Monthly Archives: July 2017

Trevor Hancock: What does it mean to be a safe community? – Times Colonist

Posted: July 26, 2017 at 4:33 pm

When people talk about the qualities of a healthy community, one of them is that it be safe. But what safe means depends in part on who you are, as well as where you are from and what threat or harm we are considering.

Indeed, safety isnt just about physical harm, but perceptions of fear and insecurity as anyone who has ever walked down a dark, lonely road at night knows only too well. And war, of course, is an intensely dangerous situation for any community, but not one Iam considering here.

Some groups in society feel less safe and are less safe than others. Women, Indigenous people, people of colour, youth, seniors, people who are LGBTQ and others experience different sorts of risk, and thus creating a safe community is a complicated task.

In the late 1980s, when I was helping the European Region of the World Health Organization develop the Healthy Cities program, they were also developing a Safe Cities program. While it never made sense to me that they would develop these as two separate programs, what I found interesting, coming from North America, was that Safe Cities in Europe was focused mainly on injury prevention, not safety in the sense of protection from crime and violence.

This points to one of the challenges in creating a safe community initiative: What threat are we discussing and seeking to prevent? In public health, we tend to think of safety in terms of its opposite harm and the physical consequences of harm, namely injuries. Normally, we classify injuries as either intentional or unintentional.

Intentional injuries include both violence (the infliction of fatal or non-fatal injuries by another person, by any means, with intent to kill or injure) and self-harm, which includes both attempted and completed suicide. Unintentional injuries, not surprisingly, are defined as not purposely inflicted, either by the person or anyone else, according to the B.C. Injury Research and Prevention Unit. These are what we usually call accidents, although that term is often avoided these days, since many accidents are due to human error of some form and thus not truly accidental.

When we think about a safe community, too often our thoughts turn to keeping us safe from crime and violence. But we would be mistaken to put most of our efforts there, because most of the injuries we experience are not due to violence but come from unintentional and self-inflicted injury.

The prevention unit reports that in the five-year period 2010 to 2014, the four leading causes of death due to injury in B.C. were, in order, falls, suicide, unintentional poisoning and transport-related deaths. Between them, they accounted for almost nine in 10 deaths due to injury. Of these, three are considered unintentional and accounted for more than six in 10 deaths, while suicide accounted for almost one-quarter of all injury deaths; homicide was a distant fifth, with two per cent of all injury deaths.

Injuries dont only kill, of course, they result in disability ranging from minor and brief to severe and lifelong, and often result in hospitalization. Falls are by far the most common cause of hospitalization for injury, accounting for 46 per cent in 2013-14, with transport-related injuries a distant second (11 per cent) and attempted suicide third (5.5 per cent); assault, which is intentional, comes in seventh at just 2.7 per cent.

Injuries are not only very expensive in human terms, they also exact a high economic cost. A 2015 prevention unit report found that in 2010, injuries cost B.C. $3.7 billion, or more than $800 per person, of which health-care costs were $2.2 billion more than $500 per person or $2,000 for a family of four. Again, unintentional injuries account for most of the costs 84 per cent in 2010.

So from the perspective of safe communities in B.C., as in Europe, theprimary focus should be on the prevention of unintentional injuries, particularly falls, transport-related crashes and accidental poisoning. Ofthese, injuries due to falls are the No.1 priority.

So in my next three columns, I will look at three different aspects of a safe community: preventing unintentional injury, violence and self-harm.

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a professor and senior scholar at the University of Victorias school of public health and social policy.

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Interview: Neil deGrasse Tyson is helping to create this space exploration video game – BGR

Posted: at 4:33 pm

When a video game that unfolds in space has the likes of celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson behind it, the expectation is rightfully set that this is not a shoot-em-up or some kind of race against the clock to find a new planet to live on after earth has been destroyed.

Space Odyssey, the game that Tyson and a creative team are in the process of bringing to fruition and crowdfunding is a slower, more cerebral title. The imperative is not defeating an enemy; its, quite simply, to venture out, to go beyond, to come across whatever you find and figure out how to live well among the stars.

And, on the game maker side of the equation, to be as scientifically as accurate as possible along the way.

The idea here is youre part of a coalition in the future, Mark Murphy, part of the team behind the game, tells BGR. And the idea behind the coalition is to really go out and explore the exoplanets and see what we can do with them. Its about challenging yourself to see what kinds of things you can innovate on planet surfaces and finding what you can find by exploring.

The narrative is about you and a community going on a great adventure and exploration together. Its about the ideas of innovation, exploration and adventure. And how science underpins all of that.

The team is currently raising funds through Kickstarter to help with the games creation. The campaign, which runs through July 29th, had at the time of this writing raised more than $275,000.

Its coming first to PC, and then platforms like the Mac after that. No decision had been made at the time of this publication about which consoles the game will land on.

About the game itself: players will according to information from the Kickstarter campaign get immersed in biology, chemistry, geo-science and engineering as they build and explore planetary systems. As the newest Astro-Explorer in the Galactic Coalition, youve been tasked to explore the universe and build a new solar system for humanities galactic expansion. Your journey begins at Infinity Command in the not-so-distant future. You are one of the explorers and pioneers to join a new age of space travel.

The first stop on the players journey is an exploration of Proxima B, the closest known exoplanet to the solar system thats about 4.2 light years from earth. After creating their home planet, players will perform tasks like modding their civilizations spacesuits and spacecraft. Theyll also cultivate flora and fauna, as well as biomes and landscapes.

As far as how Tyson adds his input to the games creation Murphy said the team brings ideas to him and bounces a few things around. Tyson, who appears in the game as a hologram to guide players, likes to see choices before he weighs in, and then he gives his opinion and expands things from there.

Like, when we were talking about ways to get to the exoplanet obviously not today, but looking into the future theres a lot of different ideas, Murphy said. Theres a slingshot method. You could theoretically create a laser-based system. But Neil said, Why dont we think of a way that we could employ wormholes that would just get us there faster? Or, you do something where your being, your essence, is transported into a droid or a robot or something like that your awareness is transported so basically the robots are exploring the world and youre linked in in a Matrix sort of way.

The teams goal was to create something visually interesting and compelling. But more than that, to also inspire people to think about what the future of mankind might look like.

Underneath it all, this is really meant to inspire, Murphy said. We want to inspire people to play it, inspire people to be engaged in being part of a community, to come up with ideas and think about what their future is. You know? And hopefully, we can do that together.

When we talk about things like gameplay, one of the things that was important to us was to create a situation where you engage in gameplay where its not like a massive MMO, but you feel like you can play in our galaxy in a large place. We dont want this to be a competition. We dont want to create a game thats about looting or piracy or, you know, crazy combat or anything like that.

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Help NASA Design a Radiation Shield That Folds Like Origami – Hyperallergic

Posted: at 4:33 pm

Origami rocket (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Through its Tournament Lab, NASA is making crowdsourcing a part of the future of space travel. Following competitions on an array of space problems, includingrobot arm architecture, a 3D printed Mars habitat, anddelivering astronaut email, NASA is now looking for proposals on how to fold a radiation shield like origami.

As Nicola Davis reported for the Guardian, the idea challenge is launching todaythrough Freelancer, an online outsourcing marketplace. On Freelancer, NASA states that the challenge is to develop a 3D folding concept for radiation shielding used to cover human habitation sections of spacecraft. These shields would protect spacecraft, and the astronauts within, fromgalactic cosmic rays (GCRs), and are essential for deep space travel. With storage space at a premium onboard these proposed vessels, such shields would need to be as compact as possible.

And thats where the origami comes in. Perhaps most familiar to people as a foldable, and sometimes frustrating, art, its skill in reducing a sheet of paper to a dense maze of mountains and valleys has wider applications.NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory previously explored how to usethe craft of paper-folding to store solar panels for space travel, and physicist, origami expert, and former NASA scientistRobert J. Langhas experimented with its use in things like automotive airbags.

Outsourcing ideas to the gig economy isnt as great as NASA hiring those minds,yet it is a creative way for the organization to innovate, even as funding cuts put into question whether deep space travel is a possibility. Meanwhile, NASA has more upcoming initiatives you can join, such as making observations as a citizen scientist during the August 21 solar eclipse, and suggesting patch designs for a mission to test the limits of 3D recyclability.

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How Robots Are Getting Better at Making Sense of the World – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 4:32 pm

The multiverse of science fiction is populated by robots that are indistinguishable from humans. They are usually smarter, faster, and stronger than us. They seem capable of doing any job imaginable, from piloting a starship and battling alien invaders to taking out the trash and cooking a gourmet meal.

The reality, of course, is far from fantasy. Aside from industrial settings, robots have yet to meet The Jetsons. The robots the public are exposed to seem little more than over-sized plastic toys, pre-programmed to perform a set of tasks without the ability to interact meaningfully with their environment or their creators.

To paraphrase PayPal co-founder and tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, we wanted cool robots, instead we got 140 characters and Flippy the burger bot. But scientists are making progress to empower robots with the ability to see and respond to their surroundings just like humans.

Some of the latest developments in that arena were presented this month at the annual Robotics: Science and Systems Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The papers drilled down into topics that ranged from how to make robots more conversational and help them understand language ambiguities to helping them see and navigate through complex spaces.

Ben Burchfiel, a graduate student at Duke University, and his thesis advisor George Konidaris, an assistant professor of computer science at Brown University, developed an algorithm to enable machines to see the world more like humans.

In the paper, Burchfiel and Konidaris demonstrate how they can teach robots to identify and possibly manipulate three-dimensional objects even when they might be obscured or sitting in unfamiliar positions, such as a teapot that has been tipped over.

The researchers trained their algorithm by feeding it 3D scans of about 4,000 common household items such as beds, chairs, tables, and even toilets. They then tested its ability to identify about 900 new 3D objects just from a birds eye view. The algorithm made the right guess 75 percent of the time versus a success rate of about 50 percent for other computer vision techniques.

In an email interview with Singularity Hub, Burchfiel notes his research is not the first to train machines on 3D object classification. How their approach differs is that they confine the space in which the robot learns to classify the objects.

Imagine the space of all possible objects, Burchfiel explains. That is to say, imagine you had tiny Legos, and I told you [that] you could stick them together any way you wanted, just build me an object. You have a huge number of objects you could make!

The infinite possibilities could result in an object no human or machine might recognize.

To address that problem, the researchers had their algorithm find a more restricted space that would host the objects it wants to classify. By working in this restricted spacemathematically we call it a subspacewe greatly simplify our task of classification. It is the finding of this space that sets us apart from previous approaches.

Meanwhile, a pair of undergraduate students at Brown University figured out a way to teach robots to understand directions better, even at varying degrees of abstraction.

The research, led by Dilip Arumugam and Siddharth Karamcheti, addressed how to train a robot to understand nuances of natural language and then follow instructions correctly and efficiently.

The problem is that commands can have different levels of abstraction, and that can cause a robot to plan its actions inefficiently or fail to complete the task at all, says Arumugam in a press release.

In this project, the young researchers crowdsourced instructions for moving a virtual robot through an online domain. The space consisted of several rooms and a chair, which the robot was told to manipulate from one place to another. The volunteers gave various commands to the robot, ranging from general (take the chair to the blue room) to step-by-step instructions.

The researchers then used the database of spoken instructions to teach their system to understand the kinds of words used in different levels of language. The machine learned to not only follow instructions but to recognize the level of abstraction. That was key to kickstart its problem-solving abilities to tackle the job in the most appropriate way.

The research eventually moved from virtual pixels to a real place, using a Roomba-like robot that was able to respond to instructions within one second 90 percent of the time. Conversely, when unable to identify the specificity of the task, it took the robot 20 or more seconds to plan a task about 50 percent of the time.

One application of this new machine-learning technique referenced in the paper is a robot worker in a warehouse setting, but there are many fields that could benefit from a more versatile machine capable of moving seamlessly between small-scale operations and generalized tasks.

Other areas that could possibly benefit from such a system include things from autonomous vehicles to assistive robotics, all the way to medical robotics, says Karamcheti, responding to a question by email from Singularity Hub.

These achievements are yet another step toward creating robots that see, listen, and act more like humans. But dont expect Disney to build a real-life Westworld next to Toon Town anytime soon.

I think were a long way off from human-level communication, Karamcheti says. There are so many problems preventing our learning models from getting to that point, from seemingly simple questions like how to deal with words never seen before, to harder, more complicated questions like how to resolve the ambiguities inherent in language, including idiomatic or metaphorical speech.

Even relatively verbose chatbots can run out of things to say, Karamcheti notes, as the conversation becomes more complex.

The same goes for human vision, according to Burchfiel.

While deep learning techniques have dramatically improved pattern matchingGoogle can find just about any picture of a cattheres more to human eyesight than, well, meets the eye.

There are two big areas where I think perception has a long way to go: inductive bias and formal reasoning, Burchfiel says.

The former is essentially all of the contextual knowledge people use to help them reason, he explains. Burchfiel uses the example of a puddle in the street. People are conditioned or biased to assume its a puddle of water rather than a patch of glass, for instance.

This sort of bias is why we see faces in clouds; we have strong inductive bias helping us identify faces, he says. While it sounds simple at first, it powers much of what we do. Humans have a very intuitive understanding of what they expect to see, [and] it makes perception much easier.

Formal reasoning is equally important. A machine can use deep learning, in Burchfiels example, to figure out the direction any river flows once it understands that water runs downhill. But its not yet capable of applying the sort of human reasoning that would allow us to transfer that knowledge to an alien setting, such as figuring out how water moves through a plumbing system on Mars.

Much work was done in decades past on this sort of formal reasoning but we have yet to figure out how to merge it with standard machine-learning methods to create a seamless system that is useful in the actual physical world.

Robots still have a lot to learn about being human, which should make us feel good that were still by far the most complex machines on the planet.

Image Credit: Alex Knightvia Unsplash

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New pastor brings fresh ideas to Ascension Lutheran Church – Baltimore Sun

Posted: at 4:29 pm

The Rev. Nancy Kraft says it takes five years for a church to change its mission and the way in which it approaches the community, but after just one year at the helm, the new pastor said change is happening much faster than she expected at Ascension Lutheran Church, in Towson.

Under Kraft's guidance, parishioners say, Ascension has grown to be more inclusive and accepting of all people and that members of the congregation have expanded their roles in the community and as volunteers within the congregation.

Kraft's "bold leadership" is somewhat progressive, but more aligned with what the church must become to increase its membership, draw a younger crowd and remain relevant, said 18-year-member Jill Jahries, of Lutherville.

Kraft, who became Ascension's pastor in May 2016, is "really good about reminding us about Jesus' time on earth and the fact that he was the ultimate includer," Jahries said. "There was not a selective group he sought out that was already walking the walk, so to speak. He really recognized and reached all people where they were and created a sacred relationship that allowed those people to be themselves and feel whole so long as they were being mindful of one another."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, of which Ascension Lutheran is a member, has seen the number of its members decrease in recent years, according to the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, the denomination's presiding bishop.

"We're set up to do church the way our parents did church and it doesn't work," Eaton said, adding that it was up to the church to adapt to changing communities and an "increasingly secular society."

A 2015 Pew Research survey on religious habits found that the percentage of adults who described themselves as religiously affiliated shrank between 2007 and 2014. Additionally, the percentage of adults who were religiously unaffiliated increased 7 percentage points, resulting in an overall U.S. population that is slightly less religious than it was a decade ago.

Mainline congregations must welcome a more diverse group of potential members if they are to continue to flourish, Eaton said.

The trend away from the church is one Kraft said she does not want to see continued in Towson, though she says she is not focused on increasing membership but on drawing members "closer to Christ."

However, bucking national trends is part of the reason the 750-member congregation chose Kraft to lead it. Involvement at Ascension Lutheran is up since Kraft was hired by a majority vote of the congregation.

"We've had lots of good pastors, each one with their own gifts and skills, but she's ready to lead us in outgoing service to our community and building on things we've done in the past," said parish administrator Sue Hartman, a 29-year member of the church.

Other members say Kraft is leading the church into the 21st century.

"Like any mainline denomination right now, our numbers are dwindling, but some congregations are growing, and I would love for Ascension to be one of them," Kraft said.

A new role in Towson

Ascension Lutheran Church traces its beginnings to 1941, when a small group of people met in a home on York Road, gathering regularly for worship. The Towson church opened on its namesake day, a Christian holiday celebrating the ascension of Jesus into heaven, on May 14, 1942.

Construction started on the present sanctuary in July 1949 with a formal dedication on June 4, 1950. In June 1959, the church added an education wing and a nursery school to better serve the community. This year, the church celebrated its 75th anniversary.

A native of Hamilton, Ohio, Kraft served the Lutheran church in her home state as well as in North Dakota and North Carolina before coming to Towson, she said.

Most recently, Kraft led Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Charlotte, N.C. Over a span of 11 years at what she describes as a congregation of mostly LGBTQ churchgoers, Kraft said she tackled social justice issues and helped champion same-sex marriage rights in the southern city.

In 2014, Kraft joined other clergy and the United Church of Christ in filing a lawsuit against the state's same-sex marriage ban on the basis of religious liberty, a full year before the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

The role is one that earned Kraft recognition from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2009.

"A lot of the work she is doing is the work we hope other pastors are doing," Eaton said. "She did a great job in Charlotte, and I'm sure she's bringing life in to where she's serving now."

Kraft said she is still working out her vision for the congregation's future, but in the meantime is focused on increasing church involvement in the community and challenging the congregation with thought-provoking sermons.

In a recent post to Inside Nancy's Noodle, Kraft's blog about her faith, the church and her experiences as a minister, Kraft questions the relationship between Christianity and evangelism.

Though evangelical is in Ascension's denominational name, Kraft said she prefers that the church focus on action directed at improving the lives of others rather than evangelism.

Instead of preaching strictly from the pulpit of a "pastor-strong" church, Kraft has moved to push the congregation to one that emphasizes "good deeds in action, rather than in thought," she said. It's a mission she says is influenced by hours of deliberation and research Kraft undergoes to fine tune each Sunday's message.

It's not rare for "Pastor Nancy," as she prefers to be called, to rewrite a sermon multiple times until the message is perfected for a congregation she said enjoys being pushed to think harder. Sermons often begin with an exclamation and end with a question or call to action, she said.

"People here are really well educated and have a history of having excellent preachers, so I think I'm working harder here than I ever have in my life," she added.

In the past year, Kraft has moved to make sermons more interactive by increasing the congregation's involvement in Sunday sermons and challenging members to think about scripture outside of the church by making those teachings a greater part of their daily lives.

She has also attempted to make the church experience more child-friendly, adding a children's song as part of worship in the summer.

"A lot of my friends who don't go to church have this old idea of what church is," Jahries said. "You just passively sit and are lectured and don't get stirred [to action]. When I talk about who Pastor Nancy is and what my church is, I have a lot of pride in that."

The church is changing for the better thanks to the congregation's help as well, Kraft said. Earlier this year, church staff revamped Ascension's website to include audio recordings of each week's sermons.

Recently, Kraft invited members interested in leading sermons to do so on some Sundays. The group meets with Kraft to discuss how sermons are written and to rehearse their presentation a practice the congregation has embraced, Jahries said.

Kraft's next focus is on welcoming a Syrian refugee family to an unused parsonage on church property. Ascension has hosted families on the property in the past, Kraft said. Church staff are now working with a Baltimore-based nonprofit to place a family in the home in the next few weeks.

"Once you help people to imagine that we can be more, I see them embracing that," Kraft said. "I can foresee in five years we are just going to transform [the church]."

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Around Ascension for July 27. 2017 – The Advocate

Posted: at 4:29 pm

Summer reading

Summer reading programs at Ascension Parish Library continue to wind down as the new school year approaches.

A construction zone party to celebrate the programs' end begins at 2 p.m. Friday in Gonzales for children of all ages.

Gonzales also is holding a space exploration program for children of all ages at 2 p.m. Monday. Learn how and why planets orbit the sun, and create a solar system model.

Teens will end their summer program with a Harry Potter-themed Yule Ball at 4 p.m. Monday in Galvez. Enjoy being sorted into Hogwarts houses, wand making, snitch decorating and dancing. Chocolate frogs and nonalcoholic butterbeer will be served. Wizardly and formal attire is welcome.

2ROW2 Autospa Kutz & More presents the Cars for Kids Back 2 School Car Show on Sunday at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.

Registration is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with judging at 4 p.m. and trophy presentation at 6 p.m. Categories are best of show, new and old school, street bike, chopper, SUV, truck, original and modified. Vehicle registration is $20 outside and $30 inside.

A book sack and school supply giveaway for students will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Door prize giveaways are on the hour every hour during the show.

The Ascension Chamber of Commerce is holding a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of Highway 61 Express Wash at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The business is located at 1126 N. Airline Highway, Gonzales.

The Arc of East Ascension is in need of donations for its Cram the Van drive. Donations can be dropped off at the Gonzales Walmart, 308 N. Airline Highway, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 5.

Needed items include Depends adult underwear (male or female XL/XXL), large and small towels, bedding (comforters, sheets, pillows and full/queen pillow cases), detergent soap, body wash, oral hygiene products (toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.), paper towels, dishwashing liquid, baby wipes, tissue paper, bandages and first aid supplies, cleaning supplies, deodorant, flushable wipes, bottled water and paper tissues.

Items go to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Ascension Parish and surrounding areas.

Anointed Hands Trichology Centers ninth annual Back to School N Style is slated for noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Centers YMCA Building. Service cutoff time is 3 p.m.

The event for children ages 5 to 15 includes complimentary shampoos and styles or blow-drys for girls and haircuts for boys, as well as activities, breakout sessions, door prizes and more.

Sponsorship opportunities are available and donations are welcome. Call Ynohtna Tona Tureau or Marcia Pierre at (225) 622-4357 for details.

An open house public meeting regarding the proposed La. 44 corridor from Interstate 10 to La. 22 in Gonzales is scheduled Aug. 7 at the Ascension Parish Governmental Complex, 615 E. Worthey Road, Gonzales.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is conducting the meeting, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the large conference room.

Written comments also can be mailed with a postmark no later than Aug. 21 to Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Compliance Programs, Section 37, Program Director, P.O. Box 94245, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9245.

Contact Darlene Denstorff by phone, (225) 388-0215 or (225) 603-1996; or email, ascension@theadvocate.com or ddenstorff@theadvocate.com. Deadline: noon Monday.

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Ascension Athletics for July 27, 2017 – The Advocate

Posted: at 4:29 pm

LA Empire 10-and-under purple wins USSSA World Series

To say that congratulations go out to the LA Empire 10-and-under purple team for winning the USSSA World Series is a bit of an understatement.

The boys competed in Alabama to claim the top bracket championship and won the top bracket of the series featuring 53 other teams.

Coaches Branson Bowen and Clint Ponvelle led the group of 10 boys to a 7-0 record in the tournament. It did it with spectacular defense and incredible hitting. This is how it went down: The team outscored their competition 67-7, had a combined batting average of .458 that included four home runs, and a pitching effort of a combined ERA of 1.3.

The boys competed against teams from Louisiana, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and Mississippi to win this World Series. The boys persevered and demonstrated the meaning of teamwork by bringing home the gold, even though they have only been playing ball together for six months.

The Empire organization thanked the coaches, family and friends who supported them throughout the season and look forward to their continued support.

The team includes Lawson Bourgeois, Wyatt Buratt, Wyatt Ford, Caleb Gautreau, Easton Humphrey, Easton Jarreau, Mason Leblanc, Reid Mayers, Ryder Molea and Carson Sheets.

Earlier in the tournament, the Gauthier & Amedee Wombats ended the Southland Hogs season by taking a 4-3 victory in an elimination game in the American Legion Baseball state championship tournament played at Mike Miley Stadium in Metairie.

St. Amant starter Dwain Guice pitched six innings to earn the win and gave the mound to Dutchtown right-hander Jack Merrifield in a scoreless seventh. Merrifield capped a two-run sixth by scoring the decisive run on a Southland throwing error to propel the Wombats into a second straight elimination game July 18.

Gauthier & Amedee started things off in the elimination game against Pedal Valve by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. It scored one run in the first and second innings and added two more in the third. The Wombats scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 5-3 lead into the top of the seventh.

The rally for Pedal started off with a single by right-fielder Evan Keller and a walk to shortstop Justin Ory that was followed by an RBI single to center field with none out.

Zach Cook tied the score by driving in Ory with a run-scoring groundout before a strikeout and a walk to designated hitter Austin Haensel set up Morrow for the game-winner.

The Wombats were retired in order in the bottom half of the seventh on a called third strike, a groundout and fly ball to short. Gauthier & Amedee ended its season 24-6-1.

Schools start is just around the corner and summer is coming to a close, but there is time for the kids to get in some fishing. Two of our long-standing sportsmens organizations hold their annual kids fishing rodeos on the same weekend.

The first, hosted by the East Ascension Sportsmans League, will be held Aug. 5 at Twin Lakes Park in Dutchtown (where La. 74 crosses Interstate 10). The 57th annual Kids Fishing Rodeo is not only the highlight of the year for the well-known conservation group its a highlight for our area.

The kids rodeo is free to all ages 2-14. Everyone is invited and parents or adults who bring kids do not have to be EASL members for their kids to fish. The look of excitement on the faces of kids as they register is worth the price of admission.

Shrieks of excitement will be heard all around the two ponds as a few lucky kids will catch their first fish ever. If someone ever took you fishing or a trip in the outdoors when you were a youngster, this would be a great time to return the favor. We all know a kid or two we could bring for a few hours and create a memory that will last for a lifetime.

You might even know a single mom or two who might enjoy a Saturday off after a long work week. Give her a break for half a day that would be worth a million bucks to her as well as make a world of difference to her kid. It will only cost you a few hours.

Registration starts at 6:30 a.m., and the fishing is from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. You can usually keep a kids attention for two hours. EASL will serve free hot dogs, drinks and jambalaya during the weigh-in while the judges tally the results. Trophies will be awarded immediately after the tally of results to the respective age groups.

After the trophies are awarded, the East Ascension Sportsmans League gives out door prizes, including two bicycles, to several age groups and prize categories so even the little ones can win.

Kids must bring their own rod and reel or cane pole and must use live bait (crickets, worms, etc.) No artificial lures are allowed. EASL will have some crickets available that morning. Kids are allowed to fish with only one rod and reel or cane pole at a time. Parents may help bait the hook and cast, but the kids must land the fish.

Young anglers should keep all fish that are caught, no matter how small (sorry, no turtles or eels). Families should bring a bucket for the fish and a couple of chairs. We also recommend bringing a small ice chest with drinking water for use during rodeo hours. Children must never be left unattended.

The East Ascension Sportsmans League is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving and properly managing our natural resources for future generations. For more information, call Betty Lambert at (225) 571-4588.

I encourage anyone involved in the outdoors in any way to join the East Ascension Sportsmans League (easlonline.org). The $15 per year is really inexpensive to take part in preserving our outdoor heritage.

The second event of the weekend is the St. James Boat Club annual Junior Choupique Rodeo on Aug. 6 on the Blind River Point and Boat Launch Areas. The Boat Club is located on the corner of U.S. 61 at Scenic Blind River, in St. James Parish just outside Gramercy.

All participants up to age 15, male or female, are eligible to compete in this fishing rodeo, but must be accompanied by an adult or guardian. Fishing starts at 9 a.m. and ends at noon. The registration fee is still only 25 cents. Be sure to get registered before fishing and to get your copy of the rules.

Fishing is limited to the banks of the Blind River Point Area and Boat Launch Areas. At the close of the rodeo, awards will be given to the winners. Ribbons will be given to all participants. Random drawings will be held in each age group for rod and reels at the awards time (winners must be present).

Refreshments will be sold at the Point Area. For more information, call the St. James Boat Club in the morning at (225)869-8966 or Craig Calcagno at (225) 206-2476.

Fishing is from the bank only, in the designated areas, and no boats are allowed. Registered children must weigh in their fish themselves, wearing their ID tag, at the weigh-in station.

The contest is open to fish only. Each child must furnish his or her own tackle and bait (live or artificial) and pole. Everyone practices catch and release after weigh-in, with the weighmaster releasing the fish. Only fish caught by the children may be weighed in. Adults may assist the children fishing only in the 0- to 5-year-old age group.

Adults also may assist children only when having fishing difficulties such as hang-ups, replacing hooks or baits, casting, etc.

Awards will be given for the largest fish and most fish caught in three age groups: 0 to 5, 6 to 10 and 11 to 15. Ribbons will be given to all children registered. Door prizes will be drawn for each age group and winners must be present. Failure to comply with the rules may result in disqualification of the participant.

Lyle Johnson, a writer and host of the Ascension Outdoors cable TV show, covers sports and the outdoors for The Ascension Advocate. He can be contacted at reelman@eatel.net or ascension@theadvocate.com.

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Ascension Athletics for July 27, 2017 - The Advocate

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Historian Tom Sugrue on Detroit’s Ascension, Decline, New Film ‘Detroit’ – WDET

Posted: at 4:29 pm

On Tuesday night, there was a major movie premier downtown in the Motor City for the new film Detroit. Its the latest in a series of events around town that are part of a weeks-long remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the 1967 uprising. Author and historian Thomas Sugrue has been in Detroit for several days helping to lead conversations about the rebellion, Detroits economic and social strife, and race. He wrote what many people consider the definitive work on Detroits ascension and decline, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.

Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson speaks with Sugrue, who was at the premier and puts his experience there in the context of his work andresearch.

(Detroit director)Katherine Bigelow does violence in a way that is unsettling and captures viscerally what it mustve been like to be in the Algiers Motel while patrons were being terrorized, says Sugrue,the fear, the horror, the sense of utter helplessness at the hands of these really sadistic, violent officers who raided themotel.

The conversation moves beyond the film itself and into the historical context of the events in 1967, specifically as it relates to the culture ofDetroiters.

There was a wide variety of different opinion on what was happening. And so there were folks who cheered when they saw the indelible images of people breaking windows and tossing molotov cocktails, and there were folks who said this is immoral, we shouldnt be doing this sort ofthing.

For African American Detroiters especially, theres a long history of a tradition of respectabilityWe want to show our best face The uprising is anything but respectable. Its a rebellion. Its a profound challenge to the status quo and rebellion is disturbing to its targets but also to many folks who are witnessingit.

To hear the full conversation, click the audio playerabove.

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Historian Tom Sugrue on Detroit's Ascension, Decline, New Film 'Detroit' - WDET

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Elon Musk dismisses Mark Zuckerberg’s understanding of AI threat as ‘limited’ – The Verge

Posted: at 4:29 pm

The war between AI and humanity may be a long way off, but the war between tech billionaire and tech billionaire is only just beginning. Today on Twitter, Elon Musk dismissed Mark Zuckerbergs understanding of the threat posed by artificial intelligence as limited, after the Facebook founder disparaged comments Musk made on the subject earlier this month.

The beef (such as it is) goes back to a speech the SpaceX and Tesla CEO made to an assembly of US governors. Musk warned that there needed to be regulation on AI development before its too late. I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they dont know how to react, because it seems so ethereal, he said, adding that the technology represents a fundamental risk to the existence of civilization.

Are both Musk and Zuckerberg missing the point?

Its a familiar refrain from Musk, and one that doesnt hold much water within the AI community. Pedro Domingos, a machine learning researcher and author of The Master Algorithm, summed up the feelings of many with a one word response on Twitter: Sigh. Later, Domingos expanded on this in an interview with Wired, saying: Many of us have tried to educate [Musk] and others like him about real vs. imaginary dangers of AI, but apparently none of it has made a dent.

Fast-forward to this Sunday, when Zuckerberg was running one of his totally-normal-and-not-running-for-political-office Facebook Live Q&As. At around 50 minutes in, a viewer asks Zuckerberg: I watched a recent interview with Elon Musk and his largest fear for the future was AI. What are your thoughts on AI and how it could affect the world?

Zuck responds: I have pretty strong opinions on this ... I think you can build things and the world gets better, and with AI especially, Im really optimistic. I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios are I just, I don't understand it. It's really negative and in some ways I think it is pretty irresponsible.

He goes on to predict that in the next five to 10 years AI will deliver so many improvements in the quality of our lives, and cites health care and self-driving cars as two major examples. People who are arguing for slowing down the process of building AI, I find that really questionable, Zuckerberg concludes. If youre arguing against AI youre arguing against safer cars that arent going to have accidents.

Someone then posted a write-up of Zuckerbergs Q&A on Twitter and tagged Musk, who jumped into the conversation with the comment below. Musk also linked approvingly to an article on the threat of superintelligent AI by Tim Urban. (The article covers much of the same ground as Nick Bostroms influential book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Both discuss a number of ways contemporary AI could develop into super-intelligence, including through exponential growth in computing power something Musk later tweeted about.)

But as fun as it is to watch two extremely rich people, who probably wield more influence over your life than most politicians, trade barbs online, its hard to shake the feeling that both Musk and Zuckerberg are missing the point.

While AI researchers dismiss Musks comments on AI as alarmist, thats only in reference to the imagined threat of some Skynet-style doomsday machine. The same experts frequently point out that artificial intelligence poses many genuine threats that already affect us today. These include how the technology can amplify racist and sexist prejudices; how it could upend society by putting millions out of jobs; how it is set to increase inequality; and how it will be used as tool of control by authoritarian governments.

These are real dangers that need real solutions, not just sci-fi speculation.

And while Zuckerbergs comments on the potential benefits of AI in health care and road safety are heartening, focusing only on the good that artificial intelligence can deliver is in its own way as limited as focusing only on the threat. Really, we need to combine both Musk and Zuckerbergs approaches, and probably listen less to tech billionaires in the process.

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Elon Musk dismisses Mark Zuckerberg's understanding of AI threat as 'limited' - The Verge

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What is SpaceX and is it the future of space exploration? – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: at 4:29 pm

SpaceX is a company that aims to reduce the cost of space transportation with the long-term goal of creating a colony on Mars.

US billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk formed the businessinCalifornia in 2002 out of a project called Mars Oasisthat explored ways to send a mini greenhouseto the Red Planet togrow interplanetary plants.

After failing to elicit cheap rockets for the project from Nasa and returning empty-handed from a low-costpurchasing mission in Russia, Muskdecided he would need to create his own rockets. Thus, SpaceX was born.

Fifteen years later, SpaceX has almost 6,000 employees, has sent two rockets to the International Space Station andtwice landed a recycled rocket successfully.

SpaceX is developing the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon reusable rockets with a goal of sending manned missions to Mars. It is researching and developing ways to create cost efficient rockets that can be used more than once, aninterplanetary transport system anda global communications network.

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What is SpaceX and is it the future of space exploration? - Telegraph.co.uk

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