Macromolecules submission

Private investment and basic infrastructure have been the main focus of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s attention over the past seven years. No wonder, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) was the first office he inspected a few days after his inauguration in late October 2014. He has since then been going all out to invigorate domestic and foreign investment through regulatory and bureaucratic reforms. That scale of priority fully makes sense. As a former furniture-making businessman, Jokowi clearly comprehends that it is private investment — and not the government — that creates jobs, which in turn provides wages and generates purchasing power for the huge population (lastly estimated at 270 million) to propel the wheels of the economy. He enacted an executive order in mid-2018 on the establishment of a web-based integrated business licensing system, called Online Single Submission (OSS), which pledges to complete the processing of all business permits from the central … [Read more...] about Bureaucraticized investment

STUNNING photos showing swooping fighter jets, massive explosions and touching homecomings have been selected for the Military Visual Awards this year. These incredible scenes aim to celebrate photography of the brave men and women in uniform and also give a glimpse into their daily life. The powerful images show soldiers from around the globe - including Brits, Americans and Swedish troops - on tour. But they also capture the effects of conflict with a coffin draped in the star spangled banner flag and a marine kissing his sweetheart as he returns home. In one of the photos, a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter whips up a mini tornado with its powerful rotor blades, while Call of Duty-style marines wield machine guns. The annual Military Visual Awards was founded in 2018 to showcase first-class military photography and videos. US Marine Dana Beesley - who leads a 16-marine team specializing in military PR - was crowned the MVA photographer of the year. Her … [Read more...] about Stunning photos show swooping fighter jets, massive explosions and touching homecomings for the Military Visual Awards

The mountain is calling! Many people worldwide take to the mountain tops in their free time, however, many mountains can only be scaled by professional mountain climbers. Things are a little different though at the “Jungfrau” mountain in the Swiss Alps: A train goes up this mountain! At 3,454 meters above sea level, the train station on the Jungfraujoch is the highest in Europe. Many of you wrote to us this week to tell us which mountain you would like to climb. We extend our thanks to all participants! After all of the submissions we have given away the book “111 extreme places in Europe that you shouldn’t miss”. The winner is Gertrud H. from Austria. The Mount Everst in Nepal is her favorite. Best of luck! … [Read more...] about Results: This mountain is calling!

Google has worked for years to position itself as a responsible steward of AI. Its research lab hires respected academics, publishes groundbreaking papers, and steers the agenda at the field’s biggest conferences. But now its reputation has been badly, perhaps irreversibly damaged, just as the company is struggling to put a politically palatable face on its empire of data. The company’s decision to fire Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell — two of its top AI ethics researchers, who happened to be examining the downsides of technology integral to Google’s search products — has triggered waves of protest. Academics have registered their discontent in various ways. Two backed out of a Google research workshop, a third turned down a $60,000 grant from the company, and a fourth pledged not to accept its funding in the future. Two engineers quit the company in protest of Gebru’s treatment and just last week, one of Google’s top AI employees, a research manager named Samy Bengio who … [Read more...] about Google is poisoning its reputation with AI researchers

Good news, disabled Australians! You'll soon be getting an app that will implement a welfare compliance regime designed by the people who brought you robo-debt. But don't worry, it'll have blockchain. No, this isn't good news at all. What makes it worse is that it's clear the government wants to extend technology-driven compliance to all Australians, with an emphasis on cracking down on your mistakes, not theirs. Kathryn Campbell, Secretary of the Department of Social Services, says the long-term plan is to have one app for all Commonwealth government services. "One to rule the world," she said last month, apparently oblivious to how evil that sounds. Senators are already worried that the disability app, intended to be used by participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to claim expenses against their support plan, will go the way of COVIDSafe : Millions of dollars spent on technology that doesn't really do the job. The intention was to fix a poor web … [Read more...] about NDIS gets a government app with blockchain but no ethics