Category Archives: Evolution

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes Journey guitarist and founding member Neal Schon. Schon formed the band in 1973 after an already successful career as a musician playing alongside Carlos Santana as well as part of the group Azteca. Schon has a vast collection of vintage guitars that will be auctioned off on July 31 with Heritage Auctions. Schon tells The Treatment about his R&B roots. He discusses working with Betty Davis (former wife of Miles Davis) on her groundbreaking funk album. And he talks about how Journeys iconic song Dont Stop Believin came to be.

The following interview has been abbreviated and edited for clarity.

KCRW: Welcome to The Treatment, the home edition. I'm Elvis Mitchell. My guest today played on some of the most epochal and trendsetting albums of the 70s and went on to found a little group called Journey. His name is Neil Schon, and he's auctioning off a few of his prized guitars on July 31, at Heritage Auctions. I think of you as being a guy who was a part of that big jam band movement out of the Bay Area in the 70s and also somebody who found himself in situations where you always got the right chemistry with people, be it with Carlos Santana, Greg Rolie, Greg Errico, or Steve Perry.

Neal Schon: I've been really fortunate and blessed to have met so many great musicians in my lifetime. I listened to a lot of different music growing up, and was influenced by many different types of music, a lot of soul and R&B. Journey has not really been about that for many, many years and was never really a blues thing. But my roots are all in blues and R&B. Really, that's the stuff that I know the best.

KCRW: Let's talk about Azteca for a minute, because that's a great configuration, a really cool band.

Schon: I was never completely in the band. There were about 25 members in that band, and it was really hard to get organized, as you can imagine, trying to get that many guys together and in the same place at the same time.

What's really interesting about the Azteca story is I played one show with them in San Francisco, and that is where I met Steve Perry. My friend Jackie Villanueva had introduced me to him after we played that night. He asked me to give Steve a ride to his car, so I gave him a ride, and I didn't know who he was. I didn't know that he was a singer. And then we met a couple more times, years after that, down in Los Angeles playing on the strip in little clubs. He came back and said, hey, I'm the singer. And I go, yeah, Greg is our singer, but it's great to see you again. I didn't know how great he was.

KCRW: You can't think about Steve Perry singing without that kind of Sam Cooke melisma.

Schon: Absolutely, and that was the flavor that came into the band. I think that truly set us apart from everyone else. Even though critics liked to categorize us in those days with many other bands. I never thought that we sounded like them. Steve brought in his roots, which were Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and many others, and it was R&B soul.

KCRW: Thinking about whats on "Caravanserai" like "Song of the Wind" which feels like kind of a jazz R&B jam to me.

Schon: It was totally a jam. That whole record, from what I recall about it, was pretty much a jam. Carlos [Santana] was in the middle of wanting to go into a completely different direction than we had gone in on the third album that I was lucky enough to be a part of. "Song of the Wind" was simply a couple chords that Carlos came up with, and we started jamming in his studio one day, and they rolled tape, and I ended up playing the first solo and he comes in in the middle, and then I played the last solo going out, and we're just improving. It's a great way to make records.

I've made a lot of records like that, as opposed to sitting down and really working out things. I mean, they're both great aspects about making records and attaining different audiences, but the new Journey album is about to encompass and put everything in one. We have all the hits I think that we'd ever need. We have a new record on the way that is just really slamming. I think it sounds amazing with the addition of Narada Michael Walden and Randy Jackson.

KCRW: The first Journey song you wrote- "Lights"- starts off with basically 16 bars of jamming before you get into the song.

Schon: Yep, we're getting back into that, which is just coming into a new era for the band, a completely new chapter and for me, I want to encompass it all. I want to encompass the beginning and where we are now.

KCRW: Even "Don't Stop Believin you don't jump into it right away. You just sort of take your time to lay down those opening chords. And that, to me, is a shrewd way of saying we're gonna take our time and make this work, and we trust that the audience will follow along with us.

Schon: Absolutely. To me, it's just a setup for vocals. It's completely the way I think all the time. I think we need to set up. The beginning of Don't Stop Believin," I wouldn't call that a jam. That's sticking the chorus in someone's mind, before the vocal actually starts. To me, a jam is doing Bitches Brew. Miles Davis: that's the jam. I've been doing a lot of that in my house during the pandemic, making outside loops for myself and trying to stay in tune with my fans and audience.

KCRW: What we're talking about is that way that this musical stew when you got started, it was all part of this kind of same thing. Everybody was probably listening to everybody else. We know that Miles was listening to Santana; everything seemed within reach in those days.

Schon: The thing that I loved about Miles and Santana was that nobody was afraid to go anywhere, at any moment. And everybody had to listen, because things would happen on stage that were not rehearsed. That's where the magic comes from. It's not from being stuck in a box, musically, where it's exactly like the record every night. You know, that's very easy to do. And it's very easy to emulate for anybody else to do too. Journey probably has more tribute bands than I've ever seen. I don't want to do the same thing they're doing. They're doing what we did a long time ago, so I want to keep on moving forward and doing some different things.

But, you know, these guitars, I've been collecting guitars for my whole life. And, I had 350 guitars at home that my wife let me have, and we were crawling over things. I was like, it's really time to let go of some of these axes. They're not my go-tos any longer even though they were.

Some of them are just so clean you could not imagine that they're vintage. I thought to myself, I could either do a museum and put these guitars in a museum, or I could let somebody else enjoy them. But I really feel like when you open something like that, it would be much like opening a restaurant where you have to be there managing it every day, and I'm still in the game of playing live. That's where my heart is. I love our fans, and I want to keep on performing until I can't anymore,

KCRW: I can't sit here and not ask you about what it was like to play on what I think is one of the most important funk albums of the 70s: that first Betty Davis album.

Schon: It was right after the Santana band disbanded and before I really started Journey. I was playing with Greg Errico at the time, former Sly and the Family Stone drummer. Betty Davis had contacted Greg Errico, so he suggested that I play on the record, too, with And that record is so funny. It was very ahead of its time. Now that I listen to it, and see how many people have come up to me about that record. It was done such a long time ago, and people are just still discovering it. She was ahead of her time. She was like rapping, singing way back then.

KCRW: Talking about who was playing with you, Greg Errico and Larry Graham, but also Merle Sanders on that record. And it's one of the great funk rhythm sections of all time. Also, what she was doing on that record was just being really kind of open, and you can't imagine there being a Madonna, or basically any of these kinds of women singers, without the example of Betty Davis.

Schon: She was wild. She was a free spirit is what I recall and remember about her, very outspoken on what she wanted. And it was a very interesting record for me to make. I was just like, wow, this is really different.

KCRW: You're going from Santana, to then working with Greg and Larry Graham, and then Betty, and then going off to Journey with Jon Cain, you find yourself in situations where it's been about chemistry as much as anything else. And we can feel that chemistry happening in these situations almost immediately for you.

Schon: Absolutely, there's always chemistry with great musicians. It's just opening your mind and listening a lot. Listen to everybody that you're playing with and where they're coming from. You shouldn't think so much. Everybody today thinks so much. There's a lot of technical, young guitar players today that are doing things that I couldn't even dream of doing. They're acrobatics of the guitar. If it goes by me, it's going by everybody else. They're like, sped up scales. And, I never studied scales to this day. I've been playing for many years now, and I've never studied scales. I just listened.

I'll sit down with a keyboard at home and make up some really wild chords. I've often talked to many people that are very well schooled, and they said, stay like that because I've often thought, well, maybe I should really study and learn exactly what I'm doing. And they said, no, don't because then you're just gonna have to forget about it to get back to where you are now.

KCRW: One of the guitars in the catalogue is listed as the "Don't Stop Believin" guitar. Can you walk us through the origin of that song?

Schon: When Jonathan came into the band, we got together and we started putting together new material for our new album that we had not created yet. Greg Raleigh had just left, so Jon came in one day, and he started playing the opening chords, that ends up being the verses, as well as the chorus and the vocal just changes on top of it. So he's playing the keyboard part, but there was really no baseline at that point, and I started playing bass guitar ideas of what to play against it, and I was trying to think of more of a Motown type thing. And that's how it came about.

It's the craziest arrangement because you have the intro, verse, then a breakdown, then a guitar solo. And I started just doing a symphony line, because I used to listen to a lot of symphonies. And that made Steven and Jon think about the lyrical side of the song, "she took the midnight train goin anywhere." So they thought that the guitar reminded them of a train traveling on the tracks and speeding up. So it was a really different type of arrangement, compared to other arrangements that were on the radio because, usually it's a verse, if there is a B section, a B section, it's quick, and then it gets to the chorus. And the chorus doesn't come till the very end of this song. So it's a wild arrangement.

But, whats really crazy is when we finished the whole "Escape" record, I heard that song, and I went, I think there's something special here. I think this song is going to be bigger than everything. And this is back in '81. And they released it, and it didn't get as big as the other songs that they released at that time on the radio. But to have it be like this worldwide anthem now is funny that I could sense that it was gonna be huge. I just didn't know it would take that many years.

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Neal Schon: The evolution of Journey | The Treatment - KCRW

A benchmarking study by the NSA Center for Assured Software found that the average SAST tool covers only 8 out of 13 weakness classes and finds only 22 percent of flaws in each weakness class. Based on these numbers, the average SAST tool is likely to find only 14 percent of the vulnerabilities in an applications code.

Security needs to be part of the development experience. This has given rise to the application security space. And, like the internet itself, it needs to evolve. AppSec 1.0 was built with waterfall methodologies in mind. These include static analysis software testing and penetration testing and it assumes that security is binary. You are either secure or insecure, there is no grey area. Yet it is in the grey areas, the zero days, where the attackers lurk. It then becomes a question of code coverage is your application security solution providing protect your organization?

Verification and validation testing is conducted in two different ways:

invalid set of inputs. The purpose of negative testing is to ensure the application remains stable in unexpected use cases. While this type of testing is typically conducted by security teams, modern DevOps shops may collaborate closely with QA or development teams.

Positive testing is easier to conduct. There is a finite number of features and flows introduced per release. Therefore, there is a finite combination of valid inputs to test. Thus, there is a clear definition of what done means. Security is, however, a game of cat and mouse. Organizations are always trying to stay one step ahead of the attacker. And when you are trying to stay ahead of something, speed (and agility) is everything. So negative testing is necessary.

Instead of looking at code as static, as either secure or insecure, AppSec 2.0 security testing understands the developer and attacker mindsets by identifying coding

mistakes early and often. Not only does this reduce costs but it results in faster time to market. Previously, with waterfall, developers were only given information as they needed it, when they needed it. The goal was to keep them focused and to only do what they do best. Dont pull them away if you dont have to. And, certainly, never come to them at the 11th hour market is demanding a change in the product or that theres a problem with something they weeks ago. Yet that is what happens in the modern world. Instead, organizations, in order to stay ahead, be innovative, yet they still need to think like an attacker. They need to know offense in order to implement defense. This is where fuzz testing plays a vital role.

Fuzz testing, or fuzzing, is a dynamic application security testing (DAST) technique for negative testing. Fuzzing aims to detect known, unknown, and zero-day vulnerabilities. Fuzzers send malformed inputs to targets. Their objective is to trigger bad behaviors, such as crashes, infinite loops, and/or memory leaks. These anomalous behaviors are vulnerabilities. Fuzzing helps organizations verify that the application works as expected, even in unexpected situations. This is key as ecosystems get complex. Its not just about people mistreating applications, its also about how an application will react if an integrated app misbehaves. In other words, if a system connected to your app acts up, can the app still function? Or will it crash. And if it crashes, does that allow for malicious code to run instead?

At a high level, fuzzing provides predictability. If testing is done continuously during the development cycle, this decreases time to market and should reduce the costs associated with the application over its lifetime. There will be a lower number of in-field issues when properly tested first. Fuzzing also contributes to productivity. Its a security test solution that protects developer productivity with zero false positives. Zero. The crashes that are reported are indeed reproducible vulnerabilities, allowing developers to address them quickly.

As the issues are shared and fixed, regression testing remembers the previous test crashes and verifies the remediations.

Fuzz testing is a heavy-weight yet versatile DAST solution that is able to conduct multiple types of testing across the SDLC. It runs quietly, continuously, and synchronously in the background as a part of the build process. Its also proven technology. Google, for example, identifies 80% of bugs with fuzz testing while the other remaining 20% is found through other means (SCA) or in production

There are different types of fuzzers available. Random fuzzers are just that: random. Its hard to tell how much code coverage is tested. Template takes known good input and mutates it. Again, its hard to tell how much code coverage there is. Guided fuzzing provides a roadmap, its more targeted. Here, the code coverage increases. to autonomously map out the usable parts of the

application for testing. Symbolic execution takes binaries and mathematically reasons through various logic and functions, so it can break into new areas of the program for further testing. Advanced fuzz testing is particularly effective for continuous testing because it aims to protect developer productivity at all costs. The key is autonomous test case management. Once Advanced Fuzz Testing identifies how, it breaks through functions, using guided fuzzing to craft test cases to test each branch. It uses the applications behavioral feedback to inform what test cases to generate next. If it identifies minor anomalous behavior, it will continue to probe by generating alternative variations.

See how continuous testing enables security teams to keep pace with development and operations teams in modern development, and to deliver deep integration and automation of security tooling.

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This means better and more thorough testing and coverage. This is a significant breakthrough from conducting coverage-guided fuzzing alone. Guided fuzzers can be powerful with guidance from a technical security expert to help inform the fuzzer how to traverse through the code. However, without manual intervention, it will continue blindly, guessing inputs to break through

functions, which can result in breaking the code or the fuzzer being stuck for a while. It also deduplicates test cases to give developers the minimum set of test cases to thoroughly test the code.

For individual developers, theres component testing. As AFT identifies issues, developers are notified that there are issues. AFT has a zero false-positive rate and to prove it, it shares a test case also known as a witness to reproduce the issue. Theyre also provided system level

information that will help developers understand the consequence (from a technical standpoint) to the application. AFT runs deduplication. There may be a single defect. running all of them. AFT reduces them to the one test case. The point of this is to reduce testing efficiency.

The Value of AFT to the Development Team For development teams, theres regression testing. each owning a component of the larger application. Ideally, when the components are assembled, theyll work together seamlessly. This is hardly the reality. Google cites that 45% of bugs that they identify are through regression testing. AFT compiles the test case from each component for regression testing. This is where the dedup effort at the component level pays off in dividends because the regression testing time will be reduced through efficiency.

Time is of the essence in release cycles, especially in agile software development. Regression testing picks up where it left off, meaning it doesnt rerun regression tests reduces regression test cycles and ensures you continue to get the most out of your limited

The Value of Advanced Fuzz Testing

Fuzzing provides a proactive approach to security testing. It is the negative or non-functional testing. It shows whether or not an application can withstand unexpected situations, and it helps uncover zero days. One way to think about (and justify) Advanced Fuzz Testing is that it is penetration testing in a machine. Like pen testing, Advanced Fuzz Testing thinks box. However, there are benefits to Advanced Fuzz Testing not found with pen testing. Unlike pen testing, Advanced Fuzz Testing is continuous, not just a point in time. It can be done at human) speed. It can be performed at machine scale, and with machine accuracy. This coverage than what a human is capable of doing.

Learn more by downloading our Guide To Automated Continuous Security Testing

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Latest blog posts authored by Tamulyn Takakura. Read the original post at: https://forallsecure.com/blog/the-evolution-of-security-testing

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The Evolution of Security Testing - Security Boulevard

Tags: Professors, STEM

July 2021 This summer, were spending time in office hours with some of Drew Universitys amazing faculty to learn about what interests and inspires them and their research.

Today, were talking with Adam Cassano, Associate Professor of Chemistry, who has spent the summer in the Drew Summer Science Institute (DSSI) lab, and directing the Governors School of New Jersey Program in the Sciences, hosted by Drew, with OSHE administering the project partnership, and serving as a partner.

What do you think is the most interesting thing within your field of expertise?

Directed evolution of biomolecular function.

Explain

Directed evolution is an elegant combination of chemistry and biology to create new molecules for the benefit of humanity. Many potential biomolecular functionslike catalyzing a chemical reaction important for making drug molecules, or targeted binding to a specific protein in a cellcould be valuable in medicine and industry, but dont exist in naturally-occurring biomolecules. To gain access to these functions, we need to modify the existing biomolecules. Unfortunately, theyre so complex that predicting changes required to create and optimize a desired function is extremely difficult. Directed evolution harnesses the power of biology to maximize the desired function more efficiently.

Explain more

An existing biomolecule is mutated to create thousands of new versions. These new molecules then undergo a selection process, where only the molecules exhibiting the desired function survive the entire selection. Molecules that show initial activity undergo further mutation and the selection process becomes more rigorous to optimize the activity.

How do you bring this subject into the classroom?

In my course chemical biology, I introduce students to a number of selection techniques and strategies scientists use to evolve new functions. They also read about how some of these techniques are utilized in recent scientific literature. Finally, they come up with their own selection scheme to develop a molecule with new function.

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Office Hours with Drew University's Adam Cassano - Drew Today

The species of turtle involved in the study is Apalone spinifera, a species of freshwater turtles native to North America. But the researchers say their findings shed light on the evolutionary role of sex chromosome dosage compensation in many species. Credit: Nicole Valenzuela

A new study led by an Iowa State University scientist sheds light on how organisms have evolved to address imbalances in sex chromosomes.

The study looks at a species of softshell turtle, but the results could help to illuminate an important evolutionary process in many species, said Nicole Valenzuela, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology and lead author of the study.

Many organisms determine their sex by a pair of specialized chromosomes that appear in virtually every cell of an organisms body. A matched pair of chromosomes results in one sex, while a mismatched pair results in another sex. For instance, in humans and many other species, sex chromosomes are referred to as X and Y. Typically, two X chromosomes result in a female while XY chromosomes result in males. These chromosomes also contain the genetic codes for the production of essential proteins, and the disproportion in chromosomes in XY individuals caused by them carrying only a single X for every pair of non-sex chromosomes (called autosomes) can lead to an imbalance in the production of proteins. The study sheds light on how organisms have evolved to address such imbalances through a process called sex chromosome dosage compensation, or SCDC.

The study focused on a species of softshell turtle known as Apalone spinifera, which are among the largest of freshwater turtles and inhabit a large portion of North America, including Iowa. But the research could help scientists understand the process in other organisms as well. The study also could generate better understanding of how disease can arise if the SCDC process doesnt function correctly.

Understanding the diversity of SCDC mechanisms in nature, how they happen and evolve, informs more broadly on how animals and humans compensate for gene dose imbalance, and why the failure to properly compensate for these differences leads to disease states, Valenzuela said.

The study was published this week in the peer-reviewed scientific journalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

What is sex chromosome dosage compensation?

Sex chromosome dosage compensation comes into play for individuals who have mismatched sex chromosomes. In the case of the softshell turtles included in the study, the sex chromosomes are referred to as Z and W, and its the females of the species who have mismatched, or ZW, chromosomes. That mismatch means they lack a second copy of the Z chromosome, unlike their male counterparts who have two Z chromosomes.

The Z chromosomes contain instructions for some of the proteins normally functioning cells should produce, and having only a single copy of a chromosome can result in a reduced amount of proteins produced, because protein production is often affected by the number of gene copies. More copies means more protein production. Thus, unevenness in the number of copies of genes that work together can lead to developmental, physiological or other disorders. But SCDC mechanisms work to upregulate, or increase the level, of protein production from genes in the single Z (or X) chromosomes. The importance of maintaining a proper balance is made evident by diseases caused by abnormal numbers of sex chromosomes, including Klinefelter syndrome and Turner syndrome in humans, and Valenzuela said these processes have evolutionary and health implications in many other organisms as well.

Valenzuela and her co-authors sampled softshell turtles at various stages of development, including embryos, young hatchlings and adults, and analyzed various tissues to determine which genes were activated. The researchers then compared the activity of genes from sex chromosomes and from autosomes, broken down by male and female turtles.

The study represents not only the first such study to analyze sex chromosome dosage compensation in turtles, but the findings also show that remarkably, temperature appears to affect the SCDC process in the turtles. Valenzuela has studied temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), or the way environmental temperatures influence whether a turtle embryo develops into a male or female in species that lack sex chromosomes, in previous research. But because softshell turtles lost this ancestral TSD system, this thermal sensitivity in the SCDC came as a surprise, she said. And the way in which softshell turtles carry out SCDC is also unusual and complex.

The study found that both sexes of softshell turtles double the activity of the Zs in early embryonic development, which fixes the expression imbalance in ZW females (twice Z expression now matches autosomal expression). But this same response creates an imbalance in males (Z expression now doubles autosomal expression). At later embryonic stages, male Z expression decreases, and this effect is more pronounced at cooler than at warmer incubation temperatures, according to the study. Valenzuela said the new study is likely the first to show that temperature can impact SCDC not just in turtles, or in animals, but as broadly as in eukaryotes, or organisms in which genetic material is contained in a cell nucleus. Eukaryotic species include a huge range of organisms, including animals, plants and fungi.

Reference: 25 July 2021, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

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How Organisms Have Evolved To Address Imbalances in Sex Chromosomes - SciTechDaily

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising has teamed up with the American Federation of Arts on an exhibition that explores the evolution of sporting fashion.

Called Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960, the exhibition explores how womens sporting attire has changed over a 160-year period and the progression of technology that came with making sportswear. The show, inspired by a 1940s scarf that was inscribed with the phrase Outdoorgirl, features illustrations of women engaged in 13 different sporting activities. The exhibition was brought to life through the use of authentic activewear pieces from labels including Champion, Chanel, Balenciaga and more that were current during that specific time. The exhibit is meticulously curated to show the progression of sporting fashion with new ideas, technologies, social growth and more that ultimately represent the new woman of each decade.

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The exhibition debuted this month at The Frick Pittsburgh and will travel to seven institutions across the country through 2024.

Speaking with FIDM curator Kevin Jones, FN was able to learn in intimate detail about the curation process, how gender roles come into play in the sporting fashion world and more. Jones affirmed, however, that this project is not meant to compare women from different time periods, but to showcase how they were all modern women.

Archery in the 1820s. - Credit: Courtesy of FIDM

Courtesy of FIDM

Its easy to think of todays activewear as liberal or updated, but Jones said that What is liberal in one era is not necessarily considered liberal later on. Every woman in this project was the modern woman.

The exhibition also answers the question as to how colors play a part in womens outdoor fashion and how that has changed today. We start our project in 1800 because of the availability of garments that have survived and so we see that in the 19th century the color theory of what is meant for boys and girls was the reverse of what we think today, said Jones. Girls were actually dressed in blue and boys wore more pink. Pink was considered a lighter shade of red, which was an aggressive color whereas blue was soft to the eyes and often associated with the Virgin Mary.

Story continues

Cheerleading with Spalding sweater int he 1900s. - Credit: Courtesy of FIDM

Courtesy of FIDM

Baseball in the 1930s. - Credit: Courtesy of FIDM

Courtesy of FIDM

Jones noted that there is a shift that happened in the 1920s and 1930s where boys began to wear blue and girls were sporting pink. He also reveals that when it comes to sporting fashion, colors were also determined by the activity.

If a woman was out hunting you, of course, wear colors that blended into your surroundings, but with golf, you could have bright greens, Saturday reds. All throughout sporting fashion, weve got tons of color combinations, he said.

Furthermore, colors in activewear were also determined by what colors were fashionable at the time.

You think of the 1870s and thats when synthetic dyes became very popular, said Jones. This was really avant-garde, as that was a modern technology because, before that, it was natural dyes.

The exhibition also explores the craze surrounding the idea of sporting attire worn by women who werent athletes. (Today, we see that as celebrities wear biker shorts to grab coffee).

Swimming in the 1950s. - Credit: Courtesy of FIDM

Courtesy of FIDM

Jones said that wearing activewear in a more lifestyle manner emerged at universities for women in the 1890s, where they were only around each other and could wear what they wanted when it came to playing sports.

There were no men around; it was a lot more liberal for the women in what they could wear on the court. Its not that women were dressing down, they were just in a much more relaxed atmosphere, Jones explained.

Jones shared that this idea of dressing more casually carried into the 1920s, when it came to beachwear. Its not exactly what we think of when we say athleisure today, but its the genesis. It started with beachwear as women wore pants more, he said.

Traveling boots from 1865. - Credit: Courtesy of FIDM

Courtesy of FIDM

As stated in the name, the exhibition documents fashion from 1800 to 1960, but that doesnt mean that sporting fashion has ended.

[Sporting fashion] doesnt stop. What happened is that we found that everything that a woman needed when it comes to sportswear has been designed. We have women playing lacrosse, basketball, hockey, cycling and spectating. Women are doing it all and theyve got the garments to do so, Jones said.

He added, These are not dead clothes. [Weve] noticed through the process that good design is good design, and while they may have been used differently in the past, they are still of use today as the entire world has become a sportswear world.

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FIDM Explores the Evolution of Sportswear With New Exhibit Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 - Yahoo Lifestyle

IRVINE, Calif., July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kareo 2021 State of the Independent Practice report,a semi-annual survey that has become a principal source of information on the under-studied independent healthcare arena, reveals a far more optimistic, dynamic and growth-oriented prediction for small to mid-sized practices than could have been foreseen at the beginning of 2020. Download the report here.

The survey data discovered:

According to the report, this positive outlook can be attributed to multiple factors, many of them involving technology.

Dan Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Kareo, the leading provider of cloud-based clinical and practice management software for independent practices, stated, "Early in 2020, independent practices, like all small businesses, were suffering with declining visits and revenues and in many cases, being forced to close their doors for weeks or often months. A pulse survey conducted by Kareo in June 2020 found that 75% of independent practice respondents reported a decline in patient volumes, threatening this critical segment of the healthcare industry."

Rodrigues continued, "However, contrary to expectations, independent practices actually ended the year on an upswing. The data revealed that a renewed focus on the needs of their patients and a rapid, nimble adoption of technology solutions is what allowed practices to maintain and even enhance their patient relationships. The most significant of these technologies was telehealth."

Prior to the pandemic, telehealth was a slowly adopted technology that many providers felt was a "nice-to-have" someday. In fact:

This dramatic adoption of telehealth was received mostly positively by independent healthcare providers, but also by their patients who were required to learn to use telehealth platforms to receive care and saw the benefit of the technology as a result.

While delivering care is always a high priority for independent practices, as shown in 2019 when 50% of participants cited it as their primary focus, in the 2021 report, that number has grown to 71%. This suggests that practitioners have a reinforced understanding of their role in patients' lives and health, perhaps prompted by the pandemic, as well as an increasing recognition of the consumerization of healthcare. As patients have assumed greater responsibility for their own healthcare costs, often due to an increased use of high deductible health plans, they have also exerted more active choice in finding providers that meet their expectations.

For more information about how providers feel about using technology in their practices in 2021 and other interesting insights from Kareo's recent survey, download the Kareo 2021 State of the Independent Practice report here.

About KareoKareois the only cloud-based and complete medical technology platform purpose-built to meet the unique needs of independent practices and the billing companiesthat serve them. Today Kareo helps more than 75,000 providers across all 50 states run a more efficient and profitable practice, while setting them up to deliver outstanding patient care. With oices across the country, Kareo's mission is to help independent practices and the billing companies that support them succeed in an ever-changing healthcare market. More information can be found atwww.kareo.com.

Contact: Lindsay Thompson Strategies[emailprotected]714-656-0141Cell: 949-280-5854

SOURCE Kareo

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Kareo Survey Shows the Evolution of Independent Healthcare Practices Using Technology and Their Outlook for the Future - PRNewswire

Boston Dynamics has come a long way from their introduction of BigDog.

When you think of robots, you most definitely think of Boston Dynamics. The firm has throughout the years produced more and more robots that can do everything from washing the dishes to doing gymnastics.

Their initial models featured some setbacks like BigDog, which was deemed too loud for combat use.But with each new development, they became more and more adept at making more practical robots.

Cheetah and WildCat were running robots based on canines, as their names indicate. In 2009, Boston Dynamics introduced PETMAN, the firms first humanoid robot developed to test the performance of protective military gear against chemical warfare agents.

But Boston Dynamics would only really progress with the arrival of the now-famous Spot in 2015.

Spot can climb terrains, avoid obstacles, see 360-degrees, and perform several programmed tasks. Recently, Spot was even given an arm enabling it to do a variety of tasks, such as picking up fragile objects, opening doors, and even doing the laundry.

Then there was Altlas that came with stereo vision and range sensors that allow it to navigate and manipulate objects, Handle, a combination of wheels and legs, and Strech, a commercial version of Handle designed to move boxes in a warehouse.

In June, Hyundai officially acquired Boston Dynamics. What will this change mean for robotics? We explore the answer and more in our video.

See the rest here:

The Impressive Evolution of Boston Dynamics Robots - Interesting Engineering

Jane Fonda is no stranger to a red carpet. Having been in the limelight since the early 1960s, her style has evolved from swinging mini-skirts to flowing sequinned gowns, with plenty of eye-catching jewels along the way.

A regular on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, the actress, 83, is known for her penchant for a floor-length, fitted gown, in a rainbow of colours, including pink, yellow, red, green and white. Although she has a handful of favourite designers, including Balmain, Versace and Valentino, she has also sported designs by the likes of Badgley Mischka, Marchesa, Elie Saab and Brandon Maxwell in the past.

Click through the gallery above to chart Jane Fonda's style journey since 1962.

More recently, Fonda is known for her star turn in sitcom series Grace and Frankie; the mid-noughties comedy, Monster-in-Law, in which she starred alongside Jennifer Lopez; and her earlier work, including Barbarella. She has also been in the news throughout her career for her activism, backing a number of causes, including human rights, environmental and gender rights causes.

Fonda has also made an environmental statement through fashion, vowing to never buy another garment of clothing.

True to her word, for the 2020 Academy Awards, she chose to repeat a rich red beaded gown by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, which she first wore six years earlier on the 2014 Cannes Film Festival red carpet. For the Oscars, she paired the look with a red coat, which she later wore to a climate change protest at the US Capitol.

You see this coat? I needed something red and I went out and found this coat on sale. This is the last article of clothing that I will ever buy, she told a crowd during the protest in March 2020. When I talk to people about, We dont really need to keep shopping. We shouldnt look to shopping for our identity. We dont need more stuff, then I have to walk the walk too, so Im not buying any more clothes.

Updated: July 26th 2021, 5:19 AM

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

RESULTS - ELITE MEN

1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:032. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:093. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:254. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:345. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:406. Joao Silva (POR) 57:457. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:568. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:579. Gustav Iden (NOR) 57:5810. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Director:Paul WeitzStars: Kevin Hart3/5 stars

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position:legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our legal consultants

Name:Hassan Mohsen Elhais

The rest is here:

Jane Fonda's style evolution in 47 photos: from red carpets to protests - The National

Photo: Parthenon, by George E. Koronaios, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Editors note: Is a series, Casey Luskin is reviewingSapiens,by Yuval Noah Harari. Look here forPart 1andPart 2.

In myprevious postreviewing historian Yuval Noah Hararis 2015 bookSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, I ended by noting his staunchly materialistic outlook specifically where he wrote, There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no human rights, no laws, and no justice outside the common imagination of human beings. (p. 28) This is not just a piece of inconsequential trivia about his worldview it forms the basis of many other crucial claims in the book.

For example, Harari assumes that religion evolved by natural processes and in no way reflects some kind of design or revelation from a God. In fact, one of his central arguments is that religion evolved when humanity produced myths which fostered group cooperation and survival. Harari spends a lot of time developing this argument. Here are some key excerpts from the book:

Legends, myths, gods and religions appeared for the first time with the Cognitive Revolution. Many animals and human species could previously say, Careful! A lion! Thanks to the Cognitive Revolution,Homo sapiensacquired the ability to say, The lion is the guardian spirit of our tribe. This ability to speak about fictions is the most unique feature of Sapiens language.

[F]iction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively. We can weave common myths such as the biblical creation story, the Dreamtime myths of Aboriginal Australians, and the nationalist myths of modern states. Such myths give Sapiens the unprecedented ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.

How didHomo sapiensmanage to cross this critical threshold, eventually founding cities comprising tens of thousands of inhabitants and empires ruling hundreds of millions? The secret was probably the appearance of fiction. Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe is rooted in common myths that exist only in peoples collective imagination. Churches are rooted in common religious myths. Two Catholics who have never met can nevertheless go together on crusade or pool funds to build a hospital because they both believe that God was incarnated in human flesh and allowed Himself to be crucified to redeem our sins. States are rooted in common national myths.

Despite the lack of such biological instincts, during the foraging era, hundreds of strangers were able to cooperate thanks to their shared myths.

Myths, it transpired, are stronger than anyone could have imagined. When the Agricultural Revolution opened opportunities for the creation of crowded cities and mighty empires, people invented stories about great gods, motherlands and joint stock companies to provide the needed social links. While human evolution was crawling at its usual snails pace, the human imagination was building astounding networks of mass cooperation, unlike any other ever seen on earth.

Thus if Harari is correct, then religion was not designed, but is a behavior which evolved naturally because it fostered shared myths which allowed societies to better cooperate, increasing their chances of survival. This view grows out of his no gods in the universe perspective because it implies that religion was not revealed to humanity, but rather evolved.

Harari is undoubtedly correct that shared beliefs or myths, as he pejoratively calls them facilitate group cooperation, and this fosters survival. But this is anobservationabout shared beliefs, myths, and religion, not anexplanationfor them. And it is quite easy for a design-based model to account for these observations in a manner that requires no unguided evolution. Heres what it might look like:

Perhaps shared myths that foster friendship, fellowship, and cooperation among human beings were not the result of random evolution or pure chance (as Harari describes our cognitive evolution), but rather reflect the intended state of human society as it was designed by a benevolent creator. If this is the case, then large-scale human cooperation, as Harari puts it, might be the intentional result of large-scale shared religious beliefs in a society a useful emergent property that was intended by a designer for a society that doesnt lose its religious cohesion. In other words, these benefits may be viewednotas the accidental byproduct of evolution but as intended for a society that pursues shared spirituality.

Harari is by no means the first to propose cooperation and group selection as an explanation for the origin of religion. But do these evolutionary accounts really account for the phenomenon? Not so much.

Religion is much more than group cooperation. For many religions its all aboutprayer, sacrifice, and total personal devotion to a deity. How do you explain that in evolutionary terms? How many followers of a religion have died i.e., became evolutionary dead ends for their beliefs? Which selfish genes drive young males into monasteries to avoid sexual relationships and pray? How does it help society put food on the table if your religion demands sacrificing large numbers of field animals to a deity? What about requiring that the rich and the poor donate wealth to build temples rather than grain houses does that foster the growth of large societies? And what about that commandment about taking a weekly day off, with no fire or work, to worship God? That was never very good for cooperation and productivity. How about the religious ascetic who taught his followers to sell their possessions, give to the poor, and then chose to die at the hands of his worst enemies, believing that his own death would save them? How didheget such a big following?

Im asking these questions in evolutionary terms: how do these behaviors help believers survive and reproduce? Sure you can find tangential benefits that are unexpected byproducts, but generally speaking, for the evolutionist these things are difficult to explain. That is why Hararis repeated assurances about how religion exists to build group cohesion is simplistic and woefully insufficient to account for many of the most common characteristics of religion.

Next, ReviewingSapiens: Getting the Origin of Religion Backwards

More:

Did Religion Evolve, or Was It Designed, to Foster Cooperation? - Discovery Institute

Theres no minimizing the pain the foodservice industry endured for the last year and a half, but the pandemic paved the way for innovation and changes in how we select, buy, package, deliver, cook, and consume food.

Despite the challenges of 2020, were hopeful for the restaurant world, says Jill Overdorf, director of business development for Naturipe Farms, LLC BB #:165382 in Salinas, CA, especially after witnessing many of their creative and innovative efforts.

While its been sad to see so many small business owners suffer, says Emily Kohlhas, director of marketing for wholesaler John Vena, Inc. BB #:104221 in Philadelphia, theres been a lot of magic, too. Initially, demand shot up for basic items with a long shelf life like potatoes, onions, and apples, but declined for high-value specialties like microgreens and baby vegetables. Its been a tough year for growers who focus on those products.

As wholesale partners, weve done our best to find markets for our specialty growers. Retailers have started to get back into specialty as consumers recreate their favorite restaurant meals at home. Specialty has been slower to revive in foodservice, with chefs still focusing on using as few items as possible across their menus to minimize the risk of shrink.

Ultimately, Kohlhas continues, flavor and healthfulness are the best things the produce department has going for it. While we see produce or produce-adjacent categories topping many food trend lists, the numbers suggest fruit and vegetable consumption in the United States is stagnant. If were going to change this in the future, the narrative has to be about flavor and health.

As we emerge from the challenges of the pandemic, Im optimistic, says Don Goforth, marketing director of Family Tree Farms Marketing, LLC BB #:169364 in Reedley, CA.

Better yet, he sees momentum in more fresh produce being incorporated into meals at home.

Once restaurants are fully open, fresh produce and healthy diets will stay. No ones been happy about what we all had to go through, but there is a silver liningwell probably come through as a better society, eating better, and with better health habits.

This is an excerpt from the cover story of the July/August 2021 issue of Produce Blueprints Magazine. Click here to read the whole issue.

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The Evolution of Dining: The post-pandemic future Produce Blue Book - Produce Blue Book