Home » India » Telangana » Hyderabad: 'I have said nothing objectionable to Telangana DC'
Hyderabad: 'I have said nothing objectionable to Telangana DC'
Sunday, September 4th, 2022 at 12:45 AM
Hyderabad: Under attack from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for publicly pulling up a district Collector in Telangana, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended herself saying her language was not objectionable or unparliamentary.
She told reporters on Saturday that she did not cross limits of parliamentary conduct while questioning Kamareddy district Collector about the share of the Centre and the state in supply of ration through public distribution system.
During a visit to Birkur village in Kamareddy district on Friday, the central minister expressed her anger at district Collector Jitesh V. Patil as the Prime Minister's flexis was not displayed at a fair price shop.
Sitharaman was visiting Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency as part of BJP's Lok Sabha Pravas Yojana.
TRS working president K.T. Rama stated that he was appalled by the unruly conduct of the union finance minister with the District Magistrate/Collector of Kamareddy.
Rama Rao complimented Jitesh Patil on his dignified conduct.
"I am not here to judge the conduct of the Collector. As people's representative I have every business to ask questions. Point out to me if during the conversation there was anything objectionable, unparliamentary or discourteous," she said.
"As a people's representative I asked a question. He was unable to give an answer. I went to the extent of saying if you don't have an answer now, you may come with the one after half-an-hour," she added.
"You have every right to have that opinion but as a people's representative I have every business to ask and seek an answer. If my language is objectionable you have every business to comment but I have not crossed limits of parliamentary language," she said
The central minister, however, termed as cynical the assertion by the TRS leader that the Centre should put up banners at all PDS shops in BJP-ruled states thanking Telangana for its contribution.
"Since our FM is going around lecturing how 'Modi Sarkar' is the Giver. Here are the facts and figures. For every Rupee that Telangana contributes to the Nation, we only get back 46 paise! Madam, time to put up a banner: 'Thanks to Telangana in all BJP states' PDS shops," TRS leader KTR tweeted.
She wondered if the argument by the TRS leader can be applied within Telangana.
"Hyderabad contributes 55 per cent of Telangana's income. All projects in the state will have Hyderabad's contribution. If you are building a project in Adilabad, can you put the name of Hyderabad MP or tax payers of Hyderabad there," she asked.
"If every individual and state starts saying I have given this much, give me back that much…. Taxation principle does not work on that ground," she said
The finance minister termed this behaviour as 'regressive' and remarked that this may be good for rhetoric, for the media and to increase the political temperature but it's 'disingenuous'.
She reiterated that the TRS government was labelling the Central schemes as its own.
"If you borrow money for a project and use your name for the same, we have no objection but you can't change the name of a Central scheme and call it as your scheme," she said.
Sitharaman claimed that after the Narendra Modi government brought a reform through digitization, the share of the Centre and the states in all schemes will be clear.
She also dismissed the allegations by the TRS of discrimination against Telangana in the devolution of Central taxes. She said that the devolution is done on a monthly basis as per the formula evolved by the Finance Commission.
"We can't give more to a state and less to another state. There is nothing in our hands. It's all done as per the system," he said.
She also dismissed the allegation that the states don't get any share in the cesses collected by the Centre. She claimed that cesses on education, health, infrastructure go to states for building road projects, schools and hospitals.
To another query, she said during Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, the Centre increased the borrowing limit of states from 3 per cent to 5 per cent subject to certain conditions.
She, however, said the conditions were not indiscreet but clearly aimed at achieving some objectives of reforms.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
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Watch: How a change in grip helped Steve Smith find his range in T20 cricket
Australia's prolific batter Steve Smith, who is currently playing in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) is in red-hot form. On Monday, the Sydney Sixers batter scripted a unique feat as he helped his side to 16 runs off one ball against the Hobart Hurricanes.
As the explosive stroke maker achieved this feat, commentators and analysts couldn't help but decode his ball-hitting techniques.
Former Australian cricketer Greg Blewett has thrown light on how a change in grip helped Steve Smith find his range in T20 matches.
During a 7 Cricket show, Blewett compared Smith's BBL 9 and the ongoing season 12's batting style. He pointed out how the 33-year batter has tweaked his bat-holding technique.
"You can see on the left, (during season 9) how far is his bottom hand. He's made a slight tweak (in season 12). He's opened up a little bit it's still around a fairway. But you can see in the back face on the left-hand side it's closed. Then on the right it's just a little bit more openly spoken about actually under-spinning the ball instead of hitting it with the spin," he said.
A slight change from Steve Smith has unlocked a key to his T20 game, as @blewy214 explains #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/T0CqFrrZKy
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 23, 2023
Smith has scored back-to-back T20 centuries in the Big Bash League. Earlier this month, Smith smacked an unbeaten 125 (66) at the SCG, the fifth-highest score in BBL history, backing up the century he scored against the Adelaide Strikers in Coffs Harbour.
ON THE ROOF.
Steve Smith 🔥 #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/XLxROgo7hW
Interestingly, he completed both his centuries with a six. Against Adelaide Strikers, he reaches the feat in just 56 balls, including five boundaries and seven sixes. On Saturday against Sydney Thunders, he smoked a 66-ball 125 with the help of five boundaries and nine sixes and call it a sheer incident, he again completed his century in 56 balls.
Categories Sports Tags Big Bash League, cricket news, IE Sports, indian express sports, sports news, Steve Smith
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The Gale Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ancient Lakes Existed on Mars 3 Billion Years Ago, NASA Reveals
DAVID NIELD
The existence of water on Mars has been one of the most compelling mysteries in the history of human space exploration, and new clues are now being discovered on a regular basis. A new report published by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory team points to evidence that the surface of the planet was indeed covered by huge lakes several billion years ago - lakes that have since disappeared, possibly evaporating into the atmosphere and the deep space beyond.
The idea that large bodies of water covered the surface of Mars is not a new one, but looking so far back into the past with a great degree of accuracy is incredibly difficult - so any fresh piece of evidence is a useful addition to NASA's theories. This particular paper, published in the journal Science, uses data gathered from the Curiosity rover currently trundling across the surface of the Red Planet.
As Curiosity has explored the Gale Crater on Mars, it's found evidence of many layers of sediment - sediment that was left behind by lakes and now forms the base of Mount Sharp (or Aeolis Mons). The crater and the mountain at the centre of it are judged to be around 3.8 to 3.6 billion years old.
"What we thought we knew about water on Mars is constantly being put to the test," said Michael Meyer, one of NASA's lead scientists. "It's clear that the Mars of billions of years ago more closely resembled Earth than it does today. Our challenge is to figure out how this more clement Mars was even possible, and what happened to that wetter Mars."
While we've known about the sediments in the Gale Crater for some time, some scientists hypothesised that they were created by dust and sand blown by the wind. As Curiosity has looked closer, it seems that rivers and lakes were actually the cause - at least for the lower levels of Mount Sharp, which is as far as the rover has got. The finely laminated mudstones that Curiosity has discovered match the types of rocks that would be left behind by large bodies of water.
It's possible that those lakes expanded and contracted over hundreds of millions of years. What still puzzles scientists is where all this water came from in the first place.
"Paradoxically, where there is a mountain today there was once a basin, and it was sometimes filled with water," said John Grotzinger, the lead author of the new report. "We see evidence of about 250 feet (75 metres) of sedimentary fill, and based on mapping data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and images from Curiosity's camera, it appears that the water-transported sedimentary deposition could have extended at least 500 to 650 feet (150 to 200 metres) above the crater floor."


Government Book Talk
Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.
Best Selling Federal Government Books of 2015
The start of a new year is finally upon us! And although it's an exciting time as we jump start our "New Year" resolutions, it's also a great time to reflect on accomplishments made during the past year. For the U.S. Government Bookstore, this means highlighting our best-selling Federal publications of 2015.
The following publications, some of which have been featured in this blog, were chosen through purchases made by our readers over the past year. Government Book Talk is pleased to announce the U.S. Government Bookstore Best Sellers of 2015!
OPM Federal Career Service Award Certificates. Gold Retirement Federal Career Service Award Certificates, sized 8.5×11 inches to fit certificate frames. Printed on high quality, off-white heavy paper stock, each certificate is embossed with a metallic version of the Great Seal of the United States, used for official Government documents. As authorized by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence (Pocket Edition). A pocket-size booklet containing the complete text of these two core documents of American democracy, the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence.
Forts of Old San Juan: San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico tells the story of the evolution of the defenses of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the role they played in helping to safeguard Spanish possessions in the Caribbean from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents, and Survivors, 2014. Veterans of the United States armed forces may be eligible for a broad range of benefits and services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Some of these benefits may be utilized while on active duty. These benefits are codified in Title 38 of the United States Code. This booklet contains a summary of these benefits effective Jan. 1, 2014. For additional information, visit www.va.gov/.
The Lead-Safe Certified Guide to Renovate Right, September 2011 Revision. This pamphlet is for you if you reside in a home built before 1978, or if you own or operate a child care facility, including preschools and kindergarten classrooms built before 1978, or if you have a child under six years old who attends child care facility built before 1978.
International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis as Approved by the World Health Organization. Known popularly as the Carte Jaune or Yellow Card, this is the international certificate of vaccination (ICV) as approved by the World Health Organization. The Yellow Card is recognized internationally and may be required for entry to certain countries where there are increased health risks for travelers.
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute: Chapter 71 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, as Amended, and 5 U.S.C. 5596, The Back Pay Act, as Amended (2012). Known as the FLRA Pocket Statute. It is the purpose of this chapter to prescribe certain rights and obligations of the employees of the Federal Government and to establish procedures which are designed to meet the special requirements and needs of the Government. The provisions of this chapter should be interpreted in a manner consistent with the requirement of an effective and efficient Government.
Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the Naturalization Test (Book and Audio CD) Revised edition. Contains short lessons based on each of the 100 civics questions. Ideal for both U.S. history/ civics students as well as legal residents preparing for the United States Naturalization citizenship test, this set contains information that will help you learn more about important concepts in American history and government.
U.S. Coast Guard Incident Management Handbook 2014. The Coast Guard Incident Management Handbook (IMH) is designed to assist Coast Guard personnel in the use of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) during response operations and planned events. The Incident Management Handbook is an easy reference job aid for responders. It is not a policy document, but rather guidance for response personnel.
Health Insurance Claims Forms (CMS-1500) Single Sheets (Revised 2012). The CMS-1500 form is the standard claim form developed by the National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) and used by all non-institutional medical provider or supplier to bill Medicare carriers and durable medical equipment regional carriers (DMERCs) when a provider qualifies for a waiver from the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act (ASCA) requirement for electronic submission of claims. It is also used for billing of some Medicaid State Agencies (contact your Medicaid State Agency for more details).
And there you have it, our top 10 best-sellers of 2015. Here's looking forward to another exciting year in Federal government publications. Happy 2016!
These publications and more can be found on the U.S. Government Online Bookstore http://bookstore.gpo.gov.
How can I get these "Best-selling Books of 2015"?
Shop Online: You can purchase these publications from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov by clicking on the individual links above in this blog post. You may also click here to shop our entire "Best Sellers of 2015" collection.
Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.
Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO's retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.
Visit a Federal Depository Library: Search for one of these publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.
About the author: Trudy Hawkins is Senior Marketing and Promotions Specialist in GPO's Publication & Information Sales Division supporting the U.S. Government Online Bookstore (http://bookstore.gpo.gov).
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Award Winning Books, Government Printing Office (GPO).	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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AgBioWorld
Nina Fedoroff: Mobilizing the authority of American science to back Monsanto
Posted on June 18, 2019 by Stacy Malkan
As a president and board chair of AAAS from 2011-2013, Dr. Fedoroff advanced agrichemical industry policy objectives. She now works for a lobbying firm.
Documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know show how public relations and lobbying efforts are coordinated behind the scenes among the agrichemical industry, front groups and academics who appear independent.
Dr. Fedoroff promotes organizations that mislead the public about science and their industry ties.
Nina Fedoroff, PhD, is one of the most influential scientists advocating for the proliferation and deregulation of genetically engineered foods. She is a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011-2012) and former chair of the AAAS Board of Directors (2012-2013). She is a senior science advisor since 2015 at OFW Law, a lobbying firm whose clients have included Syngenta and the Council for Biotechnology Information, a trade group representing Bayer (which owns Monsanto), BASF, Corteva (a division of DowDuPont) and Syngenta.
From 2007-2010, Dr. Fedoroff served as science and technology advisor to the Secretary of State and the Administrator of USAID under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Prior to that, she was a board member of the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a multinational chemical and biotech firm; and an advisory board member of Evogene, a biotechnology company that partnered with DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Monsanto.
In 2017, Dr. Fedoroff promoted the American Council on Science and Health "junk science" book alongside two scientists affiliated with groups that deny climate science and lobby for tobacco products.
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "science czar," Dr. Fedoroff served as diplomat for the "GMO all the way" thrust of U.S. foreign policy, Tom Philpott reported in Grist in 2008 and 2009. Pesticide Action Network of North America has described Dr. Fedoroff as "literally the U.S. ambassador" for genetic engineering. According to Greenpeace, Dr. Fedoroff has been "a fervent advocate for the global proliferation of GM (genetically modified) foods throughout her career."
During her tenure as president and chairman of AAAS, the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society, Dr. Fedoroff leveraged those roles to provide political aid to the agrichemical industry: the AAAS Board of Directors under her chairmanship issued a politically timed statement to oppose GMO labeling in 2012; while president of the scientific organization in 2011, Dr. Fedoroff helped defeat a U.S. EPA proposal that would have required additional health and safety data for GMO crops, according to emails described below. See, Nina Fedoroff, AAAS and the agrichemical industry lobby. Dr. Fedoroff and AAAS have not responded to requests for response.
Affiliations with deceptive industry front groups and PR efforts
Dr. Fedoroff has promoted and helped to legitimize groups that claim to be independent voices for science but work behind the scenes with the agrichemical industry in ways that mislead the public − including two groups that helped Monsanto try to discredit the scientists who served on the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) expert panel that classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen in 2015.
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is funded by chemical, pharmaceutical and tobacco companies, according to leaked internal documents that document how the group pitches its services to corporations for product-defense campaigns. Emails released via court proceedings show that Monsanto agreed to fund ACSH in 2015, and asked the group to write about the IARC cancer report on glyphosate; ACSH later claimed the cancer report was a "scientific fraud."
Dr. Fedoroff helped promote this group as a legitimate science source in a 2017 National Press Club event to launch the ACSH's "Little Black Book of Junk Science." Appearing alongside Dr. Fedoroff at the press event were two scientists affiliated with groups that deny climate science and lobby for tobacco products:
Angela Logomasini, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Koch-funded Independent Women's Forum and Competitive Enterprise Institute. She argues that the large body of scientific evidence linking chlopyrifos to brain damage in children is "junk science."
Alan Moghissi, PhD, a former EPA official, supports several organizations that question man-made climate change. He served on the advisory board of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), a Philip Morris front group that tried to discredit research about the health harms of tobacco.
Genetic Literacy Project: Dr. Fedoroff is listed as a board member on the website of the Genetic Literacy Project, a group that claims to be independent but partners with Monsanto on PR and lobbying projects, according to documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know. Documents released in court filings show that Monsanto listed this group among the "industry partners" it planned to engage in a strategy to "orchestrate outcry" against IARC's glyphosate assessment in order to "protect the reputation and FTO of Roundup." Genetic Literacy Project has since posted more than 200 articles critical of the cancer research agency, including numerous personal attacks on the scientists involved in the glyphosate report, accusing them of conspiracy, fraud, lying, corruption, secrecy, and being motivated by "profit and vanity."
In an award-winning series in Le Monde about Monsanto's "effort to destroy the UN cancer agency by any means possible," journalists Stéphane Foucart and Stéphane Horel described Genetic Literacy Project and ACSH as "well-known propaganda websites" and said GLP is "fed by PR people linked to the pesticides and biotechnology industries." GLP was launched in 2011 by Jon Entine, who owns a public relations firm that had Monsanto as a client at that time.
Attacks on cancer researchers on the Genetic Literacy Project website that lists Dr. Fedoroff as a "board member":
Academics Review: Dr. Fedoroff promoted Academics Review as a trustworthy science source in a 2012 article in Trends in Genetics and a 2016 interview with the Washington Examiner about poor science journalism. Documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know show that Academics Review was set up as a front group with the help of Monsanto to discredit critics of genetic engineering and pesticides, while keeping corporate fingerprints hidden. The group, which claimed to be independent but was funded by agrichemical companies, attacked the organic industry as a "marketing scam."
Biotech Literacy Boot Camp: Dr. Fedoroff was listed as a core faculty member of a Biotech Literacy Project "boot camp" held at UC Davis in 2015. The event was organized by two PR groups, Genetic Literacy Project and Academics Review, and secretly funded by agrichemical companies to "train scientists and journalists to frame the debate over GMOs and the toxicity of glyphosate," reported Paul Thacker in The Progressive. Speakers included a familiar list of industry PR allies including Jay Byrne, Jon Entine, Bruce Chassy, David Tribe, Hank Campbell of ACSH and a keynote by the "Sci Babe."
AgBioWorld: In her 2012 Trends and Genetics article, Dr. Fedoroff promoted the website AgBioWorld as "another invaluable resource" to learn about science. In a 2002 article in the Guardian, George Monbiot described how Monsanto's PR team used the AgBioWorld website and fake social media accounts to discredit scientists and environmentalists who raised concerns about GM crops. Monbiot reported:
"At the end of last year, Jay Byrne, formerly [Monsanto's] director of internet outreach, explained to a number of other firms the tactics he had used at Monsanto. He showed how, before he got to work, the top GM sites listed by an internet search engine were all critical of the technology. Following his intervention, the top sites were all supportive ones (four of them established by Monsanto's PR firm Bivings). He told them to 'think of the internet as a weapon on the table. Either you pick it up or your competitor does, but somebody is going to get killed.'
While he was working for Monsanto, Byrne told the internet newsletter Wow that he 'spends his time and effort participating' in web discussions about biotech. He singled out the site AgBioWorld, where he 'ensures his company gets proper play.' AgBioWorld is the site on which [fake online personality Mary] Smetacek launched her campaign."
Attack on Greenpeace: Dr. Fedoroff spoke at a 2016 press event for a group calling itself "Support Precision Agriculture," which presented a letter signed by over 100 Nobel laureates criticizing Greenpeace for their opposition to GMOs. Agrichemical industry allies helped out with the campaign, including Monsanto's former Communications Director Jay Byrne; former biotech trade group VP Val Giddings; and Matt Winkler, who funds the PR group Genetic Literacy Project and is listed as a board member along with Dr. Fedoroff on the group's website. The .com version of the supposedly independent "Support Precision Agriculture" website redirected to the Genetic Literacy Project for years (it was delinked after we called attention to it in 2019). In emails from 2011, Byrne identified Greenpeace on a "targets" list he was developing for Monsanto with names of industry critics they could confront from behind the cover of an industry-funded academic group that appeared independent.
Friend of GMO Answers: Dr. Fedoroff is an independent expert for GMO Answers, a PR campaign developed by Ketchum public relations, which has a history of using deceptive tactics to influence the public. Although Ketchum claimed the GMO Answers campaign would "redefine transparency," the group scripted answers for an "independent" expert and was listed among the "industry partners" in Monsanto's PR plan to protect Roundup from cancer concerns. A "resources" section (page 4) pointed to GMO Answers and Monsanto links that communicate the company message that "Glyphosate is not carcinogenic." In 2016, Dr. Fedoroff spoke on a panel sponsored by GMO Answers, Scientific American and the Cornell Alliance for Science about media coverage of science featuring industry-friendly journalists Keith Kloor and Tamar Haspel. See "Monsanto's Media Machine Comes to Washington," by Paul Thacker.
Opposed investigation to uncover industry-academic ties
In 2015, Dr. Fedoroff and two other former AAAS presidents, Peter Raven and Phillip Sharp, promoted their AAAS leadership roles, but failed to disclose any of their industry ties, in a Guardian op-ed opposing a public records investigation that sought to uncover undisclosed partnerships and financial arrangements between agrichemical companies, their PR groups and publicly funded professors. The investigation by U.S. Right to Know uncovered some of the key documents described in this fact sheet.
Although the Guardian later added a disclosure that Dr. Fedoroff works at the lobby firm OFW Law, it did not disclose that OFW Law's client at the time was the agrichemical industry trade group, whose member companies were a focus of the public records investigation. The former AAAS presidents argued in their op-ed that the investigation to uncover undisclosed industry-academic conflicts of interest was "taking a page out of the Climategate playbook" and involved "science denialism," the same claims made by industry PR groups described in this fact sheet.
Using the AAAS to advance agrichemical industry policy objectives
During her tenure as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from 2011-2012 and as Chair of the Board of Directors from 2012-2013, Dr. Fedoroff worked with agrichemical industry allies to advance key policy objectives: keeping genetically engineered foods unlabeled and defeating a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would have required additional data on the health and environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops that are classified as pesticides.
AAAS helped persuade voters to oppose GMO labeling
In 2012, the AAAS Board of Directors under Dr. Fedoroff's chairmanship took the unusual step of taking a position on a contentious political issue just two weeks before voters in California went to the polls to decide on Proposition 37, a ballot initiative to label GMOs. A review of the many political statements made by AAAS found no other examples of the organization attempting to influence voters ahead of a state election. (The AAAS and Dr. Fedoroff did not respond to requests for comment. Also disclosure: the USRTK co-directors worked on the pro-labeling campaign.)
The AAAS board's statement opposing GMO labeling was controversial. It contained inaccuracies, according to longtime AAAS members, several of whom denounced the anti-labeling statement as a "paternalistic" attack on consumer rights that misled the public by omitting important scientific and regulatory context. An AAAS spokeswoman at the time, Ginger Pinholster, called the criticisms "unfair and without merit." She told a reporter she was in the room when the board passed the statement: "We are not an advocacy group. We make our statements based on scientific evidence," Pinholster said. "I can tell you that our statement is not the work of nor was it influenced by any outside organization."
Some observers noted the similarities in language used by the AAAS and the industry-funded campaign to defeat Proposition 37. "Is a major science group stumping for Monsanto?" Michele Simon asked in Grist. Simon described the board's statement as "non-scientific but very quote-worthy," and noted that the accompanying AAAS press release contained "talking points" that matched No on 37 campaign literature.
"appearing to be less than transparent is a really bad idea for the scientific community"
In a 2013 letter to Science magazine, another group of 11 scientists raised concerns that the AAAS board's statement on GMO foods "could backfire." They wrote, "we are concerned that AAA's position represents a poorly informed approach to communicating science … appearing to be less than transparent is a really bad idea for the scientific community."
Dr. Fedoroff was an early supporter of the industry-backed No on 37 campaign, which listed her on its website in June 2012 as one of four scientists representing the "scientific and academic community" who opposed GMO labeling. The campaign later asked Dr. Fedoroff to help recruit more academics to their cause, which she did according to an October 1, 2012 email to Meghan Callahan of BCF Public Affairs, "I've forwarded your [request for academic supporters] to an international group of biotechnology supporting academics. I suspect you'll be hearing from many corners of the world," Dr. Fedoroff wrote.
Helped kill data requirements for pesticide-producing plants
In 2011 while serving as AAAS president, Dr. Fedoroff worked with agrichemical industry allies and an industry lobbyist to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from requiring companies to provide additional health and safety data for genetically engineered foods that are classified as pesticides, according to emails described below.
The EPA proposal stemmed from a 2009 EPA Scientific Advisory Panel discussion about ways to improve the agency's ability to make regulatory decisions about plants that are genetically engineered to produce or contain pesticides, which EPA refers to as "plant-incorporated protectants" (PIPs). Panel members were asked to evaluate current and proposed EPA data requirements for PIPs in the following areas:
data to assess potential similarities between PIPs and allergens, toxins, anti-nutrients and other hazardous proteins;
testing for synergistic effects on health and non-target organisms, when two or more GMO traits are combined (stacked trait GMOs);
potential impacts on microbial populations in soil ecosystems; and
data to better address the impacts of gene flow.
According to notes from an October 2009 EPA meeting, the proposed rules would "mostly codify existing data requirements that are currently applied on a case-by-case basis," and would encompass five categories of data and information: product characterization, human health, non-target effects, environmental fate and resistance management. EPA announced the proposed rules in the Federal Register in March 2011.
Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know via public records requests show how industry allies mobilized to defeat the proposal.
The emails show conversations between Bruce Chassy, a University of Illinois professor at the time, Eric Sachs of Monsanto and other industry reps discussing activities and meetings that involved Dr. Fedoroff. Chassy described himself in the emails (page 66) as the liaison between industry and academics in the effort to oppose the EPA data requirements. Interspersed in his emails to Sachs were queries about whether Monsanto had sent a check to the University of Illinois Foundation in support of Chassy's "biotechnology outreach and education activities." (For more details about the undisclosed funds Chassy received from Monsanto for years as he promoted biotechnology, see reporting by Monica Eng in WBEZ and emails posted by the New York Times.)
On July 5, Dr. Chassy emailed Eric Sachs of Monsanto to report that Dr. Fedoroff had sent a letter to EPA over her signature co-signed by 60 members of the National Academy of Sciences. "Nina really picked up the ball and moved it down the field," Chassy wrote. He described the EPA proposal as a "train wreck."
The emails show that on August 19, industry trade group representatives were surprised and pleased (page 19) to see a New York Times op-ed from Dr. Fedoroff arguing against regulations for genetic engineering; "who got Nina's op ed placed?" Adrienne Massey of BIO asked Dr. Chassy and two other industry allies, Henry Miller and Val Giddings. Chassy responded:
Massey forwarded Dr. Chassy the letter BIO sent to the EPA "hoping to build on the academics' letter and short-circuit any dismissive response of EPA to that letter." Their efforts did not succeed as they hoped. On August 24, Dr. Chassy wrote to Eric Sachs (page 14) that Dr. Fedoroff "got a response from EPA that is an insult." He described plans to ratchet up the pressure.
In September, Chassy organized a conference call with Fedoroff, Monsanto's Eric Sachs, Adrienne Massey of BIO and their lobbyist Stanley Abramson, among others. According to Chassy's notes from the call, "Finding a way to ensure that the EPA proposal never sees the light of day would be the best possible outcome we could hope for. Next best would be to make sure it is DOA, but if needs be we must be willing to continue the fight."
He also shared the problem that, "The EPA does not believe that the academic community can mount a sustained opposition to their proposed rule making; they believe that only a small handful are behind the petition and that most of the signatories are not committed to the issue." The group decided they needed to "build a core of leading scientists who are in fact willing to speak out and devote time to this issue."
By October, the group was more hopeful. Chassy emailed Sachs to report on a "surprisingly productive" meeting he and Dr. Fedoroff attended with Steve Bradbury of EPA. The meeting had been set up by Massey and the lobbyist Abramson. The EPA proposal to require data for GMO PIPs never did see the light of day, according to Michael Hansen, PhD, senior scientist at Consumers Union, who participated in the public meetings with the agency.
Full email chains, via the UCSF Industry Documents Library:
Related reporting
"I Was Barred from a Nobel Laureate Press Conference by a PR Consultant with Monsanto Ties," by Tim Schwab, Food & Water Watch (2016)
"The Puppetmasters of Academia," by Jonathan Latham, PhD, Independent Science News (2015)
"20 years later: the biotech brigade marches on," Pesticide Action Network (2012)
"Engineering food for whom?" by Marcia Ishii-Eitemann, PhD, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network North America (2011)
"Sorry, NY Times: GMOs still won't save the world," by Anna Lappe, Grist (2011)
"In which I go toe to toe with H. Clinton's science czar over GMOs," by Tom Philpott, Grist (2009)
"Genetically Modified Diplomat: U.S. Foreign Policy GMO All the Way," by Tom Philpott, Grist (2008)
GMOs, Hide From Latest, Our Investigations AAAS, AgBioWorld, Alan Moghissi, American Council on Science and Health, Angela Logomasini, Bayer, Genetic Literacy Project, Ginger Pinholster, GMO Answers, GMOs, Hillary Clinton, Jay Byrne, Jon Entine, junk science, Ketchum, Matt Winkler, Monsanto, Nina Fedoroff
Jay Byrne: Meet the Man Behind the Monsanto PR Machine
Posted on February 1, 2019 by Stacy Malkan
Monsanto's former Director of Corporate Communications Jay Byrne, president of the public relations firm v-Fluence, is a key player in the covert propaganda and lobbying campaigns of the world's largest agrichemical companies. Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know, posted in the UCSF Chemical Industry Documents Archive, reveal a range of deceptive tactics Byrne and other industry allies are using to promote and defend GMO foods and pesticides.
The examples here showcase some of the ways companies are moving their messaging into the public arena from behind the cover of neutral-sounding front groups, government helpers and academics who appear to be independent as they work with corporations or their PR consultants.
Clients: top agrichemical, agribusiness and drug companies
Byrne's client list has included a range of the largest agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies and business groups, including the American Chemistry Council, Syngenta, AstraZeneca, Monsanto, Pfizer, the American Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Rohm & Haas and the pesticide industry trade group CropLife.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which promotes genetically engineered "Golden Rice," is also a client. Byrne played a role in PR efforts to attack Greenpeace and other critics of the GMO rice. See also the UCSF chemical industry documents library for many documents involving IRRI.
Cooked up academic front group to attack Monsanto critics
A key strategy of the agrichemical industry, as the New York Times reported, is to deploy "white hat" professors to fight the industry's PR and lobbying battles from behind the cover of the "gloss of impartiality and weight of authority that come with a professor's pedigree."
In March 2010, Byrne and University of Illinois Professor Bruce Chassy discussed setting up a front group called "Academics Review" that could attract donations from corporations while appearing to be independent. Byrne compared the idea to the Center for Consumer Freedom (a front group run by infamous corporate propaganda front-man Rick Berman), which "has cashed in on this to the extreme; and I think we have a much better concept." Byrne described an "'opportunities' list with targets" they could go after. Byrne wrote to Dr. Chassy:
All those groups, people and topic areas "mean money for a range of well heeled corporations," Byrne wrote. He said he and Val Giddings, PhD, a former vice president for the biotech trade group BIO, could serve as "commercial vehicles" for the academics.
In November 2010, Byrne wrote to Chassy again, "It will be good to get the next phase of work on Academics Review going – we've got a relative slow first quarter coming up in 2011 if business remains the same." Byrne offered to "schedule some pro bono search engine optimization time" for his team to counter a GMO critic's online influence. Byrne concluded the email, "As always, would love to find the next topic (and sponsor) to broaden this while we are able."
In 2014, Academics Review released a report attacking the organic industry as a marketing scam; in its own marketing materials for the report, Academics Review claimed to be independent and did not disclose its agrichemical industry funding.
Monsanto Fingerprints Found All Over Attack on Organic Food, by Stacy Malkan, Huffington Post (6.30.2016)
Academics Review: The Making of a Monsanto Front Group, USRTK fact sheet
"US government-GLP-Byrne projects" to sway journalists
Byrne's lobbying and PR operations for the GMO and pesticide industry intersect at many points with the work of Jon Entine, another key figure in agrichemical industry defense campaigns. Entine directs the Genetic Literacy Project, which he launched in 2011 when Monsanto was a client of his PR firm. (Entine's PR firm ESG MediaMetrics listed Monsanto as a client on its website in 2010, 2011, 2012 and up to January 2013, according to internet archives still available online.)
In December 2013, Entine wrote to Max T. Holtzman, who was then acting deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to propose collaborating on a series of what he described as "US government-GLP-Byrne projects" to promote GMOs. Entine wrote to Holtzman:
Entine's proposed "US government-GLP-Byrne" projects included a "Boot Camp and Response Swat Team" to prepare third-party academics for "potential legislative engagement on [GMO] labeling and related issues," a "journalism conclave" to bolster media coverage about food security challenges and "provide coaching to younger journalists," a global media outreach campaign to promote acceptance of biotechnology, and "multi-media content and placements from credible sources" reinforcing key themes "with segments and footage made available on U.S. government websites, GLP and other platforms."
Holtzman responded, "Thanks Jon. It was great meeting you as well. I think your outline below provides natural intersection points where usda/USG messaging and your efforts intersect well. I'd like to engage further and loop other folks here at usda not only from the technical/trade areas but from our communications shop as well."
Taxpayer-funded, Monsanto-aligned videos to promote GMOs
A series of taxpayer-funded videos produced in 2012 to promote genetically engineered foods provide another example of how academics and universities push corporate-aligned messaging. Byrne's PR firm v-Fluence helped create the videos that were "designed to appear a little low budget and amateurish," according to an email from University of Illinois Professor Bruce Chassy.
Dr. Chassy wrote to Monsanto employees on April 27, 2012:
Monsanto's Eric Sachs responded:
Sachs offered to assist with messaging of future videos by sharing the results of focus group tests Monsanto was conducting. Dr. Chassy invited Sachs to offer suggestions for future video topics and asked him to send along the Monsanto focus group results.
Training scientists and journalists to frame the debate about GMOs and pesticides
In 2014 and 2015, Byrne helped Jon Entine organize the Biotech Literacy Project boot camps funded by agrichemical companies and co-hosted by two industry front groups, Entine's Genetic Literacy Project and Bruce Chassy's Academics Review. Organizers misleadingly described the funding for the events as coming from a mix of academic, government and industry sources, but the only traceable source of funding was the agrichemical industry, according to reporting by Paul Thacker. The purpose of the boot camps, Thacker reported, was "to train scientists and journalists to frame the debate over GMOs and the toxicity of glyphosate."
Byrne was on the organizing team, along with Cami Ryan (who now works for Monsanto) and Bruce Chassy (who was receiving funds from Monsanto that weren't publicly disclosed), according to emails from Entine and Ryan.
Flacking for GMOs: How the Biotech Industry Cultivates Positive Media—and Discourages Criticism, by Paul Thacker, The Progressive (7.21.17)
Industry-funded Biotech Literacy Project Boot Camps, USRTK fact sheet
Bonus Eventus: the agrichemical industry's social media echo chamber
A key service Byrne provides to agrichemical promotional efforts is his "Bonus Eventus community" that supplies academics and other industry allies with talking points and promotional opportunities. Internal documents (page 9) describe Bonus Eventus as "a private social networking portal that serves as a communication cooperative for agriculture-minded scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders." Members receive Byrne's newsletter, plus access to his reference library of agribusiness topics, "stakeholder database" of influential people in the GMO debate, and trainings and support for social media engagement.
Examples of the newsletter can be found in this cache of emails from Byrne to Peter Phillips, a University of Saskatchewan professor who has been criticized by colleagues for his close ties to Monsanto. In the Nov. 7, 2016 newsletter, Byrne urged Phillips and other recipients to share content about the "flaws and omissions" in a New York Times story that reported on the failure of GMO crops to increase yields and reduce pesticides, and the "mounting questions" facing an international group of cancer scientists who reported glyphosate is a probably human carcinogen – messaging that aligned with Monsanto's PR plan to discredit the cancer research panel. (See also our fact sheet on Peter Phillip's secret "right to know" symposium).
Byrne urged the Bonus Eventus community to share content on these themes from industry-connected writers, such as Julie Kelly, Dr. Henry Miller, Kavin Senapathy, The Sci Babe and Hank Campbell of the American Council on Science and Health, a group Monsanto was paying to help discredit the cancer scientists. In 2017, Forbes deleted dozens of articles by Dr. Miller – including several he co-authored with Kelly, Senapathy and Byrne – after the New York Times reported that Dr. Miller had published an article in Forbes under his own name that had been ghostwritten by Monsanto.
Gatekeeper for attack on Greenpeace
When a group of Nobel laureates called on Greenpeace to stop opposing genetically engineered rice, it looked like an independent effort. But behind the curtain of impressive credentials were the helping hands of two key players in the agrichemical industry's PR lobby: Jay Byrne and a board member of the Genetic Literacy Project. Byrne was posted at the door at a 2016 National Press Club event promoting a group called Support Precision Agriculture. The .com version of that website redirected for years to the Genetic Literacy Project, a front group that works with Monsanto on PR projects without disclosing those ties.
So who paid for the anti-Greenpeace press event? Sir Richard Roberts, a biochemist who said he organized the Nobel laureate letter, explained the backstory in an FAQ on the website: the "campaign has been pretty inexpensive so far," he wrote, consisting mostly of his salary paid by his employer New England Biolabs and "out-of-pocket expenses" paid by Matt Winkler. Winkler, founder and chairman of the biotech company Asuragen, is also a funder and board member of Genetic Literacy Project, according to the group's website. Roberts explained that Winkler "enlisted a friend, Val Giddings," (the former biotech trade group VP) who "suggested Jay Byrne" (Monsanto's former communications director) who offered pro bono logistical support for the press event.
Byrne and Giddings also helped orchestrate the industry-funded Academics Review, a front group they set up to appear independent while serving as a vehicle to attract corporate cash in exchange for attacking critics of ag-biotech products, according to emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know. In the emails, Byrne named Greenpeace on the "targets" list he was compiling for Monsanto. Another of Byrne's clients is the International Rice Research Institute, the main industry group trying to commercialize GMO Golden Rice, which was the focus of the Greenpeace critique. Research by Glenn Davis Stone of Washington University in St. Louis has found that low yields and technical difficulties have held up Golden Rice, not opposition from environmental groups.
In his FAQ, Dr. Roberts dismissed Dr. Stone's independent research as "not an accurate representation of the state of affairs," and instead pointed to industry-connected PR sources who will be familiar to readers of Byrne's Bonus Eventus newsletter: Julie Kelly, Henry Miller and Academics Review. The press event took place at a critical political moment, and generated a helpful story in the Washington Post, a week before Congress voted to prohibit states from labeling GMOs.
As of January 2019, the .com version of Support Precision Agriculture redirected to the Genetic Literacy Project. In his FAQ, Roberts said he has no relationship with GLP and claimed that "an unknown person" had purchased the similar domain in an "apparent attempt" to link it to GLP. He said this is an example that "the dirty tricks of the opposition are without limits."
(The redirect was deactivated sometime after this post went live.)
How The #Nobels4gmos Campaign Is Rife With Biotech Industry Ties, by Vincent Harmsen, One World (7.11.16)
107 Nobel Laureate attack on Greenpeace traced back to biotech PR operators, by Jonathan Latham, PhD, Independent Science News (7.1.16)
I was barred from a Nobel Laureate press conference by a PR consultant with Monsanto ties, by Tim Schwab, Food & Water Watch (7.6.16)
Greenpeace to Nobel laureates: it's not our fault Golden Rice has 'failed as a solution,' by Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch (6.30.2016)
Weaponizing the web with fake people and websites
Reporting for The Guardian in 2002, George Monbiot described a covert tactic that agrichemical corporations and their PR operatives have been using for decades to promote and defend their products: creating fake personalities and fake websites to silence critics and influence online search results.
Monbiot reported that "fake citizens" (people who did not actually exist) "had been bombarding internet listservers with messages denouncing the scientists and environmentalists who were critical of GM crops" – and the fake citizens had been traced back to Monsanto's PR firm Bivings.
Monbiot described Jay Byrne's connection to Bivings:
"think of the internet as a weapon on the table … somebody is going to get killed."
"At the end of last year, Jay Byrne, formerly [Monsanto's] director of internet outreach, explained to a number of other firms the tactics he had used at Monsanto. He showed how, before he got to work, the top GM sites listed by an internet search engine were all critical of the technology. Following his intervention, the top sites were all supportive ones (four of them established by Monsanto's PR firm Bivings). He told them to 'think of the internet as a weapon on the table. Either you pick it up or your competitor does, but somebody is going to get killed.' While he was working for Monsanto, Byrne told the internet newsletter Wow that he 'spends his time and effort participating' in web discussions about biotech. He singled out the site AgBioWorld, where he 'ensures his company gets proper play'. AgBioWorld is the site on which [fake citizen] Smetacek launched her campaign."
Corporate phantoms, by George Monbiot, The Guardian (5.29.02)
The covert biotech war, by George Monbiot, The Guardian (11.18.02)·
More from Jay Byrne
A 2013 Power Point presentation showcases the role Byrne plays for his clients in the agrichemical industry. Here he explains his theories about eco-advocates, ranks their influence online and urges companies to pool their resources to confront them, in order to avoid "regulatory and market constraints."
The 2006 book "Let Them Eat Precaution," published by the American Enterprise Institute and edited by agrichemical industry PR operative Jon Entine, contains a chapter by Byrne titled, "Deconstructing the Agricultural Biotechnology Protest Industry."
Byrne is a member of "AgBioChatter," a private email listserve that agrichemical industry senior staffers, consultants and academics used to coordinate messaging and lobbying activities. Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know show Byrne encouraging members of AgBioChatter to try to discredit people and groups that were critical of GMOs and pesticides. A 2015 Monsanto PR plan named AgBioChatter as one of the "industry partners" Monsanto planned to engage to help discredit cancer concerns about glyphosate.
Secret documents expose Monsanto's war on cancer scientists, by Stacy Malkan, TruthOut (7.16.18)
Tracking the agrichemical industry PR network, USRTK fact sheet
GMOs, Our Investigations, Pesticides Academics Review, AgBioWorld, American Chemistry Council, American Council on Science and Health, American Enterprise Institute, American Farm Bureau, AstraZeneca, Asuragen, Biotech Literacy Project, boot camp, Bruce Chassy, Cami Ryan, CropLife, Eric Sachs, ESG MediaMetrics, FSHN, Genetic Literacy Project, Golden Rice, Greenpeace, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Hank Campbell, Henry Miller, International Rice Research Institute, Jay Byrne, Jon Entine, Julie Kelly, Kavin Senapathy, Martina McGloughlin, Matt Winkler, Max Holtzman, Monsanto, National Corn Growers Association, New England Biolabs, Peter Phillips, Pfizer, Rick Hellmich, Rohm & Haas, Sir Richard Roberts, Support Precision Agriculture, Syngenta, The Sci Babe, University of Illinois, University of Saska, University of Saskatchewan, USAID, USDA, v-Fluence, Val Giddings, Wayne Parrot


Home › KING CURTIS - SOUL SERENADE: KING CURTIS AND HIS IMMORTAL SAXOPHONE - HARDCOVER - BOOK
KING CURTIS - SOUL SERENADE: KING CURTIS AND HIS IMMORTAL SAXOPHONE - HARDCOVER - BOOK
Although in 2000 he became the first sideman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, "King Curtis" Ousley never lived to accept his award. Tragically, he was murdered outside his New York City home in 1971. At that moment, thirty-seven-year-old King Curtis was widely regarded as the greatest R & B saxophone player of all time. He also may have been the most prolific, having recorded with well over two hundred artists during an eighteen-year span.
Soul Serenade is the definitive biography of one of the most influential musicians of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. Timothy R. Hoover chronicles King Curtis's meteoric rise from a humble Texas farm to the recording studios of Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and New York City as well as to some of the world's greatest music stages, including the Apollo Theatre, Fillmore West, and Montreux Jazz Festival. Curtis's "chicken-scratch" solos on the Coasters' Yakety Yak changed the role of the saxophone in rock & roll forever. His band opened for the Beatles at their famous Shea Stadium concert in 1965. He also backed his "little sister" and close friend Aretha Franklin on nearly all of her tours and Atlantic Records productions from 1967 until his death.
Soul Serenade is the result of more than twenty years of interviews and research. It is the most comprehensive exploration of Curtis's complex personality: his contagious sense of humor and endearing southern elegance as well as his love for gambling and his sometimes aggressive temperament. Hoover explores Curtis's vibrant relationships and music-making with the likes of Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Isaac Hayes, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Moore, Donny Hathaway, and Duane Allman, among many others.
RICK RUBIN - THE CREATIVE ACT: A WAY OF BEING - HARDCOVER - BOOK
THE BEATLES - ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE - HARDCOVER - PICTURE BOOK
PAUL MCCARTNEY - THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY VOLUME 1: 1969-73
THE BYRDS - THE BYRDS: 1964-1967 - HARDCOVER - BOOK (PREORDER)
ROLLING STONE: THE 500 GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME - HARDCOVER - BOOK


Update emerges concerning the EFL and potential Sunderland takeover
Ned Holmes
The EFL have refused to comment on Juan Sartori and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus' potential takeover of Sunderland, according to the Sunderland Echo.
It is understood that Sartori, who is currently a director at the club, and Louis-Dreyfus are hoping to complete a deal that would see them become majority shareholders of the Black Cats.
The 22-year-old Frenchman, who is the son of former Marseille owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus, would have to pass the EFL's Owners and Directors Test for the takeover to successfully go through but it appears the EFL are unwilling to provide an update on whether that process is ongoing.
The Sunderland Echo have revealed that the EFL refused to comment on whether they'd been notified that a deal at the club is in progress or whether anyone is undergoing their Owners and Directors Test in relation to it.
Reports last week indicated that the proposed deal, which would see Stewart Donald's share reduced to 15%, could be completed within the next two weeks
Donald announced back in December that he would be selling the club in response to significant pressure from fan groups and there have been various rumours and reports since but it seems we may be moving toward new ownership at the Stadium of Light.
Did these 17 Sunderland players ever actually score a league goal for the club?
Did Danny Collins ever score a league goal for Sunderland?
This is not an unusual response from the EFL on such matters but it ensures that for the time being, we remain in the dark about the progress of the new takeover deal.
Sunderland fans will likely be hopeful that it is wrapped up quickly and Donald's time in charge, which has ultimately been a disappointment, is brought to an end.
Should the deal go through, the January window looks set to be a very interesting one for the North East club.
Related Topics:Juan SartoriKyril Louis-Dreyfusleague oneStewart Donaldsunderland
Article title: Update emerges concerning the EFL and potential Sunderland takeover


CIO 100 Winners Turn Analytics Into Money-Making New Products
Why IT Needs to Drive the Risk Conversation
Big Data Still 'A New Frontier' for Most of the Public Sector
NetApp Sets its Sights On Cloud Data Management
How tech IP is going to put Australia on the world innovation map
By Rebecca Merrett
CIO |
With natural resources drying up, countries should turn to their human resources and build innovative technologies that they can export to the rest of the world, according to speakers at an Amazon Web Services roundtable held in Sydney this week.
"I'd like to see $800 million dollars of software exports look more like $8 billion or $40 billion or to be something the size of the mineral exports. We need, as a tech sector, to get exports up there to that kind of level, which will be success in my eyes," said Dean Economou, technology strategist at NICTA.
Economou said US company Unitrends' recent acquisition of NICTA-developed Yuruware, which produces cloud-based disaster recovery software, is an example of how locally developed IP can have an ongoing impact on the Australian economy.
"A lot of people would say 'isn't it sad, another Aussie company brain drain'," Economou said. "But what happened in this case was the team were very determined to stay in Australia, and [it was] in the US company Unitrends' ... interest to have a development centre here in Australia."
Unitrends wants to expand into the APAC region, so a core technical support and development team is being set up in Australia, with the possibility of adding an Australian-based sales and marketing team in future, Economou said.
"This is an example of Australian IP that has been sold to a US company, but the US company is paying the Australian salaries and growing the team. This is exactly the kind of jobs we want to grow in this country.
"I would like to see this happen a hundred or thousand times more, where lots and lots of overseas companies say 'we have really interesting market problems' and Australia has extremely good people who are very well trained and a good output from our universities [who can help solve the problems].
"We can import the market problems from the rest of the world, and export our solutions."
Read: Budget 2014 – Educations changes, research cuts a concern for ICT sector. How will these changes affect our ability to cultivate innovative scientists and technologists?
Economou said that working in a cloud environment is "pivotal" to being able to expand business overseas as it delivers global reach and allows companies to quickly scale up without expensive capital investments.
"When you build for a global market like that and there's a global platform – in this case it happens to be Amazon – there's no reason you can't sell anywhere or no reason someone won't want to buy or invest in you anywhere in any market."
Read: You're not as progressive as you think you are, Australia: AIIA
Another Australian organisation that is trying to put their technology on the world innovation map is software company HubCare, which connects families with essential care, education, government and support services. The company plans to launch an application that will allow citizens to connect to different government agencies through a single Web portal.
By around September 2014, users who opt-in to the HubCare application will be able to update their details and share documents and information across multiple government agencies without having to go through the same process every time they access a different service.
Users can also choose what information they share with which agencies. The application will link up information to feed through updates or changes to services that may affect the user.
"Instead of government asking citizens to come to them, we've got a gateway where government can go to the citizen. So the citizen enables their data, their identity authentication into any government service," said Ruby O'Rourke, HubCare's CEO and co-founder.
"We integrated at statutory and regulatory level to facilitate all government business in and out of citizens' [portals]."
O'Rourke said she would like to take this technology international. "There is nothing like this in the world," the CEO said. "We are creating an NFP [not for profit], which is going to become a sole identity authenticator with all government services."
HubCare currently has a Web portal in place for childcare workers to report on issues such as child abuse and concerns about a child's well-being.
"There is a huge hole right now with children slipping through the cracks because reporting doesn't happen," she said. "People are not reporting because the activity of reporting is onerous. So they have to log in to a government system, they have to fill in a whole heap of stuff and they have to get implicated.
"I grew up as a ward of the state, so I know what it means to be a vulnerable child and nobody knowing about it. I feel very passionate about protecting or enabling children at risk to be identified and helped."
HubCare uses NICTA-developed machine learning capabilities to pick out children who are at high risk and need to be reported to government officials who can intervene. O'Rourke said there are many child care protection agencies that don't have the resources to be able to manually determine high risk children.
"An enormous amount of human resources are required to do this analytics work. By having machine learning, we are solving a big government problem around a number of people they need to hire. In child protection, sustainability of staff for human intervention is constantly turning over.
"There's a national approach to how you consider an alert on child protection. There are decision trees where if the child is showing signs of something then it'll go to the next step to assess. So the technology is learning the decision tree. At the moment this is all done manually by individuals at child protection agencies."
O'Rourke said there are more than a million individual users who have 100 per cent opted-in to the world-first system.
The data is stored in AWS' cloud. David Salajan, director and co-founder of HubCare, said it uses 256-bit encryption, complies with Australia's national privacy principles, is registered with the Department of Education, and is deployed across multiple availability zones for DR and high availability.
"All backups are performed using streaming replication, which means we can go back to any point in time. We use Amazon's S3 and Glacier for storing this data. All data in transit and at rest is encrypted, too," he said.
When it comes to potentially deploying the system in other countries, Salajan said AWS solutions are "highly replicable" and parts of the infrastructure can be spun up on the AWS management console within minutes, with the complete infrastructure provisioned within half a day.
Follow Rebecca Merrett on Twitter: @Rebecca_Merrett
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首页 > 新闻 > David Culley
David Culley
Bernara Shaw Inadvertently said such a sentence, The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, make them.What is the crux of the problem?This seems to answer my doubts.
Deng Zhongxia said that inadvertently, Look! Is the world a work of art? Without labor there is no world.The so-called David Culley, the key is how to deal with David Culley.With these words, we have to examine this issue more carefully!
Swetchine said that inadvertently, Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is below even defeat, and is born vanquished.Everything has two sides and David Culley is not an exception,it has both advantages and disadvantages.This inspired me how to develop next.
love offered said a famous quote, The whole history of mankind tells the wisdom of the people, do not believe in fortune, but should believe the thought.Let's think about it this way,With these words, we have to examine this issue more carefully!
Mencken once said a famous say, Loyalty can be simply defined as an illogical belief in an impossible situation.This issue has caused wide public concern for David Culley.This inspired me how to develop next.
Or as Einstein famously said, In school and life, the most important driving force of work is the pleasure in work, the pleasure of working as a result, and the recognition of the social value of this result.This issue has caused wide public concern for David Culley.This inspired me how to develop next.
Henry David Thoreau said that inadvertently, The failures and reverses which await men - and one after another sadden the brow of youth - add a dignity to the prospect of human life, which no Arcadian success would do.In this difficult choice, I Thinking it, It's hard to sleep and eat.This sentence brings us to a new dimension to think about this problem.
Henry David Thoreau said a famous quote, The failures and reverses which await men - and one after another sadden the brow of youth - add a dignity to the prospect of human life, which no Arcadian success would do.Now, it is very important to solve the problem of David Culley. So,Although this sentence is very short, it makes me think about it.
Shakespeare said that inadvertently, Nutrition books in the world. There is no book in life, there is no sunlight; wisdom without books, as if the birds do not have wings.It is the key to solve all the problems to understand the existence of David Culley.I hope everybody can also understand this sentence well.
Faraday Once said, I can't say I do not cherish the honor, and I admit that it is very valuable, but I never had the pursuit of these honor work.David Culley seems to be a coincidence, but if we look at the problem from a larger perspective, it seems to be an inevitable fact.This inspired me how to develop next.
Liang Qichao said that inadvertently, Success is easy to win, Shifeng, on stage, shallow and deep knowledge of people like Yan, who thought of hanging.In this way,This seems to answer my doubts.
Mattin Luther King said a famous quote, We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.With these problems, let's take a look at David Culley.This inspired me how to develop next.
Song Qingling said a famous quote, Knowledge is from work, any achievement is the crystallization of hard work.This fact is of great significance to me, and I believe it is also of certain significance to the world.This sentence brings us to a new dimension to think about this problem.


McWade, Robert M. (1) + -
Wealth (10) + -
Islands (9) + -
Sailors (4) + -
Arrest (3) + -
Fathers and daughters (3) + -
Harpoons (3) + -
Icebergs (3) + -
Locomotive engineers (3) + -
Rafts (3) + -
Retribution (3) + -
Sultans (3) + -
Napoleon, I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 (2) + -
Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, 1777-1825 (1) + -
Fort Frederick (Me.) (1) + -
Genoa (Italy) (1) + -
Great Lakes (North America) (1) + -
Lowveld Area (South Africa) (1) + -
Michigan, Lake (1) + -
North America (1) + -
South Pole (1) + -
Vermont (1) + -
Yellow Sea (1) + -
(-) ≠ Young businesspeople
(-) = Wade, William
Give him a chance, or, How Tom Curtis won his way
Out for money, or, A poor boy's chance in a big city (chapter 11-12), Hustling Joe Brown, or, The boy who kept the town clock (chapter 15-15)
The broken bottle, or, A jolly good fellow : a true temperance story
Dowd, Jno. B. (John B.), 1841-1906
Out for money, or, A poor boy's chance in a big city (chapter 14), Hustling Joe Brown, or, The boy who kept the town clock (chapter 16)
Little Mac, the boy engineer, or, Bound to do his best
Merritt, James C.
Railroad stories, Western stories
Out for money, or, A poor boy's chance in a big city (chapter 26-27), Hustling Joe Brown, or, The boy who kept the town clock (chapter 19)
Gerald O'Grady's grit, or, The branded Irish lad
Draper, Allyn
Through thick and thin, or, Our boys abroad
The rival boat clubs, or, The boss school at Beechwood
Out for money, or, A poor boy's chance in a big city (chapter 22-23), Hustling Joe Brown, or, The boy who kept the town alive (chapter 23-24)
Among the fire worshipers, or, Two New York boys in Mexico
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 5-6), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 4-5)
Twenty years on an island, or, The story of a castaway
Wilson, Thomas H., Captain
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 6-7), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 5-6), German dastardly plots exposed
The maniac engineer, or, A life's mystery
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 9-10), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 9)
A New York boy in the Soudan, or, The Mahdi's slave
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 12), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 11-12)
In the sea of ice, or, The perils of a boy whaler
Bertrew, Berton
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 14-15), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 15-16)
The merry ten, or, The shadows of a social club
Sent on the road, or, A smart boy in business (chapter 17-18), Peary's boy guide, or, Icebound in the arctic (chapter 17)
Jack Reef, the boy captain, or, Adventures on the ocean
Lucky Joe Brown, or, The smartest boy in New York (chapter 7-8), After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 5-6)
Boy pards, or, Making a home on the border
Harry E. Wolff, Publisher, 166 West 23d St.
Pluck and luck ; 1089
Lucky Joe Brown, or, The smartest boy in New York (chapter 9-10), After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 8)
The boy cavalry scout, or, Life in the saddle
Gordon, James A., General
Lucky Joe Brown, or, The smartest boy in New York (chapter 11), After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 9)
The shattered glass, or, A country boy in New York : a true temperance story
After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 10-11)
Lightning Lew, the boy scout, or, Perils in the West
Lucky Joe Brown, or, The smartest boy in New York (chapter 13), After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 11)
The brand of Siberia, or, The boy tracker of the Steppes
Arnold, Allan
Spy stories, Historical fiction
Lucky Joe Brown, or, The smartest boy in New York (chapter 22-23), After black diamonds, or, The boys of coal shaft no. 3 (chapter 23)


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UK Dark Web Dealers Voluntarily Ban Powerful Drug Fentanyl - Report
British Dark Web suppliers have taken it upon themselves to voluntarily ban the deadly synthetic opioid Fentanyl, despite its use, marketing, sale and distribution by multiple global pharmaceutical companies.
'It's Disturbing': People in the UK Could Get Fentanyl Locally - Researcher
China's top drug control body has hit back at recent claims by US President Donald Trump that Chinese suppliers are fueling America's, and moreover, Britain's opioid crisis. The American president tweeted, last week, that it was "outrageous" that China-produced fentanyl, continued to "pour into the US" through international mail.
Ex-UK Undecover Police Officer: There Is 'No Controlling Illicit Drug Supply'
Websites based in China are selling the dangerous opioid fentanyl and others drugs to users and dealers in the UK Both drug dealers and users alike, are buying the potentially lethal substances with ease through Chinese eBay-style websites.
US Prison Staff, Inmates Poisoned by Suspected Airborne Fentanyl in Ohio (PHOTOS)
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UK Fentanyl Gang Sold Deadly Drugs on Darkweb to Customers All Over the World
Three Englishmen have admitted selling the deadly drug fentanyl and carfentanyl to customers globally using the Darkweb. The National Crime Agency said there was a spike in fentanyl deaths in the period before they were arrested.
Former Russian Spy Who Flipped to UK in Critical Condition After Exposure to 'Unknown Substance'
At least two people, including a former double agent who spied on Russia for the British, have been hospitalized after being exposed to an "unknown substance." The two individuals were transported to a local medical facility and are currently in critical condition.
Alleged Poisoning Attack on Russian Ex-Spy Skripal in UK
American Tragedy: Opioid Epidemic Has Cost US $1 Trillion Since 2001
A new study from a health think tank has estimated that the opioid epidemic that has ravaged countless American towns and cities has cost the US economy more than $1 trillion since 2001 - and it projected that the epidemic may go on to cost another half-trillion by the end of 2020.
UK Fentanyl Dealer Who Offered 'Buy One, Get One Free' on Dark Web Jailed
Britain's National Crime Agency has been investigated the trading of a deadly drug, fentanyl, on the Dark Web. The drug, which has killed thousands in the United States, is 50 times stronger than heroin.
Do Not Go Gentle: US Life Expectancy Drops 2nd Year in Row
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued its annual report on mortality in America, and the news is unexpected, as the life expectancy of US citizens has dropped for the second straight year.
Billionaire Drug Boss Arrested on Same Day Trump Declares War on Opioid Crisis
An Indian-American pharmaceutical billionaire has been arrested on charges of bribing doctors to over-prescribe a potent opioid painkiller - on the same day United States president declared the opioid epidemic a "nationwide public health emergency.:
UK Could Be Facing Epidemic From Deadly Drug Fentanyl Which Has Devastated US
The National Crime Agency (NCA) says 60 deaths in the UK since December have been linked to fentanyl, an opioid which is 50 times stronger than heroin. Four men have been charged after allegedly using the Dark Web to purchase fentanyl.
Synthetic Drug Conference in Thailand Offers Hope for Global Cooperation
The US Department of State said that multinational efforts with international organizations are being sought at a four-day conference in the Thai capital of Bangkok to halt trafficking of synthetic drugs, which are contributing to an epidemic of overdose deaths in the United States.
Nine Die of Heroin Overdose Over Weekend in Philadelphia
Nine people died in Philadelphia over the weekend by overdosing on heroin, according to the Philadelphia police. Two were declared dead on Saturday, December 4 and an additional seven were declared dead the next day. All the victims were found within a few blocks of one another, suggesting a similar source for the heroin that they overdosed on.
Dark Web Marketplace Bans Sale of Opioid Drug Due to Increase in Deaths
People say that "anything goes on the Dark Web," but it seems that is not 100 percent true. In August one Dark Web marketplace decided to ban sales of fentanyl, after a wave of deaths caused by the drug, according to Deep Dot Web.
Music Icon Prince Died of Drug Overdose, Medical Examiner
The Minnesota medical examiner confirmed on Thursday that 57-year-old music legend Prince died of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl, which is described as a rapid-acting synthetic opiate.
09:32First Confirmed Case of New Coronavirus Strain Reported in South Korea


Understanding Social Class as Culture
August 12, 2016/in Science, Society /by Andrea Dittmann
Photo: Tony Juliano
"What choices have you made for yourself?" questions the admissions page of a top US college. The recruiting page of one of the country's most elite workplaces asks: "Do you love a challenge? Seek the opportunity to have your ideas heard at the highest level?"
Does anything stand out about these questions to you? Perhaps not. Or perhaps they remind you of some classic American ideals: independence, freedom of expression, bold individualism. The basic building blocks of the American Dream.
Questions like these that espouse independent ideals are not only littered throughout the recruitment sites of prestigious universities and workplaces, they are, in fact, pervasive in American society. While research suggests that these independent ideals tend to be viewed as normative in mainstream American society, they are often in tension with the norms of a significant contingent of the American population: members of the working class.
One of the key psychological sources of growing inequality seems to lie in the differences between the culture and norms of the middle class, which are institutionalized in American society, and those of the working class, which are not.
In recent years, the gap between the rich and the poor has grown to an unprecedented ratio. Upper-income families now have an average net worth that is nearly 70 times greater than that of lower income families. In working to uncover the underlying drivers of this ever-growing wealth gap, social scientists have realized that one of the key psychological sources of this growing inequality seems to lie in the differences between the culture and norms of the middle class, which are institutionalized in American society, and those of the working class, which are not.
Just as cultural psychologists have studied the ways in which an individual's nation of origin serves as a source of personal identity, psychologists of social class have begun to unpack the ways in which individuals' class position contributes to their sense of self. The results of this growing body of research on the psychology of social class suggest that, in addition to considering visible markers such as gender and race or ethnicity, so too should social class be incorporated into the larger dialogue about culture and diversity in the United States.
The culture of the middle class is consistent with the classic ideals championed in the quotes opening this article: our ability to make choices, pave our own paths, and voice our ideas and opinions. For individuals from middle- or upper-class backgrounds, these norms make sense. They tend to live in a relatively certain world where their basic needs are met. Whether they can afford to have a roof over their heads and a meal on the table is rarely an issue.
The culture of the working class looks quite different. Rather than primarily highlighting independence, it also heavily centers on interdependence: the ability to adjust to the situation, build community, and be responsive to others. Again, researchers emphasize that these norms make sense for working-class individuals. Unlike their middle- and upper-class counterparts, working-class individuals tend to live in a more uncertain world. They are more likely to be living paycheck to paycheck, without a financial safety net, so their social relationships are key to their survival.
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These differing social class cultures have real consequences for issues like the growing wealth gap. Not only can different social class cultures lead to distinct patterns of interpersonal behavior, they can also lead individuals to experience mismatches between their social class culture and the culture of important social institutions like college or the workplace. Further, researchers have begun to uncover some of the potential downsides of institutionalizing the middle-class culture of independence.
Research by Paul Piff and colleagues suggests that individuals from middle class backgrounds are more likely to behave unethically than individuals from working class backgrounds. Piff and colleagues also find that individuals from working class backgrounds tend to behave more prosocially and altruistically than individuals from middle class backgrounds. The difference in behavior is likely the result of the emphasis middle-class culture places on the self and individual choice, versus the emphasis working-class culture places on community and relationships with others. Piff and colleagues' research starts to illuminate some of the potential downsides of upholding middle-class norms of independence as the cultural ideal.
Another potential downside to institutionalizing middle-class norms of independence is the perpetuation of inequality. Nicole Stephens and colleagues find that when working-class individuals, who rely more on norms of interdependence, encounter signals of middle-class norms that laud independence—like the college and job application prompts mentioned at the start of the article—a "cultural mismatch" may occur. This cultural mismatch can lead working class individuals to feel as though they do not belong in these institutions and can increase stress levels, ultimately undermining their performance.
We need to think carefully about the societal norms we take for granted—they're likely class-bound and not necessarily beneficial.
For example, first-generation students exposed to a message that framed university culture as independent performed significantly worse than their continuing-generation counterparts on two common academic tasks: solving anagrams and tangrams. When asked to give a speech after reading a similarly independent message, first-generation students displayed greater increases in the stress hormone cortisol and more negative emotions than their continuing-generation counterparts.
At a societal level, the disparities in graduation rate are stark: according to a recent Pell Institute report, just 11 percent of low-income, first-generation college students attained a Bachelor's degree within six years of enrolling in college. The rate for their non-low-income, continuing-generation counterparts? Nearly five times greater. Given the importance of a college education for upward mobility, this research suggests that the dominance of middle-class norms of independence in American institutions can put working-class individuals at a disadvantage, which in turn, can fuel and perpetuate inequality.
Understanding social class as culture is a relatively recent idea, yet the research conducted thus far illustrates the influence class position can have on people's behavior and identity. The research also sheds light on how these individual-level processes can feed into macro-level phenomena, such as the growing wealth gap, via social institutions like our colleges and universities. These findings also point to the importance of considering social class as a critical source of diversity that, while not necessarily visible in the way that a person's gender or skin color may be, can still substantially impact a person's lived experience.
Much work remains to be done to more fully understand the role of social class at both the individual and societal level, but it is clear that we need to think carefully about the societal norms we take for granted—they're likely class-bound and not necessarily beneficial. As we work as a society to embrace cultural diversity, we'd do well to embrace class diversity too.
Andrea Dittmann is a doctoral student in Management & Organizations at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, where she researches social class and inequality.
Further Reading & Resources
Fiske, S. T., & Markus, H. R. (2012). Facing social class: How societal rank influences interaction. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
Piff, P. K., Kraus, M. W., Côté, S., Cheng, B. H., & Keltner, D. (2010). Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(5), 771–784.
Piff, P., Stancato, D., Côté, S., Mendoza-Denton, R., & Keltner, D. (2012). Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(11), 4086-4091.
Stephens, N. M., Fryberg, S. A., Markus, H. R., Johnson, C. S., & Covarrubias, R. (2012). Unseen disadvantage: How American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(6), 1178–97.
Stephens, N. M., Townsend, S. S., Markus, H. R., & Phillips, L. T. (2012). A cultural mismatch: Independent cultural norms produce greater increases in cortisol and more negative emotions among first-generation college students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(6), 1389-1393.
Stephens, N. M., & Townsend, S. S. M. (2015). The norms that drive behavior: Implications for Cultural Mismatch Theory. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (commentary), 46, 1304-1306.
Tags: culture, inequality, lower class, nicole stephens, social class, upper-class, working class
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Life after campaign trail: Excerpt from Perry interview
By Dana Thompson on February 22, 2012 at 8:32 PM
Gov. Rick Perry talked to the San Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle on Tuesday. In this edited excerpt from his interview with Austin bureau chief Peggy Fikac, Perry talks about his plans to continue a national conversation about asserting state authority and his decision against reimbursing taxpayers for the cost of his security detail. He also talks about the time he spends on his job as governor, and his support for changing the state constitutional provision that the lieutenant governor takes over his duties when Perry's outside of Texas.
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