Monthly Archives: July 2017

Dynamic Communities Announces Power BI World Tour Among Other New Features – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted: July 31, 2017 at 10:35 am

The Power BI World Tour will allow local user groups to develop and present unique content, mirroring the freedom-based nature of existing PUGs. Each city's two-day event will offer attendees training, experience and networking opportunities.

The tour follows the launch of various features like the PUG Career Center, a rising hotspot to connect employers and job-seekers who work with Power BI. The Career Center also offers PUG members career coaching, assistance with resume writing and reference checking in addition to local and global job postings.

Kamal Hathi, General Manager at Microsoft Power BI, described Power BI's goal as to, "provide BI to more people than ever before, across all roles and disciplines within organizations."

Though independent of Microsoft, Dynamic Communities continues to support this goal by providing volunteer-driven resources in local communities globally. The organization has acquired 34,000-plus PUG members alone since February 2017, breaking 100,000 members across all user groups.

About Dynamic CommunitiesDynamic Communities is a business management organization that develops and supports technology-centric user groups providing necessary resources and business operations such as staff, systems and event production. Dynamic Communities fosters the development, growth and engagement of volunteer-driven user groups that provide hubs for like-minded technology users to exchange knowledge on how to best maximize product performance. Dynamic Communities is independent from Microsoft; however, the two organizations maintain an intentional close working relationship so that members can provide a collective voice to Microsoft on user concerns, needs, and requests.

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Q&A with MCA’s Anna Davis | ArtsHub Australia – ArtsHub (subscription)

Posted: at 10:32 am

MCA Curator Anna Davis with installation view, Jenny Watson: The Fabric of Fantasy, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2017, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney the artist, photograph: Anna Kuera

ArtsHub sat down with Museum of Contemporary Art Australias (MCA) Curator Anna Davis to try and determine what it means to be a contemporary curator, and how exactly one starts out on that career path.

Davis joined the MCA in 2009 having trained as an artist and being a bit of a "Jill of all trades" across the visual arts sector grounding that she feels makes for a more rounded curator.

Her string of exhibitions include the touring survey, Louise Hearman (2016), New Romance: art and the posthuman (Co-Curator with Houngcheol Choi, 2015 & 2016), Energies: Haines & Hinterding (2015), Martu Art from the Far Western Desert (Co-Curator with Megan Robson, 2014), Workout: 7 days of experimental performance (2013), Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro (2012) and Primavera 2011 and 2012.

Davis' most recent project, a survey of Australian artist Jenny Watson, is now showing at the MCA.

What is curating for you, Anna Davis?

For me, making exhibitions is an experimental and creative process where you test out ideas and hopefully discover new things. This is the approach I enjoy the most, creating a kind of laboratory with artists and their works, allowing opportunities for new ideas to emerge and then setting the public loose inside to see what happens.

I think thats why I particularly enjoy working with artists on new commissions and works that involve improvisational or performative elements theres an element of risk, which can be stressful, but theres also genuine experimentation and I think that is really important when you are dealing with contemporary art and artists.

The term curator is used very loosely today. In your opinion, what differentiates the exhibition hangers and the curators?

I dont know if there really is much of a difference, its just language really, but I think curator is a useful term for describing what is a complex job that involves much more than just hanging work.

I would say that being a curator of contemporary art involves working closely with artists, lots of creative thinking, loads of research and writing, an awareness of how to work with spaces and audiences, and how to put art into new contexts and raise new questions or ideas through an artists work.

Hayden Fowler, Dark Ecology, 2015/2016, installation view, New Romance: art and the posthuman, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, image courtesy and the artist, photograph: Hayden Fowler

How did you learn to be a curator?

Ive learnt to be a curator in a few different ways on the job, working independently, and in big and small arts organisations, through university study, and by being an artist in my previous life (I mean before working at the MCA!). I have an honours degree in Fine Arts and a PhD in Media Arts from COFA, UNSW, and I think all that academic research and practical art making has played a role in my work as a curator.

A lot of my curatorial learning experiences have come from working outside major institutions; Ive done things like curate video art programs for the Big Day Out and organised small media art exhibitions as part of This is Not Art festival and Electrofringe in Newcastle.

Straight out of art school (around 1997-8), I lived in Amsterdam for about a year. At the time it was a real hub of video and media artists, and alongside my own art practice I also worked on art events in non-traditional venues like squats, nightclubs and markets. One day, I rocked up to the offices of the World Wide Video Festival (which ran from 1982 to 2004) to volunteer my services and I ended up getting paid work as a production assistant on a huge exhibition of video art at the Stedelijk Museum, and also working closely with Israeli artist Michal Rovner.

These were amazing experiences and helped me realise that being a curator in a museum was something I might want to do in the future.

That slide between big institution and ground roots independent projects is an interesting one. How did that translate when you returned to Australia?

Back in Australia I worked for dLux media arts in Sydney for a number of years as a kind of assistant curator/project manager. I worked with some great people, and because it was such a small organisation putting on really ambitious programs, I got a chance to do a bit of everything and I learnt a lot.

Ive also worked at the Art Gallery of NSW doing everything from being an information desk officer, while I was finishing my PhD, to Assistant Curator working with Victoria Lynn when she curated the Anne Landa Award for Video and New Media Arts, and with Wayne Tunnicliffe on contemporary art projects

Its exciting to try and incorporate experimental methodologies into an institutional framework and to involve the public in different ways in this process. I guess out of the shows Ive curated at the MCA, Workout: 7 days of experimental performance (2013), Energies: Haines & Hinterding (2015) and New Romance: art and the posthuman (2016) were the ones really modelled around that kind of thinking.

David Haines and Joyce Hinterding, installation view, Energies: Haines & Hinterding, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2015, image courtesy and the artists, photograph: Christopher Snee

Has your foundation as an artist helped your career as a curator?

Being an artist, even a lapsed one, helps a lot because you have access to creative modes of thinking and perhaps a better understanding of what its like to put yourself and your work out there, and all the challenges and possibilities that come with that.

I think being a curator is a creative and collaborative role, and my art background definitely feeds into how I think about making shows and how I work with artists.

Do you need to be a perfectionist a lateral thinker? What is it that makes a good curator?

I would definitely say a lateral thinker more than a perfectionist! Although, it can be a good idea to have at least one perfectionist on your team while you are getting a catalogue to print.

I think there are lots of different types of good curators and maybe thats what makes it interesting. If youre working in contemporary art, then I think an ability to work collaboratively and creatively with artists is essential, as is having lots of ideas.

You need to be excited about art, and what it can do, and be willing to shift and change things at any moment.

Working in a big museum like the MCA, you also need to know how to work in a team and within particular institutional parameters, but also know when to try and push at the edges.

Patricia Piccinini & Peter Hennessey, Alone with the gods (detail), 2016, installation view, New Romance: art and the posthuman, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, image courtesy and the artists.Photograph: Tim da Rin.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Definitely working with artists to create something new. I love the research process and coming up with ideas for a show, and then working closely with artists and the MCA team to make an exhibition come to life in the museum.

Its funny, but I find that no matter how much pre-planning you do, you never really know exactly how an exhibition is going to work until the art and the artists actually arrive, which is kind of nerve-wracking, but I enjoy it.

I also really like the process of creating exhibition designs and floorplans. Thinking through how an art work is going to feel or operate in a particular space and in relation to other works and different audiences.

What are the most challenging aspects of being a curator?

Writing endless emails, managing budgets and writing wall labels

Recently I had the opportunity to work in Seoul, South Korea on a collaborative exhibition called New Romance, with 18 artists from Australia and Korea, which was amazing but also a huge challenge.

Working in Asia, in a different museum environment and in a new language was harder than I thought, but it was also an incredibly rewarding experience and something Id love to do more of in the future.

What would your advice be to someone starting out along the curatorial path?

If someone asks me this question, I usually say the best thing they can do is start by putting on their own very small scale exhibitions or events, (even in their own apartment) or creating an independent publication and working with actual artists and art works, in whatever capacity they can.

In other words, doing something in the real world, rather than just thinking or reading about it.

I also think that documenting your curatorial projects is really important. Ive learnt that the hard way, after doing lots of things before we all had mobile phones or digital cameras and now not having anything visual to show for them. Its so important as an artist or a curator to have good documentation and it can really help when it comes to applying for a job or a grant.

There arent that many jobs going with the title curator, so Id also say its a good idea to be a bit broad minded in your job search and thinking, and look for ways to work slightly to the side of that title and you never know where it could lead.

Read: Career Spotlight: Curator

First published on Saturday 29 July, 2017

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The Downsides of John Kelly’s Ascension – The Atlantic

Posted: at 10:30 am

Donald Trump is not much of a man. He feels sorry for himself, he whines, he gropes women; he bullies the weak. He brags and he lies. As a young man this self-proclaimed athlete collected five draft deferments rather than wear his countrys uniform. He doesnt even work out. The motto emblazoned on Trumps bogus coat of arms should probably be faithless, which makes it odd that he has picked as his chief of staff a general steeled in a service whose motto is ever faithful. (The Trump coat of arms was reportedly lifted from another family, with the motto integrity replacedinevitablyby Trump.)

John Kelly, retired Marine four-star and new White House chief of staff, has been throughout his career everything Trump is not: He has endured more than Trump could imagine, and has displayed virtues that Trump may not understand and certainly has not exhibited, among them candor, courage, and discipline. Which is why some observers have welcomed Kellys hiring as evidence that perhaps the president is learning, that maybe now we will have a disciplined White House that will focus on the business of public policy. Maybe the early morning tweets will diminish or even stop.

Trumps pick of Kelly is probably better understood in a broader and darker context. That includes a speech that he gave the same day to New Yorks Suffolk County Police Department calling on cops to bang suspects heads into squad cars; the brusque, uncoordinated dismissal of transgender service personnel by presidential tweet; a speech a week earlier at the commissioning of USS Gerald R. Ford urging sailors to lobby their representatives; a harangue to 30,000 Boy Scouts that included a rant about loyalty, and that earned him an astonishing rebuke from the head of the Boy Scouts of America; and a longer history of toying around the edge of inciting violence, to include the assassination of his opponent in the last election.

As the coils of the Russia investigation grow tighter, as his failures in Congress mount, Trump reaches for what he knowsdemagoguery of the rawest sort. He reaches as well for what he thinks of as his base, which includes (he believes) the military, many of whose leaders are actually quietly appalled by what he represents. He has picked Kelly not because of his political or administrative skills but because he thinks of him as a killera term of praise in his lexicon, which is why he likes referring to his secretary of defense as Mad Dog Mattis, a nickname the former general rejects. Kelly will not organize Goon Squads for Trump, but the president would probably not mind if he did. More to the point, Kellys selection, and that of a foul-mouthed financier from New York as Trumps communications director, tells us not that Trump is planning on moderating his behavior, but rather on going to the mattresses. He just may have picked the wrong guy for that mission, thats all.

Kellys decision to take the job lends itself to multiple explanations. It may be an irresistible call to duty by someone who thinks of the president mainly as commander-in-chief; it may be an act of deep, quiet patriotism by someone who intends to shield the country from Trumps lawless worst; it may reflect personal ambition, or mere hankering for as difficult a management challenge as one could imagine; or it may reflect a sneaking admiration for the boorish businessman who has successfully slapped around the politicians of left and right that many officers, and Marines in particular, despise as cowardly and corrupt. Kelly once handed a ceremonial saber to the President while unfunnily suggesting that he use it on the press. In April, he said the following: If lawmakers do not like the laws theyve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines. A less supine Congress might have noticed the discourtesy and reacted sharply to being told to shut up.

His occasionally contemptuous attitude towards the press and Congress, though, is only one reason why it is highly unlikely that Kelly will succeed. Trump will remain Trump, and the various denizens of the White House are unlikely to treat Kelly with much more deference than they treat one another. He will discover that he is no longer a general, or even a cabinet secretary, but a political functionaryneither more nor less.

There was a reason why he spent 42 years on active duty rather than run for mayor of Boston. He probably already knows, but if not he will soon learn, that he will be as dispensable as his predecessor, that Trump hates any of his subordinates being too powerful or too visible. And worst of all, he will soon find himself wrestling with the moral corruption that being close to this man entails. You cannot work directly for Trump while adhering to a code of honesty, integrity, and lawfulness. Sooner or later Kelly will have to defend the White Houses jabber about fake news, alternative facts, and witch hunts. He will have to ascribe to Trump virtues that he does not possess, and deny the moral lapses and quite possibly the crimes that he has committed.

There is one further reason to find this appointment depressing. It contributes to the continuing decay of American civil-military relations. Those of us who were relieved to see James Mattis as secretary of defense, H. R. McMaster as national-security adviser, and Kelly himself as secretary of homeland security, felt that way partly out of appreciation for the virtues of all three men, but also, very largely, out of relief that their sanity might contain their bosss craziness. But it is inappropriate to have so many generals in policy-making positions; it is profoundly wrong to have a president regard the military as a constituency, and corrupting to have the Republican Party, such as it is, act as though generals have if not a monopoly then at least dominant market share in the qualities of executive ability and patriotism. It is unwise to have higher-level positions in the hands of officials who have openly expressed disdain for Congressnow a dangerously weak branch of government.

Trump, who has no idea how many articles there are in the Constitution, neither knows nor cares about any of the niceties of civil-military relations. To their credit, Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster have thought long and hard about these issues. But like any of us they have their individual limitations, and like any of us, their characters can be eroded by the whirlpool of moral and political corruption that is Donald Trump. The Marines live by a hard code, and John Kelly has endured tests of character more difficult than most of us can conceive. But his hardest tests lie ahead, and neither he nor anyone else can be sure that he will pass them.

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Ascension Treatment Centers Supports Clients in Changing Thinking to Drive Long-Term Recovery – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted: at 10:30 am

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., July 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Addiction impacts all aspects of a person's life, from physical and mental health to relationships, finances, and career. While abstaining from drug and alcohol use and maintaining sobriety are key components of recovery, they do not work alone. In order to uphold these goals, clients must change their thought patterns and promote positive thinking. In a new statement to the press, Ascension Treatment Centers details the importance of keeping a positive attitude and living one day at a time in recovery.

"It's not unusual for the mind to be racing in addiction recovery," says a spokesperson for Ascension Treatment Centersin Palm Springs, California. "It is trying to process everything that happened before, is happening now, and may happen in the future. But it is important to calm the mind and focus on the here and now, taking each moment and day as it comes. Getting too wrapped up in thoughts can lead to negative thinking and increased stress, which can increase the risk of relapse."

At Ascension Treatment Centers, clients learn to engage in strategies to stay in the present and work through challenges and feelings as they arise. Letting problems fester can lead to more issues later. One major glitch in thinking can be cravings. When cravings strike, it's all the mind can focus on. Recognizing that these thoughts do pass and do not have to be acted upon is important. Providing a distraction for the mind such as playing a game, listening to music, reading, or doing a crossword puzzle can help subdue urges until the craving passes.

"It is important for clients to recognize negative thinking and potentially unhealthy situations," the Ascension press statement notes. "This means avoiding people who are a bad influence, removing oneself from tempting environments, and focusing on creating healthy routines, relationships, and spaces."

There are many ways to clear and calm the mind, breaking the cycle of negative thoughts or a racing mind. One option is to talk it through with someone else. Recovery support groups and therapy sessions are a wonderful place for working through challenges and seeing issues from a different perspective. Others who have experienced similar situations can provide their insight or re-frame problems in a new way. Friends and family can also be an effective sounding board and listening ear. Getting thoughts and feelings out of one's head and into the world can relieve stress.

Taking a break and staying active can help as well. Engaging in physical activity, be it running, biking, or yoga can allow people to better process their thoughts. In addition, exercise releases endorphin which are natural mood boosters, and working out helps burn off excess stress and tension which can reset the mind.

"We encourage clients to try different activities and find what works best for their needs," says an Ascension Treatment Centers spokesperson. "The beautiful weather in Palm Springs is perfect for getting outside and connecting with nature. Disconnecting and enjoying the beauty of one's surroundings can help to boost mood and positive thinking. Clients can focus on living in the present and taking each day as it comes."

Ascension Treatment Centers works with individuals struggling with drug or alcohol abuse, including those local to Palm Springs and beyond. The clinical program is always individualized to the client and provides holistic services meant to lay a foundation for lifelong recovery.

Those interested in learning more about comprehensive treatment can visit Ascension Treatment Centers on the Web at http://www.ascensiontreatment.com.

ABOUT:

Based in Palm Springs, California, Ascension Treatment Centers provides compassionate clinical care to those struggling with drug or alcohol addiction. Individuals who seek recovery will find a completely individualized treatment plan, one designed to meet their specific needs and to lay a foundation for lifelong recovery. Ascension Treatment Centers provides a full continuum of care, ranging from detox and residential treatment to intensive outpatient (IOP) and sober living. Ascension is known for its intimate and caring approach. More information is available online at the Ascension Treatment Centers website, http://www.ascensiontreatment.com/about/.

Ascension Treatment Centers 555 South Palm Canyon Palm Springs, CA 92264 (760) 318-0626

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Nanotech manufacturing conference set in Greensboro – WRAL Tech Wire

Posted: at 10:29 am

Posted Jul. 31, 2017 at 6:15 a.m.

Published: 2017-07-31 06:15:00 Updated: 2017-07-31 06:15:00

By BARRY TEATER, NCBiotech Writer

Research Triangle Park, N.C. Participants and vendors have only a few weeks left to get tiny pricing for Nano Manufacturing 2017, a conference devoted to the production of extremely small things, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 27, in Greensboro.

Vendors have until Aug. 31 to secure early-bird pricing of $250 a 50 percent discount for exhibition space at the conference. Other participants have until Sept. 15 to get advance price breaks $199 instead of $250 for professionals and $60 instead of $75 for students.

The fifth annual conference is expected to draw about 150 people from industry, academia, government and nonprofit organizations. The program will include a keynote speaker, four sessions, a poster session, awards and prizes, and an evening networking reception.

This conference continues to be informative and relevant to individuals and organizations looking to create new markets, accelerate R&D and understand more about advanced manufacturing techniques, particularly those involving particles at the nano scale, said Nancy Johnston, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a conference sponsor.

More than a dozen speakers will address issues, opportunities and challenges around innovation, startup companies, nanomanufacturing facilities and nanomanufacturing processes. Speakers will include Elizabeth Cates, vice president of R&D and materials scientist at Innegra Technologies; Steve Wilcenski, president of BN Nano; Courtney Warren, life science practice chair at Marsh & McLennan Agency's Mid-Atlantic Region; and Sandeep Dav, chief business officer at AM Technical Solutions.

"This Conference is a real opportunity for those interested in learning more about advanced manufacturing technologies and how the application of these new technologies can help grow the manufacturing sector in North Carolina and the U.S.," said Joe Magno, executive director of the North Carolina Center of Innovation Network (COIN).

The conference will be held at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, an academic collaboration between North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro. The Joint School is located on the South Campus of Gateway University Research Parkin Greensboro.

The conference provides an opportunity for the Joint School to demonstrate its unique capabilities as a statewide asset at Gateway University Research Park right here in the Piedmont Triad, said Johnston. People and place are important when facilitating industrial/academic networking and transforming communities.

The conference is organized by the Joint School, Gateway and COIN.

For more information or to register, visit the conferences registration page or contact Elie Azzi, e_azzi@uncg.edu, 336-285-2802.

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Israel’s vital contributions to nanotechnology – ISRAEL21c

Posted: at 10:29 am

Yeshayahu Talmon is a chemical engineer and former director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa. A frequent spokesman for the industry, he answers even laymens questions patiently and lucidly, and offers positive news about Israel as a nucleus for nanoscience.

Some basics about nanotechnology

Nanoscience is the science of everything that happens on that very small scale. Now, technology is being developed to take that science and apply it, says Talmon.

One example of applications we are working with at the Russell Berrie Nanotech Institute is carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are only one to two nanometers thick, but the single particle is extremely strong. And in some forms, they are very good electrical conductors, and they are lightweight . . . so in principle they could be the material of the future.

However, in most cases, we cannot use them as single nanoparticles, so somehow we have to spin fibers out of them, and this is a challenge. (Sometimes, although it all works very well on a basic scientific level, when you try to make it into a process, things become more complicated.)

Another example of how the technology is applied is graphene sheets. Graphite, of course, is what you have in your pencil. However, when graphite is dispersed into single layers of carbon atoms, it has mechanical and electrical properties that can be used to make interesting coatings, like for touch screens, for instance.

All touch screens now have some kind of conductors in them, and by using graphene, you can potentially make better, cheaper, longer-lasting coatings.

In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two scientists working on graphene, so this field suddenly became even more exciting than before.

There is also a very important interface between medicine and the nanosciences, starting with intelligent, sophisticated sensors, all the way to drug delivery.

At the Technion, we try to bring people from our faculty of medicine together with people from engineering and the basic sciences, in some cases to advise graduate students jointly, and to work on a medical or biological problem where scientists and engineers can help. Collaborations among the various scientific disciplines are crucial here.

Yeshayahu Talmon. Photo by Miki Koren, courtesy Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

The Technions Role in Nanotechnology

Israel joined the nano community early on. And the Technion formed the nanotechnology center in 2005, two years before anybody else here. I played a part in its formation, but the effort was primarily led by Professor Uri Sivan of the physics department, who was the first director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute. (I took over in 2010.)

In a way, it was a pioneering effort not only for the Technion, but for the entire country, because it formed a model on which all the other institutes were formed, not so much in the structure, but much more in the emphasis and in the way they are supported.

We have recruited many new faculty members at the RBNI; each of them is excellent. Many of them spent a good number of years in the United States or in other places, but most are originally Israeli.

There is a lot of talk about bringing back Israelis from abroad. Weve had to lure them from places like Boston University, Stanford, UCLA its competitive. And then, when theyve made the decision to come to Israel, we have to compete with the other Israeli universities: the Weizmann Institute, the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and so on.

Our government is trying to reverse the brain drain that we have experienced most acutely in the sciences, of course, because these are the people who are most sought-after by institutions outside Israel.

But there is a kind of snowball effect although we scientists prefer to call it a nucleation process! Once you form a nucleus, it grows and attracts more material to form a crystal. Good researchers are attracted to a good nucleus.

Further Resources: Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative>

Tel-Aviv University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology>

Weizmann Institute of Science>

Lin Arison & Diana C. Stoll are the creatorsofThe Desert and the Cities Sing: Discovering Todays Israel, a treasure box that highlights Israels creative achievement and innovation.

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WW3? Tensions escalate as Putin threatens Trump for sending lethal weapons to Ukraine – Express.co.uk

Posted: at 10:28 am

Getty

Kurt Volker, the US special envoy to Ukraine said Washington was actively reviewing whether to send weapons to help Ukrainians fighting Russian-backed rebels.

The Kremlin hit back saying if US weapons were delivered to Ukraine the situation along the frontline in the east of the country could be destabilised.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, said: "We have already said more than once that any action which escalates tension and further aggravates the already complicated situation will only move us further and further away from the moment of settling this internal issue of Ukraine."

Donald Trump started off his presidency saying he was happy to be cordial with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

However, in recent months the relationship has soured following the launch of an investigation into whether Russia meddled in last year's US election.

Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and US President Donald Trump talking during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg

In a series of early morning tweets today, Mr Trump hit out at the investigation and questioned, without offering evidence, Ukrainian support for his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump added US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had "taken a very weak position" toward Democratic presidential nominee Mrs Clinton and cited "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - quietly working to boost Clinton".

The US President gave no other details or offered any evidence about any role Ukraine may have played in the 2016 US presidential election, which is already under scrutiny for alleged Russian meddling and any possible ties to the Trump campaign or his associates.

Ukraine's permanent representative to the Council of Europe, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Twitter: "Trump writes that we interfered in the elections in the USA, while Putin says that we threaten Russia. There was a time when we were peaceful buckwheat sowers who kept themselves to themselves."

Getty

Russia has denied any interference in the US election, and Mr Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Moscow.

The issue has cast a cloud over Mr Trump's first sixth months in office as Congress and the US Department of Justice conduct multiple investigations.

Getty

Getty

US lawmakers are also pushing new sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and for its alleged US election interference, potentially complicating Mr Trump's hopes of pursuing improved relations with Moscow.

In the run-up to November's election, the Federal Bureau of Investigation probed Clinton's handling of email as US secretary of state under Democratic President Barack Obama but ultimately said no criminal charges were warranted.

The Ukrainian president's spokesman did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The foreign ministry declined to comment.

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Kim vows to make Donald Trump ‘kneel down before him’ as WW3 nears – Daily Star

Posted: at 10:28 am

KIM Jong-un vowed to make Donald Trump kneel down before him as tensions between North Korea and the US escalate.

GETTY

Speaking through state-run North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Kim said he would make the US submit to his power if war were to break out.

The tubby tyrant said the war of words between himself and Trump would end in the final victory of North Korea.

The claims come as North Korea is believed to have a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the US mainland after its second successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday.

Since 2008, photographer Eric Lafforgue ventured to North Korea six times. Thanks to digital memory cards, he was able to save photos that was forbidden to take inside the segregated state

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Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you

Let's advance forward more vigorously and quickly until the day when the US completely kneels down before us with a white flag raised, the article read.

This is an oath made by our army and people on the war victory day.

It is the fixed will of our Party to conclude the protracted anti-U.S. confrontation with the final victory of North Korea in our generation and accomplish the historic cause of national re-unification.

GETTY

Los Angeles, Washington, New York and even London are now thought to be within range of the Kim's nukes after his latest test.

But Trump hit back, firing his own defensive missiles in a show of force to the rotund ruler last week.

Tensions on the Korean peninsular have reached an all time high as US and South Korean forces launched a drill which saw them fire off missiles in response to Kim Jong-un's successful test of an ICBM

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US and South Korean forces fire off missiles from the South's Hyunmu-2 Missile System and the US M20 Multiple Launch Rocket System. The test is in answer to North Korea's test of an ICBM

Courageous and resourceful sons and daughters of the great North Korean nation, more dynamically go ahead for the final victory, the story continued.

Kim has previously promised weekly missile tests in the face of US aggression.

An expert in the US also recently warned they may not be able to protect agains a possible strike from North Korea.

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Kim vows to make Donald Trump 'kneel down before him' as WW3 nears - Daily Star

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What Has Awe Done for Me Lately? – HuffPost

Posted: at 10:28 am

What is the value of awe and mystic experience? For starters, it reduces the me that wants things done for it, or at least offers temporary relief from this grasping me. Mystic experience, whatever links it occasions, offers a kind of holiday from ordinary reality. In this expansive space, the world can be felt as less self-centered, and more inter-connected. In many spiritual traditions, this shift is called awakening, or at least the start of it. Awakening is not an entertainment (lets get high) but a jewel (lets get real).

We have Aldous Huxley to thank for one of the first post-war accounts of a day transformed by a psychedelic (it was mescaline). Borrowing from William Blake, he called his book The Doors of Perception (1954). What he described was things seen in a state of awe. Many other great writers have explored the phenomenon of mystical experience occasioned by what a friend of mine calls mindful molecules, and some of their work will be listed near the end of this piece, reports subsequent to Huxleys.

These writers were interested in classic psychedelics not to alleviate or cure a health condition or reduce anxiety, much less to create a colorful internal light show, but rather to induce a state of awe Why?

They all refer to the ability of classis psychedelics to occasion mystical experience (or in a cautious phrase in a report about psilocybin, mystical-type experience). Professor Ralph Hood had not yet developed his mysticism scale in time for Wassons 1954 account of a psilocybin mushroom ceremony near Oaxaca, but the first word about the experience in Wassons account was, awestruck.

One interpretation of an experience of awe could be to reinforce a religious allegiance, whether, for example, Buddhist. Christian, Hindu, or Islamic. In each off these traditions, an allegiance has been strengthened by a mystic experience with or without the use of a mindful molecule. In this article, however, rather than get involved in theology, I want to stay with the experience occasioned by a classic psychedelic, prior to any interpretation of it.

We can all agree that the experience is radically different than ordinary reality, causing a habitual tendency to call it sacred and to assume it descends upon us from, or connects us with, another realm. However, Occams Razor suggests that were making a giant assumption if we assert that something very different from ordinary reality is necessarily transcendental. It might be, but it might equally represent access to a function of the human brain that is ordinarily absent or hidden.

As a rhetorical strategy, the claim of access to a realm in the bailiwick of spiritual leaders has some advantages. In the U.S. our idea of religious freedom might extend to the use of classic psychedelics. So far, this argument has succeeded only in the case of the Native American Church, which legally uses peyote in its ceremonies for hundreds of thousands of worshippers from one race,, and of a couple of offshoots of syncretic Brazilian churches (offshoots both located in the U.S. West).

Our courts seem to respect antiquity of practice. The native Americans have been doing their peyote ritual for a long time, and the Brazilian churches are linked to ancient shamanic practices involving ayahuasca in the Amazon basin. According to The Road to Eleusis, many of the ideas of Western civilization arose from people initiated through an annual ceremony that appears to have featured a group envisioning induced by a psychedelic agent in the kykeon and that continued for as long as two thousand years. A pause since the fourth century does not alter the antiquity of the practice.

According to the Road to Eleusis, the mysteries could be resumed now and offer benefits to our culture, as they did to the culture of ancient Greece and to initiates from the Roman empire. In a word, they could become again a part of normal life.

Now for the bibliographic note:

Appreciation for awe has appeared in a string of writings after Huxley on spiritual uses of psychedelics. Examples include:

At the time of the writings cited, Wasson was a New York banker and a mycologist; Watts, a British clergyman transposed to California; Smith, a philosopher of religion and former professor at various universities including MIT; Forte, a teacher and an editor; Hofmann, a chemist at Sandoz in Basel and the discoverer of LSD; Ruck, a classicist at Boston University;; Doblin, the founder of MAPS; Badiner, a student of Buddhism and an editor; Griffiths, a professor at Johns Hopkins.

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What Has Awe Done for Me Lately? - HuffPost

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Markus Schulz Drops Heavy Trance Remix of Linkin Park’s In The End [LISTEN] – Your EDM

Posted: at 10:27 am

The music world is still coping with the sudden, tragic death ofLinkin Parks frontman and fearless leader, Chester Bennington. For many electronic producers, the bands groundbreaking, genre-shattering music has served as direct inspiration over the years.

In a bittersweetremembrance of the late singer, Markus Schulzhas remixed In The End by Linkin Park into a hardcore trance track that pushes boundaries much like the original did for its time. The track opens strong, with a roar of synths that carry massive amounts of tension up until the haunting notes of In The End come into play. Ever so carefully, the melody is held and tuned to fit a trance anthem as the remix progresses into a heavy yet uplifting celebration of one of Linkin Parks greatest hits.

The In The End remix debuted on Global DJ Broadcast & Tomorrowland 2017 and were sure that wont be the last we hear of it Check it out right here!

Photo by Justin Ng/Music Pics/REX/Shutterstock

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