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Why Quotient Technology Inc. Stock Surged 21% Higher on Friday – Fox Business

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

What happened

Digital-coupons specialist Quotient Technology (NYSE: QUOT) -- the company formerly and better known as "Coupons.com" -- saw its stock spike 21.1% by the closing bell on Friday.

This being earnings season, you might imagine that Quotient's remarkable stock performance Friday had something to do with an earnings report. You'd be right.

Thursday night, you see -- after close of trading for that day, but before trading resumed on Friday morning -- Quotient reported its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for 2016. Expected to earn just $0.02 per share for the quarter on $70 million in revenue, Quotient instead turned in $75.4 million in revenue (9% better than in Q4 2015), and earned $0.04 per share on that revenue -- twice what had been expected.

Image source: Getty Images.

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Full-year results were similarly good. Revenues for the year jumped 16% to $275.2 million for fiscal 2016. And while Quotient was fully expected to report a loss for the year, its $0.23-per-share GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) loss was at least 28% less than the $0.32 per share that Quotient lost in fiscal 2015. Meanwhile, Quotient reported positive free cash flow from its business of $15.5 million -- a remarkable improvement from the $4 million cash burn the company experienced in fiscal 2015.

Quotient also provided guidance for fiscal 2017. Management's prediction for earnings came in the form of a highly malleable "adjusted EBITDA" (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) number that we'll dismiss without comment. On the other hand, management also said it expects to book between $307 million and $317 million in sales. That's a more generally accepted metric, and one that suggests a respectable 13.5% pace of growth in the new year.

Valued at $1.2 billion today -- and with $175 million in cash and short-term investments, and not a lick of debt -- Quotient now carries an enterprise value of roughly $1 billion, and therefore an EV/FCF (enterprise value to free cash flow) ratio of about 63.5. The growth rate is respectable, but I have to conclude that despite its turning in a very strong fourth quarter, Quotient's stock is too expensive to invest in at this price point.

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Why Quotient Technology Inc. Stock Surged 21% Higher on Friday - Fox Business

New laser technology enables more sensitive gravitational-wave detectors – Phys.Org

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

February 10, 2017 The novel mode filter for laser beams in theLG33mode, which was developed at the AEI. Top: mode filter in the laboratory. Bottom: schematic of the mode filter. Credit: Noack/Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

One year ago, the first direct detection of gravitational waves was announced. Laser experts from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI), from the Leibniz Universitt Hannover, and from the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) played leading roles in this discovery, because their super-precise laser technology at the heart of the LIGO instruments in the USA enabled the detection of weak gravitational-wave signals. Now, AEI researchers have presented two new technologies capable of further increasing the sensitivity of future gravitational-wave detectors. The Max Planck Society now strengthens the development of laser systems for third-generation gravitational-wave detectors. The AEI, in collaboration with the LZH, receives over the next five years 3.75 million Euro research funding for the development of novel lasers Zentrum Hannover receives over the next five years 3.75 million Euro research funding for the development of novel lasers and stabilization methods.

"We have made two important breakthroughs," says Apl. Prof. Benno Willke, leader of the laser development group at the AEI. "Our work is another step towards using a novel type of laser beam profile in interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Furthermore, we have shown how to increase the power stability of the high-power lasers used in the detectors. These are important steps towards the future of gravitational-wave astronomy." The results were published in the renowned science journal Optics Letters and were highlighted by the editors.

More homogeneous laser beams

The beams of all laser systems currently used in gravitational-wave detectors have higher intensity at the centre than at the edges. This leads to an undesirable strong influence of mirror surface fluctuations on the measurement precision of gravitational-wave detectors. This so-called thermal noise can be reduced by a more homogeneous laser intensity distribution.

In 2013 a team with AEI involvement showed how more homogeneous high-power laser beams in the so-called LG33 mode can be created. Now, Andreas Noack has studied in his MSc thesis in Benno Willke's team how these laser beams can be fed into future gravitational-wave detectors.

The first step on the way into the detector is a device known as a pre-mode cleaner, which optimizes the beam profile and reduces beam jitter. Willke's team showed that the new LG33 beam is incompatible with the pre-mode cleaners currently in use. The researchers also showed how to solve this problem. They developed a new pre-mode cleaner, which is compatible with the LG33 laser beams.

"The design of the next-generation gravitational wave detectors is not set," says Willke. "Therefore, we are testing different types of lasers to have as many options for new gravitational wave detectors as possible. We now have made a big step ahead with the promising LG33 beams."

Improving laser power stability for new gravitational-wave detectors

All interferometric gravitational-wave detectors like LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 rely on laser systems that keep their high output power stable over years and that show very little short timescale power fluctuations. Benno Willke's research group plays a world-wide leading role in this research area. They constructed the laser systems for GEO600 and Advanced LIGO, without which the first direct detection of gravitational waves in September 2015 would not have been possible.

Now, Jonas Junker has further refined the existing power stabilization system in his MSc thesis in Willke's team. A part of the laser light is picked off and distributed on multiple photodetectors to precisely determine the total laser power. If it varies, the main laser power is corrected accordingly. In their experiment, the scientists extended the current system by adding, among other things, another photodetector to also control and correct the pointing of the laser beam.

The improved power stabilization scheme has been successfully applied to the 35 Watt laser system of the 10 meter prototype interferometer at the AEI. The prototype is used by researchers in Hannover for demonstrations and tests of technologies for the third generation of detectors and for research on quantum mechanical effects in these instruments. The level of power stability reached is five times higher than that in comparable experiments of other groups. This value agrees very well with results from isolated table-top experiments.

"An experiment in the well isolated environment of an optical laboratory is completely different from a complex large-scale experiment like the 10 meter prototype. We have shown for the first time that it is possible to transfer the excellent stability level from a table-top experiment," says Willke. "We show that these photodiode arrays work as expected, meaning it should also be possible to achieve this high stability with the identical multi-photodetector arrays used in Advanced LIGO."

Explore further: LIGO discovery named Science's 2016 Breakthrough of the Year

More information: Andreas Noack et al. Higher-order LaguerreGauss modes in (non-) planar four-mirror cavities for future gravitational wave detectors, Optics Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1364/OL.42.000751

Journal reference: Optics Letters

Provided by: Max Planck Society

The scientific journal, Science, has chosen as its 2016 Breakthrough of the Year the discovery of tiny ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves a finding that confirmed a century-old prediction by Albert Einstein. ...

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Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Australian National University have developed new technology that aims to make the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) even ...

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Researchers from Brown University have shown experimentally how a unique form of magnetism arises in an odd class of materials called Mott insulators. The findings are a step toward a better understanding the quantum states ...

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New laser technology enables more sensitive gravitational-wave detectors - Phys.Org

Software company introduces game-changing technology for Michigan Realtors – HousingWire

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

The multiple listing service Michigan just added a new technology for Realtors, which could bring them into a new era when it comes to searching properties and marketing.

This new technology, Remine, will integrate its technology with the MLS systems in Michigan, Realcomp. This will give 13,500 Realtors in the area access to Remines data.

The new system replaces CoreLogic's Realist product and compliments Realcomp, the current system Michigan Realtors use to search for properties and property information, but could also create new breakthroughs in marketing to prospective sellers.

Remine brings public record data and visualization technology to the MLS through heat maps and an easy to use graphical map-based interface, Realcomp IT Director Ken Franklin said. The ease of use and searchability are unlike any other technology we have seen in the residential real estate industry, which is why we were so committed to bringing Remine to Realcomp Realtors.

This is an example of what the system looks like after searching for a property.

Click to Enlarge

(Source: Remine)

Realtors can search a property and see the location on a map, instead of in a list format. Remine also allows for other functions such as seeing the previous sales price, if the owner lives in the property and how long the homeowner owned a home, and therefore how much equity they could have built up.

Realtors can also see the RPI score, or the score that rates how likely the homeowner is to sell their home, Remine explained to HousingWire. The homes are given a score from one to 100, with higher scores indicating higher likelihood of the homeowner wanting to sell their home.

Remine analyses different public information to determine what homeowners are more likely to sell soon, and combines it for Realtors in a simple score. This allows Realtors to produce more targeted marketing.

The software also helps with marketing by allowing Realtors to sink their contact list to the software. It then searches those contacts, showingRealtors where their contacts are, along with the data about their likelihood to sell their home.

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Software company introduces game-changing technology for Michigan Realtors - HousingWire

CEFC warns against risky investment in ‘clean coal’ technology – The Guardian

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

The chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Oliver Yates, says coal-fired power would be an inappropriate investment to expose taxpayers to. Photograph: Bloomberg/via Getty

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has said it is very unlikely it would invest in new coal-fired generators and poured cold water on the federal governments push to support clean coal technology.

The CEFCs hostile approach to the sustainability and commercial viability of new coal plants means the government will have to change CEFCs investment rules or directly subsidise new coal plants if it wants to support them.

In recent weeks the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has advocated building new coal power stations, including by giving government subsidies.

The resources and Northern Australia minister, Matt Canavan, has flagged using the governments $5bn northern Australia infrastructure fund to provide a subsidy.

Federal ministers have suggested that ultra super critical coal power stations, which more efficiently generate steam to create power, should be considered a clean technology because they generate up to 30% less emissions than older coal plants.

On Friday in Canberra the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked the CEFC at the Senate committee examining the resilience of electricity infrastructure if it would fund new coal-fired power plants.

Oliver Yates, its chief executive, said it was required to operate sustainably and commercially.

To be honest in a market of such volatility, it would be very difficult to find a private operator or commercial investor investing in coal-fired power stations in the Australian market today, he said.

We, like a commercial investor, are very unlikely to find circumstances in which that would be an appropriate investment to expose taxpayers to.

Yates said that if coal power stations could generate electricity creating 50% fewer emissions than electricity currently in the grid without carbon capture and storage such an investment would technically fit into the CEFCs rules.

But he said coal was seriously challenged as a commercial investment because the price of renewables was declining so there was no point building ultra super critical coal stations that were likely to provide electricity at a higher price.

Yates said unless ultra super critical coal plants could be built such that they generated much lower emissions its not really a technology which would be likely to have a long-term path.

He concluded by saying he would not recommend investment in coal power plants, which he described as very risky for taxpayers.

Hanson-Young, the committee chair, told a press conference the CEFCs evidence showed clean coal was a unicorn dream ... that doesnt stack up.

She said it was lunacy to invest in coal and the government should be upfront about what a subsidy to build coal stations would cost.

On Friday the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told FiveAA Radio in Adelaide that Australia should have a technology-agnostic and all-of-the-above approach to energy policy.

We need to have energy, electricity that is affordable, that is reliable you know what unreliable energy is like in South Australia and of course we meet our emission reduction obligations, he said, referring to blackouts in the past two days due to a nationwide heatwave.

Asked whether turning the second Pelican Point gas generator on could have averted outages, Turnbull said gas can provide a backup but is very expensive.

He suggested pumped hydro technology could avoid outages by using power from wind or coal power plants created off-peak to pump water uphill to generate hydroelectric power on peak.

Turnbull accused the South Australian government of being lazy for not developing an electricity plan to deal with its high mix of renewable energy and planning for the intermittency of wind power.

He said the other failure in the energy market was the failure to recognise that if you restrict the access to and supply of gas, the price of gas will go up. He blamed policies such as Victorias ban on gas exploration which he said prohibited not only coal seam gas but also conventional onshore gas.

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CEFC warns against risky investment in 'clean coal' technology - The Guardian

Scientist calls for industrial scale-up of greenhouse gas-eating microbe technology in UK – Phys.Org

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

February 10, 2017 by Emma Rayner Credit: University of Nottingham

A leading green energy scientist who uses bacteria to turn greenhouse gases into usable chemicals is calling for more investment from industry and government subsidies to scale up this newest of technologies.

Professor Nigel Minton from The University of Nottingham says there is significant potential for the industrial scaling up of the new process which uses 'gas-eating' bacteria to ferment polluting greenhouse gases from landfill and industry into useful products like biofuels and plastics.

A report, commissioned by Professor Minton's BBSRC-funded network of gas fermentation specialists C1net, says the UK should do more to increase the production of this new technology which could capture a large percentage of industrial waste gas from our factories and landfill.

As the burden on global oil and natural gas resources increases to meet demand for energy, plastics and medicines, the University's Synthetic Biology Research Centre has been engineering microorganisms to convert natural and waste gases into valuable chemical and fuel products.

The technology has been rolled out in commercial-scale demonstration plants in China and the US and could make a contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fossil resources. However, there is currently little industrial development and use of the technology in the UK.

Professor Minton is calling for the biofuel subsidies currently given to biomass processors to be extended to the gas fermentation industry: "Gas fermentation can produce low carbon fuels from a range of waste feedstocks that do not pose the risk of increasing demand for land, like biomass production does. But the new technology is not competing on a level playing field.

"Fuels produced from renewable feedstocks are eligible under the UK's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, but low carbon fuels produced from carbon-containing waste gases are currently not eligible to contribute towards the obligation, despite the greenhouse gas emissions reductions they can provide. This is proving a significant barrier to the commercial deployment of the gas fermentation processes. A broader and more encompassing framework is needed to increase the production of low carbon fuels in the UK. This could be achieved by focusing on the ultimate goal of lowering the greenhouse gas emissions of transport fuels, and supporting all low carbon fuels."

The BBSRC C1net report makes several recommendations to government's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the industry sector:

Developers of new processes, both in academia and industry, must credibly assess the economic viability of these processes, ensuring that they understand the conditions in which the processes will be commercially viable. They must also take a proactive approach in communicating the benefits of new products and processes.

Explore further: New app launched to explain benefits of carbon dioxide

More information: The commercial and strategic opportunity offered by gas fermentation in the UK: http://www.c1net.co.uk/documentation/Opportunities%20for%20gas%20fermentation%20in%20the%20UK%20-%20Final%20Report%20-%20July%202016.pdf

A new app to explain how Carbon Dioxide (CO2) can be used to make products, therefore lowering emissions, has been launched at COP22 in Marrakech today (Friday 11 November 2016).

A new article looks at the potential benefits of a Billion Ton Bioeconomy, a vision to enable a sustainable market for producing and converting a billion tons of US biomass to bio-based energy, fuels, and products by 2030.

The global aviation industry has pledged that by 2050, it will reduce its net carbon emissions to half its 2005 levels. Achieving this will require not only improved engine efficiency and aerodynamics, but also a turn to ...

Three companies announced they have entered into a letter of intent to build Europe's first commercial-scale production facility to create bioethanol from waste gases produced during the steelmaking process. The announcement ...

The process of burning fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal and natural gas releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The effect of this carbon dioxide emission into our atmosphere is causes global warming. ...

Nations that pledged to carry out the Paris climate agreement have moved forward to find practical ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including efforts to ban hydrofluorocarbons and set stricter fuel-efficiency standards. ...

Reliability measures of electrical grid has risen to a new norm as it involves physical security and cybersecurity. Threats to either can trigger instability, leading to blackouts and economic losses.

The Google Chromebook, a type of stripped-down laptop, isn't a practical mobile device for many peoplemostly because it basically turns into an expensive paperweight whenever it can't find a Wi-Fi connection.

Researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea will be working to develop a new battery, using abundant and readily available seawater.

If you've been dreaming for years about having your own R2-D2 or BB-8, get ready. Just don't expect your new robot companion to do too much, because you might be disappointed.

Microsoft virtual assistant Cortana began holding people to their promises on Thursday.

Although we spend a lot of our time online nowadaysstreaming music and video, checking email and social media, or obsessively reading the newsfew of us know about the mathematical algorithms that manage how our content ...

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Scientist calls for industrial scale-up of greenhouse gas-eating microbe technology in UK - Phys.Org

Egyptian Economy Making Slow, Tentative Progress – Voice of America

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

CAIRO

The Egyptian economy has been showing signs of a slow, but painful recovery since a $12 billion loan from the World Bank, late last year, followed by a number of economic reforms, including the free float of the national currency. Tourism appears to be picking up and foreign investors are starting to buy Egyptian treasury bills once again.

One of Cairo's major, five-star tourist hotels was bustling with visitors on a recent day, following months of slow performance.

Tourism accounts for nearly 12 percent of Egypt's GDP and has always been a key barometer of the country's economic health. Sporadic terror attacks, two airline crashes and the accidental bombing of a busload of tourists by army helicopters had put a damper on tourism for months.

Overall, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy sounded optimistic during a recent press conference to discuss the country's economic indicators for 2016.

He stressed that the government's operating deficit in 2016 decreased slightly and looks to be headed lower for 2017.

Deficits, El-Garhy said, "put pressure on the state, adding to inflation and causing depreciation of the national currency.

By lowering deficits," he adds, "Egypt will have less debt, decreasing the need for borrowing.

El-Garhy said consumers may be feeling pinched by recent price increases, but would see an improvement in a year and an even greater improvement over the next three years.

A vegetable vendor sells produce at a market in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 10, 2017.

Frustrated shoppers

A popular Egyptian TV program, however, reports less than favorable reaction in the street to rising prices and sporadic shortages of food staples. Shoppers at a suburban Cairo vegetable market expressed frustration.

An irate housewife says cooking oil and cooking gas have gone up in price, while a woman next to her says everything is becoming exponentially more expensive.

In southern Egypt, a disgruntled consumer set fire to a government supply depot last month, but most Egyptians have taken the situation in stride.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sits before a meeting at the presidential palace in Cairo Aug. 2, 2015.

Egypt making progress

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi, who has faced grumbling over recent price increases, drew applause as he addressed a crowd of young people, recently, arguing Egypt is making slow progress.

The president said development requires a collective consciousness and understanding of the threats facing the nation, in order to set things straight. He maintains that Egypt is making progress, even if people aren't happy about everything.

Sisi added he is doing his best to help meet the aspirations of Egypt's 90 million citizens, especially its young people.

A young man, today," the president insists, will see major progress in the next 10 years.

A man counts Egyptian currency at an exchange office in Cairo, Nov. 3, 2016.

Investors show confidence

Foreign investors are expressing growing confidence in Egypt's economy, as analyst Khaled Abou Haif told Egyptian TV. He said traders have been seeing very strong demand for (Egyptian) treasury bills, indicating confidence in the economy by foreign investors and helping meet the country's foreign currency needs.

Egypt's key stock market indices have also risen, despite the simultaneous increase in the value of the dollar, after the government allowed the Egyptian pound to float freely.

Other variables, like Suez Canal revenues, have some economists worried, given the conflict in Yemen, which overlooks the strategic Bab el Mandab strait, the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea waterways. Lower oil prices may also have caused a decrease in the number of ships transiting the canal, according to some observers.

Egyptian Economy Making Slow, Tentative Progress - Voice of America

Colts position review: OL showed legit progress, but work remains – Indianapolis Star

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

The Indianapolis Colts used a lot of offensive linemen in 2016. Here's where they stand heading into the offseason. Scott Horner/Wochit

Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly (78),right, and Indianapolis Colts Joe Haeg (73) drops back in protection during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, at Lucas Oil Stadium.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

INDIANAPOLIS It feels as if more ink and airtime have been devoted to the Indianapolis Colts offensive line than any other aspect of the team in recent years.

With each hit absorbed by quarterback Andrew Luck, the conversation inevitably turned to the lack of reliable protection up front. And with each failure of the running game, scrutiny of the run blocking only increased.

The 2016 season wasnt much different. But the attention came for slightly different reasons. After the Colts went all-in and drafted four offensive linemen last year, they began making gradual progress in this long-maligned unit. But those gains were incremental. The job is far fromcomplete.

And that means print and airtime will continue to be dedicated to this group. Lets take a took back at how last season went for the offensive line and consider whats next for this critical position group.

HOW IT WENT

It wasnt a masterpiece. And the offensive line was still the subject of much (warranted) criticism. But, overall, we saw more measurable progress in this unit than at any other time in the five seasons under coach Chuck Pagano.

Anthony Castonzo gave the Colts some reason for concern with too much up-and-down play from the all-important left tackle spot. But, to his credit, Castonzo's play stabilized late in the season. Left guard Jack Mewhort had an impressive season, and is clearly a fixture for years to come. Rookie Ryan Kelly seamlessly took over at center, solving a problem at a position that had long been an issue. The right side continued to be in some flux. Joe Haeg, Denzelle Good, Joe Reitz and LeRaven Clark all took turns in the starting lineup at right guard or right tackle, but thats still going to have to be sorted out this summer.

Pass protection was still inconsistent. Luck matched a career high with 41 sacks, but dont put that all on the line. The deep balls Luck prefers and his tendency to hold onto the football a bit too long certainly contributed. However, the run blocking was better than its been in a long time. That is clearly a strength of this unit and a reason Frank Gore became the first Colts back since 2007 to surpass 1,000 yards in a season.

Overall, things seem to be looking up for the first time in a long time for the Colts offensive line.

WHAT WE LEARNED

The biggest offensive line lesson of 2016 was this: Building a unit takes time and patience. If you thought the draft haul of linemen was going to equate to an instant fix, you got suckered.

The offensive line is a position that requires one of the longest periods ofdevelopment for young players. Things simply happen too fast and with too much complexity. Then theres the stark differences between college and pro offenses, something that impacts offensive linemen more than most other position players.

There was no better example than the development of Clark, who went from utterly embarrassing in the preseason to representing himself well when starting the final three games of the regular season.

The rookies were raw and that includes first-round pick Kelly but the experience they got last season will prove invaluable. They played through those rough patches and with that will come learning experiences they would not have gained on the bench.

Another lesson from 2016: Mewhort is a cut above everyone else in this unit. He established himself as the line'sbest player, making him someone the Colts should at least consider giving a contract extension this spring. Mewhorts contract expires after the coming season.

One final takeaway: Coaching matters. The addition of Joe Philbin as assistant head coach and offensive line coach was a strong move by Pagano, and it paid huge dividends.

WHATS NEXT The key is continued development. If Philbin continues to work his magic, the Colts will continue to benefit. The foremost challenge is to find a suitable starting lineup on the right side. The Colts, ideally, need to find a position where Haeg can settle in (he started at three different spots last season). Thats the only way theyre going to truly find out what kind of player he is. They also must decide whether Good and Clark are long-term starters.

Something else worth watching is the performance of Castonzo. Language in his contract has already triggered a guarantee on an $8 million bonus that is to be paid next month. So, Castonzo isnt going anywhere for now. But if he doesnt show more consistency in 2017, the Colts are going to have to start thinking about long-term options at left tackle. Thats the last thing anyone wants seeing how things are just starting to come together.

Follow IndyStar reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

One in an occasional series on Colts positionreviews.

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Colts position review: OL showed legit progress, but work remains - Indianapolis Star

The Trump administration can’t entirely roll back progress on climate change here’s why – Washington Post

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

By Jessica F. Green By Jessica F. Green February 10 at 8:00 AM

Environmentalists are not happy with the Trump administration. There are rumors that Trump might withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement on climate change. And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, is probably unlikely to champion U.S. environmental priorities in his diplomatic agenda.

Trumps Environmental Protection Agency pick, Scott Pruitt, is not a fan of environmental regulation and is unlikely to support the Clean Power Plan, Obamas signature climate policy.

[Trump has picked the most conservative EPA leader since 1981]

U.S. cities are leading the way on climate change policy

Heres the good news: States, cities and many firms in the United States realize that sensible climate policy is, well, sensible. Having rational policies in place provides important health benefits,such as reducing smog, and helps authorities prepare for climate-induced changes, like floods and droughts. For firms, planning for the future is just good business.

A number of cities around the world have been at the vanguard of climate action. The C40 Cities initiative is a network of more than 80 and represents 600 million people around the globe, including 13 cities in the United States. Their governments are collaborating on climate efforts, and they have committed to mandatory measurement and reporting of emissions and other policy measures. C40s nifty interactive dashboard provides data on participants emissions.

[The world is about to get tough on aviation emissions. Heres what you need to know.]

Eight US cities also joined the ambitious Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, where cities pledge to cut emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050.

U.S. cities are also preparing for a changed climate. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New York created the Office of Recovery and Resiliency and a plan to minimize impacts of similar storms. Miami just announced a $100 million plan to combat persistent flooding and sea level rise.

Cities vulnerability helps explain why urban residents are more likely to support policies to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and require that utilities source a set percentage of energy from renewable sources.

States are generating demand for clean energy

States also have the autonomy to take action on climate change, with or without a federal mandate. California is continuing its long-standing role as a climate leader. The states landmark climate legislation, AB 32, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and then 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

AB 32 includes aggressive policies to promote renewable energy, enhance fuel efficiency and increase both the use of low-carbon fuels and the number of zero-emission vehicles. Since 2015, California has linked its cap-and-trade scheme to Quebec, creating the first international carbon market between state governments rather than federal ones.

The California legislature passed the measure, so there is no obvious federal action that could undo this market. And California and other large states may also spur broader action.

Heres an example of the California effect. In the 1980s, Californias fuel-efficiency standards exceeded those set by the federal Clean Air Act. Congress eventually responded by bringing federal rules up to California standards. Because cars sold in California a large market had to meet more stringent standards, car manufacturers boosted the efficiency of new vehicles nationwide.

Other states, regardless of their political leanings, are also moving ahead on renewable energy. Texas and 28 others have renewable portfolio standards,which require utilities to sell a certain amount of renewable energy. Another eight have voluntary renewable energy standards.

State laws have helped drive the growth in renewables, which now account for roughly 10 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. Employment in the solar industry is also soaring andaccounted for 1 in 50 new jobs in 2016.

Firms also lead by example on environmental policy

Politicians may wonder whether climate change is happening; CEOs do not. They see climate change as bad for business; droughts, floods and extreme weather events can interrupt supply chains. And regulation can raise production costs. Many firms agree that being prepared for climatic and regulatory changes can help lessen negative impacts.

Others are voluntarily greening themselves and improving the bottom line as a bonus. The campaignRE100, for example, has 90 member firms, including 32 U.S. companies, who have pledged to move to 100 percent renewable energy.

In 2014, the global coalition We Mean Business launched an initiative to promote the transition to a low-carbon economy. Almost 700 companies and investors, representing $8 trillion in revenue, have committed to policies like putting a price on carbon, committing to 100 percent renewable power, removing commodity-driven deforestation from supply chains, and reporting climate change information as a fiduciary duty.

[Wondering whats different about the Paris climate change negotiations?]

In an increasingly global economy, moreover, companies need to adapt to climate regulations and plan for carbon restrictions coming into place in other countries. Just like car manufacturers adjusted to accommodate Californias strict standards, U.S. and other multinational firms are greening their practices to meet environmental laws in other nations.

The fate of the Clean Power Plan

Although pro-climate policies are likely to continue thanks to efforts at the state, national and corporate levels, the fate of ObamasClean Power Plan (CPP) is unclear. The CPP is the centerpiece of the U.S. pledge to the Paris agreement, and it aims to reduce emissions from power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Trump seems keen to repeal the CPP, but regulations are not easily undone. The Supreme Court issued a stay of the CPP in 2015, but if it is upheld, then a rollback will take longer.

The Trump administration could then go back to court to allow EPA to revisit the rule, or it could rescind the rule. As Jody Freeman of Harvard Law School spells out, rescinding the rule would require both a notice and comment period and an explanation of why such a move is necessary. Further litigation would be likely, which would slow efforts to undo the CPP.

More important, many U.S. utilities are moving forward assuming CPP or other regulations will be in place eventually. Utilities are retiring coal plants and not planning to build new ones. Indeed, the countrys seventh-largest emitterannounced that it will probably close this year, because of competition from natural gas.

Coal now supplies only about one-third of the total energy used in U.S. electricity generation, down from about 50 percent in the 1990s. With the majority of U.S. coal plants built before the 1980s, more shutdowns are probable.

The federal government is necessary, but not sufficient

In short, a Trump administration cant entirely reverseprogress on climate change. It may slow things, but the CPP wont be repealed overnight. And many of the changes underway are simply not subject to federal authority.

The rate of climate change is alarming, and we need to move as quickly as possible to de-carbonize. States and cities continue to take action on climate change. Firms are also leading the way and increasingly urging governments to follow. All of these moves suggest theres reason to be hopeful that U.S. progress on climate change will continue.

Jessica F. Green (@greenprofgreen) is assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University. She is the author of Rethinking Private Authority, published by Princeton University Press.

Originally posted here:

The Trump administration can't entirely roll back progress on climate change here's why - Washington Post

ATA says states’ telemedicine progress a mixed bag … – FierceHealthcare

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

A handful of states have made progress when it comes to integrating new policies that make it easier for physicians to practice telemedicine and provide broader coverage for patients, but much of the country remains stagnant when it comes to advancing such regulations.

The result has beena mix of strides and stagnation in telemedicine policies across the country in 2016, according to two new reports from the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).The reports issued letter grades for each state and Washington, D.C., based on how their laws facilitate access to telemedicine services.

Just three statesFlorida, Louisianaand Arkansassaw their grade improve when it came to physician practice standards and licensure, according to(PDF) the ATAs report. Both Florida and Louisiana altered policies to allow out-of-state providers to practice telemedicine, while Arkansas adopted a new law that qualifies audio-video communication as a patient-physician relationship.

RELATED: Health IT stakeholders outline priorities for Trump administration

Texas received the lowest composite grade for physician practice standards and licensure. The state has been in the midst of a longstanding battle over telemedicine legislation, but this week the Houston Chronicle reported that two opposing groups appear to have reached a compromise, which could pave the way to a new bill.

Meanwhile, seven states expanded telemedicine coverage and reimbursement policies, according to a second ATA report(PDF). Several of those states cover telemedicine services for chronic disease management, and many others are covering dentistry, substance abuse and behavioral health services.

RELATED: Telehealth offers potential for health specialists

The association notes that since it began reporting on state policies in 2014, all 50 states have initiated some level of telemedicine coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries, although coverage varies widely from state to state. Thirty-one states have enacted telemedicine parity laws since 2014.

As federal and state lawmakers reevaluate the current health policy environment, they cannot ignore telemedicines potential as a valuable and cost saving tool, said Gary Capistrant, ATAs chief policy officer,in a release.

RELATED: Trumps two-for-one regulation order: Its potential impact on healthcare

The ATA reported similar trends last year, noting that telemedicine policies varied widely among states. A recent survey by the Federation of State Medical Boards indicated that most state boards see regulations tied to remote care as a top priority, particularly as more consumers are gravitating toward video-based telemedicine services and providers are showing increased interest in remote care.

Seltzer’s Notebook | Colangelo Encouraged by Sixers’ Progress – Sixers.com

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

*** Todays Notebook highlights some of the additional topics that Bryan Colangelo touched upon during his Thursday afternoon appearance on 97.5 FM The Fanatic. To read more about updates he provided on the status of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, click here. The interview can be streamed in its entirety on The Fanatics website. ***

Putting Turnaround in Perspective Despite confronting an early deficit Thursday in Orlando, one to the tune of 21-6 just six minutes into their pairing with the Magic, the Sixers relied on a gritty, resilient spirit to eventually turn things around for a 112-111 win.

T.J. McConnell certainly emerged as the hero, providing the decisive shot in the final seconds of regulation. But, between Ersan Ilyasovas clutch free throws, and a big boost from the bench, the Sixers first victory of February represented a group effort.

In many ways, the Sixers performance Thursday at Amway Center harkened back to their form from what was an encouraging first month of the new year. The progress the club exhibited during that stretch wasnt lost on Bryan Colangelo, who weighed in on the Sixers turnaround in his interview on 97.5 FM The Fanatic.

It sure was exciting to see a 10-5 record in January, said the Sixers president of basketball operations, currently in his first full season with the organization. It was obviously coming on the heels of a period of time where we looked at a lot of growth, even though it wasnt necessarily manifesting itself in the win column.

On top of the modest strides the Sixers made in the standings in January, Colangelo has also been pleased to see the franchise reap rewards from having bolstered its basketball operations infrastructure in recent months.

A lot of good things have been happening behind the scenes as we grow this program and grow this team going forward, Colangelo told Fanatic hosts Jason Myrtetus and Bob Cooney.

Specifically, Colangelo cited new hires to the Sixers executive, analytics, and scouting staffs since he was brought in April.

The things that are happening off the court are wins as much as they are on the court, said Colangelo.

In terms of the factors that, in Colangelos view, would ultimately constitute a successful season, the personnel chief sounded as if he was less interested in counting wins, and more focused on taking stock in whatever significant holistic evaluations could be extracted from the 2016-2017 campaign.

I always said it would not be based on a number, Colangelo said, when discussing how he would judge the current year. I love the fact that the fans are being rewarded with certain aspects of this run, and certain aspects of just the growth of this team.

Growth that Colangelo thinks could be moving along even quicker had there been better health through the first three and a half months of the season. Ben Simmons has so far been missing in action due to a right foot fracture. Jerryd Bayless, a free agent signing whom the Sixers were counting on to be a key member of their backcourt rotation, managed only three games this year before being shut down because of ligament damage in his left wrist.

Unfortunately, because of those injures, and because of those setbacks, the reality is we had to put the breaks on a little bit with respect to where we are, and put the health, and long-term performance capability of these players ahead of short-term gains.

As far as Joel Embiid is concerned, Colangelo considers the rookies rapid development a success in and of itself, even in light of the restrictions placed on the big mans playing time, and the left knee issues hes been battling of late.

Internally, we feel that were moving in the right direction, said Colangelo, and that to me spells success overall.

Keeping Busy With Trade Deadline on Horizon Bryan Colangelos interview on The Fanatic came two weeks out - almost down to the exact minute - from the 2017 NBA trade deadline, which is set for 3:00 pm EST on Thursday, February 23rd.

According to Colangelo, the Sixers front office phones have been ringing regularly as of late. He said hes been talking a lot with his counterparts from around the rest of the league.

Quite a bit of activity in recent weeks, is how Colangelo described the frequency of his communication with fellow executives.

Since the outset of the season, the Sixers have acknowledged the realities surrounding their center rotation. Its no secret that between Joel Embiid, Richaun Holmes, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor, the team boasts a lot of young talent in one place.

In the instances in which all four players have been healthy, the Sixers have done their best to fairly manage each prospects respective role and playing time.

At the end of the day, Im looking to make a good deal for this organization, Colangelo said Thursday. At some point, somethings got to give. Im just trying to obviously get it to the point where we do, and maximize the opportunities that we pursue.

Despite the circumstances surrounding them, the Sixers bigs, as Colangelo sees it, havent allowed external factors beyond their control to influence their conduct on the court - both in practice settings, and in games. He praised Noel and Okafor in particular for the maturity theyve shown.

I have to compliment both Nerlens and Jahlil on the way theyve handled everything, said Colangelo. Coach [Brett Brown] has said it often, but these guys are acting like true professionals. Both of them have been great.

Although this years trade deadline is fast approaching, Colangelo restated Thursday a point hes stressed repeatedly in past media availabilities. He feels no rush or pressure to pull the trigger on transactions simply because of a looming date on the calendar.

Im going to be very patient where we build this team, Colangelo said. Its got to be a deal or a situation that makes good sense for the organization overall in the bigger picture.

If no swaps are made by this years deadline, Colangelo noted that other junctures of the leagues annual calendar tend to present additional trading opportunities, such as the run-up to the June draft, and the July free agency period.

Feeling Good for Fans More than halfway through the season, no team in the NBA has experienced a bigger per-game attendance boost than the Sixers. A year ago, the team drew an average of 14,881 fans to The Center, a figure that ranked third-to-last in the league. This season, with excitement and winning results on the rise, the Sixers have averaged 17,165 fans per home game, good for 19th-best overall.

None of the NBAs other 29 franchises has increased its average per-game gate by more than 400 fans. The Sixers spike of almost 2,300 spectators per game exceeds that number nearly six times over.

Im thrilled [for] the fanbase, the ownership, and the people involved that have gone through so much of a hard times through the entire three years or so thats been going on, the rebuilding scenario, Bryan Colangelo said during his chat on The Fanatic.

In the same breath, the two-time NBA Executive of the Year made clear he has lofty goals in mind for the Sixers, ones that go beyond a 10-5 month, regardless of how energizing January was for the team.

Its just great to see it all come together, even for a brief moment this year, but we cant be fooled, he said. We still have a lot of work to do. We know it wasnt going to happen overnight.

What Colangelo did feel confident expressing on the radio was his belief that the Sixers are potentially positioned for sustained, long-term success.

To know that some of the pieces are in place, and that were in a position to add additional pieces moving forward, both with salary cap flexibility and draft picks, I think its just fantastic, said Colangelo. Its a great opportunity for this city to see a winner for a long time, for many years to come, and thats what were aiming for.

Excerpt from:

Seltzer's Notebook | Colangelo Encouraged by Sixers' Progress - Sixers.com

Cliffs Natural Resources Is Showing a Lot of Progress on Its Return to Profitability – Motley Fool

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Last quarter, shares of Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) took a nosedive after earnings were released, even if that large drop wasn't necessarily deserved. This time around, though, Wall Streetcheered to the tune of a 19% gain after earnings thanks to a strong showing in the fourth quarter.

Let's have a quick look at Cliffs' results for the fourth quarter and what investors can look forward to in 2017

Image source: Getty Images

DATA SOURCE: CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES EARNINGS RELEASE.*ALL NUMBERS IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT PER-SHARE DATA.

There were a lot of positive factors influencing this most recent report, both in and out of Cliffs' control. Starting with the one that is out of its control: iron ore prices in the Asia-Pacific region. Per-ton prices increased from $33.73 this time last year to $57.30 in the quarter. This was a big benefit, but there is no guarantee that Asia-Pacific prices will stay at these levels or rise.

With that in mind, the things that were really impressive were the things that Cliffs can control, notably the improvements in its U.S. iron ore business. Thanks to a major iron ore sales deal signed back in may with ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT), Cliffs was able to restart one of its mines and increase production. As a result, total volumes sold were 53% higher than last year. On top of those large gains, it was also able to reduce per-ton operatingexpensesby 12%. All of these things led to a significant gain in operating margins.

DATA SOURCE: CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES EARNINGS RELEASES. CHART BY AUTHOR.EBITDA = EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXES, DEPRECIATION, AND AMORTIZATION.

There was even some progress on the corporate side as well. Even though corporate costs increased in the quarter, that money was being better spent. Thanks to some debt extinguishment moves in the prior quarter, Cliffs has been able to reduce its interest expenses by 26%. So the increase in corporate spending went to higher research and development spending as well as some incentive compensation. That R&D spending is being done to produce new iron products that can be used in electric arc furnaces. These newer steel-making furnaces require a higher-quality steel than the traditional blast furnaces Cliffs has been supplying for years. Since most U.S. production is migrating toward these newer furnaces, Cliffs is trying to stay relevant in a changing market.

Along with the company's earnings results came a slew of press releases announcing that it is making some major moves to recapitalize the business:

In aggregate, these moves basically will extinguish or extend the terms for some of its debts due within the next few years. While the shareholder dilution isn't the best thing for shareholders, it will significantly reduce the company's total debt load as well as extinguish some of its highest-interest debt that it took on in the middle of the commodity downturn. This will put the company on much more solid financial footing for the next several years.

CEO Lourenco Goncalves:

2016 was the year in which we finalized the execution of the operational, commercial and financial actions necessary to ensure Cliffs will have a great future. Among the actions accomplished last year are several new sales agreements entered with clients, including the renewal of our long-term supply contract with our largest customer, and a number of capital markets transactions that were successfully executed to reduce debt and extend our maturity runway.

Despite the undeniable fact that the underlying business environment was far from ideal during almost all of 2016, the environmentally compliant and safety oriented performance of the Cliffs teams inthe United Statesand inAustraliaresulted in a very profitable year with strong cash flow generation.

We are excited about Cliffs and about our future. A much more favorable business environment in the U.S. and a newly adopted rational behavior in the international iron ore market support the work we have done internally in our company. With a much lower debt profile and extended maturities, and several new and more favorable commercial agreements that we put in place in 2016, we expect Cliffs to deliver strong and sustainable results in 2017.

When Goncalves took the reins in 2014, he immediately said he would focus on shedding the company of its non-core businesses, cut costs, get the company's balance sheet in order, and generate cash flow for investors. In a little more than two years, he has accomplished three of those goals. Even after the company completes this major debt reduction and restructuring move, there is still some room for improvement.

That said, Cliffs is in much, much better shape than it was a couple of years ago, and the company is looking more and more like it will be able to fulfill in 2017 all of the promises Goncalves made.

Tyler Crowe owns shares of Cliffs Natural Resources. The Motley Fool owns shares of Cliffs Natural Resources. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Continued here:

Cliffs Natural Resources Is Showing a Lot of Progress on Its Return to Profitability - Motley Fool

‘Paper boys’ were the lifeblood of The Daily Progress – The Daily Progress

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Newspaper carriers, in particular the paper boy, were the lifeblood of The Daily Progress from the end of World War II to the late 1980s. The job was also the first source of income for many of the citys teenage boys.

The Daily Progress was an afternoon publication and it rolled off the press just in time for these hearty young men to deliver their neighborhood route after school. On this date in 1976, The Daily Progress named Kevin Lee as its Bicentennial Newspaper Carrier of the Year.

Kevin is an example of our carriers who have learned the value of effort, outstanding service, and reliability. The young people who deliver your Daily Progress are busy with school, family, and sports as well as delivering and managing their newspaper business. Bad weather and unchained dogs are familiar and humorous elements of a newspaper carriers day. Record Keeping, economizing time, non-paying customers, and service errors are less publicized but more important parts of his route work, for it is these aspects which teach a carrier the foundations of business management and public relations.

Lee is shown with a likeness of Benjamin Franklin, believed to be Americas first newspaper carrier, for delivering newspapers in Boston when he was 12 years old.

The Daily Progress switched to a morning publication in April of 1990, effectively bringing an end to the era of the paper boy.

Link:

'Paper boys' were the lifeblood of The Daily Progress - The Daily Progress

Troy Reimink: ‘This Land Is Your Land’ doesn’t mean what most people think – Traverse City Record Eagle

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Politics are so noxious and tense right now that it's more noticeable when they don't infiltrate pop culture than when they do. It's big news if "Saturday Night Live" fails to provoke a presidential Twitter tantrum, or if an awards show does not produce a defiant, viral acceptance speech.

The Super Bowl, where sports, entertainment and capitalism collide most spectacularly, did not disappoint on this front, at least when it came to headline-grabbing ads. Unexpectedly subdued, however, was the halftime performance by Lady Gaga, to the extent that one can describe 15 minutes of pyrotechnics and flamboyantly choreographed dance anthems as such.

Her most overt statement came via "Born This Way," an anthem of LGBT empowerment, performed for an audience at NRG Stadium in Houston that included Vice President (and noted non-ally on gay issues) Mike Pence. But judging by the nonpartisan approval it received, Gaga's show was otherwise so apolitical that the neutrality itself was inevitably its own political stance when viewers on either side sat with clenched buttocks anticipating some direct attack on President Trump.

She did, however, tip her hand in the prerecorded (it turns out) introduction from the top of the arena, whose subtext might have slipped by if you'd blinked. Before descending to the stage, as red, white and blue-lit drones formed an American flag behind her, Gaga sang the opening words of "God Bless America" then segued into a few bars of "This Land Is Your Land." Aha, now we're getting somewhere.

"God Bless America" was composed by famed Tin Pan Alley songwriter Irving Berlin and popularized by the singer Kate Smith in the late 1930s. Woody Guthrie, the prototypical folk troubadour, was traveling the United States as a nomad while "God Bless America" saturated radio airwaves. He hated how starkly the song's simplistic tribute to the country's scenic beauty contrasted with the Depression-era suffering he'd witnessed on his journeys, so he wrote "This Land Is Your Land" as a sarcastic retort.

Like countless others, I was taught "This Land Is Your Land" in elementary school, which is weird for two reasons. First, I'm almost 100 percent sure my school was built on land once occupied by Native Americans, so singing the refrain of This land was made for you and me in a room full of predominantly white kids is a memory that not has aged well. Second, to take the song at face value is to miss Guthries point.

He originally titled the song God Blessed America For Me, and it contained politically pointed verses that did not appear on the version that became popular on the radio in the 1940s or the initial wave of big-name covers during the 1960s folk revival. In lyrics unearthed decades later, Guthrie wrote of seeing my people in the shadow of a church steeple. As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me.

Another omitted verse resonates unexpectedly almost 80 years after Guthrie wrote it: There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me; Sign was painted, it said private property; But on the back side it didn't say nothing; This land was made for you and me.

The pairing of those two historically entwined songs is significant. Each long ago was adopted as an alternate national anthem by a side of an American schism that seems likely to continue widening until we tear ourselves in half -- one unabashedly patriotic, the other fiercely critical.

Lady Gaga is an accomplished interpreter of the Great American Songbook and surely knew what she was doing. The gesture might have been less forceful than Beyonces appearance last year backed by dancers dressed like Black Panthers. But with political discourse now an exercise in chaos, nihilism and volume, theres something to be said for subtlety.

Although, depending on ones politics, Gagas route the stage might offer a more apt metaphor for how a lot of us feel like handling this moment in history: solemnly quoting the Pledge of Allegiance, then flinging ourselves from the roof of a stadium.

Troy Reimink is a west Michigan writer and musician.

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Troy Reimink: 'This Land Is Your Land' doesn't mean what most people think - Traverse City Record Eagle

Hecker reemerges with more text-based synthesis on two new releases on Editions Mego – Tiny Mix Tapes

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Not in a negative sense, Vienna-based mad scientist/producer Florian Hecker seems to make some of the most inaccessible music out there right now. So it wasnt surprising to hear that he was collaborating with Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani for 2012s Chimerization project, which combined an experimental libretto with the abstract synthesis on which Heckers a veritable expert. (I can think of no better way to attract the margins of artistic consumers than to bring on a guy whos written and spoken extensively about Rationalism and related subjects so prodigiously it makes my out-of-school braincry.)

Now, Hecker has re-recruited Reza for the third chapter in the trilogy of text-sound pieces (in case you lost count, the first was the just-mentioned Chimerization and the second was 2014s Articulao). The newest installment is called A Script For Machine Synthesis. Its out February 24 on Editions Mego and is said to present a complex simplicity that spirals in an unending manner as an audio image of the uncanny valley. (Something tells me this uncanny valley should be limited to children 10 andup.)

Heckers anti-hit-parade dont stop there, though; because in addition to A Script For Machine Synthesis, Hecker has also just released Articulao Sintetico, a limited-edition cassette that, as the title suggests, purports to be a complete resynthesis of Articulao which therefore pretty much makes it a resynthesis of the voice of artist Joan LaBarbarba.

Buy Articulao Sintetico here, and pre-order Script right over here.

Articulao Sinteticotracklisting:

01. Synthetic Hinge 02. Modulator (Scattering Transform) 03. SyntheticHinge

A Script For Machine Synthesistracklisting:

01. Prologue 02. A Script For Machine Synthesis 03.Credits

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Hecker reemerges with more text-based synthesis on two new releases on Editions Mego - Tiny Mix Tapes

Laura Akin: Overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian – Modesto Bee

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Laura Akin: Overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian
Modesto Bee
Of the 55 Continental Congress delegates, 28 belonged to the Church of England and 21 were protestants. The six remaining members supported theistic rationalism. So there you have it, only six of the signatures on the Constitution were not Christian. I ...

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Laura Akin: Overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian - Modesto Bee

Australia’s new political divide: ‘globalists’ versus ‘patriots’ – The Sydney Morning Herald

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Openness. That is the word Reserve Bank governorPhilip Lowechose to emphasise at his first public outing this year.

In Australia there is an "openness and transparency" not always found elsewhere, he told a high-powered business gathering at the Opera House on Thursday night.

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We asked thousands of people across Australia hundreds of questions, and used the answers to look for patterns. It turns out we are a divided bunch.

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Matt Black of Parramatta keeps his cats in a purpose built cat enclosure in his backyard.

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An extraordinary heatwave scorching much of NSW is set to bring yet more grief, with health authorities issuing an air pollution alert for increased levels of ozone in the atmosphere in Sydney. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

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Liberal Party member and Sky News presenter Ross Cameron has issued an apology of sorts for the remarks he made about homosexuals at a conservative fundraiser. Vision: SKY NEWS.

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More than a hundred anti-racism protesters clashed with people heading to a secret fundraising dinner in Melbourne for the anti-Islam organisation Q Society.

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The luxury cruise ship Norwegian Star is adrift at sea with over 2000 people on board, due to an engine failure, requiring the ship to be towed back to port. Vision: Seven News

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NSW Energy and Utilities Minister Don Harwin has requested the public to make restrictions to their power usage between peak times, in order to prevent potential rolling blackouts, despite claiming we have a power surplus.

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Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron has appeared on SKY NEWS to defend the comments he made about homosexuality and The Sydney Morning Herald at the Q Society fundraising dinner in Sydney. Vision: SKY NEWS.

We asked thousands of people across Australia hundreds of questions, and used the answers to look for patterns. It turns out we are a divided bunch.

And openness to trade and investment has been fundamental to the nation's prosperity.

Australia is "committed to an open international order," Lowe said.

Those sentiments might have seemed routine a few years back. But in the wake of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump "openness" to the world economy often referred to as globalisation is now a hotly contested political issue.

A little over a year ago Marine Le Pen, the leader of France'sfar-right FrontNational partyand a presidential contender, cast political battlelines as being no longer "between the left and the right but the globalists and the patriots". The globalists, she sneered, are for the dissolution of France into a "global magma".

Greg Ip, a Wall Street Journal economics commentator, wrote last month that Le Pen's remarks foreshadowed "the tectonic forces that would shake up the world in 2016".

Opposition to globalisation the increasing movement of goods, money and people across international borders was a key theme of Trump campaign to become president of the US. From now on it is going to be "America First", he says repeatedly.

In Australia, Pauline Hanson has globalisation in her sights.In her maiden speech to the Senate in September she accused national leaders of giving away our sovereignty, our rights, our jobs and even our democracy.

"Their push for globalisation, economic rationalism, free trade and ethnic diversity has seen our country's decline," she said.

In pitting globalists against patriots Le Pen neatly summed up a new and unpredictable political fissure that cuts across old divisions between left and right.

Ip predicts the tussle between globalism and nationalism "will shape the coming era much as the struggle between conservatives and liberals has shaped the last".

This political split has emerged during a period of rapid global economic integration.In the two decades before the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007 international trade in goods and services grew by 7 per cent a year on average a much faster rate than global GDP.

This has been a period of great prosperity for Australia, which has not experienced a recession for a quarter of a century. But there has also been a marked shift in the structure of the economy. Since the mid-1990s manufacturing's share ofAustralia's economic output has fallen from 14 per cent to about 7 per cent.Meanwhile, the importance of knowledge-intensive service industries such as finance and professional services has grown significantly. Similar trends have been at work in other advanced economies.

The flow of migrants to Australia another factor many associate with globalisation has also been strong. The proportion of Australians born overseas reached 28 per cent in 2014-15, the highest proportion in more than 120 years.

There are now signs the tussle Ip describes between globalist and nationalist sentiment has become an important political fault linein Australia.

Polling for the Political Personas Project commissioned by Fairfax Media and conducted by the Australian National University and Netherlands-based political research enterprise Kieskompas, shows public opinion is divided over the merits of trade liberalisation, one of globalisation's fundamentals.

The statement "free trade with other countries has made Australia better off" could not muster support from the majority of the 2600 voters surveyed 44.7 per cent agreed (but only 7.1 per cent strongly), 27.5 per cent disagreed and 27.8 per cent were neutral.

There is a similar split when voters are asked to assess the impact of globalisation.

A separate Ipsos survey released in December found 48 per cent of Australians considered globalisation a "force for good" while 22 per cent said it was a "force for bad", with 29 per cent undecided.

Carol Johnson, professor of politics and international studies at the University of Adelaide, said many voters have, over time, become more aware of globalisation's drawbacks.

"Twenty years ago, the electorate seemed prepared to believe that while there were some risks to opening up the economy, there would also be benefits," she said.

"Part of what happened is that people are now more aware that many of our competitor countries, including Asian countries, are more than capable of developing these [high-tech and service] industries themselves.

"The assumption that Western countries will always be superior has started to come undone and voters are becoming worried that government hasn't got right the mix of balancing the benefits and downsides of globalisation."

Polling for the Political Personas Project found more than eight in 10 voters believe "we rely too heavily on foreign imports and should manufacture more in Australia" .This statement received more support than any other proposition in the survey, which covered dozens of hot-button political issues.

Jill Sheppard, a researcher from the ANU's Centre for Social Research and Method who was involved in the project, said public concern about the decline of manufacturing was linked to perceptions of globalisation.

"Globalisation seems to manifest in people's minds as manufacturing and jobs going offshore. They think about cheap labour in Asian countries, which seem like a direct threat to us."

The project sheds light on the types of Australians most likely to embrace globalisation and most likely to dislike it.Support for free trade was strongly linked to feeling financially secure, confident in society and optimistic about the future.This is illustrated by differences between seven distinctive political "tribes" identified by the project.

The three most financially secure groups Progressive Cosmopolitans, Ambitious Savers and Lavish Mod-cons (that is, moderate conservatives) were also the strongest supporters of free trade. More than 70 per cent of Cosmopolitans, 68 per cent of Mod-cons and 62 per cent of Savers agreed with the statement: "Free trade with other countries has made Australia better off."

These three groups also had the highest levels of agreement with the statement: "I am feeling pretty good these days about how much money I can spend" and were the most likely to earn high incomes of $91,000 or more.

When it came to optimism about society and the future, Cosmopolitans and Savers were the most likely to agree with the statement: "I have confidence in society" and to disagree with the statements: "I sometimes feel that the future holds nothing for me" and: "I feel let down by society."

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 64 per cent of the group called "Anti-establishment Firebrands" and 51 per cent of tribe called "Disillusioned Pessimists" disagreed that free trade had made Australia better off.

These two tribes were also the most likely to agree with the statements: "I sometimes feel that the future holds nothing for me" and "I feel let down by society,"and to disagree with the statements: "I am feeling pretty good these days about how much money I can spend" and "I have confidence in society."

The project draws attention to another way globalisation is reshaping Australian politics it splits both progressives and conservatives.

Two of the tribes Progressive Cosmopolitans and Activist Egalitarians were distinguished by their socially progressive values and support for left-leaning political parties.

And yet their feelings diverge when it comes to globalisation: the Cosmopolitans are much more comfortable with trade liberalisation.

There are similar divisions among the more conservative tribes. Four groupings the Ambitious Savers, Lavish Mod-Cons,Prudent Traditionalists and Anti-Establishment Firebrands favoured right-leaning political parties. And yet only the first two of those tribes were strongly in favour of free trade. The Prudent Traditionalists are split on the question of free trade and the Anti-Establishment Firebrands (who have much in common with Trump's core support base) are strongly opposed.

Sheppard said voter suspicion about globalisation was likely to increase.

"This generation has seen some very rapid changes towards more liberal social attitudes and I think some of this protectionist sentiment is a reaction to that that we need something to slow down a little bit," she said.

"Globalisation is an obvious target."

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Australia's new political divide: 'globalists' versus 'patriots' - The Sydney Morning Herald

Mob censorship can’t be tolerated – DesMoinesRegister.com

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

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Sheldon Rabinowitz, Des Moines, Letter to the Editor 6:21 p.m. CT Feb. 10, 2017

Students from City and West High lead protesters down the pedestrian mall during a rally against President Trump's travel ban on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

If we really have free speech in this country, as provided by law, then any lawful program should be able to be held on any campus. Whether any of us, including university administration or the news media, agree with the sponsors or their subject matter, should have nothing to do with the right to hold the program.

Lawful protest is to be respected, but universities and the local government have the responsibility to protect the people and the property from rioters. Are we to be ruled by anarchists and have mob rule? If the police need to get tough to enforce the law, so be it.

If universities knuckle under threats of rioters, it will only encourage more censorship of what the mob does not want to hear, all across the country.

Sheldon Rabinowitz, Des Moines

Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2kYEG0s

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Mob censorship can't be tolerated - DesMoinesRegister.com

What Wikipedia’s Daily Mail ‘Ban’ Tells Us About The Future Of Online Censorship – Forbes

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Forbes

What Wikipedia's Daily Mail 'Ban' Tells Us About The Future Of Online Censorship
Forbes
How was this decision made, what kind of data fed into this decision-making process and what does it tell us about the future of censorship and who decides what is real on the Internet, especially as social media platforms increasingly play the role ...
WP:Reliable sources/Noticeboard - WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia bans Daily Mail as 'unreliable' sourceThe Guardian
Wikipedia:Potentially unreliable sources - WikipediaWikipedia

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What Wikipedia's Daily Mail 'Ban' Tells Us About The Future Of Online Censorship - Forbes

Ooniprobe Maps Countries Around the World That Censor the … – The Atlantic

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

If youre having trouble with your internet connection, one of the first things tech support will ask you to do is to run a speed test. There are dozens of websites and apps that will, at the tap of a button, measure your network speedbut they cant tell you which sites you can actually access with that bandwidth. Even with a good connection, if youre in a country that censors the internet, whole swaths of the web might be out of reach.

Now, theres an app that will test your internet connection not for speed, but for freedom. The program, ooniprobe, is part of a 5-year-old project called the Open Observatory of Network Interference, or OONI. This project is sponsored by Tor, the organization behind the privacy-preserving Tor Browser.

OONI has made censorship-testing software available for years, but it has until now required downloading a desktop software package using a command-line toola step most computer users arent comfortable taking on. The new app will allow anyone with a smartphone to run a test. Mobile is where the next billion will come online, so this app fulfills a pressing need to put censorship detection in the hands of the people, said Deji Olukotun, the senior global advocacy manager at Access Now, an international digital-rights advocacy group.

I downloaded a beta version of the mobile app to give it a spin. (It will be made available in the iOS and Google Play app stores next week.) For now, the app only includes two of the many tools available on OONIs desktop software: a web-connectivity test and a probe that checks for hardware that censors or alters traffic on a network.

The connectivity test is straightforward. For each website on a preselected list, the test sends to requests: one from my smartphone and one from a server located elsewhere. If both requests return the same result, the URL passes the test and the program moves on to the next one. But if the pages load differently, its a hint that something fishy might be going on. If that happens, OONI will test for several ways that network could censor or block access to a URL.

The list of sites that the probe uses is the product of a collaboration between OONI and CitizenLab, a research group at the University of Toronto focused on technology and human rights. The sites on the list generally provide important services, host controversial content, or are likely to be censored for some other reason, said Arturo Filast, OONIs project lead and core developer.

The other test bundled in the app is simple but clever. It involves sending an invalid request to an echo server, a computer thats designed to send back an identical copy of any data it receives. If the bad request comes back in the same form it was sent, the path between the device and the echo server is likely unobstructed. But if the echo is modified in some way, something on the network might be manipulating the traffic that crosses it.

The tests certainly arent foolproof. When I ran the second test on the wi-fi network here in The Atlantics newsroom, it showed no evident tampering. But the first test found evidence of censorship on five sites: Two religious sites, a sports-betting site, the homepage of the DEFCON hacking conference, and a sex-doll site. When I tried visiting each in a normal browsersorry, IT departmentthey loaded without issue. (There are several reasons why the connectivity test might return a false positive, including when websites look different depending on the country theyre accessed from.)

By default, test results from OONIs desktop software or from the ooniprobe app are uploaded to a website called OONI Explorer, which aggregates the results into a browsable database and an interactive map. According to a page with highlights from OONIs findings, the project collected more than 10 million measurements from 96 countries between late 2012 and early 2016.

The map paints a stark picture of internet censorship around the globe. It doesnt show a single confirmed censorship case in the Western hemisphere, but reveals a rash of censorship across Asia and the Middle East. OONI only shows one confirmed case of censorship in AfricaSudan appears to block a handful of adult sites, according to a 2-year-old scanbut networks in many African countries havent yet been tested.

Perhaps surprisingly, the club of countries that censor their internet also includes several in Europe. Greece appears to block a dozen betting sites, while Sweden, Denmark, and Italy block several bit-torrent sites. Belgium has assembled a long blacklist of both types of sites. France, on the other hand, only blocks two: the homepages of a pair of Islamic terrorist organizations.

When you first download and install ooniprobe, the app warns that in some countries around the world, legal and/or extra-legal risks could emerge. Probing a network could be illegal or considered espionage, the developers write, or a user could get in trouble for requesting data from a site thats illegal in their country: The probe requests data from porn sites, hate-speech sites, and terrorism-related sites. (OONI says its not aware of a user ever facing consequences for running a test in the past.)

Filast says the forthcoming mobile app will allow more people to contribute to the worlds understanding of internet censorship patterns. Access to that information, he says, is a fundamental human right. He pointed to an example from East Africa: Last year, Ethiopians complained that their internet access was being censored in response to a wave of political protests, but there was little evidence to prove it. By running ooniprobe, Ethiopian activists found that the government was censoring media, human-rights, LGBTI-related, and political websites, among others, in addition to blocking WhatsApp.

OONI and Amnesty International collaborated on a report that laid out incontrovertible evidence of systematic interference with access to numerous websites, which was published in December. Today, Ethiopia is in a state of emergency, said Filast. Yet the published findings illustrate that censorship events took place beforehand. This type of information can potentially aid political discussions on an international level.

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Ooniprobe Maps Countries Around the World That Censor the ... - The Atlantic

TOR’s Ooniprobe App Tests Your Internet Speed And Censorship … – Fossbytes

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Danzig

Short Bytes: Tor Project has released its new internet speed and censorship level test app. Known as Ooniprobe, this free and open source app performs three different tests, including a test for finding out blocked websites on your network. You can download the app for your Android and iOS devices.

Now, Tor Project has releasedanewapp, Ooniprobe, that can be installed on Android and iOS smartphones.Ooniprobeapp has been designed to run various tests for checking your internet speed and censorship levels. Before you can actually use the app to run different tests, you need to read some informational pages and pass a quick test.

By running these tests on Tors Ooniprobe app, you can find out:

But, how does Ooniprobeinternetspeed test app performs these functions? Let me explain the three above mentioned tests one by one.

Ooniprobes Web Connectivity Test checks whether websites are blocked using DNS tampering, TCP/IP blocking, or by using a transparentHTTP proxy. By knowing the type of interference, you can take appropriate measures,

Its HTTP Invalid Request Line test looks for the systems within the network that are used for censorship, traffic manipulation, andsurveillance.

Ooniprobes Internet Speed and performance test measures the internet speed by connecting it to nearby M-Lab servers. During the process, the test collects low-level TCP/IP information that can be used to calculate the speed and performance of thenetwork.

After the tests, you are shown test results. Red color shows connection issues. You can tap on the given options to see detailed results.

All OONI tests are based on free and open source software. You can find the source code of the same on GitHub. To do so, follow this link.

Ooniprobeapp for internet speed and censorship level test is available for Android and iOSdevices.

Did you find Ooniprobeinternet testing app helpful? Dont forget to drop your views and comments.

Also Read:BitChute: A YouTube Powered By BitTorrent Is Here With No Censorship

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TOR's Ooniprobe App Tests Your Internet Speed And Censorship ... - Fossbytes

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