LINCOLN - Pioneering photographer Dorothea Lange once said, The camera is an instrument that teaches people to see without a camera.

Lange would likely have enjoyed All the Marvelous Surfaces, a thoughtful exhibition at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum that chronicles photography's evolution over nearly a century while reminding viewers that every photographer pursues his or her own truth.

Subtitled Photography since Karl Blossfeldt, it is a key component of Photosynthesis, an intriguing suite of three linked, ongoing exhibits that invite viewers to reconsider how they look at photos.

Organized by senior curator Sarah Montross and assisted by curatorial assistant Elizabeth Upenieks, Marvelous Surfaces features work by 28 photographers whose often stunning images reveal remarkably varied approaches that challenge traditional assumptions of photography's unbiased objectivity.

Yet their subjective visions nearly always reveals deeper truths.

She said the three shows were developed to explore diverse topics using the breadth of photos which comprise more than half the deCordova's permanent collection.

We want people to see this show for its wealth of images and installations, said Montross.

For his seminal 1928 work, Art Forms in Nature, the German Blossfeldt photographed magnified plant specimens in such exquisite detail his photos became a benchmark for the possibility of creating absolutely objective images that displayed natural aesthetic forms beyond the naked eye.

Using Blossfeldt's images as a springboard, this thoughtful show includes mid-century masters and contemporary artists who eschewed documentation for something deeper.

Six decades later, New England artist Maryjean Viano Crowe's 8-by-18 foot collage Reliquary - suggestive of an ancient temple altarpiece - featured romanticized women surrounded by flowers and vegetal tendrils seemingly suspended in realms of mythic splendor.

And in between, other photographers in the show produced a stunning range of work that revealed varied and inventive approaches to photography that would have made Blossfeldt's and viewers' eyes pop.

Montross, who also worked with land artist Andy Goldsworthy on his recent outdoor installation Watershed, has put together an ambitious and complex exhibit that offers significant rewards.

Like Goldsworthy's sculpted granite work, she described Marvelous Surfaces as volumetric, suggesting something with three dimensions, a term not often used for photos hanging on a wall.

Just as Lange humanized the Great Depression with memorable images of a Migrant Mother and Dust Bowl poverty, the photographers on display capture other places and times both real and imaginary.

In her large photos titled Converging Territories, Lalla A. Essaydi shepherds visitors beyond Western stereotypes into the lives of Middle Eastern women.

From the 1940s to 1980s, Aaron Siskind pursued his fascination with surface textures in photos of myriad subjects such as seaweed, human feet and lava flows in interplay with other elements that created visual conversations of subtle beauty.

New Yorker Neal Slavin photographed Americans in groups such as Boy Scouts and body builders, firefighters and cemetery workers as a form of visual cultural anthropology that documents their social hierarchies and raw humanity.

Marvelous Surfaces is indeed marvelous and observant viewers will find the history of modern photography within these wondrous images.

Montross also organized a five-decade survey of photographer Peter Hutchinson, an original land artist who, she said, deserves to be better known.

The first museum survey of his work in decades, Peter Hutchinson: Landscapes of My Life, presents more than 30 photographs and photo collages that reveal the growth of a multi-faceted artist who created gorgeous images of flowers and bread mold, American deserts and Mexican volcanoes and his imagined life as an Alpine goat.

The only one of the three exhibits comprising Photosynthesis to focus on a single artist, Hutchinson's Landscapes reveals an environmentally conscious innovator who fashioned stunning images in forms as varied as the landscapes he photographed.

Born in England in 1930, Hutchinson came to the U.S. in his twenties to study agriculture and has lived here since the 1960s. He has lived on Cape Cod since the 1980s.

Visitors can follow Hutchinson's progress as he experimented with video, underwater photography and merging multiple photos into more complex images.

Hutchinson's early work often mixed photos and text to illustrate ideas in a style related to photo-conceptualism that he dubbed Narrative Art.

For his inventive Long Point Project, he strung plastic bags filled with bread underwater so their undulations revealed the undersea currents. As mold grew in the submerged bags, Hutchinson's photos recorded the cycle of decay and regrowth in his own version of a scientific experiment.

By merging photos and text in a single image, he suggested viewers would have to activate both sides of their brain, to engage his work emotionally and intellectually.

In early collages, Hutchinson often incorporates polarities such as nature and architecture or growth and decay to encourage viewers' cerebral and emotional responses to his photos.

On the simplest level, Hutchinson's images are deeply engaging and visually stunning.

Some, like Shoal Beach Project, chronicle his extensive travels while others, like Disintegrating Landscape, document threatened environments.

In pioneering photos, like Apple Triangle from 1971, Hutchinson was among the first generation of land artists who installed large-scale artworks in remote sites, thus distinguishing himself from commercial artists working in settled locales.

In his most recent work, such as November Day: Remembering Summer from 2005, he combines multiple images to create a vibrant scene of striking beauty.

In Hutchinson's most charming photo, Gauguin's Paradise, his loyal dog named after the French painter sniffs among the flowers in a canine reverie most two-legged visitors will envy.

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Subjective visions, revealing truths in related exhibits at the deCordova - MetroWest Daily News

I love the beginning of a new year, as it is always a good time to take a few steps back and think about where things are headed in the fast-moving mobile app industry.Every year I consult with a handful of founders, CEOs and other experts on their predictions for the coming year, and Im pleased to share their insights.As I spoke with them, a few common themes emerged, including new app discovery channels (eg. OEM app stores), increased need for app content to live outside the app, greater personalization/contextualization of marketing messages, and more data-driven decision-making.The need to protect privacy enforced by stricter regulation is another key issue for 2020.And now, the juicy details!I hope you enjoy learning from these great minds as much as I did.

Mobile app industry experts: 2020 predictions

Brian Quinn, President & GM - US, AppsFlyer

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in-app marketing next year?

2020 will see both Google & Facebook push advertisers to rely more on automation and algorithmic UA. These trends will continue to fuel an increasing need for secure, fraud-free, accurate data. Reliable attribution will become even more crucial for mobile marketers.

At the same time, increased regulations and a privacy-conscious audience will likely lead to reduced usage of targeting based on third-party data. Instead, we'll see a focus on first-party data, more experimentation with broader, contextual marketing, and potentially a rise of ephemeral messaging, such as Snapchat stories, rather than perfectly tailored ads.

Your one tip for app marketers for 2020?

App Marketers need to make sure they truly understand how to comply with CCPA, specifically how much data they are responsible for and how easily theyll be able to share with consumers what you know about them if they ask.

Sunil Kamath, Chief Business Officer, ShareChat

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in app marketing this year, and what will lose momentum?

With more than 500 Mn Indian mobile internet users and growing, it is the best time for app developers to reach out to new audiences across English and regional language speaking users on the internet. While app developers continue to build strategies to work around growing user acquisition costs, reduce uninstall rates, increase in-app engagement, leverage social media, influencer marketing etc., below are 3 key trends that we will see dominate in 2020 in India:

Growth in regional-language users App Developers will build/source/co-create apps targeting the first-time internet users (90% are non-English base)

Micro-Influencer marketing 2019 has seen the emergence of micro-influencers across platforms like ShareChat, TikTok and others coming from tier-2/3/4 markets.

Voice Voice based search is growing manifold and app marketers will build tools to engage with premium-audiences using products like Google Home, Alexa on one-side and larger cross-section of audiences using voice based products across music apps like Gaana & Jio Saavn. Voice will also drive innovation for brands wanting to reach media-dark areas (e.g. mSamvaad campaign by GSK)

Two areas where we could see a downward trend are:

Mobile-web traffic led spends will reduce or hold as consumers spend more time within rich-media apps like social media, OTT, video content apps etc.

Celebrity led marketing With brands building performance led models to measure ROI, the high cost of celebrity promoted content/posts will limit the growth of this premium proposition and give rise to the emergence of millions of micro-influencers coming from the length and breadth of the country.

What is your take on the mobile device manufacturers' role in the app economy?

Along with telcos, OEMs have always played a very pivotal role in driving adoption of mobile internet and consumption of mobile apps. Lower cost of smartphones, high processing power and advanced camera technology have played a key role in the growing adoption of smartphones and mobile apps.

India is a highly price sensitive and competitive market for OEMs and this is driving innovation on all fronts including product design, new-feature launches, product marketing and device distribution to onboard first-time internet users.

We have already seen innovative propositions offered by OEMs to App Developers to drive new user acquisition or re-engagement solutions via FOTA, Pre-loads, Minus 1 screen etc.

OEMs have also broadened their reach to app developers via aggregation partners which drives scale for app developers to reach millions of users via such partnerships.

Your one tip for app marketers for 2020?

Once you have product market fit (PMF), identify the best performing acquisition channels/platforms, implement ad-fraud solutions and continue experimenting with new growth channels.

Mada Seghete, Co-founder & Head of Market Development, Branch

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in-app marketing this year, and what will lose momentum?

In a mobile world where apps are king, users spend most of their time within just a handful of top apps. The reality about mobile apps is while marketers can use Web content to power and drive website discovery in both organic and paid channels, apps are walled gardens, making it extremely hard for consumers to discover, and that trend will continue in 2020.

2020 will see an increased focus on apps for traditional brands and a trend in using alternative means of user acquisition, such as converting social and Web visitors into app users through campaigns like email to users using web only with promotions to download the app, deep linked social content, referrals, and targeted and personalized Web-to-app banners.

What is your take on the mobile device manufacturers' role in the app economy?

I think device manufacturers have a real chance in 2020 to focus on app discovery and app content discovery at the device level. It's crazy to me that today users have to open apps to find apps - search in phones needs to start being app-based and show in-app content.

Your one tip for app marketers for 2020?

2020 will be the year on new emerging platforms and the rise of others. AR will be a thing, as will super apps who are gaining traction around the world. The one tip - test new channels, they are usually incredibly cheap until they take off and they might prove a great source of new users!

Paul H. Mller, CTO & Co-founder at Adjust

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in-app marketing this year?

Context will be king and automation will do the heavy lifting.

With consumer demand for personalized content reaching an all-time high, 2020 will see new talent join the effort in the form of increased and highly-intelligent marketing automation. What marketers offer will be left to their creativity, but the who and when will be decisions driven by data. The outcome will be a better experience for consumers, who will receive context-based offers and advertising, and marketers, who will benefit from increased conversion and retention rates.

With the majority of users churning just days after first installing an app, identifying specific drop-off points is essential for marketers looking to boost retention rates. These can also help create hyper-specific retargeting campaigns, which acknowledge and reference where a user is in their customer journey.

This degree of contextualization currently requires a lot of manual work, both in terms of audience and campaign creation. But it will be made more viable with the help of marketing automation tools. The technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and as its use becomes more widespread, more businesses than ever will be empowered to unlock the insights hidden in their data.

Gadi Eliashiv, CEO and Co-founder, Singular

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in-app marketing next year?

In 2020, data-driven marketing strategies will no longer be a "nice-to-have" for app marketers. Marketers who are able to take the abundance of marketing data made available to them and transform it into real-time and actionable insights will continue to come out on top.

As the importance of data-driven marketing strategies increase, it's important to keep in mind that marketers will need to ensure they're abiding by strict data privacy regulations that are being implemented around the world. GDPR was the hot topic of data security in 2019, and in 2020 we'll see more regulations put into place to protect the privacy of consumers.

Last but not least, advancements in cross-device attribution will pave the way for marketers to more accurately measure and analyze ROI, and in turn, well see changes in marketing strategies, including which channels and publishers marketers decide to invest in.

What is your take on the mobile device manufacturers' role in the app economy?

Improved hardware with cameras (auto-tagging objects), storage capabilities (cloud, local), new sensors (facial) will lay the framework to enable new ad/content formats (both short-form and long-form) and extend the depth of information accessible to advertisers. In parallel, this evolution will increase the need for additional security and privacy layers (facial recognition, location tracking, etc).

Your one tip for app marketers for 2020?

Todays fastest-growing apps are building marketing organizations that include engineers and data scientists in order to create an advantage over their competition. Treat marketing data as organizational information/institutional knowledge. Measuring for a point in time or channel by a channel only goes so far. Organizations need to think about how to measure the impact of each dollar in a consistent and structured manner over time and across all platforms/channels/teams, or risk repeating the same tactics/strategies by looking only at attribution outcomes.

Whew!Thats a lot to think about.I hope you found our panels comments as insightful as I did. One common theme that emerged which I find really exciting is the emergence of new platforms for app discovery and distribution, whether hardware driven (such as OEM app stores) or software driven, for example, todays super apps that function as portals to a universe of service-oriented apps.Or emerging channels of content (such as the incredibly popular TikTok) that can open up new contextual space for app recommendation.Savvy app marketers would do well to attack these new channels.Another key takeaway is that for app marketing strategies, predictive analytics based on user data is becoming more and more important.In a universe of almost infinite choice, its hard for people to find the services and experiences they are looking for.App marketers that connect the dots are the ones who will thrive in 2020.

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2020 App Economy Predictions: New Discovery Channels, The Importance Of Context/Personalization, And The Rise Of India - Forbes

A professor of Philosophy came the other day looking for what lies in store of his habitually errant daughters destiny. In his opening statement he said: My teenaged daughter is erratic, haughty, and impulsive, and could offend anybody with her caustic remarks. She is in the habit of rebuking all socially accepted norms. Her behaviour is causing us worry. Sir, on the advice of a friend who has been following your column for a long time, we are reaching out to you to seek answers to our questions.

However, before a reading of her horoscope, I request you to please dispel my doubts over the efficacy of astrology. How can planets gravitation pull, so distant from earth, affect our lives, and that too reflecting varied ways on different people. How can imaginary division of zodiac influence our life pattern? In a world, subject to continued change every moment, how can a beings destiny be defined in finite terms? And if the whole course of life is bound by a predefined trajectory, what then would be left in the hands of a human being? Is it possible to change ones attitude through conscious efforts? he asked

Well, the planets are not to be seen just as physical objects moving in the cosmos influencing us with their gravitational force. It will be worth mentioning here that a planet needs to be seen as an energy ball as marker of energy stream passing through a particular region with that planet in the centre. A zodiac sign is again marked with a cluster of energy emitting stars grouped in a particular formation. And the energy streams marked with a particular planet or a zodiac sign would vary from those identified with other planets.

Having exposure to various disciplines of Indian philosophy, you would know that energy streams excited from the primordial source, following a course of progressive evolution, eventually manifested into a world of name and forms. So, all form existences in the world are rooted to the energy orchestra of the cosmos, all sourced to a singularity the primal source.

Here again, it has been scientifically established that energy particles emerging from a common source are in immediate and intimate connect with the rest. So, looked at in energy frame, the whole world is framed as a unified organism. This fact of life has been highlighted in the Kathopanishad through the metaphor of inverted Ashvata tree standing for the whole world. Here I quote the observations of an Australian physicist Paul Davies: For a naive, the world is a collection of objects. For a quantum physicist, this world is an inseparable web of energy patterns, where no individual component has a reality independent of the entirety, included in that entirety is the observer.

It, thus, comes out that any change at one end of the cosmos, its reverberations would get carried over far and wide. And we know that all energy balls in the cosmos are ever on their move. Seen with reference to earth, which is moving at a great speed, almost 30 km per second, the energy flux excited in the cosmos, would vary widely every moment. Being a part of the larger world, we cant evade the influence of that continual cosmic change.

Efficacy of astrology is thus established, as it is premised on energy mapping of the cosmos at the time of ones birth. That reflects upon the basic frame of mind one is born with, which throws light on the probable trends of life. That, however, is subject to three variables Kaala, Patra and Samaya.

Kaala speaks of the overall environmental condition. Patra reflects upon the personality trends with all the changes that it would have undergone so far. Samaya here stands for probable destiny indication. So, a being is not fully bound by destiny indicators. But how we respond to energy changes in the cosmos, depends on us. This is where the power of freewill comes into play, and which applied rightfully, can help bring about the desired change through conscious efforts.

To sum up, astrology allows enough of scope to change the course of destiny. Remember, energy serves as a double-edged weapon if used rightfully, it can be productive, and when misused may turn self-defeating. All that is needed is to exercise ones power of freewill to self-reflect upon ones own inherent trends, identify and acknowledge the fault lines. Having known thus, one could make conscientious choice to make amends with the help of educative inputs.

The discussion continues...

The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant and spiritual counsellor. Write to him at G-102, Bharat Nagar, New Friends Colony, New Delhi-110 025 Tel: 91-11-49848475/9818037273 Email: bharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

Originally posted here:
Astroturf | Astrology and destiny indications - Daily Pioneer

I am in shock and I am traumatized. Any death hurts you, if you have any sense of humanity, and especially if it is not expected, out of the blue, and clocks you with a ferocious uppercut, between the eyes, in such a way that the tempo of your day, month, year, is completely concussed, knowing that you will neverneverforget this particular passing of a life. It was the Brooklyn rapper The Notorious B.I.G. who said, like the prophet he was, Sometimes I hear death knockin at my front door. It was the English poet John Donne who said, like the church cleric he was, death diminishes me...therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Well, as we used to say in hip-hop, let the poppers pop and let the breakers break and, my Lord, let the grievers swoon and let the choirs sing sad spirituals because the bell is tolling for Kobe Bean Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and the seven other passengers aboard the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, California, into hilly, rough terrain, after trying to steer its way through a syrupy fog on a West Coast Sunday morning. When I awoke home in New York, I did what I normally do: I scanned both my cell phone and my laptop for news of the day. It was amazing to see that LeBron James had just passed Kobe to become the third-highest scorer in the history of the National Basketball Associationafter Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at number one and Karl Malone at number two. It was doubly amazing to note that the top four scorers in NBA history had all played, at some point, with the Los Angeles Lakers, with Kobes the longest tenure, at 20 years, from his debut in 1996 to his retirement in 2016. I next read Kobe Bryants tweet congratulating LBJ publicly for surpassing him. Little did I know, little did any of us know, that that would be his last tweet ever. I assumed it would be just another mundane Sunday until the evening when I was set to watch Lizzo and Billie Eilish and others at the Grammys.

But then I got an urgent text from a trusted friend and fellow journalist, asking me if I had heard about Kobe. I gasped; I was speechless; the tears came, and I wanted to shove them back into my eye sockets. I did not dare believe Kobe Bryant, born on August 23, 1978, was dead, at the still tender age of 41. My first social media post could not utter the words; I simply said I had heard distressing news about him. Then I texted back and forth with several others, hoping, praying, for some sort of miracle. It is not that I am celebrity-obsessed. I am not. But the reality is that stars, be they entertainers or athletes or politicians or The Royals, take up space in our collective mental, in our collective soulif they are around long enoughlike blood relatives, like a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, an uncle, an aunt, a cousin. They become parts of us, and we are a part of them. Be they James Dean or Marilyn Monroe or Dr. King or John Lennon or Natalie Wood or Princess Diana or Aaliyah or Amy Winehouse or Kobe Bean Bryant, when they go, pieces of us go with them. We rise and fall with them, we laugh and cry with them, we win and lose with them. So when a person with the level of global recognition of a Kobe Bryant dies and dies so tragically, we feel as if we have lost a beloved family member. We are immediately in mourning, as everything about us has faded to black, as black as the lethal Black Mamba snake Kobe channeled as his alter-ego on the court. We are there at the funeral or memorial service, a-hootin' and a-hollerin, as parts of our being attempt to climb into the coffin, the way Kobe climbed into the heads and over the outstretched hands of helpless opponents. We double over in pain as our bodies slump to the floor, the way Kobes did when he shredded his Achilles near the end of his career.

And what a career it was. I first learned of Kobe Bryant when he was a high school phenomenon in a suburb of Philadelphia in 1995, 1996. I learned that his father was former NBA player Joe Jellybean Bryant, a journeyman athlete who once played with the legendary Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers in the mid-1970s. I learned that Joe never became a star player, so he bounced around a lot, in Philly, where Kobe was born, to places like Italy, where the only boy of three Bryant children would pick up Italian and other languages along the way. I learned that he was named after the famous beef in Kobe, Japan, and his middle name, a cosmic chopping of his Dads nickname. I learned that Kobe worshipped NBA superstar Michael Jordan, who was then in the middle of his six championships with the Chicago Bulls. Indeed, Kobe fanned out on MJ so much that he would stick out his tongue in a similar manner when going for a shot, and also wore a wrist band high up on a bicep just like Mike, too.

It was hard to say what Kobe Bryant would become in those first years, particularly since he was only 17 and straight outta high school when drafted. Kobe took soul-pop princess Brandy to his senior prom and even made a hip-hop record that did not do much. He was a teen idol project of Mr. NBA logo himself, Jerry West, acquired in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets on draft day, pairing Kobe with the leagues reigning big man, Shaquille ONeal, and eventually Michael Jordans Bulls coach, Phil Jackson.

As Kobe morphed from close-cropped hair to a wild and angled afro to nearly bald during his 20-year career, I cannot say that I always understood or appreciated him, at least not in the beginning. It was obvious he was a gifted natural scorer, but there were also his nasty feuds with Shaq and Coach Jackson, and allegations that he was a selfish, just-give-me-the-damn-ball player in a team sport. No matter, because first came three straight championships with Shaq, then two more with Pau Gasol, proving the point that Kobe, the most dominant alpha male hoopster of his times, could win without ONeal. Wedged in there are two Olympic gold medals with Lebron and company in 2008 and 2012; a regular-season MVP; two scoring titles; the second-most points in an NBA game ever (81); four All-Star game MVP awards; a slam dunk contest title; 18 All-star game appearances in his 20 years; and the dizzying epilogue to it all: 60 points in his very last game.

Indeed, there is an ancestral baton-passing from Dr. J, to Michael Jordan, to Kobe Bryant, to LeBron James. Unbelievable and unapologetic work ethic, stunningly fearless leadership, and a charisma coupled with a killer instinct that defined each of their eras. While Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player ever, fact is Kobe Bryant is the bridge from MJ to LeBron, a top-3 to top-5 player, easily, and also the player most like Mike that NBA players of recent times have seen, as many were too young to have witnessed Jordan, and regard MJ as an unreachable and mythical God. While Larry Bird and Magic Johnson retrieved basketball from the trash-bin of late-night tv reruns, and Michael Jordan made it crazy, sexy, and cool and an international religion in that Jesus sort of way, I would argue that Kobe Bryant took the sport to the promised land of becoming the national past-time that baseball once was, paralleling the sped-up society America was becoming because of the tech revolution. Put another way, Michael Jordan was crisp, after-work R&B with massive pop appeal while Kobe was defiantly hip-hop, a Negro with an attitude and a gigantic boulder on his shoulder.

He came into the league the same year as Allen Iverson, who was selected number one overall, and of the twelve picks ahead of Kobe at number thirteen, its only Iverson and Ray Allen that are Hall of Fame level, like Kobe. Kobe Bean Bryant simply outworked and out-hustled every single player of his class, stretching his mandate from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama, from Tupac and Biggie to Drake and Meek Mill, from SkyPagers to iPhones, from CDs to Spotify, from MTV to Netflix.

Scrape and strip away all of that, and there Kobe Bryant was, the Black Mamba I saw play in person on more than a few occasions: a six-foot-six specimen of a humanoid who came into the NBA as a teenager, tall and lanky and wide-eyed, and left it muscled and statesman-like, having willed his frame from every manner of finger and hand and shoulders injuries, including his miraculous return from that torn Achilles. He had the encyclopedic IQ of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the Cirque du Soleil flexibility of Michael Jordan and Dr. J, and the insatiable appetite to win of Bill Russell and Jerry West. Watching Kobe Bryant play basketball was like watching The Nicholas Brothers tap and contort and leap through the most brilliant dance routine in film history in Stormy Weather, defying gravity and common sense in spite of the many ways Black men had been told to stay in their place. No, watching Kobe Bryant play basketball was like being there when Langston Hughes spit blood poetry from his Harlem veins, putting to words what the eyes and heart done seen, carrying the dreams of an entire people across rivers, with no shame. No, watching Kobe Bryant play basketball was like James Brown live on stage singing, scatting, screaming, dancing, splitting, freestyling his Blackness in mid-movement as if he were an ordained Yoruba priest refusing to be stuck at the bottom of a slave ship. No, watching Kobe Bryant play basketball was like watching African ballet, except with a basketball and baggy shorts, where Black male minds and Black male bodies like Kobe Bryants acted as if they, not a White man, had invented this game, cutting, slashing, hanging on rims, up on their toes, back on the heels of their feet, basketball representing a freedom for Kobe that could not even be explained by a Langston Hughes poem.

I saw Kobe drive past people for lay-ups. I saw Kobe dunk. I saw Kobe shoot mid-range jumpers. I saw Kobe hit three-point daggers. No matter what you, I, anyone thought of Kobes way of playing basketball, you simply could never take your eyes from him. He whipped his chiseled body, the way we colored folks were whipped on those steamy Southern plantations, except he had full control of his brain, and his body, and understood that he was going to be a different kind of man, a different kind of Black man, one where sports was merely a means to the prize, not the prize itself. And the big prize for Kobe Bryant was to be his own boss for the rest of his life

But, if there is one major blemish on his public record, it is the sexual assault allegation by a young woman who worked at a resort in Eagle, Colorado in the summer of 2003. Kobe had at this point been married a few years to Vanessa and was the father of a daughter. The case damaged his reputation at the time badly, ended several corporate endorsement deals, soured many from him, and foreshadowed the #MeToo movement. But, interestingly enough, Kobe Bryant remains one of the only famous accused men to say words like these in the aftermath of such an allegation, and after the accuser had refused to testify:

"Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."

The accuser filed a separate civil lawsuit against Bryant, which the two sides settled privately, and Kobe apologized, something which is rare for most men to do, particularly with that kind of allegation. But I thought of the incident when, two years after he had retired, his movie, Dear Basketball, was both nominated for and won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Was Kobe Bryant given a pass because of his celebrity and status and long allegiance to the Los Angeles community, which included Hollywood? Or did someone take note of that admission and apology made around the sexual assault case and believed Kobe had learned from that horrible mistake?

I do not know, I am not here to judge, and I think about the fact that Gianna and two other daughters would be born to Vanessa and Kobe after that incident. I think about the ultimate alpha male living in a female-centered household and what that must have done for him, for his growth as a man, as a father, as a husband. And I think about the many photos I have seen of Gianna and Kobe at basketball games, the obviously beautiful and effortless love between father and daughter, and what it must have meant to Kobe to be able to mentor Giannas clear passion for the sport that had made her Dad a world-wide superstar, a filmmaker, an author, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a millionaire several times over, an ex-athlete who was sprinting full speed ahead into the second act of his life. A mentorship that led to their being on that helicopter together when it crashed.

Merry Christmas

A post shared by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Dec 25, 2019 at 11:20am PST

I ache for this loss, for our loss, for Kobe, for Gianna, for the seven other human beings on that ill-fated copter ride. Ash is to ash and dust is to dust, and the physical being of Kobe Bryant has been snatched from us, forever. I ache for his wife, Vanessa, I ache for his three remaining daughters, Natalia, age 17, Bianka, age 3, and Capri, not yet 1, and whose middle name happens to be Kobe. Forget what Kobe Bean Bryant means to us as a champion athlete. I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a partner, a parent, a sibling, in such a cruel and barbaric way. There is just something very perverted about experiencing this in real-time. There is just something very maddening about the fact that there is nothing we can do to bring him, her, them, back.

Finally, I think of a song Simon & Garfunkel wrote long ago called Mrs. Robinson, where they ask whatever happened to a once-great athlete who represented the spirit of an entire people. As America and the planet mourns the passing of Kobe, as we cry tears for a person who was trying to do the right thing in a time of many doing wrong, I reimagine those lyrics for the Black Mamba and I end it here because I have no other words

Where have you gone, Kobe Bean Bryant

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Woo, woo, woo

Whats that you say, Mrs. Robinson

Kobe Bean has left and gone away

Hey, hey, hey

Hey, hey, hey

Kevin Powell is a poet, journalist, civil and human rights activist, public speaker, and author of 14 books, including his autobiography, 'The Education of Kevin Powell.'

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Rosa Parks, The Unsung Hero Of Black Wellness - Vibe

What's the difference between the two?

What is a twin flame? When I met my twin flame, Mike, for the first time, a special connection was made that was different from the others. It had a kind of depth that was unusual for a first meeting.

Ive had instant connections with men before, and one led to anintimate relationship with a soulmate named Peter, whom I traveled to England to visit and be with on several occasions. We had an incredible romance, and I was crushed when that relationship ended.

As time passed, it had become obvious that Peter was not emotionally available to be in a committed relationship with me, even though he had indicated otherwise.Everyone has experienced heartbreaks and that was a big one for me and for him.

RELATED:What Is A Twin Flame & The 6 Stages Of This Fated Relationship

A soulmate is someone you have known before this incarnation, and you may find you have a wonderful and instant connection with that person. You likely have friends and lovers who are soulmates.

A twin flame relationship with a significant other, however, is said to be eternal. There is often more of a spiritual connection (not necessarily religious) and an innate desire to support each other unconditionally in all aspects of your life. It is the most amazing relationship one can imagine.

When my husband and I said our wedding vows, we vowed to be together forever and ever, beyond "death do us part." Those thoughts came through us from a place of higher knowing.

On a conscious level, we did not know the term "twin flame" at that time, yet we had this unusual desire to be together for the remainder of our evolution.

We had only known each other a year when we got married. Yet on our honeymoon, another couple told us they thought we had to be celebrating our 10-year anniversary. That is because it seemed like we had known each other forever. It appeared that way to them and felt that way to us as well.

It's likely you also set the intention at some point in your evolution to have this kind of relationship with your twin flame. Perhapsyouve had a number of unhealthy relationships and heartbreaks, and are wondering if its possible. Join the club.

Maybe youve given up on thinking the man of your dreams is out there or that you deserve or are capable of having a great, healthy relationship with a partner. Or, maybe, you are in a place of readiness.

RELATED:4 Signs You've Found Your 'Twin Flame' & Why It's Different Than Soulmate Love

Prior to meeting my forever husband, I had many unhealthy relationships, one of which was emotionally abusive, one was with a habitual liar, many were with men who were "asleep" and not open to doing their own personal or spiritual development, and some relationships were just for physical reasons.

After divorcing my ex-husband who was an alcoholic, I thought that if I ever got married again, I would live next door to my husband and in a separate house. Thats where my mindset was.

We talk about most everything, support each other in our dreams unconditionally, gave up fixing each other for Lent, and are best friends.

So how do you go from having unhealthy relationships to having an amazing loving, committed relationship with your twin flame? Here are some suggestionsin attracting and creating an amazing, loving relationship that you can apply to your own life:

The above are some of the things I learned over time. But these are skills you can learn as well.

My husband and I met when I was 40 and have now been married over 16 years. Our love grows stronger all the time. If I can create ahealthy, loving relationship after all the unhealthy relationships, you can too.

RELATED:If You Feel These 5 Things, You're In A Twin Flame Relationship

Stacey Mayo is a Master Coach, a high-level intuitive, and an award-winning author.

Link:
What Is A Twin Flame? How To Find Your Twin Flame And What Makes It So Different From A Soulmate - YourTango

The first new car for the 2020 F1 season to appear has a lot riding on it. Haas stumbled badly last year, slipping to last-but-one in the constructors championship.

An upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix made things worse rather than better. It took a long time for the team to discover the fundamental problems with its car which had caused the problem. Once they had been identified, the team reverted to a specification not too dissimilar from the launch images of the car you can see below.

Haas admitted it would take until the new season to address them properly. The VF-20 is the product of last years painful lessons and as a result there will be many anxious faces at Haas not only when it tests for the first time but, just as importantly, over the opening races.

With little change in the technical regulations compared to last year the VF-20 is a clear evolution of its predecessor. And while teams are likely to hold back their major aerodynamic changes until later, the cars front wing already sports a noticeably different shape, following the trend for outswept designs which its fellow Ferrari users preferred.

At the rear of the car there is little indication of any significant changes in the layout of its Ferrari power unit, which was widely thought to be the best in the championship last year. However the cars air intake is noticeably different to last years, adopting a triangular shape more similar to that used by the factory team.

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Use the sliders below to transition between images of the 2020 and 2019 Haas F1 cars.

Note these images may have been altered for ease of comparison and should not be used as a reference for measurements.

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Interactive: Compare the new Haas VF-20 with last year's car - RaceFans

PUBLISHED: 10:28 02 February 2020 | UPDATED: 11:29 02 February 2020

Thomas Chapman

Norfolks bishops, including the Rt Rev Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, have apologised for a Church of England statement saying sex is only for married heterosexual couples. Picture: Archant

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Speaking on behalf of the county's bishops, the Rt Rev Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, said he was "deeply sorry" for the hurt caused by the Church of England report.

In its latest guidance, published last week, the church's House of Bishops stated that sex in gay or straight civil partnerships "falls short of God's purpose for human beings".

The pastoral guidance prompted widespread uproar, including among the clergy as 800 members signed an open letter calling the Church of England a "laughing stock".

And now Norfolk's Anglican bishops have written to all clergy and lay ministers to make their own apology.

Bishop Graham, who became Bishop of Norwich last year, told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I'm very conscious of the hurt that the statement has caused.

"Its tone and how it was written was one that many people found deeply offensive, hurtful and upsetting - as I did myself.

"I personally want to pledge to move forward in a positive way through good conversation and good listening, find a way forward for the Church of England on these hugely complex and potentially divisive issues."

The House of Bishops' report came in response to the recent introduction to mixed-sex civil partnerships, the first of which were registered in December.

The Church of England does not allows same-sex marriage, and only allows the clergy to be in same-sex civil partnerships if they are sexually abstinent.

In its report, the House of Bishops said marriage was the "lifelong union between a man and a woman" and remained the "proper context for sexual activity."

It added that the church "seeks to uphold that standard" when it comes to civil partnerships", and to "affirm the value of committed, sexually abstinent friendships" within those partnerships.

While the guidance will have delighted more conservative members of the church, Bishop Graham highlighted the need for continued conversation and evolution within Christianity.

He added: "Their (conservatives) view is important, but one that needs to be part of an ongoing conversation bringing together people from different perspectives about these deep, personal question of identity, human sexuality and marriage."

See original here:
Norfolk bishops apologise for Church of England guidance on sex | Latest Norfolk and Suffolk News - Eastern Daily Press

As the stuntman Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantinos Once Upon a Timein Hollywood, Brad Pitt laid down a performance of vintage Hollywood dudeness. His character is equally at ease being a human security blanket for his B-list-actor boss, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, as he is subduing murderous Manson family members while tripping on acid.

In James Grays Ad Astra, Pitt used the same tools he wielded so deftly in Tarantinos film laconic cool; understated emotion to build an entirely different version of masculinity. In it, hes Roy McBride, an astronaut on an interplanetary mission to find his absentee (in multiple senses of the word) father.

Brad Pitt on getting older: "You become more aware of your shortcomings. You look into starting to break some of that open, which is not always comfortable. "Credit:Micaiah Carter/The New York Times

But McBrides imperturbability is rooted in repression and hurt, nothing like Booths so-it-goes acceptance. The two characters could be connected, says Pitt, who is now 56 years old, in the sense that you have to go through an evolution to get to a place of comfort. You have to go through profound internal hardships.

Theres such stillness and ease to your work in Once Upon a Timein Hollywood and Ad Astra. Those qualities werent always there earlier in your career. Is that because youve gotten better at picking roles?

No, because I dont know what the outcome of the work is going to be. But in the 90s I did become aware that there was this kind of leading-man role that you could plug any of us into and it didnt even matter. We would all have the same result. So as Ive gotten older, Ive become more conscious of thinking, If I am the one to play something, what can I bring thats unique?

What did you bring to Cliff Booth and Roy McBride?

With Cliff its connected to my dad, the way he carries himself. Its also the iconic figures like Butch and Sundance and in Clint Eastwood movies. Then its where I am in my life. I dont care who you are, life is struggle. Its how you perceive those struggles. As Ive gotten older, I take them more as another day in the office, acceptance of what the day throws you. And in Ad Astra, we were looking at this idea of being older, being a dad.

You become more aware of your shortcomings. You look into starting to break some of that open, which is not always comfortable. I said to James Gray, I see this as very still, and I want to see how much truth and honesty can read on camera, can resonate. Its what they say: the camera doesnt lie. Though I dont know if thats true. Ive seen some people lie on camera, and it looks pretty good.

I dont care who you are, life is struggle. Its how you perceive those struggles.

Have you lied on camera?

I must have somewhere. Some days youre drowning on set. You just cant quite get there.

Was there a performance where you never got your head above water?

My first 15 years of them.

Those 15 years include films like 12 Monkeys. You got an Oscar nomination for that one.

I nailed the first half of 12 Monkeys. I got the second half all wrong. That performance bothered me because there was a trap in the writing. Its not the writings fault, but it was something that I couldnt figure out. I knew in the second half of the film I was playing the gimmick of what was real in the first half until the last scene and it bugged the [expletive] out of me.

Looking at the arc of your career, it seems as if a real shift happened somewhere around 2004. You started working more exclusively with higher-calibre directors. And maybe as a result, your acting had this new depth to it. I can see a line from then to now. Sorry, I realise thats an observation and not a question.

But youre absolutely right. Im happy someone could read that. It was really a turn on Troy. I was disappointed in it. When youre trying to figure things out in your career, you get a lot of advice. People are telling you that you should be doing this, and other people are saying you should be doing that. There was this defining film I never got to do, a Coen brothers film called To the White Sea. We had an opportunity to go, and then it was shut down. Then another interesting opportunity arose, and instead I was talked into: No, you need to be doing this other thing. You can get to your art project later. I ended up taking that advice.

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And you made Troy?

No, it wasnt Troy, it was another thing. But that really made me think, Im following my gut from here on out. I had to do Troy because I guess I can say all this now I pulled out of another movie, then had to do something for the studio. So I was put in Troy. It wasnt painful, but I realised the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be. I made my own mistakes in it. What am I trying to say about Troy? I could not get out of the middle of the frame. It was driving me crazy. Id become spoiled working with David Fincher.

Its no slight on [Troy director] Wolfgang Petersen; Das Boot is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, Troy became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, Heres the hero! There was no mystery. So about that time I made a decision that I was only going to invest in quality stories, for lack of a better term. It was a distinct shift that led to the next decade of films.

You didnt get much opportunity to do comedy until fairly deep into your career, and now its a real strength; Cliff is such a sly, funny character. Was developing that side of what you do also part of the effort to get away from the straightforward leading-man stuff?

Well, I was very conscious of that when I did Kalifornia. Its kind of a B film, but it was important for me. I was going against the things I was getting at the time. I got to do character work in it, and theres humour laid in there, too. Ive gotten to do a few comedies. Theyve just been subtle. Im better at behavioural comedy than jokes.

Its interesting that you mention Kalifornia. I see that as a very method-y, flashy performance. It doesnt strike me as pointing toward the kind of work youre doing now.

But it was another big turning point for me. After Thelma & Louise I was offered hitchhiker roles, which is no surprise but you would be surprised at how many hitchhiker roles there were. I was also being offered romantic leads. For me in the 90s, there was this strict imprint of what a leading man was. It felt limiting. So what Im pinpointing with Kalifornia is a moment in which you can tell yourself that the box is bigger than the one youre being defined in.

Brad Pitt, right, with Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood. Pitt plays stuntman Cliff Booth. Credit:AP

An example of the kind of behavioural comedy you just described is Cliffs LSD scene in Once Upon a Timein Hollywood at least before he starts bashing heads. Actually, wait, Im curious: have you taken LSD?

Who, me?

Yeah, you.

Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

The way you said that suggests more than a passing familiarity.

[Laughs] Im microdosing right now.

Youre holding it together nicely.

By the way, that was brilliant of Quentin. He came up with that a couple of weeks before we started shooting. We already had the script, and then he said, Youre going to be on acid in that scene. I said, Great! It gives you so much room. The clichs of acid trails; its always funny. Everyone gets it. But the scene mightve played the same way without acid: Cliff would find it so damn funny that he was having a normal night and then these bozos show up at his house. He was feeling the opposite of fear. There would have been humour for Cliff regardless. It was just amplified on acid.

A film like Once Upon a Timein Hollywood is so much about how certain kinds of cultural figures and images evoke particular associations and memories. And along those lines, its not some brilliant leap of interpretation to suggest that our and the movies awareness of a Brad Pitt persona affects our feelings about Cliff Booth. As an actor, are you aware of how the audiences idea of you can resonate with a role?

No.

Really? That resonance feels so central to the pleasure of the movie.

The answer is no. I mean, Im aware of when a director is using my persona really well. Fincher in Fight Club was twisting it. In Jesse James, it was pretty blatant. But no, Im not really aware, and Im not sure I should be.

I stopped reading all press about 2004. Not just reviews. I mean any magazine in the doctors office. Because some of it would bounce around like a rat in the skull. It would stay there, and it would inform some of my decisions and choices in work, in life, and I didnt find any of it helpful.

People always say they dont read about themselves. I never believe it.

I dont go out of my way to avoid it; I just dont seek it out. I dont know how many women theyve said Ive been dating the last few years, and none of its true I just flashed on something, but maybe it doesnt mean anything.

What?

When I first started my career, I was in USA Today. I was pretty pleased with myself. Two days after it came out, I go over to a friend-of-a-friends house. In the kitchen I look down and theres a litter box for the cat and theres my piece in USA Today with a cat turd on top of it. That pretty much defines it. This is a different, probably more embarrassing version of the question about your persona: are your looks a tool you can use or subvert to particular actorly effect?

No.

Brad Pitt in Ad Astra where he plays Roy McBride, an astronaut on an mission to find his absentee father. Credit:AP

How could the answer be no? What of all this business about actors and their instrument?

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Yeah, but you dont know how you read. Ive had moments where Ive seen pictures of myself from years ago and gone, That kid looks all right. But I didnt feel that way inside. I spent most of the 90s hiding out and smoking pot. I was too uncomfortable with all the attention. Then I got to a place where I was aware that I was imprisoning myself. Now I go out and live life, and generally people are pretty cool I just flashed on something else: when I was a kid, I loved the Harlem Globetrotters. When they came to my town, it was a big deal. We had seats up in the bleachers, but I sneaked down and sat in the front row, and Meadowlark pulled me out of the crowd. I was the kid for the thing when they threw the bucket of water, you know?

Youre talking about Meadowlark Lemons famous Globetrotters bit where his water bucket is filled with confetti?

Yeah. And I remember how when that happened I felt as if I had been touched by someone great. So what Im getting at is that after I stopped hiding out, once I got back out in the world, I realised that you have that ability to make someone feel good for a moment. Im not trying to say anyone is being brushed with my greatness. Im trying to say that I have the opportunity to brighten someones day. Thats a rare thing.

Edited version of a story first published in the New York Times Magazine. The interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations. The New York Times Company

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

Excerpt from:
'I decided to only invest in quality stories': The moment Brad Pitt found his groove - The Sydney Morning Herald

We are coming closer to the centennial celebration of Atatrks establishment of the modern Turkish state while 100 years have already passed since the Ottoman Empires sunset. During the last decades, under Recep Tayyp Erdogans leadership as prime minister or president, Turkey has continuously grown economically and, in spite of certain domestic divisions (see the aborted coup of July, 2016), succeeded in strengthening an important regional geopolitical position and sought to become a global geopolitical power. Although Ankara denies officially it seeks the restoration of the Ottoman Empire, president Erdogans political and military moves prove otherwise.

In an article published at the end of last year by a Turkish journalist specialised in foreign affairs, Atatrks principle evoked in his celebrated speech concerning the battle of Sarakaya according to which not only a single line should be defended but an entire area was recalled.

Consequently, Turkey must reconsider presently its defense zone which spreads from Qatar to Libya with Cyprus in the middle.

Assessing this fact, one finds that Turkeys general policy of the last decades was circumscribed to this purpose and that political, military, economic and of other nature steps were taken to this end. The establishment of Turkeys military bases abroad starting with the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 until the beginning of 2020,whenthemilitaryinvolvment in Libya was decided (with a number of troops for training and cooperation; certain sources mention the readiness of sending around 2,000 men who fought on the Syrian front)underlines the said policy. In fact, sustaining such a number of troops in Libya generates tough logistical problems for Turkey as it has no efficient means for that yet. The display of a Turkish drone which left the country and reached Libya after landing in Cyprus only is not enough and, on the contrary, highlights the difficulties of securing the logistical support of an important number of troops in Libya.

EstablishingTurkeysmilitarybasesabroadwasdonebyskillfullyusingthe regional political and military developments. The most telling example besides Libya is the Tariq Ibn Ziyad base in Qatar completed in 2019. In Iraq, Turkey has around 20 small-scale military bases predominantly for intelligence gathering. Six bases were established in northern Syria with a publicly unknown number of military assigned there. Most probably each of them are equaling at least an infantry company with additional units of artillery and tanks. The intent of setting up a military base in Georgia did not materialise.

Turkish diplomacy plays an important part in materializing president Erdogans geopolitical plans and when Ahmed Davudoglu was minister of foreign affairs (2009-2014) important steps were adopted for expanding the diplomatic component of Turkish foreign policy. It seems that now the diplomatic apparatus put in place by Turkey and its quality represents an efficient support for the foreign policy Ankara is currently promoting.

On the military component which is supposed to play an even more important role in strengthening and preserving the influence area wished for by Ankara leadership, one should mention that although Turkey has one of the strongest armies in the world (NATOs second and the 19th worldwide, according to Global Fire Power) it is not fully equipped to meet that challenge. After the aborted coup of July 15th, 2016, the management capacity of the army was severely damaged by the arrests, sentencing and dismissals that followed thereafter and even in 2019 (163 generals and admirals 45% of the armys total) the effects of which could be offset within around 5-10 years.

President Erdogan (prime minister between 2003-2014, president thereafter and re-elected in 2018) rules with a firm hand the country and, through the constitutional amendments that were adopted, he succeeded in concentrating the executive power in his hands and to compete for a third term in 2023. Hakan Fidan, the powerful head of MIT (National Intelligence Organization)who secures the presidents position played a pivotal role in annihilating the 2016 coup attempt and is considered one of the presidents main proponents.

Notwhistanding the achievements and the long political career, president Erdogans regime begins to present some signs of weakness and the most recent and important one was the presidential party AKP loss of Istanbuls mayorship which was taken over by the candidate of the main opposition party, The Peoples Republican Party (CHP)EkremImamoglu. The latter opposes the Istanbul Channel project, an idea launched by president Erdogan in 2011 and which materialisation the government intends to get started as of 2020.

The current Turkeys economic condition is relatively healthy although in 2018 the economy contracted shortly and the national currency devaluated by 30%, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development assessed in May 2019 a gradual recovery and an economic growth of 2.5% in 2020.

Turkey, which is dependent on energy imputs, cares about making best use of its geostrategic position by building gas pipelines (Turkish Stream started in 2017 and was commissioned on January 1st, 2020) and seeks favourable conditions for exploiting the Mediterranean Sea resources in spite of the tense situation resulted from delineating the marine economic zones (see the map bellow).

Moreover, in a move intended to make it an unavoidable arbiter in the Mediterranean, Ankara signed with Libya, on November 27th, 2019, a MoU on delineating the continental shelf of the two countries which would practically divide the Mediterranean in two.

The move could hinder the 1,900 km EastMed pipeline to be built by Greece, Cyprus and Israel for which the final decision should be taken by 2022 and to be completed by 2025.

Libya represents an important pole for carrying out Ankaras plans. The situation in the country is complicated and fluid not only as a result of the domestic developments but also especially due to the conflict between the two powerful groups of prime minister Fayez al-Serraj who heads the Government of National Accord (GNA), recognized by the UN and General Khalifa Haftar who, supported by Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, controls a great part of the country and who, during the Berlin conference, suspended most exports of Libyan crude in order to have a stronger negotiation position.

Furthermore, in spite of the recent agreement reached in Berlin with provisions prohibiting arms deliveries and foreign intervention in Libya, an important trafic including weapons and ammunition deliveries and foreign counselors was noticed at Tripoli Airport at the end of January. Turkeys consolidation of its presence and influence in Libya is seen by certain forces as a danger that may lead to the establishment of an Islamist regime in the country given that GNA has the backing of several Islamist groups as well as the well-known support Turkey extended to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. It is believed that if there is no international intervention for a cease fire which I dont see materialized in the coming future the most probable result of the Turkish intervention will be the establishment of another Islamist regime in the Mediterranean.

The accomplishment of Turkeys plan of restoring an important influence area from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, between Doha and Tripoli, seemsdoablegiventheuncertaingeopoliticaldevelopmentsregionallyandglobally. Ankara used to this end the most modern means and international media outlets emphasized that cyberattacks in 2018 and 2019 that would have originated in Turkey against around 50 state and not only institutions in Greece, Cyprus and Iraq were recently exposed.

The latest developments by the end of January 2020 prove once more the fragility and complexity of the situation in the Mediterranean and the inefficiency of the Berlin Agreement: France accuses Turkey of not observing the agreement signed in the German capital and sent to Libya Syrian mercenaries landed off Turkish vessels while Turkey accuses France of supporting Khalifa Haftar in search of benefits in the oil field. Moreover, France decided to dispatch military frigates to the east of the Mediterranean to assist Greece, a decision applauded by the Greek prime minister while visiting Paris.

Under Erdogans leadership, Turkey moves resolved towards maximizing its geopolitical role and position capitalizing on great players hesitations (the US, China, Russia).It is difficult to estimate to what extent it will accomplish such plans.

If you are not fighting for what you want you deserve what you have, a renowned American speaker and writer said. How great it would be if this phrase were put into practice with due regard for all principles and norms of international law. Unfortunately, the right of force is still stronger than the force of rule and therefore vae victis.

Link:
What the Deal of the Century Tells Us About the World We Live In - Modern Diplomacy

Whoever wins it will have an advantage in every conflict around the world.

Graham Allison alerts us to artificial intelligence being the epicenter of todays superpower arms race.

Drawing heavily on Kai-Fu Lees basic thesis, Allison draws the battlelines: the United States vs. China, across the domains of human talent, big data, and government commitment.

Allison further points to the absence of controls, or even dialogue, on what AI means for strategic stability. With implied resignation, his article acknowledges the smashing of Pandoras Box, noting many AI advancements occur in the private sector beyond government scrutiny or control.

However, unlike the chilling and destructive promise of nuclear weapons, the threat posed by AI in popular imagination is amorphous, restricted to economic dislocation or sci-fi depictions of robotic apocalypse.

Absent from Allisons call to action is explaining the so what?why does the future hinge on AI dominance? After all, the few examples (mass surveillance, pilot HUDs, autonomous weapons) Allison does provide reference continued enhancements to the status quoincremental change, not paradigm shift.

As Allison notes, President Xi Jinping awoke to the power of AI after AlphaGo defeated the worlds number one Go human player, Lee Sedol. But why? What did Xi see in this computation that persuaded him to make AI the centerpiece of Chinese national endeavor?

The answer: AIs superhuman capacity to think.

To explain, lets begin with what I am not talking about. I do not mean so-called general AIthe broad-spectrum intelligence with self-directed goals acting independent of, or in spite of, preferences of human creators.

Eminent figures such as Elon Musk and Sam Harris warn of the coming of general AI. In particular, the so-called singularity, wherein AI evolves the ability to rewrite its own code. According to Musk and Harris, this will precipitate an exponential explosion in that AIs capability, realizing 10,000 IQ and beyond in a matter of mere hours. At such time, they argue, AI will become to us what we are to ants, with similar levels of regard.

I concur with Sam and Elon that the advent of artificial general superintelligence is highly probable, but this still requires transformative technological breakthroughs the circumstances for which are hard to predict. Accordingly, whether general AI is realized 30 or 200 years from now remains unknown, as is the nature of the intelligence created; such as if it is conscious or instinctual, innocent or a weapon.

When I discuss the AI arms race I mean the continued refinement of existing technology. Artificial intelligence that, while being a true intelligence in the sense of having the ability to self-learn, it has a single programmed goal constrained within a narrow set of rules and parameters (such as a game).

To demonstrate what President Xi saw in AI winning a strategy game, and why the global balance of power hinges on it, we need to talk briefly about games.

Artificial Intelligence and Games

There are two types of strategy games: games of complete information and games of incomplete information. A game of complete information is one in which every player can see all of the parameters and options of every other player.

Tic-Tac-Toe is a game of complete information. An average adult can solve this game with less than thirty minutes of practice. That is, adopt a strategy that no matter what your opponent does, you can correctly counter it to obtain a draw. If your opponent deviates from that same strategy, you can exploit them and win.

Conversely, a basic game of uncertainty is Rock, Scissors, Paper. Upon learning the rules, all players immediately know the optimal strategy. If your opponent throws Rock, you want to throw Paper. If they throw Paper, you want to throw Scissors, and so on.

Unfortunately, you do not know ahead of time what your opponent is going to do. Being aware of this, what is the correct strategy?

The unexploitable strategy is to throw Rock 33 percent of the time, Scissors 33 percent of the time, and Paper 33 percent of the time, each option being chosen randomly to avoid observable patterns or bias.

This unexploitable strategy means that, no matter what approach your opponent adopts, they won't be able to gain an edge against you.

But lets imagine your opponent throws Rock 100 percent of the time. How does your randomized strategy stack up? 33 percent of the time you'll tie (Rock), 33 percent of the time you'll win (Paper), and 33 percent of the time you'll lose (Scissors)the total expected value of your strategy against theirs is 0.

Is this your optimal strategy? No. If your opponent is throwing Rock 100 percent of the time, you should be exploiting your opponent by throwing Paper.

Naturally, if your opponent is paying attention they, in turn, will adjust to start throwing Scissors. You and your opponent then go through a series of exploits and counter-exploits until you both gradually drift toward an unexploitable equilibrium.

With me so far? Good. Let's talk about computing and games.

As stated, nearly any human can solve Tic-Tac-Toe, and computers solved checkers many years ago. However more complex games such as Chess, Go, and No-limit Texas Holdem poker have not been solved.

Despite all being mind-bogglingly complex, of the three chess is simplest. In 1997, reigning world champion Garry Kasparov was soundly beaten by the supercomputer Deep Blue. Today, anyone reading this has access to a chess computer on their phone that could trounce any human player.

Meanwhile, the eastern game of Go eluded programmers. Go has many orders of magnitude more combinations than chess. Until recently, humans beat computers by being far more efficient in selecting moveswe don't spend our time trying to calculate every possible option twenty-five moves deep. Instead, we intuitively narrow our decisionmaking to a few good choices and assess those.

Moreover, unlike traditional computers, people are able to think in non-linear abstraction. Humans can, for example, imagine a future state during the late stages of the game beyond which a computer could possibly calculate. We are not constrained by a forward-looking linear progression. Humans can wonderfully imagine a future endpoint, and work backwards from there to formulate a plan.

Many previously believed that this combination of factorsnear-infinite combinations and the human ability to think abstractlymeant that go would forever remain beyond the reach of the computer.

Then in 2016 something unprecedented happened. The AI system, AlphaGo, defeated the reigning world champion go player Lee Sedol 4-1.

But that was nothing: two years later, a new AI system, AlphaZero, was pitched against AlphaGo.

Unlike its predecessor which contained significant databases of go theory, all AlphaZero knew was the rules, from which it played itself continuously over forty days.

After this period of self-learning, AlphaZero annihilated AlphaGo, not 4-1, but 100-0.

In forty days AlphaZero had superseded 2,500 years of total human accumulated knowledge and even invented a range of strategies that had never been discovered before in history.

Meanwhile, chess computers are now a whole new frontier of competition, with programmers pitting their systems against one another to win digital titles. At the time of writing the world's best chess engine is a program known as Stockfish, able to smash any human Grandmaster easily. In December 2017 Stockfish was pitted against AlphaZero.

Again, AlphaZero only knew the rules. AlphaZero taught itself to play chess over a period of nine hours. The result over 100 games? AlphaZero twenty-eight wins, zero losses, seventy-two draws.

Not only can artificial intelligence crush human players, it also obliterates the best computer programs that humans can design.

Artificial Intelligence and Abstraction

Most chess computers play a purely mathematical strategy in a game yet to be solved. They are raw calculators and look like it too. AlphaZero, at least in style, appears to play every bit like a human. It makes long-term positional plays as if it can visualize the board; spectacular piece sacrifices that no computer could ever possibly pull off, and exploitative exchanges that would make a computer, if it were able, cringe with complexity. In short, AlphaZero is a genuine intelligence. Not self-aware, and constrained by a sandboxed reality, but real.

Despite differences in complexity there is one limitation that chess and go both share they're games of complete information.

Enter No-limit Texas Holdem (hereon, Poker). This is the ultimate game of uncertainty and incomplete information. In poker, you know what your hole cards are, the stack sizes for each player, and the community cards that have so far come out on the board. However, you don't know your opponent's cards, whether they will bet or raise or how much, or what cards are coming out on later streets of betting.

Poker is arguably the most complex game in the world, combining mathematics, strategy, timing, psychology, and luck. Unlike Chess or Go, Pokers possibilities are truly infinite and across multiple players simultaneously. The idea that a computer could beat top Poker professionals seems risible.

Except that it has already happened. In 2017, the AI system Libratus comprehensively beat the best Head's-up (two-player) poker players in the world.

And now, just months ago, another AI system Pluribus achieved the unthinkableit crushed super high stakes poker games against multiple top professionals simultaneously, doing so at a win-rate of five big blinds per hour. For perspective, the difference in skill level between the best English Premier League soccer team and the worst would not be that much.

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Explained: The Artificial Intelligence Race is an Arms Race - The National Interest Online