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Production & Post	/ Graphics Creation / products
Broadcast Graphics in the Eye of Brainstorm
June 6th 2017 - 01:00 PM
Brainstorm's eStudio technology allowed Italian broadcaster RAI to incorporate live graphics for "The Voice."
For the television viewer, no production technology has advanced as significantly, and improved the viewing experience more profoundly, than live graphics. Helpful information that once was displayed as simple text and titles has become a whirlwind of motion effects, 3D elements and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) images that bring new life to a news or entertainment show, increase audience retention and boost ratings. We're seeing new and better graphics with literally every major broadcast, and that's changing the audience expectation for everything that follows.
Brainstorm, a graphics systems provider headquartered in Madrid, Spain, has been at the forefront of this visual evolution, providing ever more complex graphics systems for a wide range of telecasts, from live sports and entertainment to real-time elections coverage (in the U.S. and abroad). In fact, for his final college engineering project, company founder and CEO Ricardo Montesa developed specialized software (called "IPF") in the late 1980's to support the on-air display of real-time 2D and 3D titles and graphics. By 1993, he had founded his own company, called "Montesa Grafics" and began to refine his product to meet major broadcast TV demands.
The following year, after countless trials and conversations with broadcasters in Spain, Montesa renamed his company Brainstorm and introduced its first product, virtual set software called eStudio, which many consider a benchmark product in 3D graphics rendering. It was also in 1994 that Brainstorm supported what it says was the first time real-time 3D virtual set ever used in live production in the history of television. The event featured a live interview on Antena 3 TV in Spain with Mike Oldfield for the promotion of his album "Songs from the Distant Earth." The well-known musician sat in a virtual set studio at Antena 3 TV in Madrid and viewers saw a simulated spaceship surrounded by planets while journalists situated in the Madrid Planetarium, miles away, interviewed him.
Two days after this milestone live show, on November 12th, 1994, Brainstorm started work on a daily live weather show in Spain, the first complex daily show of this kind that included a 3D virtual set, live talent, 3D graphics, live camera movements and live weather data feeds, all together in the same production.
"This technology represented a step beyond traditional Chroma keying," Montesa said recently, adding that the show received a European Award for the best weather presentation. "With the introduction of 3D real-time graphics and complex camera movements, that significantly enhanced the show's presentation and impact, and required the concourse of an SGI Onyx to generate the computer power required to render all the graphics, camera movements while integrating the talent on the set."
Brainstorm Founder and CEO Ricardo Montesa.
In 2009, Brainstorm bought a character generation company called Aston, which was already using the eStudio as its compositing system for a new 3D CG system it was developing. The acquisition of Aston proved to be a shrewd move, as Brainstorm not only gained new technology but they also added a team with extensive knowledge in character generation and live production applications. This proved to be invaluable in furthering the development of the eStudio engine, enhancing its combination of reliability and simplicity of use while adding live production-oriented features.
The acquisition helped herald the introduction of the Aston 3D system in 2013, which builds upon the Aston heritage of reliability and simplicity and the graphics power of eStudio to create a totally new product that perfectly fits both in design and production environments. Brainstorm has since created a complete new Aston product line that is ideal for 2D/3D motion graphics. The eStudio render engine has now become the core processing system for all of Brainstorm's products.
Fast forward to last season's "The Voice" in Italy, where broadcaster RAI incorporated live graphics into the live program in ways never before seen on live television. RAI used eStudio for "The Voice" and other Augmented Reality applications from Brainstorm for RAI's other shows and major events coverage, like the Summer Games in Rio 2016.
Brainstorm has incorporated Aston technology into many of its new products, such as its InfinitySet 3 virtual set technology.
For "The Voice," RAI used specifically designed Augmented Reality (AR) graphics for each song and singer, providing the audience with an amazing immersive experience of flying words and attractive scenes of modern architecture and animated emojis, all perfectly integrated and synchronized with the live video. While artists were performing in the theater's large stage, the audience at home saw them surrounded by synthetic elements that did not affect the artist's singing performance, but significantly enhanced the experience at home.
To achieve such effects, RAI used Brainstorm's eStudio with tracked cameras and a crane with special motion sensors that provided a series of impressive sweeping flyovers across the real stage. The eStudio systems received the live feeds and tracking data from the cameras in order to render the final output composition including all of the AR objects and animations.
"The experience would not be realistic if the perspective was not correctly matched with the camera view," Montesa said. "At home, the audience received complex shots with camera flies where the AR objects seamlessly integrated with the real background because of its correct perspective and finely tuned surface and material management."
Brainstorm also now offers its InfinitySet, a standalone solution for graphics and virtual set applications. With its patented TrackFree technology and a series of advanced features like TeleTransporter, 3D Presenter, HandsTracking or VirtualGate, which all help to blur the lines between the real and virtual worlds.
With the TeleTransporter feature, InfinitySet can leverage real, live or pre-recorded footage as the background set for the chroma-keyed talent. This permits a remote talent to become a virtual traveller and be "teletransported" to any location at any time, and seamlessly interact with real and virtual elements.
"This interaction is made possible thanks to the 3D Presenter feature which transforms the talent into a full 3D object, a real-time 3D volume that is continuously regenerated, repositioned and remapped based on the camera parameters," Montesa said. "What Brainstorm has developed with the 3D presenter feature is a technology that allows the real-time extrusion of the video layer of the presenter to create a 3D object with real volume and correct shape in the virtual set. Therefore the chroma keyed character is no longer a video layer but an extruded 3D object, which can interact properly with the virtual elements in the scene (dropping real shadows, intersecting correctly with the augmented reality objects…) as it is an object in the scene."
InfinitySet can use external render engines such as Unreal Engine integrated with the Brainstorm eStudio render engine to allow virtual and AR graphics elements to be integrated into a live scene.
Other new features, like VirtualGate, allow the presenter in the virtual set to walk into a virtual screen or into the featured news (which can be shown on a virtual video wall or separate displays mounted on a production set) and become part of the video itself with full realism. The talent enters and exits the video with accurately matched perspective.
"And once inside the clip, it behaves correctly in terms of spatial reference and with the inclusion of realistic shadows, defocus etc.," he said.
On top of that, InfinitySet can use external render engines such as Unreal Engine integrated with the Brainstorm eStudio render engine. This allows InfinitySet not only to show fully rendered and realistic background scenes, but also to integrate graphics elements in the final scene, such as 3D motion graphics, lower-thirds, tickers, CG and many other elements.
"Aston is our 2D/3D motion graphics creation solution, and features many highly advanced technologies to allow designers to create any kind of graphic, static or animated, or even driven by external data feeds," Montesa said. "InfinitySet has always been 100 percent compatible with Aston projects, meaning these can be seamlessly placed into the virtual set, re-located in space, resized, etc. This provides additional flexibility when creating virtual set programs, as it allows adding graphics, augmented reality and CG (tickers, lower thirds, etc.) directly from InfinitySet, and treat those elements as 3D objects in the set. "
At the recent 2017 NAB Show, Brainstorm introduced InfinitySet 3, which allows users to directly edit not only the projects but the individual elements, animations, StormLogic and data feeds as if they were in Aston, or even create new elements within the composition, change its attributes and much more. To achieve this, InfinitySet now includes Aston's graphics toolset so it can manipulate any object in the project, its properties, attributes and animations. This toolset allows InfinitySet users to create any motion graphic element from scratch, if required. This means that during intensive broadcast operations setup, or while on-air, InfinitySet operators can adjust any object in the scene—even those with added properties such as animations or external data feeds.
In the end Montesa said his team has spent "thousands of hours" ensuring that their products are reliable and easy to use. In fact, others in the company have said that Montesa has mandated that all system commands have to be completed in three keystrokes or less.
InfinitySet now includes Aston's graphics toolset so it can manipulate any object in a project, its properties, attributes and animations.
"We have spent lots of time with operators trying to understand the best way to control graphics in different scenarios like live production, news, quiz shows, etc.; all of them with specific operation requirements," Montesa said. "Sometimes you need a rundown, maybe a fast random access to pages or why not, a bespoke panel with buttons for a quiz show. But at the end of the day, control devices need to be quick and reliable and to achieve that we established a simple rule: any command has to be carried out in less than 3 key strokes, and this is valid for both Mouse and/or keyboard."
So, what graphics technology is Brainstorm looking to develop for the future? Montesa said that the goal for his team is to push the limits of current GPU technology and provide new software features to create the most realistic output possible.
"Viewers at home must receive good looking, good quality content, and when mixing real and virtual worlds, the continuity between them—in terms of image quality and seamless integration of all the elements involved—are paramount," he said. "In terms of image quality, we are already supporting 4K real-time 3D graphics and Augmented Reality, and are at the forefront of 8K developments—which some broadcasters are undertaking in different parts of the world.
"On top of that," he said, "we are always looking for new possibilities to deliver content, and that is why at NAB we announced support for 'Mixed Reality' [VR] hardware such as Oculus Rift, and by supporting this new approach to immersive technologies, Brainstorm wants to be instrumental in changing the game on how content is consumed at home. By using Mixed Reality, broadcasters aim to revolutionize content consumption at home, by allowing the audience to immerse themselves into the broadcasted content, no matter if it is News, Sports or Entertainment. If this is so, we want to be part of it."
Special Report: Super Bowl LIII – The Technology Behind the Broadcast
New England Patriot quarterback, Tom Brady, entered Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta, GA on February 3rd having already won five Super Bowl games. And through four-quarters of play, all delivered by a television crew of hundreds of technicians, sports casters…
Weather Channel Uses Immersive Mixed Reality to Educate Viewers About the Dangers From Winter Ice
In their latest hyper-realistic VR weather warning, The Weather Channel helps viewers better understand the potential dangers created by ice storms.
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Captivating 3D graphics and electronically inserted field images have become a hallmark of every major live sporting event, but CBS Sports hopes to raise the bar during this year's NFL Super Bowl LIII telecast on February 3, 2019. The sports network's g…
Behind a Wall of High Tech Gadgetry, CBS Super Bowl's Anchors Focus on Old-School Storytelling
Behind the more than 100 television cameras and an arsenal of the most advanced broadcast technology ever assembled, the anchors reporting the 53rd Super Bowl will concentrate on the ancient art of storytelling.
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Winter can be a quiet time in the garden, once you've got on top of your weeding and mulching. It's a great time to assess the garden's bone structure of paths and evergreens. If you do decide something needs changing, winter is also a good time to deal to tree pruning or hard landscaping jobs like building paths, walls or fences, without breaking too much of a sweat.
It's also a good time for planting trees and shrubs, as you won't have to spend hours watering them. And it's a time to make plans. Draw up a map of your garden and make a few photocopies. Put your feet up, read some seed catalogues and plan next season's plantings, so you can hit the ground running in spring.
Sow: It's getting too cold for many seeds, but you can sow broad beans, and onions in trays to plant out later. Grow microgreens on a sunny windowsill.
Plant: Garlic, beetroot, winter greens- bok choy, lettuce, miners lettuce, land cress, silver beet, fruit trees and bushes.
Prune grapes, roses and pip fruit.
Mulch up around the stems of brassicas (eg broccoli, cabbage) with compost, especially if they're rocking around in the wind. They can grow new roots from the bottoms of their stems if covered in compost.
Plan new paths or drainage to deal with any boggy areas.
It's still good planting weather for shrubs and trees.
Seedlings of lettuce, borage and other self-sowers will be popping up everywhere. Move them to a good spot, or pot up for your local school.
Mulch, mulch mulch: Feed that soil life! The soil is nicely wet but still warm, as it cools down more slowly than the air. Seal in these lovely soil conditions with a good layer of mulch.
Mulch doesn't just mean just wood-chip; it's anything laid along the surface of the soil. It keeps away weeds (providing it's laid thickly enough), it helps retain this moisture in the soil (meaning less watering over summer), and organic mulches (as opposed to pebbles) also break down to improve your soil, feeding soil life such as worms.
Weed an area before you mulch, paying special attention to perennial weeds like kikuyu or those that have seeds. Then spread on a good thick layer, and you won't have to weed again for months. Once a garden has been thickly mulched – we're talking a 10cm layer that fully blocks light reaching the soil surface – it should only need top-ups to any bare patches for the next few years. Re-apply when the mulch has broken down and is no longer suppressing weeds.
Best-smelling: Cocoa husks are light but long-lasting, great around perennials.


East Lansing, MI — A new Michigan State University study on 240 emergency room patients shows just how much of a role a person's cholesterol plays, when in a crystallized state, during a heart attack.
Publication: Frequency of Cholesterol Crystals in Culprit Coronary Artery Aspirate during Acute Myocardial Infarction and Their Relation to Inflammation and Myocardial Injury. George S. Abela et al. American Journal of Cardiology (2017): Click here to view.


Mr. Pat proudly showing off his latest masterpiece- it is so amazing to see our residents developing new skills and capabilities!
When it comes to offering up the ideal senior living experience, channeling and engaging our residents' creativity through providing them with ample opportunities to spark new passions and interests in their lives plays a very important role in our daily activities program. From painting or sculpting to gardening or DIY projects, our residents are always encouraged to try something new or reconnect with a beloved old hobby.
The scientifically proven emotional, mental, and physical benefits of creative outlets for seniors are endless, and it is so important to continue finding ways to foster and enrich that creativity on a regular basis. In honor of March being National Crafting Month, we wanted to share some easy ways to tap into your creative/crafty side this month and celebrate along with us! You never know what new talent or interest you might discover!
1) Instead of buying a card, make one. Maybe you don't consider yourself to be a super "artsy" person, but starting off with something small like making a handmade card for that special person's birthday, anniversary, or accomplishment helps you to harness your creativity and give your well wishes a meaningful, personalized touch.
3) Join a class. Whether it's a Sip and Swirl painting class, a flower arranging class, a wreath decorating class, a calligraphy course, or something else entirely, there are dozens of options to sign up for a local activity that engages your creative side and gives you the opportunity to get your craft on - your friends and family can even sign up too and join in on the fun!
4) Stop by a local craft fair. Not only will going and checking out some hardworking artisan's handcrafted wares give you some ideas on how to engage your own craftiness, but buying something there will provide you with a new unique, authentic piece for your home while supporting your local artistic community.
Mr. Pat's story is the perfect example of our capability to learn new skills and hone new passions at every age- so go out and find your own untapped potential this month!


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City of Portsmouth sends best wishes to critically-ill six-month baby boy fighting for his life in hospital
Family of critically-ill six-month old baby with Covid pneumonitis pray he pulls through despite 50 per cent chance to live
Fareham police hunt man who groped 12-year-old girl while walking near town centre
POLICE are looking for a man who 'inappropriately touched' a 12-year-old girl's chest as she walked down a residential road near Fareham town centre.
By Richard Lemmer
Tuesday, 30th November 2021, 4:24 pm
The girl was walking down Harrison Road at 4.30pm on Wednesday, November 24, when a stranger approached her.
The man, who is believed to be in his fifties, touched the girl's chest over her clothing before walking towards the nearby Southampton Road junction.
The girl was not hurt, according to a spokeswoman from Hampshire Constabulary.
Police are looking for a man believed to be in his fifties after a girl was groped in public. Stock Picture: Habibur Rahman
She said: 'The man is described as white, aged in his fifties, 5ft 6ins tall, large build.
'He had short grey, straight hair.
'He was wearing a navy blue jacket and dark blue jeans.
'The Neighbourhood Policing Team has been patrolling the area and enquiries have been undertaken to identify relevant CCTV.'
Look inside a 'unique' Hayling Island home on sale for £1.1m
Police have not received any reports of similar incident.
Anyone with information or dash cam footage is asked to call the police on 101, quoting reference number 44210472664, or submit information online here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Lifestyle Apartments at Ferntree offers a fully serviced & self-contained home away from home in close proximity to major business, commercial, education and tourist centres in Melbourne's eastern growth corridor.
These spacious apartments will appeal to business travellers, executives, their partners or those on extended work stays. The comfort and convenience of Lifestyle Apartments, combined with ease of travel to the hub of thriving businesses, means corporate travellers feel refreshed and relaxed each day.
Basic business and secretarial services are available including fax & photocopying services.
With experienced, friendly staff members, Lifestyle at Ferntree offers the perfect location for everyone; from those chasing a relaxing retreat to those after corporate accommodation.
One bedroom apartments feature a luxurious Queen Size bed in the main room, while two bedroom apartments feature a queen size bed in the main room and a sumptuous double size bed in the second. A majority of the apartments also feature a balcony or courtyard area.
Lifestyle is conveniently located within easy walking distance from restaurants, bars, parks, 24 hr supermarkets, fast food outlets and a video store. With bus stops close by and a train station approximately 5 minutes walk, public transport is a breeze. A short bus ride can lead you into the world of shopping at Knox City Shopping Centre, which will surely satisfy any with a passion for fashion. Additionally, a 10 min train ride will find you in the heart of Belgrave with breath-taking scenery to awe even the most experienced outdoor enthusiast.


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Small-business guru coming here
The Pueblo Chieftain Photo: Hattie Bryant
With more than 50 programs under her belt, Hattie Bryant has become the small-business guru of the decade.
Ms. Bryant, creator of the Public Broadcasting System program, "Small Business 2000," will be in Pueblo Wednesday to discuss growing business into the next millennium.
Sponsored by the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, the hourlong seminar begins at 7:30 a.m. in the Occhiato Center at the University of Southern Colorado. ("Small Business 2000" airs at noon Sundays on KTSC-TV.)
The program focuses on small business successes throughout the country.
For example, one program tells the story of an ex-Los Angeles policeman whose first love is old telephone switch systems. He became an entrepreneur in Priest River, Idaho, establishing a company of 18 employees that refurbishes the old switch systems and sells them throughout the world, from China to Mexico City.
Inspired by the explosion of small businesses in the United States, Ms. Bryant and her partner, Bruce Camber, set out to "help people be successful," Ms. Bryant said in a release. "We want to lift them up and give them inspiration when they feel like quitting. We want to rekindle their optimism, give them hope and strength."
A Gallup study for the National Federation of Independent Businesses estimated that there were about 3.5 million new businesses started in 1995; as many as 50 percent will not make it past their first year and 75 percent will fail within five years.
The core of each half-hour "Small Business 2000" is called the "MasterClass," in which successful entrepreneurs teach view ers the nuances of their success.
To be selected for the program, Ms. Bryant said, "they must be profitable; they must be able to articulate how they do what they do, and hopefully, both the entrepreneurs and their businesses are fascinating to watch."
They use as an example St. Louis-based Jerry Shapiro, who captured 99 percent of the bagel market in Tokyo. In that segment the bagels were dropped into boiling water, then moved to a freezer for the trip to Japan.
Cost for Wednesday's breakfast is $12. For reservations, call Jessica at 542-1704.


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BCC to spend $250,000 on Queen Street Mall rethink
Queen Street Mall remains a haven for shoppers. Photo: Robert Rough The $100 million revamp of the Wintergarden typifies the evolving face of the mall. Photo: John Gollings
They admit it ain't broke but Brisbane City Council will spend $250,000 this year to fix Queen Street Mall.
The CBD mall, based on patronage, is the tenth most successful in the world and Australia's busiest.
But finance chairman Julian Simmonds said a "visioning exercise" would be undertaken with a wide range of stakeholders early next year to determine how to maintain its success over the next 20 years.
"It's not a case of, 'it's not broke, so don't fix it'. It's in recognition that the last full refresh of the mall done was in 2000, nearly 15 years ago," he said.
"So this will bring traders, tenants, community groups and police together in a visioning exercise to look at what's important going forward, what the future needs of the mall are and what we are trying to aim for."
Cr Simmonds said the exercise would follow the success of a similar plan undertaken in Fortitude Valley, which he said brought $2 billion of investment to the once-grungy inner city suburb.
He said the Valley plan, which included the council-funded Brunswick Street Mall revitalisation, was aimed at bolstering the daytime economy of the area, a problem that did not apply to the Queen Street Mall.
"The (Queen Street) Mall's operating very well, in the Valley Mall redevelopment, we started with a blank slate but in the case of Queen Street Mall, it's doing well," he said.
"But this is making sure we are not just plodding along but have clear in our minds that we are making sure we cater for everyone.
"As the Lord Mayor (Graham Quirk) says, about it remaining a mall for all."
The visioning exercise will come after Cr Simmonds and Cr Quirk this year announced the relocation of 30-year dining institution Jimmy's on the Mall, as well as the demolition of the central visitor information centre to open the space to increasing pedestrian traffic.
While the former Jimmy's on the Mall site has been demolished, the Visitor Information Centre site is expected to be demolished following next week's G20 World Leader's Summit.
Cr Simmonds said the visioning exercise was vital to keep the mall at it current level of success.
"It's been 14 years since the last one was done, if you don't keep a watchful brief, if you take things for granted we will lose our edge," he said.
"It's a different mall than 15 years ago, now its got high end retailers and a high fashion precinct (in Edward Street) that will be included in the exercise as well.
"It has evolved very naturally but its making sure we have a vision."
'Kill sheets' condemned by Queensland Police Union Andy deserves support of all


text:
import os
#BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'ae0g37((kp655_*4wbtj999azzo)xw6)9*mv3n@&e6k&7&*#z3'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = bool(os.environ.get("DJANGO_DEBUG", False))
TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []

# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'testproject.admin',
    'aws_manager',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
)

ROOT_URLCONF = 'testproject.urls'

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'testproject.wsgi.application'

# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True

# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/howto/static-files/

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Pharmaceutical companies, like other manufacturers, must make products that are safe for use. Medications that are defective or dangerous can prove fatal-especially if one takes too much or falls victim to serious side effects. In Massachusetts, you can file a Boston dangerous drug lawsuit over a dangerous prescription drug or over-the-counter med that caused you or a loved one to fall seriously ill, develop serious health issues, or die.
Two drugs that were recently pulled from store shelves were the painkillers Darvocet and Darvon, which are now linked to heart problems. Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals. Inc. and the Food and Drug Administration announced the recall of both drugs and their generic versions late last year.
Darvocet is one of the most commonly prescribed pain meds. The drug has been given to more than 22 million people. However, the FDA has said that the pain relief benefits are not great enough compared to the related risks. Not only that, but, prior to the recall in 2009, the FDA insisted that Darvocet come with a "black box" warning about its different side effects.
Of course, the 2010 recall is too late for some, including Cornelius Kellehar, who died last November before the drug was pulled off the shelf. He was prescribed both Darvocet and Darvon. According to his widow's wrongful death lawsuit, he died from heart problems because he used the drugs. Kellehar's family claims that Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals should have warned patients and doctors about such a dangerous side effect.
Even if a drug manufacturer never intended to make a dangerous drug, the company can still be held liable for Boston products liability if taking the medication causes injury, illness, or death.


The Venetian island of Torcello has 11 inhabitants. Last year there were 16, but then Carmen's cousins upped sticks and moved to Burano. Apparently they didn't have a boat – problematic on an island where the local amenities consist of a couple of restaurants and a Byzantine cathedral (beautiful, I might add, but not much cop when it comes to the weekly shop). "When Stefano and I got married he told me he wanted to move to Torcello. I refused," Carmen tells me as she moors the boat. But despite not living on the Venetian island themselves, Stefano and Carmen are its biggest fans.


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Forum » SpaceEngine » Feedback and Suggestions » Large-scale structure of the cosmos and satellite galaxies
Large-scale structure of the cosmos and satellite galaxies
DeathStar Date: Sunday, 09.02.2014, 22:36 | Message # 1
Most of us spend 99% of our time near planets or stars, so generally we don't see much of the structure of the universe when using SE. However, the ones that spend a decent amount of their time hopping galaxies notice a problem - there is almost no structure to the procedural parts of the SE universe. This is not only unrealistic, but it also makes cosmic exploration(I am talking about the big picture) even more boring. Now, I will make a rather lenghty suggestion to change this. I doubt this would be that hard to implement, but I am not the one developing SE, I may be wrong. There is a TL;DR at the bottom, but I suggest reading everything.
Part 1 : The cosmic web
Take a look at the picture below. What do you see?
This picture was taken a few tens of mega-parsecs away from the Milky Way. Although it may look like a big mess, once you fly around the place a bit you realise that the whole place has a web structure and that galaxies are organized into interconnected groups, with huge empty voids seperating some of them.
Now look at this picture:
This picture was taken a few gigaparsecs away from the Milky Way, and it is a procedurally generated part of the universe. As you can see, the area is completely unremarkable - all of the galaxies are smoothly distributed and distant from each other, which makes the area quite dull. Let's change that. Note that some of these systems may not work, so discussion will be required to perfect them.
First, the engine would generate large, empty spaces known as 'voids'. The size of these spaces could be anything from 30 megaparsecs to several hundred megaparsecs, sometimes getting as high as 500 megaparsecs. Inside these voids, galaxies don't generate - they are simply vast, empty spaces.
The space that is left, however, is to be inhabited by galaxies. Rather than generate galaxies independently, galactic clusters are generated. These galactic clusters function in a way very similar to star clusters, except for the fact unlike star clusters, galaxies inside these clusters don't need to be of similar age and type. The thing about these galactic clusters is that they are very likely to generate next to each other, so rather than giving an island universe, you would get a very cobweb-like universe. Completely isolated galaxy clusters would be very rare.
Part 2 : Satellite galaxies
We are now going down to a smaller scale - galaxies and their satellites.
Galaxies, like planets and stars, have satellites as well. If you look at our Milky Way, it has two relatively large galaxies orbiting it(the Magellanic clouds) and a bunch of small, spherical ones. The procedural galaxies in SE don't have such satellites.
Every 'real' galaxy(not a satellite galaxy) can have its own satellite galaxies, however the number, maximum distance and maximum diameter(due to the fact that SE currently doesn't generate galaxy mass) depend on the size of the primary.
The maximum distance a satellite galaxy could be away from its primary would be around 10-15 times the diameter of the galaxy itself(I am still not sure of the value).
The maximum diameter would be anything up to the diameter of the primary itself, though larger diameters would have a much lower chance of generating than lower diameters.
The diameter of the primary wouldn't determine a cap on the amount of satellites, although smaller diameters should usually have smaller numbers of satellites.
Satellite galaxies with a small diameter would almost always be spherical. Larger satellite galaxies(diameter greater than 10% of primary) would be generated in a special way, however.
Initially, before it is rendered, a large satellite galaxy would start out as either a spiral galaxy or a spherical galaxy.
If the spiral galaxy is less than 25% of the diameter of the primary and is more than 8 diameters away from the primary, it remains in its current form. If it is less than 8 diameters away from the primary, it becomes irregular. If it is less than 1.5 diameters away from the primary, the primary becomes an irregular galaxy as well, unless it is spherical.
If the spiral galaxy is between 25% and 50% the diameter of the primary and is more than 5 diameters away from the primary, it remains in its current form. If it is less than 5 diameters away, it becomes irregular. If it is less than 1 diameter away, the primary(if it is spiral) becomes irregular as well.
If the spiral galaxy is more than 50% the diameter of the primary and is more than 4 diameters away from the primary, it remains spiral. If it is less than 4 diameters away, both the satellite and the primary become irregular.
Finally, if the distance between a satellite larger than 10% of the primary and the primary is less than 0.5 diameters of the primary, instead of generating the primary and its satellite, a quasar is generated. The quasar is always an irregular galaxy, and it has the diameter of more or less the diameter of the primary + diameter of the satellite(if this is larger than 100kPC, then it will remain at the cap). What is interesting is that quasars already exist in SE, but they aren't different from ordinary galaxies and don't generate.
There needs to be a structure to the universe SE generates. There should also be satellite galaxies near larger companions
I realize that 75% of the ideas here must be refined further or be completely discarded, so that is why a discussion would probably be very beneficial if we want to improve the ease of implementing this, if it is ever going to be implemented, and thus make exploring intergalactic space much funner.
Attachments: 4174047.jpg(75.1 Kb) · 6185689.jpg(261.8 Kb)
Edited by DeathStar - Sunday, 09.02.2014, 22:42
HarbingerDawn Date: Sunday, 09.02.2014, 22:52 | Message # 2
Quote DeathStar ( )
There needs to be a structure to the universe SE generates
There is, though it could be improved. Go into spacecraft camera mode, in the distant universe, and move forward at a speed of 1-2 Mpc/s, and just watch the galaxies as they pass you by. After a few minutes the structure of their distribution should jump out at you. There are clusters (most like nodes), filaments (though they're fat), and voids. It's pretty symmetric and needs improvement in many ways, but it does exist. It was also obvious in map mode in 0.96, if you want to check that out.
There should also be satellite galaxies near larger companions
Sometimes you can find pairs of galaxies, or galaxies with a companion, but this is indeed far too rare, and a system does need to be implemented that more closely reflects reality.


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Q: Event dispatcher I have two classes and i tried event dispatch from one class to other class. Here i have used button to invoke the class. But dispatch not working.
class name cusDispatcher.as
 package

{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import Globe;

public  class CusDispatcher extends EventDispatcher
{

    public function CusDispatcher():void
    {

        Globe.self.realstage.btn_mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,
    doAction);

    }
    public function doAction(event:MouseEvent):void
    {
        dispatchEvent(new Event('myevent'));

      }

  }

}

class name EventDispatcherExample.as
    package
  {
import flash.display.DisplayObject;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
import Globe;

public class EventDispatcherExample extends EventDispatcher
{

    public function EventDispatcherExample(Mc:MovieClip)
    {
            Globe.self.realstage = Mc;
            var start:CusDispatcher = new CusDispatcher();

            Globe.self.realstage.addEventListener('myevent', handler);
            trace("one");

    }

    public function handler(event:Event):void
    {
        trace("My Event");

    }
 }
 }

In the adobe CC i used this instance to run the class
var Call:EventDispatcherExample = new EventDispatcherExample(this);

Whenever i click the button(btn_mc) in the adobe flash cc it does not show any
 trace of dispatch event.So could please analyze and give solution for this one.

A: Is your other click listener (in the EventDispatcherExample) working?
The problem might be that you have declared your CusDispatcher as a local variable within a function
var start:CusDispatcher = new CusDispatcher();

Once the function is complete these variables are cleaned up. Try to declare it at the beginning of your class as a class variable:
private var start:CusDispatcher;

public function EventDispatcherExample(Mc:MovieClip)...

and then assign your new Dispatcher to it
start = new CusDispatcher();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Tiffany Haddish & More Celebrate The 25th Anniversary of 'Def Comedy Jam'
by Jessica Lane
Photos by Maury Phillips/WireImage, Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images, David Livingston/Getty Images
Def Comedy Jam celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a huge special, coming this fall on Netflix. And, it's lit. It feels like everyone you EVER loved in comedy will be together. All on one stage.
Let us rundown the heavy hitters, which mixes a little bit of new school with the comedy legends: Bill Bellamy, Cedric The Entertainer, Dave Chappelle, Mike Epps, Adele Givens, Eddie Griffin, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Craig Robinson, J.B. Smoove, Sommore, Joe Torry, Sheryl Underwood and Katt Wiliams
Russell Simmons has blessed us, again. Def Comedy Jam, created by Russell Simmons and hosted by Martin Lawrence (among many others), originally aired on HBO from 1992-1997 and returned in 2006-2008. We can still remember the first time these comedy greats first hit the Def Jam stage and left us crying while gasping for air. It made Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker and a host of others – household names, launching the careers of basically every Black comedian in 90s.
TELL US: Will you be watching this fall?
Black Sitcoms That Should Come Back
1. 1. GIRLFRIENDS
2. 2. MARTIN
3. 3. SISTER SISTER
4. 4. A DIFFERENT WORLD
5. 5. ONE ON ONE
6. 6. MOESHA
TV One Continue reading Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Tiffany Haddish & More Celebrate The 25th Anniversary of 'Def Comedy Jam'


The fate of a country and of its citizens is too important to be left in the hands of politicians that favour party politics over the common good.
Time for values crossing all borders.
Time for values crossing all parties.
Time for strong human values and summonism.


text:
Q: How to release multiple mutexes in one call WinAPI provides us with WaitForMultipleObjects(..) function. Let's say we have to wait for all mutexes in array, then it would be great to have function that releases captured mutexes from array in one call. What made microsoft not to provide us with such a useful thing? What solution is best to release mutexes after WaitForMultipleObjects(..) if they are many enough?

A: Raymond Chen of Microsoft may not have written about your exact topic, but he has written about others like it.  And as he says, "Every feature starts with -100 points."  There is no compelling need for the feature you are asking for; the code to implement it is too short, too unlikely to be used in very many places, and would be no better in a library than in the application.
People already complain that the Win32 API is bloated.  Be happy they didn't add this.


Today I want to share with you some interesting news. The first of which concerns my friend George Clooney. If you have been following my blog for a while then you know that I have a tendency to name my kitchen and household appliances.
Good old George, my Nespresso machine, has moved to our family cabin. It has been replaced by Johnny Depp. I wanted to name it Simon, but my daughter convinced me that Johnny would better suit its more flamboyant style. If you have seen the movie Chocolat, then you know what I mean. My husband spent a small fortune on it which is rather concerning since my taste for coffee has lost its appeal. How could that happen? The answer is that I quit smoking. Coffee, beer and even wine has lost its appeal. Now all I want to do is eat. Poor Johnny sits on the kitchen counter full of fresh coffee beans just waiting to temp me with its rich dark liquid. I say to myself, "This must be a phase I am going through," but what if it isn't? Could it possibly be that I am turning into a tea drinker now? I shudder at all these unexpected changes in my daily rituals.
Usually on Fridays I share some food with you. My posts in the series, "What's for Dinner Mom" is not always just about food. It is also about family and sharing part of my family with you. Since I am having dinner alone tonight, I thought today I would share with you a link to my daughter's new blog called "Take a Chance." If you are interested in reading about a Norwegian girls college life written with an unusual and humorous perspective then you definitely should check it out! Of course I read it just to find out what she is up to. As it is with most parents, once your children hit a certain age, they tend to forget to tell you things. I doubt keeping me informed was the reason she started this blog but it suits me fine.
The college student is home for the week-end but busy with her friends, so today I am going to clean out my fridge and take a chance for dinner. How about you? Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!
Labels: coffee, george clooney, johnny depp, Take a Chance, What's for Dinner Mom?
That's adorable and hilarious (naming your appliances after celebrities).
I saw Chocolat. Great movie. Yes, I think Johnny is a more suitable name. Hang in there. I know many people who have quit smoking and said the same thing, but after awhile they regained their love for coffee and let up on the eating. You should be so proud for kicking the habit!
Wish my kid had a blog so I could "eavesdrop" on his life. Cool!
Poor Johnny - so neglected!
Leftovers for us. I~ have no college students to come home for the weekend, but stepson and girlfriend arrive tomorrow to stay for two weeks nearby and enjoy a bit of Tenerife sunshine. And food and booze, of course!
Dinner alone- sounds like writing time to me. :) Hope you have a terrific weekend!
I saw Chocolat with my married daughter; we made brownies, drank champagne. Good times.
Dust off Johnny, and make some coffee with lots of cream.
I agree, Johnny is the right name.
I just tagged you in the TAG! YOU'RE IT! GUTGAA post.
As I am sitting here typing and sipping my coffee, I am SEETHING with jealousy! I WOULD LOVE to have a coffee/espresso maker like yours!
OH, SIS, get over your food addiction and start brewing that delicious elixir of life! Think of you poor little Bro with just a regular coffee make, having to heat up my half and half in the micro before adding "regular" coffee to it and pretend it's a freshly brewed latte.
FOR ME ... make a steaming pot of that aromatic blend and join me in a coffee.


The fact that it's being proposed by Republicans doesn't make it any more economically palatable.
'Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way," Barack Obama declared after Democrats' disastrous losses in the 2010 midterm elections. That shellacking finally killed off the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. From it was born the EPA's Clean Power Plan and the Obama administration's war on coal, in turn a contributory factor to Donald Trump's election and Republicans' retaining control of the Senate. Now the grandees of the Old Republican Establishment, led by former secretaries of state George Shultz and James Baker, are calling for President Trump to put the new Republican majority at risk by enacting an escalating $40-per-ton carbon tax.
Where they are right is that a carbon tax is economically superior to cap-and-trade and EPA regulation. Their proposal addresses one of the big weaknesses of the latter two approaches by preventing "carbon leakage," the migration of energy-intensive production to developing nations. It does this by reimbursing carbon taxes incurred in making goods for export while imposing a tax on imports from countries that did not price carbon, although it glosses over the vast expansion of the IRS that would be required to make such a system watertight.
The package is topped off by giving away the entire proceeds of the carbon tax to anyone with a Social Security number. The political bet is that the lure of free money for all — a reprise of a ploy first used by environmentalists in the 1930s, when the Green Shirts marched through the streets of London demanding payment of the national dividend to all — will be enough to induce wary Republicans who opposed cap-and-trade and want the Clean Power Plan nixed to embrace carbon taxation.
All government interventions to decarbonize impose an economic penalty. The best that can be said for a carbon tax is that it is the least bad way. A government-created market distortion that discourages the use of efficient hydrocarbon energy shrinks the economy's productivity frontier — its potential output at the current state of best practice — and subverts consumer choice, so that for the same income families are forced to consume less than they would otherwise. This in turn shrinks the Gross Domestic Product, hurting consumers and increasing the deficit — effects ignored by carbon-tax advocates.
In that regard, the Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends produced by the Climate Leadership Council is disingenuous and dishonest. An American receiving as much in carbon dividends as he pays in carbon taxes would end up worse off because the economy would be smaller and his consumer preferences suppressed. So a carbon tax would not contribute to economic growth but detract from it.
It is a tax that would divide America, benefiting the two coasts at the expense of the heartland.
Sugaring the pill of allegedly pain-free decarbonization with free carbon dividends, carbon-tax supporters treat Americans solely as consumers, not as producers and workers. For those directly or indirectly dependent for their livelihoods on cheap hydrocarbon energy, the carbon tax spells fewer jobs and lower wages. It is a tax that would divide America, benefiting the two coasts at the expense of the heartland.
It is here, in the ;climate hysteria of the elites, that the nub of the problem lies. It is an opinion that brooks no dissent. After climate scientist Roger Pielke Jr. wrote of the scant evidence to indicate that hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and drought were becoming more frequent or intense in the U.S. or globally, he was silenced by a flash mob financed by hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. Instead of sounding like a cracked record, an open-minded approach to the credibility and reliability of climate science would examine how well climate predictions have worn. And on this basis, climate change is less threatening than when James Baker first started talking about it.
Ten days after becoming secretary of state in January 1989, Mr. Baker told a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of being trapped on a boat irreparably damaged by climate change. A year later, the IPCC produced its first report, which predicted warming of 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade and a likely future warming of one degree Celsius by 2025.
Based on the UK Met Office's decadally smoothed HadCRUT4 series, the temperature rise in the first 26 years of that 35-year forecast was 0.46 of one degree Celsius. Back in 1990, the IPCC reckoned that business-as-usual greenhouse-gas emissions would lead to 21st century warming of 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade. Hitting a one-degree increase by 2025 would require global temperatures to rise twice as fast, at 0.6 degrees Celsius per decade.
People alarmed about man-made climate change routinely compare it to the science of smoking and lung cancer. In 1953, Richard Doll, one of the pioneering epidemiologists who uncovered the link, made a hard-edged 20-year prediction: By 1973, deaths from lung cancer in Britain might be as great as 25,000. The actual number was 26,000. The accuracy of Doll's prediction is not only testament to his skill and objectivity as a scientist, but to the quality of the underlying evidence, the methodology he used, and the strength of the causal relationship.
The contrast with climate science is stark: A pattern of highballing predictions, which generate alarm; temperature spikes caused by the warming El Niño briefly appearing to validate climate models, as happened with the record temperatures of 2016; and likely global temperatures subsequently falling to the bottom of the model-predicted range or outside it altogether. In the 18 years since the previous exceptional El Niño, the HadCRUT4 series only rose by 0.24 degrees, Celsius or 0.133 degrees per decade — hardly a portent of impending climate armageddon. It is reasonable to take epidemiological findings on the link between smoking and health extremely seriously and to treat the prognostications of mainstream climate scientists with considerable skepticism. Lurid talk of planetary collapse is sensationalist propaganda unsupported in virtually all current generation (CMIP5) climate models of 150-year simulations, even with quadrupled CO2 concentrations.
The Clean Power Plan was to be the Obama administration's vehicle for delivering the Paris commitment. It would see the progressive shutdown of coal-fired electrical generation. During the general election, Donald Trump and Mike Pence vowed to end President Obama's war on coal. It's a fair bet that if President Trump signed a carbon tax into law, it would be the death warrant for the U.S. coal industry. It would also very likely skin alive his 2020 reelection chances. Who knows? Perhaps that's what the backers of the carbon tax intend.


Our bodies are made of cells that need energy to survive. Mostly, our cells get that energy from food, but they also get that energy from nutrients in that food as well as supplements. Cells transfer the nutrients it absorbs from food and supplements into energy, which allow the cells to grow and divide, becoming the tissues, organs, and organ systems in our human body. In essence, our human bodies would not be possible without energy. Orange Naturals 100 mg CoQ10 helps our bodies produce this energy.
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A 'new' recipe for trade
Economic & Political Weekly | 18 February 2017
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated by 16 countries in the Asia– Pacific region. These include the 10 economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—Brunei, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Additionally, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, all FTA partners of the ASEAN, are members of the RCEP.
India established an independent diplomatic mission in ASEAN in January 2015, which began functioning in Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2015. ASEAN is at the core of India's Act East Policy. The ASEAN–India Investment and Services Agreement also came into force in July 2015. India already has an ongoing FTA with ASEAN, which was signed in 2009 and came into force in January 2010. So, outside the World Trade Organization (WTO), India is already in ambitious market access–oriented trade arrangements in the region.
Similarly, all the other five governments in the Asia Pacific have FTAs with ASEAN at a bilateral level. Recognising the centrality of ASEAN in Asia, when conceived, the RCEP was supposed to take regional economic integration to another level. It might now become a venue for Asian powers, such as China, to reassert their influence through rule-setting in the RCEP (Jatkar 2017).
RCEP Negotiations
The RCEP negotiations were launched alongside the East Asia Summit in Cambodia in November 2012. The first round of RCEP talks was held in May 2013 in Brunei Darussalam. Talks have been held with regular periodicity since then. The next round—the trade negotiation committee (TNC) meeting—will be in Kobe, Japan from 27 February to 3 March 2017. A series of TNC meetings will follow: 18th TNC in the Philippines in May, and 19th TNC in India in July. There is political agreement amongst the member governments to conclude the RCEP this year. This timeline tries to stay close to the Guiding Principles and Objectives adopted by the economic ministers at the launch of negotiations (MFAT nd).
The political leadership in India is well aware of the need to balance its presence between the RCEP talks and at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. But, with changes in thinking on economic partnerships in London, Brussels and Washington, it will have to think through its position on global trade in general and on the RCEP more specifically. It is already facing heat from those in the RCEP with ambitions of global economic leadership (Economic Times 2017).
Impacts on Livelihoods
As is typical with most trade agreements in the making, the details of the RCEP are not publicly accessible. Negotiating positions and draft texts stay with trade diplomats and government officials, or at most with industry representatives. Businesses have the negotiators' ears. Ordinary citizens have to rely on occasional intentional disclosure of secret information by those within the system who believe people have a right to know, particularly when these trade agreements have implications for the lives and livelihoods of millions. From whatever is publicly known of the RCEP, there are wide-raging issues on the table, from trade, competition, investment, economic and technical cooperation, to trade in services and dispute settlement.
Expectedly, there are concerns too. Indian industrialists are nervous about tariff concessions that the Government of India might agree to, particularly with respect to China. They fear competition from cheaper Chinese goods. Australia wants many more tariff cuts than India has offered to make. But people outside the closed-door negotiations on both sides are not fully in the know. The internal architecture for the RCEP negotiations is not entirely open to the public. However, it is no secret that certain subjects are being discussed through subject-wise working groups. One such working group is the one on intellectual property (IP), wherein countries like Japan have made suggestions for stronger IP provisions such as patent term extensions, data exclusivity, and lowering of the patentability criteria (Knowledge Ecology International 2014). In the RCEP, Japan seems to be acting like the United States (US) did in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This has health activists and patient communities across Asia concerned about its impacts on the accessibility of low-cost generics (Chatterjee 2015).
Seed savers in India are equally worried. For a country like India, where the small farm crisis remains a major concern, any higher standards on IP with respect to seeds will have to be very carefully analysed for their likely effects. This necessitates transparency and public consultation in negotiations, which is amiss.
'TRIPS-plus' Rules
Some "leaked" IP texts on the table at the RCEP contain a clear "ask" for IP protection for plant varieties, which goes well beyond what the WTO's IP rules (contained in TRIPS) require from its member countries. For instance, the draft text of an IP chapter as proposed by Japan and South Korea requires all members of the RCEP to either accede to or ratify over a dozen international IP-related agreements, including the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (better known by its French acronym UPOV) and particularly its 1991 version (Knowledge Ecology International 2014, 2015a). The UPOV 1991 is nowhere mentioned in the WTO TRIPS. This makes the proposal "TRIPS-plus."
The UPOV 1991 gives primacy to the rights of corporate plant breeders over those of farmers. It puts restrictions on farmers saving seeds; they can only save for subsistence-level use and not for commercial production. No seed exchange among farmers is allowed. Researchers and other plant breeders can access the IP-protected seed only with prior permission from, and payment of royalties to, the holder of the plant breeder rights.
Seed companies from China, Japan, and Korea are also pushing for harmonisation of seed IP laws in the region through the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA). In fact, India was the venue for the APSA Congress in November 2015, where the seed industry finalised its new IPR policy on plants. Its position paper recommends the adoption of the UPOV 1991 by member countries of the APSA (APSA nd). The National Seed Association of India—a member of the APSA—too holds the view that having no legal limits on farm-saved seed makes the breeder's IP protection ineffective (NSAI 2014). FTAs like the RCEP are where transnational corporations can lobby several governments in one space for rules that limit farmer freedoms.
India's Position on Seed IP
On the issue of IP in seeds, India has intentionally been kept out of the UPOV 1991.This is with the intent to protect both public scientists and farmer-breeders by allowing them to register the varieties bred by them. The domestic law in India, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001, includes "farmer" and "group of farmers" in its definition of breeder (Section 2[c]). Unlike the UPOV, economic rights therein are not merely granted to an industry innovator developing "new" crop varieties. India's farmers have been made eligible for the IPR for their existing and newly developed varieties, even though local communities in India that reject IP over seeds see this as problematic. Nonetheless, the PPV&FR Act also creates a legal basis for farmers to seek "benefit sharing" if the varieties developed by them are used as base material by the seed industry to make new seed products. The UPOV does not provide for any such sharing.
In the RCEP, India seems to be holding on to its position on plant variety protection on the strength of its domestic law so far. Indian negotiators argue that the PPV&FR Act in being India's sui generis law is WTO TRIPS-compliant. There is no scope politically for the Government of India today to go beyond the WTO TRIPS in the area of IP for seeds. Therefore, for the RCEP, India has suggested the following:
The Parties shall provide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis [emphasis added] system or by any combination thereof, in accordance with the TRIPS agreement.
(Suggested Article 12, Knowledge Ecology International 2015b)
However, amongst the non-ASEAN members of RCEP, India is the only one that is not a member of UPOV. Predictably the RCEP negotiations will put additional pressure on India and other non-UPOV countries to join UPOV 1991, pushing them to go beyond WTO. Through the RCEP some of these countries are also seeking strict IP enforcement through border measures to be undertaken by RCEP governments for goods infringing IP. Any country entering into trade negotiations outside WTO in the present day has to anticipate that by their very nature and intent, FTAs today take the "asks" several notches up above what the WTO demands of its members.
WTO Future
WTO rules are taken as a baseline standard on which to build new trade relations bilaterally. Yet the future of the WTO as a multilateral forum for trade rules has itself come into question. In the words of its Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, there is "a lot of uncertainty ahead of us" (WTO 2017). The previous Ministerial Conference (MC10) of the WTO, held in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2015, had concluded with no clear way forward. The MC is the top-most decision-making gathering in the WTO, held every two years. The next MC is scheduled to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December 2017. In preparation for the MC, Azevêdo has warned against protectionist policies that could come in the way of free trade.
The WTO's ongoing trade talks started at its MC4 in 2001 as the Doha Development Round (DDR), which was meant to make trade fairer for the non-developed world. Development concerns were inserted in the WTO agenda after much struggle by both developing country negotiators and representatives of global civil society. But, to those pushing purely trade interests, this is seen as unnecessarily burdensome on what they believe the WTO ought to be—a trade organisation alone.
While trade negotiations like the RCEP are seemingly impervious to the concerns of the wider world, these provide an attractive alternative venue to expand on issues hitherto kept out of the WTO. Negotiations outside the WTO, in spaces like the RCEP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), are venues for the IP maximalist agenda. There is a real risk of the spillover effect of such FTAs on the future agenda of the WTO. With FTAs, it will become even more difficult to make trade development-friendly, both inside and outside the WTO. Lack of meaningful progress on the DDR at the WTO will only add to its redundancy.
Mega Regional FTAs
The RCEP will establish itself as one of the largest regional free trade areas of which India will be a part. Yet it is only one of the three mega regional FTAs that are on the drawing board amongst different sets of countries today. The other two are the TTP and the TTIP. Significantly, all three are outside the WTO, though all the negotiating members across these agreements are part of the WTO (Table 1). In fact, developed countries continue to push for a set of new issues at the WTO that are in line with their agenda in the FTAs.
The overlap of membership across these FTAs is of critical import, as is the difference—the RCEP is sans the US, and the TPP sans China and also without the US now. All the other countries from the Asia–Pacific region in the RCEP, namely, Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam, are still participating in the TPP. They will seek to bring the RCEP at par with the TPP. For instance, the Shinzō Abe government in Tokyo is very keen that the RCEP enables free trade just like the TPP.
The TPP was important to the Barack Obama-led administration as its "return to Asia" strategy. In the words of the then US trade representative, "we hope it will not only set a new standard for those who are currently in TPP or might be part of it in the future, but raise the game of all countries" (OUSTR 2015). Transnational corporations such as Cargill Inc, CropLife America, The Dow Chemical Company and others, in their letter to former US President Barack Obama, insisted that "the final TPP agreement must contain strong substantive and enforcement-related intellectual property provisions that are clear, specific and enforceable" (Business Roundtable 2011). There has been a complete rethink on the TPP under President Donald Trump's America First Trade Policy. In his first week in office, he signed executive orders to withdraw the US from the TPP.
The TTIP is likewise a high-standard Obama-era FTA being negotiated since 2013 between the US and the 28 members of the European Union (EU). Under Trump, the US and the EU have released a joint report assessing where the two sides are together on a transatlantic partnership (European Commission 2017). The TTIP, among other things, aims to increase trade in IP-intensive goods and services, and for that purpose "improve" IPR. The EU's position paper on IPR reveals the intended "co-operation with regards to multilateral and third-country IP issues" (European Commission 2015). If and when the two are able to iron out their current differences on IP, it will mean only higher and not the lowering of IP standards worldwide. In any case, in their respective bilateral FTAs with other countries, they insist on "TRIPS-plus" provisions on IP.
In this context, the RCEP, by itself and with the developments around it, has all the ingredients for tighter IP controls and for not-so-free trade. The end result of this recipe will not be digestible to many. India and other countries have also to give due attention to what goes into such regional FTAs. Trade negotiators also have to continue to work at making the WTO and its trade rules palatable. The ultimate test of the rules and policies is whether these really serve people on the ground.
Shalini Bhutani ([email protected]) is a legal researcher and policy analyst.
[1] References
APSA (nd): "APSA Position on Intellectual Property Rights for the Seed Industry," Asia and Pacific Seed Association, Bangkok, http://apsaseed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FINAL-APSA-IPR-Position-P....
Business Roundtable (2011): "US Business Coalition for TPP Letter to President Obama," 9 September, http://businessroundtable.org/resources/u.s. -business-coalition-for-tpp-letter-to-president-obama.
Chatterjee, Patralekha (2015): "Secret Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Takes Centre Stage in Asia," Intellectual Property Watch, 24 June, http://www.ip-watch.org/2015/ 06/24/secret-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-rcep-takes-centre-stage-in-asia/.
Economic Times (2017): "India Selfishly Blocking RCEP Pact: Chinese Media," 18 January, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/ 56644605.cms.
European Commission (2015): "The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Towards an EU-US Trade Deal," EU Position Paper on Intellectual Property, 20 March, http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/april/tradoc_153331.7%20IPR%2....
— (2017): "US-EU Joint Report on TTIP Progress to Date," 17 January, http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/january/tradoc_155242.pdf.
Jatkar, Archana (2017): "Will China Become a Leader in Global Trade during the Donald Trump Administration?" Wire, 16 January, https://thewire.in/99877/chinas-ambition-leadership-global-trade/.
Knowledge Ecology International (2014): "Draft Text on Areas Not Covered in the Possible Common Elements from the 2nd WGIP1: Submitted by Japan," 3 October, http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/RCEP_WGIP_JP_Revised_Draft_Text....
— (2015a): "2014 Oct 3 Version: Korea Proposal for RECP IP Chapter (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)," 3 June, http://www.keionline.org/node/2239.
— (2015b): "Working Draft of IPR Chapter from India: RCEP Negotiations," 8 June, http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/06-RCEP-TNC6-WGIP3-IN-IP-Draft.pdf.
MFAT (nd): "Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership," Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, wellington, New Zealand, https://mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/FTAs-in-negotiations/RCEP/Guid....
NSAI (2014): "Position Paper on Protection of Intellectual Property in Plant Innovation," National Seed Association of India, 14 November, http://nsai.co.in/editor/fmanage/userfiles/spaper/NSAI%20position%20pape....
OUSTR (2015): "Remarks by Ambassador Michael Froman to AmCham China and the US Chamber of Commerce," Washington DC, 27 April, Office of the United States Trade Representative, https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/speechestranscript....
WTO (2017): "Azevêdo Welcomes Call in Davos for Progress at the WTO; Urges Caution on Protectionism," World Trade Organization, 20 January, https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news17_e/dgra_20jan17_e.htm.
source: Economic & Political Weekly
India intellectual property RCEP


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With pre-filing of legislation underway since mid-December, it's just a matter of time before ethics commission enabling legislation is introduced by a member of the legislature. NMEW participated in the Ethics Commission Working Group, with fellow advocacy groups, business leaders, journalists, private citizens, government officials, and legislators. Together, we crafted a draft bill, 75 or 80% of which is agreed-upon material. For the remaining percentage, we set out choices, involving jurisdiction, the powers of the commission and executive director, etc. Now, it is up to individual legislators to make choices and introduce bills in alignment with their values and beliefs.
As bills are introduced, we'll be letting you know – and updating – their location (w/ committee member names and numbers), and analyzing and comparing them to each other and to nationwide best practices. You'll be able to access that information from the top of our website.
There will be a lot to be absorbed and understood, so feel free to reach out to NMEW if we can be of assistance. We'll be doing our best to serve you!
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Get updates on the '88 movie:
'Wild About 88: The Rise of Arizona Basketball is directed and produced by Brad Malone and Sean P. Malone, two 80's kids from Tucson who caught basketball fever that season.
Brad first had the idea for Wild About '88 in 2008. He went to a local screening of the documentary The Ostrich Testamonies, about an ostrich farm located between Phoenix and Tucson. He was inspired by filmmaker Jonathan VanBallenberghe's ability to engage the audience and make them care about a subject that (on the surface) seemed commonplace. After the film, VanBallenberghe addressed the audience with some words of wisdom that Brad took to heart: No one will ever see your film unless you make it.
Brad knew immediately what film he wanted to make. As a lifelong and die-hard Arizona fan, the 1987-1988 Arizona team had literally shaped the course of his life. It was a story he knew he had to tell. Since then Brad has spent hundreds of hours researching, planning and writing the project.
Brothers Sean (left) and Brad (right) circa 1988.
Around that same time Brad started talking about the project to his brother Sean, who was finishing film school at The University of Miami. Sean had his own special memories of the '88 team, and soon became dogged in his determination to help his brother.
Brad's encyclopedic knowledge of the team and journalism experience paired perfectly with Sean's vigorous skills behind the camera. In 2012, Brad's dream became Sean's dream as well, and the two brothers formed a directing and producing partnership.
Brad Malone circa 1988.
Brad Malone's love of sports started at an early age, and was fostered by his Dad. You may know Brad from one of his several sports-themed shows throughout the years. In the 1990's he helped produce and host the hilarious late night sports show Sportsbeat on Tucson Community Cable. Years later, Brad co-hosted and produced the light-hearted Ryan and Brad Whenever podcast, and wrote for the Sports Illustrated "Fansided" website, Zona Zealots. He produces and runs the Bear Down Bias Podcast, a show that focuses on the rich history of Arizona Wildcats Basketball. Brad graduated from the University of Arizona in 2000 with a B.A. in Journalism. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Sean P. Malone is a director and cinematographer living in Orange County, California. He co-founded the independent film company Waterfoot Films, and the commercial production company Regality Media. Winner of Outstanding Cinematography at the 2015 LA Webfest for The Invisible Man, his body of work covers narrative, documentary, experimental, and commercial film. Sean also produced and hosted the cinematography podcast The Camera Report with Sean P. Malone. He earned his MFA in Film Production from the University of Miami, and is also an experienced teacher, journalist, and writer. Sean graduated from The University of Arizona in 2003 with a BA in Communication.
Sean P. Malone circa 1988.
Sean P. Malone (left) and brother Brad Malone (right) show off their Coach Miller and Olson bobbleheads.


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Idleb Opposition Defenses Collapse Under Weight of Regime's Heavy Advance
Friday January 5th, 2018 by Al-Modon (opposition website)
Rebels scramble to prevent the expansion of regime control in Idleb after militias seize several villages in the province's southeast, Al-Modon reports
The areas of the southeastern Idleb countryside on both sides of the Hijaz railway have witnessed the swift advance of regime forces and allied militias during the last 48 hours. Continuous shelling and land attacks carried out by the militias have caused a swift collapse in the defenses of the opposition and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces in the area. As a result, the militias have been able to seize a large number of villages and farms northeast of Abu Dali in an axis heading toward Sinjar-Abu Dahour.
The targeted areas were subjected to ground attacks by the militias on Tuesday and Wednesday with heavy air raids with vacuum and cluster bombs. Warplanes carried out more than 100 air raids which struck most of the villages in an axis from northeastern Abu Dali toward Sinjar, while helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the same villages and farms.
It is expected that the regime will intensify its ground attacks in the next few days. The militias' line of advance will presumably continue through remote areas which do not contain major urban centers, providing protection for opposition and HTS fighters who mostly come from northern and western Idleb and the Aleppo countryside, and in a lower ratio from the areas currently under attack. These areas share the least solidarity with the opposition compared with others and produce fewer fighters who are participating in the rebel ranks.
The spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army-affiliated Second Army (Jaish al-Thani), Nasser Akal, told Al-Modon that the regime militias had focused their war efforts during the last two days on an axis of no more than 10 kilometers with the aim of penetrating the southeastern Idleb countryside up to the Abu Dahour air base.
Akal said that the rebel groups had begun to take active preparatory measures to prevent the swift expansion of the regime militias in the southeastern countryside and have begun work to put up fortifications. A reduced operations room has been established in the most active fronts in recent days bringing together the Second Army, the Free Idleb Army, the Al-Nasser Army and Faylaq al-Sham (Hama branch). The Central Division and Division 23 will also participate by providing heavy cover fire in the event if it is needed.
The militias aim to tactically isolate and encircle their rival's positions in the southeastern Idleb countryside with the aim of swiftly reaching its most prominent aim — the Abu Dahour military air base. The operation was implemented after Gen. Suhail al-Hassan, known as "the Tiger" took over command of the campaign in the region.
The tactic has long been successful in its implementation by Hassan in previous battles from Aleppo up to its eastern countryside and Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor in the Syrian desert. Hassan's strategy depends primarily on devastating cover fire on the rival's positions and pursuing a scorched-earth policy on the axis of advance, while mounting pressure with heavy fire on the isolated areas in an effort to push the rival to withdraw.
The Assad regime militias have bolstered their barracks and advanced in southern positions with heavy artillery, rocket launchers, and fighters from the Al-Baqar Brigade, the Baath Brigades, and the Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade.
Meeting at the Abu Dahour air base will isolate a broad area controlled by rebel groups and HTS east of the Hijaz railway, an area which may be equal in size to that controlled by the Euphrates Shield in the northern and northeastern Aleppo countrysides.
Meanwhile, armed opposition groups have fragmented and have not yet reached consensus in the field. The rivalry among the major factions included HTS and will certainly ease the task for the regime militias and relieve it of a potentially large confrontation, possibly speeding up the achievement of its aim of reaching the air base and taking full control of the region east of the railway.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.