Cosco to shut down three offshore shipyards – Splash 247

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March 6th, 2017 Jason Jiang Greater China, Shipyards 0 comments

Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (CSHI), the newly restructured shipbuilding entity of China Cosco Shipping Corporation, plans to close down three offshore shipyards in an effort to cut overcapacity.

According to the plan, CSHI will close its shipyards in Nantong, Zhoushan and Dongguan by 2020 and the group will consolidate offshore equipment construction operations at its Dalian and Qidong yards.

Liang Yanfeng, general manager of CSHI, said the move will effectively optimise resources, cut overcapacity and prevent price competition between its subsidiaries.

CSHI was established in October 2016 after Cosco and China Shipping merged 13 affiliated yards together.

CSHI announced a plan last year to cut its total shipbuilding capacity from 12.05m dwt to 10.6m dwt by the end of 2017 and further reduce capacity to 9.6m dwt by the end of 2020.

Jason Jiang

Jason worked for a number of logistics firms following his English degree, then switched this hands-on experience to writing and has since become one the most prolific writers on the diverse China logistics industry writing for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week. Jasons access to the biggest shippers with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives.

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Cosco to shut down three offshore shipyards - Splash 247

Advancing Data Functionality for Offshore – #OILMANNEWS (blog)

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Systems and Services that Optimize Organizational Results

By Jennifer Delony

The industrial internet of things is transforming the offshore oil and gas sector. One estimate claims that a typical offshore oil platform generates up to 2 terra bytes of data per day thats the equivalent of 1 million digital camera images.

Cisco, in its report A New Reality for Oil and Gas, said that, if oil and gas companies properly leverage the data they produce, they can capture $600 billion of value at stake through 2025. For a $50 billion oil and gas firm, that translates to an 11 percent bottom-line improvement, the report said.

That doesnt mean that offshore companies are all jumping on the big data bandwagon instead, theyre carefully evaluating the possibilities to understand what data, and the analysis of data, can do for their operations.

To get a glimpse into where the offshore sector is headed in terms of data and its applications, and what systems and services it is leveraging to get there, take a look at BP.

At the end of last year, BP announced it is working with GE on the deployment of a new integrated system called Plant Operations Advisor (POA). BP said that it started using POA to manage the performance of one platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and given success there, the company will deploy it to other BP facilities around the world this year.

According to BP, POA will help prevent unplanned downtime and improve facility reliability by helping engineering teams respond quickly to issues as they occur in real time.

The POA tool was built on GEs Predix operating system a software platform that is used to collect and analyze data from industrial machines. This cloud-based platform-as-a-service works at industrial scale for asset performance management (APM) by connecting machines, data and workers.

APM lies at the heart of this next-level digital system. It puts enterprise asset management software together with real-time information from production and data analysis and advanced analytics. In a nutshell, it allows companies to see their assets, make decisions to optimize those assets and optimize organizational results.

ARC Advisory Group, in a report on how APM overcomes challenges in oil and gas, said that currently too much time is dedicated to collecting, aggregating and analyzing available data, rather than converting it to meaningful business decisions. That is due to the application of data to disparate systems with no integration. APM alleviates these issues.

These solutions, based largely on todays increased connectivity, use of open standards, and increasingly more capable platforms for predictive and prescriptive analytics, enable oil and gas companies to move from largely re-active, conventional approaches for managing their critical production and automation assets to todays far more effective proactive and predictive approaches, the report said.

According to BP, the POA system rapidly integrates operational data from producing oil and gas facilities to deliver notifications and analytical reports to engineers so they can identify operational performance issues before they become significant. The system provides simplified access to a variety of live data feeds and includes visualization capabilities including a real-time facility threat display. It also incorporates an extensive case management capability to support learnings from prior operational issues.

GE plans to make this technology available to the entire oil and gas industry.

More Options

Offshore companies have also turned to OSI Softs PI System for collecting, analyzing and visualizing data for real-time management. The PI system allows a company to integrate whatever data they want, and create a customized display of that data.

According to Kevin Walsh, industry principal T&D, for OSI Soft, one of the strengths of PI is that it allows platform managers to perform predictive analytics.

He said that PI has different modules that allow for the input of mini-analytic calculations based on certain attributes or time frames to create an operational band. If operations go outside of that band for example, plus or minus 1 percent for more than three minutes in a row, PI notifies managers that an alarm-level event is immanent. This feature gives managers a visual on possible problems before they happen a huge advancement in data functionality.

Srikanta Mishra, Ph.D., Institute Fellow and chief scientist for energy at nonprofit Battelle, says his organization offers analytics to the oil and gas sector under its Elucidata service.

Offshore companies have been slow to engage with their data at the level offered by Battelle, but Mishra says they are interested.

According to Mishra, the Elucidata service is an umbrella for a process that Battelle provides to integrate data from multiple sources.

The task that Battelle undertakes is intended to bring all of this data into one easy-to-use platform that can then be utilized for knowledge and discovery, he said. The idea here is to learn from the data and then use that to make decisions.

Under the knowledge discovery component of Elucidata, Battelle offers clients a combination of advanced statistical capabilities and in-house subject matter expertise.

In addition, Mishra said that Battelle captures information from the knowledge discovery component in customized software solutions and user interfaces that makes it easy for managers and decision makers and, on the platform, operators, to make decisions that are based on what has happened in the past, and from which robust insights can be derived.

In the offshore environment you might say that there are two discriminating factors one is the situation with respect to automation; a very high level of automation is becoming more and more commonplace, Mishra said. The second is the data that we get from offshore environments is really big data in the sense that we get lots of data we get very frequently sampled data so the challenge is how do you process this information in real time, as opposed to doing it offline, and make decisions with respect to the behavior of your system in the near future?

He said that, for example, a company might monitor pressure and temperatures and flow rates, and seek to understand, given the kind of conditions, what the pressure is going to be in the next hour, the next 24 hours, and whether its going to trigger some danger threshold that needs to be mitigated.

In terms of predictive maintenance, Mishra said, the organization can look at the past history of failures and near failures and correlate them with other indicators of the system, with respect to pressure or temperature, for example. With that information, its possible to establish a trigger system, so that if the system crosses X value of pressure and Y value of temperature, certain equipment is likely to undergo failure because it has failed in the past under these kinds of conditions.

The challenges are really in how do you take this massive amount of data and then process them in a real-time or near real-time environment, he said. And after you go through the knowledge discovery part, having gone through the data acquisition and management part, how do you capture that learning, and those insights, into some sort of a decision support interface that can be used by the operator on the platform or somebody who is sitting in a control room in onshore office?

Whats Next?

ABS Groups Matt Mowrer, director of applied technology and data analytics, says that there are many applications for business analytics coming in the near future.

Mowrer said that the next step beyond predictive analytics is prescriptive analytics.

I really see that working on the risk side, where Im not just providing alarms to operators about anomalous conditions based on multiple data feeds, but actually giving them the recommended action to minimize the time it takes them to make the decision and also hopefully eliminate bad decisions, he said.

Also down the road, Mowrer sees the possibilities for the development of augmented reality for operations and maintenance workers, where they are in the physical environment and they have access to a virtual environment.

He said that, from a wearable technology perspective, such as Google glass, operations and maintenance workers can access maintenance procedures, and have an interface where they interact with equipment to minimize time spent troubleshooting or identifying tools and procedures.

Youre seeing these things on the consumer side, and I think theres some natural industrial applications for them, he said.

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Eco-warriors meet government authority on Ballina’s high seas – Echonetdaily

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By Mia Armitage

At least four of five North Coast shark nets were hauled from the ocean on Sunday after Sea Shepherd activists found two rays entangled off Lighthouse Beach in Ballina.

Marine scientist Scott Wallace said he saw two white spotted eagle rays caught when he dove with fellow Apex Harmony shark protection campaigner Zaid Dillon from Sea Shepherds inflatable raft, Grey Nurse.

They obviously havent checked the nets for a while, said captain Jonathan Clark when Mr Wallace confirmed one of the rays was dead and decomposing.

One of two rays found caught in shark nets off Ballina beaches. Photo Sea Shepherd

Mr Wallace was unsure how long it took the ray to reach its decomposition levels but guessed around two days.

A second caught ray, also believed to be a white spotted eagle ray, survived and Department of Primary Industries contractors cut the animal free from the net some twenty minutes later.

Captain Clark reminded all aboard Grey Nurse not to touch the shark nets lest DPI authorities issue a $22,000 fine to offenders.

Contractors aboard Wahoo removed nets from Lighthouse and Shelly Beaches around midday and said they had already taken nets out of the water at Sharpes Beach and Main Beach, Evans Head.

Theyll be out of the water all week, said one contractor, who appeared to be Wahoos captain but did not identify himself, weve got some bad weather coming.

He said a fifth net at Seven Mile Beach in Lennox Head was under another contractors responsibility and didnt know if it was to stay in the ocean.

One of the three men aboard Wahoo confirmed he was a DPI representative paid to observe the contractors at work, as stipulated in the DPIs North Coast Shark Management Plan.

DPI authorities hired local fishers to check shark nets at least twice daily but last month said poor weather was hampering regular inspection efforts.

Le-Ba Boardriders President Don Munro told press at the time weather had been predominantly fine and should not have stopped net checks while Ballina Councillor Keith Richardson said contractors were not being paid enough.

Nets were checked less than 1.5 times per day on average in the first two months of the NSW governments controversial North Coast Shark Net Trial with a third monthly report due this week.

Captain Clark, QLD co-ordinator for the Apex Harmony campaign, said activists planned to check nets again as soon as possible but he was pleased contractors had removed nets temporarily.

Were here to advocate for human and marine safety, he said, we want the most effective, non-lethal shark mitigation strategies possible and the shark net trial is not that.

A national senate inquiry into shark mitigation began in mid-February and Mr Clark said Apex Harmony campaigners had made a submission.

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Eco-warriors meet government authority on Ballina's high seas - Echonetdaily

Nobody at the NFL Combine is winning the island for their 40 time, sorry – SB Nation

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On-field workouts start Friday morning at the NFL Combine. Offensive linemen are up for the 40 first. Then, its the running backs, a group where were more likely to see a legitimate contender for beating Chris Johnsons record in the 40 and winning a private island from Adidas.

But heres the thing, nobodys winning that island.

If you read the fine print, Adidas can choose to swap out the island prize with a million dollars. Its a good bet thats what will happen.

Theres also the stipulation that a player has to wear Adidas cleats while running the 40. John Ross, who clocked in with an unofficial 4.22 time, was wearing Nikes:

John Ross runs a 4.22 unofficially. But no Adidas Island for Ross; he's wearing Nike shoes.

And maybe its for the better. Island living could be an expensive proposition by the time you figure in the costs of getting electricity, sewage, transportation, etc.

If a player can beat Johnsons record of 4.24 seconds, they can probably count on a spot in the draft and a professional contract which they can then use to buy their own island, probably a better one even. You can peruse the market for private islands here. A million bucks would actually go a long way toward a nice little starter island, one you could develop and sell when youre ready to move up to a bigger island with a walkout basement.

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Nobody at the NFL Combine is winning the island for their 40 time, sorry - SB Nation

New School Board President Believes Schools Belong to Communities – The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

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The nearly identical acronyms for the West Virginia Board of Education, WVBE, and West Virginia Department of Education, WVDE, are not the only perplexity within educations governing bodies, according to former state Delegate and newly appointed Board President Tom Campbell.

It is very easy in any conversation to say something about the B-E when someone else says, Dont you mean the D-E?

The confusion goes beyond phonics and into function.

If the Board is doing administration, and administration is doing administration Campbell proposes, trailing off to leave the results of those overlapping roles open to interpretation.

Campbell replaces former Board President Mike Green, who resigned Jan. 31. Campbell will remain in his leadership role until June 30, after which he is eligible to serve another year if he is re-elected.

In order to make the enduring changes he envisions, he may need the extra time.

Headlines proposing elimination of Regional Education Service Agencies, or RESAs, announcing county professional and service staff cuts, questioning the effectiveness of state testing requirements and demanding the death of the A-F school rating system make calling this a time of transition a gross understatement. In order to be at the forefront of effective change, Campbell underscores the need for internal and external clarification of both the boards and the departments roles.

It is important to me that the board should be setting and reviewing policy and getting at what policies are necessary, Campbell said.

Of his vision for the board, made up of nine voting members appointed by the governor, Campbell sees a transition from running the system to writing it.

The department should be the administrative arm, he said, his strong feelings rising from experience. Not only was he the former House of Delegates Education Committee chairman, but he also served as the State Fair of West Virginia Board Advisory director.

Trimming education policy to what is essential wont be an easy task for the board, which now has a nice mix of both business and education professionals, according to Campbell.

We have 3,762 pages of policy Im an accountant, and I remember numbers, he said. A policy manual that big makes it very ineffective.

In addition to stripping policy down to what matters, relying more on communities to know what works best for their schools and students is important to Campbell, who has been actively discussing issues statewide with administrators, teachers and students. He appreciates the latter, especially for their candor on all education matters great and small, from instruction to cafeteria food.

If we can build on community and get that into our education system, if we can support the teachers by getting rid of confusion at the top and focusing on what works in the field, then we can have a stronger system, he said. The key is having effective teachers in effective environments where they are able to influence their students.

West Virginia is too diverse a state, geographically and otherwise, to respond to cookie-cutter approaches to education.

Everybody consolidates, but it will take more schools to foster a sense of community, he said. We have a school closing policy, but where is our school opening policy? There are some schools that will have to be closed just like there are churches and homes that sometimes have to be torn down, but if that is our sole focus, we have a problem.

I dont care who said it first, its right that it takes a community to raise a child.

A West Virginia University graduate, Campbell adds the disclaimer that he is both a Mountaineer and Thundering Herd supporter. He used a basketball analogy to explain the style of determination it will take to pull West Virginia out of its educational and financial slump.

Coach (Bob) Huggins knows he is not going to get the top talent, but he knows he can get a lot of pretty good talent to play all the time and press all the time, Campbell said. We have to get intentional, and thats one of the things a financial situation forces you to do.

Campbell was first appointed to the board by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in 2012. He was a chief financial president for Greenbrier County businessman Allen Carson, whom Campbell credits with always having encouraged his roles in public service. His love of education comes from a lifetime of being surrounded and likewise supported by educators. Campbells parents, as well as aunts and uncles, were educators, which may help to explain why he is passionate for teachers voices to be actively heard with timely responses.

What we have going for us is that we have some great educators in this state, and their stories need to be told, he said. As board president, I want to work with the other members to make the board transparent in its actions. Principals, parents, superintendents, teachers I want to hear from all of these. It is the people in our state who understand our education needs better than anybody.

Common sense often seems lost in legislation, however well-intentioned, Campbell points out. He gave the Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act passed by Congress in 2008 as an example. The act prompted the West Virginia Department of Education to enact an all-out ban of any traditional celebratory snack from the classroom. A proposed change, often called the cupcake bill, is frequently introduced in the West Virginia Legislature, and is again working its way through the legislative process this year.

Campbell says its a small example of what he calls a craving for common sense.

If a teacher knows a child is diabetic, they can accommodate special needs, Campbell said, adding that a cupcake ban also sends the message that parents, along with their desserts, are not welcome in schools.

Why not have parents in schools? We havent eliminated their involvement, but we havent fostered it, either, Campbell said.

Consolidation is another way he says community involvement has been hampered.

We looked at numbers on a piece of paper and said, too many schools. Now, children have longer bus rides and those with lower incomes are treated unfairly.

When other parents can drive their children and drop them off at the beginning of class, the lower income child has to get up very early.

More distant schools also distance parents from involvement, especially those who commute to work.

We dont talk about these issues because they dont fit into that neat mathematical formula, he said. There is research that children who have longer bus rides to school are less likely to go to college than kids with shorter bus rides.

Campbell said the decision to eliminate Smarter Balanced assessments stands as another step in the direction of common sense.

West Virginia schools will follow the tests required by the federal government, but not testing above and beyond, he said. Really, a flood of information is almost as bad as none at all.

Campbell said A-F grading of individual schools also caused myriad issues and will be a topic on the agenda of the next board meeting.

The former Golden Horseshoe winner says he realizes the various moving parts or entities making decisions affecting education will not always move in unison, but he relies on his faith in the West Virginia spirit to instill hope the same spirit that caused people around the state to rally to the aid of his fellow Greenbrier County neighbors following the 2016 floods.

As a state, we need to recognize the strength of our diversity versus trying to form people into the same image, he said. We need to support our schools and give them back to our communities.

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Colorado Likely To Benefit From Privatized Space Travel – CBS Local

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DENVER (CBS4) Its been 60 years since the first Earth satellite was launched into outer space. The Soviet Union sent Sputnik into orbit in 1957, triggering a space race with the United States. Now theres a new out-of-this-world mission and Colorado is helping lead the way.

More than four decades have flown by since humans were launched into space for a mission to the moon. Private company SpaceX is planning to change that by sending two people into space next year.

(credit: CBS)

I think this should be a really exciting mission that hopefully gets the world really excited about sending people into deep space again, said SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Reigniting space travel is also launching a new kind of space race no longer between countries like in the Sputnik era instead between private companies.

Theyre taking the ball from NASA, from government, which theyve partnered with, and theyre going to go do big things, said Phil Larson a former employee of SpaceX, and the assistant dean of University of Colorados School of Engineering and Applied Science.

(credit: CBS)

Larson says privatizing space travel is good news for Colorado.

New jobs, new industries, new technologies, Larson said.

Larson says Colorado is one of the main aerospace capitals of the world with numerous companies. Even schools, like CU, have developed numerous designs for NASA.

Phil Larson (credit: CBS)

Theyve launched instruments in spacecraft to every planet in the solar system and beyond, he said.

And with a new era of space exploration taking off, Colorado is on the leading edge, launching new opportunities for decades to come.

Its awesome to know that thats happening right here, in Colorado, in the United States and were helping lead the way in this new era in space. Its not just governments anymore, Larson said.

(credit: CBS)

In another Colorado space connection, students at Metropolitan State University of Denver will soon be building satellites. The school recently partnered with York Space Systems to move its headquarters into Metros new aerospace and engineering sciences building this summer.

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Would You Book A Flight To The Moon? – The Alternative Daily (blog)

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The countdown to space tourism is on. In 2018, if all goes well, two civilians will be taking off on a rocket ship built by SpaceX, the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk. The itinerary includes a lunar orbit and the commercial passengers are expected to log more than a week in space. The pair will travel 400,000 miles away from earth, the farthest anyone has gone from our planet since the Apollo moon missions of more than 40 years ago.

The SpaceX lunar venture represents a new phase in commercial space exploration. In the past, only government agencies like NASA and Roscosmos (the Russian Space Agency) had the resources to accomplish ambitious missions like landing men on the moon or launching an international space station.

Nowadays, however, entrepreneurs are entering the space race in a big way. There are plans for low-orbit vehicles, which would shuttle private citizens into space for a fee. Also, private inventors are competing for Google X prize money for building a robotic spacecraft capable of landing on the moon and transmitting signals back. Not to be outdone, Musk is boasting about sending humans to Mars by 2025.

Would you book a flight to the moon or beyond? Before you make a reservation, here are a few of the developments you need to know about.

Billionaire Elon Musk has always aimed high. In the process, hes achieved spectacular successes, but also significant failures. Two of his companys rockets have blown up. But, under his leadership, SpaceX also became the first private firm to build a vehicle that reached the International Space Station. In fact, SpaceX now has a contract with NASA to fly astronauts into orbit.

What animates Musk, apparently, is the desire to rekindle the spirit of exploration, adventure and human striving that fueled Americas space program in the 1960s. In a conference call with journalists explaining the SpaceX lunar mission, Musk said, What matters is the advancement of space exploration and exceeding the high-water mark that was set in 1969 with the Apollo program. And having a really exciting future in space that inspires the world.

Ultimately, the entrepreneur sees the moon as a base for further and deeper explorations of the final frontier. Indeed, Musk insists that his company will be ready to start sending humans to Mars in less than a decade. However, many experts believe landing people on the red planet in that short a timeframe is overly optimistic. However, most see Musks lunar expedition as being quite feasible within the next year or two.

Musk is not the only entrepreneur who wants to turn the dream of commercial space travel into a reality. Amazons Jeff Bezos is pursuing a program called Blue Origins, which also plans to get tourists into space within the next couple of years.

The key to both the Blue Origins and SpaceX initiatives are the idea of reusable rockets. Put simply, space crafts are extremely expensive to build and launch. In order for commercial spaceflight to work economically, it is essential to develop vehicles that can be used again and again.

The companies headed by Bezos and Musk are in a fierce competition to perfect reusable rockets. Blue Origin expects to test its orbital vehicle sometime in 2019. Those interested in reserving a seat for what promises to be an eleven-minute ride to the edge of outer space can learn more by clicking here.

Virgin Galactics Richard Branson is another billionaire determined to push the envelope when it comes to commercial space travel. The British entrepreneur is developing a fleet of five space crafts, which are designed to be air-launched from a mother aircraft.

The SpaceShipTwo, as the pioneering model is known, will ferry paying customers 68 miles above the earths surface, roughly six miles above the Krmn line, which is the boundary between the earths atmosphere and outer space. During the suborbital flight, passengers will enjoy several minutes of weightlessness before the reusable craft reenters the earths atmosphere. If all goes as planned, SpaceShipTwo will glide back to a runway like an airplane.

When it comes to commercial space travel, however, there are still bugs to be ironed out. In 2014, for instance, the first Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crashed in the Mojave Desert following crew error. One pilot was killed, but another survived. The next generation of the craft is being built. However, the company has declined to announce when its commercial fleet might be ready. Nevertheless, several high-profile adventurers, most notably actor Tom Hanks, cosmologist Stephen Hawking and actress Angelina Jolie have reportedly ponied up the $250,000 it costs to reserve a seat on the spacecraft.

The prospect of commercial space travel excites most people. In the past, only highly-trained astronauts had the opportunity to venture into outer space. In the future, ordinary people may be able to buy a roundtrip ticket to the moon. Of course, in the near term, the cost of even a suborbital flight will be prohibitive for most people. The going rate for an advance reservation is about $250,000.

Undoubtedly, the future of space travel is being shaped by individuals with extreme wealth. Only the well-off are likely to enjoy a flight into orbit anytime soon. Is this fair? In the short term, its probably inevitable. The government, faced with other spending priorities, is relying on the private sector to pick up the slack when it comes to space exploration. Indeed, many experts believe that private-public partnerships represent the future of space exploration. Most agree that this trend will accelerate during the Trump administration.

Nevertheless, its important that the development and exploration of space benefit not just the privileged few, but all of us. This was a point made by Dr. Edythe Weeks, a space expert, who I contacted by email. In her view, activities like space mining are likely to produce multi-trillionaires [but] without addressing the international issue of how space can be used to benefit all of humanity. In other words, unless the benefits of space exploration are spread more widely, there is likely to be resentment. Even if we travel to distant regions in space, we still will wrestle with potential injustice.

Other entrepreneurs, most notably Vulcan Aerospaces Paul Allen, have joined the space race too. Undoubtedly, these pioneers are driven by a mixture of ambition, competitiveness and a desire to write a new chapter in the history of space exploration. However, there are other deep-seated reasons why these individuals are so fiercely devoted to the cause of interplanetary travel.

To begin with, they are convinced that mankind is destined to venture beyond our own planet in search of new worlds and intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy. They also believe that humanity must seek and harness resources from other planets because ours are finite. In addition, they insist that space exploration is a necessary hedge against a species extinction event caused by nuclear war, global warming or an asteroid hit.

Someday soon, space travel may be as routine as boarding a flight to another continent. Since the dawning of our species, humans have been fascinated by flight and the skies above us. There is a yearning to escape the bounds of the earth and venture upwards and outwards. Interestingly, scientists say that the atoms in our bodies were forged in a solar explosion that occurred eons ago. As we travel into outer space we are, in a very real sense, seeking to discover both our origins and our destiny.

Would you book a flight to outer space? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Scott OReilly

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Would You Book A Flight To The Moon? - The Alternative Daily (blog)

See How This House Was 3D Printed in Just 24 Hours – Singularity Hub

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3D printing is being used to produce more and more novel items: tools, art, even rudimentary human organs. What all those items have in common, though, is that theyre small. The next phase of 3D printing is to move on to things that are big. Really big. Like, as big as a house.

In a small town in western Russia called Stupino, a 3D printed house just went up in the middle of winter and in a days time.

Pieces of houses and bridges have been 3D printed in warehouses or labs then transported to their permanent locations to be assembled, but the Stupino house was printed entirely on-site by a company called Apis Cor. They used a crane-sized, mobile 3D printer and a specially-developed mortar mix and covered the whole operation with a heated tent.

The 38-square-meter (409-square-foot) house is circular, with three right-angled protrusions allowing for additional space and division of the area inside. Counter-intuitively, the houses roof is completely flat. Russias not known for mild, snow-free winters. Made of welded polymer membranes and insulated with solid plates, the roof was designed to withstand heavy snow loads.

Apis Cor teamed up with partners for the houses finishing details, like insulation, windows, and paint. Samsung even provided high-tech appliances and a TV with a concave-curved screen to match the curve of the interior wall.

According to the company, the houses total building cost came to $10,134, or approximately $275 per square meter, which equates to about $25 per square foot. A recent estimate put the average cost of building a 2,000 square foot home in the US at about $150 per square foot.

Since these houses are affordable and fast to build, is it only a matter of time before were all living in 3D printed concrete circles?

Probably notor, at least, not until whole apartment buildings can be 3D printed. The Stupino house would be harder (though not impossible) to plop down in the middle of a city than in the Russian countryside.

While cities like Dubai are aiming to build more 3D printed houses, what many have envisioned for the homes of the future are environmentally-friendly, data-integrated smart buildings, often clad with solar panels and including floors designated for growing food.

Large-scale 3D printing does have some very practical applications, though. Take disaster relief: when a hurricane or earthquake destroys infrastructure and leaves thousands of people without shelter, 3D printers like Apis Cors could be used to quickly rebuild bridges, roads, and homes.

Also, given their low cost and high speed, 3D printed houses could become a practical option for subsidized housing projects.

In the US, tiny houses have been all the rage among millennials latelywhat if that tiny house could be custom-printed to your specifications in less than a week, and it cost even less than youd budgeted?

Since software and machines are doing most of the work, theres less margin for human errorgone are the days of the subcontractor misread the blueprint, and now we have three closets and no bathrooms!

While houses made by robots are good news for people looking to buy a basic, low-cost house, they could be bad news for people employed in the construction industry. Machines have been pouring concrete for decades, but technologies like Apis Cors giant printer will take a few more human workers out of the equation.

Nonetheless, the company states that part of their mission is to change the construction industry so that millions of people will have an opportunity to improve their living conditions.

Banner Image Credit: Apis Cor

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See How This House Was 3D Printed in Just 24 Hours - Singularity Hub

Ascension Academy’s Jeff Zheng wins Regional Spelling Bee – Amarillo.com

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As the competition went on, the words got tougher and tougher.

But, in the end, Ascension Academys Jeff Zheng outlasted 15 other competitors over 35 rounds plus the championship word to win the 69th Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday at the Region 16 Education Service Center. Zheng, 12, moves on to the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., for Bee Week, beginning May 28 and culminating in the nationally televised competition.

Zhengs championship word was monstrosity, which he spelled just after bifocals.

My last five words were the most difficult, Zheng said.

Eli Alley, 12, almost got stuck on the word wiseacre, which he didnt know before the competition. But now that the Buffalo, Okla., student knows its definition, Alley thinks its an apropos self-descriptor.

I like that word, he said. I feel like I could be described that way sometimes.

Alley placed second in the competition after faltering on the word imitate. He improved after last years fourth-place finish and says hes ready to compete and win next year.

I find spelling fun because you get to learn new words that youve never heard before, he said. It gives you a feeling of relief when theres a word you dont know but someone else gets that word. Sometimes it feels unfair because someone gets such an easy word and youre stuck with a word you had to guess on.

Perrytons Nicholas Battin won third place and said he loves the challenge of competing. Battin says he was eliminated in the third round during his last trip to the Regional Spelling Bee, so this time he studied for about two-and-a-half hours a day.

There are some words that I struggle with that have weird spellings; those I have to constantly spell, Battin said.

Kinley Rehder from Shattuck, Okla., said she started competitively spelling about three years ago.

The first year I tried out, I came here and got fourth place, she said. I love the meanings and definitions of words.

Rehder, the last girl standing at this years Bee, said her biggest challenge is learning to slow down and take her time. She was eliminated on the word lulled.

Some of the junior spelling champions from the regions counties were also in attendance.

Storm Heger, whose favorite word is contraband, traveled with his family from Hugoton, Kan., to watch big sister Gillian compete.

Some words are challenging but I usually just look them up on the internet or in the dictionary, Storm said. Theres nothing I cant overcome.

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Ascension Academy's Jeff Zheng wins Regional Spelling Bee - Amarillo.com

Freshman academy projects ‘moving along’ at two Ascension Parish … – The Advocate

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New classroom buildings for freshmen are steadily going up on the campuses of two Ascension Parish public high schools mostly untouched by the August flood.

Work on the freshman academies at East Ascension and Dutchtown high schools, both of which escaped flooding, came to a halt for two or three weeks after the flood while construction workers dealt with their own flood-damaged homes, said Travis Parker, the school district's project manager for the academies.

But in the months since, "We've been back to full force and moving along," Parker said.

The two freshman academies, each approximately 38,000 square feet, broke ground in fall 2015 and are expected to open for students in spring 2018, he said.

On the campus of East Ascension High on Worthey Street in Gonzales, the $17 million Freshman Academy project, paid for by sales tax revenues and a 2009 bond issue, includes a new kitchen and cafeteria/auditorium, which will serve the entire student body.

About 70 percent complete, the Freshman Academy is a two-story, free-standing building that will tie into the main school building by walkways.

The freshman building will incorporate the colors and textures of the existing school, in an updated look for the East Ascension High campus, which opened in 1965, Parker said.

The $12.8 million Freshman Academy at Dutchtown High, on La. 73, will be almost identical to the main school building, one of the newer schools in the district, which opened in 2002 and recently had its cafeteria expanded.

The freshman building, funded by sales tax revenues and about 40 percent complete, will tie into the main school building on both its first and second floors, Parker said.

The Ascension Parish school district has, for several years, had a "freshman academy" program in each of its four high schools, three on the east bank and one on the west bank, with freshmen having the same group of teachers throughout the day, intervention for those who are struggling and their own associate principal.

The new freshman academy buildings, each designed for 600 freshmen, give ninth-graders their own space and ease overcrowding in the three east bank high schools.

+11

ST. AMANT A two-story classroom building just for ninth-graders is being built on the camp

In February, the opening of the school district's first Freshman Academy at St. Amant High on La. 431 was instrumental in the student body's return to the campus.

St. Amant High students, who after the flood had been going to school at host site Dutchtown High in the afternoon hours, are back at their home campus in temporary classroom buildings and the Freshman Academy.

+14

ST. AMANT For the past six months, St. Amant High students have carried on the school year

The freshman buildings are a way "to help students move from the eighth grade, where they are on top, to high school, where they are beginning anew," Lisa Bacala, director of secondary education for the school district, has said.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Freshman academy projects 'moving along' at two Ascension Parish ... - The Advocate

LGBT Ascension Party moves to Asbury Park this August – Out In Jersey

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The Ascension LGBT Party, which has been located on Fire Island Pines in Long Island and more recently inMykonos Greece is coming to the Asbury Park beach and New Jersey this August.

Organizers say attendees come from around the world. This year in Asbury Park the party organizers say there will be 14 deejays spinning at 11 different locations between August 4-6, 2017 in the city. The main location will be the primary hotel host Asbury Hotel on Kingsley Avenue. The Asbury Hotel is justa short two blocks from the famous beach and Boardwalk. The Saturday Celebration party will take place at the renovated Asbury Lanes, which is adjacent to the hotel, according to Ascension organizers.

The fest was staged at Mykonos Greece for the past two years, Organizers are glad to bring it back to the states. We are thrilled to bring Ascension back to the states this year, said Eric von Kuersteiner. He launched the Ascension Party back in 2006 in Long Island. Ascension is going to bring thousands of visitors from all over the tri-state area as well as the world to Asbury [Park]. It will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the local businesses to thousands of new visitors.

Ascension is an LGBT charity event and the organizers say that 100 percent of proceeds raised this year will be donated to Asbury Park and other local LGBTcharities.

For more information visit http://www.ascensionparty.com.

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LGBT Ascension Party moves to Asbury Park this August - Out In Jersey

Jeff Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Plans for Private Space Exploration – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Jeff Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Plans for Private Space Exploration
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The burgeoning space-transportation company owned by Amazon.com Inc. chairman Jeff Bezos this week is expected to announce some customers and new initiatives, the latest step toward its long-term goal of building rockets powerful enough to penetrate ...
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Why choose to go to the moon? Trump changes commercial space calculationsGeekWire
The Trump administration has unleashed a lunar gold rushArs Technica
Politico -SpaceX -Washington Post
all 229 news articles »

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Jeff Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Plans for Private Space Exploration - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

DMNW Selects: Uplifting Trance For The Broken Heart – Dance Music Northwest

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You know what sucks? The feeling of defeat. You invest your time, your energy, your heart into something. into someone. Only for it all to get crushed. How do you bounce back from that? How do you bounce back from such heartbreak; froma loss?

We each have our own, unique way of coping with those feelings; some of us able to heal faster than others. In the world of trance music, DJs and producers have used their tools of the trade to uplift, creating spine-chilling tracks aimed to inspire and remind us to never lose love and hope when times get tough. While dealing with defeat is never easy, here are some uplifting trance songs that may providing healing and inspiration; lessons in love and hope that tell us it will all be OK.

Dont Give Up RAM & Chris Metcalfe feat. Natalie Gioia

One of the best when it comes to uplifting trance, RAM teams up with Chris Metcalfe and vocalist Natalie Gioia to deliver this beauty of a song. The action is steady in the beginning, but when the breakdown comes- goosebumps! The song title says it all: never give up on your dreams, a messaged reinforced by Gioias wonderful presence. Even if your dream is broken, dont give up. Its not the end.

Hope Mike van Fabio & Alex Van Reeve feat. Geert Huinink and Kim Kiona

Huininks orchestral melodies and Kim Kionas angelic vocals will send chills down your spine as this songinspires us to keep on pushing, no matter how hard things may get, no matter the hurt. As Kiona beautifully says, let us win this fight, together.

Saving Light Gareth Emery and Standerwick feat. HALIENE

The first trance song to top Beatports Top 100 charts for the first time in overfive years, Saving Light creates an emotion that feels better than almost all others: hope. The wish that no matter how bad things are going right now, tomorrow you can smile. The song pulls at the heart strings, and the video? Well, check it out!

Its In Your Heart (Acoustic Version) David Gravell feat. CHRISTON

One of our trance artists to watch in 2017, David Gravell ditches his signature progressive, big room style in favor of a piano, delivering a smooth melody that reminds to keep going after hope, no matter how foolish it may seem, or how brokenhearted we are. So dont back down, my love, its in your heart, its in your blood right now.

All Gone (RAM Uplifitng Mix) Andy Moor & RAM feat. Christina Novelli

RAM makes another appearance on our list- this time, joining forces with Andy Moor and famed trance vocalist Christina Novelli to remind us that when the lights die out, when we feel lost, to not lose our way.

A Thing Called Love Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford

ThisA&B classic says it best: You live your life just once, so dont forget about a thing called love. Love is one of the most important and powerful forces we have in our planet. Dont give up on it even when it may feel like its given up on you.

What song uplifts you? Trance Family, what songs should we add to the list? Drop a comment below!

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DMNW Selects: Uplifting Trance For The Broken Heart - Dance Music Northwest

The cyberpunk revolution begins with video games – Engadget

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Take the ID@Xbox showcase for example. Of the 20 games on display, at least half are set in sci-fi worlds or feature dystopian themes (or both), including Tacoma, Tokyo 42, Tower 57, Songbringer and Aven Colony. However, two titles in particular encapsulate the raw, gritty future that's a staple of the cyberpunk genre: Ruiner by Polish studio Reikon and >observer_ by Bloober Team.

Ruiner is basically Hotline Miami in a 3D, Ghost in the Shell-style world. It's the year 2091; corrupt corporations and government officials rule a cold, technologically advanced society. In the introductory tutorial, the screen glitches out at odd intervals as instructions flood the environment, instructing players to "Kill Boss" while they run down metal hallways filled with hostile security forces. It's heart-pounding, rapid-fire gameplay in a distinctly cyberpunk setting, with incredibly satisfying shooting mechanics.

Meanwhile, >observer_ takes a more psychological approach to the sci-fi genre, throwing players in a horrific world where corporations control everything and advanced technology is reserved only for the elite. Ordinary citizens live in squalor, while government agents patrol the streets, able to hack people's minds as they see fit. This is full-on dystopian cyberpunk.

The Indie Megabooth also showcased a disproportionate amount of sci-fi. Six of the 12 games feature cosmic or cyberpunk-inspired settings, including _transfer, a dark, text-based adventure where players type commands into a program as they attempt to figure out why the world is ending, and Rogue Process, a sci-fi platformer about a hacker on the hunt for corporate secrets.

The video game industry's renewed push for cyberpunk is not only exciting -- it makes sense. The past few years of mainstream gaming have been dominated by fantasy franchises including Skyrim, Diablo, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Dragon Age and The Witcher, and it's about time the pendulum swung in the other, more futuristic direction. Recent big-name games like Halo Wars 2, Horizon Zero Dawn and the coming release of Mass Effect: Andromeda signal the beginning of this new sci-fi, cyberpunk cycle.

Plus, the world's eyes are on the video game industry as virtual reality hardware enters the homes of everyday consumers worldwide. For decades, VR has represented "the future" of video games -- and the vision of a technologically advanced society in general -- and, suddenly, it's here. The future is now. It isn't surprising that developers across the globe are thinking about "the future" within games themselves, inspired by the virtual environments now at our fingertips.

Advances in technology feed the video game creation process just as innovative games fuel the production of new hardware. The shift toward a more gritty, cyberpunk trend in the video game industry makes perfect sense given the current political, social and technological climate in the world today. These themes of corporate cruelty and tense class disparities reflect conversations happening in cities and towns everywhere, every day. Cyberpunk is a reflection of society's deepest fears and its greatest hopes for the future; in a time of rapid technological advancement and political upheaval, people -- including game developers -- are looking for the best way forward while imagining the dire consequences of choosing the wrong path.

Cyberpunk is back, baby.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from GDC 2017!

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The cyberpunk revolution begins with video games - Engadget

Brokerages Anticipate Edap Tms SA (EDAP) to Post $0.01 Earnings Per Share – The Cerbat Gem

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Brokerages Anticipate Edap Tms SA (EDAP) to Post $0.01 Earnings Per Share
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Edap Tms SA logo Shares of Edap Tms SA (NASDAQ:EDAP) have earned a consensus broker rating score of 1.00 (Strong Buy) from the one analysts that provide coverage for the stock, Zacks Investment Research reports. One research analyst has rated the ...

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Brokerages Anticipate Edap Tms SA (EDAP) to Post $0.01 Earnings Per Share - The Cerbat Gem

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Columbus Statue Removed at Pepperdine Bow to Political Correctness – The New American

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Pepperdine University, a Christian liberal arts college located in southern California, is the latest institution of higher education to join in the trashing of Christopher Columbus.

Pepperdines president, Andrew Benton, bowed to the wishes of a minority of the student population when he announced January 30 that a statue of Columbus Columbus on the Malibu campus would be removed and sent to Pepperdines Florence, Italy, campus. Benton explained his decision by saying stories of conquest and the art associated therewith are painful reminders of loss and human tragedy. The statue was removed last month.

The statue had been donated to the university in 1992 upon the 500th anniversary of Columbus discovery of the New World by Columbus 500 Congress. No doubt the group mistakenly believed that Pepperdine, with its reputation as a conservative Christian college, would appreciate the man responsible for first bringing the Christian faith to the New World.

Speaking publicly about the decision, Benton defended the statues removal. I did not expect it to be popular. I didnt do it to be popular. I did it because I believed it was the right thing to do.

A small group of vocal students demanded the statues removal from the schools amphitheater, calling it a celebration of genocide and racial oppression.

In an official statement, the university argued that Bentons decision recognizes the importance of compromise in creating a campus culture of unity and inclusiveness.

Kaitlyn Pfingston, a graduate student spoke against the statues removal at a recent campus meeting on the subject, and particularly took issue with Benton calling it a compromise, saying, Thats a concession. Its not a compromise. Where is there any kind of compromise? Hes either removing [the statue] or hes not.

Pfingston also took issue with the assertion that Columbus was an instigator of genocide, and said that Bentons action supports that false impression. By [Benton] conceding [he] is effectively saying that those claims are accurate. And what that actually does is prevent other students who have the same opinion as me from speaking out because they dont want to be labeled bigoted or indifferent to human suffering or indifferent to indigenous populations.

Jens Cole, a junior at Pepperdine, dismissed the argument that most students were either indifferent to Bentons action, or actually opposed it. I think you have to pay respect to the people who were siding toward it being offensive and inappropriate.

Really? What would Cole think about offending those who see Columbus as a symbol of the good of Western Civilization? Why are their feelings and views not as important as those who wanted the statue removed?

Hannah Fleming, another student at Pepperdine, illustrates why the Left will never be satisfied, and will always find something else to be offended about. While she admitted that most people are indifferent, Fleming, who said she grew up on an Indian reservation, even opposed the decision to send the statue to Italy, arguing that removing [the statue] but still having it associated with the university is a little bit controversial.

The denigration of Christopher Columbus by secular progressive universities is unfortunate enough, but for a Christian university to jump on the trash Western Civilization bandwagon is particularly disturbing. The college is associated with the very conservative churches of Christ in the United States, and was founded in 1937 in south central Los Angeles by George Pepperdine, and moved to Malibu after some radicals in the 1960s threatened to burn down the campus. Pepperdine had earned his fortune with the Western Auto Supply company, begun with an investment of only $5. When he founded the college, he said he had two major objectives. First, we want to provide first-class, fully accredited academic training in the liberal arts.

Secondly, we are especially dedicated to a greater goal (emphasis added) that of building in the student a Christ-like life, a love for the church, and a passion for the souls of mankind. (Emphasis added.)

Ironically, this was the very goal shared by the man that the present president of Pepperdine has decided to trash Christopher Columbus.

While depicted in modern popular culture as a man motivated primarily for gold and spices, this was only a part of his larger motivation. It was his desire to find enough wealth to finance a crusade to free the Holy Land from Islamic domination and conquer the Holy Sepulcher [Christs empty tomb]; for this I urged Your Highnesses, Columbus told King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, to spend all the profitsfrom this enterprise on the conquest of Jerusalem. (Emphasis added.)

The Muslims had conquered Constantinople in 1453, completing their multigenerational conquest of the Christian world in the East, including the Byzantine Empire and the lands where Jesus had lived, died, and risen from the dead. Columbus, after careful study of the Old and New Testaments, along with some readings in the works of the historian Flavius Josephus, and the noted church father Augustine, had concluded that the city of Jerusalem needed to be in Christian hands before the Lord would return.

Specifically, Columbus believed the biblical prophecies would dictate the reconstruction of the Temple first. And Columbus was convinced that his present mission was part of the overall plan of God to see this was accomplished.

Columbus did not set out from Spain to enslave American Indians, since he was ignorant of their very existence. After reading of the travels of the Venetian Marco Polo, Columbus was inspired to reach the Grand Khan, the Mongol ruler of China. The Chinese monarchs had expressed to Polos family some interest in the Christian faith, leading Columbus to hope for the conversion of China, so they could then combine forces and drive the Muslims out of the Holy Land.

In other words, Andrew Benton, president of Pepperdine, a college founded with a passion for the souls of mankind, has removed the statue of the man who shared that passion.

Nationally conservative syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager, who launched a petition (which has garnered over 10,000 signatures) to keep the statue at Pepperdine, said, speaking of Pepperdine, Once regarded as one of the few sensible universities in the country, that appears to be a thing of the past. They have gone Left. They are getting rid of their statue of Christopher Columbus for reasons of diversity. The university presidents letter of explanation is an embarrassing bow down to political correctness.

Benton said that the statue was a painful reminder of loss and human tragedy, but Prager disagreed, saying he believed that Christopher Columbus should be venerated for his brave and heroic expedition. Columbus daring journey to North America led to the creation of the freest and most prosperous nation in human history.

William Fowler, a history professor at Northeastern University, took issue with Bentons comments about Columbus. The issue of genocide is a term [Columbus] would not have understood. To be guilty of genocide [Columbus] would have had to have intent. What evidence do we have of his intent to commit genocide?

On the contrary, Columbus intent was to take the gospel to Asia, and when he first arrived in the islands off the coast of North America, he believed he had reached the outskirts of Asia. No logical person could believe that his intent to was to commit genocide upon the very people he was hoping to convert to Christ, and help European Christians re-take the Holy Land.

Considering that Columbus died in 1506, it is difficult to argue that he was responsible for any genocidal activity which took place after that date. As George Grant wrote in The Last Crusader: The Untold Story of Christopher Columbus, To be sure there were perverse abuses ... but heap all that upon the shoulders of one man a man who unleashed upon the Americans far more good than woe is patently absurd.... Far from being a racist, he proved time after time to be overly enamored with the native populations he encountered.

While the Spanish no doubt were guilty of abuses, they did not commit genocide in the New World. The biggest killer of the indigenous population was not the sword of the conquistadores, but rather smallpox and measles. While Columbus certainly unwittingly made this possible by achieving contact with peoples of the Western Hemisphere, he can hardly be held responsible for it. Nor could other Europeans who followed him, who had no understanding of the transmission of these diseases.

Soon after his contact with the native peoples, Columbus wrote, I believe that they would become good Christians very quickly.

That hardly sounds like a man who wished to commit genocide, nor does it sound like a man that the president of a college founded out of passion for the souls of mankind would want to denigrate.

Steve Byas is a professor of history at Randall University, a liberal arts college in Moore, Oklahoma, associated with the Free Will Baptist denomination. He has written on Columbus and other historical figures he believes have been unfairly treated in modern times in his book Historys Greatest Libels.

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Columbus Statue Removed at Pepperdine Bow to Political Correctness - The New American

Why ‘rage is not a policy’ – Washington Times

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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF SOCIAL ORDER: CHRONICLING THE RISE OF THE PRISTINE SELF

By Howard S. Schwartz

Palgrave McMillan, $99.99, 199 pages

We usually think of the culture wars as being a competition between the broad groups we currently call progressives, and conservatives, each of which has a general concept of a just society. While they intensely disagree, each group understands the others goals. Historically, each has tried to win people over; remember the old 1960s demonstrators approach, are you aware of the students ten demands? May I give you a copy? Lately, though, we see rebelliousness without goals, and the careful honing of the sensibilities to a level of refinement that can perceive the remotest connection to an offense, real, intentional, or not. We, left and right alike, drape a blanket called political correctness over it all, and sit, baffled, as though we tuned in late and missed most of the plot. Butch Cassidy summed it up for us: who are those guys?

Rage is not a policy. So said Tom Brokaw on the Feb. 23, 2017 edition of Morning Joe. He was talking about the Berkeley students rioting to block a controversial speaker from the campus. They are privileged people at that university. Mr. Brokaw said, and they cant hear somebody who comes and has a message [contrary to their ideas]? I think its outrageous The 2016 mess at Mizzou was somehow triggered by: a drunken white lout who used a slur in a black gathering; an anti-gay insult; and an anonymously drawn swastika in human feces. Oberlin College was overwrought over a non-existent Klansman and a racist and anti-Semitic prank played by students who said they were trolling. Yale melted down over opinions about Halloween costumes. Occupy Wall Street occupied space and made noise but never presented a set of demands at all. There are more. Who are those guys?

Howard S. Schwartz thinks he knows them and offers to make an introduction by means of a fascinating book titled, Political Correctness and the Destruction of Social Order: Chronicling the Rise of the Pristine Self. Mr. Schwartz uses psychoanalytic techniques to explain perplexing recent politically correct phenomena. He theorizes that we are seeing the actions of a kind of narcissist that demands that all contacts from the world at large be loving nurturing, and affirming, and who believes such a state of affairs to be a right, of which he or she has been deprived by the social structure.

Such people subconsciously wish to live in the imaginary state of infants who receive all nurture and protection from the mother. This state of affairs, which never existed outside of infantile perception, can only exist if the entire world is maternally nurturing and loving to them as opposed to being objective and demanding or even, merely indifferent. It is also atomistic because each such person wishes to be the center of the loving world.

However, the world in reality is objective, demanding and indifferent. Such people, therefore mistrust and even hate all social structure, seeing it as being inherently oppressive. Society to them is not an organically developed and positive, if flawed, system of guidelines, and agreed norms of behavior, but rather something wrongfully imposed, that blocks the maternal nurturing world they seek and steals from them their personal freedom and uniqueness. This they unconsciously and symbolically identify with the paternal principle. Hence they deeply resent and feel rage towards the patriarchal system, (and of course, white males), they attack toxic masculinity, and they seek to pull down the existing cultural structure without anything to replace it. After all, a replacement social structure is in fact, just another social structure.

The beliefs of such people take a religious quality. Therefore, what opposes them is evil. White males, as the creators/beneficiaries of the patriarchal system, and of white privilege, are the source of the evil. They and their works must be rooted out, even at the loss of the basic conventions necessary for people to interact. Consider the University of Washington, Takoma, which finds that grammatical standards are racist and must die. So much for laws, contracts, scholarship and even love letters.

Mr. Schwartz plentiful examples in the book, including several mentioned above, begin to make sense under his analysis. If he is right, the challenge for progressives and conservatives of good will is this: how does one compromise with people who have no program to propose? What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Joseph Sullivan chairs the advisory board for the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas.

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Why 'rage is not a policy' - Washington Times

Why John Howard thinks Australians are sick of political correctness … – Starts at 60

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John Howard reckons there are two issues that helped Donald Trump win over American voters, and theyre ones the former prime minister closely identifies with himself,

Political correctness and identity politics were key to Trumps success, Howard told a corporate crowd at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney yesterday, Fairfax Newsreported.

Americans, like Australians, are resentful of the avalanche of political correctness, Howard said.

I think political correctness has become a problem in Western societies, weve become far too apologetic about our Western identity and anything thats a sense of some kind of defence of cultural traditionalism or national identity is in many ways frowned upon, Fairfaxreported him as saying.

Meanwhile, the Democrats suffered from an excess of identity politics, he said, apparently a reference to the fact that Hillary Clinton, Trumps presidential election rival, came with a loaded history in politics that was offputting to many voters.

There is nothing new about people who are economically insecure or dispossessed trying to reach out to some sort of new champion, he said.

The Australian reported from the same event that Howard noted Australia was going through a very challenging stage politically, in which a fragmented Senate was making it difficult for prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to push through legislation, as it did for predecessor Tony Abbott.

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Why John Howard thinks Australians are sick of political correctness ... - Starts at 60

Scientists debunk evolution of bipedalism in dinosaurs – The Hindu

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The Hindu
Scientists debunk evolution of bipedalism in dinosaurs
The Hindu
Big muscles in the tails of early dinosaurs helped them move about on all fours and rise up on just their two back feet, new research suggests. Bipedalism in dinosaurs was inherited from ancient and much smaller proto-dinosaurs. The trick to this ...
Evolution of bipedalism in ancient dinosaur ancestorsScience Daily

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Scientists debunk evolution of bipedalism in dinosaurs - The Hindu