Monthly Archives: July 2017

National publication recognizes U-CF – Chadds Ford Live

Posted: July 11, 2017 at 10:17 pm

Director of Special Education Leah Reider, left, and Supervisor of Special Education Shannon Brown designed U-CF's U-PRISE Program. (Courtesy image.)

*** Updated 1:59 p.m.***

District Administration, a national publication for school district leaders nationwide, has honored the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District for its U-PRISE program.

The program, which began this past school year, is a place for parents/guardians of students with special needs to share ideas and information, discuss programs, network with other parents and community resources, collaborate with administrators, ask questions, seek advice, and learn more about special education processes. It was the brainchild of Director of Special Education Leah Reider and Supervisor of Special Education Shannon Brown.

Were excited to have this recognition, Brown said. Weve had a lot of support from the administration and parents, but this helps us get the word out more and will allow us to network with other districts.

She called the program a school, family and public partnership and said the families have been appreciative.

U-PRISE serves as a voice for students with disabilities, and their families, in order to promote positive outcomes for students in the district and to provide families with students with disabilities education, resources, and enhanced partnerships with the school district and the community.

"Parent involvement in their child's special education program means a lot to administrators at Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. But participation outside of the Individualized Education Program meetings was limited. When a survey showed parents had an interest in attending a special education support group, the U-PRISE program was created," said District Administration in its recognition of the U-CF program.

U-PRISE hosts an online community bulletin board with resources and information for families. Each district school also has a parent liaison who welcomes new families and acts as a resource for parents navigating the special education system.

To get more information about the program, go to the districts website or contact your students school.

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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Journalist accuses AP of ‘censoring conservative words’ in Stylebook – WJLA

Posted: at 10:16 pm

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group)

A conservative journalist says that a guidebook used by many media organizations to make decisions on style and word choice is imparting a liberal bias in the mainstream press with its rules for reporting on issues like immigration and terrorism.

Rachel Alexander, a senior editor at The Stream, complained on Fox & Friends Tuesday that the 2017 Associated Press Stylebook caves to political correctness in new entries, compounding a rhetorical slant that she believes has been growing in recent years.

"The mainstream media claims that it's not biased, but it's got this bias built into its own words, she said. And we're seeing these words increasingly scrubbed from news articles and replaced by politically correct words instead."

One change for 2017 that concerned Alexander was the new guidance on describing migrants.

Migrants normally are people who move from place to place for temporary work or economic advantage, the Stylebook says. The term also may be used for those whose reason for leaving is not clear, or to cover people who may also be refugees or asylum-seekers, but other terms are strongly preferred: people struggling to enter Europe, Cubans seeking new lives in the United States.

Refugee and asylum-seeker are defined separately as terms to be used for people who are forced to leave their homeland to escape persecution.

Its frankly ridiculous and its sanitizing the English language, Alexander said of the books linguistic recommendations.

She expanded on her case against the Stylebook in a column for The Hill on Sunday.

More often than not, style writers have been more interested in censoring conservative words while promoting language that liberals tend to favor, she wrote, ticking off a number of examples of recent changes:

Although the Fox segment claimed the Stylebook calls for writers to avoid using the word terrorist, the 2017 Stylebook contains no entry on the term. An AP spokesman once told the Washington Post that reporters should shy away from independently identifying anyone as a terrorist and only refer to them that way if the FBI or another official source does first. Reuters and the Washington Post have similar policies.

Criticisms arose in 2013 when the AP first announced changes to its use of illegal immigrant and Islamist, as well. At the time, the news organization insisted it was just trying to be accurate and to avoid labeling people instead of behavior.

"It's kind of a lazy device that those of us who type for a living can become overly reliant on as a shortcut," then-Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explained at the time. "It ends up pigeonholing people or creating long descriptive titles where you use some main event in someone's life to become the modifier before their name."

Media experts say the AP is likely striving to be accurate and to avoid offending marginalized populations, but simple word choices inevitably do impact the way the audience understands an issue.

We all know that language matters and language is powerful, and the words that people choose to use insert value judgments whether it is intentional or not, said Nikki Usher, an associate professor at the George Washington University School of Media & Public Affairs and author of Making News at The New York Times.

Despite complaints from the right about specific examples, Usher said conservatives have often done a better job of framing issues in their terms than liberals have. She was hesitant to assign political motives to the AP editors who decide which words should be recommended.

These are people who have made it their lifes work to think about words. Its not just a bunch of journalists in a room making arbitrary decisions, she said.

In many cases, such as reporting on the LGBTQ community, the APs guidance encourages writers to use the term that people prefer to use to describe themselves.

Its a reflection of good journalism, not political correctness, Usher said.

A former AP standards editor made exactly that argument in a blog post on the process of compiling a new Stylebook in 2015.

We dont see APs news report as a tool for social engineering, wrote Tom Kent. But if a suggestion will make our report fairer, more considerate or more balanced, were interested.

While that may be the intent, John Carroll, a professor of mass communication at Boston University and a former journalist, said a perception of bias is difficult to avoid on issues where the language used by the press helps frame the public debate.

I think in theory what the AP Stylebook is trying to do is be as specific and as neutral as possible, but when you hold some of the guidelines up to the light in a certain way, it looks like theyre trying to influence the reader in a particular ideological direction, he said.

In the case of abortion, pro-life and pro-choice were essentially marketing terms that each side used to put the other side on the defensive.

If those are the terms that are going to be used, both of them carry overtones that could influence people in terms of how they view the players, Carroll said. Changing it to anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights is arguably more neutral.

At times, though, he suggested the APs efforts at balance are off base. Describing migrants as people struggling to enter Europe is a phrase that is so vague, its virtually meaningless.

Once language gets weaponized, then it can turn you pretty much into a pretzel to try to avoid seeming to take sides, Carroll said.

Alexanders complaints follow two years of candidate and President Donald Trump railing against political correctness.

I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct, Trump said when questioned about his long history of insulting women at the first Republican debate in 2015. Ive been challenged by so many people, I dont frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesnt have time either.

A July 2016 Pew Research Center poll found a wide partisan gap in perceptions of political correctness. While 78 percent of Republicans said too many people are easily offended by language, 61 percent of Democrats said people need to be more careful to avoid offending others.

There was a similar split between Trump supporters and Hillary Clinton voters. Four out of five Trump voters said people are too easily offended, but three in five Clinton supporters said people need to exercise more caution.

It is not surprising, then, that a guidebook for journalists that wades into heated debates and attempts to defuse loaded language makes some waves.

The 2017 edition of the Stylebook is often more nuanced than critics suggest. While it spells out situations in which migrant or refugee are inappropriate terms, it does not advise against using them entirely.

Every guideline is a choice, Carroll said, and every choice opens the AP up to attacks from the left or the right.

At a time when the president and his allies are constantly trying to discredit the mainstream press and public trust in the media is at historic lows, targeting a guidebook that many media outlets rely on to set their standards could advance that effort.

If theres an interest in dividing the public over which news is reliable and which news isnt, going after the AP Stylebook could be an effective way to separate the two sides, Carroll said.

The AP rejects allegations that its guidebook is biased, maintaining that its goal is to encourage fair and balanced reporting.

The AP Stylebook offers guidance for journalists and others on spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic style. Its guidelines are aimed at clarity, accuracy and objectivity in the news report, an Associated Press spokesperson said in an email Tuesday.

Usher noted that the genesis of the AP was the desire to create standardized, objective news that would be neutral enough to fit in with newspapers across the country.

It standardizes American journalism so that every time you get a news story, it roughly looks and reads the same, she said of the Stylebook.

Not everyone in the mainstream media is a fan. Casey Stinnett, managing editor of the Liberty County Vindicator in Liberty, Texas complained of its arbitrary and sometimes goofy mandates in a recent column titled, I despise the AP Stylebook.

However, Usher said most news organizations develop their own in-house styles, and even if they borrow heavily from the AP Stylebook in setting those standards, no publication is required to accept its guidance.

Its not some monolith that you have to listen to, otherwise your journalism doesnt count, she said.

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Library Board Delays Decision on Renaming Fisher Award – Seven Days

Posted: at 10:16 pm

Famed Vermont author Dorothy Canfield Fisher's name will stay on a children's book award at least for now.

The Vermont Library Board met Tuesday and heard two and a half hours of debate about a request to rename the award. Critics behind the effort say Fisher was associated with the Vermont Eugenics Survey, and that she stereotyped its targets including French Canadians and French Indians in her writing.

But after several speakers at the meeting mounted a fierce defense of Fisher, the board delayed making a recommendation on whether to rename the award until its next meeting on October 10. State Librarian Scott Murphy will have the final say.

"I'm not trying to kick the can down the road, I'm trying to figure out a way to deal with this," board chair Bruce Post told Seven Days after the meeting in Berlin.*

Afterwards, he said he needed more time to consider the issue. "It's too early to comment. I have to internalize all that information," he said of the "really good commentary" he heard at the meeting.

Writer, artist and plumber Tom Mulholland of Montpelier attended to defend Fisher. He sat at the same table as Essex Junction resident Judy Dow, a French-Indian educator who is leading the push to remove Fisher's name from the award.

Mulholland accused Dow of historical "vandalism" and said her characterization of Fisher as a eugenicist was based on innuendo and insinuation. "Unless there's absolute fact, she's innocent," Mulholland said.

Retired University of Vermont professor Helene Lang also defended Fisher in a lengthy presentation to the board, calling criticism of the author "very unfair and inadequately substantiated."

She added: "I've lost sleep over this."

Both Lang and Mulholland noted that several prominent Vermonters served with Fisher on the Vermont Commission on Country Life, which grew out of the Vermont Eugenics Survey directed by UVM professor Henry Perkins.

Fisher's participation on the commission does not mean she supported the eugenics survey work, her defenders said.

Dow, though, said that the time has come to listen to those who have been oppressed and to consider changing the name on the award.

As Lang and Dow repeatedly engaged in sharp exchanges, Post eventually stepped in. "OK hold it," he said at one point. "Please stop."

Although none of the board members took a public stance at the meeting, several thanked Dow for bringing up the issue, saying it was a worthy debate.

*Clarification, 9:12 p.m.: A previous version of this story misstated when Post spoke to Seven Days.

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Ibiza’s evolution from party town to sustainable dining destination – The Independent

Posted: at 10:15 pm

Dining al fresco at a rustic, dark-wood table as the sun sets, being gently misted by cool water every few minutes from nozzles overhead as I linger over a melt-in-the-mouth burrata and peppered strawberry salad, I think to myself: This is all wrong. My eyes dart suspiciously around the packed restaurant, encountering nothing more than tables of relaxed, well-heeled diners enjoyingIbicencan specialities and light conversation.

Wheres the techno? Where are the lobster-red, loud-mouthed Brits? Wheres Rhys Ifans pouring straight liquor into his eye socket?

You see, Im in Ibiza and I have certain unshakeable expectations.

If you werent a teen in the summer of 2000, youve probably never seen Kevin and Perry Go Large. But I was, and I have. The film follows the misguided exploits of two teenage boys, Kevin and Perry (played by Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke respectively) as they clumsily navigate their way around the outrageously cool Ibiza club scene while attempting to get laid.

And so I stayed away from the hard-partying Balearic island for the next 17 years, figuring that the cocktail of STDs, ecstasy and judgemental bouncers immortalised on screen would most likely trigger some kind of mental episode.

Yet here I am, almost two decades later, sipping a glass of chilled organic wine and following thesalad with a plate of locally-sourced courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta and cucumber sorbet all without an LSD tab in sight. I soon discover hallucinogenics arent likely to be found in Ibizas picturesque Old Town; it apparently used to be home to a number ofseedy, run-down clubs, but has since been transformed into a centre of upscale dining.

El Portalon, the Old Towns newest establishment and already leading the way in reinventing traditional Ibicencan cuisine using local, sustainable ingredients, is the setting for my Damascene moment. Its the brainchild of farm owner Anne Sijmonsbergen, the face of Ibizas burgeoning farm-to-table food scene, whose irrepressible energy was in part to blame for me finally taking Ibiza off my personal no-fly list.

Youve got to try the squid stuffed with sobrassada, she says insistently in her no-nonsense American accent, despite my protestations that Im a pescatarian and sobrassada is a traditional Spanish sausage. Its all local, the pigs are sustainably farmed why are you a vegetarian? Honestly, if youre a vegetarian for ethical reasons you shouldnt feel guilty. Trust me.

El Portalon is the Old Town's newest arrival (El Portalon)

A whirling dervish of passionate opinions and creativity, Annes brain doesnt seem to stop; one minute shes encouraging us to try the restaurant's signature thrice-cooked potatoes, the next shes schmoozing at another table with the producer of Made In Chelsea. Her husband Rene, meanwhile, sits contentedly chowing down on a Chateaubriand as his wife spins around the tables, showing face, making diners feel attended to, signing copies of her Ibizan seasonal cookbook, Eivissa, as she goes.

Looking around at the many smiling faces the restaurant is fully booked its hard to believe the place only opened six weeks ago. Or that its Annes first restaurant venture. Shes the creativity I take care of the boring paperwork, Rene says, half-jokingly. Her business partner Justin Mallett, meanwhile, deals with logistics.

We meet him the next day after a night in avilla once graced by the Camerons its a beautiful old stone building thats part of Can Riero, Annes 450-year-old farm in the rural north of the island, complete with outdoor pool and menagerie of friendly pets skipping around the yard.

Can Riero is Anne's 450-year-old farm (Oliver Jarvis)

Justin whisks us off to Babylon Beach Bar, another of the restaurants hes a partner in, to try a different slice of Ibizas farm-to-table scene. As the name would suggest, its a beach bar but the vibe is a world away from the likes of Blue Marlin, a notorious establishment in the south where obnoxious billionaires drop 100,000 on Champagne in a day without a second thought.

We just wanted to create somethingreally authentic, Justin explains. We didnt want it to be pretentious or sceney we wanted to make food and drink that seems simple, but theres actually more to it.

So the pina coladas arecreated usingBabylons inhouse-produced white rum, and topped up with homemade toasted coconut syrup. The bread is made inthe bars onsite bakery because, in Justins words, They cant make bread on Ibiza. The pork is sourced from Can Pere Mussona, a local farm that has set up a breeding programme for the nearly-extinct Ibicencan black pig; all the animals are reared outdoors in an environment free from chemicals and pesticides.

Babylon Beach Bar focuses on quality ingredients (Oliver Jarvis)

I only know all this because Justin tells me. Theres nothing on the menu to indicate the deep level of care that goes into selecting just the right ingredients, boughtlocallywherever possible. With a growing trend for calling anything and everything organic and sustainable in a bid to attract the moneyed crowd, its refreshing to discover a place where the principle is lived out but not shouted about.

But there does seem to be a genuine food revolution going on in Ibiza right now, and everyones in on the action. As we go to leave Babylon, were accosted by long-time island resident Sid Shanti, who confidently informs us: I am farm to table. Hes just launcheda line of hot sauces using Ibiza chilies. Take some! he insists, pushing sample bottles into our bags as we make our excuses. From there, the delectable dining experiences come thick and fast.

At newly opened beachside restaurant Aiyanna, were brought plates brimming with black and white quinoa tabbouleh, squid ink risotto and perfectly flaky baked seabass all the vegetables come from the restaurants own organic garden, the waiter tells me.

The Giri Cafe is popular for breakfast (Giri Cafe)

My avocado on rye bread breakfast at the Giri Caf comes with an iced coffee and a side of restaurant philosophy: We carefully curate our evolving menus to reflect the changing seasons, cherry-picking the finest organic, pesticide-free ingredients from local markets and farmers or by growing it in our own garden, reads the menu.

And that night at Lamuella, we sample one of thehigh concept restaurant'soff-the-wall tasting menus, whichincludeslangoustine Vietnamese pancakes and grissini with smoked eggplant, arugulacream and roasted tomato. Alongside the fine dining, the achingly cool open-air space offers a boutique shop selling bespoke garments and jewellery made in Goa, a small gallery and a separate area that hosts regular ballet and yoga classes. Not everyone understands what we do, but the right people do, Ilan Da, one of the three founders, says.

Anne feeds the family roosters (Oliver Jarvis)

That evening, back at Can Riero, I ask Anne whether she ever thinks about leaving. Weve been here for 12 years now sometimes we stay up late into the night talking what our next adventure could be. And then She makes a sweeping hand gesture that manages to take in the off-whitefarmhouse, glimmering in the dusk; the rows upon rows of organic tomato plants just now coming to fruition; the chicken coop where the family collects fresh eggs each morning; the immaculate view of the rolling Ibiza hills in all their untouched, rural beauty. And then we say: But where else could we go?

Where else indeed? Seventeen years on from Kevin and Perry, I finally see what all the fuss is about.

This understated farm-to-table restaurant in Ibizas Old Town is already developing a bit of a buzz. It sources as much produce as possible from co-founder Anne Sijmonsbergens own farm, which grows the only organic heirloom tomatoes on the island. The seasonal menudraws inspiration from Sijmonsbergens first book, Eivissa: The Ibiza Cookbook, which came out last summer. Try the restaurants speciality dish, the squid stuffed with sobrassada vegetarians, opt for the creamy burratafollowed by risotto.

Plaa dels Desemparats. 0034 871 110 925; elportalonibiza.com

El Portalon serves up burrata with peppered strawberries (Oliver Jarvis)

This unassuming caf in San Juan gets hugely popular for brunch booking is essential, especially for a table in the pretty outdoor garden, where the team also grows small batches of fruit and vegetables for use in Giris dishes. Breakfast features juice freshly squeezed from the cafs own oranges, locally roasted organic coffee and poached eggs from free-range Ibiza hens. The Giri Caf also serves lunch and dinner.

Plaza Espaa. 0034 971 333 474; cafe.thegiri.com

Aiyanna Ibiza was launched in June by the team behind the popular Amante Ibiza. Vegetables grown in the restaurants own garden are complemented by views of the ocean at Cala Nova, while immaculate white furnishings, brightly coloured sun shades and absurdly attractive staff are already making Aiyanna a destination to be seen at. It also boasts morning yoga sessions and a discreet onsite boutique.

Avinguda Cala Nova. 0034 971 330 456; aiyannaibiza.com

A supremely chilled-out beach bar for those who are happy to swap the pretentious crowd for laid-back luxe. All the bars bread is made in the on-site bakery try the rosemary-infused focaccia with roasted tomatoes for sweet and salty all in one bite. Also be sure to order a cocktail many of the spirits are made in house.

Carrer Bartomea Tur Claps. 0034 971 33 21 81; babylonbeachbar.com

Lamuella offers off-beat cuisine (Oliver Jarvis)

An organic restaurant, shop and art gallery all in one, Aubergine offers a farm-to-table seasonal menu that includes salads with vegetables picked straight from the restaurant garden, plus sharing plates, mains and childrens meals. The wine is organic and the water is purified via a hi-tech osmosis system.

Carretera de San Miquel. 0034 971 090 055; aubergineibiza.com

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What Theistic Evolution Say About God – Adventist Review

Posted: at 10:15 pm

July 11, 2017

This is the second of several reports on the North-American Division Faith & Science Conference, currently taking place in St. George, Utah, United States.Adventist Review

If you are one who thinks science is boring, think twice.

Seventh-day Adventists teachers and church ministerial leaders from across North-America attending the Faith & Science Conference in St. George, Utah, until July 14, are pointing out how informative they are finding the event presentations.

I appreciate the information being provided, said Anne Collier-Freed, associate professor of Religion at Kettering College in Ohio. I find it understandable and approachable.

Martha Soler, from Ouachita Hills College in Arkansas, concurred. It is information we can understand, relate to, and eventually share, she said.

One of the Adventist scientists responsible for this teacher-like approach to science is Loma Linda University Biology and Paleontology Professor Leonard Brand. Brand is a seasoned scholar who has researched the processes of fossilization and the geological factors that influence the preservation of fossils for decades. Despite his impressive professional record, which includes dozens of peer-reviewed articles and several books, he can explain difficult concepts in a way that appeals to all listeners.

On July 7, Brand shared why geological time is important for a Biblical-based understanding of origins.

Its Either Or

There are two ways, Brand said. Either we believe in the biblical story of a recent literal creation, or we accept evolutionary periods described in millions of years.

Brand made clear that both proposals ultimately demand faith.

Are scientists based on faith? he asked. Many say no, but in fact, their presuppositions are based on faith. After all, how much do those assumptions control the interpretation of evidence?

Secular scientists, Brand explained, take many things for granted. They say, This is the way it is, and this is the way it must be, he said. The creationist advantage? We can compare and contrast both assumptions, and make an informed decision, he said

Brands comments come at a time when many Christians who say they affirm the Bible have nevertheless moved to theistic evolution, the belief that God used processes described by evolutionist theorists to fashion His creation.

Combining the two, however, is not only a matter of biology and geology, since it also affects our understanding of Gods character, said Brand. To illustrate why accepting theistic evolution affects how we see God, Brand shared a parable.

A Tale of Two Dog Owners

There is a wolf in the neighborhood, and this wolf sets out to kill dogs, Brand said. But the first owner says, I will raise a lot of puppies. Many will suffer and die, but the strongest will survive.

The second dog owner chooses a different path, Brand continued. He puts in a fence and teaches his dogs to stay inside the fence. When one jumps over the fence, he runs and fights the wolf to save his dog. He gets beaten badly, but saves the dog.

It is a parable of two stories about creation, Brand said.

In theistic evolution, suffering is part of Gods plan to create, he said. Death is part of Gods plan to create. Evil is the way it is, and there is no way around itGod is responsible for evil.

The key question, however, is to determine if we have enough elements to choose one system over the other, said Brand.

If you believe in the Flood, I have some good and bad news to share with you, said Brand, before explaining it would be the topic of a later presentation.

Brands presentation The Flood: Good News and Bad will be featured in another report on the Faith & Science Conference 2017.

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Biologist Laments, I Want Deeply for [Darwinism] to Make Sense – Discovery Institute

Posted: at 10:14 pm

In his important new book, coming out on September 12 from HarperOne, State University of New York biologist J. Scott Turner tells the story about the Christmas pony. As a gift for a child who wants a pony, a poor family could afford only a pile of horse manure. Traipsing downstairs on Christmas morning to behold this well-intentioned mess, the child delightedly squealed and clapped.

Her parents asked her why. She answered, Because I know theres a pony in there somewhere.

In evaluating the coherence of Darwinian theory, Dr. Turner finds many of his fellow biologists in much the same mood. Squealing and clapping, they know theres a coherent theory in there somewhere.

His book, Purpose and Desire: What Makes Something Alive and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It, underlines that Turner is not an anti-Darwinist. On the contrary, he explains that I want deeply for it meaning the modern theory of Darwinian evolution to make sense. The reasons for his disillusion, which he outlines in this fascinating contribution to the evolution debate, turn upon long-ignored problems with the theory, and counterevidence from the mysterious nature of life itself.

It is still a couple of months too early for reviews of Purpose and Desire, but Kirkus welcomes it with a pre-publication starred review as an ingenious mixture of science and philosophy that points out major defects in Darwinism and then delivers heterodox but provocative solutionsa highly thought-provoking book.

Turner writes:

For the longest time, weve been able to fudge these problems, carried along on the faith that, to paraphrase the punch line of an old joke, there had to be a pony in there somewhere. But the dread possibility is beginning to rear its head; what if the pony isnt there?

The problem for modern Darwinism is, I argue, that we lack a coherent theory of the core Darwinian concept of adaptation.

It all unravels from there, thanks to unexpected insights from Biologys Second Law homeostasis and the great 19th-century French physiologist Claude Bernard, writing just six years after Darwins Origin of Species. After some delay, the crisis for the evolutionary biologist is at hand.

Without giving away any more punch lines, I recommend this: Pre-order Purpose and Desire now, because if you do so, for a limited time only, youll also get two free e-books to go along with it. The free e-books are Fire-Maker: How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet, by biologist Michael Denton, andMetamorphosis, which I edited as a companion to the Illustra Media documentary. Find the details here. (Note: When we first pointed out this offer, the web page wasnt working correctly. Its now fixed.)

Well. Turners book is a great read, and while hes not a proponent of ID, he turns a fresh new page for the case for design in nature. Promise: Well have more to say about his argument in due time.

Photo credit: Azaliya (Elya Vatel) stock.adobe.com.

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Intuition Robotics raises another $14 million, this time from Toyota … – TechCrunch

Posted: at 10:14 pm

Intuition Robotics, maker of the ElliQ robotic elder care assistant, and opened an office in San Francisco. As it looks to grow staff and ramp up testingof the product, the company has raised another $14 million, this time from Toyota Research Institute (TRI).

ElliQ, which the company likes to call an active aging companion, ismade up of an interactive robot attached to a tablet, and is designed to help older adults age in place. The robot was built to keep the elderly engaged, active, and connected to the outside world, first byallowing families to video chat with older relatives and second by acting as a companion to suggest activities and remind elderly users to take their medicine.

Intuition Robotics recently entered the initial testing phase of the companion robot with users in the Bay Area, and is actively hiring a team there. With those plans underway, the company was looking to add more funding to its war chest and add some expertise along the way because, well, hardware is hard.

With the Toyota Research Institute investment, the company got both. According toIntuition Robotics CEO Dor Skuler, Toyota approached the robotics company after learning what it was working on and immediately provided value by helping to replace some of the motors in the ElliQ prototype.

At this stage of the product, we do need help, and its very refreshing to be approached by an investor that has studied this space and has some expertise, Skuler told me.

The new funding follows$6 million that Intuition Robotics raised from investors that include Roomba maker iRobot, Terra Venture Partners, Bloomberg Beta and Maniv Mobility. The company also raised money through crowdfunding platform OurCrowd.

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Five reasons to attend TC Sessions: Robotics next week at MIT … – TechCrunch

Posted: at 10:14 pm

Next week TechCrunch is hosting its first ever one-day event centered around robotics. Called TC Sessions: Robotics, there are still a few general admission tickets left which grant the holder access to the conference, workshops, and networking events. Plus there are going to be robots as far as the eye can see. We hope you can make it and heres why.

Join us next Monday, July 17, and get your ticket now before Kresges limited seating is sold out.

Were looking for a few great volunteers to help us make TC Sessions: Robotics happen. If youd like to get some practical experience working at events as well as come to the event for free, let us know byfilling out this form by Thursday, July 13.

9:00 am 9:05 am Opening Remarks from Matthew Panzarino

9:05 am 9:25 am Whats Next at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with Daniela Rus (MIT CSAIL)

9:25 am 9:50 am Is Venture Ready for Robotics? with Manish Kothari (SRI), Josh Wolfe (Lux Capital) and Helen Zelman (Lemnos)

9:50 am 10:10 am The Future of Industrial Robotics with Sami Atiya (ABB)

10:10 am 10:35 am Collaborative Robots At Work with Clara Vu (VEO), Jerome Dubois (6 River Systems) and Holly Yanco (UMass Lowell)

10:30 am 11:15 am WORKSHOP: Fresh Out of the MIT Lab with Robert Katzschmann, Claudia Perez DArpino and Andrew Spielberg

10:35 am 10:55 am Coffee Break

10:55 am 11:20 am Robots, AI and Humanity with David Barrett (Olin), David Edelman (MIT) and Dr. Brian Pierce (DARPA)

11:20 am 11:45 am Building A Robotics Startup from Angel to Exit with Helen Greiner (CyPhy Works), Andy Wheeler (GV) and Elaine Chen (Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship)

11:45 am 12:05 pm Imagineering Disney Robotics with Martin Buehler (Disney Imagineering)

12:15 pm 1:00 pm WORKSHOP: Educating the Next Generation of Roboticists with David Barrett (Olin College), Ryan Keenan (Udacity), and Dr. Robert McMahan (Kettering University)

1:00 pm 1:20 pm Robots at Amazon with Tye Brady (Amazon Robotics)

1:20 pm 1:55 pm Building The Robot Brain with Heather Ames (Neurala), Brian Gerkey (Open Robotics) and Deepu Talla (Nvidia)

1:55 pm 2:20 pm When Robots Fly with Buddy Michini (Airware), Andreas Raptopoulos (Matternet) and Jan Stumpf (Intel)

2:20 pm 2:40 pm Bringing Robots Home with Colin Angle (iRobot)

2:40 pm 2:50 pm Demo with Carl Vause (Soft Robotics)

2:50 pm 3:00 pm Demo with David Perry (Harvard University SEAS)

3:05 pm 3:25 pm Coffee Break

3:15 pm 4:00 pm WORKSHOP: Getting the Most Out of DARPA with Dr. Brian Pierce

3:35 pm 4:15 pm Robotics Startup Pitch-off

Contestants: CP Robotics, Hand4Help, Tangible Media Group and Franklin Robotics // Judges: Jeremy Conrad (Lemnos Labs), Helen Greiner (CyPhy Works), Daniel Theobald (Vecna Technologies) andMelonee Wise (Fetch Robotics).

4:15 pm 4:35 pm The Age Of The Household Robot with Gill Pratt (Toyota Research Institute)

4:35 pm 4:55 pm Fireside Chat with Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics)

4:55 pm 5:05 pm Demo with Bruce Welty (Locus Robotics)

5:05 pm 5:15 pm Demo with Sangbae Kim (MIT Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory)

5:15 pm 5:20pm Wrap Up

5:20 pm 7:00 pm Reception

DARPA The mission of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to prevent and create strategic surprise by developing breakthrough technologies for national security. The agencys project-oriented approach to science and engineering, however, is different both in approach and execution from other U.S. governmental funding agencies. In this workshop, DARPA leadership will discuss the Agencys vision and goals, provide overviews of each of the organizations technical offices, in addition to an explanation of the mechanics of working with DARPA. The objective of the workshop is to elicit help in fomenting institutional evolution in Americas broader science and technology ecosystem that is needed to better and more rapidly respond to future challenges.

MIT CSAIL MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is tasked with researching activities around the bleeding edge of technology. Attendees of this workshop will get an insiders look at some of the hottest projects being developed in CSAILs labs and engineering bays. Robert Katzschmann will present Soft Robotics and the teams creative approach to allowing robots to manipulate objects. Claudia Perez DArpinos presentation will demonstrate how robots can learn from a single demo and Andrew Spielberg will explain a novel process to create and fabricate robots.

Building Roboticists David Barrett, a professor of mechanical engineering at Olin College, Ryan Keenan, curriculum lead for Udacity, and Dr. Robert McMahan, President of Kettering University will lead a workshop discussing their views on the best way to train the next generation of roboticists. Each of these educators leads vastly different programs, but the aim is universal: to train the next generation of globally competitive engineers. Its important that these students learn through hands-on experience how to not only write code, but deploy code in a viable manner that results in a sustainable product.

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Five reasons to attend TC Sessions: Robotics next week at MIT ... - TechCrunch

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How a One-Man Team from California Won NASA’s Space Robotics … – IEEE Spectrum

Posted: at 10:14 pm

Image: NASA SRC In NASA's Space Robotics Challenge, participants had to command a virtual Valkyrie robot to perform a series of repair tasks in a simulated Mars base hit by a dust storm.

NASAs Space Robotics Challenge (SRC) took place last month, full of virtual Valkyries wandering around a virtual Mars base trying to fix virtual stuff. Anyone was allowed to participate, and since the virtual nature of the competition means there was no need for big expensive robots that mostly didnt fall over, anyone actually could (and did) participate. Of the 93 teams initially signed up to compete, NASA selected 20 finalist teams based on their performance completing some tasks in the Gazebo 3D robot simulator, and each of those finalists had to program a Valkyrie humanoid to complete a repair mission on a simulated Mars base.

The winner of the SRC was team Coordinated Robotics, which also was the only team to manage a perfect run with 100 percent task completion, taking home theUS $125,000top prize plus a$50,000 perfect run bonus. Team may be a little bit of a misnomer, though, since Coordinated Robotics consists entirely of one dude: Kevin Knoedler. We spoke with Kevin about his epic win, and also checked in with Nate Koenig from Open Robotics, which leads the development of Gazebo and helped organize the SRC,to get more info on the competition, along withfootage of all the bestouttakes.

The SRC was very similar to the VRC (the qualifier for the DARPA Robotics Challenge), in that all of the teams competed by running their code in a Gazebo virtual environment. The tasks themselves were somewhat inspired by The Martian,Open Robotics CTO Nate Koenig told us. Valkyrie is on Mars, preparing the way for human settlement, and a dust storm comes. Post dust storm, Val has to align a communications dish, repair a solar array, and locate and fix a leak in the habitat. Here are some highlights from the competition:

The competition overall went pretty smoothly, says Koenig. A unique aspect of the SRC, as opposed to the VRC, is that we were emphasizing sequential completion of tasks. You get more points for completing more tasks in order without having Valkyrie fall or require a reset, so the more reliable you are in terms of walking and manipulating, the better youll do.

As with the DRC, the time limits on the tasks were set such that teams were heavily encouraged to use as much autonomy as possible. And it sounds like most of them did; only a few timed out. Making things even more challenging were severe restrictions on bandwidth coupled with latency designed to emulate (to some extent) what it would be like trying to teleoperate a robot somewhere out in space, as Koenig explains:

Network latency and bandwidth limitations were more severe than the VRC. We wanted to simulate something closer to what you might experience with a round trip delay to Mars, but that would have been too extreme, so we toned it down to a maximum of 20 seconds delay. Some of the tasks had bandwidth limits of 380 bits/second, and if you look at those numbers, that essentially kills TCP.

People had to get creative, and we did see some unique things: one person ran an IRC server and client to pass information, and some other people used just straight text-based console messages, getting no visualized data, which was pretty awesome: It was like reading The Matrix. One team [Team Xion] ran completely autonomously: They just deployed their code and hit go, and they were able to complete a lot of the tasks, which was impressive.

Koenig said he and his colleagues werent expecting any of the teams tocomplete all of the tasks in sequence.But Kevin proved us wrong, he added.And he was the only team that was able to perform that feat.

Kevin is, of course, Kevin Knoedler, who is the entirety of Team Coordinated Robotics. As Nate pointed out, Kevin managed to complete all of the Space Robotics Challenge flawlesslyin a row, which is pretty amazing. We spoke with Kevin over email to learn more about how he pulled it off.

IEEE Spectrum: Whats your background, and what made you decide to enter the SRC by yourself?

Kevin Knoedler: After graduating from MIT I worked as an engineer and engineering manager at Teradyne. I left in 2007 to be a stay-at-home dad. Both during my time at Teradyne and in my current role as a stay-at-home dad, I have continued to be involved in various contestsRobot Wars, Battlebots, the three DARPA autonomous vehicle grand challenges, and the DRC. The SRC looked challenging and fun, so I signed up to compete in it.

I was busy coaching two soccer teams when the qualification round started (fall 2016), and I knew I would be busy coaching track and Odyssey of the Mind when the finals started (early 2017). It is usually key to contribute and coordinate with teams early in the project cycle. Since I would be busy with other thingsduring those key times, I decided to do it alone to avoid frustration for myself and any team I worked with. Working with teams is generally a better choice as more people have more creative ideas. I have worked with teams on all of the previous contests.

How much autonomy did your strategy rely on?

I approached the design for the contest assuming I would always have the maximum time delay, so the robot needed to do shorter tasks on its own. Even without the design work, the up to 20-second delay was not a major problem given that the allowed time was in the hours. My perception code was not as reliable and accurate as I would like, so I focused on the robot doing the planning and execution. It was mostly supervised autonomy with human perception help.

You sent us a video of one of your runs [below]. Can you take us through it?

The video is a short third-person view of the robot completing the three tasks. The first is turning handles to align the antenna. The second task shows the robot removing a solar panel from the trailer, placing it on a table, and plugging in a cable. The final task is climbing the stairs, opening the habitat door, using a tool to locate the leak, and then another tool to fix the leak. One of the fun parts for me was when the robot would find the leak. There was a lot of area to be covered, some of which was partially obstructed, which made it exciting to actually find the leak each run.

The leak was found by the robot doing sweeps up and down and using torso rotation to minimize the amount of walking necessary. As the robot looked for the leak it kept track of the search area as either un-searched, clear, or leaky. That information was displayed to the operator via an interactive marker in Rviz [a 3D visualition tool for ROS] to make it easy to see what had been searched, and when the leak was found, easy to visualize.

What was the trickiest part for you?

I would say the most challenging part was the manipulation and use of tools. Getting a good grasp on the tool and then having the robot use the tools as an extension of the robot were hard to do consistently. I created a scenario in Gazebo where the robot started right at the tools with nothing else around. That allowed testing of picking up the tools from various starting positions and putting them down over and over.

An interesting story from the contest: Sometimes real hardware gets stuck and has to be pushed to get it moving again, and the simulated [Valkyrie robot]in Gazebo also had this behavior. [Open Robotics calledthat an interesting emergent behavior that wasnt programmed in deliberately.]It was possible for the robots thumb to get stuck and no longer respond to commands. That happened to me during the contest on my third run. But, much like in real life, I was able to push the thumb against the table to get it unstuck and moving again to be able to complete the tasks.

What kinds of things are easier in simulation than they are in real life?

Everything is easier in simulation. It is not dramatically easier, but you can solve 90 percent of the problems in simulation. The main thingthat makes simulation easier is the hardware reliabilitythe simulation hardware doesnt break like real hardware frequently does. You can also try riskier experiments. A falling humanoid robot in Gazebo does not cost $100,000 to repair and cause a multi-week delay. The other big advantage to simulation is that one person can run one or multiple tests simultaneously. With a real robot it generally takes multiple people to run a single test.

If NASA put a real Valkyrie inside of a physical mock-up of a Mars base and asked you to complete the same set of tasks, how do you think youd do?

The robot should be able to complete the tasks after some initial testing to identify and fix differences between simulation and hardware. I had a layered approach where I could fall back to lower level control if the primary method did not succeed. There always seem to be enough differences between simulation and real hardware that some adaptations are needed for success. But, given some testing and adaptations, I do think it would be a success!

After participating in the DRC and now the SRC, how do you feel about the potential for humanoid robots to be realistically useful in disaster areas or planetary exploration?

After the DRC and SRC we are getting closer to be able to use humanoid robots in disaster areas on earth and for planetary exploration. The main challenges I see on earth are making the hardware robust, handling falls, and being able to do manipulation in difficult situations (crawling, obstructed or constricted working environments, situations requiring an arm for support, etc.). In space there are the same challenges plus the distances require giving the robot more perception and autonomy.

Kevin made sure to remind us to thank NASA, Space Center Houston, Nine Sigma, Open Robotics, and IHMC on his behalf, which were more than happy to do, because were also constantly wanting to thank them for what theyve all done for robotics.

Oh, and before we forget: outtakes!

[ SRC ] via [ Gazebo ]

IEEE Spectrums award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org

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How a One-Man Team from California Won NASA's Space Robotics ... - IEEE Spectrum

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Code @ TACC Robotics Camp Students Solve Real-World Traffic Problems – HPCwire (blog)

Posted: at 10:14 pm

July 11, 2017 On a hot and breezy June day in Austin, parents, friends, brothers and sisters navigated through main campus at The University of Texas at Austin and helped carry luggage for the new arrivals to their dorm rooms. Thirty-four high school students from mostly low-income Title I schools in Central Texas, some from as far away as Houston, said good-bye to their families.

The students came for a different kind of summer camp, where for one week they became part of a science team that used computer programming and internet-connected technologies to solve a real-world problem. They had high hopes to walk away with experiences that would help them become future scientists and engineers.

From June 11 to 16, 2017, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) hosted Code @TACC Robotics, a week-long summer camp funded by the Summer STEM Funders Organization under the supervision of the KDK Harmon Foundation. The 34 students received instruction from five staff scientists at TACC and two guest high school teachers from Dallas and Del Valle, as well as round-the-clock supervision from five undergraduate proctors. Leading the camp was Joonyee Chuah, Outreach Coordinator at the TACC.

The goal of the camp is to provide these students with their first experiences with programming, to jumpstart them and get them further ahead to things that are current in the computing world, Chuah said.

The students divided themselves into teams, each with specific roles of principal investigator, validation engineer, software developer, and roboticist. They assembled a robotic car from a kit and learned how to program the software that controls it. The robotic cars had sensors that measured the distance to objects in front, and they could be programmed to respond to that information by stopping or turning or even relaying that information to another car near it. Teams were assigned a final project based on a real-world problem, such as what action to take when cars arrive together at a four-way stop.

The Code @TACC Robotics camp went a step further than the typical introductory Lego-based robotics program by using maker-based electronics that connected to the cloud using the Particle platform. The robots assembled for the camp were three-wheeled cars that communicated via the internet and could relay events and interact with services such as Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook.

The platform allows these robots to do a lot of communication with each other that facilitates projects that you wouldnt normally be able to do in a standard high school classroom using off-the-shelf toy robotics, Chuah said. The robotic cars presented a simplified version of the cutting-edge autonomous vehicles being developed today by leading companies such as Google.

Industry outreach was an important part of the camp, and the students toured the offices of IBM in Austin, where they participated in student activities that explored the IBM Watson supercomputer and robotics connected to it. The students also visited engineering departments and computer science departments at UT Austin, as well as TACCs world-renowned Visualization Laboratory. They get a full experience of both college as well as future industry, Chuah said. Its important for students to understand that there are economic and intellectual opportunities out there.

Read the rest of the story at the TACC website.

Source: Jorge Salazar, TACC

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Code @ TACC Robotics Camp Students Solve Real-World Traffic Problems - HPCwire (blog)

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