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Artificial intelligence faces the real world | E&T Magazine – E&T Magazine

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Nation states and big tech firms the size of states are in an artificial intelligence land-grab. What does it mean for the future of the industry?

The dream or nightmare for AI is that it will one day be able to perform like the human brain. That concept of general AI (broader intelligence beyond a narrow area) has remained tantalisingly out of reach or safely so, depending on what science-fiction films you watch.

Like the human brain, AI research comes in two halves: symbolic and transformer-based models. Chris Edwards explains how these two halves are now coming together in an awkward but more effective whole and what that means for the quest for general AI.

Meanwhile, narrow AI is getting everywhere. This years AI market of around $90bn is forecast to multiply by ten times within the next seven years. No wonder that big tech is becoming more involved, taking up the best research and swallowing up AI start-ups. Paul Dempsey hears about the calls to make it all more democratic.

Nations, too, are scrambling for the lead in AI. The latest national strategy comes from the UK. We assess its AI masterplan and whether it leaves enough room for home-grown AI start-ups.

Growth is putting strain on resources, too. AI uses a lot of silicon, which is in short supply. Can the electronics supply chain keep up? How could such shortages shape the industrys future?

How will AI change other industries and, ultimately, our lives? We look at AI in architecture, where its not expected to replace architects but to become a useful tool. Its also proving useful in archaeology.

AI developers have started to talk about augmented intelligence. This more people-centred vision of AI is more optimistic than the machines making us all redundant before spinning out of control and murdering us in our beds or more likely as we sleep in our driverless cars. History tells us its more realistic, too.

In music, AI is being used to imitate The Beatles and Elvis, to compose like Bach and to make new Irish folk music. Yet there are also those who are using AI to make completely fresh music. This is much more exciting and its keeping humans in the process.

A century ago, there were fears that gramophones would replace musicians with mechanical music. Half a century ago, the fear was that synthesisers would replace musicians with electronics, but musicians learnt to use them as creative tools, providing new musical experiences from synth pop to DJs and EDM. There will be a place for pure AI-generated music, perhaps as background music to games, but it will allow human creativity to grow, not shrivel.

Thats the real power of AI. Not replacing the human brain, but helping it along.

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Artificial intelligence faces the real world | E&T Magazine - E&T Magazine

Boris Johnson backs ban on MPs working as paid consultants as it happened – The Guardian

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Tulip Siddiq told MPs she was becoming increasingly frustrated with the government as they ignored the elephant in the room that the debt had become linked to Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes detention in Iran, and needed to be paid to secure her release.

During a packed Westminster Hall debate which saw MPs of all parties vying for space in the room, Siddiq also read out a letter from Zaghari-Ratcliffes husband Richard, in which he revealed the prime minister passed him one day during his 21-day hunger strike outside the Foreign Office.

Siddiq said: In six years of dealing with our government I am getting increasingly frustrated with the fact that when I deal with ministers from government they ignore the elephant in the room which is the fact that this case is now linked to the 400m that we as a country owe Iran.

She added: We have seen that it is not a coincidence that any time there is movement on the IMS (International Military Services) court hearing, we see some movement on Nazanins case. When the IMS court hearing was delayed earlier this year, Nazanin received a call to say Come to court because we need to speak to you.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said other countries had managed to secure the release of their citizens from Iran, asking: How is it the United States, Australia, France and Germany have all successfully now negotiated their citizens arbitrarily detained in Iran and yet we have made no progress?

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said the UK should call the bluff of the Iranians, adding: If the Iranian government said the debt removes the barrier and then if they still do not release these hostages we show the Iranian government for the wicked regime it is. I do not see the downside.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly told MPs that the government shared the frustration they felt about the detention of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British nationals in Iran.

He added: A number of members have raised the issue of the International Military Services debt. As I have said to the House of a number of occasions the UK government recognises we have a duty legally to repay this debt and we continue to explore all legal options to resolve this 40-year-old case.

But we have always been clear that we do not accept British dual nationals being used as diplomatic leverage.

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Boris Johnson backs ban on MPs working as paid consultants as it happened - The Guardian

With Cryptocurrency Bill in offing, experts list options for worst case scenario – The Indian Express

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Amid the ongoing debate to regulate cryptocurrency in India, a shadow of fear and uncertainty looms large over Indias crypto ecosystem, as the government has indicated it is likely to table the Cryptocurrency Bill in the Winter Session.

India today has over 10 crore cryptocurrency investors, who have collectively poured in over $10 billion dollars, according to broker discovery and comparison platform BrokerChooser. The prices of a number of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, have been soaring. At present, the value of 1 Bitcoin stands at Rs 44.92 lakh. However, it is important to note that India currently has no law to regulate cryptocurrency. But there is also nothing that says dealing in the same is illegal.

If the proposed Bill deems cryptocurrencies illegal tender, it will stop investors from trading in any crypto class.

The existing traders and investors will have to book losses, opening the floodgates for huge financial claims and disputes. All of this, will eventually lead to legal recourse with numerous court cases because of the huge investments already made, with a couple of court rulings already having been passed on the subject matter, said Professor Padmanabha Ramanujam, Dean at IFIM Law School and a cryptocurrency expert.

But the cryptocurrencies are global and will not be affected by any particular country taking a decision. Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, a homegrown cryptocurrency exchange, told indianexpress.com, that the global crypto market is too big to be banned and regulators are expected to respect peoples choices allowing them to choose their investment products. Indias crypto investments have crossed the $10 billion mark which reflects the mood of institutional and retail investors.

Any ban on cryptocurrency trading or holding would be a massive setback to the ecosystem of startups that have bloomed in India recently.

A quick search on LinkedIn with the keyword cryptocurrency shows more than 10,000 job listings in India. Apart from these new vacancies, there are several thousands of people currently employed in this sector. Banning cryptocurrencies would be a regressive step for any government, asserted Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Mudrex, a global crypto investment platform.

When Chinas top regulators banned crypto trading, there was an immediate change in coin prices, wiping at least $400 billion off the market. This is because China is one of the largest cryptocurrency markets.

However, Indias share in the trading business is much smaller compared to China. Ramanujam believes the crackdown will not dent cryptocurrency prices, as long as the global companies continue to adopt crypto related products and services.

Interestingly, crypto exchanges did not witness any significant dip in trading activity during the 2017 ban by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The coin prices are not affected by the decision taken by any particular country as crypto assets are decentralized in nature, noted Thakral.

Any ban by the Indian government would impact India-based cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms. However, the prices of the coins would not gain or lose any movement.

When a ban is imposed it means that the transactions between the bank and your crypto exchanges will be completely stopped. Users will not be able to convert local currency to buy any kind of cryptocurrency or be able to liquidate existing investment.

But, Ramanujam said investors will still be able to find buyers where cryptocurrency is still legal. while leveraging is still possible, the transaction costs of liquidating crypto coins would be much higher in that scenario.

Thakral pointed out that investors will be free to withdraw their funds in every situation by following the policies and procedures of the platform they are trading on.

In the case of a blanket ban, there will be a time period given to all investors to withdraw the funds. During this period, investors would be able to sell off their holdings as usual, Patel added.

Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is an unregulated space and digital currencies are not backed by any sovereign authority. Investing in cryptocurrency comes with market risks. This article does not claim to provide any kind of financial advice for trading or buying cryptocurrency.

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With Cryptocurrency Bill in offing, experts list options for worst case scenario - The Indian Express

A Trio Bands Together to Help Denis Villeneuve Make ‘Dune’ – Animation World Network

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

A key reason filmmaker Denis Villeneuve was so successful in constructing the cinematic world of Dune, blueprinted from his own vision of the story while still honoring the famed sci-fi tomes author Frank Herbert, was his partnering once again with two veteran collaborators, production designer Patrice Vermette and editor Joe Walker, along with cinematographer Greig Fraser, a new member of his inner circle. When Denis asked me to do the movie, we were having breakfast together in a restaurant, on a cold, snowy February day, recalls Vermette, who previously worked with Villeneuve on Enemy, Prisoners, Sicario and Arrival. I knew how important that book [Dune] was for him so I needed to treat it with respect. But, I also enjoyed the worlds that Frank Herbert had created.

Design inspiration for Vermettes mood boards came from Ziggurat and Brutalist architecture found in Eastern Europe and Brazil. I had an ongoing discussion with Denis for seven months, he says. Dune is a book that as we know was considered unadaptable in cinema. That was a good challenge.

Complicating the films world building was the fact that blockbuster franchises such as Star Wars were also inspired by the seminal science fiction novel. Many years before Dune was set there was an uprising that led to banning of all computers and technology, notes cinematographer Greig Fraser, who worked with Villeneuve for the first time on Dune and previously shot Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The people doing the calculations for the spaceships are the Mentats, who use the spice to enhance their brain. When you talk about it like that, Dune is the opposite of what Star Wars is. Star Wars is about computers and high tech. So, its got to start with the production design, otherwise it doesnt matter what I do with the camera.

Various planets populate the Dune universe, from Caladan, with its abundance of water and vegetation, to the scorched arid desert wasteland of Arrakis. Caladan has islands, notes Vermette. The economics is about rice, fisheries and wine. You want to try to represent that in the architecture and planet. The book talks about big pine trees and a Medieval influence for the castle. Principal photography for House of Atreides ancestral home took place in Norway. The word that I keep using on Caladan is moist because the place is constantly raining, states Fraser. Its a bit like the UK. It feels like theres always moisture on the foot or dew in the air. The humidity is not like Thailand, but there is a heaviness to the oxygen. That made for a nice opposite to Arrakis, which heavy with sand, spice, and heat.

The indigenous tribes of the South Pacific and history of colonialism informed the basis of Arrakis, where giant sandworms roam beneath the desert surface, and create the rare and coveted spice. The tribes would not cross open ocean, so within the desert, we needed the rock formations [for the Fremen] and thats what brought us to Jordan. Colonial entities build these massive things to show how powerful they are so the Arrakis residency is the biggest construction built by humans.

In the film, the Voice enables the Bene Gesserit, a secretive matriarchal order with superior physical and mental abilities, to mind control their subjects. Theo Green [sound designer], Mark Mangini [supervising sound editor], Denis and I became obsessed with this idea that the Voice somehow summons up the Bene Gesserit ancestry, reveals editor Joe Walker, who cut Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049. Theo recorded dozens of readings of lines from a variety of voice artists. Not everybody will get its Charlotte Ramplings [portrays the Reverend Mother] voice mixed in with Marianna Faithfuls, which was appropriate because they were both partners in crime in the 1960s. The idea was that the Bene Gesserit possess the skill of being able to dig deep into their past, and Paul Atreides [Timothe Chalamet], having been brought up in that discipline, would have that ability. The other thing is that youre trying to make a point that he is not that good at it in the beginning but develops the skill as he comes along. At some point we had a breakthrough in the cutting room. Denis and I tried moving the sync. It made me think of those lovely Czech films from 1960s that were adventurous with sound.

The filmmakers took significant pains to ensure that as much as possible could be captured in camera, such as a massive environment that was partially constructed called The Nexus. Part of the set had to be built for real to give us the texture and background, while the rest became a light volume, states Vermette. We ended up building that set between Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 at Origo Studios in Budapest. 65 feet high. On two parts we built the real set up to 20 feet. In the middle of it we built the mast. Its when Duncan Idaho [Jason Mamoa] dies. Fremen hide in the sand and the Sardaukar come down from suspensors. Thats where visual effects really excelled. It was all about creating the right light environment to enable Paul Lambert [visual effects supervisor] and his team to do their best work. The rest between the stages was covered with sand colored fabric. The floor was sand and the top was a retractable roof that the riggers had put metal wires onto. We could slide the fabric roof, which had a gobo representing all the spokes that would be shadow casted on the floor. It was complicated.

It was also important to the filmmakers for viewers to understand what was going on the in the fight sequences. One thing that we talked about early was the fights because Denis and I arent necessarily big on the rapportage shooting when you do stunt fights, which has already been done beautifully, notes Fraser. How are we going to do that better? We covered them as we would a dance or ballet. Ive always been intrigued by good fight design and am frustrated when I cant see it on the screen because its all full of boom, boom, boom, whips, bams, and zooms. I want to see and feel all the hits. We would do it on a slow dolly push or try to be Kubrickian almost in our coverage. We tried to be poetic with the fights and even less poetic with some of the dramatic work that would be simpler and more functional.

In one scene, Paul Atreides gets tested on his ability to endure pain while the Mother Superior holds a gom jabber, a long needle tipped with meta-cyanide poison, to his neck. You want to sense that a troubling and disturbing power is surfacing in him and that has as much to do with editing visual as it does with sound effects and music, Walker remarks. The music can be like a sound effect sometimes and the sound effects can be like music.

Noting the pandemics impact on the films editing process, Walker concludes, For a lot of the time last year, Denis was up in Montreal, and I was in Los Angeles. We were working by Evercast. The strangest thing for me was to not to have him on my righthand side. The right side of his face is like the dark side of the Moon to me. I have no idea of what it looks like! Ive only seen the left side of his face. It was unusual having him staring right at me! In all honesty, its a relationship that becomes strangely less and less spoken. Its like a well-rehearsed band that can play together well.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for VFX Voice, Animation Magazine, and British Cinematographer.

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A Trio Bands Together to Help Denis Villeneuve Make 'Dune' - Animation World Network

Edward Snowden posts new Farsi tweet – Iran Front Page

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Former US whistleblower Edward Snowden says in a new Farsi tweet he underestimated Persian Twitter.

Snowden recently launched a Persian account on Twitter. This is his third tweet in Farsi. He started his account by tweeting a famous Persian saying which literally translates into The wall has rats, and rats have ears. The proverb means people should be cautious when they say something as spies could be eavesdropping.

The second tweet read, I would just say theres got to be a reason why felines are popular.

Snowden did not explicitly explain what he meant by the tweets nor did he give a reason for launching a Persian account on Twitter.

The former US intelligence consultant in 2013 leaked classified documents to journalists describing surveillance programs run by the NSA to tap peoples cell phones and internet communications.

Some view him as a hero but others call him a traitor to his country. Following the leaks, Snowden fled the US. He was later granted asylum in Russia and is now living there.

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Edward Snowden posts new Farsi tweet - Iran Front Page

Panama, Pandora, and Pentagon Papers: 10 of the most groundbreaking leaks in history – Gwinnettdailypost.com

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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Panama, Pandora, and Pentagon Papers: 10 of the most groundbreaking leaks in history - Gwinnettdailypost.com

Did the Philadelphia Phillies just trade Jean Segura? – That Balls Outta Here

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Did the Phillies trade Jean Segura?

Somethings going on with Jean Segura.

The Philadelphia Philliesinfielders Instagram has been scrubbed of any mention of his team, and only one family photo remains. He even removed his profile picture and bio.

Its unclear whether or not Segura ever followed the Phillies official account, but he doesnt now, nor does he follow the Phillie Phanatic on Instagram. He still follows the MLB official Instagram account, as well as many of his Phillies teammates, including Bryce Harper, Ranger Surez, and Rhys Hoskins. As such, its hard to imagine he never followed the account of the team hes played for since 2019.

The Phillies Instagram still follows Segura, but they also still follow Andrew McCutchen and Odbel Herrera, two new free agents the Phillies opted not to retain for 2022.

And then theres the quote Segura put in his lone Instagram story. It appears to be the Spanish translation of an Edward Snowden quote:

Saying that you are not concerned about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying that you are not concerned with freedom of expression because you have nothing to say.

Segura is essentially asking people to value privacy, presumably his. The reason fans think it has to do with being traded rather than a personal matter is the removal of all baseball content from his page.

2022 is the final year of the 31-year-old Seguras five-year, $70M deal that began with the Seattle Mariners in 2018. The Phillies also have a club option on Segura for 2023.

In some ways, trading Segura makes sense. He hit .290/.348/.436 with a .784 OPS over 131 games. His 14 home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS were all the second-best marks of his decade-long career. The trade return would likely be significant.

Additionally, from a personality standpoint, trading Segura away wouldnt come as a total shock. He and his manager Joe Girardi got into a verbal altercation in the dugout early on in the season, and the infielder has drawn criticism for attitude and effort throughout his MLB career.

However, dealing Segura brings up challenges, too. The Phillies are saddled with the final year of shortstop Didi Gregorius contract, and owe him over $15M in 2022. He had an extremely poor season, both offensively and defensively. of the two middle infielders, Gregorius is the one the Phillies should be trying to unload, but for the exact reason they likely will not be able to do just that.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has made it clear that his offseason priorities are the bullpen in particular, a closer and outfield. If they are trading Segura, it likely means more playing time for rookie Luke Williams, and perhaps an affordable re-signing of Freddy Galvis, who returned to his longtime team at the trade deadline.

Whatever is going on with Segura, something is going on. Unless, of course, Seguras Instagram was simply hacked, and Phillies fans have worked themselves into an emotional lather over nothing. It certainly feels like something, though.

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Did the Philadelphia Phillies just trade Jean Segura? - That Balls Outta Here

Media scandals: sound and fury, but in the end, little changes – The Conversation UK

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

The recent political scandal in the UK involving Owen Paterson, a Conservative MP who was found to have broken parliamentary standards by repeatedly lobbying the government on behalf of two companies which paid him a large regular monthly fee, presents a classic case of a media scandal.

Patersons lobbying work was revealed by an investigation in The Guardian newspaper in 2019. Allegations of wrongdoing were followed by an inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, and a damning report from the House of Commons committee on standards, which recommended a 30-day suspension for the MP.

The Johnson government then tried to overturn the process, leading to a political and public furore, forcing a U-turn. Paterson subsequently resigned as an MP and opprobrium was heaped on the prime minister, Boris Johnson, with allegations in the media of sleaze and corruption about him and his government.

Spurred on by this episode, journalists dug for stories about other Conservative MPs who may have broken the rules. These included the former attorney general Geoffrey Cox, whose work for the British Virgin Islands, among other clients, has reportedly brought him more than 6 million in his 16 years as an MP.

The episode played out with daily revelations in the press at a time when all eyes were on the UK as the host of the COP26 climate summit.

It is hard to imagine scandals existing without news coverage. Media attention provides the oxygen that fuels scandals. No matter if they happen in politics (the Watergate Affair), business (Enron and fraud), entertainment (Harvey Weinstein and #Me Too), sports (Lance Armstrongs doping scandal), science Andrew Wakefield and the MMR vaccine, or religion (the Catholic Church and sexual abuse), scandals pry open gaps between expected and actual behaviour. This is why virtually no part of society is exempt.

But if scandals need the media to provide oxygen, it the media also benefits from scandals, which illustrates the multiple motivations for press coverage. There are a number of reasons a news organisation might go after a scandal. Exposing wrongdoing by the powerful bolsters the credentials of the press as a public watchdog. Scandals attract eyeballs, increasing audience ratings and circulation and boosting revenues. They can also help reinforce the ideological positions of news organisations.

So, for instance, while the left/liberal Guardian was part of the team that exposed tax-avoidance practices of the powerful elites, the conservative Daily Telegraph vigorously pursued MPs expenses, trumpeting of Labour transgressors: The party may take the moral high ground, but lying and cheating are deep in its DNA.

Sometimes the news media itself becomes the centre of a scandal, engaging in dubious practices such as deception and invasion of privacy to get the story. The phone-hacking case in the UK was a prime example of this.

The mainstream media remain important in breaking scandalous news and further documenting wrongdoing. But they arent the only gatekeepers now. Legacy media has been joined by specialist investigative sites, such as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and social media where people can share tips and stories.

As these new sources of information have added their voices, the dynamics of reporting and gatekeeping scandal stories have become more complex and fluid and the unfolding of scandals has become far more unpredictable. The pace and the content of scandals can rapidly and unexpectedly shift as various different voices introduce new revelations and broadcast to large new and motivated audiences, sending stories viral when people pass them on to their friends.

Accordingly, scandal management has had to change. People and institutions implicated in scandals have to confront a more chaotic information ecology to control messages and provide tight, well-managed responses.

The digital revolution has also brought with it new ways of finding, processing and reporting sensitive information with scandalous potential. Journalists and citizens have learned to explore digital data to reveal wrongdoing. As digital footprints can be traced and reconstructed, professional and citizen reporters can scrutinise people and institutions to shed light on their political and financial records as well as their behaviour and statements.

Often they set up collaborative platforms to pool their resources in researching stories. The emergence of new types of journalistic collaboration led to the revelations about the surveillance state by former NSA employee Edward Snowden and the Panama papers exposure, which were investigated by an international group of newspapers and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

But while their newsmaking power continues to grow, revelations by these non-traditional platforms need support from established news organisations and digital platforms with large followings.

The big media organisations are more likely to have the resources, expertise and social prominence to get the stories in front of large audiences. This in turn will spark further revelations as a story gathers pace.

Media scandals overwhelmingly focus on flawed people, rather than on the structural forces that allow, foster and condone their transgressions. Individual peccadilloes are more likely to attract attention than systemic social problems: corruption, wrongdoing, institutional racism, violence, sexism and corporate abuses.

Media narratives tend to accentuate this problem as they tend to offer simplified stories about heroes and villains instead of deeper examination of social problems that have led to the scandal and all-too often remain after the noise has died down.

The Paterson scandal is following this classic path. Inevitably as soon as the people portrayed as villains are taken down, it will be back to business as usual. The scandal may lead to minor changes in the way the standards committee investigates MPs. But if major structural changes had taken place following the 1994 cash for questions scandal, this latest scandal would not have occurred.

But it didnt, so decades later the watchword for public officials remains: dont get caught.

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Media scandals: sound and fury, but in the end, little changes - The Conversation UK

Banksy’s Street Art Paints the Town | TABlog | Tokyo Art Beat – Tokyo Art Beat

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Graffiti has existed for thousands of years as cave paintings. It has decorated the walls of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman buildings as protest poems and illustrations. Since the 1960s, it has adorned tunnels, subways, and building facades, particularly in New York City and Europe. Labeling graffiti as art or vandalism has sparked intense controversies. However, as the years have passed, recognized artists have emerged, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began spraying art on the streets in the late 1970s, followed by Blek le Rat and Keith Haring in the 1980s. Banksy, the mysterious British artist who has consistently avoided public identification since his debut in the 1990s, has continued to set the world aflame with his bold expression of artistic freedom and deliberate messages of political and cultural satire.

Who is Banksy?, now showing at Warehouse Terrada in Tennozu Isle until December 5th, has come to Tokyo less than a year after a different Banksy exhibition debuted in Yokohama. After Tokyo, the show will continue on to Nagoya, Osaka, Koriyama and Takaoka. Its works are largely from the globe-touring exhibition The Art of Banksy. What makes Banksy resonate among multiple generations is perhaps his dark humor and occasional use of subversive symbols. As designer Paul Smith remarked, Banksy speaks of the corrupted truth in human society that many of us are too nervous to articulate. His exhibitions are flocked to in the thousands, and his works are auctioned at shocking prices. They evidently echo peoples doubts about our current political, social, and cultural states.

The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum (2014, Bristol, UK) appears on a replica of a wall in the Albion Dockyard of Bristol, England, where the original art can be found. A different take on Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring, Banksys version has replaced the girls earring with an outdoor security alarm. In 2020, the same mural was given a face mask to reflect the global pandemic, but whether the addition was, indeed, executed by Banksy himself or another person has not been verified.

The current exhibition is particularly engaging thanks to its movie set-like installations, which escort the visitor through streets, alleys, and tunnels in the U.K. and U.S. decorated with Banksys art. Visitors can also walk through a recreated street scene from Gaza, Palestine showing the abysmal conditions around the separation barrier. Alongside this display is a stage set of the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, Palestine, with interiors marked by Banksy. The presentation style offers a realistic experience of the artworks on a life-sized scale.

Another intriguing mural is Spy Booth (2014, Cheltenham, UK), which displays three 1950s-era spies listening in on a conversation at a phone boothwidely presumed to be Banksys critique on government surveillance. Two of the three spies were believed to be representations of whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLinks founder Julian Assange. The wall art appeared originally on the side of a building in Cheltenham, England, not far away from the British intelligence and security organization Government Communications Headquarters. The work created a stir when it mysteriously disappeared in 2016 after the state legislature decided to reconstruct the entire building to protect it from aging. This year, the heads of the spies were found and have been put on auction by entertainment label Cosmic Wire.

Among the artists private collections that should not be missed are humorous caricatures of monkeys and rats, Banksys most frequently used animal characters representing the human mind. Laugh Now (2003) is one of the artists most popular and early works. Originally, it was a six-meter spray-painted mural, with the monkeys figure repeated ten times in a row as a backdrop to Ocean Rooms nightclub in Brighton. The chimps expression of slumped shoulders and sunken eyes is gloomy and forlorn, emoting oppression. Possibly, it may have been also a critical message of how animals are harshly treated by humans. The provocative words seem to imply an anticipated uprising. Similar thoughts are evoked in Monkey Parliament (2009), illustrating chimpanzees in place of parliament members at the House of Commons in London. Banksy released this work the same year of the parliamentary expenses scandal.

Banksys rat subjects were believed to be his homage to the so-called father of stencil graffiti, Blek le Rat. In Gangsta Rat (2004), the rat wears a chain medallion necklace and a NY Yankees baseball cap. It sits next to a boombox. The character portrayal of underground New York lifestyle that was prevalent across the UK in the 1980s and 1990s is utterly unmistakable.

For those who have followed the corporate legacy of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, The Son of a Migrant from Syria (2015, Calais, France) is a powerful message of irony surrounding the Syrian migrant crisis and accumulation of wealth. Banksy painted the mural in a migrant camp in Calais, France. He used the character of Steve Jobs, whose father was a Syrian migrant to the U.S., as a farcical statement to negate public opinion that migration is a drain on a countrys resources. Jobs is seen carrying a sack of his belongings and his first Apple Mac computer, which made him wealthy while his company has paid over $7 billion a year in taxes.

Finally, no one can dismiss Girl with a Balloon (2002, London, UK), considered to be Banksys most identifiable trademark. The figure of innocence in the little girl who releases a red, heart-shaped balloon in the air was first drawn on the staircase of Waterloo Bridge in London in 2002. Banksy had used this picture several times in social campaigns, such as those for saving Syrian children in 2014. In the exhibition, the words There is always hope are written on the wall next to the picture. The celebrated artwork ignited a global buzz during a Sothebys auction in 2018, when it was sold for a million pounds, but was shredded by a mechanical device Banksy had hidden inside the frame. Consequently, the piece was given a new name, Love in the Bin, and was auctioned once more in October 2021 for 16 million.

Despite the enormous wealth and fame that Banksy has been bestowed within the last 30 years, he remains unmaterialistic, often appearing as an ordinary street artist in sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt. His creations speak to us about certain delusions in societal norms, shortcomings of political and social systems, and the perpetual human struggle to understand lifes existence.

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Banksy's Street Art Paints the Town | TABlog | Tokyo Art Beat - Tokyo Art Beat

Understanding the Metaverse and How it Relates to Cryptocurrency – Yahoo Finance

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

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The metaverse is rapidly growing, both in cultural awareness and in financial terms, accelerated by Facebooks Meta name change last month. Since the concept is slowly starting to become more mainstream as several big-name companies are embracing it and some analysts are calling it the next big investment theme.

See: 10 Cheap Cryptocurrencies To BuyFind: Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2022

Igor Tasic, founder of metaverse advisory firm Meta Ventures, says that the metaverse goes beyond VR/AR and technology itself and has the potential to be the ultimate equalizer of the first half of the 21st-century by creating an actual global plaza for people to be included, integrating their physical and digital existence in an authentic hybrid experience.

We are living in a moment of transition in the metaverse. I believe even the way we refer to it will evolve, Tasic told GOBankingRates.

Like in the past, we called the internet the web, Infoway, and now, the cloud. It seems to be more of a natural next step of the internet in which the experiential aspect will take place, he added.

In a note to investors earlier this week, Investment bank Morgan Stanley said that the metaverse a concept that includes the construction of an alternate universe where individuals can model their image to whatever they want to be, and perform real-life tasks such as buying things, gaming with friends, and other activities can fundamentally change the medium through which we socialize with others, according to Bitcoin.com.

But what is the connection between the metaverse and crypto and how does crypto play a role in it?

Sina Kian, VP of Strategy at Aleo, a blockchain platform for fully private applications, told GOBankingRates that crypto is a fundamental part of the metaverse because it allows ownership of digital assets, and ownership will create incentives to invest.

Kian added, however, that one of the greatest threats to the metaverse is the prospect of being captured by an oligopoly, thus recreating the menace of monopolies in the digital world.

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The most important thing that crypto offers is a potential alternative to that world, in which ownership is more decentralized, Kian said.

Phillippe Bekhazi, co-founder and CEO of XBTO Group, a global cryptofinance firm, echoed the sentiment, telling GOBankingRates that crypto is poised to play an immensely important role in the metaverse.

Obviously, there are the emerging technologies, such as NFTs and social tokens, that could be used for everything from playing games and earning money to even serving as incentives for holding virtual concerts for influencers and their fans, Bekhazi said.

What I think is under-appreciated is the role that major cryptocurrencies could play. Digital currencies are primed to be used as a payments system between various parties within a metaverse-like digital world, he continued.

Also, its not beyond the realm of possibility that in some future metaverse, even crypto traders could trade Bitcoin and other crypto assets on a VR/AR-integrated system within the metaverse. In such a scenario, they could bargain in person, in the form of the digital avatars, over what price they would want to trade whichever crypto asset. The possibilities could be limitless, and we are excited to see what comes of this, Bekhazi concluded.

Other experts explain that the metaverse isnt just AR/VR and cartoon avatars. It can be any form of online engagement, from a Zoom call to commenting on your favorite creators social posts, plus anything that gives you presence, engagement and identity in a digital space can be a metaverse, according to Chris Fortier, Vice President of Product at Rally, a blockchain ecosystem that helps creators mint their own social tokens.

In this light, crypto has an important role to play in any metaverse, Fortier told GOBankingRates. Crypto enables radical ownership of tokens but tokens are much more than money.

See: Decentralized Social Media on Solanas Blockchain Could Change How Fast We Enter the MetaverseFind: Twitter Launches Crypto Dedicated Team A Move That Could Make Digital Assets The Currency of the Internet

Rally, for example, lets creators and communities tokenize their time and reward participation in our digital metaverses (both current web and web3 alike). That could mean amplifying a tweet, fulfilling a T-shirt order for a fan or introducing a new community member to crypto. Web3 communities now have the tools to honor and reward that digital labor, he added.