Daily Archives: August 6, 2017

Every woman’s quest for rights, freedom – The Hindu

Posted: August 6, 2017 at 5:02 pm

Naval the Jewel is a universal story about women seeking their freedom, their rights, actor Reem Kadem has said.

The actor along with the cast and crew of the film was taking part at a meet-the-press here on Saturday.

Ms. Kadem, who is a Hollywood actor with roots in Iraq, said what happened to Naval happened to women around the world.

Actor Adil Hussain was all praise for director Renjilal Damodaran, saying the latter knew exactly what he wanted from the actors.

It was an important story to be told in todays India, he said.

Mr. Damodaran said the film, set in Iran, was about a 23-year-old woman Naval, an Iranian with a Malayali mother. Naval, played by Reem, is the product of a Malabari wedding her elderly father from Iran had married her mother Asma Beevi (played by Swetha Menon) when she was only 13.

In Iran, she gives birth to a girl. The father dies four years later.

In the film, Naval is shown being denied justice. Naval goes to jail in connection with a murder, and the court sentences her to be hanged to death. Naval, however, does not protest against the verdict.

Anu Sithara plays a young Swetha Menon. The screenplay is by V.K. Ajithkumar and Mr. Damodaran. The producer is Cyriac Mathew Alancheril. Lyrics are by Rafeek Ahmed and 15-year-old Kavyamayee, and music by M. Jayachandran.

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Every woman's quest for rights, freedom - The Hindu

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This insanely advanced technology could power a future colony on Mars. – SYFY WIRE (blog)

Posted: at 5:01 pm

When you think of Siemens, you might think of everything from generators to LED screens to one of the big-name sponsors behind PBS programmingbut start thinking in terms of Martian habitats.

Joining the race to Mars right behind Tesla and SpaceX mogul Elon Musk is the industrial manufacturing monolith, whose experience in generating energy could possibly power a human colony on a planet that would otherwise be perilous to our survival. Sunlight that filters through the reddish dust in what could pass for an atmosphere can be harnessed by solar panels. The same wind that obliterated most of its atmosphere can be the force behind sustaining human life. Mars may be devoid of water and oxygen, but it has no shortage of potential energy.

"Mars will be the ultimate microgrid," claims the companys website. "With no centralized power sources, communities will one day rely on decentralized energy systems."

Siemens future Martian technology was inspired by something much closer to Earth. When the people of the Aboriginal Wiyot reservation north of San Francisco recently experienced glitches in power due to interferences from the Pacific Gas & Electric power grid, Siemens joined forces with them to devise a method to fuel the reservation that would be both reliable and environmentally conscious. The microgrid that was the brainchild of this thinking runs on a 500-kilowatt array of REC Solar solar panels and a Tesla battery storage system, among other instruments. Maintenance is overseen through a computerized management system that determines where power resources are best used.

The best part? Power from the grid can be replaced even when its down.

This is the same type of technology Siemens hopes to someday use to keep a Martian colony flourishing, though requirements are bound to change on an alien planet lacking an atmosphere. Siemens Energy Management director of microgrid and renewable integration Clark Wiedetz is unsure of the variables that will make sense for Mars, but at least the microgrid is not dependent on cloud computing, which would be impossible to access 33.9 million miles from Earth. Maintenance in the Wiyot reservation is mostly overseen by the residents with some remote assistance, which is the same expected of astronauts journeying into deep space.

Tesla and SolarCity also recently installed a microgrid run by batteries and solar panels that power an entire island for three days, even with overcast skies. Considering all that dust obscuring the view on Mars, this could be one more small step toward mankind going Martian.

(via Seeker)

This insanely advanced technology could power a future colony on Mars. - SYFY WIRE (blog)

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School Crossings: 1:1 technology explained – Chippewa Herald

Posted: at 5:01 pm

In less than a month school will be back in session and the school districts 1:1 M-Powered Learning Initiative will be underway. During the 2017-18 school year, each student in grades 6-12 will be issued an individual district-owned Chromebook to be used at school and home for educational purposes. Previously, the school district offered students computing devices at a ratio of approximately one device for every 1.5 students, but the shared devices were only accessible at limited times during the school day.

While there will likely be some concerns and difficulties that the school district will need to work through with this initiative, it is anticipated that the value and potential benefits of providing all students with a device is well worth any problems that will be encountered.

According to an overview prepared by the school districts technology department, it is expected that this initiative will provide the access needed to reliably integrate technology tools for facilitating quality learning experiences, while helping to engage students in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

An introductory video and a wealth of other information about the 1:1 initiative is available on the school district website (www.tinyurl.com/sdmampower), but a few of the basic questions and answers for the program include:

Should school families or community stakeholders have any questions about the 1:1 technology initiative in the School District of the Menomonie Area , I invite you to visit me at the Administrative Service Center on Pine Avenue, or contact me at 715-232-1642. More information about our schools can be found on the school district website (www.sdmaonline.com), and I regularly post school-related information on Twitter (www.twitter.com/sdmaonline) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/menomonie.schools)

Thank you to SDMA Technology Team and Director of Technology Services Katie Krueger for contributing to this article.

Joe Zydowsky, Ph.D. is the district administrator for the School District of the Menomonie Area.

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School Crossings: 1:1 technology explained - Chippewa Herald

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India team helps IBM create technology to battle hackers – The Hindu

Posted: at 5:01 pm

IBM, one of the worlds largest technology companies said that it had achieved a breakthrough in security technology that would allow enterprises from banks to health care companies to retailers to encrypt their customer data at a large scale.

The New York-based technology major said its system makes it possible for the first time to pervasively encrypt every level of a network, from applications to cloud services and databases and prevent theft of information.

This has been made possible by IBM Z (z14), a next-generation mainframe unveiled by the company in July. It is capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions per day.

Data is the currency. It is equivalent to the future energy, said Gururaj S. Rao, IBM Fellow and vice president, Systems Integrators, IBM z Systems, in an interview. He said that digitisation was providing value, but was coming with the challenge of information security as data theft is on the increase.

Indian team

IBM, which reported a revenue of $79.9 billion in 2016, said that its India hardware and firmware team had made significant contributions to the z14 system and microprocessor development. It said that more than 100 engineers from its India labs worked on key components of both the core and the processor in the areas of logic design, verification, custom circuit design and tool development. The team has also contributed to the base firmware development, next-generation input/output enablement and in building newer virtualisation management capabilities.

One of the key units designed by the India team is the encryption unit, that gives an unparalleled security feature to the z14 mainframe, said Mr. Rao.

Known as big iron, a mainframe is a high-performance computer used primarily by large organisations for applications such as credit card payments, flight bookings and ATM transactions.

Pervasive encryption

Of the more than nine billion data records lost or stolen since 2013, only 4% were encrypted, according to IBM. This makes the vast majority of such data vulnerable to organised cyber crime rings, state actors and employees misusing access to sensitive information. The company said IBM Zs new data encryption capabilities are designed to address the global epidemic of data breaches, a major factor in the $8 trillion cybercrime impact on the global economy by 2022.

Mr. Raosaid that data could be travelling, sitting on a cloud device or on the application. He said the new system could encrypt everything without requiring application level changes. Regardless of where the data is, we will protect it. Other than IBM, no other vendor has been able to do it, said Mr. Rao, a PhD from Stanford University.

Another concern for users is the protection of encryption keys. In large firms, hackers often target encryption keys, which are routinely exposed in memory as they are used, the company said.

It said IBM Z can protect millions of keys, as well as the process of accessing, generating and recycling them. It does this in tamper responding hardware that causes keys to self-destruct at any sign of intrusion and they can then be reconstituted in safety.

The Big Blue said it was now betting big on India to sell its new system to customers such as the government, large banks and healthcare companies. Viswanath Ramaswamy, director, Systems, IBM India and South Asia, said that with the growth in digital transactions in India across banking, finance and government, our focus is to work with our ecosystem of partners and developers to deliver these new capabilities of IBM z14..

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Students solve crimes, study sunlight at Northern Essex science and technology camp – Eagle-Tribune

Posted: at 5:01 pm

HAVERHILL Students from the Merrimack Valley said they had no idea theyd be spending part of their summer solving a murder, assembling circuits or designing objects for 3-D printing.

For many, the ambitious agenda of an innovative STEM College for Kids camp turned out to be the best part of their school vacation.

"This camp was the most fun thing I did all summer, and I got to meet some great kids," said Brandon Liranzo, who is entering eighth grade at Comprehensive Grammar School in Methuen.

During the camp at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Liranzo said he designed an ultimate fighting ring where competitors can battle it out.

The free camp drew 55 students entering the 7th through 10th grades in Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen and other nearby communities. In its second year, the program nearly doubled its first-year enrollment of about 30, said Carolyn Knoepfler, assistant dean of the college's Technology, Arts, Professional Studies and Science division.

Knoepfler said the program was a great opportunity for middle school and high school students to come to a college campus, meet faculty and dabble in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"Northern Essex faculty provided kids with a lot of hands-on learning, while making it fun," she said.

The program held in the Hartleb Technology Center met four days a week, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., for three weeks. It was funded by grants from the state Department of Higher Educations STEM Starter Academy and the Wellesley-based Amelia Peabody Foundation.

For the students, each day brought a series of hands-on projects, often interspersed by lively discussion.

Jay Fallon, coordinator of Northern Essexs advanced manufacturing program, challenged one group of students think creatively by replacing common math symbols with the suits of playing cards.

They performed calculations after designating one suit as addition, another as subtraction, one as multiplication and another as division. He called the exercise "Fast Math Olympics."

Isabella Ward, a rising freshman at Haverhill High School, called that and other math exercises were "intriguing."

"Instead of just working with a math book, we do a lot of math puzzles and solve math riddles, she said.

Ward and other students said they were especially fascinated by a challenge that involved a mock crime scene created by Paul Cavan, a member of the college's criminal justice faculty, and Mike Cross, a chemistry professor and forensic science instructor.

Cravan said the scene, with a mannequin, was created to look like a suicide. But it was actually a homicide.

Kids had to collect evidence and run tests such as fingerprint and (mock) blood analysis, and they also had to identify a person who walked through the crime scene then walked away with some evidence, he said.

Ward said the CSI challenge was really cool.

Yariehz Gabin, entering seventh grade at South Lawrence East School, said the forensics project was so interesting, he wants to return to camp next summer.

"It was my favorite part, and we learned a lot about solving crimes," he said.

Osamuyimen Osayimwen, of Methuen, who is entering his freshman year at Central Catholic High School, said he and his younger brother, Osegi, who is entering seventh grade at St. Monica's in Methuen, liked the camps advanced technology.

He designed a cell phone case using 3-D modeling software.

"The technology here is really advanced, and this camp exceeded our expectations," he said. "And I met a kid who is entering his freshman year at Central as well."

Vincent Nguyen, a rising eighth grader at Whittier Middle School in Haverhill, was absorbed in a project that involved measuring sunlight using a spectrometer.

Students wrote simple computer code to capture data and graph the color spectrum of light, Nguyen said as he looked at the results on a computer screen. They were led by Mike Pelletier, a professor in the center's engineering lab.

"I never did anything like this in school," Nguyen said.

Knoepfler said the Amelia Peabody grant helped pay for a coordinator, Doug Leaffer, who is an assistant professor of engineering at Northern Essex, as well as counselors-in-training. The students who attended the program last year were recommended for jobs at the camp this year.

One of them, Joshua Robles, entering his junior year at Greater Lawrence Technical School, called the camp "amazing."

"The kids were really into it and always wanted to get right to the projects," he said.

Investor support spurs progress at Stamford biotechs – The Advocate

Posted: at 5:01 pm

Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

Loxo Oncology CEO Joshua Bilenker, center, and Chief Business Officer Jacob Van Naarden pose for a photo inside Loxos Tresser Boulevard offices, in downtown Stamford, on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Cara Therapeutics CEO Derek Chalmers poses for a photo inside Caras Elm Street offices in downtown Stamford, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Loxo Oncology Chief Business Officer Jacob Van Naarden discusses the biotech firms business strategies inside their Tresser Boulevard offices in downtown Stamford, on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Cara Therapeutics CEO Derek Chalmers poses for a photo inside Caras Elm Street office in downtown Stamford, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Loxo Oncology CEO Joshua Bilenker makes a point during an interview in Loxos Tresser Boulevard offices in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Cara Therapeutics CEO Derek Chalmers poses for a photo inside Caras Elm Street office in downtown Stamford, Conn. on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Loxo Oncology Chief Business Officer Jacob Van Naarden makes a point during an interview in Loxos Tresser Boulevard offices in downtown Stamford, on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Cara Therapeutics CEO Derek Chalmers poses for a photo inside Caras Elm Street offices in downtown Stamford, Conn. on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Loxo Oncology CEO Joshua Bilenker makes a point during an interview in Loxos Tresser Boulevard office in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Investor support spurs progress at Stamford biotechs

STAMFORD Two months ago, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centers Dr. David Hyman revealed to an audience at McCormick Place in Chicago the promising results of clinical trials for a Stamford biotech firms leading drug. Those in attendance were not the only ones impressed by the data.

The price of Loxo Oncologys stock would spike after Hyman announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncologys annual meeting that Loxos Larotrectinib oral treatment significantly shrank tumors in 76 percent of patients with a range of cancers. With that validation, Loxos leaders decided they should capitalize by issuing more of their companys shares.

Loxo and fellow Stamford biotech firm Cara Therapeutics have benefited from increasing investor confidence in their work. This year, the two enterprises have cumulatively attracted hundreds of millions of dollars to support their costly operations. Their records show biopharmaceutical businesses enduring ability to tap into large amounts of capital if they have the scientific results to prove their progress.

When we came out of the meeting at ASCO, there were investors who said Youve passed a level of risk that were now comfortable with, Loxo CEO Joshua Bilenker said in a recent interview at the firms offices at 281 Tresser Blvd. When we have that kind of interest from high-quality shareholders, thats always a good time to think about a fundraising event in a biotechnology company.

Attracting investment

As companies without products yet on the market, Cara and Loxo rely on outside capital to finance the tens of millions of dollars their businesses are spending annually on research and development. Typical of biotechs at their growth stage, both are operating in the red: Loxo ended 2016 with an approximately $72 million loss; Cara finished the year with a roughly $57 million deficit.

But the latest stock offerings for the firms which both went public in 2014 more than made up for last years losses.

Loxo netted nearly $261 million from its June public offering. It plans to use the proceeds for early commercialization activities related to Larotrectinib; R&D initiatives for other drugs and additional uses that could include acquisitions or investments. It announced last Monday the $40 million acquisition of a program that focuses on inhibiting a molecular target in B-cell leukemias and lymphomas.

In January, Loxo closed on another offering that raised about $138 million.

Caras last offering, which closed in April, brought in about $92 million to support further testing of its signature CR845 drug. The therapy treats chronic and acute pain and the itch condition pruritus. By issuing new shares, Cara aimed to take advantage of an uptick in its stock prices following a batch of encouraging test results for CR845.

We want to return value to shareholders, so were always working to increase the overall value of the company, Cara CEO Derek Chalmers said in an interview at the firms offices at 107 Elm St. The most important time when we look to share prices is when we look to raise money in the market.

The two companies are raising capital amid a shift from a 2015 bull run for biotech stocks.

The market is willing to back the folks who look like theyre winners or are going to be winners, said Clarke Futch, managing partner and co-founder of Stamford-based health care investment firm HealthCare Royalty Partners. But theres very little capital available for companies not showing substantial progress.

Reflecting market confidence, Cara and Loxo have forged major gains in their share prices in the past year. On Aug. 4, 2016, Caras shares closed at $5.94; exactly a year later, their worth had nearly tripled to $16.34. During the same span, Loxos shares also grew nearly threefold: from $27.53 to $72.92.

While shares can spike, they can also plunge. Caras stock shed 40 percent of its value between June 29 and 30 in the wake of a mixed set of results for CR845. Its value soon stabilized.

Both firms said they prefer institutional investors whose commitment helps to steady the share prices.

They tend to be focused and conditioned and educated about the opportunities and risk of biotechnology; they understand the enterprise, Bilenker said. They hopefully are with you as you move through these different gates of development.

Onward with R&D

Executives at Cara and Loxo said they focus mostly on the science underlying their drugs in development, not on share prices.

Loxo hopes to secure U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Larotrectinib as early as mid-2018. Larotrectinib and Loxos other drugs in development focus on treating cancers linked to genetic abnormalities.

We pay a lot more attention to getting the science right every day and getting patients enrolled onto our studies who have an opportunity, we hope, to benefit, Bilenker said. We pay a lot of attention to how to get information out into science journals and medical meetings, so that the world can monitor our progress. To us, thats far more important than what our stock does on any given day.

Cara aims to file its first new drug application with the FDA within the next two years for an intravenous form of CR845 to treat acute post-surgical pain or pruritus.

In a boost to its regulatory prospects, the company announced in late June that it had received breakthrough therapy designation for the IV form of CR845 for uremic pruritus in patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis.

It brings us regulatory advantages in terms of our interactions with the FDA, Chalmers said. We can speak to them more frequently, we can elicit their input more frequently into our program, and it allows us to hopefully have a faster review of the NDA (new drug application) once we actually submit it.

Coincidentally located within a block of each other in downtown Stamford, both companies envision a long-term presence in the city. Cara relocated last year from Shelton, as it sought a more central location. Loxo has been based in the city throughout its four-year existence.

Its worked out nicely because Stamford is close to New York City, where a lot of our large shareholders are and where Memorial Sloan Kettering is, said Bilenker, a Stamford resident. There is a biopharma community here It has turned out that were reasonably situated to build a strong team here in Stamford.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott

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Investor support spurs progress at Stamford biotechs - The Advocate

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System Sundays: 2017 Draftee Progress Reports – Viva El Birdos

Posted: at 5:01 pm

Nope, not going to talk about the big league club. Not going to win, didnt do anything at the deadline to move the club in a positive direction for the future. Enjoy playing out the string, everybody. In fact, if I could come up with a way to not write about the big league team for the rest of the season, I might do it. Most likely, that will last until about this coming Wednesday, though. So give my pouting the amount of regard it calls for, which is frankly not very much.

In the meantime, however, I will talk about one of the more positive aspects of the 2017 season: the draft class. Admittedly, the 2017 draft class for the Cardinals doesnt come without some caveats in terms of how positive it can really be; the hacking penalties put the Cards and Randy Flores behind the eight ball, and ensured there was a fairly hard ceiling on how much they could get done. Within the confines of all that, though, Flores and his department did one of the more remarkable jobs I think Ive seen of acquiring talent.

So lets update the performances so far of a few notable draftees just starting out their pro careers, shall we?

Level: State College (Short Season)

134 PA, .299/.376/.470, 9.7% BB, 22.4% K, 2 HR, 8 2B, 3 3B, .171 ISO, 4/6 SB, 149 wRC+

So far, Scott Hurst is off to pretty much exactly the kind of start one would hope to see from him. One of the most, if not the most, dynamic talents the Cards grabbed on draft day, Hurst has shown some power, some speed, patience at the plate, and generally loud contact the majority of the time.

The strikeouts are a little higher than I would have hoped, but that seems to be the case with most of the Cardinal hitters even in the minors these days. To be fair, though, its Hursts first pro season, hes playing later than ever before, and seeing better competition than hes ever faced. Still, when I looked at him in college at the time of the draft, I thought he should run a sub-20% strikeout rate in the pros. So far, hes above that, though not terribly so. Still, with a walk rate close to 10% you dont worry as much about the strikeouts.

Hes running a very high BABIP (.384), but anecdotally from the one or two sources I have who have seen him play for the Spikes, hes also just hitting the hell out of the ball. The higher of the two short season leagues the Cardinals run, State College was a slightly aggressive assignment for Hurst, considering how much time he missed with back/spine issues in college, but so far both the stats and the eye tests suggest hes a little too good for the level. Very encouraging.

Level: Peoria (Low A)

116 PA, .255/.293/.373, 3 HR, 5/8 SB, 87 wRC+, 5.2% BB, 19.0% K

Scott Hursts placement at State College felt aggressive, but not overly so, and he has so far looked as if the organisations faith was well placed. Kramer Robertson, on the other hand, was placed even more aggressively as a college senior, sent straight to full-season Peoria, and at least to this point it looks like the placement may have been a little too aggressive.

To be fair, Robertson did come out of the gate quickly; in his first seven games he hit .367 with a couple home runs. After that, though, the former LSU Tiger found the going much tougher as a professional, particularly during a 3-for-33 tailspin to close July. Hes hit well so far in August, but suffice it to say Robertson has not come out and put himself on the fast track just yet. Considering hell turn 23 in a couple months, he should absolutely start no lower than Peoria next year, and should really move up to Palm Beach if he wants to get on any kind of prospect age track. Well have to see if the organisation believes him ready for that challenge, though.

Level: State College

119 PA, 15.1% BB, 20.2% K, .082 ISO, .233 BABIP, 89 wRC+

Kirtley, product of the same St. Marys program that brought the Cardinals the perpetual power tease of Patrick Wisdom, is in many ways the exact opposite of his fellow alum. Wisdom is a high-quality defender at third, with power to spare but poor contact skills and atrocious discipline. Kirtley, on the other hand, is all patience and discipline, with modest pop, questionable quality of contact (at least so far), and no real defensive home.

On the other hand, this is a player getting his first taste of pro ball, with an aggressive placement (particularly considering Kirtley is very young for a college draftee, not turning 21 until October), who is also walking over 15% of the time and striking out not much more than that. It was an open question what position Kirtley would play coming out of the draft, but so far the Cards seem dedicated to trying him out at second, perhaps just because they cant help themselves but try to corner the second base market completely.

Level: Johnson City (Short Season)

135 PA, .319/.430/.425, 136 wRC+, 13.3% BB, 16.3% K, 9 2B

First off, I skipped round six draftee Zach Jackson, the high school catcher with the big lefty uppercut, because hes only played in about a dozen games and hasnt really gotten going yet. Well check back in on him at a later date.

Pinder, meanwhile, received a less aggressive assignment than Scott Hurst, partially because I think the organisation wanted to challenge Hurst as their highest pick, but also because of the glut of outfielders at pretty much every level of the farm system. Pinder and Hurst being assigned to two different levels allows both to play center, where they need to be evaluated first.

The best part of Pinders line so far is that near-1:1 strikeout to walk ratio; hes rocking a hard-contact-assisted .389 BABIP as well. Hes also put the ball in the air more often than on the ground, with roughly 60% of his batted balls being either line drives or fly balls, compared to a little under 40% on the ground. Admittedly, stringers and batted ball date in the minors can be shaky, but its fair to say already that Pinder is doing pretty much everything right so far.

Oh, and another note: those numbers are from FanGraphs, but I happen to know Pinder just put up a 5-for-6 performance last night that should help his line even more.

Wilberto Rivera, the clubs eighth round pick, has thrown four innings. So, you know. Lets wait on that one.

Level: Peoria

7 GS, 34 IP, 6 HR, 5.03 ERA, 16.5% K, 3.4% BB , 48.6% GB

Kruczynski was pushed to full-season ball immediately and so far has been bitten by the home run bug. Beyond that, though, hes pretty well held his own. Hes not striking out a ton of hitters, but hes also not walking basically anyone at all. So, pretty much as advertised so far.

Level: Johnson City

6 Games, 2 GS, 16.2 IP, 17 K, 3 BB, 0.55 ERA

Brett Seeburger has been nothing short of awesome so far. He is 22 years old already, having been drafted as a college senior, and so is fairly advanced for the Appy League, but hes still come out and been great. I havent been able to lay eyes on him yet for Johnson City, but as good as hes been out of the gate I need to get a look soon.

Level: State College

165 PA, .370/.433/.541, 9.1% BB, 18.2% K, .452 BABIP, 13 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR

Evan Mendoza is a bad, bad man. At least in State College, anyway.

So far in his brief minor league career, Mendoza has done nothing but barrel up baseballs left and right, sending screaming line drives pretty much foul pole to foul pole. The strikeouts are not bad, the walks are just fine, and the contact has been phenomenal.

The only downside of Mendozas profile is hes running a very low fly ball rate, just over 25% of his batted balls so far. Now, theres absolutely the small sample issue, but thats very much the kind of hitter he was in college as well. He hits the ball hard, but the swing is fairly flat and doesnt lend itself to much loft. Still, hes done nothing but crush New York-Penn pitching this summer, and you have to kind of love how many of these draftees have been startlingly good to begin their careers.

Level: State College

24.1 IP, 1.85 ERA, 21.6% K, 13.7% BB, .313 BABIP

As for the Cards newest Stanford acquisition, Summerville has had some control issues in the early going, with the walks way up compared to what you might have expected of him coming out of college. Hes walked twelve hitters in his last four starts, though, so I suspect theres probably some fatigue involved. It wouldnt shock me to see the organisation shut him down relatively soon if he continues to labour, just to try and avoid any kind of injury risk elevated by him being tired and pitching later in the year than he has previously.

Level: Johnson City

15 G, 17.1 IP, 1.04 ERA, 37.3% K, 6% BB

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is an extremely intriguing bullpen arm. Intriguing to the tune of 25 strikeouts in just 17 innings intriguing. Yes, its Johnson City, so a fairly conservative assignment for the lefty slinger, but those numbers are still remarkable. I thought at the time of the draft the Cards might have found a bit of a diamond in the rough with Patterson, and hes not disabusing me of that notion yet.

Level: Gulf Coast League (Rookie)

58 PA, 15.5% BB, 19.0% K, .311/.431/.489, 158 wRC+

Wow. Thats really about all there is to say about Donivan Williamss performance so far. I loved the bat speed, the arm strength, and the overall athleticism Williams brought to the table at the time of the draft, but in no way was I expected a kid with the kind of plate maturity hes shown immediately. High school kids do not come into pro ball and walk over 15% of the time. Or, at least, they dont do so while also striking out less than 20% of the time.

Its incredibly early, yes. But Donivan Williams has my full and undivided attention now.

Level: Gulf Coast League

82 PA, .219/.305/.370, 93 wRC+, 9.8% BB, 36.6% K, 3/3 SB, 2 HR

Terry Fuller has swung and missed quite a bit so far in pro ball. Thats not shocking, considering how short a time hes actually been concentrating fully on baseball, but its a good reminder that there were reasons why the guy who outhomered Bryce Harper at a showcase fell all the way to the fifteenth round. Not that he should have fallen anywhere near that far, mind you; Im just saying, there are reasons Fuller was not a top prospect in spite of some elite physical tools.

Hes looked very athletic in the outfield, and hit a couple of absolute moon shots right off the bat. Hes been fighting it as of late, however, it appears, which Im tempted to chalk at least partially up to tiring out, similarly to Andrew Summervilles declining control. Fuller the first couple weeks of his season was much more patient, but has hit a rough patch the last ten days or so. The swing and miss concerns me, but the tools are still there, and have plenty of time to emerge and be polished.

Jake Walsh (16) has struck out 25 in 19 innings for Johnson City.

Will Latcham (17) has struck out 22 in 16 innings at State College, walking just 5.

Irving Lopez (18), another second baseman, has a .405 on-base percentage for Johnson City, with four homers in less than 100 at-bats and a 13:14 walk to strikeout ratio.

Thomas St. Clair (24) has struck out almost 37% of the hitters hes faced this season at JC.

Kodi Whitley (27) is running a 14:2 K:BB ratio in nine innings for the GCL Cardinals.

Wood Myers (29) put up a 162 wRC+ at Johnson City, then moved up to State College and has struggled so far.

Taylor Bryant (33) is both walking and striking out 17.7% of the time for the GCL club. Hes old for the level as a college player, but thats still encouraging. The org needs to move him up, but Im not sure to where just yet. (Hes a shortstop.)

Michael Brdar (36) has more walks (9) than strikeouts (8) playing in the GCL. He has walks like he has consonants in his name, in fact.

So far, its hard to find too many really terrible performances from 2017 draftees for the Cardinals. There are a few, of course, but the early returns on the draft this year are remarkably exciting, considering how limited the options were. Its still far too early to make any sweeping declarations about the quality of the class, but that wont stop me from thinking very loudly that the Randy Flores drafting department is the best the Cards have had since Jeff Luhnow left town.

See the rest here:

System Sundays: 2017 Draftee Progress Reports - Viva El Birdos

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Detroit Lions’ Tahir Whitehead happy with linebackers’ progress – Detroit Free Press

Posted: at 5:01 pm

Free Press sports writers Dave Birkett and Shawn Windsor discuss what they saw from Lions rookies Kenny Golladay, Teez Tabor and Jarrad Davis and their expectations in Year 1 on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017 in training camp. Detroit Free Press

Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead stretches at Ford Field, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017 in Detroit.(Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

After the first week of training camp, the Detroit Lions' new-look linebacker corps is taking shape and making its mark literally, if you count the stick marks rookie Jarrad Davis has left on offensive players during padded practices.

I think as a group weve been doing a great job of really pushing each to get better, linebacker Tahir Whitehead said. I think we have depth. That and itself and just challenging each other is going to definitely make the group better.

The linebackers are charged with a lot. They have to simultaneously support the run defense and pass coverage. The Lions ranked 30th in the NFL with 26 sacks last season and, as Whitehead pointed, teams have to take holistic approach to rushing the passer.

More: Lions 1st-round pick Jarrad Davis living up to the hype

It definitely goes hand in hand, he said. Sometimes you need to give the defensive linemen a bit more time to get to the quarterback in order to get those sacks. The pass rush definitely frees up the back seven to get interceptions with rushed throws and everything. If the back seven takes care of everything in the pass, then its probably going to free up the defensive linemen to get to the quarterback.

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One issue Whitehead took umbrage with was the linebackers weakness last season against tight ends, who victimized the Lions early and often. According to Pro-football-reference.com, the Lions gave up nine touchdowns last season to tight ends, fifth worst in the NFL.

They get paid, too, Whitehead said. Guys go out there, they make plays. Weve made a bunch of plays against tight ends. Its not like they went out there and fried us up all year long.

So I wouldnt say thats anything alarming, by any means. You wont necessarily know what were playing, what coverage were playing, so I could care less what people think about our defense.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

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Detroit Lions' Tahir Whitehead happy with linebackers' progress - Detroit Free Press

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Democrats standing in the way of progress – The Daily Gazette

Posted: at 5:01 pm

Let me take you back to the previous administration when the so-called Republicans had no problem passing a bill to repeal the health care law.

This ploy, or show if you prefer, made it look like the Republicans were against the Democrats and this law, but thats not true.

If they were against it, why did they not stop it before it came in? If they were serious about repeal, then why not now? They knew their repeal would be vetoed, but the show went on. You see, people, I have known individuals who were involved in DC politics, and they tell me that the two parties are not two. They look like they are against each other in public ,but they get together at parties, each others houses, and all sorts of other venues.

Its all pretense, which is becoming clearly visible if you look past their hype and outright lies. Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Paul Tonko (who once said average people are not smart enough to go to DC), and Sen. Kirsten Gillbrand (these from our area) are just playing the roles with no care for America. All they care about now, and this goes for a lot of the establishment (swamp people) Republicans, is to not let this upstart outsider come in and ruin their good thing they have going.

These three especially need to be voted out or maybe recalled if thats possible in this state for not doing their jobs in a correct manner and just obstructing.

Barry Groat

Schenectady

Link:

Democrats standing in the way of progress - The Daily Gazette

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Transtopia: The Philosophy of Immortality and Godhood …

Posted: at 5:00 pm

The Transtopian Principles

General goal: infinite existence under the best possible conditions Primary means: reason, science, and technology Motivation: enlightened self-interest

Intro Transtopianism is a memetic complex, a collection of mutually supporting (and partially overlapping) concepts, lifestyles, worldviews, and philosophies. Though none of its separate components, grouped together in 12 Principles, are particularly new or unique, the combination is. Transtopianism is a typical example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts; its rational enlightenment "spontaneously" emerges from a collection of useful but individually limited memes, just like human consciousness "spontaneously" emerges from a collection of sophisticated yet individually limited brain cells.

Central to Transtopianism is the view that we should seek to void all limits on our freedom, including those imposed by the "laws" of nature -- a concept known as "arch-anarchy" [T.O. Morrow, 1990]. This state of absolute personal freedom is to be achieved by rational means like science and technology, not by wishful thinking or superstition. Transtopianism may include some "speculative", or even what one might call "religious" or "spiritual" elements, but these are all placed within a solid framework of common sense, where they belong. Transtopianism is designed to be the ultimate rational "rebellion" against anything and everything that stands in the way of personal growth and empowerment. Unlike most supposedly similarly-oriented philosophies (LaVeyan Satanism, Objectivism, and Nihilism, for example), it recognizes that in order to realize this ideal we must leave the flesh and most of its evolved habits behind. We must evolve beyond them by literally becoming one with our technologies, guided by our rational desire to become like our finest imaginary gods: eternal, omniscient, omnipotent. That is the true significance of gods; they are the embodiment of man's deepest aspirations and desires, which, until recently, were doomed to remain just that. Fortunately, the times they are a-changing...

Complete text at http://www.transtopia.org/principles.html

Originally posted here:

Transtopia: The Philosophy of Immortality and Godhood ...

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Daily Archives: August 6, 2017

Every woman’s quest for rights, freedom – The Hindu

This insanely advanced technology could power a future colony on Mars. – SYFY WIRE (blog)

School Crossings: 1:1 technology explained – Chippewa Herald

India team helps IBM create technology to battle hackers – The Hindu

Students solve crimes, study sunlight at Northern Essex science and technology camp – Eagle-Tribune

Investor support spurs progress at Stamford biotechs – The Advocate

System Sundays: 2017 Draftee Progress Reports – Viva El Birdos

Detroit Lions’ Tahir Whitehead happy with linebackers’ progress – Detroit Free Press

Democrats standing in the way of progress – The Daily Gazette

Transtopia: The Philosophy of Immortality and Godhood …

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