Daily Archives: July 12, 2017

Superhero Night, fireworks kick off weekend of promos as Freedom return from All-Star break Friday – User-generated content (press release)…

Posted: July 12, 2017 at 12:16 pm

The first-place Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, return from the Frontier League All-Star Break with a weekend home series at UC Health Stadium, Friday through Sunday.

The weekend is filled with promotions for the series against the Normal Cornbelters, beginning Friday with Superhero Night and fireworks.

FRIDAY, JULY 14 SUPERHERO NIGHT AND FIREWORKS (GAME TIME 7:05 PM)

Superheroes from the DC Comics collection, including Superman, Batman and The Flash, will be at the ballpark available for photos and interactions with fans throughout the evening. There will also be a Girl Scouts campout on the field after the game.

Additionally, Elite Pyrotechnics will once again put on a spectacular post-game fireworks show, presented by Arlinghaus Heating and Air Conditioning.

SATURDAY, JULY 15 MARTIAL ARTS NIGHT AND POSTGAME CONCERT (6:05 PM)

The team will wear special Freedom Ranger jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game. Mike Dominach will also lead a Taekwondo lesson on the field post-game.

Also after the game, the Freedoms Kerry Toyota Rockin Saturday series continues with a post-game concert by What She Said, presented by Hudy Delight. During the concert, kids 12 and under can participate in a game of kickball on the field, supervised by Freedom interns.

SUNDAY, JULY 16 YOUTH SPORTS DAY AND FAMILY SUNDAY (6:05 PM)

The Freedom will celebrate all local youth sports teams and organizations by giving back 30% of all ticket sales for the evening to family, friends and neighbors.

Kids will be able to run the bases after the game, and as the kids come off the field, they will be greeted by the entire Freedom team for a post-game autograph session presented by Cornerstone Lillie Insurance.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

Florence Freedom

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Superhero Night, fireworks kick off weekend of promos as Freedom return from All-Star break Friday - User-generated content (press release)...

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WWII veterans recall memories during Wings of Freedom Tour in Billings – KTVQ Billings News

Posted: at 12:16 pm

BILLINGS -

History took to the skies over Billings on Tuesdayas the "Wings of Freedom Tour" entertained from the sky and tarmac.

Theevent honors veterans of World War II and featuresvintageaircraft that requires upkeep 365 days a year..

The tour provided an experience to ride inand even take lessons in operating aircraft over 70 years old.

The experience was unbelievable," said Steve Olson, who is the nephew of a WWII tech sergeant. "My Uncle Fred worked on the B-17s over in England, he flew across the pond in it. I cannot imagine, but he did it and he loved it. Ive been living the memory ever since.

Fred Groff, who was alongside Olson for the tour,recalled the experience of repairing combat damaged aircraft.

Wed get them back in about a day and ready to start bombing again," Groff said.So it had to be an atomic bomb, that was small enough to put in those, and they thought that it would start exploding, they thought that it possibly go around the earth, and destroy all of our Earth.

The experience of standing next to the aircraft in which they defended our countrys freedom proved to be emotional for some.

It was such a treat to be able to fly for him today. Even at my old age, its pretty cool to be able to do something like that with him," Olson said.

Sights and sounds that most of us can only imagine, from history books, and movies.

Twice, I almost had to jump, because I came off the bomb run, and Im the nose, and I was looking straight at the ground. When I went in it, I remembered it all, said Kenneth Hall, a WWII gunner.

Families got to witness the camaraderie rekindled by the tour -- machineryand memories from a long time ago.

Its kinda nice that theyre still up and moving around arent they?

Yeah, its kinda nice that we are too.

For many, they are experiencing these planes as flying museums. But for a handful of men, it has been a trip down memory lane.

That was some ride, Hall said.

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Wisconsin Farm Technology Days kicks off in Kewaunee County – Fox11online.com

Posted: at 12:15 pm

by Pafoua Yang, FOX 11 News

Opening day for Wisconsin Farm Technology Days in Kewaunee County. July, 11, 2017. (WLUK/Pafoua Yang)

ALGOMA (WLUK) -- Showcasing the latest advances, Wisconsin Farm Technology Days kicked off Tuesday in Kewaunee County. This year Ebert Enterprises, in Algoma, is hosting the event.

Randy Ebert, the owner of Ebert Enterprises, says he is eager to see the turnout. The most rewarding part, he says, is meeting and educating people.

"Don't just go to the things you normally see, go to things you've never seen before," Randy said.

"It seemed really far away and now it's here. It came too quick," said Renee Ebert, Randy's wife.

The family and county have been planning the event for three years. The event features 600 vendors, nine of those vendors were picked to highlight the newest products in the "innovation square."

Gatr products is one of them. The product was made in Suamico and acts like a wheelbarrow.

Tim Willett, who designed and invented the tool, said, "It really started with my dad's wheelbarrow. He lent it to me and I guess I made it more than what it's normally designed to do."

Amber Hewitt with Kewaunee County says Farm Technology Days brings money into the area.

"About three and a half or four years ago, we lost the big nuclear plant, and it kind of had a little bit of a shallow depression in our economy. This helps boost it," said Hewitt.

Jordan Ebert says another benefit to agriculture is that it feeds the people of the world. Jordan plans to someday take over his family's farm and encourages other young adults to take agriculture seriously.

"The values it instills in younger generations that they live on and pass onto their kids and the further generations, I think that's an extremely important part agriculture brings," Jordan said.

Officials are expecting 45,000 people over the three-day event.

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‘Small cell’ technology expected to fast-track Chattanooga’s broadband connectivity – Chattanooga Times Free Press

Posted: at 12:15 pm

Chattanooga is on its way to laying down ground rules for expanding the city's wireless infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the Chattanooga City Council voted 9-0 in favor of new regulations for short-range "small cell" emitters, located on poles and other fixtures. The new technology, instead of large cell towers, is expected to create the next wave of bandwidth capacity.

No one spoke in opposition to the ordinance during its public hearing. As with any ordinance adoption by the council, the body must vote to approve it on a second, final reading, scheduled for July 18.

Small cells aren't just about boosting bandwidth for dense populations of cellular users now, they are about building for the future, Council Vice Chairman Ken Smith, co-chairman of the council's new Innovation Technology Committee, said after the meeting.

"Small cells really act more like amplifiers for [signals]," Smith said. "While at the same time, that increases connectivity for all users of the different networks. It also starts a chain reaction of accuracy of things like GPS. The closer you are to a tower, the more accurately you can be located."

He said strong signalization will be essential for the potential for operating wireless autonomous vehicles and avoiding signal drops "which will be critical for future innovations in technology."

Smith sponsored the ordinance after working on it for several "long, intense and focused months" with various city departments and CNX, a Kentucky-based broadband strategy consultant company hired by the city attorney's office.

Last fall, several council members called for a way to allow cellular providers to use the city's right of way without cluttering up the streets and sidewalks with too many poles or overburdening existing poles with too much emitter equipment.

The key to that will be to fast-track providers who will buy and lease "smart poles," which serve as streetlamps and host cellular antennas. Instead of taking anywhere from 60 days to 150 days to review and approve or deny requests to add an emitter to an existing antenna pole, place an antenna on water tanks or other alternative structure or build a new cellphone tower, providers get a 35-day window if they take the smart pole option.

"The ordinance that we present today balances the need of our citizens for cell [access], the provider's needs and the city's needs itself," Assistant City Attorney Keith Reisman said during a presentation to the council in late June. "The concept of the small cell allows for the providers to have a quick turnaround so that they can get their cells in place, while at the same time giving a standardized light pole to our city."

In the coming months, the council will review an ordinance setting out fees for small-cell providers who wish to use the public right of way.

Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.

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District makes progress in discipline equity, superintendent says – Post-Bulletin

Posted: at 12:15 pm

Two years into its agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Rochester Public Schools say the district is making progress.

Superintendent Michael Muoz read through a seven-page, 18-item update to report to the school board that the district is in compliance with the federal office's requirements for monitoring how it handles discipline and other things during a three-year period.

The agreement stems from a September 2015 finding that students of color in the district were disproportionately disciplined compared with their white peers.

Muoz said the district still needs to talk with OCR about how it analyzes discipline data at each school building and has to make additional updates to policies in the student handbook.

While specific details of how both of these will be resolved weren't provided at Tuesday's meeting, Muoz said he's confident in the district's progress.

"We see this as a very good report," Muoz said. "But that doesn't mean our work is done. We'll continue looking forward on the work that we're doing, but it's good to know that we're meeting the requirements of the agreement."

School board members were pleased with the progress, and asked the district to make the letter public by posting it on the district's website.

"I think you get an idea of the depth of reporting ... and how we're doing this systematically throughout the whole district," school board member Gary Smith said. "I think sharing it would be a good thing."

School board members added that even though requirements of the agreement were met, it doesn't mean the work of the district will stop.

"I know that we feel strongly that we're just beginning," said school board member Jean Marvin. "But until we can we can really show that our kids have equity, both in terms of achievement, and referral, that this district is not going to rest."

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Crews make progress against dozens of fires across western US – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted: at 12:15 pm

Relief was arriving after a rough stretch of wildfires all around the U.S. West, with firefighters slowly surrounding once-fierce blazes and evacuees starting to stream back home.

OROVILLE, Calif. Relief was arriving after a rough stretch of wildfires all around the U.S. West, with firefighters slowly surrounding once-fierce blazes and evacuees starting to stream back home.

Authorities surveying the damage from a blaze in Northern California said Tuesday that at least 41 homes and 55 other buildings had been destroyed near the town of Oroville.

Some residents had returned home after fleeing the flames in the grassy foothills of the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles north of Sacramento, but thousands remained evacuated as the fire entered its fifth day. The blaze burned nearly 9 square miles and injured four firefighters. It was 55 percent contained.

Crews were making progress against dozens of wildfires across the western U.S.

In Colorado, crews were winding down the fight against a wildfire that temporarily forced hundreds of people to evacuate near the resort town of Breckenridge. Firefighters built containment lines around at least 85 percent of the blaze.

In Arizona, recent monsoon rain has helped stop the growth of a wildfire in mountains overlooking Tucson and an evacuation order for the summer-retreat community of Summerhaven has been lifted.

In Nevada, fire crews were getting the upper hand on a wildland blaze that shut down U.S. Interstate 80 along the Nevada-California line most of Tuesday.

Three new California fires made trouble Tuesday.

One of them, just east of San Jose, destroyed two homes before its growth was stopped.

Another broke out in San Diego County and quickly surged to over half a square mile. It forced the temporary closure of Interstate 8 and the brief evacuation of 15 families in Alpine, a town of 15,000 people about 50 miles northeast of San Diego.

In Northern California, the Placer County Sheriffs Office issued mandatory evacuations along four roads near a 2-acre fire burning north of Auburn.

In Santa Barbara County, at least 3,500 people remained out of their homes due to a pair of fires. The larger of the two charred more than 45 square miles of dry brush and has burned 20 structures since it broke out. It was 60 percent contained. To the south an 18-square-mile wildfire that destroyed 20 structures is 48 percent contained.

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Cyborg anthropology – Wikipedia

Posted: at 12:14 pm

Cyborg anthropology is a discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology from an anthropological perspective. The discipline is relatively new, but offers novel insights on new technological advances and their effect on culture and society.

Donna Haraways 1985 ""A Cyborg Manifesto" was the first widely-read academic text to explore the philosophical and sociological ramifications of the cyborg.[1] A sub-focus group within the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting in 1992 presented a paper entitled "Cyborg Anthropology", which cites Haraway's "Manifesto". The group described cyborg anthropology as the study of how humans define humanness in relationship to machines, as well as the study of science and technology as activities that can shape and be shaped by culture. This includes studying the ways that all people, including those who are not scientific experts, talk about and conceptualize technology.[2] The sub-group was very closely related to STS and the Society for the Social Studies of Science.[3] More recently, Amber Case has been responsible for explicating the concept of Cyborg Anthropology to the general public.[4] She believes that a key aspect of cyborg anthropology is the study of networks of information among humans and technology.[5]

Many academics have helped develop cyborg anthropology, and many more who haven't heard the term still conduct research that may be considered cyborg anthropology. Amber Case likes to tell people that the actual number of self-described cyborg anthropologists is "about seven".[6]The Cyborg Anthropology Wiki, overseen by Case, aims to make the discipline as accessible as possible, even to people who do not have a background in anthropology.

Cyborg anthropology uses traditional methods of anthropological research like ethnography and participant observation, accompanied by statistics, historical research, and interviews. By nature it is a multidisciplinary study; cyborg anthropology can include aspects of Science and Technology Studies, cybernetics, feminist theory, and more.

The object of study for cyborg anthropology is the cyborg. Originally coined in a 1960 paper about space exploration, the term is short for cybernetic organism.[7] A cyborg is traditionally defined as a system with both organic and inorganic parts. In the narrowest sense of the word, cyborgs are people with machinated body parts. These cyborg parts may be restorative technologies that help a body function where the organic system has failed, like pacemakers, insulin pumps, and bionic limbs, or enhanced technologies that improve the human body beyond its natural state.[8] In the broadest sense, all human interactions with technology could qualify as a cyborg. Most cyborg anthropologists lean towards the latter view of the cyborg; some, like Amber Case, even claim that humans are already cyborgs because people's daily life and sense of self is so intertwined with technology.[5] Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto" suggests that technology like virtual avatars, artificial insemination, sexual reassignment surgery, and artificial intelligence might make dichotomies of sex and gender irrelevant, even nonexistent. She goes on to say that other human distinctions (like life and death, human and machine, virtual and real) may similarly disappear in the wake of the cyborg.[1]

Digital anthropology is concerned with how digital advances are changing how people live their lives, as well as consequent changes to how anthropologists do ethnography and to a lesser extent how digital technology can be used to represent and undertake research.[9] Cyborg anthropology also looks at disciplines like genetics and nanotechnology, which are not strictly digital. Cybernetics/informatics covers the range of cyborg advances better than the label digital.

Questions of subjectivity, agency, actors, and structures have always been of interest in social and cultural anthropology. In cyborg anthropology the question of what type of cybernetic system constitutes an actor/subject becomes all the more important. Is it the actual technology that acts on humanity (the Internet), the general techno-culture (Silicon Valley), government sanctions (net neutrality), specific innovative humans (Steve Jobs), or some type of combination of these elements? Some academics believe that only humans have agency and technology is an object humans act upon, while others argue that humans have no agency and culture is entirely shaped by material and technological conditions. Actor-network theory (ANT), proposed by Bruno Latour, is a theory that helps scholars understand how these elements work together to shape techno-cultural phenomena. Latour suggests that actors and the subjects they act on are parts of larger networks of mutual interaction and feedback loops. Humans and technology both have the agency to shape one another.[10] ANT best describes the way cyborg anthropology approaches the relationship between humans and technology.[11]

Researchers like Kathleen Richardson have conducted ethnographic research on the humans who build and interact with artificial intelligence.[12] Recently, Stuart Geiger, a PhD student at University of California, Berkeley suggested that robots may be capable of creating a culture of their own, which researchers could study with ethnographic methods. Anthropologists react to Geiger with skepticism because, according to Geiger, they believe that culture is specific to living creatures and ethnography limited to human subjects.[13]

The most basic definition of anthropology is the study of humans.[14] However, cyborgs, by definition, describe something that is not entirely an organic human. Moreover, limiting a discipline to the study of humans may be difficult the more that technology allows humans to transcend the normal conditions of organic life. The prospect of a posthuman condition calls into question the nature and necessity of a field focused on studying humans.

Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci argues that any symbolic expression of ourselves, even the most ancient cave painting, can be considered "posthuman" because it exists outside of our physical bodies. To her, this means that the human and the "posthuman" have always existed alongside one another, and anthropology has always concerned itself with the posthuman as well as the human.[15] Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Welsch point out that the concern that posthumanism will decenter the human in anthropology ignores the discipline's long history of engaging with the unhuman (like spirits and demons that humans believe in) and the culturally "subhuman" (like marginalized groups within a society).[15]

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Queued Up: ‘The Lego Batman Movie,’ ‘XX,’ ‘Logan,’ and More – Aquarian Weekly

Posted: at 12:12 pm

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017)

The set-up: Despite being the cowl with the scowl who triumphs over Gotham Citys criminal element, narcissistic Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) is a lonely individual without love or family in his life. Now his world is turning upside down: new police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) wants to hamper his vigilante behavior, The Joker and other criminals have turned themselves in, and he has unwittingly adopted a young orphan Dick Grayson who idolizes him and his alter ego Bruce Wayne. But its not all puppydogs and rainbowsthe Joker is up to something big that Batman will not be able to handle alone. Can the Dark Knight overcome his isolationist stance to work with others and save Gotham?

The breakdown: The Lego Batman Movie is a blast. A sharply satirical take on Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy and the superheros long-running cinematic history, Chris McKays animated adventure is crammed with one-witty liners, DC Comics in-jokes, and guest appearances by non-DC villains like Sauron, Voldemort, and the Daleks. Its also the most over-the-top, ridiculous, and family friendly Batman rendition ever, and one that could never be done convincingly in live action. Thats why it soars in this format. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes five additional LEGO short films, a look into the making of the movie, deleted scenes, and more.

XX (2017)

The set-up: The first ever horror anthology of entirely female writer/directors (hard to believe its taken this long) presents four eerie tales from Jovanka Vukovic (The Box), rocker St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark, The Birthday Party), Roxanne Benjamin (Dont Fall), and Karyn Kasuma (Her Only Living Son). It also features animated interstitial sequences from Sofia Carrillo featuring a living doll house.

The breakdown: Despite their varied themes, most of the XX stories tap into a strong emotional core. In The Box, a young boy mysteriously stops eating when he peers inside a gift box held by a mysterious stranger on the subway. The Birthday Party for a young girl becomes complicated when her mother finds her father dead in his study then tries to hide the body. The visceral Dont Fall dishes out demonic vengeance on young campers who unwittingly invade a dominion of evil, while a mother grapples with the reality of her teenage progeny embracing his devilish roots in Her Only Living Son. While these are all good stories, Vukovics The Box is the most enigmatic and compelling particularly because it stirs your imagination and avoids spelling things out. You will likely ponder and re-watch it, a feat that great horror achieves. The bonus materials take us behind the scenes of each entry in this creepy quadrilogy.

LOGAN (2017)

The set-up: In the year 2029, mutants are essentially extinct. Now an aging, deteriorating alcoholic who drives a limo, Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is squirreling away cash so he and the sickly Professor X (Patrick Stewart), who is hidden away south of the border, can escape to a safe place. But his already depressive life gets disrupted further when he gets caught up in a pursuit of a young girl with abilities by a devious military agency bent on using her for nefarious purposes. Now Logan must make a choice between survivalism and rescuing a young mutant who needs his help.

The breakdown: Hugh Jackmans final turn as Wolverine is one of his most compelling. Co-writer/director James Mangold, who helmed Wolvies previous installment, boosted the franchise and has delivered a gritty, unglamorous, existential superhero film that is highly intimate and personal amid the intense battle action. It is the most vicious weve seen Logan onscreen (and the closest to his comic book alter ego). The black and white Noir version is also included, but the film works quite well in color. It is the best of the three-film series.

THE LODGER (1927)

The set-up: At a time when a mysterious murderer is offing fair-haired women in London, a weird lodger shows up at a familys house. His furtive, late night outings, strange quirks, and gradual romancing of their daughter, who is the intended bride of a local cop, not only ruffles their feathers but hints that he may indeed by the killer on the loose.

The breakdown: While this silent black and white film was Alfred Hitchcocks third film, the Master Of Suspense reportedly considered it his first real movie. Some of his trademarks began to emerge heredramatic camera angles, shadowy set-ups, an urgent sense of paranoiaalthough much of it plays like a film of its time. Hitchcock aficionados will enjoy this early work featuring a compelling new score by Neil Brand. Criterion really stocks up on the bonus goods, including his next full-length film with the same star, Ivor Novello, entitled Downhill which also features a new score from Brand.

LASSASSINO (1961)

The set-up: After his mistress is murdered, an unscrupulous antiques dealer (La Dolce Vitas Marcello Mastroianni) falls under the glare of the police spotlight. The investigating detective seems convinced of his guilt, despite the protestations of the potential culprit. But is he really innocent or has he convinced himself that he is?

The breakdown: Directed by Elio Petri, who helmed the off the wall caper film Property Is No Longer A Theft, LAssassino (The Assassin) is a crime thriller that plays out more like a melodrama, with flashbacks to moments in the lovers life that may or may not illuminate the murder mystery. The point of the film is not necessarily to ratchet up the tension but rather show the stern process by which the cops try to break down their prime suspect. The film is as much about indicting the Italian criminal system as the dubious behavior of the beleaguered suspect, and it scrutinizes the moral fabric of many of its chief characters. Petris work is further analyzed in the bonus features, which offer great insight into a career not as well known to American audiences.

GHOST WORLD (2001)

The set-up: After high school ends, a listless punk teen named Enid (Thora Birch) struggles to find a clear path in her life. Stuck taking a summer art class to graduate, she becomes alienated from her ineffectual father (Bob Balaban) and his girlfriend, starts to drift apart from her best friend (Scarlett Johansson), and befriends an older lonely man (Steve Buscemi) whom she initially plays a mean prank on. But as the lives of those around begin to progress and she becomes stagnant, Enid battles growing despair over her uncertain future.

The breakdown: Based on the indie comic Eightball by Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwiggoffs Oscar-nominated film is both enlightening and irritating. On the one hand, the rich characters and their very real if modest quandaries are easy to relate to and go deeper than stock movie caricatures. On the flip side, Enids self-jeopardizing attitude and purposeful detachment from her environment becomes overbearing at times. The rebellious teen in you can relate, while the mature adult in you screams, Snap out of it! (Ghost World explores that gray area well.) The 41-minute bonus feature with Birch and co-stars Johansson and Illeana Douglas delves into the films core, while the accompanying, art-heavy booklet and small-scale reproduction of an Eightball story pull us deeper into Clowes source material.

SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER (1960)

The set-up: A dying man plays a trick on his greedy heirs by locking himself in a hidden room in his expansive chateau to die. At the reading of the will they learn that without the body of their patriarch they must wait five years to claim their inheritance as well as maintain the grounds during that time. While they transform the chateau into a tourist attraction, bodies start to pile up as desperate family rivals seek to claim the future fortune for themselves.

The breakdown: This lesser seen film from director George Franjus (Eyes Without A Face, Judex) serves up an unusual murder mystery that underplays some genre conventions while cozying up to others. Instead of exploiting a noir-like atmosphere, Franjus executes this like an intense family drama with a generous helping of homicide. It is quirky fun, and the bonus interviews from the actual filming show how much fun the cast had while they made it.

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Queued Up: 'The Lego Batman Movie,' 'XX,' 'Logan,' and More - Aquarian Weekly

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Exploring the world’s first dog glamping site at NOS Alive music festival – Metro

Posted: at 12:08 pm

A snuffle, a snort, and a scratch and there she is.

Thats Lua, up there, poking her head through the gate a resident at the worlds first dog glamping site at NOS Alive festivalin Lisbon, Portugal.

The hills are well and truly alive round here. A few miles down the road in the citysPasseio Martimo de Algs, theyre alive with the sound of music, a stellar line-up of big hitters like Foo Fighters, Depeche Mode, The Weeknd and The xx and providing one of Europes most vibrant and colourful destination festivals.

Up here though, its a chorus of barks and howls that flood Tiago Patels doggy daycare site.

Announced back in June, NOS Alives link-up with Tiago Patel was borne of a simple idea: why should humans be the only ones allowed a little escapism over a music festival weekend?

Dogs need this space they need to be dogs, Tiago tells metro.co.uk, gesturing to a group of pooches squabbling over a pine-cone nearby.

Its like a child, as soon as they are naughty it is seen as a problem that must be solved, but its natural they need to be a child, to get it out of their system.

The premise is foolproof. Bring your dog to the festival gates at the start of the festival, and theyre whisked off to Tiagos farm, which hosts lucky pups all year round.

While youre enjoying the music and madness of NOS Alive, the canines get to roam their very own festival site, getting back to their natural instincts in the same carefree, hedonistic ways their owners are enjoying down the road.

With eighteen dogs on-site for the festivals duration, everywhere we go were followed by a tail of at least three eager-for-a-petting pups.

Theres all ages and breeds here, from a shuffling, podgy old beagle to a grand Alsatian.

One golden dachshund is particularly amorous, flopping herself on anyone wholl give her some attention. Free love, indeed.

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Luas a new arrival, only getting a day ticket for the festivals closing day.

She might have missed out on the likes of Fur Fighters, Bone-obo and Royal Bloodhound over the last few days, but the Saturday night do plays host to De-paw-che Mode and, er, Fleet Foxes (that one does the terrible punning all by itself).

Shes in her element, leaping about and legging it around the place like a novice festival sesher, trying to catch everything at once.

Tiago himself, meanwhile, is as much of a character as each of the pups in his care. Coming off like a Portuguese long-lost-relative of TVsDog WhispererCesar Millan, as he walks us through the ten-acre site, his heels swarmed by doting doggies, he enthuses about his surroundings.

Its not hard to see why from a wide open plain of grass, to a rope swing and a big old fire-pit nestled in the heart of the tiny woodland, theres more for the dogs here than there are in most humans festival campsites, and decidedly fewer pint cups and bottles of wee.

Hes a staunch believer of allowing dogs to live out their natural instincts, sitting by as they develop their own hierarchy around him.

At one point Lua gets a swift telling off from the other dogs clearly theyre not too keen on their new mate peaking too early.

Tiago and his handful of helpers camp on-site for the weekend, in a fenced off corner of the woods.

As we go to leave, one more night of Heineken-fueled hedonism ahead of us, he invites us to come bring a tent one time, and spend a full weekend with the dogs.

As lovely as our Lisbon hotel may be, a night with the pooches might just be enough to drag us back to the tinned lager and festival tents of our youth. Wed be barking mad to say no.

NOS Alive returns to Lisbon, Portugal from 12th-14th July 2018.For more information on Tiago Patel, head here.

MORE: Just so you know, theres a tropical island where you can play with puppies all day

MORE: Watch: The amazing surfing dogs at Australias Noosa Festival of Surfing

MORE: Puppy drags his new blanket outside so that a homeless dog could sleep on it

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Wimbledon 2017: The tech behind the world’s top tennis tournament – Ars Technica UK

Posted: at 12:08 pm

Sebastian Anthony

The second room. This one deals more with uploading content to the Web, security, load balancing, etc.

Sebastian Anthony

IBM's presence at Wimbledon is entirely transient - they turn up, run things for a couple of weeks, then disappear. As such, the "servers" are all just ThinkPad and MacBook laptops.

Sebastian Anthony

A server rack - containing more laptops.

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A highlights screen showing that commentators, players, and other behind-the-scenes people get access to.

Sebastian Anthony

A cool map showing all of IBM's various data sources across the venue.

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A shot of (apparently) the IBM software generating highlights from tennis matches. You see the four variables it tracks...

The Championships at Wimbledon, which consumes some 28 tons of strawberries, 10,000 litres of cream, and 320,000glasses of Pimm's per year, is notable for its seemingly unchecked luxuriant hedonism. But while most companies, organisations, and institutions are looking to cut costs, Wimbledon has stuck to itsmantra. Don't do things cheaper; do things better.

Case in point:Wimbledon's use of technology is really quite impressive. I've been lucky enough to follow Wimbledon's techover the last three years, and it's been very encouraging to see a massive endeavour like The Championships dive deeper and deeper into technology. You might think that after 140 years Wimbledon could be stuck in its ways, but far from it. When technology is the only viable way of providing consistent, significant gains for players, visitors, andhundreds of millions of people spectating remotely, you don't try to fight it; you embrace it.

Of course, Wimbledon is embracing tech in a distinctly Wimbledon way. This year, for example, The Championships aretrialling free Wi-Fibut because they don't yet know how people will behave with free Wi-Fi, it's only available in three specific locations (near the food court, in the ticket resale area, and on the west side of court 12). The tournament continuesthrough this weekend, but its team has already started analysing the data. It turns out that, thankfully, the Wi-Fi users on court 12only use their phones between points. When play begins, Wi-Fi usage stops. If the trial is a success, Wi-Fi could be rolled out across Wimbledon in 2018.

When the overall excitement level crosses a threshold (0.8?), the software goes back through its video bufferand creates a highlight clip of the point. For now, a human editor still goes through every clip before being published. A human editor is still required to tease out video clips from more nuanced matches, too; the IBM software doesn't yet understandthe context of individual matches or player pairings. But given that other IBM software at Wimbledontracks match contextmostlyso that commentators can add some extra flavourit seems like an obvious improvement to the auto-highlight tech in future years.

Sebastian Anthony

Perhaps most excitingly, Wimbledon is now storing the 3D state of tennis matches via the Hawk-Eye camera system available on some of the courts. Hawk-Eye, which uses multiple cameras to track the ball and resolve line judging disputes, outputs a constant stream of data that IBM can process into a useful format.But actuallydoingsomething with that data is a risky affair, because it isn't clear who owns it. Some tennis players, as you can imagine, aren't keen for some wily big data/machine learning software to reveal the secrets of their play styleto the world.

Sebastian Anthony

On a simpler level,if Wimbledon blankets the All England Lawn Tennis Club withWi-Fi, it will be able to use each device's unique MAC address to track the movement of most visitors aroundthe venue. Not for creepy reasons, I'm assured, but to iron out bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Should there be another toilet here? A strawberries-and-cream stand there? An everlasting font of Pimm's here? Venue-wide Wi-Fi wouldalso allow Wimbledon to push notifications to visitors as they move around, beacon-style.

Two years ago, an IBM engineer told me they were in discussions with the UK's mobile network providers to trackvisitors through cellular triangulation, but this year I was told that no such partnership was ever struck. Doing it via Wi-Fi (and perhaps augmented with Bluetooth) is probably more sensible, anyway.

Finally, Wimbledon has released a significantly overhauled mobile app for this year's Championships. Over the last few years, there has been a big shift from people following Wimbledon on a desktop browser to their mobile devices. The mobile app is meant to provide a better experience than the mobile websitebut to be honest, if you're into tennis, you should probably just download the free app (iOS/Android) and see what you think.This year there's a new feature called Ask Fred that apparently uses some IBM Watson-type tech to answer your questions. The app also has the ability to look through some 360-degree cameras that have been placed on each court.

Now read about how evolution can only take us so far in sports, but embracing technology would be far more exciting...

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Wimbledon 2017: The tech behind the world's top tennis tournament - Ars Technica UK

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