Monthly Archives: August 2017

Ben Affleck Promises a Heroic Batman in ‘Justice League’ – TVOvermind

Posted: August 16, 2017 at 5:41 pm

Youd think that itd pretty hard for Warner Bros. to mess up Batman. Since his first appearance in 1939, he has proven to be DC Comics biggest cash cow. He has appeared in more movies, TV series and comics than any other character in DCs expansive stable of heroes: even the Man of Steel himself.

And yet somehow, Warner Bros. has screwed the pooch with Batmans most recent film version. Although Ben Affleck is perfect casting for the character, Snyders interpretation of the character as an angst-driven psychopath has turned many fans off from this version of the character.

Sure, Nolans version of the Batmobile a heavily armored assault vehicle was great in his grounded, more realistic take on the franchise, but the version we saw in Batman v Superman was nothing short of a tank used for mindlessly running over criminals. The same character who famously snapped a gun in half, saying this is the weapon of the enemy. We do not need it. We will not use it was seen in the movie blinding firing machine guns into crowds of thugs on multiple occasions.

He didnt just hunt down criminals either: he disfigured them. He would heat a branding iron and then burn his insignia into their bodies as a permanent reminder of crossing paths with the vigilante. But dont worry, its not like they lasted long in prison. It is explicitly stated that criminals with the Bat branding were killed shortly after being admitted.

This isnt the Batman I know: the one that I grew up with on Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons. Hes not some xenophobic madman screaming that if theres even a one percent chance that [Superman] is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty. Hes a man who would stay with [Harley Quinn] all day, risking [his] butt for somebody whos never given [him] anything but trouble simply because he know[s] what its like to try and rebuild a life, [because he] had a bad day too once.

According to Ben Affleck, this is the kind of Batman we can expect going forward in the DCEU. Speaking in a recent interview, he stated that:

[Batman] started out with all this rage directed at Superman, because of his coworkers who had died in the fight Superman had with Zod. He was holding on to a lot of anger, in a little bit of an irrational way. Whereas this is a much more traditional Batman. Hes heroic. He does things in his own way, but he wants to save people, help people.

The actor and Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder have suggested in the past that this was always going to be the case. Theyve previously argued that we were simply introduced to this version of Batman at a particularly low point in his life, shortly after the death of Jason Todd, his most recent Robin, and that his character arc would involve him clawing up from that tragedy.

Thats all well and good in the abstract, but we have never been given any context for this character other than the off-camera word of these men during the press junket for the movie. We never see him before Todds death and are given no reason in the movies themselves to suggest that that is the case.

While Justice League is looking to be an increasingly sketchy prospect, this is at least the right direction to take this character. Hes not a superpowered lab rat, omnipotent alien, transhuman cyborg or a literal God. Hes just a man: the one member of the Justice League who really understands what it means to be Human, able to take down the bad guys just as easily as he can empathize with their victims.

Hes more than just some savage, blood-sucking animal, and its high time that Warner Bros. realizes this. They desperately need to put the man back in Batman.

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Portage gets first look at human rights proposal – Chicago Tribune

Posted: at 5:41 pm

City officials got their first look at a detailed human rights ordinance Monday that supporters said will show Portage can be home to all kinds of residents.

The City Council's three-member ordinance committee John Cannon, R-4th, Sue Lynch, D-At large, and committee chair Pat Clem, D-2nd had plenty of questions and concerns about the lengthy and tabled the measure, but all agreed the spirit of the ordinance was important.

"We totally support the rights for our city for all human beings who live in our city," Lynch said.

Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham, who drafted the ordinance with Portage resident Beto Barerra, a retired civil rights organizer, and the Rev. Michael Cooper, who pastors Metropolitan Community Church Illiana, a church open to LGBTQ members, said the ordinance would send "the right message."

"This ordinance says we're an open for business city, that we're an open and welcoming city," Stidham said.

The committee members said they had not had enough time to read the seven-and-a-half page ordinance, which, as written, is meant to ensure "equal rights" and "equal treatment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or veteran status."

The ordinance calls on the city to appoint a nine-member Human Rights Committee, made up of members selected by each of the city's nine elected officials, to ensure equal access to public accommodations, even extending fairness to private interactions, such as banks granting loans or landlords treating tenants and potential tenants fairly and handling a wide range of potential complaints.

The ordinance committee spent considerable time wrestling with the ordinance's appointment of a Human Rights Coordinator to do extensive community education and outreach and to serve as the point person for any civil rights complaints.

Cannon had the most questions on the coordinator position, peppering ordinance supporters with questions on how a coordinator would be selected and paid and suggesting many of the alleged wrongs the ordinance would address already are covered by state and federal law.

Another sticking point was how deeply the human rights committee and coordinator can go into addressing complaints of alleged discrimination, especially if those complaints are aimed at local businesses. Everyone from landlords to bankers to colleges and private employers and labor unions could face an investigation and mediation if the committee and coordinator find they discriminated against any of the protected groups in the legislation, the plan says.

As long as the council members agree with "the spirit of the ordinance," there's room for dialog and explanations that could make the ordinance more palatable, Barrera said.

"If they're against some of the content, then we can deal with that," Barrera said. "At least all three said they're not against the ordinance itself. I think if they, in good faith, would sit down and read the ordinance and try to understand it better, then we can eliminate some of the language, no problem."

Portage would not be alone locally or statewide in adopting a human rights ordinance, Cooper said. Statewide, 17 other municipalities have such local legislation and, with Portage, he ordinances would cover about two million Hoosiers, he said.

Munster and Valparaiso adopted similar ordinances last year, and Portage supporters used Valparaiso's model, Stidham said.

Heath Carter, a Valparaiso University assistant history professor and chair of the mayor's Advisory Human Relations council, said his city still is working on how to educate the public on its ordinance and on hiring a citywide community relations director to serve as the point person on discrimination issues.

"It's just a process, and we're still at the beginning of the process of helping the residents of Valpo understand what I think is a pretty extraordinary law," Carter said. "It offers you a local, accessible, free recourse should you experience some discrimination in a protected status.

"It's our word and deed," he said. "It's our commitment to being a place that can be a home for anybody and everybody. It's a way of living into the values this community has expressed, no matter who you are, you can feel right at home here."

Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

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AirAsia trains crew to spot human traffickers – Bangkok Post

Posted: at 5:41 pm

An AirAsia counter staff attends to a customer at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on Aug 28, 2016. (Reuters photo)

KUALA LUMPUR - AirAsia, the biggest budget carrier in Asia, is training thousands of its staff to fight human trafficking, becoming one of the first airlines in the continent to crack down on the global crime.

Companies have come under increased pressure to tackle human trafficking, with an estimated 46 million people living in slavery and profits thought to be about US$150 billion.

Planes are a key part of the illegal business, as criminal gangs transport thousands of children and vulnerable people by air each year for redeployment as sex workers, domestic helpers or in forced labour.

The United Nations has urged airlines to step in and look out for the tell-tale signs of trafficking.

Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsia, which flies millions of passengers annually to more than 110 destinations, said it was planning to train between 5,000 and 10,000 frontline staff, including cabin crew.

"We like to be able to have our staff know what to do if somebody comes up to them and says 'I need help'," said Yap Mun Ching, the executive director of AirAsia Foundation, the airline's philanthropic arm, which is driving the initiative.

"Sometimes (the victims) don't know they have been trafficked. They realise it only when they are on their way and they want to be able to get help. Most of the time they don't know who to turn to," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

AirAsia has teamed up with US-based Airline Ambassadors International, a group that trains airline staff on trafficking, for the initiative, which kicked off this week at the airline's four main hubs - Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila.

All are hotspots for trafficking.

The group said signs of trafficking include young women or children who appeared to be under the control of others, show indications of mistreatment or who seem frightened, ashamed or nervous.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime urged airline bosses at a summit in June to train flight crews to help combat human trafficking, the first time the aviation industry has held global discussion on the issue.

While some training of airline staff to spot and report potential trafficking is mandatory in the United States, it is not widespread across the industry.

So far, more than 70,000 US airline staff have been trained under a programme that began in 2013.

Asia has some of the worst offenders of human trafficking.

Countries such as Thailand, Myanmar and Laos are listed by the United States on a trafficking watch list for not meeting the minimum standards needed to end the crime.

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A mob of beachgoers wanted to play with a baby dolphin and wound up killing it – Washington Post

Posted: at 5:41 pm

A baby dolphin died last week after hundreds of beachgoers in southern Spain surrounded the animal to touch and take pictures with it, sparking condemnation from a local animal rescue group.

The incident took place last Friday in Mojcar, on the countrys southeastern coast, according to Equinac, a Spanish nonprofit organization that advocates for marine wildlife.

According to several posts on the groups Facebook page, a baby dolphin that was stranded on the beach was quickly surrounded by numerouscurious people, including children,who wanted totouch and photograph it. Some accidentally covered the dolphins spiracle, the blowhole the animals use to breath, the group said.

One concerned person reported the stranded animal to 112, the countrys emergency services number, but by the time Equinac rescuers arrived at the beach, the dolphin was dead, the group said.

Once again we note that the human being is the most irrational species that exists, Equinac wrote on Facebook Aug. 11, the day of the incident, blasting the selfishness of those that had swarmed the animal. There are many [who are] incapable of empathy for a living being that is alone, scared, starved, without his mother and terrified. All you want to do is to photograph and poke, even if the animal suffers from stress.

The group later clarified that the baby dolphin may have been isolated because it was sick or somehow separated from its mother. However, even though the beachgoers had not been responsible for the dolphins stranding, merely touching and photographing the animals can cause them to enter a very high stress state and, at worst, to experience fatal shock, the group said.

Those who see a stranded dolphin should call emergency rescue services rather than try to handle the animal, it added.

Equinac did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Wednesday. In a subsequent Facebook post, the group said it had turned down media interview requests because we are not interested in circuses.

The incident was reminiscent of a similar one last year in Argentina, when beachgoers picked up an endangered baby dolphin and passed it around for selfies. The animal later died. Its death triggered a round of public shaming against those who had mobbed the animal, as well as a strongly worded statement by the Argentine Wildlife Foundation.

Equinac, the Spanish group, regularly posts pictures of its attempts to rescue marine life and of dead dolphins periodically found washed ashore.

In an angry follow-up postSaturday, Equinac lamented how many times it had previously tried to educate the public on what to do in the case of a stranded animal to seemingly no avail.

Do we have to continue to justify our anger? Does it have to be us, Equinac, the police, the lifeguards, the ones that teach many of you common sense? the post read. Ignorance has absolutely nothing to do with respect, empathy and logic.

CRA LACTANTE DE DELFN APARECE VIVA EN UNA PLAYA DE MOJCAR, CIENTOS DE PERSONAS SOBRE ELLA PARA TOCARLA Y HACERLE

Posted by Equinac onFriday, August 11, 2017

Read more:

Endangered baby dolphin dies after swimmers pass it around for selfies

Canadian fisherman killed after freeing trapped whale

Flesh-eating sea bugs attacked an Australian teens legs: There was no stopping the bleeding.

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Engineers Are Building the World’s Largest Single-Tower Solar Thermal Plant – Futurism

Posted: at 5:41 pm

In BriefSouth Australia has announced plans to construct the world'slargest single-tower solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta. Theplant will use technology developed by SolarReserve to store energyin molten salt, giving it the ability to operate 24 hours a day. Sun and Salt

The government of South Australia has announced plans to construct the worlds largest single-tower solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta. California-based solar tech company SolarReserve will be responsible for both the build and upkeep of the facility.

The Aurora Solar Energy Project is based on plans that weredeveloped as part of the Rice Solar Energy Project in California, which stalled as a result of changes to tax credits related to renewable energy.

Once built, arrays of heliostats will focus solar energy onto a central tower, which uses molten salt technology to store that energy as heat. These molten salts will provide 1,100 megawatts of energy storage capacity, which equates to eight hours of full load storage. This will allow the facility to generate electricity during the night as well as during the day when sunlight is shining down.

Aurora is projected to have an output of 150 megawatts and an ability to generate 495 gigawatt hours of electricity each year. The station will be able to service 90,000 homes and is expected to be able to cater to around five percent of South Australias total energy needs. Construction on the $650 million plantwill begin next year, with the expectation that Aurora will be producing electricity by 2020.

The Aurora Solar Energy Project wont be the first major renewable energy project for South Australia. In July, the local government inked a deal with Tesla to install a Powerpack system that will work alongside the Hornsdale Wind Farm.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been very clear about the potential for solar to help the U.S. meet its own energy needs,assertingthat the entire nation could be powered by an area measuring 25,600 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) filled with solar panels.

Despite these claims and the assertions of other experts, however, U.S. President Donald Trump appears determined to try to revive the coal industry.

That hasnt slowed the adoption of renewable energy in other parts of the world, though. Morocco is currently building the worlds largest traditional solar plant, Chinas massive floating solar power plant just went online, and Indias record-holding solar farm can power 150,000 homes.

Despite a lack of federal support, individual states and cities within the U.S. are committing to fossil fuel alternatives as well just this month, Orlando, Florida, became the fortieth city in the country to make a commitment to completely transition to renewables within the next several decades.

A primary contributor to this increased adoption is cost. For a long time, a mainargument against renewable energy sources has been their high cost when compared to fossil fuels.

Now, the solar panels that weve become accustomed to seeing atop residential homes have dropped in price significantly, and building a new commercial solar plant is also cheaper than building a plant thats powered by fossil fuels. Experts are predicting that solar energy will actually be cheaper than coalwithin the next four years.

This increased affordability will no doubt lead to the creation of more projects like the one in Port Augusta, and that will go a long way toward helping the world meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and stem the damage weve done to the planet through the use of fossil fuels.

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We Just Figured out How to Activate Stem Cells to Treat Baldness – Futurism

Posted: at 5:41 pm

In BriefResearchers from UCLA have found a way to successfullyreactivate stem cells in dormant hair follicles to promote hairgrowth in mice. Through this research, they've developed two drugsthat could help millions of people worldwide treat conditions thatlead to abnormal hair growth and retention. External Problem. Internal Solution.

Researchers have already explored ways to use stem cells totreat everything from diabetes toaging, and now, ateam from UCLAthinks they could potentially offer some relief for people suffering from baldness.

During their study, which has beenpublished in Nature, the researchers noticedthat stem cells found in hair follicles undergo a different metabolic process than normal skin cells. After turning glucose into a molecule known as pyruvate, these hair follicle cells then do one of two things: send the pyruvateto the cells mitochondria to be used as energy or convert it into another metabolite known as lactate.

Based on these findings, the researchers decided to see if inactive hair follicles behaved differently depending on the path of the pyruvate.

To that end, the UCLA team compared mice that had been genetically engineered so that they wouldnt produce lactate with mice that had been engineered to produce more lactate than normal. Obstructing lactate production stopped the stem cells in the follicles from being activated, while more hair growth was observed on the animals who were producing more of the metabolite.

No one knew that increasing or decreasing the lactate would have an effect on hair follicle stem cells, co-lead on the study and professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology William Lowry explained in a UCLA press release. Once we saw how altering lactate production in the mice influenced hair growth, it led us to look for potential drugs that could be applied to the skin and have the same effect.

Based on their study, the researchers were able to discovertwo different drugs that could potentially help humans jumpstart the stem cells in their hair follicles to increase lactate production.

The first is called RCGD423, and it works by establishing a JAK/STAT signalling pathway between the exterior of a cell and its nucleus. This puts the stems cells in an active state and contributes to lactate production, encouraging hair growth.

The other drug, UK5099, takes the opposite approach. It stops pyruvate from being converted into energy by the cells mitochondria, which leaves the molecules with no choice but to take the alternate path of creating lactate, which, in turn, promotes hair growth.

Both of the drugs have yet to be tested on humans, but hopes are high that if tests are successful, they could provide relief for the estimated 56 million people in the U.S. alonesuffering from a range of conditions that affect normal hair growth and retention, including alopecia, hormone imbalances, stress-related hair loss, and even old age.

However, as undoubtedly pleased as many of those people would be to stimulate their hair growth, the potential relevance of this research stretches far beyond hair loss. The new knowledge gained regarding stem cells, specifically their relation to the metabolism of the human body, provides a very promising basis for future study in other realms.

I think weve only just begun to understand the critical role metabolism plays in hair growth and stem cells in general, noted Aimee Flores, first author of the study and a predoctoral trainee in Lowrys lab. Im looking forward to the potential application of these new findings for hair loss and beyond.

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DeLorean Aerospace Is Working on a Flying Car With a Range of 120 Miles – Futurism

Posted: at 5:41 pm

In BriefPaul DeLorean, nephew of the maker of the iconic car from theBack to the Future series, is developing a flying car through hiscompany DeLorean Aerospace. The EV would boast one of the longestranges of any proposed VTOL vehicle: 120 miles on a single charge. Paging Doc Brown

DeLorean cars have become a staple of 80s pop culturethanks to their starring role in Robert Zemeckiss iconic Back to the Future trilogy. Now, a new generation of the DeLorean family is looking to put the brand back into the spotlight by giving new meaning to a line kooky inventor Doc Brown delivers at the end of the first film:Where were going, we dont need roads.

In a recentWired profile, Paul DeLorean, nephew of the original carmaker and current CEO and chief designer of DeLorean Aerospace, revealed that his company is joining the likes of Uber, Airbus, Kitty Hawk, and a few others in attempting to build a flying car.

DeLorean says the company is working ona two-seat, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle meant for personal transport and that will eventually be capable of autonomous flight. We are moving forward on a full-size, piloted prototype which will carry two passengers and is designed to operate, fully electric, for a range of [193 kilometers (120 miles)], he explained to Wired.

Other flying cars in development are only expected to have ranges of around 40 to 80 kilometers (25 to 50 miles), so DeLoreans targetis well above the norm.

As for design specifics, the DeLorean DR-7 aircraft sports two sets of wings, one at the vehicles front and the other at its back, with another pair of winglets under the hind wings. The vehicles takeoff and forward propulsion rely on a pair of fans, which are powered by electricity and mounted along its center. The fans swivel after takeoff to push the vehicle forward.

In all, the aircraft is about 6 meters (20 feet) long, with a wingspan of about 5.6 meters (18.5 feet). To help the aircraft fit into a (large) garage, the wings are capable of folding against the vehicles sides.

Whether they be of the self-driving or flying variety, the cars of the future need to surmount regulatory hurdles before well see any kind of widespread adoption. The use of traditional vehicles and aircraft is currently regulated by numerous laws, and the advanced capabilities of autonomous or flying vehicles are presenting lawmakers with a slew of unprecedented questions.

Along with the need to upgrade our laws to govern this next step in the evolution of personal transport, we also need to upgrade our infrastructure. Electricity is emerging as the energy source of choice for this next generation of vehicles, yet much of the world lacks the infrastructure necessary to meetthe refueling needs of a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs).

We still have some time to wait before we can hopeto see these flying vehicles in action, as experts dont expect the first models to be ready for another five to 15 years, but we are well on our way to a future in which roads wont be the only places we see cars.

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Tesla Just Made A Futuristic Tiny House – Futurism

Posted: at 5:41 pm

In Brief Tesla's putting a "Tiny House" on tour today in Australia, as it unveiled a project that would demonstrate its solar roof panels and Powerwall home energy storage batteries. Tesla wants to demonstrate how a sustainable energy home could work.

Australia enjoys a healthy does of sunshine for most of the yearin fact, it has the highest average solar radiation persquare meter than any other continent on Earth, according to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. This makes the Land Down Under an ideal place for solar energy farms and home solar products.

However, while public demand for renewables are up, the Australian government has kept energy prices low to maintain reliance on coal. This has created a troublesome energy situation throughout most of the continent. Realizing, perhaps, that Australia needs to be more at home with solar energy, Tesla decided to put up what it calls the Tesla Tiny House and its going to tour some of the major cities in the continent.

Tesla is hitting the road across Australia in a tiny house powered by 100% renewable energy, the company says on its website, as well as in a press release after launching the Tiny House on Sunday. Pulled by a Model X, the house features a Tesla mobile design studio so visitors can check out and learn how to set up their own Tesla solar and energy storage system.

The Tiny House is powered by solar energy using a six-panel 2kW solar system attached to a Powerwall battery, where energy can be stored throughout the day and night, Tesla said, according to Electrek. This energy cycle can be controlled and monitored through the Tesla mobile app. Oh, and its also built from locally sourced timber thats chemical free, just to complete that sustainable touch. In short, its a renewable ecosystem on wheels.

This renewable ecosystem is what Tesla hopes to build into homes throughout Australia, where over two million households already have rooftop solar. While Tesla has yet to offer rooftop solar installations, it has already partnered with a local home builder to include the Powerwall as a standard feature. Establishing solar as a standardcould provide a sustainable source of clean energy, and would greatly lessen dependence on coal-generated electricity.

Teslas also working on large-scale energy projects in Australia, building a Powerpack system for a wind farm in South Australia which would be the worlds largest and most powerful lithium-ion battery storage system. Teslas also installing Powerpacks in various sites in New South Wales.

The Tesla Tiny House, which is parked at the Melbournes Federation Square until 15 August, will soon begin a tour of eastern Australian cities, with the option for Australians to actually book it to visit their town.

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The CIO’s broadening role: Business strategist, futurist, change agent – CIO New Zealand

Posted: at 5:40 pm

Robin Johansen on why CIOs should prepare for the impact of political and economic developments across the globe.

If you introduce a new technology, there can be a political blowback - global, national, or within the company.

Robin Johansen

Be prepared for anything, says Robin Johansen, as he sums up a critical mindset for todays CIOs.

Johansen was CIO at Beca for 13 years and now works with a range of organisations as an independent ICT strategist and consultant.

Now based in Nelson, Johansen sees the CIO role in the digital era as becoming very broad.

He says that with computing assets and services increasingly being delivered from geographically diverse locations, CIOs have to work through both a big picture and local perspective of the market, and how these will impact their role, their teams and their respective organisation and sector.

From a technology standpoint, we have got an absolute explosion going on. The development of new technologies is just breathtaking, says Johansen, who is currently looking at distributed ledgers or blockchain as a potentially massive technology.

Concurrent with this, there is enormous global turbulence, politically, economically and socially. There are some real issues emerging, which are partly to do with and will be exacerbated by technology.

He says one of these is inequality arising from the disappearance of jobs due to automation and other disruptive technologies.

How resilient will this system be if my world changes? How vulnerable to cyberattack is this system I am creating?

Robin Johansen

These new technologies are very radically and rapidly changing the nature of work, and what is coming out from various reports is we are destroying more jobs than we are creating, says Johansen.

In the past, he says, the jobs that disappeared due to technology were replaced by new jobs, so there was a balance.

That is no longer the case.

He believes this issue translates into politics in Europe and the United States, where discussions are heightened around tightening borders for migrants, slowing the movement of jobs offshore and the possible introduction of new tariffs or trade sanctions.

That is moving away from globalisation and yet, so many of the systems we have set up in the past 20 years, depend on globalisation, he states.

If you think just about cloud computing, a lot of people are dependent on cloud services that are not based in their own country.

He says cybersecurity is a particular concern as there is now a lot of sophistication around recent cyber incidents.

There seems to be strong evidence of state players messing with electronics systems, he says, referring to the the current discussion on the alleged meddling by Russia in the recent US elections.

If you can do that for an election, it is not a big step from there to start a completely different sort of warfare. What if you broke into the electrical transmission systems of a nation and just disrupted them without firing a shot, then you will have completely unsettled that environment?

Closer to home, in the Asia Pacific, he cites North Korea as a rogue state that is behaving very badly, while China is extending its reach through the South China sea. As well, both nations have been accused of participation in state sponsored cyber attacks.

There is a real danger in having a focus on the business outcomes and the technology without having an adequate focus on the people

Robin Johansen

It is easy to dismiss these cyber threats as applying only to national security, but recent ransomware attacks have shown just how vulnerable many organisations can be.

CIOs have got to be aware of these developments when they are conceiving their IT systems.

It is all very well having everything in the cloud but what if is the question modern CIOs need to think through, he says, as well as to have a fallback or a response, and to remain agile.

He sees CIOs having to make some big decisions in an incredibly turbulent period, both socially and politically.

If you introduce a new technology, there can be a political blowback - global, national, or within the company.

The government may act to slow down or stop adoption of a technology.

For example, he says, there is talk about introducing taxes for automation as conventional employment declines and reduces the government revenue from taxes. What if that led to the imposition of new taxes on cloud based services from a particular geography?

For New Zealand CIOs, there is the concern about how to respond in case of events such as earthquakes.

How resilient will this system be if my world changes? Can you shift quickly? How vulnerable to cyberattack is this system I am creating?

Thus, Johansen says CIOs also have to think like futurists, more than ever.

He notes another development is appointment of CIOs who do not necessarily come from a strong technology background.

They are good managers with a strong business sense and reliant on others to fill in the gaps from a technology.

That is fine provided you have a good technology team behind you, he says.

We are entering an era when a CIOs technical experience may be limited to updating their smartphone or tablet and think that an enterprise upgrade should be no more taxing. They do not necessarily understand the complexity and have little motivation to be better informed.

The problem is if you have got someone who is making decisions without any of that understanding, a salesperson can set him or her up a wonderful deal that will bite the organisation in three years.

On the day-to-day business, I see too often technology roaring ahead without taking the people with it, and these include customers and suppliers.

Johansen says he had done recent work assessing one such project with a company.

The business technology project was implemented, but the people were not adequately involved in the planning and deployment.

The project failed to deliver and cost the company a lot of money. The people also did not want to be bothered by the complexity of the new system, as they questioned, what is in it for me?

He says industry analysts have been highlighting how digital transformation is a journey "where you have to take the people with you".

"There is a real danger in having a focus on the business outcomes and the technology without having an adequate focus on the people," he says.

The other thing is agility, he says. This way, you can quickly adopt and adapt to whatever threats and opportunities come along.

Robin Johansen is one of the ICT leaders interviewed for the 2017 State of the CIO report, held in conjunction with the CIO Executive Council.

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Joint Elder Euthanasia in Netherlands – National Review

Posted: August 15, 2017 at 12:41 pm

Remember when society considered it a tragedy when old people killed themselves?

Now, apparently, it is celebrated as a splendid death with dignity choice. From the Telegraph story:

An elderly couple died holding hands surrounded by loved ones in arare double euthanasia.

Nic and Trees Elderhorst, both 91, died in their hometown of Didam, in the Netherlands, after 65 years of marriage. The couple both suffered from deteriorating physical health over the past five years, with Mr Elderhorst left with reduced mobility aftera stroke in 2012.

Walking had also become increasingly difficult for his wife, who had also suffered from memory loss.

It soon became clear that it could not wait much longer, the couples daughtertoldThe Gelderlander[translated]. The geriatrician determined that our mother was still mentally competent. However, if our father were to die, she could become completely disoriented, ending up in a nursing home.

Something which she desperately did not want. Dying together was their deepest wish.

There you go again, Wesley slippery sloping away!

No. Facts on the ground. Joint euthanasia or assisted suicides of elderly couples have also taken place in Switzerland and Belgium.

This is the thing: Once a society accepts killing as an acceptable answer to current and feared future suffering, then what constitutes sufficient difficultyto qualify to be made dead becomes very elastic.

Et voila, before you know it, the children of elderly parents attend and celebrate their jointeuthanasia killingsinstead of urging them to remain alive andassuring them that they will be loved and cared for, come what may.

Euthanasia corrupts everything it touches, including theperceptions of childrensobligations to aging parents and societys duties toward their elderly members.

Dont say you werent warned.

Read the rest here:

Joint Elder Euthanasia in Netherlands - National Review

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