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The Evolutionary Perspective
Monthly Archives: July 2022
Evolution of the automotive sector data privacy and cyber security Financier Worldwide – Financier Worldwide
Posted: July 13, 2022 at 9:27 am
FW: Against a backdrop of evolving cyber and data privacy regulations, how important is it for the automotive sector to be proactive in protecting data? What are the potential consequences for an automotive company that falls victim to a cyber attack or data breach?
Karniyevich: As a cyber attack or data breach can have an impact on the safety of the driver and passengers, in the context of connected vehicles it is of vital importance for manufacturers and security vendors to be proactive in protecting data and to address the risk of hackers attempting to exploit connected vehicles vulnerabilities. Besides reputational damage, an automotive company that falls victim to a cyber attack or a data breach will likely face a fine under the GDPR, as well as the European cyber security regulations, in particular the Network & Information Systems (NIS) Directive which will soon be replaced by the NIS2 Directive and which introduces a new and expanded EU cyber security regime also covering the road transport sector. In addition, the supervisory authority will likely investigate the organisations compliance practices and highlight any areas that fail to meet the applicable requirements.
Ballhausen: Stakeholders within the automotive sector should be keen to consider privacy requirements as early as possible. While it may be possible to implement some solutions even at an early stage, such as making the privacy policy available through a user interface, many requirements will need to be considered when products and services are planned. For example, data collection devices may need to be built to exclude specific data from being collected to comply with section 63e of the German Road Traffic Regulation, otherwise the respective device may be prohibited or temporarily taken off the market by a competent authority. These are just two examples of the potential consequences of failing to comply with privacy requirements. In addition, the competent authorities have a whole set of potential measures at their disposal, which range from inquiries to fines. Furthermore, in the event of a data breach which leads to the destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to personal data, the data controller is obliged to notify the competent authority and potentially also inform the affected individuals. At the same time, cases in which individuals bring claims directly against the data controller continue to rise. To avoid these risks, the requirements and necessary security measures should be carefully considered as early as possible in the development process.
FW: In your experience, are current levels of data security deployed by automotive companies generally sufficient to address cyber risks?
Karniyevich: With smart car connectivity increasing, the growing use of data and the emergence of semi-autonomous cars, new cyber security risks and threats are developing. Security measures deployed by automotive companies need to be constantly updated to take into account recent cyber security developments to eliminate or mitigate the potential risks, especially as these attacks threaten the security, safety and privacy of vehicle and all other road users. As highlighted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), there have been some experimental remote attacks on autonomous cars cameras and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems, showing effective camera blinding, making real objects appear further than their actual locations or even creating fake objects. In addition to malicious sensors and manipulations, other attack vectors have been demonstrated, such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) spoofing and fooling AI-based functions, with the famous example of trapping a self-driving car by just drawing a chalk circle around the vehicle. Such attacks may lead to data breaches, vehicle immobilisation, road accidents, financial losses, and even endanger road users safety.
Ballhausen: In our experience, automotive companies are generally very keen to ensure data security. The sector is used to dealing with security requirements. Data security requirements are often seen as an additional set of security requirements which must be met. Nonetheless, automotive companies have faced data breaches and personal data collected by automotive companies has been lost. With an increase in cyber security attacks, it is safe to assume that the number of security issues and data breaches will increase and that despite all efforts, many of todays security measures are not yet sufficient.
FW: What technical and organisational measures do data controllers in the automotive sector need to adopt to ensure compliance with relevant legislation?
Karniyevich: From the perspective of a data controller, to ensure compliance with data protection regulations, automotive companies need to ensure they have access to hardware and software security, taking advantage of best practices and current security standards, beginning with design and manufacturing to operation and retirement. In addition, in-vehicle network security should be ensured to protect the processed personal data, such as location data, navigation history, call history, microphone recordings and so on. Finally, as vehicle systems need, in some circumstances, to communicate with cloud-based security services to detect and correct threats, cloud security services need to be implemented in a secure manner.
Ballhausen: The technical and organisational measures that need to be adopted depend on various factors. There are, of course, principles such as the ability to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services, as referred to in article 32 of the GDPR. However, this ability needs to be ensured through different means, such as if you take access control to ensure confidentiality, for example. If the personal data is processed within a vehicle, access control measures may be limited to password protection and potentially encryption or pseudonymisation, whereas it will generally be possible to restrict the access to personal data processed on servers in a data centre, such as part of a smart or cloud solution, physically. Furthermore, the level of security that needs to be achieved depends on the sensitivity of the personal data being processed. The more sensitive the data, the higher the security measures that need to be implemented. Therefore, there is not one definitive set of technical and organisational measures that must be adopted by data controllers in the automotive sector. Instead, data controllers should carefully consider what personal data they will be processing, the sensitivity of this data and the security measures available to them in a specific setup.
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The Evolution of Media: Visualizing a Data-Driven Future – Visual Capitalist
Posted: at 9:27 am
In todays highly-connected and instantaneous world, we have access to a massive amount of information at our fingertips.
Historically, however, this hasnt always been the case.
Time travel back just 20 years ago to 2002, and youd notice the vast majority of people were still waiting on the daily paper or the evening news to help fill the information void.
In fact, for most of 2002, Google was trailing in search engine market share behind Yahoo! and MSN. Meanwhile, early social media incarnations (MySpace, Friendster, etc.) were just starting to come online, and all of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and the iPhone did not yet exist.
Every so often, the dominant form of communication is upended by new technological developments and changing societal preferences.
These transitions seem to be happening faster over time, aligning with the accelerated progress of technology.
Each new wave of media comes with its own pros and cons.
For example, Connected Media was a huge step forward in that it enabled everyone to be a part of the conversation. On the other hand, algorithms and the sheer amount of content to sift through has created a lot of downsides as well. To name just a few problems with media today: filter bubbles, sensationalism, clickbait, and so on.
Before we dive into what we think is the next wave of media, lets first break down the common attributes and problems with prior waves.
Before the first wave of media, amplifying a message took devotion and a lifetime.
Add in the fact that even by the year 1500, only 4% of global citizens lived in cities, and you can see how hard it would be to communicate effectively with the masses during this era.
Or, to paint a more vivid picture of what proto-media was like: information could only travel as fast as the speed of a horse.
In this first wave, new technological advancements enabled widescale communication for the first time in history.
Newspapers, books, magazines, radios, televisions, movies, and early websites all fit within this framework, enabling the owners of these assets to broadcast their message at scale.
With large amounts of infrastructure required to print books or broadcast television news programs, it took capital or connections to gain access. For this reason, large corporations and governments were usually the gatekeepers, and ordinary citizens had limited influence.
Importantly, these mediums only allowed one-way communicationmeaning that they could broadcast a message, but the general public was restricted in how they could respond (i.e. a letter to the editor, or a phone call to a radio station).
Innovations like Web 2.0 and social media changed the game.
Starting in the mid-2000s, barriers to entry began to drop, and it eventually became free and easy for anyone to broadcast their opinion online. As the internet exploded with content, sorting through it became the number one problem to solve.
For better or worse, algorithms began to feed people what they loved, so they could consume even more. The ripple effect of this was that everyone competing for eyeballs suddenly found themselves optimizing content to try and win the algorithm game to get virality.
Viral content is often engaging and interesting, but it comes with tradeoffs. Content can be made artificially engaging by sensationalizing, using clickbait, or playing loose with the facts. It can be ultra-targeted to resonate emotionally within one particular filter bubble. It can be designed to enrage a certain group, and mobilize them towards actioneven if it is extreme.
Despite the many benefits of Connected Media, we are seeing more polarization than ever before in society. Groups of people cant relate to each other or discuss issues, because they cant even agree on basic facts.
Perhaps most frustrating of all? Many people dont know they are deep within their own bubble in which they are only fed information they agree with. They are unaware that other legitimate points of view exist. Everything is black and white, and grey thinking is rarer and rarer.
Between 2015 and 2025, the amount of data captured, created, and replicated globally will increase by 1,600%.
For the first time ever, a significant quantity of data is becoming open source and available to anyone. There have been massive advancements in how to store and verify data, and even the ownership of information can now be tracked on the blockchain. Both media and the population are becoming more data literate, and they are also becoming aware of the societal drawbacks stemming from Connected Media.
As this new wave emerges, its worth examining some of its attributes and connecting concepts in more detail:
The Data Media ecosystem is just beginning to emerge, but here are some early pioneers we like:
Growth in data journalism and the emergence of these pioneers helps give you a sense of the beginnings of Data Media, but we believe they are only scratching the surface of what is possible.
In a sense, its easier to define what Data Media isnt.
Data Media is not partisan pundits arguing over each other on a newscast, and its not fake news, misinformation, or clickbait that is engineered to drive easy clicks. Data media is not an echo chamber that only reinforces existing biases. Because data is also less subjective, its less likely to be censored in the way we see today.
Data is not perfect, but it can help change the conversations we are having as a society to be more constructive and inclusive. We hope you agree!
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The Evolution of Media: Visualizing a Data-Driven Future - Visual Capitalist
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Volvo’s New Euro Plant To Build EVs Based On An Evolution Of SPA2 – InsideEVs
Posted: at 9:27 am
New details have emerged about Volvo Cars' future electric vehicle plant in Slovakia, which will start building next-generation EVs in 2026 after a $1.25 billion investment.
The automaker's first new factory in Europe since 1965 will build cars based on a successor to the EV-only SPA2 platform, which will soon underpin Volvo's upcoming flagship SUV and the Polestar 3 sister modelboth expected to enter production at the carmaker's plant in Charleston, South Carolina later this year.
Volvo Cars' head of global manufacturing, Geert Bruyneel, confirmed to Automotive News Europe that EVs made in Slovakia will use a successor to SPA2 and said the architecture will be the company's most advanced at the start of production.The evolution of the SPA2 architecture planned for Kosice will be done by Volvo and shared with sibling brands owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding, such as Polestar, Geely, Lynk & Co, and Lotus.
Bruyneel and Volvo's head of industrial strategy, Erik Severinson, declined to say which car would be made at thenew factory in Kosice, Slovakia. The carmaker uses the current generation of SPA (Scalable Product Architecture) on models such as the Volvo XC90 and XC60 midsize and compact luxury SUVs, so it would be logical to build an all-electric successor to the XC60 at the new plant.
4 Photos
Another model that would fit the bill is a future electric crossover codenamed V546 that will slot between the XC60 and XC90 in size when it debuts sometime in 2025.
Volvo's new plant in Slovakia will utilize megacasting for large aluminum body parts, Severinson revealed, adding that the switch to the new technique for car construction will mark "the next generation in our technology journey."
"The new plant in Slovakia gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put the most efficient state-of-the-art factory in place."
Volvo Cars' head of global manufacturing, Geert Bruyneel
Asked whether Volvo plants to add battery or electric motor production at the Kosice factory, Bruyneel said that while those decisions still need to be made, Volvo has room to expand if needed.
The Swedish carmaker's next flagship SUV, which will replace the XC90 as the brand's flagship and will inaugurate the SPA2 platform, will be fully electric. Volvo hasn't yet disclosed the model's name, but has said it will break the tradition of using alphanumeric names on future vehicles.
The name Embla appears to be among those considered after it was discovered that Volvo filed for trademark protection last October for it, which in Norse mythology is the name of the first woman.
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Open Championship 2022: A deep-dive look at the subtle but ongoing evolution of the Old Course – GolfDigest.com
Posted: at 9:27 am
Seven years agoonly seven!Peter Dawson, the retiring CEO of the R&A on the eve of the 28th playing of the Open Championship at the Old Course, initially dismissed a question of whether the venerable links were on the brink of extinction.
Forced to elaborate, Dawson emphasized that the Old Course has held up for generations, and that golfs governing bodies will work to ensure it will last well into the future as a strong challenge.
Seven years later, Dawson has moved on, the ruling bodies have floated a more aggressive line of ideas on controlling the driving distance of the pros and the Old Course stands again at the crosshairs, essentially unchanged from what it was seven years ago, or in actual effect, forever. Will it still be enough to test the best?
Seven years ago, the short-hitting Zach Johnson won at St. Andrews with a 15-under-par score that would have won all but two previous Opens played at the Old Course dating back to when before par was even a thing. Of the last seven Opens played at the Old Course since 1984, double-digits under par has won the title six times. Since the turn of the century and the introduction of solid core balls and titanium drivers to elite mens professional golf, the average winning score at Old Course Open Championships has been 16 under, and the prospect of record low scores is only a couple of benign summer days away.
Jordan Spieth said as much at the Genesis Scottish Open last week. Asked if the Old Course might now be too easy, he barely hedged. I think it might be, he said. I think if it's like it was this morning out here [calm], it's just a wedge contest, really. The back nine just doesn't show the same teeth that it normally does.
But I don't know what else necessarily could be done. You know, it was not necessarily built for today's technology. But I think that even a nice ten to 15 miles an hour would do something to it.
Given its historic place, the perception is that the Old Course has just sat there unchanged all these centuries as golfers and their tools have gotten better. In truth, though, it has evolved, almost constantly. According to Scott Macpherson, a golf course architect who has studied the Old Course through all its changes for his book The Evolution of the Old Course, the introduction of the Haskell ball led to a lengthening of the course by roughly 200 yards. By the 1920s, a map done by Alister Mackenzie showed the yardage to be nearly 6,600 yards. By the 1940s, it was over 6,800 yards and well above 6,900 yards in the 1960s. But since 2000, and the modern ball and club era, its added nearly 400 yards. Throughout, tees have been lengthened or repositioned at new angles, even stretched outside the normal boundaries of the original links itself, adjustments that might seem grotesque to some while others might call it a natural evolution.
Its trying to find a sensitive way to do it that will protect the integrity of the course, Macpherson said recently on his podcast Golf Design Matters.
But as Golf Digests veteran Old Course observer John Huggan has pointed out, all those new tees will have competitors at the 150th Open walking an extra 2,000 yards back and forth. Thats a far cry from a course where in its early days the tee for the next hole was just two club lengths from the actual hole of the last.
Whats telling of course is that since the 2015 Open, there have been no dramatic changes other than a longer tee at the par-three 8th hole that was used for the Senior British Open in 2018. It is as if the R&A wants the distance question that has bubbled up since the last visit to St. Andrews to be settled once and for all by how the Old Course stands up to the games elite players now. Or, perhaps, how it doesnt.
No. 2: Par 4, 452 yards
While even the iconic first and 18th holes have changed over the last two centuries (there used to be a giant bunker in the center of the mammoth, 129-yard-wide fairway), the changes in the middle of the course are more extensive. Most recently, that starts with the second hole, where the new tee installed for the 2005 Open has taken the once 400-yard par four and stretched it to 452 yards and pushed the tee essentially onto a portion of The Himalayas, the putting course to the right of the Old Courses first fairway as shown in this flyover video.
But as is the case throughout the Old Courses changes, the reason isnt a lengthening for lengthenings sake. Rather, its about the iconic 112 bunkers and their relevance in the modern game. When the 2nd hole was stretched, the main motivation was to restore the effectiveness of Cheapes Bunker, which has been around since the 1800s. Though its size has dwindled over time, it was rebuilt in 2017 to restore some aggressiveness, or what Macpherson recently referred to in an article for Through the Green magazine as waiting to ambush errant balls like black holes swallowing stars.
A players fear of the bunkers at St. Andrews stems largely from the knowledge that the length of their captivity by any one of the sandy hostage-takers is influenced by factors out of their control, Macpherson wrote. Elite golfers are highly adept and skilful, but the bunkers vary in depth, shape and size, and the severity of the imprisonment is determined by a stronger, more cosmic and unpredictable force deeply interwoven into the fabric of life and golf that of chance.
Cheapes bunker found itself about 250 yards from the tee for much of the second holes modern existence, but now its more like 300 yards to carry from the longer tee as shown in this flyover clip.
Its larger size and more penal revetted face might take driver out of players hands, but PGA Tour ShotLink data indicates 98 percent of players have recorded at least one drive this year that carried 300 or more yards, making its new distance from the tee already questionable. Of course, there are accounts that Bobby Jones while winning the 1927 Open played the second hole, then 401 yards, with a pitch to the green. And in 2005, its first year at its longest, current length, Tiger Woods hit a 3-wood off the tee in the final round that bounded nearly the length of Cheapes but ended up safely in the middle of the fairway, never threatening it. Its scoring average, which jumped in the 2005 and 2010 Opens, actually played easier in 2015 at 452 yards than it did in 2000 at 411 yards. Still, as Macpherson writes, with a strong sea breeze it could become a menace, particularly as the second hole in the four-hole aggregate playoff.
As always with a links but especially at the Old Course, its the wind that provides the main challenge. The lengthening of holes, the squeezing of fairways, the growing of rough, even expanding bunkers and contouring the surrounding troughs that serve to draw balls into them may all be window-dressing without the omnipresent unseen hazard that is the wind flow off St. Andrews Bay. According to weather statistics, the wind blows 6-20 miles per hour almost a third of the time in St. Andrews in the month of July. But more than 10 percent of the time it is relatively calm. Still, at the 2015 Open at St. Andrews, play was suspended for an entire day while the wind blew at 40 miles per hour.
No. 4: Par 4, 480 yards
Wind or not, the changes to the Old Course have a direct and simple motivation. As Dawson said back in 2005, We want to reinstate the old decisions players had to make. An even stronger case in point is the fourth tee for the 150th Open, which will be nearly a full football field longer than it was for the 35th Open in 1895 as this flyover video shows.
The tee has moved back three times since that 1895 Open, all in an effort to force players to decide how to navigate a patch of hillocks and gorse that separates the safer left side of the fairway from the more aggressive and rewarding right side.
When more than 30 yards were added to this hole, named Ginger Beer, for the 1946 Open, players that had easily flown the trouble in the 1939 Open now found themselves squarely in the middle of it. Now, at 480 yards, No. 4 opens with the old uncertainty of a lengthy carry, now at 290 yards. Still, the leaders in the last three Opens had little difficulty in flying over that trouble, Tiger Woods even carrying it with his old 3-wood. The 4th hole has played consistently over par in large part because of a mound that fronts the green and a bunker short right that has gotten closer to the putting surface in recent years. Approach shots are rarely played aggressively here.
No. 14: Par 5, 614 yards
Even the longest hole on the course, the par-5 14th, might not provide the trouble it should, despite playing 614 yards, or 50 yards longer than it did 25 years ago. The hole is famous for the collection of bunkers known as the Beardies that guard the left side and the enormous pit called Hell Bunker that thwarts all but the best or most conservative second shots. But again, the changes in tee length and location have changed the effectiveness of these hazards, the fear factor has become almost a non-factor, except when the wind blows. In the 2015 Open, when the wind was up for three of the four rounds, it was one of only five par five holes on the PGA Tour that year with a scoring average over par. Its such a spooky tee shot when the winds this way, golf commentator Ken Brown noted at the time.
In the early days, players had to fly tee shots on the 14th over the Beardies, but too often now they are almost like a garnish on the hole, Macpherson said. It is rare that the Old Course adds a bunker these days, but he believes a fourth added to the Beardies could inject some fear back into the tee shot. Instead, players now club down to more easily navigate the out of bounds up the right, but somewhat uncharacteristically for a links, theres rough along an out-of-bounds stone wall that further pinches the fairway, presumably to push a players aim more toward the Beardies.
Another 200 yards or so beyond the Beardies is Hell Bunker, but it, too, seems only a minor distraction these days. Players often can safely and easily play to the 5th fairway, although that often leaves a blind third shot. And while Jack Nicklaus famously took four whacks to get out of Hell in 1995, he only found himself in there after a poor shot with a 4-wood, not a club any current player is likely using on that hole. As Macpherson writes, Today, this bunker is a museum piece for modern professionals with their 200 mph ball speeds and towering shots, so Hell is all but reserved for mortals and tourists.
No. 17: Par 4, 495 yards
The meanest and perhaps most controversially altered is the legendary 17th, the Road Hole. Its been the toughest hole on the PGA Tour each year the Open has been played at St. Andrews, and in 2015, it averaged 4.655, a higher score to par than any hole played anywhere in the last seven years. While it played at 450 yards or more for over a century, the Road Hole was a par 5 into the 1950s. Its probably why Ben Crenshaw once said, The reason the Road Hole is the greatest par-4 in the world is because it's a par-5."
Long a fearsome hole, when Rory McIlroy hit a 7-iron into the green to make birdie at the 2009 Dunhill Links Championship, the 17th was clearly playing differently than when Tom Watson had to go at it with a 2-iron and made bogey to lose the 1984 Open. But when the R&A decided to push the tee nearly 40 yards back and to the right for the 2010 Open, it had to go beyond the courses previous out of bounds to find room. In fact, left of the current tee are the out of bounds stakes for the 16th hole.
In a way, the 17th typifies the way the Old Course has had to wrestle with the issue of distance perhaps more impractically than any famous course in the world. The current championship layout now occupies sections of the neighboring New and Eden courses,the Himalayas putting course and in the case of the tee at 17, the grounds of the St. Andrews Links Golf Academy. From the sky, the 17th hole today looks like a mistake. The tee is blocked by a hotel while the fairway angles blindly and unreceptively away from any reasonable line off the tee. Throw in the addition of meaty rough to the left, and a road and a stone wall behind an impossibly pinched green shape, and you have a hole that seems like it was cut out of Robin Williams famous golf monologue.
All this is before we get to the disaster-inducing Road Hole bunker. The most severe pot bunker on the property, the Road Hole pit appears on maps of the Old Course dating to the 1830s at least. Its location hasnt changed but the size, shape and depth have fluctuated over the last 50 years. You could see out of it in the 1870s, as you could in the 1970s, but over the last 50 years its gotten small enough to be barely the size of a water closet and then increasingly wider and deeper. Now, not only can a player not see the green once hes in the bunker, any approach shot coming from the middle or left of center almost routinely is played out to the right away from the bunker, particularly when the flag is cut just over the bunker in the middle of the green (like it will be in the final round of the Open).
And while its actual size is only a couple feet wider for this Open than past versions, the slopes around the bunker catch shots (and some putts), funneling them into the sand and up against its tall revetted face like the kind of hazard you might see at Captain Hooks Adventure Golf & Arcade.
But it is hard to say the 17th hole is contrived to be so devilish when, for the most part, its been that way before Old Tom Morris re-designed the course. And in large part thats true of all the holes at the Old Course. The tweaks have come, as Macpherson says, because the Old Course, and design in general, is always a response to whats happening in other parts of the golf sector. When the Haskell ball came out, what did the Old Course do in response to this new powerful ball? They extended the Old Course by roughly 200 yards. And theres certainly been periods where the Old Course has had these increases and then theres been a plateau for some period of time, and then theres another change.
But Macpherson believes that average driving distances today are approximately 80 yards greater than they were a century ago. If that is true, he thinks the Old Course would have to stretch to at least 7,800 yards to offer the same challenge. But that kind of real estate is no longer possible, of course. He thinks ball and club technology has taken more than a bite out of the Old Course. Rather, its left it with little bite, and not just for elite players. He noted amateur and former pro tennis star Tim Henman made birdie recently at the 17th with a 6-iron. A recent study of recreational golfers by ShotScope, the stat-tracking GPS game-analytics system, showed the Old Course to be the third easiest on the Open rota (only Troon and St. Georges are easier), and showed that all but scratch handicap players beat net par when they play the Old Course. Not only that, average golfers are four times more successful getting up and down from the Road Hole bunker than they are missing the green long.
Macpherson played and caddied at St. Andrews for almost a quarter century. He says his 3-handicap isnt always tested by the Old Course these days.
I am certainly not tearing it up, and when the wind blows it can be very tricky, but it is pretty gettable for many golfers these days, and Ive seen that happen. he said. So I am not convinced it is monumentally difficult nowadays. I just dont think the course holds the terrors it once did. Maybe that's a good thing. Certainly its very playable for golfers of all abilities. Even my 11-year-old son, who played it on a cold and wet day last November, got around and had fun.
Like former Open champion Lawrie, Macpherson believes a very low score is possible at the Old Course this year, even something in the 50s. But as he laments the declining challenge, he also recognizes something else at work beyond technology. Do you think theres a case to abandon par at this point, and think well, actually we cant extend the Old Course in any reasonable way so lets not even try?
These are the best golfers in the world with the technology theyre currently allowed to use so lets put to one side this concept of par, which was invented in 1891, and let these guys just play the best golf they can. And if they shoot 58, so be it. Congratulations to them.
Of course, Macpherson also knows thats not how the ruling bodies see a major championship test. He knows the R&A will want rigor as much from its venue as from its champion. Whether the former can be provided or the latter required remains to be seen, but if the answer at the 150th Open turns out to be an anti-climactic and resounding No, it seems likely now there will be fundamental changes to ensure it never happens againchanges this time that may not involve the course. But so it is with the Old Course and change. Sometimes it is forced upon it, sometimes it forces that change upon the game.
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New Zealand to Keep Hiking at Pace After Third Half-Point Move – Bloomberg
Posted: at 9:24 am
- New Zealand to Keep Hiking at Pace After Third Half-Point Move Bloomberg
- New Zealand central bank hikes benchmark rate to 2.5 percent Al Jazeera English
- The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raises cash rate by 50 basis points CNBC
- New Zealand's central bank lifts benchmark cash rate to 2.5% CTPost
- The Reserve Bank can look across to New Zealand for a hint on Australia's economic future ABC News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
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No fear: the New Zealand virtual reality app helping conquer phobias – The Guardian
Posted: at 9:24 am
In the days leading up to an injection, Julie Raines mind would fog over with fear she was convinced the needle would harm her.
On the day of the injection, after a sleepless night, she would try to calm herself with sugary drinks, music, and soothing words. As the needle went in, she would turn away panic-stricken; and when it was over she would crumple in tears and take a full day to recover. Most of the time, she would skip her appointment altogether.
The New Zealander has battled with trypanophobia a phobia of needles for as long as she can remember.
It stopped Raine getting blood tests, prevented her from being vaccinated against Covid-19 and caused her to flee the room where her teenage daughter was about to have a procedure.
Had someone told her that she would be able to get a Covid-19 vaccine without fear and without support, she would have never believed them. But confronting her phobia using virtual reality has transformed her life.
A six-week clinical trial of a phone-based app called oVRcome, which is designed to treat phobias using a combination of mindfulness modules and virtual reality exposure therapy, has been successful, researchers at the University of Otago report in a paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
Tech entrepreneur Adam Hutchinson came up with the app idea in 2020 after discovering there was a treatment gap for anxiety disorders and other mental health problems just 15-25% of disorders are treated globally in low-middle income countries, while up to 50-65% are treated in high income countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Meanwhile, New Zealands mental health system is in crisis due to understaffing and a lack of resources, and its youth suicide rates are the highest in the developed world.
There is a two to three times higher chance of someone developing a more serious condition like depression, alcoholism or even suicide as a result of leaving an anxiety disorder untreated, Hutchinson said.
If we can provide an effective, low-cost solution that people can use in the privacy of their own home earlier on in the evolution of their mental health treatment, we can potentially reduce the chance of more serious conditions popping up.
Hutchinson consulted clinical psychologists, put together a prototype and began testing between May and October 2021. The app relies on the behavioural treatment exposure therapy a treatment that safely exposes a patient to a situation that would usually cause them anxiety, or that they would try to avoid.
There were 109 participants in the six-week trial, which treated five common phobias the fear of needles, spiders, flying, heights and dogs.
A core part of the trial required participants to use a virtual reality headset to come face-to-face with their worst fears. The videos which are filmed in the real world start off lightly and gradually develop into more anxiety-inducing situations.
The participants must record their levels of anxiety before, during and after watching the videos, and can only move on to the next level once their anxiety falls below a certain threshold.
For Raine, it meant first entering a virtual medical room and watching a nurse prepare an injection not administering one but merely unwrapping a needle from the plastic, or setting up a metal tray with supplies.
It took me 15 tries to get through this video she said.
And then something quite remarkable happened my whole mindset changed and I couldnt wait to watch the VR. Raine had realised she had never actually watched the whole procedure and in doing so, she was able to think of an injection in a new way.
When I think about needles now, my mind instantly goes to: this is helpful and the nurses are here to help me.
Raine decided to participate in the trial because she wanted to take her children to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
I wanted to be a good mum, to be able to at least sit with them in the room without running out, she said, adding that since the trial she has not only been able to sit with her children during their vaccinations, but receive the jab herself.
Dr Cameron Lacey an associate psychology professor at the University of Otago and lead investigator on the trial said the app was hugely successful.
There was a very clear, positive signal that the use of the oVRrcome app significantly reduced [a persons] level of specific phobia symptoms, Lacey said.
That was indicated in the way people reported the severity of their phobia both immediately after the program concluded, and again another six weeks later. At the beginning of the trial participants averaged 26 out of 40 on the scale, indicating a moderate to severe phobia. After the program, that number reduced to seven and stayed there.
After the trials success, the app, which is now commercially available, has included new phobias and will expand into a new program for social anxiety disorders, panic disorders, addiction and depression. People in New Zealand can register their interest in participating in the new trials.
Part of the programs success is that it is accessible, Lacey said.
With virtual reality, you can be in your own home, be transported to an environment which has those feared stimuli be it heights or spiders in a predictable way, at your convenience.
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New Zealand reports second monkeypox case, unrelated to first – The Guardian
Posted: at 9:24 am
New Zealand has reported its second monkeypox case in a matter of days, but health authorities say the second has no link to the first.
The latest infection comes shortly after New Zealands first case, which was reported over the weekend, but the ministry of health said there was no evidence so far of community transmission.
Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) had reported 6,027 cases as of 7 July, with infections up 77% since the previous report on 27 June.
Monkeypox is already spreading in Australia, with 11 cases reported in New South Wales, but the largest outbreaks are in Europe, which accounts for 80-90% of current cases. According to the UK Health Security Agency, there had been 1,552 confirmed cases of monkeypox as of 7 July a figure that suggests case numbers are doubling every 15 days.
The WHO is due to meet by 18 July to consider whether monkeypox constitutes a global public health emergency. That designation the highest level of global alert applies only to Covid-19 and polio at present.
According to WHO guidelines, monkeypox symptoms are often mild, and usually last from two to four weeks. Severe cases can occur, however, and estimates of case fatality ratio range from less than 1% to 6%. The WHO has reported three deaths since the start of the year.
A spokesperson for the ministry of health said the first case, a person in their 30s, lives in Auckland and had recently returned from overseas travel in a country with reported cases of monkeypox. The second case, also with a record of overseas travel, is isolating in the northern region.
We have already taken steps to prepare for the arrival of monkeypox. Last month monkeypox was officially listed as a notifiable disease, enabling us to utilise the tools needed to contain any possible spread of the disease including isolation orders and readying contact tracing capabilities, the spokesperson said.
While anyone can catch the virus through close contact, the outbreak in Europe so far has been clustered around men who have sex with men. According to the latest WHO update, more than 99% of the cases for which gender information was available were among men.
International cases have been clustered around events where this occurs, the ministry spokesperson said. As such we are asking anyone whos been overseas and attended events connected with the spread of monkeypox to be aware of any symptoms and seek advice.
Smallpox vaccines offer protection against monkeypox, and in the US and UK governments are making plans to distribute vaccine doses to try to stem the spread and protect those most at risk.
In New Zealand, the health ministry said it would explore options for access to smallpox vaccines that can be used as part of the targeted prevention of spread of monkeypox in certain situations.
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Plymouth couple returns from New Zealand to face charges in 2015 child neglect case – FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
Posted: at 9:24 am
Plymouth parents in court for child neglect case
A metro area mother and father charged with child neglect in the death of their 7-year-old son have returned to Minnesota years after leaving the state for New Zealand.
(FOX 9) - A metro area mother and father both charged with child neglect in a 2015 case in the death of their 7-year-old son have returned to Minnesota, years after leaving the state for New Zealand.
Timothy David Johnson was in Hennepin County District Court just a few days ago. His wife, Sarah Nicole Johnson, is also charged in the case and has her own hearing coming up on Friday.
The family made headlines when the Hennepin County Attorneys Office charged them in 2016 for failing to provide proper medical care for their dying child, and allegedly, opting for home remedies and prayer instead.
Public online records confirm Timothy Johnson was booked into the Hennepin County Jail last week. The now 45-year-old dad, charged with child neglect for the March 2015 death of his young son in Plymouth, spent less than 24 hours behind bars.
The Johnsons case exploded in news headlines across the globe, as far away as New Zealand, when they failed to show for their scheduled court hearings half-a-dozen years ago. New Zealand is where the Johnsons moved after the death of their son before prosecutors filed the gross misdemeanor charges alleging the parents failed to provide the boy with proper medical care.
The charges lay out a tragic death authorities believe was preventable with proper intervention.
Court records indicate the Johnsons had adopted the boy out of foster care several years earlier, but following an autopsy, the Hennepin County Medical Examiners office determined the childs cause of death was acute pancreatitis and possible sepsis.
Prosecutors alleged the Johnsons were aware of the boys failing health condition including bruises, breaks all over his skin and eventually listlessness, but failed to take him for professional medical care. The complaint states, "they (the parents) had issues going to doctors," concerned a doctor would put their son on medications, instead preferring their own research.
The Johnsons also told investigators they increased their sons vitamin intake when his condition deteriorated and treated the visible wound with Neosporin and "medical honey." They then prayed for his health the night before he died in their home on March 30, 2015.
It would take prosecutors nearly two years to file the charges against the Johnsons, but by then, they had already left Minnesota and were living in New Zealand. It does not appear the couple made any court hearings and arrest warrants, though issued, never executed, with the family thousands of miles away on another continent.
Their attorneys have maintained the couple did not "flee" explaining in court filings, they thought the case would never be prosecuted, so they left the country with their other children in good faith. Law enforcement sources involved in the case at the time tell FOX 9 they were always skeptical of that explanation.
But its still not clear what has seemingly brought the Johnsons back to Minnesota.
No one involved in the case is commenting on the record, including the Hennepin County Attorneys office and the Johnsons' listed attorneys.
For his part, Timothy Johnson signed an extradition waiver last week before being allowed to leave jail without posting any bail. That means he can be returned to Minnesota anytime to make future court appearances.
Meanwhile, Sarah has her own Hennepin County court appearance on the calendar later this week.
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New Zealand Announces New Police Powers to Tackle Exploding Violent Gang Crime – The Epoch Times
Posted: at 9:24 am
The New Zealand government has unveiled new powers and tools for police to use in the fight against gang violence and intimidation, which has escalated to a point where some have compared the situation to South Africa.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins said the recent brazen gang activities were totally unacceptable, and New Zealand residents deserved better.
Some new powers include the ability to find and seize weapons from gang members during a conflict and impounding vehicles under an expanded range of offences.
Work to strengthen a sector-wide approach to youth crime is also in progress.
Police asked for legislative changes that will give them more tools to crack down on violent offending and other criminal activities, he said in a media release. We have listened and will introduce a package of changes that target this activity as an omnibus Amendment Bill as soon as possible.
These are practical and targeted measures that will help the Police do their job to keep communities safe. We are interested in real solutions, not empty slogans.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan added that efforts to address the underlying drivers of crime were also underway to ensure that the problem was being tackled at both ends.
We know people dont become gang members overnight and that the causes are complex and often intergenerational, Allan said.
We will continue to ensure we are upping the ante on intervention and prevention measures that are focused on steering young people away from a life with organised criminal groups.
I will be looking closely at the youth justice system, in particular, to see how we can make changes that will improve both the lives of at-risk young people and public safety over the long term.
The opposition party said it would support the proposals but believed they did not go far enough and merely tinker around the edges of a problem.
National has long called for greater search powers for police to take firearms out of the hands of gangs, so it is positive the government is finally acting to provide these for police. But this still doesnt go far enough, Nationals acting police spokesman Chris Penk said.
The National Party has long advocated its own four-point plan, which includes banning gang patches, giving police powers to prevent gangs from communicating and planning criminal activity, dispersal notice powers, and warrantless search powers to confiscate guns from violent gang members.
Nationals leader Christopher Luxon said the most powerful method would be cutting back illegal guns that gangs had access to.
That requires what we call the firearms prohibitions orders with warrantless search powers to be able to execute that, so that police actually have the tool to go after gang members who are using illegal guns, he told reporters.
However, the Greens Party called for more action to address underlying causes of crime and not more of the same simplistic solutions that we know do not work.
The recent episodes of gang violence and crime will be scary for whanau and our communities. But granting police expanded powers is not going to address the problem of organised crime, prevent violence, or keep people safe, Greens justice spokesman Golriz Ghahraman said.
Ghahraman noted that Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand, and Pasifika communities are many more times likely to be subjected to searches. She called for a greater focus on Maori solutions as well as more sensible gun regulation.
Meanwhile, the ACT Party said the tougher action on shootings was long overdue, citing new data that showed a 26 percent increase in gang member firearm offences between 2018 and 2020.
Its a shame that things have had to get this bad before theyve finally taken some action, ACTs justice spokesman Nicole McKee said.
I hope this new focus on gangs means Labour will now stop targeting law-abiding firearms owners and that they will scrap their plans to create a firearms register that gang members will see as a shopping list for firearms they can steal.
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Rebecca Zhu is based in Sydney. She focuses on Australian and New Zealand national affairs. Got a tip? Contact her at rebecca.zhu@epochtimes.com.au.
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New Zealand stands on the brink of the Covid precipice. Why arent we moving to red? – The Guardian
Posted: at 9:23 am
Last week cabinet made a baffling decision. As winter illnesses spike and another wave of Covid-19 threatens to overwhelm emergency departments, the government held the country at the orange traffic light setting.
Large gatherings can still take place, masks are optional in most settings, and schools and workplaces can open without restrictions. In other words, all the rules that struggled to contain the first outbreak are still in force. This, as daily cases pass the 10,000 mark and experts predict that the BA.5 variant could easily push case numbers above 25,000 before the month is out. With many hospitals already operating at 100% capacity, a more than doubling in case numbers could risk the mass cancellation of procedures, ward closures, and other measures to preserve the health systems capacity.
Thats a disastrous scenario. Hospitals are already operating at the very edge. Last week the Association of General Surgeons wrote to the health minister, Andrew Little, outlining how a staffing shortfall is profoundly reducing doctors ability to deliver care.
Cancelling procedures and closing wards helps make that staffing shortage manageable, allowing hospital executives to redirect staff and resources to Covid-19 care, but then the health care burden only shifts to primary care. Yet general practitioners of whom there is a desperate shortage and urgent care clinics are already reporting impossible numbers. One clinic in Hamilton recorded double the number of patients compared with the same time last year. With the entire system operating at the edge it seems like wishful thinking to hold the country at orange.
To the governments credit, it is taking action to help people protect themselves. Last week the Covid-19 response minister, Dr Ayesha Verrall, announced that the government would supply schools with 50 child-sized face masks for each student in years 4 to 8.
More than two years into the pandemic, we know that masking is one of the simple and effective measures individuals can take to reduce their risk of infection. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that, when a sick person and someone nearby both wear N95-style masks rather than surgical or cloth masks, the risk of Covid-19 transmission can be reduced up to 75-fold. This effectiveness probably takes a hit against the more virulent BA.5, but masking remains one of the best forms of protection an individual has and, as a result, one of the best forms of insurance the health system has against a collapse.
But the trouble with holding the country at orange and emphasising personal responsibility is that it flips New Zealands successful pandemic script on its head. In 2020 the governments elimination strategy led the world, successfully reducing the countrys case numbers to zero within a few months.
Lockdowns and crystal clear public messaging helped New Zealanders undertake a collective effort to stop the spread and stamp it out. Advertisements encouraged people to scan in, and the government provided the contact tracing infrastructure to make it effective. Ministers encouraged people to social distance and advertisements communicated the epidemiological benefits of staying at least 2 metres apart. Wage subsidies and other forms of support were made available to ensure that people had the financial means to weather lockdowns and a new form of public life.
Yet Omicron put paid to that intensive government effort. Instead, its up to individuals to take protective actions themselves and hope that enough people in the community do likewise to make that individual effort worthwhile (you could mask up on the bus, for example, but if no one else does then your level of protection is dramatically reduced). The orange setting comes with very few rules and very little government encouragement. The public campaign communicating the benefits of masking, social distancing and self-isolation is over. This seems outrageous when the threat of Covid-19 is at its highest level, ever, in this country.
Of course, the case numbers which are bad and likely to get worse tell only half of the story. Covid-19 works along a chain, with every new infection disrupting a household, a workplace, and a community. When hospital staff fall ill, capacity takes a hit. When teachers fall ill, schools take a hit. When workers fall ill, businesses take a hit.
As the virus moves along that chain there are opportunities to cut it off at each link. In schools, mandatory masking and ventilation can help slow the spread. In businesses, social distancing and ventilation can similarly help slow the spread. None of this is difficult to comprehend. Covid-19 spreads in particles that escape from an infected persons mouth or nose, but the risk of catching that infection is reduced dramatically with masking and air ventilation (or purification). Add to these measures masking and ventilation a test-to-release policy and the virus would find it increasingly difficult to spread.
And yet the government is apparently considering none of this. There are no mandatory ventilation or purification rules, or funding mechanisms to make this possible for businesses and other organisations. Masking is voluntary in most settings and there is little in the way of government support to help in enforcement. Under the current rules people with Covid-19 can exit isolation after seven days. But the seven-day rule owes more to politics than it does to epidemiology. Under a test-to-release policy an infected person would not exit isolation until returning a negative test. Thats a better guarantee of stoping the spread than an arbitrary seven days, but the government appears committed to its week-long rule.
New Zealand led the world with its elimination strategy. The government could lead the world again if it committed wholly to suppression. With increasing evidence that Covid-19 can burrow in your organs, causing long term and irreversible damage, there is an increasingly strong argument that the suppression efforts must be stepped up for the sake of public health. In the absence of action were stuck on a rollercoaster of unplanned labour shortages, disability (long Covid), and death.
In the long term our best shot at suppression is making good-quality masks freely available, supporting businesses and other organisations with funding to improve ventilation, and changing self-isolation policy to better reflect scientific understanding. But in the short term our best shot at suppression is a move to the red setting.
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