Daily Archives: July 9, 2017

Andrew Moore’s ascension keeps his mom on the edge of her seat – The Register-Guard

Posted: July 9, 2017 at 12:26 pm

SEATTLE Although Chris Smith didnt get the decision in his first major league start, Ryon Healy made sure Oaklands 36-year-old right-hander contributed to an Athletics victory.

Healy bounced a ground-rule RBI double to right-center with two outs in the ninth inning Saturday night to give the As a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners after Smith pitched six solid innings.

That was like a personal goal. Walking to the field today, you think about it and I said if I can get six innings, three runs in the big leagues, thats a quality start, said Smith, called up Saturday from Triple-A Nashville. Its a little different in the minor leagues, but to do it in the big leagues, that was like a good personal pat on the back.

Rajai Davis opened the ninth with a slow-rolling infield single to third off Edwin Diaz (2-4), who relieved to open the inning. Davis stole second as Matt Joyce struck out. Yonder Alonso was walked intentionally with two outs and Healy then ripped an 0-2 slider into the gap.

I was one pitch away and I missed that slider, Diaz said. I threw a fastball up and in, and he looked back. I was supposed to go with the fastball again, but I decided to throw the slider, but I missed in the middle and he hit it pretty good.

Sean Doolittle (1-0) pitched the eighth for the victory. Santiago Casilla finished for his 15th save, despite allowing a two-out double.

Alonso and Marcus Semien had solo homers for the Athletics off rookie Andrew Moore, who allowed three runs in six innings in his third start.

Smith, called up from Triple-A Nashville, made his first major league start after 63 relief appearances. He left after six innings tied 3-3. The right-hander allowed six hits, struck out four and walked one. Smiths career record remains 1-0 with a victory in relief in 2008 with Boston.

I was hoping to get him into the sixth today and he gave us six and allowed us to go to the three guys that we go to to tie or win games, Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. He did every bit of his job and probably a little bit more. It was fun to see.

Semien, activated off the disabled list Thursday after missing 74 games, snapped a 2-2 tie in the fifth with his first homer, a one-out solo shot.

Jarrod Dyson knotted it 3-3 when he opened the bottom half with his fifth home run.

Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the second on singles by Healy, Bruce Maxwell and Jaycob Brugman and made it to 2-0 in the third on Alonsos 20th homer.

Seattle tied it in the bottom half on doubles by Dyson and Jean Segura and Ben Gamels RBI single.

Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger saved at least one run in the fourth with a running grab of Davis drive deep into the corner to end the inning with two aboard.

It might be one and done, so I was really enjoying it, Smith said. But, at the same time, I was really trying to lock it in. I can go from zero to 100 in the blink of an eye, so I had to slow myself down. Really take it in, but really know that, hey, Ive got a job to do.

On Sunday, Oakland rookie RHP Daniel Gossett (1-3, 6.23 ERA) closes out the four-game series at Safeco Field. He has walked just three in 26 innings in his five starts since being called up, but has allowed seven homers.

Seattle will counter with Felix Hernandez (3-3, 5.04 ERA), who makes his fourth start since coming off the DL on June 23. The longtime ace, who entered the season with a career 3.16 ERA, is 1-1 with has a 5.50 ERA since return after missing almost two months with right shoulder inflammation.

Seattle infielder Shawn OMalley (recovering appendix surgery) made his first two rehab appearances in the Arizona rookie league, both times in the leadoff spot as DH. He went 2 for 2 on Friday with a triple, and three walks. OMalley had one hit in three at-bats Saturday with an RBI.

Oakland catcher Josh Phegley was reinstated from the paternity list after missing three games. Catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who was called up from Nashville on Wednesday, was designated for assignment.

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Andrew Moore's ascension keeps his mom on the edge of her seat - The Register-Guard

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Moon rock on the block: Sotheby’s stages its first space exploration … – The National

Posted: at 12:25 pm

Lot 102 Apollo 11 Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag Used by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 to bring back the very first pieces of the moon ever collected traces of which remain in the bag. The only such relic available for private ownership. Estimate$2/4 million. Courtesy Sothebys

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

On July 20, 1969, these eight words crackled across the airwaves, holding the world entranced and altering forever the boundaries of what was considered possible.

The man speaking was Neil Armstrong, whose brevity marked the moment when the lunar module Eagle completed its perilous journey from Apollo 11 and touched down upon the surface of the Moon. The world waited on tenterhooks as hour after hour of checks were carried out. Finally, the hatch opened, and Armstrong descended the ladder to become the first human to set foot on the Moon, with the now immortal words: Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

There cannot be many who have not, however briefly, glanced at the Moon and wondered what it must have been like for Armstrong to look back at the blue and green planet we call home. The landing may have happened almost five decades ago, but space exploration has not lost its allure. Even those of us who were not born when this momentous event unfolded are caught in its gravitational pull.

With this in mind, it seems only fitting that Sothebys New York has decided to host its first space exploration auction, featuring memorabilia from American-led space missions, exactly 48 years to the day after Apollo 11s lunar landing.

The space programmes are a huge source of inspiration for future generations around the globe, says Cassandra Hatton, space expert and senior specialist, books and manuscripts, at Sothebys New York.

Many of us remember watching in awe as Armstrong first set foot on the Moon, and remember vividly the excitement and sometimes tragedy associated with each launch. This is a field that requires no special background or training to appreciate, and anyone, regardless of their age, can share in the excitement. Space exploration unites us as humans in a common goal of escaping the bonds of Earth to explore what is beyond.

Although an American ultimately became the first person to land on the Moon, for many years Russia led space exploration. In 1957, it launched the worlds first satellite, Sputnik, and in 1961, Russian pilot and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to orbit the Earth, beating his US counterpart Alan Shepard by 23 days. US president JohnF Kennedy ramped up the rivalry between the two countries in 1962, when he declared Americas intention of putting a man on the Moon. Issued as a rally cry, his words We choose to go to the Moon in this decade.... not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard marked the start of the so-called space race.

It is difficult to grasp just how huge a task this was at that time. Computing was still in its infancy, and many materials now deemed crucial to any sojourn into the vacuum of space had yet to be invented. To put this into context, the computer that powered the Apollo missions filled almost an entire room, could only execute eight instructionssimultaneously and had decidedly less memory than an Xbox 360 game console. That men trusted their lives to such basic technology seems beyond comprehension, and the crews, made up of experienced fighter plane test pilots, sat helpless inside their capsules, at the mercy of others to send them into and, most crucially, bring them home from the unknown. Although mixed with rhetoric fuelled by the Cold War between the US and Russia, Kennedys unwavering belief and commitment to lunar exploration is partly why the space centre in Florida still bears his name.

Innumerable items were created as part of this dash for the skies, but very few have so far been put up for sale. In 1993, Sothebys staged a Russian space history auction, offering 227 lots over three days, and generating sales in excess of US$6.8 million (Dh25m).

"Houston, We've Had A Problem Here." The Flown Apollo 13 Flight Plan Apollo 13. Flight Plan. Part No. SKB32100082-350. S/N: 1001. [Houston: Manned Spacecraft Center, March 16, 1970] Estimate $30/40,000. Courtesy Sotheby's

Attended by former Russian cosmonauts, with a mood best described as frenzied, the packed sales room jostled to snap up items such as Gagarins handwritten speech for $123,500 (Dh453,655); instructions for the finders of the returned Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka for $10,350 (Dh38,000);and even a Lunokhod 1lunar rover, which sold for $68,500 (Dh252,000), despite having being left on the Moon since 1971, with no prospect of it ever making a return to Earth.

Crucially, the sale also offered Moon rock, which Hatton is quick to highlight to this day remains the only legal sale of Moon rocks to have ever occurred.

It is this legal provenance that holds the clue as to why most sales have so far offered Soviet, but not US items. Unlike the Soviet Union, which lost any claim to these space items when it collapsed, until recently, US law prohibited all sales of space items, as they were deemed to be owned by Nasa, and ultimately, the American government. This has now changed.

New laws were enacted, Hatton explains, allowing US astronauts who participated in the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo missions clear title to any artefacts that they received during their missions, and thus, clear title to anyone that they sell or gift such items to.

This means that items that one would normally only find in museums are now available for private ownership.

Thanks to this fundamental shift in policy, the market is expected to open up, kicking off with the Sothebys Space Exploration auction next week. Alongside original charts, maps and engineering models, one item on offer is a photograph taken of Buzz Aldrin by Armstrong, on the surface of the Moon. This is one of the most defining images of the era. Signed by and with a note from Aldrin, it carries a reserve price of between $3,000 and $5,000 (up to Dh18,400).

Also available is a flag carried aboard Apollo 11 signed by Armstrong, Aldrin and the third astronaut on board, Michael Collins. In the years after the mission, Armstrong became uncomfortable with his signature changing hands for large sums, and in later years became so disillusioned that he refused all requests for an autograph. This signed flag is, therefore, estimated to sell for between $40,000 and $60,000 (up to Dh220,500).

Perhaps unexpectedly, the star listing of the sale is an unassuming bag marked Lunar sample return, which comes with a reserve price of between $2m and $4m (up to Dh14.7m).

Lot 116 Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base The Apollo programs most iconic image. Large color photograph taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin during their Apollo 11 moonwalk. Signed & inscribed by Buzz Aldrin. Estimate $3/5,000. Courtesy Sotheby's

Shedding light on what makes this so interesting, Hatton explains: The top lot in the sale is the very bag that Neil Armstrong used on the Apollo 11 mission to bring back the first samples of the Moon ever collected.

Called an outer decontamination bag, it still has traces of lunar dust inside it.

We thought that the anniversary date of this historic event was the perfect day on which to sell an artefact of such significance.

One nation that will no doubt be watching the sale with interest is the UAE one of the more recent arrivals to the field of space exploration. In 2014, the countryset out an ambitious plan to be the first Arab nation to send an unmanned probe to Mars, joining the ranks of only nine other nations with its own space programme, dubbed the Emirates Mars Mission.

Fittingly named Hope, the UAEs unmanned spacecraft for the Mars probe aims to gather data about the atmosphere, which it will then share with other research facilities.

Although Hope is on a serious scientific mission, there is a touch of poetry about it, too, timed as it is to arrive on the Red Planet in 2021, to coincide with the 50th anniversary year of a unified UAE.

Covering 60 million miles (equal to 156 non-stop journeys to the Moon) and reliant on solar power, Hope has a difficult voyage ahead of it.

Once in space, and with no air friction to slow it down, it will travel at 126,000kph for seven months to reach its destination.

Once there, transmissions back to Earth will take up to 20 minutes to arrive, meaning the craft must be capable of piloting itself. It must slow itself down enough to enter Mars orbit, where it will, at long last, be able to collect samples and data.

With a single orbit taking 55 hours and covering an ellipse of up to 44,000 kilometres, the entire mission is designed to take almost two years from launch to completion.

In the interim, enthusiasts can get their space fix from the upcoming Sothebys auction, and add to or build up a stockpile of cosmic collectibles.

The head of Sothebys Dubai, Katia Nounou, sums it up perfectly. From those aspiring to be astronauts to those simply reaching for the stars, were thrilled to offer the chance to get one step closer to the Moon this summer, she says.

We hope space exploration inspires all of our visitors to look back on mankinds immense achievements, and to reimagine the impossible as possible.

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Moon rock on the block: Sotheby's stages its first space exploration ... - The National

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Trump warns US is planning ‘severe things’ for Kim Jong-un when WW3 breaks out – Daily Star

Posted: at 12:24 pm

DONALD Trump has threatened North Korean despot Kim Jong-un with pretty severe things if he continues with his deadly nuke programme.

GETTY

The President lashed out at Kim in a heated rant following the tyrants successful ICBM test this week.

North Koreas missile launch saw their dreaded ICBM fly into the Sea of Japan, after being in the air for more than half an hour.

And Trump was quick to hit back with his own massive military exercises in South Korea as a show of force to the rotund ruler.

Tensions on the Korean peninsular have reached an all time high as US and South Korean forces launched a drill which saw them fire off missiles in response to Kim Jong-un's successful test of an ICBM

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US and South Korean forces fire off missiles from the South's Hyunmu-2 Missile System and the US M20 Multiple Launch Rocket System. The test is in answer to North Korea's test of an ICBM

"I have some pretty severe things that we're thinking about, Trump said in a statement on Thursday.

That doesn't mean we're going to do them. I don't draw red lines.

He added the North is "behaving in a very, very dangerous manner and something will have to be done about it."

Serious concerns have been raised by the international community about North Koreas missile programme.

It is believed Kim's new missile could obliterate a major US city, with an estimated range of around 6,700 km (4,160 miles).

Since 2008, photographer Eric Lafforgue ventured to North Korea six times. Thanks to digital memory cards, he was able to save photos that was forbidden to take inside the segregated state

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Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you

A US Defence Department spokesman, Captain Jeff Davis, said the US had not seen a missile like the tubby tyrant's latest deadly ICBM.

While Commander of US forces in Korea, Gen Vincent K Brooks, said: "As the combined live fire demonstrated, we may make resolute decisions any time, if the alliance commanders-in-chief order it.

"Whoever thinks differently is making a serious misjudgement."

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Trump warns US is planning 'severe things' for Kim Jong-un when WW3 breaks out - Daily Star

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A new drug-free way to treat depression and pain – Palm Beach Post

Posted: at 12:20 pm

Question: Are there any advances in treatment for medication-resistant depression?

Answer: In 2008, the FDA cleared the NeuroStar TMS brain-stimulating device for treating adults with treatment-resistant depression.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) or repetitive TMS (rTMS) is a non-invasive, non-drug medical therapy that delivers highly focused, MRI-strength magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in a localized part of the brain. Research shows this can reverse changes in brain cell activity and brain chemicals that occur in depression and in other psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Clinical studies have shown some benefit for chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, and for addictions, tinnitus and other disorders. Other studies have shown short-term improvement in some symptoms of Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and post-stroke speech disorders and paralysis. In Europe, TMS has received CE approval for Chronic Neuropathic Pain, among other conditions.

A typical TMS session lasts 30 to 60 minutes and does not require anesthesia. An electromagnetic coil with about the same strength as that of an MRI scan is held against the forehead near an area of the brain that is thought to be involved in mood regulation. Then, short electromagnetic pulses are administered through the coil. The magnetic pulse easily passes through the skull and causes small electrical currents that stimulate nerve cells in the targeted brain region. Because this type of pulse generally does not reach farther than 2 inches into the brain, we can select which parts of the brain will be affected and which will not.

TMS is a safe treatment and does not have the potential for side effects of medications such as sedation, constipation, weight gain and addiction problems. Some patients experience mild head pain when starting the treatment and there is a very small risk of causing a seizure. Patients with seizures, pacemakers, implants, strokes, or tumors would need to be treated with caution.

TMS is one of a new class of non-invasive brain treatments being developed for neurological disorders. Other non-invasive devices include Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and Transcranial Focused Ultrasound. Both Neurostar TMS and tDCS are available at the Brainstim Brain Stimulation Center.

Robert J. Friedman, M.D. is triple board-certified in Neurology, Pain Management, and Neuromuscular Medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (ABPN.) Dr. Friedman completed his education / training at Dartmouth College, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Allegheny General Hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University and the Florida Pain Clinic, and in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at Harvard Medical School.

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Headache & Pain Center of Palm Beach

875 Military Trail Suite 208 Jupiter, Florida 33458

7408 Lake Worth Road Wellington, Florida 33467

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A new drug-free way to treat depression and pain - Palm Beach Post

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Popular with new moms, critics say South Carolina birth control option targets minorities – Charleston Post Courier

Posted: at 12:17 pm

COLUMBIA Six days past her due date and 36 hours of labor later, Reigna Griffin was welcomed into world on July 1 by way of an operating room at Palmetto Health Richland.

"I just felt a bunch of tugging," said Treana Parrish, 23, who gave birth to her first child by C-section. "Then it was over."

Months earlier, during one of her first prenatal appointments, Parrish decided that she wanted an intrauterine device inserted immediately after Reigna was born because she doesn't want any more children.

"I knew I wanted that when I first found out about it," said Parrish, who works at Target stocking shelves.

The small T-shaped IUD, a so-called "long-acting reversible contraceptive," will prevent future pregnancies by secreting a hormone into the uterus that prevents the egg from becoming fertilized. The device may remain in place up to five years.

Parrish is far from alone. Five years ago, South Carolina's Medicaid program became the first in the country to offer this free service to women while they were still in the hospital after giving birth. Since then, 25 other states have adopted similar policies, and thousandsof women covered by the South Carolina Medicaid program and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina have decided to get an IUD or a similar long-acting reversible contraceptive while they're still in the hospital.

"We think most women are really happy about it," said Dr. Judy Burgis, an OB-GYN at Palmetto Health. "We try to offer it universally to everyone."

Long-acting reversible contraceptives, commonly called LARCs, have become increasingly popular in recent years because they are considered more effective than oral contraception and require no daily effort on the patient's part. Birth control pills, by contrast, are less reliable because they're subject to human error. Patients must remember to take the pills at the same time every day to maximize their efficacy. Failing to do so may result in an unwanted pregnancy.

Traditionally, new moms who want an IUD have opted to receive one during the recommended postpartum visit at their gynecologist's office about six weeks after they've had a baby. But Melanie Giese, the director of the S.C. Birth Outcomes Initiative, said 55 percent of moms don't show up for that visit. When her group began discussing the possibility of making these LARCs more widely available, Giese wanted to reach these moms where she knew she could find them in the hospital.

To date, 12 South Carolina hospitals, including Palmetto Health Richland and Medical University Hospital in Charleston, offer patients this service. Some doctors won't insert an IUD after birth because about 15 percent of patients will expel the device if their cervix is still dilated. Still, since 2012, at least 5,000 moms covered by Medicaid have received an IUD in these hospitals.

Medicaid, which pays for more than half of all births in the state each year, reimburses the hospitals for the full cost of these expensive implants, about $923 per device. The patients pay nothing.

Giese estimated the state has saved at least $1.8 million in preventing unintended pregnancies.

"There's a passion for it," Giese said. "It's a very hot topic."

Meanwhile, some public health experts have expressed concern that LARCs have been marketed mainly to poor, minority patients. In South Carolina, for example, 53 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries are black or Hispanic.

"It borders on population control," said Lynn Roberts, an assistant professor of public health at the City University of New York and a reproductive justice expert. "We think its wrong to over-promote (long-acting reversible contraceptives) to particular groups, and particularly to poor women of color, because of the history of sterilization."

During the eugenics movement of the 1920s and '30s, several states, including South Carolina, passed sterilization laws that disproportionately impacted poor, disabled and minority women. Proponents of the movement believed that controlled breeding would prevent overpopulation and would improve the genetic makeup of the human race. Likewise, in Puerto Rico during the 1950s, the first large-scale human trial for birth control subjected women there to very high dosages of hormones.

Few women in the United States have been forcibly sterilized in modern times, but in an editorial published in the medical journal Contraception, Jenny Higgins, a gender and women's studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, points out that minority women are much more likely to have their "tubes tied" to prevent further pregnancies and that in the 1990s, a birth control implant called Norplant was "aggressively marketed to poor women and women of color, especially to young, urban, African American and Latina girls."

Higgins acknowledged that long-acting reversible contraceptives offer "compelling advantages," but that health care professionals also run the risk of alienating patients.

A spokeswoman for the Medicaid agency said she could not provide demographic data about Medicaid beneficiaries who have opted to receive a LARC in the hospital.

Dr. Drew Mather, an OB-GYN at Palmetto Health, said he discusses birth control options with his pregnant patients during their first prenatal visit and during at least two other appointments over the course of their pregnancies.

"We present them with all their options," he said.

Parrish, for one, said she never felt pressured to make a decision one way or another. She talked to her doctor, did some research on her own and chose an IUD called Mirena. She said it had fewer side effects than some of the others.

Her doctor inserted the device about 10 minutes after Reigna's delivery.

"I don't like pain, so I said, 'Go ahead and do it while the epidural is in,' " she said. "That was great."

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Popular with new moms, critics say South Carolina birth control option targets minorities - Charleston Post Courier

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2017 – Evolution Meetings

Posted: at 12:16 pm

Welcome Evolution 2017 is the joint conference of the American Society of Naturalists, theSociety for the Study of Evolution, and theSociety of Systematic Biologiststhat will be held inPortland, OR from June 23-27.

The meeting will be the premier opportunity for sharing research on evolutionary biology in 2017. Portland is an incredible destination with a terrific convention center, great restaurants, and several famous entertainment districts. We anticipate 1800-2000 attendees, 1,000+ talks, and 400+ posters. The annual iEvoBio satellite conference will also occur.

Social activities will include an opening reception andSSE Public outreachlecture, mixers during each of three evening poster sessions, and a Super Social with open bar at the newly expanded Oregon Zoo on the final night (no speeches). With the exception of only a small additional charge for the Super Social, all of this is included with your registration.

See talks and posters from the meeting. Links to our talk and poster archive for Evolution 2017 (and earlier meetings) can be found here.

Twitter Keep up to date with the latest news #evol2017

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2017 - Evolution Meetings

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Crunch Time for See Noevo on Evolution – Patheos (blog)

Posted: at 12:16 pm

See Noevo is a ubiquitous commenter here. Some of you will be so very frustrated that I have not banned him or curtailed his nonsense. You will probably know that I am not one for often doing that. As offensive as some positions might be, I do believe in the freedom of expressing them for the benefit of others, because they either hoist themselves by their own petard, or force myself and other commenters to adapt and change ourpositions accordingly. We shouldnt deny ugly views on account of them being distasteful, but on account of the arguments or evidence not showing those arguments to be warranted in being held. For someone like See Noevo, it is always the former.

Let us see the typical response and demand of See Noevo:

Ill show you how flatly dumb you are. Show me your very favorite scientific paper on ear evolution (or any other particular body part/system). ONE paper on ONE specific topic. Please provide the url so everyone else can read along.

Make it your very best shot, because youll only get one, dummy.

Anri responded and correctly and stated that you cannot pick a single brick in a scientific discipline that is a result of hundreds of years of cumulative data and research. In other words, Sees question is just wrong.

Why only one?

Science is not developed by single papers written by single science teams, but by years-long, painstaking testing and re0testing and re-testing of theories by multiple research teams. People who think that by finding fault with a single scientific paper they somehow invalidate the entire discipline of study are deeply confused as to how science works.

Im assuming thats what youre planning on doing, yes? Finding fault with the SINGLE THE ONLY CHANCE THE SINGLE THREADS BY WHICH EVOLUTION HANGS PAPER and thus somehow demonstrate the whole field is incorrect? Thats silly. And I suspect you know that.

(checks something)

Hah, thats why this conversation sounded familiar. I just poked through my previous comments because I knew I had called out another theist on this same thing, and asked them to provide their best fisking of a scientific paper. I was half-right. Ihaddone it before. But not withanothertheist. Withyou.

So Ill ask you the same thing I asked you then, when you claimed to have asked some armor-piercing questions the scientists were just helpless to answer:

Please explain to me why DNA-based paternity testing doesnt work, then. Ill find some citations explaining that they do, if youd like.

The last time, you scurried out of the thread without being able to demonstrate scientists ignorance of DNA testing. Very much like the way you scurried out of an earlier thread when presented with the bacterial resistance-increasing experiments. I am predicting that the result will be the same here that you will bluster a bit, and then evaporate from yet another thread with your tail lodged firmly between your hind legs. Prove me wrong. If you can.

And the irony of all of this is that See has been banned from a number of othersimilar sites (on Patheos, too?) for his trollish behaviour. I have put up with him in the interests of freedom of expression, but will not put up with repeated behaviour that shows no reaction to previous experiences or any signs of learning from prior mistakes. The above exchange is an exampleof this. But the irony, as hinted, is that See has decried being banned before, and yet he bans anyone from speaking to him who corners him. The cognitive dissonance in him is so strong that he cannot deal with people who show he might be wrong, so he buries his head in the sand, or wears his no fly list headphones La la la, Im not listening! It is quite amusing to watch, but when he gets pwned in an argument, he devolves to the following, which he soon did here with Anri:

Fine. Then find your very favorite scientific paper on ear evolution (or any other particular body part/system) THAT RESULTED FROM years-long, painstaking testing and re0testing and re-testing of theories by multiple research teams. Provide the current capper of the consensus. (By definition, there is only ONE capper.)

Hit me with it. .

So Ill ask you the same thing I asked you then, when you claimed to have asked some armor-piercing questions the scientists were just helpless to answer: Please explain to me why DNA-based paternity testing doesnt work, then.

You mean why theyre not 100% conclusive? Maybe because scientists dont understand DNA as well as theyd like to.

More on this response later. Anri responded:

(By definition, there is only ONE capper.)

Here we go with this again. A brick wall isnt made up of one brick. I listed a topic youd have to utterly dismantle to get anywhere close to falsifying evolutionary theory: tracking familial relationships through DNA. To disprove this, youd have to either wipe out a very large number of scientific papers, all done at different times, by different labs and different scientists, or show that the fundamental concept is flawed. If you can show why the tracking of familial relationships through DNA is flawed, get on with it. If you cant, admit it.

Oh, and you never did get around to answering the basic question: what did you ask when you did this before? You claimed to have dismantled scientific papers before, and when pressed, suddenly couldnt remember what the paper was, or what you asked, or anything about the incident at all. Which makes you sound like not only a liar, but an incompetent one.

You mean why theyre not 100% conclusive?

If you cant show me where someone claims they should be, or should be expected to be 100% conclusive, then you know this is a straw man. Which means bringing it up it just dishonest. More Lying for Jesus. Please stop doing that.

In fact, the fact that they are not 100% conclusive is an important part of their understanding of the process, and the results which is why the folks giving the results can not only tell you that they are not 100% conclusive, but how conclusive they are, and why.

And, again from Anri:

The problem was that when I went to the evolution wall and investigated any one brick, brick after brick, I found they werent solid things at all.

Sorry, I just dont believe you. I think youre lying. Again. I simply dont believe you cant produce a single example of all of these super-duper ways youve wiped the floor with the work of these various career scientists. If you had managed something anything vaguely like that, youd just simply show us. You cant show us anything of the sort, so I have to assume youre just still Lying for Jesus. Just like you did when you quote-mined me. Just like you did when you straw-manned relational DNA testing. Its a pattern with you, and its not hard to follow.

But, ok, you want an article to debunk, heres one example:

https://www.nature.com/natu

Give it a shot. Should be easy for you.

And the irony meter explodes in Sees banning of Anri:

Holy shi ite, what a one trick pony you are! The Lenski crap! AGAIN!?

Well, youre not going to try it again with me.

You tried to shoot that ONE silver bullet before, months ago. (As I recall, you may have even tried it twice.)

And it was a dud.

Youre done. Or at least WE are done.

Why do I bother writing this post? Well, to once and for all clear up fourthings, because he will no doubt repeat this errant behaviour as he has done time and time again:

Make it your very best shot, because youll only get one, dummy.

On the final point, he seems blissfully unaware of his rather precarious approach as it can just as easily be used against him

On the thirdpoint there, it is worth reminding you and him of this image:

And also some of the other posts I have done that were written partly in response to his lack of understanding about evolution:

Just for starters.

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Crunch Time for See Noevo on Evolution - Patheos (blog)

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Kansas City Royals: An Evolution in Fandom, My Journey – Kings of Kauffman

Posted: at 12:16 pm

KANSAS CITY, MO - JUNE 25: A young Kansas City Royals' fan cheers for his team during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium on June 25, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Miscues harm Kansas City Royals in Saturdays contest in LA by Colby Wilson

Most people like to focus on the Kansas City Royals World Series runs in 2014 and 2015. Why not, they were incredible. The truth is though things began to change the second half of 2013.

I was at the last Friday night home game of the season. Ervin Santana was on the bump. The Royals were still mathematically in the playoffs. Kauffman Stadium was rocking like I had never seen it. Amidst all the screaming and ruckus I did my best to soak it all in. At that point my obsession with Kansas City baseball was well grounded.

Over the past four seasons I have struggled with bandwagon fans. I had rooted year in and year out for what was some terrible teams. These new fans just rubbed me the wrong way. You know who I am talking about. Brand new clean and crisp t-shirts that scream This is my team, but when you ask them who their favorite player of the Allard Baird era was you get a blank stare.

I have come to understand that these fans have a place in every fan base. The young people who have become excited about this franchise are a good thing. Many will support the team into the future and eventually replace my generation. After all witnessing championships is exciting.

The question that my wife tries to understand is how did I end up this way? She knows how rough most years had been (100 losses in a season can be that way) and yet I kept buying merchandise of a team that was often the laughing stock of baseball. The drive behind that is the same reason it is 5 am and I am typing away at a keyboard.

Without going into too much detail, this has been a very difficult week. My brother had extremely unexpected heart surgery. It was sprinkled with complications, but he seems to be on the right side of things. When I first went to the hospital to see him on Monday, before knowing that around 15 hours of surgery would be in the very near future, I sat next to him and we talked baseball.

That is what this game does. It takes away the hardships, if only for a moment. I have been on autopilot most of the week. You know what though? A Royals sweep in Seattle helped to distract from the very serious reality that was going on.

As I was having trouble sleeping I began to think about the question that my wife has asked many times. Why did I become a Kansas City Royals fan?

I believe that when you truly commit yourself to something such as a sports franchise it is often not a conscience choice. It just sort of happens. My parents and some very dear family friends who live in the KC area took my brother and me to games since we were young.

I dont really remember my first game. I couldnt tell you who the Royals opponent was. What I can remember is that it was a night game. We sat in the upper deck. At the end of the game I did not want to walk down the steps, followed by the corridors, and eventually to wherever our vehicle was parked. So instead I pretended to be asleep. My dad picked me up and carried me the whole way. As we turned to go through the tunnel I cant tell you want was going on down on the field, but I can remember the lights.

My story is made up of several moments like this. Some may have become a bit exaggerated over the years, but for me it will always be how theyhappened. Like when it was the top of the ninth and it was clear that the Royals would beat the Chicago White Sox. We walked to the top of the old General Admission section to watch the end of the game. We did so to try and get a head start on the crowd who would soon exit. As we stood there what would happen? Frank Thomas hit a foul ball that, in this version, landed right in the seats we had vacated. I threw my glove down in frustration, life went on.

There was the time that George Brett hit an in the park homerun. Some of the details may not be correct, but I know for a fact we could see him in the dugout, after chugging around the bases, sucking on oxygen.

It was a rainy weeknight with perhaps a few thousand people in attendance as Felix Hernandez took the mound for the Mariners. Somehow yet again by the top of the ninth the Royals seemed sure of victory. With two outs Mike Sweeney stood on deck to pinch hit for Seattle. I hoped with everything in me that whoever it was at the plate would get on base so that I could see one of my favorite all time players step into the batters box another time. As Mike dug in there were several boos that I just couldnt understand.

Countless memories led me to this point. Watching Jim Abbott warming up in the bullpen; Luke Hochevar striking out 13 Texas Rangers to set a career high; Meeting Brian McRae as a rookie and again long after he retired.

Being able to talk candidly with Zack Grienke during a Royals Caravan stop at a YMCA on a Thursday afternoon where barely anyone showed up. There was the time I asked Billy Butler for a loan at another caravan. This was after he had signed a contract extension and he simply replied yeah like I havent heard that already. Getting to hear why John Buck changed his number to honor his brother.

True fandom is the random players who endear themselves to you. Thinking Tony Pena Jr. just might be able to be the next Ozzie Smith. Convincing yourself that Mike Wood has the ability to be in the front of a rotation. Ken Harvey was an All Star player! (Even though you knew he was the teams one required representative.)

Fair weather fans may come and go. That is alright. The diehards should still embrace them. They are part of the journey. They become an important character in the greatest of theater. While it is important to remember that the players are human beings, it is also okay to make them larger than life. When people tell you that it is just a game, especially in the face of tragedy, there is no reason you are required to believe them.

Want your voice heard? Join the Kings of Kauffman team!

After all why else would we name fantasy teams after these players, scream that info to Mark Teahen as he stood in right field, and watch him smile and shake his head? Long live the T-bags!

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Kansas City Royals: An Evolution in Fandom, My Journey - Kings of Kauffman

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For Afghan girls’ robotics team, US visa denial was last of many hurdles – The Denver Post

Posted: at 12:14 pm

By Pamela Constable, The Washington Post

KABUL, Afghanistan When six Afghan teenage girls were denied U.S. visas to enter an international robotics contest in Washington set for later this month, the unexplained decision seemed to be punishing the very ambitions U.S. agencies have long advocated for girls in Afghanistan, where many are denied educational opportunities.

But the story is more complicated than that.

Afghanistan, beset by insurgent violence and economic uncertainty, is suffering from a massive brain drain, according to Afghan and U.S. officials. Scholarship students, academic fellows and teachers who receive temporary visas to visit the United States often vanish into immigrant communities instead of returning home.

The growing phenomenon has made U.S. officials especially wary of approving visa requests even for applicants like the robotics students who may otherwise deserve them if they decide there is a risk the person will fail to return home.

It is sad to say, but some of them do not come back, said Elham Shaheen, a senior official at the Ministry of Higher Education who manages foreign-study policies. He said 10 percent of all Afghans who are awarded temporary visas for academic purposes in the United States or Europe defy immigration rules to remain there permanently.

Female students and faculty members, facing extra frustrations at home, are no exception. Several years ago, Shaheen said, 12 female university lecturers won scholarships to obtain MA degrees in economics in Germany. Of the 12, he said, 11 of them escaped.

American officials here and in Washington have refused to discuss the case of the robotics team, but several pointed out that U.S. law presumes all temporary visa seekers intend to remain in the United States unless they are able to prove they have compellingly strong ties to their country.

Two members of the team, interviewed Thursday from their home city of Herat, said U.S. consular officers had asked about their ties to Afghanistan, whether they had relatives in the United States and whether they intended to return home after the competition.

Youth teams from about 150 countries will face off next week in the FIRST Global Challenge contest, created to promote international student interest in science, technology and math. Only one other team, from Gambia, was turned down.

Each of us gave them written guarantees from two government employees vouching for our return, said Rodaba Noori, 16, a member of the Afghan team that built a ball-sorting robot. This is our country. We have our life and family here, she said. How could we abandon them and not return after the competition?

Obtaining a visa, though, is just the last of many daunting hurdles the female students face in their efforts to advance academically long before they can even dream of traveling abroad.

Afghan families often oppose their daughters attending universities in Kabul or other cities, fearing for their safety and exposure to young men. Agencies that offer domestic scholarships, such as the nonprofit Asia Foundation, often have to negotiate with families or agree to support a male relative who can accompany the girl each semester.

Girls are also at a disadvantage in English and math, because Afghan families are more willing to pay for boys to take private classes. As a result, more girls fail college-entrance exams. To help even the balance, USAID sponsors exam-prep classes for girls, and education officials have established a 30 percent female quota for all in-country scholarships.

There is a chain of barriers for Afghan girls that requires a network of support to overcome, said Razia Stanikzai of the Asia Foundation in Kabul, whose job is to promote Afghan female students participation in science and technology.

Many Afghans, however, view these as male fields, and families may try to steer daughters into nursing or teaching instead. To overcome such stereotypes, Stanikzais program sponsors science fairs at provincial schools, where girls demonstrate projects to fathers and male community elders. We dont want girls sitting at home and being told that science and technology are for boys, she said.

Even students at such elite institutions as the American University in Afghanistan, where the U.S. Embassy has funded more than 400 scholarships for women, face prejudice. Two female information technology students said that in most of their classes, all of the other students were male and that some of their friends and relatives had no idea what they were studying or why.

Some of them tell us to change majors, to do something more acceptable like nursing or arts, said Shamim Ali, 26, whose dream is to start her own IT company. This is a traditional society, and even the concept of IT is strange. People think we are going to become mechanics or electricians and climb up on ladders.

When it comes to studying abroad, there are many opportunities, such as the Fulbright program, which has sent 535 Afghan students among them, 102 women to the United States since 2002. There are also closer international universities in countries such as India, Iran and Bangladesh, which Afghan officials are promoting as cheaper, more comfortable places to study at a time of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the West.

Yet even accomplished female students can be thwarted by family resistance and competing cultural priorities. Education officials described cases in which applicants for foreign scholarships turned out to be married, pregnant and unable to accept by the time their tickets and visas came through.

One woman in Kabul named Raihana, 27, who obtained a scholarship to study economics in Bangladesh, said her older brother, the senior male in the family, at first refused to let her to go, but her younger and more liberal brother finally persuaded him.

Since my father was dead, he felt he had to take responsibility for me and my safety, the woman said, but the real reason was that he was married and he did not want his wife to study or travel. If I went, she would be jealous and complain.

The members of the robotics team said they, too, encountered initial resistance from their parents not only to travel to the United States for the robotics contest, but also to fly cross-country to Kabul, with its constant news of insurgent bombings, to apply for their visas.

We finally convinced them, and in the end they were very happy, but it was a difficult path, said Yasamin Yasinzada, 16, who said her dream is to be a pioneer in robotics and set an example for other girls. She said it was much easier for boys, because they are allowed to travel, but it helped that our coach was going with us.

Despite her disappointment at being turned down to visit the United States, where the robot will now appear at the competition without its creators, Yasinzada said she still hopes to study abroad.

The specific place doesnt matter, she said. I just want to learn, interact, see other ways of life, come back home and put it all into practice.

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For Afghan girls' robotics team, US visa denial was last of many hurdles - The Denver Post

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Canada conference and expo helping virtual reality gain widespread acceptance – Hindustan Times

Posted: at 12:14 pm

Smaller than a golf ball, a miniature boxwood prayer bead from medieval Holland, depicting heaven and hell, is now in another avatar: A virtual reality display, where a user can walk through its layers, taking in details of the minute carvings at multiple angles, look at the face of one figure that, in real life, would be the size of a pinhead.

This was among the exhibits at the recent Virtual and Augmented Reality Conference and Expo (or VRTO).

Featuring nearly 100 speakers and 50 exhibitors, VRTO was in its second year and brought bleeding-edge technology to the space at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Enhanced acceptance of VRTO has obviously pleased its founder and executive director Keram Malicki-Sanchez, as he said, It has doubled in terms of the number of attendees and my effort to get those people through the door is probably half.

VRTO founder and executive director Keram Malicki-Sanchez. (Captive Camera)

Those at VRTO represented tech majors like Google, Microsoft, IMAX, AMD, with participants from NASA Ames Research, and various universities.

This was where you could experience VR in a 360 environment, literally, in what is described as IglooVision, while watching a immersive short feature starring Godzilla and made by Google, as a haptic harness created a sense of motion, feeling tremors and shakes.

VRTO provided an inkling of the sectors that resurgent VR tech may impact in the near future: From medicine to manufacturing, movies and gaming, to research.

Or even philanthrophy, as with GivLuv, which allows viewers to virtually experience the stories of people impacted by charities across the world and for the first time make a contribution through their headsets.

All of this matches Malicki-Sanchez vision for VRTO to see it at the very dawn of a medium which is finally coming into its own, steer the conversation towards true discovery, true experimentation, broad thinking.

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Canada conference and expo helping virtual reality gain widespread acceptance - Hindustan Times

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