Travel Awards celebrates its 24th anniversary year in 2017. Its annual program is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the global industry. Each year World Travel Awards covers the globe with its Grand Tour a series of regional gala ceremonies to recognise excellence within each continent, culminating in a Grand Final at the end of the year. For more information on the World Travel Awards, please visit: http://www.worldtravelawards.com.

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InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa Awarded "Australasia's Leading Green Hotel" In The 2017 World ... - PR Newswire (press...

Scientists set to trial new stem cell therapy to ‘reawaken’ the brain … – The Sun

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A US company has revealed it will start tests in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year

ATTEMPTS to bring people back from the dead could start in a few months, its been reported.

A US company has revealed it will start new stem cell therapy trials in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year.

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In the majority of countries, to be officially declared dead requires an complete and irreversible loss of brain function.

But Bioquark says it has developed a series of injections that can reboot the brain and bring people back to life, according to MailOnline.

CEO Ira Pastor revealed the firm will begin testing itsmethod on humans and have no plans to try it out on animals first.

Pastor and orthopaedic surgeon Himanshu Bansal initially hoped to carry out tests in India last year.

Butthe Indian Council of Medical Research pulled the plug on their plans and asked them to to take the trials elsewhere.

In details published on a clinical trials database, scientists plan to examine individuals aged between 15 and 65 who have been declared brain dead from a traumatic brain injury.

They intend to use MRI scans to look for possible signs of brain death reversal before carrying out the trial, which will happen in three stages.

The first step involves harvesting stem cells from the patients own blood before injecting them back into their body.

Then the patient would be given a dose of peptides injected into their spinal cord.

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Lastly they would undergo a 15-day course of laser and median nerve stimulation while monitoring the patient with MRI scans.

Consent is likely to be an issue for the researchers as technically all of the patients will be brain dead.

However the study detail states that it can accept written informed consent from the legally acceptable representative of the patient.

The Bioquark trials are part of a broader project called ReAnima, of which Pastor is on the advisory board.

The project explores the potential of cutting edge biomedical technology for human neuro-regeneration and neuro-reanimation.

Speaking to MailOnline last year, Pastor said: The mission of the ReAnima Project is to focus on clinical research in the state of brain death, or irreversible coma, in subjects who have recently met the Uniform Determination of Death Act criteria, but who are still on cardio-pulmonary or trophic support a classification in many countries around the world known as a living cadaver.

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Doctors Targets Stem Cell Therapy Launch – Bahamas Tribune

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ByNEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

DOCTORS Hospital plans to launch stem cell therapy and enter the primary healthcare market during its current financial year, after profits for the year to end-January 2017 increased five-fold.

The BISX-listed healthcare provider said it planned to launch both initiatives at its Bahamas Medical Centre facility on Blake Road, having received the necessary approvals for one stem cell programme and another in its final stages.

Doctors Hospitals 2017 annual report did not identify the types of stem cell treatment involved, but said: It is envisioned that stem cell therapy will occur at the facility [Bahamas Medical Centre] in fiscal 2018, with one programme already receiving the necessary approvals and the second programme in its final stages of assessment and approval......

We anticipate that in fiscal 2018 we will launch one of our primary care centres at this location, supported by increased specialist services to best serve the neighbouring communities.

Joe Krukowski, Doctors Hospitals chairman, told shareholders via the annual report that the launch of primary care services will be a vital component in the continuum of care we provide.

We will seek to provide our customers with multiple entry points for this level of care, he added.

Doctors Hospitals stem cell initiatives, in particular, represent a potential boost to the Bahamas national effort to make greater inroads into the medical tourism market while also exploiting legislation passed by the former Christie administration.

The healthcare providers move into primary care will effectively create a fully-integrated model, combining with its core business in secondary and tertiary care provision to potentially make Doctors Hospital almost a one-stop shop for all medical needs.

The expansion comes after Doctors Hospital saw total comprehensive income for the year to end-January 2017 grow by 409 per cent or more than five-fold, from $702,790 to $3.578 million year-over-year.

The growth was driven entirely by the companys main Collins Avenue facility, where profits more than doubled, increasing by 157.4 per cent to $4.778 million compared to $1.856 million the year before. The Bahamas Medical Centres net loss increased slightly compared to the prior year, rising from $1.153 million to $1.2 million.

An improved top-line drove Doctors Hospitals improved profitability, with patient services revenue up $3.65 million or 7.4 per cent at $52.713 million.

Patient days increased by 6 per cent from the previous year, the annual report said of the main Collins Avenue hospital. Increases in the Intensive and Intermediary Care Units accounted for 37per centof the change, and the balance in medical surgical and maternity.

Total admissions to the facility were 4,114 in fiscal 2017 compared to 4,063 in fiscal 2016. The continued flat admission numbers and increased patient days are indicative of the trend toward a rising severity of illness. The average daily census increased to 33 patients per day from 31.2 in the previous year.

Doctors Hospitals total expenses grew by $818,452 or 1.7 per cent year-over-year, with salaries and benefits rising by $1.176 million or 5.6 per cent to $23.209 million. Due to the top-line growth, these fell as a percentage of patient net revenue from 44.3 per cent to 43.5 per cent.

At Bahamas Medical Centre, revenues rose by $28,015 or 1.9 per cent to $1.462 million. This slightly outpaced the increase in expenses, which jumped by 1.5 per cent or $43,479 to $2.819 million as a result of rising medical supplies costs.

Doctors Hospital is budgeting $7 million for capital spending projects in its financial year to end-January 2018, a sum more than double the prior years $3.1 million, as it bids to upgrade facilities and replace equipment.

Bad debt expense, as a percentage of patient service revenues, decreased to 2.6per centfor the year ended January 31, 2017, compared to 3.4per centthe previous year, Doctors Hospital said.This represented a decrease of $316,808, or 18.8per cent. This decrease is a result of a write-off of third-party receivables.

The number of days revenue in accounts receivable at year-end (AR Days) for fiscal 2017 stand at 51 compared with fiscal 2016 at 43 days, and net receivables as a percentage of net patient revenue increased to 14.1per centfrom 11.8per cent. These increases area result of high activity in the months of December and January, and payments not received until after year-end.

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Stem cell-based spinal cord therapy expanded to more patients – The San Diego Union-Tribune

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An experimental therapy to repair spinal cord injury with stem cell-derived tissue is progressing smoothly, according to a leader of that trial who spoke at a conference on stem cell therapy.

The Phase 1 safety trial is proceeding with no complications, said Dr. Joseph Ciacci, a University of California San Diego neurosurgeon. The trial is being conducted at the universitys Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center. The conference was held last week at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla.

With safety looking good, the green light has been given to treat more patients, Ciacci said. However, to produce effectiveness, more cells will need to be transplanted.

Four patients have been treated with neural stem cells, injected into the spinal cord. They had experienced complete loss of motor and sensor function below the injury. They had been injured between 1 and 2 years previously.

Moreover, the cells show signs of integrating with the surrounding tissue in animal studies, Ciacci said. If the preliminary evidence holds up, Ciacci and colleagues plan to submit a paper detailing the results.

Curing paralysis from spinal cord injury was a big selling point for those who successfully advocated Proposition 71, which authorized selling $6 billion in state bonds to establish and fund the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM. The institute got $3 billion, the remaining half is going for interest over the life of the bonds.

While CIRM has been under pressure to show results, doctors are taking great care to establish safety first in the spinal cord treatment, because of potential risks in the procedure.

We are now enrolling and recruiting for the second cohort, which is for chronic cervical spinal cord injuries, Ciacci said. They are medically classified as C5-C7 ASIA A Complete.

Chronic injuries need to have taken place more than 1 year before treatment. For this study, the injury must also be under two years old. The trial is being conducted at UCSD with Ciacci serving as the principal investigator.

For more information on the Phase I Chronic SCI study, contact Ciaccis research group at (619) 471-3698, nksidhu@ucsd.edu.

In addition, the researchers have been approved to start another spinal cord injury trial with a different set of cells. These oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, derived from embryonic stem cells, can turn into several different types of neural cells.

The trial, sponsored by Asterias, treats newly injured patients, between 14 and 30 days after injury.

For more information on the Asterias trial, contact the UCSD Alpha Stem Cell Clinic at 858-534-5932 alphastemcellclinic@ucsd.edu or visit http://www.scistar-study.com and j.mp/ucsdast.

Asterias acquired the technology from Geron, which had undertaken the work with a CIRM grant. Geron later canceled the work and refunded the money to CIRM. Asterias got funding from CIRM to continue the work.

The Asterias trial will use the same technique as used with the Chronic SCI trial, a technique which can improve safety, Ciacci said. The cells will be injected in a series of progressively larger amounts that may give evidence of the dose relates to effectiveness, although safety remains the main concern.

This cell line is cryopreserved, its sent to us as a single dose the day of surgery, Ciacci said. Were going to study different doses 2 million, 10 million, 20 million cells per injection. Its going to be a direct injection, just like what weve done before.

As in previous treatments, patients will also receive immune suppression to prevent rejection of the cells. Likewise, they will be monitored for many years after treatment.

Another trial coming to UCSD will test for efficacy in ALS, Ciacci said.

Ciacci said hes looking for qualified patients for these trials, and urged those in the audience to help find them.

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Stem cell-based spinal cord therapy expanded to more patients - The San Diego Union-Tribune