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Will the government shutdown affect schools? | Some parents are concerned that Congress' inability to pass a budget will affect K-12 students. But federal funding for Title I programs, special education, school meals and other elementary and secondary education programs is unaffected because the funds have already been distributed to school districts. Some Head Start programs could run out of money if the shutdown continues through Feb. 1. That would require Congress to allow the longest shutdown in history. The shutdown would reach its 42nd day if it extended to the first day of February. The previous record for a government shutdown occurred in December 1996 and January 1997, when the federal government closed for business for 21 days. But no Head Start programs in Oregon will be affected even if the shutdown were to extend into February, said Marc Siegel, communication director for the Oregon Department of Education. Oregon Head Start programs are fully funded through the end of September, he said. Oregon schools are funded mainly by state income taxes and by local property taxes. Statewide, federal funding only accounts for about 8 percent of Oregon school districts' budgets. | https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/01/will-the-government-shutdown-affect-schools.html |
Can Trump use 'emergency powers' to build border wall? | A section of the steel wall on the US - Mexico border near San Diego, California (AFP Photo/Guillermo Arias) Washington (AFP) - Facing stiff resistance from Congress, President Donald Trump has said he might use his emergency powers to construct hundreds of miles of wall on the southern border to prevent migrants from crossing into the United States illegally from Mexico. Trump could indeed declare a national emergency, citing what the administration calls a "crisis" at the border, after nearly 103,000 people were detained in October and November after entering the country illegally. But trying to build a wall in this way would face significant legal barriers. - Trump does have emergency powers - The National Emergencies Act allows the president to declare a national emergency, providing a specific reason for it. That then allows the mobilization of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws. Those can permit the White House to declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, expand the military, seize property, and restrict trade, communications and financial transactions. But the powers are not unlimited, and can be blocked by Congress and the courts. During the Korean War in 1952, President Harry Truman sought to take over US steel factories to keep them producing in the face of a planned national strike by industry workers. Steel companies took the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor, saying the president's emergency powers did not allow him to seize privately-owned plants to avert a strike. - All presidents use the National Emergencies Act - Every recent president has used the NEA, and more than two dozen states of emergency are currently active, renewed annually. President George W. Bush invoked it after the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks to be able to expand and ready the military beyond what was budgeted, and to undertake secret surveillance and employ interrogation methods on detainees widely denounced as torture. President Barack Obama tapped the NEA to declare an emergency in 2009 over the swine flu threat, giving authorities and hospitals extra powers to act quickly against the outbreak. Most often, the NEA has been used in actions against other countries. One NEA emergency in place since 1979 has restricted trade with Iran. Another, dating to 2006, blocks property of people who were deemed to be undermining democracy in Belarus. - Powers, funds limited - If Trump declares a national emergency, he could deploy more manpower to the border. But to build a wall, he would still have to find billions of dollars to fund it. One emergency law permits the president to order "military construction projects" using funds already available in the military budget. There are strong restrictions on the US military and its funding being deployed for domestic, non-defense purposes, though emergency laws sometimes permit it. Moreover, building the wall will require taking control of privately owned land that abuts much of the border, which could force years-long legal battles with landowners. - Challenge from Congress - The NEA gives Congress the right to immediately challenge a presidential emergency declaration. Given that Congress has already declined to fund the wall, a challenge would likely quickly pass the Democratic House. Then the Republican-controlled Senate would have to decide whether they agree with the president's invocation of emergency powers to build a wall they haven't given him money for. "That's a non-starter," senior Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said Sunday. "If Harry Truman couldn't nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn't have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion-dollar wall on the border." | https://news.yahoo.com/trump-emergency-powers-build-border-wall-174058612.html |
Does Cuonzo Martin think MU can score enough in SEC play? | On Thursdays teleconference for Southeastern Conference basketball coaches, Mizzous Cuonzo Martin said he was struggling to find flaws in Tennessee. Then he watched the No. 3 Volunteers dismantle Georgia by 46 points on Saturday in a 96-50 victory. When he spoke again Monday, Martin struggled to say if he had any more success scouting Tennessee. I thought they played well, Martin said, smiling. Digital Access For Only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. Missouri opens SEC play on Tuesday at home against the leagues toughest team and the Tigers will need all hands on deck if they want to upset Tennessee. MU is riding a six-game winning streak, but has some glaring issues going up against the Vols, who have a lot more scoring and experience than Mizzou. The Tigers are currently last in the SEC in scoring, averaging 69.1 points per game despite leading the conference in three-point shooting. Tennessee is ranked first, with 86.3 points per game. Martins team has been able to go 9-3 without star player Jontay Porter, largely because of Missouris scoring defense, which is No. 33 nationally at 63.2 points per game and second in the SEC. Porter tore his right ACL and MCL before the season. Martin doesnt think the Tigers low scoring will be an issue in conference play, because he thinks most teams scoring numbers will drop by five to 10 points in the SEC. He added that Missouris scoring will likely go up as his freshmen continue to develop and MU can gain more possessions by cutting down on turnovers. Hed like to see Mizzou take more shots inside the three-point arc. Missouri beat Tennessee 59-55 in Columbia last season, which Martin attributed to good defense, but will be hard-pressed to win with a repeat performance. Sharpshooters Kassius Robertson and Jordan Barnett both graduated and the Vols held Georgia to just one three-pointer on Saturday. Both teams did a good job defensively, Martin said of last years game. First half, we were 0-for-7 from three. There has to be more than just threes. You have to be able to make plays around the rim. Defensively, Martin said Tuesday will be a strong indicator for where MU is given the Vols leading scorers in Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield. Williams is an All-American candidate and averages 19.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Martin called Williams one of the five best players in college basketball right now. Missouri will likely use senior Kevin Puryear, a Blue Springs South graduate, on Williams and he is up for the challenge. The 6-foot-7 forward had 12 points and 10 rebounds in last years game and wants to see where he stands against one of the the conferences best players. Were playing a pretty complete team, Puryear said. Tennessee will be just the fourth top-three team to visit Mizzou Arena since 2009 and the first since No. 1 Kentucky in 2015. Missouris nonconference schedule has put the Tigers in good shape to flirt with a postseason tournament appearance but a win on Tuesday would really put MU in discussion for the NCAA Tournament. Martin isnt worried about all that. Im not consumed with their ranking, he said. Whats most important is protecting your home court. | https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-missouri/article224040405.html |
What's up with the Yankees? And how could it affect White Sox pursuit of Manny Machado? | originally appeared on nbcsportschicago.com The most pressing question in the White Sox pursuit of Manny Machado isn't whether he was at Sunday's Bears game. He wasn't. It's what the heck the New York Yankees are doing. Because there's a legitimate case to be made that they're moving on from Machado with some of the other moves they've made of late. And if that is the case, it will dramatically change everything, as it's been reported plenty of times that he supposedly prefers to land in The Bronx and play for the team he grew up rooting for. Scroll to continue with content Ad But there are so many things going on with the Yankees that a union between them and Machado seems, let's just say more complicated than it does with the White Sox - who have reportedly already made an offer, one characterized last week by USA Today's Bob Nightengale as "serious" and "closer to $200 million than $300 million" - or the "spend stupid" Philadelphia Phillies. Story continues Let's start with the Troy Tulowitzki signing, which didn't and still doesn't seem like something that would greatly impact a pursuit of Machado. Tulowitzki is a five-time All Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, sure, but he's also 34 years old and coming off a lost season in which surgery on both heels kept him out completely. He's played in 66 games since the start of the 2017 season. The Toronto Blue Jays paid the nearly $40 million left on his old contract to get rid of him, yet there's plenty of speculation the Yankees might have signed him (to a league-minimum deal, remember) with thoughts of him starting. That thinking would likely bring an end to their pursuit of Machado, as he would be the likely candidate to start at shortstop, at the very least until Didi Gregorius (slated to become a free agent after next season) returns several months in after recovering from Tommy John surgery. But Tulowitzki seems more like a zero-risk move that could also act as a type of insurance policy should the Yankees miss out on Machado. Simply put, Troy Tulowitzki wants a ring and knows that Manny Machado greatly enhances the #Yankees' chances. https://t.co/gf8iKSAoK6 Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 7, 2019 As is often the case when discussing free agents, money could end up the biggest issue. And whether the Yankees merely want to remain relatively flexible as their fleet of young stars inches toward big raises or are using Machado's supposed preference as a bargaining tool, they reportedly aren't willing to offer the kind of long-term, record-breaking contract it was assumed Machado would command when the offseason started. The Yankees don't need Machado, the winners of 100 games last season and the potential preseason World Series favorites without him. And so they don't need to win him over with a massive contract offer. The Los Angeles Dodgers are reportedly in a similar spot in the Bryce Harper derby, unwilling to make a gargantuan contract offer and in a fine position without his services, the winners of the last two NL pennants. But the Yankees are the Yankees, of course, and they've never let dollars get in the way of improving their team. So look what they've done in recent days, bringing back Zach Britton on an expensive free-agent contract that keeps him in their bullpen for the next three seasons at $39 million. Britton's got a great track record, sure, and the Yankees are facing the possible defection of Dellin Betances to free agency following the 2019 season, but that's an awful lot of cash. They could have saved if they gave David Robertson the same deal he got from the Phillies, but maybe they just wanted Britton. And they might not be done splurging on relievers, either, as Adam Ottavino reportedly has their interest, too. After his 2.43-ERA, 112-strikeout season in 2018, he's expected to cash in on a multi-year contract. That means even more dollars spent on the relief corps - and more of that offseason budget not spent on Machado. There have been multiple offseason rumors about them potentially trying to trade Miguel Andujar, the guy with just 154 major league games under his belt who almost won AL Rookie of the Year honors last season. Keeping that 23-year-old in the lineup for years to come - and at a much cheaper price than Machado - would seem like a no-brainer, but Machado, as White Sox fans know, is a heck of a player. There's been suggestion, too, that the Yankees could try to move Andujar to first base, where their current starter is Luke Voit. Machado's supposed preference for the Yankees and their hole at shortstop made them the most sensible option when it came to Machado's landing place. But they are doing things the other suitors in this derby aren't doing, which at this point in the process effectively means they're going on with their offseason rather than sitting patiently while Machado deliberates. The White Sox have added in small ways, as expected, considering where they are in their rebuild. There might no be no stereotypical Plan B in the form of a significant consolation-prize signing should they miss out. The Phillies have added a couple big names in Robertson and Andrew McCutchen, but remember they have "stupid" money they've vowed to spend and they view themselves as far closer to contention, whether or not that's actually a reality in the increasingly competitive NL East. In the end, the size of the contract offer could wind up the difference maker (big shock, right?) and the White Sox have already made an offer, per Nightengale, one that could, if we're connecting some various dots, be in the ballpark of seven years and $210 million. Certainly the possibility for those numbers to be larger exists. If the Yankees don't want to go that high, or come anywhere near that high, then that's a sizable gap that could cause Machado to abandon his preference. The Phillies, of course, are in a similar position to the White Sox when it comes to offering a big contract, and according to Nightengale's latest update - which also focuses on the unknowns surrounding the Yankees - they remain the two most aggressive pursuers. The #Yankees are either playing it coy, trying to gauge the Andujar trade market, or simply have no intention of offering Manny Machado a $200 million-plus contract. The Chicago #WhiteSox and Philadelphia #Phillies remain the most aggressive teams for the prized infielder. Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 7, 2019 In other words, stay tuned. But if the Yankees aren't quite as "in" on this whole thing than it initially seemed, perhaps "stay tuned" changes to "buckle up." Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device. | https://sports.yahoo.com/whats-yankees-could-affect-white-163906136.html?src=rss |
Will Coca-Cola Raise Its Dividend in 2019? | It's hard to find a dividend stock that can match the history that beverage giant Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has had. For decades, the stock has generated impressive double-digit percentage returns for its shareholders, and Coca-Cola has managed to do well even during tough times for the rest of the economy. Dividend investors have also seen big rewards from holding Coca-Cola stock, with more than a half-century of consistent, reliable dividend growth. As the company once again makes some major moves toward a more capital-efficient strategic vision, shareholders want to know if they can expect continued dividend growth from Coca-Cola. With that in mind, we'll look more closely at the company to see whether it's likely to keep moving its dividend higher in 2019. Dividend stats on Coca-Cola Current quarterly dividend per share $0.39 Current yield 3.3% Number of consecutive years with dividend increases 56 Payout ratio 236% Last increase March 2018 Source: Yahoo! Finance. Last increase refers to ex-dividend date. Coca-Cola's dividend looks fizzier than ever Investors have enjoyed steady and impressive growth not just in Coca-Cola's share price but also in its dividend payout. The beverage giant has made a habit of making modest single-digit percentage increases that nevertheless add up to significant dividend growth over time. For instance, in 2008, Coca-Cola paid slightly less on a per-share basis in dividends than it did in late 2018 -- but since then, the stock has gone through a 2-for-1 stock split. That means effective payouts have more than doubled. Dividend investors have seen growth slow down to some extent, though. The 2018 increase of $0.02 per share set the new payout at $0.39 per share, and that 5.4% increase was quite a bit less than the 8% to 9% increases that it often made early in the 2010s. KO Dividend Chart More KO Dividend data by YCharts. As we've seen in past years, though, Coca-Cola's dividend raises questions of sustainability right now. A payout ratio above 200% usually indicates problems that could threaten a dividend cut in the future, but much of the reason why the beverage company has seen earnings drop has to do with the corporate restructuring moves it's made lately. In particular, the effort to refranchise Coca-Cola's bottling operations stands to make its capital asset structure look much simpler in the future -- but it comes with short-term pain in the form of extraordinary charges that keep earnings down and make payout ratios look artificially high. Coca-Cola looks for better business ahead From a fundamental standpoint, Coca-Cola is working hard to look better financially. Revenue has taken a hit because of its bottler refranchising, but margin improvement has been significant, and that stands to continue into 2019. | https://news.yahoo.com/coca-cola-raise-dividend-2019-010600553.html |
What Is 400G Technology, and Should Investors Care? | Data centers and the cloud-based computing they power have been one of the most successful investing themes in recent years. According to internet infrastructure supplier Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), that trend could continue. There are currently 4.8 billion internet users around the globe and nearly 29 billion connected devices, and over 80% of internet traffic is video. With more people, devices, and video crowding cyberspace every day, Cisco says the amount of internet data traffic could triple by 2022. And that's where 400G comes in -- the next generation of tech powering data centers and all the new demands being placed on them. This will be the year 400G starts getting deployed, so it's time for investors to stock up ahead of the movement. The term 400G refers to the maximum speed of data transfer, or bandwidth; the "G" stands for Gbps, or gigabits per second. That makes 400G a fourfold jump in maximum data-transfer speed from the current maximum standard 100G. Besides being faster, 400G also has more lanes, allowing for more throughput (the amount of data that can be processed at one time). Put simply, think of data centers as a freeway interchange that receives and sends information to different destinations, and 400G is an upgrade to the interchange that provides more lanes and a faster speed limit. The 100G standards were just adopted just a few years ago, and many data centers are still undergoing upgrades. The reason for 400G has to do with the continued boom in traffic, especially as it relates to video and other high-capacity data transfers. The 400G data centers will help accommodate things like ultra-high-definition (4K) video streaming, new video-game and virtual-reality content, artificial intelligence, and mobile 5G networks, to name just a few examples. A yellow ethernet cable connected into the back of an internet modem. More Image source: Getty Images. How to capitalize on it Besides investing in cloud computing companies themselves, one of the best ways to bet on 400G and the continued development of data centers is investing in the companies that help build and manage them. Cisco is the leader in this space. According to tech researcher IDC, the company had 54.4% of the global market share of ethernet switches (a key component of data centers). Cisco's market share for enterprise routers and services was 42.7% in the third quarter. The company is coming off a healthy run over the last year. Sales were up 4.5% over the last trailing 12-month stretch, including an 8.3% increase during the company's fiscal 2019 first quarter. Revenues are expected to increase 5% to 7% during the next quarter, and there's potential for that to accelerate as Cisco expects to start shipping its new 400G family of equipment later in the year. Cisco's forward P/E sits at a mere 14.1, a value compared with the S&P 500's forward P/E of 15.3. But an even better play on 400G could be Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET), which according to IDC had only a 6.6% market share of ethernet switches in the third quarter of 2018. But that share is rising as year-over-year revenue grew 27.6%. Total sales were up 23% over the last 12 months, including a 28.7% increase in the third quarter of 2018. Though Arista is a smaller company than Cisco -- both in size and by percentage of market dominance -- it is a more focused endeavor on data center build-out and cloud computing. It, too, will begin shipping 400G platforms early in 2019. | https://news.yahoo.com/400g-technology-investors-care-010400398.html |
How Will the New Tax Law Affect Retirees? | The changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law late in 2017 will be reflected in 2018 tax returns, which are filed this spring. The law is one of the most sweeping tax code reforms of the last three decades, and is likely to affect all Americans who file tax returns. Many of its provisions are certain to affect retirees. Here's a look at four of the most significant. Puzzled looking older man reviewing documents, pencil in hand. More IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. 1. The standard deduction is nearly doubling. Deductions are amounts subtracted from income, lowering the taxable income and thus reducing the total amount owed in tax. Taxpayers must choose between two categories: the standard deduction and itemized deductions. If filers choose the standard deduction, they exclude a set amount from their income. If they choose to itemize, they subtract the dollar value of each deductible category. The new tax law almost doubles the standard deduction, from $6,350 to $12,000 for single filers, and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married people filing jointly. On the face of it, the considerable hike in the standard deduction sounds significant. It may not be as far-reaching as it initially seems, though. In years past, filers using the standard deduction could include a personal exemption as well, as long as no one claimed them as a dependent . For 2017, for instance, single filers using the then standard deduction of $6,500 could also subtract $4,150 from their income for a personal exemption, making the total adjustment $10,650. But the personal exemption was eliminated under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, so folks taking the standard deduction for 2018 won't have access to also taking a personal exemption any longer. The jump in the 2018 standard deduction thus represents more of a muted increase from the former standard deduction plus personal exemption level, rather than effectively doubling the past standard deduction. The gain is more than 12% for a single filer, for instance. That's still a nice increase, and it more than makes up for the elimination of the personal exemption. But it's just not as much as an initial comparison of amounts might lead you to believe. The increase in the standard deduction has the resulting effect of making itemization necessary for fewer people, including retirees. In the past, itemizing as many deductions as possible was the smartest move, as long as the total exceeded the amount of the standard deduction plus the personal exemption. Common deductions included mortgage interest up to $1 million, a level that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has now reduced to $750,000. The rise in the standard deduction might mean that retirees can achieve roughly the same overall deductible by taking the standard amount as they could by itemizing. Once you get an idea of what your itemized deductibles add up to, you can decide whether itemizing still makes sense. If not, taking the standard deduction can save time, effort, and tax-preparation expenses. 2. The deduction for state and local taxes has been capped. There's also a brand new cap on another widely used deduction: state and local taxes, including property tax (SALT). In the past, the total could be deducted, period. Your SALT total made no difference to its deductible status. But for 2018 and beyond, SALT deductions are restricted to a total of $10,000. | https://news.yahoo.com/tax-law-affect-retirees-001500568.html |
Is the key to happiness being married? | Middle-aged people seeking a meaningful life should consider marriage, friends and spending less time alone. Over-50s are more likely to judge life worth living if they are married and see their friends at least once a week, a study has found. Spending too much time on your own, or in front of the television, may make life feel less meaningful, reports the Daily Mail. This is important because people who see their lives as worthwhile are more likely to be top earners and less likely to be ill, depressed, obese or poor sleepers. Advertisement Researchers at University College London questioned more than 7,000 people aged 50 to 90 on how meaningful they felt their life was. Those who judged life most worthwhile were 16 per cent more likely to be married and 13 per cent less likely to live alone. They were 13 per cent more likely to see friends at least weekly, and much more likely to be a member of an organisation, from church to Neighbourhood Watch or a social club. The research found those whose lives held least meaning spent almost twice as much time alone during the day - more than six hours on average. They spent 50 minutes more a day watching television. Lead author Professor Andrew Steptoe, from the department of behavioural science and health, said: "Social engagement is a very important component of living a meaningful life for many people. "Being a member of an organisation may be meaningful in itself, but it can also provide social contact. Over-50s are more likely to judge life worth living if they are married and see their friends at least once a week. Photo / Getty Images "Finding meaning when you are sitting on your own is quite tricky, since for most people this is linked to their relationships. "We were struck by how important this feeling of meaning was, with people who saw their lives as meaningful being much more healthy as well as being socially engaged." The study asked older people to rate how meaningful they felt their lives were on a scale of zero to 10. Asking a range of other questions about people's lives, they found those who rated their lives most meaningful, with a score of nine or 10, were 10 per cent most likely to be among the highest earners. These people were around a third less likely to be depressed, were less obese and were a fifth more likely to get good or very good sleep at night. They walked faster, ate better and were less likely to be disabled or suffer from chronic illnesses. Experts believe a sense of meaning can give people the motivation to live more healthily, with those who see life as most worthwhile also 11 per cent more likely to exercise. To get that sense of meaning, the results suggest it is important to spend time with other people. Those who rated their life's meaning between zero and two spent five hours and 18 minutes alone during the average day, compared to two hours and 46 minutes for people who saw their lives as more meaningful. People were more likely to see their life as worthwhile if they volunteered, did a cultural activity like visiting a museum or the theatre at least every few months. People whose lives were less meaningful spent four hours and two minutes watching television in an average day, compared to three hours and 17 minutes for those who saw life as less worthwhile. On the results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Steptoe said: 'There seems to be a virtuous circle, as having a good relationship with others improves people's sense of meaning, which can then lead to more social activities.' | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12187182 |
Could Netflix's Domestic Member Growth Beat Estimates? | Shares of streaming-TV company Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) are rising sharply on Monday, following more optimistic analyst commentary on the stock. The company could post better-than-expected domestic subscriber growth in its important holiday quarter, wrote Piper Jaffray analyst on Monday (by way of Barron's). With Netflix set to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 17, investors will be watching closely to see how many new members the company added during the quarter. The company has seen member growth pick up recently, but some investors worry the streaming-TV giant could face headwinds in member growth domestically, given the company's significant penetration in the United States. A red couch facing a TV in a home theater More Image source: Getty Images. Netflix's domestic subscribers will increase about 11.5% year over year in Q4, forecasts Piper Jaffray analysts Michael Olson. That would be above the consensus analyst estimate and management's guidance for the quarter, both of which currently call for about 10% year-over-year growth in the key metric. Olson forecasts international subscribers will be in line with the consensus analyst estimate. Jaffray's forecast is based on Web-search trend data. The firm's search index has boasted a 0.92 to 0.93 correlation to Netflix's subscribers in previous quarters, according to Jaffray. Jaffray also noted that he believes a trend of shifting consumer spending from traditional TV to connected TV will be a multi-year boon for Netflix. With these catalysts in mind, Olson reiterated his $430 12-month price target for the stock. Even after the stock's 4.7% gain at the time of this writing at 2:30 p.m. ET on Monday, this implies 38% upside for the stock. Subscriber growth trends Netflix has seen significant momentum in its subscribers recently. Paid members for the combined period of Q2 and Q3 of last year were 11.5 million. In the same period in 2017, Netflix added 9.7 million paid subscribers. Domestically, however, Netflix's growth in 2018 was slightly below growth in 2017 for these periods. Combined domestic net subscriber additions for Q2 and Q3 of 2017 were 1.97 million, compared with 1.87 for the same period in 2018. Netflix is optimistic about its fourth quarter. Management guided for 7.6 million new paid subscribers, up from 6.62 million paid subscriber additions in the fourth quarter of 2017. Netflix expects 1.5 million of these new subscribers to come from the U.S., with about 6.1 million coming from international markets. That compares with a mix of 1.47 million U.S. subscribers and 5.16 million international subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2017. Investors will know exactly what Netflix's subscriber additions for the fourth quarter were when the company reports its fourth-quarter results later this month. More From The Motley Fool Daniel Sparks owns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | https://news.yahoo.com/could-netflix-apos-domestic-member-234600956.html |
When can Tua Tagovailoa enter the NFL draft? | Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's sensational sophomore campaign has caught the eye of those outside the world of college football, with NFL fans asking when their team will have a chance to draft the standout quarterback. But professional teams will have to exercise a bit of patience before landing Tagovailoa. Monday night's matchup with Clemson will mark the end of Tagovailoa's sophomore season with the Crimson Tide. College players become eligible for the NFL draft after their junior years, or sophomore seasons in the case of a redshirt. So Alabama fans will have at least one more season with Tagovailoa, as he becomes eligible for the NFL draft after the 2019 season. With 2019 potentially being Tagovailoa's last year in Tuscaloosa, he could walk across the stage and shake NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's hand at the NFL draft in 2020. If he continues to dominate the college ranks, Tagovailoa will almost certainly be a first-round pick in the 2020 draft and perhaps a top-five selection. | https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/01/07/tua-tagovailoa-nfl-draft-when-eligible-year |
Do Emergency Powers Allow Trump To Order A Border Wall? | President Trump has talked about declaring a national emergency. He says he might invoke emergency powers to order the construction of a wall at the U.S.- Mexico border. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Let's examine the power of a phrase. The phrase is national emergency. President Trump has talked about one. He says he might invoke emergency powers to order construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The fact is that the total number of people believed to cross each year is far down from historic highs. That is true despite an increase recently, but here's how the president described the border situation over the weekend. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And we have an absolute crisis and of criminals and gang members coming through. It is national security. It's a national emergency. Here to help answer that question is NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Scott, good morning. SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve. HORSLEY: The president does have some power under the National Emergencies Act to shift money from, say, one account, the Defense Department, to another. This is designed to give him flexibility to deal with an urgent situation. It's not designed to cut Congress out of the budgeting process. INSKEEP: OK. HORSLEY: He is allowed to do that, but he is expected to inform Congress. And if he were to try to use his emergency powers in this situation, it would almost certainly invite a legal challenge. INSKEEP: Oh, OK. So there is some question there as to whether he has that kind of authority, but he can at least start the process. HORSLEY: Lots of questions would come up. Which is a surge of asylum-seekers in family groups coming from Central America, most of whom turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents. INSKEEP: Oh, then this is an interesting point that you're making here, Scott. There are multiple problems, multiple complications at the border. And this wall doesn't necessarily address the one that has made news recently, you're saying. HORSLEY: That's right. INSKEEP: So this is all a backdrop, in a sense, to a discussion over these negotiations to reopen the government. The president has said he will not sign routine spending bills that would open parts of the government that have been closed for a number of weeks now unless he gets some kind of funding for this border wall. There were talks over the weekend. HORSLEY: No, not really. And in fact, the president said on Sunday before those talks even began that he didn't really expect them to. This was more political theater than actual negotiation. One thing we did see, though, was the White House put into writing its budget ask. That's something the Democrats had been seeking. They want $5.7 billion for Trump's wall, which the president now says can be made from steel - not concrete. INSKEEP: OK. HORSLEY: That would be enough to build 234 miles of barrier. That works out to about $24 million a mile. In addition, the administration is asking for hundreds of millions of additional dollars to build more detention beds, to hire more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges, to install new drug detection technology at the ports of entry and to deal with what it says is a humanitarian crisis at the border. INSKEEP: You know, it's really interesting, Scott Horsley. It sounds like some of the items on that list are things that a lot of Democrats would sign onto, like more immigration judges just to give one example. It's the wall - the symbolism of the wall that is the sticking point here. HORSLEY: The symbolism and the $5.7 billion. HORSLEY: You know, it is mounting day by day. There's some talk now that tax refund checks could be delayed if this stretches on much longer. We are starting to hear anecdotal reports of sickouts by TSA agents. And that's causing longer lines at airports. This Friday is supposed to be payday for the federal workers. So if it's not solved by then, that would be the first time those 800,000 federal employees would actually miss a paycheck. INSKEEP: Wow. People who are working, as well as furloughed, not being paid. HORSLEY: Right. INSKEEP: Scott, thanks for the update. HORSLEY: You're welcome. INSKEEP: That's NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/07/682844649/do-emergency-powers-allow-trump-to-order-a-border-wall?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition |
What does 2019 hold for Kim Jong-un and North Korea? | Kim Jong-un goes into 2019 with diplomatic momentum to build on after last years historic meeting with the US president, Donald Trump. As Kim attempts to negotiate a fresh summit, the Guardians Tania Branigan looks at his leadership so far and Emma Graham-Harrison describes a rare trip to Pyongyang and the humanitarian conditions for ordinary North Koreans. Plus: Catherine Shoard, at the start of the annual film awards season, argues prizes are not necessarily a mark of quality Donald Trump has revealed that negotiations are underway to secure a location for a new summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, after the historic meeting between the two men in Singapore last year. It came after Kim warned in a New Years speech that Pyongyang may change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persisted with sanctions. The Guardians leader writer Tania Branigan has been reporting on North Korea for many years but says that very little is known about Kim Jong-un as he faces what could be a critical year in his leadership. One false move or a misunderstanding in the nuclear talks could prove disastrous. The Guardian and Observers Emma Graham-Harrison visited Pyongyang on an organised press trip in 2018 and describes a city in which wary citizens were watched everywhere they went in scenes reminiscent of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. Also today: the Guardians film editor Catherine Shoard argues that as we enter Hollywoods award season, a lack of artistic quality will be no barrier to winning the big prizes. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/audio/2019/jan/08/what-does-2019-hold-for-kim-jong-un-and-north-korea-podcast |
Did The Bachelor Premiere's Live Show Experiment Work? | The Bachelor tried something new to ring in its 23rd season, and let's just say it was a choice. Instead of just airing the premiere episode as they usually doall the way through, over the course of two short hoursChris Harrison presided over a massive Bachelor premiere party taking place live in multiple locations in multiple states, including Utah, Texas, a house in Michigan, a studio in Los Angeles, and a hot tub outside in a parking lot. Bachelor alum such as Ashley Iaconetti, Jared Haibon, Kaitlyn Bristowe, JoJo Fletcher, Blake Horstmann, Jason Tartick, Krystal Nielson, and Chris Randone all co-hosted from those various locations, including the hot tub, and while there were moments that were entertaining, the whole thing felt odd. Colton Underwood didn't even appear in the show until an hour in, which is also when the women finally began exiting those limos, which is really what we come to Bachelor premieres to see. Instead of watching the actual show, it felt like we were enjoying a budget New Year's Eve celebration, peppered with bits of the premiere on occasion. | https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/1002907/did-the-bachelor-premiere-s-live-show-experiment-work |
Is Rep. Ocasio-Cortez afraid of making enemies? | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has already made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Now she's making waves on Capitol Hilland within the Democratic party itself. Shortly after the election, she rallied a group of climate change activists who were holding a sit-in outside Democratic party leader Nancy Pelosi's office. Then, hours after being sworn in on Thursday, she was one of only three Democrats in the House to vote "no" on a resolution setting out new House rules, which had been carefully negotiated by the entire Democratic caucus. In an interview for 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper asked Ocasio-Cortez if she is afraid of making enemies in Congress. "I genuinely do not think of politics in the world in terms of enemies or allies, or, like, permanent enemies or permanent allies," she said in the video above. What are we trying to accomplish, and who has aligned interests in getting that one thing done?" Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Ocasio-Cortez canvassing in her home district before November's election Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper she holds no animosity toward House Democrats who endorsed her opponent, ten-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, in last year's primary election. She also hopes the House Democrats whose opponents she supported in the primaries won't hold a grudge against her, either. "I've moved on because I think one of the biggest problems we have in D.C. is that everyone's egos are too big," she said. Shortly after the election, Ocasio-Cortez rallied a group of climate change activists who were holding a sit-in outside Democratic party leader Nancy Pelosi's office When it comes to making concessions on Capitol Hill, Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper she's willing to compromise. But she thinks the Democrats have gone too far in their give-and-take with Republicans. "My personal opinion, and I know that my district and my community feel this way as well, is that we as a party have compromised too much, and we've lost too much of who we're supposed to be and who we are," Ocasio-Cortez said. She cited as examples compromising on climate change and ceding judicial appointments to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In looking ahead to her Congressional future, Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper the worst-possible situation is that she's not elected to another term. "Let's say I'm only in Congress for two years," she said. "If we can radically change the conversation, then we can potentially accomplish more in two years than many people are able to shape the conversation in ten." To watch Anderson Cooper's 60 Minutes interview with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, click here. To watch more from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, click here. The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and Sarah Shafer Prediger. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-afraid-of-making-enemies-60-minutes/ |
Will Florida's new Republican governor keep his vow of bipartisanship? | So far, Ron DeSantis has nominated prominent Democrats to lead and pledged his support to the environment and clean water Two months after narrowly winning a contentious election in which he nailed his colors firmly to the mast of Trumpism, Ron DeSantis will be sworn in as Floridas 46th governor on Tuesday with voters in the nations third most populous state still unsure exactly what they will be getting. Many of the Republicans picks for his new administration during the seven weeks transition since his progressive Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum conceded have, predictably, followed his predecessor Rick Scotts brand of hardline conservatism. For example, Mary Mayhew, his choice to lead Floridas healthcare agency, served the White House in blocking expansion of the Medicaid program that provides health insurance for the poor. And DeSantiss key advisor and former state House speaker, Richard Corcoran, is a right-wing ideologue who will become the next commissioner of education. But other considerably more moderate appointments have left DeSantis supporters scratching their heads. Two prominent Democrats, Jared Moskowitz and Jim Zingale, have been nominated to lead, respectively, Floridas departments of emergency management and revenue. And in a clear break from the industry-friendly policies of an outgoing governor who was infamously branded Red Tide Rick, DeSantis has pledged to raise the environment and clean water as priority issues in arguably the nations most ecologically fragile state. Read more It is, in DeSantiss own words, the fulfilling of a campaign pledge to embrace bipartisanship and unite a divided electorate, who handed him a recount victory by fewer than 33,000 votes, from more than 8.2m cast. We were elected to serve all Floridians and that is a charge we will keep, DeSantis said in a written address to the state published at the weekend (he did not respond to requests from the Guardian and other media outlets for a pre-inauguration interview). I know there are political divides in our state, but the election is over and it is time for our state to come together. That means prioritising environmental issues we will put Everglades restoration into high gear and make it the reality that Floridians have been promised for three decades. To some analysts, however, the self-styled pitbull Trump defender whose most infamous campaign ad featured him reading the Trump book The Art of the Deal as a bedside story to his infant son has been forced to follow a more moderate path. One that increasingly veers from that of the US president, who praised him as a great Congressman [who] will be a great Governor. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ron DeSantis campaign ad. Photograph: YouTube The assumption from the beginning was that it would be all Trump all the time, but its not turning out that way, said Susan MacManus, emeritus professor of political science at the University of South Florida and a long-time expert on Florida politics. The narrowness of his victory and the changing demographics of the state made it very clear among savvy Republicans that they have to broaden their base. Hes already demonstrated hes doing some of that by his two Democratic appointments, and even a discussion of willingness not to clamp down so much on medicinal marijuana. Whether DeSantis will prove to be a champion of Floridas environment, which is under severe threat from climate change and water pollution, could even influence Trumps chances of re-election in 2020, MacManus believes. Hes going to have to be, she said. These younger generations are the environmental generations. A lot of small businesses in south-west Florida have been hurt by the red tide and are Republican leaning and theyre not going to take some kind of well, well get to that later approach any more. These people are really upset about pollution of the rivers and the Everglades. [DeSantis] cannot afford to lose those people and Im sure hes made it very clear to Trump that hes not going to carry Florida if he doesnt have those Republicans on board. Florida welcomes back its 1.5m 'returning citizens' after ex-felons regain voting rights Read more One of the first issues DeSantis, 40, a five-year US congressman and former lieutenant commander in the US Navy, must tackle is appointing three new members to the Florida Supreme Court, decisions that will shape the political direction of the states ultimate judicial body for a generation. Whomever he picks, the panel will automatically become less diverse with the retirement of Peggy Quince, an African-American who has served since 1982. Only two women, and no African Americans, are among the group of 11 Scott-favoured nominees from which DeSantis must choose. But is it the Florida voters passage of Amendment 4, a voter-approved measure that restores voting rights to up to 1.5 million mostly black felons, other than murderers and sexual offenders, who have served their sentences, that is already proving a racial hot potato to the incoming governor. In December, DeSantis said it would be months before Floridas Republican-dominated legislature would approve implementing language to allow the measure to be passed into law, a claim that earned an immediate scorching rebuke from Melba Pearson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. DeSantis wants to stand in the way of Amendment 4 by asking the legislature to pass an implementing bill, where in fact Amendment 4 is self-executing, she said. The only responsibility DeSantis has right now is to direct state agencies without delay to register voters consistent with state law. | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/07/florida-governor-ron-desantis-republican |
What lies ahead for video games in 2019? | Harry Potter, The Last of Us and Kingdom Hearts are likely to be the stars of the year but streaming could change everything Video games are a fast-moving form of art and entertainment, and that makes the games industry a notoriously difficult one to predict. Games are now almost as varied as the people who play them more than two billion of all ages, across the world, playing on phones or PCs or PlayStations. But apart from Rockstars western epic Red Dead Redemption 2, whose 550m opening weekend made the kind of splash seen only every few years, the biggest earners of 2018 were games that have been around for years: Clash Royale and Pokmon Go on mobile, League of Legends and Counter-Strike on PC, and the omnipresent Fortnite. The money that these established, evolving mega-games make is astounding: its estimated that Fortnite now earns its creator Epic Games about $100m (78.5m) a week. In terms of revenue, any new game released in 2019 will struggle to compete. If anything stands a chance, though, its probably Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, a mobile game from the creators of Pokmon Go that will combine JK Rowlings wizarding world with the real one. As you walk around your neighbourhood, your phone will alert you to traces of magic in random locations. As happened with Pokmon Go, expect to see small crowds of Potter-loving millennials gathering in bizarre locations, exchanging knowing nods in between staring at their phones. Its been more than five years since the current home games consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, were released, which means that new ones are likely to be announced soon (and will probably launch in 2020). This years most anticipated console games are the final wave of big hitters. Sony is pretty much certain to finally release The Last of Us: Part 2, a cinematic adventure that combines a post-apocalyptic zombie survival scenario with excellent starring characters (think The Walking Dead, except back when it was good), and Ghost of Tsushima, a stunningly beautiful homage to samurai cinema. On Xbox, Microsoft has tongue-in-cheek superhero action game Crackdown 3. EAs Anthem, a science-fiction game where players step into mech suits and fight aliens together on gorgeous planets, has people tentatively excited. Kingdom Hearts 3, a long-awaited sequel featuring Disneys iconic characters and worlds, will dominate in its native Japan. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Exciting prospects designers discuss the game Anthem at the E3 conference 2018. Photograph: Mike Nelson/EPA One forthcoming development that could transform how the games industry works is Netflix-style streaming though its unlikely that this will happen in 2019. Almost every major player in the games space has been experimenting with game-streaming technology, from Microsoft to Ubisoft to Google and Amazon, and their executives love to talk about how it will change the world. Right now, games run on the device youre playing them on, but game streaming could make it possible to play the same game on a phone, at home on a TV, or at the office on a PC, offloading all the technical heavy lifting to the cloud and saving players from having to buy expensive consoles. Microsoft already runs Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that gives players a steady stream of new games for a monthly fee, rather than asking them to pay 50 a pop for individual titles. But streaming relies heavily on good internet speeds, and nobody has yet quite solved the problem of lag. Streaming a film uses much less data than streaming a game, and its not a huge problem if a streamed film stutters occasionally, but streamed video games need to be totally responsive or they feel horrible to play. And a lot of players simply arent ready to abandon their beloved consoles in favour of a new, unproven technology. Many of us have a strong sense of attachment to the physical games and consoles we grew up with, though the younger generation is unlikely to be burdened with such sentimentality. Its unlikely that 2019 will be the year that streaming technology turns the games industrys business model upside down, but it will be another step along the way. Speaking of business models, loot boxes, which thanks to government inquiries and media reports are now seen as adjacent to gambling by many, could start to disappear from games this year. Theyve already been rolled back in titles such as Forza 7 and Star Wars Battlefront, and in Belgium, where regulators have been paying close attention, Blizzard removed them from Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm as well. Loot boxes make money an awful lot of it, in games such as Fifa Ultimate Team but if the negative publicity around these randomised in-game rewards continues, publishers will have to consider other ways of chasing the recurrent revenues that swell their coffers. Ready player one: the most anticipated games of 2019 Read more Were approaching the end of a cycle in video-game world, and its coming at a time when the world seems in flux. Brexit threatens to decimate the UK games industry, and worldwide dips in peoples spending are making investors nervous, which is certain to affect video gamings behemoth companies and perhaps lead to a couple of years of reduced risk-taking. But every year were also seeing new people start to make and play games, and as younger developers and players do things on their own terms and create their own new video-game cultures, the games that emerge from it are becoming ever more interesting. This year Im looking forward to playing Hypnospace Outlaw, a surreal detective game set in the 1990s internet, and NeoCab, a narrative science fiction game with a lot to say about the evils of the gig economy. In years like this, where blockbuster games are thinner on the ground and the giants of the industry are taking stock, indie producers have more space to shine. | https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jan/08/video-games-2019-preview-harry-potter-last-of-us-kingdom-hearts-streaming |
Does CBD Work for Pain Relief? | Kyle Wright was used to living in pain. The 31-year-old who lives in New York City regularly felt the repercussions of decades-old injuries from playing sports and bartending, and contended with the back and shoulder aches triggered by mild scoliosis. Then, at a street fair in Denver, where he used to live, someone offered him a sample of CBD lotion, a product said to contain cannabidiol, one of the many chemicals found in the cannabis plant. (While medicinal and recreational marijuana contain CBD, the component itself doesn't deliver the "high" that's attributed to a different chemical, THC.) Wright gave it a shot. "I was really amazed at how effective the lotion was," says Wright, who now runs a relationship coaching business with his wife. "About 15 minutes later, it felt like the tension had evaporated through my skin." Wright soon began buying CBD lotion and using it on his wrists, shoulders, back and neck -- all areas that craved attention after long days tied to the computer. He continues to use a salve or lotion about twice a week and almost never uses Advil or ibuprofen, his former default remedies. "My joints felt looser, my muscles felt relaxed and the pain is significantly lessened," Wright says. [See: On a Scale From 1 to 10: Most Painful Medical Conditions.] Wright is far from the only one praising the power of CBD to treat pain and other ailments in what's promoted as a non-addictive, side effect-free and non-psychoactive way. The Brightfield Group, a cannabis market research company, even projects the industry will reach $22 billion by 2020, thanks to people like Danielle Jenkins, a 29-year-old who works in nonprofit management in Telluride, Colorado, who says a topical CBD product was "the only thing" that helped certain leg muscles in the thigh after a hockey injury. Daisy Testa, a 31-year-old academic counselor in Chicago, also swears by CBD to relieve both stress and its associated neck pain. Mitchell Roth, a film producer in San Francisco, goes as far as to credit CBD for breaking his wife's addiction to opioids, which she originally used to manage pain related to endometriosis. She's now off both substances. Some physicians are on board, too. Dr. Charlton Woodly, a podiatric surgeon in Texas who has no financial stake in CBD products, integrates CBD into patients' recovery from surgery, breaks and sprains. "I use it in my practice because, unlike pain medications, such as Tylenol, CBD does not cause kidney or liver issues while providing the same pain relief," he says. And Dr. Philip Blair, a family physician who serves as medical director of the CBD brand Elixinol, says he's used CBD with over 2,000 patients after the research and his experience convinced him the substance, in fact, wasn't too good to be true. Within minutes of giving a patient CBD, he says, "I see relaxation of their facial muscles, they become more expressive and spontaneous, their eyes get bigger and their shoulders relax. I hear a deep sigh of relief." [See: 11 Ways to Cope With Back Pain.] But some researchers and clinicians caution against prematurely jumping on the CBD bandwagon, which is gaining members and momentum since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, legislation that fully legalizes hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant. But even that enthusiasm is misguided, says Dr. Jordan Tishler, a Harvard physician and CEO of InhaleMD, a Boston-area practice specializing in cannabis therapeutics. The bill, he says, will help farmers and the economy since it will spur the development of new products like textiles. But, he adds, "that has nothing to do with medicine." Here's what else he and other health experts say consumers need to know: 1. CBD isn't entirely legal. CBD companies, some health care professionals and some news reports make blanket claims that CBD is totally legal in every state. Tishler says that's far from the truth. In reality, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers all cannabinoids, including CBD, a schedule 1 drug, which means it's as illegal as heroin from the federal government's perspective. The only form of CBD that's legal in its eyes is the prescription medicine Epidiolex, which the FDA approved in 2018 to treat seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsy -- and nothing else. (CBD may be legal, though, if acquired through a state medical cannabis program.) And even though hemp, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is legal so long as the THC content is negligible, people who want to make CBD by farming hemp need to have a license to do so through the federal government or, in some cases, their state, Tishler explains. Unfortunately, there's no good way to know if your manufacturer has acquired this, he says. | https://news.yahoo.com/does-cbd-pain-relief-150419108.html |
Can 7UP really help cure a cold? | When it comes to getting rid of colds, there are a lot of theories out there. Some people take Vitamin C tablets like theyre going out of style, others opt for zinc. Others still turn to 7UP to counteract seasonal bugs. Most of us just think of 7UP as a tasty drink or maybe even a secret ingredient for tender cakes and sparkling punches, but Mom saw more. She thought that the comforting combination of a little sugar, hint of citrus and carbonation was just what you needed to put a little pep back in your step. And if you werent normally allowed to drink soda, maybe it was the special privilege of forbidden fruit that had you feeling better. However, we encourage Dr. Mom to check her chart again. Sure, drinking clear soda or ginger ale might help an upset stomach, but it doesnt have any healing properties when it comes to the common cold. Drinks to Soothe a Cold Rather than soda, focus on fluids like water, tea and soup broth. Staying hydrated will help loosen up your congestion and ease a cough. Because soda can make dehydration worse, its best to thank Mom for her advice, but skip the 7UP and other sodas. Alcohol and coffee will also cause dehydration, so best to skip all the fun drinks for now. Infused Water If youre missing 7UPs flavor, try infusing cool water with fruit for a sweet taste and extra hit of vitamin C. Combinations to try include apple, lemon and carrot, as well as strawberries, lemon and mint. Fill a pitcher with the fruit of your choice, pour water over it, and allow to chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. Then sip on your sweet concoction all day while resting on the couch and having loved ones wait on you hand and foot. Tea Warm lemon tea is also a great option and will soothe your aching throat. Stir in some honey to coat your throat and ease your coughing. Drinking (caffeine-free!) tea with honey before bed can help you relax and get some much-needed rest. A little 7UP probably wont hurt, but its best to stick with water, rest and plenty of handwashing until youre feeling back to yourself. | https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/can-7up-really-help-cure-a-cold |
How did ESPN do with its Alabama-Clemson game coverage? | CLEVELAND, Ohio Clemson became the first Division I school to finish a season 15-0 in the modern era of football. And they did it on a national stage, with ESPN and its lineup of networks. Here's a look at how ESPN did with the broadcast Monday night. In-game ESPN aired the game, with Chris Fowler (play by play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst) and Maria Taylor and Tom Rinaldi (on-field reporters). The game was in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the San Francisco 49ers. How they got there In the four-team playoff, Alabama beat Oklahoma 45-34 and Clemson topped Notre Dame 30-3. Alabama was a 5- to 5.5-point favorite going into the game, with an over-under set around 57. Those who bet the over were winners in the third quarter: The games scoring First quarter: 14-13, Clemson Halftime: 31-16, Clemson Third quarter: 44-16, Clemson Final: 44-16, Clemson. You know its a big game when multiple channels within the network are dedicated to the broadcast. ESPN ran the game on several of its networks, with Field Pass billed as "free-flowing commentary," with Adam Amin-Tim Tebow on one sideline and Steve Levy-Chip Kelly on the other; Command Center split screen with simultaneous camera angles and in-game stats; and Monday Night Film Room with analysts breaking down the game in real time. Storyline It's the first time since the college football playoff structures began that two undefeated teams met in the title game. Alabama was in its fourth consecutive national championship. As Fowler said during the pregame setup, Alabama was seeking its sixth title in 10 years while Clemson was going for its second in three years. From the booth Fowler and Herbstreit have worked together for years and are as solid as an announcing team can be. As Fowler said early on, "Two scores in three minutes, an electric start from Santa Clara," and that set the tone. Fowler is more about energy no matter who is scoring. He doesn't rely on catch phrases. Herbstreit is quick to pick up on why and when coverage is blown, who is out of position. Clemson's Trayvon Mullen intercepts a pass during the first half the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Alabama, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Jeff Chiu Timing 8 p.m. is better than 9 p.m. for kickoff. Let's go for 7 p.m. next year. The fourth quarter started at 11:12 p.m. The game ended at 11:44 p.m. Shots and observations Cameras caught Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa patting his chest and telling his teammates "On me, on me," after Clemson defensive back A.J. Terrell ran an interception back for the first points of the game. The pylon cam is always a good thing, great for goal-line stands and scoring plays. It was only used a few times Monday, though. "They (Alabama) have missed more point-after attempts and field goals than any team in college football." - Herbstreit. Taylor was quick to note Tagovailoa was complaining on the sidelines about a right hand problem. He entered the game bandaged, for a while. The Blimpcast caught a great overhead shot of the Clemson band performing, which you could see aired on the alternative channels of the megacast during halftime. Graphics showed Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence was 16 of 26 for 324 yards late in the third quarter. (He finished with 347 yards passing.) When Tagovailoa was stuffed on fourth down in the fourth quarter, Herbstreit noted Alabama's four trips to the red zone netted only one touchdown. Clemson started to make me eat my words. Theyve been really impressive in 2Q. Saban being out coached right now . #CFPChampionship Dario Melendez (@Dario_Melendez) January 8, 2019 Sharp calls "If Clemson can win tonight, each (senior) class would finish their careers with 55 wins and two national championships." - Fowler. Fowler predicted the Alabama fake field-goal attempt, as did Clemson's defense. Then, on replay, he said: "That play never had a shot." Random thoughts Would have liked to have seen a closeup and heard the story about what was scrawled and why on Lawrence's left wristband. Would have preferred to see a longer promotional ad for ESPN's fine doc show "30 for 30" rather than the much hyped Imagine Dragons at halftime. And to think: We've got the Super Bowl coming in less than a month, with more halftime hoopla. The "Captain Marvel" promo in the third quarter was 90 seconds long. I'd rather watch the fumble review we didnt get to see. Surprised it took getting to the fourth quarter before we heard that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had been a walk-on receiver at Alabama. Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa throws during the first half the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Clemson, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) Ben Margot Quotes of the game "If you havent watched a lot of college football this year and you tuned into the National Championship, that should tell you where the sport is in 2019 that (Alabama coach) Nick Saban is going for it on fourth down and about six inches from his own 35-yard line. That's like (New England Patriots coach) Bill Belichick going for it from his 35-yard line." - Herbstreit. (Alabama earned the first down with an up-the-middle quarterback run.) "Ain't nothing less important than the score at halftime." Swinney in his halftime interview with Rinaldi. His team led 31-16. "Nick Saban's defense is being eviscerated." - Fowler, mincing no words in the third quarter. From the booth "We said there were going to be some fireworks. I didnt expect this. We're not even five minutes into the game." - Herbstreit after Travis Etienne ran 17 yards to give Clemson the lead. "When Tua has space he will completely pick you apart." - Herbstreit in the first quarter. "They're rattled right now." - Fowler after Alabama drew a personal foul for an out-of-bounds hit with Clemson driving right before halftime. "You can't just abort the running game and start throwing it all over the place." - Herbstreit with Alabama driving in the third quarter. Twitter shot of the game Clich meter "He will be playing on Sundays for a long, long time." - Herbstreit on Alabama running back Josh Jacobs. The playing-on-Sundays clich was patented by Brent Musburger. Consider this "Both coaches have said Were going to be better next year. " - Fowler with Alabama up 16-14 in the second quarter. | https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/01/how-did-espn-do-with-its-alabama-clemson-game-coverage.html |
Who is Paul Whelan, the US man arrested in Russia on spying charges? | Of the many questions around Paul Whelan, the former United States Marine arrested in Russia on spying charges, one puzzling aspect is his use of Russian social media. Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest Whelan had a long-standing enthusiasm for Russia, traveling there previously at least twice, according to his twin brother, and talking online about his efforts to learn Russian. For a decade, Whelan also maintained an account on the Russian social media site VKontakte, using it to reach out to ordinary Russians he often didnt know to try and befriend them. Those he contacted were surprised by it, saying they couldnt understand why he had written to them. "He didnt want to know anything specific," Alexander Buzov told ABC News, saying Whelan had never explained why he had added him on Vkontakte roughly 9 years ago. "He just started the dialogue with 'Hello! How are you?'" Of the several friends on Whelans VKontakte account reached by ABC News, all of them said he had contacted them out of the blue. Whelan, they said, had simply struck up conversation, making small talk about their travels and sending greetings on Russian holidays. "We didnt know each other. About a year ago he simply sent a request," Pavel Laponov, a former soldier in Bryansk said by telephone, adding he had found it "very strange." Whelan's account has lost around 10 friends since his arrest was announced. The 55 remaining contacts are almost exclusively young men (there appears to be only 3 women) and the majority appear to have some kind of connection to the military posted on their page. All of Whelan's contacts who spoke to ABC News said they had been very surprised to hear of Whelans arrest, saying he had seemed simply an unusually friendly foreigner who was interested in chatting with Russians and that he had never sought any sort of significant information from them. He had written in English and Russian that contained mistakes, with one contact saying they thought he was using an online translator. Whelans outreach adds to the curious portrait that has been built up of him so far. Currently director of global security for the large American car parts supplier, BorgWarner, Whelan had been discharged from the Marines in 2008 for bad conduct, after being found guilty of stealing $10,000 while on a tour of duty in Iraq. In the mid-1990s he had served as a part-time police officer in Chelsea, Michigan. Born in Canada to British parents with Irish descent, Whelan later re-settled in Michigan, according to his twin brother. That family history gave him the three other citizenships that he was unexpectedly revealed to possess last week, when it was found Britain, Ireland and Canada were all also seeking to provide consular assistance to Whelan, in addition to the U.S. Now 48, Whelans interest in Russia appears to date from well before this most recent trip to Moscow, which his family have said was to attend a wedding of an old friend in the Marine Corps to a Russian woman. Whelans first trip to Russia was as early as 2006, a vacation he described in an interview to a Marine publication. On a now defunct personal site, he described meeting some Russians and taking excursions around the country. Having grown up during the Cold War, it was a dream of mine to visit Russia and meet some of the sneaky Russians who had kept the western world at bay for so long, Whelan wrote on the site. Those Russians he befriended online said he had never said much beyond generalities. Buzov said Whelan had talked about the weather, trips and his service in Iraq, but nothing substantial. Whelan, Buzov said, had asked him to meet once on a visit to Moscow but he had politely refused because I didn't understand his motivation. I thought that he was a fan of military issues and a very sociable person," Buzov said. At his age, what else does he have left to do except chat with different people on social media. Laponov, the former soldier, said Whelan had only asked him about countries he had posted holiday photos from. "He wrote, 'Oh, those are very good countries,' something like that. He just sent a few ratings about them, but I didnt answer because, well, hes an unknown person to me," Laponov said. Whelans social media has attracted interest in part because of unverified reports last week on a Russian news site. Russia has still not provided any information on what Whelan is accused of, but the only allegations to have emerged publicly so far appeared have appeared on the site, Rosbalt, which is known to have ties to the security services. Rosbalt cited an anonymous security services source, who said Whelan was arrested after receiving a memory card with a classified list of Russian operatives. Rosbalt also claimed authorities accused Whelan of trying to recruit Russians as intelligence sources using internet forums. The site asserted Whelan had spent 10 years trying to befriend Russians online who were likely to have access to classified materials and then, after years of internet chat, meeting them in Russia to try to cultivate them over drinks. The Rosbalt reports have not been confirmed or verified in anyway and former U.S. intelligence officers have expressed skepticism, suggesting instead that they are fabricated to frame Whelan. "This has all the hallmarks of a Russian KGB-style setup," Dan Hoffman, a former CIA agent who served as a station chief in Moscow, told NPR on Friday. The allegations may have been tailored from Whelans social media profile, and Hoffman suggested, the FSB had likely been tracking him for years. In any case, former U.S. intelligence officials have said Whelans court martial would almost certainly have excluded him from being selected as a U.S. operative. They also noted that the CIA rarely sent agents into Russia without diplomatic cover because the risks of arrest were too high. If he was involved in anything related to intelligence, it was a massive uncoordinated screw up, John Sipher, who used to run the CIAs Russia operations, told ABC News last week. Some former U.S. officials have suggested Whelan's arrest could be retaliation for Maria Butina, the Russian gun rights activist who pleaded guilty last month to trying to infiltrate American conservative political circles as an illegal foreign agent. One explanation why Whelan reached out to Russians with military connections is that they shared his background. Most of Whelans social media friends also appeared to have already graduated from military academies and some now had civilian jobs. Military service also is compulsory in Russia and studying at a military academy doesn't guarantee a career in the armed forces. All of those reached by ABC News said Whelan, in any case, had never asked them about their military service. Laponov, who said he left the military in 2012, suggested Whelan might have added him because he had visited the U.S. Laponov would not give details of his military experience, but in photos dated from 2012 on his social media account in which he appears in uniform with an assault rifle, Laponov identified himself as a member of Russias chemical and biological protection troops. The other Whelan contact, Buzov, said he was a civilian but refused to give more details, saying that he worked in housing utilities. His social media photos, however, include one from several years ago in which he is wearing a military cadets uniform. Some of Whelan's other social media friends contacted by ABC News declined to comment. One account, for Vasily Razumovsky, showed many photos of a man in combat gear and a post linking to an elite paratrooper school in Ryazan. Two days after ABC News wrote to Razymovsky's account, it transformed into one for a woman called Tamara Matveeva, wearing a negligee, and accompanied by other nude photos and the relationship status actively searching". The many military-themed posts from before the change though remained on the page. Whelans twin brother, David, has said his brother always sought to make friends in foreign countries when he was traveling and as an avid tourist had made many friends over the years. And so like through his VKontakte page, he knew people and he had plans, I think, to visit some of them. We heard from a friend in St. Petersburg who was disappointed at what had happened and explained that he had hoped to have Paul see his new son. So it's that sort of thing, David Whelan told the Associated Press on Saturday. | https://abcnews.go.com/International/paul-whelan-us-man-arrested-russia-spying-charges/story?id=60210551 |
What makes men send dick pics? | Four in 10 young women have reported being sent unsolicited explicit images. When Leah Holroyd joined a dating site five years ago, the 31-year-old noticed a lot of men had listed The Great Gatsby as a favourite book. So, to be slightly provocative, I mentioned in my profile that I thought it was overrated, and challenged someone to persuade me it was great, she says. A postgraduate student in English literature sent her a message that read a bit like literary criticism, and they began exchanging messages and discussing their favourite books. Holroyd found him pleasant enough, but she was looking for a relationship rather than just friendship, and he only ever talked to her about authors. After a couple of weeks, the bibliophile said he would be visiting London where Holroyd, who builds online learning courses, was living. He asked if I fancied meeting for coffee and a walk by the river, she says. He suggested they swap phone numbers to make arrangements easier. Almost instantly, he sent me closeups of his penis. If the conversation had some potential, but was becoming boring, I would sometimes send a dick pic Holroyds experience is worryingly common. A 2018 YouGov poll found that, shockingly, four in 10 women aged between 18 and 36 have been sent a photograph of a penis without having asked for one colloquially known as an unsolicited dick pic. (Only 5% of men in this age group admitted to having sent one.) Nor does this just happen through online dating. Some men have used the AirDrop function on their Apple devices which allows users to share files with other nearby Apple devices to send unsolicited pictures to women. Anyone, of any age, who has AirDrop turned on at its most unrestricted setting is at risk of picking up their phone to see a graphic image that was sent anonymously by someone in the same restaurant, cinema or train carriage. The problem has become widespread enough that MPs and campaigners are now calling for a law targeting cyberflashers. Laura Thompson, a researcher at City, University of London, whose work examines harassment over dating apps, says the issue has until now been trivialised. The research in this area is really limited. I think this blind spot says something about how society and the law tends to think of the problem: that dick pics are an annoying internet phenomenon as opposed to real flashing. The term cyberflashing wasnt even in widespread use until about a year or so ago. Unsurprisingly, I did not get very far by asking men in person if they had ever sent unsolicited photographs of their penis. So I set up an account on Reddit, where users can post anonymously in forums on a range of topics, and I asked the question again. Shortly afterwards, I went to the cinema. When I checked back a few hours later, I discovered more than 500 comments, and the moderators had shut the thread down. The comments were fascinating. The most important thing I learned is that sending pictures of ones genitals has different meanings for different men and different meanings for the same men at different points in their lives. Stephen Blumenthal, a consultant clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Portman an NHS clinic that offers specialist long-term therapy to patients with disturbing sexual behaviours says: Theres always a tendency with these issues to provide one kind of formulation; a one-size-fits-all explanation. But the reality is that there are many different motives that people have, some of which are perhaps more troubled and troubling than others. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Illustration: Guardian Design Some who shared their experiences anonymously wrote about not feeling confident with their bodies, and wanting praise. One Reddit user, Jake, told me: Ive done it a few times in the past, and I think its mostly about validation. Although most men will never admit to it, we are very insecure about our bodies, especially down there. So, unconsciously, we just want someone to say we look nice, or that we are attractive. OK, sending an unsolicited dick pic is really not the way to do it, but I do think thats the driver. We are just desperate for someone to tell us were OK. Not even sexy or incredibly handsome just OK. Others described wanting to turn up the sexual excitement in a messaging conversation they felt was flagging. Another user, Dave, wrote: If the conversation had some potential, but was slowing down or becoming boring, I would sometimes send a dick pic. Because either they stop texting me or I get laid. He added that dick pics now only get sent upon request. For others, it was a numbers game. For all the unsolicited pictures that were ignored or rebuffed, there was the occasional woman who responded in kind, and if one picture worked, it was worth it. Jake wrote: When they were well-received, I felt good about it, from the validation and the boost to my self-image, but also the precedent it opened. It was now OK for them to reply in kind, or to steer the conversation down more sexual routes. Another, John, estimated he has sent 100 unsolicited pictures in chatrooms over the years, after becoming aroused. Id see people chatting about various subjects. If they were remotely sexual, I think that served as my entry point to sending a pic, he wrote. While he did have a couple of his best pictures saved on his phone, the thrill of it was taking a pic in that moment and sending it I think it may have been about creating or imagining some kind of sexual connection in that moment. The feeling was a bit of a rush in the anticipation of a response. He described the four types of responses he received: very rarely, it would lead to an overtly sexual conversation in a chat window, in which further pictures might be exchanged; or he might be sent a complimentary message; or he might receive a negative, angry response. But, most often, he received no response. John is now in his 60s and has not sent a picture like this in more than a decade. He wrote: As I have become older, frankly, it just seems a combination of rude, silly and empty. I have learned this is offensive and an unwanted intrusion, even if it is the internet and anonymous. Even online, it is a violation, in my opinion; little different from the stereotypical street flasher in a trenchcoat. Really, those who send these unsolicited pics are essentially standing on a virtual street corner digitally flashing women they dont know for their own sexual gratification. I was intrigued by Johns condemnation, so I asked if he included himself among these online flashers. Yes. The anonymity of the internet facilitates doing things online youd never contemplate in the real world, so I think that helps men distance themselves from any consequences or impact on the person they send it to. The guy on the train using AirDrop is looking for something very particular he wants to see shock and surprise This notion makes a lot of sense to Blumenthal. The internet has brought out all sorts of new varieties of unusual sexual proclivities that are related to previous versions, and might have some similar dynamics, he says. Blumenthal believes there is a hidden narrative underneath some of these stories, which is what he has experienced with his patients who have committed indecent exposure: Some will be trying to impress, whereas some will be seeking to intrude. And this intrusive aspect is an important one, he says. The guy on the train using AirDrop is flashing in the digital age. The flasher is looking for something very particular: he is interested in the response, focused on the faces of these women he wants to see shock and surprise, and a kind of disabling of the person he is flashing. In almost every case of real-world indecent exposure, he says, there will have been a childhood incident where the perpetrator endured a trauma that made him feel out of control. This is the notion of identification of the aggressor: determined never to be a victim again. As an adult, he unconsciously twists this act around so that, he is now in the driving seat, watching the reaction of those he disturbs, inserting into his victim a feeling of shock, surprise, disturbance. John says he has never heard about women being distressed by pictures sent by somebody they are already talking to online, describing them as really more of an annoyance. Perhaps some women do feel that, but others find them much more disturbing. When Holroyd received several explicit pictures from the man with whom she had just agreed to go for coffee and a walk, she tells me, I felt totally shocked. Nothing in the conversation had made me think he was going to do that. I felt really worried because it seemed like a deception, I was confused, I didnt know what he was really looking for, I didnt feel safe. When she replied to this man to say that she no longer wanted to meet him, she says, he got really angry and aggressive. He told me that I must be mentally unstable because I had changed my mind so quickly. He said: If you can just change your mind like that theres something wrong with you. And he told me I should get professional help. He put the blame on me; made me feel I had done something wrong and had been unfair to him. In expressing his rage towards Holroyd, he was also describing exactly how he had made Holroyd feel about him: he was the one whose behaviour had been unstable, unpredictable, disturbed and disturbing. He had projected his feelings directly on to her. There were many thoughtful and thought-provoking responses to my question on Reddit. But in response to the many posts from men insisting that some women like receiving them, one woman replied: If a woman wants dick pics, its easy to ask for them. Or for a man to ask a woman if she would like to receive one. This [sending unsolicited images] is just like pulling your dick out in front of someone of course, loads of people are into that, but you need to make sure of that before you do it, not just shrug and say: Eh, some women would have loved it! Some men said they had stopped sending unsolicited photographs after a negative response. Another Reddit user, Jeremy, wrote about the one occasion he sent a photograph to a girl he had been messaging on Tinder: She replied with: Ew! and blocked me. Rightly so. Havent done it since. Others replied that leaving it up to women to teach men what is acceptable by responding negatively could put those women at risk. Blumenthal says that it is crucial to distinguish between noncontact offences, in which the perpetrator does not touch his or her victim, and contact offences and that the overlap between those who commit indecent exposure and those who go on to sexually assault their victims, is low. Yet the term noncontact offence in this context, is an interesting one it almost feels inaccurate: while sending an unsolicited photograph does not involve physical contact, it can feel like a violation; an assault. Cyberflashing can be prosecuted under a number of different laws, which carry prison sentences of up to two years. But there are problems with these laws, says barrister Kate Parker, director of the UK-based Schools Consent Project, a charity she founded to educate young people about consent and sexual assault. A prosecution would need to prove that the senders purpose was either to cause distress or anxiety, or that the image was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character. Parker says: In an era where sending dick pics is becoming increasingly normalised, the depressing reality is that such intent might not be proven. Some men think it is an appropriate way to start a conversation, or take an existing conversation to a more flirty level. And when it comes to the notion of indecency, the threshold is increasingly high: as our online and offline worlds are increasingly saturated with sexual imagery, it may be that societys collective perception of sexual indecency begins to shift. She supports the creation of a new law one that finally includes a consideration of the recipients typically a woman response to such messages as a determinant of criminal liability. We can improve the law, criminalising this latest incarnation of flashing, but, unless we try to understand the motivations behind it, we have no hope of stopping it. When I was a schoolgirl, a man flashed me as I walked home from the local park he ran ahead of me then stood masturbating, with his T-shirt over his face. When I was 17, on holiday in Paris with my best friend, a man thrust a photograph of a deformed penis in our faces. When I was in my 20s, a man I was flirting with texted me an unexpected dick pic. All these experiences, shifting in format, but not in nature, as technology progressed, were shocking, and unpleasant. On the upside, I am happy to report that in researching this piece, I did not receive a single one. Some names have been changed. For help and advice with any of the issues raised in this article, go to schoolsconsentproject.com | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/08/what-makes-men-send-dick-pics |
What's behind our appetite for self-destruction? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Mark Canada, Indiana University and Christina Downey, Indiana University (THE CONVERSATION) Each new year, people vow to put an end to self-destructive habits like smoking, overeating or overspending. Think of the criminal who leaves a trail of evidence, perhaps with the hope of getting caught, or the politician who wins an election, only to start sexting someone likely to expose him. Edgar Allan Poe, one of Americas greatest and most self-destructive writers, had some thoughts on the subject. He even had a name for the phenomenon: perverseness. Psychologists would later take the baton from Poe and attempt to decipher this enigma of the human psyche. Irresistible depravity In one of his lesser-known works, The Imp of the Perverse, Poe argues that knowing something is wrong can be the one unconquerable force that makes us do it. It seems that the source of this psychological insight was Poes own life experience. Orphaned before he was three years old, he had few advantages. But despite his considerable literary talents, he consistently managed to make his lot even worse. He frequently alienated editors and other writers, even accusing poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism in what has come to be known as the Longfellow war. During important moments, he seemed to implode: On a trip to Washington, D.C. to secure support for a proposed magazine and perhaps a government job, he apparently drank too much and made a fool of himself. After nearly two decades of scraping out a living as an editor and earning little income from his poetry and fiction, Poe finally achieved a breakthrough with The Raven, which became an international sensation after its publication in 1845. But when given the opportunity to give a reading in Boston and capitalize on this newfound fame, Poe didnt read a new poem, as requested. Instead, he reprised a poem from his youth: the long-winded, esoteric and dreadfully boring Al Aaraaf, renamed The Messenger Star. As one newspaper reported, it was not appreciated by the audience, evidenced by their uneasiness and continual exits in numbers at a time. Poes literary career stalled for the remaining four years of his short life. Freuds death drive While perverseness wrecked Poes life and career, it nonetheless inspired his literature. A half-century after Poes death, Sigmund Freud wrote of a universal and innate death drive in humans, which he called Thanatos and first introduced in his landmark 1919 essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Many believe Thanatos refers to unconscious psychological urges toward self-destruction, manifested in the kinds of inexplicable behavior shown by Poe and in extreme cases in suicidal thinking. In the early 1930s, physicist Albert Einstein wrote to Freud to ask his thoughts on how further war might be prevented. In his response, Freud wrote that Thanatos is at work in every living creature and is striving to bring it to ruin and to reduce life to its original condition of inanimate matter and referred to it as a death instinct. To Freud, Thanatos was an innate biological process with significant mental and emotional consequences a response to, and a way to relieve, unconscious psychological pressure. Toward a modern understanding In the 1950s, the psychology field underwent the cognitive revolution, in which researchers started exploring, in experimental settings, how the mind operates, from decision-making to conceptualization to deductive reasoning. Self-defeating behavior came to be considered less a cathartic response to unconscious drives and more the unintended result of deliberate calculus. In 1988, psychologists Roy Baumeister and Steven Scher identified three main types of self-defeating behavior: primary self-destruction, or behavior designed to harm the self; counterproductive behavior, which has good intentions but ends up being accidentally ineffective and self-destructive; and trade-off behavior, which is known to carry risk to the self but is judged to carry potential benefits that outweigh those risks. Think of drunk driving. If you knowingly consume too much alcohol and get behind the wheel with the intent to get arrested, thats primary self-destruction. If you drive drunk because you believe youre less intoxicated than your friend, and to your surprise get arrested, thats counterproductive. And if you know youre too drunk to drive, but you drive anyway because the alternatives seem too burdensome, thats a trade-off. Baumeister and Schers review concluded that primary self-destruction has actually rarely been demonstrated in scientific studies. Rather, the self-defeating behavior observed in such research is better categorized, in most cases, as trade-off behavior or counterproductive behavior. Freuds death drive would actually correspond most closely to counterproductive behavior: The urge toward destruction isnt consciously experienced. Finally, as psychologist Todd Heatherton has shown, the modern neuroscientific literature on self-destructive behavior most frequently focuses on the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with planning, problem solving, self-regulation and judgment. When this part of the brain is underdeveloped or damaged, it can result in behavior that appears irrational and self-defeating. There are more subtle differences in the development of this part of the brain: Some people simply find it easier than others to engage consistently in positive goal-directed behavior. Poe certainly didnt understand self-destructive behavior the way we do today. But he seems to have recognized something perverse in his own nature. Before his untimely death in 1849, he reportedly chose an enemy, the editor Rufus Griswold, as his literary executor. True to form, Griswold wrote a damning obituary and Memoir, in which he alludes to madness, blackmail and more, helping to formulate an image of Poe that has tainted his reputation to this day. Then again, maybe thats exactly what Poe driven by his own personal imp wanted. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/whats-behind-our-appetite-for-self-destruction-108575. | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/What-s-behind-our-appetite-for-self-destruction-13516663.php |
Can Modular Homes Rebuild Paradise Post-Camp Fire? | It wasnt the merriest of Christmases for the residents of Paradise, California whose homes burned down in the Camp Fire last November. Close to 14,000 residences were destroyed, including 13,696 single family homes and 287 multi-family buildings, according to Cal Fire, the states department of forestry and fire protection. In a state already plagued by a severe housing shortage, high housing costs and homelessness, this latest disaster adds to a problematic trifecta. For those seeking to rebuild, possibly in a nearby community that didnt lose so many of its businesses and social services, a shortage of construction labor adds to the challenges they face in getting into new homes. Marianne Cusato knows what theyre going through. Though shes been designing houses for more than 20 years and teaching in the University of Notre Dames School of Architecture, shes probably best known for the award-winning Katrina Cottages she created after that hurricane hammered the Gulf Coast in 2005. It takes years to rebuild, and that could mean living in a travel trailer through another season, she observes. Whether that season includes hurricanes or wildfires, We design permanent buildings that could be used in the short term as emergency housing, and in the long run as an accessory dwelling unit, or even the first piece of a larger home. Given that California recently liberalized its laws on ADUs, Camp Fire Cottages could potentially solve both short- and long-term housing issues for Paradise residents by going up quickly and providing additional housing in the future. When the FEMA trailers are finished being used for emergency housing, they can only be sent to a landfill, Cusato points out. When the cottages are finished being used as emergency housing, they have a long life and increase in value over time. We called the concept Temp to Perm. Its a permanent structure used for a temporary purpose. Cusato worked with Sonoma County after the wine country fires in 2017 and notes that modular homes can be built to Californias rigorous earthquake, wildland-urban interface and environmental codes. Building safe and dignified cottages is an investment in the future of a community, she comments. These compact, modular homes are built off-site, trucked in and hooked up to foundations and utilities. The key to timing is getting permits. Once we have permission to build, units can start arriving on site in as soon as 30 days; depending on the construction techniques, it can take anywhere from two to twelve weeks to finish the units on site, Cusato says. Homeowners can potentially use their insurance money to get rebuilt faster with modular construction even without a larger community program. Sheri Koones, author of Prefabulous Small Houses and five previous books on modular homes, says, Prefab houses can certainly be built faster than on-site housing. Prefab construction is not restricted by weather conditions and relying on independent contractors. Most factories employ a full-time staff of workers who can complete a modular home regardless of issues at the installation site. Depending on the factory, houses can be produced in a week or less, Koones reports. That isnt the whole process, of course, as the home still needs to be transported to the site, and tradespeople are needed on site to connect it to its foundation and utilities. Each state has its own restrictions on taking modulars along highways and that can hold up the time schedule, the author cautions. The schedule will depend on coordination of those jobs, plus the time it takes to get permits in the particular location. Other factors will be how busy the manufacturer is and how much of the house will be completed in the factory. In some cases, modular houses are delivered practically complete and that will generally save a good deal of time in the overall completion. As Cusato pointed out, modular homes are quite capable of meeting state and local codes. In fact, Koones cites FEMA studies that showed modular homes faring better in Hurricane Andrew than their site-built counterparts. In addition to being faster, prefab homes can be more affordable, too, Koones says. There are certainly budget modular builders who fit the tacky clich. But, as the Katrina and wine country cottages showed, you can build to local aesthetics and have a lasting property enhancement. California Modulars, which specializes in prefab ADUs, serves the Northern California region impacted by the Camp Fire. While offering fire survivors fee reductions, complimentary site visits and feasibility assessments will help those households, company president Roy Krautstrunk points to one of the biggest benefits of prefab construction: With our homes, you dont have to start from scratch and go through a lengthy design process with countless decisions to make. Anyone who has been through a new construction or large remodel project knows what thats like. Not having to make those decisions while rebuilding your life after a devastating fire can be especially helpful. There are many additional reasons to build prefab, Koones shares. In addition to the time and money factor, there is the professionalism of factory workers who do this every day, and their work is checked and rechecked along the process. There is also far less disruption to the surrounding neighborhood, and materials are not compromised along the way. (Nor are they likely to be stolen, as happens sometimes on traditional construction sites.) Potentially. As a society we are unprepared to meet the increasing demand for emergency housing after a disaster and we need to get better, Cusato declares. The silver lining is that the disaster, while tragic, can also be the catalyst to streamline the approvals process and bring much needed funding into an area. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiegold/2019/01/08/can-modular-homes-rebuild-paradise-post-camp-fire/ |
Is 'Biochipping' A Good Idea? | Down a narrow side street in the Swedish city of Gothenburg sits the Barbarella piercing parlor, a regular haunt for locals who decorate their bodies with piercings and tattoos, and which claims to offer the areas finest collection of ear discs and nose rings. But on a frigid evening in November, the shop is the setting for a very different kind of body enhancement: biochips. As darkness falls on the port town of nearly 600,000 people, Jowan sterlund wanders in, wearing a baseball cap and T-shirt, to meet two new clients for his small startup, Biohax International. From his backpack, he pulls plastic-wrapped syringes, each containing a tiny, dark microchip that is barely visible from the outside. Inside the unassuming package is sterlunds prized product, a window into what today is a fringe tech obsession but which, he believes, will one day be a giant industry. You are creating an entirely new type of behavior and entirely new types of data that will be massively more valuable than what we have now, sterlund says. It is kind of a moonshot. But in the long run, this is what is going to happen. Perched on a stool in one of the piercing rooms, sterlund jams the needle into Claes Radojewski and pulls it out again, leaving a one-kilobyte microchip inside him, in the fleshy part between his left thumb and index finger. In a matter of seconds, Radojewski has become a trailblazing biohacker, much to his own surprise. I have never even been inside a tattoo parlor, says the program manager for MobilityXLab, an innovation center in Gothenburg for the auto industry, run in partnership with Ericsson, Volvo, and others. My girlfriend asked if it was some kind of crisis because I was turning 30 soon. In fact, Radojewski says he has wanted a biochip since he learned of the technology a few years ago: In Sweden, we like to use new tech in our daily lives. Biohax microchips are injected at a piercing parlor (left)making chip-enabled locker rental (right) a seamless task. Photographs by Janus Engel for Fortune Magazine sterlund, the needle-wielding entrepreneur, is convinced that there are millions more around the world who will soon want chips implanted into their bodies. As proof, he points to his Facebook messaging app, which is jammed with unbidden requests every day from people as far away as Australia and Mexico. He also receives emails, he says, from curious investors on every continent except Antarctica. The enthusiasm of the curious notwithstanding, sterlunds progress has been slow. He began the company in 2013, committing to it full-time only in 2016, and its revenues remain minimal. At the moment, he says, I get by. Yeah. Oh, yeah, he says. In fact, sterlund, 38, could be at the groundswell of a big wave, in which more and more of the functions we perform on our external devices will shift to implants that we insert into ourselves. In November, a report by MarketsandMarkets Research in India estimated that the global biochip market would be worth about $17.75 billion by 2020. And earlier in 2018, no less a futurist than Elon Musk announced he was backing a California company called Neuralink, which would implant electrodes in the brain to monitor thoughts. sterlunds Biohax is already making progress on a small scale. It has chipped more than 4,000 people in Sweden as well as others across Europe. Though many biochip projects are focused on health uses like heart-rate or blood-sugar monitoring, sterlund is so far marketing his chips to people with no medical ailments. Applications range from making purchases to opening locks to passing through security barriersanything, really, that were already doing with chips on plastic cards. Tech will move into the body, he says. I am sure of that. Claes Radojewski got chipped, fulfilling longtime dreams of being on the cutting edge of technology. In Sweden we like to use new tech in our daily lives, says Radojewski. Photograph by Janus Engel for Fortune Magazine First, sterlund and other chippers will have to overcome understandable doubters, from privacy advocates to medical ethicists. Though the chips are inert and, therefore, theoretically harmless, for many people the very idea of having a permanent connectable device inside them evokes notions of losing control over the one sphere where they can still truly be themselves: their bodies. Invariably, even minor reports of companies using biochips ignite outrage. When BioTeq Ltd., a biochip company in England, said in November that it had implanted about 150 microchips into people around Britain, the British business organization BCI said, It makes for distinctly uncomfortable reading. The countrys Trades Union Congress warned that biochips would give bosses even more power and control over their workers. Recent problems suggest the need for careful oversight: A report by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists revealed that medical patients in numerous countries had been injured by poorly tested implants (not all of them biochips) because of a lack of regulations for new devices. And yet individuals enchanted by the technology are driving its early adoption. Among those who arrive at Barbarella wanting a Biohax chip is Annie Kjellson, 29, a structural engineer, who wheels her 18-month-old son through the door in his stroller and sits down to receive her injection. I have been thinking about this for years, she says. Despite the uncomfortable sci-fi oddity it represents, there is an inevitability around biochipping, if for no other reason than the sheer convenience it promises. The wallet in my purse slung over my shoulder is jammed with pieces of plastic, declaring me a gym member, a journalist, and a customer of two banks and a credit card company, all of whose passwords I occasionally forget. There are also cards giving details of my health insurance, which airlines I fly on, where I shop for groceries, and where I get my hair cut. Then there is my bunch of keysprimitive tools that have opened doors, chests, and lockers for thousands of years, and to which we somehow remain closely attached. The morning after I return from Sweden, I lock myself out of my apartment while racing to go play tennis. That requires a complicated handoff, by way of a taxi from five miles away, where another set of keys sits idling in my husbands pocket. For biohackers, these antiquated habits are senseless. I used to lose my keys all the time. Now I unlock the door to my house with my hand, says Aric Dromi, an Israeli-Swedish futurologist who has a Biohax chip implanted in his hand, and who sits on the advisory board of Hack for Sweden, the Swedish governments organization aiming to embed big data into all the countrys public services. I saw that effort in action when I hopped aboard a Gothenburg-bound train with sterlund from the seaside city of Helsingborg, where Biohax is based. As the conductor came down the aisle, sterlund held out his hand, in which his ticket was embedded on his biochip. She swiped it without a thought: Swedens entire national rail network is now biochip-capable. So too are many of the 172 gyms run by Nordic Wellness in Sweden, where gym members and staff can open the secure turnstiles and lockers with their hands and view their exercise profiles on monitors. Of course, electronic cards do the same thing in gyms around the world, but the biochip enables members to exercise without carrying anything on them. Annie Kjellson using her new chip for the first time. Photograph by Janus Engel for Fortune Magazine Over espressos in Gothenburg, Dromi tells me he is convinced that millions of people will eventually have microchips in their bodiesperhaps in the near futuresimply because it makes sense, at the very least in order to store their passwords and make keys redundant. Plus, he says, it is more secure than the items we currently lug around in our wallets and purses. I protest, telling him that an electronic fob unlocks my apartment building in Paris. Lets see it, he says. When I fish it out of my purse, he swipes it across the near-field-communication (NFC) reader embedded in his smartphone and then holds up the screen to show the string of data that unlocks both sets of doors to my building, 950 miles away. I can clone this in five minutes, he says. Biochips are far more secure in some ways. To break into Dromis nearby house, for example, you would need to physically drag him there, demand to know where on his body his biochip is implanted, and move his hand across the NFC reader mounted on the doorpost. NFC readers, effectively the enabling devices for biochips, are proliferating. Last June, the Car Connectivity Consortium, which includes the worlds major automakers as well as tech companies like Apple and Samsung, agreed to a standard digital key system, allowing drivers to open their car doors and start the engine from an app on their smartphones. The agreement does not mention customers being able to insert the data for their car keys on a chip inside their bodies. But it would require almost no extra effort to do so, and every biohacker I meet in Sweden tells me that losing keys was one of the main motivations for being chipped. The chip is encased in medical glass, and it has a tiny antenna and integrated circuit that transmit data when close to an electronic reader. So far, Biohax chips have only one kilobyte of memory, but that will increase as the possibilities of what chips can do expand. In fact, once you start viewing the world through the eyes of biohackers, more and more aspects of current life begin to seem absurd: the doctors receptionist, for example, who digs out your personal medical record from a filing cabinet; the bus driver who sells you a paper ticket when you board; or the times you scrounge for change for a restaurant tip. All those things, and thousands more, could be managed with a biochip the size of a grain of rice. Biohackers call these endless, biochip-less actions frictionmoments that divert our attention and hog space in our brains that could be better used for, say, writing poetry or playing with the kids. The possibility of biochippingand not just in science fiction books and filmshas been around for years. As far back as 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an implantable chip for Applied Digital Solutions in Delray Beach, Fla., which aimed to have people store their medical records on a chip in their upper arm. The device could be lifesaving: If you were rushed unconscious to a hospital with no identification, doctors would instantly be able to scan your blood type, medical history, and organ-donor status. Yet three years after the FDA approval, the company said in a securities filing that it had failed to find a market for its chips, and that it may never achieve market acceptance or more than nominal or modest sales. The company explained the failure by saying that physicians were skittish about discussing the device with their patients, who remained suspicious about invasion of privacy. Biohackers say the criticism is uninformed. They point out that because biochips are inert and passive they pose fewer privacy risks than smartphones, which continually transmit our whereabouts. Such logic hasnt stopped a drumbeat of scary stories about biochips ushering in an Orwellian system of control. Fictional portrayals of biohacking have also promoted a dystopian view of the future. Every implant in any sci-fi movie is a tracker or an explosive device, sterlund says. Look at The Matrix or Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic. The implant is always connected to something really creepy or bad. There are probably few better places than Sweden to try to break those stereotypes. Engineers in Sweden, whose population is slightly bigger than New York Citys, have invented the worlds first Internet calling app, Skype; the largest music-streaming platform, Spotify; and one of the first mobile phone companies, Ericsson. Sweden is also almost cashless, with less than 1% of purchases paid for with banknotes and coins. It is a cultural thing, sterlund says. We have a faster adoption rate in Sweden, and there is probably a higher level of trust in our government than [in] many other countries. We arent scared that we will be taken advantage of. In some respects, biochipping is already well accepted. Swedes and others have long inserted biochips into their pets to find them when they get lost. And heart pacemakers, another type of biochip implant, have been in wide use for decades. Yet many people remain unconvinced about being chipped for digital convenience. From a business perspective, it looks like technology for technologys sake, says Richard Oglesby, president of AZ Payments Group, a global consulting firm in Mesa, Ariz., that specializes in payments. Implanting chips is invasive, unnecessary, and not particularly useful. There are wearable solutions that can easily and conveniently accomplish the same things. Then again, it may be that biochipping hasnt yet caught on at scale because some of its adherents have sprung from the counter-culture universe of piercing parlors and tattoo artists, not from corporate engineering labs. Biohaxs sterlund, for example, founded his first company, Cutting Edge, in 2004, as a body-piercing business that specialized in some far-out practices, like hot-steel skin branding and septum piercing. In fact, almost every biohacker I met in Sweden was heavily tattooed, including sterlund, who lifted his shirt one night to show me a large inkwork of a woman stretched clear across his belly. (You should see the rest of it, he chuckled.) For many bodyhackers, it is an easy extension from tattoos and piercing to implants. People find themselves extremely fascinated that you can alter body functions, he tells me, as we zip up Swedens west coast on a high-speed train. I am allowing my body to speak to machines. And it is a lot better being digital in a digital world than analog in a digital world. 1: Summit Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection; 2: Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection; 3: TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection; 4: Channel 4/Netflix; 5: Warner bros./Photofest; 6: Universal Pictures If biochipping is ever to take off, of course, it will need to become a real business. sterlund is doing what he can, starting with attempting to raise capital for Biohax. He says a Swedish investor, who remains unnamed, made a six-figure investment in Biohax in December. And sterlund claims that he has lined up about 100 doctors and nurses to work with Biohax to implant chips, once he has formally commercialized the business beyond its current tattoo-parlor stage. In late November, Biohax signed a partnership deal with Verisec, an information technology security company in Stockholm, to provide an electronic-identity platform for sterlunds biochips. That would allow Biohax chips to be used for regular electronic payments, not just for those within closed environments like a staff cafeteria, and to store documents like drivers licenses and passports. sterlund calls the deal the beginning of the big time. In the U.S., the use of implants to measure glucose, heart murmurs, and other conditions has risen steeply in the past few years, all devices that until recently were available only as external monitors. It is a short leap to having that on a chip thats inside you, says Raj Denhoy, a medical technology analyst for Jefferies Financial Group in New York City, who believes the growth trajectory for biochips will be steep. The use of clinical data to drive better treatment outcomes is something that is going to get much, much bigger, he says. To the extent that biosensors allow medical interventions to be better, that is undeniable. Little by little, biochips are going mainstream. Three Square Market, a tech company in River Falls, Wis., claims to have chipped 673 people in the U.S., including 85 of its employees, who are using the device for personal data retention and some for door access also, according to CEO Todd Westby, who first tested the technology on Biohax chips. At this point, we are still developing and learning its capabilities, he says. Last summer, reps from Japanese companies working on the Tokyo Olympics committee visited sterlund to see how they might use biochips for the smooth running of the Games. You are creating an entirely new type of behavior and entirely new types of data that will be massively more valuable than what we have now, sterlund says. It is kind of a moonshot. But in the long run, this is what is going to happen. Photograph by Janus Engel for Fortune Magazine Across Sweden, too, sterlund has become a featured attraction at corporate events, where he shows up with a stock of syringes, ready to inject anyone who wants to be chipped. Last March, he demonstrated Biohax chips to PricewaterhouseCoopers executives in Malm, on Swedens border with Denmark. Mns Liljenlov, PwCs regional marketing chief, immediately signed up and now unlocks his office and locker and buys lunch at work with a wave of his hand. He says he is planning to renovate his house this year and install chip readers instead of keyholes. When I reach him in late November at a gathering for clients in Helsingborg, he tells me his Biohax chip has proved a valuable conversation topic with clients. People keep asking me for my business card, he says. I tell them I dont have business cards, but they can swipe my LinkedIn profile, which is in my biochip. The profile pops up on someones smartphone when he brushes his hand against the screen. Youre joking! he says. Then they all want to feel my hand. (They can feel all they like, but they wont detect the chip buried beneath his flesh.) Other established companies also are calling. In October 2017, Tui Group, the worlds biggest travel company, invited sterlund to Stockholm, where it has its regional headquarters, for a demonstration of his wares. sterlund was overwhelmed with requests and returned twice to fulfill all the orders; now about 100 out of 500 staffers are chipped. I think I was the very first to get chipped in the office, says Alex Huber, managing director of Tui Nordic, which oversees Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. Now chipped staff can wave their hands to enter their offices in Stockholm, buy lunch, and print documents on office printers. Huber says he is baffled by the resistance to biochips. This is a mental barrier we have to get over, he says. Our phones do a lot more. For sterlund, the challenge now is to try to seize some of the market share for biochips before being trampled underfoot by bigger companies, which could begin mass-producing their own. Though he knows of efforts to launch biochips in Britain and Germany, he believes that Biohax is way out in front. Biohax chips are made by NXP Semiconductors in Hamburg and assembled in Shenzhen, China. But sterlund aims to manufacture in Sweden starting this year. No one can know that. Yes. One single decision could turn Biohax into a major player, Dromi saysfor example, if the Swedish military or Ikea begins to use them. From day one, it would be a really big thing. For now, Biohax is testing its systems and installing better security and privacy provisions on the platform. We could roll out in 26 countries next week and sell and sell and sell, but it would not be a very responsible thing to do, sterlund says. We want to have an insanely robust platform and safeguard everyones integrity and privacy. The most important thing is that this does not turn into the Wild West. I suggest to sterlund that an even worse outcome would be an authoritarian government, or company, compelling people to be chipped in order to control them. Oh, no, he says. Please, I hope that will not happen. Better to leave that possibility to sci-fi movies. A version of this article appears in the January 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline Biohchipping: Sci-Fi No More | http://fortune.com/longform/biochipping-biohax-microchip/ |
Should Kenny Omega go to the WWE? | Wrestling star Kenny Omega announced he's leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling and the WWE is one of his preferred destinations. Many want Omega to head to the WWE, where his talents will be appreciated on a more global scale. Others think Omega would be restricted by the company, which has not done a great job promoting new talent. PERSPECTIVES If Kenny Omega wants to become a global wrestler, there is no better place than the WWE. No matter what the company's reputation is, its popularity is unquestioned. Omega has a chance to mix it up with the best in the business if he partners with Vince McMahon. Imagine Omega in the ring with the likes of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura or Daniel Bryant. If Omega wants to be the best, he needs to go to the WWE. Freedom is a commodity in pro wrestling and Omega has plenty of it. However, if he heads to the WWE, he may find himself limited in what he can and can't do. The WWE is unforgiving when it comes to its storylines. It's their way or the highway. Even Omega is scared he would be rendered useless if he signed with the company. If he values his freedom, he should stay away from the WWE. Kenny Omega on Whether He Will Go to WWE: 'I Don't Want to Be a Robot' The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | https://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2019/01/should_kenny_omega_go_to_the_w.html |
Can Donald Trump declare emergency to build his wall? | The administration has spent months trying to figure out how the president might be able to move forward with the wall - the central promise of his 2016 campaign - if Congress refuses to give him the money. As early as last March, Trump was publicly floating the idea of using the military for the task. "Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!" he tweeted then. But it's Congress - not the president - that controls the country's purse strings and must appropriate money he wants to spend. Enter the emergency declaration, an option the White House counsel's office is currently reviewing. Among the laws Trump could turn to is Section 2808 of the Title 10 U.S. Code pertaining to military construction. According to the statute, if the president declares an emergency "that requires use of the armed forces," the Defense secretary "may undertake military construction projects, and may authorize the Secretaries of the military departments to undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces." Pentagon budget officials are analyzing the 2019 construction budget to determine how many unobligated dollars would be available to use for the wall if Trump settles on a declaration. Under the provision, only those construction budget funds that are not already obligated to other construction projects could be used for the wall. There are more than 100 such provisions giving the president access to special powers in emergencies. And Congress has typically afforded the president broad authority to determine what constitutes an emergency and what does not, said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "Absolutely it's an abuse of power for the president to declare a national emergency when none exists and to use it to try to get around the democratic process," she said. "But we are in a situation where our legal system for emergency powers almost invites that kind of abuse." | https://www.cleveland.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/01/c50be098d54548/can-donald-trump-declare-emerg.html |
Is Roku Joining the Big Leagues? | Most investors know Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) as the company that pioneered internet-enabled streaming devices, but it might come as a surprise that the majority of its revenue now comes from its platform segment. The service, which operates much like competitor Hulu, derives most of its sales from the advertising displayed during programs on its streaming platform. Roku recently announced changes to its service that may help boost its advertising business even further, meanwhile attracting even more customers to its service. Following in the footsteps of a well-heeled competitor, Roku announced that it would soon offer top-shelf cable channels in a bid to become a one-stop shop for both premium and free content. A television with the Roku homepage showing a variety of viewing options More Image source: Roku. The Roku Channel For the uninitiated, The Roku Channel offers more than 10,000 free, ad-supported movies, television episodes, and digital shorts, as well as live news and sports programs. Similar to the strategy employed by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime Video with its Amazon Channels, Roku announced it will be adding premium subscriptions from such notable providers as Showtime, Epix, and Starz, as well as a number of less-known channels. Roku is also providing a number of incentives to help seal the deal. Viewers will be able to see all of the content offerings from each of the networks to decide if it's right for them. Customers can also take advantage of free trials for each of the offerings, and The Roku Channel will aggregate all of the content in one place, eliminating the need to switch between various channels. With this customer convenience in mind, Roku will offer a single monthly bill for any or all of the additional subscriptions. Over the top Another change will allow those with the Roku mobile app -- which is available from both iOS and Android -- to watch The Roku Channel without using a dedicated Roku device. This will let viewers begin watching a program on one device and pick up where they left off on another. In addition to the marquee names already mentioned, Roku's premium subscription partners include Baeble Music, CollegeHumor's Dropout, CuriosityStream, FitFusion, The Great Courses Signature Collection, Hopster, Magnolia Selects presented by Magnolia Pictures, MHz Choice, Noggin, Smithsonian Channel Plus, Tastemade, Viewster Anime, and more. What isn't there Notably missing from the list are HBO, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), and Hulu. That doesn't mean some of these won't be added later. It more likely means that deals wouldn't be reached in time for launch. Roku may be getting a stipend from the channel providers for each new subscriber who signs up. That's likely part of the reason Netflix wasn't among the offerings. The streaming giant has long been among the top-grossing apps on iTunes, paying Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) a cut of between 15% and 30% for any subscribers who signed up though the App Store. After recently testing an alternative, Netflix announced that it would no longer support iTunes as a payment method for new subscribers, thereby cutting Apple out of the equation. This will save Netflix millions of dollars. Given that development, it doesn't seem likely that Netflix would have accepted any offer by Roku that involved paying the company a cut of its subscriptions. If the two do come to an agreement in the future, it will likely be one of convenience and not motivated by profit. | https://news.yahoo.com/roku-joining-big-leagues-122900083.html |
Are Privacy Concerns Halting Smart Cities Indefinitely? | It looks like the design of todays smart cities may not be smart enough. In October, Ann Cavoukian, the Director of Privacy for Alphabets Sidewalk Labs smart neighborhood project in Toronto, resigned after learning that not all data collected from residents would be de-identified at the source. In her resignation letter, Cavoukian likened the project to a smart city of surveillance, highlighting privacy concerns for smart cities as her reason for leaving. The following are a few things to consider in weighing the options. Privacy Concerns for Smart Cities: No Way to Avoid Them Here is the thing: every project that involves data collection holds potential concerns over data privacy. We all know that cyber threats are increasingand becoming increasingly sophisticated. We can assume that these dangers will only increase as the amount of data gathered via the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow. Until now, research shows many consumers have been willing to give up personal data so long as it benefits us in some way. (Exclusive shopping deals, anyone?) The issue becomes one of education and transparency. All of these questions will need to be answered clearly to assuage privacy concerns for smart cities. Also, theres a deeper philosophical element to smart cities too. A government entity will have access to tons of information about its citizens. I dont have an answer for that because I think its a very fine line and one each person needs to figure out. Just something we all need to be aware of. The Cart is Before the Horse Just as the General Data Protection Regulation was recently passed in Europe, there will need to be some policies developed in the United States that govern privacy concerns for smart cities and their development. Until now, technology has been advancing incredibly quickly, and its been difficult for legislation to keep up. In my opinion, we need to stop and take a breath to get on the same page regarding smart city data laws. We wont see smart cities develop on a mass scalein a strategic, non-fragmented wayuntil were able to resolve some key issues. I think data protection needs to happen at a federal level too. There are state laws for data protection that some forward-thinking states, like California, have on the books, but it needs to be consistent across the country. Citizens, regardless of location, need to be protected. Personalized Data Has Value As much as we would like to de-identify all data at the source, as consumers we also know there are benefits to making our personal data available. As noted above, we all appreciate personalized shopping experiences. We like when our GPS sends us directions to the place were most likely to visit at that time of daywithout us even asking. We love that Netflix always seems to know which new series well like before weve even heard of it. The same is true when it comes to personalized data in smart cities. Again, these answers aren't universal, but rather personal. I do think most will enjoy the benefits of a smarter city. However, I also think we need to continue to discuss the implications of these conveniences in order to move forward in the best way possible. Well Need to Work Together Right now, our countryand the worldare divided over the use of AI and the IoT to monitor/support/surveil residents of smart cities. The public in general is becoming more aware of privacy concerns for smart cities and how algorithms (or biased algorithms) could impact their life experiences. To create lasting smart cities, we all need to work together to determine a workable standard to keep residents safe. We need to determine whose responsibility it is to keep data safe. And we need to ensure complete transparency as a checks and balance system. In my view, no. We as a countryand even the world overare far too interested in doing things faster, smarter, and more easily that I do believe we will continue to offer our data up to companies working to improve our lives through connectivity. We may complain about itfor instance, the anticipated influx of text ads, marketing phone calls, and sponsored Facebook postsbut I dont think well see a significant slow down in the efforts for smart city development. However, as they are deployed, it sure will be interesting to see the reaction to a smart city's first major breach. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2019/01/08/are-privacy-concerns-halting-smart-cities-indefinitely/ |
Are Apartments Still A Good Investment In 2019? | Yes, apartments are still a good investment, but for more fundamental reasons than during the past eight years. What I mean by this is apartments have always been a good investment. Unlike other commercial real estate investments, apartments are tied much more to residential trends and demographics. Starting in 2010 and continuing through early 2018, the fallout from the crash and recession created an imbalance in homeownership that gave rise to an increase in apartment rental rates. The rent increase directly correlates to an increase in the value of apartment buildings. But apartments are still a good investment for traditional reasons versus heavy appreciation, even with changing circumstances such as rising interest rates, rising property taxes and a potential recession. If investors focus on property fundamentals, hone their investment strategy and conservatively underwrite for todays market, apartments are still a high-performing investment in 2019. A normalization of value appreciation in apartments is usually related to a projection of flatness in net operating income (NOI). Historically, flatness of NOI is anticipated when two primary drivers occur: rent softness (meaning rents are not growing well) and anticipated interest rate increases. The current market seems to have both of these factors. Current rent softness comes from years of rent growth and a large supply of new construction units being delivered and a large supply of new construction units being delivered. Interest rates in Q4 2018 are higher than Q4 2017, and more increases are forecasted for 2019. Locally in Chicago, the third factor for NOI flatness is property tax increases, as city, county and state government continually raise taxes to increase revenue. Focus On Fundamentals For apartment investing, thats the bad news. The good news is that if you focus on the fundamentals and invest for the long term, apartments are still the most compelling product type in commercial real estate. The key reason for this is simple, if trite: People always need a place to live. For investing in apartment buildings, remember three fundamental factors of location, value-add and underwriting. Location is the primary factor for any real estate investment, but what makes a location good varies by product type (residential, industrial, office, apartment, retail, etc.). For apartments, good location usually means easy access to centers for employment and transportation (e.g., public or highway access). Hone Investment Strategy Value-add means ways to increase the value of your property. Increasing the NOI of the property despite the market in general projecting flatness for NOI is one of the best ways. The obvious is making physical improvements that result in higher rent (i.e., new kitchen cabinets). The less obvious maybe how to decrease expenses or create better operational efficiencies. Other ways to add value may have to do with overall returns over the lifespan of the investment. A trend right now for achieving this is investing in Opportunity Zones. These investments reduce or eliminate your capital gains, thus significantly increasing your overall returns. Conservatively Underwrite Underwriting means carefully analyzing all of the income and expense related to an investment, including a conservative proforma of the changes expected, looking at financing options and determining what your return on investment will be at the purchase price being contemplated. Set a threshold you have to achieve and hold yourself to it. If your target is 10%, underwrite honestly and conservatively and do not invest if you cannot get the numbers to cross that minimum threshold. Apartments remain a solid commercial real estate investment class if not still the golden child. Getting back to the fundamentals described above should result in a long-term appreciating asset and a meaningful return on investment. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2019/01/08/are-apartments-still-a-good-investment-in-2019/ |
Can Businesses Capitalize On The Promise Of AI? | Regardless of industry or company size, artificial intelligence (AI) is touted as the next big thing -- a high-tech superhero that will automate routine business processes, hyper-personalize customer experiences and foster more intelligent decision making. AIs magic is already at work, helping banks and lending institutions, for example, create predictive models that enable smarter underwriting decisions and better assessment of credit risks. Even utilities are tapping AI to optimize sustainable wind and solar power delivery. A 2017 study by Accenture, reported on by Forbes, predicts that by 2035, AI could boost profitability rates by nearly 40%. But many companies are just getting started, and others lack the in-house expertise and wherewithal to get significant traction with AI development projects. Among businesses worldwide (subscription required), extensive deployment of AI had only been accomplished by 5% in 2017, while 22% said they had yet to implement AI and had no plans to. (Full disclosure: Accenture is a partner of my company, Applause.) Even in its nascent stage, AI can deliver a particularly powerful boost for software developers. Traditional coding is based on complex decision trees and branching logic, relying heavily on sophisticated developer brain power. AI ushers in a code 2.0 era, where programmers create a much simpler set of code and train the software for the intended output, allowing the system to learn from past instruction and automatically make on-the-fly adjustments to reach the desired outcome. By doing so, development teams are liberated from manual and laborious coding practices, shortening the time it takes to deliver next-gen solutions and fostering greater code reuse. At the same time, AI programs introduce some unique challenges. Unlike traditional software development, where programmers can backtrack to determine the root cause of failure, there isnt that same luxury with AI programs. Most AI systems operate as more of a black box; developers will know the AI program failed at some point, but they have little visibility into specifics about the program, and they dont have the same ability to debug code to identify potential problems. Another big hurdle for successful AI-driven development is data. Training an AI program to recognize pictures of puppies amid a sea of muffins (they look more similar than you might think), or to interpret specific voice commands regardless of speech patterns or dialects, requires data. Lots and lots of data. In fact, enormous data sets are required to adequately train the algorithms, and its a process that demands constant care and feeding. Lets take the puppy example: Youd need to tap into thousands of pictures of chihuahuas to train the AI program to make a successful identification, and youd also need a similar trove of data to ensure the program can delineate between images of a chihuahua and a muffin, or even a chocolate-chip cookie, for that matter. That is a pretty simplistic example, but things get much more complex as you tackle more sophisticated applications. Unfortunately, the issue isnt black and white, and there are no easy answers. AI Is Constantly Learning And Improving There are some general guidelines, however, that can make the AI data dilemma slightly less inscrutable. The size of the data set to train the models will vary based on the quality of data and how deterministic the outputs are. For example, applications using pictures or video will require much larger data sets because identification can be fuzzy compared to systems that involve natural language, which is more scientific and involves the written word. AI systems that make use of the spoken word -- think voice assistants like Apples Siri -- also require vast data sets because they need to differentiate based on complex factors like accents and different languages. In my work with Applause this year, we conducted in-depth testing on a new voice-enabled speaker that ran into problems with how it responded to commands in French versus English. In one instance, a French-speaking user asked the device to send the message Ill see you soon to a friend named Noelle. While the command was successfully activated in English, the voice-enabled device misinterpreted the French translation bientt as a persons last name, responding that it couldnt find a Noelle Abientot among the contacts. This instance illustrates what can happen when an AI program isnt given enough localized data to learn from. So, while there isnt a hard-and-fast answer to the how much data is enough? AI dilemma, there is one common rule: Youre never really finished training an AI program because the more data you feed it, the better that system will be. Just ask developers in the autonomous vehicle space that are collecting data at a furious pace using both real-world test drives and lots of computer simulation. By capturing billions of data points through a collected billions of miles traveled (yes, billions), players in this space have a much better shot of keeping self-driving cars safe. Not every AI system will have such life-and-death consequences. However, rest assured: Most will have insatiable appetites for data and will require constant care and feeding. Realizing The Promise Of AI This data dilemma will impact every organization looking to benefit from AI. Those that can capture the most data in the shortest amount of time may be the ones that capitalize on the promise of AI. Those that cannot will likely fall behind and risk investing in AI programs that dont work. The opportunity is clear: AI can help businesses magnify their efficiencies, up-level automation and improve all customer experiences. What is less clear is how brands can capture the necessary data to ensure their AI projects actually work -- and work every time. To get the most accurate and relevant results, companies should look toward real-world scenarios and users to capture the large data sets they will need. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/01/08/can-businesses-capitalize-on-the-promise-of-ai/ |
What will happen if Trump uses national emergency powers to fund border wall? | WASHINGTON As the budget standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats grinds into the third week of a partial government shutdown, the White House has floated the idea that Trump might invoke emergency powers to build his proposed wall on the Mexican border without lawmakers approval. That route could resolve the immediate crisis by giving Trump a face-saving way to sign spending bills that do not include funding for his wall. But it would be an extraordinarily aggressive move at a minimum, a violation of constitutional norms that would most likely thrust the walls fate into the courts. Here is a primer on whether Trump can use emergency powers to proceed with the project without explicit congressional permission. The president has the authority to declare a national emergency, which activates enhancements to his executive powers by essentially creating exceptions to rules that normally constrain him. The idea is to enable the government to respond quickly to a crisis. Although presidents have sometimes claimed that the Constitution gives them inherent powers to act beyond ordinary legal limits in an exigency, those claims tend to fare poorly when challenged in court. But presidents are on firmer legal ground when they invoke statutes in which Congress delegated authorities to the executive branch that can be generated in emergencies. In a recent study, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law identified 123 provisions of law granting presidents a range of such powers. The National Emergencies Act, enacted during the post-Watergate reform era, regulates how presidents may invoke such powers. It requires them to formally declare a national emergency and tell Congress which statutes are being activated. Maybe. The Trump administration could point to two laws and say they allow officials to proceed with building a border wall without first obtaining explicit authorization and appropriations from Congress, according to Elizabeth Goitein, who oversaw the Brennan Centers study and is a co-director of its Liberty and National Security Program. One of the laws permits the secretary of the Army to halt Army civil works projects during a presidentially declared emergency and instead direct troops and other resources to help construct authorized civil works, military construction and civil defense projects that are essential to the national defense. Another law permits the secretary of defense, in an emergency, to begin military construction projects not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces, using funds that Congress had appropriated for military construction purposes that have not yet been earmarked for specific projects. In light of those statutes and similar ones that give presidents flexibility to redirect funds in a crisis, the Trump administration could point to serious arguments to back up Trump if he invokes emergency powers to build a wall, said William C. Banks, a Syracuse University law professor who helped write a 1994 book about tensions between the executive and legislative branches over security and spending, National Security Law and the Power of the Purse. The fundamental principle is that no president or official may spend funds that were not appropriated for that purpose, he said. No. If he invokes emergency powers to build a border wall, Trump is almost certain to invite a court battle. While Goitein agreed that there is a nonfrivolous legal case to be made that emergency-powers laws might empower Trump to spend military funds on a wall, she also pointed to counterarguments any lawsuit would have to contend with. For example, she noted, under one of the laws Trump might try to invoke, the military may redirect funds to build only projects that Congress has separately authorized. Lawmakers have not approved a military wall spanning the border. Still, the administration might argue that Congress has effectively preapproved a wall-like barrier under other laws, including one that authorizes the military to construct border fences blocking drug-smuggling corridors, and another, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, that empowers the Department of Homeland Security to build physical infrastructure enhancements along the border. The government could skip the requirement to identify pre-existing authorization for a wall if it invoked a different emergency-powers law for the funds, but that route would raise other problems, Goitein said. Among them, the government would need to show that a wall meets the legal definition of military construction even though it is not clearly tied to a military facility or installation, and that the southern border situation represents the kind of emergency that requires the use of the armed forces. Probably not. If Trump declares that the situation along the southern border suddenly constitutes an emergency that justifies building a wall without explicit congressional sanction, he will run up against a reality: that the facts on the ground have not drastically shifted. The number of people crossing the border unlawfully is far down from its peak of nearly two decades ago. The recent caravans from Central America primarily consist of migrants who are not trying to sneak across the border, but instead are presenting themselves to border officials and requesting asylum. And while Trump and his aides keep claiming that terrorists are sneaking in across the border, including assertions that they are doing so by the thousands, as a matter of empirical reality, there has been no such instance in the modern era. Still, as a matter of legal procedure, facts may be irrelevant. Before a court could decide that Trump had cynically declared an emergency under false pretenses, the court would first have to decide that the law permits judges to substitute their own thinking for the presidents in such a matter. The Justice Department would surely argue that courts should instead defer to the presidents determination. If any court would actually let itself review whether this is a national emergency, he would be in big trouble, Goitein said. I think it would be an abuse of power to declare an emergency where none exists. In part by accident. When passing many emergency-powers laws, Congress attached a procedure that would let lawmakers override any particular invocation of that authority. The National Emergencies Act, for example, permitted Congress to rescind an emergency if both the House and the Senate voted for a resolution rejecting the presidents determination that one existed. But in 1983, the Supreme Court struck down such legislative vetoes. The justices ruled that for a congressional act to have legal effect, it must be presented to the president for signature or veto. Because it takes two-thirds of both chambers to override a veto, the ruling significantly eroded the check and balance against abuse that lawmakers had intended to be part of their delegation of standby emergency powers to presidents. | https://nationalpost.com/news/world/what-will-happen-if-trump-uses-national-emergency-powers-to-fund-border-wall |
Is Measurability More Important Than Effectiveness For Marketers? | We all want to claim the latter, but the reality is that we answer to someone, and if we cant show the value of our work with data, its hard to prove our professional value. The result is that marketers often choose to execute experiences that are measurable, even at the expense of impact. Programmatic media is an example of this. Its the most measurable media spend given the data is in real time. Marketers can gauge exactly how many times their ads are clicked, the cost of each click and the resulting return on investment (ROI). The issue with programmatic is that an alarming portion of it is fraud, and the industry is aware of this. In 2017, an Advertising Week panel (subscription required) was asked how much fraud is in the numbers, and the estimates were frightening. The CEO of Nielsen Catalina Solutions reportedly estimated that over 50% of direct programmatic is fraudulent, while other experts reportedly agreed that the best-case scenario is one-third. While many savvy marketers would agree that measuring clicks is not the most effective way to gauge ROI given this level of fraud, clicks are still the predominant key performance indicator (KPI). Since programmatic media can generate a large number of clicks, it is a major focus area for most marketers. Im not saying brands shouldnt invest in programmatic. There is a lot of progress in mitigating fraud, and even when accounting for fraud, it can be highly effective if used correctly and in balance with other marketing efforts. What I am saying is that measurability allows programmatic media to have this level of fraud without losing its funding to other channels. Based on my experience working with an experiential marketing agency, its clear that many marketers believe that the value of a physical interaction is greater than a digital interaction. There is also data showing the importance of experiences for younger generations. Even so, it is still much easier to measure a digital interaction than a physical interaction. Brands may claim they are increasing their spend on branded experiences, but this is likely due to their understanding that younger consumers prefer experiences over material things. Its also likely in response to competitors increasing their experiential budgets, and we all know the impact of the fear of missing out, or FOMO. What is still largely missing is the quantitative evidence that a consumer who engages with an experience is more valuable than one who interacts solely online. Its not an easy problem to solve, but one the industry must address to avoid the pendulum swinging away from experiences and back toward clickbait. Comparing physical and digital interactions will never be apples to apples, but the closer we can get the KPIs, the better off the industry will be. Extend the physical experience with digital components. If you can deliver the same KPIs (impression, clicks) as a digital program, then the physical experience is icing on the cake. As an activity, take the total spend of your physical experience including the digital extension. Ask your brand what they could deliver for that spend in programmatic clicks. Given the level of fraud we know exists, take a conservative 70% to arrive at a true impression count. With digital extensions and content production from your physical event, you should be able to deliver that level of engagement (if your experience is buzzworthy), and the decision for the brand becomes easy. Any time I pitch an experiential activation to a brand I ask, If I can deliver the same results as if you spent this money on programmatic, then would you would agree its a homerun investment? I dont know of any brand that would say otherwise. Prove the value of the event attendee to the brand. Most experiential companies focus their event recaps on the number of attendees that went through the experience. The issue with this approach is that you will never reach as wide an audience as with digital media. Now, if you instead prove the value of each event attendee is exponentially greater than digital-only consumers, you have a strong case. Here are two ways to prove value: engagement and purchasing. Engagement: By comparing engagement rates of consumers who participated in a branded experience versus came from other channels like paid audiences, you can demonstrate the value of experiences. Metrics including email marketing open rates, social post engagements and coupon redemption all demonstrate how valuable an individual is to a brand. To measure these effectively, you must monitor the audience well after the experience ends, which means its no longer only about what happened during the experience. Purchasing: This is much harder to measure and is ultimately the holy grail. The way most marketers track purchasing is through credit card data. When they serve a banner ad to a consumer, that consumer has a unique IP address. Information is tied to that IP address, and data companies make it possible to connect the IP to a credit card. They can identify if consumers who saw an ad eventually made a purchase. The same approach must be brought to experiential. Brands and agencies should be segmenting audiences that came through experiential channels to understand if that group is more likely to purchase than other groups, therefore making them a more valuable audience. The reality is that measurability is a major component of a marketers decision making process. There are ways to compare the value of consumers who come from physical experiences versus digital clicks, and the industry must advance those methods to increase transparency. If all marketing tactics have high transparency of measurement, marketers wont have to make the choice between measurability and effectiveness. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/01/08/is-measurability-more-important-than-effectiveness-for-marketers/ |
Is Donald Trump About to Declare a National Emergency at the Border? | Last Friday, as the government shutdown headed for a third week, reports emerged that Donald Trump was thinking about declaring a national emergency at the southern border, with the goal of circumventing the deadlock in Congress and diverting some Pentagon funds to the construction of a wall, or steel barrier. During a press conference at the White House, Trump confirmed that he had considered invoking emergency powers and added, I can do it if I want. When a reporter asked if that was a threat to Democrats, who are refusing his demands for $5.6 billion in funding for the wall, Trump replied, Id never threaten anybody, but I am allowed to do that, yes. On Sunday, at Camp David, Trump returned to the theme, saying, I may declare a national emergency dependent on whats going to happen over the next few days. When he got back to the White House, he added, We have a national emergency, just read the papers. We have a crisis at the border, of drugs, of human beings being trafficked all over the world, theyre coming through . . . criminals and gang members coming through. It is national security. It is a national emergency. Trumps description of what is happening on the border is largely fictitious, of course. (In a television interview on Sunday, the White House spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, claimed that four thousand people who are on a terrorism watch list had been stopped at the southern border. On Monday, NBC reported that, in the first half of fiscal 2018, the actual number of people stopped for this reason was six.) But Trump isnt dealing with reality. In a tweet on Monday afternoon, he said that he would deliver a televised address from the Oval Office on Tuesday, the first of his Presidency, on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. In a press briefing at the White House, Vice-President Mike Pence and Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security, repeatedly used the same phrase. Pence told reporters that Trump hadnt yet decided whether to declare an emergency, but he also said that the Office of the White House Counsel was looking into the possible options available to the President. On Monday evening, the Washington Post reported that Trump increasingly views a national emergency declaration as a viable, if risky, way for him to build a portion of his long-promised barrier, according to senior administration officials." It seems increasingly likely, therefore, that Trump is going to use Tuesday nights Oval Office address either to invoke an emergency, which would immediately plunge him into another legal and constitutional battle, or to formalize his threat to act if the Democrats dont give in to his demands very quickly. Either way, he appears set to escalate the fight over the border wall in dramatic fashion, and Democrats are already getting prepared. We would certainly oppose any attempt by the President to make himself a king and a tyrant by saying that he can appropriate money without Congress, Jerry Nadler, the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said on Monday during a visit to a Customs and Border Protection Agency detention center in Alamogordo, New Mexico. That is perhaps the most dangerous thing he is talking about since he became President. On the other side of the political divide, the prospect of Trump making such a move drew mixed reactions. John Cornyn, a Republican senator from Texas, sounded a note of caution. Im confident he could declare a national emergency, Cornyn said on CNN. But what that may mean in terms of adding new elements to thiscourt hearings and litigation that may carry this on for weeks and months and yearsto me, injecting a new element in this just makes it more complicated. But some of Trumps supporters openly welcomed the prospect of him seizing emergency powers. What I like is that the President is not backing down, Fox News Sean Hannity said on his daily radio show. Hes looking for any alternative source of money, so we can get the job done. In a way, these latest developments arent entirely surprising. Ever since parts of the government began to shut down, three days before Christmas, people in Washington and elsewhere have been wondering how Trump would go about extricating himself from the political hole he has dug for himself. During his now famous Oval Office meeting with the Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, on December 11th, he said, Ill tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. Once the shutdown began, it was always going to be a struggle for him to shift the blame to the Democrats. For the past couple of weeks, Schumer has been barely able to conceal a smile, and his language has gotten steadily tougher. On Monday, he again dismissed the possibility of giving in to Trumps financial demands, saying such a cave would create a disaster and encourage his worst instincts, which are bad enough now. Initially, the shutdown served Trumps purposes, because it sent a signal to his most ardent anti-immigrant supporters, whose backing he will desperately need during the months ahead. But government closures usually get more unpopular the longer they go on, and if this one extends beyond this weekend it will be the longest shutdown in the past fifty years. Despite Trumps public insistence that even many of the federal employees who have been furloughed or forced to work without pay are supporting him, he is surely aware where things are heading. In a private meeting with aides at Camp David on Sunday, Mr. Trump said he wanted them to come up with a resolution without him appearing to have capitulated to Democrats, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The story added that White House officials disputed that account and said the president didnt make such a statement." Whether he did or he didnt say such a thing, Trump clearly needs an exit strategy, and he may believe he has found one. On Twitter, Eric Columbus, a Washington lawyer with experience in the Obama Administration and with the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed out that if Trump declares a national emergency, he might be able to obtain some money for his wall even as the matter is litigated, which would enable him to re-open the government while saving faceand if he later loses in court hell have a new scapegoat. As a description of Trumps strategizing, this sounded plausible. Well find out on Tuesday night if he goes through with it. | https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/is-donald-trump-about-to-declare-a-national-emergency-at-the-border |
How Innovative is Appian? | Organic innovation is hard enough. Creating products that help usher in entirely new categories is rare. The most innovative companies do both to disrupt incumbents and unleash massive wealth for early investors. Not if you're looking at returns over the past year. stock chart of appian losing to the S&P 500 More Source: YCharts. Appian stock has underperformed over the past year. Talk about an ugly chart. And yet total revenue was up 36% to $217.1 million over the trailing 12 months ended on Sept. 30. Because analysts are calling for Appian to generate $222.2 million in revenue for all of 2018. A mere 10% year-over-year bump in Q4 revenue would allow the company to hit that mark. The last time Appian's top line grew that slowly was the first quarter of fiscal 2017,when professional services still accounted for the majority of its revenue. Today long-term subscriptions are driving growth. Anyone poking around Appian's roster of customer success stories using its "low-code" visual programming platform won't be surprised by that. Customers who try Appian tend to love it and stick with it. Regardless, there are sure to be bumps for Appian investors along the road to greater returns. Competition is just one of the potential stumbling blocks. Analyst firm Gartner (NYSE: IT) identifies 18 companies besides Appian operating in the Intelligent Business Process Management marketplace with Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA) ranked as a visionary leader and Appian as Gartner's choice for tops in execution. Ambitious, effective innovation will be required for continued gains in this tough category, so it's worth understanding how effective Appian's R&D efforts have been to date, and whether we have reason to expect even better results in the future. Let's go under the hood and apply my four-question test. A light bulb shining next to the word innovation More Innovation isn't just about bright ideas. Source: Getty Images. Revisiting the innovation test You may remember that I created the innovation test as a means of understanding the quality of engineering efforts when making a complex product with rule-breaking potential. Here are the four core categories and the questions within: | https://news.yahoo.com/innovative-appian-143400711.html |
Can Mauricio Pochettino Fulfil His Potential At Tottenham? | The Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino knows he has a decision to make this summer. He knows Manchester United, and probably Real Madrid, will make him an attractive offer to lure him from North London. He will then have to decide if he stays and continues to guide his project at Tottenham, or does he take the opportunity to prove himself elsewhere. How the rest of the season unfolds could influence this decision, for if Tottenham were to win their first trophy for 11 years he might find it more difficult to walk away. Tottenham still have a realistic hope of winning one of four trophies; they are still in both domestic cups, last week they progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 7-0 win at Tranmere Rovers, and on Tuesday night will face Chelsea in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals. But they still have their eyes set on even bigger prizes, for they are also through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, and are currently third in the Premier League six points behind leaders Liverpool. Pochettino has been in a reflective mood this week, aware of the decision he will soon have to make. 'At the moment I am happy,' he has said. 'Today the club is doing what the club needs to do and I am so happy to be here. Its true the people are so impatient but its going to arrive. We are creating a legacy that is going to be amazing for the future of the club. I can see in the future Tottenham winning trophies. I dont know if with us or without. In one year or five years.' This is the party line, and he has to stick to it for now, and even suggested that he would like to possibly emulate the two decades Arsene Wenger spent at Arsenal. 'I hope or I wish to be here 20 years and decide to leave or to finish my career here,' he said. But then Pochettino allowed a dose of realism to puncture all this romantic talk about staying for another 15 years. 'I hope, if I have the opportunity to talk with Arsene Wenger, to ask if it was worth it?' Pochettino said. 'I dont know what he would say.' Pochettino saw how his revered counterpart from across North London stayed at Arsenal for too long, and turned down opportunities to manage elsewhere, particularly from Real Madrid who came for him several times. Ultimately Wengers loyalty to Arsenal was not appreciated before he was forced out last summer. 'That is why it is a little bit sad the way it ended at his club,' Pochettino said. In an ideal world he is the type of character that would probably prefer to remain at Tottenham and win his trophies there, to create an enduring legacy for both himself and the club. To be the first Tottenham manager to win the league title since Bill Nicholson in 1961 would mean more to him than delivering Manchester United their 21st league title, or Real Madrid their 34th. But Pochettino knows he needs greater financial support from the Tottenham board to make this a reality, and he took the unusual step this week or making that clear. 'I saw a stat about how teams were spending money in the last 10 years and we were on the bottom in England and Europe,' he said. 'If we want to be real contenders, we need to operate in a different way in the future. At the moment its fantastic so far so good but well see if its enough to challenge and be consistent in the next five years operating in that way.' Since Pochettino was appointed in 2014 Tottenham have had a net spend of just 29 million, compared to the current champions Manchester City whose net spend is 518 million. Just last summer Tottenham didnt purchase a single player, and became the first club in the 26-year history of the Premier League not to spend any money during the summer transfer window. For Tottenham to currently be third in the Premier League, and still in with a chance of winning four competitions this season neatly showcases Pochettinos obvious talents as a coach. In the next four months he will have to decide if he wants to take those talents to Manchester or Madrid, or remain at Tottenham. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/sampilger/2019/01/08/can-mauricio-pochettino-fulfil-his-potential-at-tottenham/ |
Could Mike McCarthy Be The Right Fit For The Jets? | The backdrop was quite fitting. As Christopher Johnson spoke to the media on a gray New Years Eve in a second-floor conference room at the Jets complex, the empty, barren practice fields outside were visible behind him, a stark reminder of why he was talking to reporters in the first place. Although he spoke in a low-volume voice, the determined Johnsons message was clear. The Jets' acting owner intends to find the head coach that will make sure those practice fields are buzzing with activity and anticipation in future Januarys, as opposed to being deserted until the spring. The Jets previous four head coaches, including the just-fired Todd Bowles, had no head-coaching experience before coming to the Jets. When asked what he wanted in a coach, Johnson didnt rule out candidates with no such experience, although he admitted that having been an NFL coach cant hurt. That might be why the Jets thus far have interviewed several ex-NFL coaches. It is known that they have conducted interviews with McCarthy, former Indianapolis and Detroit coach Jim Caldwell, and Adam Gase, recently fired by Miami. But what Johnson kept emphasizing the most about prospective candidates was something the Jets had long since made clear by their words and actions--developing Sam Darnold into a franchise quarterback is priority No. 1 for whoever ultimately gets the job. Were going to build with Sam, build around Sam, Johnson said, and with some great players we have on this team already. Somebody who has developed a young quarterback would be a plus, but thats not the whole story, he added. This is about finding someone who can develop a young team. We have some great, young talent on this team and its more than just developing a quarterback. But somebody whos developed a young quarterback would be a plus. Enter McCarthy, who interviewed with the Jets on Saturday. McCarthy was fired by Green Bay last month with four games left in the season and the Packers en route to a second straight year of missing the playoffs, the first time that had happened since they failed to qualify in both 2005 and 2006, McCarthys first year as coach. Two years into that tenure, the Packers pulled the plug on the Brett Favre Era by trading the quarterback to the Jets, opening the door for Aaron Rodgers to become the starter. McCarthy had pushed for the move, and Rodgers has been the teams starter ever since and one of the premier quarterbacks in the league. So, yes, one can argue that McCarthy helped develop Rodgers. The two led Green Bay to a Super Bowl win in Rodgers second year as the starter. Rodgers later won NFL MVP awards in 2011 and 2014 and the Packers reached the NFC championship game in 2016, where they lost to Atlanta in the franchises most recent playoff game. But injuries (including one that coast Rodgers nine games in 2017) and personnel moves derailed the Packer offense in the last two seasons, and there also are questions about whether McCarthys play-calling is good enough to win in todays NFL. They are still running the 1997 Brett Favre West Coast offense, NBC Sports and Bleacher Report analyst Chris Simms said recently on The Peter King Podcast, adding that Green Bays offense under McCarthy was as basic as it gets. Simms compared the bulk of the Packers offensive schemes to a first- or second-day installation in a rookie mini-camp, saying, That is really the meat and potatoes of the Green Bay offense. So, Simms said, opposing coaches in Green Bays division know that offense just as good as Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. Perhaps thats why, according to what tight end Marcedes Lewis told Yahoo! Sports, Rodgers junked one of McCarthys play calls before even getting to the line of scrimmage. "We were in the huddle," Lewis said. "I guess McCarthy called in a play, and Aaron was kind of like, Nah.' He gave a direction and a protection to the line, and went. It was a four-minute offense, he threw a 40-yard bomb for a completion. Im like, Whats really going on? Ive never seen anything like that before in my life. It will be up to Johnson and his advisors, general manager Mike Maccagnan and vice president of player personnel Brian Heimerdinger, to decide if McCarthy still has it as an NFL playcaller and thus would be a good fit to help mold the talented and coachable Darnold. The search, now in its second week, also has seen the team interview Dallas defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Kris Richard, former Texas Tech coach and current USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The Jets are expected to interview Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Tuesday and reportedly also are interested in Baylor coach Matt Rhule. Monken formerly was the Southern Miss head coach, so its clear that Johnson is focusing on candidates with head coaching experience at either the NFL or major-college level. Remember, it was his older brother Woody, currently the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who was largely responsible for hiring all those coordinators who hadnt been head coaches before. Maybe Woody's younger brother has a different approach in mind. Woody has been out of the day-to-day operations of the team since being appointed to that post by President Donald Trump, but Christopher said he would be consulted on the decision. But Christopher Johnson will have the final say. Johnsons focus on head coaches could be a sign that he realizes the teams culture was broken under Bowles, who almost never benched players and rarely held players accountable. McCarthy could provide that, and the type of clashes he had with Rodgers almost certainly would be less plentiful with the even-keel, still-learning Darnold. And also consider that Green Bay finished fourth in the NFL in points scored and eighth in total offense as recently as 2016 under McCarthy. Not surprisingly, McCarthy has drawn interest from other teams with coaching vacancies. Its unknown how much of a say, if any, he would want in player procurement. Well find out soon. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jppelzman/2019/01/08/could-mike-mccarthy-be-the-right-fit-for-the-jets/ |
How does Saints' home playoff record with Payton and Brees compare with rest of the league? | Before last season, Mark Ingram could only tell most teammates what it was like to have a home playoff game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. He was one of five New Orleans Saints to have experienced one. This season, they all know. Thats like we got 13 people on the field, said running back Alvin Kamara, whose rookie 2017 season included a wild-card win against the Panthers inside the Dome. The Dome is that much of an advantage with the noise and the energy and the atmosphere that comes from just playing at home. I think we got a little bit of confidence when we play at home. The Saints came into the 2018 season wanting to replicate that feeling as much as possible. Doing so meant earning the No. 1 conference seed and home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs. They earned it by winning 13 of the first 15 games before resting Drew Brees and other key players in the Week 17 finale. To be home is what every team desires when it reaches the postseason. Of the 10 teams to play in the last five Super Bowls, nine of them entered the playoffs with the No. 1 conference seed. Clearly, being home for the post season matters. Its significant, Saints coach Sean Payton said. For the Saints, it has been an ingredient for postseason success. With Payton as coach and Drew Brees at quarterback, the Saints are 5-0 in home playoff games. The franchise streak extends to six games when including the 2000 victory against the St. Louis Rams. On the road since 2006, the Saints are 1-5 in the postseason. Thats the poorest record of any team to have played at least four road postseason games during that span. Being at home also was part of what helped the Saints to the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. That season marked the only other time the Saints held a No. 1 conference seed. That year, the Saints won a divisional game against the Cardinals and then beat the Vikings in overtime to win the NFC championship. The other two home playoff wins with Payton and Brees came in 2006 and 2011. After those wins, the Saints lost on the road, just as they did in stunning fashion last season against the Vikings in the divisional round. Knowing that youre going to have a chance to defend your own field in your environment, its been a big plus for us, Payton said. If you went all the way back even to 2006, our record at home has been significant. Since 2006, only three teams have more home playoff wins than the Saints, with the Patriots at 14-3, the Seahawks at 8-0 and the Colts at 6-2. In the NFC, only the Seahawks and Packers have hosted more playoff games than the Saints. The Packers are 4-3 in those games. During that span, home teams in the divisional round are 31-17 and the No. 1 seeds in that round are 15-9. In the NFC, the top seeds are 7-5 in the divisional round, with the Cowboys accounting for two of those loses and the Falcons, Packers and Giants accounting for one each. The Saints certainly want to avoid being added to that list. In all playoff games since 2006, the home teams have won nearly two-thirds of the time. After Thanksgiving, the Saints played a string of three consecutive road games with underwhelming offensive showings. Once back in the Dome against the Steelers, those offensive marks improved with 329 passing yards in a 31-28 victory. One big difference for the Saints at home and away this season is in the passing game. The Saints at home gain more than two yards per pass attempt at home and have twice as many passing touchdowns (22) as on the road (11). Next, the Saints will face an Eagles team they defeated 48-7 in Week 11. Although those Eagles have since turned around their season by winning six of the last seven games, including last weeks 16-15 victory against the Bears, the Saints should feel an edge being at home. I thought we got pretty loud (against the Steelers) and I know well be louder in the postseason, Payton said. Its what you work for at the beginning of the season. | https://www.nola.com/saints/2019/01/how-does-saints-playoff-record-with-payton-and-brees-compare-with-rest-of-the-league.html |
Will Magellan Midstream Partners Bounce Back in 2019? | Like many stocks, Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) slumped in 2018. Overall, the midstream MLP's unit price declined 19.6% last year, though the company's high-yielding dividend did help cushion that blow a little bit by trimming the total return to a negative 14.9%. Driving that decline was a sell-off in the stock and oil markets amid fears of a slowing global economy. While last year was a tough one due to market volatility, 2019 could be a much better one for investors. Here's why Magellan Midstream Partners could bounce back sharply this year. A dollar bill folded into an arrow that goes down and back up higher More Image source: Getty Images. If it weren't for the steep decline in its unit price, last year would have been considered an excellent one for Magellan Midstream Partners. That's because while volatility in the stock and oil markets weighed on Magellan's valuation, it didn't have any impact on the company's financial results. Quite the contrary -- the company was on pace to generate $1.12 billion in distributable cash flow (DCF), up 9.7% from 2018 and ahead of its initial guidance of $1.05 billion. What makes that outperformance even more impressive is that Magellan achieved it while selling a stake in the BridgeTex Pipeline, which gave it funds to reinvest into its growing backlog of growth projects. That money will come in handy because Magellan added several new projects to its pipeline last year. One of those is a $500 million project to increase the capacity of its Texas refined petroleum products pipeline system from 100,000 barrels per day (BPD) up to 175,000 BPD, which should be in service and generating cash flow by mid-2020. In addition to that, the company is partnering with several energy companies to build a new long-haul oil pipeline out of the Permian Basin that should also start up by the middle of next year. With those projects, Magellan had about $2.5 billion of expansions under way at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the company's rising cash flow and visible growth from expansion projects enabled it to increase its high-yielding distribution to investors by 8% last year. That increase, when combined with Magellan's lower unit price following last year's sell-off, pushed its current yield up to an attractive 6.5%. What to expect from Magellan in 2019 Magellan Midstream Partners anticipates that it will continue growing because it's on track to complete several expansion projects this year, which, along with those finished in 2018, should provide a further boost to cash flow in 2019. One of the biggest is a joint venture with Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) to construct a new marine terminal in Pasadena, Texas, which should start operations this month. Valero and Magellan are investing about $820 million into the two-phase project, with the second phase scheduled to be in service by next January. In addition to that, Valero and Magellan are spending $425 million to build a new refined products pipeline in Texas, which should start up by mid-year. Finally, the company has a smaller $60 million storage and export dock expansion in Texas that should start up in late 2019. Because long-term, fee-based contracts underpin these expansions -- and more than 85% of the company's earnings overall -- they'll provide Magellan Midstream with a steady stream of cash flow when they come online over time. That leads the company to believe it can increase its distribution by another 5% to 8% this year even as it maintains a conservative coverage ratio of about 1.2 times cash flow. Meanwhile, it estimates that it has enough fuel in the tank to also increase its payout by that same rate in 2020. Adding further support to that view is that Magellan has one of the strongest balance sheets among MLPs, which gives it the financial flexibility to fund expansions even if market conditions continue deteriorating. | https://news.yahoo.com/magellan-midstream-partners-bounce-back-154800857.html |
What Makes Yoo Ah In A Star To Take Note Of? | When Yoo Ah In appeared on the New York Times Best Actors of 2018 list, some of the papers readers may have wondered who he was or why the South Korean actor was listed alongside familiar celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Glenn Close. His inclusion on that list is due to his performance in the film Burning, which is nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards and likely to introduce the actor to an even wider American audience. That performance managed not only to impress New York Times film critics, but landed Yoo in eighth place in Esquire Magazines 13 Great Movie Performances of 2018 and has already contributed to his film earning best foreign language honors at the LA Film Critics and Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. Burning is based on a Haruki Murakami short story, Barn Burning, and directed by award-winning screenwriter and director Lee Chang Dong. Yoo plays Jong Soo, a poor loner who wants to be a writer rather than work his fathers farm. He is seduced by Hae Mi, a girl who claims to know him, played by Jeon Hong Seo. She eventually introduces him to Ben, a mysterious young man, whose wealth gives him the kind of power Jong Soo can never hope to achieve. Jong Soo is fascinated by Ben, played by Steven Yeun, but then ultimately, without concrete evidence, concludes hes a killer. There is some arson in Burning but what really burns white hot is Jong Soos frustration and jealousy, hidden deftly beneath a seemingly passive exterior. Yoo lets viewers see Jong Soo as awkward, adrift, powerless, with only whispered hints of the resentment and fury that eventually emboldens him. The actor is well known in Korea for his film and drama work. Only 27, he recently received his third nomination for Koreas annual Blue Dragon Film Awards, thanks to his appearance in Burning. He won Best Actor in 2015 for playing the doomed Crown Prince Sado in the historical tragedy Sado, also known as The Throne. Hes also the first actor to have two movies, Veteran and The Throne, make the Blue Dragon Film Awards' final nominations in one year. The cop caper Veteran, one of the highest grossing films in Korean cinema history, gave Yoo his first chance to play a hardcore villain. His character, Jo Tae Oh, is an entitled heir rampaging through life with no compunctions. Unlike Jong Soo, his position allows his rage to explode without consequences. Cartoonishly cruel, Jo is hardly a person to emulate, and yet Yoo played him with so much charisma that the character attracted his own fans. Yoo is also known for playing the doomed Crown Prince Sado (1735 to 1762) in The Throne, based on the true story of a crown prince that history has judged insane and dangerous, but who may have been maligned by a palace conspiracy. Ultimately the princes own father ordered him sealed in a box until he died. Yoo won praise for capturing the terror of a kind-hearted prince driven to the edge of insanity. Fifteen years have passed since the actor first appeared in a television drama, Sharp 1. In the interim hes had roles in more than a dozen films but also a dozen multi-episode television dramas, most recently the nostalgic Chicago Typewriter. He earned praise for his role in the 2014 melodrama Secret Love Affair. His character was a poor piano prodigy in love with his married teacher and the world of music she symbolized. From awkward loner to cartoon villain, to prince and prodigy, Yoos roles have been unusually diverse for so young an actor. While Burning waits for its chance at the 91st Academy Awards, Yoo can already be seen playing a very different role in a new film, Sovereign Default, also known as Default. In the financial thriller, which also stars Kim Hye Soo, he plays a financier during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, just before South Korea agreed to a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. Betting on the crisis, while his country hovers on the brink of bankruptcy, Yoos financier character is a driven and complicated predator. The film premiered on Nov. 28 and within 24 hours hit first place in Koreas advance booking sites. In Default, Yoos character talks about moments that change your life forever. Taking the role in Burning, which introduced him to a wider American audience, may prove to be one of those moments. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2019/01/08/what-makes-yoo-ah-in-a-star-to-take-note-of/ |
Can Housing Make Small Sexy? | In so many major markets across the country, leaders have their heads down, penciling solutions to the lack of affordable housing. They are changing zoning regulations and removing other hurdles that are making it difficult for developers to feasibly provide adequate, affordable housing for growing demand. Not only are regulators getting creative, so are designers. New home product is popping up, like accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that because of new legislation can now be plugged into backyards, and tiny homes. We want what we want and the inconvenience of small living just doesnt fit into the world of Amazon Prime and Starbucks on every corner. This cultural resistance to new, smaller product has been proven in numbers. In June 2018, home buying research site Trulia published survey results of 2,000 adults that showed that 44% of homeowners have some regrets about their current residence. The survey showed the top regret (at 42%) as not choosing the correct home size, including one-third of homeowners who wished they'd bought a larger home. Even 16% of wealthier households with upwards of $100,000 in incomes still regretted not getting more space. Buying a home is a big deal to most Americans, usually the biggest purchase they ever make, so it makes sense that there are some mixed emotions. The human psyche, the part of being American that is so American, is the independence to ask for anything and everything, regardless of the cost. We have created this socioeconomic model that now were trying to untangle. And, now, advertising in all its new forms and formats is fueling that further, using psychological techniques that we are completely unaware of, and making us yearn for more and more. In some cases, maybe it will take the insights of more in-touch global brands. Leading consumer brands like Facebook and Google have joined groups like CASA, the Committee to House the Bay Area organized by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, that is looking at new policies and designs to improve affordable housing locally. Leslie Zane, founder and president at Triggers Growth Strategy posted to Quora, an online question and answer center, that consumer behavior needs to be changed subconsciously where instinctive, automatic decisions are made. She suggests that brands need to build a positive impression that reaches them on a subconscious level. Quoras article goes on to say its about a positive emotional connection. Many states are in the midst of changing building codes and adopting to a tiny home future. California has legislative tiny home enthusiasts and buyers in line. Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and, surprisingly, Texas, also are becoming supporters. In an infographic by CustomMade, only 8% would definitely choose to live in a tiny home, while 46% of all those surveyed said they definitely would not. However, data from Hanley Wood shows that plans with less than 1,000 square feet saw a 16% increase from 2017 to 2018, where most of the sales occurred in California, Texas and Washington, showing this 600-square-foot plan as the most popular. We are programmed to want more. Psychologists would argue for a variety of reasons, some of them being evolutionary, to being ego-driven, or simply because we can think and we can imagine possibilities. Another article in The Oregonian, where tiny homes are gaining popularity, lists 77 reasons why they are a bad idea, moving from the space economics to the return on investment, even saying they dont cost less. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercastenson/2019/01/08/can-housing-make-small-sexy/ |
What are Trump's national emergency powers, and can he use them to build a wall? | As the budget standoff between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats grinds into the third week of a partial government shutdown, the White House has floated the idea that Trump might invoke emergency powers to build his proposed wall on the Mexican border without lawmakers approval. That route could resolve the immediate crisis by giving Trump a face-saving way to sign spending bills that do not include funding for his wall. But it would be an extraordinarily aggressive move at a minimum, a violation of constitutional norms that would most likely thrust the walls fate into the courts. Here is a primer on whether Trump can use emergency powers to proceed with the project without explicit congressional permission. The president has the authority to declare a national emergency, which activates enhancements to his executive powers by essentially creating exceptions to rules that normally constrain him. The idea is to enable the government to respond quickly to a crisis. Although presidents have sometimes claimed that the Constitution gives them inherent powers to act beyond ordinary legal limits in an exigency, those claims tend to fare poorly when challenged in court. But presidents are on firmer legal ground when they invoke statutes in which Congress delegated authorities to the executive branch that can be generated in emergencies. In a recent study, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law identified 123 provisions of law granting presidents a range of such powers. The National Emergencies Act, enacted during the post-Watergate reform era, regulates how presidents may invoke such powers. It requires them to formally declare a national emergency and tell Congress which statutes are being activated. Maybe. The Trump administration could point to two laws and say they allow officials to proceed with building a border wall without first obtaining explicit authorization and appropriations from Congress, according to Elizabeth Goitein, who oversaw the Brennan Centers study and is a co-director of its Liberty and National Security Program. One of the laws permits the secretary of the Army to halt Army civil works projects during a presidentially declared emergency and instead direct troops and other resources to help construct authorized civil works, military construction and civil defense projects that are essential to the national defense. Another law permits the secretary of defense, in an emergency, to begin military construction projects not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces, using funds that Congress had appropriated for military construction purposes that have not yet been earmarked for specific projects. In light of those statutes and similar ones that give presidents flexibility to redirect funds in a crisis, the Trump administration could point to serious arguments to back up Trump if he invokes emergency powers to build a wall, said William C. Banks, a Syracuse University law professor who helped write a 1994 book about tensions between the executive and legislative branches over security and spending, National Security Law and the Power of the Purse. The fundamental principle is that no president or official may spend funds that were not appropriated for that purpose, he said. No. If he invokes emergency powers to build a border wall, Trump is almost certain to invite a court battle. While Goitein agreed that there is a nonfrivolous legal case to be made that emergency-powers laws might empower Trump to spend military funds on a wall, she also pointed to counterarguments any lawsuit would have to contend with. For example, she noted, under one of the laws Trump might try to invoke, the military may redirect funds to build only projects that Congress has separately authorized. Lawmakers have not approved a military wall spanning the border. Still, the administration might argue that Congress has effectively preapproved a wall-like barrier under other laws, including one that authorizes the military to construct border fences blocking drug-smuggling corridors, and another, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, that empowers the Department of Homeland Security to build physical infrastructure enhancements along the border. The government could skip the requirement to identify pre-existing authorization for a wall if it invoked a different emergency-powers law for the funds, but that route would raise other problems, Goitein said. Among them, the government would need to show that a wall meets the legal definition of military construction even though it is not clearly tied to a military facility or installation, and that the southern border situation represents the kind of emergency that requires the use of the armed forces. Probably not. If Trump declares that the situation along the southern border suddenly constitutes an emergency that justifies building a wall without explicit congressional sanction, he will run up against a reality: that the facts on the ground have not drastically shifted. The number of people crossing the border unlawfully is far down from its peak of nearly two decades ago. The recent caravans from Central America primarily consist of migrants who are not trying to sneak across the border, but instead are presenting themselves to border officials and requesting asylum. And while Trump and his aides keep claiming that terrorists are sneaking in across the border, including assertions that they are doing so by the thousands, as a matter of empirical reality, there has been no such instance in the modern era. Still, as a matter of legal procedure, facts may be irrelevant. Before a court could decide that Trump had cynically declared an emergency under false pretenses, the court would first have to decide that the law permits judges to substitute their own thinking for the presidents in such a matter. The Justice Department would surely argue that courts should instead defer to the presidents determination. If any court would actually let itself review whether this is a national emergency, he would be in big trouble, Goitein said. I think it would be an abuse of power to declare an emergency where none exists. In part by accident. When passing many emergency-powers laws, Congress attached a procedure that would let lawmakers override any particular invocation of that authority. The National Emergencies Act, for example, permitted Congress to rescind an emergency if both the House and the Senate voted for a resolution rejecting the presidents determination that one existed. But in 1983, the Supreme Court struck down such legislative vetoes. The justices ruled that for a congressional act to have legal effect, it must be presented to the president for signature or veto. Because it takes two-thirds of both chambers to override a veto, the ruling significantly eroded the check and balance against abuse that lawmakers had intended to be part of their delegation of standby emergency powers to presidents. | http://www.startribune.com/what-are-trump-s-national-emergency-powers-and-can-he-use-them-to-build-a-wall/504050172/ |
Did ABC pick the wrong guy to be 'The Bachelor'? | "The Bachelor" is back on ABC, and fans are excited for the series to return but are confused about bachelor Colton Underwood. He was featured on Becca Kufrin's season of "The Bachelorette" and also appeared on the spin-off "Bachelor in Paradise." After Kufrin's season came to an end, the Bachelor Nation deliberated on Twitter about who should snag "The Bachelor" spot, and it wasn't Underwood. PERSPECTIVES Check out the trailer here. #BachelorNation will still tune in for the series, but they are disappointed about Colton Underwood. Yes. Absolutely. -- Katie Schaffstall (@kschaffstall13) January 6, 2019 Low key not that excited for the new season of the Bachelor. Like they coulda picked someone way better than Colton -- Tal (@Tali_Hull) January 7, 2019 Underwood is getting a lot of hate, but at the same time, he is getting a lot of love! can't wait to watch an entire season of the bachelor with @colton!!!!!![?] [?] -- tallo (@CourtneyTallo) January 7, 2019 the bachelor returns tonight!!! colton the VIRGIN!!! relatable content!!! cant wait to tune in!!!!! -- Jules (@family__jules) January 7, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/01/did_abc_pick_the_wrong_guy_to_1.html |
Is having five children really a middle-class status symbol? | The birth of singer Sophie Ellis-Bextors fifth child has prompted media attention on a trend for larger families among famous parents. At this rate, the world may be populated exclusively by the offspring of celebrities Name: The five kids club. Age: Varied. Appearance: Mixed-ability indoor football side. No, its a club. It doesnt have a central location as such. I see. OK, its not an actual club its more of a snide Daily Mail designation. For celebrities who have five children. If the headline Ellis-Bextor joins the 5 kids club makes it a thing, then yes, its a thing. Thats right: the pop star has just given birth to her fifth boy, Mickey, prompting the paper to proclaim that a large brood seems to be the latest middle-class status symbol. I could just about afford coconut oil. If you have to be able to afford it, you cant ask. About 150,000 a child according to some estimates, although there will obviously be economies of scale. Paul McCartney was a member before the club had a name. Jamie and Jools Oliver will only be members for a few months more, as they are expecting their sixth child. However, Gordon and Tana Ramsay will keep the numbers up: they have announced they have a fifth child on the way. With six children apiece, theyre both disqualified. Its a very personal choice; most parents just stop when they realise they have got one too many. Obviously, it would be tricky if everybody decided to have five children, but the overall birthrate in the UK is much lower. I know, its 2.4 children. Its lower than that these days: women who turned 45 in 2016 had, on average, 1.9 children. At this rate, well soon be an island populated exclusively by the offspring of celebrities. Some days, it can feel like that already. Do say: I would never belong to a club that would allow my children to be members. Dont say: I dont have any kids myself, but I used to be in S Club Juniors. Can I still use the pool? | https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2019/jan/08/five-kids-club-status-symbol-celebrity-sophie-ellis-bextor |
Whats going on with Deltas Comfort Plus? | Carrier reverses course on extra-legroom seats Delta's new Airbus A350s will eventually be refitted with Comfort+ seating. Delta's new Airbus A350s will eventually be refitted with Comfort+ seating. 1 / 17 Back to Gallery TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa . Delta's more-legroom Comfort Plus (Comfort+) seat is getting a new lease on life in Delta's international fleet, which is causing some confusion among customers. When Delta rolled out its first Airbus A350-900 in late 2017, the long-haul wide-body was positioned as the introduction of the airline's new international in-flight product, including a Delta One cabin with passenger suites, a new premium economy option called Premium Select, and regular economy seating but no more extra-legroom Comfort+ seats in the front of the economy cabin. Now that plan has changed, with Comfort+ coming back to Delta's international fleet. The airline has been working on a refit of its 777 fleet to match the new international product of the A350s, but it said this week that the overhauled 777s will now offer "all four branded seat products," including Comfort+. (Comfort+ seats are regular economy seats with more legroom; Premium Select seats are true premium economy- a larger, wider seat and section.) When it first announced the 777 refit last year, Delta said the aircraft would come out of it with Delta One suites and the new Premium Select cabin, and would retain nine-across seating in the main cabin but made no mention of Comfort+. This week, however, the carrier said "Delta Comfort+ will be added to the four 777s already modified, and the remaining 14 777s will embark on their four-seat product transformation in 2019." A Delta official confirmed to SFGate that the airline is indeed changing course from its earlier decision to drop Comfort+ from its widebodies. "While Delta Premium Select continues to be very popular, we recognize that offering Delta Comfort+ in addition to Delta Premium Select will meet a greater number of customer needs," she said. The spokesperson added: "Our goal is for every widebody in Delta's fleet to be fitted with all four seat products by 2021 including the A350s." Delta said the first modified 777s with all four seating options will be available for sale this week for flights beginning March 1 from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Tokyo Haneda, Atlanta to Tokyo Narita, Minneapolis-St. Paul to Paris, and Atlanta to Paris. That will be followed by reconfigured 777s flying between MSP and Seoul as of April 1, and Los Angeles-Sydney starting April 5. Photo: Tim Jue Delta A350 regular economy class- bulkhead and exit row seats are... While Delta's Comfort+ seats offer extra legroom, they are a step down from the Premium Select product, which provides more personal space (seating is eight-across vs. nine in economy) and upgraded in-flight amenities and service. Delta may have decided that Comfort+ needed a place in its long-haul fleet if it wants to remain competitive with rivals American and United. Both of those airlines have also introduced a premium economy section in their widebody fleets, but they are retaining the extra-legroom option in the economy cabins American's Main Cabin Extra and United's Economy Plus. Don't Miss: United's purple Premium Plus seat now on sale For example, United's brand-new 787-10 Dreamliners, which entered service for the first time this week on the LAX-Newark route, have 44 fully-reclining Polaris seats in the front cabin along with 21 seven-across Premium Plus premium economy seats, 54 Economy Plus extra-legroom seats and 199 regular economy seats. (United will start flying 787-10s between San Francisco and Newark next month, and on select transatlantic routes out of Newark this spring.) American's premium economy cabin is now available in A330-200s, some 777-200s, 777-300ERs and 787-9s, according to Seatguru.com, but they also still offer Main Cabin Extra seating in economy. Meanwhile, there seems to be a bit of initial confusion about booking Delta's four-class 777s for travel starting in March. One reader told us: "They released information that the four classes can now be booked, but in the new grouping (not sure which class), you can't book through typical channels (on line specifically). There is a way to do it for now, but until they change it, you have to book one class, then upgrade by calling or something." The Delta official confirmed that for now, Comfort+ seats on the overhauled 777s "must currently be purchased via the seat map on delta.com or as a post-purchase upgrade." She said the airline "is now investing in the work needed to display Delta Comfort+ and Delta Premium Select on the same aircraft, which is expected to be visible later this year alongside next-gen delta.com upgrades." Tell us what you think about it in the comments. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at [email protected] or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. | https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Delta-Comfort-plus-13515402.php |
Will new allergy treatments quiet the fears of sworn peanut avoiders like me? | This is a Kaiser Health News story. Whenever I see a report touting possible new peanut allergy treatments, I devour it. I cant help it. Its an occupational hazard for any health journalist whose reporting specialty and medical history intertwine. I write about the business of health care, focusing on how consumers interact with the system what we pay, what we get and why American care costs so much. But in this particular instance, I have another kind of authority: 26 years of life-threatening allergies to nuts and peanuts. Aimmune is just one company eyeing the prize. Childhood peanut allergy diagnoses increased more than 20 percent in the United States from 2010 to 2017. The global market for relief is worth as much as $2 billion. The French drugmaker DBV Technologies is also working to commercialize a peanut allergy patch. Other companies, including industry giant Sanofi, are following their lead. If any one of them succeeds, it could change my life. My friends call nuts Shefali poison. My allergies first surfaced when, as a 15-month-old, I picked Thai noodles off an aunts plate and developed hives on my face, and then a few months later when I tasted my moms kaju barfi an Indian dessert with cashews and ended up in the hospital. Nobody in my family had ever heard of peanut allergies. Ive carried epinephrine since I was 7 years old. My friends are trained to inject it in my leg, the standard procedure for an emergency allergen exposure. though I luckily havent had to take a shot of it since I was 4. (Another child in my Montessori class had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.) My mom also recalls another incident when she had to pick me up early from day care because the class was making peanut butter bird feeders. And I spent too many years of pre-adolescence eating lunch at the designated peanut-free table. Now, I can only dream of flying to visit my parents for Christmas without worrying about whether my seatmates snacks might induce anaphylaxis. And yes, kissing someone who has just eaten peanut butter would put my life in danger. I approached the question as I would any other assignment. I read the research, called immunologists, and spoke with economists and drug pricing experts about whether these treatments offer meaningful benefit. One of the first things I heard: We are still in the infancy of these treatments, said Dr. Corinne Keet, a pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins University. Courtesy the Luthra Family Medically, theres a lot we dont know about the risks, how much these drugs could help and how long any effects would last. None of these treatments have been shown to prevent fatal reaction, Keet emphasized. The idea behind them is to desensitize people. Aimmunes peanut pill is modeled on the oral therapies some specialists use to wean allergic kids back on to nuts. This approach has gained popularity in recent years, especially for children with multiple allergies, or when its a substance particularly hard to avoid. A colleagues young daughter, who was born with multiple allergies, used that very treatment, as did a younger cousin of mine who, for the first several years of her life, was allergic to not joking almost everything but fruits and vegetables. In my case, this therapy came into vogue after I was too old to have a good chance of it weakening my sensitivities. How it works: Kids ingest tiny, escalating doses of peanut protein. They then stay on peanut protein Aimmune recommends the pill, though other doctors I spoke to suggested a little bit of peanut as a maintenance drug. But its unclear how much the new therapies would improve upon that ad hoc oral immunotherapy allergists are already offering. Instead of drugs, they use store-bought peanut protein, usually de-fatted peanut flour available online for as little as $1 a pound. This method isnt approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and often isnt covered by insurance though doctors visits can be billed as food challenges or other visits that are typically covered. In contrast, Aimmunes product is expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 for the first six months of use, and $300 to $400 per month after. Analysts predict DBVs will cost more than $6,000 for a years supply, though the company says it has not yet determined a price. DBV, Aimmunes chief rival, has come up with a wearable skin patch that would transmit tiny, desensitizing protein doses. It declined to estimate a price, but it does not view oral immunotherapy as a competitor, said Joseph Becker, a company spokesman. Theres excitement, theres caution and a lot of unanswered questions, warned Dr. Erwin Gelfand, a pediatrics and immunology professor at the University of Colorado. According to Aimmunes results, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, two-thirds of allergic children could ingest 600 milligrams of peanut without harm after going through treatment. To be clear, even with Aimmunes help, someone like me still couldnt safely eat PB&J. But it would desensitize me enough that I could taste a friends wine even if he recently ate pad thai. Still, the treatment comes with caveats. While 496 children started the trial, only 372 completed it. Of the 20 percent who backed out, half did so because of adverse events. About 14 percent of kids getting treatment still had to take epinephrine, and one experienced anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that can involve rashes, vomiting, a tightening throat and difficulty breathing. (For an allergic kid, even the possibility is maybe one of the most terrifying things you can imagine.) Children who completed the regimen still had to take small doses of peanut protein daily, either the Aimmune drug or a controlled peanut serving. Statistically significant benefits were clear only in patients through age 17, though Dr. Daniel Adelman, the companys chief medical officer, said Aimmune plans to do a follow-up trial for adults. And the results dont indicate who is likely to benefit, or how long improvements would last. Thats impossible to know, Adelman said, though he suggested accidental peanut exposure is scary enough and pure avoidance ineffective enough that the treatment is still worth it. But all this means that anyone who has gone through Aimmunes regimen would still want to carry epinephrine, and try to avoid peanuts. Not everybody responds well, Gelfand said. When you factor in those details, the results are not all that impressive, he argued. Dr. Tina Sindher, a pediatric allergist at Stanford University, pointed out that the Aimmune pill is a repackaged, clinically tested version of that homegrown oral therapy many allergists have already been using. DBVs peanut patch, Viaskin, to a lesser extent, is the same more convenient, perhaps, and more regulated, but still a variation on the existing medical approach. This concept has been around for a long time, she said. Whats new is the addition of labor, standardization and federal oversight which companies then say demonstrates increased value. It highlights a pattern Ive noticed from my reporting: Drugmakers develop medication that refines a low-tech remedy, run a clinical trial to secure FDA approval, and then sell it at a higher price. For pharma, its a logical way to profit. But it puts patients in a bind. The hard outcome is we have these new products and theyre just about as good or slightly better than what we have, said Nicholson Price, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, who studies drug pricing. The closest authority I know: my mother, who raised me with peanut allergies when they were more or less unheard of, and is now doing it all over again for my 10-year-old brother. (My other brother, my twin, was allergy-free until about a year ago.) Its not worth it, my mom told me. Getting any of us to maintain a peanut dose without knowing how long that reduced sensitivity would last could induce what she called a false sense of security. This thinking isnt out of line, Sindher suggested. The way these studies are touted, she said, often gloss over the fact that theres a lot we dont know. So for now, Ill have to maintain my distance from the newsroom stash of Reeses Pieces. My epinephrine and I arent parting ways anytime soon. KHNs coverage of childrens health care issues is supported in part by the Heising-Simons Foundation. Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | https://abcnews.go.com/Health/allergy-treatments-quiet-fears-sworn-peanut-avoiders/story?id=60233324 |
Will HP Raise Its Dividend in 2019? | HP (NYSE: HPQ) isn't the sexiest tech stock on the planet. After all, it sells PCs and printers -- certainly not the kinds of products that excite growth-hungry investors. However, the company is a leading player in its market and, as such, manages to generate a significant amount of free cash flow. A large chunk of that free cash flow makes it into the pockets of HP's shareholders through a robust capital return program that includes both dividends and share repurchases. If you're an HP shareholder, then I think the odds are pretty good that the fairly large dividend -- the stock currently offers a dividend yield just north of 3% -- is one of the things that attracted you to the stock. Not only is the size of the dividend today something that's attractive, but I'd imagine that the promise of continued dividend increases over time is a key consideration, too. A mannequin with computer code superimposed on it More Image source: Getty Images. I think the answer to that is "yes." Here's why. The trend is your friend The Hewlett-Packard Company split into two companies back in 2015, giving us HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE). Since it was formed, HP has boosted its dividend every four quarters without fail. HPQ Dividend Chart More HPQ Dividend data by YCharts. I realize that's a fairly short track record, but if it helps, before the Hewlett-Packard Company split into two, it also delivered consistent annual dividend increases to its shareholders. The fact that HP has done a good job of giving its shareholders annual raises should be a good sign that the company's management and its board of directors is committed to boosting the dividend each year. Although it's clear that HP intends to boost its dividend each year, intent isn't worth much without the ability to act on it. Fortunately, an examination of the company's current financial situation, coupled with what analysts currently expect the company's financial performance to look like over the next year, tells us what we need to know: HP can easily support a dividend boost in 2019. Over the last 12 months, HP generated $2.44 per share in free cash flow. The company's current quarterly dividend payment is $0.16 per share, which, on an annualized basis, translates into $0.64 per share. This means that the company's trailing-12-month free cash flow is more than enough to cover this annual dividend multiple times over. So, unless HP's business completely falls apart in fiscal 2019 -- something that doesn't seem likely -- the company should be more than capable of giving its investors a sizable dividend boost this year. Now, keep in mind that HP just raised its dividend back in December, so investors should expect the company to continue to pay a $0.16-per-share dividend for another three quarters. However, if all goes as planned, investors should see a dividend bump at the end of the year. More From The Motley Fool Ashraf Eassa has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | https://news.yahoo.com/hp-raise-dividend-2019-180900717.html |
What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Gig Economy? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Peter Swaniker, Founder and CEO at Ximble, on Quora: The explosion of the gig economy continues unabated. Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 55 million people in the U.S. are gig workers, which is more than 35% of the U.S. workforce. That number is projected to jump to 43% by 2020. If youve never heard the term, gig work is basically just a buzzy way of describing an independent contract or part-time job, like driving for Uber or freelance copywriting. Millennials, the generation credited with disrupting everything from housing to marriage, are gravitating towards gig work for the promise of greater work-life balance. Boomers and other generations on the brink of retirement are drawn to gig work because it brings in a little extra income without a major time commitment. And recent technologies like Skype, Slack, and DropBox have made the gig life a reality, giving you maximum freedom, an ideal work-life balance, and the chance to pursue your passions. If youre thinking of joining the gig economy, its never been easier. But freelance work also comes with challenges, like unsteady workloads and pay schedules, lack of benefits, and a ton of self-discipline. Heres what you need to know before you make the jump: Youre your own boss, so discipline is key. One of the great things about the gig economy is that you dont have a boss breathing down your neck. As a freelancer, you no longer have to cater to a company culture or work schedule that might cause physical or emotional stress. Instead, you get to choose the type of work you do and who you work with. Plus, you get to make your own decisions about when to wake up, when to work, when to exercise, when to run errands, and how much work you take on. Youre able to make choices that suit your personality and unique needs. But this degree of freedom requires a corresponding amount of discipline, and that doesnt come easily to everybody. With no boss to make sure youre on task, its all on you. If you wake up late and miss a client call, no one else can help smooth things over. It's your responsibility to apologize, call to reschedule or lose the client altogether. Not everybody is suited to be his or her own timekeeper. Some people need structure and the pressure of an authority figure to stay motivated. But if youre a self-starter who chafes at being told what to do, the gig life could be a perfect fit. The gig economy is great for creatives. The other day, I asked my Uber driver if driving was his full-time job or a side gig. He said hes a freelance graphic designer and works on projects for clients roughly three hours a day. The rest of his working hours, he drives Uber to keep himself occupied. When youre a young creative just starting out, and your resume is more or less a blank slate, gig work can help you get a foot in the door. The gig economy allows creatives to pay the bills while also giving them time to pursue their passions. Visual artists like my Uber driver can supplement freelance design work by driving for rideshare services. Aspiring novelists can freelance as copywriters to make their rent payments. Plus, you can do these jobs from almost anywhere. You could be in the North Pole as long as you have internet access. You can find work wherever you feel inspired. Just make sure your artists late nights dont keep you from turning projects around on time. You have to continuously up-level your skills and industry knowledge. The workforce is becoming more advanced and educated by the day. Theres a high volume of overqualified candidates entering the job market every single year, so landing a job in a competitive field is tough. The idea that you can get a degree and expect to land your dream job right out of college is a thing of the past. You have to keep learning and keep up with industry trends to maintain a competitive edge. This is true even for people in traditional office settings, but its critical if youre your own boss. When you go solo, you basically have to sell yourself. And to do that, you have to stay relevant. This means constantly educating yourselfsuch as by taking online classes or buying the newest trade books relevant to your industry. There is no boss and no established rules to force you to stay up-to-date. The onus is on you. And if you want to keep landing gigs, you have to keep up. The marketplace wont wait for you. You have to get crafty when it comes to traditional work benefits. Traditional jobs often provide employees with a lot of protectionslike health benefits and a 401k. But if youre a freelancer, you need to figure out your own retirement plan and buy your own healthcare, both of which can be time-consuming and expensive. Going freelance also means you no longer have paid sick days or vacation time. Every day you dont work is a day you wont get paid. And if you want to take a vacation, you have to save up and make arrangements, or otherwise work while you travel. What Im saying is, gig work isnt some magical solution to the tedious office life of the past. It comes with hurdles. If you have health concerns or kids to feed, freelance might not be ideal for you. But you arent without options. "Multiple Employer" plans, in which a single 401(k) plan is sponsored by multiple employers, is a retirement plan option for gig workers. These plans could be sponsored by states or a group of gig economy companies. Oregon is working on developing a state-sponsored retirement plan that will apply to freelance workers. Both Uber and Lyft offer retirement options to their drivers. So despite the drawbacks, there are ways to swing itespecially as legislators and companies alike start taking the gig economy more seriously. It may take longer to build a depth of experience. Gone are the days where you had a job that lasted a whole lifetime. Fifty years ago, youd land your first (and often last) job at a stable company, clock in and out for several decades, and then retire. You usually didnt have to worry about when your next paycheck would be coming. If you were especially good at what you did, youd move through the ranks until you climbed to the level of managermaybe even higher. And theres something to be said for having years of experience in a particular industry and developing expertise in that space. But young people today go into the workforce knowing that their career will likely be in flux. They have to be prepared to keep learning and anticipating trends so they dont find themselves unexpectedly out of work. A lot of gig workers start their careers by hopping on a project because the employer is desperate and in need of help now. An aspiring chef may fill in when a restaurants head chef is out sick. But its difficult to develop the skills to become a head chef without stability and mentorship. In any field, climbing the ranks requires a lot of years of practice and growth. And on the employers end, its tough to recruit people for higher management positions when the pool of talent is full of gig workers who havent been given an opportunity to hone their skills. Businesses have to evolve to learn how to account for an influx of temporary workers. This means employers must invest in that mentorship and trainingsuch as by having established protocol for gig workers to help them move up the ladder. When companies learn how to thrive with gig workers, everyone wins. The pace of change in the global workforce is accelerating. To succeed, we have to adapt just as quickly. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/08/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-the-gig-economy/ |
What Are Some Of The Biggest Climate Change Myths People Still Believe? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D. Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on Quora: Im a climate scientist, and Im on social media: so nearly every day, often multiple times a day, I have someone telling me that climate change is just a natural cycle (its not); or that a warmer planet will be better for us (it wont); or that we climate scientists are faking the data for personal gain or to further a nefarious agenda of world domination (were not: but if we were, honestly were doing a terrible job of it). For that reason, we often think the biggest myths are science-y myths; and because of that, we believe that if we just re-double our efforts to explain the science to people, surely they will change their minds (they wont). Thats because the biggest and most dangerous myths that many of us in developed countries have bought into arent that the science isnt real or its somehow a matter of opinion. No, its the myths that: Climate impacts pose a distant, far-off threat: one that only matters to future generations, or people who live far away, on low-lying islands in the South Pacific, or animals that live even further, like polar bears in the Arctic. They dont affect me. Climate solutions pose an imminent, immediate threat: they go against everything I believe and stand for, they will destroy the economy, they will rob me of my freedom, or simply they will make our lives much more miserable and less comfortable. They do affect me, and not in a good way. Thats why, when we talk about climate change, the most important things to talk about are how climate change is already affecting us, right here in the places where we live, like the US National Climate Assessment does; and how there are viable, practical solutions from across the political spectrum - libertarian, free market, bipartisan, regulatory and more. By doing so, we directly address these two myths, showing us that yes, climate change matters and even more importantly, yes, we can fix it. But if youre looking for more answers to common science-y sounding myths, we absolutely have them! Check out my PBS Digital YouTube series, Global Weirding, where each short episode answers a question Ive been asked; Skeptical Sciences enormous list of answers to all the most frequent arguments; and this FAQ I helped write for the US federal government. But keep in mind, when you hear these myths, theyre usually a smokescreen for the real issue: I dont think it matters, and I dont want to fix it. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/08/what-are-some-of-the-biggest-climate-change-myths-people-still-believe/ |
Could Annie Lf become Sweden's first female prime minister? | As the Nordic country enters an unprecedented fifth month without a government, the leader of the Centre party is emerging as someone who could break the deadlock Swedens inconclusive September election saw a record 161 women take their seats in the 349-member Riksdag the highest proportion of female MPs in Europe (ahead of two other Nordic countries, Finland and Norway) and the seventh highest in the world. But the country that in 2014 proudly declared that it had the first feminist government in the world has never had a female prime minister, and is about to enter an unprecedented fifth month under a caretaker administration. The key to resolving the latter problem could well lie with 35-year-old Annie Lf, a former business minister and, since 2011, the youngest ever leader of the tax-cutting, business-promoting, immigrant-welcoming Centre party. Neither is it inconceivable that Lf, Swedens most trusted politician in a host of polls since 2017, could also find herself rectifying the former problem although most analysts think it unlikely and she herself has said the top job is not her focus. The election left the two dominant centre-right and centre-left blocs separated by a single seat, deadlocked and facing a major problem in the form of the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, the countrys third biggest party. Lfs Centre, the fourth largest party with 31 seats, a sharp increase on its tally in the previous parliament, is part of the four-member centre-right Alliance, and has sworn never to be a part of, or support, a government backed by the Sweden Democrats. Centres votes could give a majority to Stefan Lfven, the outgoing Social Democrat prime minister and leader of the three-party centre-left bloc except that Lf campaigned on a promise not to govern with the Social Democrats either. Both Lfven and the Alliance leader, Ulf Kristersson, have tried and failed to form a new government. Lf was also asked to explore coalition options, but soon gave up, blaming the Social Democrats reluctance to accept liberal reforms. Only two more formal attempts to form a coalition are allowed before fresh elections must be called on 23 January. If Lfven tacks right and wins Lfs support, she could demand high office as a reward, perhaps even very high office. Whether she would get it, of course, is another matter. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2019/jan/08/could-annie-loof-become-swedens-first-female-prime-minister |
Is Tony Soprano Dead or Not? | The Sopranos Sessions, by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall, was published today. And while I have only skimmed early excerpts and fractions of the wholeI downloaded my copy in the wee, small hours of the morningit looks to be the definitional take on the show that many of us had anticipated. Careful dissections of every episode, extended interviews with the famously recalcitrant creator David Chase: Its all there. Heres the relevant interview exchange: Sepinwall: When you said there was an end point, you dont mean Tony at Holstens, you just meant, I think I have two more years worth of stories left in me. Chase: Yes, I think I had that death scene around two years before the end Tony was going to get called to a meeting with Johnny Sack in Manhattan, and he was going to go back through the Lincoln Tunnel for this meeting, and it was going to go black there and you never saw him again as he was heading back, the theory being that something bad happens to him at the meeting. But we didnt do that. Seitz: You realize, of course, that you just referred to that as a death scene. [A long pause follows] Chase: Fuck you guys. Theres plenty more sparring back and forth, and I think the exchange leaves open the question of Tonys fate. Or rather, it would if that fate were not so utterly self-evident. Chase devoted vastly too much attention to the meticulous construction of his Tony Got Whacked puzzle for it to possibly be unintentional. I recommend the obsessive and meticulously persuasive 20,000 words of The Sopranos: Definitive Explanation of The END. They are what convinced me, after several years of ambivalence, of precisely what Chase intended to do. The problem, of course, is that Chase continues to deny that this was his intention, and suggests that the finale is open to multiple competing interpretations. Bollocks. In a 2015 interview, he made this case unusually aggressively, and suggested that much of the culmination of The Sopranos was dictated by Journeys Dont Stop Believin, which scored the final scene. I wrote about the abject horror of this revelation at the time, and to my surprise and modest delight, Chase evidently read the piece. Again, from his interview with Seitz and Sepinwall: I was just reading something from The Atlantic that said, David Chase Just Ruined the Finale of The Sopranos, because Id said some kind of thing about how what I was trying to say was that life is very short and love is the only defense, so dont stop believing. The guy in The Atlantic said I ruined everything and I was better off when I kept my mouth shutwhich hes probably right about! Fans of the show may differ, and I recommend buying the book to see the full exchange, along with all its other extensive material and analysis. But you know which team Im on. I am proudly the guy in The Atlantic. Im just happy that Chase apparently bears no ill willand is even contemplating following my advice (with all possible respect) to keep his mouth shut. After the unintended confession that Seitz and Sepinwall seem to have coaxed out of him, it seems more relevant than ever. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. | https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/tony-soprano-dead-or-not/579736/?utm_source=feed |
Can The Meet Group Beat the Market Again in 2019? | One of last year's big winners was The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET). The social discovery and dating app developer saw its stock soar 64% in 2018, and it's kicking things off right in the new year by boosting its earlier projections. Preliminary financial results for the quarter that ended last week find revenue clocking in at $52.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 30% -- and well ahead of the $47.8 million to $48.8 million that it was targeting two months ago. The Meet Group is also naturally boosting its full-year guidance, something that it has now done four times over the past nine months for its 2018 performance. New products and features are gaining traction, and the stock was already on a recent roll ahead of Tuesday morning's rosier touch-up. The stock is moving higher for the ninth trading day in a row, up roughly 36% in that span of two weeks as of early Tuesday afternoon. MeetMe corporate office entrance. More Image source: The Meet Group. Winning the war with Battles Two key elements that are fueling The Meet Group's ascending popularity are Battles and streaming video. The Meet Group didn't introduce live-streaming until late 2016, but it's already moving the needle. Video revenue is on an annual run rate of $71 million based on last month's performance, a pretty big deal for an app developer with just $123.8 million in revenue in 2017 and now eyeing $178.5 million for all of 2018. Video revenue grew sequentially across all of its apps during the fourth quarter, and ad revenue also experienced a hearty 19% sequential boost. There could be some seasonal juice lifting the fourth quarter -- The Meet Group ran a promo emphasizing its virtual gifting feature over the holidays -- but it's hard to argue with the momentum here. Battles is the next evolutionary step for the live-streaming platform. A pair of live-streaming users and their respective audiences pair up to compete in anything from dancing to telling jokes. Viewers vote on the winner via virtual gifts. It may seem hokey and a transparent cash grab on The Meet Group's part, but the growing audiences are digging it. An average of 30,000 Battles a day are taking place across its social platforms. The Meet Group remains off of most investing radars despite its monster gain in 2018 and its head start on beating the market again in 2019. The Meet Group was the 2011 combination of myYearbook and Quepasa, and it continues to add small social hotbeds. It acquired global social discovery app Skout in 2016, following a year later with the purchase of German dating-app developer Lovoo. Assembling a collection of niche social discovery and dating sites and then introducing features including video and more recently Battles across the sites is brilliant. The Meet Group is leveraging its resources, and it's paying off with a story that keeps getting better with every passing quarter. It's already beating the market a few days into 2019, and the outlook remains encouraging for The Meet Group to keep the momentum going. More From The Motley Fool Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | https://news.yahoo.com/meet-group-beat-market-again-192500034.html |
What is fight over Trump's border wall about? | US President Donald Trump has forced a government shutdown and plans a national address to defend his insistence that Congress fund a massive wall for the US-Mexico border to block illegal immigrants (AFP Photo/Jim WATSON) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump has partially shut down the US government and is threatening to declare a national emergency as he pressures Congress for money to build a wall on the US-Mexican border to stem a surge in illegal immigrants. Trump, who is to make a national address Tuesday night on the "crisis," says the country is being flooded with drugs and violent gangs. Trump's opponents say he is exaggerating the issue and that a massive wall is inefficient and not worth closing the government for. - Illegal immigration from impoverished Central America -- mainly Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala -- has surged even as that from neighboring Mexico has slowed. Many migrants arrive as families or unaccompanied children, hoping to gain a foothold in the country. When caught, most are processed by the authorities and then released pending a court date. US authorities say they are mostly never seen again as they meld into US society. In the 2016 election, Trump promised voters to stop illegal immigration by building a wall along the 2,000 mile (3,200 kilometer) US-Mexico frontier. After a slowdown in 2017, migrant numbers surged last year, reaching their highest levels since 2014 in October and November, with 2,000 a day being caught sneaking into the country. Most of them request asylum based on the poverty and pervasive violence they face in their home countries. Their numbers have overwhelmed the ability of the Customs and Border Protection to house and process them, and many are just released. Meanwhile, some 15,000 unaccompanied children are held in resettlement camps while officials seek homes to place them in. - Trump has said repeatedly that without a wall, drug smugglers and violent gangs like MS-13 easily cross into the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says a wall would help prevent potential terrorists from entering the country. She says the Border Patrol has intercepted some 3,000 suspicious migrants on the southern border. "I am sure all Americans would agree that one terrorist reaching our borders is one too many," she said Monday. But narcotics experts say most drugs are shipped through official ports and the wall won't make much difference. And Nielsen would not say if any proven terrorists had been arrested at the southern border or had crossed it to successfully enter the country. - Trump wants to make good on his promise to build a wall. Several hundred million dollars has already been spent to replace old fences and walls in some heavily-travelled areas, like the westernmost part of the border between Tijuana and San Diego. In addition, surveillance by patrols, cameras and drones has increased. Together they have helped reduce illegal crossings in the area. In a letter to Congress on Sunday, the White House demanded $5.7 billion for 234 miles (377 km) of new wall and fence, more than double the $2.5 billion Congressional leaders have offered in compromise. "A physical barrier - wall - creates an enduring capability that helps field personnel stop, slow down, and/or contain illegal entries," said the letter. The White House also asked for hundreds of millions of dollars for more immigration judges, border and interior enforcement agents, shelter for detained migrants, and drug enforcement. - Both Democrats and Republicans have regarded Trump's wall project as excessive, expensive and inefficient in dealing with the problem. They dismiss claims that a border without a wall is a major security threat. "On terrorism and other threats, I've received more briefings from FBI, CIA, and DHS than I could count," said Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Tuesday. "How many times have any of them said we need a wall across the southern border?" Democrats also say that any broader discussion on the illegal immigration problem should take place only after the government is reopened. They want a comprehensive deal that would include a plan to create a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, including the so-called DACA/Dreamer program for people who arrived in the country as children. | https://news.yahoo.com/fight-over-trumps-border-wall-192051550.html |
Could gene editing give us spicy tomatoes? | Tomatoes could be developed to produce the chemicals that give chillies their heat. Scientists say tomatoes contain all the genes needed to produce capsaicinoids, the fiery compound in chillies, but don't have the machinery to turn them on. That could be changed using the latest gene-editing techniques. The researchers say their objective isn't to start a hot, new culinary fad - although that's not completely off the table - but to have an easier means of mass producing large quantities of capsaicinoids for commercial purposes. The molecules have nutritional and antibiotic properties and are used in painkillers and pepper spray. The chilli pepper, from an evolutionary perspective, is the tomato's long-lost spitfire cousin. They split off from a common ancestor 19 million years ago but still share some of the same DNA. While the tomato plant went on to have a fleshy, nutrient-rich fruit yielding bountiful harvests, the more agriculturally difficult chilli plant went defensive, developing capsaicinoids, the molecules that give peppers their spiciness, to ward off predators. Advertisement Spice up your life - the tomato could be adapted to produce the fiery compound that gives chillies their heat. Photo / File With the latest gene-editing techniques, it could be possible, although challenging, to make a tomato produce capsaicinoids as well, researchers argue in an opinion article published this week in the journal Trends in Plant Science. "Engineering the capsaicinoid genetic pathway to the tomato would make it easier and cheaper to produce this compound, which has very interesting applications," said senior author Agustin Zsgn, a plant biologist at the Federal University of Viosa in Brazil whose group is working toward this goal. "We have the tools powerful enough to engineer the genome of any species; the challenge is to know which gene to engineer and where." The spicy taste that capsaicinoids add isn't a taste, but a reaction to pain. They activate nerve cells in the tongue that deal with heat-induced pain, which the brain interprets as a burning sensation. Evidence suggests the evolution of capsaicinoids helped chili peppers deter small mammals from eating their fruit. Birds, which are much better seed dispersers, show no pain response to the molecules. There are at least 23 different types of capsaicinoids, which originate from the pith of the chilli pepper. The spiciness of a pepper is determined by the genes that regulate capsaicinoid production, and less pungent peppers have mutations affecting this process. Previous gene sequencing work has shown that tomatoes have the genes necessary for capsaicinoids but don't have the machinery to turn them on. "In theory you could use these genes to produce capsaicinoids in the tomato," said Zsgn. "Since we don't have solid data about the expression patterns of the capsaicinoid pathway in the tomato fruit, we have to try alternative approaches. One is to activate candidate genes one at a time and see what happens, which compounds are produced. We are trying this and a few other things." The sequencing of the chilli pepper genome and the discovery that the tomato has the genes necessary for pungency paves the way for engineering a spicy tomato. The researchers write that not only will this endeavour help better understand the evolution of this unique botanical trait and allow for the development of tomato capsaicinoid biofactories, but perhaps allow for the development of some new varieties of produce in the grocery aisle. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12187525 |
Can Pilgrim's Pride's Growth Strategies Revive the Stock? | Pilgrim's Pride Corporation PPC continues to lose investors faith, thanks to headwinds surrounding rising cost of sales as well as challenges in the commodity chicken market. This renowned company, engaged in the manufacturing and selling of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products, saw its shares decline around 8.5% in the past three months compared with the industrys fall of 6.3%. Nevertheless, the companys business is progressing well in Europe, which is boosting revenues. Further, the companys strategic initiatives to expand customer base and augment supply chain efficiency are impressive. That said, lets take a closer look at the factors impacting the companys performance and discuss the probabilities of a turnaround. Strong European Business Pilgrim's Prides European business is expanding on the back of gains from acquired operations as well as focus on diversification into new markets. Notably, revenues from this category improved 2.4%, 12.5% and 18.6% year on year in the trailing three quarters. The region is also gaining from a strong business model, robust customer relationships as well as better synergy capture. Moreover, efforts such as capacity optimization and expansion are likely to continue boosting revenues from the region in the forthcoming periods. Other Growth Oriented Efforts Pilgrim's Prides customer centric approach has enabled it to come up with unique offerings that provide competitive advantages. In fact, the companys focus on key customers is a pathway for refining portfolio and creating competitive advantages over peers. Progressing on such lines, the company is expanding in the fresh food offerings space. In fact, the launch of fresh chicken products under the premium Pilgrim's brand is receiving favorable consumer response. Further, the company is on track to expand gluten-free products. Further, the company is on track with innovations in the alternative protein space, such as plant-based protein, which is slowly gaining popularity in the U.K. Apart from this, the company is steadily augmenting marketing support of brands as they expand and enter new regions. Additionally, the company resorts to frequent supply chain improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. In this respect, the company is progressing with the development of automation technology for processing plants. Introduction of such advanced technology is expected to increase efficiency and offset labor availability issues. Along with this, the companys dedicated efforts, including zero base budgeting and positive impacts from acquisitions are expected to create synergies of $50 million in the next two years. During the third quarter of 2018, Pilgrims Pride witnessed challenging pricing environment for commodity chicken in the United States. Moreover, management is concerned regarding the reduced demand of commodity chicken, considering the higher availability of other meat-based protein. To top this, expanding cost of sales is a significant hurdle for the company. Rising costs, if unchecked, can continue to hurt profits in the upcoming quarters. In fact, during the third quarter of 2018, cost of sales rose 9.2% year over year. Prior to this, in the second quarter, cost of sales increased 12.5%. We note that rising costs of operations have also eclipsed the performance of companies like Campbell Soup CPB, General Mills GIS and TreeHouse Foods THS. Despite such headwinds, we cannot ignore the companys efforts to augment portfolio strength and enhance operational efficiency. In fact, we expect that its endeavors to enhance savings will help combat rising costs. Moreover, the companys strong European business is likely to keep boosting revenues. We expect that such upsides will revive this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companys performance in the forthcoming periods. | https://news.yahoo.com/pilgrims-prides-growth-strategies-revive-204708273.html |
Is Bonnaroo's 2019 lineup its most popular in years? | CLOSE Bonnaroo will be in Manchester, TN on Thursday, June 13 through Sunday, June 16 Michael Schwab, Nashville Tennessean Phish will headline the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival for the third time in 2019. (Photo: Amy Harris / Invision / AP) As usual, Bonnaroo has secured some very big acts for 2019, including Phish, Childish Gambino, Post Malone and Cardi B. The 80,000 music fans who'd be willing to shell out $319 for a weekend pass. And, for the most part, it's sounding like Bonnaroo has locked them in, too. Sure, you won't have to look hard on social media to find users proclaiming the festival's death, but on Tuesday, the prevailing sentiment seemed to be much more positive than what greeted last year's fest headlined by Eminem, The Killers and Muse. There are more than a few comments calling it Bonnaroo's strongest lineup in years, or at least a return to fun, eclectic form. A few things jump to mind. Pumping up the jam With the return of Phish, Bonnaroo couldn't make a louder throwback to its roots as a "jam band" haven. In the first decade of Bonnaroo, you could count on at least one act from that world grabbing a headline slot. The 2010s were a different story. Aside from Dead & Company's 2016 appearance, Bonnaroo hasn't had a "jam band" headliner in seven years. This will be Phish's third time headlining Bonnaroo, after appearances in 2009 and 2012. Frontman Trey Anastasio also topped the bill of the first Bonnaroo, which was modeled after Phish's own epic outdoor events. Taking it day by day Since the very first year, Bonnaroo has always unveiled its lineup as one giant, sprawling list, with the headliners up top and the rest of the 100-plus acts in order of supposed importance. That changes for the first time in 2019. For now, the Bonnaroo lineup can be seen only as a day-by-day breakdown. On one hand, the fest is simply falling into line with the format used by Coachella, Lollapalooza and many other mega-fests. But it really helps sell the weekend as a whole, showcasing the cool and eclectic stuff being offered by second- and third-tier acts each day. Playing by their own rules The presence of Phish a band we can't fathom getting top billing at Coachella or Lollapalooza at this point is your first hint that this year's Bonnaroo lineup isn't paint-by-numbers. But the real proof is in the undercard, with a number of exciting and/or outside-the-demographic inclusions. There's a curatorial touch to bringing in, say, Andy Samberg's musical comedy trio The Lonely Island for its second large-scale concert ever. The festival also is bringing back old favorites, whether it's legendary singer-songwriter John Prine or mashup master Girl Talk. The fest still has never had a female headliner, but three of its four nights will be commanded by the likes of Cardi B, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile and Maren Morris. And the fest is continuing its weird and wonderful partnership with the Grand Ole Opry, which will rub shoulders with indie rock, EDM and hip-hop on opening day. Simply put, Bonnaroo is still refusing to cater to a single crowd and in the process, cultivates an audience that's up for anything. If you go The 2019 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival takes place June 13-16 at Great Stage Park in Manchester, Tennessee. Tickets go on sale at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, exclusively at www.bonnaroo.com/tickets. Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/01/08/bonnaroo-2019-lineup-phish-post-malone-cardi-b/2513402002/ | https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/01/08/bonnaroo-2019-lineup-phish-post-malone-cardi-b/2513402002/ |
Where was Joe Flacco in the Ravens' playoff loss to the Chargers? | originally appeared on nbcsportswashington.com It will be a question that will linger well into the offseason for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens fell to the Los Angeles Chargers 23-17 on Sunday, bringing an end to their season. And while Jackson's final stat line of 194 yards and two touchdowns and 54 yards rushing can be considered respectable for a rookie making his first playoff start after having been inserted in the starting lineup midway through the season, his first half performance (1 INT, 2 fumbles) put the team in a hole they couldn't climb out of. Even with Jackson leading a late-game comeback effort, the Ravens' offense appeared out of sync from the opening snap. As Flacco sat on the sidelines, those in favor of making that move would point to his 10-5 record as a starting quarterback in the playoffs, his Super Bowl MVP and his overall experience on the big stage where the game speeds up and the stakes are higher. And in the playoffs, in a win-or-go-home scenario, it's bigger that both Jackson and Flacco, it's about doing what's best for the team to advance and live to play another weekend. But the Ravens would not have been in the position they were on Sunday had it not been for Jackson. He, along with a stifling defense, led the team unlikely division title, something that seemed far-fetched when he took over as the starter. Those in favor of Harbaugh's decision to stick with Jackson would point to the thinking that you stick with what got you to this point. Story continues There will be second-guessing, but whether not Flacco could've made the difference against a Chargers team looking for revenge for a Week 16 loss will never be known. Once Harbaugh committed to Jackson during the season, there no turning back, not even in the playoffs. And with Jackson the presumptive future face of the team, Harbaugh made the call to win or lose with Jackson, which was the right one. Now that Jackson has gotten his first taste of postseason football, there will undoubtedly be motivation for him to come back better next season to avenge today's performance. MORE RAVENS NEWS: | https://sports.yahoo.com/where-joe-flacco-ravens-playoff-231818147.html?src=rss |
What channel is the Super Bowl on? | Super Bowl LIII will be played on Feb. 3, 2019 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game will be televised by CBS and streamed online thorugh the network's website. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will call the action from the broadcast booth for CBS. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET. Here is a list of CBS affiliates in major metropolitan areas: Atlanta: WGCL-TV, Channel 46 Los Angeles: KCBS-TV, Channel 2 San Francisco Bay Area: KPIX, Channel 5 Washington, D.C.: WUSA, Channel 9 Denver: KCNC-TV, Channel 4 Miami: WFOR-TV, Channel 4 Chicago: WBBM-TV, Channel 2 Baltimore: WJZ-TV, Channel 13 Boston: WBZ-TV, Channel 4 Detroit: WWJ-TV, Channel 62 New York City: WCBS-TV, Channel 2 Philadelphia: KTW-TV, Channel 3 Pittsburgh: KDKA-TV, Channel 2 Dallas: KTVT, Channel 11 Milwaukee: WDJT-TV, Channel 58 Minneapolis: WCCO-TV, Channel 4 Maroon 5 and Travis Scott will be the featured performers during the big game's halftime show. | https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/08/super-bowl-tv-channel-broadcast-information-network-watch |
Who could replace Michael Harrison as New Orleans police chief? | New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison talks about the newly created unit dedicated to fighting gun violence and getting shooters off the streets. He made the announcement at police headquarters on Monday, March 6, 2017. (Photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) With the news Tuesday (Jan. 8) that New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison will retire to become Baltimores next top cop, the attention turns to Mayor LaToya Cantrells selection to lead the NOPD. The mayor could look to the current leadership under Harrison, which some observers say is ripe with talented candidates familiar with the citys policing challenges. Or she could open the field to a national search. Whether its promoting from within or looking around the country, everyone should be able to apply, Councilman Jared Brossett said in a phone interview. I think thats the best way to build as many qualified candidates with extensive experience as possible. The mayors office has not publicly discussed the selection process. But here are a few names that could end up on a short list: | https://www.nola.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/01/bf108dcd7c2866/who-could-replace-michael-harr.html |
Is New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison up to the task in Baltimore? | On Tuesday morning, a cousin in Baltimore tweeted the link to a Baltimore Sun report that Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh had chosen New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison as that citys new police commissioner. It wasnt just the news of Harrisons departure that grabbed my attention; it was also my relatives additional commentary: Can a mayor be impeached? When I asked her to explain her comment, she said Harrison will be the 5th police commissioner in 4 years. All this as police corruption remains at an all-time high. (Pugh) keeps selecting candidates for this role without properly vetting them or taking community feedback into consideration (despite sloppily soliciting it). And this N.O. candidate didnt even apply for the position. Indeed, after Pugh fired police Commissioner Kevin Davis in January 2018, she has struggled to fill the position. Harrison, according to The Sun, was Pughs third choice to replace Davis. Her first pick was confirmed by the Baltimore City Council, served a few months and then resigned after federal prosecutors hit him with three counts of failing to file federal taxes. The interim commissioner initially expressed interest in becoming permanent, but then said he didnt want to be considered. In November, after what The Sun calls a secretive search, Pugh said shed picked Fort Worths police chief for commissioner. The Sun discovered that Fitzgerald overstated and misrepresented some accomplishments on his resume, but when Fitzgerald withdrew his name from consideration Monday, he cited a medical emergency that left his 13-year-old needing two brain surgeries. After all that, Pugh announced that shed picked Harrison a month after Harrison said in a statement that he had asked not to be considered for the position because of my commitment to achieving our goals at NOPD. Even before I knew that Baltimores mayor has made a mess of her search for a commissioner, I wondered why Harrison, a 27-year veteran of the police force in his hometown, would choose to uproot himself, move to a new city and lead a police force that has historically has been every bit as bad if not worse as NOPD. New Orleans Police Chief Michael Harrison leaving to head Baltimore police If Harrison loved Baltimore or had roots there, his move would make more sense. If he had come up through the ranks of that police department, he could probably count on the kind of support and buy-in hes gotten after coming up through the ranks in New Orleans. Hes been a good police superintendent as New Orleans has looked to meet the demands of a federal court consent decree, but given that the circumstances in Baltimore are so different, thats not enough reason to predict that hell do well there. If you ask New Orleanians to name the best police superintendent weve had over the last few decades, most of them will probably say Richard Pennington, who served in that top role from 1994 to 2002. In 1996 around Christmastime, Pennington entered Galatoires restaurant and was given a standing ovation by everybody present. But Pennington wasnt as beloved in Atlanta even though he had some successes. I knew Atlantans who would become apoplectic at the mention of his name especially after three plainclothes Atlanta police officers forced their way into 92-year-old Kathryn Johnstons home, killed her after she fired at the apparent intruders, planted marijuana in her house and then claimed to have bought drugs there. And the Atlanta Police Department is not even notorious for its criminally aggressive police. In September 2014, The Sun published a series called Undue Force, which began: Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson. . Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones -- jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles -- head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement. Such beatings can poison relationships between police and the community, limiting cooperation in the fight against crime, the mayor and police officials say. In 2015, After police took handcuffed suspect Freddie Gray on a rough ride that severed his spine, the cousin mentioned above wrote a dispatch for The Nation from his funeral. An attorney for Grays family asked for prayer for then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, saying, She knows what the police do. She knows. Theres not a single person in this church who dont know what they do. Harrison knows what they do, too. Which makes it surprising that at this point in his career, this is the job hes choosing. I can understand him wanting a challenge. But its harder to understand him wanting this one. | https://www.nola.com/opinions/2019/01/is-new-orleans-police-superintendent-michael-harrison-up-to-the-task-in-baltimore.html |
Why are so many people dying in Canadian clothing donation bins? | Her screams alerted help, but it came too late to save the 35-year-old Toronto woman trapped in the chute of a clothing donation box early Tuesday morning. The woman, identified only as Crystal, was dead by the time firefighters were able to cut her from the League For Human Rights drop box. The death marks the second time in only eight days that a Canadian has died while apparently trying to remove items from a clothing-donation bin. Its the third such Canadian death since November, and at least the seventh since 2015. With critics referring to the bins as death traps, charities and municipalities are taking drastic action to prevent more fatalities. Diabetes Canada announced last week it is retrofitting all its clothing-donation bins to prevent death or injury in cases of misuse. Inclusion B.C. is removing all 146 of its B.C. bins, despite the expected revenue and job losses. The City of West Vancouver has ordered all its donation bins locked, while Burnaby, B.C., is asking for all bins to be removed from within its city limits. The rash of clothing bin deaths seems to be uniquely Canadian. A search of news headlines from the past few years found only a handful of instances of bin deaths in Europe and the United States, despite their much larger populations. An overnight rescue in #SurreyBC @Local1271 firefighters helped a woman stuck in a clothing donation bin. pic.twitter.com/IhIN7dlgpN CTV Vancouver (@CTVVancouver) August 4, 2016 The problem also seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon. As recently as 2014, a person getting stuck inside a donation bin was so rare and seemed so benign that it was cause for jokes. I think they should have left him in there, personally, one East Vancouverite told a CTV news crew after a man in his 20s became trapped inside the main compartment of a bin for the Developmental Disabilities Association. The next year, a well-known homeless advocate named Anita Hauck was killed in a Pitt Meadows clothing-donation bin as she tried to grab a jacket and a blanket for a fellow resident of a nearby tent city. Ever since, Canada has not managed to go more than a few months without someone being fatally injured by a clothing bin, with countless more instances of people having to be rescued. The Vancouver area has seen the majority of incidents, although deaths have occurred in Calgary and Cambridge, Ont. #Vancouver Police are responding to 2000 Fir St for a report of a person that has climbed inside a blue clothing donation bin. ScanBC (@ScanBC) October 23, 2014 All victims were homeless or suffering from addiction issues, and appeared to have been trying to remove clothing from the bins. She climbed to get clothing and got hung up and succumbed to her injuries, Assistant Vancouver Fire Chief David Boone said after a woman was killed by a bin in the citys West Point Grey neighbourhood. They all died upside down; trapped in the bins chute with their feet sticking out. Some victims were not found until hours after their death. Others managed to scream for help but could not be extracted in time to save their lives. The victims do not appear to have been seeking shelter in the boxes. In fact, most clothing-bin deaths have occurred in summer. All the bins involved in fatalities have operated much like a standard Canada Post mailbox: A drawer folds down to accept donations and a security flap swings into place to prevent theft from the box. By trying to climb in, someone can become pinched between the drawer and the security flap and suspended upside down within the bin. #kamloops crews responding to the 2100 blk of glenwood drive for a man stuck in the clothing bin. Kamscan (@Kamscan) October 28, 2015 Its far more hazardous than it may seem on the surface, Jonathan Gormick, a spokesman with Vancouver Fire Rescue, told CBC in mid-2018. Most deaths are due to respiratory impairment. The drawer mechanism constricts the victims torso, making it difficult to breathe. Being held upside down for long periods can also be fatal in itself; the victim can asphyxiate from the pressure of their organs weighing down on their lungs, or they can suffer a stroke as blood pools in their head. Although the Canadian incidents have all been remarkably similar, bins can also kill by other means. In 2012, a woman in Staten Island, N.Y., had successfully entered the main compartment of a clothing-donation bin, but was strangled as she attempted to exit. A particularly unusual fatality occurred in 2017 in Natalie, Penn. The victim, Judith Permar, was not a homeless person but was known to have a history of stealing from donation bins. On one such 2 a.m. run, Permar fell off a ladder that she was using to access a bin, catching her arm in the chute. The impact broke her arm and wrist, leaving her dangling in extreme pain, and she subsequently died of exposure. #Chilliwack crews are responding to the Chevron on Yale Rd for a female stuck in a clothing donation bin. ScanBC (@ScanBC) July 18, 2016 Many of the Canadian bins killing people have retained the same design for decades without incident. RangeView Fabricating, a Toronto-based company that has manufactured some of the bins involved in fatal incidents, said Tuesday that its bins have operated without incident for most of the 25 years that theyve been in operation. In the wake of the recent bin deaths, however, the company has suspended manufacturing until it can conceive of a safer design. Meanwhile, the company is advising existing owners of its bins to remove security measures that could pinch a human in the chute. Were kind of saying to our charities, youre going to have to deal with the theft because public safety is number one, company manager Brandon Agro told The Canadian Press. If someone is going to go into your bin and take your product, thats going to have to be how it is for now. In July 2017, after a man in his mid-20s died in a Calgary donation bin, a representative with the Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta told Global News that they had noticed a rise in bin thefts. Video of theft from clothing donation bin that I witnessed and called in to you, @VancouverPD. 15 mins, no response. pic.twitter.com/ttifHAxha6 Trevor (@tkhereandthere) April 25, 2015 Ray Taheri, an engineering professor at the University of British Columbias Okanagan campus, has been spearheading a design competition to make a safer clothing-donation bin. One idea involved a mechanism that would lock the bins if anything heavier than nine kilograms was put inside. Its so sad that something so beautiful turns into something so tragic, Taheri told Postmedia on Jan. 1, just days before the most recent death in Toronto. Twitter: TristinHopper | Email: [email protected] | https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/why-are-so-many-people-dying-in-canadian-clothing-donation-bins |
Where in the world is Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold? | Long before it got caught up in Robert Muellers investigation into Donald Trumps dealings with Russia, the ethereally beautiful portrait of Jesus known as Salvator Mundi, Latin for saviour of the world, was in the possession of a Catholic choir master and air conditioning contractor in Baton Rouge, La., called Basil Clovis Hendry. In those innocent times, before Hendry died in 2004 and his daughter sold it for a few thousand dollars, no one thought it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Hendry had inherited it from his aunt, Minnie Kurtz, who had bought it with her husband Warren for $45 in 1958, as part of their interest in European art. At the time, they believed it was by a minor follower of da Vinci, Giovanni Boltraffio. Before that, it had been in a private collection in England since 1900, but before that, there was a gap of centuries. Now, it is understood to have once been owned by Charles I, the 17th century king of England, and before that in the French royal court. Today, however, a little over a year after it sold to a Saudi prince for $450 million as the most expensive painting ever, no one knows where it is, and there are grave concerns for its physical safety. There is also wild speculation over the true purpose of what has been reported as a massive overpayment for a painting that was expected to fetch about a quarter that amount. And there are tantalizing details about the seller, a Russian oligarch whose purchase of property from Trump for a suspiciously high price is part of the FBI investigation into alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russia, and about the buyer, Mohammed bin Salman, the controversial ruler of Saudi Arabia who enjoys Trumps firm support even after his central role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi seems all but proven. It was a very intense picture and I felt a whole slipstream of artistry and genius and some sort of otherworldliness that I'll never experience again Salvator Mundi, a work of oil on walnut wood of 66 by 45 centimetres, was supposed to go on display in December at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a satellite of the Paris museum, but that exhibition has been delayed without explanation. Nobody outside the immediate Arab hierarchy knows where it is, Martin Kemp, the art historian who first saw the painting in 2008 and helped to vouch for its authenticity, told The Times of London in November. Robert Simon, the dealer who bought it from the Hendry family in 2005, similarly said, The mystery of its location is, of course, disturbing. And Dianne Dwyer Modestini, who restored it from the miserable condition it was in cracked, overpainted, grimy said she has been pleading with the Louvre Abu Dhabi for assurances that the fragile work is being properly cared for. It was a very intense picture and I felt a whole slipstream of artistry and genius and some sort of otherworldliness that Ill never experience again, she told CNN. There has also been a dispute over how the painting was stored, and why a glass covering, which was removed for the 2017 auction, was replaced with a less air-tight acrylic. Known colloquially as the male Mona Lisa, Salvator Mundi is a painting of the most iconic figure in the world by the most important artist of all time, said Loic Gouzer, who led the auction for Christies. His colleague, Alan Wintermute, called it the Holy Grail of Old Master paintings, and its sale is as close as Ive come to an art world miracle. This unique value is due to the place da Vinci occupies in the Western artistic imagination, as an unrivalled polymath, artistic genius, creative inventor, and master of the human form. Only about 20 of his paintings are thought to be in existence. Those include The Last Supper, a masterpiece of composition that nevertheless has spawned several jokes about why everyone is sitting on the same side of the table, and the Mona Lisa, whose enigmatic smile has made it the most famous painting in the world. Art dealers Robert Simon and Alexander Parrish bought it for less than $10,000 in 2005 at Hendrys estate sale in New Orleans, and with Modestinis restoration help, they showed it to experts in 2008 in London. Kemp would later report that signs of Leonardos magic asserted themselves. There was controversy, and still is. The crystal orb in Jesuss left hand seems to violate the physics of light, which is curious. Salvator Mundi was painted around 1500, when da Vinci was in his late 40s, and had been closely studying the science of light. His right thumb also appears to have shifted in position. There is also a notable absence of any pose or physical composition typical of da Vincis genius sense for the human body. Jesus simply faces the viewer dead on. But it was authenticated by Englands National Gallery, and shown there in 2011, and at the Dallas Museum of Art in 2012. The next year, Simon and Parrish sold it to a Russian billionaire potash magnate, Dmitry Rybolovlev, via art dealer Yves Bouvier, a Swiss shipping tycoon facing investigation in a massive alleged fraud. Rybolovlev, who is president of Monacos football club and is the largest shareholder in the Bank of Cyprus, has figured in the Mueller investigation because he bought property in Florida from Trump in 2008 at approximately double the value, and because of reports his plane was spotted at airports coinciding with Trump campaign events. His purchase of Salvator Mundi and other artworks led to an ongoing legal war in the courts of many countries against Bouvier, over claims the price had been inflated. In October, Rybolovlev also sued Sothebys, claiming he was misled over the price, which the auction house denies. Salvator Mundi only came to major international attention, however, when Rybolovlev decided to sell it at Christies in New York, and a major tour was set up. The final winning bid was $400 million, plus $50 million in fees. The New York Times, reportedly based on information from the FBI, soon identified the buyer as a Saudi prince acting on behalf of Mohammed bin Salman. That prince was later named Saudi culture minister. The price reportedly went so high because another competing bidder was also close to the Saudi ruler, Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and they were unwittingly bidding against each other. Lately, there have been reports that bin Salman may even have traded it for a yacht. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has given no indication of when it might be displayed. Email: [email protected] | Twitter: josephbrean | https://nationalpost.com/news/where-in-the-world-is-salvator-mundi-the-most-expensive-painting-ever-sold |
Will Nike Raise Its Dividend in 2019? | 2018 was a good year for Nike (NYSE: NKE), as its stock posted a total return of nearly 20%. Even though the athletic footwear and apparel company has seen a lot of competition lately, Nike was able to fight back and keep its primary overseas rival at bay. That helped restore Nike's supremacy atop the industry. As much as investors love good returns, they also like to see healthy dividend yields, and that's one area in which Nike consistently loses the race. Yet the company did manage to deliver a dividend increase in 2018, and that has shareholders hopeful that Nike will keep being more generous with its cash both this year and beyond. Below, we'll look more closely to see if Nike's likely to keep boosting its dividend in 2019. Dividend stats on Nike Metric Nike Current quarterly dividend per share $0.22 Current yield 1.2% Number of consecutive years with dividend increases 17 years Payout ratio 67% Last increase December 2018 Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Last increase refers to ex-dividend date. A solid track record of higher payouts It might not look like it when you focus on Nike's dividend yield, but the athletic company has put together an impressive track record of dividend performance. The stock has paid higher dividends each year for the past 17 years, and Nike doesn't give token hikes, with double-digit percentage increases being the most common. Last year's 10% boost continued a string of $0.02 per share raises in Nike's quarterly dividend payment dating back to 2014, and similar percentage increases prevailed before then. NKE Dividend Chart More NKE Dividend data by YCharts. The reason Nike's yield looks so puny is that its stock's performance has been even better. Over the past decade, Nike's dividend has risen by more than 250%. But its stock has produced a 650% increase in its share price, and that's had the impact of dramatically reducing Nike's yield. That's not bad news for long-term investors -- it just makes the current payout look less enticing for those who are new to Nike. How Nike's business is doing Over the past year, Nike has made a lot of progress restoring its reputation as a champion in the athletic apparel arena. After losing some of its momentum in overseas markets in past years, Nike refocused its efforts on key international markets like China and Europe, and the return of strong growth in those regions has helped lift Nike's overall numbers higher. It also managed to get sales in the key North American market moving upward more sharply, and near-term projections have Nike carrying that positive momentum into the new year. | https://news.yahoo.com/nike-raise-dividend-2019-220300222.html |
Should Cleveland Indians stop taking calls on Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer? Or keep listening? | CLEVELAND, Ohio Tribe Fest is Saturday and Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer are scheduled to attend. The next big date on their schedule will be mid-February, when pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, Ariz. for the start of spring training. It would be nice if Kluber and Bauer knew sometime between Saturday and the opening of camp where theyll be playing baseball in 2019. Terry Francona would probably like it as well. Maybe, just maybe, its put up or shut up time for the teams who have been pursuing Kluber and Bauer this winter. The Indians certainly arent going to create an artificial deadline for themselves or the 29 other MLB teams. Not when they dont open the regular season until March 28. But they have been known to give a player a heads up now and then. Just so they could relax and get ready for the season. One spring Francona went to the mound during an exhibition game to talk to reliever Blake Wood. He was on the bubble for the 25-man roster and was pitching erratically. Francona told him to relax because he was on the team. If Kluber and Bauer arent traded, theres no doubt theyll be at the head of the rotation. There are some who believe if they havent been traded by now, they wont be traded at all. But baseball keeps its own schedule. Team executives Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff know what kind of roster they have. So do the Twins and White Sox, who are getting stronger by the day in an attempt to close the gap on the Tribe in the AL Central. The Indians have won the last three division titles by a combined 48 games, but now theres blood in the water and the opposition is circling. And if you havent picked up on this by now the Indians arent going to be signing Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. Their lineup has been picked clean by trades, free agency and cost cutting. This could be their starting nine if the season started in five minutes: SS Francisco Lindor, 2B Jason Kipnis, 3B Jose Ramirez, DH Jake Bauers, 1B Carlos Santana, CF Leonys Martin, RF Tyler Naquin, C Roberto Perez and LF Greg Allen. If youre wondering where Michael Brantley, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, Yonder Alonso, Yan Gomes, Rajai Davis, Erik Gonzalez and Melky Cabrera went, you havent been paying attention. Theres still a chance that the Indians could sign a mid-tier free agent outfielder. They dont have one outfielder who Francona can trust to play 125 to 130 games and drive in 80 to 90 runs. This could be 2016 all over again when Marlon Byrd signed in late March and was the opening day left fielder. The Indians' best way to get better is through trades. If they arent going to deal Kluber or Bauer, the rest of their big-league assets become fair game, but they should be handled with care. It seems unlikely. They just signed Carlos Carrasco to a multi-year extension after he expressed a desire to finish his career in Cleveland. Antonetti and Chernoff dont operate that way. The trades for Bauers and Santana may slow Bradleys path to the big leagues as the Tribes next first baseman or DH. McKenzie is their No.1 prospect and pitching is near and dear to the heart of this organization. Maybe they throw a few Band-Aids on this roster, cross their fingers and try to make it to the trading deadlines in July and August to get some help that wont come at such a severe cost. Then they could try to win their fourth straight AL Central title by participating in something they havent experienced since 2013 a hair-on-fire stretch run. | https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/01/should-cleveland-indians-stop-taking-calls-on-corey-kluber-and-trevor-bauer-or-keep-listening.html |
Does the government shutdown affect food stamps in Oregon? | More than 600,000 Oregonians who rely on federal food stamp benefits are safe for now despite a partial government shutdown, a state official said Tuesday. The state has secured funding to cover food stamps through February. Separately, state officials say they have money to continue a different food program for women, children and infants through March. The food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, serves more than 350,000 households statewide. It provides about $75 million monthly to needy Oregonians, with an average household benefit of just over $200. The federal government covers all food stamp benefits for Oregonians, and the state has already received its funding through February, said Dawn Myers, the program manager. I would not say that I am super concerned yet, said Myers, who has experienced other brief federal shutdowns in her 13 years with the Department of Human Services. I think that we have a good amount of time that we can go with benefits for individuals not being affected. Oregon issues food stamp credits to recipients each month, between the first and ninth, depending on a persons Social Security number. That means the earliest the federal shutdown could impact Oregonians would be March 1. The state does not maintain a reserve to fund the food-stamp program, Myers said. If the shutdown were to continue, Myers said the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service would likely provide information to state programs. But when such directions would come is unknown. Meanwhile, the state has secured federal funding for a different food program serving about 89,000 people through March, said Robb Cowie, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children provides recipients about $4 million a month, or $50 on average. -- Brad Schmidt [email protected] 503-294-7628 @_brad_schmidt Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. | https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/01/does-the-government-shutdown-affect-food-stamps-in-oregon.html |
Why does food taste different on planes? | (CNN) If you've ever brought a favorite treat along to enjoy on a flight -- a special chocolate bar, stacked-high sandwich, or flaky pastry, say -- you might have noticed it didn't taste as great at 30,000 feet. It's not just you. Flying has a very real effect on the smell and taste of food and drinks for a number of reasons. Herbert Stone, who has a PhD in nutrition, worked on food for the Apollo Moon Mission. He says that says chilly airplane temps are partly to blame. We don't taste flavors as well when it's cold. l e v a r t Remember too, that taste and smell are inextricably combined, so what affects your sense of smell impacts tastes big-time. Pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels, and that reduces the ability of olfactory receptors. And the constantly circulating, super-dry air of the airplane cabinan average 12 percent humidity, lower than that of the Sahara Desertdirectly affects the nose. "Low moisture and air movement will dry the nasal passages and this reduces odor and taste sensitivity," says Stone, who adds that when the exact same food is tested at sea level, "it will be rated as stronger and more intense." Then there's the noisethe drone of the airplane's engines, the baby screeching in the back rowalso affects how food tastes. Related content A guerrilla approach to flying with kids Some tastes are affected by these factors more than others. "Salt is perceived to be between 20 and 30 percent less intense and sugar 15 to 20 percent less intense, at high altitude, according to research by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics that was conducted for Lufthansa. The perception of fruity aromas and acids is by contrast more stable," according to research by the Fraunhofer team. And this might be a conservative estimate: "In the air you lose almost 70 percent of your sense of taste," says Antonio Fernandez, AeroMexico's senior vice president for on-board product. Considering all of these factors, it's not a big surprise that the salted caramel macaron that explodes your taste buds with flavor on the ground tastes like a ghost of itself in the air. But savvy airline chefs know that some flavors do better than others in the sky: Spicy and intense flavors remain pretty stable at altitudelike a Thai or Korean curry, and so does fresh fruit, especially citrus. Umami flavors--like those found in mushrooms, seaweed, hard cheeses and meat--lend richness and depth to dishes, and they come through well, too. Related content Scents on a plane: Why the aviation industry is waking up to fragrance "Flavors such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, parmesan, tomato, mushrooms, soy, meat and lentils" are the go-to flavor-enhancers for Aeromexico's chefs, says Fernandez. Cuisine that relies on subtle flavors (like how fish, pasta or poultry might normally be prepared) end up the big flavor losers and lead to complaints, food scientists have found. "Typical reactions include words like 'tasteless' and 'cardboard'," says Stone. On top of all the taste-perception challenges, food prep areas aren't exactly restaurant-quality at 30,000 feet. Flight attendants aren't sous chefs, and space is at a premium. There's only one oven and an entire entree must be cooked at the same temperature for the same amount of time. "I actually liked the challenge that this proposed because it allowed me to get creative on how to keep some things crunchy, some soft, and all hot and delicious," says Brad Farmerie, the Executive Chef at New York City's Saxon + Parole. He developed the menu for Mint, JetBlue's premium class of service. l e v a r t He said getting a soft-boiled egg for brunch items or being able to offer a medium-rare burger was a challenge that took some time to successfully crack. Some airline chefs will just ramp up sugar and salt to make up for lost flavors and less-than-ideal cooking circumstances. "This just adds to the dehydration that travelers feel during and after the flight," Farmerie says. When he developed a menu for the airline, "I knew that I needed to incorporate acidity, heat and umami to make up for the muted sense of smell and taste. These elements give the cuisine a 'lift' and brighten the natural flavors of the dish without the need for more salt," he adds. Farmerie cites the airline's popular carrot and ginger soup with chili marshmallow as one that ticks all the boxes: It combines fresh carrot flavor with white miso for umami, lemon juice for acidity, and ginger and chili for sweet spice, all of which provide flavor without extra salt or sweetener. Whether you order on board, buy food at the airport, or bring your meal from home, keep in mind that simple, healthy foods are what most chefs who are frequent fliers choose: Fruit and cheese plates (err on the side of harder cheese when it comes to security restrictions); Asian stir-fries; and vegetable soups like carrot or tomato. | https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-does-food-taste-different-on-planes/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 |
Would Steelers trade Mike Tomlin, promote Mike Munchak? | Appearing on local radio stations helps give me a good sense of whats being said about the home team in its own town. On Monday, a visit with Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 the Fan in Pittsburgh caused me to do a spit take. During the segment, Fillipponi suggested this idea for the Steelers: Trade Mike Tomlin, and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. Scroll to continue with content Ad Its a stunning thought, an ultra-aggressive approach for an uber-conservative team that has allowed its insistence on continuity among its coaches to become part of its identity. But with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger publicly stumping for Munchak to stay with the team at a time when hes one of the finalists to coach the Broncos, its an intriguing thought. I pray that fans write as many letters as they can to Mr. [Art] Rooney to keep Coach Munchak around, Roethlisberger recently said. Hes such a special coach. When the linemen are happy and love to play for their coach, they play better. With vacant jobs starting to fill (three have been filled in the past 24 hours or so), it could be hard to find a suitor for Tomlin, if the Steelers were inclined to even try. And the concept knocked me wobbly in large part because, typically, the trade of a coach happens when another team wants to get him, not when his current team wants to unload him. It would be difficult if not impossible. Also, with the three NFC vacancies now filled, the Steelers only remaining options could be within the AFC: Jets, Dolphins, Browns, Bengals, Broncos. Story continues Of course, the notion that Tomlin could be available could prompt a team with a coach currently under contract to inquire about the possibility. And Tomlins minority status would allow the transaction to happen quickly, with no traditional coaching search. The chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none, but its an intriguing idea, one that should at least prompt interested teams to ask themselves whether its worth making a call. | https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-trade-mike-tomlin-promote-234809874.html?src=rss |
Could Japans Approval of the Bitcoin ETF Affect US SECs Decision? | On January 7, CCN reported that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan is considering the approval of the countrys first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Probability of a Bitcoin ETF in US The probability of the approval of a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. by February remains low. A pro-crypto SEC commissioner Hester Peirce previously said that investors should not wait on a Bitcoin ETF because it may take days or years for the commission to approve it. Whether the ETF gets approved or not, the filing of a VanEck ETF will provide more clarity on the subject. In the second half of 2018, the SEC rejected 12 Bitcoin ETFs submitted by the Winklevoss twins and three other companies. The Winklevoss twins attempted to launch an ETF using cryptocurrency exchanges to calculate the base price of the asset and the three companies relied on the Bitcoin futures market to develop an ETF. All 11 filings were rejected by the SEC because it believed that both exchanges and the futures market are not of significant size. bitcoin price More The VanEck ETF uses data from the over-the-counter (OTC) market, which is said to be bigger than the cryptocurrency exchange market in terms of volume and trading activity. Regardless of the result, it will lead the SEC to evaluate the global cryptocurrency OTC market and also consider the tightening regulatory frameworks in major overseas markets. Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malta, and other regions have implemented strict policies on Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML), monitoring suspicious transactions and disallowing anonymous accounts from trading cryptocurrencies. In late November of last year, SEC chairman Jay Clayton said that safeguards and technologies to prevent suspicious transactions are non-existent in overseas markets. Clayton said: Those kinds of safeguards dont exist in many of the markets where digital currencies trade. With the lead of Japan and the G20s move to regulate cryptocurrencies, many major Bitcoin and crypto asset markets have implemented various safeguards. Some regions like South Korea have implemented stricter rules than the U.S., specifically on the prohibition of foreigners and unidentified individuals from trading cryptocurrencies with the Korean won. If a Bitcoin ETF is approved in Japan before the U.S., there exists a possibility that it may lead the U.S. government to approve a Bitcoin ETF in its local market. Japan remains as the only country to have integrated a national licensing program for cryptocurrency exchanges, only allowing a handful of exchanges that are fully compliant with existing regulations to operate within the country. Currently, the time frame of the FSAs decision on the approval of Bitcoin ETFs is uncertain and it may also take many months for the government to come to a consensus on the subject. Featured Image from Shutterstock. Price Charts from TradingView. appeared first on CCN. | https://news.yahoo.com/could-japan-approval-bitcoin-etf-013117168.html |
What Was the Point of Trumps Oval Office Address? | Early on, Trump seemed to be striving for an almost Reaganesque note, speaking with restraint and an unusual display of softer emotions. Though he sometimes ad-libs awkwardly while speaking from a script, Trump remained rigid in both elocution and posture Tuesday. America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants that enrich our society and contribute to our nation, but all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration, Trump said. This is a humanitarian crisis: a crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul. He also eschewed any discussion of his wall or any attacks on Democrats until the latter half of the speech. He noted that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had supported a border fence in the past. He also replied to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called the proposed wall immoral, without mentioning her name. Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes? Trump said. They don't build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside. The only thing that is immoral is the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized. This was the tone for the final moments of the speech. The president has chosen fear, Pelosi said during the Democratic rebuttal, and its hard to imagine Trump disagreeing. Criticizing Democrats for not funding the wall, he listed a series of crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants, a tactic that dates back to his days on the campaign. Notably, Trump seemed to implicitly rule out using an emergency declaration to build the wall with the military. My administration is doing everything in our power to help those impacted by the situation, but the only solution is for Democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government, Trump said. In making the case that there is an acute crisis at the border, Trump faces three major obstacles. The first is that theres no obvious change at the border that makes the current moment more serious than six or 18 months ago. While illegal immigration to the United States is rising, it remains well below the recent peak, in 2000. Before the election, Trump drew attention to a caravan of migrants walking north through Mexico toward the United States, but that march largely dissipated as it neared the border, and the number of migrants involvedreportedly around 4,000is small in comparison to the total number of unauthorized immigrants entering the country. The second obstacle is a confusing explanation of the humanitarian problem. While the president noted the dangers facing migrants who try to enter the U.S., especially to women and children, he didnt explain how hardening the border or building a wall would solve that crisis. The measures he is proposing treat symptoms without dealing with the underlying causes, especially violence in Central Americas Northern Triangle. | https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/president-trumps-speech-shutdown-and-wall/579844/?utm_source=feed |
Where Will Buckeye Partners Be in 5 Years? | Things haven't been looking so good for oil and refined products pipeline and terminal operator Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) in recent years. In fact, the master limited partnership (MLP) has lost more than half its value over the last five years, and is now trading in the low $30s. That's much worse than many of its peers. For example, fellow MLP Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) has seen its unit price -- MLP-speak for share price -- rise more than 20% over the last five years. But Buckeye is making changes to its operations that may have a big impact on the company's future. Although the company -- and its industry -- are in a state of flux right now, Buckeye's bets could set it up to win big...or wipe out. Here's where Buckeye looks to be headed over the next five years. Oil pipelines lead to a refinery in the distance More Buckeye Partners hopes that investments in Permian crude oil will end an era of underperformance. Image source: Getty Images. Big changes For years, Buckeye had been a pretty standard bread-and-butter pipeline and terminal operator. It owned a large domestic pipeline network transporting refined products like gasoline and distillates. The system was centered around Chicago, but stretched as far as New York. Buckeye also operated terminals and some smaller pipeline systems located throughout the U.S. It also either owned outright or had a stake in several international terminals in the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The trouble for Buckeye was that its core assets had begun to underperform. In 2017, throughputs -- the amount of product shipped through and stored in Buckeye's infrastructure -- were up, but net income was down. And even though throughputs were up, capacity utilization at its terminals had dropped from 99% in 2016 to just 92% in 2017. Meanwhile, the company's already-high debt load was increasing, and its coverage ratio for its distribution had fallen below 1, meaning it would need to make up the difference somehow. Things came to a head in Q3 2018, when Buckeye made the strategic decision to slash its dividend. That improved the company's coverage ratio. It also decided to sell off its stake in VTTI, which jettisoned most of its overseas terminal exposure, and sold noncore terminal assets like its far-flung California terminals and small jet fuel pipelines in Florida. It's using the cash it raises to pay down debt and also to focus on its big new bet: oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. Joining the herd There's no shortage of interest in the Permian Basin these days. Permian crude is comparatively cheap to drill, and there seems to be a lot of it. Drillers flocked to the Permian in 2018 to try to cash in on the lucrative combination of higher oil prices and lower production costs. The trouble for many of those drillers is that there isn't enough infrastructure to transport that crude oil once it's been extracted from the ground. And although numerous pipeline companies are building long-haul pipelines from the Permian to the refineries and ports along the Gulf Coast, a lot of that capacity won't be coming online until late 2019 or 2020. Once those pipelines do come online, though, there's another problem. Many Gulf Coast refineries are set up to process heavy, sour crude of the sort that comes from Canada or Venezuela. The light, sweet crude from the Permian needs to be shipped overseas. But the preferred method of shipping oil -- the Very Large Crude Carrier, or VLCC -- is a heavy craft that sits low in the water when fully loaded, and can't navigate into many of the Gulf Coast ports at Houston or Corpus Christi. Instead, VLCCs need to be fully loaded at offshore "lightering" platforms, with oil that has been transported by smaller craft. | https://news.yahoo.com/where-buckeye-partners-5-years-023300719.html |
Is Trump's Insistence On A Border Wall Turning Into A Liability? | Steve Inskeep talks to Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies about his belief that President Trump's demand for a border wall has compromised broader immigration strategy. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: One think tank that is broadly in accord with President Trump's immigration priorities is the Center for Immigration Studies. It advocates lower levels of legal immigration. Yet Mark Krikorian of that center has raised concerns about the president's narrow focus on a border wall which he will discuss in an address to the nation tonight. He's in our studios. Mr. Krikorian, welcome back. MARK KRIKORIAN: Thank you. KRIKORIAN: Well, the point to the wall was multifaceted. It was a shorthand that the president used during the campaign. INSKEEP: It's a symbol. KRIKORIAN: And, in fact - well, it's not just a symbol. I mean, we actually do need some more border barriers in various places. We have some. We need more. But it was a shorthand. It was a way to tell people - look; I'm not the usual lying politician. I'm actually serious about this. And it was effective as that. The problem is that now that, you know, the administration's been around for a couple of years, you have to follow through to some degree. And the Democrats have determined - accurately, I think - that the president's focus on the wall was a vulnerability, was an opportunity for the Democrats to deny him that in an attempt, basically, to show his impotence. INSKEEP: And now he is desperate. KRIKORIAN: Yeah. I've always kind of worried about that, that he was going to give the Democrats far more than really was warranted in exchange for the wall. Because more border barriers, like I said, they're important. But there are other things that are more important, things like plugging loopholes in our asylum laws, E-Verify and what have you. It's kind of interesting. The president, on the one hand, really is, I think, desperate to have a success here. But the other side is that the Democrats really do seem to be obsessed in denying him a win on this. INSKEEP: Mr. Krikorian, since you're a critic of high levels of legal immigration, I want to ask you about something that we're hearing elsewhere on the program today. Kamala Harris, the Democratic senator, possible presidential candidate, is on the program. And she spoke about one kind of anxiety in the country right now. She said, quote, "people are reading about the browning of America. Barack Obama was president. Oh, my God." That's a quote from Kamala Harris. KRIKORIAN: No, certainly not. I mean, the issue here is not the individual characteristics of immigrants, whether it's their color, their religion or whatever. It's the effect that immigration has on a modern society. And we don't have time to go into it here. But I wrote a whole book on this, that there's a conflict between high levels of immigration and the goals and characteristics of a modern society in a way that wasn't necessarily true, say, a hundred or 200 years ago. KRIKORIAN: It could potentially be. It depends how high they are. And it also depends on our own ability to successfully Americanize newcomers. We have a strong assimilationist tradition and strong assimilationist trends in our society. But it's weaker than it used to be for reasons that aren't really related to the immigrants themselves - are more related to changes in our own society. Because a lot of racists end up in the same position you're in. KRIKORIAN: Yeah. I mean, every side has people who are, you know, sort of objectionable. I mean, there are triumphalist, sort of anti-white triumphalists on the pro-immigration side. And then there are people who are pro-white racists on the low-immigration side. You just sort of have to deal with that and address the people of goodwill on both sides of this debate. INSKEEP: Mark Krikorian, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. KRIKORIAN: Thank you, Steve. INSKEEP: He's with the Center for Immigration Studies. Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/08/683144178/is-trump-s-insistence-on-a-border-wall-turning-into-a-liability?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition |
Why is BTs broadband pledge so misleading over outages? | Im really exasperated by the exclusions Ive encountered with the BT Plus Keep Connected Promise. The video and blurb on its website are clear that, within an hour of reporting a broadband outage, it will send a 4G Mini Hub and turn on unlimited data on any BT mobile phones associated with the account. I have experienced two half-day outages and both times BT pointed to the small print which allows it to get out of its promise if the outage is down to planned or unplanned outages on its network. I feel its marketing is highly misleading and it is taking money for a service it doesnt provide. MR, London BTs sales pitch appears unambiguous. It promises: In the unlikely event theres a problem with your broadband and you report a fault, well send you a Mini Hub straightaway, which uses a mobile signal to help your devices go online at no extra cost. If youve got mobile with us, within an hour of reporting the fault, well switch on free unlimited data on all your phones so you can stay connected. Only in the terms and conditions (which you have to cut and paste into the browser since theres no link on the web page) are qualifying faults mentioned. And you have to read more than half way through to clause 10e to discover that planned or unplanned outages on BTs network or any third party service disqualify you from the promise in the 65.99-a-month Plus deal. Faults in the home environment such as wiring issues are also excluded which means a significant proportion of causes arent covered. These crucial caveats should be made clear at the outset, in the same way that insurers highlight essential terms in key facts documents. BT missed the point when it told me: There are some scenarios where sending a 4G Mini Hub might not be possible or the best way to get back online, for example if the fault is likely to be repaired in a few hours, or in the rare event there are broader issues affecting broadband and mobile networks in a specific area. When I pressed the issue it did not respond. This is something customers should report to the Advertising Standards Authority which did not respond to my request for a comment. If you need help email Anna Tims at [email protected] or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number. Submission subject to our terms and conditions | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/09/bt-plus-keep-connected-promise-terms-conditions |
Who is Louise Linton? | Louise Linton, the actress wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ignited a firestorm of criticism after she responded to a negative comment on social media. She recently told Elle magazine that she is super-duper apologetic for the drama that she has caused since her husband joined President Trumps Cabinet. Linton, 37, said she felt like a regular person when she saw someones negative comment on Instagram in August 2017 and chose to respond like regular people would. But her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism and launched her husband into a sea of controversy. Read on for a brief look at Linton's life, including since Mnuchin became treasury secretary. She got into an Instagram spat Linton posted a photo to her Instagram account which was briefly made private to those who do not follow her of her and Mnuchin disembarking a government plane. In the August 2017 photo, she tagged some of the high-profile designers of the ensemble she was wearing. One user commented, Glad we could pay for your little getaway, and included the hashtag deplorable. Linton responded with a lengthy comment and touted her and her husbands financial success. Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country, Linton said. Im pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day trip than you did, she continued. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than youd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. She's an actress Born in Scotland, Linton trained at the Edinburgh Drama Academy as well as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, according to her IMDB page. She has guest starred in episodes of Cold Case and CSI: NY. Linton has also starred in the movies Cabin Fever and Intruder. Mnuchin and Linton recently married Mnuchin and Linton married in June 2017 with a star-studded guest list. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the wedding. Vice President Mike Pence officiated the ceremony. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Mnuchin, 55, ran a company that invested in Hollywood movies including "Wonder Woman," "The Lego Movie," "The Accountant" and "Suicide Squad." He is a Goldman Sachs alumnus. Both Mnuchin and Linton were married previously. Mnuchin has children from his earlier marriage. Her controversial memoir is no longer on Amazon Linton wrote and self-published a memoir about her experiences volunteering in Africa as an 18-year-old but her writings ignited controversy. In her book, called In Congos Shadow: One Girls Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa, Linton described her experiences in Zambia. She detailed hiding from armed rebels and her fear of being found as she was a skinny white muzungu with long angel hair, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Twitter, people accused Linton of lying or exaggerating about the extent of the violence in Zambia and hailed her work as a white savior fantasy. The book is no longer available on Amazon. She posed with new cash Linton again raised eyebrows when she posed with Mnuchin holding a sheet of brand-new $1 bills in November 2017. In the photo, Linton is wearing elbow-length black leather gloves and skirt and top. Because of the controversial photo-op, Linton told Elle magazine that her skirt and gloves remain in her closet. I really hope someday I can wear that outfit again, Linton told the magazine. Because I really liked it. | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/who-is-louise-linton |
Is a breath test key to detecting cancer? | Image copyright Owlstone Medical Ltd A clinical trial has been launched to see if a breath test could detect the presence of cancer. Researchers want to find out if signals of different cancer types can be picked up in patterns of breath molecules. The Cancer Research UK team in Cambridge will collect breath samples from 1,500 people, some with cancer. If the technology is proven, the hope is that breath tests could be used in GP practices to decide if patients need to be referred for more tests. They could potentially be used alongside blood and urine tests to help doctors detect cancer at an early stage, the researchers said. But it will be two years before the results of the exploratory trial are known. GPs' leaders said the research was exciting but they warned patients that breath tests to detect cancer were "unlikely to be commonplace at their GP practice anytime soon". Molecules called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released when cells in the body carry out biochemical reactions as part of their behaviour. But if cancer or other conditions are present, the normal behaviour of cells is altered and they appear to produce a different pattern of molecules - and a different signature smell. The research team is trying to find out if this pattern or odour can be identified in people's breath, using breath biopsy technology. Their ultimate aim is to work out if different types of cancer produce different patterns - or signatures - which can be detected at an early stage. This is the start of the trial so we won't know for several years whether or not the initial results are promising. The science behind the test itself is not new. Many researchers around the world have been working on the possibility of breath tests for a number of cancers, including lung, for a number of years. There are some promising signs that breath tests could detect pre-cancerous symptoms, but it is not yet clear how accurate they are. Any breath test used on large numbers of patients would have to be sensitive and accurate to avoid misdiagnoses and false positives. In short, there is a long way to go and much more research needed on more people before a breath test will be appearing in any GP surgeries. It is possible that dogs could be also used to sniff out the odours given off by cancers, and other diseases like Parkinson's. The trial will start with patients with suspected oesophageal and stomach cancers and then widened to include people with prostate, kidney, bladder, liver and pancreatic cancers in the coming months. Healthy people will also be included in the trial. At Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, participants will be asked to breathe into a face mask for 10 minutes so a sample can be collected. The samples will then be sent to a laboratory in Cambridge to be analysed. 'Best chance of surviving' Rebecca Coldrick, 54, was one of the first people to take part in the trial. She has a condition called Barrett's oesophagus and could go on to develop cancer. "I was very happy to take part in the trial and I want to help with research however I can," she said. "I think the more research done to monitor conditions like mine and the kinder the detection tests developed, the better." Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald, lead trial investigator at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, said: "We urgently need to develop new tools, like this breath test, which could help to detect and diagnose cancer earlier, giving patients the best chance of surviving their disease." Dr David Crosby, head of early detection research at Cancer Research UK, said breath tests were a technology that had the potential "to revolutionise the way we detect and diagnose cancer in the future". Cancer Research UK has made research into this area one of its top priorities. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46746552 |
What's Prince William doing on Duchess Kate's 37th birthday? | CLOSE The British royal family's Christmas cards have two new additions this year. USA TODAY Prince William arrives at The Royal London Hospital on board the London Air Ambulance on Jan. 9, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: WPA Pool/Getty Images) Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday making her the same age as Duchess Meghan for the next eight months but Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. Not that Kate looks her age, mind you. Not even after giving birth to three royal babies, the last one in April 2018. For that matter, neither does her sister-in-law, the former Meghan Markle, who turns 38 in August, a few months after she gives birth to her first royal baby. As per usual, Kensington Palace remained mum on what plans, if any, Will and Kate had for celebrating her birthday. With the exception of Will's father, Prince Charles, who turned 70 in November amidst much hoopla, royal birthdays are generally considered private. The official Twitter account for the palace did give Kate a shout-out, posting: "Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridges birthday". Will and Kate have occasionally issued new pictures of their three kids, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and baby Prince Louis, to mark some birthdays, but they don't do it for each other. Whatever their plans, Will spent part of his morning doing what ranking royals (he's second in line to the throne) do: Paying tribute to fellow Brits' charity efforts - in this case, the first responders of London's Air Ambulance who daily deliver life-saving treatment across the massive capital city of 10 million. It's a cause close to Will's heart as he worked for several years as an air ambulance pilot in Norfolk after he and Kate married in 2011. London's Air Ambulance, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London every day, helping to save countless lives. According to the palace, the service in effect delivers cutting-edge medical care and a hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident within minutes. Will arrived at The Royal London Hospital via London Air Ambulance Wednesday. Prior to his arrival, it was revealed he had become patron of the London Air Ambulance Charity 30th Anniversary Campaign. "Through his support, we aim to raise awareness of the life-saving work carried out by us and by air ambulances across the UK," CEO of the charity, Jonathan Jenkins said in a statement from the royal family. "Through funds raised in our 30th year, we plan to improve our facilities to ensure we can respond even faster, enhance our training and ensure our crews have the facilities they need for their mental health and wellbeing. Will is to meet with pilots, clinicians and paramedics about their experiences working as first responders and the challenges they face operating in London. He's to join staff, patients and their families at a tea party marking the service's anniversary. He's also planning to learn more about the work that service is undertaking in the area of mental health support for their staff. Recently, Will spoke out about the difficulties he experienced in coping with the kinds of injuries and disasters that ambulance pilots encounter on their jobs: Sometimes the people they rescue don't make it. More: The Royal Family reveals their favorite moments of 2018: 'Thank you to everyone' More: Duchess Meghan tells well-wisher royal baby is 'nearly' here | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/01/09/whats-prince-william-doing-duchess-kates-37th-birthday/2515038002/ |
How About Some Candor in Middle East Policy? | First, its increasingly clear that America has begun to move on from its turn-of-the-century fixation. This year marks the 40th anniversary of seismic events including the Iranian revolution and historic peace between Israel and Egypt. Such events, followed by the 1991 Gulf War and 9/11 attacks, drew America more deeply into the Middle East with an ever-increasing military footprint. The strategic rationale and public appetite for deep U.S. engagement were strong. But this has frayed during the past decade and a half of U.S. involvement in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and lack of progress on regional effortsfrom the Mideast peace to governance. Meanwhile, the United States has become consumed with its own animosities and political sectarianism. Fewer Americans see the value of staying engaged in the region. Thats a reality that will affect any administrations Middle East policy, regardless of ideology. Trump purports to be asking the very question on voters minds when it comes to Middle East involvement: Whats in it for us? But hes proposing answers in the wrong places, trying to conjure a value proposition by hyping semi-fictional arms deals, a dead-end pressure-for-its-own-sake Iran strategy, and a nonexistent Mideast peace plan. Even if he manages to claim significant tactical victories, none is likely to change the underlying equation that currently makes Middle East policy look like a losing game to many Americans: urgent problems at home, decades of disastrous and disappointing entanglements in the region, and a complicated set of realities about fossil fuels. In theory, that sense of detachment could offer space for Middle East policy to be guided by a greater degree of respect for human dignitythe second note Pompeo should strike this week. Part of the growing distaste in America for all things Middle East comes from recognizing the ugliness of the situation for many ordinary people in the regionthe murders and starvation of children in Syria and Yemen, widespread torture, and the scenes from an Israeli occupation with no end in sight and almost zero pushback from this administration. The horrific details of how Saudi officials lured journalist Jamal Khashoggi into their diplomatic compound and murdered him has symbolized a wider problem. While theres no instant U.S.-sourced cure for sectarian conflict, Israel-Palestine, and persistent human rights abuses, even a slightly more principled stance against human suffering constitutes low-hanging political fruit at this point: The last two years of increasing recklessness from Saudi Arabia and others suggests that the mere prospect that prior U.S. administrations might care has previously inspired a degree of limited restraint. Pompeo and Trump have called out abuses inside Iran, for example, but shamefully pulled punches with our closest partners, particularly the Saudis. This blank check and the brutal impunity it has underwritten have become a political issue, alienating Washington and many Americans, as seen in the bipartisan support for legislation in Congress criticizing Saudi Arabias actions. This has already done long-term damage to the bipartisan foundations of decades-old partnerships. Watching Arab authoritarians reciprocate by flattering Trump may give Americans a newfound appreciation for how Arab societies have felt watching outsiders cultivate the ruling family and military with little regard for the rest. Post-Trump, this dynamic is likely to reinforce longer-term trends pushing America further out of the Middle East. The third point Pompeo would ideally includerelated to the secondis that Iran and terrorism arent the regions only long-term problems. While these issues top many bilateral agendas, nearly all of the countries of the region also continue to face crushing demographic, economic, and governance challenges. The problems pinpointed in successive United Nations Development Programmes Arab Human Development Reportspoor governance, high unemployment, low quality educationhave grown worse, and few countries have taken tangible steps to shore up the social contract. A focus on zero-sum regional competitioncountering Iran and Islamistsat the expense of conflict resolution and hard choices at home, has only deepened the regional stability deficits that matter mostnot to Americans, who right now are focused elsewhere, but to the regions own people. | https://newrepublic.com/article/152865/candor-middle-east-policy |
Did The Xbox One Really Have Zero Positively Reviewed Games In 2018? | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher on the aggregation site. The Nintendo Switch boasted an even 10. PC took the proverbial cake with 33 (take that console peasants!) The Xbox One fared much worse. "Microsoft failed to offer a compelling case to pick up an Xbox One rather than another console in 2018," writes Metacritic in a post detailing the "great games" and "good exclusives" of 2018. "The best 'console exclusive' titles released for XB1 last year could also be played on your PC, and there wasn't a single game exclusive to Xbox One alone that received positive reviews from critics." I'm not so sure. Microsoft has abandoned traditional Xbox One exclusives almost entirely. The "Play Anywhere" program has meant that for the past couple years, all of Microsoft's big Xbox One exclusives have also launched on PC. This is an incredibly consumer-friendly move, benefiting both Xbox gamers and PC gamers. While there's no doubt at all that Microsoft has been behind the competition when it comes to exclusives, it's also true that releasing Xbox One exclusives on PC (and charging once for both copies) is a practice that many PC gamers wish Sony would also adopt. You'll have to imagine because that's firmly in the realm of wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Microsoft did release an Xbox One exclusive (which also came out on PC) that was one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Claiming that the Xbox One had zero positive exclusives may be factually correct, but it still feels disingenuous. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year with a 93/100 Metacritic score. Red Dead Redemption 2 tied for 1st place on PS4 and Xbox One with 97/100 and God of War and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tied for second place with 94/100. Forza Horizon 4 is an Xbox One exclusive. Just because Microsoft made the right call with Play Anywhere and released the game on PC and Xbox One doesn't mean we should disqualify it. This just makes the Xbox One look worse, casting shade at the console for no good reason and punishing Microsoft for one of its more consumer friendly decisions. In reality, the best-reviewed games of the year were split nicely between PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. If it weren't for Microsoft releasing Forza Horizon 4 on PC, none of the top five games would have been on PC (God of War is PS4 only, Smash is Switch only, and RDR2 only released on PS4 and Xbox One.) So kudos to Microsoft for some solid consumer-friendly practices in 2018 and for releasing at least one very good Xbox One hit. There's still a high mountain to climb before the Xbox One can catch up to the PS4 in terms of quality exclusives (sorry, but Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 just pale in comparison to God of War and Spider-Man) but this is a good start. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/09/did-the-xbox-one-really-have-zero-positively-reviewed-games-in-2018/ |
Can The Record Breaking Number Of FDA New Drug Approvals Continue? | The late 1990s had been thought of as a golden-age for the drug industry. In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs (>36/year) many of them becoming foundational treatments in a number of areas including cardiovascular diseases (Lipitor, Diovan), HIV-AIDS (Crixivan, Norvir), respiratory diseases (Accolate, Allegra), cancer (Gemzar, Taxotere), GI disorders (Prilosec, Prevacid) and even erectile dysfunction (Viagra). But, this period could be considered an aberration. In the early 1990s, the U.S. was in the midst of a drug lag in that new medicines were being approved abroad more quickly than here. New Drugs Applications (NDAs) were languishing at the FDA because of a shortage of staff needed to review applications in a timely manner. To deal with this situation, Congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a mechanism whereby charges were levied on drug companies for each NDA filed. Revenues from these user fees were then used to hire 600 new drug reviewers and support staff at the FDA. This increase in personnel enabled the FDA to work through the backlog of NDAs leading to the bounty of 96 00 approvals. However, this level of new drug productivity wasnt sustained. Over the next decade (2001 2010), the FDA approved only 229 new drugs. Observers of the pharmaceutical industry took notice, many predicting doom for the industry. Critics believed that the industry faced a productivity crisis. In 2011, a white paper from Wharton opined that: The year 2011 marks the end of an era for the pharmaceutical industry which has long relied on blockbuster drugs to keep it financially healthy. But with best-sellers like Pfizers cholesterol-lowering Lipitor the worlds most prescribed medicine losing patent protection this year, drug makers are feverishly seeking new prescriptions for profit. No fewer than nine of the industrys 10 biggest blockbusters will go off-patent and face low-cost generic competition within five years..(and) there is little in the pipeline to replace these top sellers. Needless to say, the industry wasnt oblivious to the emerging productivity decline. Companies were in the midst of significant environmental changes. 1) Payers were beginning to have a major influence on the types of drugs that could be commercially successful. No longer would the market reward a new drug if it only had modest improvements on existing (and soon to be generic) established medicines. Trying to successfully commercialize the fourth or fifth agent of a known class was no longer feasible. 2) Pharmaceutical companies, which were built on producing small molecule pills as therapies, now needed to retool their R&D organizations to capitalize on the emerging opportunity in biologic drugs, particularly antibodies and therapeutic vaccines. 3) The industry also realized that the existing treatments for reducing blood pressure, lowering LDL cholesterol, reducing gastric acid secretion, etc. were very good and not easy to supercede. Rather than try to engineer incremental improvements in these therapeutic areas, R&D priorities were shifted from traditional fields, like cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, infectious disease, and metabolic disease, to therapeutic areas where emerging science was opening up new opportunities like cancer, rare diseases and immunology. 4) The frenzied activity in industry consolidation (Pfizer- Warner-Lambert, Pfizer Pharmacia, Pfizer- Wyeth, Merck Schering, etc.) proved especially disruptive to R&D organizations, resulting in program delays, loss of talent and the elimination of many projects in order to achieve cost cutting targets. These events all resulted in a dramatic loss in industry productivity. The industry, however, recovered. From 2011 2018, the FDA approved 309 new drugs an average of more than 38 per year - the highest sustained productivity in the modern era. Last year the FDA approved 59 new drug therapies, an all-time high. This is due to a number of factors. First of all, R&D programs in areas like rare diseases and cancer come with the benefit of relatively small and shorter clinical trials. That is because much smaller clinical trials (hundreds of patients) are required to demonstrate safety and efficacy for a rare disease drug as opposed to a new drug to treat heart failure where clinical trials often need thousands of patients to not only show efficacy but also to show superiority over existing paradigms. As a result, companies are able to prosecute R&D programs in rare diseases far more quickly than large patient populations diseases. In fact, 34 of the FDAs 59 approvals were for rare disease drugs. Second, the FDA has become less adversarial with industry particularly under the leadership of Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has helped to streamline the approval process. As long as a company is willing to work closely with the FDA and heed its guidance, NDA approval time can be enhanced. Finally, the fueling of small biotech companies with venture capital funds is allowing for the generation of early stage new drug opportunities which can then be acquired by bigger companies with the wherewithal to run the necessary, costly full development program for FDA approval. Its unlikely that 59 will become the annual standard for the FDA. However, it is hard to envision a return to the depressed decade of 2001 2010. There are some things to watch for in trying to predict future industry output. For one thing, should a drug that has been approved via the FDAs Accelerated Drug Approval program be found to have serious side effects after it is on the market, it could force a more conservative stance at the FDA. Similarly, if FDA Commissioner Gottlieb were to leave his position, it is possible that his successor would not be as open in bringing new medicines to patients. Price controls on new drugs could also have a negative impact. Venture capital money is flowing into biotech because of the potential of high returns based in part on pricing opportunities for things like new cancer drugs. Any move to curb the price of new medicines will cast a cloud on such investments. Finally, it appears that we are in a new round of major M&A (Takeda- Shire, Bristol-Myers Squibb Celgene) which will cause at least minimal disruption. Despite these possibilities, the boom in new drugs is likely to continue benefiting the industry and more importantly, the patients anxiously waiting for these new treatments. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2019/01/09/can-the-record-breaking-number-of-fda-new-drug-approvals-continue/ |
Is Brexit Really Going To Happen? | Back when the Brexit vote was happening I wrote here that Brexit would never happen. I was pretty much a lone voice in saying this. Most assumed the voice of the people would not be ignored. To me it was simple, the referendum was an advisory referendum aimed at advising parliament. It wasnt, unlike the recent Scottish independence referendum, compulsory. As such the parliamentary representatives could have just said, Thanks for the advice, we dont agree, forget it. As such with only about 25% of the members of parliament (MPs) in Westminster for a Brexit, in my mind Brexit would be killed at birth. There would be no article 50 invoked to start the Brexit process. Much to my surprise it was. The bottom line was that no representative or party felt safe to reject the Brexiters directly. Slapping 50% of the electorate in the face was seen by most as a suicidal political move, so even if Brexit was against their political principles, few were going to fight against Brexit head on. So here we are today, most of the British Parliament desperate to kill Brexit but with no scapegoat to blame the treachery on, snookered for a way to stop it. Now time is running out. At this point it looks like Parliament will end up with a fait accompli of having a choice of the current faintly nightmarish agreed deal or the utterly catastrophic no deal Brexit. These are the obvious two outcomes ahead. The third way might be a new referendum, which is being pushed hard by some Remainers. This worked in various European countries when a referendum vote disagreed with the governments desired outcome. A second referendum could be slipped in. Yet it still risks a subsequent Brexit voters revolt at the next election wreaking havoc. That could be disastrous for whichever party caught the blame and especially dangerous for the Labour opposition party if it were seen to force this outcome. It also risks a second positive leave vote potentially forcing a hard economically crippling no-deal Brexit outcome. As such no one has grown some, to force the second referendum option, so the U.K. is barrelling towards Brexit on a tails you lose, heads I win pre-pack deal dictated by the EU. This could be the point where I moan about what an awful mess a Brexit is going to be, but what I care about is how to make money from this situation. The big bet, and it is a risky one, has to be on a no-Brexit outcome. I cant imagine this happening but my gut tells me something is going to suddenly rear up and kill Brexit. Every part of the governmental system wants remain and it seems impossible that it wont get its way. I cant see how, but it seems impossible that power wont find a way. A no-Brexit would undoubtedly spike the market up a long way, so if you think the stock market wont continue to crash before the March Brexit date, then it makes sense to have a pile of FTSE 100 tracker ETF, waiting for the last minute midnight knock on the door for Brexit. Personally, my bet is on another leg of the global stock market crash that will bring the FTSE down to between 6,000 and 5,500, followed by a great opportunity to buy into value. I have about 25% of my usual U.K. exposure parked in a few conviction stocks. As such I just have a little exposure to the possibility of a no-Brexit outcome. Now for the disaster minded you can always imagine a full-on U.S. market crash coupled with a no-deal hard Brexit and look to 4,000. Its hard to imagine this future but it was also hard to imagine that nearly 20 years ago the U.K. market was at todays levels, while the U.S. market managed to nearly treble since then. This pathetic performance is not down to Europe, as the German DAX has performed in line with the U.S. markets. It is down to something else. The French market has performed just like the U.K. market, they trade over the years like twins. This tells us that something similar is amiss in the economic governance of U.K. and in France and it is crippling both countries. Consequently it is easy to imagine France has its Gilet Jaunes and the U.K. has Brexitters, and they have something in common which is that the issues of their revolt are just pretexts pushed forwards by general anger at the state of affairs. As last January was the beginning of a new era in the stock markets, so Brexit, the Gilet Jaunes and the new Italian government mark a new era in Western politics. Say goodbye to the old politics of newspaper and TV and hello to the politics of the internet. This is the same phenomena that swept the Levant and it has now come ashore in the West. Where this wave goes, and it will be far, the economy and the markets will follow and it will be a wild, wild, ride. ---- Clem Chambers is the CEO of private investors Web site ADVFN.com and author of Be Rich, The Game in Wall Street and Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginners Guide. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2019/01/09/is-brexit-really-going-to-happen/ |
Who Would Pay a 70% Tax Rate on Income Over $10 Million? | Recently elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million, with the added revenues to be earmarked toward a variety of social programs. Republican politicians' and right wing pundits' responses to the idea were swift and (unsurprisingly) outraged. Some asserted that the self-identified democratic socialist's plan would disincentivize success, while others simply lambasted it as anti-business, or worse. In reality, no matter how you feel about the concept of tax hikes in general, it's worth taking a moment to map out what this specific increase would mean, how it would work, and whom it would impact. Let's skip to the best news first: Her proposal, if enacted, would not cost the vast majority of Americans -- nor even the vast majority of the so-called 1% -- a penny. A chart shows tax rates More The United States uses marginal tax rates. Image source: Getty Images. What we mean when say "marginal tax rate" In the United States, we currently have seven tax brackets. As you earn more, your increased income lifts you into brackets for which you pay increasingly higher percentages in taxes -- but only for the money earned in those brackets. Every filer, for example, pays a 10% rate on the first $9,700 they earn, regardless of how much they earn in total. And the current top rate of 37% only applies to the portion of an individual's adjusted gross income (minus any deductions) that is above $510,000. High earners, in short, do not pay the top rate on everything they earn. The Motley Fool's Matthew Frankel laid it out as follows. A hypothetical person with taxable income of $100,000 in 2018 would pay: 10% of their first $9,700 earned ($970) 12% of the amount greater than $9,700 up to $39,475 ($3,573) 22% of the amount greater than $39,475, up to $84,200 ($9,839.50) 24% of the amount in excess of $84,200 ($3,972) Again, everyone pays the same tax rate on dollars earned in each bracket -- before tax breaks and other exemptions, of course. That means that Ocasio-Cortez's proposed marginal tax rate of 70% would not merely only impact people who make more than $10 million, it would only apply to whatever portion of their income was in excess of $10 million. Approximately 16,000 Americans earned over $10 million in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to The Washington Post. That's about 0.05% of all households, or 1 in 2,000, Post reporter Jeff Stein noted. One can't pinpoint with precision how much added tax revenue the Ocasio-Cortez proposal would bring in, but Stein did a rough calculation based on available data that the pool of income being taxed would be about $244 billion. At the current 37% top rate, America's wealthiest pay $90 billion in taxes on that money. At 70%, that figure would rise to $170 billion. The actual revenues might be lower, though, depending on what options were available to those individuals for shielding that money from taxes. This proposal would produce around $80 billion in added revenue annually, or $800 billion over the course of a decade. That would equal about half of the roughly $1.5 trillion in Americans owe in college loan debt, which Ocasio-Cortez supports forgiving. And even in the context of a roughly $4.4 trillion annual federal budget, $80 billion remains a significant number. It would, for example, cover a healthy share of the estimated $1.09 trillion spent by federal, local, and state governments on welfare and Medicaid in 2018. | https://news.yahoo.com/pay-70-tax-rate-income-125200535.html |
Is Hennessy Gas Utility Index Fund (GASFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | Any investors who are searching for Index funds should take a look at Hennessy Gas Utility Index Fund (GASFX). GASFX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost. History of Fund/Manager GASFX is a part of the Hennessy family of funds, a company based out of Novato, CA. Hennessy Gas Utility Index Fund made its debut in May of 1989, and since then, GASFX has accumulated about $839.41 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Ryan C. Kelley who has been in charge of the fund since March of 2013. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.82%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 8.11%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, GASFX's standard deviation comes in at 9.91%, compared to the category average of 7.51%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.58% compared to the category average of 8.68%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In the most recent bear market, GASFX lost 38.58% and outperformed its peer group by 7.56%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market. Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.45, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 1.82, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, GASFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.03% compared to the category average of 0.74%. From a cost perspective, GASFX is actually more expensive than its peers. Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount. Bottom Line Your research on the Index segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (GASFX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | https://news.yahoo.com/hennessy-gas-utility-index-fund-120012353.html |
Is Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | If you have been looking for Large Cap Value funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX). VWNFX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective VWNFX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. This strategy can often produce low P/E ratios and high dividend yields; growth levels; however, growth levels are oftentimes cut back. These funds'high growth opportunities are slowed even more since large-cap stocks are usually in more stable industries with low to moderate growth prospects. Thus, investors interested in a stable income stream fund Large Cap Value funds very appealing. History of Fund/Manager Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWNFX. Vanguard Windsor-II Investor made its debut in June of 1985, and since then, VWNFX has accumulated about $12.06 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.78%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.3%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, VWNFX's standard deviation comes in at 10.8%, compared to the category average of 9.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.82% compared to the category average of 9.47%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VWNFX lost 52.87% and underperformed its peer group by 2.17%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VWNFX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. With a negative alpha of -3.93, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Holdings Examining the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States. This fund is currently holding about 89.08% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $172.74 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors: Finance Technology With turnover at about 52%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds. Expenses As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VWNFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.34% compared to the category average of 1.03%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VWNFX is actually cheaper than its peers. Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1. Bottom Line Overall, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now. | https://news.yahoo.com/vanguard-windsor-ii-investor-vwnfx-120012841.html |
Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | If you have been looking for Sector - Precious Metal fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX). FGDAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective We note that FGDAX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile. History of Fund/Manager Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. Since Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006, FGDAX has garnered more than $42.23 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Joe Wickwire who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2007. Performance Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.2%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.94%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FGDAX over the past three years is 33.77% compared to the category average of 14.08%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 34.39% compared to the category average of 14.12%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. FGDAX lost 29.7% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 6.14%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FGDAX has a 5-year beta of -0.08, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.73, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.19% compared to the category average of 1.36%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective. While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment. Bottom Line Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now. For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Precious Metal, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (FGDAX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | https://news.yahoo.com/fidelity-advisor-gold-fgdax-strong-120012778.html |
Is SWCAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now? | If you have been looking for Muni - Bonds funds, a place to start could be Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund (SWCAX). SWCAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective We classify SWCAX in the Muni - Bonds category, an area rife with potential choices. Muni - Bonds funds focus their investments on debt securities issued by state and local governments. These are typically used to pay for the construction of infrastructure, the operation of public schools, and other municipal functions. These securities can come in the form of revenue bonds, which are backed by taxes, as well as " general obligation " bonds that are not backed by a defined source. Investors are usually interested that come with most municipal bonds, which can be especially important for those in higher tax brackets. History of Fund/Manager SWCAX is a part of the Schwab Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund debuted in February of 1992. Since then, SWCAX has accumulated assets of about $395 million, according to the most recently available information. Kenneth M. Salinger is the fund's current manager and has held that role since March of 2008. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.77%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 1.44%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Compared to the category average of 3.04%, the standard deviation of SWCAX over the past three years is 3.2%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 2.92% compared to the category average of 2.97%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Bond Duration Modified duration is a measure of a given bond's interest rate sensitivity, and is a metric that's a good way to judge how fixed income securities will respond in a shifting rate environment. For those that believe interest rates will rise, this is an important factor to consider. SWCAX has a modified duration of 5.19, which suggests that the fund will decline 5.19% for every hundred-basis-point increase in interest rates. Income We must remember to consider the fund's average coupon, as income is traditionally a big reason for purchasing a fixed income security. A fund's average coupon is simply its average payout in a given year. For example, this fund's average coupon of 4.63% means that a $10,000 investment should result in a yearly payout of $463. If you are looking for a strong level of current income, a higher coupon is a good choice, though it could pose a reinvestment risk; these risks can occur if rates are lower in the future when compared to the initial purchase date of the bond. Investors also need to consider risk relative to broad benchmarks, as income is only one part of the bond picture. This fund has a beta of 0.99, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, SWCAX has a negative alpha of -0.54, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, SWCAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.49% compared to the category average of 0.86%. From a cost perspective, SWCAX is actually cheaper than its peers. While the minimum initial investment for the product is $100, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment. Bottom Line Overall, Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund ( SWCAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund ( SWCAX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now. | https://news.yahoo.com/swcax-strong-bond-fund-now-120012595.html |
Is Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) is a potential starting point. TAAIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective TAAIX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds. History of Fund/Manager Thrivent is based in Appleton, WI, and is the manager of TAAIX. The Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S made its debut in June of 2005 and TAAIX has managed to accumulate roughly $299.80 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.07%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 9.36%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. TAAIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.4% compared to the category average of 7.56%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.81% compared to the category average of 7.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, TAAIX lost 49.34% and underperformed its peer group by 13.1%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market. Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.94. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TAAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.90%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TAAIX is actually cheaper than its peers. This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50. Bottom Line Overall, Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S ( TAAIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now. For additional information on the Allocation Balanced area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into TAAIX too for additional information. We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (TAAIX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | https://news.yahoo.com/thrivent-aggressive-allocation-taaix-strong-120012405.html |
Do we say 'I'm sorry' so much that it's lost its meaning? | Although sometimes you have good reason to apologize, overusing the words "I'm sorry" might be doing more harm than good. According to one life coach, apologizing for more than necessary makes your words lose impact. Plus, research points out that overly-polite people aren't to be trusted. But some still feel that the words "I'm sorry" carry weight, no matter how often they are uttered. PERSPECTIVES It's no secret that a genuine apology makes a huge difference when someone has wronged another. Perhaps rather than apologize less, everyone should hear the words on a deeper level. Apologies mean different things to different people, but everyone can agree that "I'm sorry" is one of the most important phrases available in order to maintain relationships. As Symmetry Counseling puts it: ...not all apologies are created equal, and it is important to understand what the hurt partner is looking for when you make an apology or seek forgiveness. Otherwise, you may find yourself caught in a cycle where you that feel your sincere efforts to apologize are rejected and your partner feels neglected and disrespected. There's no need to cut down the amount of "I'm sorry's" you dole out every day if the people around you respond well to the effort. Say "I'm Sorry": The Importance of Apologizing in Relationships There are so many things people apologize for when they shouldn't. Oftentimes "I'm sorry" acts as a filler for other phrases like "excuse me" or even "thank you." As Little Things's Kate Taylor points out, frequent apologizing makes the words lose impact. And depending on the setting, it can also make the apologizer seem weak and cause unnecessary guilt. For women, in particular, over-apologizing can be especially dangerous. According to TEDX speaker and professional women's coach Melody Wilding, saying "I'm sorry" too often can break professional trust and set employees back in achieving their goals. Entrepreneur's Nicolette Amarillas adds: Most people can admit that they've used the phrase 'I'm sorry' as an easy way out. Sometimes rushing to admit fault makes it easier to ignore mistakes, because you feel like you've made amends by quickly acknowledging you were wrong. Some people saying 'I'm sorry'-whether they mean it or not-wash their hands of the issue, and move on. Everyone has. But, apologizing does not course correct, or offer a solution. Many times, we'd be better served by removing the 'I'm sorry' and replacing it with something more valuable. Imagine the difference it would make to replace "I'm sorry I'm late" with "thank you for waiting." "I'm sorry" can and should be exchanged for more meaningful words. 8 Good Reasons Why We Should All Stop Saying 'Sorry' So Much Apologizing is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength. It's incredibly difficult to muster up an apology to anyone no matter what your relationship is with them. Plus, knowing when to apologize is a crucial interpersonal skill. The words "I'm sorry" should not be used to beg pardon or to soften a question, but they remain essential to building relationships. According to Psychology Today's Richard B. Joelson, although some might see apologizing as a weakness when they do it themselves, many still find value in an apology when they are on the receiving end: It seems that some people experience an apology as a sign of weakness. Interestingly, when asked if they view it that way when the apology comes from another, they do not see it as weakness at all, but rather the 'right' or 'responsible' thing to do. Remarkably, some will say it is a sign of strength or maturity when the apology is offered by the other person, but still feel that it is an unacceptable admission of defeat--or weakness--when the apology is theirs to give to someone else. Saying "I'm Sorry" It's too late to take back the meaning of the "I'm sorry" apology. No matter what setting you're in-business, at home or with friends-you'd be better off rephrasing your apologies in order to let the other person know that you are truly sorry, and not just using a filler phrase. Plus, research shows that overly-polite people (you know the ones-they apologize non-stop) shouldn't be trusted. Lifehack'sBrad Johnson reports: The Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Beijing (AMACL) just released their findings that those who are 'excessively polite' are considerably more likely to betray peers or comrades than those who are not effusively polite. Elite Daily's Dan Scotti adds: In life, a lot of the times, hearing the truth sucks. Whether it be pertaining to the girlfriend or boyfriend that you've been suspecting is cheating or waiting for the results of some test you didn't really prepare for. Hence, if you want the truth-try to avoid people who are considered 'nice.' Many people perceive apologizing as a way to be polite. In doing so, you are reflecting a dishonest version of yourself-are you actually sorry for interrupting?-and make yourself inauthentic and less trustworthy as a result. Science Says You Need To Be Aware Of Overly Polite People, Here's Why The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2019/01/do_we_say_im_sorry_so_much_tha.html |
Is The Popular Narrative Harming Development Of AI? | Discussions of artificial intelligence in the public domain are often framed in the language of science fiction, with dystopian pictures from the Terminator franchise or 2001: A Space Odyssey used to chronicle how technology will enslave us. Whilst this may be entertaining, it does little to actually inform the public about what AI can, and cannot do. The failure of this narrative was discussed in a recent paper published by the Royal Society, which explored not only the prevailing narrative around AI, but also previous narratives around controversial technologies and concepts, such as GM food, nuclear power and climate change. "Both fictional and many non-fictional narratives focus on issues that form either a very small subset of contemporary AI research, or that are decades if not centuries away from becoming a technological reality," the authors say. "This disconnect between the narratives and the reality of the technology can have several major negative consequences." This inaccurate narrative operates at both extremes, with utopian fantasies fueling a bubble of hype that the technology cannot possibly meet. This bubble is not purely the fault of commentators, but also many in the industry who wish to puff up the capabilities of their technology. This can be damaging as when the reality fails to match the hype, it can damage public confidence in the technology. Similarly, false fears can also be hugely damaging, as much of the debate around the impact of AI on the workplace has been thus far. This form of narrative has some similarities with the hype-driven form, as both place far too much credibility in outlandish claims of what AI can do. What's more, they also distract us from discussions that do need to be had, but which are often harder to sell. "With major social and economic questions at stake, such as the future of work and distribution of wealth, it is important for public debate to be well-founded," they continue. "Debate needs evidence and insight into the disruptive potential and opportunities created by new forms of business or social networks, as well as attention to the direct impact on particular tasks or jobs." Obviously understanding why distorted narratives emerge plays a key role, but the report also makes a number of recommendations for practitioners to adopt to improve matters: Take lessons from the discussion of previous emerging technologies, so that discourse can reflect the differing levels of confidence or uncertainty in different types of technologies and over different periods. Reshape AI narratives to encapsulate a wider range of analogies that almost always revolve around the extremes of utopian and dystopian fantasies. If these stories can contain richer social and cultural diversity then even better. These narratives could also emerge in new ways. The authors highlight a number of spaces that have emerged in recent years to support informed dialogue around AI, with the Royal Society themselves hosting a regular public lecture series, called You and AI. This could also involve greater efforts to train and educate the public on AI and the technologies behind it. It's not an exhaustive list, but the paper is interesting in that it not only draws on practitioners from the AI field, but also those from other fields that have suffered the slings and arrows of controversy and earned the battle scars to prove it. As such, it provides some valuable lessons on not only how important the narrative around any new technology is, but how it can be guided such that the public are both informed and involved. "Attempting to control public narratives is neither achievable nor desirable, but present limitations may be at least partly addressed by communicating uncertainty through learning from narratives about other disruptive technologies; widening the body of available narratives, drawing in a wider range of authors and protagonists; and creating spaces for public dialogues," the authors conclude. Time will tell whether society sufficiently heeds their advice and we get a slightly more realistic narrative forming about the pluses and minuses of artificial intelligence. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/01/09/is-the-popular-narrative-harming-development-of-ai/ |
How American Should American Schools Be? | Part of the impetus behind modern education reform is the idea that more of the education system should be operated by business. Many merits and drawbacks of that approach continue to be debated, but one aspect is rarely discussed. Charter schools have been one path by which foreign nationals can become involved in the US education system. The most notable example is the schools of the so-called Gulen charter chain. The Sunni imam Fethullah Glen (who is almost always awarded the adjective "reclusive") move to the US in 1999 for medical treatment. Within a decade, he had created a wide-ranging group of charter schools. The chain has been used to issue H-1B visas to large numbers of Turkish nationals to come teach; numerous reports claim that they are also expected to kick back part of their salary. The schools are also accused of funneling money to groups such as Gulen-linked construction companies. While some conservative critics worry about Gulen schools as indoctrination centers, many others are concerned that the Gulen schools are using US taxpayer dollars to fund a government in exile. At the very least, Gulen schools put US students in the middle of a foreign power struggle; the Erdogan government has actively worked to undermine the chain, and the 2016 Turkish coup attempt was blamed on Gulen. That's just one charter chain, but it's one of the largest chains in the country, with as many as 150 schools (not all schools are eager to advertise their Gulen connection, so counts vary). But in most states, charter schools are run as businesses, allowing for investors and operators from across the globe. The explosion of education technology has opened other pathways for foreign influence in US public education, and raised some important questions. In April, writing for EdSurge, Jenny Abamu asked the question "What Happens To Student Data Privacy When Chinese Firms Acquire U.S. EdTech Companies," and the question is not rhetorical. This year the Chinese company Netdragon acquired Edmodo, an education learning platform, for a hefty $137.5 million. Speculation is that the acquisition has far less to do with Edmodo's revenues (which have been described as "struggling") and more to do with the 90 million users and the data they have generated. If data is the new oil, then many ed tech companies are sitting on rapidly filing tanks that will attract attention from businesses all around the globe. Chinese firms are working hard to get a piece of the ed tech pie (one analyst predicts that the analytics sector of ed alone will be a $7 billion business by 2023). Squirrel AI Learning, one of the biggest ed tech companies in China, has hired experts from Knewton (the Pearson ed tech wing) and just announced that it was bringing on Tom Mitchell, Dean of Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, as their Chief AI Officer. Squirrel AI Learning provides a good example of the potential problems on the horizon. Their AI+ model, already in wide use in China, leaves only about 30% of classes to be taught by live human teachers. The other 70% are taught by AI software, meaning that the educational decisions are being made by the programmers who create and manage that software. We still need to have a conversation about whether educational decisions should be made by educators or ed tech programmers, but it adds a whole new level of concern when those technicians are not actually in this country. There is nothing inherently wrong with foreign involvement in US businesses, though Americans have experienced some shock as iconic American products from beer to jeans have become the business of foreign interests. But these days it is in the very nature of business to be multi-national. We've talked about the problems of privatizing public education, cutting it loose from the traditional democratic processes of an elected school board and handing decision making power to a business-style operation. But what would it mean to American education to send those decision making powers to another country entirely. If we're going to turn American public education into a business, there's no reason to assume that it would be an American business. Perhaps a multinational education system would be great. Perhaps turning over what is essentially an arm of our government to other countries would be disastrous. Perhaps the wealthy would send their children to private American-run schools, while education for the lower classes would be outsourced. Perhaps a multinational school system could treat our multi-ethnic student population better than we do ourselves. Perhaps selling off our school system to companies in other countries would be our final mark of shame and failure. The only thing that is certain is that we are failing to discuss any of these potential implications. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/01/09/how-american-should-american-schools-be/ |
What Does David Wright's Release Mean For The 2019 New York Mets? | The long goodbye to David Wrights major league career continued Monday, when the Mets released their longtime captain and the best position player ever employed by the franchise. That should be the final act in a farewell whose highlight act took place during the final weekend of the 2018 season, when Wright made what he acknowledged will be the last three plate appearances as a baseball player. But because of the nature of Wrights forced exit, and because these are the Mets, the financial implications of Wrights long goodbye will continue until long after 2020, which is the final season on the eight-year deal he signed following the 2012 season. Wright, who can no longer play due to a litany of neck, shoulder and back injuries, finished last season with $27 million remaining $15 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2020 on his contract. He could not collect that money if he officially retired, so the release of Wright means the Mets reached a settlement agreement with their insurance company that alleviates the short-term burden on the Mets while ensuring Wright gets most of the money he was guaranteed. According to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Mets restructured Wrights 2019 salary as follows: Wright, who was named a special assistant to owner Jeff Wilpon and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen on Monday, will receive $4 million by Thursday. He will receive another $5 million during the season. In addition, Wright will receive $6 million deferred, at 2.5 percent interest compounded monthly. Hell receive three payments of $2 million apiece on July 1 (i.e. Bobby Bonilla Day) each year from 2021 through 2023 before receiving the interest of about $800,000 on Dec. 31, 2023. So in the end, for Wright, the $15 million he would have made this season turns into just shy of $16 million. The big questions now are how will the restructured Wright contract impact the Mets in 2019. The next six weeks will tell that tale. But heres something to remember: Way back in late 1999, the Mets followed up their most infamous deferral of the $5.9 million due to Bonilla by acquiring pitcher Mike Hampton, who was signed for 2000 at $5.75 million. Awfully neat coincidence. In addition, Wilpon has said the money the Mets spent on Wrights insurance policy counts against the budget. We had to pay for the policy, which is not cheap, Wilpon told reporters in January 2018. In other words, while Wrights career might officially be over, the drama regarding the impact the Mets will allow his salary to have on their payroll is far from complete. Theres another $12 million to restructure and parse for 2020. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybeach/2019/01/09/what-does-david-wrights-release-mean-for-the-2019-new-york-mets/ |
Will Sirius XM Move Higher For 11 Years in a Row? | This is going to be a big month -- and a big year -- for Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI). The satellite radio provider offered up a sneak peek of some of its fourth-quarter performance metrics and initiated guidance for the year ahead shortly after Tuesday's market close. Pandora (NYSE: P) investors are also set to vote on Sirius XM's acquisition offer in three weeks, on the morning of Jan. 29. Sirius XM closed out 2018 with 28.9 million self-pay subscribers, 1.4 million more than it had when the year began. Total paid subscribers rose 1.3 million over the past 12 months to hit 34 million. Sirius XM didn't blurt out its actual financial metrics, but it did announce that it expects to meet or exceed its earlier guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. In short, there shouldn't be any bombshells going off when it makes the numbers official in a few weeks. Katy Perry at a Sirius XM Hits 1 interview. More Image source: Sirius XM Holdings. These go to eleven Sirius XM shares have been surprisingly resilient. Investors have been treated to 10 consecutive years of positive returns, and 2019 is off to a strong start. The stock has moved 11% higher through the first five trading days of the new year. 2009: Up 383.3% 2010: 170.7% 2011: 12.1% 2012: 58.5% 2013: 22.9% 2014: 0.3% 2015: 16.3% 2016: 9.5% 2017: 21.5% 2018: 7.3% 2019: 11.2% (so far) It's fair to say that the first five years of this rally were far more lucrative than the last five years. The stock's biggest year over the past five is the rather modest 21.5% it scored in 2017. Only one of the first five years delivered a lower return than that. However, there's a creature comfort to the stock's stability these days. The stock's five-year beta clocks in at a yawn-inducing 1.07, with its one-year beta checking in at an even more pedestrian 0.91. Sirius XM sees another year of slow-yet-steady growth on all fronts in 2019. The guidance it initiated on Tuesday afternoon is calling for $6.1 billion in revenue, $2.3 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $1.6 billion in free cash flow, rising 6.6%, 2.5%, and 6.7%, respectively, off its latest 2018 outlook. Sirius XM also said it expects self-pay net additions to approach 1 million in 2019, a number that may be disheartening to anyone who doesn't have a sense for how things tend to play out for the media giant. Sirius XM was also targeting net additions of self-pay accounts to decelerate to 1 million in 2018 when the year began. It wound up blasting through that target by 40% to hit 1.4 million. Conservative guidance has been the default setting at the satellite radio monopoly over the years, and it's paid off for investors who haven't experienced a down year in more than a decade now. The odds favor another winning year for Sirius XM, and it's already taken a few big steps in that direction this young month. More From The Motley Fool Rick Munarriz owns shares of Pandora Media. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Pandora Media. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | https://news.yahoo.com/sirius-xm-move-higher-11-143000441.html |
Are Investors Undervaluing Honda Motor (HMC) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. Honda Motor (HMC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.35, while its industry has an average P/E of 7.68. HMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.71 and as low as 6.35, with a median of 8.48, all within the past year. Investors should also recognize that HMC has a P/B ratio of 0.65. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.91. HMC's P/B has been as high as 0.88 and as low as 0.59, with a median of 0.72, over the past year. Finally, our model also underscores that HMC has a P/CF ratio of 2.94. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 2.97. Over the past year, HMC's P/CF has been as high as 4.16 and as low as 2.69, with a median of 3.30. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Honda Motor is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, HMC feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-honda-motor-hmc-141002495.html |
Are Investors Undervaluing Ford (F) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits. Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now. Ford (F) is a stock many investors are watching right now. F is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.56, which compares to its industry's average of 10.18. Over the past 52 weeks, F's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.68 and as low as 5.67, with a median of 7.15. Investors should also note that F holds a PEG ratio of 1.24. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. F's industry has an average PEG of 1.39 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, F's PEG has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.83. Investors should also recognize that F has a P/B ratio of 0.90. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.37. Over the past year, F's P/B has been as high as 1.51 and as low as 0.83, with a median of 1.19. Finally, investors should note that F has a P/CF ratio of 2.27. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.25. Over the past year, F's P/CF has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 2.09, with a median of 2.65. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Ford is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, F feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-ford-f-now-141002299.html |
Are Investors Undervaluing L Brands (LB) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.64, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.11. LB's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.98 and as low as 9.07, with a median of 11.86, all within the past year. Investors should also note that LB holds a PEG ratio of 0.97. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LB's industry has an average PEG of 1.13 right now. Within the past year, LB's PEG has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.82, with a median of 1.03. Finally, our model also underscores that LB has a P/CF ratio of 6.05. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 7.79. Over the past year, LB's P/CF has been as high as 10.32 and as low as 5.07, with a median of 6.71. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that L Brands is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, LB feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report L Brands, Inc. (LB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-l-brands-lb-141002065.html |
What's the world's most powerful passport in 2019? | CLOSE If you've noticed you no longer look like your passport photo, it may be time to renew. Here's what you need to know for a smooth renewal. 10Best Editors, USA TODAY 10Best The Japan passport recently claimed the top spot on the Henley Passport Index, enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japan for the second year in a row. The Japanese passport offers visa-free travel to 190 destinations, beating out Singapore and South Korea, which tied in second place and France and Germany, which ranked third. With access to 185 destinations, the U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is a slip back from the America's fifth place ranking last year, and a major step down from 2015, where the U.S. and the U.K. tied as the most powerful passports of that year. More: Do this so you don't lose your passport More: Marriott says fewer customers were affected by massive data breach than originally feared Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ |
What is a citizens assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit? | Calls are growing to convene a citizens assembly on Brexit. Several influential groups and figures have suggested adopting a form of citizens assembly, as used in the Irish referendum debate, to find a way to break the Brexit impasse. In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea. Here we take a look at what a citizens assembly would entail. A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the definition put forward by the House of Commons library. The Guardian view on Brexit: the government has failed its time to go back to the people | Editorial Read more Citizens assemblies give members of the public the time and opportunity to learn about and discuss a topic, before reaching conclusions, it says. Assembly members are asked to make trade-offs and arrive at workable recommendations. Facilitated by experts and combining small-group discussions with large-scale debates and a series of votes, members meet over a series of weekends with the goal of removing the conflicts of interest and tribal loyalties that can hamper politicians in reaching a conclusion. A cross-section of the public is employed to study the options available to the state on certain questions and propose answers through rational and reasoned discussion and the use of various methods of inquiry, such as directly questioning experts. In many cases, the state will require the proposals to be accepted through a referendum before becoming law. The people who take part are chosen randomly so they reflect the wider population in terms of demographics age, gender, ethnicity and social class. The number of members involved can vary. A recent citizens assembly, formed to examine social care provision in England, had 47 members who were English citizens and eligible to vote in UK general elections. Citizens assemblies, and other similar methods, have been used in the UK and other countries, including Australia, Canada and the US, to address a range of complex issues. One of the most prominent to take place in recent years was the assembly established by the Irish parliament to address a number of important legal and policy issues including abortion. A panel of 99 people, after convening in a Dublin hotel over a series of weekends, helped to break the impasse that led to the historic referendum last year. In its editorial, the Guardian argues that in order to break the current Brexit gridlock, MPs should open up the debate to the country by establishing a citizens assembly to examine the options and issues that face the nation. After this, it says, parliament should have the right, if it so chooses, to put these alternatives to the public in a referendum this year or next. Last month, the campaign group Compass was among the signatories to a letter calling for a citizens assembly on Brexit. It wants an assembly to be set up where 500 members of the public, picked at random, would hear evidence on Brexit. Neal Lawson, the chair of Compass, said: Parliament is fast reaching an impasse. It is time to hand the decision over to a deliberative panel of citizens to decide the best way forward for the country. Other signatories to the letter included the Blur frontman Damon Albarn, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, the Labour peer Ruth Lister, the novelists Jonathan Coe and Ian McEwan, and Alexandra Runswick from the pressure group Unlock Democracy. The Labour MP Stella Creasy has also backed the idea. | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/what-is-a-citizens-assembly-brexit-explainer |
How much could Mackenzie Bezos get in a divorce? | Jeff Bezos' divorce could become the most expensive in history exactly what he pays out will depend on the complexities of marital law and the value of Amazon. Bezos announced in a tweet Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have "decided to divorce." His tweet suggested that it will be an amicable parting, saying "we remain a family and we remain cherished friends." And it's possible that any settlement and support he gives MacKenzie is negligible in the context of his wealth, which at the latest tally was around $137 billion. But Washington state, where the Bezoses live, is a community property state. That means that any wealth made during their marriage could be split equally between the two. Since Amazon was founded a year after the Bezoses were married, MacKenzie could argue that she is entitled to half of Bezos' entire Amazon-based fortune $137 billion at latest count. That means she could get as much as $66 billion based on the value of the company today. To fund a settlement that big, Bezos would have sell or pledge shares, which could dilute his ownership and control of the company. Bezos owns just under 80 million shares of Amazon, or just under 16 percent of the company, according to regulatory filings. But divorce attorneys say that is highly likely MacKenzie would want the family fortune to continue to grow and that is tied large part to Jeff Bezos' control of the company. So she would be unlikely to push for a settlement that would require him to sell shares that would dilute his control and any reduction of his 15 percent stake in the company. "The issue will be how to value the assets with diminished control," said Jeffrey Fisher, a divorce attorney in West Palm Beach who has handled several billionaire divorces. "There would be an argument by the attorneys that the Amazon stake is not worth as much without Bezos in control, so that would affect any settlement." The most expensive U.S. divorce so far is believed to be Steve and Elaine Wynn in 2010, which was estimated at $1 billion. Oil tycoon Harold Hamm famously wrote a check for $974.8 million in 2012 for his divorce. | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/09/how-much-could-mackenzie-bezos-get-in-a-divorce.html |
Are we making cooking too hard? | For every person I talk to who is confident about cooking, there are at least two others who tense up at the thought of cooking more often or cooking at all. Here's how to get beyond the fear. On Nutrition Cooking is one of the best things we can do for ourselves, an act of self-care for the body, mind and, yes, soul. But I see a strange divide in attitudes toward cooking. On the one hand, cookbook sales went up 21 percent in the first half of 2018, compared with a year prior. (While the increase was driven in part by sales of HGTV celeb Joanna Gaines Magnolia Table, another major contributor was a general uptick in home cooking.) On the other hand, for every person I talk to who is confident about cooking, there are at least two others who tense up at the thought of cooking more often or cooking at all. I blame the myth that cooking gourmet meals at home is supposed to be easy and that if its not, youre a failure. Gorgeous food photos (aka food porn) on Instagram, Pinterest and in glossy food magazines. Celebrity chefs who make whipping up a meal look effortless. (Note that food shows tend to be long on witty banter and short on dirty pots and pans.) Cookbooks and not just the ones filled with glossy color photos. Let me explain. While quick-recipe how-tos are a top-selling cookbook category, on the whole, cookbooks dont cater to beginners. Now, I love cookbooks Id better; I own close to 300 but they serve mainly for reference and inspiration. Most of the recipes nestled in these volumes belong in the category of Lets make that this weekend, not Its 6 p.m. on a weeknight and I need to get dinner on the table before someone gets hangry. Only when Ive tried a recipe with resounding success, and the ingredient list is relatively short, does it get promoted to weeknight status. In fact, when you want to cook from scratch quickly, it is generally best NOT to follow a recipe. Im not alone in this opinion. Nosrat has said she was reluctant to include recipes in a book about cooking without a recipe, but she knows that recipes can serve as a safety net for those who arent professional cooks. But she did exclude photos, because when what you make doesnt look like the photo which it never does, because those images have been styled, often professionally perfectionism can rear its ugly head. So if you tend to dismiss cookbooks without photos, perhaps reconsider. Kitchen GPS Ive long felt that always cooking from a recipe is a little like always using GPS to get from point A to point B you never strengthen your own internal navigation, and when a recipe starts to go sideways, you wont know how to course-correct. Learn basic techniques and skills. Once you have them, you can deploy them at a moments notice to create a nutritious, enjoyable, satisfying meal for yourself and others. Itll save you time and money because you can work from a short ingredient list of your own choosing instead of hunting down unfamiliar ingredients, the unused portions left to rot in your fridge or languish in the pantry. Nosrats and Lpez-Alts books can help with this, and so can taking some hands-on cooking classes. Both PCC Natural Markets and The Pantry offer technique-based classes. When choosing recipes, look beyond time. Better recipes include not just times or time ranges (bake for 30-35 minutes or saut onions for 10 minutes), but descriptions of what the ingredient or dish should look or feel like. Cooks Illustrated magazine is excellent for this, and I recently learned that they have readers test prospective recipes. If fewer than 80 percent say they would make the recipe again, they go back to the test kitchen as often as needed to make sure every recipe is a winner. Meal kits may or may not be a solution. Each meal kit is one meal you dont need to shop for, and you can be confident you wont be stuck with extra ingredients like three-quarters of a bunch of cilantro but youre still cooking from a new-to-you recipe, and possibly on a weeknight. Even when the results are tasty, Ive personally found meal kits to be too much trouble. But you may feel differently. Do your mise en place. One reason cooking looks easy on your favorite food show is mise en place, a French culinary phrase loosely translated as everything in its place. When you measure, chop and organize your ingredients before you actually start cooking, the process will be much more relaxed and enjoyable. There are few things worse than realizing you need to add the onion to the pan right now and you havent chopped it yet. Even better, mise en place gives you time to clean up as you cook, giving you more time to watch Netflix after dinner. | https://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/are-we-making-cooking-too-hard/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Will Pelosi or Trump be the 'unstoppable force' over the border wall? | What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? So asks the unstoppable force paradox, whose roots go back to the third century, B.C. After listening to Tuesday nights addresses by President Trump and Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, one might ask the same for American politics. The government shutdown appears no closer to resolution. The issue underlying it funding for a border wall with Mexico continues to be a microcosm of the broader impasse over immigration. Few issues ignite a firestorm like the issue of immigration. Its power to motivate political argument makes sense, for behind it stand fundamental questions of law and order, national security, political identity, and human rights. It touches on some of our most fundamental principles and deepest self-understandings. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC IN FOX NEWS OPINION: Marc Thiessen: Trump started the shutdown but Democrats are about to own it Tuesday night reaffirmed just how far apart our two political parties are on those principles. President Trump, as well as Senate Minority Leader Schumer and House Speaker Pelosi, presented subdued demeanors in their respective addresses. Yet while their tones lacked the passion that has attended this debate, their words stoked it anew. This is not to say that both sides did not try to claim some common ground. President Trump affirmed legal immigration as a great benefit for American society. He further emphasized that the problem along the southern border is a humanitarian crisis, not just one of security. Speaker Pelosi declared, We all agree that we need to secure our borders, with Senator Schumer adding, We sharply disagree with the president about the most effective way to do it. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP Taken at face value, these comments might give some hope for a compromise amenable to both sides. They might portend a bargain that enforces immigration law possibly with a wall while addressing the situation of those illegal immigrants who are already here. But the reality of our politics is starkly different. Significant elements of the Democratic Party do intend to end illegal immigration. But, contrary to the statements made by Pelosi and Schumer, they seek to do so by eliminating all restrictions on it. And contrary to President Trumps remarks, a growing portion of the Republican Party criticizes both illegal and legal immigration. Regardless of who you think more correct, this gap stretches the two sides well outside the supposed common starting points articulated last night. In the end, the unstoppable force paradox is inherently inconsistent. A truly unstoppable force categorically denies the possibility of an immovable object. You cant have both only one, if any. Time will tell. | https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/will-pelosi-or-trump-be-the-unstoppable-force-over-the-border-wall |
What Are Celgene's Key Sources of Revenue? | Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) is a global biopharmaceuticals company, which has recently entered into a merger agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in a deal valued at $74 billion. Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases worldwide. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. ~ which highlights the drug-wise breakup of revenues and profits for Celgene. You can also modify the revenue and profit drivers to see the impact on the companys overall revenues and profits. Celgene operates in two key therapeutic areas ~ Hematology /Oncology, and Inflammation & Immunology. The companys blockbuster drug Revlimid is used for the treatment of multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The drug has seen stellar sales growth from $5.8 billion in 2015 to an estimated $9.7 billion in 2018. The drugs peak sales are estimated to be as high as $15 billion by 2022, when it nears its patent expiration. The MDS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% till 2022 to an estimated $2.4 billion, and Revlimids share is estimated to be over 90%. However, in the MCL market it faces strong competition from Imbruvica and Rituxan. Pomalyst is another billion dollar drug for Celgene, with sales estimated to be over $2 billion in 2018. It is also used for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Otezla is used to treat psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, with estimated sales of over $1 billion in 2018. Overall, these three drugs account for roughly 90% of the companys total revenues. Looking at operating margins, they grew from 28% in 2016 to 36% in 2017, and are estimated to be 34% in 2018, as per the companys guidance, which translates into $5.2 billion profit. Celgenes late stage pipeline is attractive with ozanimod in immunology and inflammation, and luspatercept, liso-cel (JCAR017), bb2121, and fedratinib in hematology. These drugs have potential peak sales of over $10 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced its plan to merge with Celgene. The combined entity will have revenues of over $37 billion, and earnings could be as high as $6 per share in the coming years, according to our estimates (See Bristol-Myers Squibb & Celgene Combined Could Generate Earnings of Over $6 Per Share In The Coming Years). Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/09/what-are-celgenes-key-sources-of-revenue/ |
Who's on the ballot this spring in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area? | Buy Photo The spring municipal and school elections are shaping up. The deadline to file for candidacy was Jan. 2. (Photo: Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo The spring election season is gearing up, with the deadline to file for candidacy Jan. 2. There is the most interest in races for the Menomonee Falls Village Board, where races are shaping up in each of the four trustee seats up for election. No primaries are necessary in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area. The general election will be April 2. Here's a list of who has filed: Town of Lisbon Chairman Joseph Osterman,N51 W24181 Lisbon Road (inc.) Supervisor 4 Rebecca Plotecher,N79 W25605 Plainview Road (inc.) Supervisor 2 Marc Moonen, W227 N8023 Tamarack Road (inc) Village of Butler President (one seat, two-year term) Patricia Tiarks, 4724 N. 127th St., Butler (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) William Benjamin, 12920 W. Hampton Ave. (inc.) Mark Holdmann, 13040 W. Lucille Lane (inc.) Thomas Sardina, 12907 W. Cameron Ave. (inc.) Paul Kasdorf, 12807 W. Eggert Place Municipal judge (one seat, three-year term) Roger Benjamin, 4633 N. 125th St. (inc.) Village of Germantown President (one seat, three-year term) Dean Wolter, S169 N10224 Larkspur Lane (inc.) Village of Lannon President (one seat, two-year term) Tom Gudex, 7051 Parkview Drive (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) Patrick Yates, 21802 S. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Alex Gizelbach, 6974 N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Steve Reek, 21790D N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Municipal judge (one seat) Laurie Dutcher, 7099 N. Parkview Drive, (inc.) Village of Menomonee Falls Trustee (four seats) Seat 3 (one-year term) Brian Schneider, N53 W16254 Whitetail Run Tim Newman, N82 W16121 Pine Tree Court, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051 Seat 4 (three-year term) Jeremy Walz, W171 N9345 Briarwood Terrace (inc.) Bryant Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive Seat 5 (three-year term) Bonnie Lemmer, N90 W17492 Saint Thomas Drive (inc.) Steven Taggart, N85 W17082 Lee Place Seat 6 (three-year term) Paul Tadda, W142 N6673 Memory Road (inc.) Kevel Anderson, N60 W15491 Hidden Hollow Court Village of Sussex Trustee (two seats, three-year terms) Lee Uecker, W240 N6191 Maple Avenue (inc.) Matt Carran, W241 N7359 S. Woodsview Drive (inc.) Gregory Zoellick, N66 W24034 Champeny Road Germantown School District three seats, three-year terms Seat 6 Michael Loth, W153N9899 Neptune Drive, Germantown (inc.) Seat 4 Brian Medved, 4288 Kennedy Circle South, Colgate (inc.) Seat 2 Ray Borden, W161N10785 Creek Terrace Court, Germantown (inc.) Hamilton School District three seats, three-year terms At-large seat Jennifer Waltz W241 N5985 Goldencrest Court, Sussex (inc.) Lori Schnitzka, N88 W24734 N Lisbon Road, Sussex Butler seat Rebecca Zingsheim, 12729 W. Derby Place, Butler (inc.) Sussex seat Gabe Kolesari, W241 N5728 Birchwood Lane, Sussex (inc.) Menomonee Falls School District three seats, three-year terms Michele Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive (inc.) Cathy Olig, N77 W15424 Crossway Drive (inc.) Faith VanderHorst, N64 W15924 Wildflower Drive (inc.) Lowell Kellogg, W147 N6677 Ash Drive Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ | https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ |
How much could Mackenzie Bezos get in divorce with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos? | Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos attend the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo: Dia Dipasupil, Getty Images) Jeff Bezos' divorce could become the most expensive in history exactly what he pays out will depend on the complexities of marital law and the value of Amazon. Bezos announced in a tweet Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have "decided to divorce." His tweet suggested that it will be an amicable parting, saying "we remain a family and we remain cherished friends. And it's possible that any settlement and support he gives MacKenzie is negligible in the context of his wealth, which at the latest tally was around $137 billion. More: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce after 25 years of marriage But Washington state, where the Bezos' live, is a community property state. That means that any wealth made during their marriage could be split equally between the two. Since Amazon was founded a year after the Bezos' were married, MacKenzie could argue that she is entitled to half of Bezos' entire Amazon-based fortune $137 billion at latest count. That means she could get as much as $66 billion based on the value of the company today. To fund a settlement that big, Bezos would have sell or pledge shares, which could dilute his ownership and control of the company. Bezos owns just under 80 million shares of Amazon, or just under 16 percent of the company, according to regulatory filings. But divorce attorneys say that is highly likely MacKenzie would want the family fortune to continue to grow and that is tied large part to Jeff Bezos' control of the company. So she would be unlikely to push for a settlement that would require him to sell shares that would dilute his control and any reduction of his 15 percent stake in the company. "The issue will be how to value the assets with diminished control," said Jeffrey Fisher, a divorce attorney in West Palm Beach who has handled several billionaire divorces. "There would be an argument by the attorneys that the Amazon stake is not worth as much without Bezos in control, so that would affect any settlement." The most expensive U.S. divorce so far is believed to be Steve and Elaine Wynn in 2010, which was estimated at $1 billion. Oil tycoon Harold Hamm famously wrote a check for $974.8 million in 2012 for his divorce. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/09/jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-how-much-could-she-get-divorce/2524144002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/09/jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-how-much-could-she-get-divorce/2524144002/ |
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