Sometimes a seemingly-small development has a great deal of impact. The topic for this post is, I think, in that category. As long-time readers of this blog know, I have over the years drawn attention to the vulnerability of US aircraft carriers to new classes of Chinese and Russian supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles as well as American efforts to defend against them. It has now been revealed that the USA has invented a new class of weaponry designed to defeat incoming cruise missiles, and I wanted readers to know about this new class of defensive weaponry.

The US military has demonstrated a new kind of weapon that features a munition that can be launched from either a US army howitzer or a naval deck gun. It is a projectile that can attain a speed of Mach 5 en route to intercepting cruise missiles (first link, second link). It was successfully tested against a volley of incoming subsonic cruise missiles, but the fact that this new munition can travel at a hypersonic velocity clearly means it was developed to intercept supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles as well. Whether it can do so already is not publicly-available knowledge. These new munitions fired from a variety of gun barrels are integrated into an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can target and identify incoming missiles. This new munition has several advantages. It is far cheaper to fire one of these “shells” than to fire a multi-million dollar interceptor missile at an incoming cruise missile. Since the projectile is small enough to fire from an artillery barrel, it will be harder for enemies to detect it as well. One huge advantage is the same “shells” can be used by either the Army’s artillery pieces or by the US Navy’s deck guns (I assume the standard 5″ deck gun). Since self-propelled artillery and navy ships are mobile, these shells can be fired and the launchers can move to another position for fire more munitions. Since it is a “smart” munition which is integrated into an AI weapons system, it can be assumed the munitions are autonomous “fire and forget” projectiles that do not require the launch platform to stay in one position (as with a wire-guided anti-tank weapon fired from a Bradley Fighting Vehicle for example).

Since this new hypersonic projectile can be fired from at least two different kinds of artillery gun barrels, it seems evident that the projectile fits inside an adjustable “sleeve” which can adapt the munition to any large artillery barrel. It is also worth asking whether this munition can be fired from a man-portable system similar to a large mortar barrel. It also seems evident that any “smart” munition that is small enough to fit inside an artillery barrel must be a short-range weapon system as it can only carry a limited amount of propellant. In a naval environment, it would seem this munition fired from a 5-inch deck gun would complement the Phalanx point-defense system which is already deployed on US surface warships.

An obvious question is: Why did the USA reveal this new weapon openly at this time? I think that, given the revealed advances in Chinese and Russian cruise missile technology, it was necessary for the US military to display a new defensive weapons system that can be used against incoming cruise missiles fired at US forces. One huge advantage of this new munition is that does not require any changes in the navy ships’ hardware or in US Army artillery barrels to be used. Since this new munition was designed to use currently-deployed weapons launchers, it can be deployed almost immediately (perhaps such deployment is already occurring). Since it is an AI-managed munition, I assume that it will require some reprogramming into the US naval ships’ software to adapt this new weapon into the current Aegis defensive systems already present on US surface warships. I have another naval-related question. We know that modern ICBMs typically have multiple warheads on them to be directed to several different targets. A submarine’s torpedo tube is much larger than a single artillery barrel or a naval deck gun. Could these small, new, “smart” anti-cruise missile “shells” be placed in a package of perhaps ten of them which could be launched from a submerged submarine’s torpedo tubes and, upon reaching the surface, attack incoming cruise missiles using an autonomous and AI-integrated “swarm” technology?

Think of the geopolitical weaponry competition as a poker game. Some poker games have some cards which are known to all players and some cards which are known only to each player. If a player has “nothing” showing, his hand won’t be taken seriously. It is the same in world military geopolitics. Unless you have some serious weapon systems “showing” (known to your opponents), you will not establish any deterrence against their attack. US military planners need to keep some key weapons systems secret but they need to reveal enough strength to deter an opponent from starting a war. These new munitions could also be a “force multiplier.” The US Army is equipped with modern versions of the M1 Abrams tank. The links below use the word “tank” to describe the launch platforms for the new munition even though the launch is actually a self-propelled, armored artillery piece. If this new munition can be fired from actual Abrams tanks, it makes each tank in the US inventory a potential cruise-missile destroyer. Indeed, old tanks now “retired” in mothballs could theoretically be reactivated and equipped to fire just these munitions as part of an entirely new ground-based defense system against incoming cruise missiles on any battlefield. Many US allies could use this new munition. Taiwan would especially benefit from buying hundreds of these new munitions to down Chinese cruise missiles that would be fired in any Communist Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The third link makes the case that the USA may be doing better in the hypersonic weapons competition than most realize.

This kind of readily-deployable, high-tech munition in the inventory of the US Army and Navy lessens somewhat the chances of the Chinese starting a war in the South China Sea or anywhere else. It was most ingenious to design the projectiles to fit into current ground and naval weapons systems so there was no need to design or build any new launchers for them.

Does this have any biblical, prophetic ramification? It could. Parallel prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19-20 foretell of an age-ending global world war at the climax of this age as it transitions into the next age of utopian peace and prosperity that will result from divine rule replacing all human rulers everywhere on the planet. This age will only occur after divine intervention ends an on-going world war that is threatening to destroy all flesh on earth (Matthew 24:21-22). Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but the unveiling of a new American weapons system to defeat cruise missiles makes it is less likely that a major regional war will occur just yet. It has long been my understanding that the final war prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19-20 will not occur until after (A) Babylon the Great ‘s current world system has fallen, (B) a new global “beast” system has risen to take its place for 42 months, and (C) the 1260-day ministry of the Two Witnesses has been concluded with their martyrdom. I want to be sure to state that regional wars between the Gog-Magog bloc and the Western bloc are still possible, but a new, high-tech, anti-cruise missile system that can quickly be deployed by the USA makes such a war somewhat less likely.

For much greater discussion of the above-referenced biblical prophecies, I invite readers to review my free articles, The Two Witnesses, Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days?, The USA in Biblical Prophecy and What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveal about a Future World War III. Incredible events are going to occur in our world’s future. Biblical prophecy has a remarkable habit of being proven right, so it behooves everyone to know what they reveal is going to happen in the years ahead of us.

One last thing, I sure hope the designers of this new weapons system made sure that it is survivable in an environment where an electromagnetic pulse weapon (EMP) is used. It is been painfully obvious for decades that all new weapons systems must be equipped with to remain functional in spite of EMP attacks.


Roses are red

Every single Valentine’s day we have to argue over where to place boundaries when dividing a continuous spectrum into discrete sections, but human language adds boundaries progressively as time advances and violets are blue except in languages that have words for purple.

Roses aren’t red either, but red is such a linguistically ancient concept that it tends not to get divided up as quickly as other color concepts. The points at which red stops being red are much further from the center of red than the points at which blue stops being blue are from the center of blue. But excluding the violets that are white, we can say two things for certain:

  1. Violets are definitely blue.
  2. Violets are definitely not blue.

Hübsch and doch – language breakthroughs

I’m currently into week 4 of my German language course. For background, I learnt German at school, and continued my study of the language for a year and a bit at university before my life took a different direction. Since then, my study of, and exposure to the language has been minimal, but at the beginning of October I started a course at the Goethe Institut in Sydney to get myself back on track.

Language learning as an adult is hard. It really is. It’s tiring, and the process just doesn’t flow quite as well. I speak from experience, especially given that I’m learning the same language for a second time. One thing I have definitely noticed this time around is my brain’s urge to translate. It seems to want to think in English, and it doesn’t seem happy to have learnt a new word or phrase unless it knows that word or phrase’s English translation. This is irritating for a couple of reasons:

  1. I know it’s counter-productive. I know languages are not codes and that fairly often direct translations are not even possible.
  2. There is a guy in the class who does this vocally – he has to know what everything is auf Englisch bitte and it drives me to distraction. I’m there thinking you don’t need to know what it is in English if you understand it! while my brain is doing the same thing his is.

However, this week I had a breakthrough. I learnt two new words. Hübsch and doch.

I’ve been overusing hübsch at a ridiculous rate because I’ve fallen in love with the word. Not really because of the word itself, but because it is the first word in this period of my language learning that I haven’t needed a translation for. My brain is content with the idea that hübsch means, well, hübsch. I won’t say that I understand the contexts it is suited to, or maybe even cultural contexts, but I’m happy just to know the word. I haven’t looked it up and, more importantly, I don’t have the urge to look it up.

Doch is a word that probably has a thousand and one meanings, but it came up by accident in class the other day when it appeared in a text and someone asked what it meant. I can’t remember the exact context, but the teacher explained how it just made the phrase more polite, but it led to her also explaining its use as “a positive answer to a negative question”. And when aforementioned need-to-know guy asked und auf Englisch, bitte? her response was simply, “no idea”. A couple of confused looks and she did go on to explain how the word just doesn’t exist in English:

If we were having a party and everyone had a glass of wine, and I noticed everyone had drunk the wine, but John hadn’t even touched the wine, I might ask him “don’t you like the wine”, and it might be that he’s saving it for later, but he does like the wine. In English he’d reply “yes”, but “ja” would be wrong in German; you’d say, “Doch!”

And it made sense to me – another breakthrough, and another realization that sometimes language can just exist in its own right without reference or translation to another language. Doch might translate to yes  but in order to understand the meaning of it, you really have to tell a story and explain how to use the word, and provide context. And my brain is comfortable with that.

Sometimes language learning is hard, but I mostly really enjoy it. Little breakthroughs like this, though, are when I really love it and I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

In case your brain needs to know, here are a couple of links to for translations:

My favorite TV show at the moment is The Great British Bake-Off. It’s a celebration of home baking, a celebration of tradition, and a celebration of Britishness. Only, well, it isn’t. It’s presented as something that is uniquely or quintessentially British, but aside from the people who are actually in the show, there’s nothing in it that is particularly British. And in many cases, quite the reverse.

In the first episode of this series, the contestants were asked to produce a showstopping version of a British classic from the 1970s – the kitsch classic Black Forest Gateau. Surely anybody who grew up in Britain (me included) recognizes Black Forest Gateau as a cake that is classic British cuisine, which is bizarre given that (as Christian points out), it’s very much a German cake.

This led to more discussion on the use of the word British tacked on to seemingly everything to give things an air of respectability or superiority. So at the supermarket, we’re presented with The Great British Sausage to cook on the Great British Barbecue, which would normally happen in the middle of the British Summer. Like what should simply be the Great Bake-Off, there is nothing inherently British about any of these things, but it seems that in Britain, unless you can stick “The Great British…” in front of something, that thing is worthless.

What caught my curiosity was that until Christian pointed it out I had never noticed it. Now, of course, it irritates the hell out of me, but before that I didn’t even realize it was there. Even curiouser, I didn’t notice that the British do it despite the fact that after moving to Australia I noticed instantly that people in Australia do the exact same thing and it annoys me intensely. It’s alienating and screams of this awful superiority complex that nationalism encourages.

Politicians talk about all Australians (but never all people), the post office is branded Australia Post, the supermarket Woolworths changed its slogan in 2012 from simply The Fresh Food People to Australia’s Fresh Food People. And I noticed all of this, and still thought that we didn’t do that in Britain.

It’s related, I think, to banal nationalism, but it’s not exactly the same thing. During the discussion, Matthew Smith coined the word jingonym – a portmanteau of jingoism and demonym, and I think that captures the concept perfectly. Demonyms that are added to things to assert some national superiority. There’s nothing British about summer in Britain any more than there is anything French about summer in France. The weather isn’t somehow warmer because it’s British, there’s not somehow less chance of rain in June because of Britain. It’s absurd, yet we do it without noticing.

It’s not exclusive to Britain – as I mentioned Australians do it, and Americans are notorious for it – my example here would be the Americans With Disabilities Act – a very important piece of legislation, but one whose name exerts the importance of it being applied to American people only. But I wonder if it is exclusive to the English language (surely not, but I can’t be sure) – another tweet from Christian points out that there’s certainly no such thing as the Great German Summer.

What do we do? Stop attributing value to a nation for the sake of it? I think we should do that, but that’s a hard sell. But I think it could be worth it – let’s try to enjoy things whether they’re Great and British or delicious and from Baden-Württemberg, masquerading as 70s British kitsch.

The language of love

But I don’t know what to call him.

(To be clear: this offends me.)

Lover. Fuck off.

Something for the weekend: Idiom

This week I decided to go back to school. Not full time or anything like that, but a twice-weekly evening class to improve my German. I learnt German at high school and started a university course in German (why I didn’t finish it is a whole other story), but I haven’t spoken German in about ten years, so I have forgotten a lot. Coupled with my never-ending difficulty in meeting new people, my frustration at no longer having any real fluency in a language I love inspired me to take some action.

I have taken the placement test, and term starts next month. It’s a little bit exciting, but a certain apprehension last night:

Idioms are phrases or expressions that have figurative meanings, and they’re usually specific to the source language, that is translated word-for-word into another language leaves the phrase either meaningless or (perhaps worse) with a literal meaning that is something other than intended. An example in English is I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. To a native English speaker the meaning is clear: it means you’re nervous or anxious, but what it doesn’t mean is that you actually have butterflies in your belly. And translated into most other languages the meaning is unclear: you have to use a phrase with a different literal meaning to convey the same figurative meaning. In Chinese, for example, you would say that your heart is beating as hard as a deer bumping into a tree. Perhaps you could guess the meaning, but it doesn’t really make sense. One of the most curious things about idioms is that often, as a native speaker, you don’t notice them until you start learning another language, or someone who is not a native speaker points them out. And oftentimes they are very difficult to explain. Christian asked:

The meaning of love child is wrapped up in culture and subtlety, almost irony, and it’s very hard to convey the exact meaning of the phrase. Wiktionary defines it as a child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried partners, but the phrase itself is supposed to draw attention to the infidelity: the essence of the phrase is difficult to translate, or even to explain in English. The fascinating topic of idiom was expanded on last night in a discussion with Dave, who studies Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and should soon be an interpreter. I asked

And the answer was basically some do, some don’t and yes. For instance I was able to make a good guess of how to sign it went over my head (meaning it was too confusing for me to understand or often used to indicate that what was just said appeared to be an in-joke that the speaker was not in on), but Dave explained that there are examples of phrases that are idiomatic in English and Auslan, but rely on different figurative language:

In short, idioms fascinate me, and the best way, I think, to discuss them is just to give examples and to explore them. But back to my original worry. Ich bin nicht von gestern might be translated for the Australian learner as I didn’t come down in the last shower. And as a boy from urban Yorkshire, neither one of those phrases is part of my native tongue!

Marriage Terminology

Marriage equality / equal marriage

Equality is not brought about just by saying the word.

Gay marriage

Same-sex marriage

Marriage. Just marriage.


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All You Need To Know About Private Blockchains

Blockchain technology has been called the greatest invention in the history of mankind since the introduction of the internet. The world has moved on from the monarchy form of government and has evolved into a democratic system. However, when it comes to the economy, the state still enjoys a monopoly over the financial sector and the legal tender. Therefore, many academics, thinkers, and philosophers opine that Blockchain can be the next big step in the evolution of mankind.

What is a Blockchain?

A blockchain is a type of digital ledger that is used for keeping records of all the financial transactions that have occurred on the network. It is worth noting that most blockchains allow an exchange of value in the form of their native coins or tokens that are called cryptocurrencies. The users who wish to make any transactions on a blockchain must first acquire these digital currencies from a cryptocurrency exchange and open a digital wallet account or have a digital wallet address to manage their crypto reserves.

How does Blockchain Work?

A blockchain is a computer program that can create a digital record or ledger of all the data transfers or transactions that it facilitates. It is important to note that all the transactions on a blockchain are added to a single block. As soon as the maximum number of transactions is filled on one block, it is sent for verification.

PoW blockchains like Bitcoin use miners to verify a blockchain, while PoS blockchains use smart contracts for the same task. When a block is decrypted, it is also verified and added to the existing network of data that is called a blockchain as a whole.

Types of Blockchain

There are several different types of blockchains based on their functionality, parameters, and core programming. Some of the most basic types of blockchain classifications are listed under:

Public Blockchain

Public Blockchains are the types of blockchains that are open to everyone who wishes to participate. These blockchains allow users from every part of the world to join the blockchain network and make transactions performing as a node in the network.

Public blockchains are also referred to as permissionless networks since they do not require any approval or registration process before interaction. The node validators or the miners who are working to verify the transactions on the Blockchain may or may not get rewards for their decryption efforts.

Some examples of Public blockchains are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. The security of a public blockchain is immutable while it operates with low efficiency and is wholly decentralized.

Semi-private Blockchain

A Semi-private Blockchain is a type of digital transactions network that is operated under the supervision of a private organization and can sometimes be under the management of a dedicated community of contributors. A semi-private blockchain has a public part where all the users are free to join to make transactions; however, the decision-making powers are reserved with a selected or nominated management.  Most semi-private blockchains show high efficiency, are partially centralized and can get security-related updates.

Private Blockchain

A Private Blockchain is a type of network that is under the use of organizations on both management and user levels. Only the users who can fulfill the terms and conditions on the network can join the network and make transactions.

The node validators are very few, and all the decisions regarding the blockchains are made by the organizational hierarchy. The private blockchain management can invite any new user for the sake of fulfilling organizational tasks. It also has high operating efficiency and the ability to upgrade.

Consortium Blockchain

A Consortium Blockchain is based on a type of consensus model that is reserved for only a select few individuals. This type of Blockchain is also called a permission private network. The block verification does not bear any rewards, and the number of total nodes on the network is relatively smaller, which also makes for a faster approval time. Deutsche Boerse and R3 are some good examples of Consortium blockchain networks.

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Consensus Models

Consensus models are the type of node validation or transaction verification method on a blockchain. Some PoW or Proof-of-Work consensus model networks require the services of miners who set up mining machines to solve the encrypted puzzle of every new block on a blockchain network and earn rewards such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

On the other hand, there are PoS or Proof-of-Stake blockchain networks that employ smart contracts for transaction verification and have a much higher transaction speed as well as lower transaction fees in comparison to PoW.

Blockchain technology has been around since the introduction of the Bitcoin blockchain in 2009. However, since then, blockchain technology has witnessed thousands of new renditions and editions. Despite being around for more than a decade, blockchain networks are still considered to be in their nascent phase.

However, there are some noteworthy additions to the blockchain infrastructure, such as Hyperledger Fabric and Corda, that have expanded the usage of blockchains beyond their cryptocurrency-related utility. To this end, there are several new industries in addition to the financial sector that has started to adopt blockchain technology like supply chain, civil engineering, project management, etc.

What is a Private Blockchain?

While reading about the types of blockchain networks, the reader has already got the basic idea about a private blockchain. It is worth noting that private blockchains use closed or predefined parameters and are mostly reserved for commercial usage. A private blockchain also can process a large amount of data to support the global data ecosystem of a business. Private Blockchains are usually fully permissioned and require special approval for entry.

Only a permitted or approved consortium of organizations can be present in a private blockchain network as a user. Furthermore, the core developers or the operators of a private blockchain can grant different users different roles depending on their clearance level or responsibilities.

Node validators on a private blockchain can be divided into different categories for updating the ledger, running the consensus model, and performing node allocation, among other tasks.

Fundamentals of a Private Blockchain

There are many different types of blockchain networks, and the readers need to understand the fundamentals of a Private Blockchain to ensure that they can identify the Blockchain from a network of different users. Here are some of its most basic components:

Fully Private Network

A private blockchain is fully privatized, and it means that without approval from the management or the core developer of the network, everyone can’t participate in the network performance. A private blockchain is under the operations of a private organization, and it means that all the rules and the terms are decided and created by the management, and it may or may not require any consensus from all the users of the network.

Transaction Speed

Public blockchains take a longer time to confirm transactions since they are fully decentralized and self-operated. However, private blockchains offer a faster transaction speed since they are under the management of a company or a group of organizations. Since the users are not coming in from all parts of the world, it means that there are fewer nodes on the network that allow it to keep working faster and more efficiently than the public networks.

Scalability is the quality of the blockchain network to process the maximum number of transactions in a second. It also means that a blockchain network can get updated, and it would allow the users to make sure that core developers can send and create updates and upgrades on the mainnet. There are some public networks like Bitcoin that are immutable and face a lot of difficulty in processing updates.

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Architectural Integrity

The architectural integrity of a private blockchain is usually higher in comparison to that of public blockchain networks. It means public blockchains since they are under the supervision of a private network of organizations. To ensure data privacy these organizations make sure to conduct regular technical audits and invite the top blockchain consultants. The private blockchain networks are also under the diagnosis of top cyber security firms who are working with their managing organizations.

Commercial Usage

Public blockchains are reserved for the use of masses that are trying to make cryptocurrency trades on the network. However, Private Blockchains are dedicated to performing private functions. The operators of private blockchains can also be salaried employees, freelance workers, or consultants who are trying to upgrade the existing correspondence networks or data management software for these entities.

Advantages of Private Blockchains

There are so many advantages of a private blockchain network. Here are some of the most important vantage points listed as under:

Health Care

The Health Care industry is full of flaws that need the arrival of the latest technology to make it more manageable and useful. Some big hospitals in the world are using Private Blockchains to grant due credentials to their surgeons. In the same manner, private health care blockchains are also useful for filtering out unwanted counterfeit drugs.

In the same vein, private blockchains are required to make sure that the hospitals can keep their patient information private and secure. It is especially important since hacking groups have threatened the hospitals by taking over their private servers and releasing all data regarding the patients.

Financial Services

Financial services are one of the most fundamental utilities of a private blockchain. It means that the organizations that switch on to a private blockchain can perform their financial settlements at many times higher speed. Furthermore, these services also offer privacy for their consumers to make sure that the sensitive data of the organization remains out of the hands of hackers or invaders. Additionally, these investors are also able to enjoy increased efficiency in the blockchain network.

Global Trade

A private blockchain is an ideal network for facilitating a global trade network. The international trade network is used to improve the transparency and trust of its providers. In the same manner, there is an additional amount of control over the different functions of the business for the manufacturers, who can get rid of any possible data manipulation or misreporting.

With private blockchains, businesses can perform international businesses on account of reduced paperwork and also experience smaller costs.

Real Estate

Real estate is the main sector where a private blockchain is useful in real estate. Using a digital space for setting up a shop or an advertising place will reduce the investment in real estate by many folds. The blockchain-based real estate also allows the owners to participate in fractional ownership of real property. In many ways, it also improves the scalability for the real estate stakeholders.

A private blockchain creates better insurance and backup for all the related data and archive files to make sure that it does not have a lengthy and unmanageable paper trail. Using a private blockchain, financial institutions can settle insurance claims faster since they can fetch the data quicker and also rapidly process all the requirements for insurance claim verification.

Government Services

Government services can also be transferred to a private blockchain network. It means that the blockchains can also perform several digital administrative tasks automatically. It means that governments can ensure better data security for their consumers. It also means that governments can make the election system more universal and transparent. Furthermore, blockchain technology is useful for creating a digitized national identification for every citizen with relative ease.

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Retail Sector

The retail sector can adopt private blockchain networks to dismiss the production of counterfeit products. The manufacturers can quickly check the product specification using the Blockchain by getting sample inputs from all parts of their distribution areas.  Retail products and service providers can also increase the efficiency and performance of their luxury goods line by backing it up and tracking it with Blockchain.

Furthermore, it can also reduce the threat of stolen goods that can be quickly recovered using private blockchain-based geo-locators.

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management can become more accessible and manageable using private blockchain technology. The business enterprise can use this technology to trace its global network of logistics more efficiently than before. At the same time, this technology is also useful for creating logistic-based processes such as data management and real-time data sharing. The use of the supply chain within the global network ensures that the corruption and foul play in the sector are reduced many folds.

Limitations of Private Blockchains

Just like there are several important use cases of a private blockchain, it also suffers from some limiting points given as:

Centralization is one of the most important issues surrounding private blockchains. The private blockchain networks are usually centralized, and it means that they are in line with all the financial regulations of the state. It also means that federal authorities have access to all the data that is present on a private blockchain. Therefore, it is considered one of the biggest downsides of the adoption of private blockchain networks in more commercial enterprises.

There is also a big question of credibility around private blockchains. In this manner, these blockchains can ensure that they can manipulate data by way of controlling the main node validators. In a private blockchain, there is a limited number of node validators.

If these validators wish to manipulate data personally or are approached by threat actors, the credibility of the entire network can be compromised. Since the transactions present on the network are not verified or cross-checked by any other community member, there is a greater risk of easy falsification of data.

The security of a private blockchain network is something that has been a consistent issue for private blockchain stakeholders. The hackers can easily find a technical blind spot due to the presence of a limited number of node validators. Despite the massive technical audits and other important security installments, private blockchains are less secure in comparison to the public blockchain networks.

Private blockchains are one type of decentralized financial sector that is gradually transforming and evolving. The developers are working diligently to ensure that the stakeholders can make better use of the private blockchains and introduce new updates that allow them to take the nascent industry one step closer to mainstream adoption. produces top quality content exposure for cryptocurrency and blockchain companies and startups. We have provided brand exposure for thousands of companies to date and you can be one of them too! All of our clients appreciate our value / pricing ratio. Contact us if you have any questions: Cryptocurrencies and Digital tokens are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by our authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.

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After nearly 30 years, one of the most famous cases could finally be solved.

JonBenet Ramsey’s brother is renewing his family’s appeal to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to allow an independent agency to conduct DNA testing in the unsolved 1996 murder of his sister, who was 6, after a leading genetic investigator claimed she’s confident her team could help.

“Hi – @GovofCO. #Parabon and @CeCeLMoore is the premier shop in the world to successfully hunt #childkillers,” John Andrew Ramsey, JonBenet’s half-brother, tweeted Monday. “Let’s get to work! #jonbenet #boulderco.”

Parabon NanoLabs, the Virginia-based firm Ramsey mentioned in his tweet, has a track record of using complicated and innovative genetic genealogy research techniques to crack cold case murders.

Moore, Parabon’s chief genetic genealogist, said in an Australian “60 Minutes” interview Sunday that it could take as little as a few hours for her team to identify DNA collected at the crime scene in 1996. Ramsey retweeted the interview in his post.

“There are people all over the world that want her killer brought to justice, who want to know what happened and who want the answers,” Moore told the program.

The family has endorsed a petition calling on Polis to take aspects of the case away from Boulder police, who they say have declined to conduct DNA analysis on some evidence, which 25 years after the crime remains untested. The petition has garnered more than 10,000 signatures.

Prosecutors in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, announced last week that Parabon helped crack a brutal cold case murder from 1975.

Lancaster District Attorney Heather Adams announced charges against David Sinopoli, 68, in the 1975 murder of Lindy Sue Beichler, after police collected DNA from a discarded coffee cup at the Philadelphia International Airport.

Beichler was 19 when her aunt and uncle found her stabbed to death in the apartment she shared with her husband, who police ruled out as a suspect early in the investigation.

Nothing in the government’s Combined DNA Index System had matched the crime scene DNA.

But at a news conference announcing the arrest, Moore said that through extensive testing of DNA found in semen on Beichler’s panties, she was able to generate a “high-tech tip” that ultimately led police to a suspect who had not been on their radar.

Parabon’s research traced the crime scene DNA sample’s ancestry to a specific region of Italy. Then the team looked into which families had emigrated from there to the Lancaster County area, Moore said during the news conference.

The next step was determining which of those families had males who fell into the right age category. Investigators discovered Sinopoli had also lived in the same apartment complex as Beichler around the time of the murder.

After pulling his coffee cup out of a trash can at the airport, authorities said, they tested the DNA on it and found a match. They arrested Sinopoli on July 17, 46 years after the crime.

“This arrest would not have been possible without the assistance of CeCe Moore and Parabon NanoLabs,” Adams, the Lancaster DA, said the following day. “We are incredibly grateful for the work that they do and their commitment to securing justice for victims and their loved ones.

Boulder police and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


Beauty Everyday Life Names

Doozy (Doozie)

Clothing Everyday Life

Gussied Up

This term is of an obscure / unknown origin, but is usually considered an American expression. However, the first recorded use of the word ‘gussy‘ in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from a British source, Morris Marple’s Public School Slang of 1940.

At the end of the 19th Century, both in Australia and in America, the term was used to denote a weak or effeminate person.

Or, the term could be associated with American tennis player “Gorgeous Gussie” Moran who is best remembered for appearing at Wimbledon in 1949 wearing frilly panties — which caused considerable interest and controversy.

Everyday Life Literary

‘Wowser’ is a delightful word with an interesting background, though its ultimate origin is unknown.

The word first appeared in print in 1899, in the Australian journal Truth, and was instantly popular in Australia. It rapidly spread to New Zealand, where it remains in use, and then eventually arrived in England, possibly brought by the Australian troops who served there during World War I.

The American writer and editor H. L. Mencken liked “wowser” and attempted to introduce it to the United States. He used the word frequently in American Mercury, the literary magazine he edited.

Despite Mencken’s efforts, however, the term never became particularly popular in American English; it is used occasionally, but it never truly caught on.

Literary Shakespeare

You may know today’s word as a generalized term for anything unusual, but ‘weird’ also has older meanings that are more specific. ‘Weird’ derives from the Old English noun ‘wyrd,’ essentially meaning ‘fate.’

By the late 8th century, the plural ‘wyrde’ had begun to appear in texts as a gloss for ‘Parcae,’ the Latin name for the Fates — three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Scots authors employed ‘werd’ or ‘weird’ in the phrase ‘weird sisters’ to refer to the Fates.

William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which the ‘weird sisters’ are depicted as three witches. Subsequent adjectival use of ‘weird’ grew out of a reinterpretation of the ‘weird’ in Shakespeare.

Life Oddities

The word originated from India describing a band of ruthless bandits in the hills of India. These mythical bandits wore yellow (or orange) bandana which they used to strangle unsuspecting travelers. The ‘hugghi’ only kill their victims by this way.
During British occupation, the British soldiers decided to erradicate the ‘thugghi’. They found thousands of bodies burried by them. From that point on, the word ‘thug’ was used to describe someone who is ruthless.


Honor Climb-Mt. Audubon 13,200 ft in the Indian Peaks Wilderness!

Audubon is often the first peak I’ll climb in the summer to just start my season. It sits at 13, 200 ft in the Indian Peaks Wilderness which shares a border with Rocky Mountain National Park. Although not a technical climb, the views are outstanding and you can get a lot of elevation in a short amount of time. I’ve climbed this peak in the Winter, the Summer, the fall, with friends and, this last time, solo jaunt.

I was honored to represent 19 Perthes Kids and 1 Adult on this climb. I hope the photos will take you along the trip with me!

P1. Mt. Audubon is the left most mountain in this photo. The center mountain is Mt. Toll and the Indiana peaks wilderness continues to the left. Right on the other side of Mt. Audubon is Rocky Mountain National Park! You are able to see semi permanent snow pack that can sometimes last all year although it’s been many years since this was the case. When I climb this mountain in the winter time the snow can because as deep as 40 ft or more in some spots from drifting caused by the high winds.

P2 I’m above the tree line (at high enough elevations trees no longer grow due to a lack of oxygen) looking back towards the front range. The high alpine environment is very delicate which is why it is so important to stay on the trail regardless of conditions. The small delicate flowers and fauna has a very limited growth season so it takes a long time for these plants to recover from our damage of walking on it. I remember reading someone that it takes some flowers nearly a decade to grow an inch in this environment so stay on trail and always pack out trash even if it’s not yours. The high alpine thanks you!

P3 Take from the same spot as P2. There’s the Mt. Audubon in the front and center. Audubon is considered a class 2 hike meaning there will be some scrambling on scree/talus on the final summit cone but for the most part is gentle slopes and is not a technical climb. The winter can provide very different conditions than this nice early summer day.

P4 Taken from the same spot as P2. This is over looking the Indian Peaks Wilderness to the west which is also the continental divide which means rains that fall on this side of the mountains will go to the Atlantic Ocean and rain on the other side will end up in the Pacific Ocean.

P5 We see our first permanent snow pack. There is enough snow fall annually and this snow is high enough that it never completely melts. If we were to get lots snow and have a heavy snowpack year for many years this would eventually turn into a glacier and would slowly start to “flow” down the mountain carving a wider, smoother, and deeper path which can be seen by the pulverized rock and carved path. This was once a glacier but has now turned into permanent snow pack. Up we go!

P6 Another shot a bit higher on up on the mountain. We get to see many of the Indian peaks a few valleys over. It’s not uncommon to see big sheep and mountain goats on the higher peaks. On this same climb, I turned the corner about 100 meters short of the summit to see a mountain goat casually grazing. Mountain goats and sheep are incredible climbers and are very comfortable in environments that us humans usually have to train technically and physically for.

P7 This is a natural high alpine spring! Although very tempting, despite it’s very clear waters, it can hosts a number of harmful bacteria that will make you sick if you drink the water untreated. These harmful bacteria got in the water sources by the feces of animals such as goats, sheep, marmots, and birds for a few examples. This is a great spot to fill up your water either with a mechanical filter or using chemicals such chloride dioxide which is my preferred.

P8 Here we are! We are on the saddle (the spaces between two peaks) with the final summit cone of Audubon being on the left. We can see many small yellow alpine flowers that we talked about earlier. We can see

P9 Up and up! We can see the scree/talus field the we have to zig zag through to get to the summit which we can actually see yet. What we actually see is called a false summit which just simply means when we get to the top of what appears to be the summit we will actually have me scrambling to do.

P10 Here we are! 13,200 ft! Made it to the summit in good timing. The weather looks good and clear which is always a concern at high altitude. The altitude can do a number of things to your mind and body over time. Ultimately, regardless of fitness, physical conditions (some people just perform better at altitude), hydration levels, anyone can get sick on any given day. It’s a risk to manage and be aware of. Descending to lower altitudes is always the right answer.

P11 We can see a few glaciers/permanent snow packs in this photo and some previous glaciated valleys. Many thousands of years ago, as the annual temperatures were lower and more snow could accumulate, the snow compressed under its own weight, with the heat from the compression it turns snow into ice. Ice begin to flow very slow and carved out the valley we see before us. We can see polished cliffs which were polished by the “flowing” ice.

P12 Summit ridge! If we were in good enough shape and had planned for it, we could take this ridge and do multiple peaks in a day.

P13 Looking down in to Rocky Mountain National Park!

P14 Waving the flags for 19 Perthes Children and 1 Adult! Thanks for coming along with me and I hope you enjoyed the trip. Endure mindfully my dear friends.

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• Angelique Smith

How do I decrease my risk of developing high blood pressure?

In my previous blog I spoke about what hypertension is, but I’m sure you are also wondering what causes hypertension and how you can prevent it.

There are various risk factors for high blood pressure which include the following:

- Family history

- Age

- Physical inactivity

- Consuming an unhealthy diet

- Being overweight or obese

- Smoking and tobacco use

- Drinking too much alcohol

In order to decrease your risk of developing hypertension in the future or to decrease your blood pressure, here are a few preventative guidelines that you can follow.

Just by making a few lifestyle changes, you can prevent and improve your blood pressure if you:

  • Consume a healthy, balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and low fat dairy. It is also important to limit your intake of red meat, processed foods, sugar sweetened beverages and refined carbohydrates.

  • Limit your intake of salt. Decrease the amount of salt added during cooking and at the table. Use fresh herbs, dried herbs, sodium free spices, fresh garlic, ginger, chili and lemon juice. Limit the use of packet soups, stock cubes, gravies, cheese, cereals, breads, salty snacks, processed meats and takeaway foods.

  • Do regular physical activity

  • Stop smoking. When you consume a cigarette, your blood pressure increases. If you are a chronic smoker this can cause more damage to your blood vessels and lead to chronic high blood pressure.

  • Achieve and maintain a healthy weight

  • Manage your stress levels. Find methods that help decrease your stress levels. Colouring in, reading a book, meditating or doing exercise, such as yoga, pilates, walking and jogging can help reduce your stress levels

  • Limit alcohol intake. Regular alcohol consumption can increase your blood pressure, thus should be limited and not consumed regularly.

As you can see, a lot of it has to do with your lifestyle. In society today, it is difficult to live a healthy lifestyle because individuals are a lot more sedentary and live very busy and stressful lives.

After a long day at work we often choose not to exercise and pick unhealthy ready-made meals and take away foods instead of cooking healthy balanced meals at home. These takeaway foods and ready-made meals are often not providing us with the nutrients we need and are packed with salt and sugar.

If you know that you are at risk of developing high blood pressure, whether it being because your family members have it or if you work long hours, are stressed, sedentary and often make unhealthy food choices then this blog is for you.

Just by making a few healthier choices, you can reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure In the future. Make today your first day of forming a healthier habit, don't wait until Monday to make that change.

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Tips For Dealing With Food Challenges

 July 12, 2020

By  Jodi

It’s a pretty common occurrence for individuals with autism to develop food issues and become exceptionally fussy eaters. It's often an issue with any child, but it can become heightened in those with autism. When food challenges arise the effect that is has can be extremely concerning.
In this post, we are looking at ways to overcome food challenges and help to gain a better understanding of them.

What Causes Food Challenges

The number one cause of food challenges is sensory issues. Similar to how some people dislike mushrooms due to their texture, those with autism experience the same feelings but to a much deeper extent. In some cases, individuals with autism distinguish tastes in a much different way. They can often become oversensitive to flavors which can make them dislike a large number of foods.  The sensitivity isn't just to texture or taste it can be smell or appearance also.

When it comes to touch, those with autism can either avoid touching it or play with it excessively. While avoiding it doesn’t seem like a major issue, it can be an indication that your child isn’t going to eat it, however it is best to leave the plate and let your child get used to the looking at the foods and their smells. If necessary, move the plate out of reach if your child doesn’t want it near them, no sense in upsetting them.

Even if you give them another plate with different foods leaving the plate for them to observe can be helpful over time. Often children with sensory challenges start playing with their food. Sometimes they need to be familiar with the texture before they decide whether or not to eat it or it could mean that touching the food is satisfying them and eating it will take away that satisfaction.  Be accepting of your Childs need to explore their food, your being a safe harbor for your child to learn the world is important... way more important than the mess they may make.

Displeased Kid Close the Nose Isolated on the White Background

A change in behavior when cooking food might come down to the sense of smell. For those who are oversensitive to smell, foods that are quite pungent will not be very appealing. Some individuals with autism will be put off from food just by the look of it. Certain foods may make them gag just by looking at them. The colors, arrangement, and shape could all be a factor along with any other items on the table or the surroundings. As far as the actual eating process goes crunching, chewing, and biting can either please or distress those with autism.

Other areas that can cause food challenges are coordination and the environment. These challenges will likely depend on other sensory issues that the individual already faces. Things like posture, routine, seating, cutlery, and other people around the dining table could all bring about issues with food.

It's not just over-sensitivity that causes food challenges, sometimes it can be the complete opposite, under-sensitivity. In under-sensitivity you may notice that your child prefers strong flavored foods, crunchy foods and drinks. In some cases obesity can be a concern as the individual doesn’t necessarily get the feeling of fullness that stops people from eating.

Ways To Help Over-sensitivity

I know that looking at all of the potential causes of food challenges can be a scary sight. There are so many things that might influence it and its worrying to find a manageable solution. But once you gain an understanding of the areas that spark issues at meal times you are then equipped to adapt your methods.

If strong aromas and tastes are an issue, it's probably best to prepare bland food and then offer seasoning separately. The cooking of food creates a much stronger smell than when it is on the plate, and so an easy solution may be to use seasonings after cooking foods. To ensure that visual perceptions aren’t the issue show the food to them first, if they seem unfazed then you will know that the look of it won’t be an issue. Outside of meal times work on sensory activities, specifically ones that focus on touch and proprioception.

Research has suggested that participating in these types of activities just before mealtimes can help to lower over-sensitivity. Altering the environment for mealtimes can also be effective. Whether it’s the lighting, background noise, or type of cutlery, simple changes can sometimes make all the difference.  For many children movement during eating is helpful.  You may notice that your child particularly likes to move around while eating or eat in the car.  It is a way they can balance their

Ways To Help Under-sensitivity

Under-sensitivity can be more difficult to help. It usually means that the person is seeking strong movement, flavors, and textures in the hopes of satisfying dimmed senses. Again, coming up with solutions will require monitoring. If the individual is under-sensitive towards flavors and smells, then they will likely prefer highly seasoned dishes.

Sweet, sour, salty, and spicy foods or snacks will probably please them much more. Sometimes an under-sensitive individual has an attraction to the sounds and feel of eating. In this case, things like warm drinks, popsicles, crunchy foods or chewy foods could satisfy the senses.

Strong flavored foods like pepperoni, peppers, and spicy foods, bitter foods may attract their attention. Once you have found something they like figure out how to incorporate it into other foods.  For example if your child likes garlic bread, use garlic bread to make their hamburger or a hot sandwich.  This can be a win/win in expanding their food choices and giving them a sense of familiarity with things they already like!

The constant desire to feel things is another effect of under-sensitivity and placing sensory objects near them at mealtimes may help. Another thing to note about under-sensitivity issues is that some individuals have been known to ingest inedible objects. If this is an issue, then try offering alternative snacks that are extra crunchy or have an unusual texture.

Being observant to behaviors and attitude towards food when cooking it and at the table will help you identify any oversensitive or under-sensitive concerns. Once you understand potential issues, you can then plan meals that cater to taste, texture, smell, and consistency needs.
There are undoubtedly many areas of concern to look out for, but after a while, you start to get into a routine. Like everything, there will be bad days and good days, but it does get better.

What have you found that works for your child's food challenges? Let us know in the comment section below.

Jodi LeBlanc, MSPS ~ Autism Strategist, School Counselor, Child Development Expert, Parent Coach, Author, and IIN Certified Health Coach... But most importantly momma to 3 incredibly beautiful and talented girls, the youngest of which was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of 26 months after 14 months of struggling to get help!

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Room temperature correlative imaging

Fluorescence microscopy (FM) and electron microscopy (EM) are highly complementary techniques, and it can be beneficial to combine the information of both techniques from the same sample. This method is called correlative light- and electron microscopy (CLEM). Using fluorescence microscopy, regions of interest such as transfected cells, labelled proteins or rare events can easily be identified and mapped at relatively low magnification. The same regions of interest can then be targeted and examined at high resolution available in TEM. Most sample preparation methods for room temperature EM quench the fluorescence signal in a sample. Therefore, FM is typically done before EM sample preparation, and the same region of interest had to be found back in the EM.

An alternative RT-CLEM workflow is the fixation of samples by high-pressure freezing, followed by freeze-substitution, which allows FM and EM imaging of the section without any intermediate sample-preparations steps.

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Can We Hack Humans? Should We?

John Stonestreet and Kasey Leander | BreakPoint, Breakpoint | Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Can We Hack Humans? Should We?

Can We Hack Humans? Should We?

One of the most enigmatic, sensational, and misguided thinkers of the last 10 years is Israeli historian and pop philosopher Yuval Noah Harari. His book Sapiens, published in English in 2015, sold over a million copies as it told the story of mankind’s evolution. His 2017 book Homo Deus predicts a transhumanist future, a world where technology fundamentally reshapes what kind of entity human beings are.

“We humans should get used to the idea that we are no longer mysterious souls. We are now hackable animals,” he told attendees at the 2020 World Economic Forum annual meeting. “By hacking organisms, elites may gain the power to reengineer the power of life itself,” he said two years earlier. “This will be not just the greatest revolution in the history of humanity. This will be the greatest revolution in biology since the very beginning of life 4 billion years ago.”

Harari’s prophecy doesn’t end there:  “Science is replacing evolution by natural selection by evolution via intelligent design,” he continued in 2018. “Not the intelligent design of some God above the clouds, but our intelligent design, and the intelligent design of our clouds: the IBM cloud, the Microsoft cloud … these are the new, driving forces of evolution.”

Conspiracy theorists might be forgiven for having a field day with such statements. After all, Harari’s outspoken fans include some of the most powerful people alive: Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, former President Barack Obama, as well as executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab. Despite a somewhat critical response from academics, the success of his books is undeniable.

Still, Harari suffers from a fatal inconsistency. While positioning himself as a prophet, interested in solving the worst abuses that could befall our future hackable selves, he cuts the ideological ground out from anything standing in their way. A keen example is his critique of both liberal democracy and the entire concept of the “individual” as outdated political norms.

“Liberalism,” he wrote in the Guardian “is unprepared for a situation when individual freedom is subverted from within, and when the very concepts of ‘individual’ and ‘freedom’ no longer make much sense.” Yet in nearly the same breath, Harari rushes us towards that exact conclusion: “In order to survive and prosper in the 21st century,” he writes, “we need to leave behind the naive view of humans as free individuals—a view inherited from Christian theology as much as from the modern Enlightenment.”

Though he is right about the origins of classic liberalism, the result is a self-contradictory mess. In effect, Harari is saying we should stop people from being hacked by hacking ourselves first …  and defend universal values by denying that they exist. “I don’t know where the answers will come from,” Harari admits, “but they are definitely not coming from a collection of stories written thousands of years ago.”

If those stories are just stories, Harari is correct. But as C.S. Lewis described, some stories ground us in reality. This is, in fact, what Christianity does, and what reductionist materialism makes impossible.

Though new insight on technology may have helped Harari sell interesting books, dreaming of a world stripped of all values is as old as modernism itself. Had someone given him a copy of Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, he may have seen his exact premise tackled by an Oxford don nearly 80 years ago.

All of this matters because ideas have consequences. Harari and those like him may be attempting to shape the trajectory of transhumanism towards a utopian future but, as often the case, public intellectuals with good intentions but bad worldviews are often the blindest to the practical implications of their thinking.

“How does liberal democracy function in an era when governments and corporations can hack humans?” Harari asked in the Guardian article. A better question is: How does liberal democracy function in an era when people rush to assume they are merely pre-determined “hackable animals” instead of moral agents who are responsible for their decisions, living in a society of people created equal and “endowed by their creator with inalienable rights?”

History tells us the answer to that question. It can’t. The entire concept of human rights is intimately connected with a Christian anthropology. Gut a society of that worldview, and there’s no limit to how far we can fall.

If Harari’s predictions somehow do become reality, it will have less to do with technology, and far more to do with ideas: specifically, the nihilistic, reductionist humanity he so ardently promotes. Technology makes imagined futures possible, but ideas shape how and why we use technology. If he’s looking for a worldview that’s better for empowering techno-tyrants, corporatists, and demagogues, he could do little better than the one he’s promoting.

On the other hand, if he’s looking to evade the oppression he fears, he should look to One of the old stories he derides.

Publication date: July 12, 2022

Photo courtesy: Ousa Chea/Unsplash


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DALI Lighting Awards 2021

>> DALI Lighting Awards 2021 - Winners

Company: Delmatic
Project: Doha Metro
Location: Doha, Qatar
Category: Infrastructure

Judges' comments

The WINNER of the DALI Lighting Award in the Infrastructure category is Delmatic for the Doha Metro.

In this project, DALI lighting control and monitoring extends across a network of thirty-seven stations on the driverless Doha Metro system. The precise dimming and scene-setting capabilities of DALI enable the specified lighting layouts and scenes to be replicated consistently across the different stations. Overall, the Metro system uses 133,000 DALI lamps, 500 DALI sensors and 200 DALI switches.

The station architecture takes inspiration from traditional Bedouin tents and reflects Qatar’s heritage. The ‘vaulted spaces’ architecture directs daylight deep into the station’s interior, and the DALI systems dynamically adjust the lighting to replicate the effects of daylight in subterranean areas. DALI sensors adjust lighting levels according to varying conditions of occupancy and daylight, and the integrated light lines along the station’s ceiling and pillars double as wayfinding elements for passengers.

The DALI systems monitor the health and status of the DALI drivers and devices in real time to enhance the efficiency of the entire lighting installation, and enable rapid maintenance and proactive relamping schedules.

Judges praised the strong use of DALI combining with architectural lighting design elements that bring light underground and create a comfortable environment for travellers.

Project overview

In Qatar, Delmatic DALI systems provide energy-efficient, scene-setting control and monitoring across the network of 37 Doha Metro stations, including front-of-house concourses, mezzanines, platforms, ticket offices, public facilities, back of house and external spaces.

The systems control and monitor around 133,000 DALI lamps, 500 DALI sensors and 200 DALI switches. IP DALI Broadcast modules provide efficient, addressable control of up to 480 DALI luminaires across twelve channels, without needing to address each fitting individually.

DALI sensors achieve substantial energy savings, by adjusting lighting in real-time to occupancy and daylight detection, as well as providing astronomic calendar scheduling. DALI Relays provide switching control of non-DALI light sources.

The DALI systems combine open-protocol Modbus communication over stations' IP network, and integrate with stations' building management system (BACS) to share data, monitor and manage lighting, as well as optimise operational efficiency.

The systems provide sophisticated control and operational flexibility through animated graphical software, without needing to access equipment or carry out wiring changes to the installation.

Device status is monitored in real time to enhance efficiency and enable rapid maintenance and proactive replacement of luminaires. The systems also monitor the cumulative run-hour of each DALI lighting channel and generate recommended relamping schedules to ensure lamps are replaced at the optimum time.

Open protocol DALI technology avoids vendor lock-in and enables multi-vendor support, as well as seamless integration between open systems and services.

Overall, the lighting design enhances travellers' experience and creating welcoming spaces to encourage the use of public transport.

Parties involved
Architect: UNStudio
Client: Qatar Railways Company
Consultant: Arcadis
Lighting design: a.g Licht
DALI lighting controls: Delmatic


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The EU Finally Admits Natural Gas And Nuclear Are Key To Decarbonization

Finally, the European Union has admitted the obvious: if decarbonization is the goal, natural gas and nuclear must be a big part of the continent’s energy mix. On Saturday, the European Commission released a statement which said “there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future.” The move means that gas and nuclear could be classified as “sustainable investments” under certain conditions.

This is good news and a tacit acknowledgment by European policymakers of the energy disaster that is now shaking the region. But it’s also far too late in coming. Indeed, my immediate response was to ask: what the heck took them so long? If decarbonization is the goal, then natural gas and nuclear are the obvious ways forward. I have been making that point for more than a decade. More on that in a moment.

To be sure, the EU’s move didn’t please the catastrophists. Robert Habeck, a co-leader of Germany’s Green party called the move “greenwashing.” Leonore Gewessler, the climate action minister in Austria, said gas and nuclear couldn’t be included because they are “harmful to the climate and the environment and destroy the future of our children.”

It’s also worth seeing how big media outlets are covering the story. The New York Times NYT  summarized the move by saying gas and nuclear would be considered “transitional” sources to be “used to bridge countries’ moves away from coal and carbon-emitting power toward clean energy technologies like wind and solar.” It continued, saying nuclear would be considered sustainable if the countries can agree on how to handle nuclear waste and that gas-fired power plants  would be deemed okay if they “meet certain emissions criteria and replace more polluting fossil fuel plants.”

Before going further, let me state the obvious: Europe cannot — will not — move to  “a predominantly renewable-based future.” The never-ending claims that Europe, or any other region with a large economy, can run solely on “clean energy technologies like wind and solar,” are not based on history, math, or physics. Indeed, Europe is already in the throes of an energy crisis due to its headlong rush to adopt renewables at the expense of traditional thermal power plants. Numerous news outlets have documented the causes of Europe’s predicament. Two days ago, Bloomberg ran a story with the headline: “Europe Sleepwalked Into an Energy Crisis that Could Last Years,” which said that Europe is “in the midst of an energy transition, shutting down coal-fired electricity plants and increasing its reliance on renewables. Wind and solar are cleaner but sometimes fickle...”

Fickle isn’t the right word. The right word is unreliable. On December 22, Reuters reported that “In Germany, Europe's largest economy with the continent's highest wind power capacity, combined output from both on and offshore wind farms fell around 16% this year-to-date.” Reuters also reported that “Europe’s largest wind producers ‘Britain, Germany and Denmark harnessed just 14% of installed capacity, in the third quarter, when gas prices hit record highs, compared with an average of 20-26% seen in previous years.”

Furthermore, the idea that Europe is going to add lots more renewable capacity ignores the backlash against Big Wind and Big Solar, a backlash that may be even more virulent in Europe than the ongoing rural backlash here in the States. Need proof of that? Back in 2010, the European Platform Against Windfarms had about 400 members in 20 countries. Today, it has 1,615 member organizations in 31 countries. In Germany, where climate catastrophists and the government are pushing hard for the vaunted  “Energiewende,” rural opposition has led to, according to the news outlet Deutsche Welle, “a dramatic decline in the number of new onshore wind farms.” Nor is the problem limited to the citing of the wind turbines. It also includes resistance to transmission lines. The German government has estimated that it needs to construct about 3,700 miles of transmission lines to accommodate new renewable capacity. But by the end of 2018, less than 100 miles had been built

In 2020, the International Energy Agency reported that land-use conflicts in Germany over high-voltage transmission have become a key constraint on the growth of renewables. “Connections to carry wind power from the north to the south are insufficient,” the agency reported. “Public opposition to north-south high-voltage transmission lines has slowed down construction of new overhead lines considerably and eventually forced costlier underground construction of interconnectors. Public opposition remains an impediment to the siting of necessary infrastructure.”

Now back to natural gas and nuclear. I am not bragging here, but I must note that I have been touting N2N — natural gas to nuclear — as the best “no regrets” policy for more than a decade. Natural gas and nuclear are not “bridge fuels” or “transition” fuels, they are the fuels of the future. Why? They are low- or no-carbon, have small footprints, are affordable, and scalable. In my third book, Gusher of Lies, published in 2008, I wrote that nuclear could provide “large increments of low- or no-carbon electricity to the world’s energy mix over the next couple of decades. Nuclear is the only sector that has enough momentum and enough capital behind it to make a significant dent in the overall use of fossil fuels.” I also explained that the world has a “surfeit of natural gas and more gas is being discovered all the time.” I continued, saying environmental groups “should applaud the increased use of natural gas as it is part of the ongoing ‘decarbonization’ of the world’s energy mix,” and that natural gas should be the dominant fuel of the 21 century. And that dominance should be welcomed.”

In 2010, in my fourth book, Power Hungry, I have a chapter called “Why N2N? And Why Now? (The Megatrends Favoring Natural Gas and Nuclear). In 2011, I published a 14-page report titled “Ten Reasons Why Natural Gas Will Fuel The Future.” In 2014, I published my fifth book, Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper, which has a chapter titled “Climate Change Requires N2N.” I wrote, “Regardless of what you think about carbon dioxide or the climate-change debate, it’s apparent that the best way forward is to embrace N2N.”

In my latest book, A Question of Power, published in 2020, I have a chapter called “The Nuclear Necessity,” in which I repeat one of my favorite lines: “If you are anti-carbon dioxide and anti-nuclear, you are pro-blackout. There is simply no way to slash global carbon dioxide emissions without big increases in our use of nuclear energy.” I concluded that N2N “provides the best no-regrets policy on climate change because those two sources will have minimal negative impacts on the economy and environment while providing significant decarbonization.”

To be clear, I am not gloating or bragging here. I am truly pleased that policymakers in Europe are, finally, embracing energy realism. It is about time.


Reimagine Your Relationship with Tears and Rewrite Your Grief Story
7 min read

Reimagine Your Relationship with Tears and Rewrite Your Grief Story

Reimagine Your Relationship with Tears and Rewrite Your Grief Story
Photo by Martin Damboldt from Pexels

Charles Darwin was wrong. Tears are not purposeless.

Although some other species instinctively cry out in pain or because of other irritants, humans are the only creatures whose tears spill because of their emotions.

So why do we do it?

Why do we cry, for example, when we are sad?

Between 2018 when my mother died and now, I must have cried 10 times the 15–30 gallons of tears the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) says we make every year.

After spending hundreds of hours floating in a film of bulky tears composed of proteins, sorrow, and the inexpressible, I must agree with Rumi, Osho, and a host of other mystics and scientists who have investigated and written about the purpose of tears.

Charles Darwin was wrong. Tears are not purposeless.

Grief, © Rose-Lynn Fisher, 2017, from The Topography of Tears, published by Bellevue Literary Press

Rose-Lynn Fisher's image of tears of grief above, photographed through an optical standard light microscope provides a glimpse into the mystery: the landscape of heartbreak.

Everybody’s grief expresses differently and if we could look at everyone’s tears under a microscope, the topography, I imagine would look vastly different, but what remains the same for all is this: tears act as an eloquent messenger of that which is alive in the heart and can no longer be contained.

“Tears are nothing but an overflow; they can be an overflow of sadness, an overflow of joy, there can be an overflow of love.” — Osho

Since your person passed away, maybe you’ve been crying continuously and you are wondering if something is wrong with you, or perhaps you cannot squeeze out a single tear from your lacrimal glands because you are afraid that if you start, you will never stop.

No matter where you are on your grief journey, in this article I invite you to reimagine your relationship to tears as something sacred and safe instead of something to be dreaded, feared, or avoided.

“Never be ashamed of your tears, be proud that you are still natural. Be proud that you can express the inexpressible through your tears. “— Osho

10 things that can happen when you allow your tears space…

When you invite them in, embrace them as if old friends and ultimately surrender to them in wild abandon.

1. Release stress hormones

— Dionne Warwick

Imagine a warm soapy washcloth cleansing your bloodstream, nasal passageways, lungs, and internal organs.

That’s what crying does — it gives you an internal bath.

Emotional tears also called psychic tears are different from the basal tears we produce to keep our eyes moisturized and cleaned. When you cry because of emotional pain, your body releases toxic hormones like cortisol and prolactin which build up and accumulate during periods of elevated stress.

2. Improves your mood

Five months into my grieving process, I scheduled 90-minute crying sessions because I was tired of the tears which were taking over my life. What I noticed was that after every session, I felt peaceful and light.

Crying for long periods stimulates the production and release of endorphins which are the body’s natural painkillers and can help ease both physical and emotional pain restoring emotional balance.

3. Self-soothe

— Hans Christian Andersen (The Little Mermaid)

Crying is a self-soothing behavior that we are born knowing how to do. Babies have no qualms about crying when the need arises and in grief when stress hormones are constantly skyrocketing and emotions are sweeping, crying can help us survive the present moment.

Crying soothes you by facilitating the release of oxytocin also known as the cuddle hormone which creates a sense of calm allowing you some respite. I remember always feeling like I was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth after a heavy crying session.

4. Invite connection, support, and bonding

–Brene Brown

Tears reveal a vulnerability that encourages empathy and rally support from people who become more open to providing a warm hug and a shoulder to cry on. When you allow your soft side to be seen, you are also giving permission for others to open up and ask for support.

It takes more courage to be vulnerable than to hide behind an armor of plastic strength, and it almost always invites bonding and inspires deeper connections.

5. Kickstarts your grieving process

“The heart is frozen, and tears are the beginning of its melting.” — Osho

When you lose someone who grounded your sense of self in the world, there is a shattering of your worldview, and you might feel frozen in a fog of disbelief.

Tears initiate the process of thawing. Tears are an acknowledgment of the place your loved one held in your life and an acknowledgment of the hole and emptiness their absence has left.

6. Process emotions and rewire neural pathways

Recovery depends upon gradually reconnecting with suppressed memories - the emotions and memories that we’re not ready to face… To move forward, we need to find tools that will help us reconnect with suppressed memories.”

Lisa M. Shulman, MD

A psychological injury as intense as the death of a loved one causes neural pathways to get amped up and hijacked due to the stress response. Crying is a tool that allows us to begin the gradual process of reorganizing memory traces through neuroplasticity.

As we weep, we start reconnecting to suppressed memories, where we have the possibility of neutralizing the emotional charge through awareness. With time, this cumulative process results in the restoration of neural pathways, the reversal of the effects of chronic stress, and the reconstruction of new meaningful narratives.

7. Experience catharsis

“It is some relief to weep; grief is satisfied and carried off by tears.” — Ovid

The idea that crying is cathartic dates back to antiquity and the word catharsis means “to cleanse, purge.”

When we experience the death of someone who endorsed our self-definition, the foundations of our core believes and assumptions about the way the world works crumble.

Over time, the stress of the internal conflict causes intense emotions to build up and at some point, the turmoil reaches a boiling point.

Crying stirs those deep emotions and as you allow your tears to spill, your inner world surfaces and reveals underlying unconscious thoughts and images. In witnessing and acknowledging what is, you experience a release of the tension of suppressed emotion and arrive at moments of insights and lingering lightness.

8. Connects you to the well of sorrow

“Tears are the silent language of grief.” — Voltaire

After the first month of my scheduled crying sessions, I noticed something mysterious: each crying session revealed a backlog of unexpressed grief.

It was as if all the hidden places of grief from my life story had been activated and were vying for attention. My mother’s death had granted me access to my personal well of unattended sorrows that included abandoned dreams, ancient slights, heartbreaks, frustrations, rage, and accumulated grief that had been frozen in place.

Our tears are the voices of our congested sorrow and stories of loss that prevent us from accessing our most essential self. They carry us to the place within where we have the opportunity to reintegrate the parts of self that had been in exile.

9. Rewrite your story

The more we process our pain through tears, it becomes a gradual cumulative process where our minds begin to open to new possibilities for our future.

We begin to rewrite our story in such a way that the loss fits into our lives and makes sense to us. Insights from my crying sessions activated the dormant poet and writer in me and I have found a renewed sense of purpose in helping others navigate the labyrinth patterns of grief which make my mother’s death feel less senseless.

10. Allows compassion to bud and bloom

“He wept those bitter tears that melts us to the vulnerable truths we must all confront.” — Francis Weller

In one crying session, after many months, I was finally able to embrace the tears. In that moment of surrender, it was as if I was transported into the hall of all human horror stories across time.

Suspended in this sea of sorrow, rather than feeling the anguish, I felt compassion budding for the human dilemma and suffering which is inherent in our existence.

My grief began to feel less personal and significant, swallowed as it was in the impersonal universality of all this terror and grief.

And even one moment’s glimpse of this vastness completely changes the context of your grief: it allows compassion to bud and bloom as you come to recognize the inseparable threads that braid us together.

Final Thoughts

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

After spending many hours collecting my tears in a basket weaved from strands of mettle, I was able to arrive at a place of peace and a deeper connection to my humanity and purpose.

I learned what must be the biggest paradox: that the deepest source of comfort for your pain is there at the center of it, and it is tears that will provide you with the escape velocity to orbit out of the pond of your pain into the ocean of our pain where you have the possibility to rewrite your story.

As you tread your path through grief, be gentle with yourself, and the next time you feel those viscous tears coming, please don’t hold back.

Go on and cry.

Remember that it takes loud courage and big love to embrace your tears, and surrender to the most personally painful contents of your life.

Remember that your tears are a testament to love, and a bridge to your new story.


Things to do in Azores: 31-day itinerary

For a while, the Azores remained one of Portugal’s hidden gems, but these nine volcanic islands amid the Atlantic are drawing new visitors by the day. It is hard not to fall for its lush green landscape, dramatic cliffsides, and stunning ocean views.

We are setting out to explore all nine islands by plane, car, foot, and boat. En route, we'll discover the history of these rugged islands, admire old Portuguese architecture, and immerse ourselves in the nature around us, joining a whale watching tour by the coast or relaxing in one of the many thermal pools.

You can follow our itinerary from start to finish, or you can choose just a few of your favourite islands to visit.

Note: The links on this article will take you to a personalised itinerary of each island, which include tips on what to see, where to eat, and where to stay.

How many days in the Azores

You should be able to see all the highlights on most Azores islands in 2-3 days. The only exception is São Miguel, the largest island, where we recommend staying at least 5-7 days. Terceira is also worth a prolonged visit. Our journey stretches for a month, but you could easily cut it short and pick and choose the islands you want to explore.

Where to base yourself in the Azores

São Miguel and Terceira are the best islands to base yourself in the Azores. It is where most airlines fly, which makes it easier to settle down.

Flight connections to the Azores

Most international flight connections to the Azores will take you to the Ponta Delgada airport in São Miguel. Terceira also has flights to the UK, the US and Canada. Other islands may have a direct route with mainland Portugal.

SATA airlines provides inter-island flights and includes an Air Pass that allows you to visit all Azores islands

Island hopping

If you’re planning to explore multiple islands on the same trip, you can travel by plane or boat. SATA provides inter-island flights and includes an Air Pass that allows you to visit all islands. Alternatively, you can opt for the Atlântico line ferry boats, which are usually cheaper. Keep in mind that there are more routes available in the summer.

Azores Itinerary

Day 1-5: São Miguel

The largest island in the Azores, São Miguel, is dotted with stunning lakes, nature trails, waterfalls, and thermal pools. Here we can find the capital of the Azores and its largest city, Ponta Delgada.

We visited the historic centre and wandered through the streets to take in the typical black and white stone architecture. Outside of town, we couldn't pass up a taste of the tea and pineapple liqueur, with ingredients grown in São Miguel, and we made sure to take a hike and try the famous stew cooked underground.

Day 6-8: Santa Maria

Next, we headed to Santa Maria. Located in the southeast of São Miguel, it was one of the first islands to emerge in the Azores, and you can still see traces of its volcanic past.

Known as the sun island, we made sure to take advantage and enjoy the white sandy beaches during our stay there. Nearby we visited Barreiro da Faneca, famous for its red soil and desert-like scenery. We also explored Vila do Porto and other little villages dotting the coastline, with their whitewashed buildings and charming churches.

Day 9-13: Terceira

After a few days in the sun, we hopped to Terceira, a beautiful and easily accessible island in the central Azores. We strolled through the capital, Angra do Heroísmo, and admired the city hall, cathedral, and many colourful chapels dotted around this UNESCO world heritage site.

Once we toured the city, we drove further to take in the views from the Santa Bárbara mountains, had a dip in the natural pools surrounded by volcanic rock and ventured into lava tubes like Algar do Carvão.

Day 14-16: Graciosa

Next on our agenda was the island of Graciosa. Often overlooked, this small island is well worth the visit.

Its picturesque landscape includes whitewashed houses, dramatic lava caves and bright red windmills. We spent three days here, exploring its trails and relaxing in the calm natural pools by the ocean.

Day 17-20: São Jorge

After a relaxing few days in Graciosa, it was time to hop over to São Jorge, an island with some of the most dramatic landscapes of the Azores. We explored the island's many fajãs (plains created by lava and landslides) and took advantage of the surrounding volcanic pools and hiking trails.

Of course, you can't leave São Jorge without tasting the famous cheese: Queijo São Jorge, considered to be the best in the Azores.

Day 21-24: Pico

We could see Pico from São Jorge, and the island, with its 2351m high Mount Pico, enticed us to take a ferry across.

Pico Island does not disappoint. We strolled through UNESCO-listed volcanic vineyards before sampling the local wine, spotted whales and marvelled at the island's natural wonders, including caves and lava tubes.

Day 25-27: Faial

Our journey continues on the island of Faial, home to stunning fields of blue hydrangeas and luscious beech trees.

Separated from Pico by a narrow channel, Faial offers beautiful views of the other islands and the seascape. We stopped by the Marina da Horta to spot the yachts and dropped in at the infamous Peter Café Sport for a gin. On the way, we saw many villages and churches and relaxed at some beaches and natural pools.

Day 28-30: Flores

We're heading further west to Flores, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. This small island is an outdoor paradise full of rich flora, lagoons and waterfalls.

While we were here, we visited the Fábrica da Baleia do Boqueirão to learn more about the whaling industry and its history here on the island.

Day 31: Corvo

Our last stop is Corvo, the smallest island in the Azores. We took a ferry over from Flores, excited to see the isolated and remote lifestyle of the people of Corvo.

One of the most prominent features on the island is the Caldeirão do Corvo. From here, we headed towards the Eco-Museum to learn about the migratory bird species that pass through the island. We also visited the church and took photos of the windmills, ending our trip down by the beach.

Return to Portugal tours


1 year ago

2 Bodies Found Near Ganga Bank After Dogs Maul Them, More Corpses Wash Ashore In UP's Ghazipur

3 min read 1.7 K Shares
Bobins Abraham
Bobins AbrahamUpdated on May 15, 2021, 13:00 IST

On Saturday, people living near the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur once again witnessed the ghastly sight of dead bodies washing up on the ghats of the river.

According to reports, more bodies washed up on the shore on Saturday, the same place where the corpses were found earlier this week.

Ganga Dead Bodies BCCL

Residents of Ghazipur, mortified over the incident, have expressed concerns over the spread of diseases and the stench coming from the bloated bodies.

'Sight was ghastly'

"The sight was ghastly, corpses were floating from all directions and were getting stuck on the ghats. People were getting really terrified and the smell is getting worse," said Akhand, a local.

"After looking at the condition of the bodies, it seemed like they have been floating for a while, maybe four to five days. It is possible that they came from the Chandoauli side," he added.

Ganga Dead Bodies AFP

In Ballia, two more bodies of suspected COVID-19 patients were recovered from the banks of the Ganga after a video of a few stray dogs dragging and mauling the corpses went viral on social media.

Fefna senior police official Sanjay Tripathi said he got the information about the corpses on Thursday afternoon, following which a team of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Rajesh Yadav reached Sagarpali village and cremated the bodies.

It appears that the bodies were left in the river by family members after completing rituals, he said.

Ganga Dead Bodies AFP

Ballia residents say they saw 52 bodies floating

According to Ballia residents, at least 52 bodies were seen floating at the Ujiyar, Kulhadia and Bharauli ghats in the Narahi area.

Bodies were also found buried in the sand in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district on Thursday, near the river.

Unclear how bodies got there

It is still unclear how and who had dumped the bodies near the river banks.

Though it has not been confirmed, residents fear that the bodies recovered from their areas are of COVID-19 victims. They now live in fear of being infected and the bodies contaminating their waters.

Amid speculations that relatives of the dead could have dumped the body as they could not afford to cremate them, the NHRC on Friday issued an advisory to the Centre and all states and union territories in which it laid out a range of recommendations for protecting the dignity and the rights of the dead people.

Ganga Dead Bodies AFP

In a statement, the National Human Rights Commission said the recommendations include enacting of a specific legislation to protect the rights of the dead, adding that "mass burial or cremation should not be allowed to take place as it is in violation of the right to dignity of the dead".

"The hospital administration should be explicitly prohibited from deliberately retaining any dead body on the count of pending bill payment; the unclaimed bodies must be stored under safe conditions," the recommendations read.

Earlier, the NHRC has issued notices to the Centre, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh governments on a complaint about bodies found floating in the river Ganga.