Category Archives: Post Human

The FC crew talk the length of suspension that would be suitable for Cristiano Ronaldo's actions in the Spanish Super Cup.

It was all set up so nicely. Other than an eight-minute cameo against Manchester United in the European Super Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo hadn't played at all since June. Against Barcelona, in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Sunday, he came in just before the hour mark with his team one-nil up. After Lionel Messi converted a dubious penalty, Ronaldo scored an absolutely stunning long-range goal to put Madrid ahead.

So far, so good. He then decided to take off his shirt (OK, he has the body to do it) and take the booking as a result. And he held up the jersey to the Camp Nou, mimicking Messi's celebration at the Bernabeu last season. (Fine. A healthy rivalry; nothing wrong with that.)

Except the booking meant that when he collided with Samuel Umtiti a few minutes later and referee Ricardo Bengoechea concluded it was a dive, Ronaldo was shown a second yellow and sent off. And, as if that wasn't enough, his instinctive shove of Bengoechea after the decision meant he is now facing a five-gamesuspension.

Bengoechea was way behind the play and got the decision wrong. It should have been a non-call: There's no rule that says that you have to give a penalty or a yellow for diving. Had it not been for the goal celebration, Ronaldo would not have been sent off. And obviously, the shove (while understandable) is inexcusable. With his experience -- and with the number of bad calls he has had in his career -- you don't expect that. It just shows he's human too.

The incident overshadowed a stellar performance from Real Madrid, who took a while to take the lead but already looked in midseason form. And that was without Ronaldo but also without Luka Modric, for whom Mateo Kovacic was a more than capable deputy. Marco Asensio's own gorgeous strike to make it 3-1 was simply a cherry on top.

Again, you have to give Zinedine Zidane credit here. Sometimes coaching Real Madrid is about managing the egos and letting the XI get on with it. And sometimes it's about finding the right balance. That's what he did on Sunday.

As for Barcelona, Gerard Pique had a nightmare and Gerard Deulofeu got a rough ride, which is what you'd expect when you're trying to fill Neymar's shoes. There's a ton of work for Ernesto Valverde to do. He'll likely get help from the transfer market, but perhaps the bigger issue is whoever comes in can't be expected to do what Neymar did. The synchronicity of movement in the "MSN" isn't going to be easily replicated, not in a short time.

Maybe the best thing for Valverde isn't to try and mimic the past, but rather work out his own scheme for how to do things.

You can only beat what's in front of you, and on a day when West Ham were awful, Manchester United were devastating. Some have called it the most exhilarating United performance since the Sir Alex Ferguson era. That may be overstating it a little, but it sure as heck was fun to watch.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the 4-0 win was the 4-2-3-1 formation. Last year, conventional wisdom had it that Paul Pogba wouldn't perform at his best in a two-man midfield. That's why United eventually switched to a three-man midfield. He was certainly outstanding alongside Nemanja Matic on Sunday. Maybe the point was that he wouldn't perform his best in a two-man midfield when the other midfielder is Ander Herrera, Michael Carrick or Marouane Fellaini.

Then again, when Matic plays like this, just about anyone would thrive alongside him. Compare this performance with his stint in the FA Cup final and it seems like they are two different players. We're only a game in and judgments are inevitably premature, but if Jose Mourinho can get this level production from him, then it's a game-changer. It allows Mourinho to play a 4-2-3-1 formation that in turn allows him squeeze three attacking midfielders on to the pitch, plus Pogba driving from deep. And all of this comes without United losing their defensive shape.

With so much creativity behind him, Romelu Lukaku -- willing, eager and intelligent on Sunday -- can't help but score goals. It's early yet and United still have a lot to prove. But if this is the Matic who shows up to work this year, midfield and attack won't be a problem.

Kylian Mbappe stayed rooted to the bench during Monaco's 4-1 win away to Dijon, which only further prompted speculation that he's one step away from leaving, whether for Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain. Whatever the destination, we'll be talking about a fee in the Neymar range for a guy who, lest we forget, has started all of 20 top-flight league matches in his career.

We'll cross the bridge of where Mbappe fits at PSG (or how they'll pay for him) another day. In the meantime, Neymar made his debut away to Guingamp in a straightforward victory, even though all the goals came in the second half.

Guingamp aren't a terrible side -- indeed, they're managed by Antoine Kombouare, the first PSG boss in the Qatari era and finished midtable last year -- but in some ways are typical of what Neymar face in Ligue 1: a substantially less-talented opponent who will congest their own half and look to hit on set-pieces or the counterattack.

Neymar was given (or took?) licence to roam and find his own space wherever he wanted; even on TV, you could see the likes of Angel Di Maria and Adrien Rabiot deferring to him. Will this continue or will Unai Emery try to fit him in a more traditional scheme? My guess is the latter, partly because Emery is, above all, a tactical manager; partly because Neymar is more than capable of fitting in an orthodox scheme; and partly because the "free role" schtick won't work quite as well when they face better teams.

Anybody who flipped on the TV to see Chelsea 3-0 down at half-time at home to Burnley would have been shocked. Immediately, comparisons to what happened in Chelsea's last post-title campaign (under Mourinho) sprang up. Throw in Antonio Conte's grumbles about the summer transfer campaign and Diego Costa sniping his club from deepest Brazil, and it was a weekend to forget.

Chelsea were pretty dire in the first half, but it's also worth reminding ourselves of the circumstances. Eden Hazard, Pedro, Victor Moses and Tiemoue Bakayoko were all sidelined. Alvaro Morata started on the bench. Somebody named Jeremie Boga, who couldn't hold down a starting place at a team that finished bottom of La Liga last season, was starting up front.

You can't blame Boga, though, because he only lasted 17 minutes until Gary Cahill got himself sent off. Playing 73 minutes in August down a man is obviously going to be tough, especially when you then go two men down in the second half following Cesc Fabregas' second yellow.

Two things are pretty obvious. One is that Chelsea are unlikely to go through the sort of injury-free campaign they had last year, and the other is that, with Champions League football, they need to find more depth. The question is whether that depth comes from the transfer market or whether Chelsea can find it in-house.

Boga, Charly Musonda, Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori and Jake Clarke-Salter are exactly the kind of Academy products that Chelsea get criticized for not playing regularly. Yet at the same time, the folks who chastise the club for not giving their youngsters "a chance" (how many other clubs in Europe's top 10 or 15 are stacked with academy products?) are the same ones who say Conte needs to spend money.

The guess here is that Chelsea will bring in somebody else to add some depth, but at the same time, the club will do what they can to ensure that Conte actually gives his kids a shot. If he does, he might actually be pleasantly surprised.

Serie A hasn't even started yet and some are already raking Max Allegri -- he of the three titles and two Champions League finals in three season -- over hot coals. Some Juventus fans are so used to winning that they can't stomach what happened on Sunday, when a dramatic injury-time winner from substitute Alessandro Murgia gave Lazio a 3-2 victory over the bianconeri in the Italian Super Cup.

Juventus did look disjointed, especially in the first half. And if you're going to play Andrea Barzagli at right-back, then you really need at least one ball-playing centre-half, something Juve don't have now that Leo Bonucci is gone. Meanwhile, Miralem Pjanic and Sami Khedira were swallowed whole by the immense Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Gonzalo Higuain was seeing little of the ball; when that happens, he's little more than a passenger.

Is there reason for Juventus fans to panic? I don't think so. The fact is, this will be a different team to last season. The additions of Federico Bernardeschi and Douglas Costa pretty much mandate this. Bonucci's long-term replacement -- whether it be Daniele Rugani or Medhi Benatia -- will be adequate (maybe more), but again, whoever it is won't play the game the way he does. My impression is that Juve will start slowly and won't really come together until winter ... which is a little bit like what happened last season.

Consider also that Lazio played exceptionally well. Ciro Immobile continues on his free-scoring tear -- he has 19 goals in the last 24 games -- and Lazio were well-organised and aggressive. You get the sense that some folks are underestimating Simone Inzaghi ... again. If they play like this, they have a legitimate shot at a top-four finish.

Christian Eriksen was in fine form as Tottenham (with a man advantage, thanks to Jonjo Shelvey's silly red card) broke through in the second half to win away to Newcastle. Danny Rose didn't play; in fact, he hasn't played since January. Still, he thought it would be a good day to grant an interview with a tabloid newspaper in which he said he felt he was underpaid (like many of his teammates) and wished the club signed guys he "didn't have to Google."

Mauricio Pochettino laughed off the latter, joking that Rose probably had to Google him when he was appointed. The club evidently found the former less funny: Despite his apology, they fined Rose two weeks wages or 130,000.

We live in a free market. There's nothing wrong with a guy thinking he's underpaid and looking for a better deal. The problem with Rose is there's a clever way to do it and a foolish one; he did not choose the clever option.

Rose signed a contract, the one that gave him a raise to his current wages, which apparently are now inadequate, back in September 2016. He got injured four months later, so it's really pretty simple: Either he improved so sharply in those 132 days that the contract he willingly signed earlier in that same season is now an insult to his supreme footballing ability, or he was a fool to put pen to paper last year.

Indeed, had he not extended his deal, he'd be entering the final two seasons of his contract just about now and would enjoy plenty of leverage to get a move elsewhere -- much like his former teammate Kyle Walker, in fact.

This is a case of bad judgment (extending his contract) made worse by bad choices (giving that interview). Rose chose to go for the security of a $20m-plus contract rather than betting on himself to outperform his salary.

Whatever sympathy there is in this tale goes entirely to Tottenham for having to deal with a guy acting like a child.

It's been one headache after another for Borussia Dortmund.

Last week, Ousmane Dembele, who is strongly linked with a move to Barcelona, skipped training and was later suspended "indefinitely." On Saturday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat trick in the first round of the German Cup and then followed it up with an Instagram live stream in which he answered a question about a return to Milan by saying, "I want to go back, but they are sleeping. ... What am I supposed to do?" He even did a little impression of the stadium announcer at the San Siro, giving himself the No. 7 shirt.

It's not just the fact that between them, Dembele and Aubameyang scored more than half of Dortmund's league goals last season. It's that it's happening at this stage of the season. Both players have been linked with moves all summer long. Stuff like that happens. But the mark of a well-run club isn't so much hanging on to them; it's having a Plan B if you get an offer you can't refuse.

We may soon learn whether Dortmund and Michael Zorc are prepared.

Liverpool's 3-3 draw at Watford was in some ways a rerun of last season: electrifying attacks, highly dubious defending. The latter prompts the age-old issue: Is it personnel or is it Jurgen Klopp's approach?

Former Liverpool stars Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher argued this very point. Personally, I think it's system rather than personnel. You can get better center-backs than Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, but if they're exposed, they'll still struggle.

The odd thing is that I don't remember Klopp's Borussia Dortmund struggling like this on the defensive end. And while that was a good back four -- Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic in the middle, Lukasz Piszczek and Marcel Schmelzer at full-back -- it wasn't exactly Baresi and Maldini either.

Gabriele Marcotti is a Senior Writer for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @Marcotti.

The rest is here:
Cristiano Ronaldo shows he's human; Matic key for Man Utd; Neymar's start - ESPN FC (blog)

Humans are losing their freedoms, self-identity and free will, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek has told RT, noting that a recent biohacking experiment by a team from the University of Washington is just another sign of the dawn of a post human era.

A team of scientists from the University of Washington successfully managed to hack into a computer using custom synthesized strands of DNA.

In their study, which is to be presented at 2017 USENIX Security Symposium Thursday, researchers said that it is potentially possible for a molecular code to take over machinery by exploiting weaknesses of gene sequencing software.

We designed and created a synthetic DNA strand that contained malicious computer code encoded in the bases of the DNA strand, researchers from the Paul G Allen school of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington said ahead of their presentation.

When this physical strand was sequenced and processed by the vulnerable program it gave remote control of the computer doing the processing. That is, we were able to remotely exploit and gain full control over a computer using adversarial synthetic DNA.

While the researchers led by Tadayoshi Kohno and Luis Ceze admit that at this point, the threat is only theoretical, Zizek noted the sinister side of this experiment.

The fact that is what possible to break into, to hack a computer through a DNA, means that our identity, determined by DNA is nothing more than just another computer formula, Zizek said.

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Our life, human life, our identity is reduced to a series of formulas. So we are effectively entering some kind of post human universe where everything, our inner most identity can be reduced to a formula.

I would not be afraid of this [particular experiment], thats not necessarily a bad thing, Zizek said, emphasizing that there are a lot of much more disturbing scientific achievements

What I'm afraid of is a possibility of a direct contact-link between our brain, what we are thinking, and a computer network, because there we lose our autonomy.

He warned that soon computers will be able to control the human mind, misleading the individual to believe they are still in control of their thoughts and reality. Under this arrangement, Zizek argues, humans will lose their autonomy and will become indistinguishable from the machines.

What is much more dangerous is... if our brains will be directly linked to computers so we will lose our inner freedom. Even in the worst of Nazism those in power could not control what you are thinking. You can have your inner thoughts... Now with a direct link between our brain and the digital network, we lose our inner freedom, the philosopher said.

In order to avoid machines potentially taking over the human identity, Zizek argues that all research into artificial intelligence has to be made public so that people can decide on the discourse of machine learning.

Make all these procedures, and what is going on, these results as public as possible. No agency which is not transpiring to the public, neither state nor a public corporation should do this outside public knowledge and public control, Zizek told RT.

Corbyns paradoxical victory over Mays politics of scaremongering gives hope Slavoj Zizek to RT

Overall, the philosopher argues that humankind has entered an era of technological domination.

Biology as science is totally integrated into a project of technological domination, manipulation and so on. And this technological use is inscribed into how biology functions today... life itself becomes just a technological process, Zizek said.

But there is still a deeper philosophic problem, which nowadays has growing practical implications, Zizek said. Is our identity fully determined by DNA? Or are we are not just biological automats? Do we have some spiritual freedom and so on?

I think if we are just our DNA. If the interaction of our DNA with environment determines us completely, then yes we should worry. But in a way, we just discovered that we never were free. We were automats [machines] also now but we did not know it. Our freedom was an illusion So are we automats which just can be controlled or is there hope for our freedom?

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'Brains linked to computers will kill our inner freedom' - Zizek to RT on biohacking & identity loss - RT

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Human remains discovered in Fayette County - Tribune-Review

On August 15, 2017, India shall celebrate its 70th Independence Day. The seventh largest country in the world and the second-most populated country, India is a land of incredible diversity. Whether it is the soaring icy peaks of the northern mountains or the beaches on the southern coast, Indias topography is truly spectacular.

On the special occasion of Indias Independence Day, we tell you about some of the most amazing facts about the country:

1. India not only has the maximum number of post offices in the world but it also has a floating post office. The post office is located on the beautiful Dal Lake, Srinagar and was inaugurated in August 2011 by the then chief minister Omar Abdullah.

The floating post office on a wooden boat at Dal Lake, Srinagar. (Shutterstock)

2. The length of steel wires used to construct the Bandra-Worli Sealink, Mumbai, is equal to the earths circumference. It cost Rs 1,600 crore to build and its weight is equal to 50,000 African elephants.

Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai. (Shutterstock)

3. As far as cricket goes, not only do we have Sachin Tendulkar, but also the worlds highest cricket ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. It is 2,144 m above sea level.

Chail, Himachal Pradesh. (Shutterstock)

4. Using data collected by Indias Chandrayaan mission which used its Moon Mineralogy Mapper, we discovered magmatic water on the Moon.

5. Science Day in Switzerland is dedicated to the late Indian President, APJ Abdul Kalam. It is celebrated on May 26 every year since 2005.

6. The human calculator is what Indian Shakuntla Devi was named after she calculated the product of two 13-digit numbers- 7,686,369,774,870 2,465,099,745,779. She gave the correct answer in 28 seconds.

7. Major Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey, was offered German citizenship by Adolf Hitler after India defeated Germany 8-1 in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was also offered a senior post in the German military and a place in the German national team. Dhyan Chand declined the offer.

An Indian stamp showing Dhyan Chand. (Shutterstock)

8. Previously known as Moksha Patamu, the game snakes and ladders originated in India. It was intended to teach children about the law of karma.

Snake and Ladders boardgame. (Shutterstock)

9. The worlds largest family is from India. Ziona Chana from Mizoram has 39 wives, 94 children, and 33 grandchildren- they all stay together in the same house!

Ziona Chana and his family. (Shutterstock)

10. The worlds highest motorable pass is Khardung La, in Ladakh, which is situated at a height of 5600 metres.

Khardung La pass. (Shutterstock)

Khardung La pass. (Shutterstock)

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India @ 70: A floating post office, a human calculator and 8 other amazing facts - Hindustan Times

Dear Daughter,

You are three weeks old. You nursed pretty much straight through the night last night, as I sort of drifted in and out of being fully awake.

Youre going through a growth spurt.

When you switch sides I feel the sting of letdown. Sometimes you nurse eagerly and gulp down the milk. Sometimes you become upset because you dont want milk. Or you dont want the fast flow of my over-active letdown. Sometimes you just want to lay in the semi-dark and nurse peacefully while your little dark blue eyes stare at my face and your little feet kick the still-soft skin of my belly which was your former home. Sometimes you want to comfort nurse. When this happens I kiss your forehead and switch you back to the empty side and let you lay close. You are a wise little creature that understands what it is that you need.

I am not a human pacifier.

Usually when a mom says that, its an expression of frustration that their infant insists on suckling for comfort. This is not what I mean when I say this.

I am not a warm human substitute for a cold silicone and plastic doohickey.

Your father may sometimes be a human pacifier. You suckle on his pinky finger during diaper changes or when I desperately need to wash my milk-stained body in the shower and remember for a few moments that I have two arms with two hands and that the dimensions of my body do not include an oddly independent nine pound female child that is frequently suspended from my body in a wrap of lightweight gauze. Your grandfather may be a human pacifier, as he holds you lovingly while I get your big brothers ready for bed or eat a hot meal without waiting for it to cool first- a luxury of not being afraid of hot bits of soup falling on you while I eat. Your brothers may briefly be human pacifiers when they offer up their pinky fingers for you to suck on, always imitating their daddy.Your grandma may be a human pacifier when she offers you her pinky finger to suck on and sings you Russian songs from her childhood.

But my breasts are not pacifiers. Comfort sucking is not time wasted. Its part of the job that my body and you have. It is how we evolved. We are the product of a long process of evolution that causes you to seek out my arms and my breasts, to suckle for comfort, to communicate with my immune system, to stay close and warm and protected, to stimulate the supply of your food, your antibodies, the components of breastmilk that scientists can see but cannot identify the function of.

Maybe you want the comfort of non-nutritive suckling because there is something that has you stressed out. Maybe you want a slow flow of high fat hindmilk that comes from comfort nursing. Maybe your body has some bacteria in it and you need the closeness so that your immune system can communicate with my immune system and it all can be taken care of without either of us ever knowing and without you ever becoming sick from the foreign invaders that your body cannot cope with but that my adult immune system attacks with the ferocity of a mama bear defending her cub.

Independence will come at your pace. I DO IT MYSELF! will become the phrase of the moment soon enough. The need to peel off and be independent is as natural a need as the need to breathe, to sleep and to eat. It comes from within the child when the child has the ability. It has come from within your brothers as they get older. It will come from within you as well. I can see it already as you bob your head against my chest in the wrap and peek over the side eager to strengthen your muscles and look at the world.

I choose to neither hold you past when you wish to be held, nor deny you comfort while it is something that you seek. I push you gently to be independent, recognizing that your world naturally expands within your comfort zone without me needing to push you past it into tears.

I am not a human pacifier. I am what you have a biological and evolutionary need for. I will not devalue your needs by implying that you lack the wisdom and understanding of what those needs are. I will not devalue your needs by becoming frustrated by your refusal to accept something that does not meet those needs. I want you to listen to your body from the beginning, to understand the difference between a healthy need of yours and a pacifying object. To have an understanding that dates back to the beginnings of your time on this planet.. That comfort comes from having your needs met, not from distracting yourself with something pink, pretty and plastic.

No manufacturer makes what you need for happiness, little one. I want you to understand this from the beginning of your life. Happiness comes from love, from closeness, and from deep inside of you. Seek this happiness, and never be distracted by things that simply pacify you rather than satisfying your needs.

<3 Mama.

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I Am Not a Human Pacifier | Nurshable

Former President Barack Obama tweeted a quote from former South African President Nelson Mandela Saturday in an apparent response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite, Obama tweeted.

The quote is from Mandelas autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Obamas series of tweets also featured a photo of him greeting children at a day care facility in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.

President Donald Trump mentioned Obama in his response to the Charlottesville protests, during which white supremacists and other fringe groups clashed with counter-protesters.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides on many sides,Trump said Saturday. Its been going on for a long time in our country, not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. Its been going on for a long, long time.

At least three people died in the Charlottesville area Saturday. A 32-year-old woman was killed after a car plowed into a group of anti-racist protesters. Two more people were killed in a helicopter crash near Charlottesville. The Associated Press has reported that the crash was linked in some way to the violence in Charlottesville, but the details were not immediately clear.

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Obama Responds To Charlottesville Violence With A Quote From Nelson Mandela - HuffPost

There is no chasm that cannot be bridged by sincerity, especially when its conveyed in a handwritten letter. Handwriting compels you to revisit the basics and helps build bridges between people by putting pen to paper. This is what 30-year-old Taiwan-born handwriting expert Ye Ye wants to focus on.

Ye was recently in the city for the annual Hong Kong Book Fair, gracing visitors with his live demonstrations.

He started off as a teacher of fine arts, but is now a full-time instructor of handwriting skills for both adults and children.

Yes determination to improve his handwriting was spurred after he was ridiculed by a classmate back in Secondary Three.

The reason I started to practice writing was due to someone who I feel is an important benefactor.

Back then, a classmate said that my writing was the ugliest of all in the class. I felt really hurt at the time, but on the other hand, I wanted to make some improvements, so it was an important starting point and inspiration.

With only a simple goal in mind, Ye started off his journey, which is to make sure that [his] handwriting is not the ugliest in class.

It was not until much later that he felt writings healing effect, especially when he focuses on getting every stroke down in a slow and steady manner in a bid to improve the writing.

Echoing the same sentiments as his followers who view his videos religiously, Ye said: Sometimes when I watch my own videos, I feel strangely at peace.

Of the many tools he uses, his choice of sticking with the simplicity of a ballpoint pen comes to many as a surprise.

He started using such pens in school and still prefers them because of their accessibility and cheapness.

Afterwards, when I took up pointed pen calligraphy, I realised there were certain limitations, which is why I started to learn brush calligraphy. In the learning process, regardless of your origin or nationality, everyone at the very beginning encounters the fonts used in ancient times, which in a way gives you the opportunity to attain a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese characters.

Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan use traditional characters, whereas mainland China created a simplified system in the 1950s to lift the majority of the population out of illiteracy.

There are also different ways of writing characters, including running and cursive script.

If we look at the structural beauty of the characters, I feel that traditional Chinese characters have an obvious advantage, Ye said.

However, I realise there are many parts in simplified Chinese characters which are adopted from the running and cursive scripts, and this is something that I really appreciate.

The inventors of the simplified script borrowed some characters from running script to reduce the number of strokes in the traditional system. Both the running and cursive script are preferred over standard script for their efficiency.

Watch: Examples of Ye Yes style

Bearing this in mind, I personally hope that when we write, we are able to explore and embrace the versatility and all-encompassing nature of Chinese characters, Ye said.

However, he adopts a conciliatory approach in the competition between simplified and traditional characters, urging everyone to appreciate the charm of both.

When asked how he would judge the beauty of someones handwriting, Ye said: There are only a number of fixed rules and techniques that I can impart to my pupils, and ultimately it is up to them to develop their own style.

To be able to express ones state of mind in the flow of ones writing and in terms of whether ones writing is comfortable to the eyes, to have that delivered to the reader, that would be the true definition of beauty.

Ye encourages everyone to pick up a pen to write as it is never too late to start. But he sees technology as one of the main factors in the decline of handwriting.

I feel that many processes will be replaced by technology. Despite this, things that come with a human touch cant be replaced.

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Taiwan master offers handwriting with a human touch - South China Morning Post

CARSON CITY, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11)

Carson City Health and Human Services and Douglas County Mosquito Abatement are reporting the first human case of West Nile virus in the Carson City-Douglas area for 2017.

The individual had the more serious form of the illness, which can impact the brain and surrounding tissues.

This coincides with the report of one positive mosquito collection in Carson City. The human case is not related to this collection.

Officials tested wetlands, ditches and other small bodies of water during the first week of August and of the samples collected, the virus is present in one of the test sites.

CCHHS staff plan to treat the areas to keep the virus from spreading. Mosquito surveillance and abatement activities have already been conducted a number of times throughout the summer in Carson City and Douglas County and are ongoing in those areas.

The most effective way to avoid the virus is to prevent mosquito bites. CCHHS and DCMA advise Nevadans and visitors to take the following precautions to prevent West Nile virus throughout the summer months:

For information about West Nile virus and other mosqutio-borne illnesses, visit http://www.GetHealthyCarsonCity.org.

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First human case of West Nile virus reported in Carson City-Douglas area - KRNV My News 4

An average of 22 people die in America every day while waiting for organ transplants, but a group of researchers from the biotech company eGenesis hope to eventually change that statistic by using organs from cloned pig cells.

Using agene-editing tool called CRISPR, the researchers edited the DNA of pigs, removing potentially harmful viruses from their organs. Scientists then cloned those edited cells, put them in an egg, and implanted that egg into a sow. This enabled them to ultimately breed pigs with virus-free organs.

So why is this significant?

"In studies done before, if you took pig cells and human cells and put them together, the viruses would go to the human cells. And so now they've been eliminated, or inactivated. So all of a sudden, it opens the door for the potential of pigs," CBS News medical contributorDr. David Agussaid Friday on "CBS This Morning." "Pigs' organs are about the same size as human organs, so it's actually perfect for transplantations."

The breakthrough in eliminating viruses like the porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) brings us one step closer to xenotransplantation, or transplants between different species.

"It's absolutely wild I mean literally considered science fiction several years ago," Agus said.

In human heart valve replacements, pig valves are used, but they are put in formaldehyde and fixed, Agus said. The new research is different because "these are live cells, functioning [organs] kidneys, livers, hearts. It really is going to be dramatic how it could affect many human lives," he added.

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Scientists in the U.S. have successfully repaired a faulty gene in human embryos for the first time. Researchers used the powerful technology kno...

Altering the DNA and the rapid advances with CRISPR have raised legal and ethical concerns. Most recently, scientists announced they successfully repaired a disease-causing gene in human embryos using CRISPR. Agus called for an international group to start drawing boundaries.

"We're talking about some dramatic advances and literally happening week by week, but they can keep going. And so the challenge is to do it right," Agus said. "The challenge is someone not to change an embryo to make them taller, stronger, faster. The challenge is to do it to benefit human health in a positive way on a global sense."

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We're one step closer to using pig organs in human transplants - CBS News

By Christopher Sabatini and Jimena Galindo By Christopher Sabatini and Jimena Galindo August 11 at 12:00 PM

On Aug. 8, 12 countries in Latin America raised their voices to oppose Venezuelan President Nicols Maduros move from democracy to autocracy. In a meeting convened in Lima, Peru, foreign ministers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru publicly denounced the Maduro governments constituent assembly, convened to rewrite the countrys 17-year-old constitution, and declared that they would not recognize any laws or contracts approved by the assembly that should be the responsibility of the democratically elected national legislature.

[Venezuelas instability has far broader implications. Heres whats at stake.]

The 12 nations efforts came after more than a decade during which Hugo Chvez (Venezuelas president from 1999 to 2013) and his successor, Maduro (2013 to present),undercut democratic institutions, cracked down on human rights, and brought to the country economic, social and political chaos.

Why were they silent so long?Theory and rhetoric have led many to believe that elected governments are more prone to support human rights and democracy. As recently as 2001, 34 of the Western Hemispheres 35 states had signed the charter of the Organization of American States, publicly committing themselves to promoting democracy. But that commitment has not always been in evidence.

[This explains why Venezuelans reelect leaders who dismantle democracy]

At Global Americans, weve recently researched the intersection of elected governments and Latin American foreign policy and found that elections do not necessarily result in respect for human rights. In some cases, the hemispheres elected governments have actually worked to undermine the international norms and institutions that defend human rights and democracy.

Heres how we did our research

We examined the voting records of Latin American governments in the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), their activities in the regional Inter-American System of Human Rights and the Organization of American States (OAS), and their commitment to international standards for free and fair elections from 2011 to May 2017.

We found that a subset of countries with elected governments across the region tend to vote more withnondemocratic or semi-authoritarian countriessuch as Russia, China and Turkey, and often failed to speak out forcefully in multilateral bodies over human rights abuses.

Of the 47 total members in the UNHRC, eight seats are reserved for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Since 2016, the members from Latin America and the Caribbean have been Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela.

[Venezuelas government wants to write a new constitution. That way lies autocracy.]

So how have these elected governments voted on human rights questions?

When voting on resolutions or other actions related to questions in Syria, North Korea and Ukraine, half those countries Brazil, El Salvador, Panama and Paraguay often voted to enable the United Nations to defend human rights. However, the other half Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela voted with Russia, China and Turkey to protect government sovereignty and deny outsiders like the U.N. the ability to interfere with the domestic affairs of countries.

Of course, Cuba and Venezuela are not true democracies. But Bolivia and Ecuador both have elected governments. And Brazil, when governed by Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and then Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party, abstained on human rights resolutions on North Korea (once) and Ukraine (twice). Similarly, Argentina, under the Peronist government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, abstained from the second Ukraine human rights resolution. Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia have never voted in favor of a resolution on Syria. And Ecuador has also voted against resolutions three times and abstained 11 times, although it has twice voted in favor reprimanding Syrian human rights violations.

We found similar patterns in regional multilateral bodies like the OAS and its Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). In the past year, the OAS has twice attempted to pass a resolution expressing concern over the deterioration of human rights and democracy in Venezuela.

Each time, the organization failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote. Opposed were an ideological coalition of pro-Venezuela governments, grouped as Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra Amrica (ALBA) that includes Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, as well as a bloc of PetroCaribe countries (including the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas) that benefit from subsidized Venezuelan oil.

In the most recent vote at the OAS General Assembly in June this year, Mexico and Argentina sponsored a resolution condemning the Venezuelan governments plan to rewrite the constitution a controversial move widely considered anti-democratic. The elected governments of Nicaragua, Dominica, Bolivia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines voted against the resolution. And the Dominican Republic, another elected government, abstained.

[Dont be duped or misled about the Venezuela protests. These 5 insights will help.]

Why do these elected governments hold back from condemning violations of human rights and democratic norms?

Many of these governments profess ideological sympathy with the Chavez/Maduro governments leftward leanings, especially among the ALBA countries.

But others resist both popular sovereignty as well as international norms to defend human rights. The Dominican Republics government, for instance, has itself been condemned for violating human rights, particularly stripping the citizenship of and deporting Dominican citizens of Haitian descent. Faced with international criticism of that effort, in 2014 the Dominican Republics Constitutional Court removed it from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American System of Human Rights.

The Western Hemisphere includes many elected governments that have emerged from being ruled by brutal military juntas but they have not necessarily stood up for democratic values for their neighbors. The Lima declaration shows that positions do shift. Some of the countries that finally condemned Venezuela have traditionally stood up for human rights, including Costa Rica and Chile. Some that signed on did so after a change in administration, as in Argentina and Brazil.

But most of the 32 elected governments have nevertheless failed to unify on behalf of democratic values. Being elected, apparently, does not necessarily translate into standing firmly for democracy.

Christopher Sabatini is a lecturer at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs and executive director of Global Americans.

Jimena Galindo is a research associate at Global Americans.

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It's not just Venezuela. Elected governments don't necessarily defend democracy or protect human rights. - Washington Post