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dedibelyegei · 10 months

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No elég sokat kalandoztunk már a németeknél, viszont NDK-s bélyegek még nem szerepeltek a blogon. EDDIG! Ráadásul ez szintén egy egész nagyszabású éveken átívelő sorozat, melyet több kisebb szakaszban/csoportban adtak ki, nagyrészt 1973-ban és '74-ben, majd némi szünet után '80-ban is, de ebben már ismétlés is volt, más formátumban. Összességében is több azonos bélyeg megjelent eltérő méretekben, vagy nyomásban, léteztek matt és fényes verziók is, szóval volt nagy fennforgás. A sorozatok egyébként Épületek, Berlini épületek, illetve Emlékművek néven futottak. A nagysorozathoz tartozó összes bélyeg, itt látható, összesen 15-féle különböző minta/érték jelent meg - ebben nincsenek benne a különböző nyomási változatok:

Az én bélyegeim két külön évből, és kollekcióból valók, az első 1980-ból, tehát egy kései és a Köztársasági Palotát ábrázolja 10 pfenningért. Ez a bélyeg nem is jöhetett volna létre előbb, mivel az épületet '73-ban kezdték el építeni és 1976-ban adták át. A stabilizálódó kelet-német állam parlamentjének, új reprezentatív épületre volt szüksége, minthogy a korábbi Berliner Stadtschlosst, még a porosz időkből lebontották a háborúban keletkezett károk, illetve az ideológialiag nem megfelelő múlt reprezentálása végett. Ennek helyére, a mai Múzeumszigetre épült Palast der Republik. Parlamenti funkciója mellett, itt rendezték a Német Szocialista Egységpárt kongresszusait is, illetve különböző nagyszabású kultúrális és szabadidős eseményeket is. 1989-ben aztán az épület pillanatok alatt elvesztette jelentőségét, mivel megszűnt az NDK Népi Kamarájának működése, majd az egyesüléskor életben léptek a jóval szigorúbb nyugat-német előírások. Az épület acélszerkezetét az építéskor 5.000 tonna szórt azbeszttel borították be tűzvédelmi okokból, így 1990 szeptemberében egészségre veszélyes mivolta miatt teljesen lezárták. Évekig érintetlenül állt, majd '98-ban megkezdték azbesztmentesítését, úgy volt hogy valamilyen módon rekonstruálják és új funkciót adnak neki, de 2002-ben a Bundestag meghozta a döntést, hogy el kell bontani. Sokan próbáltak tiltakozni és megmenteni, 2004-ben még volt egy utolsó próbálkozás amikor kiállításokat, koncerteket rendeztek benne, de 2006-ban megkezdődött a bontás, mely egészen 2008 végéig elhúzódott. Az épület acélszerkezetét részben a Burj Kalifa építéséhez használták fel, részben pedig Volkswagen motorblokkokat építettek belőle! Jelenleg helyén a Humboldt Forum, és a korábban elbontott Stadtscloss rekonstrukciója található.

A másik 25 pfenninges bélyeg, a mindenki által jólismert Alexanderplatzot ábrázolja, és 1973-ban nyomták. A területet még 1805-ben nevezték el így, I. Sándor orosz cár látogatásának tiszteletére. Közlekedési csomópont jellegének kialakulása már 1847-ben megkeződődik, mikor elindul a lóvontatású omnibusz az Alex és a Potzdamer Platz között. Az 1870-es években indul be az igazi fejlődés, amikor megkezdik az S-Bahn építését, ami 1882-ben el is készül és megindul a forgalom. Ekkor már ötemelet épületek állnak a téren, illetve körülötte. A XX.század elején megkezdődnek az U-Bahn építések is, de metróhálózatot végül az I. világháború miatt csak 1930-ban adják át. A II. vh. során hatalmas légvédelmi bunkert építettek alá, majd 1945-ben a szövetségesek bombázásaiban lényegében megsemmisül a tér. A Potsdami Konferencián a területet a keleti blokkhoz sorolják, így itt kezdik el kiépíteni az NDK fővárosonák új központját. Az 1960-as években kerülnek a helyére mai ikonikus szocmodern épületei, a Fernsehturm (Tv-torony, becenevén Fogpiszkáló) vagy a 120 méter magas Interhotel Stadt Berlin, a mai Park Inn. Számos metró, S-Bahn, regionális és távolsági vonat áll meg itt, és ez napjainkig csak bővült. Az egyesítés után nagy változás nem történik, mindössze annyi, hogy 1999-ben visszahozzák a villamoshálózatot is a térre, amit korábban felszámoltak.

Ezeket a bélyegeket nagyon magas példányszámban nyomták éveken keresztül, így olcsón hozzá lehet jutni, a fent látott 15 darabos teljes sorozat körülbelül két euróért beszerezhető.

#bélyeg #stamp #kelet-németország #ndk #német demokratikus köztársaság #ddr #1973 #1980 #10 pfenning #25 pfenning #palast der republik #alexanderplatz #berlin #east-germany

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 37

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

People coming back to me? I'll give them a show.

It takes a couple hours to set up, but that's fine, it takes a couple hours for one of the Starjumpers to detach from the Shipyard and come down and dock on the Reach. I wonder how complete it is. If it was still in the Shipyard when they stole it, it's probably missing a lot of components and isn't a comfortable ride.

Earlier today I declared that today and tomorrow are holidays and everyone can take the time off work. Any one who wants to keep working - food or craft sellers for example - can. Honestly, anyone who wants to keep working can, I'm not going to make them come to my little show off thing, but I do appreciate that everyone likes me enough to come out when I ask.

I have them bring out the platform we used when the Venusians came last, but this time me and my Builders are on top. We set it up a little way out from the umbilical so that as they come out, we can see them and they can see the crowds that have gathered. We finish as people start streaming in. It's a real festival atmosphere. I see food sellers walking the crowds, people offering little trinkets and toys for the children, and musicians are playing. People seem to really be having a good time. I'm glad.

As we sit waiting, the Starjumper connects.

The umbilical lights glow purple, showing a positive connection, and I raise my hands for silence.

The crowd stills.

Earlier, Omar explained to everyone as we were setting up that we were welcoming home people who went across the galaxy and delivered a shipyard and starships to us in my name. After more than seventy years of no Builders and then centuries of an Empire in decline, most everyone has been excited at the turn of events lately. Everyone likes being on the winning team, and it really feels like we're at the beginning. People for decades could talk to their friends and family about today. "I was there..." they'd tell children and grandchildren as they rolled their eyes and go off to play.

But they'd hear about it.

Even before the Heinlein and the Starjumpers showed up, Um'reli has been quietly asking around with local leaders. Most of them have said that there should be no shortage of volunteers to crew ships of conquest. - should a call go out.

With a hiss and a pop, the door irises open, and a Venusian walks out. Lightly armed, he looks up in complete surprise to the silent crowd in front of him. When he's visible, the crowd roars. I see how surprised he is by the wall of sound. I stand and wave to try and calm him. He cautiously waves back and rushes back inside.

After a moment, more than fifty people are led out by armed Venusians, blindfolded, and with their hands tied.

They are lined up before me at the front of the platform, 4 rows deep. Their blindfolds the purple of Venus and their hands tied with plastic straps. Behind them come two dozen heavily armed Venusians and yes... it does looks like it's almost everyone from the Lavinia. I recognize faces from the interviews.

A Venusian approaches. He's wearing the purple and grey uniform of Venus, but there are no emblems or patches on it. He approaches the platform and salutes. His voice clear he states loudly "Captain William Pfenning reporting, Empress. As you have commanded, we have returned to you, bearing gifts. Three almost complete Starjumpers and the entirety of the Heinlein Shipyards, including the staff." He bows low.

At the mention of the starships, the crowd gasps. They knew that they were coming with ships, but the fact that it was a shipyard and three of the largest ships from that side of the galaxy was a surprise.

At his bow, the rest of the Venusians bow low as well. I glance back to Raaden and she is grinning from ear to ear. Ginny recognizes people and is trying to surreptitiously wave to them. "Er, thank you for your generous gift Captain Pfenning. Please... remind me how I ordered you?

He looks up, incredulous. "When you declared that we belonged to you, we took the order to heart. When you sent us back to Venus in a stripped ship, we knew it was to send Venus a message, and also to embolden us to find our way back to you."

Ahh. This is what I get for trying to be theatrical. Good work, Melody. I'm committed now, no turning back. I should learn to keep my big mouth shut. Far too late for that I suppose.

I incline my head slightly. Here we go. "Thank you for your effort. These... gifts you have brought us are truly special. You and your crew are invited to dinner with us tonight. I would love to hear more about how you managed to do this amazing thing."

Will bowed again. "We would be honored to come to dinner Empress. But first..." He snaps his fingers.

The assembled Venusians remove the blindfolds of the captured Shipyard workers. They look around wide eyed and scared. Captain Pfenning looks at me expectantly.

Oh gosh, now what? Oh he's going to want me to order them to obey. I wasn't expecting to deal with captives already. I don't really want to compel people to work for me, but we also need help to build Starships. I'm going to have to do something. ugh. I feel so bad about this, it it'll be worse if I leave them. We really do need help too.

I stand up and face the captives.

H̷͉͆ȃ̷̖v̴͖̈e̵̺̽ ̴̬͆n̵̲̓ơ̵̻ ̷̨̓f̸̧͒e̵̖̕a̵̞̍ȑ̴̳.̵͇̏ ̶̻͠W̴̠̿e̶̟̅ ̷̜̊w̶͍̕ĩ̶̗l̴͍̎l̴͈̆ ̵̘͠n̵̝̑ò̸̡t̶̪͠ ̷̮̅h̴͍̓ā̶̻ŕ̸̩m̵̂͜ ̵͇͋ÿ̵̞́ő̵̥ụ̸͊.̴͖̊

They relax immediately. That's good at least.

Y̶̥͑o̸̱͛ū̴͇ ̴̗͊w̴̬̔o̶͖͠r̶͎͝k̴͖͑ ̵̡͌f̴͔̅ǫ̸̈́ṟ̷͋ ̵̱̓m̶̙̎e̴͍̓ ̶̳͗n̸̡͆ò̸̯w̴̑͜.̴̛ͅ

"You shall be paid for your work, and housing provided. Once our important work has finished, you shall freed and given the option to stay or return as you see fit. Tonight though, you shall dine with us as our honored guests."

B̴̻̭̫̮͇̿͛͠o̸̻͈̼͓̦͚̽́̒̋w̶̧̼͓̿́̈́̈́̌̚͘͝, and rise as subjects of the Holy Imperial Systems!"

It was awkward when their hands bowed, but everyone managed to bow.

While they were down, one man stood early. He raised his hands, and the restraints fell from his wrists. "Tyrant!" he snarled. "You will never be able to stop all of us!" His right hand folded out of the way and in it's place was...

a gun.

He was taking aim at me.

I felt my perception of time change. As the Nanites boosted my perception, I watched in slow motion as he raised his gun-arm, the black muzzle of the barrel in his arms a dark circle pointed at me. My first assassin, and he didn't seem to be affected by my Voice. Oh! I bet he's an AI. Well, here goes nothing...

Ṣ̵̜͐́̏̕̕͠͝ţ̴̣͌̄̑̃o̵͍̳̥̻͈̥̓͝p̶̛͓͇̗̀̓̓͘!̸̱̻̬̹͙̖̪̈́̐̚̚͝͠

He faltered. His face started to contort into a snarl of rage. Oh no, it works, but not enough. He can fight it. I try again. I really put a lot of myself into it.

C̸̢͌̉ȇ̷̟̣ä̷̩͝s̵͉͚͘e̶̝̾̈ ̶̡̮̽͝t̷̰̚h̵̤̆i̴̮̐̄s̴̲̩̉ ̷̫̀͐a̷̝͝t̷̙̖̚ ̷̲̽̂ǫ̴̹̓n̴̘̔̽c̶̳̈́e̴̟͆͝ͅ!̵̢͕̈

He shakes his head, confused. It works, but not enough. I'm going to need help on this one. My hand swings up to point at him, so slowly. I flip my perception back to normal and shout

Ī̴̟t̷͖̃'̷͙̕s̶͓̐ ̴̭̐a̶̤̚n̶̯̑ ̶̘͠a̸͑ͅs̷̼̄š̷̖å̴̖s̵̫̈́ṣ̵͌i̶͚͌n̵͕̽!̴̫̈ ̵͖͛S̶̖̆t̷̤͑ò̵̭p̶̲͌ ̷̜͗h̴̪̃i̸̟̒m̵̫̓!̷̟̀

In my panic, I don't direct the command at anyone, so it goes to everyone.

It's a bloodbath. Everyone within the sound of my voice, so... the Venusians, the prisoners, my Builders and much of the audience hears the command and descends on the would be assassin.

Fortunately, the sounds of shouting and yelling drown out the... other sounds.

After only a moment, the AI assassin is... gone. A stain of pale blue milky fluid is all that remains of him. Huh. I had no idea their circulation fluid wasn't red like blood. Well. That solves one problem, my immediate demise, but causes a whole new pile of problems because I didn't get a chance to question him. Also, it's worrying that my new Voice worked, but not well enough. I'll have to study AI brains more I think.

I raise my hands and call for calm, and resume the welcome. I take a breath to steady my voice.

"Now that has been taken care of, Please come and join us at the Palace for a meal, and we shall celebrate." I gesture to the crowd. "Residents of the Reach! Please welcome your heroes!

Quickly, I get down from the platform and gesture to Ava and Raaden and the others. Raaden is still grinning. "Good work disposing of that assassin Melody, you not only eliminated a threat, but you showed the people from the shipyards what you can do. I swear, it was more of them than the Venusians tearing him apart."

"You couldn't stop him though?" Ava looks worried. "We could have used him to get more intel on what the AIs know about us."

"That's just it, I tried." I look at my hands and then back at Ava. "It didn't work. He faltered at my new command, but it didn't stop him. I don't know if I need to learn more about AI brains, or if it will always be limited when trying to command them."

"Well it's not like he'll be reporting back." Um'reli shook her head. She had a better view of what happened than I did. Her expression is clear. She did not like what she saw. "We can only hope he was there to spy on the shipyard and took the imitative when he realized what was happening."

Raaden nods. "That was probably it. Even if FarReach reported to... whoever is in charge of the AIs - if they even have something like that - it would be years before they act. They like to take things slow and wait out trouble. They're so long lived that they would rather just leave a system and wait out someone they don't like rather than try and eliminate them."

Starlight's feathers ripple worriedly. "That was an AI? They look just like people. I thought you said they pilot your starships?"

Omar shakes his head and gestures as he talks. "They do both. Some AIs are ships, some have bodies like people, and others swap between the two. Since AIs bodies are so divorced from their 'selves' they are effectively immortal. If their body or their ship gets old and run down they change it. There are rumors that there are AIs that are still around from when the first AIs were crated."

Raaden frowns. "I don't buy it. I think it's just propaganda they use to try and bolster their numbers. If there are one hundred thousand AIs total I'd be surprised. I think they're much more rare than they let on. They love to let people think they're everywhere."

I don't know. I've met plenty of AIs. In bodies and in ships. I think there are more of them than Raaden thinks. Oh well. There aren't any here, that's a problem for Future Melody.

We get to the Palace and enter. It's different than the last time the Venusians were here. This time, it's more more of a party atmosphere. I had set up another banquet table for the Shipyard workers, and after I told them not to worry and that they'd be working for me they mostly rolled with it. Good food, no danger and the promise of pay took a lot of the sting out of "now you're stuck over here" and "by the way you're the subjects of an Empress"

We offered Captain Pfenning the opportunity to sit up at the head table with us, mostly because Raaden is dying to grill him on what happened.

"Okay. Don't leave anything out. What happened after Melody tossed the Lavinia into the Gate?"

Will swallows his tea. "We were able to Gate back to K'lax, but without a wormhole generator, we couldn't go any further. Luckily, the K'laxi linked a beacon back to Venus and the Frigate Liddy linked to K'lax with a spare wormhole generator. We spent a couple days installing it as best as we can and were able to link back to Venus."

Raaden grins. "I bet the Emperor was... displeased."

"Oh boy was he. Incandescent would be to kind. When we told him that you and Emery were captured, he declared you both killed in action and memorialized."

Raaden stopped, her fork midway to her mouth. "He declared us killed in action? He wouldn't even try and negotiate?"

"No. Said you weren't worth the effort. He had 'too much to do' back home. He was getting on one of his kicks to attack Heinlein again."

"I... see." Helen put her fork down and looked ahead at the crowd for a moment. I think she was sad to find out that she was cast aside so readily. She gently shook her head. "What of Emery?"

"Same thing. Declared killed, official three days of mourning, painting put up in the Hall of Heroes, the works. Officially the successor will be decided 'at a later date.'"

"Cast aside so easily... It just reinforces that I made the right decision throwing my lot in with Melody. You'll do well here Will. We have a need of strong captains soon."

I look over at Will. "He ordered you to attack Heinlein? That's how you got there?"

Will grinned. "He said it would 'help you and your crew redeem yourselves in my eyes and the eyes of Venus.' I think he was trying to give us a suicide mission to get us out of the way."

Omar looked up at the conversation. "Hasn't Venus been trying to attack Heinlein Shipyards for years?"

"Yup. Always failed before. Usually because they go in guns blazing and try and take it by force. We went in with the remains of the Lavinia and asked about repairs."

"They were going to refit Lavinia?" Um'reli was incredulous.

"If they knew what ship it was, no. We scrubbed the beacons and all identifying information. I said we found a scrap frame and were looking to refit it. As a crew came over to verify the frame's identity and work out the details of the refit, we overpowered them, abandoned the Lavinia and took the shuttle back to the Heinlein. They weren't expecting a guerilla mission at all and were completely taken by surprise." Will took another bite of food. "Then, once we had the station under control we loaded everyone into the most complete Starjumper, linked the wormhole generators together, overloaded the reactors - it was handy that Heinlein has such a large reactor, crossed our fingers and pulled the lever!"

At this point everyone at our table was listening intently to Will's story. "How did you get our address for the wormhole generator?" Ava with the smart questions.

Will shrugged with only one shoulder. "We got it from the navigation records of the Lavinia. We always take addressing measurements when we go somewhere new to update the records and make sure we are were we expect to be."

Raaden looks so proud of Will. I wonder if he is her protegé. "Excellent work Captain Pfenning. I'm so glad you made it back here. If everyone from the Lavinia who is here is willing to sign on wholeheartedly with Empress Melody, we could use the help. We're in the beginning states of planning to conqueror things back home and we'll need all the help we can get."

Will blinks. "You're going to conqueror? The whole place?"

I shrug. What else can I do? "Eventually yes. We'll start with Venus and the Sol system and work our way out from there. Since I have the ability to command anyone who is in the same room as me, my Builders point out that the governments back home probably won't tolerate my existence. The only solution is to take over or kill myself. I very much like being alive, so-" I show my hands "-I'm going to take over."

Raaden is animated as she explains it. "Don't worry Will, Melody is good people and a good Empress. She'll do well in charge. We'll get a chance to see some real change, help lots and lots of people and finally see a unified Sol and more!"

Will takes a sip of tea. "You already got our loyalty, so don't worry about that. If Raaden is this excited to work with you, then I'm excited to be a part of things. I trust her implicitly, and if she says you're good, then I know you are. The rest of the crew feels the same way."

Raaden laughs. "This is wonderful Melody. We're growing by leaps and bounds. Let's finish the three Starjumpers and convert them to Builder operation and start on the first Calamity Class super Dreadnought. Omar can bring the wilds over and turn that into a shipyard too. With two of them, we can build a fleet that much faster."

Will raises an eyebrow. "Calamity Class?"

"You should see it Will! It's amazing. We took the designs from the Lavinia's database plus the designs the Builders had here and made a super dreadnought. It can even go in atmosphere! Those colony worlds won't know what hit them. We'll be able to go in hot and fast and the battles will be short with a minimum of deaths. I bet we can conquer Sol in a month and the entirety of Human space in 2 years or less."

Dinner continued on into the evening with Helen excitedly telling Will and the others from the Lavinia our plans, with a little more emphasis on attacking than I liked. Still, I had never seen her this happy or animated unless she was talking about trains, so I let her go. If she gets people to sign on with us without me having to keep on ordering people, all the better. By the end of the meal, I noticed that a few of the employees from the Shipyard were listening intently as well. Interesting.

That night, I drew a hot bath and climbed in. I needed some time to decompress.

As I lay floating, Ava came in. "Want company?"

"It's really hot, but if you can stand it, sure."

She smiled and stripped down. Only wincing a little, she climbed in.

She snuggled up to my side and put her head next to mine. We floated in the silence and dark for a little while, just being Ava and Melody.

"Oh Ava, what am I going to do?"

"About what, hon?"

"First Janais, now the Venusians and the shipyard. I feel like I'm being pushed into taking over and ruling a Galaxy."

"Well you are Empress."

"What if I don't want to be? What if I just want to be Melody, with her partner Ava?"

Ava sighed. "I'd like that too Melody. But, that's not our direction now. What's the old saying? 'Buy the ticket, take the ride.' You bought the ticket when you touched the directory stone and became Empress. Now, we're on this ride to the end. Unless you want to to get off early-" I stiffened. No, I emphatically don't want that. "-then we've got to see it through."

I thought about the AI assassin from earlier today. Just a stain on the floor, just like that Aviens back when we first arrived. "So many people are going to die Ava."

I could feel her nod. "Yes, they probably will. We will have to do our utmost to be as overwhelming as possible. If we can intimidate, we don't have to kill. If we can cow people, we won't have to destroy them."

"I suppose you're right Ava. I don't want to be killed. I don't want to kill people either. I wish this hadn't happened."

Ava sits up and looks at me. I can see her wet face and hair reflected in the lights from the windows. "But it did happen Melody. Wishing won't change it. The only thing we can do is our best. We're given an opportunity here. Instead of lamenting the deaths that haven't happened yet, try and think about the good we can do here and elsewhere. Try and think how we can win with the least deaths and then you can be a just, fair, and most importantly, long lived ruler." She leaned back down against me. "Look at it this way. The only other Emperor is currently in charge of Venus, and he's loved by nobody. You'll be better than him without even trying. If you try, you could be beloved by everyone."

"Everyone? What about the AIs, Ava? I'm not about to do a genocide, I'll be no better than Venus then."

"Well... your voice works a bit. Maybe with practice and research it'll work more. More importantly, if we can convince them that you aren't a threat and aren't trying to eliminate them, maybe they'll leave you be."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. We have to convince them that we're not going to try and eliminate them." The water sloshed as I rolled and faced her. "But how?"

She put her finger against my lips. "Shh, we have time. We can figure that out later." Her hand slid down my body. "For now, we have other things to concern ourselves with."

The night was long and full of enjoyment.

Part 38

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

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sciencespies · 4 years

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Genomic analysis reveals many animal species may be vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection

https://sciencespies.com/nature/genomic-analysis-reveals-many-animal-species-may-be-vulnerable-to-sars-cov-2-infection/

Genomic analysis reveals many animal species may be vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Humans are not the only species facing a potential threat from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.

An international team of scientists used genomic analysis to compare the main cellular receptor for the virus in humans — angiotensin converting enzyme-2, or ACE2 — in 410 different species of vertebrates, including birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

ACE2 is normally found on many different types of cells and tissues, including epithelial cells in the nose, mouth and lungs. In humans, 25 amino acids of the ACE2 protein are important for the virus to bind and gain entry into cells.

The researchers used these 25 amino acid sequences of the ACE2 protein, and modeling of its predicted protein structure together with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, to evaluate how many of these amino acids are found in the ACE2 protein of the different species.

“Animals with all 25 amino acid residues matching the human protein are predicted to be at the highest risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2 via ACE2,” said Joana Damas, first author for the paper and a postdoctoral research associate at UC Davis. “The risk is predicted to decrease the more the species’ ACE2 binding residues differ from humans.”

About 40 percent of the species potentially susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 are classified as “threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and may be especially vulnerable to human-to-animal transmission. The study was published Aug. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The data provide an important starting point for identifying vulnerable and threatened animal populations at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said Harris Lewin, lead author for the study and a distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis. “We hope it inspires practices that protect both animal and human health during the pandemic.”

Endangered species predicted to be at risk

Several critically endangered primate species, such as the Western lowland gorilla, Sumatran orangutan and Northern white-cheeked gibbon, are predicted to be at very high risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2 via their ACE2 receptor.

Other animals flagged as high risk include marine mammals such as gray whales and bottlenose dolphins, as well as Chinese hamsters.

Domestic animals such as cats, cattle and sheep were found to have a medium risk, and dogs, horses and pigs were found to have low risk for ACE2 binding. How this relates to infection and disease risk needs to be determined by future studies, but for those species that have known infectivity data, the correlation is high.

In documented cases of SARS-COV-2 infection in mink, cats, dogs, hamsters, lions and tigers, the virus may be using ACE2 receptors or they may use receptors other than ACE2 to gain access to host cells. Lower propensity for binding could translate to lower propensity for infection, or lower ability for the infection to spread in an animal or between animals once established.

Because of the potential for animals to contract the novel coronavirus from humans, and vice versa, institutions including the National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, which both contributed genomic material to the study, have strengthened programs to protect both animals and humans.

“Zoonotic diseases and how to prevent human to animal transmission is not a new challenge to zoos and animal care professionals,” said co-author Klaus-Peter Koepfli, senior research scientist at Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation and former conservation biologist with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Species Survival and Center for Conservation Genomics. “This new information allows us to focus our efforts and plan accordingly to keep animals and humans safe.”

The authors urge caution against overinterpreting the predicted animal risks based on the computational results, noting the actual risks can only be confirmed with additional experimental data. The list of animals can be found here.

Research has shown that the immediate ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a species of bat. Bats were found to be at very low risk of contracting the novel coronavirus via their ACE2 receptor, which is consistent with actual experimental data.

Whether bats directly transmitted the novel coronavirus directly to humans, or whether it went through an intermediate host, is not yet known, but the study supports the idea that one or more intermediate hosts was involved. The data allow researchers to zero in on which species might have served as an intermediate host in the wild, assisting efforts to control a future outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human and animal populations.

Additional authors on the study include: Marco Corbo, UC Davis Genome Center; Graham M. Hughes and Emma C. Teeling, University College Dublin, Ireland; Kathleen C. Keough and Katherine S. Pollard, UC San Francisco; Corrie A. Painter, Nicole S. Persky, Diane P. Genereux, Ross Swofford, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh and Elinor K. Karlsson, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachussetts; Michael Hiller, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany; Andreas R. Pfenning, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Huabin Zhao, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Oliver A. Ryder, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, Escondido, and UC San Diego; Martin T. Nweeia, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, and Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

The research in this study was coordinated as part of the Genome 10K Organization, which includes the Bat1K, Zoonomia, the Vertebrate Genomes Project and the Earth BioGenome Project. Genomic information for the study was also provided the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s GenBank, the San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo and the Smithsonian’s Global Genome Initiative. This work was supported by the Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowment.

#Nature

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shollyworld · 5 years

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Uploadfilter wegen Nachdenkens günstig abzugeben

Mein Senf zu den Änderungen im EU Urheberrecht hat bisher noch gefehlt, als Gegner der sogenannten “Uploadfilter“ passe ich so gar nicht in die Klischees der Emotionen, denn:

Ich habe mal Musik studiert

Ich verkaufe Erkennungstechnologie für „Uploadfilter“

Ich werde nicht von Google bezahlt

Ich bin bewusst GEMA und GVL Mitglied

Ich habe Musik-Start-Up Erfahrung

Ich kenne das Musik- & Lizenzgeschäft in- & auswendig

und mir ist egal, wie YouTuber ihr Geld verdienen

Nur ob ich ein Bot bin, da würde ich gern noch etwas nachdenken …

Zur Sache und vorab: Nein, das Wort „Uploadfilter“ steht in Artikel 13 für die Durchsetzung des geplanten Urheberrechts nicht, aber um Millionen von Medien, Nutzerbeiträgen pro Tag überhaupt auf eventuelle Rechtsverstöße oder deren Konformität bei Uploads hin zu untersuchen, braucht man Erkennungstechnologie, die man dann automatisiert mit Regeln versehen muss. Sascha Lobo hat dazu den passenden Vergleich einer vorgegebenen Reisezeit von Frankfurt/Main nach New York gemacht: was funktioniert, wenn man das z.B. in 8 Stunden schaffen muss, der Dienstwagen von Axel Voss oder Angela Merkels Elektrobike vielleicht?

Fakt ist: Fraunhofer ist mit AudioID seit 1999 Pionier für Erkennungstechnologien und die zweite Generation mit der mobilen Erkennung war das Vorbild für Shazam. Seit 2006 bin ich mit dieser Version, den folgenden und allen Konkurrenzanwendungen (Liste s.u.) weltweit auf die eine oder andere Weise verbunden. Als Anbieter von Musik- und Video-Erkennungstechnologie könnte man jetzt wegen des absehbaren Geschäftes frohlocken, aber es gibt noch viele Dinge, bei denen diese bzw. keine Technologie hilft:

Selbst eine 100%ig zuverlässige Erkennungstechnologie kann nur das erkennen, was in einer Referenzdatenbank vorhanden ist

Diese Datenbanken gibt es mit zugehöriger Erkennungstechnologie bei einigen Anbietern, darin enthalten sind bereits die ordnungsgemäß lizensierten kommerziellen Musiktiteln wie sie bei Spotify & Co. enthalten sind, die Rate der titelgenauen Verteilung der Einnahmen von YouTube, Facebook u.a. ist trotzdem extrem schlecht

Jede Veränderung im Vergleich zu diesen Referenzen wie z.B. Mashups, Mixe u.ä. ist unzuverlässig oder gar nicht erkennbar, nur in der Theorie und in den Sales Pitches der Anbieter

Jedes neue Werk, jede rechtlich zulässige, legale Coverversion, jede Variante oder Live-Version von Autoren und Musikern fehlt in solchen selbst bei kommerziellen Katalogen unvollständigen Referenzdatenbanken und damit ist all das auch nicht erkennbar

Unfassbar Teil I: Durch die Unfähigkeit der Musikindustrie selbst für ihre bisherigen Referenzdatenbanken globale Rechteinformationen zwischen Künstlern und Autoren in einer gemeinsamen Datenbank zu verknüpfen und für Verwerter bereit zu stellen, können jetzt schon zwischen 25-50% der digitalen Erlöse der Musikwirtschaft nicht an die originalen Autoren, Künstler (Urheber) ausgezahlt werden („black boxes“)

Unfassbar Teil II: Es gibt kein Interesse an der Lösung dieses seit mehr als 15 Jahren in der Musikindustrie als Metdatenchaos bekannten Problems, d.h. es wird auch in absehbarer Zukunft keine Datenbank mit diesen Informationen geben

Fazit:

Gemessen am täglichen Aufkommen von audiovisuellen Medien in Plattformen mit nutzergenierten Inhalten wird es eine Unmenge an zu Unrecht abgelehnten Medien geben. Vielleicht werden tausende neue Stellen für die manuelle Kontrolle abgelehnter Inhalte geschaffen, in … hmmmm lasst mich raten, wo Arbeitskräfte billig sind und die dann kaum Ahnung zum Kontext des abgelehnten Materials haben?

Da alle kommerziellen Betreiber und jedes Medienunternehmen mit nutzergenierten Inhalten bei nicht erkannten Uploads (s.o. 3.+4.) befürchten muss, empfindliche Strafen von einem potentiellen Rechteinhaber zu bekommen, werden alle diese Werke automatisch und vorsorglich blockiert, also auch z.B. mein gerade entstandener Song, an dem ich 100%ig alle Rechte halte, weil dessen unabhängige Rechte nicht registriert sind!

Sollten wider Erwarten wirklich keine Erkennungsfilter zwingend vorgeschrieben sein und große wie kleine Firmen zahlen dafür einfach einen Risikobonus oder Ablass an die Rechteinhaber, dann wandern wie bisher alle nicht erkennbaren, die neuen oder unabhängigen Werke von Autoren und Künstlern in der pauschalen Ausschüttung und damit in den Taschen der großen Rechteinhaber, was die Verteilungsungerechtigkeit nicht verringert sondern weiter zu Ungunsten der eigentlichen Kreativen verschiebt. So oder so, ein Fest für Anwälte wegen eines fatalen Irrglaubens an die Technik, die ohne den Willen einer Branche und ohne verfügbare Daten keine Lösung sein wird.

Lieber Axel Voss, liebe Angela Merkel, sehr geehrte Lobbyisten und Parlamentarier: hört auf, euch hinter Worthülsen für die Gerechtigkeit von Autoren und Künstlern zu verstecken. Liebe Medienindustrie: Hört auf, die meist prekäre und nicht informierte Situation der unabhängigen und kreativen Musiker, Autoren, Journalisten, Fotografen usw. auszunutzen, um eure Geschäfte abzusichern und schafft endlich eine gemeinsame Datenbank eurer Metadaten, damit wir nicht aus Angst Geschäfte verhindern, sondern Vielfalt erhalten und neue Ideen befördern können - auch für euer Geschäft.

Selbst wenn wir alle nachweislich bisher nicht funktionierenden Teile des Wunschsystems einfach mal Beiseite lassen und es:

a) perfekt funktionierende Erkennungstechnologien für alle Medien geben würde, sowie b) alle kommerziellen Inhalte global in einer Referenz- und Rechtedatenbank immer aktualisiert für alle zur Verfügung stehen würden,

… auch dann wären alle Laien, Lehrer, Unabhängige, Spassvögel, EU Bürger mit ihren Kreationen trotzdem pauschal ausgeschlossen, weil das System sie und ihre Kreationen, ihren Humor, unser legales Recht im aktuellen Wortlaut des Artikel 13 nicht erkennen wird. Mir persönlich wird Angst bei dem, was wir dafür alles opfern. Dabei brauchen wir dringend ein zeitgemäßes, gerechtes Urheberrecht, aber nicht so.

Weiterführende Quellen:

Tankred Schipanski, Digitalbeauftragter der CDU zu den negativen Folgen der aktuellen Regelung: https://www.tankred-schipanski.de/19277

Meine Zusammenfassung zur Datenkompetenz der Musikindustrie zur Eröffnung des Reeperbahnfestivals 2017: http://shollyworld.tumblr.com/post/165756911222/liebe-musikindustrie-der-tisch-war-groß-die

Wie transparent die Musikindustrie selbst mit ihren Stars um geht am Beispiel von Musiklegende James Taylor „52 Ways to Screw an Artist, by Warner Bros. Records…“ https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2012/09/19/jamestaylor/

Sascha Lobo über die „Merkelfilter“: http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/angela-merkels-digitalpolitik-witze-uebers-eigene-versagen-a-1254205.html

Fair Music: Transparency and Payment flows in the music industry, A Project of Berklee Initiative Institute of Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE), Boston (USA): https://www.berklee.edu/sites/default/files/Fair%20Music%20-%20Transparency%20and%20Payment%20Flows%20in%20the%20Music%20Industry.pdf

Fazit der EU Arbeitsgruppe zum Problemfall Metadatenchaos in der Musikindustrie: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/sites/creative-europe/files/ab-music-working-group_en.pdf

Die Einnahmen für Autoren / Künstler steigen nicht mit wachsendem Umsatz, wegen:

fehlender Transparenz & Dateninfrastruktur

mangelndem Vertrauen & fehlenden Metadaten

fehlender Interoperabilität, Qualitätskontrolle und Standards

Zitat S.26 des Reports: „The point was made, however, that an efficient registry (i.e. an authoritative database) is the condition precedent for any automated, frictionless licensing system to function. It was also stressed that the lack of metadata standards has had larger business ramifications, that industry growth has been affected, if not crippled. As of today, the potential of technology is still being held back by this issue, despite numerous attempts by the tech community to solve it. 16 years after Napster (which was one of the first service to shed a light on the Metadata problem), the Metadata issue is now labelled by many as one of the most crucial issue facing the music sector in the post-internet era.“

Liste von Anbietern Erkennungstechnologie und Datenbanken: Bach, BMAT, Content ID (YouTube), Echonest (Spotify), Fraunhofer, Gracenote, Mufin, SoundMouse, TuneSat uva.

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