Monthly Archives: July 2017

Progress snaps up mobile BaaS vendor Kinvey to extend app dev wares – TechTarget

Posted: July 11, 2017 at 10:00 pm

Kinvey -- the fiercely independent maker of mobile BaaS, or backend as a service, application development tools -- is independent no more. The company has been acquired by tools vendor Progress Software Corp. for $49 million. The move comes on the heels of Progress' April 2017 acquisition of predictive analytics maintenance technology vendor DataRPM.

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Progress CEO Yogesh Gupta and Kinvey CEO and founder Sravish Sridhar are jointly assuring companies and developers that the union will yield new benefits and development capabilities, and no current functionality in any product will disappear.

"We don't see any existing functionality going away; on the contrary, it is growing," Gupta said. "Kinvey is a back-end platform, and we see Kinvey customers getting new value with our data connectivity and integration platform, Progress DataDirect."

Instead of the six to eight data sources to which developers using Kinvey currently have access, they will now have dozens instantly, he said. DataDirect was acquired by Progress in 2003.

Building on its longtime strategy of targeting the needs of developers more so than a business's executives, Gupta said Progress' mission, as evidenced by its legacy of tools acquisitions, is clear. "If you want a full-stack JavaScript platform that allows you to build native apps for mobile or any device without having to rewrite code and with complete connectivity to any kind of data at scale, there is only one player, and that is Progress."

They Kinvey mobile BaaS acquisition fills a glaring void in Progress' product portfolio. It becomes the back-end anchor in an end-to-end application development environment that is fully portable and independent of any particular cloud platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Bluemix, which all offer their own mobile BaaS.

We see Kinvey customers getting new value with our data connectivity and integration platform. Yogesh GuptaCEO, Progress

Kinvey complements the well-regarded Telerik platform, which sits at the front end and is used for developing single-codebase native experiences for iOS and Android. Progress acquired Telerik in December 2014. DataRPM sits in the middle, providing cognitive predictive analytics services that anticipate industrial-equipment breakdowns, enabling the intelligent dispatch of preventative maintenance resources, rather than responding to break and fix alerts.

The Kinvey and DataRPM acquisitions, taken together, bring new a new level of breadth to Progress' application development portfolio, according to Denise Lund, research director for enterprise mobility at IDC. "Together with its DataRPM assets, Progress is quickly becoming a formidable competitor in the intelligent apps development market."

Lund said the trio of acquisitions empowers developers to leverage their familiarity with JavaScript to use Progress' NativeScript open source framework for building native iOS and Android mobile apps from a single codebase. Developers will also have access to microservices that enable them to connect apps to updatable content that is changeable without any negative impact to the front-end user experience, she said.

Chris Marsh, research director for workforce productivity and compliance at 451 Research, agreed, saying the Kinvey transaction is the latest step in a continuing trend: the acquisitions of StackMob by PayPal and Parse by Facebook in 2013, Firebase by Google and FeedHenry by Red Hat in 2014, StrongLoop by IBM in 2015 and Appcelerator by Axway in 2016.

Kinvey, which has long positioned itself as a provider of HIPAA-compliant services, can ensure that apps meet the moving target that is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations, freeing developers to concentrate on building core application functionality, Lund said. According to Sridhar, Kinvey is the engine behind more than 31,000 apps whose 100 million users generate in excess of 10 billion monthly API calls.

Mobile BaaS products historically offered two approaches, with platform-independent tools providers, typified by Kinvey, on one side and all-encompassing cloud platforms with captive tool sets from AWS, Microsoft, Google and IBM on the other. With the independent tools vendors sometimes portrayed as a do-it-yourself bag of parts requiring Lego-like assembly, that characterization is off-base, Gupta asserted.

"It is AWS and Azure customers that get locked into and stuck with a provider," Gupta said. "They offer services as a bag of parts that you have to stitch together, while Kinvey's services are open and well-integrated. You can use whatever tooling you want; AWS is not like that."

Holder Construction, an Atlanta-based builder of arenas, concert halls and stadiums worldwide, is currently a customer of both, using Kinvey as a back-end platform and Progress tools, including the Kendo UI library, on the front end. CIO Bryant King said the combination allowed Holder to implement a purely digital construction management process, completely eliminating paper and printing. "Given that we're a customer of both, the combination of Kinvey and the Progress stack makes perfect sense."

Joel Shore is news writer for TechTarget's Business Applications and Architecture Media Group. Write to him atjshore@techtarget.comor follow @JshoreTTon Twitter.

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Signing Dani Alves proves Paris Saint-Germain making progress in rebuild – ESPN FC (blog)

Posted: at 10:00 pm

Gab Marcotti enlightens us on the what possibly could have happened to make Dani Alves change his mind from Manchester City to PSG. Jonathan Johnson provides an update on PSG's transfer activity and the ongoing Marco Verratti drama in this summer window.

PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain are set to complete the signing of right-back Dani Alves on a free transfer after the Brazilian international passed his medical in the French capital on Tuesday.

Alves was largely expected to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City after playing for him for a number of years with one of his former clubs, Barcelona.

However, PSG launched a late charm offensive to bring the former Juventus defender to Parc des Princes -- and it worked. Now he is expected to sign a two-year contract with the recently dethroned Ligue 1 champions.

On the face of it, the signing of a 34-year-old right-back should not be celebrated by a club that aspires to make up for disappointment in Le Championnat and the UEFA Champions League last season, not to mention attaining ultimate continental success, but Alves' signing represents so much more than the arrival of a veteran defender.

First of all, the man from Juazeiro is still a capable starter at the highest level and proved that by helping Juventus to last season's Serie A and Coppa Italia titles, as well as the Champions League final.

Alves will bring vast experience to Unai Emery's squad but he will also be able to challenge the likes of Thomas Meunier and Serge Aurier -- assuming the latter stays in Paris his summer -- for a starting role.

The presence of captain Thiago Silva and Marquinhos as Emery's central defensive pairing of choice will make it easy for another Portuguese speaker to adapt in PSG's backline, while the club's strong Brazilian contingent will make Alves feel at home immediately.

Also, Alves is the ideal player to make up for the loss of Pepe to Besiktas. If anything, the former Sevilla man offers the same intense winning mentality but more on the pitch in an attacking sense.

Granted, PSG do not necessarily need another attack-minded right-back with Meunier already there and doing an underrated job. However, the Belgian international is not the one who is likely to make way for Alves in the squad.

Instead, it will almost certainly be Aurier who is granted a summer departure and if that happens, replacing the Ivory Coast international with the South American will be a wise -- albeit short-term -- move.

Aurier's unprofessional antics away from the pitch have long undermined the good he can do on it and a change of scenery will likely rejuvenate the Ivorian and help him to salvage something of the rest of his career.

Indeed, the most impressive thing about PSG's successful late swoop for Alves is what it says about Antero Henrique's arrival as sporting director and his appointment of recently retired Maxwell as his assistant.

Both men worked tirelessly to persuade the Brazilian to move to Paris. Although Pepe's move to Turkey and Thiago Motta's drawn-out contract renewal have shown that Henrique can be a stubborn character when it comes to getting value for money, he and Maxwell have now proved they can sell the PSG project to in-demand players and fight off stiff competition.

Henrique and Maxwell deserve immense credit for getting this deal done and it represents a moment of maturity for the club as it continues to become better structured and serious about its own project once again under Henrique.

With an influential player like Alves at PSG, other talented and ambitious players -- particularly Brazilians -- will be more interested in the project than they were before. Further smart business from Henrique and Maxwell will only build a stronger reputation.

Alves' arrival could make Aurier a useful bargaining chip in the pursuit of a central defender such as City's Eliaquim Mangala or Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario -- even if Monaco's Fabinho remains the priority.

Smart transfer deals such as this one enable PSG to keep most of their transfer budget intact and if they can show similar intelligence in other positions, they could still make one mighty splash when needed -- possibly in attack or attacking midfield.

Jonathan Johnson covers PSG and the French national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @Jon_LeGossip.

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Airlines making progress in getting flight laptop ban lifted, DHS says – The Hill

Posted: at 10:00 pm

Airlines have been making progress in getting a ban on laptops lifted, with more carriers expected to follow suit in the coming days, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)says.

So far, six airlines have been able to allow their passengers to once again bring large electronics onto flight cabins:Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian.

Airlines that have been under the ban, which was initially applied to any U.S.-bound flights leaving from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa, have been able to get the restrictions removed by beefing up their aviation security and screening protocols.

Egypt Air, Saudi Airlines and Royal Air Maroc, along with four overseas airports, are still subject to the ban.

A DHS spokesman said that the remaining airlines can notify the U.S. government that they are ready to implement the enhanced security measures, at which point the department will send out teams to inspect the new procedures. Once compliance is verified, the laptop ban will be removed.

The U.S. was considering expanding the laptop ban to include all U.S.-bound flights. Instead, the DHS rolled out new security measures that all international flights must follow in order to avoid the restriction on large electronics.

Some critics in the airline industry have criticized the timeline for the enhanced screening standards, which are being required in stages, starting this summer.

But the DHS spokesman said that the department would assist airports and airlines in meeting the new requirements of the heightened security plan.

Rafael Bernal contributed

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Inspector General says Muskogee VA making progress – Tulsa World

Posted: at 10:00 pm

The Muskogee-based Eastern Oklahoma Veterans Health Care System has made significant strides since a critical 2015 news story was published, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General says in a report released Monday.

Signed by Dr. John D. Daigh Jr., assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, the report says the Eastern Oklahoma system, which includes two Tulsa clinics, has fulfilled 11 of 19 recommendations from a May 2016 site visit and has target completion dates within the next few months for the remainder.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, who requested Office of Inspector General reviews of both the Eastern Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City systems, told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday that we have solved the problem in Oklahoma.

Inhofe was presenting legislation that would permit third-party investigations of VA facilities.

Inhofe praised Ralph Gigliotti, director of the VA Rocky Mountain Network, which includes Oklahoma, and said he thinks most of the problems at Oklahomas VA facilities were related to leadership and turnover in administration.

Mondays report notes that the Eastern Oklahoma system went through several top administrators in a relatively short period of time, but it also highlights broader staffing issues that may continue to be a problem, particularly at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee and some outlying clinics.

Specifically, the report says the systems rural locations and low pay make recruiting and retaining personnel, particularly medical specialists, a difficult task.

It also says the Eastern Oklahoma system has had trouble implementing Veterans Choice, a new program intended to allow veterans to use private health-care providers closer to their homes, and in being able to transfer out patients needing higher levels of care.

Investigators reviewed the deaths of 10 acute- care patients and found it more likely that the deaths were due to the severity of the patients diseases rather than poor quality or a lack of care during their ICU stay.

Inhofe requested the OIG investigations after a Dec. 22, 2015, USA Today story outlining failures in the two systems, and particularly the Oklahoma City hospital.

Since then, Inhofe and other members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation have pressed for changes making it easier for regional directors to dismiss local administrators.

Mark Morgan, who was brought in to run the Eastern Oklahoma VA in 2016 after several temporary directors, said he expects continued progress.

I have reviewed the OIGs findings and recommendations and concur with all of them, Morgan said. We have already implemented or completed 11 of the recommendations and are actively working to complete the remaining eight by the end of the year.

The Eastern Oklahoma system includes the Montgomery Medical Center in Muskogee, outpatient clinics in Tulsa, Hartshorne, Muskogee and Vinita, and the behavioral medicine clinic in Tulsa.

randy.krehbiel @tulsaworld.com

Twitter: @rkrehbiel

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Crews making progress on S. Idaho wildfires – KTVB

Posted: at 10:00 pm

KTVB , KTVB 7:49 PM. MDT July 11, 2017

The Antelope Fire (Photo: BLM)

SHOSHONE, Idaho - Fire crews are making good progress on two large lightning-caused wildfires burning in the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls District.

Managers said Tuesday morning that they expect to have containment on the Antelope Fire, burning about five miles south of Shoshone, by 8 p.m. Wednesday and controlled by 8 p.m. Thursday.

The fire started on Sunday and was fueled by strong wind gusts causing it to quickly grow in size. It has scorched about 30,000 acres and forced the closure of several highways in the area - including U.S. 26, Idaho 93 and Idaho 24 - on Sunday and Monday. Those highways have since reopened, but drivers are told to use extra caution while the firefight continues.

On Tuesday night, the BLM said the Antelope Fire was "smoldering," and that crews were working to improve containment lines and mop up hot spots.

View of the #AntelopeFire from Notch Butte. Shoshone in the distance #BLMTFDFire pic.twitter.com/39xpGhasPm

Meanwhile, firefighters have contained the Loveridge Fire, which forced the evacuation of Bruneau Dunes State Park Sunday night. The fire, located about eight miles southeast of the town of Bruneau, is now estimated at nearly 39,000 acres in size.

Crews were continuing to mop up hot spots Tuesday, and expected to have it completely controlled by 8 p.m.

Further south, the Meadow Creek Fire was estimated at 493 acres on Tuesday night. The fire is burning two miles east of Interstate 84, and about 15 miles north of the Idaho-Utah state line.

The fire is expected to be contained at 6 p.m. Wednesday and controlled by 6 p.m. Friday.

#MeadowCreekFire burned actively thru the night. Estimated at 1,500 acres #BLMTFDFire pic.twitter.com/2GFP8s2wcO

2017 KTVB-TV

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Film Review: War for the Planet of the Apes – Consequence of Sound (blog)

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Cast

Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn

At some point, the balance of our planet turned, and everything down to the title ofWar for the Planet of the Apesmakes this abundantly clear.Where Earth was once a human planet, and the time of apes rose and dawned, now the tide has shifted. Now humanity must affirm itself against a civilization sliding away from it by the day. If the first two films argued for mankinds inability to restrain itself from pursuing a final reckoning, this is a film about what happens when mankind gets everything it asked for and more still. This is no longer a planet of humans, it is a planet of apes. Each encounter simply inches both species further beyond the rubicon theyve already crossed.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a bleak summer blockbuster even by the increasingly nihilistic standards of the last two installments. One film envisioned a world in which humanitys desperation to stave off old age begat something dangerous, and then another saw man blow past a series of final exits on its way to obsolescence. Much of humanity has perished by the time the film begins, and the majority of those remaining have been driven mad by survivalism, enlisted into military tribes of ape hunters. Where the apes once lived in fear of humanity, now humanity lives in fear of its own future.

In this same way, Caesar (Andy Serkis) worries about what will come of the apes. Mankinds numbers may be dwindling, but their desperation has made their armies vicious. Even at the beginning of War, Caesar still attempts to reach some kind of armistice, knowing how futile his attempts will likely be. When a squadron of humans moves hazardously close to their long-held encampment in the woods, Caesar sends them away with a clear warning: Leave us the woods, and the killing can stop. But for The Colonel (Woody Harrelson), there is no end as long as a single ape continues to walk the Earth. Soon the bloodshed of so many battlefields follows the apes home, and Caesar is forced to deal with the displacement of his kin, and the violent road to any future they might have.

The terror of Planet of the Apes as a concept was always borne from mans anxiety about its end. From its birth during Vietnam to its post-apocalyptic echoes of a nuclear holocaust, the series has long been rooted in the possibility of man destroying itself as a matter of natural course. War takes that concept to its logical ends, but one of director Matt Reeves many bold choices (alongside co-writer Mark Bomback) is to frame much of the pivotal human drama in the films background. There are only two notable human characters in the entire film, and one of them is Harrelsons Colonel, a Kurtzian type who believes that humans as they once existed cannot peaceably coexist in a world with the evolved ape. The other is a young girl, Nova (Amiah Miller), whos been left silent by forces that War takes its time in teasing out.

This is a patient film, so much so that War feels nearly radical by modern Hollywood standards. As with Dawn, the apes preferred communication mode of sign language allows for Reeves to build the films power out of conspicuous quiet. When the film spends extended periods of time unfolding its tale with little (spoken) dialogue, the remarkably acute sound design lets the auspicious presence of silence dominate the mix. Where once the sounds of ape-human strife could be heard off in the distance, or dominated the screen, Reeves imagines an emptier world, where the absence of death and the accompanying vacuum of sound fosters its own kind of dread. Accordingly, when fighting does arise and the film grows more hectic, its all the more deafening for Reeves keen manipulation of these dynamics.

Even the new introductions have an aura of sadness around them. Nova is only discovered in the wake of tragedy, and her kindness to the apes is understandably returned with a mixture of empathy and looming unease. Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) offers another perspective on the war, from an ape left to fend for himself without the close-quarters decency of Caesars tribe. That hes rattled to the point of constant alarm is hardly surprising, although Reeves finds a handful of lightly comic moments out of the character throughout. Those are few and far between as the film goes on, however, given that Caesar eventually finds himself captured and pulled behind enemy lines, along with the majority of the remaining apes. His torture and suffering there, compounded by his guilt over his necessary slaying of Koba (Toby Kebbell) in Dawn and the us-or-them reality of the ongoing situation, forces Caesar to question what more he can possibly give to save himself, and his kind.

The thoughtful continuity between films plays another notable role in Wars unsettling portrayal of a conflicts waning days. Central to Caesars arc in this film is Serkis continuously astounding work in the role; whatever debate might have remained about the actors role in the series boundary-pushing motion capture work should hopefully be laid to rest here. Caesar is not just a marvelous creation of special effects (the work on his and the other apes design, by Weta Digital, remains groundbreaking), but a character whos evolved from the star child of a dominant new species to one of the last beings on Earth capable of remembering mankinds onetime decency. Much of that complexity emerges from Caesars gaze, and its not ultimately a VFX who finds it. Its Serkis, and his work here is as powerful as any hes done.

Like any great villain, this ethos is mirrored in the Colonel, who has more than enough reason to fear what might come next. War for the Planet of the Apes may be part of a trilogy thats always taken a sympathetic stance about mans treatment of the apes, but Reeves introduces a moral conundrum that asks far more difficult questions than before. At what point can two opposing groups truly fail to coexist? What is the morality of one beings survival over another? Can there be morality in a binary life-or-death scenario? Harrelson plays him as a man who abandoned such questions and answers long ago, whos chosen the brutal simplicity of genocide or extinction. His fear is real, and this makes it all the more palpable. If the actor has played roles like this one before blithely deadpan in the face of the unimaginable Harrelson nevertheless lends the Colonel a tremor that seethes under his crueler moments. Hes a man who chose to accept savagery out of necessity, and expects no less than the same from those following him.

The most remarkable accomplishment of War, then, is how the film seeks to articulate both sides as clearly as it can. Reeves visualizes the waning human world as a despairing progression of hiding places and mercenary strongholds, where the apes fret about where a migration would even take them and the humans cling to their last bolstered prison encampment as tightly as they can. Caesar is forced to endure the worst of one species to protect another, and the combination of Serkis resonant work and Reeves unflinching direction cement War as one of the more thoughtful and unyielding blockbusters of its time.

As with the previous films, Caesars entire mission is defined by the idea that all beings have a right to live, and live well, and that someday they will. Here its reflected in Bad Apes daffy commitment to goodness, or in the apes protective kindness toward the Nova. (One of the films loveliest scenes features one of its only vibrant swatches of color, as she shares a flower with one of her protectors.) But its also a film with an astute understanding of how cancerous vengeance can be, and how even the best among us can act hideously when pushed to the limits of anger and need. In its way, War also makes a painful case for how avoidable inter-faction violence usually is, and how quickly thats forgotten when such violence erupts.

Reeves and cinematographer Michael Seresin juxtapose the purity of the vibrant white snow surrounding the encampment and the exhaustion of the gunmetal-dark human territory to breathtaking effect. The films color palette may be muted, but War is an impeccably shot film, the uncanny CGI fitting perfectly against the films unforgiving environments. At times the production design is truly eerie, suggesting a world where man exhausted itself and was slowly, quietly replaced. Between the lustrously shot expanses of untouched land and Michael Giacchinos nervous, sometimes dominant score, War builds a world made frightening by its absences.

The humans are so ultimately secondary that some of the films only questionable narrative decisions have a diminished impact. A good bit of the films prison section is built upon some suspect-to-unlikely human decisions and errors; for a legion of futuristic Marines, theyre inept as prison guards to the point of audience distraction. That said, even the panic and indecision of the soldiers can still be tied into into Wars thesis about scared, under-trained warriors who never asked to be placed in their position. Regardless, War has predominantly moved beyond its human characters, for better or worse. (Well argue its the former.) Wartime has no true victors, and War never cheats on its established stakes, and those of the series to date, by attempting to comfort its audience.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a formidable conclusion (if indeed it is) to one of the more well-considered modern series to date. This is a film of difficult, lingering questions and painful revelations. Beyond that, its also a film where a beloved CGI creation is tortured onscreen for dramatic effect. This is pop filmmaking nearing its darkest heights, but verging on its artistic heights as well, a movie that will undoubtedly have its place as long as two nations somewhere around the world are struggling over land or hubris or, as it is here, to endure. It treats the end of the world as the apocalypse weve always been racing ourselves into, and the one we wont be able to prevent even as we see it coming. Yet there is still always another way forward, no matter how much blood is shed. Theres always a new horizon, and a new tomorrow. The only question, then, is how many get to see it.

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Altstadt Echo – Reposed In Nihilism – Resident Advisor

Posted: at 9:57 pm

Altstadt Echo - Reposed In Nihilism It's not surprising that Altstadt Echo's music found its way into Regis's DJ sets, including his Blackest Ever Black mixtape The Boys Are Here. Altstadt Echo's riffs on the sparse, stepping style explored by the Downwards boss a few years back, before Sandwell District disintegrated and post-punk took over. The drums are crisp and meticulously arranged in loping broken-beat rhythms, the sound design cavernous and the mood elegantly gothic. (Modern Cathedrals, the name of Altstadt Echo's label and party in his Detroit hometown, describes it nicely.) The goth streak extends to the titlesjust recently he was experiencing "Gentle Indifference." This EP for Eye Teeth, a sub-label of Interdimensional Transmissions, finds him Reposed In Nihilism.

This disaffected pose doesn't always lead to compelling music. The title track is neatly put together, but its careful accretions of field recordings, scuzzy drones and flecks of downpitched voice lack a certain spark. Altstadt Echo finds more striking contrasts elsewhere. Bouncing percussion gives "Ersatz" more urgency, while bright synth stabs work as a counterbalance to the abyssal dub chords weighing down the end of each bar. On "The Necessary Facade," uncanny pristine rave chords ping-pong around the sombre space, like flashes of light in the churchly gloom.

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Party Report: Hideout Festival 2017 – Deep House Amsterdam (press release) (blog)

Posted: at 9:57 pm

Upon touching down at Croatias Split Airport for 2017s, seventh edition of, Hideout Festival, I truly didnt know what to expect from it, the location or the crowd.

I can admit here that, contrary to (Im sure) many out there, Im not necessarily a person drawn to the tropics, an over amount of sunshine, or beach culture in general. In fact, my previous weeks Iceland excursion was, at first, much more up my alley with its constant overcast, rain, and sub 10 degree temperatures. So, going from cold Reykjavik pretty much immediately to the sunny shores of the Adriatic seemed a bit too drastic a weather change for me, and one I wasnt sure how Id react to.

Well, to my pleasant surprise, the massive happening that is Hideout Festival turned into one of the most pleasant and comfortable festival experiences I have recently experienced, with some 20,000 fans flying in from around the world for a weeks worth of proper dance music hedonism. Aside, there were also some 150 artists on hand to man the festivities. These artists spanned the musical spectrum from Grime (Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Wiley, Kurupt FM) to Drum n Bass (DJ Hype, Shy FX, My Nu Leng) to House (Heidi, Jamie Jones, Steve Lawler) to Techno (Marco Carola, Paco Osuna, Alan Fitzpatrick), and everything in between.

To go in depth into everything that went down at Hideout would simply be an impossible feat. The event, which spanned seven proper days, included its primary hub of world renowned festival locations scattered across Zrce Beach (Papaya, Aquarius, Kalypso, Euphoria, Noa), each pseudo open air venues, featuring state of the art production elements, as well as all the frills that come with tropical clubbing (pools, bikinis, cabanas, bottles, etc). These venues programmes included all day soirees, while also occurring around the area were a host of boat parties, secret events, and scattered does for the curious and the (more importantly) awake. For example, the seminal house act Basement Jaxx were on hand for a hidden beach party, while BBC Radio 1 broadcasted live from the event on its Friday, bringing sets from the likes Danny Howard, Dusky, Skream, B.Traits and Eats Everything to their devoted fanbase. As for the boat partys, well, barring the unfortunate rain out of Wednesdays events, other boats featuring the likes of Solardo and Denis Sulta were a natural jump off (not overboard, thank godbut as a kick start to the rest of the night). Of course, however, it was our own collaboration with Detroits MK and his Area10 brand, which featured Doorlyand the man himself, setting sale on the SS Champagne (I made up the SS partnot sure if they use that nautical term in Europe, t be honest), which was a high point event for us, and for the festival. 3 hours of sold out funk, house, and soul from MK and Doorly really set the vibes right from the sea to the shoreand the crystal clear waters and picturesque sunset werent too shabby either!

Musically, and again it is difficult to be everywhere, highlights came from a variety of locations and artists. Aside from the funk of our aforementioned boat party, several appearances and sets stood out to mesome that I knew who and what was going on and some that I didnt. I can tell you for sure that the sunrise sets at each of these venues will always be a site to beholdI attended twoAlan Fitpatrick (Noa) and Heidi (Papaya). Heidi is something of a Hideout favorite, who also hosted her Jackathon Pool Party that same day, while Alan Fitzpatrick is simply a crowd favorite. Each of these artists, though different in sound, possesses a similarly dynamic stage presence, which exudes fun and energyclearly on display for the faithful who made it to the end of each respective nights musical programs.

Additional musical highlights came from the always reliable The Martinez Brothers, who took to Noa on the events Thursday alongside a heavyweight crew of Marco Carola and Amsterdams own Joey Daniel. My travel mates to the event, The Martinez Brothers once again showed their chops for selection and party starting (not to mention, maintenance), before Music Ons main man closed things down in typical dramatic fashion. Finally, I will also give a shout out to a great b2b set, which also came on Thursday, in the form of Steve Lawler b2b Darius Syrossian (Aquarius). Always having been a personal favorite, going way back to his Dark Drums days, Lawler must have surely been itching to get down given the cancelattion of his Wednesday ViVA pool party. With Do Not Sleeps Darius Syrossian, a game partner in musical crime, the two went strong into the wee hours, solo and b2boh, that night also featured some guys named Hot Since 82 and Skream(who seemed to be everywhere during the week) as well.

As you can see, the scope of this event is huge. I havent even gotten to speaking about the ridiculously colorful elrow takeover of Kalypso, by way of their famed Rowlympics concept, which went down each day & night and in typical jovial fashion. That event featured everyone from Andres Campo, Lord Leopard, Patrick Topping, Jasper James, Waze & Odyssey, and many of the artists already mentioned here.

All in all, Hideout was an extremely pleasant surprise to me. Thought the crowd veered towards the younger side of the spectrum, the alcohol was flowing like water, and inhibitions were DEFINITELY minimized, their still was a certain chaotic order to the whole thing. For one, its hedonism felt in placealmost necessary, to be honest, with nothing standing out as too out of control (all things considered, of course). Also, for an alcohol heavy, spring break type event, I was not witness to a single fight, conflict or sexual assault situation, which is a testament to the crowd, especially on the events latter hours. Though other festival locations that dot Croatias extensive coastline may feature more historical landmarks, Pag Island and Zrce Beach (as well as its surrounding township) does hold all the quirks one would come to expect from holiday, seaside locations, from pristine weather (the occasional torrential rainstorm aside) to some of the freshest seafood around, and an overall affordability that always comes welcome when traveling to Eastern Europe. It was a well organized, well run, and personable event, with many of its top brass cavorting around with fans, press, artists, and locals, all of which seemed up for it at all moments.

So, thank you to Hideout Festival and its crew for providing an event that was simply FUN. No pretention; no frowns; no fightsjust an all around good time!.

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Party Report: Hideout Festival 2017 - Deep House Amsterdam (press release) (blog)

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An explosive compound: RSS’s latest plan to mix science and religion – Catch News

Posted: at 9:56 pm

Did aircraft really exist at the time of the Vedas? Was there a plastic surgeon who expertly attached an elephant's head on Hindu god Ganesha's body, as claimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi?

Well, India's scientists in the making could well go on to research on these ancient Indian 'scientific marvels' and enlighten the world about the Vedic sciences.

With several ministries on board and a pool of 10,000 scientists, Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) the science wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will soon launch a digital mentoring initiative for school students to promote scientific research.

Named the Science India Portal, the initiative will kick off 15 October, the birth anniversary of late President and India's 'missile man' APJ Abdul Kalam. It will be supported by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Department of Biotechnology while the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Hyderabad will be the knowledge partner.

VIBHA boasts of former Atomic Energy Commission chairperson Anil Kakodkar and ISRO ex-chief G Madhavan Nair as patrons. It advocates the synthesis of physical and spiritual sciences, and spearheads the movement for swadeshi sciences, including vaastu-vidya.

The development of the country is dependent upon its scientific and technological advancement. Unless there is an environment and adequate infrastructure, the country cannot have good scientists. This initiative is aimed at creating that. It is to identify and nurture students into scientists, said VIBHA Secretary-General A Jayakumar.

As much as regular sciences, the mentoring initiative would also focus on Vedic sciences and traditional Indian practices like Ayurveda and Siddha.

The aim is to develop scientific temper in the country. But at the same time, the young generation should also know about traditional Indian sciences and the country's rich history in the fields of science and technology. So, the agenda is also to promote Vedic sciences, said VIBHA member Arvind C Ranade, who is also a scientist in Vigyan Prasar (VP), a Government of India initiative to promote and propagate scientific and rational outlook.

Besides the Centre pushing for promotion of Vedic sciences in leading educational institutions, Modi and the saffron brigade have increasingly been raving about the country's scientific prowess in ancient times.

At an event in 2014 Modi cited Karna and Ganesha's cases from mythology in his bid to highlight India's past achievements in medicine.

The Mahabharata says Karna was not born from his mother's womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time, he had said.

There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant's head on the body of a human being, and began the practice of plastic surgery.

His Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh prescribed 'yogic farming' to empower the seeds with the help of positive thinking.

We should enhance the potency of seeds by rays of Parmatma Shakti, Singh was quoted as saying by the Indian Express in 2015.

The Science India Portal programme aims to reach out to at least two million students between Classes 6 and 12, who will be able to digitally interact with scientists and technocrats from various fields.

The portal will also contain detailed information on various scientific and mathematical theories, with special emphasis on Indian contributions. It aims to provide verified and authentic information about the country's achievements, including the Vedic period.

There are only bits and pieces of information available about Vedic India's achievements in the fields science and technology. We will accumulate and compile all the information that is there on these subjects. The students, thus, will be able to access verified and authentic information about them, said Saibal Das, senior scientist at the IICT.

VIBHA will also conduct Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM), an all-India examination for students of Class 6-12, to identify bright minds keen on taking up science.

With a syllabus based on study material provided by VIBHA, the VVM will be conducted on 26 November.

Rationalists though see this project as an attempt to saffronise the scientific community, and warn about the consequences of mixing religious ideology with science.

You can either promote scientific temper or Vedic sciences. They are diametrically opposed, said D Raghunandan of the Delhi Science Forum.

Besides being a blatant attempt to saffronise the scientist community, it is also an attempt to influence young minds with Hindutva ideology. People who believe existence of aircraft in the Vedic period, who swear by Mahabharata's plastic surgery, they are now talking about scientific temper. What can be more outrageous? said Raghunandan.

The team of scientists is likely to have Dr BG Matapurkar, who was awarded a US patent on adult stem cells used for organ regeneration. He had earlier claimed that the science of cloning and test-tube baby was known to Indians of Mahabharata age.

The Kolkata-based Science and Rationalists' Association of India (SRAI), which promotes rationalism, expressed concern over the initiative.

Instead of the Wright brothers, our students will now perhaps will read about Vaimanika Shastra. Instead of stem cells, they will be influenced to learn about how to create designer babies. After changing school text books to distort history, it's now science. The RSS-BJP brigade's march towards Hindu Rashtra continues, SRAI General Secretary Prabir Ghosh said.

Prof. Bikramaditya Kumar Choudhary from Jawaharlal Nehru University added: It is dangerous to mix religion with science, something which this project appears to be aiming to do. Students should be exposed to all kinds of knowledge. As much as one knows about a subject, he grows the ability to question it, analyse it and choose whether to believe it, follow it or otherwise.

The aim should be to foster and satiate students' inquisitiveness. But today, we see this tendency to kill this inquisitiveness. One might be killed for asking a question, and killers will justify it, saying the question hurt their religious beliefs.

It is about whether you want to make someone aware about a certain knowledge or imprint it on their minds.

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An explosive compound: RSS's latest plan to mix science and religion - Catch News

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Ralph Hancock: Trump’s speech in Poland hit the right balance between tradition and innovation – Deseret News

Posted: at 9:56 pm

Evan Vucci, AP

President Donald Trump speaks at Krasinski Square at the Royal Castle, Thursday, July 6, 2017, in Warsaw.

The liberal reaction to Trumps Warsaw speech shows the element of truth in tribalism.

Trumps cheerleading for Western civilization in his recent speech in Poland might seem to be unremarkable boilerplate, anodyne boosterism in the service of uncontroversial platitudes. Certainly skepticism would be understandable concerning the messenger in this speech that included praise of women as pillars of our society and of our success and a pious reference to faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, (as) the center of our lives. The fundamental significance of the speech is clear only in light of the extreme liberal critiques that it provoked. If we had any doubt that Trump (or his speechwriter) was deeply right in calling for a defense of the West, such doubt was removed by the hollowness of the liberalism of his respondents.

Trumps speech connected somewhat vaguely, to be sure geo-political and military/security concerns with fundamental moral and cultural matters. He warned against forces from inside or out, from the South or the East, but judged our enemies to be doomed because our alliance is strong, our countries are resilient, and our power is unmatched. We are the fastest (?) and the greatest community. But beneath the economic and military power of the West he evoked a deeper strength of civilization: a fecundity that manifests itself in symphonies as well as in innovation, and that is grounded finally in the hope of every soul to live in freedom. The fate of our community of Western nations, he said, depends on the priceless ties that bind us together.

The liberal alarm in response to a speech that might not long ago have passed for pretty vanilla is a significant sign of the times. Peter Beinart in The Atlantic drives right to the extreme liberal judgment and minces no words: since Trump defends a certain civilization, the West, he is a religiously prejudiced racist. The West is a racial and religious term. Using what is becoming the liberals favorite term for lumping together all kinds of bigotry, Beinart concludes that Trump is speaking as the head of a tribe.

Well, that some tribe, isnt it! Socrates and Jesus, Dante and Dostoevsky, Aquinas and Einstein. But for our pure modern liberalism, any taint of identity, any preference, however reasoned and reasonable, for one way of life or one frame of thought over another puts the defender of civilization on the same level with the most vulgar ethnic nationalist or the most vicious racial supremacist.

The irony is that the openness and universalism that inspire the liberal critics of pro-Western sentiments are very much products of Western civilization, and specifically of the complicated alliance between Greek rationalism and Christianity. As Damon Linker noted in the most intelligent liberal assessment of the Warsaw speech, the West is a civilization that has come over the past century to identify the achievement of its highest ideals with the negation of its own distinctiveness. And that very tendency is itself an expression (in secularized and radicalized form) of a very Western idea that first arose with Christianity.

The reaction to Trump (and not only to this speech) demonstrates that we have now reached the limit of this self-negating capacity of the West, a key source of our unique richness and dynamism. The strength and diversity of the West has depended upon a certain equilibrium between its distinctive openness and universalism and its grounding in the traditions of distinct sovereign peoples. In however elementary a fashion, Trumps speech expresses this equilibrium. He praises innovation, free speech and expression, our tendency to debate everything challenge everything know everything.

At the same time, he hails the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. The spirit of this delicate equilibrium that defines Western civilization is best captured in Trumps reference to the hope of every soul to live in freedom not just every person, or every individual, but every soul. Freedom is a transcendent spiritual and philosophical ideal before it is a political claim or individual assertion.

As Linker writes, democracy, moral universalism, and egalitarianism are goods very much worth defending, but they are not the only goods worth defending. There is no simple formula for maintaining the Wests equilibrium; being open to the new and different while cherishing and preserving what is tried and true will never be easy. One thing is clear though. Todays liberal elites have proved themselves incompetent and unworthy to nurture this equilibrium of Western greatness. By embracing a pure and therefore hollow liberalism that is hard to distinguish from self-hatred, they make it clear how right Trump was in Warsaw to tout the culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. Thats my kind of tribalism!

Ralph Hancock is a professor of political science at Brigham Young University and president of the John Adams Center for the Study of Faith, Philosophy and Public Affairs. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of BYU.

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Ralph Hancock: Trump's speech in Poland hit the right balance between tradition and innovation - Deseret News

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