Istuary Innovation Group and Bluewrist Partner to Bring Robotics and Automation into China’s Manufacturing Sector – Yahoo Finance

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MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Today, Istuary Innovation Group (Istuary) and Bluewrist Inc. (Bluewrist) will enter into a new agreement to bring industrial robotics automation solutions to the Chinese market. On February 16th, at a signing ceremony and technical demonstration at Bluewrists Markham headquarters, representatives from both companies will be on hand to demonstrate the leading-edge technology that has been used and successfully deployed in North America for over 10 years.

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Istuary Toronto Capital confirmed the $2M investment in Bluewrist will be its first into the emerging robotics technology and represents both entities strong intention and ability to bring the cutting-edge technology to a new, expansive market. China is a massive market with great opportunity for Canadian technology companies, and this partnership, based on Istuarys glocalization principles, takes a fresh approach to how Canadian companies can access new markets while maintaining Canadian operations and securing IP protection.

Bluewrist is a recognized leader in the development and delivery of robotic and vision solutions that deliver efficiency and cost reduction to production. Over the past 10 years, Bluewrist has secured a solid base in North America. Todays announcement with Istuary Innovation Group signals our intention to pursue the massive Chinese market and we are confident that their in-country capacity and complementary engineering capability will accelerate our collective success, states Najah Ayadi, CEO of Bluewrist.

As a brand partner of Istuary Innovation Group, Istuary Toronto Capital is in the unique position to help Bluewrist leverage Istuary Innovation Groups broad spectrum of technological capabilities and proven ability to penetrate the Chinese market.

We are extremely proud to work with Bluewrist to bring a much-awaited technology to a market that Istuary has proven success. Istuary has access to more than 1,000 key human resources at 17 locations in China with well-connected services in marketing business development, in-service support and other key services accessible to its partners. We plan to leverage these key capabilities to bring to market a successful partnership with Bluewrist into China through this investment, says Alex Wang, Managing Partner of Istuary Toronto Capital.

About Istuary Innovation Group Istuary Innovation Group is a Canadian technology company with a mission to connect local technology to global markets through glocalization for sustainable innovation. Headquartered in Vancouver, Istuary Innovation Group is led by founder and chairman, Ethan Sun and focuses on identifying and filling technology gaps in foreign markets by leveraging Canadas world class design and engineering talent. The company specializes in high-barrier technologies, moving from digital solutions to intelligent solutions. Istuary Innovation Group now operates in 3 countries, 24 cities, employing 1500 employees worldwide. For more information visit http://www.istuary.com.

About Istuary Toronto Capital Istuary Toronto Capital is a brand partner of Istuary Innovation Group. It was founded in 2015 and specializes in investing in Canadian technology companies with the aim of adding strategic value by helping on commercialization success in fast growing markets.

About Bluewrist Inc Bluewrist offers innovative industrial automation solutions and products in the areas of robotics and machine vision, including robotic guidance, bin-picking, flexible inspection, 3D scanning and robot calibration. Our leading technologies are implemented in many manufacturing facilities helping our customers to increase their efficiency, improve their production quality and reduce their operating costs. Its trademarked products are used by major tier one manufacturing companies in more than 6 countries. For more info, go to http://www.bluewrist.com.

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Istuary Innovation Group and Bluewrist Partner to Bring Robotics and Automation into China's Manufacturing Sector - Yahoo Finance

Hollysys Automation Technologies Reports Unaudited Financial Results for the First Half Year and the Second Quarter … – PR Newswire (press release)

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- Total revenues were $202.7 million, a decrease of 27.1% compared to the comparable prior year period.

- Non-GAAP gross margin was at 29.2%, compared to 39.6% for the comparable prior year period.

- Non-GAAP diluted EPS were at $0.56, a decrease of 47.2% compared to the comparable prior year period.

- Net cash provided by operating activities was $54.1 million for the current period.

- DSO of 203 days, compared to 158 days for the comparable prior year period.

- Inventory turnover days of 48 days, compared to 38 days for the comparable prior year period.

Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Highlights

- Non-GAAP net income attributable to Hollysys was $11.0 million, a decrease of 70.1% compared to the comparable prior year period.

- Total revenues were $99.1 million, a decrease of 35.1% compared to the comparable prior year period.

- Non-GAAP gross margin was at 28.7%, compared to 39.8% for the comparable prior year period.

- Non-GAAP diluted EPS were at $0.18, a decrease of 70.5% compared to the comparable prior year period.

- Net cash provided by operating activities was $36.2 million for the current quarter.

- DSO of 208 days, compared to 138 days for the comparable prior year period.

- Inventory turnover days of 52 days, compared to 34 days for the comparable prior year period.

BEIJING, Feb 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: HOLI) ("Hollysys" or the "Company"), a leading provider of automation and control technologies and applications in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fiscal year 2017 the second quarter ended on Dec 31, 2016 (see attached tables).

Industrial Automation (IA) has been developing to the short-term target, which was trying to alleviate continuously declining. Through actively traced our customers' new demands under adjusting circumstance, we got several significant contracts. For example, in power, we signed the contract to provide products for Yuneng Hengshan 2X1000MW power units, Datang Pingluo 2X660MW power units and Yangmei Xishangzhuang 2X660MW power units. In chemical, we provided DCS and Batch for BASF chemical company. In petrochemical, we won the contract to provide products to a halite project which will produce 1 million tons soda ash per year. In nuclear power, we continued to provide DCS for Hongyanhe #5 & #6 units and Tianwan #5 & #6 units.

For Factory Automation (FA), after by changing strategies from selling products to provide solutions to customers we did have some progress such as Hair project to help the customer improve the level of automation and Intelligence of their Tianjin-based factory which focuses on wash machine, integrated internal resources to improve the production. Others new sub-vertical trials such as Hai Di Lao Hot Pot project helped the customer to improve their efficiency of hot pot based making in the restaurant which is the first food area project under FA customizations. We also provide supervisory control and data analyzing software integration solutions to "China Model Factory" jointly established by Tsinghua University and McKinsey & Company. The project is to raise the level of factory's productivity, digitalization and intelligence in China. Hollysys aim to make each project into a demonstration project and create values to the customers.

In high-speed railway, due to the negative impact from delaying ATP contract, the performance of high-speed railway for this quarter was less than satisfactory. In addition, since it is the first year for the 13th five-year-plan, the infrastructure of new planned railway is just started. Therefore, in short term, the performance of high speed rail segment was fluctuated. However, from long run, according to the mid and long term plan of high-speed railway and with the increase of the after sell and new products launching, we think the sector will recover in future. For subway, we stick to our strategy to expand new cities. For this quarter, we signed the contract to provide SCADA for Wuhan Subway Line 21.

In the mechanical and electrical installation services, although Concord and Bond are facing some difficulties because of the local political and economic uncertainties in South East Asia and Middle East area, they are still hard working to develop businesses. For example, Concord won the contract to provide SCADA for Macau LRT phase 1. As one of the strategies to expand overseas market, we will ensure a healthy development of Concord and Bond and take use of their advantages such as good customer relations and sales channels to find more international opportunities.

First Half Year and the Second Quarter Ended December 31, 2016 Unaudited Financial Results Summary

To facilitate a clear understanding of Hollysys' operational results, a summary of unaudited non-GAAP financial results is shown as below:

(In USD thousands, except for number of shares and per share data)

Three months ended

Six months ended

Dec 31, 2016

Dec 31, 2015

% Change

Dec 31, 2016

Dec 31, 2015

% Change

Revenues

$

99,137

152,773

(35.1)%

$

202,679

277,864

(27.1)%

Integrated contract revenue

$

89,535

134,159

(33.3)%

$

182,600

245,172

(25.5)%

Products sales

$

6,057

15,393

(60.7)%

$

14,370

26,835

(46.5)%

Service rendered

$

3,545

3,221

10.1%

$

5,709

5,857

(2.5)%

Cost of revenues

$

70,704

91,964

(23.1)%

$

143,588

167,875

(14.5)%

Gross profit

$

28,433

60,809

(53.2)%

$

59,091

109,989

(46.3)%

Total operating expenses

$

17,236

19,151

(10.0)%

$

30,543

37,305

(18.1)%

Selling

$

6,307

7,096

(11.1)%

$

11,858

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Hollysys Automation Technologies Reports Unaudited Financial Results for the First Half Year and the Second Quarter ... - PR Newswire (press release)

4 Automation Hacks to Save You Money and Manpower – Yahoo Finance

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4 Automation Hacks to Save You Money and Manpower

In this video, Entrepreneur Network partners Jason Balin and Chris Haddon interview each other and explain four automation hacks that apply to all sorts of businesses. Using an automatic email marketing responder to collect audience data, implementing project management software like Slack and leaning on a virtual assistant can save you from doing tasks you don't have the time or manpower to accomplish otherwise. More importantly, using these automation hacks can save your company money, which allows you to reallocate your resources and focus on running your business.

To learn more, click play.

Watch more videos fromHard Money Bankers on theirYouTube channel here.

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Entrepreneur Networkis apremium video networkproviding entertainment, education and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.

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4 Automation Hacks to Save You Money and Manpower - Yahoo Finance

The Two Types of Campus Leftists – National Review

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He arrived at the party wearing a blazer over a black T-shirt. He sported one of those fancy, new-age haircuts and wore jeans that revealed nearly half his legs. I instantly knew what I was looking at, a campus archetype more than an individual: The ripped-jeans revolutionary.

His name was Sam, andas I soon discovered, Sam was a Communist a Maoist, he quickly added, presumably worried that I might mistake him for one of those sellout Trotskyists. At 18 years of age, studying English at Stanford University, Sam wanted to assure me that he was on the Right Side of History.

I had encountered leftists like Sam before there are usually one or two in every large humanities class so I knew how to proceed. Let him talkand keep a running mental tab of his most hilarious quotes.

You cant deny the industrial achievements of the USSR, he remarked. Or better, name-dropping three philosophers in one sentence: Zizek, though he understood Hegel much better than he understood Lacan, makes a good point. There was the curious: Doesnt Judaism make so much more sense without God? And my personal favorite: Do you really think our wage-slavery is any better?

Ah yes, I had forgotten: Who are we to judge the Soviet gulag system?

One is tempted to shake such people, like an old television that has stopped working. It might bring him to his senses. But there is no need. Does this teenager really have a thoughtful objection to Zizeks reading of Lacan? Does he have the requisite knowledge to assure me, as he did, that everything would have been fine if Lenin had lived a little longer? Of course not. He probably just gets a thrill from the shocked looks he generates upon informing his peers that Bernie would have won if he wasnt so moderate.

Roll your eyes and move on.

Across the table from me in class, a different type of campus leftist rears hishead. Again. In fact, Luke constantly injects his politics into class. Luke is a Clintonite, shot all the way through. He started volunteering for Democratic candidates in New York City at the age of twelve. He even got paid to consult for the Clinton campaign this time around. What they could possibly need from this 19-year-old consultant, I havent a clue.

I dont think people realized how good of a candidate Hillary was, he remarked to me a few days ago. Gee, I wonder how they missed that about her, I thought. But unlike the ripped-jeans revolutionary, the bloodless Clintonites flaws do not usually emerge unless they are drawn out. For his Achilles heel is that he has no vision unless you consider center-left, incrementalist technocracy a vision.

Luke opposes the $15 minimum wage, finding Hillarys suggestion of $12.50 to be a more reasonable compromise. He wants commonsense regulation of Wall Street but thinks that Bernie Sanderss antagonism is unhelpful to the cause. He called his congressman to register his opposition to Betsy DeVos but has no suggestions of his own for improving education other than we need to invest more in our children.

The campus Clintonite is hyperpolitically activebut has no idea what he wants from politics. Why is this? The moment of clarity came when we spoke about Aristotle. Why would you read him? Luke chortled, His science has been totally disproven.

Putting aside the fact that I do not read Aristotle for an actionable understanding of physics, I probe deeper and discover that Luke does not believe there is anything to be gained from reading the Ethics, or Politics either.

Rather than give a one-sentence summation of Aristotles contributions, I try out an appeal to authority and explain that Aristotelian thought has heavily influenced many major traditions, citing St. Thomas Aquinas and Maimonides. Realizing that my interlocutor remains unimpressed, I go more modern, and note that both Marx and Burke profited from Aristotles teachings.

But this only reinforces the Clintonites beliefs. So why waste time on a guy from thousands of years ago when I can just read Marx, or someone even more modern?

Do you not see the value in reading what people whove come before us thought? I respond.

He doesnt. They barely knew anything back then. Even I know more about how the world works than Aristotle, he protests.

Then it hits me. The Clintonite has no vision because he cannot escape the present.

This is what Irving Kristol was getting at when he asked, Who, for example, reads Harold Laski today? Because the present is always becoming more beneficent than the past, the non-revolutionary Left inevitably finds past thinkers even its own progressive champions such as Laski inadequate, retrograde, or boring. It finds nothing of value when it looks back into the past and soon stops looking at all.

These two campus leftists are worth examining for the factions they represent. The edgy, ripped-jeans revolutionary might go on to comfortably rage against the machine in the pages of Jacobin, or perhaps hell give in to his parents and attend law school. The intellectually impoverished Clintonite is destined to work on Capitol Hill and continue striving. Having forgotten on principle not only Laski but also Aristotle and all the rest, he will search in vain for the right combination of modest policy proposals to capture voters hearts. Should he gain the power he so desperately seeks, he will not have the faintest idea what to do with it.

Elliot Kaufman is a junior at Stanford University.

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The Two Types of Campus Leftists - National Review

Aussies working too hard and we’re headed for disaster – Bundaberg News Mail

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THE Australian work-life dream is dead and the latest generation of employees are heading for 30-something burnout by 2020.

They are the dire warnings from two leading social researchers who say we are all working too much.

Gone are the 9-5 days and clocking off on the weekends. For many of us, our working lives blend into the personal.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 47.4% of employees over the age of 15 in Sydney say they work more than 40 hours a week. In Brisbane it's 45.3%, Melbourne 45.5%, Adelaide 39.4%, Perth 46.4%, Darwin 51.8% and in Hobart 37.4%.

Technological advances and the drive to be promoted also mean many of us with connections to work emails aren't clocking off entirely when we go home.

KPMG demographer Bernard Salt said the "universality of technology was leading to real risks of burnout.

"Twenty years ago when you finished work at 5pm on a Friday you wouldn't be expected to be across anything again until 9am on Monday, Mr Salt said.

"Now you never really totally disconnect from work when there is the possibility that you might receive an email you need to check.

"I think there is capacity for burnout to occur among this up and coming generation of workers. If you've only ever known an environment where you need to check emails 365 days a year without a mental break then there is the real possibility you could be exposed to burnout.

Australians working harder and longer and failing to disconnect from technology after work hours is in stark contrast to the situation in France, where employees have the legal right to avoid the boss on the weekend.

A new law dubbed "the right to disconnect came into place from January 1 which afforded employees the right to legally not check emails after work hours. It complements an already standardised 35-hour working week, which has been in place since 2000.

Mr Salt said Australians had a culture of working long and hard and the only way Australians would ever consider implementing laws like France if there was a "trigger.

"It might be the 30-something burnout syndrome of mid-2020s, he said.

"The Australian culture is often of 'she'll be right' until it's not right and something is wrong.

Australian National University researchers last week revealed they had found that anything longer than a 39-hour working week was detrimental to our health.

Lead researcher Huong Dinh from the ANU Research School of Population Health said about two in three Australians in full-time employment worked more than 40 hours a week, with long hours a bigger problem for women who do more unpaid work at home.

"Long work hours erode a person's mental and physical health, because it leaves less time to eat well and look after themselves properly, Dr Dinh said.

Co-researcher Professor Lyndall Strazdins said there was a growing gap between people in full-time jobs working extremely long hours and those in part-time work who wanted more.

"Our research showed 39 hours is the sweet spot for people. It is good for people to be working but any more than that and their health starts to decline, Professor Strazdins said.

Professor Strazdins said there needed to be an upper limit on working hours that were acceptable.

"Working longer hours has evolved into an expectation and it is seen as normal and heroic, she said.

"There is a role for business, for managers and workplaces to change that.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle said the Australian work-life balance dream was dead and that rising house prices and cost of living pressures were resulting in employees working longer and longer hours.

"I think the whole Aussie work-life-family dream is under serious review in this nation, Mr McCrindle said.

"The idea of a 38-hour-work week is dead and in many capital cities most workers are working much more than that often on top of a stressful, long commute.

"In Australia we are working too much.

Mr Salt said people's lifestyle choices - like smashed avocado breakfasts and cafe culture - were also driving the idea of "wage slavery.

"We are working hard but we are also spending hard and it's a question of how sustainable it is over time, he said.

At Google, the culture is one of balance. Their offices are known for being kitted out with gyms, meditation stations, gaming rooms and they let employees choose when they want to come to work.

At some offices, you can even bring your dog to work with you and employees are given access to apps to help them sleep better.

Google Asia Pacific director of people operations Siobhan Lyndon said it was important to continue to question if we had the balance right in Australia when it came to work and home time.

She said Google employees are encouraged to work hard, but with an emphasis on balance.

Employees are encouraged not to check emails outside of working hours, similar to the policy in place in France.

"I think giving permission to employees to not have to respond to work email outside of their normal working hours is a positive thing and something we also encourage at Google. We don't want employees to feel stressed that their work is never finished, Ms Lyndon said.

She said technology shouldn't be seen as a bad thing in terms of our working culture and can actually help employees manage their time better, she said.

"I think technology has the power to further revolutionise the way we work and it's a matter of employers embracing it and allowing employees more freedom to choose where and how they work.

THE 40-PLUS-HOUR WEEK

Sydney: 47.4%

Brisbane: 45.3%

Melbourne: 45.5%

Adelaide: 39.4%

Perth: 46.4%

Darwin: 51.8%

Hobart: 37.4%

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Where did capitalism come from? – Socialist Worker Online

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PEOPLE MAKE deals all the time--in markets, in politicians' offices, in alleyways. Our president established himself in the business world as the master of the deal, and now he's bringing those skills to the White House to "re-deal" the United States back to greatness.

Making deals, and the whole gamut of business and trade that goes with it, is just part of life. Commercial activity is an essential component of all human culture, and the business mindset an inherent aspect of human nature.

Or so the story goes.

The cheerleaders of the free market have come up with a story about the past that makes capitalism seem natural--the culmination of a long evolution of this innate deal-making instinct, growing in complexity until, with the rise of international trade and the Industrial Revolution, it finally took its rightful place as "the way we do things."

Trade has gone on for millennia, according to this narrative, and with it, that most important of human processes: profit. Ancient and feudal societies didn't understand that profit and the all-important accomplice of deal-making, free trade, had to be the unhindered center of the system, so they eventually failed, giving way to capitalism.

And there's the other part of this tall tale: Only with the rise of business, profit and free trade do we have democracy, freedom and human rights. After all, didn't the great revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries, establishing democratic republics in England, the U.S. and France, coincide with the spread of global capitalism? Isn't there an essential connection between the art of the deal and the project of human freedom?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LET'S SUSPEND this story for a moment, and look back at the past without green-tinted glasses. Instead, we'll take the Marxist view of history. Frederick Engels laid out Marx's historical materialist approach succinctly:

The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, the exchange of things produced, is the basis of all social structure; that in every society that has appeared in history, the manner in which wealth is distributed and society divided into classes is dependent on what is produced, how it is produced and how the products are exchanged.

For Marxists, history changes on the basis of the way humans transform their world to meet their needs, how they turn natural objects into human products and then distribute those products through exchange--not on the basis of some innate instinct to barter or profit.

For the vast bulk of the time that humans have existed as a distinct species, there were no classes. Like most of the Indigenous cultures of North America prior to European colonization, work and the products of work were shared in common by small bands of people, which operated democratically.

Starting around 10,000 years or so, settled societies emerged in a number of places on the planet, and class distinctions developed for the first time in human history--with a small minority of people ruling over the majority.

Eventually, complex social systems arose in which a ruling class lived off the labor of the vast majority of the population--who were sometimes owned directly by the ruling class as slaves and sometimes bound to a piece of land as peasants and forced to give up some of what they labored to produce to the elite.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE PROCESS of classes emerging varied in different parts of the world, but human labor and who possessed it produced was the central factor.

Humans have always made tools to help them survive. But at certain points--when humans settled in one place, rather than lived in nomadic bands--the tool-making progressed from basic items used in hunting and gathering to more complex tools, like methods of irrigation to grow cultivated plants, to take one example.

As the tools improved, these groups of people could produce more than was necessary for basic survival--they produced a surplus. Over a long period of time, a small group within these societies came to control that surplus, and that control became the basis of a social distinction and political authority. Next to emerge were centralized states, exercising military and legal authority as a way to protect the wealth of this minority.

The Marxist historian Chris Harman summarized how this dynamic led to another--one more directly involved in the rise of capitalism as a distinct form of class society:

[T]he ruling classes of the new civilizations...demanded distantly obtained products on a scale that could not be satisfied by the old-established customary networks. At the same time, they were rarely prepared to face the hardship and risks involved in procuring such things themselves.

People soon emerged who were--in return for a share of the surplus the ruling class had obtained through exploiting the cultivators. So specialized traders got a "mark-up" by selling to the ruling class goods from a great distance away. Some were individuals from the exploited cultivator class, others from the nomadic peoples living between the centers of civilization. But regardless of their origins, they began to crystallize into a privileged class separate from the old ruling classes.

As this not-yet-ruling class developed its economic strength, there were power struggles with the established elite. Often, the ruling state apparatus was too powerful to be overthrown--in China, for example, the development of capitalism was held back for centuries by this.

In medieval Western Europe, where the various states were more primitive and constantly at war with each other, the merchant class organized itself into a more powerful grouping, with its representatives emerging to vie for political power.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE EMERGENCE of merchant networks went along with what Marx and Engels classified as "the production of commodities"--defined as "that economic phase where articles are produced not only for the use of producers, but also for the purpose of exchange."

Through all previous history, production of what humans needed to survive--whether hunting and gathering in pre-class societies or the predominantly agricultural systems in class societies before capitalism--was mainly organized around meeting the consumption needs of those doing the producing or the minority who ruled over them.

Making things to sell them--which the ideologists of capitalism tell us is instinctive--was the exception. But that changed with capitalism and the emergence of a new ruling class, whether still vying for power or already installed, organized around the exchange of goods.

The most peculiar commodity of all is human labor. On one level, wage laborers--workers who sell their ability to labor for a wage--are free of the compulsion that characterized previous systems like feudalism or slavery. But they aren't free not to work.

And in the process of work, they are robbed. Workers aren't paid on the basis of the full value of what they produce. They are paid enough to keep them coming back to work--usually just enough to meet their daily needs and those of their families.

The difference between this wage and the value that capitalists realize in selling the commodities made by others, but owned by them, is the source of profit--what Marx called surplus value. This, according to Marx, is the basis of the capitalist system: "Only where wage-labor is its basis does commodity production impose itself upon society as a whole; but it is also true that only there does it unfold all its hidden potentialities."

These "hidden potentialities" include the way that workers become dependent on commodity production.

Wage-labor had existed on and off for millennia, but only became established as the norm in Western Europe after centuries of crisis within the feudal system, in the form of war, plagues and famine.

In order to make sure the wage labor system would be the only alternative for the majority in society, the phenomenon of "enclosure"--where, for example, landlords kicked peasants off their traditional lands, forcing workers into the cities to be wage laborers--became synonymous with capitalism's rise.

Over time, food, clothing and housing all became commodities, to be paid for in money. The growing working class competed for jobs, which gave capitalists their most effective tool in controlling wages. Workers who feared being replaced could be forced to work longer hours in degrading conditions just to make starvation wages.

Marx described this as "wage slavery": "The Roman slave was held by chains; the wage-laborer is bound to his owner by invisible threads."

The threads are invisible because workers aren't directly expropriated of a portion of what they produce. By contrast, capitalists pay workers what is supposed to be "a fair pay for a fair day's work"--only workers are paid a fraction of the value they produce, and the capitalists pocket the difference.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PROFITS AREN'T just the source of luxury lifestyles for the capitalists. Unlike feudalism, capitalists reinvest their profits in more machinery, warehouses, raw materials and wages. Newer technology enables workers to make more products faster, and the capitalist can gain even more surplus value, at least at first. Thus, capitalism has expanded at greater and greater speed over time.

To acquire raw materials and markets to sell to, capitalism drove the expansion of the European empires. In the Americas, gold was extracted and land stolen from the Indigenous. Africans were kidnapped and enslaved in order to produce sugar, cotton and other critical commodities. The civilizations of India and China were subjugated as well, to convert them into markets for European goods and sources of cheap labor.

Without the expansion of "free trade" through campaigns of terror, there would have been neither the raw materials nor the international markets to sustain the rapid growth of European capitalism.

This process reached a new level with the introduction of large-scale industrial machinery and the modern factory. But this in turn gave rise to another essential feature of capitalism--recurring economic crises. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels and Marx wrote:

Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells...

It is enough to mention the commercial crises that by their periodical return put the existence of the entire bourgeois society on its trial, each time more threateningly. In these crises, a great part not only of the existing products, but also of the previously created productive forces, are periodically destroyed. In these crises, there breaks out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs, would have seemed an absurdity--the epidemic of overproduction.

Capitalism is capable of producing enough to meet the needs of the entire human population and enable the full development of individual human capabilities. However, since its productive forces are directed toward making profits, the wealth of the few comes before the good of all, even if this means mass suffering.

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck described a common scene during the Great Depression:

Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people come for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges...A million people hungry, needing the fruit--and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.

And the smell of rot fills the country.

Capitalist crises are the result of material abundance subordinated to the drive for profit. Working-class people are the living source of that profit, yet they can't share in the abundance.

But by organizing together, workers have the power to challenge the system and ultimately to win an alternative society, based on the democratic organization and fair distribution of that material abundance. That is socialism.

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Where did capitalism come from? - Socialist Worker Online

Might mandatory retirement come back with 70 as the new 65? – The Globe and Mail

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It used to be workers expected to retire from their jobs at 65, whether they wanted to or not.

Prior to the late 1990s, mandatory retirement was the norm in Canada, says Kenneth Thornicroft, a lawyer, author and professor of law and employment relations at the University of Victorias Gustavson School of Business.

These days thats no longer the case. Over the past two decades due to a series of landmark court cases challenging what many saw as age discrimination under human rights legislation, and a large, active and politically powerful population of baby boomers bent on determining their own career fate mandatory retirement has been abolished in all 13 Canadian provinces and territories.

Or has it?

Tools: How Long Will I Live? and other helpful online retirement calculators

Read more: Five signs youre counting too much on CPP for retirement

Rob Carrick: The new way to tell if youve saved enough for retirement

Dr. Thornicroft says that perception is not quite accurate.

His newest paper, The Uncertain State of Mandatory Retirement in Canada, published in Labor Law Journal, finds that there are still many legal exceptions providing for mandatory retirement across a wide variety of professions, from commercial pilots to police officers and firefighters.

Dr. Thornicroft goes a step farther in his latest academic submission. He suggests that mandatory retirement may be making a comeback.

Notably, he says young workers are at the heart of the resurgence of the discussion.

Currently, one-third of Canadas nearly 36 million people is between age 50 and 74 with those born between 1945 and 1960 making up the largest part of this group.

Given the greying of the work force, he notes, it is hardly surprising that the general abolition of mandatory retirement was spearheaded by the baby boom generation, particularly as the early boomers edged ever closer to the age of 65.

But the force of millennials is also hard to ignore, especially as they continue to make their way into the work force. Dr. Thornicroft foresees the possibility of intergenerational resentment building up among younger workers as their own ascension in the professional ranks is stymied by a lack of movement by senior colleagues, often in better paid and higher-level positions.

Younger workers may support mandatory retirement so that they are not foreclosed from future occupational opportunities, he concludes.

So-called double dipping by older workers who continue to work while also collecting a pension will serve only to ratchet up tensions between the generations (though Dr. Thornicroft believes thats unlikely to play a significant role in the debate. More likely, he says, as long as generous pensions are there, most people are prepared to leave the work force and take their pension, even if they like their job, and then maybe look for part-time employment.)

In safety-sensitive positions, both employers and employees concerned about working with older people who may not be up to the demands of the job may also press for mandatory retirement provisions.

Already several professions are required to adhere to mandatory retirement ages and, says Dr. Thornicroft, I dont see any move afoot to take those away.

Supporters of mandatory retirement hold that the practice is not discriminatory because everyone is subject to the same law. Employers, meanwhile, tend to like it because it allows for more effective workplace planning and eliminates the need to continually test older workers to ensure their competence.

Opponents, however, argue that such a provision unfairly robs society of valuable human capital.

Moreover, many say laws mandating retirement are unnecessary since most employees retire at a conventional age anyway.

Dr. Thornicroft himself believes there is merit to the latter argument, referencing 2015 Statistics Canada data that puts the average age of retirement in Canada at 63.5 years. In the same year, public sector workers (and those most likely to have a retirement plan) retired, on average, at 61.4, while those employed in private business left the workplace, on average, at 64.1. Self-employed workers remained in the work force the longest, retiring, on average at 66.7.

Currently, there is no real need to push for mandatory retirement, he says. But that could change, depending on what happens.

It will depend on how the second and third wave of baby boomers react to the labour market, and whether they are going to hang in and clog up middle- and higher-level positions so that younger employees are denied access, he says.

Dr. Thornicroft adds, regardless of whether provinces decide to return to mandatory retirement, millennials can likely bank on remaining in the workplace longer than their parents and grandparents.

If the move goes ahead, Dr. Thornicroft says its possible that 70 will become the new 65.

The courts, to date, have held that there is no Charter violation if mandatory retirement is in place and while legislatures have removed the age 65 limit in their human rights laws, there is nothing in law preventing legislatures from re-enacting, in effect, a mandatory retirement age at, say, age 70, he says.

On the other hand, with several polls showing young adults are failing to adequately save for retirement, and with fewer opportunities than previous generations to rely on a good pension plan from work, he says, a lot of younger employees now are not going to be able to afford to retire.

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Melinda Gates Credits Contraception With Her Personal and Professional Success – Slate Magazine (blog)

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Melinda Gates at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 24, 2014 in New York City.

John Moore/Getty Images

In its annual letter published Tuesday, the Gates Foundation reports on the impact of its initiative to get contraception into the hands of women around the world. Placing contraceptives alongside vaccines as one of the greatest lifesaving innovations in history, Bill and Melinda Gates write that 300 million women in developing countries now have access to modern contraception, about a 50 percent increase from 13 years ago.

Christina Cauterucci is a Slate staff writer.

The foundation is part of Family Planning 2020, a coalition of government agencies that seeks to get contraception access for 390 million women in the developing world by 2020. Meeting that goal is essential to a lot more than womens personal and economic empowerment: It would be a giant step toward mitigating global poverty. No country in the last 50 years has emerged from poverty without expanding access to contraceptives, the letter states, because the ability to avoid or space out pregnancies allows families to keep their kids in school, earn more income, and require less financial assistance from the government.

Melinda Gates attributes her own personal and professional success to birth control in a companion essay she published in Fortune. It's no accident that my three kids were born three years apartor that I didn't have my first child until I'd finished graduate school and devoted a decade to my career atMicrosoft, Gates writes. My family, my career, my life as I know it are all the direct result of contraceptives.

But outside the U.S. and other wealthy nations with advanced medical systems and reproductive health care, access to birth control can be a matter of life and death, Gates writes, crediting family-planning services with keeping 124,000 women alive in 2016. Without reliable contraception, women and children are less likely to be healthy and more likely to perish during or after childbirth. In the areas where the Gates Foundation focuses its work, spacing out children by at least three years doubles the chance of a childs survival to age 1.

In a better world, this kind of unambiguous data would engender widespread support for programs that give women the resources they need to determine for themselves when, whether, and how they give birth. In our actual world, Donald Trump reinstated and expanded the global gag rule, which cuts U.S. funding from any organization that provides abortion care, information, or referrals, even though U.S. aid already cant go toward abortion care itself. This means some of the worlds most comprehensive, far-reaching programs in the reproductive health sphere are now ineligible for U.S. aid money. Previous research has connected the rule to spikes in unplanned pregnancies and, ironically, abortion rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Gates essay predicts that Trumps reinstatement of the gag rule will bump up the number of women who want to prevent pregnancy but dont have access to contraception, a statistic that currently sits at 225 million women worldwide.

There are some novel products and programs that show promise in tackling that gap. A Pathfinder International initiative in Burkina Faso to supply clinics with and educate women about intrauterine devices has been so successful, the organization recently got a $10 million grant from the Gates Foundation to study how best to arm women with the family-planning tools they need. The foundations annual letter also expresses excitement for a new injectable contraceptive that rural women can administer themselves, providing protection from pregnancy for three months at a time. Proponents of the global gag rule will be happy to know that such advances in contraception technology and access have at least one desired effect that abortion restrictions dont: lower rates of unplanned pregnancies and abortion.

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DNA technology gives new face to decade-old cold case – The San Diego Union-Tribune

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For a decade, Art and Lois Serrin have desperately sought the identity of the man they found having sex with their daughter moments before discovering her lifeless body.

Now, innovative DNA technology may have finally revealed his face, officials said Tuesday.

Jodine Serrin, a 39-year-old Carlsbad woman with developmental disabilities, was found beaten and strangledin her condominiumon Feb. 14, 2007.DNA evidence collected from the bedroom where she was found was analyzed numerous times over the years, but it never led to a suspect.

Recently, detectives on the case submitted that DNA to Parabon NanoLabs,which has developed a test that transforms genetic material into a digital image of an unknown suspect.

Investigators believe its the first time the technology has been used in San Diego County, and called it a game changer for unsolved cases especially ones that have gone cold, like Jodine Serrins death.

Carlsbad police Chief Neil Gallucci said any tool that gets detectives one step closer to catching and prosecuting a suspect is a worthwhile investment.

"To create a profile that someone out there recognizes, that sparks even one phone call that helps our detectives thats an awesome possibility, he said.

The process, called phenotyping, uses DNA to predict a suspects skin color, eye color, hair color, gender, ancestry and face shape. It can even determine if someone has freckles or not.

According to the analysis, the man who killed Serrin has very fair to fair skin, green or blue eyes, blonde or brown hair and some freckles. He is likely in his 40s and of Northern European descent.

Using information from Jodine Serrins father, who may have caught a glimpse of the killer that Valentines Day night,police also believe the suspect is heavyset with a fat stomach and disheveled hair. He is between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet tall and likely has a history of mental health issues.

We believe the suspect was an acquaintance of, or had just met the victim, said Tony Johnson, an investigator with the San Diego District Attorneys Office.We believe there are friends of Jodine who will recognize the composite, and we urge them to call us.

Officials released the suspects imageon Tuesday, the 10th anniversary of Serrins death, and asked anyone with information to call (760) 931-2225. Her parents said the image has given them hope that their daughters murderer may one day be brought to justice.

We feel that somehow, somewhere hes out there and somebody knows something whatever that might be, it will help, said Art Serrin.Its been toughwaiting. Ten years is a long time.

Usually on the anniversary of their daughters death, the Carlsbad couple gets out of town to insulate themselves from anything that might remind them of that horrific day.

It was Valentines Day 2007. The parentswere celebrating the holiday at the movies, but Lois Serrin couldnt shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Although Jodine had lived independently for 15 years, she had mental disabilities that called for extra care. It was very unusual to go a day without hearing from her, and they hadnt spoken since the night before.

They left the theater before the movie was done and went to their daughters condominium on Swallow Lane. When they unlocked the door, a chainlock was in place. They called out to her, but there was no answer. Thats when Art Serrin kicked open the door.

The parents rushed in, and stumbled on their daughter apparently having sex with aman who looked vaguely familiar.Startled, they went to another part of the residence to wait, but their daughternever emerged.

When they peeked in on her again, she was dead and the man was gone.

Since then, the couple has partnered with police to solve the case.

They created a website where people could learn of the case and submit information. With help from the Governors Office, a reward of $52,000 was put together for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.

The couple is holding out hope that the new image will finally lead to their daughters killer.

We need to get this monster out of the woodwork and off the street, Art Serrin said. Thats whats kept me and my wife going.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com

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DNA technology gives new face to decade-old cold case - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Warren Buffett’s Increasing Passion For Apple And Technology – Forbes

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Warren Buffett's Increasing Passion For Apple And Technology
Forbes
After the close of trading last night, Apple investors received news via 13F filings from the likes of Berkshire Hathaway and Elliott Management, among others, that showed that Apple holdings among the biggest institutions had increased significantly ...

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Warren Buffett's Increasing Passion For Apple And Technology - Forbes

Don Cunningham column: Technology giveth, and it taketh away – Allentown Morning Call

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Men once made a living hammering iron into shoe for horses. Then along came the combustion engine and automobiles.

In a more recent age, there were milkmen, elevator car operators, telephone switchboard operators and, not so long ago, video store clerks. I can remember all but the switchboard operators thanks to the Orr's Department Store in downtown Bethlehem still using elevator drivers in the early 1970s.

My grandmother had a job with the Civil Air Patrol Auxiliary during World War II. She stood atop a high tower to patrol for enemy aircraft in west Bethlehem. I doubt she got paid. I hope not. The Christmas City and its steel mills, along with my grandmother, would have been doomed by the time she spotted the Luftwaffe. Radar became a much better option.

What innovation and technology giveth, they also taketh away. Not long from now, the final tollbooth collectors, bank tellers and store clerks will be in the same category as milkmen: jobs that are gone, and nearly forgotten. Very little is permanent. As the Irish poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy wrote, "Each age is a dream that is dying or one that is coming to birth."

It does little good to look backward. Yearning for the economic days of old is about as fruitful as longing for the body you possessed at age 21. Neither will be back, even with a new gym membership or, for that matter, tariffs and new trade agreements. ArtsQuest is safe. Bethlehem Steel will not be returning.

Our public policy and economic development efforts need to focus on the jobs of today and, more importantly, those coming tomorrow. Innovation is required in preparing workers to meet the innovation in the economy.

It's nearly impossible to find a campaign speech by either a Democrat or Republican that doesn't contain the words jobs and education. That's a good thing. Looking forward, however, is critical. Change is painful. Thoughtful humans want to alleviate the pain of those suffering, physically, mentally or economically. Empathy is good but healing can't begin without truth.

Take a look at agriculture. In 1900, 41 percent of the U.S. workforce was employed in agriculture. By 2000, it was down to just 2 percent. Remember Farm Aid, John Mellencamp and the national empathy about the loss of family farms in the 1980s? Made us feel good but it did nothing to stop the trend. Technology was the culprit. Bigger and more sophisticated machines could deliver more products at a lower price with fewer workers.

Agriculture has adjusted. While there aren't more workers, there are growing local food economies, organic farms, farmer's markets and farm-to-table restaurants because of a focus on quality over quantity.

Many of those displaced farm workers during the 20th century found their way to jobs in manufacturing, often migrating from rural areas into cities. Today it's the loss of those manufacturing jobs that we understandably lament. While Willie Nelson has yet to give a Manufacturing Aid concert, our empathy and understanding is honed. Nearly 6 million jobs were lost in U.S. manufacturing between 2000 and 2009.

The Lehigh Valley has seen growth in manufacturing since the recession. Manufacturing is the largest part of the region's GDP with about 36,000 workers employed by 680 manufacturers. There is a lesson here.

Technology and innovation are making manufacturers in the Lehigh Valley competitive and successful. The steel mills are gone but biotech companies make everything from oral HIV, Ebola and Zika tests to artificial orthopedic joints. Much of it is built by robotics, artificial intelligence and sophisticated technology.

Today's manufacturing jobs require innovative training and apprenticeships. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are going unfilled due to a lack of available engineering and technical talent.

The U.S. Department of Labor last year provided $90 million to expand and diversify apprenticeship options, offering an additional $175 million in grants to dozens of public-private partnerships. In addition to the shop floor, office-based industries such as insurance, health care and IT are searching for trained talent. Apprenticeship programs focus on on-the-job training or technical instruction that pay both workers and companies and results in workers getting industry-recognized credentials.

Since companies receive financial benefit, they are less worried about training workers only for them to leave for better paying opportunities elsewhere. Higher skills development is critical to supporting modern advanced manufacturing. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's new proposed budget adds state support for apprenticeships, albeit with limited funding.

It's critical that innovation in training and education match innovation in the private marketplace. This is America's future in manufacturing. Like agriculture, it's quality over quantity. Vocational-technical schools and community colleges are as critical as Harvard and Yale.

It's imperative that our longing for the days of old doesn't blind us to building an economy and preparing a workforce for today.

Don Cunningham is the president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. His column can be found on the Business Cycle. He can be reached at news@lehighvalley.org.

Get the inside scoop on the Lehigh Valley's business scene on The Business Cycle, themorningcall.com/business

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Don Cunningham column: Technology giveth, and it taketh away - Allentown Morning Call

Even Indian technology entrepreneurs think they are living in a … – Quartz

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India is one of the best and worst places to launch a tech startup these days, a contradiction epitomized in a recent survey (pdf) of 170 entrepreneurs across 15 industries. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said India is in the midst of a tech bubble, even as 63% said they were struggling to find funding.

For the past few years, India has been a hotbed of startup activity, even if a good portion of those ventures ultimately dont make it. Between June 2014 and July 2016, more than 2,280 Indian startups began operations; nearly 1,000 of them shuttered. While fail is less of a dirty word in tech than elsewhere, Indian entrepreneurs cite a range of factors in their struggle to find footing, including a lack of funding, lack of innovation, and an oversaturated marketplace. Most of the entrepreneurs surveyed by InnoVen Capital, an Asian venture-lending firm, said that finding cash was their biggest barrier to growth.

[Sixty-three percent] of respondents who attempted to fundraise in 2016 did not have a favorable experience, reads the companys February 2017 Startup Outlook report. The average startup had to pitch to more than six investors before securing funding.

(Only 18% of the companies whose leaders participated in the survey were backed by venture capital; a quarter were funded by angel investors and nearly half were self-funded.)

Among other obstacles, e-commerce and healthcare startups rated revenue growth as a top business challenge, while enterprise startups cited customer acquisition and customer churn. Artificial-intelligence startups cited trouble discovering and hiring talent. Many of those surveyed also called for India itself to foster a more entrepreneurial environment by, for example, increasing investment in digital infrastructure, allowing for more foreign investments, creating stronger intellectual property laws and making updates to public education.

The Indian government has made some strides on this front, including Startup India a plan to reduce taxes and bureaucracy, create incubators and sources of funding, and introduce patent reformsand Digital India, a campaign to improve online infrastructure and internet connectivity.

In the InnoVen Capital survey, fintech CEOs noted their appreciation for policies promoting Digital Payment [and] the Unified Payments Interface, and entrepreneurs in the e-commerce, consumer, and logistics sectors rated the Goods and Services Taxit proposes to offers relief from Indias cascading tax system by subbing in a simplified tax structureas the most helpful government initiative of 2016. One in five entrepreneurs called for more tax-policy improvements this year.

Crowding is a different beast. Although entrepreneurs listed having a robust business model as the most important facet of improving investor sentiment this year, more than 20% of them also said that more exits would help. Seventy percent said they were open to an exit, and nearly two-thirds rated an initial public offering as the most preferred route.

While Indias entrepreneurs are finding inspiration from withindemonetization has done wonders for digital payments startup Paytmforeign tech majors like Google, Airbnb, Amazon, and Uber are still among [at least some] Indian entrepreneurs favorites. Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also has lots of fans in the country.

Challenges or no, 94% of survey respondents said they would be looking to fundraise in 2017some $800 million between them. But theyll have to hurry: Nearly 20% believe that tech bubble is about to burst.

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3 tips for regulating our kids’ technology use – The Herald-Times (subscription)

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As mentioned in our first column about kids and technology, we often begin our parenting presentations by asking the audience what their biggest concern or worry is. Technology, screen time, the internet and social media are always among the first and most common answers.

Parents say things like, Virtual reality is replacing real reality, My kids are hypnotized by those little screens and I cant even get their attention, Social media can be such a cruel, bullying place, I just cant keep them off of the internet, and Im scared to death of what might pop up or They are so addicted to those online games that I cant tear them away.

Questions abound, such as, How can I be totally aware of what they are seeing? Do any of the filters really work? How can they use the internet for homework but not get off onto other sites? How much should I limit their screen time? If I clamp down too hard, will it just make them want it more and find it on their friends phone or at their friends house?

In our previous column, we explored technology as an addiction. We outlined some of the widely varying approaches we have seen parents take, from complete immersion (embrace it, no restrictions) to complete abstinence (no smartphones, no internet other than for homework) and everything in between. Since that first article, we have had many requests for answers for how parents can both understand and regulate what is happening.

So, for what it is worth, here are three guidelines that we think every parent should consider:

1. Instigate the most basic controls. No computers or tablets or smartphones in kids' bedrooms. Keep everything in the kitchen, family room or common areas of the home. Get the best filters you can find (routers are now available that filter content and that can also be set to automatically shut off at dinner time, nighttime and other times that you dont want kids online).

2. Talk extensively with kids both about how wonderful technology can be and about how dangerous it can be. Ask a lot of questions and get kids involved in the discussion. Ask kids what they think the limits should be. You may be surprised at how much they know and find that the limits they suggest may be stricter than what you would set.

Get their input on what age they think kids should have smartphones and on how much screen time should be allowed in the home. Make it clear that you are the one setting the rules and limits but that you want their input. Remember, sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

For young kids who you want to be able to call or text but who you do not want on social media, the simplest solution is a dumb phone rather than a smartphone. When kids reach the required age that you have set, decide together how much your son or daughter should pay on his or her smartphone and on the monthly bill. The percentage of how much the child contributes should be 49 percent or less so you are the controlling owner, which allows you to draft an agreement that includes turning in the phone each evening. Make it clear that privacy is not something that exists between kids and their parents and that you will have apps that allow you to see everything they see or send on their smartphones.

3. View technology as another way to teach good judgment and discernment. Remember that you will not always be around to enforce technology rules and that ultimately your childrens use of or abuse of anything electronic will come down to their own choices and self-control. Kids have a natural and instinctive ability to discern between something that feels good or right and something that feels dark or wrong.

The best long-term solution for helping our children deal with the internet and social media is to help them understand and trust their feelings of discernment and move away from (turn off) anything that feels dark and gravitate to the things that feel light.

The real problem with this whole area of concern is that it takes time and concentration to deal with it. As parents and grandparents, we need to know what is going on and understand and be familiar with technology and how our kids interact with and are influenced by it. Then we need to have open communication with our children and have them teach us as well as learn from us. We need to think of technology as a tool that can bring much good into our lives and that, with enough effort on our parts, can be controlled and used rather than feared and avoided.

As NY Times #1 bestselling authors, The Eyres have now written 50 books and speak throughout the world on families and Life-balance. For seminars and presentations available locally go to http://www.lifeinfullcruise.com or http://www.lifeinfullonq.com.

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BYU-Idaho dedicates and showcases new Science and Technology Center – LocalNews8.com

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BYU-I dedicates three new buildings

With ever changing technology a mainstream of our current society, schools and facilities preparing students for that world face the constant challenge of keeping up with an ever moving target. That's why the new Science and Technology Center at Brigham Young University-Idaho is such a big deal. It looks to close that gap, and prepare students for a future in the world of technology.

"Oh its so exciting," said Alex Loveland, a food science major and senior at BYU-Idaho. "I'm able to see real life applications of some of the things I'm working with."

Food Science is just one of the majors and departments that will call the new facility home. Others include: Computer Information Technology (CIT), Animal & Food Science, Applied Plant Science, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering; with subfields and stuides within each of those majors.

Students say the up-to-date technology really helps prepare them for their fields more adequately. "You know, it's progressive," said Hannah Millet, an animal science major. "We're producing animals and food for people all the time and we need to stay up to date on that."

One particularly neat room in the new Science and Technology Center is called the Cyber Noc. It's a room that shows real time data (or close to it) of cyber attacks and counter cyber attacks occurring on different networks.

The field of cyber security is a subfield of the CIT major, and it's one that's increasingly important and in-demand. "For people that are going into cyber security, they have three jobs (available) to one person," said Alex Bloomfield, a CIT major. The new center at BYU-I gives students the tools to prepare for such fields, like cyber security.

One other thing of interest about the Science and Technology Center is it holds the distinction of BYU-I's most energy efficient building. Staff said they worked closely with engineers and architects to give the building an open and light feel. This means the school saves quite a bit of money on lighting and electricity.

The Science and Technology Center was officially dedicated today by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church. Elder Andersen also dedicated the newly finished Central Energy Facility on campus, as well as the renovated Agricultural Science Center west of town.

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BYU-Idaho dedicates and showcases new Science and Technology Center - LocalNews8.com

California officials lift evacuation order for 200000 threatened by damaged dam – CBS News

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OROVILLE, Calif. --Authorities have lifted an evacuation order for nearly 200,000 California residents who live below a dam with a damaged spillway that threatened to collapse and cause catastrophic flooding.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday that residents should stay prepared in case the situation changes. He says the water level at the lake behind Oroville Dam, the nations tallest, is low enough to accommodate expected storm.

Crews have working around the clock atop the crippled Oroville Dam, making progress on repairs ro the damaged spillway. The work led to the lake level reducing by at least 8 feet overnight at a Northern California reservoir that has been central to the life of the towns around it for a half century.

Workers hoisted giant white bags filled with rocks, and at least two helicopters planned to fly in rocks Tuesday then release them into the eroded area of the spillway. Dump trucks full of boulders also were dumping cargo on the damaged spillway.

Backhoes load boulders into dump trucks as emergency personnel work to fix the damage below the emergency spillway at Oroville Lake

Getty

The first test of these fixes will come as early as Wednesday, when a series of storms this area, CBS News John Blackstone reports.

The lake that for five decades has brought residents holiday fireworks and salmon festivals could have brought disaster.

Never in our lives did we think anything like this would have happened, said Brannan Ramirez, who has lived in Oroville, a town of about 16,000 people, for about five years.

Recent reports indicate that environmental activists and local government officials warned more than a decade ago about the risk of catastrophic flooding below a major Northern California dam, the very scenario that threatened to unfold in Oroville over the weekend.

State and federal regulators dismissed those fears at the time, saying they were confident the hillside that helps hold back hundreds of billions of gallons of water was stable and did not need to be reinforced with concrete.

In this Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, aerial photo released by California Department of Water Resources shows the damaged spillway with eroded hillside in Oroville, Calif.

William Croyle/California Department of Water Resources via AP

That decision has come under scrutiny now that the hillside, which acts as an emergency spillway for the reservoir, was put to its first test in the dams nearly 50-year history.

The acting head of the states Department of Water Resources said he was unaware of the 2005 report that recommended reinforcing with concrete an earthen spillway that is now eroding.

Im not sure anything went wrong, Bill Croyle said. This was a new, never-having-happened-before event.

Evacuee Crystal Roberts-Lynch didnt buy the explanations.

I know that somebody did not pay attention to the warning signs, she said. Someone in charge was not paying attention. It was their job to pay attention to what was going on with the dam.

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Nearly 200,000 people evacuated from their homes in Northern California are still unable to go home. If an emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam...

Oroville is a Gold Rush town in the Sierra Nevada foothills, some 70 miles northeast of Sacramento, nestled near the foot of the dam. The dam was completed in 1968 and is the nations tallest, at 770 feet. Houses and churches are perched on tree-lined streets near the Feather River. Old, ornate Victorian homes sit alongside smaller bungalows.

Everybody knows to go there for the Fourth of July, Roberts-Lynch said of the lake. Then theres festivals wrapped around the salmon run. The mother of three, who has lived in Oroville for 10 years, was staying at a Red Cross evacuation center in Chico.

Local businesses, including one that sells supplies for gold-panning, dominate a downtown area that spans several blocks. A wide range of chain stores sit a short distance away along the main highway.

The lake brings in an enormous part of the economy for the town. It definitely is a people-catcher, said Brannan Ramirez, who has lived in Oroville for about five years. We get people from all over the country.

Cities and towns farther down the Feather River also are in danger.

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More heavy rain and widespread flooding is expected in the western U.S. Chief meteorologist Eric Fisher from our Boston affiliate station WBZ is ...

Yuba City, population 65,000, is the biggest city evacuated. The city has the largest dried-fruit processing plant in the world and one of the largest populations of Sikhs outside of India.

The region is largely rural and its politics dominated by rice growers and other agricultural interests, including orchard operators. The region is dogged by the high unemployment rates endemic to farming communities. There are large pockets of poverty and swaths of sparsely populated forests, popular with anglers, campers and backpackers.

For now, its all at the mercy of the reservoir that usually sustains it, and provides water for much of the state.

If anything, we would have thought that the dam would have been constructed better, Ramirez said.

Over the weekend, the swollen lake spilled down the unpaved, emergency spillway, which had never been used before, for nearly 40 hours, leaving it badly eroded.

Officials defended the decision to suddenly call for mass evacuations late Sunday afternoon, just a few hours after saying the situation was stable, forcing families to rush to pack up and get out.

There was a lot of traffic. It was chaos, said Robert Brabant, an Oroville resident who evacuated with his wife, son, dogs and cats. It was a lot of accidents. It was like people werent paying attention to other people.

California Gov. Jerry Brown

AP/Nick Ut, File

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday that he sent a letter to the White House requesting direct federal assistance in the emergency, though some federal agencies have been helping already.

Brown has had harsh words for President Donald Trump, and the state has vowed to resist many of his administrations efforts.

But the governor said at a news conference that hes sure that California and Washington will work in a constructive way. Thats my attitude. There will be different points of view, but were all one America.

The governor said he doesnt plan to go to Oroville and distract from efforts, but he tried to reassure evacuees.

My message is that were doing everything we can to get this dam in shape and they can return and they can live safely without fear, Brown said.

But evacuee Kelly Remocal said she believed the public officials working on the problem are downplaying everything so people dont freak out.

I honestly dont think theyre going to be able to do it, fix the problem, she said. This requires a little more than a Band-Aid. At this point they have no choice but to give it a Band-Aid fix.

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California officials lift evacuation order for 200000 threatened by damaged dam - CBS News

Huntsville-based Progress Bank to acquire Birmingham’s First Partners Bank – Birmingham Business Journal

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Birmingham Business Journal
Huntsville-based Progress Bank to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank
Birmingham Business Journal
Two of Alabama's most successful banks in the last year are joining forces, with the Huntsville-based Progress Bank set to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank - creating the eighth largest bank headquartered in Alabama. Upon closing of the ...

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Huntsville-based Progress Bank to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank - Birmingham Business Journal

City, UF sign partnership for progress – Gainesville Sun

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Andrew Caplan @AACaplan

Elected officials and city employees packed into the Hall of Heroes at the Gainesville Police Department Tuesday for the annual State of the City address and heard how Gainesville is becoming the New American City.

At the address, Mayor Lauren Poe sat with University of Florida President W. Kent Fuchs to sign an agreement that signifies a city and UF partnership. The agreement will address disparity issues and growth throughout Gainesville in hopes of achieving goals outlined in each partys strategic plan.

Fuchs said he hopes the public signing will encourage citizens to hold all parties accountable moving forward.

This (memorandum of understanding) formalizes that were not just going to consult with each other or loosely collaborate, Fuchs said. We will actually address problems together.

Speakers at the event included Poe and Fuchs, as well as City Manager Anthony Lyons, Gainesville Regional Utilities General Manager Ed Bielarski and UF Vice President Charlie Lane.

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Lyons told the room Gainesville is on the cutting edge of redefining how cities support the aspirations of its people.

Lyons said four areas of focus which revolve around having a stronger economy, greater equity, a better future and becoming a community model will guide city officials along the way.

We will not stop, we will not be satisfied until Gainesville and UF are recognized as preeminent leaders and partners in this growing movement, he said.

Bielarski outlined moves GRU recently made to move towards becoming a 21st century utility. He said the way it deals with the biomass plant has been the most obvious change in recent years.

GRU has withheld almost $8 million from the biomass plant through disputed billings, he said, which is being discussed through arbitration. While keeping the biomass plant on standby and buying cheaper energy elsewhere, Bielarski said, GRU has saved more than $12 million under its current contract with the biomass plant. Bielarski said customers have reaped the benefit by having fuel rates cut by more than 10 percent.

Rate relief is GRUs absolute, top priority, Bielarski said.

Bielarski added that GRU discontinued electric shutoffs for customers on Fridays, reducing loss of service over weekends. Additionally, a dispatch agreement with Jacksonville Electric Authority has resulted in $1.8 million in savings for eight months of 2016, he said, and anticipates between $3 million to $5 million in savings annually in future years under the agreement.

I believe our actions prove that our potential to enhance the quality of life in the communities we serve has never been greater, Bielarski said.

Lane took to the podium to speak about UFs strategic plan and how it plays a part in the citys development goals. He said the plan calls for development eastward in the city and includes addressing environment issues, housing, education and health.

Poe wrapped up the event by pointing out other recent accomplishments, such as the opening of Depot Park, but spoke of shortcomings across the city.

Poe said the city has recently seen a reduction of violent crimes and juvenile arrests, but still has the highest concentration of poverty in the state. The city also has one of the highest rates of income disparities in the nation, he said.

After the address, Poe said the agreement with UF, in part, acknowledges that neither party will be successful if the other isnt.

What I hope to see out of this is a model, a partnership that can then be expanded to include all our other local institutions and organizations, he said. We have the chance to do something special if we get it right.

Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com or on Twitter @AACaplan.

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City, UF sign partnership for progress - Gainesville Sun

Daily Progress, chamber establish regional business Hall of Fame – The Daily Progress

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The Daily Progress and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce have established The Daily Progress Greater Charlottesville Business Hall of Fame. Initial member inductees will be announced later this year.

We are excited to initiate this new regional business Hall of Fame to recognize and honor businessmen and businesswomen in our community who have made an enduring, transformative achievement and contribution to business enterprise in Greater Charlottesville and our community, said Rob Jiranek, publisher of The Daily Progress.

Induction is determined by a selection committee upon thorough research, assessment and consideration of candidate business leaders since 1892, the inaugural year of The Daily Progress. The selection committee comprises representatives from The Daily Progress, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and area business leaders.

Inductees will be honored by a magazine insert in The Daily Progress, at a Daily Progress Greater Charlottesville Business Hall of Fame Luncheon on June 13 at the Boars Head Inn and on a mural of recognition in a prominent community location to be determined. The luncheon will be coordinated by the chamber.

Bob Gibson, a senior researcher at the University of Virginias Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service who spent more than 30 years as a journalist for The Daily Progress, is leading the effort to capture the history and achievements of the eventual inductees for the Hall of Fame magazine.

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Daily Progress, chamber establish regional business Hall of Fame - The Daily Progress

PFW in Progress Recap 2/14: Patriots Offseason Outlook | New … – Patriots.com

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We're breaking down the top segments from Tuesday's edition of PFW in Progress radio show so you don't miss a thing.

PFW in Progress 2/14 Podcast >>

0:02:00 - Fred, Paul, Andy, and Erik were all on today's episode of PFW In Progress. Foxboro is digging out of it's second major snow storm in the last five days, but the action on the show was not lackluster. Today began with a bang as Fred Kirsch voiced his disappointment in Patriots Nation.

0:10:00 - Paul Perillo's expense report was a fascinating topic of discussion on today's show. Just how many Diet Millers did Paul consume while in Houston?

0:15:00 - Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll was in the news yesterday as his name is being linked to the vacant offensive coordinator position at Alabama.

0:30:00 - The future of Jimmy Garoppolo will be a topic that continues to be discussed during the off season editions of PFW In Progress.

0:55:00 - The PFW Boys discussed the potential intentional grounding call that was missed on Tom Brady during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI. The play in question occurred at the start of the game tying drive.

1:30:00 - Fred Kirsch read a heartfelt email from Kat in Chicago asking for help for a fallen PFW In Progress listener. Steve in Kileen, TX passed away this fall. Steve was a fantastic contributor to Patriots.com Radio and an all around great person. He will be sorely missed by everyone in our PFW In Progress community.

1:45:00 - Tom Brady's missing jersey is still missing. Could it potentially turn up this far removed from the Super Bowl? Read

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PFW in Progress Recap 2/14: Patriots Offseason Outlook | New ... - Patriots.com