Category Archives: Evolution

The evolution of the great transformation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The evolution of the great transformation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Riyadh, Feb. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- - The Kingdoms Vision 2030 is perhaps the largest planned economic transformation ever enacted. It seeks to transform the country from having an economy reliant on oil prices and government spending, to one that is diversified, competitive, open and consumer driven. Along with the economic changes, the once strict visa procedure has been significantly relaxed, with the introduction of tourist visas coinciding with global sporting, entertainment and hospitality events being held throughout the country. Where once foreign visitors came almost exclusively for the religious pilgrimage of Hajj, now in line with Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is establishing itself as one of the worlds premier tourist destinations, drawing on both its rich culture and history as well as investing heavily in cutting edge technology, amenities and luxury offerings.

Such developments reflect the broader objectives of attracting foreign direct investment and improving the quality of life for citizens, residents and visitors alike. While the development of NEOM and major events like Formula E, world heavyweight title fights and Middle East Beast have drawn international headlines, wider changes have been taking place across the burgeoning tourism industry and its related sectors. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in F&B and specifically fine dining. Increases in investment, international travel and deployable income among the population have led to explosive growth in the sector, which has come hand in hand with ever increasing demand for increasingly varied gastronomic and hospitality experiences. With ever increasing levels of wealth among its over 30 million residents and an influx of tourists from around the world, Saudi Arabia is poised to become the leading market and destination for fine dining in the Middle East.

This transformation is happening at a rapid pace. While fast food chains and mid-tier F&B brands have been present in the Saudi market for some time, recently the Kingdom witnessed the entry of several luxury brands, including Bagatelle, Bagatelle beach, Sumosan, Santini, NOOA, Socialista, Wadi, Purple Dragon and Cipriani. All of which have signed with Advanced Tastes, a Riyadh based restaurant & hospitality management company, which has been recently fully acquired by two prominent businessmen, Mr.Hisham Almousa and Mr.Ahmad AlMubarak.

Advanced Tastes have recently unveiled plans to open franchises in prime locations across all of the Kingdoms major cities. This is a step towards increasing supply to what is an ever growing demand for luxury F&B offerings in Saudi Arabia, a sector which seems likely to continue to expand for years to come.

For the original news story, please visithttps://www.prdistribution.com/news/the-evolution-of-the-great-transformation-in-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia.html

Here is the original post:

Advanced Tastes - The evolution of the great transformation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia - GlobeNewswire

Blink and you might miss a major shift in the business of Smart Mobility.From bike sharing to Mobility as a Service and everything in between, the business of Smart Mobility takes many different forms and provides business opportunities for everyone from a small entrepreneur to the large car manufacturers.This article will accurately lay out the future of Smart Mobility and predict the winners and losers over the next 5 years, allowing everyone to sleep easy tonight. (And if you believe that, I also have a bridge to sell you.)

Arguably the start of shared mobility can be traced back to the Netherlands in the 1960's. Throughout the years, advancements in technology and congestion in urban environments has led to a more sophisticated model of bike sharing.In the last 10 years bike sharing has seen a rapid expansion of companies entering the market.

According to data from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), in 2019 alone people took 136 million trips.In fact, when you add in scooter trips, a third of a billion trips were taken on shared bikes and scooters over the past decade.

While bike sharing has had a great run over the last decade, the explosion in popularity of scooter sharing and the increasing number of operators have been the bright shiny object that has everyone's attention.

NACTO reported that from 2018 to 2019, scooter ridership increased from 38.5 million to 88.5 million, a growth rate of more than 100%.Geographically, scooter companies continued expansion in 2019 to over 109 cities.

Car sharing has been a roller coaster ride of sorts with early entrants including Car2Go, BMW ReachNow, Lime Pods, Bollor's Electric BlueCar program, and General Motors'Maven had some early success but largely these players have exited the market in favor of more sustainable businesses.It remains to be seen if car sharing will gain the popularity that scooter and bike sharing enjoy and if operators will figure out a sustainable model that meets the needs of todays urban commuter.

Bollor pioneered electric car sharing with the launch of Autolib in 2011, enjoying huge growth and popularity. Bollore Group, largely known for its logistics business and LMP battery technology, saw the opportunity to help cities solve a mobility need while introducing zero emission electric cars: the Bluecar.

Launching 100% EV carsharing businesses became an important goal of using LMP battery technology to help reduce emissions in dense urban environments and bring equity to previously underserved communities. Launches in Lyon, Turin, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Singapore followed. Utilizing a proprietary software solution to monitor its global fleet of cars resulted in the natural evolution and launch of Bollore's Blue Systems Smart Mobility Division in 2014, led by CEO Christophe Arnaud. "It was a natural evolution for us to launch this business as we already had the expertise and technology to monitor a global fleet of cars"says Christophe Arnaud.By 2015 Blue Systems had already launched its software platform in France and the UK. Arnaud explains that in France, "Blue Systems integrated parking meters and provided digital permitting and digital fine payment systems allowing cities across France to better monitor parking meters, permitting, and violations on one single platform."In England, Blue Systems'Platform was used to monitor a network of EV charging stations and partnered with multiple Boroughs and car sharing companies to provide real time information on the EV charging infrastructure.

The launch and popularity of scooters in North America and Europe created some challenges for cities who sought to ensure the public right of way was protected and that scooter companies operated in a safe and equitable manner in line with the overall mobility and transportation mission of cities. Enter Blue Systems. With a long history as a mobility operator and a proven software platform, Arnaud and an experienced team based in the U.S. and Europe began to meet with cities to discuss scooters and emerging mobility operators. In collaboration with several cities, Blue Systems developed and enhanced its Smart Mobility Platform to enable cities to monitor and manage not only scooters but all forms of mobility within dense urban environments. Today Blue Systems'Platform is used by cities including Los Angeles, San Jose, Lyon, Paris, London, and several other cities to be launched in 2021. "We have just scratched the surface in the U.S. and Europe, and we expect 2021 to be a very busy year as we explore new ways to help cities manage their mobility programs. Our team in the U.S. is working with emerging technology providers to provide cities with even better tools to help analyze the impact of mobility operators"said Arnaud when asked about future technology.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the holy grail for cities grappling with the best way to integrate mobility operators under one platform that can provide a seamless experience for users. MaaS integrates multiple forms of transportation into a single mobility service or platform which can be accessed on-demand. This type of platform would not only integrate all forms of transit but also provide a single payment option for users to access the different mobility operators on the platform. This is the Holy Grail. Leveraging its expertise in mobility, data aggregation, data analytics, and IoT integration, Blue Systems has now launched its MaaS business. Blue Systems is already in discussions with several cities who understand the complexity of MaaS and the need to offer a seamless service to users. When asked about its ability to compete in this market, Arnaud explained that "Blue Systems is uniquely positioned and qualified to offer a comprehensive portfolio of products to help cities deal with the complex issues of mobility management and MaaS. As operators we were pioneers in the field of EV carsharing, our Smart Mobility Platform is in use by some of the biggest cities in the world, and our collaborations with other technology providers give us a unique advantage to help cities with today's challenges."In fact, through strategic partnerships Blue Systems can deliver a white label MaaS application for end users. At its core, it is a powerful data aggregation tool that collects both shared and open-source data from mobility operators including private operators and mass transit. Arnaud added that "data security is a high priority and our MaaS offering makes it possible to collect data in a way that protects privacy of end users while adhering to the most stringent data security principles. Ownership of data always remains with the mobility operators, transit authorities and cities."

Whats Next for Blue Systems

When asked what is next for Blue Systems, Arnaud laughed and said well, we definitely have to hire more people!

See original here:

The evolution of Smart Mobility: from bike sharing to MaaS and everything in between - Smart Cities Dive

This years theme New World, New Radio is an ode to the resilience of radio and a tribute to its capacity to adapt to societal transformations and listeners needs.

In celebrating the tenth anniversary of the day, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) drew attention to the past year as highlighting the extent to which this medium remains essential to our contemporary societies.

As the world changes, so too does radio evolving as it records humanitys history by following and adapting to societal developments.

This has been extremely clear during the coronavirus crisis, where, among other things, the medium has made it possible to ensure the continuity of learning and fight against misinformation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of its added value: with a penetration rate of over 75 per cent in developing countries, radio remains the most accessible medium, the UNESCO chief said, citing that as a reason why it has been a key tool in responding to the crisis.

It has helped to save lives by making it possible to relay health instructions, make reliable information accessible and combat hate speech, she added.

UNESCO has produced royalty-free audio messages in 56 languages, offering them to radio stations around the globe to counter false rumours.

To remain the go-to medium of mobility, accessible everywhere and to everyone, the medium has had to adapt to new technologies.

While radio of yesteryear was a simple transistor on our kitchen tables, nowadays, through smartphones, it follows us wherever we go.

And radio is no longer just a sound medium. Technological progress and digitization have made it possible for it to adapt to our behaviors and lifestyles.

Today it is listened to on television, and TV is heard on the radio while podcasts can be downloaded for listeners to hear whenever they like.

Radio thus remains an essential medium that proves its resilience on a daily basis, along with its capacity for innovation said Ms. Azoulay.

Noting that in this century of imagesradio mirrors the thoughts of a world that must be heard to be understood, she pointed out that with the creation of Internet radio, podcasts, smartphones and new technologies, it is truly blossoming in its second youth.

Radio also services society, sharing vital information during natural disasters, socio-economic crises, epidemics and other important events.

Public service announcements, alerts and broadcasts are but a few examples of how the medium provides services and solutions to best meet listeners needs.

It connects people, forging or maintaining links affirming its central role for today and tomorrow.

More than ever, we need this universal humanist medium, said the UNESCO chief.

Without it, she maintained that the right to information and freedom of expression and, with them, fundamental freedoms would be weakened, as would cultural diversity, since community radio stations are the voices of the voiceless.

On this World Day, UNESCO calls on everyone audiences, radio broadcasters and audiovisual professionals to celebrate radio and its values and to promote reliable information as a common good, concluded Ms. Azoulay.

UNICEF/Salomon Marie Joseph Beguel

Through an innovative radio programme, UNICEF is helping an 11-year-old girl separated from her family in Cameroon to continue her studies.

Read the original:

World Radio Day marks evolution, innovation and connection of 'vector of freedom' - UN News

LONDON, Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --International Game Technology PLC (IGT) (NYSE: IGT) announced that its subsidiary, IGT Mxico Lottery, S. de R.L. de C.V. ("IGT"), has extended its agreement with La Lotera Nacional para la Asistencia Pblica ("LOTENAL"), Mexico's national lottery, to continue providing an integrated draw-based/instant ticket system, draw-based lottery terminals, a communications network, and additional lottery products and ongoing services. The agreement, effective Dec. 20, 2020, extends IGT's contract with the lottery to March 2, 2022.

"For the Lotera Nacional, the extension of the contract with IGT contributes to the certainty and security that we offer to our clients in a year of great challenges for all of us, which has also been a year of transition and internal transformation,"saidMario Caballero Luna, LOTENAL Chief of Advisors.

"For more than three decades, IGT has provided our Lottery customer in Mexico with the expertise, technology, and services it has needed to generate results, which ultimately benefit social and health programs,"saidJay Gendron, IGT Chief Operating Officer, Lottery. "As LOTENAL navigates this transformational period, IGT's innovative, reliable, and proven technology will continue to be a key driver of its evolution."

IGT's ongoing services to LOTENAL include lottery game transactions and instant ticket distribution across 8,200 terminals nationwide. It also includes continuous development of new B2B retail channels; installation, repair, maintenance and monitoring of its total base of lottery terminals; retailer training; field service; call center operations and hotline management; a fixed-odds sports betting retail network; and marketing support to further enhance LOTENAL's overall product and game portfolio.

In 2019, LOTENAL merged with Mexico's Pronsticos para la Asistencia Pblicalottery, and the combined new organization retained the LOTENAL name.

For more information, visit igt.com. Follow IGT on Facebook at facebook.com/IGT, on Twitter at twitter.com/IGTnews, or watch IGT videos on YouTube at youtube.com/igt.

About IGTIGT (NYSE:IGT) is the global leader in gaming. We deliver entertaining and responsible gaming experiences for players across all channels and regulated segments, from Gaming Machines and Lotteries to Sports Betting and Digital. Leveraging a wealth of compelling content, substantial investment in innovation, player insights, operational expertise, and leading-edge technology, our solutions deliver unrivaled gaming experiences that engage players and drive growth. We have a well-established local presence and relationships with governments and regulators in more than 100 countries around the world, and create value by adhering to the highest standards of service, integrity, and responsibility. IGT has approximately 11,000 employees. For more information, please visit http://www.igt.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release may contain forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning International Game Technology PLC and its consolidated subsidiaries (the "Company") and other matters. These statements may discuss goals, intentions, and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, dividends, results of operations, or financial condition, or otherwise, based on current beliefs of the management of the Company as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, such management. Forward-looking statements may be accompanied by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "could," "would," "should," "shall", "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "guidance," "intend," "may," "will," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project" or the negative or other variations of them. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the Company's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those predicted in the forward-looking statements and from past results, performance, or achievements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to) the factors and risks described in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the financial year ended December31, 2019 and other documents filed from time to time with the SEC, which are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and on the investor relations section of the Company's website at http://www.IGT.com. Except as required under applicable law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. You should carefully consider these factors and other risks and uncertainties that affect the Company's business. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to International Game Technology PLC, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Contact:Phil O'Shaughnessy, Global Communications, toll free in U.S./Canada +1 (844) IGT-7452; outside U.S./Canada +1 (401) 392-7452Francesco Luti, +39 3485475493; for Italian media inquiriesJames Hurley, Investor Relations, +1 (401) 392-7190Rhonda Whittaker, Global Communications, +1 (506) 878-6471

2021 IGT

The trademarks and/or service marks used herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of IGT, its affiliates or its licensors.

SOURCE International Game Technology PLC

http://www.igt.com

Read more:

IGT Drives Evolution of Lottery in Mexico through Extension of Full-Service Contract with LOTENAL - PRNewswire

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Despite reference to the creator, this is arguably the most revolutionary secular sentence penned to parchment in the annals of humankind.

Most will immediately recognize the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence. The universality of the Founders prose has been embraced by throngs of peoples in disparate cultures for over two centuries. However, the aspirations manifest in this simple yet enormously powerful sentence are tragically still unrealized for many American citizens. Thankfully, our understanding of the meaning of this sentence, the remainder of the Declaration, and its offspring, the Constitution, has evolved.

That evolution is critically important to understand because it points us toward a better future. We will focus on merely two words in this sentence. Those two words are men and equal: what they meant then, and what they mean now. In so doing, we learn how a successful and arguably rapid revolution for the combative American colonists became a slow-moving, multi-generational, and tortuous evolution for the enslaved. Since it is Black History month, a closer look seems warranted.

Although there were several in the Continental Congress, who despised the very idea of slavery, they ultimately made a pact with the devil. The issue of Black bondage was placed on-the-back-burner in the interests of the future establishment of the worlds first constitutional democracy. By some estimates, the price of freedom from British oppression for the 13 colonies was the continued enslavement of nearly 150,000 persons.

That number eventually swelled to as many as 4,000,000 in the following 87 years until President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The word men, then, clearly did not encompass those persons condemned to a cradle-to-grave miserable existence as property. Five thousand black men fought in George Washingtons army. The terrible irony is all too apparent.

Although finally corrected in the modern era, individual Black slaves were enshrined into the US Constitution as 3/5ths of a white man by the Electoral College. The often-repeated right-wing position that the Electoral College had nothing to do with slavery is absurd on its face. Despite its clearly racist leanings, the system did have the notable distinction of being the first in recorded human history to elect a national leader via a democratic process.

The Civil Wars arguable aim to set men free cost as many as 750,000 lives on both sides. Of those, 179,000 Black men wore Union blue, and 40,000 of that number died. Tragically, the conflict that was meant to bring freedom to those that most needed it, ultimately failed to deliver on its promise. The southern states eventually developed the outrageous Jim Crow laws that promulgated the heinous notion of separate but equal. The midnight lynching activities of the KKK were eventually burned into the national consciousness. Blacks were no longer slaves, but they were clearly not equal under the law either. Poll taxes and voter-ID laws all had the effect of suppressing the black vote. Slavery may have been outlawed, but obvious systemic racism was subsequently codified in jurisprudence. This clearly evolutionary change from slavery to second class citizen status was dreadful, falling far short of the stated objective of equal.

The long-time-in-coming 1964 Civil Rights Act corrected twisted law, making it illegal to discriminate against anyone because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, thus, ending the odious policy of segregation. That act is in many ways the crowning achievement of the American Civil Rights Movement that was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This was yet another milestone in the evolution toward making the word equal mean what it says.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 raised another marker on the arduous road to becoming equal. The Founders perhaps understandably could not have imagined in their day a black man serving in the highest office in the land. One wonders why Mr. Obama could not have rightly been designated as white. He was after all, a child of white and black parents. Why, then, is he universally considered black? Is mere appearance the ultimate qualifier? If so, why?

Several years ago, I taught U.S. History to undergraduate college students. They often concluded that the Founders were men of their times: that they were flawed, as we all are. Clearly, a significant number of these mens understanding of equal in 1776 did not include those persons then enslaved. Thankfully, our society has matured in the right direction.

Despite these failings, the aspirational words of both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution have stood the test of time and now rightly and legally include all peoples regardless, of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Are we there yet? Not hardly.

Once the coronavirus has been defeated, the Biden/Harris Administration faces still daunting challenges in this arena. As is often the case, the armed forces will lead the way by removing the names of Confederate generals from military bases across our country. We should also applaud the recent confirmation of Lloyd Austin to the post of Secretary of Defense: the first Black person in history to serve in that critically important Cabinet post. The great orator, abolitionist, and author, Frederick Douglass, perceived the Constitution as a glorious liberty document. But only the long tortuous evolution has made his words ring true today.

Robert Bruce Adolph is the author of the new book, Surviving the United Nations: The Unexpected Challenge. He is a former senior Army Special Forces soldier and United Nations security chief. He has lived and worked in 15 different countries on four continents.

Read more:

The long, tortuous evolution of America | Column - Tampa Bay Times

Water drop on green leaf

Marcus Aureliusonce wrote Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love, and some would argue whom we love equally depends on who we are and who we want to become. Our relationship to the other is a function of who we are as we are a function of it.

The same is true for our ways of organizing. All organizations are a function of our being and relating to one another. Our fulfillment with those systems is a function of time. A home is a function of us, for example, a school, a business, a society. It is not until an act occurs within a given landscape, embodying the past and the future while defining the current human experience. Indeed, it is hard to miss detecting there are many worthwhile sustainable development opportunities for the current world in transition: Climate change, pandemic episodes, water resource crisis, the immediate need to reduce CO2emissions, human trafficking and income, gender, pay inequality, etc. The common denominator of all is our humanity and the longing to unleash any untapped potential.

One of the places we feel most the impacts of this seeking is the corporate world which has been changing rapidly over the last five to seven years. While digitalization, globalization and democratization have reshaped the labor landscape, some critical questions continue to beg their way out into freedom: What is a business? What does it mean for us to work under one roof? Who are we together?

Do you ever consider that the first pioneers of the Human Relations Movement took adequate time to think these kinds of questions through? Or do you presume they were merely some theorists of management history? Are the bureaucratic organizations we have witnessed develop and the manic environments we became part of, the experience they had intended for us? Do you feel they were carrying the spirit of progress during the industrial revolution? These are inquisitive questions that embody difficult and complex realities. In retrospect, when it comes to exercising pure foresight though, it seems irrational to have become attached to one theory in revolting. This is not for preference either, science would tell us sustainable revolt requires ideas to dance in the moonlight with a heart wide open.

Progress is never permanent, will always be threatened, must be redoubled, restated and reimagined if it is to survive,wrote Zadie Smith. Indeed, history shows us enlightenment that carries generations forward always requires a good mind and a heart together. A meaningful evolution of any organization at any time has always depended on its spiritual truth. The more applicable that truth becomes to human life, the more there is ground for a moral basis that can carry its constitutions to another reality.

So, what can we learn from the past that could serve future organizations?

For one, a future organization is centered around us, the individual, the human. Until we can imagine the kind of experiences, we want to be part of, we will continue being a victim to existing, disenfranchised realities. An organization can only be as strong as its weakest link. To be strong together calls for each of us to care. In other words, are we going to hold our space and claim our place or are we going to ride along andface the other way? Are we, for example, going to continue wanting to buy a shirt customized, for cheaper, delivered tomorrow while claiming for equal rights, opportunities and ecological sustainability? Are we going to want to work more efficiently, innovate to raise up our share and at the same time, resist to cooperate and collaborate with others on a daily basis?

Two, business needs to take a stance on who it is going to be, to support the making of a future organization Is business about money or purpose or is it about advancing human lives? Is a technology firm who knows of users harassing others going to keep silent because money keeps coming, or is it going to act to stop the issue? Is a hospital going to burn its employees wellbeing, overlooking their need to be a human, in the name of saving others lives? Is a manufacturer going to be proud of its product volume while relentlessly polluting the environment?

Three, leaders need to completely refurbish their system management practices from top to bottom. The workplace reports that keep listing reskilling, robotics, data and analytics is of little use here. Even with solid core philosophies in place, the majority of existing global organizations dont have the capability or capacity to capitalize on the kind of trends listed. To reskill or upskill, as an example, an organization would require an innovation hub that can foresee future capabilities and offer timely, relevant, contextual, adult experience journeys to activate sustained learning on a consistent basis. The majority dont have such structure, competency or resources to achieve this. To break current routines, rather focus on defining your organizations core needs, invite your people into the process of re-imagination. Better yet, hire a few poets, painters and designers. Formal hierarchies dont allow information to travel fast enough around the network, the authoritative power vested in top positions slows down decision making, jobs tightly defined get in front of mutual goal setting and dynamic teaming, behaviors of control ban development of speak-up and learning cultures, the extensive center of excellences become a bottleneck in process innovation.

Finally, no one no longer wants to work for a rank officer nor wants to be examined for past behavior. Reconsider promotion cycles look for mature individuals who progressed through adult development stages and have demonstrated self-efficacy. The fact is many generations of people have grown up in educational systems that have corrupted their minds into deep beliefs of scarcity, individualism, autocracy and grounded them in negative emotions such as guilt, fear, shame, etc. that drive negative behaviors. Yet, it is time we accept as long as those people continue to occupy the highest positions in politics, economics, the media and all of the rest of organizations, we will not showcase new transcendent values nor the role modeling ability to reconcile existing transcendent values in the way we do business.

Do you truly believe we are all equal under the sun? If so, perhaps that could mean deep down in the human essence, we all are part of some common greatness.

The future organization needs to respect the unique value seeded in each one of us and allow space to rediscover our joint greatness. As history would demand in the course of that evolution, it becomes necessary for us to dissolve existing patterns of connection and rewire to build a more beautiful net, together.

Original post:

The Symphony Of Evolution: Why We Need To Redesign Future Organizations With Conscience - Forbes

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) A new traveling exhibit is opening this weekend at the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Its called Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar.

More than three dozen guitars spanning centuries will be on the display.

The exhibit details how guitars have changed over the years.

Itll be appealing for people of all ages, and when you come into the buffalo museum of science, you can be assured we are ready to greet you with a safe experience. Masks are required, social distancing is enforced, and we have all of our protocols to be sure people are safe.

Youre encouraged to get your tickets ahead of time online since the museum is operating with a lower capacity.

The exhibit runs through the summer into early September.

See the article here:

Buffalo Museum of Science opening Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar exhibit - WIVB.com - News 4

Maybe rebellion is in Donald Trumps British genes. There are precedents in history.

In 1534, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (the Older had been a poet/ diplomat for Henry VIII, left a rebellion to prevent Queen Mary from marrying a Catholic Spanish prince. From his Allington Castle, he marched on London, picking up rebels along the way. There, he demanded Mary be sent to he Tower of London. Alas, his followers drifted away and he was arrested and executed.

Then in 1690, Presbyterian minister James Renwick was executed for not recognizing the kingship of James XII, the Catholic inheritor to the Scottish crown upon the death of his Protestant brother, Charles II. Those were the days when political parties derived from religious sects but they also played for keeps.

All reminding that Donald Trump is lucky to be living in modern America after allegedly inciting the invasion of the nations Capitol on Jan. 6.

Whatever the outcome of his Senate trial, Trump will still retire to his lavish golf resorts, receive full retirement benefits as well as Secret Service protection while continuing his patriotic campaign. Call it the evolution of mankind.

DAVID CHILDS

Johnstown

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Read the original here:

Donald Trump is the evolution of mankind | News, Sports, Jobs - Gloversville Leader-Herald

If that is what youwant.

Modders have recreated much-loved 2003 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer Generals in the Red Alert 3 engine.

Command & Conquer: Generals Evolution, which released last week in beta form, certainly captures the feel and atmosphere of the original within the better-looking 2008 RTS Red Alert 3. The modders have ported almost every unit from the original game, and added some new units "to spice up gameplay a bit". You can download Command & Conquer: Generals Evolution now from Moddb.

The video below, from YouTube channel DeathMetalMarine PCMR, shows a skirmish on max settings.

The mod is primarily the work of "Gunship Mark II" (here's the Patreon), who spent almost half their life working on the project.

Gunship Mark II plans to rest now the beta is out in the wild. "Working on this project was nothing but copious amount of stress," they said. "I had to sacrifice pretty much every ounce of my free time, even decline freelance job offers just to finish this thing (I think it's a 'me' problem at this point)."

However, eventually Gunship Mark II will return to add missing units, more infantry units, "some sort of short disjointed single-player campaign", a couple of co-op missions and brand new skirmish maps.

The video below, also from DeathMetalMarine PCMR, shows another game of Generals Evolution, this time playing as the USA Laser General (check out the Particle Cannon, the A10 Strike and the MOAB at 21:44).

EA released the wonderful Command & Conquer Remastered Collection back in June 2020. The hope is it did well enough to convince the powers that be to perhaps remaster another set of Command & Conquer games - or maybe even have a stab at a brand new entry in the legendary series. Check out our interview with EA producer Jim Vessella for more.

For now though, Command & Conquer Generals Evolution offers a trip down memory lane for any Generals fan. "All in all it's a feature rich release that should bring some C&C Generals nostalgia back," Gunship Mark II said.

Link:

Command & Conquer Generals Evolution mod recreates the much-loved RTS in Red Alert 3 - Eurogamer.net

Charles Darwin at his home in Kent, England, in 1880. (English Heritage via Getty Images)

In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. At the end of the book, there is this wonderful passage about the power of natural selection. Darwin writes: There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. The fact that you are reading this now is a product of billions of years of evolution, no small miracle in and of itself.

Darwin wrote these words several years before Louis Pasteur would conduct his experiments across the English Channel in Paris on the germ theory of disease, but all creatures, great and small, operate according to the basic laws of evolution, from the bacteria that caused the puerperal fever that Pasteur first investigated, to the creature (or, rather, more correctly described as a collection of genetic material encased in a protective coat of protein), the virus, that plagues us today: SARS-CoV2.

Organisms evolve by random changes in their genetic makeup as they replicate, whether they can do it on their own, like all living things, or viruses, which straddle the world of the animate and inanimate, and require hosts to parasitize for their own reproduction. What Darwin noted is that the world around us drives evolution in nonrandom ways. The sheer variety of the natural world is driven by adaptations over time to our environments, where those individual organisms with mutations that confer protection against harm or offer a competitive advantage against other individuals of our own kind prosper over the generations.

What we are now seeing with SARSCoV2s variants emerging around the world is evolution in action. Although SARC0V2 has a proof-reading enzymewhich slows the accumulation of mutations compared to other viruses (e.g., HIV)over the past year, weve seen the virus adapt to its surroundings. All SARSC0V2 wants to do is to find a home, a host, and share the same place with us to reproduce. The B.1.1.7 variant first documented in the United Kingdom is hypothesized to have come from a chronically ill patient, perhaps immunocompromised, where the virus found a home, lingered and replicated happily for longer than it would have in a typical patient, probably in the presence of treatments like convalescent plasma or remdesivir, which would have driven mutations to escape these interventions. Unfortunately, the evolution of the virus within this host ended up conferring another benefit on this viral lineage making it 5070 percent more infectious than the strains weve been dealing with thus far. Other variants are showing reduced susceptibility to neutralization by antibodies raised by some vaccines, which may confer greater lethality in those infected. MORE FROM Gregg Gonsalves

None of this is a surprise. Evolution is happening all around us among animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses. But what is clear is that if you want to stop SARSC0V2 and stop the generation of variantsthe endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful that Darwin describedyou have to eradicate it before it becomes an endemic disease, lingering like the many infections that weve tried to outwit and outlast over the centuries.

What is discouraging is that our attempts to address the pandemic have been hyper-local, nationalistic, and mired in short-term thinking and myopia. Depending on where you live in the United States, control efforts are taken more or less seriously. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C, politicians quibble over what is already a modest pandemic relief package from the viruss point of view, offering not nearly enough to allow every American to stay at home to protect themselves and their families, ramp up testing and disease surveillance, and get vaccination efforts on track. In fact, Im already hearing that public health departments are having to choose between vaccination and testing efforts because of staff shortages. Meanwhile, Democratic dinosaurs like Larry Summers think this is 2008 and we are merely having an academic argument about the size of an economic stimulus bill, while Republicans in Congress think were spending too much on it all right now. Were furiously debating who should get $1,400 one-time checks across the country; meanwhile, the virus is being fruitful and multiplying, along with its mutations.

If the US response domestically is still akin to bringing a knife to a gunfightbetter than Trumps mismanagement and chaos, but still not setting us up for containment of the pandemic anytime soonthe global response remains a catastrophe unfolding in plain sight. Right now, the absence of plans to vaccinate people outside of the rich countries of the world is a recipe for disaster. COVAX, the main multilateral initiative on worldwide vaccination for SARSCoV2, said it will be able to vaccinate 27 percent of individuals in poor countries in 2021. The initial estimate was 20 percent. But back to Darwin. What happens with an intervention that cannot eradicate an organism but while in operation lets it generate mutations? Low-level vaccination in poorer countries, along with scarce support for other control measures, risks creating environments for, and selective pressure on, SARSCoV2 to evade the immunogens we develop to prevent serious disease and blunt transmission.

Why is no one screaming bloody murder at this point about this? Its barbaric in human termsletting the rest of the world suffer mostly uncontrolled epidemics for the next several yearswhile Europe, the United States, Canada and other wealthy countries jab up, perhaps requiring vaccine passports for entry by foreigners. But its also folly and hubris of the worst kind. Unless we stop SARSCoV2 everywhere, we wont stop it anywhere. We will be chasing variants across the globe for many years at this rate, all because we cannot raise our heads above the parapets of our own countries to see that all of us are inextricably linked together in viral destiny.

One last thing about evolution. It doesnt care about us. Modern humans have only been on this planet for about 200,000 years out of the 4 billion of so years of life on earth. Its all a blink of an eye. Were just not that important in cosmic terms. To survive against SARSC0V2, against the near-future threats of climate change and whatever else this way comes, humanity is going to have to adaptand do it quickly. Sadly, we havent yet shown ourselves to be up to the task.

See the original post:

Evolution Doesnt Give a Damn About Us, or the USA - The Nation