Monthly Archives: July 2017

Arbitration panel grants Slovenia access to high seas – Fox News

Posted: July 2, 2017 at 9:38 am

THE HAGUE, Netherlands An international arbitration panel on Thursday granted Slovenia unhindered access to the high seas for the first time since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia as part of a ruling aimed at settling a long-running territorial dispute between Slovenia and Balkan neighbor Croatia.

It remains to be seen if the ruling can be enforced. Croatia walked out of the arbitration in 2015 and does not recognize the panel's findings.

"We do not consider ourselves obliged by this ruling," Croatian TV quoted Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic as saying. "And we do not intend to implement its content."

The five-judge tribunal granted Slovenia much of the Bay of Piran, off the Adriatic coasts of the two countries, and gave Slovenia a 2.5-nautical-mile wide, 10-nautical-mile long "junction" or corridor linking its territorial waters and international waters.

The panel's president, Judge Gilbert Guillaume, said the junction allows "uninterrupted and uninterruptable" access for ships and aircraft of all nationalities between international waters and Slovenia's territorial waters.

Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro Cerar described the ruling as "historic" and called for its implementation, but he said it did not meet all of the country's expectations.

"The ruling will be respected." Cerar said. "The ruling is final and obligatory for both states, Slovenia and Croatia."

The panel also established Slovenia and Croatia's land border, but very little of that remained in dispute.

Arbitration was supposed to ease tensions between the Balkan neighbors but instead underscored sensitivities between states that emerged from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

The two countries agreed to arbitration in 2009 in a deal that also led to Slovenia dropping its opposition to Croatia's European Union membership.

Croatia turned its back on the arbitration following revelations that the Slovenian judge on the panel had violated its rules. The court ruled last year that the violations did not entitle Croatia to terminate arbitration or affect the panel's power "to render a final award independently and impartially."

The arbitration panel left open the door to more talks, saying that "the rights and obligations of Croatia and Slovenia established by this award shall subsist until they are modified by agreement between those two states."

____

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade and Ali Zerdin in Ljubljana, Slovenia, contributed.

Arbitration panel grants Slovenia access to high seas - Fox News

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Australia’s hidden micronations: It’s not the size of the country but how you rule it – 9news.com.au

Posted: at 9:37 am

Prince Paul created his principality after a stoush with Mosman council in 2004. (principalityofwy.com)

The self-proclaimed leader of a micronation on Sydney's North Shore says he has a plan to ease hostility between the US and North Korea.

Prince Paul Delprat of the Principality of Wy told nine.com.au the tiny kingdom could act as negotiator between Trump and Kim Jong un through the power of art.

"If only humour could govern international relationships and if only art prizes could be the way that people solved their problems. If only Mr Trump and Mr Putin and the leader in North Korea all painted," Prince Paul said.

"And every year the Principality of Wy could hold an exhibition of all the country's leaders and they would all abide by the decision, there would be no more wars."

There was a healthy amount of jest in the "royal's" comments, reflecting his light-hearted outlook on life and the way he governs.

His tiny kingdom unofficially seceded from Mosman in 2004 after a bitter stoush with local council over a driveway.

"When we did create our little principality out of a true sense of injustice, people were prepared to say 'hey, listen to them and give them a go'. We had support from the most extraordinary corners and it's ongoing," he said.

Prince Paul's micronation is one of many that exist in Australia. Micronations claim independence, but are not officially recognised by the state.

The self-appointed royal leads with his wife, Princess Susan, and their children.

He believes it is not the size of the kingdom that counts, but how you rule it.

"There is an old saying, 'an Englishman's house is his castle'. Well, I just took it that extra step," he said.

"Deep in the psyche of Australians is a little bit of Ned Kelly. We all look at Ned in his armour and his defiance of authority and let's face it, there's a little bit of him in all of us."

When the Prince attends events and ceremonies he often wears his formal regalia of a crown, robe and sceptre.

"We do dress up when we go out on occasion and people like us coming in formal regalia to various functions," he said.

"They see it adding a little bit of colour to the occasion and we are very happy to oblige with that."

Prince Paul says despite the number of micronations scattered across the country, he has little contact with his fellow pioneers.

There were thought to be 12 micronations in Australia at the peak of the movement, but over the years those numbers have dwindled.

One of Australia's other notable micronations is the Empire of Atlantium.

It started as a bit of fun between three Sydney cousins as a way to break away from society in 1981.

His Imperial Majesty George II (George Francis Cruickshank) told nine.com.au he may have taken his parent's advice to "change the world" further than anticipated.

"My parents raised me with the idea that in Australia, with the right amount of luck and right amount of application anyone could really achieve anything," he said.

"I think what they meant was that they wanted me to go off and join a political party to change the world, but what I did was paint a black and white border line in the backyard and create Atlantium."

For many years Atlantium was simply an affectation shared amongst family members and a few of George's university friends until the launch of the internet.

"People suddenly discovered us. We were suddenly everywhere from Peru to Azerbaijan and we discovered that there were all these people who thought Atlantium was a great idea and wanted to be a part of it," he said.

"Our population exploded from about 10 to well over 1000 in the space of a few months."

In 2006 Emperor George acquired part ownership of a property 300km south-west of Sydney and he dubbed it the Province of Aurora.

"We now have a territory that is about twice the size of the Vatican and about half the size of Monaco, so one of the world's smaller countries. We have a government house, a post office and a number of monuments."

Emperor George has used his status as leader of a growing empire - which now has more than 3000 citizens - to push for social change including marriage equality, assisted suicide, abortion rights and unrestricted international movements.

The tiny nation has its own anthem, the Auroran Hymn and its own currency with coins and banknotes.

Emperor George said his neighbours seem to enjoy living next door to the town's "local eccentric".

"My neighbours are perhaps bemused and slightly confused by the fact I'm running my own country across the road from their properties and that I have Australia's only pyramid monument in my backyard," he said.

The emperor dispelled a common misconception that micronations were somehow except from paying taxes based on arcane interpretations of the Magna Carta and ancient laws.

"There is no way that one country can secede legally from the Commonwealth of Australia. The way most micronations disguise this is by declaring their tax payments as 'tribute payments,'" he said.

"Australian maintains sovereignty. We dont believe we are independent of Australia, we say that our territory is sort of like the status or an embassy."

Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2017

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Founder of disastrous Fyre Festival arrested, charged with fraud – The Denver Post

Posted: at 9:37 am

One of the organizers of the disastrous Fyre Festival has been arrested and charged with wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York.

Billy McFarland was arrested Friday in New York and accused of making false representations to investors in his company, Fyre Media LLC, and in a luxury music festival that had been set to take place in the Bahamas over two weekends in April and May.

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement Friday that McFarland allegedly presented fake documents to induce investors to put over a million dollars into his company.

William McFarland promised a life changing music festival but in actuality delivered a disaster, Kim said. Thanks to the investigative efforts of the FBI, McFarland will now have to answer for his crimes.

McFarland, 25, appeared Saturday before a judge and was released from jail on a $300,000 bond, according to Variety.

McFarland had promoted the Fyre Festival as MORE THAN JUST A MUSIC FESTIVAL, promising not only live music, but luxurious accommodations, gourmet meals and mingling with celebrities on a private island in the Bahamas. In exchange, festivalgoers paid anywhere from $450 to $250,000 to attend.

Expectations were high.

Instead, the festival collapsed in spectacular, public fashion. When attendees arrived in the Exumas, a group of islands belonging to the Bahamas, they discovered that the luxury accommodations were actually disaster-relief tents on the beach, some still not set up. Cheese sandwiches made up the gourmet meals, and festival organizers seemed to be equally in the dark, sometimes literally, about what was supposed to happen. Blink-182, one of the festivals headliners, had pulled out at the last minute.

On social media, the collapse of the elite festival was unfurled live for all to see under #fyrefestival, #dumpsterfyre and other unprintable hashtags.

In April, McFarland and his Fyre Festival co-founder, the rapper Ja Rule, had defended their intentions amid accusations that they had set out to defraud people.

We were a little naive in thinking for the first time we could do this ourselves, McFarland told Rolling Stone then. Next year, we will definitely start earlier. The reality is, we werent experienced enough to keep up.

But the U.S. Attorneys Offices complaint against McFarland alleges that the entrepreneur deliberately orchestrated a scheme to defraud investors, including at least two people who had invested about $1.2 million in Fyre Media.

One way McFarland did so was by artificially inflating his companys revenue and income, telling investors that Fyre Media had earned millions of dollars of revenue from thousands of artist bookings from July 2016 until April 2017, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

In reality, during that approximate time period, Fyre Media earned less than $60,000 in revenue from approximately 60 artist bookings, the attorneys office said.

The complaint alleges that, with at least one investor, McFarland backed up his claims to vast sums of money with a doctored brokerage statement that made it appear he owned shares of a stock worth more than $2.5 million.

In reality, the shares he owned in that stock were valued at less than $1,500, the complaint states.

McFarland truly put on a show, misrepresenting the financial status of his businesses in order to rake in lucrative investment deals, William Sweeney, assistant director-in-charge of the FBIs New York field office, said in a statement. In the end, the very public failure of the Fyre Festival signaled that something just wasnt right.

Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Representatives for Fyre Media referred questions to an attorney, Stacey Richman, who did not respond to email request for comment Saturday.

The New York Times on Friday described Richman as an attorney for Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins.

Mr. Atkins is not under arrest and we dont perceive him to be a subject of this investigation, Richman told the newspaper.

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Founder of disastrous Fyre Festival arrested, charged with fraud - The Denver Post

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Lori Peek of the Natural Hazards Center Discusses Effects of Disasters on People – Government Technology

Posted: at 9:36 am

Lori Peek started in January as director of the Natural Hazards Center, Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Peek has been at the fore of researching how disasters affect populations, especially children. She co-wrote Children of Katrina, which received the 2016 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Children and Youth Distinguished Scholarly Research Award .

We asked Peek about the future of emergency management as it pertains to evolving social issues and about her favorite subject, children.

You just became the director of the Natural Hazards Center; how has that gone so far and what prepared you for this challenge?

Its been a busy few months settling into the position, and really exciting.

There have been five directors in the history of this hazards center. The founding director was the wonderful Gilbert White, the esteemed geographer; followed by Bill Travis and Dennis Mileti, the sociologist; and then Kathleen Tierney. Dennis was actually my adviser and was a student of Gilberts. In some ways, its as if Gilbert was my academic grandfather and Dennis was my academic father; its like coming back home in some ways.

I went to grad school here at the University of Colorado and did my Ph.D. in sociology. I feel really fortunate to have known all four of the previous directors of the center. That, along having had the opportunity to work here as a graduate student, was so instrumental in my understanding of the history, mission and vision of the center. That connection and my enduring respect for all that the center stands for in terms of its mission within the broader hazards and disaster community has really helped facilitate the transition.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for emergency managers in the coming decades?

As a sociologist, a lot of times were thinking about the big social and economic challenges, but we also might see them as opportunities. For example, rising social inequality the increasing number of people who are living insecure lives in this nation of opportunity and affluence. We have more children living in poverty, more people in food-insecure households. As those social and economic challenges increase, the jobs of emergency managers get more difficult because getting someone who doesnt know where their next meal is coming from to focus on putting together their emergency evacuation plan or their hurricane go-kit, for example, those challenges are really amplified.

I also think something that is both a challenge and opportunity is whats happening in this nation with demographic change. As we are becoming not just racially and ethnically diverse, but also religiously more diverse and diverse on a whole range of indicators, thats a challenge for emergency managers. How do you serve what some sociologists say is the most racially and ethnically diverse country in the world?

Its a challenge but also an opportunity when I think about workforce development and bringing new voices and perspectives into emergency management because we know that these diverse people living in the most populous and most vibrant cities in the United States continue to draw immigrants as they did 100 years ago, and those are also the places that are the real disaster hot spots. So how do we get these new generations in Los Angeles and New York City and Miami and San Francisco interested in emergency planning? It is a real challenge, but also a real opportunity.

Can you elaborate on that? How do we reach these diverse populations?

Are you aware of the Bill [William Averette] Anderson Fund that is entirely dedicated to diversifying the emergency management practice and disaster research? He was a sociologist who unfortunately suffered an untimely death, but he was a leading researcher. He had long been this voice in the disaster research community saying we need more women, more people of color, both in research and practice, because those are the communities were studying and serving, but the research and practice arent reflective of those communities. When Bill passed away, his wife started the fund, which is in its third year, where there are Bill Anderson Fund fellows who are masters and doctoral students, and the fund is dedicated to changing the face of emergency management.

We need more programs, scholarships and mentoring space in emergency management and in higher education to really bring into the fold these diverse people and perspectives, but I also think there are other opportunities that open up, like FEMAs Youth Preparedness Council. I look at that and think those teenagers are reflective of the diversity of the United States today. We know youth are more diverse than older cohorts.

I also think emergency managers are out in the community all the time giving lectures, working with community groups trying to get people engaged. If they can be intentional and aware, and think, Im going to X, Y and Z organizations, but what if I went to A, B and C organizations? Im going to extend my reach into new and different communities. So being intentional and talking about it as an opportunity to get new people engaged is really important.

We know that if people do not see themselves reflected in materials, if you go to a website and all you see are people that are of a different race and ethnicity, a different age demographic, different gender, you say, Oh, this isnt for me. But if we can be intentional with our materials and with the ways we are speaking, those things speak volumes.

How do you see emergency managers and their jobs evolving in the coming decades?

Its sort of like how teachers today say, Wow, my job has evolved. I am no longer an educator from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. delivering curriculum through the textbook. Im also caregiver and a social worker. This ties back to what I was saying about rising inequality, rising insecurity within our families. I know this is a sociology-biased answer, but I think that emergency managers can no longer think in that way that you need to get a family reunification plan and your emergency supplies in place. Emergency managers know that when they go in to give those talks, people look at them wide-eyed, saying, I dont know where my next meal is coming from, Im not even in secure housing. I dont know where my family is. Im an immigrant, and weve been separated. The complexity of the job expands, and its going to test emergency management to develop new partnerships.

Emergency managers are going to have to partner with not just the local police department, but also social workers and the schools, because when something unfolds, parents are going to go to the schools. The 21st-century emergency manager has to be aware of the changing social demographics of rising inequality because all of those things are influencing their ability to do their jobs and do it to their capacity.

Its a challenge and a real opportunity to think in more complex and holistic ways. Not only are we facing social and economic changes, but were doing all this in the context of real environmental change, the speeding up of disaster losses. In Louisiana, they are still dealing with three disasters back, where people havent recovered from three disasters ago and then they get hit by another flood or tornado.

Its the intersection of all these forces. The 21st-century emergency manager has to be thinking at the intersection of all the different phenomena that are unfolding in peoples lives.

How do you see the degree programs being offered as addressing the needs of the future?

The emergency management degree programs have exploded over the past two decades. Were living in a time where we have our first emergency management high school at the Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management in New York City, and then we have the growth and professionalization of emergency management, so the programs are quite variable.

But when we consider the lessons that have been learned in terms of how to communicate risk, how to think about vulnerable populations, I absolutely think that social science findings have infused emergency management practice.

I just had a conversation with some very high-ranking Ph.D.s and they said, Lori, isnt population exposure the same as social vulnerability? And I said no, because population exposure might be that the 10 million people in Los Angeles are all exposed to seismic risk at some level, but if we ignore social vulnerability then what we dont have on the table is that of those 10 million, many are likely to suffer far worse consequences because of their economic circumstances, because of the buildings they occupy, because of their family status. I think the new emergency manager thinks of that social vulnerability, and thats exciting to me.

You chronicled the plight of children during and after Katrina. Talk about how devastating disasters can be for children.

Children are coming of age in a world that is more turbulent than ever before. Children on the Gulf Coast, for example, have experienced already an average of 3.4 disasters in their lives. What does that mean for children in some of our most vulnerable areas coming of age in a place that is being struck by disaster? What does that cumulative disaster experience mean in their lives?

Much of my work has focused on two big things. One, what renders children vulnerable to disaster? In what ways may children be psychologically vulnerable and when might they be physically at risk of death or other forms of physical harm? We know that childrens biological mechanisms may put them more at risk in situations like an oil spill where they are literally closer to the ground and inhaling oil particles. That could have more of an effect than on adults. Second are educational vulnerabilities.

One of the things that our research from Katrina revealed is that the disruption caused by that disaster led to more than 300,000 children out of school a year later. If a childs one job is to get an education and a disaster is disrupting that pathway, what does that mean for kids?

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Lori Peek of the Natural Hazards Center Discusses Effects of Disasters on People - Government Technology

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On Sunday, SpaceX is launching its third rocket in 10 days – Recode

Posted: at 9:36 am

Tomorrow evening, Elon Musks interplanetary space travel company, SpaceX, will launch a Falcon 9 rocket, its third in a 10-day span.

The rocket will be sending a communications satellite, the Intelsat 35e, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida into a geostationary orbit, some 23,000 miles above Earth.

SpaceX will not attempt to land the Falcon 9s rocket booster for reuse after this launch, the company said in a statement. This may be because the payload is so heavy and its going into such a high orbit that the mission requires more fuel, which wont leave the rocket with enough to make it back to land.

Watch the launch live Sunday at 7:36 pm ET / 4:36 pm PT here:

Last Sunday, June 25, SpaceX sent a new Falcon 9 rocket into space to deliver a set of Iridium satellites.

That launch came just two days after SpaceX launched a rocket that Friday, which was the second time in the companys history it successfully landed a recycled rocket. The rocket booster returned to Earth to land on SpaceXs drone ship, named Of Course I Still Love You.

Reusing rockets is central to SpaceXs mission to lower the cost of space travel. Musk, after all, wants space travel to become cheap enough for humans to one day colonize Mars. But rockets are typically too damaged after launching to be used again, and building a rocket can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

For perspective on the cost of space travel, take what happened in 2015 when a Falcon 9 disintegrated after takeoff. SpaceX lost around $260 million with that mission, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

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On Sunday, SpaceX is launching its third rocket in 10 days - Recode

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Canada Is Building a 7 Megawatt-Hour Compressed Air Energy Storage Plant – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 9:36 am

Green energy is a popular topic right now, with many countries signing on to the Paris Climate Accord and planning to move away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy.

While most countries are working toward establishing solar and wind power farms, some countries like Canada are looking toward the creation ofcompressed air storage plantsfor power storage and generation.

How can compressed air change the way countries use and store green energy?

Compressing air in porous caves can serve as a backup form of power that can be tapped when the demand for power is high. Essentially, the compressed air is stored in caves of porous basalt rock when power demand is low. When more power is needed, the air is heated and piped through turbines to generate power.

This is a great way for countries that already rely on wind power to hedge their bets, so to speakto ensure that there is a sufficient supply of power even if the wind doesnt blow as much as they would like.

But aproblem with this type of energy storage is that it relies on natural gas to heat the air. As of 2016, natural gas use made up more than one third of the US energy industry, and while it is more efficient than coal power, it is still a non-renewable resource.

The biggest difference between traditional compressed air storage plants and the new 7 MWh plant approved to be built in Goderich, Ontario, is the way the air is heated before being piped through the turbines. As mentioned, standard plants rely on natural gas to heat the air used to generate power. The new Goderich plant, on the other hand, uses a heat exchange system.

This heat exchange system stores the heat that is generated when the air is initially stored. When the air needs to be heated to generate power, that heat is simply released, making this an emission-free form of energy storage.

This is a step away from the traditional energy storage markets. Lithium-ion batteries like the ones in the Tesla Home battery system currently hold the majority of the market. Most of these batteries, though, are designed for small, single-home applications. Compressed air storage, on the other hand, can generate power for entire communities or power grids when the need arises.

Compressed air storage plants are a growing field, especially with the global focus on green energy. Anywhere that has a sufficient layer of basalt stone can be used for compressed air storage, making it an option for markets around the world.

The market for the equipment just to treat the air that is being compressed is expected to grow by more than six percent, reaching $11.2 billion by 2025.

Treating the compressed air is important to protect the compression equipment. The ambient air can contain contaminants that could damage or clog the equipment and pollute the compressed air.

With the path toward green energy growing clearer every year, construction projects like the new emission-free compressed air plant in Canada are the first steps toward a green planet, and toward getting humans away from fossil fuels and greenhouse gases.

While construction hasnt started yet on the Canadian plant, it will be fascinating to see how much power this emission-free plant can generate once its up and running, not to mention the amount of power that will eventually come from additional compressed air storage plants in the coming years.

Stock Media provided by noppasinw / Pond5

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Statcast and the coming Singularity – Viva El Birdos

Posted: at 9:35 am

At some point, youve probably heard or read someone refer to the singularity. A singularity can be many things, but the singularity usually refers to the idea of a Technological singularity. There are many ways to define this concept, but its basically the idea that humanity will inevitably create an artificial intelligence greater than itself, which will trigger exponential and unforeseen changes to the world as we know and experience it.

While the concept has been around for over a hundred years, we can more clearly see this inevitability today than before. Even if you dont subscribe to the idea, its hard not to see how technology continues to reshape our lives. We live among real, living Cyborgs. Several large companies are competing to be the first to bring self-driving technology to market. Amazons warehouses are so autonomous that they require just a minute of human labor to ship a package, from taking it off the shelf, packaging it, and sending it to the correct mail truck. Oh, and then theres their drone delivery ambitions.

Okay, cool, but how does this relate to baseball? The best example of technology taking over in baseball is MLBs Statcast technology. If you read this blog, you probably like baseball enough to at least be aware of Statcast. For the uninitiated, MLBs glossary describes Statcast as a state-of-the-art tracking technology...capable of measuring previously unquantifiable aspects of the game...using a series of high-resolution optical cameras along with radar equipment to track the location and movements of the ball and every player on the field, resulting in an unparalleled amount of information covering everything from the pitcher to the batter to base-runners and defensive players.

I have often used the Statcast data hosted at BaseballSavant.com to analyze hitters. That was thanks to Statcast being able to track both the Exit Velocity (the speed at which the ball leaves the bat) and Launch Angle (the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat) of most batted balls. From those two basic stats, a lot can be built on top. For instance, for each combination of the two, you can find its average production, whether in terms of hit probability, HR%, wOBA, BABIP or any other metric you can think of.

Theres a lot of other neat things you can figure out though. For instance, Joe Trezza wrote about how the Cards pitching staff has worked hard on holding runners on better. Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, and Mike Leake have all cut a half a foot or more off the average lead a runner takes on them. Theyve also worked on being quicker to the plate, another aspect Statcast tracks.

After soon-to-be-former Cub and noted clubhouse cancer Miguel Montero blamed his pitcher to the media after allowing 7 stolen bases to the Nationals, Travis Sawchik used Statcast to investigate. The technology tracks each catchers pop-time (the time from receiving the ball to releasing it on an attempted steal), as well each pitchers time to home.

Montero has the worst average pop-time in the majors this year at 2.12 seconds, and the average is about 2 seconds flat. A very experienced scout can certainly detect that extra tenth of a second, but he still cant quantify it without a stopwatch, diligence, and attending several games to get a good feel for the players average. Hed have a good sense of average, but hed need to keep excellent records to find out what that extra tenth of a second means in terms of throwing out runners.

There are several other Statcast stats listed in the glossary linked above, some of the more notable being Spin Rate (the speed at which the ball rotates, something our own Joe Schwartz has often used in his pitching analysis), Route Efficiency (how close to optimal a defenders route was to the ball), and Catch Probability, which uses a balls hang-time and the distance a defender had to cover to get there to generate the average chance that a ball is caught.

One new feature is Sprint Speed, released this past week. The point of this stat is to find the average max-effort speed of a runner. In a truly shocking result, Billy Hamilton is leading in Sprint Speed in 2017. They also have a leaderboard, and a really cool graphic to go with it:

for a more interesting version of this picture, check out the leaderboard linked above, which has the same image but it tells you who each dot is when you hover your cursor above it.

Despite coming out just days ago, our fearless leader Craig Edwards has already tested the stats relationship with base-running and defensive value in the current year, and fellow Cardinal blogger Zach Gifford has already looked at the predictive powers of the stat, as well as where the Cardinals regulars rank.

The point is, these all are things that are done by scouts. How hard the ball comes off the bat, the average lead a runner can get away with, a catchers pop-time, a pitchers time to the plate, an outfielders speed and efficiency can all be assessed by observing a player. But can they see, remember, and properly aggregate every single time a player showcases those tools? Of course not. Technology is already way better at this than humans. Scouts dont judge a pitchers velocity by sight. They use a radar gun. And they dont even need to do that at the MLB level. They can just look at their Pitch F/x numbers.

At the same time, its upending the way we look at stats. When examining changes in a players contact quality, we used to look at a breakdown of his Hard%, Medium%, and Soft%, but now we have average Exit Velocity and Barrel%. We used to look at a players Ground ball/Line Drive/Fly ball profile, now we look at their Launch Angle distribution. We use to have Speed Score, but now we have Sprint Speed. The best public defensive metrics - Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) - look set to be dethroned by the fruits of Catch Probability and whatever else the braintrust working on Statcast dream up.

Theres also the fact that Statcast still has more potential to spare. Remember above I mentioned that Statcast tracks the ball and every player. Noticeably absent is the bat. Statcast offers a lot of improvement in terms of measuring performance at the plate, but tracking the bat opens up another world of possibilities.

I often think of a hypothetical application, which in my head I call Bat F/x. Perhaps a more suitable name would be Batcast. Anyway, the idea is that you could gain a lot of information from tracking the bat that is currently still something only scouts can observe. Swing velocity and Swing plane are two more obvious examples. These can be measured with special bats as a method of practice and training, but Im talking about an in-game solution that evaluates performance.

Another neat one I would want to see would be a bat heatmap. That is, a heatmap of the half of the bat facing the pitcher at the point of impact. Then it could be color-coded based on where the hitters bat most often came in contact with the ball.

Perhaps Statcast just isnt advanced enough to do that yet, I dont know the technology well enough to say. Other technology is able to though, and it has some very obvious use cases for evaluating talent. Humans have already hit a wall when it comes to what they can reasonably do to evaluate talent by eye. Technology offers endless possibilities.

All the way back in 2004, when sabermetrics was gaining steam but still wasnt dominating front offices like they are now, Dayn Perry had this gem of a quote:

A question that's sometimes posed goes something like this: "Should you run an organization with scouts or statistics?" My answer is the same it would be if someone asked me: "Beer or tacos?" Both, you fool. Why construct an either-or scenario where none need exist? Heady organizations know they need as much good information as possible before they make critical decisions.

Statcast represents the ultimate combination of scouting and stats. A beer-flavored taco if you will. Okay, maybe the analogy breaks down there, because that sounds horrible. Statcast technology is able to scout better than the most observant and persistent scouts, through its ability to directly measure a players tools and properly aggregate them over time. At the same time, its going to upend the existing set of stats we used before. Statcast offers a brave new world of player evaluation, and I for one am going to enjoy seeing what comes next.

Statcast and the coming Singularity - Viva El Birdos

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Ascension Treatment Centers Opens New Outpatient Recovery Facility in Palm Springs – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted: at 9:34 am

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., June 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Addiction recovery is a journey and one that lasts a lifetime. Different stages of the journey call for different levels of clinical care, which is why Ascension Treatment Centers provides a full spectrum of services. In a new statement to the press, Ascension Treatment Centers announces the opening of its latest recovery community, an intensive outpatient (IOP) facility located in Palm Springs, California. The intensive outpatient center has been open since June 1.

"Typically, the addiction recovery process begins with detox, and then the individual transitions into a residential treatment facility," says Ascension Treatment Centers in its new press statement. "The goal, of course, is for the individual to then transition back into 'regular' life, including normal work and school activities. As the individual returns home, however, he or she may require some ongoing clinical oversight. That's what the intensive outpatient program provides."

Intensive outpatient services are geared toward those who have returned home following a season in residential care. These individuals may be back to work and to school, but the intensive outpatient program requires them to spend a few hours each day, a few days each week, working on their recovery in a structured, clinical setting.

"The new outpatient care center in Palm Springs provides one-on-one therapy, support groups, drug screenings, and a range of other therapeutic activities," the Ascension Treatment Centers press statement notes.

The new center is just one part of the broad spectrum of care that Ascension Treatment Centers offers including detoxification, residential treatment, day treatment, and more. "No matter where you are in your recovery journey, we want to make sure we have a program to meet your needs and to deliver clinical care that's tailored to you," says the press statement.

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

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

ABOUT

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

Making Luxembourg a global space hub – Luxemburger Wort – English Edition

Posted: at 9:31 am

Leading the way in supporting space exploration, Luxembourg is the first European state with a legal framework on the use of space resources and comes only second in the world in doing so, after the United States.

The Chamber of Deputies is soon to vote on the draft law dedicated to the appropriation of space resources, which follows international law and the Outer Space Treaty.

"We want to be first movers and we are now talking to many governments to continue the discussion on a legal framework for space exploration at a UN level," stated Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider while visiting Luxembourg's Science Centre in Differdange to launch Asteroid Day on June 30.

Credited for supporting the Asteroid Day live streaming to take place from Luxembourg this year, on the day of the event Etienne Schneider also shared his ambitious vision to make Luxembourg one of the biggest world players for the extraction of space resources, attracting private investors and experts.

Deputy Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider discussed Luxembourg's future as global "space hub" with Particle Physicist Brian Cox, Law Advisor and Professor Jean-Louis Schiltz,Space Law Professor Frans Von Der Dunk, and Kyle Acierno, Managing Director of ispace Europe.

"The potential of space exploration is huge and the question is not if, but rather when we will be able to exploit more space resources," he argued.

Participating in discussions that were live streamed from Luxembourg for Asteroid Day, he went on to say "there is business activity, that's why we put infrastructure in place and want to have a venture capital fund to support start-ups active in this field".

Also attending the event was the Apollo 9 astronaut and co-founder of Association of Space Explorers, Rusty Schweickart, who spoke to Luxemburger Wort.

"Once we will be able to extract resources from asteroids, this will change the whole concept of economy" he said, outlining that asteroids contain water, can be seen as "gas stations" and are made of several metals worth extracting".

Hailed as a "new economy, in a new place" by particle physicist Brian Cox , space resources have been part of the Luxembourg government's focus for a long time. Schweickart goes on to explain that "Luxembourg has been very creative in thinking outside the box in terms of supporting space exploration and mining".

And it seems that Luxembourg's efforts to lead the way and position the Grand Duchy as a global hub have started to pay off.

"We are here today due to Luxembourg's commitment and willingness to support causes such as Asteroid Day," Danica Remy, co-founder of Asteroid Day, said. "We are incredibly grateful for Luxembourg's help to tell the story of asteroids."

Held on June 30 each year to mark Earths largest asteroid impact in recorded history, Asteroid Day is a global movement aimed at raising awareness about asteroids among the general public.

The event also brings together leading figures in space exploration and research and this year saw the participation of American NASA astronauts, Ed Lu and Nicole Stott, Romanian astronaut, Dumitru Prunariu, French planetary scientist, Patrick Michel, as well as Ian Carnelli, General Studies Programme Manager at the European Agency among many others.

"Bringing Asteroid Day in Luxembourg fits with our strategy," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider explained. "You might see asteroid as a threat, but we see opportunity and huge value for the human kind."

Looking towards the future, he pointed out that "although these initiatives sound like science-fiction today, in 10-15 years, this will no longer be the case.

"We want to create this interesting community of space exploration," Schneider concluded.

(Roxana Mironescu, roxana.mironescu@wort.lu,+325 49 93 748)

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Making Luxembourg a global space hub - Luxemburger Wort - English Edition

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Malaysian nanotech firm signs RM257mil deal with Swiss company – The Star Online

Posted: at 9:31 am

Cheng (left) and GC Global Consulting GMBH founder and chief executive officer Raffael Wullschleger holding the MoU. Behind them are from left Bioeconomy Corporation project director and senior vice-president for BioIndustrial Zainal Azman Abu Kasim, Syed Mohamad Bakri and Nanotextile Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Jeff Ho Chin Woi.

ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN: A Malaysian nanotechnology company at the Astana Expo 2017 here has exchanged a US$60mil (RM257mil) memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Swiss-based company.

Nanopac (M) Sdn Bhd and GC Global Consulting GMBH exchanged the MoU at the expo's Malaysian Pavilion Wednesday in the presence of Malaysian ambassador to Kazakhstan Syed Mohamad Bakri Syed Abd Rahman.

According to Nanopac chief operating officer Datuk Dr Cheng Kok Leong, GC Global was interested in its nano light energy panel as well as its self-sustaining toilet.

He added that the Swiss company wanted to apply the self-sustaining toilet technology in the boat manufacturing industry.

"We have technology which enables toilet waste to be treated immediately," said Cheng.

He added the system used fuelcell technology, which does not require waste to be taken elsewhere to be treated.

"The fuelcell technology is a new technology, which is coupled with an electrolysis kind of concept to treat toilet waste," he said, adding that the system was very efficient and used minimal electricity and water.

He said GC Global was keen on the environmentally friendly aspect of the technology.

"Now if you go to the toilet in a boat, the waste is discharged into the sea.

"They are concerned about this in Europe and saw the potential in our product," said Cheng.

He added the treated sewage water can be safely discharged into the sea or reused in the flush system.

Astana Expo 2017 kicked off on June 10 with the participation of some 100 nations and more than 10 international organisations.

The theme of the 93-day expo is "Energy of the Future", which is aimed at addressing the global problem of energy consumption.

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Malaysian nanotech firm signs RM257mil deal with Swiss company - The Star Online

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Monthly Archives: July 2017

Arbitration panel grants Slovenia access to high seas – Fox News

Australia’s hidden micronations: It’s not the size of the country but how you rule it – 9news.com.au

Founder of disastrous Fyre Festival arrested, charged with fraud – The Denver Post

Lori Peek of the Natural Hazards Center Discusses Effects of Disasters on People – Government Technology

On Sunday, SpaceX is launching its third rocket in 10 days – Recode

Canada Is Building a 7 Megawatt-Hour Compressed Air Energy Storage Plant – Singularity Hub

Statcast and the coming Singularity – Viva El Birdos

Ascension Treatment Centers Opens New Outpatient Recovery Facility in Palm Springs – PR Newswire (press release)

Making Luxembourg a global space hub – Luxemburger Wort – English Edition

Malaysian nanotech firm signs RM257mil deal with Swiss company – The Star Online

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