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Why is it called "leap" year? | Sign Up For Newsletters What's behind the push for a 4th stimulus check Oral COVID-19 vaccine being tested in LA-area research center You've been vaccinated. Michigan officials request help as COVID-19 cases surge Fauci on what Johnson & Johnson vaccine reactions could mean for women Ex-cop who stopped fellow cop's chokehold on suspect to get pension Under Trump border rule that Biden has kept, few can seek asylum Decision could come today on lifting "pause" in J&J vaccine use House committees to vote on D.C. statehood and reparations bills Watch Live: Biden to announce withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by 9/11 Six rescued, search on for 13 more after boat capsizes off Louisiana Decision expected on charging cop who killed Daunte Wright Jamie Wax explains the meaning behind leap year. Jamie Wax explains the meaning behind leap year. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On | https://www.cbsnews.com/video/why-is-it-called-leap-year/ |
What is the Greensill lobbying scandal and who is involved? | The most serious controversy about government lobbying and cronyism for years is unfolding in the UK and it is a complex story. Set up by the Australian financier Lex Greensill, it specialises in supply-chain finance, which settles business bills immediately for a fee, assisting with the issue of late payments. Greensill began working with the NHS as part of Citibank in 2012, but then set up his own firm. This collapsed in March. Cameron was prime minister when Greensill started to seek government work, although the Australian was reportedly first brought in by Jeremy Heywood, who was cabinet secretary at the time. But in 2016, after leaving office, Cameron became an adviser to Greensill Capital. He was given share options reportedly worth tens of millions of pounds. Last year he sent multiple texts to Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and informally phoned two other Treasury ministers, asking for Greensill Capital to get the largest possible allocation of government-backed loans under the Covid corporate financing facility, or CCFF. He also lobbied a No 10 aide, and in 2019 took Greensill to a private drink with Matt Hancock, the health secretary. Text replies from Sunak in 2019, released after a freedom of information request, show that in April last year the chancellor told Cameron he had pushed the team in the Treasury to see if he could arrange full access to CCFF loans. Other released documents show Treasury officials had a series of meetings with Greensill Capital but eventually refused it access to the CCFF. The company was later accredited to the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS), handing it the ability to offer government-backed loans of up to 50m. On Tuesday it emerged that the governments chief commercial officer, Bill Crothers, began working as an adviser to Greensill Capital in 2015 while still employed in the civil service. Remarkably, he was given official approval to do this. On Wednesday, Boris Johnson declined to rule out the possibility that more officials could have been connected to the company. There are several. One is how Greensill became so embedded within Camerons Downing Street. He had a No 10 business card calling him a senior adviser and was nominated by Haywood for a CBE. There are also questions over why the government, which does not have cashflow problems, needed to use supply chain finance. Camerons role is under particular scrutiny. He appears to have used personal contacts to seek preferential treatment for a company in which he had a financial stake. Sunaks pledge that he had pushed the team to help also raised eyebrows. Finally, the dual role of Crothers has prompted new worries about a revolving door between Whitehall and private companies that then benefit from government contracts. For 30 days, nothing. Then, on Sunday he released a statement saying he had done nothing wrong, but accepting his communications with ministers should have been done through only the most formal of channels, so there can be no room for misinterpretation. The ex-PM said reports of the value of his share options had been exaggerated, but declined to say how much they would have been worth. No 10 said on Monday it was launching an independent investigation into Camerons lobbying, led by the corporate lawyer and government adviser Nigel Boardman. Labour has questioned Boardmans independence and called for a wider inquiry, based around a cross-party panel of MPs, and has called a Commons debate to seek this. The government is opposing the idea, saying it would cross over too much with existing committees. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/14/what-is-greensill-lobbying-scandal-who-involved |
Does Jamal Murray's Injury End the Nuggets' Title Hopes? | Denver had finally unlocked the best version of its team in years, but the loss of Murray to a knee injury is a devastating blow to its championship dreams. The Nuggets lost star Jamal Murray for the remainder of the season after a torn ACL in Mondays loss to the Warriors. Murray exploded in the playoffs last season and was behind the Nuggets historic postseason run in which the team overcame two 31 series deficits. The Crossover staff reacts to Murrays injury and whats next for the Nuggets. Maybe, but I cant think of any recent examples. Its hard to see the Nuggets overcoming Murrays absence, and all that goes with him: the playmaking, the scoring, the shot creation, the clutch shooting, the dynamic pick-and-roll partnership with Nikola Joki. Then again, this is not a normal season. And the Nuggets are not a typical contender when it comes to their roster construction. Their offense runs primarily through Joki, who serves as their hub and lead playmaker. For most teams, losing an All-Starcaliber point guard would be fatal. But the Nuggets can survive, because of Joki. The blossoming of Michael Porter Jr., and the addition of Aaron Gordon also give them some cushion. The West race is muddled, at best. LeBron James and Anthony Davis havent played in weeks (and have never played with the Lakers new starting center, Andre Drummond). The Jazz and Suns are impressive, but unproven in the postseason. No one can forget their 2020 flameout. A healthy Lakers team is still probably the best bet to win the West. But at the moment, the race looks wide open. Every team has its blemishes and concerns. Before Murray went down, the Nuggets looked potent enough to break through the crowd. The task is considerably tougher without himbut not impossible. In this strange season, anythings possible. Rohan Nadkarni Short-term, the Murray injury almost definitely ends the Nuggets title hopes in 2021. The only way I see them winning a championship this year is if other contenders are also dealing with major injuries, and thats obviously a possibility. As great as Joki has beenand hes probably the MVP favoriteI dont think Denver has the depth in the backcourt to overcome a Murray injury. The Facu Campazzo minutes were always going to be an adventure come playoff time; if Mike Malone has to rely on him even more I dont know how thats going to work out. Fortunately, I do think Denver still has great long-term prospects! Murray is young enough to overcome this injury. He and Joki are under contract. The Aaron Gordon addition has worked out wonderfully well and he can be retained past his current deal. The Nuggets will still be good for a very long time whenever Murray does get healthy. Its a really crushing injury because of how well the Nuggets have built this roster into a contender. The front office put a lot of faith in Murray and Joki and the two have rewarded them every step of the way. The Gordon trade was a well calculated strike and its a bummer we wont get to see how well he plays off the two stars in a playoff series. While this year is almost assuredly lost, Denvers window is still very much open. Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Michael Pina The loss of Jamal Murray is devastating for obvious reasons. As a rising 24-year-old star on a top-tier title contender in the middle of his finest NBA season, Murrays specific value to the Nuggets is irreplaceable. The team is reliant on him, Nikola Joki and the telepathic connection they share thats allowed each to lift the other higher and higher over the past few seasons. Denvers 122.4 offensive rating when Murray and Joki shared the floor is nearly five points per 100 possessions higher than the best offense in the league (and the best offense in the leaguethe Clippersis also the best offense of all time). When Joki is on the floor without Murray, the Nuggets are -22, and when both stars are on the sideline the team manages to outscore their opposition, albeit with really bad offense and some three-point luck on the other end. Aaron Gordons ability to assume more playmaking responsibilities should be seen as the slightest silver lining, while Michael Porter Jr. appears ready for an expanded offensive role. And so long as both stay healthy, Monte Morris and Facu Campazzo wont take anything off the table as a pair of nails-tough floor generals. None of these players can give Denver what Murray did, though. With him, their ceiling was champion. Now, even reaching the second round should be seen as a huge accomplishment. But given the amount of talentincluding the MVP favoriteexperience and continuity that still remains, the Nuggets still arent a team any other will be particularly excited to face. Chris Herring There's no way around it: It's a devastating injury. Not only for him on a personal level, but for the team, whichwith the addition of Aaron Gordonlooked to have as good a chance as anyone to come out of the West. Yet between what's shown to be an average defense, a shaky bench and a young No. 3 scorer that sometimes looks almost too eager to fire away, Murray's absence feels fatal. Even with likely MVP Nikola Joki playing, Denver's offense has been 11 points worsefrom a world-beating 122.4 points down to 111.3 points per 100 possessionswithout Murray alongside him. As you might imagine, the club has outscored opponents by 339 points in Joki-and-Murray minutes this season. But they've been outscored by 22 in the 550 minutes Joki has had to play without his starting point guard. The Nuggets without Murray are a balloon with its air slowly seeping out. They can potentially stay afloat for a while still. But it feels like there's no real chance of them soaring beyond the second round; a brutal reality for a team that seemingly had no limits just two nights ago. Michael Shapiro Its hard to see the Nuggets really competing for the Western Conference crown without Jamal Murray. The addition of Aaron Gordon should help alleviate the scoring void left my Murrays injury to a degree, but considering the stack of contenders in the West, even a round-one win would be a relative surprise. Murrays torn ACL is especially dispiriting considering Denvers history. This is a franchise that has never reached the Finals, and for most of their existence, the Nuggets were largely considered an NBA afterthought. That perception was changing in a hurry in 202021. Nikola Joki is the MVP favorite as of mid-April, and the Murray-GordonMichael Porter Jr. combo created perhaps the leagues most dynamic quartet. Had Denver been healthy, I would have been tempted to pick the Nuggets for the Finals. Lets hope Murray can return to form sooner than later for a run at the 2022 title. Ben Pickman Its hard to overstate the impact Murrays injury will have on the Nuggets. The 24-year-old is delightful to watch on the court and was in the midst of the best and most productive season of his career, averaging 21.2 points, 4.8 assists and four rebounds per game. When paired with MVP front-runner Nikola Jokic, the two exhibit a chemistry and production that few duos in the league present, recording a +11.5 net rating while on the court together, the second-best mark in the league in two-man lineup combinations that have played more than 1,100 minutes together this season. Since the trade deadline, Denver had also looked like a very legitimate threat to win the West, and maybe even the title. Aaron Gordons addition has been rather seamless, with the team going 72 in games hes played. The five-man lineup of Gordon, Joki, Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Will Barton had fit together nicely, recording a +18.5 net rating in 110 minutes of action. That group was on pace (albeit in a small sample) to score 127.1 points per 100 possession while conceding just under 109 points per 100 possession. Everything, though, will change for the Nuggets with Murray out of the lineup. And what is especially concerning for the franchise is that the injury will very likely impact not just this postseason, but, due to the NBA on track to revert back to its usual schedule next year, impact next years season in a big way as well. MORE NBA STORIES Pina: The evolution of Joel Embiid's mid-range game Mannix: Inside the most competitive NBA award race Shapiro: NBA power rankings Nadkarni: The trade that saved Caris LeVert Beck: Rick Welts is ready to exit the stage | https://www.si.com/nba/2021/04/14/jamal-murray-knee-injury-nuggets |
Are the Panthers Not Done at Quarterback? | Earlier this month, the Carolina Panthers made their move by trading for New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. Carolina threw their name in the hat for Matthew Stafford and was also interested in Deshaun Watson prior to all the allegations being brought against him became public. By trading for Darnold, it seemed initially that the Panthers would build their future around him and eventually trade or release Teddy Bridgewater. However, that might not exactly be the case. Carolina has been continuing to closely study each quarterback in the draft including Ohio State's Justin Fields. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Panthers OC Joe Brady and QB coach Sean Ryan are in attendance for Fields' 2nd Pro Day. Following the trade for Darnold, Panthers GM Scott Fitterer told reporters that the move doesn't change their plans for the draft. "This doesn't take us out of anything in the draft. This doesn't take us out of taking a quarterback, it doesn't take us out of taking any position. What we wanted to do going into this draft, through free agency, and through this trade with Sam was to just get rid of all the needs that we have and get to a place where our roster was in a good spot where we can take the best available player at No. 8. We could always move up and we can always move back. This just puts us in a position to make the right football move for this team going forward." In a similar tone, head coach Matt Rhule also spoke about the impact of the trade and what it means in regards to the No. 8 overall pick. "I think it frees us up to pick the best player available, fill potential needs. Anytime you can get someone who is 23, 24-years old who was the 3rd pick in the draft just a few years ago and we're not giving up an early pick this year, so I think it puts us in a real good position. We drafted well last year and to be quite honest, we need another really strong draft. At the 8th position, we'll be flexible. We'll look to take the best player available and we'll continue to look at quarterbacks. I've continued to be impressed going out and watching some of these guys throw so we'll look at anything and everything. We're not locked into anything." Giving up three draft picks, although not a huge haul, are still three draft picks at the end of the day. You don't just give that kind of draft capital for a guy you hope can be the answer and maybe be a backup to the guy you draft in the first round. That's a type of move that shows you have confidence in the player that you're trading for. Possibly. Then again, if Brady, Rhule, and Fitterer truly fall in love with Fields maybe they do draft him and let he and Darnold compete. It's all a game of unknowns right now and one that we likely won't know the answer to until draft night. You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter: Facebook - @PanthersOnSI Twitter - @SI_Panthers and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_. | https://www.si.com/nfl/panthers/gm-report/are-the-panthers-not-done-at-quarterback |
Will Banks Finally Buy Into Bitcoin? | As bitcoin hovers around all-time highs and regulators give the green light, it may finally be time ... [+] for banks and fintechs to dive into cryptocurrency. getty Bitcoin has had quite a pandemic. Its value has increased 10x to nearly $60,000 per bitcoin since March 2020, and predictably, as the best-known cryptocurrency soars to new heights, institutions start to weigh in and wonder if it isnt such a bad thing after all. Its all happened before. As bitcoin oscillated between $10,000 and $20,000 back in 2017after beginning the year at just $900several exchanges discussed launching bitcoin futures trading, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange was first out of the gate in December. Today, Morgan Stanley MS and Goldman Sachs GS are close to offering bitcoin to their wealth management clients. These companies together manage about $3 trillion, so its understandable why bitcoin enthusiasts eyes lit up (or turned to lasers) when they heard this news. Goldmans newly appointed global head of digital assets told CNBC in March, We are working closely with teams across the firm to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private wealth clients, and that is something we expect to offer in the near term. With bitcoin prices skyrocketing since December 2020, when it stood at approximately $10,000, customers with extra cash in their pockets have been chomping at the bit to get hold of some cryptocurrency. The problem Goldman and Morgan Stanley are solving is that many customers, especially those who prefer to keep their financial transactions outside the digital space, dont know how to buy bitcoin, while more the tech-savvy do so with a few clicks on Robinhood, Coinbase, Cash App or numerous others. There is still a large gap in understanding the bitcoin landscape or a simplified process for how to get started that the masses feel comfortable with. It is no surprise that a February 2021 study by eToro found that women make up only 15% of all bitcoin traders. The composition of bitcoin traders may change soon with the concrete approval of the OCC, which noted in July 2020 that federally chartered banks could provide crypto custody services to consumers. This approval is important as it gives banks of all sizes the ability to participate. One such bank is Tulsa, Oklahoma based Vast Bank, which completed a cryptocurrency transaction on behalf of a customer. This transaction was done via Vast Banks partner Coinbase, which will begin publicly trading its stock on NASDAQ NDAQ under the ticker $COIN today and it set to become the first major digital currency exchange to go public in the US. In a blogpost, the bank noted, Vast believes it is the first nationally chartered financial institution to both purchase and provide custody services for a digital asset on behalf of a customer and directly from their bank account. This accomplishment represents a milestone for federally regulated banks and a big step toward building customer trust and broader adoption of cryptocurrencies. With bitcoin prices bouncing around near all-time highs, it would make sense that more banks will likely follow Vasts lead on the consumer level, and more wealth management firms will follow Goldman and Morgan Stanley. The OCC letter and Vasts successful implementation also opens the door for fintech companies looking to broaden their involvement in the space. Fintech companies looking to get into cryptocurrency will seek out partner banks like Vast with experience in the space. For many years, regulatory uncertainty made dealing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies too risky for boards and investors, but now the way appears clear. The appetite among consumers, who have been hesitant to dive into cryptocurrency since they first heard about it at the Thanksgiving table in 2013, has never been stronger. And companies like Coinbase going public lends further credibility to the space and gives investors who might have been on the fence more confidence in the future of institution-friendly cryptocurrency. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/scarlettsieber/2021/04/14/will-banks-finally-buy-into-bitcoin/ |
Could we save lives by assigning each American a place in line for vaccines? | An 80s-style computer browser window displays a file being transferred with the words "Accessing medical files" beneath it. Imagine a formula that could score each Americans unique risk of dying of COVID-19. Peoples odds would determine their exact number in line for a vaccine. The algorithm would take into account your age, your race, your full medical history and every one of your health insurance claims. It would marry that information with data about vaccine inventories and healthcare locations. Youd get an email, a text or a phone call the week before your vaccine appointment telling you where and when to show up. If you turned down the shot, the next in line would take your spot. The pandemic has brought such an approach far closer to reality than many might guess. Hospital groups in California, Boston, St. Louis and the Upper Midwest used medical records to score members risk of death when choosing who got first priority for shots, vaccine information, treatment or extra support. Its hard to know whether Americans would embrace a vaccine algorithm that tapped into some of their most personal information. Or whether people would accept a formulas determination of who was at most risk of dying, blind to other values such as keeping teachers from missing work due to illness. But if these objections could be overcome, some experts say its possible that the U.S. could save tens of thousands of lives during the next pandemic with a widespread system of vaccine microtargeting. We do have the data, we do have the computational capacity, said Hossein Estiri, an assistant professor of medicine at Mass General and at Harvard who has worked on risk-based vaccine modeling. Its just that we havent figured out the politics to make this happen. Niall Brennan, former chief data officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said more than a dozen states already possess the information theyd need to measure how much a vaccine would benefit each resident. He believes it can be done securely. It doesn't even have to be in one data warehouse or data lake, said Brennan, who is now president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute. It just has to be available in some systematic way. It definitely could have helped with vaccine targeting. Story continues More than 259,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the first Pfizer shot was administered here on Dec. 14. That accounts for nearly half of all Americans who have died in the pandemic. A vaccine rollout based on better health data could have changed the outcome, according to an analysis by Nilanjan Chatterjee and Jin Jin, researchers at Johns Hopkins Universitys Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our model showed that if you prioritized by actual risk you would have saved more lives, Chatterjee said. Whats certain is that the country isnt there yet. Even Chaterjee acknowledges that the introduction of fine-grained priority groups based on vulnerability would have complicated the current vaccine rollout and likely slowed it down. Craig Brammer, formerly with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said microtargeting across the board wouldnt have worked this time around. There has been some truly groundbreaking data science work, but its generally in local pockets where multiple data sources are aggregated into a sufficiently rich data set for precise modeling, said Brammer, now the CEO of The Health Collaborative. It wouldnt have scaled. And even if it had, the pandemic would have been over by the time it rolled out. The rollout Back in October, when the federal government was deciding who would get the first doses of rapidly developed new vaccines, officials contemplated using risk scores for various segments of the population. The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went so far as to model how many deaths would be averted by prioritizing high-risk groups like seniors. CDC epidemiologist Matthew Biggerstaff said in a presentation Oct. 30 that vaccinating all people age 65 and older right after health would save 2% to 11% more lives compared with prioritizing essential workers or adults with other illnesses. Yet the committee ruled out that idea. It opted for a compromise accepting fewer lives saved in exchange for steps to keeping society up and running. It established four phases of eligibility that mixed in highly vulnerable groups like seniors and less vulnerable people in professions like hospital staff and police officers. The former is a data-driven choice; the latter a moral calculation, ethicists say. Beyond a handful of state and local governments, almost no one attempted anything close to the kind of microtargeting that technology could enable. Rather than offering the vaccine by phone to a 67-year-old Latino man with diabetes, some states invited anyone fitting the description obese to show up in a CVS parking lot. Guidelines for which underlying health conditions qualify vary from state to state, resulting in widespread confusion. Last month in Missouri, for instance, you could sign up if you had Type 2 diabetes but not if you had Type 1. Today, more than a dozen states have opened eligibility to all adults. But that doesnt guarantee an appointment. Vaccine sign-up systems have crashed in Massachusetts, Florida, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., fueling frustrations. We could have relied more on risk stratification, said Chatterjee, the Johns Hopkins researcher, describing a system where specific groups of people were scored by their vulnerability to severe illness of death. All of this information on age, preexisting conditions, demographics and socioeconomic patterns could have been incorporated in our vaccine distribution planning at an earlier stage. Chatterjee recently published a study that assigned COVID-19 risk scores for the general U.S. population and the elderly Medicare population incorporating information on age, race, ethnicity, gender, area of residence and pre-existing conditions. The study factored in findings by other researchers that, for example, obesity or uncontrolled diabetes raises your risk of coronavirus death twofold and elderly 25-fold compared with younger age groups. It examined how these combined factors stack up in the population. At the request of USA TODAY, Chatterjee extended his analysis to show what would have happened if these scores had been used to guide vaccine distribution. He took the weekly vaccination rates state by state since January and assumed that they had been distributed to more vulnerable groups. In the end, Chatterjee concluded that at least 27,000 fewer people would have died since January. The analysis looked only at lives saved among people 65 and older; other vulnerable groups also would benefit. If youre both old and have a pre-existing condition, the risk gets multiplied, Chatterjee said. Those people should be prioritized over those who are just old and dont have a preexisting condition. A model like ours that says that could have been helpful early on. Algorithms in the wild Chatterjees solution is more than theoretical. In California, health care data science company Cogitativo teamed up with health insurer Blue Shield of California to build an algorithm using data on its 4 million members. The company assigned each member a COVID-19 risk score used to pinpoint who should receive vaccine information first. Jamie Chan, vice president of clinical quality at Blue Shield of California, told USA TODAY that Cogitativos model was eye-opening. The company used risk scores to target messaging and services to specific members, like homebound seniors with specific health conditions, and sent them food early in the pandemic. More recently, those high-risk members were sent vaccination appointment details. Chan says its a pity this kind of algorithm and rich health insurance data arent being used at the state level. Unfortunately the states used crude levels of data because its easier, she said. I don't think that our government, nationally as well as at the state level, understands what information we have and what we can do to help guide appropriate decision making and care. Brennan, the former Medicare data officer, said all-payer claims databases kept by some states have the information needed to assess risk levels for individual residents. Theoretically, you could absolutely build a model that inputs all of the vaccine eligibility criteria and data from APCDs, he said. Large medical centers, like Mass General Brigham in Boston, are using the data they have on patients to build COVID-19 risk scoring algorithms as well. There, Estiri built an algorithm that uses clinical data on more than 16,000 patients to assign each their risk of dying of COVID-19. This technique could be extremely valuable for determining who is most likely to benefit when resources are limited, such as informing vaccination distribution, he wrote in a study published in February. Still, implementation even in his own hospital has been a tough sell, Estiri admits. The algorithm was approved only for research purposes, so to implement it at the emergency department would require a new review process and new data. Other health systems have had more luck implementing COVID-19 risk algorithms. In December, BJC HealthCare in St. Louis started scoring patients on their risk of death from any cause, including COVID-19, to help guide care at the hospital. Within 24 hours of a patients admission, doctors can access a patients mortality score through a widely used electronic health record system known as Epic, says Randi Foraker, director of the Center for Population Health Informatics and professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who designed the algorithm. Upon reviewing a patients medical chart in Epic, the doctor would see the mortality score and treat accordingly. We used electronic health records and claims data including demographics, diagnoses, medications that have been prescribed and laboratory values, said Foraker, describing the algorithm. The largest hurdle wasnt implementing the technology: We had the governance structure worked out, and we had the trust, she said. The hard part was constantly updating the model with new data on COVID-19 risk factors like underlying conditions. Foraker is in the process of measuring whether the algorithm produced better outcomes for patients than would have occurred without it. At Sanford Health, a health care system with 46 hospitals in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, physicians and researchers built an algorithm that prioritizes incoming patients for either treatment or vaccination, based on their risk of getting severe COVID-19. The algorithm, built using health records from 100,000 patients, is baked into Epic and triggered when a patient tests positive for the virus. For every positive COVID test, we run them through a digital filter that looks for things like obesity, kidney disease, age and ethnic background to say, This person is at a much higher risk of being admitted to the hospital, said Jeremy Cauwels, Sanford Health's chief physician, who helped develop the algorithm. Then, within 48 hours, we call them up to say we want to bring you in for an infusion of antibodies, which can help prevent severe COVID-19 illness by helping the body neutralize the virus. The algorithm also prioritizes for vaccination of vulnerable populations like Native American diabetics, leading the health system to contact patients via phone and mail with appointment scheduling information. Sanford estimated that its delivery of antibodies to more than 2,700 COVID-19 patients, a process that was guided by the algorithm, prevented 15 deaths and averted 80 hospital admissions. Challenges to the formula For all the benefits that microtargeting might offer, critics are skeptical that a prioritization algorithm would have worked nationally. One barrier is how siloed and unequal Americas healthcare system is. The U.S. does not have a national medical system or a system of universal health care, Courtney Campbell, a professor at Oregon State University who teaches medical ethics, said in an email. At least 25 million Americans do not have health care insurance coverage. Access to health care, including access to vaccines, thereby often is a commodity stratified by ability to pay rather than a public or communal good allocation by equality of need and risk profiles. Had the country even attempted to roll out the vaccine with an algorithm relying on clinical evidence and social determinants of health, wrote Campbell, it likely would have contained its own biases that discriminate against some and prioritize others. Surprisingly, at least one study has found vaccinating people at highest risk of death first may not always be the best way to minimize the number of people who die. According to Yonatan Grad, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, immunizing healthy young people and front-line workers who routinely interact with others could, under certain circumstances, more rapidly tamp down the spread of COVID-19 and therefore take away the threat to higher-risk groups. For Arthur Caplan, director of New York University Langone's Division of Medical Ethics, a purely data-driven allocation of vaccines goes against this countrys history and culture. You can come up with algorithms all day long, said Caplan, but America is more concerned with making public health decisions based on moral judgments than what the data says. America doesnt consider the odds when deciding to keep a dying family member on a breathing machine, says Caplan, and it doesnt consider the risk of death when deciding who should be first vaccinated against a fatal virus: These decisions are not data-driven. To Kirk Nahra, a partner at WilmerHale and an expert in health privacy law, building a system that uniquely prioritized Americans by their individual risk scores would have relied on data that didnt exist, taken too long and been seen as too controversial given the nations concerns about privacy and health care data. A system that smacks of Big Brother also might scare some people from getting vaccinated. I think the government wanted to do it in a way that was as non-controversial as they could, Nahra said. There already are people unwilling to get the vaccine. If you add a privacy concern, theres no chance that number goes down. And then there is the ease of administration. "There is a lesson to be learned about simplicity over complication, especially when you have 50 different state captains calling the shots, said Josh Michaud, associate director for global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. A complex risk scoring system might have slowed the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Michaud said. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Bloomberg School and an infectious disease doctor practicing in Pittsburgh, said narrowly prescribing the vaccine for individuals would have been impractical in 2021. It might work in an academic paper, he said. But when telling doctors and nurses whos next in line for a shot, you don't want it to be overly onerous and overly specified. In my view, the overarching goal is taking care of as many high-risk people as possible, Adalja said, without having any vaccines ending up in the trash. One final hurdle would need to be overcome before a singular algorithm could be applied to vaccine distribution nationally: We would have to agree on what we value most. There is a nontrivial question of what the overriding objective of a framework that might be used here is, said Harald Schmidt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies medical ethics, in an email. Different sequences are rational choices if your primary focus is averting deaths versus preventing spread of infection. In many cases, the sequences simply pose dilemmas, and there is no clear right sequence that everyone would find acceptable. Threading the needle Despite the reluctance to use it, the technology remains available to guide medical priorities far more precisely than officials have done since COVID-19 vaccines became available. More leaders private and public are showing interest in threading the needle between life-saving allocation formulas and decisions that are easier to explain to the general public. The Biden administration is making strides in using data to target specific populations for COVID-19 vaccinations. It recently announced that the Vaccine Community Connectors program will enlist health insurers to use enrollee data and socioeconomic indicators of risk to find and enable the vaccination of 2 million seniors age 65+ in Americas most at-risk, vulnerable and underserved communities, according to Americas Health Insurance Plans, which is organizing the effort. David Allen, a spokesperson for the trade group, said insurers signing on to the pilot initiative include Anthem, Blue Shield of California, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente and United. What might work in the next pandemic would be a proliferation of risk scoring algorithms rather than one master plan for the country. Foraker at Washington University in St. Louis is working on a decision support algorithm for the cardiovascular health of cancer survivors across six electronic health record systems. Its a huge lift scaling the system from one health system to another let alone a whole community of health systems, she said. When an algorithm is tuned to a precise population and geography, Foraker said, it makes clearing the data and policy hurdles a lot easier. Because the question is so focused, you can get clinical buy-in if you have a health care provider that really wants this tool implemented with their patients, she said. Thats half the battle. Shawn Murphy, a professor at Harvard Medical School and chief research information officer at Mass General Brigham, said stitching together networks of data sources is increasingly taking place. No place is going to have enough data on every single patient, said Murphy, who worked with Estiri developing the hospitals current COVID-19 risk algorithm. An 86-year-old woman receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic targeting minority community members at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on April 9, 2021, in Los Angeles. St. John's Well Child and Family Center is administering COVID-19 vaccines in churches across South L.A. in an broad effort to bring vaccines to minority communities. But, Murphy said, health insurers, government programs like Medicare and major medical centers like his are increasingly pooling patient data. That does, at the end of the day, give you a very good computational base for algorithms to run on. Like Foraker, Murphy said trust is key. A successful algorithm like one that could be used to allocate vaccines based on ones vulnerability to COVID-19 needs to be clear and explainable to doctors and the public alike. Its really critical for people to be able to understand a model, Murphy said. 'Why are they getting a vaccine and Im not?' If your answer is a super complicated model, that becomes a big political issue. But if you can say, This person is over 85. and youre 50, and that gives him a 10 times greater risk than you have, thats really important. Related This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vaccines: Medical records could decide your place in line | https://news.yahoo.com/could-save-lives-assigning-american-100102655.html |
Will Johnson & Johnson woes make it harder to get COVID-19 vaccine in California? | At first glance, the timing couldnt be worse: thousands of COVID-19 vaccines going on ice at the same time California is preparing to make them available for everyone 16 and older. While officials say the impact here will be limited, at least at first, and theyre confident other supply streams will help the state maintain its inoculation pace, any prolonged interruptions would threaten to slow if not stymie those efforts. Thats especially the case in a state where demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has far outstripped supply, and where millions more people will be newly eligible to roll up their sleeves Thursday. Officials have expressed confidence that the pause wont throw a significant wrench in the states race to widely vaccinate as many people as possible. Less than 4% of Californias allocation from the federal government this week 67,600 out of roughly 2 million doses is from Johnson & Johnson. As the federal government has said, we do not expect a significant impact to our vaccination allocations, state epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said in a statement. Advertisement Officials said the pause in J&J vaccines will not change Californias plan to expand vaccine eligibility this week, nor is it expected to throw off the timeline of fully reopening the economy two months from now. It will not materially impact our ability to fulfill our expectations and commitment to ... fully vaccinate all those that seek to get vaccinated so that we can begin to more fully open our economy by June 15, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. Roughly 902,000 Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered in California, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advertisement Of the 192 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been doled out nationwide, just 7.2 million have been Johnson & Johnson. The bulk have been the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, both of which are being distributed and administered as normal. Unlike the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, they each require two doses, administered weeks apart. Newsom, who himself received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine April 1, said roughly 8,800 appointments scheduled for that vaccine through the states My Turn platform will need to be converted to Moderna and Pfizer alternatives. Officials in the city and county of Los Angeles said they dont believe the Johnson & Johnson stoppage should have a major effect in the near term. Advertisement Out of the 323,470 total doses allocated to the county this week, only 19,600 were Johnson & Johnson doses, the Department of Public Health wrote in an email to The Times. Vaccine providers in Los Angeles County will contact patients that were scheduled to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine about rescheduling or providing a new appointment for Pfizer or Moderna. In the city of Los Angeles, the pause will not affect permanent vaccination sites, but will alter plans to provide about 3,000 scheduled doses through the citys mobile MOVE clinics, officials said Tuesday. All appointments at our permanent sites will happen as planned, and the citys MOVE clinics will honor the appointments for anyone scheduled to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with a first dose of Pfizer as we await further information from health officials, Mayor Eric Garcettis office said in a statement. The presentation of the blood clots reported among the six cases nationally is particularly rare. Not only is the specific type known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) itself uncommon, but the clots are also seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets, known as thrombocytopenia. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses the same method of producing an immune response in a person as the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also being scrutinized for a possible association with very rare blood clots. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a different approach. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administrations Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said one possible speculative reason behind the rare clots might be related to the vaccine producing an immune response that leads to blood platelets being activated. Advertisement Marks said whats notable about the six identified cases is not just the CVST nor the thrombocytopenia its that they are occurring together. Its their occurrence together that makes a pattern. And that pattern is very, very similar to what was seen in Europe with another vaccine, Marks said, referring to AstraZeneca. So I think we have to take the time to make sure we understand this complication, and we address it properly. Federal officials said hospitals need to be alert about this rare type of complication. A more common blood clot would normally be treated by a blood-thinning drug called heparin, but using heparin to treat the rare blood clot disclosed Tuesday might be dangerous. Alternative treatments would need to be given, preferably by a doctor experienced in treating blood clots. If one administers the standard treatments that we, as doctors, have learned to give for blood clots, one can actually cause tremendous harm or the outcome can be fatal, Marks said. So one needs to make sure that providers are aware that if they see people who have low blood platelets, or if they see people who have blood clots, they need to inquire about a history of recent vaccination and then act accordingly in the diagnosis and management of those individuals. Advertisement The six people who developed the rare blood clots were women aged 18 to 48, and showed symptoms of the blood clot between six and 13 days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. People who received the vaccine in the last three weeks should look for any symptoms of these unusual clots, including severe headaches, abdominal or leg pain, and shortness of breath, and contact their medical provider if symptoms develop, L.A. County officials said in a statement. The CDC has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday to discuss the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Advertisement Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution, said a joint statement from Marks and Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC. This is important, in part, to ensure that the healthcare provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot. Dr. Jeff Goad, professor and chair of the department of pharmacy practice at Chapman University, said an FDA panel would examine medical data to determine whether the small number of adverse reactions seem to be connected to the vaccine or are coincidental. What people need to do, he said, is wait and let the science guide and see what comes out of the discussions. | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-14/will-johnson-johnson-woes-make-it-harder-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-in-california |
What would take for the Raiders to move inside the top-10? | The 2021 NFL draft is just two weeks away and teams across the league are putting their boards together and already discussing potential trades. This is the time of year when parameters are set on trades in case a player falls or a team wants to move up in a draft. Today, we are taking a look at approximately how much it would cost the Raiders to move up into the top-10 picks. But before we do that, we need to discuss who might be worthy of trading up for in this years class. The obvious answer is Penei Sewell, the Oregon left tackle. He is the consensus top-offensive linemen in this years class and projects as a future All-Pro. There is also Patrick Surtain II, a three-year starter at Alabama at cornerback. He might be the best defensive player in the class and would be a perfect fit in Gus Bradleys defense. And the final name we have to mention is Kyle Pitts from Florida. Absolutely not. But Pitts is a generational talent and is the best pass catcher in the class. Its first worth mentioning that there are only two realistic landing spots for the Raiders; the Cowboys at No. 10 and the Panthers at No. 8. The Broncos own the 9th pick in this years class and it seems unlikely they would trade inside the division. So here is what it would cost to acquire these two picks. TRADE TO NO. 10 DALLAS COWBOYS According to the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, the No. 10 pick is worth 1,300 points. The No. 17 pick (Raiders) is worth 950 points, so the Raiders would need to make up around 350 points in this trade. Giving up picks No. 17 and No. 48 (1,370) would be an overpay, but the Cowboys may be willing to throw back a late Day 3 pick to make the trade work. If the Raiders didnt want to give up this years second-round pick, they could offer their first-round choice in 2022 and it would be valued around the same amount. However, that feels a bit too costly to go up for a non-quarterback. Story continues Assuming the Raiders saw someone they loved fall to them at No. 10, I would expect a trade of No. 10 + No. 115 (1,364) for No. 17 and No. 48 (1,370) to ultimately get it done. TRADE TO NO. 8 CAROLINA PANTHERS If the Raiders want to be really aggressive going after Sewell or Surtain, No. 8 might be the better spot to go up to in this draft. Pick No. 8 is worth 1,400 points and weve already established that picks No. 17 and No. 48 equal 1,370 points. But with the Panthers trading away a 2022 second-round pick for Sam Darnold, they might be more open to moving back and gaining draft capital for next year. Would a trade package of No. 17, No. This would allow the Raiders to keep No. 48, which they would likely use for defense and still have an assortment of picks left in this years draft and next years. For Carolina, they would recoup some value for the trade of Darnold and still could get a quality defender or offensive linemen at No. 17. If the Raiders arent looking to trade future picks, a trade of No. 17, No. 48 and No. 162 (1,405 points) for No. 8 (1,400 points) seems fair. With the Raiders having four picks inside the top-100 selections, look for them to be aggressive moving up in this years draft. And given their need on the offensive line, dont be surprised if they are highly aggressive in the first round. | https://sports.yahoo.com/raiders-move-inside-top-10-140456278.html?src=rss |
Can Ohio State footballs Jonathon Cooper raise his NFL ceiling by switching from defensive end to linebacker? | COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jonathon Cooper came to the Ohio State football program in 2016 as a four-star defensive end. He spent his entire five-year career learning under Larry Johnson while playing with his hand in the dirt. During that time, he recorded 77 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. He came to the Buckeyes as a defensive end, spent his entire career as a defensive end and left as a defensive end. So when he was spotted participating in linebacker drills during OSUs Pro Day on March 30, its understandable why that might catch someone off guard. Obviously, Ive been playing defensive end throughout my whole entire college career, Cooper said. But with all the teams Ive basically been talking to, they see me as an outside linebacker, SAM position which is my body type. I just wanted to make sure I show the scouts and everybody that I can play linebacker, I feel really comfortable in space and that Im ready for the next level. Cooper is preparing for a career that allows him to flourish in a 3-4 defensive scheme. As someone listed at 6-foot-2 and 253 pounds, it would make sense that he probably wouldnt be viewed as a long-term edge rusher at the next level. If you arent the Nick Bosas or Chase Youngs of the world as a bona fide first-round draft pick, you have to find ways to show value as a player. The best way to do that is through your versatility. The only problem is Cooper doesnt have any game footage playing the position. He doesnt have the same development as someone like Baron Browning, whos been used as an outside linebacker, inside linebacker and occasional pass rusher. Coopers having to play catch up and put as much on film as possible without having time on his side. I havent really shown too much of that on film, Cooper said. Obviously (theres) some areas on game tape (where) Im dropping back into the back. (But to) do it consistently throughout a whole entire game -- I want to make sure that the scouts know that I can do that, that Im ready for it at the next level. The former Gahanna Lincoln High star is a two-time captain and has often been one of the more vocal players on the team. He was the first player to earn the right to wear the Block O jersey, which will annually be given to a player viewed as a leader in honor of former Buckeye Bill Willis. At the last workout before fall camp, captain @JonathonCooper7 gave this message to his teammates. pic.twitter.com/AkITri5AKG Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 10, 2020 His leadership played a significant role in why Ohio State got through a COVID-19 laden season to win its fourth straight Big Ten Title and reach the National Championship Game while beating Clemson along the way. He helped keep the team focused when it didnt look like thered even be a season. While his voice was well-respected in the locker room, he put together his best season on the field with 24 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. What made Cooper valuable to OSU didnt always show up on the stat sheet. The same might be true in the NFL, especially during his early years, as he transitions to a position very different than what he did in Columbus. He may eventually be a quality outside linebacker at the NFL level in the right scheme, but his intangibles will allow him to stick around long enough to find out. His work ethic is off the charts, Johnson said. Hes a guy that comes to work every day from the day he showed up in the building, and he has not stopped working. He deserves a chance, and I think hell have a chance to play in the NFL. Theres no doubt about it. (A) locker room guy, great leadership guy. A guy that can play 10-15 years because hes going to do it the right way. Hes a lot like Sam Hubbard in the sense of how he goes to work every day. I see Coop in the same position here, and Im really thrilled and happy for him. I cant wait to see where he ends up playing. - Get Ohio State Sugar Bowl champs & CFP gear: Check out shirts, hats and more merchandise commemorating Ohio States Sugar Bowl win over Clemson, as well as gear on the Buckeyes advancing to the College Football Playoff national championship game. C.J. Eddie George to be head coach at Tennessee State | https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2021/04/can-ohio-state-footballs-jonathon-cooper-raise-his-nfl-ceiling-by-switching-from-defensive-end-to-linebacker.html |
Should Eli Manning and Julian Edelman be Hall of Famers? | With a new crop of players set to enter the league, our readers first had questions about guys who've exited the league. Plus, will Orlando Brown Jr. be traded, will the Eagles take a wide receiver, will we see full stadiums next year and more draft questions. All of your questions answered here, with two weeks left until draft day. This is a two-fer for me because of what I said on Twitter on Monday nightthat the case for Manning is similar to the case for Edelman. Both guys, to me, wouldnt sniff the Hall of Fame based on regular-season production, and Im not sure there was a point in eithers career when you could say, That guy is top five at his position. And on balance, I believe in most cases that being elite at your position for an extended period, more than just a point in time, is the prereq for getting in. From there, the question becomes how much weight you put on big performances on big stages, and Manning and Edelman certainly have those. The former has heroic Super Bowl throws to David Tyree (a little bit of a prayer, but after a great escape) and Mario Manningham (an absolute dime) four years apart, and MVPs from both games. The latter has the game-winning touchdown after taking a huge hit from Kam Chancellor in Super Bowl XLIX, the impossible shoestring catch to spark the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history in SBLI and an MVP from SBLIII. Full disclosure: I tend to put weight on big-stage performances and the sort of toughness, both mental and physical, that Manning and Edelman showed. For me, it goes back to the purpose of playing these games for a player, which is to help your team win the game and, ultimately, win championships. But I still dont think Id enshrine either in Canton, in part because I think it should be hard to get in. Let me start here, Junky: Im not sure how motivated the Ravens are to move Orlando Brown. The background here is that Brown was a three-year starter at left tackle at Oklahoma but widely seen, going into the 2018 draft, as a right tackle prospect, given who he is athletically, a 355-pound road-grader. And thats where he wound up landing as he became a starter in Baltimore early in his rookie year. Then last year, Ronnie Stanley, who may be the best left tackle in football, went down. That necessitated Brown flipping back over to what he believes is his natural position. And here we are now, a couple of months after Browns camp first got the word out there that he wanted to play left tackle full-time, which simply isnt in the cards in Baltimore, with Stanley coming back from injury. Some of Browns reasons are obvious (hes now eligible for a new contract, and left tackles get paid more); some are less obvious (hes actually left-handed, which plays into his comfort level on that side). So the question is how another team would have to view Brown to trade for him, and really there are three conditions there: It would have to be cool with playing him at left tackle; it would have to be willing to give him a market deal or expose itself to losing him in free agency a year after trading for him; and it would have to trade a pick for him on top of that. Which is a lot to sort through, especially with a draft class thats strong at tackle. Then, theres the Ravens side of this. If he were to play out this season and get paid in free agency next year, they could get a third-round comp pick while having a full year to find his replacement. Which means, on paper, youd probably have to do better than a third-rounder. The truth on Brown is there are teams, and I talked to a couple on Tuesday, that believe Brown is already in the perfect scheme for his skill set and might not be quite the same guy elsewhere, and thats before you even get to the move from right to left tackle. All of this should explain why a trade hasnt happened yet. The best chance one will, Id say, might come after the first round of the draft if a team or two that struck out on finding a tackle on that first night and gets desperate. And by the way, none of this is to say Browns not a good player. He is a good player. The situation is just complicated. Get the May 2021 issue featuring our Trevor Lawrence cover story here. From Justin O (@lonelyjetsfan1): Theres been lots of talk about Caleb Farley slipping due to injury. Justin, Ill preface all this by saying that Im not a doctor. But I can tell you what I know, which is that back injuries are probably the ones taken most seriously by teams before the draft, and having had two procedures in that area as a collegian is going to be a problem for Farley with some teams. And, by the way, no ones lying when they say he should be ready for the season. Thats not where the issue would be. More so, its about how teams see himand whether or not hell last long-term (or if you might be drafting a one-contract guy). My buddy Dr. Jess Flynn actually addressed the topic for The 33rd Team, if youre interested in learning a little more about Farley. And as for what it does to his stock, Id say, free of injury, hed have comfortably been the top corner in the draft for most teams. As it is, it wouldnt surprise me in the least if Alabamas Patrick Surtain (who might be the safest prospect in the draft) and South Carolinas Jaycee Horn (who has considerable upside) go before he does. Texan, I think the Patriots are taking a serious look at Justin Fields. Whether its enough to take him at No. 15 or trade up for him, I dont know. What I do know is the Patriots had a high-level executive (Eliot Wolf) in Columbus for Fieldss first pro day, and are planning to have three guys with influence (in a year when you are only allowed to have three at pro days) in attendance at Fieldss second pro day on Wednesday, including OC Josh McDaniels. The second workout, by the way, will be closed to the media. And as of the weekend, there were just two teams (the Niners and Patriots) scheduled to be there, which is a function of many having already seen Fields and most teams being huddled in draft meetings at this point in the calendar. Bottom line, this would be a lot of effort and lost man-hours for a smoke screen that probably really wouldnt serve much purpose. And theres also this misnomer that Bill Belichick wont trade up that we should dispel. Weve seen the opposite from him when hes had conviction. It just doesnt happen all that often. It did in 2010 when he went from No. 44 to 42 to leapfrog the Ravens for Rob Gronkowski (Baltimore had actually failed Gronk on his physical, but thats a story for another day). It did twice in 2012, with moves from No. 27 to 21 to get Chandler Jones and No. 31 to 25 to get Dont'a Hightower. Again, I dont know if the Patriots feel the way about Fields that they did about Gronkowski, Hightower or Jones. You could argue theyd have to think more of him to move up into the top 10 to get him, given the price and need for young talent on New Englands roster. But I do think theres reason to keep an eye on it here. The Albert Breer Show is back on its own podcast feed! Subscribe for Albert's insight and info, with guests including the biggest names in football. Philly, my belief is that part of the equation for the Eagles in moving out of the sixth pick was a belief in Philly that JaMarr Chase would likely be gone somewhere in the top five (and probably at No. 5, to the Bengals). So take that, and maybe youd come to the conclusion that Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith would be in play at No. 12. I understand the logic, and Im not going to fight you on the possibility that might happen. But heres whats bugged me about that idea: GM Howie Roseman needs a strong couple of drafts the next couple of years, and if you look at his team-building philosophy, youll find a consistent, deep investment in the lines of scrimmage. Now, look at what the Eagles have up front. On offense, Jason Kelce is 33, Brandon Brooks is 31, Lane Johnson is 30 and Andre Dillard still needs to prove himself as the designated left tackle of the future. On defense, Brandon Graham is 33 and Fletcher Cox is 30. If Roseman is using this draft and the next (hell have four picks in the first two rounds and probably three first-rounders in 2022) to turn the page and get younger, his history tells me the lines of scrimmage will get a hard look somewhere on draft day. I think the dream for the Eagles would be to have Kyle Pitts slip to No. 12 (not happening). Absent that, I dont think you should ignore the possibility of them drafting guys like Rashawn Slater and Alijah Vera-Tucker. Maurisse, the tackle thing is a good annual questionand there are a lot of guys about whom that question is being asked. Start with the Northwestern product, Slater, whos drawn some comparisons to six-time All-Pro Cowboy Zack Martin, a college left tackle who kicked inside to guard as a pro. The rap on Slater is that youre getting a really good player with a high floor who might wind up being better inside than outside in the pros. Vera-Tuckers another interesting one. Coming into 2020 he was seen as a top-shelf guard prospect. Then he opted out of the season; then he opted back in when the Pac-12 reversed its decision to cancel its season; then he was moved out to left tackle by the USC coaches. And now, some teams are intrigued by the idea he could play tackle in the pros, largely because of how well he played there in the fall. After that, you have guys like Oklahoma States Teven Jenkins, really good players with concerns over athleticism leading teams to project them inside and into the smaller spaces of playing the guard spot. And weighing all those guys against more prototypical tackles like Oregons Penei Sewell (likely the first lineman to go) and Virginia Techs Christian Darrisaw should make for interesting debates among coaches and scouts. If not, do you see any of the left tackles slipping to No. Ray, were really making this the big-man mailbag. I dont know if the Chargers would trade up from No. 13 for someone like Sewell or not. But what we can say is that GM Tom Telesco has a history of being aggressive in the first roundhe spent fourth- and fifth-rounders in 2015 to jump from No. 17 to 15 and take Melvin Gordon, and a third-rounder last year to jump from No. 37 to 23 and take Kenneth Murray. We also know, for sure, theres a tackle need in L.A., with Trey Pipkins the teams starter at left tackle right now. So yes, I could see the Chargers getting aggressive if, say, Sewell slides a little. And you didnt ask for a scenario, but Ill give you one, anyway. Lets say QBs go 1-2-3-4 (as they do in Conor Orrs mock this week), and then JaMarr Chase goes at 5 to Cincinnati, and Pitts goes at 6 to Miami. From there, you could see Detroit, very open to moving its pick, maybe fielding a phone call from L.A. at 7, and maybe then the Chargers could offer up their third- and fourth-rounders to jump up to No. 7 and reunite Justin Herbert with his college left tackle. Fun scenario, anyway, and itd be a good investment back into the young quarterback. Zach, the Jets arent running from rampant speculation that the hays in the barn and Wilson is headed from Provo to Gotham. GM Joe Douglas told me last week that he and his staff, in conjunction with Robert Saleh and his staff, had identified a clear top two among the quarterback in the draft class. I think its fair to assume that Trevor Lawrence is one of those two, which basically tells you its down to one guy for the Jets at No. 2. Also, Douglas was asked on a conference call with the local media about Steve Young saying publicly that the Jets were committed to taking Wilson, and Douglas responded that Steves plugged into BYU pretty well. It was good being out there at the pro day. And if you really want to dive into that pro day, its the only one of the quarterback pro days to which Saleh accompanied Douglas. Point is, we dont have to make too many big leaps on our own to make an assumption on this one. Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports From R.B. Keep up the great work, Albert! Thanks, R.B.! First of all, just like I wasnt playing doctor in the Farley case, Im not going to play doctor here. But I do feel like there are a lot of signs that were going to get there. The Texas Rangers filled their ballpark to near capacity on Opening Day. And you better believe that if theres not an issue there, other pro sports teams are going to follow suit (motivation: obvious), and there are a lot of pro sports events on the calendar between now and Labor Day. Were talking about five months of baseball game across the country, the rest of the NHL and NBA seasons, and then a full set of playoffs in both sports, plus a host of Americas niche pro sports (soccer, lacrosse) starting their seasons. My guess is that by the time September rolls around were going to have a mountain of data on what works and what doesnt. What I cant predict, because Im no epidemiologist (and even they dont know), is what that data will tell us. I cant say there wont be any outbreaks stemming from a standing-room-only baseball crowd in Kansas City or St. Louis in July, and I cant say there will, either. I just dont know. But I do think theres ample reason to be optimistic, and I understand why the NFL and its owners need to start planning for full stadiums now. Its not reckless to think about that anymore. From Danny (@BetTheOver85): How does Kyle Pitts compare to when Eric Ebron came out, considering both are/were seen as freaks. Danny, great question! And I do think its always important to look back over the years before throwing words like generational aroundwe went over this in a March edition of the mailbag, off a question about Pitts. With that established, as I said then, I do believe its fair to give Kyle Pitts the tag of being generational and will give you some context on that after we answer your question, which I had to vet with a couple scouts. What I got back from my evaluators: The biggest gap is in hands and blocking. Pitts is a more natural catcher of the ball and a better blocker (Ebron was more of a big receiver whereas Pitts is a real tight end). Pitts is also taller, faster and a looser athlete than Ebron was in 2014. That said, one college scouting director texted its not a massive gap. Ebrons tape was very good. Pittss tape is Wow. Another exec added, Ebron was more of a, Wow, hes a really good athlete for a TE and Pitts is, Holy s---, he might be as athletic as the WRs. And the idea that its even close might bother some people. But remember, Ebron was the 10th pick in the draft and one of just four tight ends over the last 24 drafts to go in the top 10, joining T.J. Hockenson, Vernon Davis and Kellen Winslow. As for Pittss being generational, Id say, based on how people are talking about him now, hes the best tight end prospect since Davis in 2006. So yes, hes a generational prospect. More From Albert Breer: * Julian Edelman's Legacy in New England Is Unique and Secure * How Brandon Staley Is Building Team Culture Virtually * Why the Jets Dealt Darnold; the Search for Their Next QB * Draft Mailbag: Falcons Plans at No. 4, Teams That Could Trade Up and More | https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/04/14/nfl-mailbag-eli-manning-julian-edelman-hall-of-famers |
What caused the severe weather that capsized the lift boat in Port Fourchon? | The several hours of near hurricane-force winds that swamped and toppled the Seacor Power lift boat 8 miles south of Port Fourchon were created by a rare weather event called a wake low, according to meteorologists with the Slidell office of the National Weather Service. The compact, circular low pressure system formed in the wake of a line of thunderstorms that draped across southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday morning and afternoon, said lead forecaster Phil Grigsby. The center of the low formed right around Covington, crossed Lake Pontchartrain and Jefferson and Orleans parishes, moved over Barataria Bay and exited over Southwest Pass, he said. The result was a system of thunderstorms punctuated by counterclockwise high winds around the low pressure center, blowing from the southeast on its eastern side and from the northeast on its western side. It was producing winds of 50-60 mph over New Orleans and down near Grand Isle, there were 70 mph winds in offshore areas, he said. The weather service office issued a series of seven special marine warnings for southeast Louisiana locations on Tuesday before the Seacor lift boat issues an emergency distress signal at 4:30 p.m. The warnings were aimed at the effects of both the original line of thunderstorms and the wake low, beginning with an alert of wind gusts of 34 knots in Barataria Bay at 12:07 p.m. 4PM- The heaviest rain and strongest thunderstorms are moving offshore but widespread light to moderate rain is still occurring. This could cause additional flooding. Heavier showers may also have gusty winds. pic.twitter.com/MUTl4lpu2m NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) April 13, 2021 At 2:57 p.m., a marine warning was issued covering a large area along the Gulf Coast that included Grand Isle and Port Fourchon and extended to the lower Atchafalaya River. The warning extended 20 nautical miles into the Gulf. Expect wind gusts in excess of 34 knots and suddenly higher waves. Boats could sustain damage or capsize. Make sure all on board are wearing life jackets. Return to safe harbor if possible. Large hail could result in injury and damage to boats...vessels and oil rigs, the warning said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up At 3:58 p.m., forecasters issued another warning for that part of the coast and offshore. The warnings to return to harbor were repeated. At 4:29 p.m., just a minute before the first distress call to the Coast Guard, another warning was issued that included threats of wind gusts over 50 knots -- nearly 60 mph -- and possible waterspouts. They would have experienced several hours of high winds, Grigsby said of the area where the Seacor Power capsized. The winds stayed up to 50 mph or more for several hours. Grigsby said Tuesdays unique weather conditions started when a weak frontal boundary stalled over southeastern Louisiana, its lower pressure acting as a focus for the creation of thunderstorms. In the upper levels of the atmosphere, fast-moving upper level low pressure systems were sliding through the Gulf South, producing enough lift air streaming upward from the ground to drag moisture upward, forming the tall, strong thunderstorms that became the squall line. Its a scenario he said is creating another round of thunderstorms through at least mid-day on Wednesday, and will repeat on Thursday morning and possibly again on Friday. The other complex factors with Tuesdays weather included a layer of dry air between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above the surface that helped drive wind gusts to the ground. When the initial squall line of thunderstorms moved south and east, that complex combination resulted in the formation of the wake low that looked almost like a tiny tropical depression on radar, with its counterclockwise spin. This was one of the strongest wake lows I've experienced in my almost 15 years in this office," Grigsby said. | https://www.nola.com/news/business/article_1f472c52-9d3b-11eb-aa67-8b853a6122bb.html |
What Was America Doing in Afghanistan? | Link Copied The soldiers living in the concrete maze of Combat Outpost (COP) Michigan treated the Taliban fire that poured in from the mountains as though it were weather: Bursts of machine-gun bullets were akin to drizzle, volleys of rocket-propelled grenades more like heavy rain. It might not be worth going out into that, a tall, blond soldier remarked to a colleague, after the thump of an explosion on the compound kicked off a firefight as the outposts mortars shot back into the cloud-draped hills. By the time a jet dropped a bomb on one of the insurgent positions, the attack had already subsided and infantrymen were sitting outside again in Adirondack chairs, under a shroud of green plastic camouflage netting. That was a good one, another soldier said when the ground shook slightly, his voice tinged with regrethe was sorry hed forgotten to get his video camera out to record it for posterity and Facebook. These troops at COP Michigan during the summer of 2010 wore the black Screaming Eagle patch of the 101st Airborne Division. Members of the divisions 1-327 Infantry battalion, nicknamed the Bulldogs, were two months into a deployment to the valley formed by the fast-moving Pech River, 100 miles northeast of Kabul. Michigan sat where a smaller tributary joined the Pech: Across the flood-swollen river, two rocky teeth flanked the mouth of the Korengal, the infamous valley of death from which the previous unit in the area had pulled out shortly before the Bulldog battalion deployed. Michigans defenders knew just bits and pieces about what was going on inside the Korengal now. Snippets of insurgent walkie-talkie chatter in Arabica foreign language in Afghanistansuggested that out there somewhere, al-Qaeda operatives were working with the local Taliban. Within the outposts concrete-ringed operations center, the unexcitable company commander, Captain Dakota Steedsman, gave me a summary of what his soldiers had experienced so far: On his second day, a heavy machine gun, firing with surprising accuracy from a ridge two-thirds of a mile inside the Korengal, had pinned his men down and wounded a sergeant inside the bases little chow hall. Other soldiers had been wounded since, and one had died. I should expect to see three or four attacks on the outpost, each lasting anywhere from five to 45 minutes, every day during my stay, Steedsman told me. This proved correct. The days third attack began at 7:35 p.m. Machine-gun rounds and RPGs snapped in from inside the Korengal, kicking up gravel and ricocheting off concrete barriers. Soldiers fired back from the turrets of armored trucks parked at intervals within the perimeter. I tagged along with the companys senior noncommissioned officer as he ran through the labyrinth of concrete and dirt-filled barriers over to the mortar pit. Kori Schake: How a forever war ends First Sergeant, youre not running around out here, are you? one mortarman asked as we arrived, then turned to me, the visiting reporter: You came at a good time, he joked. He and a few other soldiers were dropping rounds into three tubes, sending explosive shells arcing toward grid coordinates theyd long since memorized, and then ducking into a concrete shelter when the incoming fire got too close. After two months in the valley, this kind of fighting was what the soldiers I was visiting were accustomed to. For me, the war in the Pech was something different and surprising. I was 22 years old, about the same age as many of the troops I was reporting on, and had been making trips to Iraq and Afghanistan as a freelance journalist for three years. The terrain here was so beautiful and rugged that it hardly seemed real, a sharp contrast to the dry hills, battered cities, and muggy farmlands Id encountered elsewherean observation many soldiers shared when arriving in Kunar or Nuristan Provinces after past deployments to Iraq or other parts of Afghanistan. And instead of a war of hidden bombs, this was a war of firefights and firepower, where young infantrymen not only routinely shot at the enemy but called in huge numbers of mortar shells, howitzer shells, rockets and missiles from attack helicopters, and satellite-guided bombs from jets. You get there, and the Pech delivered in every way. You really felt like you were doing what you signed up for, one veteran would tell me later, echoing a sentiment I found common among sergeants and lieutenants who fought there. I call it Kunar syndrome, another agreed. For those of us who joined the infantry, that place is exactly what we envisioned. The slightly larger base that housed the Bulldog battalions headquarters, Camp Blessing, was four miles up the Pech, beyond Michigan. The westernmost in a string of four outposts in the valley, it was named after the first American soldier to have died there, an Army Ranger sergeant named Jay Blessing who had been killed by a roadside bomb nearly seven years earlier. Almost 100 U.S. troops had died in the Pech and its tributaries by late July 2010, including four so far from the Bulldog battalion; many of their names were engraved on marble plaques in the bases main courtyard. Clouds drifted just above the villages on the slopes, and the flags of Afghanistan, the United States, and the U.S. Army waved above. Read: The U.S. once wanted peace in Afghanistan The senior U.S. officer in the Pech, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Ryan, surprised me when I interviewed him about his battalions mission. Forty-one years old but with less gray in his short haircut than some of his company commanders, Ryan was a West Point graduate from Pearl River, New York, and he had been in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq since the first months after September 11, as an officer in the night-raiding 75th Ranger Regiment. I had become accustomed to commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq promoting the counterinsurgency operations their units were conducting, even hyping themrattling off numbers to indicate progress, making rosy predictions about the situations they would hand off to their successors. Ryan didnt do that. It was the summer of President Barack Obamas Afghan surge, and with nearly 100,000 U.S. troops in the country, all the other battalions Id visited over the past couple of months had been expanding, building new outposts in new districts. But Ryan talked about retracting. Sometimes just your presence causes destabilization. We see that on our patrols here, he said. Here, the time is done for coalition forces to keep spreading out into more places. Since April, he acknowledged, attacks on COP Michigan had increased, likely because the Korengal pullout had shifted insurgents attention toward the base. Michigan, in fact, was now enduring more daily attacks than any other U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan. Ryan wasnt convinced that he or his troops, or indeed any other Americans, understood enough about what was going on within the complex coalition of insurgent factions in the Pech to conclude that any particular change in the guerrillas behavior was the result of U.S. actions. During the same period that attacks against Michigan had risen, for example, attacks against Camp Blessing had decreased, and he didnt know why. There was another thing Ryan didnt claim to know for sure: just what he and his men were doing in the Pech. Why are we here? he asked me. I read the same news as you do, and it doesnt always seem very clear. What was obvious in the Pech in the summer of 2010 was that U.S. forces and the Taliban had fought each other to a stalemate. For counterinsurgents as for insurgents, the cooperation of the people was everything, and there, the people were sick and tired of both. Children in the village outside COP Michigan, who tended to stare frostily at American patrols as they walked through town or flash them the middle finger, were so hardened to the violence that during gunfights they would often stroll through the cross fire, picking up expended brass shell casings so that they could sell them in the market. Some of the patrols that I accompanied from Camp Blessing headed north, a short ways into a side valley called the Waygal. The officer in charge of these missions was a lieutenant two years out of West Point named Alex Pruden. Years later, Pruden recalled to me the moment the situation he and his platoon faced crystallized for him. It had been the day of Afghanistans parliamentary elections, a month after my visit in 2010, and Pruden was back at Blessing decompressing from a day of thrilling, nerve-racking firefights when his mind wandered to the science-fiction epic Avatar, which had hit theaters as the Bulldog battalion was getting ready to deploy. In the movie, human invaders with the mannerisms and high-and-tight haircuts of U.S. military personnel are stationed on a gorgeous alien world called Pandora; they venture from their bases into the lush jungle only in lumbering vehicles to exploit its natural resources. The analogy was imperfect but obvious. Pruden knew that unlike the marauding East India Companylike corporation in Avatar, the U.S. military had come to the Pech with good intentions, and that the valley had not been some idyllic Eden before Americans arrived. But it still felt as if he and the rest of the Bulldog battalion were the movies space mercenaries and the Pech was Pandora. Related Stories The Forgotten People Fighting the Forever War How the Press Sustains the Forever War The Forever War Fought by Americas Allies Less obvious was how things had gotten this way. In a conflict where units rotated every six or 12 months and passed down only small parts of their experience to their successors, the origins of U.S. involvement in the Pech were murky, as were many events along the way. Ask a soldier at COP Michigan how long the outpost had been in existence, and you would get a shrug. It had been there when the Bulldog battalion deployed, and when the battalion before that deployed, and the battalion before that; as far as almost any of the troops I spoke with were concerned, it had always been there. Life at the embattled Pech outposts was what it was, and their garrisons were just trying to get through it, to the end of their year, not wondering too much about the decisions their predecessors had made or how American goals in the valley had morphed over the years. | https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/04/america-never-knew-why-it-was-afghanistan/618582/?utm_source=feed |
Why did Yale dismiss Bandy X. Lee? | Our concerns transcend the dismissal of Lee, editor of the groundbreaking book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump who has championed the importance of mental health professionals engagement with the public and whose warnings of the dangers to the country inherent in the pronounced character flaws of Donald Trump have proven prescient. Clearly Yale has the right to select and promote its faculty. But choosing to sever ties with an outspoken thought leader in her field following a request that she be disciplined has created the appearance of the universitys abandonment under pressure of its core value of the open exploration of challenging ideas. Recent news that Yale University declined to reappoint Dr. Bandy X. Lee as a professor in the psychiatry department has stirred broad concern in the mental health care community and academic world. Yales disciplinary actions against Lee arose in the wake of a complaint from Alan Dershowitz , at the time an adviser to Donald Trumps impeachment defense. Echoing Dershowitzs complaint, Yales actions against Lee were explicitly grounded on her alleged violation of the widely disputed Goldwater Rule. The decision ultimately to terminate her appointment fueled letters of protest, including one from the three of us . In his e-mail to Yale, Dershowitz referenced a January tweet by Lee about his psychological state and the ethical guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association that proscribe psychiatrists from commenting on the mental health of public figures without examining them and without their permission, that is, the Goldwater Rule. In his termination letter to Lee, Dr. John Krystal, chair of Yales department of psychiatry, noted your repeated violations of the APAs Goldwater Rule. Advertisement This is problematic in two ways. First, and setting aside that Lee hasnt been a member of the APA for 14 years, the Goldwater Rule has been shown to be scientifically untenable. It was promulgated in 1973 to defend psychiatry against further embarrassment in the wake of a lawsuit against Fact magazine for publishing psychiatrists critical comments about the mental status of the 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. It privileges the APAs reputational concerns over the rights of free speech and conscience of its members. Further, it misunderstands the difference between commenting on readily observable public speech and behaviors, which are reliable bases for evaluating certain types of personality disorders, and internal mental states which do require an individual examination. Advertisement In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, Dr. Jacob Appel, director of ethics education in psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, wrote, The APA is a voluntary professional association ... it is not a licensing or credentialing organization. Thus it has no legal standing in matters of the ethics, especially of nonmembers such as Lee. Appel goes on to warn of the danger of self-censorship arising from Yales reliance on the Goldwater Rule in dismissing Lee. Further, the rule has been explicitly set aside by a major mental health organization, the American Psychoanalytic Association, which said it did not want to prohibit our members from using their knowledge responsibly. Second, Krystal, on Yales behalf, has relied on unsuitable and broadly criticized external grounds for assessing the worthiness of a faculty member whose job it is to challenge accepted precepts without regard to peripheral interests. In doing so within several days of the request from Dershowitz that the faculty member be disciplined, he has amplified the disquiet in academic circles. Advertisement While we each contributed chapters to the book Lee edited, along with subsequent op-eds and letters to editors asserting Trumps dangerousness, none of us has been questioned about the ethics of such writing by any of the respected academic and health care institutions with which we are affiliated. We wrote our open letter to Krystal on March 25, stating the concerns noted here and requesting that he acknowledge that compliance with the Goldwater Rule is not an appropriate basis for the termination of appointment of any academic professional. Our letter was reprinted in the Yale Daily News the next day. We havent received a response from Krystal or Yale, so we are left to conclude they stand by the inappropriately invoked and widely critiqued Goldwater Rule. We believe this constitutes an abandonment by Yale under pressure of its core value of the open exploration of challenging ideas even and especially amid political controversy. This is a disturbing development for the exercise of free speech and academic freedom. Dr. Leonard L. Glass is associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a senior attending psychiatrist at McLean Hospital. Edwin B. Fisher is professor of psychology at the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and past president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Lance Dodes is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry emeritus at Harvard Medical School. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/14/opinion/why-did-yale-dismiss-bandy-x-lee/ |
What if police violence was scrutinized as ruthlessly as athletes errors? | Thirty-three weeks. Thats how long it had been since the Milwaukee Bucks walked away from a playoff game against the Orlando Magic. That boycott hatched after police in Wisconsin shot an unarmed black man named Jacob Blake started out as a surprise to the Orlando Magic only to become news to the world as other NBA, WNBA, MLB and NHL teams and the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament took timeouts, too. We are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable, the Bucks said in a statement explaining their boycott. We are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement. For a single summer weekend America was denied its escape into sports and couldnt blame the blackout dates on Covid. It felt like a turning point. It feels like turning circles. The cycle restarted on Sunday when an unarmed black man named Daunte Wright was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. On Monday the NBA, MLB and NHL postponed their games in Minneapolis. But this time it was local lawmakers collaborating with league officials to make the call. And you might commend them for showing compassion for their players mental health if they werent so obviously doing their part to keep a lid on a town thats been on the boil since the Derek Chauvin trial seized the national spotlight last month. On Tuesday afternoon the Minnesota Timberwolves resumed play against the Brooklyn Nets, with players and coaches struggling for words. Today, I dont even know if we were supposed to be playing, to be honest, Wolves guard Josh Okogie told reporters. The sad reality is that we just keep moving forward, added Nets coach Steve Nash. And it just keeps happening. Meaningful change needs to come at some point. Kim Porter, the officer identified on police body-camera footage as Wrights killer, announced her resignation along with Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon who characterized the shooting as an oops moment. Apparently, she meant to draw a taser instead of a gun; in fact, you can hear her quite clearly yelling taser repeatedly before cutting down Wright like a dog in the street. She couldve just as easily been screaming reasonable doubt! For the cop who kills an unarmed citizen, it seems, there is always an excuse. There is always a dead black person who was more at fault. Philando Castile had a broken taillight, George Floyd a counterfeit $20 bill. Wright was driving on expired license plates and had an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror. Meanwhile, Dylann Roof gets Burger King and a private jet ride to prison, and Kyle Rittenhouse walks free on bail because, well, theyre just kids. No matter how unfavorable the argument, the cops always win. The average athlete has a greater expectation to protect and serve. To be an athlete is to be subject to endless criticism. When its not the media, its fans. When its not on ESPN, its on Twitter. When its not about performance, its about pay. And God help them if they should fail under pressure. Because if they make any excuse, theyre guaranteed to be crucified for it. Just last month we saw a number of mens college basketball players share the ugly social media messages they received after suffering upset losses in the NCAA tournament. I hope you die, one user wrote to Ohio States EJ Liddell after his second-seeded Buckeyes fell to Oral Roberts. Go sit your monkey ass on the couch, wrote another to Illinois center Kofi Cockburn after the top-seeded Illini lost to Loyola Chicago. And yet: Thats nothing compared to the hell Chris Webber experienced after calling a timeout Michigan didnt have and costing the Wolverines the 1993 national championship. These guys are just kids too, after all but we expect them to assume total responsibility for those losses. Somehow they always do. The first line of Scott Norwoods obituary will doubtless make mention of his epic field goal miss in the 1991 Super Bowl. Same goes for Bill Buckner and his fielding error in the 1986 World Series. And Jean van de Velde and his implosion in the 1999 Open Championship. Heck even non-athletes like Steve Bartman have their lives upended when they mess up sporting events. Kevin Durant had to face the cameras, apologize and accept a $50,000 fine for an Instagram war-of-words with the actor Michael Rapaport that shouldve never been made public in the first place. They got to quietly step down from their posts. When cops mess up on their job, they dont catch heat. They collect guaranteed pensions and, failing that, crowd-funded lucre. They hide out at home or behind barricaded stations flying Blue Lives Matter flags. They never take ownership for the blood they spill. Its almost as if they know they dont have to. Years ago while attending a Mets game as a spectator, I was looking on from the outfield landing, trying to cram some Shake Shack down my gullet in between pitches when a table of off-duty, baby-faced NYPD Harlem beat cops invited me to join them. It didnt take long for the conversation to drift from the baseball to their own jobs. When I expressed empathy for the difficult, high-stress nature of their work, one of the guys took a pull from his draft and shrugged. Hey, as long as we make it home at night, he said. Thats all I care about. The others raised their cups. In other words, when they had to choose a life, they chose theirs. Its a moment I wont soon forget. Meaningful change would be holding law enforcement to the same impossible standard that athletes are duty bound. Police rosters should be as Googleable as NBA rosters and even more comprehensive. Police salaries should be as widely published and hotly debated as salaries are in sports; police budgets should be as dissected as any other salary cap. More to the point: police union heads should be as known and as accessible as the NBPAs Michele Roberts or the NFLPAs DeMaurice Smith. Imagine if local news outlets covered police as comprehensively as ESPNs Adrian Wojnarowski covers the NBA. We could track the other Chauvins being tried across the country. We could make it impossible for them to turn up in another police jurisdiction or default to lethal force again. We could make it extremely difficult for a president who owes his office to black friends like Stacey Abrams and black voters in Michigan and Georgia to express more concern for the Brooklyn Center cops due process or any potential property destruction than for Wrights family, friends and neighbors. Major League reliever Sean Doolittle once called sports the reward of a functioning society. At the time he was talking about baseballs attempts to comeback during the first wave of Covid-19. But the line is just as apropos for the centuries-long fever that is anti-black racism in America. While sports have done much in the past year to highlight the problem, not playing isnt stopping these killings. Forget training police. Meaningful change would be doing what the Bucks recommended in the first place and train the aLl LiVeS mAtTeR crowd to scrutinize a 22-year police veteran who accidentally killed a guy as intensely as it does a 20-year-old basketball player who accidentally called a timeout. Until that day comes, the weeks between these unplanned blackouts are only going to get shorter. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/apr/14/nba-cancellation-daunte-wright-shooting-police |
How Has COVID-19 Impacted The Utilities Global Market 2021-2030? | The Utilities Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery To 2030 report describes and evaluates the global utilities market. It covers three five-year periods including, 2015 to 2020, termed the historic period, 2020 through 2025, the forecast period, and 2025-2030 the forecast period. The utilities market is segmented by type into electric power generation, transmission and distribution, water and sewage and natural gas distribution and by type of operator into private operator, and public operator. LONDON, April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global utilities market is expected to grow from $4 trillion in 2020 to $5 trillion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2%. Growth in the forecast period can be attributed to the strong economic growth forecast, rising adoption of electricity and natural gas in transportation services, and growing focus on the expansion of adequate support for infrastructure across both developing and developed nations will likely boost the market. The market is further expected to grow to over $8 trillion in 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2%. One of the major drivers of the global utilities market is the increasing investment for renewable power generation. The rapid growth in investments in renewable power generation capacities is expected to drive the utilities market during the forecast period. A large number of power generation companies are investing in renewable energy sources, especially in the USA and European countries. For instance, In January 2020, Power Minister R K Singh advised Brazilian investors to invest in the Indian energy sector, saying it is the fastest-growing energy market and its consumption will treble in the coming days. India has set a point of adding 175 GW of renewable power to the energy mix by 2022. It has already added 86 GW. Furthermore, around 36 GW is under installation and about 35 GW is under the bidding stage. This is expected to boost the electric power generation and subsequently drive the utilities market during the forecast period. Story continues Request For A Sample Of The Utilities Global Market Report 2021: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/sample.aspx?id=1873&type=smp The Business Research Companys report titled Utilities Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery To 2030 covers major utilities companies, utilities market share by company, utilities manufacturers, utilities market size, and utilities market forecasts. The utilities market consists of sales of electric power, natural gas, steam supply, water supply, and sewage removal services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that provide these utilities to end consumers. The utilities market is highly fragmented with a large number of players. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 10.02% of the total market in 2020. The market fragmentation is mainly due to the presence of a large number of small players who cater to the local population as the majority of customers (transmission & distribution companies and end-users) use utility services providers which are closer to their locations. Major players in the market include Enel SpA, E.ON SA, Uniper SE, State Power Investment Corporation, Iberdrola S.A. and others. Enel SpA was the largest competitor with 1.81% of the market, followed by others. Request For A Sample Of The Utilities Global Market Report 2021: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/sample.aspx?id=1873&type=smp Utilities Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery To 2030 is one of a series of new reports from The Business Research Company that provide utilities market overviews, utility market, analyze and forecast utility market size and growth for the whole utility market, utility market segments and geographies, utilities market trends, utility market drivers, market restraints, market leading competitors revenues, profiles and market shares in over 1,000 industry reports, covering over 2,500 market segments and 60 geographies. The report also gives in-depth analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the utilities market. The reports draw on 150,000 datasets, extensive secondary research, and exclusive insights from interviews with industry leaders. A highly experienced and expert team of analysts and modelers provides market analysis and forecasts. The reports identify top countries and segments for opportunities and strategies based on market trends and leading competitors approaches. The Business Research Company is a market intelligence firm that excels in company, market, and consumer research. Located globally it has specialist consultants in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, chemicals, and technology. The Worlds Most Comprehensive Database The Business Research Companys flagship product, Global Market Model, is a market intelligence platform covering various macroeconomic indicators and metrics across 60 geographies and 27 industries. The Global Market Model covers multi-layered datasets which help its users assess supply-demand gaps. CONTACT: The Business Research Company Europe: +44 207 1930 708 Asia: +91 8897263534 Americas: +1 315 623 0293 Email: [email protected] Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3fQRORr Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3mvfKuU Read our daily blog: https://blog.tbrc.info | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/covid-19-impacted-utilities-global-170300256.html |
What would the internet look like without third-party cookies? | I remember being convinced a few years ago that Instagram was listening to my real-world conversations. I was at a bar with a friend who was recommending I check out Rumble boxing as a workout, and almost immediately after I was shown an ad for... Rumble boxing. I hadnt heard about or researched it before, nor had I typed the words Rumble boxing into my phone. Yet somehow, the system knew. These days, Im less surprised when Instagram or Google uncannily shows me ads for things I even just think about. Im not comfortable with it Ive just accepted this creepy sense of being stalked as a part of online life. What I search for while shopping on Amazon is going to show up as an ad somewhere completely different later. Its inevitable. I cant definitively prove whether apps on my phone have been eavesdropping on my conversations. But the more likely explanation is that theyre eerily smart because of the data theyve gleaned through third-party cookies. Cookies are bits of information stored on your hard drive that a website can access. First-party cookies enable sites to remember your username and the fact that youve entered a correct password, for example, so it can keep you logged in while you browse. It can also remember your preferred theme and other details you save in a user profile. Third-party cookies, however, are not created by the people who made the page. They usually come from advertisers and sit on banners placed on sites across the web. When you encounter one, it identifies you with a unique ID, then stores information that each sites owner chooses to share. This could be anything from your location and what you put in your shopping cart to your email address. Of course, after the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws went into effect three years ago, theres been more transparency. Even users in the US encountered noticeable changes, thanks to the pop-ups on every website asking us to consent to trackers. But the internet hasnt gotten less creepy. Story continues With recent news about Google committing to disabling third-party cookies in Chrome, though, it seems like the internet as we know it is about to undergo a seismic shift at least behind the scenes. If everything goes according to plan (whatever that may be), the average user shouldnt notice much of a difference. The promise is that without third-party cookies tracking your every move it should feel less like companies are constantly invading your privacy. If you look up roach killers on a whim, you shouldnt be subjected to ads about pesticides everywhere for days after. That sounds like a dream for those who hate being tracked. For advertisers and small businesses, though, this is at best a major inconvenience and at worst potentially crippling. Some of those changes are already here. Google has announced its begun trials for an approach called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC, pronounced flock), which categorizes users into groups of at least 1,000 people based on their tastes. If a company making plant-based milks wants to target people who love vegan recipes, for example, it can choose to serve ads to that cohort. A figure from a paper explaining Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) depicting hypothetical cohort assignments A and B with 6 users being categorized based on their likes. Meanwhile, Safari already started blocking all third-party cookies by default in March 2020. Apple went on to announce new app-tracking policies for iOS 14 three months later. That December, Facebook published a statement in response, titled Speaking Up For Small Businesses. In it, vice president for Ads and Business Products Dan Levy wrote Apples new iOS 14 policy will have a harmful impact on many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and on the free internet that we all rely on more than ever. Levy is effectively saying that the internet as we know it is free thanks to ads. The idea is that without ads, services that are free today may have to start charging users. And if ads arent relevant or personalized, they might be less effective, which will in turn spur marketers to run more of them. That increase in the volume of ads would not only be annoying for the average internet surfer, but would also cost businesses more money. Most major tech companies agree its important to give advertisers a way to serve relevant ads, but they also say protecting user privacy is a top priority. Microsoft and Mozilla quickly followed Apples lead and have both disabled third-party cookies by default on their browsers, while Google is trailing behind with Chrome only set to do that in 2022. The race is now on to find a suitable alternative to third-party cookies that would allow marketers some level of precision and personalization without sacrificing user privacy. Several proposals are currently being considered, including Googles Privacy Sandbox, which is a suite of suggestions including FLoC. Considering Chrome is the most popular browser around, Google has a lot of influence over what the internet ends up using. Mallard ducklings with their mother take a swim on the pond in St. Stephen's Green, in Dublin, during the COVID-19 lockdown. On Tuesday, 13 April 2021, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images) There are other recommendations being considered, though, and for some odd reason theyve all been given avian names. In addition to Googles FLoC, Microsoft has offered Parakeet, which stands for Private and Anonymized Requests for Ads that Keep Efficacy and Enhance Transparency. It makes the browser responsible for anonymizing content before sending it to ad networks, which use that data to show relevant ads to users. Meanwhile, a group of online advertisers came up with SWAN or Secure Web Addressability Network. It focuses on giving users full control and transparency over who gets to see their data. Also in the running: Turtledove and Sparrow, which stand for Two Unrelated Requests, Then Locally Executed Decision On Victory and Secure Private Advertising Remotely Run on Webserver respectively. (I know.) These are all just proposals for now, and whether they get adopted depends on what the internets biggest players decide to pick. They work together with groups like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media (PRAM) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to evaluate the potential alternatives. Wendy Seltzer, strategy lead at the W3C, chairs her organizations Improving Web Advertising business group and is working with the Privacy Community Group on coming up with standards. Weve seen a few different classes of proposals, she told Engadget. According to Seltzer, some of these proposals are about standard cross-browser features, while others before her group are about providing information that is not individually identifying but still useful to advertisers and marketers that can offer additional support for monetizing without invading privacy. Search Engine, Searching, Internet, Web Page The latter class of measures are about still being able to understand the preferences and actions of each user without getting personally identifiable information (PII). One of these proposed methods is cohort-based (like FLoC), which groups users into categories with 1,000 people or more. If youve been classified as someone who likes sports apparel, for example, marketers can choose to serve ads about Lululemon or Under Armors next sale. But they wont know what other websites youve visited or what shoes you stuck in your shopping cart earlier that day. Another approach is SWAN, and its being presented by a group of online advertisers. Key to the SWAN method is the Secure Web ID (SWID), which is a unique identifier for each browser. SWANs focus is more about prioritizing transparency, having the user choose whether to agree to sharing their data and telling them exactly which sites will receive their information. Then, marketers who want to serve ads using that will also have an encrypted ID used to access the information. This encryption requirement on all parties, according to SWAN founding member Hardeep Bindra, acts as an audit trail. Itll show who received the data, whether they were a publisher or vendor and if it was used with the individuals privacy choices, he told Engadget. Something both Seltzer and other executives at major internet companies I spoke with on background highlighted is that the use of third-party cookies today didnt happen intentionally. The general sense is that third-party cookies were an accident that became a feature, Seltzer said. As a result, there was no real oversight over whether their implementation infringed on consumer privacy. But the concern and attention around the removal of third-party cookie support will likely ensure that what takes its place will come under more scrutiny. With the public pressure to prioritize user privacy, its possible that new methods being proposed will be more carefully thought out. As a Mozilla spokesperson told Engadget: Advertising and privacy can co-exist. The advertising industry can operate differently. It does not have to violate peoples privacy. And yet for years thats the direction the industry has headed. Seamless pattern with browsers Edge, Chrome, Safari and Firefox. A variant with small icons. Of course, given Chrome is the most popular browser out there, what Google chooses has a strong chance of being adopted by most advertisers. But its also important to note that while companies like Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla do participate in discussions with the W3C, they dont appear to have supported a proposal. Instead, Safari uses something called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) to block trackers, while Firefox and Edge have their own version called Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP). Its not yet clear what these tracking prevention programs will do with the bird-themed proposal that ultimately wins favor with advertisers across the web. But even though its too early to tell if FLoC, Parakeet or SWAN will become the internets new favorite ad-serving mechanism, most people I spoke with already agree on one thing: Browsing the internet in 2022 wont look much different than it does today. But if advertisers and browser makers have done their jobs right you should feel less like youre being stalked. It doesnt need to be a web that looks different but it can be a web where users have more confidence that their privacy wishes are respected, Seltzer said. There likely wont be any visual changes on the user side of things. While the W3C tends to stay away from specifying the user interface, Seltzer said, she believes developers wont want to bombard users with information unless its something they can do something with. Bindra also highlighted consent fatigue as something SWAN wants to avoid. Instead of having to agree to or decide how every individual site uses cookies to store your data a la GDPR-compliant pages today, SWAN proposes that the user pick a global permission setting that would govern all participating sites. Youd see who all the participants are that have access to the data youve granted SWAN access to, as well as decide what types of information to share. SWAN is a relatively new proposal, though, and its not clear yet how much support it will get. While some of the other ideas focus on trying to understand user preferences without tracking, SWAN would still collect some data. Regardless, the burden of getting information to serve relevant ads without third-party cookies will fall on the shoulders of marketers and developers. The average user likely wont notice much of a difference. There will be lots of work to communicate to developers who need to be using newer technologies but probably not banners for end users, Seltzer said. Part of that tracking-free future is already here, especially if you use Safari, Edge or Firefox as your primary browser, since third-party cookies are already disabled in those. As these changes also roll out to apps on your phone, hopefully you wont see ads for something youve just searched for out of curiosity any more. We can all go back to feeling safer about our random searches for asinine stuff. | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/third-party-cookies-privacy-ad-tracking-data-floc-swan-explainer-163050682.html |
When can adults drink alcohol in Vancouver parks? | While other Metro Vancouver municipalities are already allowing adults to enjoy a drink outdoors in parks, Vancouver is still waiting on a change in provincial legislation before it can proceed. Article content Vancouver residents who want to pop open a cold beer or sip a Chardonnay in a park this summer may be in for a wait. While other Metro Vancouver municipalities are already allowing adults to enjoy a drink outdoors in parks, Vancouver is still waiting on a change in provincial legislation before it can proceed. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video The Vancouver park board approved a plan last summer to allow booze in 22 parks and beaches around the city, but that plan is on hold because, as Canadas only city with an elected park board, it needed an amendment to the B.C. Liquor Control Act to push ahead with the project. Photo by Vancouver Park Board handout At the time, Attorney General David Eby said his staff offered a regulatory workaround that would be speedier than a legislative change, which he acknowledged would take at least a year given the provinces other priorities. The park board didnt take advantage of the shortcut. In a statement Tuesday the city said: We are expecting this could be addressed in the spring sitting of the B.C. legislature. | https://vancouversun.com/news/when-can-adults-drink-alcohol-in-vancouver-parks |
Why do companies have so many confusing executive roles? | THE PROFUSION of company executives with opaque and overblown titles can be baffling. Last month Prince Harry became the chief impact officer of BetterUp, an American mental-health startup. Explaining his role, the royal-turned-chimpo said he would foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations. Chief listening officers, chief knowledge officers and chief Twitter officers have all come before him. Elon Musk may have parodied such nonsensical nomenclature at Tesla, his carmaker, when he recently made himself technoking and the chief financial officer (CFO) master of coin. Appointing and naming higher-ups can be slippery. Firms may intend to communicate one thing and outsiders take a different message entirely. Moreover, titles that obscure who does what can make life complicated for employees, colleagues and customers. The confusion begins with the term executive. Laymen may think this applies to the chief executive officer (CEO) and perhaps their immediate underlings. This is true. But in business the terms use is broader, explains Bhushan Sethi, a human-resources (HR) expert at PwC, a consultancy. Some people on the board of directors, to which the CEO is accountable, may also be considered executives. Many chairmen leave the day-to-day running of the company entirely to the CEO and focus on the big picture. But executive chairmen'' get their hands dirty. Some firms merge the roles of chairman and CEO, while others install senior staff on the board as executive directors. | https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/04/14/why-do-companies-have-so-many-confusing-executive-roles |
Will the Texans rely on Lovie Smiths past college coaching experience for 2021 NFL draft? | The Houston Texans dont have a first or second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft. As such, the team will have to overturn every stone on mid to bottom tier players in order to maximize their value at every pick, starting with No. 67 overall in Round 3. One asset the Texans college scouting department has is a former college coach on the coaching staff in defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. From 2016-20, Smith was the head football coach for the University of Illinois, and was able to at least see Big Ten players up close for five seasons. Theres great football there throughout, and four or five years in college football, I do know a lot of the players, Smith told John Harris on Texans TV published April 13. Its pretty neat really. A lot of the guys Im evaluating now, some of my own players and a lot of guys that I coached, even through free agency. One example that Smith used was of newly signed cornerback Desmond King. Smith was able to see at least one season out of King when he was a cornerback for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2016. However, now that Smith has caught back up with King in 2021 with the Texans, he is able to see how he developed as an NFL defensive back playing with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2017-20 and then nine games with the Tennessee Titans in 2020. I remember all these guys I coached against, said Smith. I knew them then. And now I see also how theyve developed as an NFL player. I think that helps me an awful lot, too. But that is neat to be in a situation where I do have some insight. You always trying to get insight on players, and I feel like, not just me, but theres some others on our staff coming from the college game can help with that. The Texans may need to rely on this insight, especially if they are unable to acquire more picks in the top-100 for Aprils draft. | https://sports.yahoo.com/texans-rely-lovie-smith-past-155432611.html?src=rss |
Will illness prevent Kings Buddy Hield from breaking Peja Stojakovics 3-point record? | Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield (24) is congratulated by Sacramento Kings guard DeAaron Fox (5) after basket in the first quarter during a game at Golden 1 Center on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 in Sacramento. [email protected] From game-winning shots to his triumphant victory in the 3-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in 2020, Kings guard Buddy Hield has already authored some of the most memorable moments in the teams recent history. He might have one more in store before the regular season ends and speculation over his future in Sacramento begins again. Hield recently passed Mitch Richmond for second on the teams all-time list for 3-point goals. He has a chance to break Peja Stojakovics franchise record by seasons end, but the race is too close to call with 18 games remaining. Hield has 997 3-pointers in 312 games over five seasons with the Kings (22-32) as they prepare to play the Washington Wizards (20-33) on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center. He needs 74 more to surpass Stojakovic, who spent eight seasons in Sacramento, making 1,070 3-pointers in 518 games from 1998-2006. Based on his current average of 4.0 3-point goals per game, Hield was on pace to break Stojakovics record in the final game of the season. That was before he missed Mondays 117-110 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans due to illness, ending his streak of 272 consecutive games. Hield is listed as questionable for Wednesdays game against the Wizards and the Kings will visit the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, so its possible he will miss another game or two. If Hield is able to play all 18 remaining games, he will be on pace to finish the season with 1,069 3-pointers, which would leave him one short of Stojakovics team record. To be even more precise, using Hields exact season average of 4.0188 3-point goals per game, he would finish with 1,069.34. If the final tally ends up being that close, Hield might call for a recount. All this number crunching will be irrelevant if Hield returns next season to smash Stojakovics record, but he faces an uncertain fate in Sacramento as Kings general manager Monte McNair retools the roster around DeAaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. Hield is in the first year of a four-year, $86 million contract with $20 million more in incentives, but the Kings looked at trade possibilities for months leading up to the NBA trade deadline and will likely do so again in the offseason. The Kings will ultimately need to clear the way for Haliburton to become a full-time starter. If they can find a good deal for Hield and clear salary cap space in the process, there is a chance he will be traded before the 2020-21 season begins. Hield already holds the franchises single-season record after making 278 3-pointers in 2018-19 to surpass Stojakovics mark of 240. Now he has a shot at the franchise record, but it looks like it will be extremely close. Kings coach Luke Walton was asked about Hields prolific 3-point shooting and his assault on the record books prior to Mondays game against the Pelicans, before Hield was ruled out with an illness sources described as non-COVID-19-related. Whats really impressive about Buddy is how much he loves to be in the gym and how much he loves to play basketball and how much he wants to be out there all the time, Walton said. He works incredibly hard and knock on wood hes durable. If hes banged up a little bit, hes going to still play no matter what, so those are great characteristics and what you want in your players. Were still continuing to work with him on the type of 3s we want him taking, but hes very elite at that part of the game. | https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/article250616124.html |
Should Derek Chauvin testify in his own defense in Floyd murder trial? | Article content As the George Floyd murder trial winds down, a crucial decision faces Derek Chauvins defense lawyers: whether to put Chauvin on the witness stand, breaking with convention in a bid to humanize the former Minneapolis policeman. Trial experts said calling Chauvin would be the defense teams final decision, assessing the need only after other experts had testified about the cause of Floyds death and police actions during the fatal arrest. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video I dont think he has a chance unless he testifies, and maybe not much then, said Robert Bennett, a civil rights lawyer who has sued the Minneapolis Police Department. It is rare for defendants to take the stand in a criminal case because they face intense cross examination by prosecutors and risk undermining their case and credibility. Prosecutors this week finished presenting two weeks of testimony that Floyds death resulted from a lack of oxygen caused by Chauvin, who is white, pinning the 46-year-old Black man with a knee to his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020. Bystander video of the arrest was shared widely on social media, sparking protests in the United States and around the world over police brutality and racism. The defense could finish presenting its evidence as early as Thursday. Putting Chauvin on the stand would allow jurors to see his face, which has been hidden a face mask due to COVID-19 protocols, and try to temper the image of a defendant who has come to personify police brutality. Chauvins lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. | https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/crime-pmn/should-derek-chauvin-testify-in-his-own-defense-in-floyd-murder-trial |
What's In Store for Offseason Workouts? | The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to open their offseason program April 19, but there's a lot of uncertainty because of COVID-19 The New England Patriots became early Wednesday afternoon the fifth team around the NFL to have its players announce through the NFLPA that they would not be attending voluntary offseason workouts. The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to begin their offseason program Monday, but it's fair to say its status is up in the air based on the NFLPA desire for an all-virtual offseason program the same as last spring, plus the players from the four teams taking a stand. The Patriots players followed the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions in announcing their boycott of offseason workouts, which again are voluntary per the Collective Bargaining Agreement except for one minicamp. In the case of the Patriots, the NFLPA statement indicated that "many of us" would be skipping the voluntary offseason workouts, which suggests that some players would be on hand. And this is where perhaps the issue of workout bonuses come into play, and what perhaps needs to be monitored as it pertains to the Dolphins. The Dolphins roster includes 13 players with 2021 workout bonuses ranging from $25,000 to $200,000 for kicker Jason Sanders, according to spotrac.com. Sanders, who signed a five-year contract extension in the offseason, but it starts in 2022. For this year, his base salary is $900,000, so $200,000 is most definitely not an insignificant amount. The next largest workout bonus, according to spotrac.com, goes to DeVante Parker at $100,000; followed by Albert Wilson and Jesse Davis at $75,000; Allen Hurns and Jakeem Grant at $50,000; and Xavien Howard, Emmanuel Ogbah, Eric Rowe, Ereck Flowers, Zach Sieler, Clayton Fejedelem and Adam Shaheen at $25,000. NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith made the case for a second consecutive virtual offseason in a Twitter post when he stressed that the goal was pushing for the safest possible way for the NFL to prepare and complete the 2021 season. | https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/news/miami-dolphins-offseason-program-filled-with-uncertainy-in-terms-of-format |
Can Shea Ralph, Kellie Harper and Candice Lee return women's basketball in Tennessee to glory of their playing days? | Shea Ralphs arrival at Vanderbilt gives the state a trio of former players who experienced the same unforgettable era of womens college basketball. Ralph, the new Vanderbilt coach, was a star player at Connecticut from 1996-2001. Her boss, Vanderbilt athletics director Candice Lee, was a team captain for the Commodores and played from 1996-2002. Tennessee coach Kellie Harper was a star player for the Lady Vols from 1995-99. As players, the trio combined for four national championships and seven No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament from 1996-2002. Now 43-year-olds Ralph and Harper and 42-year-old Lee are leading what they hope is a womens basketball resurgence in the state of Tennessee. TENNESSEE ROOTS:How Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper learned about basketball, life from her dad FROM PLAYER TO AD:How Vanderbilt's Candice Lee went from gutsy athlete to athletics director Heres the rundown of their March Madness playing days: 1996: UT won an NCAA title with freshman point guard Kellie Harper in the rotation. UT won an NCAA title with freshman point guard Kellie Harper in the rotation. 1997: UT won second straight NCAA title with Harper earning All-Final Four team honors. UConn lost to UT in the Elite Eight, but freshman point guard Shea Ralph suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the first round. UT won second straight NCAA title with Harper earning All-Final Four team honors. UConn lost to UT in the Elite Eight, but freshman point guard Shea Ralph suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the first round. 1998: UT won third straight NCAA title with Harper earning Final Four All-Tournament honors. Vanderbilt redshirt freshman Candice Lee played in her first NCAA Tournament after sitting out the previous season with an ACL tear. Ralph missed the 1997-98 season after a second ACL tear. UT won third straight NCAA title with Harper earning Final Four All-Tournament honors. Vanderbilt redshirt freshman Candice Lee played in her first NCAA Tournament after sitting out the previous season with an ACL tear. Ralph missed the 1997-98 season after a second ACL tear. 1999 : UT lost in the Elite Eight to end Harpers senior season. UConn lost in the Sweet 16 to cap Ralphs redshirt sophomore season. Both were No. 1 seeds. : UT lost in the Elite Eight to end Harpers senior season. UConn lost in the Sweet 16 to cap Ralphs redshirt sophomore season. Both were No. 1 seeds. 2000: UConn won an NCAA title, beating UT in the final. Ralph was named Final Four MVP. Vanderbilt reached the second round of the tournament with Lee in the rotation. UConn won an NCAA title, beating UT in the final. Ralph was named Final Four MVP. Vanderbilt reached the second round of the tournament with Lee in the rotation. 2001 : UConn lost in the Final Four after Ralph suffered a career-ending ACL tear in the Big East Championship game. Vanderbilt lost in the Elite Eight in Lees best statistical season. : UConn lost in the Final Four after Ralph suffered a career-ending ACL tear in the Big East Championship game. Vanderbilt lost in the Elite Eight in Lees best statistical season. 2002: Vanderbilt earned a No. 1 seed with a 30-7 record and lost in the Elite Eight with Lee as team captain. Reach Adam Sparks at [email protected] and on Twitter @AdamSparks. | https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/vanderbilt/2021/04/14/uconn-shea-ralph-tennessee-lady-vols-kellie-harper-vanderbilt-candice-lee/7222228002/ |
What would an ideal draft look like for the Vikings? | Here is Vikings Wires ideal NFL draft for Minnesota in 2021: The Vikings trade back in the first round, landing a second-round pick Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman. Photo: Harrison Barden/USA TODAY Sports Minnesota has plenty of pressing needs for big roles in 2021. If the Vikings accumulated more early round picks, the team would have a better chance at landing a starting-caliber player. If Minnesota traded back in the first round receiving a second-round pick in the process that would be a great way to start the draft. The Vikings take a defensive end early Minnesota Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly. Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports Even though Danielle Hunter is presumably returning, the Vikings need to shore up the position opposite to him. That probably involves taking a defensive end early. Hoping D.J. Wonnum or Stephen Weatherly step up is a risky bet to make. Also, a good defensive end can help Hunter, by preventing offenses from honing in on the Vikings' best pass rusher. Minnesota lands an offensive lineman who can start Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Ezra Cleveland. Photo: Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports The Vikings still have not said definitively what they're going to do with Ezra Cleveland. Regardless of where the team puts Cleveland on the offensive line in 2021, Minnesota will have at least one opening in that position group. So the Vikings have to make sure they find a starter in the early rounds. Whether they're a tackle or a guard isn't of the utmost importance right now, because Cleveland can play on the interior or exterior next season. The Vikings draft an enticing wide receiver prospect Minnesota Vikings wide receivers Bisi Johnson and Chad Beebe. Photo: AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn In 2020, the Vikings went with Bisi Johnson and Chad Beebe as the third wide receivers for the most part. Minnesota should add to that position in the draft, to at least make sure Johnson and Beebe have competition. If Minnesota landed a wide receiver with big-play potential, the makeup of their offense could change. Story continues Minnesota finds someone who can return punts Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Chad Beebe. Photo: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports Punt returner isn't the most valuable position in all of football. But the Vikings of 2020 proved that it can still affect games in a negative way. Minnesota had to deal with muffed punts, fumbles amid punt returns and just a lack of chunk plays from returns this past season. If the Vikings landed their punt returner of the future, that could be an underrated acquisition. The Vikings add a backup quarterback in the draft Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) and quarterback Sean Mannion. Photo: Michael Conroy/AP Photo. Minnesota currently does not have a solidified backup quarterback on its roster. Nate Stanley and Jake Browning are both options for that spot, but those two were on the practice squad this past season. The Vikings relied on Sean Mannion to backup Kirk Cousins in 2020. Mannion is currently a free agent. That could really help the team with the salary cap, which could lead to them fixing big holes. This draftee quarterback doesn't have to come in and start right away, but he does have to have potential. 1 1 | https://sports.yahoo.com/ideal-draft-look-vikings-164555812.html?src=rss |
Should I be worried if I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? | The U.S. recommended a pause in use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six women betweent the ages of 18 and 48 developed unusual blood clots. One woman died and another is in critical condition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration announced that they were looking into reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots, setting off a chain reaction worldwide and dealing a setback to the global vaccination campaign. J&J said in a statement that it was aware of the reports of blood clots, but that no link to its vaccine had been established. Here is information for people to help assess their risks. The clots happened six to 13 days after vaccination. If you are outside that windown, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS Evening News on Tuesday: If youve had it a month or two ago, I think you really dont need to worry about anything. If you are in the time frame of within a week or two of having gotten vaccinated, remember one thing: This is a very rare event. A: Health experts recommend that people who were given the J&J vaccine should contact their doctor if they experience severe headache, abdominal or leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks. Fauci also told CBS to watch for some difficulty in movement, or some chest discomfort and difficulty breathing. One reason for federal agencies sweeping response is because the most common anticoagulant drug, called heparin, can be dangerous when used to treat this particular kind of blood clot, known as a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Doctors would treat these kinds of unusual clots like they treat people who have the heparin reaction with different kinds of blood thinners and sometimes an antibody infusion, said Dr. Geoffrey Barnes, a clot expert at the University of Michigan. A: More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. That means the dangerous clots occurred in less than one in a million cases. Seth Shockley of Indianapolis received the J&J vaccine Sunday and was initially worried when he heard about the potential side effects Tuesday. His concerns faded when he learned there were only six confirmed cases of blood clots. I would much rather take the risk with the vaccine a much smaller risk than to risk it with COVID, he said. Now hes more worried that the reports could result in more people refusing to get vaccinated. A: Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. from Moderna and Pfizer. A: AstraZeneca is not yet approved in the U.S. But the FDA said the J&J cases under investigation appear similar to the clots that are possibly linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. European regulators have stressed that the AstraZeneca risk appears to be far lower than the possibility of developing clots from birth control pills, which typically cause clots in about 4 of every 10,000 women who use them for a year. A CDC committee will meet today to discuss the cases, and the FDA has launched an investigation into the cause of the clots and low platelet counts. Its possible they will adjust their guidance on the best candidates to receive the companys product for example, by age group. A: FDA officials emphasized that Tuesdays action was not a mandate. Doctors and patients could still use J&Js vaccine if they decide its benefits outweigh its risks for individual cases, Marks said. Even without J&Js vaccine, White House officials said they remain on track to have enough supplies to vaccinate most American adults by the summer. We believe theres enough vaccine in the system Moderna and Pfizer for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by May 31 to do so, said Jeff Zients, the White Houses COVID-19 response coordinator. The J&J vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA in late February with great fanfare. Yet the shot only makes up a small fraction of the doses administered in the U.S. J&J has been plagued by production delays and manufacturing errors at the Baltimore plant of a contractor. | https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/04/should-i-be-worried-if-i-got-the-johnson-johnson-vaccine.html |
Are AI Venture Investors Crazy, Or Are Groq And Sambanova Worth It? | Groq and Sambanova AI unicorns take in additional ~#1B in funding; customers must like what they see. UK AI leader Graphcore has raised some $700M to date. Intel purchased Habana Labs for $2B. Alibaba is spinning out their AI chip development business. Now two silicon valley startups have announced an total of $976M in venture funding. These deals are eye-popping Sambanova, a startup co-founded and led by ex-Sun/Oracle engineer Rodrigo Liang, announced that the company has raised an additional $676M at a valuation of $5B to become the highest cap AI startup so far. The round was led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, with participation by new investors Temasek, and GIC, plus existing backers including BlackRock, Intel Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Walden International and WRVI. Sambanova claims to deliver superior performance compared to NVIDIA A100, the current leader in data center AI benchmarks. I expect MLPerf benchmarks will be released very soon; lets revisit this claim at that time. But I love the companys vision: We are at the cusp of a fairly large shift in the computer industry, said Liang. Its been driven by AI, but at a macro level, over the next 20-30 years, the change is going to be bigger than AI and machine learning. If both Intel and Google Ventures see value here, that is a fairly strong proxy. SambaNova has published impressive benchmarks for DLRM, the recommendation engine benchmark, besting ... [+] NVIDIA in both latency and throughput. Sambanova Groq, meanwhile, announced a $300M Series C round, co-led by Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital. The company, founded by Jonathan Ross whos part-time project at Google became the Tensor Processing Unit, sports a unique single core processor that produces deterministic latencies valued by automotive companies. Groq has been incredibly capital efficient, having produced its first platform spending only about $50M, akin to Googles approach to TPU. Jonathan Ross is Founder and CEO of Groq, and worked on the original Google TPU. Groq Groq and Sambanova are no doubt building their next generation products, so much of the capital will go there. However Ross indicated to us that he realizes the criticality of expert field resources in broadening the sales funnel. New technology always relies on a certain degree of handholding, and Ross doesnt want an inadequate field force to limit his growth. On the MLOps software front, Scale has just raised $325 million in Series E funding, co-led by Dragoneer, Greenoaks Capital, and Tiger Global. Additional new investors in the round include Wellington Management and Durable Capital followed by existing investors Coatue, Index, Founders Fund, and YC. Scale helps companies like Airbnb, SAP, PayPal, and even NVIDIA manage the Machine Learning life cycle. Conclusions While Groq and Sambanova cannot disclose their early customer names, one can be confident that investors dont put up this kind of cash based on a good company powerpoint deck. They have all spoken with customers who are experimenting or even using these new platform for AI. And the customers must have been fairly bullish to reinforce the investment thesis. AI silicon will be worth many tens of billions in the next 10 years, and these investments, while at valuations that stretch the imagination, are based on the belief that this is a gold rush not to be missed. The Cambrian AI Explosion is happing all around us. Get ready. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlfreund/2021/04/14/are-ai-venture-investors-crazy-or-are-groq-and-sambanova-worth-it/ |
Should the Ravens surrender a compensatory pick to sign Justin Houston? | The Baltimore Ravens have been linked to Justin Houston for a few years now, as they had interest in him before he ended up signing a two-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts. Now a free agent again in 2021, the Ravens have him in for a visit in hopes of getting to know him better and understand what he wants out of his next team. In short, the answer is yes. Houston would provide the Ravens with immediate pass rush, something that they dont have a lot of on their roster right now. The trio of Tyus Bowser, Pernell McPhee and Jaylon Ferguson have a combined 52 sacks in 15 seasons between the three. Houston has 97.5 sacks in his 10 years playing in the NFL, including a career-high 22 sacks in 2014. He still has plenty left in the tank, and would allow Baltimore to generate more pressure on quarterbacks without blitzing, something they have struggled to do at times in recent years. If both parties are interested, signing Houston seems like a no-brainer for the Ravens. However, something that appears to be holding up Baltimore from singing any unrestricted free agent before the draft is the compensatory pick formula. The Ravens are currently in-line to receive two fourth-round picks from the departures of Matthew Judon and Yannick Ngakoue. If the Ravens were to sign Houston, an unrestricted free agent, before May 3rd (which is when unrestricted free agents no longer negate compensatory picks), it would cancel out one of the two fourth-round picks they are currently slated to receive. There have been a few reports signaling that Houston wants to sign before the draft, and others saying that Baltimore wont sign another unrestricted free agent until after the May 3rd deadline. Maybe there will be a change of heart between either Houston or the Ravens, but at this point it looks like Houston will sign elsewhere before the draft, or Baltimore will have to give up a compensatory pick to add Houston. Story continues Compensatory picks are important. Baltimore has utilized the strategy of compiling as many of them as possible for years, and it has paid off in multiple ways. Accumulating compensatory picks can help with draft night trades, player acquisitions, and having more swings in a draft to select impact players. However, despite all of the positives that compensatory picks bring, in the Ravens current situation, there are a few drawbacks. Lamar Jackson is currently still on his rookie contract for two more years, including his fifth-year option. After that, Baltimore is going to have to sign him to a lucrative extension, somewhat hindering their ability to sign free agents. While Jackson is still on his rookie contract, the Ravens should be looking to add pieces to the team that can make an impact at positions of need, like Houston. While a fourth-round pick in 2022 would be a fine asset, Houston would bring Baltimore closer to a championship at this point in time, when Jackson still has a relatively low salary. Another situation that could have implications on how much the Ravens are trying to win on Jacksons rookie contract is the Orlando Brown Jr. dilemma that Baltimore is facing. Brown Jr. wants to play left tackle, but the Ravens cant move him there, as Ronnie Stanley is one of the best left tackles in the league. Brown Jr. and his party have been looking for trades, but its seeming less and less likely that hes moved before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2022. The Ravens could certainly get more value by trading him now as opposed to the 2023 third-round selection theyd most likely get for him leaving Baltimore as a free agent, but the team might feel like they have a better chance to win with him on the roster for one more season. If the Ravens truly do feel like they have a higher chance to win with Brown Jr. as opposed to draft picks, then it makes sense that they should feel that way about Houston too. Overall, Houston would be a great addition to a Ravens defense that needs a pass rusher. He is a proven option, and with Baltimore looking at a massive extension for Lamar Jackson soon and a very competitive roster with the quarterback on his rookie deal, if it comes down to it they should surrender the compensatory pick and land an impact player. | https://sports.yahoo.com/ravens-surrender-compensatory-pick-sign-184328738.html?src=rss |
Are the Seahawks prioritizing a Jamal Adams extension to help facilitate more free-agent moves? | originally appeared on NBC Sports Northwest The Seattle Seahawks have made quite a few notable moves this offseason. On offense, they traded for guard Gabe Jackson, signed tight end Gerald Everett, brought back center Ethan Pocic and running back Chris Carson, and also extended wide receiver Tyler Lockett. On defense, they continued to build up their pass rush depth by re-signing Carlos Dunlap and Benson Mayowa while adding Kerry Hyder Jr. in free agency. Additionally, they signed cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to help replace the departed Shaquill Griffin. Not in the opinion of former Seahawks quarterback Brock Huard. The QB-turned-analyst/sportscaster spoke on his radio show about why Seattle's next move might be completing a contract extension on the defensive side of the ball. I think theyre working behind the scenes to get Jamal [Adams] done. I think that is the ongoing process as it was with Tyler Lockett, and we saw Tylers deal get done. Brock Huard Certainly, that would make sense. After all, the Seahawks did offload quite a bit of draft capital -- two first-round picks (2021 and 2022), a third-round pick ('21), and a fourth-round pick ('22) -- along with Bradley McDougald to get him. They wouldn't want to let him walk away after just two years after paying that price to get him. Adams logged 9.5 sacks last year, good for the Seahawks' team lead. His ability as a pass rusher and do-it-all playmaker is one of the main reasons that Seattle wants to keep him. "Hes not going anywhere. I think they love him. They have always said that when it comes to players who they believe in, they will pay," Huard said. "I think they would love to do that before the draft, to button that thing up and secure him, and see whats left for maybe a few other little pieces." Story continues So, the Seahawks have just about two weeks to get an extension done with Adams. That certainly could happen and if it does, they may have a little bit more cap space to play around with. And considering the cap crunch that occurred this offseason, it's possible they could get a bargain deal at at a position of need. Maybe its a corner, maybe its a pass rusher, maybe its (linebacker K.J. Wright), maybe its another receiver, Huard said. And there are a bunch of free agents out there whose markets have gotten smaller and smaller as these days and weeks have gone by... There are interesting names bobbing around in a third wave out there trying to land a home. Thats what I think is left for the Seahawks. Brock Huard Huard mentioned a few guys as possibilities. Pass rushers Everson Griffen and Aldon Smith were two of them, and considering that Smith is visiting the team on Wednesday, it seems possible that they could add him. At receiver, old friend Golden Tate was brought up as a potential third wide-out to join a receiving corps that already has two stars. It seems like the Seahawks may want to continue to add to their team on the free-agent market. If that's the case, extending Adams may be the best way to open up some cap space to continue to bolster their roster with veteran depth. | https://sports.yahoo.com/seahawks-prioritizing-jamal-adams-extension-175019653.html?src=rss |
Is Te Puke's Roy Baldock New Zealand's oldest rugby player? | Roy Baldock with his waistcoat covered in badges collected at on Golden Oldies rugby trips. Roy Baldock with his waistcoat covered in badges collected at on Golden Oldies rugby trips. In a quarter of a century of playing Golden Oldies rugby, Te Puke's Roy Baldock has never been on a losing side. He's never been on a winning side either. Played under IRB laws, with some variations, games are always undecided. Whatever happens before the final whistle, the result is always a draw. Roy, 86, is, by some margin, the oldest player in the Old Devils, the Golden Oldies team affiliated to Paengaroa's Eastern Districts Rugby Club. He isn't aware of any players anywhere in the country who are older. The club is hosting its annual Golden Oldies tournament on Sunday. Roy is unsure how much of a role he will have to play on the day, but is hoping to get on to the paddock for at least part of one of the Old Devils' games. He played rugby as a young man, but after securing a job as a farm manager, decided the impact on his career of any injury wasn't worth the risk. It was only when his wife Anne's nephew was staying that the chance to pull on the boots again presented itself - via a game of cricket. ''He was playing twilight cricket and he couldn't go one night and said 'will you fill in?' So I went down and filled in that night and stayed [at the club] ever since,'' says Roy, who was quickly enticed into the rugby side of the club. They were times of success - and quite a bit of fun. ''We had a fairly good team when I joined and we played to the other teams,'' says Roy. ''If they came out and played like seniors, then so did we, and if they played 'oldies' then we played 'oldies'.'' If they were kicking off, the Old Devils would sometimes stop and applaud the player returning the ball. ''The joker would charge up and we'd stand there clapping - they wondered what was going on.'' With a strong social element, one of the attractions of Golden Oldies rugby is the camaraderie - and the pinnacle of that comes on the various overseas trips the club has taken to international Golden Oldies tournaments. The furthest the Baldocks have been was Scotland in 2008 and the most recent was to Argentina in 2014. ''We were booked to go to America last year, but missed out on that one.'' Anne says she thinks the best trip was the one to Argentina, but they have also been to Australia, Mexico, the US and the Pacific Islands. There are also domestic jaunts to games and tournaments. Roy enjoys everything about Golden Oldies rugby. ''It's the fun, friendship and fraternity,'' he says. As well as the rules around final game scores, there is no kicking in Golden Oldies rugby, no-push scrums, and tackle rules governed by shorts' colour. When players turn 60 they can wear red shorts which means they can be held but not tackled to the ground, at 65 they wear gold shorts and at 70 purple shorts - both meaning the player can't be tackled - they can, however, only run a maximum of 20m. As a hooker, it is Roy's role to hook the ball in the scrum and throw into the lineout. ''We do all sorts of fancy things at the lineout,'' he says. Sunday's tournament marks the start of the Golden Oldies season with games organised roughly every other weekend. Roy last played in October at the Bob Scott Memorial Toe Kickers tournament in Whangamat. Cancelled last year, the 2021 Old Devils tournament is slightly scaled down, with just three invited teams involved. The first game is at noon. Anyone over 35 who is interested in playing Golden Oldies rugby is welcome to head along to find out what it's all about. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/is-te-pukes-roy-baldock-new-zealands-oldest-rugby-player/CN24HV6U2CV2N7PSOD74T2OQZQ/ |
Should I worry about side-effects from the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine? | US health officials paused distribution of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine as scientists investigate the potential link between rare cases of blood clots and the potentially life-saving vaccine. Currently, the clotting syndrome appears to affect less than one in a million people who receive the vaccine. Among more than 7.2m vaccine doses, scientists are investigating six cases of women between 18 and 48 who developed a rare blood clot, one that critically needs to be treated without heparin, a common blood thinner. The pause has caused concern worldwide, among health professionals and ordinary citizens. US health officials paused distribution while a potentially serious clotting syndrome is investigated. Among the nearly 7 million people who received the vaccine, just six cases were discovered. In all six cases, the potential side-effect occurred between six and 13 days post-vaccination, after the period when peoples common and usually mild flu-like side-effects are resolved. Health officials advised that people suffering from a severe headache, leg or abdominal pain or shortness of breath should tell their doctors if they were recently vaccinated. Officially the clotting syndrome is called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with thrombocytopenia. This technical mouthful means the cases involved a clot in the brain with the presence of low counts of platelets, the blood element which allows for clotting. The presence of a low platelet count is especially important, because it means doctors should not treat the clots as they commonly do, with a blood thinner called heparin, which in this instance could be dangerous. That sounds scary. Health authorities said people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than six days but less than three weeks ago should be aware of the potential symptoms of this syndrome, even as authorities investigate whether it is indeed linked to the vaccine. If you are experiencing symptoms of this syndrome, you should seek medical attention. However, health authorities have stressed this syndrome is exceedingly rare. In other words, be aware but do not worry. The current rate of this syndrome is less than one in 1 million. That could change as more cases are recognized and reported. Assuming the rate does not change dramatically, it is in the same range as this kind of clotting (without low platelet count) in the population between two and 14 people per million. Notably, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis has also occurred rarely in young people who developed Covid-19. In a June series of case studies, researchers with the American Journal of Neuroradiology found just three patients who suffered from these clots as a complication of Covid-19. All three died. To put risk into an even broader context, we can look at the scientific meaning of the word rare. Rare diseases in the US are classified as those which affect 86 people per 100,000. To match the rate of 86 per 100,000, more than 5,800 people would have needed to be affected among the 6.8m vaccine doses given. This particular clotting syndrome is also rarer than a blood clot from hormonal contraceptives (roughly one in 100); the risk of being involved in a fatal car accident (roughly one in 10,000) and is currently rarer than getting struck by lightning (roughly one in 500,000). Again, one of the reasons authorities see it as so important to notify the public is because the low platelet count associated with the blood clots means doctors must treat it without heparin, or risk worsening a patients condition. Of course, another measure of relative risk would be to compare the risk of death from Covid-19 with the risk of death from the clotting syndrome. Before the disastrous winter surge of Covid-19, the rate of death from Covid-19 in the US was 27.2 per 100,000 people, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That rate is among the worst in the industrialized world. Right now, scientists know of one death from the blood clot being investigated, among more than 7.2 million people who received the vaccine. In other words, you are still at higher risk of dying of Covid-19 in the US, than your are of this syndrome, whose connection to the vaccine is still being investigated. Yes, authorities said it bears a resemblance to a clotting syndrome with low platelet count seen among recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and Australia. As of 4 April, more than 222 cases of blood clots have been identified among 34 million people who received the vaccine. Although rates have differed throughout the world, Australian authorities found between four and six people per 1 million were affected by the similar syndrome, with higher rates in some Scandinavian countries. Both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson share a vaccine technology, called a platform, which uses a weakened version of a cold virus to deliver the genetic payload of the coronavirus to the body. This platform is called viral vector technology. There are important differences between the vaccines, but scientists said a link is being investigated. As for other vaccines authorized in the US, more than 184m doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been administered in the US. There have been no red flag signals to trigger a pause. A pause allows officials to publicize the potential side-effect, allows doctors time to understand how to treat it and will probably result in more reporting of potential cases. If scientists can find commonalities between the women who developed such clots, it may also help identify people at greater risk for the syndrome. Scientific authorities also hope it will show the public their commitment to transparently investigating serious outcomes, and to publicly balancing risks and benefits of newly developed vaccines. Balancing the risk and benefit will happen publicly at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine practices advisory committee, a group of independent experts. The committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday afternoon. One potential outcome of that meeting is that officials issue new guidance about the vaccine. The pause and review is likely to happen over a period of days, rather than weeks, officials said on Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson has said while the syndrome is investigated, it will delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe. Yes, it could have an outsized impact on vaccine distribution, though not in the US. The biggest impact on vaccination could be global. Johnson & Johnsons vaccine is easy to store, easy to administer and requires only one shot. That holds huge promise for vaccinating countries around the world that do not have ultra-cold chain infrastructure, such as is required for Moderna and Pfizers vaccines. The Biden administration and health authorities have both said they believe there is more than enough vaccine available from Moderna and Pfizer to inoculate the American public. Notably, the pause may hit rural and isolated communities in the US, where officials had hoped to deploy it. The pause could also affect vaccine distribution in a different way by elevating vaccine hesitancy. The news of the investigation of clotting syndromes and the vaccine is likely to inflame conspiracy theorists, who often use anecdotal stories of harm to obscure relative risk. That can give certain activities an outsized appearance of risk. It is a key reason why the personal stories of parents whose children developed autism after receiving a vaccine even though there is no link have proved effective propaganda for people who seek to profit by undermining vaccine confidence. A huge proportion of US adults need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity, the point at which the virus fizzles out when it cannot find new hosts. If people feel uneasy about taking the vaccine, it will make it harder to vaccinate everyone. How health authorities balance these nuanced priorities will ultimately determine the success of the vaccine campaign. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/14/johnson-covid-vaccine-side-effects-blood-clots-explainer |
Whats in the Massachusetts House budget proposal? | The key takeaway: Despite the upheaval of the last year, the states fiscal house appears stable. The proposal doesnt contemplate big service cuts or major tax hikes, a far cry from the deep cuts feared a year ago when uncertainty about the new virus reigned. The Massachusetts House unveiled a $47.7 billion budget proposal Wednesday, kicking off a season of negotiations on Beacon Hill over how much the state will spend on priorities such as education and health care. Theres far more debate to come, including reconciling the plan with the Massachusetts Senates own proposal and a slimmer $45.6 billion budget proposed by Governor Charlie Baker. Advertisement Heres whats in the Houses budget proposal, according to House leaders: $6.9 billion in net state spending for MassHealth, the states Medicaid program, an increase of about $300 million from fiscal year 2021 No broad-based tax increases $5.5 billion in direct local aid for schools, a $219 million increase over this year and an effort to meet the states commitment under a landmark 2019 education law that sought to bridge the educational gap between poor and affluent school districts $40 million to help school districts maintain funding despite enrollment loss during the pandemic $15 million for summer education and mental health programs in schools $291 million for state universities, $315 million for community colleges, and $571 million (a $10 million, or nearly 2 percent increase) for the University of Massachusetts system $0 from the latest round of federal coronavirus relief. Massachusetts expects to receive billions through the recently passed American Rescue Plan, of which $4.5 billion can be spent largely however the state chooses. But House leaders said Wednesday they dont want to build a budget that leans too heavily on a one-time federal cash infusion, warning it could bring a fiscal cliff. In other words, lawmakers dont want to rely on one-time federal money for ongoing expenses. Advertisement $160 million for the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, a decrease of $9 million from fiscal year 2021 $312.6 million for funding environmental services Spending up to $1.9 billion from the states savings account, which currently stands at $3.5 billion, to help fund these and other priorities Emma Platoff can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emmaplatoff. Matt Stout can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/14/metro/whats-massachusetts-house-budget-proposal/ |
Is there any shot at redemption these days in American lives? | Almost everyone has heard the F. Scott Fitzgerald line, "There are no second acts in American lives." I think he was talking about second chances for people like Jay Gatsby the wealthy, famous and beautiful. Their wild rides only come once. Hence, the bankrupt billionaire does not get to start over if he blows it. But, wait a minute, he usually does. The washed-up movie star does not get a second chance; maybe in TV. Hold on, often he does. The failed presidential candidate can never come back. Even John McCain and Barry Goldwater got second chances of a kind as lions of the Senate. Fitzgerald didn't have it quite right. America is the land of second chances, at least for its fortunate sons. Frank Sinatra, Tom Brady and Col. Sanders all got second chances. You have to have grit and pliability and luck. But reinvention is a big part of the American story. When it comes to accusation and reputation, cancellation, and political identification, however, it's a different story. When you're dead you're dead. My friend Sam, quoted in this space before, said to me a few years ago, "There is no longer redemption in American life." That's a very different statement than Fitzgerald's. More precise. More true. Sam said that if Bill Cosby came clean and showed genuine remorse and contrition, he would still be ruined, and unforgiven. Maybe that's a poor example, because the crimes were so sociopathic and horrifying and at such contrast with "America's dad." The Cosby case is tragic on so many levels. So let's take Louis C.K., or Charlie Rose, or Garrison Keillor, or Al Franken all tawdry sex/harassment scandals of varying degrees. Let me be clear, I am in no way excusing or diminishing the behavior of any of these men. (All men.) And contrition must precede redemption. I am thinking of the life of Charles Colson a Nixon thug and henchman who started a Christian prison fellowship after he went to prison. He helped thousands of people. And, I am thinking of a very different example Dorothy Day. As a young woman she was a bohemian. As a mature woman she housed, and walked with, the homeless. And as an old woman, she became a saint, fully functioning in a broken world. Granted, it is hard to imagine Louis or Charlie performing a public mea culpa or working with the homeless. Michael Milken changed his life. The wolf of Wall Street became a dedicated philanthropist, raising millions for cancer research. Fortune magazine called him, "the man who changed medicine." We are at least as pornographic a society as a puritanical one. We almost cannot help ourselves. We are hooked on tearing down heroes and toppling statues and reputations. I think we have lost confidence in good faith and goodwill. Another way to say this is: No one gets the benefit of the doubt any more. Not even the pope. Cynicism reigns. Any insult is permissible. And more and more of our fellow Americans are deemed beyond redemption. Some idiot Republican senator, the other day, called Dr. Anthony Fauci "a liar and a sociopath." He's a mensch. We are addicted to intolerance, which we sometimes call judgment, but it is really prejudgment. This brings me to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Presidents used to get a "honeymoon" six months to a year of grace and space. Now the knives come out the day after the election is settled: Sabotage him, ruin him, call him a liar, impeach him. Donald Trump never had a chance with any Democrat in office. The war on Trump started election night 2016. Now it is Joe Biden's turn at total opposition and instant demonization. It is obvious to most Americans that Biden, who did some pretty dumb things in his own past (he had to leave one presidential race because he plagiarized), and is engaged in his own prolonged redemption song, is doing a surprisingly good job as president. But no Republican officeholder, or pundit of the right, will be caught dead saying that, for if he did, he would be politically and socially annihilated. I don't think so. It's just how we play the game now. Even mild-mannered GOP politicos and writers call Uncle Joe a phony, a liar, a dunce, a socialist: Our turn. Call it another kind of zero tolerance. That is Mitch McConnell's mantra. Never give an inch. Never cooperate. Never give credit. Just as no liberal Democrat dared to admit that Trump's trade policy was the one the labor movement had advocated for 40 years. Yet, McConnell sees himself as much more grown-up and civilized than Donald Trump. Years ago, in Richard Nixon's first months in office, Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy said, "We have to give Nixon a chance, don't we?" Liberals were aghast and furious. If a liberal Democrat had said that about Trump he would have been canceled forever sentenced to a Siberia much colder and far away than Al Franken's. And if a Republican, like Rob Portman or Pat Toomey, found anything well and good with our new president, less than three months into his term say his performance on vaccinating the country and fighting a pandemic and thus saving many lives he would feel social and political death descend upon him instantly. No more TV appearances. No think tank fellowship. No law firm or lobby job. Just the quiet of the independent voice, silenced. We are addicted to intolerance and harsh judgment. There are still second chances for the rich and famous. The sinner, having given scandal, gets only one chance. Not even one. Keith C. Burris is editor, vice president and editorial director of Block Newspapers. E-mail: [email protected]. | https://www.startribune.com/is-there-any-shot-at-redemption-these-days-in-american-lives/600045847/ |
Why cant there be a vaccine for racism? | Open this photo in gallery Illustration by Wenting Li As a kid, I grew up blissfully unaware that my race would make me a target for discrimination. I was born in Richmond, a city in the Greater Vancouver Area that, in 2016, reported the second-highest visible minority population in Canada. I never experienced the kind of racism that I hear about all too often within the Asian-American and Asian-Canadian community. No one ever made fun of my eyes or told me that my lunch smelled at school. I never felt different or out of place because of how I looked. Sure, as I got older, I would hear the occasional racist joke. But the racism I saw around me growing up was never directed at me. Then, at 17, I moved overseas and lived alone for the first time to attend university in England. Did you go to an American school in your country? That was the first thing my French professor asked me upon hearing me speak English after class one day. Story continues below advertisement Actually, Im Canadian, I said, a little taken aback by the casual microaggression. As if Asian people only live in Asia. I wanted to ask where exactly he thought my country was, but I let it go. The last thing I needed was to be immediately put in my professors bad graces. I convinced myself that I was overreacting and tried not to let it bother me. I know that the overwhelming majority, if not all, of my fellow Asians-living-outside-of-Asia have had similar experiences. Weve all been asked at some point in our lives where were really from. Weve all suffered silently through the racist jokes, the insensitive offhand comments and the casual use of derogatory terms. A lot of us have been harassed on the street and had some badly pronounced version of Ni hao or konnichiwa yelled in our faces. Some of us have faced violence, been beat up or even killed for nothing other than the colour of our skin. When a stranger is racist, I usually assume that its because theyre uneducated, that their comment was unintentional or that theyre the one bad apple in an orchard full of sweet, ripe, organic fruit. But when a racist comment is made by someone who is well-educated and respected in our society like my professor its deeply hurtful. Recently, a fellow law student published a racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic and transphobic post on his Facebook page. How he managed to belittle and mock such a diverse range of people in one sentence still astounds me. When other students pointed out how offensive his post was, he continued to stand his ground until the law-student community forced him to apologize. In his initial apology, he clarified (his word, not mine) that he was upset that he had been passed up for a job and that his intention with the post was to show the drawbacks (again, his word) of the alleged affirmative-action hiring practices he blamed for his unemployment. The irony of a white man complaining about hiring practices in a white-male-dominated industry was not lost on me. This students post especially bothered me because of the recent spike in anti-Asian racism and anti-Asian hate crimes. In 2020, the Vancouver Police Department reported that anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 717 per cent. Overt racism toward Asians existed before COVID-19 but its never felt so open and daring. Its scary to read about the hate crimes on the news but its even scarier to see how confident racists have become in expressing their views. Law school was the last place I expected to encounter racism. Perhaps I was naive to think that the rigorous admission process would weed out anyone who harboured such hateful sentiments. Or perhaps I was naive to believe that anyone who wanted to pursue a career seeking justice for others would not themselves be the perpetrators of injustice. Either way, the students Facebook post was an unwelcome reminder that theres racism everywhere even within what I thought were the safe confines of law school. Story continues below advertisement A phrase that I keep seeing in the media when anti-Asian racism is being discussed is swallowing bitterness. It comes from a Chinese saying that translates literally to eat bitterness. Essentially, it means to swallow our pain to endure it without complaint. Many in the Asian community, myself included, have been swallowing our bitterness for a long time. Weve never really talked openly about our racist encounters, about feeling unwelcome or having our accomplishments minimized by the model minority myth. I envy how the pandemic will be nothing but a distant memory to most people when its finally over. Many will no longer have to worry about contracting the virus or wearing a mask. But the Asian community outside of Asia will still live in fear of a different kind of virus: racism. Well still be worried about being assaulted in public. Well still be worried about being harassed if we travel, that the world will continue to scapegoat us for a pandemic that was never our fault to begin with. Because from the way things are going now, anti-Asian hate is going to outlive COVID-19. And theres no vaccine for racism. Anneka Oh lives in Ottawa First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-why-cant-there-be-a-vaccine-for-racism/ |
Who are some of the celebrities scammed in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme? | Bernie Madoff, the financier from New York City who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died Wednesday in federal prison. Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2008 during the Great Recession, and he was arrested after his sons went to federal authorities. At the time of his arrest, fake account statements told clients Madoff's scheme had holdings worth $60 billion. A court-appointed trustee has recovered more than $13 billion of an estimated $17.5 billion investors put into Madoffs business. His decades-long scam included ordinary citizens, but the list of people swindled by Madoff included numerous celebrities, from actors to athletes to politicians. Here are some of the famous names scammed by Madoff: Carl Shapiro: Founder of women's clothing brand Kay Windsor. Fred Wilpon: Former owner of the New York Mets. Steven Spielberg: Academy Award-winning director. Jeffrey Katzenberg: Co-founder of DreamWorks Pictures alongside Spielberg. Mortimer Zuckerman: Chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, publisher of the New York Daily News. Larry Silverstein: Famous for helping develop the World Trade Center. Leonard Feinstein: Co-founder of Bed, Bath & Beyond. Eric Roth: American screenwriter for films such as "Forrest Gump" and "A Star Is Born". Larry King: Emmy-winning American television and radio host. Frank Lautenberg: Former United States senator. Norman Braman: Former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick: Golden Globe-winning actors and married couple. Zsa Zsa Gabor: Former Miss Hungary in 1936 and starred in Moulin Rouge (1952). John Malkovich: American actor, director and producer. Sandy Koufax: MLB Hall of Fame pitcher from the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Tim Teufel: Former MLB second baseman, won 1986 World Series with the New York Mets. Phyllis George: Miss America 1971, and a pioneer in women sports broadcasting. Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jord_mendoza. | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/04/14/bernie-madoff-ponzi-scheme-victims-list-includes-celebrities/7223467002/ |
Is 'frugal innovation' Africa's ticket to green development? | Article content * Africa lacks adequate funding for research * Growing young population will need more jobs We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video * Governments urged to support entrepreneurs By Laurie Goering LONDON, April 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) Cash-short Africa will need frugal innovation based on simple, local solutions to deal with serious and growing problems, from climate change to a surging youth population and a lack of jobs, African entrepreneurs and officials said on Wednesday. The good news is Africans have frugal reflexes. They have been doing frugal innovation a long time, said Fatima Denton, director of the U.N. University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, based in Ghana. But sparse research funding, government restrictions, a cultural under-appreciation of entrepreneurs and a focus by many governments on large-scale industrialisation as the way ahead are holding back efforts, she and others said. Tackling such barriers could help Africans create millions of new jobs, find ways to deal with climate threats and spur development, they told an online event during the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Were really kidding ourselves if we think all the solutions for the Global South will come from the Global North, said Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a Nigerian entrepreneur who co-founded Andela, a company that trains software engineers. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The amount of money that typically goes into building infrastructure that will guard the future is billions of dollars, which Africa will not have for a long time. So we will have to pursue frugal innovation, he said. Africa has already seen its share of bootstrap-style innovation, from the rapid spread of smartphones across a continent with few landlines to apps that can help climate-hit farmers adapt crops in response to seasonal weather forecasts. Bright Simons, a Ghanaian entrepreneur, has developed verification technology to help buyers detect fake seeds, medicine and other products, a big problem across Africa. He said African government could spur more innovation by identifying moonshots thorny problems they want solved then stepping back to let entrepreneurs try and fix them. Government is effective sometimes when they get out of the way, Simons said. But a dearth of research funding from governments, businesses and other bodies is a serious impediment to testing and scaling up grassroots innovation, he added. Today, Africa as a region contributes just 1% of global scientific reports and other research goods, Denton said, largely because it is poorly resourced. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content A surge in innovation, particularly in terms of taking small ideas to market, wont happen unless that changes, Simons said. Rebalancing that equation is critical to letting frugal local innovations see the light of day, the Ghanaian noted. PLENTIFUL OPPORTUNITIES Africa has already missed some opportunities, Aboyeji said. The idea for ride-sharing giant Lyft developed in part after co-founder Logan Green visited Zimbabwe and noticed widespread ride-sharing there due to a lack of public transport and private car ownership, Aboyeji said. Now that company is bringing in billions, while Zimbabweans still struggle to get around. We dont know the value of what we have, Aboyeji said. Lyft could have been a billion-dollar African company. But other opportunities are plentiful, he said. African entrepreneurs are looking into how to eliminate power-sucking condensers in air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, which could slash energy use and make cooling more widely available on a fast-heating continent, he said. Many African farmers also by default grow organic food, because they cant afford expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Simons said. Hooking them up with organic-hungry buyers in Europe could pay dividends for both. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content And in a continent that will have half the worlds working-age population by 2035, finding innovative ways to educate children could have a big payoff in the long run, Aboyeji said. How do you educate people on a continent where you have another 400 million children coming and an existing 30-plus million kids already out of school?, he said. Clearly, the old infrastructure cannot work. Denton said Africa was in a good position to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, focused on a fusion of digital, physical and biological advances. A 2019 study by her institute found that of the 63 essential elements needed for that revolution and new low-carbon technologies, 42 are found in Africa, particularly rare minerals. On a continent that has long seen its natural resources harvested to build wealth elsewhere, how do we make sure this time we are much more savvy and ahead of the curve, and not open to predation? Denton asked. Too many African leaders remain focused on industrializing their countries by building steel factories and other heavy industry, when greener and potentially more lucrative alternatives are available, she added. In an era of growing concern about climate change, we have a huge responsibility to see how we can develop otherwise, she said. (Reporting by Laurie Goering //news.trust.org/climate) Share this article in your social network Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Shopping essentials Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Posted Newsletter Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. 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What are Erroll Thompson's NFL Draft prospects? | For the last half of a decade, Erroll Thompson has been one of the faces of Mississippi State. The Bulldog linebacker was a centerpiece of MSU's defense as a big hitter, playmaker and leader. Cowbell Corner has once again welcomed in former NFL head coach Jim Mora, Jr. to get his view on Thompson. You can watch the full interview with Mora's thoughts on Thompson in the video at the top of this page. But long story short, Mora likes what he sees from Thompson, even if there might be a hole or two in Thompson's game. "Theres a lot to love about him a lot to love," Mora said of Thompson. "And then obviously some deficiencies. "The questions that people are going to have is does this type of player have a major role in the NFL right now the way the game is played...Youre looking for a more fluid athletic linebacker thats good against the run, then great against the pass...I can tell you this, when you draft someone like this, you dont let him go. You dont let him out of your sights. You go, My goodness, we cant coach this intensity. We cant coach this leadership. We cant coach this toughness and this instinctiveness, so weve got to hold onto that and lets work on the things that he doesnt do well." The 2021 NFL Draft begins on April 29 and runs through May 1. Again, to hear more from Mora including when in the draft he could see Thompson being picked, as well as brief thoughts on Marquiss Spencer, Kobe Jones and other MSU draft hopefuls, see the video at the top of this page. And for Mora's previous visit to Cowbell Corner in which he discussed former MSU running back Kylin Hill's NFL Draft possibilities, CLICK HERE. Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports. Be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here. | https://www.si.com/college/mississippistate/football/thompson-nfl-draft-prospects-mora-jr-41421 |
What will the Atlanta Falcons do with the Fourth Overall Pick? | Many believe the 2021 NFL Draft actually begins with the Atlanta Falcons at the No. 4 overall selection. No matter the direction general manager Terry Fontenot sends the Falcons organization with the pick, it will ultimately decide the shape this years draft will take. With Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson appearing to be near locks to be the first two players taken off the board and San Francisco looking to upgrade at the quarterback position with its move up from the 12th pick, Atlanta will be faced with many choices regarding the direction of the franchise. However, it isnt known yet what direction that is. ESPN insider Chris Mortensen recently spoke about the subject on a draft special show while delivering news concerning what he has heard about the Falcons thoughts ahead of this month's draft: What Im hearing is that Fontenot is more focused on quarterback, and (head coach) Arthur Smith believes that Matt Ryan does have two or more years left. He has no real medical history, he hasnt missed many games in his career, and there hasnt been a big dropoff in his play. There appears to be some differing opinions from the new leadership in town. Despite the reported differences, however, the Falcons front office and coaching staff will inevitably continue to work through their roster and salary-cap concerns to optimize their opportunity in the draft. Mortensen reported on the same show that the Falcons might have a favorite if they look for Ryans heir apparent at the position. One thing I do hear, though, is that if they do go quarterback at No. 4, then Trey Lance is probably the guy, Mortensen said. The former North Dakota State quarterback, Lance is often labeled as a raw talent, yet he has been lauded for his ability to pick up offenses, read defenses and is a very strong thrower when reading the field; something that most young quarterbacks struggle with when transitioning from the college game to the pros. Taking a couple of seasons to work up to NFL speed and learn the offense could prove to be hugely beneficial for himself and the Falcons organization if that is the direction they elect to head. Despite reports of the Falcons looking at Lance and the future of the quarterback position in Atlanta, there are several options that Atlanta could realistically make to better them now and in the future. As the draft nears, rumors and speculation continue to rise with where the Falcons are headed, so lets talk about some realistic scenarios for Fontenot and the organization. Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State This could actually be any quarterback, although we decided to select Lance because of who is expected to be selected with the first three picks. Again, it appears Fontenot believes that selecting the future at quarterback is in their best interest. Additionally, we often see with first-year general managers and head coaches, they look to bring in their own guys early and flip the outlook of the roster. With the new front office and coaching staff in place, they have time to fix the roster the way they see fit before having expectations of seeing returns on those decisions. No matter the quarterback prospect many would prefer here for Atlanta, this is a top-heavy quarterback draft class with a handful of prospects that are expected to hear their name called early on Day 1 of the draft. There is a lot of talent on Atlantas roster, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The likelihood that the Falcons are in striking distance to take a promising future quarterback without mortgaging the future to move up to get one is slim. Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida Smiths offense in Tennessee last season led the NFL in two-tight end sets, and adding an uber-talented prospect at the position may be a perfect match moving forward. There is no question that Pitts is a blue-chip talent and could add yet another tantalizing pass-catching option for the Ryan-led offense moving forward while complementing Hayden Hurst as the other notable tight end in Smiths offense that utilizes multiple tight ends more than anyone in the league. The only concern with bringing in Pitts as the No. 4 pick is that they arent in dire need to take a tight end this high. There are many more concerns on the roster, making this a selection of the best player available while ignoring the areas of concern. The idea behind a selection of Pitts would be to make the offense as dynamic as possible for the last remaining years of Ryan in Atlanta in hopes of once again being a contender in the NFC South. Penei Sewell, T, Oregon With Smith bringing in his power-run scheme to Atlanta where success on the offensive side of the ball is predicated on the offensive line generating movement off the ball, Fontenot and this organization may look to beef up the trenches with the selection of Sewell, who many believe to be the best non-quarterback option in the draft. Sewell would bring an athletic, yet powerful, pawn that can be played anywhere along the offensive line if asked to. With Jake Matthews and Kaleb McGary currently looked at as the teams starting tackles, there would be a sense of wasted capital spent on any of the three in this situation if they do take Sewell. Nevertheless, Sewell provides the Falcons with one of the drafts most talented prospects and allows for Smith and this coaching staff to sort out deployment along the line. Trade Down There is no question the most significant holes on the Falcons roster are on the defensive side of the ball. Having one of the worst pass-rushing groups in the NFL and an inexperienced defensive back group are not favorable when attempting to stop NFL offenses. However, with the talent pool in this years draft the way it is, it may be more beneficial for the organization to move back with a team looking to move up to take a quarterback early. Whether it is No. 9 to Denver, No. 15 to New England or No. 19 to Washington, there are many teams behind Atlanta that may be aggressive in this rich class of quarterbacks that Atlanta can take advantage of to invest in their future while making value-driven decisions with their selections. If this organization ultimately decides that Ryan has years left in the tank, this may be the best option. The defense is in dire need of help, yet the value on defense comes in the middle to late first round in the draft this year. Also, there are protections the organizations grant themselves with this move. By accumulating additional future early selections, they make it easier on themselves if a year or two down the road they wish to invest in the quarterback position if Ryan looks like he has exhausted what he has left by trading up with the additional capital. Fontenot has made it clear he isnt making decisions to benefit themselves in 2021 while simultaneously being detrimental to their long-term plans, and that outlook will likely remain true this month. With many options on how they take their first significant step under the new regime, the Falcons look to hold the key to unlocking the path the 2021 NFL Draft takes. QB | RB | FB | WR | iWR | TE | LT | RT | OG | OC | DT | NG | 3-4 DE | 4-3 DE | 3-4 OLB | 4-3 OLB | ILB | CB | iCB | FS | SS View The NFL Draft Bible database, with over 15,000 NFL Draft prospects. *The Official 2021 NFL Draft Bible publication is now available for pre-order! Reserve your copy today or go All Access and gain instant access to our scouting report database, featuring 500+ profiles and updated daily. Nobody brings you the names you need to know like NFL Draft Bible, become a disciple today and order here! *CLICK HERE for more in-depth scouting reports, be sure to reserve your copy of the 2021 NFL Draft Bible Publication! *Use the official Mock Draft tool of the NFL Draft Bible on NFLMockDraftDatabase.com *View our updated dynasty fantasy football rookie ADP *Listen to us on TWITCH. Follow and subscribe. | https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/nfl-draft/what-will-atlanta-falcons-do-with-fourth-overall-pick |
Why are so many Christians in Colombia converting to Orthodox Judaism? | When I moved to Cali, Colombia, in 2003, to follow my businessman boyfriend, it was one of the most violent cities in Latin America, besieged by drug cartels. I felt lost, unnerved and out of place. Having grown up in a conservative Jewish family in New York, I sought out Calis Jewish community, which welcomed me. Jews are a tiny minority in Colombia; just 4,000 are estimated to live in a country of 50 million, whose religious majority is Catholic, with a growing contingent of evangelical Christians. More recently, I was surprised to find a growing community in Cali of so-called emergentes emerging Jews, mainly evangelicals who have shed their previous religious doctrines to practice strict Orthodox Judaism. Even though none of them were born Jewish, many had been exposed to Judaism as part of their Christian faith, through the life of Jesus, who was Jewish. They came to see Judaism as the one true religion, many told me. My photography project focused on hundreds who have established their own communities of converts apart from the traditional Jewish communities. There are seven known emerging synagogues in Cali, whereas the traditional Jewish community has only three. It is hard not to notice the emergentes as they embrace the outward signifiers of Orthodoxy. I first happened upon this several years ago when I spotted a taxi driver with a yarmulke and the traditional tallit (prayer shawl) that Orthodox Jews wear. Over the years I have photographed many emerging Jews who have embraced the religion and its culture for example, ritual baths and head coverings for women. These new adherents talk of being unsatisfied with their previous faiths. I wanted to find the truth, Rivka Espinosa (formerly Loida Espinosa), who converted from evangelicalism, told me. And what did I need to do? She said her father was the pastor of an evangelical church where she was a member. He also converted. Advertising It was a calling of the soul, Devorah Guilah Koren, who converted from Catholicism with her husband and two children, told me. Judaism is organizationally decentralized, with different bodies overseeing their own conversions. And who recognizes what conversions is a complicated matter. Various groups and rabbis are carrying out the conversions in Colombia. The emerging Jews are not associated with any traditional organization in Colombia or in the United States, according to Alfredo Goldschmidt, Colombias chief rabbi. But he does counsel and advise them: The emerging communities consult with me regarding everything, he told me. They are a parallel community. Advertising Many emerging rabbis have been trained in Israel, I learned, and the emerging communities have formed their own independent organization. We are Orthodox because (we) follow the same laws like in other Orthodox communities in the world, explains Meyer Sanchez, assistant to a rabbi in Medelln. During my project I gained intimate daily access to those who have adopted this way of life. My work forced me to confront my own views on identity. I began to see Colombias emerging Jews as an example of the increasing freedom we all have to choose how we label ourselves from gender to sexual orientation to religion. These are the questions I wanted to raise and the story I wanted to tell through my pictures. Heidi Paster Harf is a photographer in Cali, Colombia. Alicia Vergara contributed reporting from Israel. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/why-are-so-many-christians-in-colombia-converting-to-orthodox-judaism/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
Are Humans More Sensitive To Screams From Sex Than From Fear? | getty Mammals often use screams as alarm signals, but humans also use loud calls to communicate a variety of emotions, such as screaming with happiness or pleasure. Many animals produce a piercing cry a scream as a survival mechanism in response to dangers in their environment. If a predator appears, an aggressive scream might scare-away the threat, for instance, whereas an alarm call could serve as warning for other potential prey. One study now claims that humans are more sensitive to screams prompted by less-scary scenarios. According to the research, led by psychologists at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, people can distinguish between screams associated with a variety of feelings, not just negative ones like fear, but positive emotions like joy too. The new study, published in the journal PLoS Biology, involved asking a dozen participants to vocalize several emotions. Another group of 23 participants then had their brains scanned inside a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine while they listened to the screams and rated their emotional quality. Results from the ratings were not controversial, showing that screams have different psycho-acoustic qualities that can be clustered into distinct types associated with six emotions: pleasure, sadness and joy (non-alarm screams), plus pain, fear and anger (alarm screams). Acoustic spectrograms of six distinct types of screams. Frhholz et al (2021) PLoS Biology But the neuroimaging results also led to a counter-intuitive conclusion: the brain seems to process and perceive alarm calls less efficiently than cries that don't signal danger. As the study's lead author Sascha Frhholz says, "Listeners responded more quickly and accurately, and with a higher neural sensitivity, to non-alarming and positive scream calls than to alarming screams." It's important not to over-interpret results from comparing the response to various screams, however. As the study's methods state: "All participants were healthy humans with no acting experience, training in acting, or history of being professional actors." The participants were asked to imagine the emotions they would feel in a specific scenario based on short, written instructions: an angry scream was prompted by the words 'You are being attacked by an armed stranger in a dark alley,' for instance, while pleasure came from simply reading 'You are screaming from sexual delight.' The researchers describe the acted screams as "acoustically similar to natural screams." That doesn't mean they're the same, which presents the possibility that participants had subconsciously detected that they were listening to artificial screams. If they heard an audio recording of a genuine scream of terror from a real situation such as someone being scared by a spider it's possible a listener would have been more sensitive to that scream. A woman scared of a spider. getty A scream might also be processed faster if it's produced by a trained actor who makes it sound more realistic. For example, you would expect fake screams of 'sexual delight' from a porn star to be more convincing than those made by an amateur participating in a scientific study. One explanation is that, compared to other primates, people live in more complex social environments, which forced our species to shift its cognitive priorities. As Sascha Frhholz adds, "It's highly possible that only humans scream to signal positive emotions like great joy or pleasure. And unlike with alarm calls, positive screams have become increasingly important over time." That interpretation reflects a common error in evolutionary psychology, which is that observations from present-day humans represents what happened in the past. Like the idea that beards evolved to absorb punches, it's an attractive after-the-fact explanation with no evidence of evolution it's a 'just-so' story. So while the new study reveals that people can distinguish between different emotional screams, better tests would be needed to prove that humans are more sensitive to an orgasmic scream than a potentially life-saving alarm call. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2021/04/14/science-human-screams/ |
Is Alibaba's fate a warning to Chinas tech giants? | An investigation into Alibaba found it had restricted merchants from doing business on rival platforms It's been a tough week for Chinese tech firms. Over the weekend, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's e-commerce giant Alibaba was fined $2.8bn (2bn) by Chinese regulators, who said it had abused its market position for years. Then on Monday, Chinese digital payments firm Ant Group - an affiliate of Alibaba - announced a drastic restructuring plan with regulators forcing it to act more like a bank than a tech firm. And on Tuesday, 34 companies, the who's who of China's tech world, were summoned by officials and warned: let Alibaba be a lesson to you. They've been given one month to "self-reflect" and comply with China's new rules for platform companies. Alibaba is the grandfather of China's tech industry. It dominates the marketplace there with over 800 million users in China alone. That is why it was a wake-up call for others in the tech sector when the firm was fined and officially reprimanded. The investigation into Alibaba determined that it had abused its market position for years by restricting merchants from doing business or running promotions on rival platforms. The fine amounts to about 4% of the company's 2019 domestic revenue. Industry players tell me "everyone is tense". The big firms are worried they're next. Companies like Tencent, JD.com, Meituan, Bytedance and Pinduoduo are all looking at Alibaba's experience, and trying to avoid crossing any red lines set by Beijing. No-one can be more powerful than the Party On the face of it, Alibaba's fine is about increased regulation in the sprawling Chinese tech sector, and for many it is a good sign that the market has matured. "If you read the laws, Chinese regulators are trying to be more forward looking and think ahead, in an attempt to regulate an industry that is moving so fast," says Rui Ma, a China tech analyst and co-host of the podcast Tech Buzz China. Story continues "They are including the use of algorithms, not just market share. They are trying to understand the platform economy and trying to be in line with what more developed economies are doing." But the moves are also seen as political. They are an indication that under President Xi Jinping, nothing can be bigger or more powerful in the lives of ordinary Chinese people than the Communist Party. These companies have created an alternative virtual world for Chinese people, and have a huge hold over their lives. You can't get through a day without accessing one of these apps in China. But that same influence over the lives of Chinese people puts them in direct competition with the Chinese Communist Party. The regulators' moves show that under President Xi Jinping, nothing can be more powerful in the lives of ordinary Chinese than the Party Sources in China's financial circles tell me they suspect it "irked a lot of the top leadership in Beijing" when the godfather of Chinese tech Jack Ma made a speech dismissing the traditional banking sector last year. The speech led to state media criticising Mr Ma's businesses Alibaba and Ant Group. Then Mr Ma and his team were summoned by regulators and the much-anticipated share market launch of Ant was suspended. Observers tell me what Mr Ma said at that symposium has cost him dearly. It is clear both Ant and Alibaba are keen to draw a line under these events. In an investor call this week, Alibaba's executive vice-chairman Joe Tsai said: "From a regulatory standpoint.in our case we have experienced the scrutiny and we're happy to get the matter behind us." He added: "I think on a going forward basis, globally the trend is that regulators will be more keen to look at some of the areas that you could have unfair competition." China tech's 'Wild West' is changing Chinese tech firms were born and grew up in an environment with little or no regulation. The sector operated a bit like the Wild West, with a "build it and they will come" philosophy. And for a long time the government actively encouraged that. Alibaba vice-chairman Joe Tsai: "We have experienced the scrutiny and we're happy to get the matter behind us" "China has had national schemes to promote entrepreneurship and innovation," Angela Zhang, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong tells me. She is an expert on Chinese law and is the author of a recent book called Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism. "In the past regulators were a bit more lax in their approach. They used alternative regulatory tools which were more lenient to the tech firms." But that regulatory landscape is changing as China tries to rein in these firms. Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys Prof Zhang says that while Beijing is keen to rein in the sector - it won't want to kill off the economy's golden goose. "In Chinese there is a phrase, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys," she says. "Alibaba will be used as an example, as a lesson for other tech firms to learn from. "If you put yourself in the shoes of the Chinese leadership, they definitely want economic prosperity. Growth is a major priority of the government. Alibaba's experience will ensure the others fall in line." Rui Ma agrees, and says the rules will help to foster more innovation for smaller companies in China who up till now have been squeezed out by the big players. "Local venture capitalists I've spoken to are generally supportive of these regulations," she says. "They think there's more opportunities to find younger, newer companies that never stood a chance before." | https://news.yahoo.com/alibabas-fate-warning-china-tech-230154354.html |
Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil? | Lucas More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are now at their peak. But despite the overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children, in Brazil 1,300 babies have died from the virus. One doctor refused to test Jessika Ricarte's one-year-old son for Covid, saying his symptoms did not fit the profile of the virus. Two months later he died of complications from the disease. After two years of trying, and failed fertility treatments, teacher Jessika Ricarte had all but given up on having a family. Then she fell pregnant with Lucas. "His name comes from luminous. And he was a light in our life. He showed that happiness was much more than we imagined," she says. Lucas with his parents Israel and Jessika on his first birthday She first suspected something was wrong when Lucas, always a good eater, lost his appetite. At first Jessika wondered if he was teething. Lucas's godmother, a nurse, suggested that he might just have a sore throat. But after he developed a fever, then fatigue and slightly laboured breathing, Jessika took him to hospital, and asked for him to be tested for Covid. "The doctor put on the oximeter. Lucas's levels were 86%. Now I know that is not normal," says Jessika. But he was not feverish, so the doctor said: "My dear, don't worry. There's no need for a Covid test. It's probably just a minor sore throat." He told Jessika that Covid-19 was rare in children, gave her some antibiotics and sent her home. Despite her misgivings, there was no option to have Lucas tested privately at the time. Jessika says that some of his symptoms dissipated at the end of his 10-day antibiotics course, but the tiredness remained - as did her concerns about coronavirus. "I sent several videos to his godmother, my parents, my mother-in-law, and everyone said that I was exaggerating, that I should stop watching the news, that it was making me paranoid. But I knew that my son was not himself, that he was not breathing normally." Story continues Jessika sent videos of Lucas to her family because she was concerned This was May 2020, and the coronavirus epidemic was growing. Two people had already died in her town, Tamboril in Cear, north-east Brazil. "Everyone knows each other here. The town was in shock." Jessika's husband Israel was worried that another hospital visit would increase the risk that she and Lucas would become infected with the virus. But the weeks went by, and Lucas became sleepier and sleepier. Finally on 3 June, Lucas vomited over and over again after eating lunch, and Jessika knew she had to act. They returned to their local hospital, where the doctor tested Lucas for Covid, to rule it out. Lucas's godmother, who worked there, broke the news to the couple that his test result was positive. "At the time, the hospital did not even have a resuscitator," says Jessika. Lucas was transferred to a paediatric intensive care unit in Sobral, over two hours away, where he was diagnosed with a condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS). Map of journey to ICU This is an extreme immune response to the virus, which can cause inflammation of vital organs. Experts say the syndrome, which affects children up to six weeks after they are infected with coronavirus, is rare, but leading epidemiologist Dr Fatima Marinho from the University of So Paolo, says that, during the pandemic, she is seeing more cases of MIS than ever before. Although it doesn't account for all deaths. When Lucas was intubated, Jessika wasn't allowed to stay in the same room. She rang her sister-in-law to try and distract herself. "We could still hear the sound of the machine, the beep, until the machine stopped and there was that constant beep. And we know that happens when the person dies. After a few minutes, the machine started working again and I started to cry." The doctor told her Lucas had suffered a cardiac arrest but they had managed to revive him. Dr Manuela Monte, the paediatric doctor who treated Lucas for over a month in the ICU in Sobral, said she was surprised that Lucas's condition was so serious, because he did not have any risk factors. Most children affected by Covid have comorbidities - existing conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease - or are overweight, according to Lohanna Tavares, a paediatric infectologist at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Fortaleza, the state capital. But that wasn't the case with Lucas. Lucas During the 33 days Lucas was in the ICU, Jessika was only allowed to see him three times. Lucas needed immunoglobulin - a very expensive medication - to deflate his heart, but luckily an adult patient who had bought his own had donated one leftover ampoule to the hospital. Lucas was so ill that he went on to receive a second dose of immunoglobulin. He developed a rash on his body and was running a persistent fever. He needed support to breathe. Then Lucas began to improve and the doctors decided to take out his oxygen tube. They video-called Jessika and Israel so that he wouldn't feel alone as he regained consciousness. "When he heard our voices he started to cry," says Jessika. It was the last time they were to see their boy react. During the next video call "he had a paralysed look". The hospital requested a CT scan and discovered Lucas had had a stroke. Still, the couple were told Lucas would make a good recovery with the right care and would soon be moved out of ICU and into a general ward. When Jessika and Israel went to visit him, the doctor was just as hopeful as they were, she says. "That night, I put my cell phone on silent. I dreamed Lucas came up to me and kissed my nose. And the dream was a great feeling of love, gratitude and I woke up very happy. Then I saw my cell phone and saw the 10 calls that the doctor had made." The doctor told Jessika that Lucas's heart rate and oxygen levels had dropped suddenly, and he had died early that morning. She feels sure that if Lucas had been given a Covid test when she had requested it back in early May he would have survived. "It is important that doctors, even if they believe it is not Covid, do the test to eliminate the possibility," she says. "A baby does not say what he is feeling, so we depend on tests." Lucas's parents, Israel and Jessika Jessika believes that the delay in proper treatment made his condition more serious. "Lucas had several inflammations, 70% of the lung was compromised, the heart increased by 40%. It was a situation that could have been avoided." Dr Monte, who treated Lucas, agrees. She says that although MIS cannot be prevented, treatment is much more successful if the condition is diagnosed and treated early. "The earlier he would have received specialised care, the better," she says. "He arrived at the hospital already critically ill. I believe he could have had a different outcome if we could have treated him earlier." Jessika now wants to share Lucas's story to help others who may miss critical symptoms. "Every child I know was saved by some warning and the mother says: 'I saw your posts, I took my son to the hospital and he is now at home.' It's as if it were a little bit of Lucas," she says. "I have been doing for these people what I wish they had done for me. If I had had information, I would have been even more cautious." Short presentational grey line There is a misconception that children are at zero risk for Covid, says Dr Fatima Marinho, who is also a senior adviser to the international health NGO Vital Strategies. Marinho's research has found that a shockingly high number of children and babies have been affected by the virus. Between February 2020 and 15 March 2021, Covid-19 killed at least 852 of Brazil's children up to the age of nine, including 518 babies under one year old, according to figures from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. But Dr Marinho estimates that more than twice this number of children died of Covid. A serious problem of underreporting due to lack of Covid testing is bringing the numbers down, she says. Dr Marinho calculated the excess of deaths by unspecified acute respiratory syndrome during the pandemic, and found that there were 10 times more deaths by unexplained respiratory syndrome than in previous years. By adding these numbers, she estimates that the virus in fact killed 2,060 children under nine years old, including 1,302 babies. Experts say the sheer number of Covid cases in the country - the second-highest number in the world - have increased the likelihood that Brazil's babies and young children are affected. "Of course, the more cases we have and, as a result, the more hospitalisations, the greater the number of deaths in all age groups, including children. But if the pandemic were controlled, this scenario could evidently be minimised," says Renato Kfouri, president of the Scientific Department of Immunisations of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. Such a high infection rate has over overwhelmed Brazil's entire health care system. Across the country, oxygen supplies are dwindling, there is a shortage of basic medicines and in many ICUs across the country there are simply no more beds. A baby being treated in Covid ICU Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose lockdowns and the infection rate is being driven by a variant called P.1 which emerged in Manaus, in northern Brazil, last year, and is thought to be much more contagious. Twice the number of people died last month than in any other month of the pandemic, and the upward trend is continuing. Another problem driving the high rates in children is a lack of testing. Marinho says that for children often the Covid diagnosis comes too late, when they are already seriously ill. "We have a serious problem detecting cases. We don't have enough tests for the general population, even fewer for children. Because there is a delay in the diagnosis, there is a delay in care for the child," she says. This is not just because there is little testing capacity, but also because it is easier to miss, or misdiagnose, the symptoms of children suffering from Covid-19, as the disease tends to present differently in younger people. Medical staff have bought tablets and phones to make video calls between parents and children "A child has a lot more diarrhoea, a lot more abdominal pain, and chest pain, than the classic Covid picture. Because there is a delay in diagnosis, when the child arrives at the hospital they are in a serious condition and can end up complicating - and dying," she says. But it's also about poverty and access to health care. An observational study of 5,857 Covid-19 patients under the age of 20, carried out by Brazilian paediatricians led by Braian Sousa from the So Paolo school of medicine, identified both comorbidities and socioeconomic vulnerabilities as risk factors for the worst outcome of Covid-19 in children. Marinho agrees this is an important factor. "Most vulnerable are black children, and those from very poor families, as they have the most difficulty accessing help. These are the children most at risk of death." She says this is because crowded housing conditions make it impossible to socially distance when infected, and because poorer communities do not have access to a local ICU. These children are also at risk of malnutrition, which is "terrible for the immune response", Marinho says. When Covid payments stopped, millions were plunged back into poverty. "We went from 7 million to 21 million people below the poverty line in one year. So people are also going hungry. All of this is impacting mortality." Sousa says his study identifies certain risk groups among children that should be prioritised for vaccination. Currently, there are no vaccines available for children under 16 years of age. Short presentational grey line Visits by relatives to children in ICU have been restricted since the beginning of the pandemic, for fear of infection. Dr Cinara Carneiro, an ICU doctor at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital, says this has been immensely challenging, not just because parents are a comfort to their children, but because they can also help in a clinical sense - they can tell when their child is in pain or in psychological distress and when they need soothing rather than medicating. Dr Cinara Carneiro And she says the parents' absence intensifies their own trauma when they hear their child's condition has deteriorated and they haven't been there to witness it. "It hurts to see a child dying without seeing their parents," says Dr Carneiro. In an attempt to improve the communication between parents and their children, staff at Albert Sabin hospital clubbed together to buy phones and tablets to facilitate video calls. Dr Carneiro says this has helped immensely. "We have made over 100 video calls between family members and patients. This contact has greatly reduced the stress." Scientists stress the risk of death in this age group is still "very low" - the current figures suggest only 0.58% of Brazil's 345,287 Covid deaths to date have been of 0-9 year olds - but that is more than 2,000 children. "The numbers are really scary," says Dr Carneiro. A doctor holds up a tablet to a child in ICU When to seek help While coronavirus is infectious to children, it is rarely serious. If your child is unwell it is likely to be a non-coronavirus illness, rather than coronavirus itself. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health advises parents seek urgent help if their child is: | https://news.yahoo.com/why-many-babies-dying-covid-231503962.html |
What if Jarrett Stidham took over as Patriots' starting QB in 2020? | After watching Cam Newton throw three interceptions on 15 attempts against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7, Bill Belichick finally sent in backup Jarrett Stidham for fourth-quarter mop-up duty in the 33-6 loss. Belichick returned to Newton the following week, however, and started the veteran quarterback in the teams final 10 games as New England sputtered to a 7-9 record. But lets imagine an alternate universe in which Stidham takes over as the Patriots starter after Week 7. Editors Note: Strat-O-Matic, the market leader in sports simulation, has partnered with NBC Sports Boston to build simulation experiences for "What If Wednesdays. Our partners at Strat-O-Matic used their advanced simulation software to find out, playing out Weeks 8 through 17 of the Patriots season with Stidham under center. The results were mixed, to say the least, but theres an interesting upshot. | https://sports.yahoo.com/jarrett-stidham-took-over-patriots-152234908.html?src=rss |
What are the Browns getting in Jadeveon Clowney? | A year after failing to sign Jadeveon Clowney to a lucrative three-year deal, the Browns have inked Clowney to a one-year contract worth up to $10 million. The simple answer is, it depends. The more complicated answer is, well, it depends. The first overall pick in the 2014 draft, Clowney has flashed dominance throughout his career. But he hasnt been able to do it consistently, thanks to a variety of injuries. The problems started back in early 2015, when he needed microfracture surgery after only his first NFL season, due to a bone-on-bone situation in his knee. Hes had other injuries through his career, missing nearly 30 games in seven seasons. He has appeared in 16 games only once in his career, in 2017. Even that year, Clowney didnt get double-digit sacks. He never has, with 32.0 in seven NFL seasons and a high of 9.5. Last year, he had none in eight games with the Titans. But hes nevertheless capable of being disruptive, a master of what Simms calls the eff up the play statistic. Clowney can implode the point of attack and redirect the runner, and Clowney can collapse a chunk of the offensive line and allow teammates to run through after the quarterback. He gets no tackles or sacks or other objective recognition for doing so, however. It has resulted in a collection of highlights that can make a team think its getting a cross between Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor. When Clowneys at his best, its accurate. Unfortunately, hes just not at his best often enough. For the Browns, the key becomes managing his practice time and game reps, with the goal of having him close to 100 percent as the postseason approaches. Perhaps the best news for the Browns is the fact were able to talk about the team preparing for the postseason while keeping a straight face. Thats where the Browns currently are, and they possibly will get even better in 2021. Especially if they figure out how to get the best, and the most, out of their latest addition. originally appeared on Pro Football Talk | https://sports.yahoo.com/browns-getting-jadeveon-clowney-000547688.html?src=rss |
Is the state sanctioning killing of the mentally ill by police? | Seven arrested in Mississauga rally against SIU ruling, April 11 Let me see if Ive got this straight The family of a mentally ill man phone a help line for support. A unit of the Peel Police respond; they remove the family, leaving the man alone in his home. They then Taser him, shoot him with rubber bullets and finally kill him with live ammunition. In other words, a possibly suicidal man is once again dead for the crime of being in mental distress. Equally disturbing, the SIU finds that this police use of force is legally acceptable and within police guidelines. I would classify this travesty as a state sanctioned execution of a mentally ill man. Paul Price, Mississauga Peel police had time to de-escalate situation, experts say, April 11 This piece once again points out the desperate need to fund fully mental-health crisis teams and mental-health supports in general. As illustrated in Ejaz Choudrys case, the police are not properly trained to deal with those who suffer from mental illness. Their mere presence can often make things worse, as people in crisis perceive them as threats and will act to defend themselves (even with a bread knife which is seen as a lethal weapon, for some reason). To their credit, not all police act confrontationally in such circumstances; some act with compassion and try to offer help. That is a human, not a militaristic response. Police are not social workers, nor are they mental-health workers. What happened to Choudry could happen to someone in your own family. Just pray that your ill friend or relative encounters an understanding police officer, but better yet, a mental-health crisis worker and then gets the necessary help, not a volley of bullets. Brigitte Lafferty, Guelph Read more about: | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2021/04/15/is-the-state-sanctioning-killing-of-the-mentally-ill-by-police.html |
Is it time to take the police out of traffic stops? | The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates. Whats happening Traffic stops are the most common way Americans interact with the police. The Brooklyn Center, Minn., police killing of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot by an officer who allegedly confused her gun for her Taser while attempting to arrest him, is the latest reminder of how these interactions can quickly turn deadly. Police conduct roughly 20 million traffic stops a year, according to data from the Stanford Open Policing Project. Though the majority end without major incident, they occasionally result in officers using deadly force. Last year, 121 people were killed by police after being stopped for a traffic violation. Several of the most controversial law enforcement-related deaths in recent years have resulted from traffic stops including the shooting of Philando Castille in 2016, which occurred miles away from where Wright was killed. Wrights killing has also brought attention to so-called pretextual stops, a practice in which police use a minor violation such as changing lanes without signaling or a broken taillight as a pretext for investigating an unrelated crime. The Supreme Court has ruled that pretextual stops are constitutional, but critics say these stops fuel racial bias in policing. Researchers have found that Black drivers are 20 percent more likely to be pulled over and up to twice as likely to be searched even though they were less likely to be carrying drugs, guns or other illegal contraband compared to their white peers. Why theres debate Traffic stops, in theory, promote public safety by discouraging unsafe driving and providing police an opportunity to identify more serious crimes. But police reform advocates say the high number of killings and evidence of racial bias show that, in practice, the stops do far more harm than good. A number of potential solutions have been proposed to make traffic enforcement safer and less prone to abuse. Story continues Supporters of the movement to defund the police have called on local governments to establish separate traffic agencies staffed by unarmed monitors who would handle noncriminal traffic enforcement duties that currently fall under police purview. These agencies, proponents argue, could keep the streets safe from dangerous drivers while reducing the risk of violent incidents. Some reform advocates say less dramatic policy changes, such as ending pretextual stops and only pulling over those who commit the most dangerous violations, could greatly reduce the number of incidents that escalate to violence. Others say technologies like red-light cameras and speed cameras could take a large share of the human element out of traffic enforcement. Skeptics warn against enacting widespread changes in response to what they see as a small number of high-profile incidents. They say pretextual stops, an element of whats known as proactive policing, help police keep drugs and guns off the streets. Others say traffic enforcers would face substantial danger while conducting traffic stops without a means to defend themselves. There are also fears that cameras would be prone to mistakes and contribute to a worrisome level of government surveillance. Perspectives Police shouldnt have any role in traffic enforcement Cities should transfer traffic enforcement to non-police. Those responsible for making sure traffic rules are followed should be unarmed and separate from criminal law enforcement and investigations. Anna Kurien, Appeal Pretextual stops should be banned If state legislatures and police departments nationwide were to prohibit pretextual vehicle stops police officers would be blocked from acting on some of their worst instincts. Banning pretextual stops would free officers to focus their attention on serious traffic safety violations or on stops based on more than a hunch of criminality a better use of police resources. Neil Gros, New York Times Ending enforcement of low-level traffic violations would be good for police-community relations It will have a big impact on poor people. It will have big impact on people who drive older cars, and it will have a very big impact on black and Hispanic drivers, because if they knew that they were only going to get pulled over for running through a stop sign or excessive speeding, they will feel much more confident that they could be treated fairly by their police. Political scientist Frank Baumgartner to North State Journal Ending police traffic stops would leave dangerous criminals on the street Somewhere along the way to righteous demands for police reform, we have elected to toss the baby out with the bathwater. Proactive policing strategies, which were adopted more than three decades ago, have come under knee-jerk assault, though studies have provided evidence they can prevent or reduce crime. James Gagliano, CNN Theres no reason for armed police officers to enforce minor traffic violations The fact that stops over minor motor vehicle infractions do sometimes lead to violence against police officers and the people they pull over presents yet another reason to resist putting police and drivers in direct contact over non-risky matters like expired licenses, a broken taillight, or an illegally hung air freshener. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason Police treat every traffic stop as a life-or-death situation Its drilled into police that traffic stop ambushes are routine. They arent. They happen, but theyre vanishingly rare. Those cases are of course tragic and awful. But drumming it into cops to see every stop as his or her potential last has real world consequences. Radley Balko, Washington Post Unarmed traffic enforcers would face enormous danger Unarmed traffic officers work well in many other nations, where the people they stop likewise are unarmed. Here, though, there are more deadly weapons than there are people. That unfortunate fact is what puts so many armed police in the position of handling what ought to be administrative, social or health problems. Editorial, Los Angeles Times Public safety stopped being the purpose behind traffic stops a long time ago We have cities and towns across the country using traffic stops in place of taxes, extracting money from people of color and from the poor, and using these stops to terrorize and kill black people. Of course theyre not! Raphael Orlove, Jalopnik Fewer police interactions means fewer police shootings The simplest way to reduce bad interactions between the police and the public is to reduce the number of interactions. Jeremy Pratt, Bangor Daily News Cameras should handle the majority of traffic enforcement duties Speed and red light cameras are a proven, functional technology that make roads safer by slowing drivers down. Theyre widely used in other countries and can also enforce parking restrictions like not blocking bus or bike lanes. Theyre incredibly effective enforcers of the law. Send your suggestions to [email protected]. Read more 360s Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Getty Images | https://news.yahoo.com/it-is-time-to-take-the-police-out-of-traffic-stops-155835442.html |
Where Do Galaxies Come From? | The Copeland Septet, in the constellation of Leo, was imaged along with about a billion other ... [+] galaxies as part of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. The survey covers approximately half of the sky, ~20,000 square degrees, to very good depth. With that much data, machine learning was required to extract gravitational lensing signals. KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey In all of science, there are really only two ways that something can be known to humanity. The most solid knowledge comes when we can observe or measure it directly, giving us incontrovertible, factual knowledge of the phenomenon in question. The second way we can know about something is theoretically: where we understand the laws, properties, and conditions that must have been in place to give rise to the phenomenon we then observe or measure later on. This latter form is an indirect form of knowledge, and we always seek experimental or observational confirmation of those ideas wherever we can. When it comes to many questions in the Universe the nature of dark matter, the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry, or the existence of the very first stars of all we have strong evidence that certain events must have occurred, but we dont have the direct evidence we want to understand them fully. One of those questions, simple though it may seem, is where do galaxies come from? Theres a tremendous amount of information we know about them, but plenty of gaps as well. Remarkably, the James Webb Space Telescope may wind up filling them all in, leading to a more complete understanding of galaxies at long last. Heres how. A visual history of the expanding Universe includes the hot, dense state known as the Big Bang and ... [+] the growth and formation of structure subsequently. The full suite of data, including the observations of the light elements and the cosmic microwave background, leaves only the Big Bang as a valid explanation for all we see. As the Universe expands, it also cools, enabling ions, neutral atoms, and eventually molecules, gas clouds, stars, and finally galaxies to form. NASA / CXC / M. WEISS The theory. There are a few things weve managed to put together with some pretty strong scientific certainty about our Universe. The observable Universe, as we know it, began with the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago. Governed by General Relativity, it possesses a specific relationship between the fabric of spacetime itself and the presence and distribution of all forms of matter and energy. It was hot, dense, and rapidly expanding, and was almost but not perfectly uniform. On all scales, from tiny, microscopic ones all the way up to the largest cosmic ones, there were tiny imperfections: at about 1-part-in-30,000 level. Over time, the imperfections that correspond to overdense regions must have grown, preferentially attracting more and more matter to them, while the average and underdense regions give up their matter to the denser locations. After enough time has passed, the overdense regions become massive and dense enough that they can undergo gravitational collapse, leading to star-formation, star clusters, and eventually, after enough growth and/or mergers have taken place, the first galaxies. As time goes on, these galaxies grow and merge further, evolving into the modern-day ones we see at present. Galaxies comparable to the present-day Milky Way are numerous, but younger galaxies that are Milky ... [+] Way-like are inherently smaller, bluer, more chaotic, and richer in gas in general than the galaxies we see today. For the first galaxies of all, this effect goes to the extreme. As far back as we've ever seen, galaxies obey these rules. NASA AND ESA The observations. Theres a lot that we can see and measure to support this picture, but there are a lot of gaps as well: places where the direct observations that would fill in the unknown details are missing. At late times, we see galaxies as they are today: large, massive, evolved, and full of heavy elements, which indicate how much processing has taken place due to the prior generations of stars. As we look farther and farther away which corresponds to looking back to earlier times we can see how similar galaxies were different in the past. As you might expect, they were smaller, less massive, less evolved, and contained fewer heavy elements the farther back we look. Over more than 10 billion years of cosmic history, we see this trend continue. The earliest galaxies are made of younger stars, dominated by the bright, blue, short-lived massive stars that are likely to go supernova. Over some ~90% of the Universes history, we can see how galaxies grow and evolve, and its a spectacular case where theory and observations match. Schematic diagram of the Universe's history, highlighting reionization. Before stars or galaxies ... [+] formed, the Universe was full of light-blocking, neutral atoms. While most of the Universe doesn't become reionized until 550 million years afterwards, a few fortunate regions are mostly reionized at much earlier times. S. G. DJORGOVSKI ET AL., CALTECH DIGITAL MEDIA CENTER At the limit of the Hubble Space Telescopes capabilities, however, there are two obstacles that get in the way. Beyond a certain point, our view of the galaxies is tremendously obscured, for the following two reasons. The Hubble Space Telescope is optimized for viewing the Universe in certain wavelengths of light: ultraviolet, visible light, and the near-infrared part of the spectrum. Wavelengths that are too short or too long cannot be seen by this observatory. At early times, less than ~550 million years after the start of the hot Big Bang, the Universe is no longer transparent to optical light, as there are neutral, not-yet-ionized atoms permeating the intergalactic medium that block too much of that light to observe. When light from galaxies that existed at the earliest of times, before that ~550 million year mark, is emitted, these two difficulties largely prevent us from viewing the Universe before that epoch. However, theres one exceptional counterexample: the most distant galaxy ever discovered, GN-z11. Only because this distant galaxy, GN-z11, is located in a region where the intergalactic medium is ... [+] mostly reionized, can Hubble reveal it to us at the present time. To see further, we require a better observatory, optimized for these kinds of detection, than Hubble. NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) Overcoming the observational limits. Two things serendipitously lined up to help us overcome these cosmic obstacles. The first is going back to our theories once again, albeit theories that are informed by supporting observations that the distribution of neutral atoms throughout the Universe isnt uniform. Wherever you have large amounts of stars that form early on, you get lots of ultraviolet radiation that smashes into the neutral atoms that surround them. This radiation is energetic enough to ionize them, enabling that portion of the Universe to be transparent. Along some lines-of-sight, this ionization will occur at earlier times than others, while it will take longer in other directions. The galaxy GN-z11 happened to be located along a particular line-of-sight where this ionization occurred more swiftly than average, which led to a larger fraction of the light getting through than normal. As a result, we can see GN-z11 as it was just 407 million years after the Big Bang: when the Universe was only 3% of its current age. This simplified animation shows how light redshifts and how distances between unbound objects change ... [+] over time in the expanding Universe. Note that the objects start off closer than the amount of time it takes light to travel between them, the light redshifts due to the expansion of space, and the two galaxies wind up much farther apart than the light-travel path taken by the photon exchanged between them. Rob Knop Theres also the problem of the expanding Universe. When the light from these young, hot, early stars is first emitted, its mostly in the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum. However, as that light travels through the Universe, it experiences a redshift: getting stretched to longer wavelengths. You can imagine that light is defined by its wavelength, which is a particular distance that corresponds to light of this particular energy. As the Universe expands, distances expand too, and that wavelength gets stretched to larger distances. Larger distances for a wavelength mean lower energies and redder light. At the distance of GN-z11, light thats emitted in the ultraviolet gets stretched so severely that its shifted all the way into the infrared: at double the wavelength of where the visible light portion of the spectrum ends. Its only because of the latest instrumentation on Hubble, which pushes the limits of its infrared capabilities out beyond those limiting wavelengths, that were able to see the light emitted from this galaxy at all. And even with all of this, we wouldnt have been able to see it even with Hubble if there werent an extra factor at play: gravitational lensing. The galaxy cluster MACS 0416 from the Hubble Frontier Fields, with the mass shown in cyan and the ... [+] magnification from lensing shown in magenta. That magenta-colored area is where the lensing magnification will be maximized. Mapping out the cluster mass allows us to identify which locations should be probed for the greatest magnifications and ultra-distant candidates of all. STSCI/NASA/CATS TEAM/R. LIVERMORE (UT AUSTIN) An assist from gravitation. When light travels through the Universe, it has to for better and for worse pass through the entirety of the space between the emitting source and the observers destination. While astronomy is mostly concerned with the intervening matter along the journey, which can absorb or disperse light or otherwise alter its properties, sometimes theres a very massive object along or near the line-of-sight connecting the emitter and the observer. When that occurs, the extreme curvature induced in the intervening spacetime can distort and magnify the background light through the process of gravitational lensing. Objects that would otherwise be too faint to be seen can be magnified many times over, by factors of dozens or even 100+, depending on the geometric configuration. The faintest, deepest data from the distant Universe, largely collected from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, reveals the most distant lensed galaxies of all. Whenever we look near a large foreground galaxy cluster, the effects of gravitational lensing can help us see farther and fainter than would ever be possible otherwise. As our satellites have improved in their capabilities, they've probes smaller scales, more frequency ... [+] bands, and smaller temperature differences in the cosmic microwave background. The temperature imperfections help teach us what the Universe is made of and how it evolved, painting a picture that requires dark matter to make sense. NASA/ESA AND THE COBE, WMAP AND PLANCK TEAMS; PLANCK 2018 RESULTS. VI. COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS; PLANCK COLLABORATION (2018) Observational hints from the Big Bang itself. Imagine the Universe as it was long ago: before any galaxies, stars, or even atoms had formed. In these very early stages, we still have the overdense (and underdense) regions, but they dont grow (or shrink) the way you probably expect. Before you have neutral atoms, photons can interact easily with the free, unbound electrons, allowing for the unfettered exchange of energy and momentum. Whenever an overdense region attempts to grow through gravitational collapse, the radiation pressure goes up, causing additional photons stream out from it. This eventually leads to a rebound which causes the density on that particular scale to drop. These rebounds happen many times for smaller scales, fewer times on slightly larger scales, and there will be one particular scale when the Universe finally becomes electrically neutral some 380,000 years after the Big Bang where things are rebounding for the first time. These series of rebounds then show up in the spectrum of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, which serve as the seeds that will eventually grow into the Universes large-scale structure. The largest-scale observations in the Universe, from the cosmic microwave background to the cosmic ... [+] web to galaxy clusters to individual galaxies, all require dark matter to explain what we observe. The large scale structure requires it, but the seeds of that structure, from the Cosmic Microwave Background, require it too. Chris Blake and Sam Moorfield The gaps in our observations. This leaves us with an enormous gap: from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the light from the cosmic microwave background was emitted, until about ~400 million years after the Big Bang: when we see the earliest luminous objects ever detected. At some point during this time, when matter is still largely neutral (and hasnt been reionized by starlight) and the Universe is opaque to the small amounts of starlight that do exist, the following things must have happened. Matter must have gravitated, forming large-mass clouds of gas on small scales. Those clouds must have gravitationally contracted, leading to the formation of the first, pristine stars. Those stars must have lived-and-died, enriching the Universe with heavy elements. That subsequent material gets taken up in future generations of star formation, leading to second-and-later generations of stars. And those later generations formed star clusters, which grow by accreting matter and merging together, forming the earliest proto-galaxies. Those early galaxies then grow and merge, leading to the earliest types of galaxies weve revealed thus far. Right now, only the results of that final step the earliest galaxies revealed so far are available to us today, in 2021. But by this time next year, the hope is that all of this will have changed. The James Webb Space Telescope vs. Hubble in size (main) and vs. an array of other telescopes ... [+] (inset) in terms of wavelength and sensitivity. Its power is truly unprecedented, and will enable us to view galaxies more distant and faint than ever before. In just 6 months, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope is slated to launch. It will have improved instrumentation as well as fundamental capabilities that Hubble lacks, including: the ability to see far into the infrared, up to wavelengths of ~30 microns, as opposed to Hubbles ~2 micron limit, significantly improved light-gathering power, with a diameter of 6.5 vs 2.4 meters, collecting seven times the data as Hubble over the same timespan, and will operate at extremely low temperatures, improving the signal-to-noise ratio and allowing Webb to measure at wavelengths where all Hubble sees is thermal radiation from inside the telescope. In just the first year of its operation, Webb should find significant numbers of galaxies that are fainter, more distant, and less evolved than anything Hubble has ever seen. It may even, if we get lucky with our observations, give us our first glimpses of the very first populations of stars the stars made exclusively of pristine, direct-from-the-Big-Bang material that must exist, but have not yet been revealed. We may even witness stellar cataclysms like supernovae from these pristine stars, if were lucky enough to find them. The biggest gap in our understanding is how the earliest stars and galaxies formed, and thats precisely the scientific question that James Webb is optimized to answer. As we're exploring more and more of the Universe, we're able to look farther away in space, which ... [+] equates to farther back in time. The James Webb Space Telescope will take us to depths, directly, that our present-day observing facilities cannot match, with Webb's infrared eyes revealing the ultra-distant starlight that Hubble cannot hope to see. NASA / JWST AND HST TEAMS If Hubble showed us what the Universe looks like, then James Webb will teach us how the Universe grew up into what it is today. We have direct information, going back to the very early stages of the Big Bang, that illuminates what the seeds of our modern galaxies look like, and we have direct information some 400 million years later, showing us what those early-type galaxies have grown into. From those early times to the present day, we can fill in a remarkable number of those subsequent details, but we have no observational clues as to how those first galaxies truly arose. The James Webb Space Telescope, just six months from now, will launch towards its ultimate destination. By 2022, we should begin taking observations of the deepest corners of the Universe: those far reaches that have been invisible to every other observatory thus far. We have a theoretical picture for how galaxies ought to arise, and at last, the observational data is about to catch up. Whatever it is that we find will be a thrilling victory for the enterprise of science, with chances to discover something more revealing than anyone has yet anticipated. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2021/04/15/where-do-galaxies-come-from/ |
What is a COVID-19 vaccine passport, and will I need one? | Vaccine passports," or vaccine certificates, are documents that show you were vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus. They could help you get into places such as stadiums or even countries that are looking to reopen safely. The certificates are still being developed, and how and whether theyll be used could vary widely around the world. Experts say they should be free and available on paper, not just on apps, since not everyone has a smartphone. In the U.S., federal officials say there are no plans to make them broadly mandatory. In some states, Republican governors have issued orders barring businesses or state agencies from asking people to show proof of vaccination. Objections revolve mostly around privacy and security how peoples personal information will be stored and fairness. Critics say the passports will benefit people and countries with more access to vaccines. Supporters say they could make reopenings faster and easier. Proof of vaccination or a negative test could be a way for businesses and schools to reassure customers, students and parents that steps are being taken to limit transmission of the virus. International travel bans by countries could also be eased if people are able to show proof theyre vaccinated. Some countries have long had requirements to prove vaccination against yellow fever. Still, a challenge is creating certification systems that work across vaccine providers and businesses. More than a dozen initiatives are underway to develop a credential that could be stored on a smartphone or printed on paper, using a QR code. ___ The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: [email protected]. Read more here: I got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. I got the COVID-19 vaccine. | https://www.houstonchronicle.com/living/article/What-is-a-COVID-19-vaccine-passport-and-will-I-16102493.php |
What did Greensill Capital actually do? | Greensill Capital, which entered administration last month, provided payment services including factoring and supply chain financing. Although the company represented itself as part of the fintech revolution, these services were not in themselves particularly noteworthy or innovative. To understand the growing appeal of Greensill and other providers, we therefore need a wider lens. Supply chain financing (or reverse-factoring) solves a common payment problem. Firms traditionally supply goods or services to a customer and issue an invoice for payment. While the supplier might prefer the invoice to be paid immediately, the customer might want to delay payment. In situations where the customer is large and influential, they might insist the supplier wait two or more months. With reverse factoring, a financial institution offers to step in to pay the supplier sooner on the customers behalf, minus a small discount which they take as their fee, or part of their fee. The customer then settles with the financial institution at an agreed later date, often four or five months later. On paper, everyone wins and there are no risks. But textbook definitions dont always apply neatly to the real world. In recent years, the appeal of supply-chain finance has included the possibilities it provides for whats euphemistically called creative accounting. Creative accounting has blossomed under the fair-value revolution a change in the accounting rules towards a more market-based outlook. This essentially means the business of doing ones accounts has pivoted towards an evaluation of future cashflows rather than a valuation of past transactions. Many assets are no longer valued on the basis of the price paid for them, but on their current market values or even modelled estimates of the future cashflows they will generate. This also applies to some contracts, where profits are booked on the basis of future expectations. This approach to accounting creates the scope for discretion, subjectivity and speculation. It has arguably made it easier for firms to recognise profits than to generate the actual cashflows that support them. And it is here that supply chain financing can be misused. The gap between cashflow and profit was a defining feature of what happened to Carillion, the outsourcing company that folded in 2018. Carillion used reverse factoring to hold on to its cash for longer and thus report higher net operating cashflows. This accounting trick allowed the company to report a higher cash conversion rate (the amount of profit realised as cash), which was used to calculate a portion of executive director pay. Carillions accounting treatment of its supply chain financing also allowed the company to disguise its debt. Carillions obligations to banks in the form of overdrafts and loans stood at 148m in 2016, but their supply chain financing liability was estimated to be 498m. This partly helped Carillion look much healthier than it was. Carillion, like many large firms, became a kind of portal, capable of moving income and costs around in time and space based on projections of their future economic fortunes. Supply-chain financing allowed them to produce operating cashflow figures that gave those profit figures some credibility. Many other firms may be exploiting this loophole, in a market estimated to be $3.5tn (2.5tn). Fast forward to Greensill, which was not involved with Carillion but does have factoring arrangements with other large firms. Whereas reverse factoring offers early payments to a customers suppliers, straight factoring is when a business sells its invoices or receivables to a third party at a discount. As Greensill pushed for growth, the collateral underlying the transactions with some of those companies appeared to be speculative. As investigative work has shown, Greensill did not just lend against the security of invoices for transactions that had already occurred, they lent against the prospective receivables the company might generate in the future. In other words, they would lend against transactions that had not occurred and may never occur with companies that had never done business with their clients. Representatives of Greensill declined to comment. That is the unsettling context within which the Cameron story should be understood. Greensill was carrying a lot of risk going into the negotiations over payment systems in the NHS. That deal, if they could have secured it, would have provided Greensill with an extremely large, near-riskless income stream because of the states creditworthiness. But it may also have created sizeable too-big-to-fail problems if the company became an intrinsic part of the public sector payment machinery. Although the company was not given this deal, it did manage to make some inroads via its Earnd app and also provided supply-chain financing to pharmacies. It remains to be seen how far its involvement in public provision has stretched. Supply chain finance provides many benefits, but it can be misused when it operates as a temporal fix for a rather surreal, holographic form of capitalism. Greensills model was never going to be sustainable in the long term because at some point debts need to be settled. Yet that was hardly the point: it was sustainable enough for long enough for the owner of Greensill Capital and perhaps some of its clients to become richer. It also raises questions about the relationship between the state and private providers, and the blurring of that boundary. It has become increasingly unclear whether such firms really do help the state with their service delivery problems, or whether the state helps them with their risk and profitability problems. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/15/what-did-greensill-capital-actually-do |
How are toymakers trying to help the environment? | MaTTEL The first model will be a mini version of the Tesla Roadster British toymaker, Matchbox, says it's trying to help the environment with the new cars it's launching. There'll be a series of toy cars based on real-life electric vehicles and the company will be using recycled materials to make some of them. The first will be a mini version of the Tesla Roadster which will be the first made almost entirely (99%) from recycled materials. Matchbox is owned by American toymaker Mattel and sells more than 40 million toy vehicles each year. Other Matchbox cars being launched will be based on electric and hybrid vehicles made by Nissan, Toyota and BMW. The mini Tesla is made from recycled zinc and plastic with just 1% from non-recycled stainless steel. It will come in zero-plastic packaging made from paper and wood fibre. The aim of the sets is to raise "environmental consciousness" among children, and "empower the next generation of Matchbox fans to help steer us towards a sustainable future," said Roberto Stanichi, from Mattel. Lego has said it will start replacing plastic packaging with paper bags this year. The company said it had been prompted to do this by letters sent to it from children. Lego bricks themselves are made of plastic but the company is looking into other materials that could be used instead. Supermarket Waitrose has said it will no longer sell children's magazines with plastic disposable toys to help tackle pollution. The decision was made after some children asked for the free plastic toys to stop, like 10-year-old Skye. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Skye is campaigning for magazines to stop including plastic toys Toymaker Mattel, which also makes Hot Wheels, says it plans to use 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials in the manufacturing of all its products and packaging by 2030. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56756895 |
Did PayPal Just Make Cryptocurrency The Cash Of The Future? | While markets focus on a sensational cryptocurrency-related IPO and on Chinas announcement that it has created a cryptocurrency version of its regular currency, the yuan, a more momentous event took place a few days before: PayPal has found a way to let consumers use various cryptocurrencies via their PayPal digital wallets to seamlessly buy stuff from the platforms almost 30 million merchants. The cryptos are instantly converted into regular money, so sellers have no currency risk. The huge obstacle to cryptos becoming genuine currencies that can be used for commercial transactions has always been their extreme volatility. PayPal has found a way around this. Moreover, a new class of cryptos, stablecoins, has emerged; these cryptos are tied to an asset, such as the dollar or gold. So this class of crypto also decisively deals with volatility. With growing ease of use and growing stability, the time is swiftly approaching when cryptos will challenge government monopolies for the creation of money. A major political war is brewing! | https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2021/04/15/did-paypal-just-make-cryptocurrency-the-cash-of-the-future/ |
Is Miamis new Van Gogh show an Instagrammers shallow dream or an art lovers paradise? | We know purists may scoff at the new immersive exhibit, which opens Thursday at the Ice Palace Studios in Miami, because haters gonna hate, etc. We cant argue that witnessing the works of the famous Dutch artist in person is the best possible scenario. But we cant hop on a plane just now, and Beyond Van Gogh doesnt happen to have any of the originals stashed away, so this exhibit of projections and music will have to do. Besides: Beyond Van Gogh is fun. Act as cynical as you want, but when that starry night starts twinkling, youre going to Wow! just like everyone else. But if youre still not sure whether the exhibit is for you or not, we believe these parameters will help you decide. You have visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam Youre practically obligated to see this exhibit, if only to expound on your superiority to everyone within earshot. THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE. You regularly attend Art Basel and at least two other shows during Miami Art Week You know being part of the Miami art scene is key, especially after a year in which the most art we got to see was our kids bad crayon drawings. That really doesnt look like a cat, Liam. Your Insta stories have gotten stale This is the place to freshen up that account and induce FOMO in your followers. You dont know what TikTok is but young people annoy you You could have a rough night here. Have a drink before you venture in. You will scream if you hear Don McLeans Vincent one more time We regret to inform you that you will hear a version of this song during the exhibit, but come on. You are curious but worried about crowd size The exhibit uses timed entry tickets, and masks are required inside the venue. The main room is big enough for you to keep away from other people, which is of course preferable at all times but especially now. You desperately want to get out of your house Get your tickets now. Dont hesitate. Otherwise you might be tempted to start another jigsaw puzzle. You desperately want to get your kids out of the house Kids under 4 are free, and youre allowed to push a stroller (preferably not into the backs of anyones legs) but lets be real: Little kids are likely to be bored by this and nobody wants to hear them screaming. Older kids may be intrigued by the way the paintings melt off the walls and across the floors; this could be a great way to introduce them to the world of art. Teenagers will hate you for taking them if youve confiscated their phones for any transgressions and possibly just in general. Choose wisely. You think art means paintings and anything else is nonsense Its time to broaden your horizons. Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience Where: Ice Palace Studios, 1400 N Miami Ave, Miami Opens: April 15 Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; closed Monday and Tuesday Tickets: $36.99-$93.99 for adults; $23.99-$28.99 for kids; $32.99-$4199 for students, seniors and military; vangoghmiami.com; masks are required inside the venue | https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/things-to-do/article250664854.html |
What Will It Take to Pandemic-Proof America? | On September 29, 1982, a twelve-year-old girl named Mary Kellerman woke up with a cold. Her parents gave her some extra-strength Tylenol and, within a few hours, she had died. That same day, in a town near the familys Chicago suburb, a twenty-seven-year-old postal worker named Adam Janus felt ill; he, too, took Tylenol and died hours later. Januss brother and sister-in-law gathered at his home to grieve, developed headaches, and took Tylenol from the same bottle; both died shortly thereafter. Three more mysterious deaths soon followed. State and federal investigators descended on the Chicago area. They quickly determined that the Tylenol had been laced with cyanide: someone had taken bottles off the shelf, injected the capsules with poison, and put them back into stores. Within a week, more than ninety per cent of Americans had heard that cyanide-laced Tylenol was killing people in Chicago. Sales of the medication plummeted by four-fifths. Johnson & Johnson recalled every bottle in the country, at a cost of more than a hundred million dollars, then began working with the Food and Drug Administration to develop tamper-proof packaging. Tylenol had come in capsules, which were easy to swallow but could be opened and adulterated; the company replaced them with caplet pills that were much harder to contaminate, and started packaging them in foil-sealed childproof containers. Not long afterward, Congress made it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products, and the F.D.A. started requiring tamper-resistant packaging for all drugs. In the years since, there have been scattered attempts at similar crimes, but none as deadly as the Tylenol murders. Today, Americans hardly ever worry that their medications or groceries might contain poison. Some problems we confront and eliminate. Others become part of the fabric of our society. Gun violence is an obvious example: more than a hundred Americans die of gun-related injuries each day, but we still dont embrace the policies that could help. SARS-CoV-2 has killed one in every thousand Americans, and future pandemics are basically unavoidableand so, as the end of this pandemic approaches, the question is whether well embrace the policies that could protect us next time. When it arrives, the next pandemic could very well be worse than the one were experiencing now. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is less deadly than SARS-CoV-1, which, when it broke out, in 2002, killed eleven per cent of those it infected. SARS-CoV-2 is less transmissible than measles, which is at least ten times more communicable; it has proved easier to vaccinate against than H.I.V., for which a shot has yet to be developed. From the midst of the next pandemic, well almost certainly look back on the Biden Presidency as a time when we either seized or squandered the chance to prepare for the inevitable. The moment to pandemic-proof America is now. Some countries came into our current pandemic prepared by experience. South Korea, for example, had confronted MERSMiddle East Respiratory Syndrome, caused by another coronavirus, MERS-CoVin the spring of 2015. That outbreak began when a businessman returned to Seoul after spending ten days in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Within a week, he developed fevers and muscle pains. He soon visited a nearby clinic, a local hospital, and a large academic medical center, where MERS was finally identified; he recovered, but during his journey through the medical system he infected more than two dozen people, including another man who travelled between hospitals, spreading the disease to at least eighty others. As MERS spread in South Korea, testing was often slow or unavailable, and the government didnt share what it knew about where outbreaks were occurring. The virus shuttled undetected through the medical systemnearly half of all infections would eventually be linked to hospitalsand people started avoiding medical care altogether. In the two months it took to get the virus under control, South Korea quarantined more than sixteen thousand people and recorded a hundred and eighty-six infections and thirty-eight deaths. (The coronavirus that causes MERS is twenty times as deadly as SARS-CoV-2.) The economy faltered, and seven in ten Koreans said they disapproved of the governments response. In the years afterward, South Korea introduced major changes to prepare itself for the next virus. It passed a law that empowered labs to use unapproved diagnostic tests in case of emergencies. It dramatically expanded the power of health officials, allowing them to close hospitals when needed and to access surveillance footage and other information for confirmed and suspected carriers. In future outbreaks, local governments would be required to alert residents to the number and location of nearby infections; the isolation of potentially infectious individuals would be mandatory, with fines for those who failed to comply. (In the U.S., during this pandemic, measures like these have been optional.) The directorship of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency was elevated to a top position within the federal government. A new public-health emergency-response team was established, and a special department was created to focus on risk communication. The government hired more epidemiologists, bolstered border-screening measures, and required hospitals to increase the number of negative-pressure isolation rooms. All this contributed to the fact that, beginning last year, South Korea mounted among the most effective pandemic responses in the world, recording around seventeen hundred COVID-19 deaths across a population of fifty-two million people. In the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed a specific set of systemic weaknesses that need to be addressed for next time. The countrys stockpile of emergency equipment proved inadequate, as did its test-and-trace infrastructure. Federal public-health agencies and programs and local health departments were underfunded and unprepared. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a member of President Bidens COVID-19 transition advisory board, told me that there was a sense in which these failures were unsurprising: before the coronavirus, Americans were collectively incapable of imagining just how deadly and disruptive a wildly contagious pathogen could be. Weve long had this complacency, because we thought of infectious diseases as something that affected low-income countries, he said. Weve had this attitude of, As long as its over there, its not our problem. Well, now weve had a taste of what it means to live with a deadly virus. What are we going to do about it? The changes we need to make can be grouped into three broad categories. The first is disease surveillance. We have no idea whats out there, Farzad Mostashari, a former assistant commissioner of New York Citys public-health department and the Obama Administrations national cordinator of health information technology, told me. Health agencies must be able to identify and track outbreaks before they get out of control; to do so, they must collect viral samples and send them to local laboratories on a continuous basis. This requires funding, but, Mostashari said, it also demands an investment in the nations public-health informatics infrastructure. Mostashari cited his experience at New York Citys health department, from 2005 to 2009: he regularly handled fifty-nine separate data feedsWord files, Excel files, CSV files, TXT filesfrom the citys fifty-nine emergency departments, spending hours each week trying to make sense of it all. There have been improvements since then, but the basic problem persists. What we need is a single national platforma common set of toolsthat brings in data from every state in an organized way, he said. There would still be local control and governance of the data, but it would be standardized and interoperable across the country. Funding for such a system must be not just substantial but long-term. After 9/11, hundreds of millions of dollars were sent to state and local health departmentsbut, Mostashari said, the money later dried up. We need to think of public health like defense, he said. The systems we maintain during peacetime are the ones that allow us to succeed at war. Mostashari told me that he thinks a set percentage of U.S. health-care spending should be earmarked for public-health efforts. Sylvia Burwell, who ran the Department of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama, concurred: she argued that the federal government should create a single strategy spanning every agency involved with public health. This is about more than health, she said. Its about our national security and our economic prosperity. We need to start acting like it. Early in the pandemic, widespread shortages of P.P.E., ventilators, and medications revealed deep vulnerabilities in Americas medical-supply chains. Seventy per cent of the drugs used in the U.S. are manufactured overseas; supplies were limited for twenty-nine of the forty drugs vital to the treatment of COVID-19. The Department of Defense is required by law to purchase some military equipment from U.S. companies. Similarly, federal health agencies could be required to funnel purchase orders for respirators, ventilators, and some drugs to domestic suppliers. Another group of necessary improvements centers on vaccine development. Theres no way to say for sure which virus will cause the next pandemic; still, we know that some viruses are more dangerous than others. Viruses that use RNA for their genetic code tend to mutate faster than those that use DNA, because RNA-based viruses have less sophisticated proofreading machinery. Those that circulate in animals are more likely to mutate in dangerous ways while evading human detection. (Some three-quarters of new infectious diseases are thought to originate in animals.) Viruses that travel by means of respiratory dropletsas opposed to water, feces, mosquitos, or sexhave the most explosive potential. Researchers could develop treatments and protocols in advance for viruses that combine these and other characteristics: the likely suspects include influenzas, coronaviruses, filoviruses (such as Ebola and Marburg), and paramyxoviruses (a viral family that includes measles and mumps, but also deadly pathogens for which there are no vaccines, such as Nipah virus and Hendra virus). We now have this incredible mRNA technology which allows us to make vaccines very quickly, Seth Berkley, the C.E.O. of Gavi, an organization that helps vaccinate children in poor countries, told me. And for vectored vaccines, we could partially develop them, freeze them for a time, and then complete the development process more rapidly when theyre needed. That sort of pre-planning will require strong partnerships between universities and industry. Academic research is critical, but professors rarely make vaccines, Berkley explained. The goal should be for academia to let a thousand flowers bloom and then for institutions skilled in product development to cultivate the right ones. Encouraging companies to develop vaccines ahead of time will require restructuring the financial incentives behind them. When I spoke with Amitabh Chandra, an economist at Harvard, he outlined three reasons why vaccines are bad investments for drug companies: pandemics are sporadic, and can end before a vaccine is finished; vaccines are targeted at specific pathogens, and so arent reusable (People always get diabetes and have heart attacksthose are much surer bets); and its hard to price vaccines at a level that generates large profits. Youre probably selling your vaccine in a public-health emergency, Chandra said. That means youre selling to governments and philanthropies, not private insurers that pay high prices. Chandra argues that a federal agency should serve as a guaranteed buyer of vaccines, therapies, tests, and emergency medical supplies for possible pandemic-causing viruses. He singles out BARDAthe Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authorityas a plausible candidate. Created in response to the 9/11 attacks, BARDA, which sits within the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for vaccine research, pandemic preparedness, and bioterrorism response; it currently has limited funding and independence. Chandra thinks that BARDA should be expanded into an entity that promises to purchase products if they are successfulthat will pay handsomely for success in specific domains and will give companies a clear sense of how much money they can expect to make. Its important, Chandra argues, for the government to consistently fund the creation of vaccines and other treatments, even if they end up not being used. When it comes to something like vaccines, you dont want the best deal, he said. You dont want to pay the minimum price. You want to overpay and attract the attention of many companies simultaneously. This is especially true because vaccines are so hard to developthey can look good in the lab but fail afterward. Imagine if AstraZeneca and Merck were the only ones who had taken up the vaccine challenge? Chandra asked. Wed be screwed. In a globalized age, its not enough for the U.S. to focus only on its own problems. A third category of improvement is our engagement with the rest of the world. As my colleague Jerome Groopman explains, in his recent review of Peter Hotezs new book, Preventing the Next Pandemic, American diplomacy can play a meaningful role in fighting outbreaks: many poor countries lack the basic medical and public-health infrastructure to prevent and treat infectious diseases, which then spill across borders and over oceans. War and political instability are accelerants for the emergence and resurgence of deadly pathogens, through disruptions in sanitation, housing, and infrastructure. To the extent that the U.S. can help bring about a more peaceful, more prosperous world, it can help create a healthier one. But the U.S. must also take some crucial steps in the specific realm of global health policy. The Biden Administration has begun that process by rengaging with the World Health Organization; despite some stumbles early in the pandemic, the W.H.O. remains the worlds most important global-health body, performing an indispensable convening and communication function. Investing in the W.H.O. and other similar organizations is vital for the worldwide surveillance of emerging diseases, and also for influencing international policy on activities that pose a high infectious risk (including the proliferation of the wet markets that are thought to drive the spillover of many diseases). The U.S. also has a vested interest in more directly insuring that people around the world have access to vaccines. In our current pandemic, countries with rampant viral spreadincluding the U.S.have fuelled the emergence of coronavirus variants; the longer people go unvaccinated, the longer we live with the possibility of new and dangerous variants surfacing. In a future pandemic, with a more transmissible or lethal pathogen, the need for fast worldwide vaccination could be even more urgent. Billions of people live in countries without the money, infrastructure, or geopolitical clout to get vaccines; they may have to wait until 2024 to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, Berkley, Gavis C.E.O., has been trying to fix this predictable problem. Last spring, Gavi, along with the W.H.O. and a Davos-based organization called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, launched COVAX, an ambitious global effort to promote equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX aims to cordinate the development, manufacturing, purchase, and global distribution of vaccines; the idea is to move the world away from bilateral deals between individual countries and companies, instead pooling global resources to distribute vaccines according to a populations need and size. Its of course right for every political leader to think about his or her own constituents, Berkley said. But its foolish to think only of them in a global pandemic. You will never vaccinate one hundred per cent of your population. If there are large pockets of virus circulating around the globe, it will eventually get back to you. That has huge implications for trade, commerce, travel, and safety. After holding out for much of last year, the U.S. recently committed four billion dollars to COVAX; more than a hundred and ninety countries are now participating in the project, which has secured nearly two billion vaccine doses for distribution in 2021. Ninety-two of those countriesthose deemed low- and middle-incomecan receive vaccines at steeply discounted rates or free of charge. Most of the two billion doses will be distributed according to population size, but five per cent will be reserved for acute outbreaks. The goal is to vaccinate twenty per cent of the participating countries populations this year. That would shift the character of the pandemic globally, Berkley said. It would protect the most vulnerable people and do a lot to reduce fear and health-system burden. By participating in COVAX, the U.S. isnt just helping to end this pandemic; its laying the groundwork for a better approach to the next one. In October, Nicholas Christakis, a physician and sociologist at Yale, published Apollos Arrow, a book about the consequences of the coronavirus crisis. According to Christakis, whats strange about how we think about the pandemic is that we think the pandemic is strange. We think that living under plague is so unusual, Christakis told me. We think its outrageous that people are dying and economies are being crushed. The truth is that this has been happening for thousands of years. Whats new is our ability to invent and deploy a vaccine in real time. Moderna shipped its vaccine to the National Institutes of Health just forty-two days after learning the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2; the first trial participant got a dose twenty-one days later. Were lucky to live at a time when such speed is possible. In other ways, though, the virus may have attacked our species at an unfortunate moment. We have a thinned-out intellectual culture, Christakis said. Weve lost our capacity for nuance. Everything is black or white, youre either with me or against me. Masks are a sign of virtue or totalitarianism. Our pandemic response has been hampered by a sharp rise in political tribalism and a costly collapse of public leadership. Existential threats like pandemics tend to change human behavior in predictable ways. People grow more risk-averse, abstemious,, religious. The trope there are no atheists in foxholes turns out to be true during times of plague, Christakis said. During this crisis, Americans have become more religious, with a quarter saying that their faith has grown; more than half say that theyve prayed for an end to the pandemic. But, when such crises end, religiosity declines, and people seek out risky behavior. The Jazz Age arrived after the 1918 flu pandemic; the baby boom followed the Second World War. Theres reason to believe the twenties will roar again. In this pandemic, weve suffered because of weaknesses in our public-health infrastructure. But weve also struggled because of the words and actions of elected officials and everyday people. In some countries, people across society worked together to get new cases to zero; in America, adherence to basic public-health measures became the latest battle in an endless, destructive culture war. We were divided by masks, business closures, contact tracing, hydroxychloroquine, vaccines, herd immunity, and much else. Governors lifted restrictions even as the virus surged; states undermined cities trying to slow viral spread; crowds gathered at indoor campaign events; media outlets questioned the motives of health-care workers and the veracity of the coronavirus death toll; millions of Americans flew around the country during the holidays, infecting people in the process. During the pandemic, Americans were among the most divided people on the planet. | https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/what-will-it-take-to-pandemic-proof-america |
Is a pay cut in the future for Jaden Schwartz? | A: If Jordan Binnington and Ville Husso play like they have the past few games, yes. If the defense plays like it has for most of the past dozen games, yes. If the offense plays up to its resume, yes. Those are all big ifs. A: Yes, all along the league has planned to go back to the pre-existing divisional alignments. The only change, because of expansion, has Seattle joining the Pacific Division and Arizona going to the Central -- making the Central an eight-team division like the others. And yes, the plan (hope?) is to start the regular season at the usual time. Or as close to the usual time as possible. Q: Jake Walman sure does a lot of things well. | https://www.stltoday.com/sports/subscriber/is-a-pay-cut-in-the-future-for-jaden-schwartz/article_190647cc-2b14-555a-aeac-4b54b5d13c88.html |
What does voter turnout really say about a democracy? | The Democracy Agenda is a joint TVO/Toronto Star initiative exploring Western societys commitment to the democratic process. Youve got to hand it to Preston Manning. Just a couple of months shy of his 79th birthday, the founder of the Reform Party is still trying to influence Canadas democracy. It was three and a half decades ago that Mannings unhappiness with the way Canada worked motivated him not to break up Canada, but rather to figure out a way to make those living outside the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor feel as if they had as big a stake in it. Unlike the Quebec separatists who wanted out, Mannings battle cry was: The West Wants In. Old-time Progressive Conservatives will never forgive him for blowing up their party and torpedoing Prime Minister Brian Mulroneys two efforts at constitutional renewal (the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords). But the fact is, Manning created a new party essentially out of nothing, and within two elections, he led it to 2.5 million votes and 52 seats in the House of Commons in 1993. That was a lot of populist disaffection looking for a new home. But that was then. Today, Manning sees a Canada with a democratic deficit as big as its fiscal one. In his most recent book Do Something! 365 Ways You Can Strengthen Canada, Manning tracks voter turnout in all 30 of the countrys 20th-century federal elections and discovers that the average was 72.8 per cent. He then compares that to the five elections weve held in the 21st century and finds that only 62.8 per cent of Canadians bothered to vote. That 10-point drop in participation is Mannings canary in the democratic coal mine. And our most recent electoral experience in Ontario doesnt make him feel any better, even though the populist Tories, led by Doug Ford, won in June 2018: turnout was a meagre 57 per cent. Manning attributes all this to institutions that are increasingly disrespected, too much political incompetence, a rise in angry populism and an increase in polarization exacerbated by toxic social media. But there may be another side to this seemingly distressing story. Last November, 159 million Americans voted in the presidential election the most ever, by far. The 66.7 per cent turnout was the highest in 120 years. But it was Americas position on the precipice of a democratic disaster that prompted such a strong turnout. Maybe this kind of massive engagement isnt such a positive thing not when it stems from so many voters conviction that an electoral defeat constitutes an existential crisis. Im no longer sure. Manning clearly disagrees with this notion. He lives in a world where you show your faith in democracy by voting. And unless something shocking happens, its likely that even fewer of us are going to vote in the next federal election. Thats why Manning would like to see candidates who are better prepared before they enter the political arena, have a greater understanding of the root causes of angry populism, set a higher bar for ethical behaviour and use social media more responsibly. Ultimately, he wants our citizen-directed democracy to prevail over, for example, Chinas form of state-directed democracy. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... My own feelings on this, as on most complicated issues, are mixed. As a general rule, Id love to see more people engaging in the democratic process and voting. On the other hand, I sure wouldnt want what prompted that higher turnout to be a Canada thats as messed up as the United States was in the lead-up to its 2020 election. Well raise all this with Manning tonight, as hes our featured guest on The Agenda. Steve Paikin is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. He is the anchor of The Agenda With Steve Paikin on TVO. Watch Thursdays episode at 8 p.m. on TVO, or stream it on TVO.org and YouTube. Twitter: @spaikin is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. He is the anchor of The Agenda With Steve Paikin on TVO. Watch Thursdays episode at 8 p.m. on TVO, or stream it on TVO.org and YouTube. Twitter: @spaikin Read more about: | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-democracy-agenda/2021/04/15/what-does-voter-turnout-really-say-about-a-democracy.html |
Which Ohio State football players could have a Bam Childress breakout in Saturdays Spring Game? | Longtime Ohio State fans may remember receiver Bam Childress, who turned four receptions into 109 yards and two touchdowns in the 2003 spring game. More recent fans likely have no idea who that is, because Childress never caught more than 17 passes in a season, made a brief appearance in the NFL and moved on to civilian life. Yet those fans certainly know Garrett Wilson. As an early enrollee freshman in the 2019 spring game he showed his impact would be immediate. On Thursdays Spring Game preview episode of Buckeye Talk, we discussed what to expect from the quarterback competitors and what other players and schemes we most looked forward to seeing on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. We also each named one player who we thought could enhance their esteem in the eyes of fans either by rising from good to great status or appearing on their radar for the first time. Cameron Martinez, redshirt freshman, DB: We did not catch a glimpse of Martinez last fall, as all the freshman defensive backs had a hard time breaking through to playing time. Ohio State has hyped him a bit this spring, though, even releasing a video clip of him picking off a couple of passes in practice. We assume he will line up at slot cornerback, but coaches said he has played multiple spots this spring. This secondary needs more players who demand to be on the field via their performance. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, sophomore, WR: Smith-Njigba contributed some fancy flashes as a freshman, beginning with that toe-tap touchdown in the back of the end zone in the season opener against Nebraska. Targets behind Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson were (and still may be) limited. Yet Smith-Njigba looked ready for the moment, and on Monday, he was lining up in the slot between those two veterans with the first string offense. Taron Vincent, junior, DT: Vincent has never really had the opportunity to take a healthy spring into a healthy offseason and a healthy beginning to the fall. So far so good on the spring. More than that, OSU coach Ryan Day called Vincent the defensive lines most improved player and said he is poised to blow up after achieving another level of dedication in the winter. If youve never listened to Buckeye Talk, try it now. And subscribe to Buckeye Talk on any of these podcast platforms or wherever you listen to podcasts. Buckeye Talk on iTunes Buckeye Talk on Spotify Buckeye Talk on Google Play Get Ohio State Sugar Bowl champs & CFP gear: Check out shirts, hats and more merchandise commemorating Ohio States Sugar Bowl win over Clemson, as well as gear on the Buckeyes advancing to the College Football Playoff national championship game. C.J. Hicks is the five-star recruit whos still not satisfied | https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2021/04/which-ohio-state-football-players-could-have-a-bam-childress-breakout-in-saturdays-spring-game.html |
Will Ohio State footballs Wyatt Davis, healthy after a season of secret pain, make an immediate NFL impact? | COLUMBUS, Ohio Wyatt Davis opt-out from the 2020 Ohio State football season lasted only about a week, but his absence was palpable. Right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere had grown accustomed to lining up next to one of the best guards in the nation. When the Big Ten reinstated its season and Davis returned, Petit-Freres phantom limb grew back as well. Having him next to me, everything just felt so easy and good because hes such an amazing player, Petit-Frere said last summer. So having him back, practice just flipped to another level. It went from having good practices to like almost being, like, amazing, because Wyatt is such an amazing player and such a great talent. Prior to the 2020 season, many considered Davis a borderline first-round NFL Draft pick this spring. The former five-star prospect was coming off a consensus All-American season. The Buckeyes offensive line as a whole projected to be even better than it was in 2019 and that was before Thayer Munford and Petit-Frere had breakout seasons. It has become difficult to find mock drafts that include Davis in even the second round. Even with few college interior offensive linemen projected in the first 60 picks, that drop has been surprising. Davis believed he helped himself at OSUs Pro Day last month. He wanted to show off the close-quarters, change-of-direction skills he knows NFL evaluators want to see. Yet he also wanted to show what he could do while playing healthy for the first time in months. By the end of the 2020 season, it was obvious Davis was playing through some sort of injury. He said he banged up his knee some time in the Indiana game, and still is not sure exactly what happened. He aggravated it in the win at Michigan State he exited that game early and was visibly in pain on the sideline and again in the national championship against Alabama. Davis said OSUs athletic staff examined the injury during the season and told him it was a low-level deal, but that something just didnt feel right. Ohio State offensive lineman Wyatt Davis is helped off the field after he was hurt during the first half of the 2021 national championship game against Alabama.AP Davis received a second opinion after the season. He did not disclose the diagnosis, except to say the injury did not require surgery. He focused on rehab so he could go into OSUs Pro Day on March 30 as healthy as possible. I wanted to play, even if I would have known what my injury was prior, Davis said of the national championship game. I still would have played, just because we were right there. It was either all in or nothing. So it was pretty easy for me to make that decision. The injury helps explain why Davis did not dominate as expected this past season. Davis earned consensus All-American honors largely on reputation in 2020. While he did not play poorly, he also did not improve on 2019s breakthrough performance. Pro Football Focus gave Davis a grade of 82.6 for his 2019 season, with no sacks or hits allowed on 459 pass block snaps. Last season that grade fell to 66.3, with three sacks and one hit allowed. Ohio State footballs Wyatt Davis, once an opt-out, completes unanimous All-America status That was probably enough to push Davis out of any talk of first-round status. However, it may not indicate a lack of ability to be a productive NFL player. PFF pointed out in its draft evaluation that all four of those sacks and hits came on blitz or stunt pickups, while Davis continued an unblemished record in one-on-one pass protection. Yet that is not even his strength, as Davis graded in a higher percentile of players in both run blocking and zone blocking scenarios than he did in pass protection. Davis said his game film reflects what NFL offenses will ask of him, and so have his individual interviews with teams. When I go into these meetings, its pretty much the same stuff, except just different terminology, Davis said. They call it different things. I feel like Ive gotten an advantage by going to Ohio State and playing in this type of offense. No college guards were selected in the first round of the 2020 draft, and only one went in the second. Only one went in the first 78 picks in 2019. Davis may wait even longer than that to hear his name on draft weekend. That knee injury may have prevented Davis from reaching that rare first-round status. While that will cost him money and prestige up front, it could mean a bargain for whoever selects him. Get Ohio State Sugar Bowl champs & CFP gear: Check out shirts, hats and more merchandise commemorating Ohio States Sugar Bowl win over Clemson, as well as gear on the Buckeyes advancing to the College Football Playoff national championship game. C.J. Hicks is the five-star recruit whos still not satisfied | https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2021/04/will-ohio-state-footballs-wyatt-davis-healthy-after-a-season-of-secret-pain-make-an-immediate-nfl-impact.html |
What's the process for pilots returning to flight after COVID? What's involved in retraining? | Diversity Man, United Kingdom With the recent surge in air travel, more pilots who were grounded during the height of the pandemic are returning to service. But they are requalified and retested before being cleared to fly passengers again. Pilots who have been out for more than 90 days return to the simulator for training. If they have gone than 90 days but less than 180 days without flying, they undergo extensive ground school followed by a multi-day transition course of simulator flights and a checkride and in-flight training. (If they haven't flown for more than 180 days or if they are moving to a different airplane, they go through initial training.) Finally, they undergo a checkride in an actual plane, known as a line check. Testing is to the initial qualification standards for competency. Although some pilots have reported feeling rusty in the cockpit, it is important to remember that these are professional pilots who have years of experience flying. They recover their skills quickly. RG, Asheville, North Carolina I would like to see the demonstration of competency in the handling of emergencies, such as engine failures, fires and flight control problems continue with an emphasis on maintaining manual flying skills. It is essential that pilots of modern aircraft are experts at using the onboard automation but they must also be very proficient and comfortable in manually flying the airplane. Training must include upset-recovery training, given that loss of control in flight is the leading cause of fatalities in aviation. I would also like to see more real world training scenarios based on events that other flight crews have faced. Generally speaking, airline pilots undergo retraining about every 9 months. The Federal Aviation Administration measures how well they retain this information through its Advanced Qualification Program (AQP). Here's the problem, though: That's a lot of training to pack into a limited number of 4-hour training simulator slots. Perhaps it is time to increase the number of slots allocated to each pilot so that training can be expanded. This will increase costs but it could improve the quality of the training. To me, it would be worth it. John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. | https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/cox/2021/04/15/pilot-training-flying-again-after-covid-and-retraining-process/7223626002/ |
What Ever Happened to Donald Trump? | David A. Graham: The double bind of Trumps outrageous statements An outburst over the weekendspeaking to a room of Republican officials and donors, Trump called the most powerful elected Republican in the nation a dumb son of a bitchunderscores his fade. The speech got some attention, but not much. The time when covfefe could consume the nation for days on end is, mercifully, past. One common theory for Trumps disappearance is that his ban from Twitter (and other social-media sites) effectively knocked out his ability to reach a wide audience. With the Twitter account at his fingertips, he could blast whatever thought or diatribe was at the top of his mind to millions of followers; the press would dutifully report on the latest outrage and the discourse around it. Adding to the credibility of the theory, Trumps eclipse seemed to begin around January 8, when Twitter announced the ban. Trump clearly misses the feeling of tweeting and getting immediate feedback. Hes taken to emailing statementssometimes several in a dayto reporters, presumably in the hopes that theyll tweet them, but its not the same. For one thing, freed from the constraints of 280 characters, he tends to ramble into the kind of incoherence manifested at his rallies. For another, sentiments that took on some comprehensibility in the churn of social media feel disembodied and nonsensical when they land in my inbox. Or both?) David A. Graham: Trump is getting more desperateand more dangerous But the Twitter theory has flaws, too. Trumps tweets could still make government officials quake, but they had already begun to lose their potency by 2019. Fewer people were responding to them, and Trumps attempts to make up for that decline by simply tweeting more often further diluted the effect. The nation seemed to grow blas (for better or worse) about the presidents most outrageous remarks. Besides, someone of Trumps fame doesnt need a Twitter account. As an insurgent presidential candidate in 2015, Trump found that the account provided a useful way to drive the conversation, even though few journalists or politicians initially took his run seriously. But by the time he was president, Trump had plenty of other ways to commandeer media attention: press conferences, formal interviews, Oval Office addresses. Although he sometimes eschewed these methods as presidenthe didnt give an Oval Office address until almost two years into his termhes now using the ones that remain available to him. For a period beginning after the January 6 coup attempt, Trump was uncharacteristically silent, apparently heeding the advice of aides who suggested that he should keep his head down while the Senate was still considering his impeachment. Since the Senate failed to convict, Trump has been more vocal. He has continued to make public remarks, including to the Republican National Committee gathering last weekend, and has given interviews to several of his favorite cable-news outlets. Hes also given at least a dozen interviews for books about his presidency. Trump could probably get more attention if he gave an interview to a more adversarial interviewerTrump with Jake Tapper or Mary Louise Kelly, or a rematch with Chris Wallace or Lesley Stahl would surely produce fireworksbut it wasnt that long ago that a call-in to Fox and Friends was plenty newsmaking on its own. | https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/what-ever-happened-donald-trump/618597/?utm_source=feed |
Why Is Voting So Hard in Blue States? | Connecticut has no early voting at all, and New Yorks onerous rules force voters to change their registration months in advance if they want to participate in a party primary. In Rhode Island, Democrats enacted a decade ago the kind of photo-ID law that the party has labeled racist when drafted by Republicans; the state also requires voters to get the signatures of not one but two witnesses when casting an absentee ballot (only Alabama and North Carolina are similarly strict). According to a new analysis released this week by the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, Delaware, Connecticut, and New York rank in the bottom third of states in their access to early and mail-in balloting. The restrictions across the Northeast are relics of the urban Democratic machines, which preferred to mobilize their voters precinct by precinct on Election Day rather than give reformers a lengthier window to rally opposition. Democrats who have won election after election in states such as New York, Delaware, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have had little incentive to change the rules that helped them win. Read: The Democrats trying to overturn an election The party has been more concerned with expanding access to the polls in places where it has struggled to obtain and keep power (although its not clear whether Democrats assumptions about the impact voting laws have on turnout are correct). In Congress, Democrats are prioritizing legislation called the For the People Act, or H.R. 1, which seeks to curb GOP efforts to suppress voting. The bill would set national standards to loosen photo-ID requirements, guarantee early-voting and voting-by-mail options, and mandate automatic and same-day registration. Although Democrats have focused on how the bill would rein in red states, H.R. 1 would hit some blue states just as hard, if not harder. Republicans love to call out Democratic sanctimony in the debate over voting laws, but this ignores the divergent directions the two parties are headed. Following their 2020 defeat and under pressure from Donald Trump allies, Republicans are pushing to restrict voting in states such as Texas, Iowa, Arizona, and Florida, which have recently been competitive. The Georgia law tightens ID requirements for absentee ballots and caps the number of drop boxes where they can be deposited. The measure also limits who can distribute water to voters waiting in line outside polling places. The effect of the bill is likely to make voting easier in Republican strongholdsby expanding early voting in rural areas, for examplebut harder in Democratic urban centers, where lines at polling places tend to be longer and where voting by mail was more popular last year. Democrats in charge of blue states are now racing to expand access in a way that matches the partys rhetoric nationwide. In some cases, theyre trying to make permanent the temporary changes to voting laws that were put in place because of the pandemic. Delaware, for example, removed the mandate that voters cite a reason for casting an absentee ballot. Making the reform permanent requires the passage of an amendment to the state constitution, and Republicans who supported that proposal in the past are balking now, threatening its adoption. | https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/04/democrats-voting-rights-contradiction/618599/?utm_source=feed |
Will Facebooks Supreme Court reinstate Donald Trumps account? | S INCE JANUARY , Donald Trump has been missing from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, after his online posts about the Capitol riot in Washington, DC , caused the firms to suspend his accounts for inciting violence. For many Americans, the sound of silence is welcome. Without the megaphone of social media, Mr Trump is muted. Facebook has not just blocked his account but is scrubbing other users content that features his voice. The ban raises questions about free speech and online platforms power. Even Senator Bernie Sanders, no Trump fan, confesses to feeling uncomfortable that the ex-president has been silenced by a handful of high-tech people. YouTubes boss, Susan Wojcicki, has said the video firm will lift its suspension only when we determine that the risk of violence has decreased. Twitter will not relent, full-stop. Facebook is taking a different approach. Mark Zuckerberg, its boss, made the call to suspend Mr Trumps account. But whether to reverse that will be decided this month by 19 experts on the firms Oversight Board ( OB ), in effect its Supreme Court. The boards decision will be a high-profile test of whether a middle ground between unfettered corporate autonomy and government regulation can be an effective tool in tackling thorny decisions on content. Mr Zuckerberg floated the idea of the board in 2018, and its first slate of members was announced last year. It is meant to be an independent body that can render binding decisions on the social-media giant and suggest policy tweaks. Facebook has put $130m into a trust to fund it for at least six years. Board members are a global bevy of brainiacs: ten are academics, five work in non-profits and think-tanks, two hail from journalism, one from politics and one is a Nobel peace laureate. All the members have free speech as part of their core values, says Ronaldo Lemos, a Brazilian lawyer who is an OB member. After posts are removed, users of Facebook and its sister social network Instagram can appeal to the OB ; this has happened some 300,000 times. The board sifts through appeals to choose cases, which it has 90 days to adjudicate. Facebook itself can also refer cases directly to the OB , as it did with Mr Trump. A computer randomly assigns each case to a five-member panel. Board members are part-time, but the OB employs 40 staff, who help with case selection and research, rather like Supreme Court clerks. Just as interested parties in Supreme Court cases can submit briefs, people can submit comments to the board. So far it has taken up 12 cases and received 10,000 comments, 9,800 of them related to the Trump ban. When the panel reaches a conclusion, the majority of the board has to approve the decision, which is then written up and made public. The dozen cases are a varied bunch. Of the seven cases it has ruled on, the board overturned Facebooks decision five times. It does not take into account the laws of any specific country but weighs Facebooks community standards and values with international human-rights law. It can also coax Facebook to make changes to its policies. Some of Facebooks tweaks to handling anti-vax content were a response to the boards criticisms. From its first decisions it was clear how highly the board prizes freedom of expression, says Evelyn Douek, a law lecturer at Harvard. That made me think Trumps odds just got better. Not everyone agrees. A lot will depend on how the board interprets human-rights law, as opposed to Facebooks standards, which Mr Trump violated routinely. Trumps account involves not just his free speech but has an impact on other peoples rights, says David Kaye, a former UN rapporteur for freedom of expression, who will be really surprised if the OB contradicts Facebooks decision. Either way, controversy will continue. Facebook is still holding the reins far too tight, says Ms Douek. On April 13th it announced that the board would have authority to review appeals related to content that had been kept on the platform. Until now the board has only been able to review appeals against the removal of content. Despite criticism, the board is worth watching for several reasons. One is that it will help bring some of Facebooks decisions into the light. One of the challenges has been the lack of information thats available in how exactly Facebook works and how its automated systems are trained and evaluated, says Nicolas Suzor, an Australian law professor and OB member. Second, in ruling on Mr Trump the board will guide Facebook on how to treat other politicians, such as Brazils Jair Bolsonaro and the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte. Facebook and Twitter have operated with a newsworthiness exemption for such leaders, allowing speech that violated their own policies because of the speakers position and the potential benefit to users from hearing them. Theres the saying, with great power comes great responsibility. But with the newsworthiness exemption, great power comes with indemnification from responsibility, says Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory. And, third, the boards verdicts will ripple across social media. Its decision on Mr Trump will put pressure on Twitter and YouTube. It will become a de facto standard-setter. If the Oversight Board could be the germ that gets buy-in from industry, thats wonderful, says Sir Nick Clegg, Britains former deputy prime minister, who is Facebooks communications chief. Still, Facebooks experiment is just a start. The Trump decision will be contentious. But if there is one thing all can agree on, it is that a single board will not alone solve social medias ills. | https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/04/15/will-facebooks-supreme-court-reinstate-donald-trumps-account |
Why is a fact-finding review held after a police killing? | A fact-finding review in the Las Vegas police shooting of Jorge Gomez, who was killed in June at a Black Lives Matter protest, will take place Friday. Las Vegas police Detective Scott Mendoza, left, speaks at a fact-finding review on March 10, 2021, at the Clark County Commission chambers in Las Vegas. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @rookie__rae Kianna Grant, from left, Madison McCarthy and Tilly Spietz sign a birthday card for Jorge Gomez, a Black Lives Matter protester who was shot and killed by Las Vegas police in June, after a news conference in front of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, 2021. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto Photos of Jorge Gomez, a Black Lives Matter protester who was shot and killed by Las Vegas police in June, at a news conference in front of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto After George Floyds killing last year in Minneapolis police custody, the nation faced a reckoning as protests against police brutality and racism cropped up around the country, including in Las Vegas. On June 1, the third straight night of major demonstrations in Las Vegas, protester Jorge Antonio Gomez was shot and killed by four Metropolitan Police Department officers outside the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse. The officers were not wearing body cameras. In the 10 months since Gomezs death, calls from his relatives and activists for charges against the officers, as well as questions surrounding the shooting, have remained unanswered. But on Friday morning, amid ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvins murder trial in the killing that prompted Gomez to take to the streets of downtown Las Vegas nearly a year ago, both Metro and the Clark County district attorneys office will have to answer to the public. A fact-finding review of evidence in Gomezs killing will be held at 8 a.m. Friday inside the Clark County Commission chambers. The fact-finding review, which is required by Clark County ordinance, has been in place in the county since 2013. Here is an overview of the procedure: After a deadly police shooting or in-custody death, a police detective will investigate the use of force and complete a report that is then submitted to the district attorneys office for review. Typically, a detective within the same agency involved in a death is responsible for completing the investigative report that is submitted for prosecutorial review, although, in Southern Nevada, the Nevada Highway Patrol refers all of its deadly force cases to Metro to ensure complete transparency, said spokesman Travis Smaka. Once an investigative report has been submitted, the district attorney will assign the case file to a senior prosecutor in the offices major violators unit. Upon the prosecutors review, the district attorney will gather about a dozen of his most senior prosecutors for a meeting, during which the prosecutor initially assigned to the report will brief the team on the case. We look at all the evidence, District Attorney Steve Wolfson said. Then, during that staffing, an internal preliminary determination of either criminality or non-criminality is made. The former would lead to criminal charges, while the latter would trigger a fact-finding review. Ahead of a review, the Clark County manager will select a presiding officer as well as an ombudsman, who will represent the interests of the public and the family of the person who was killed. Both are chosen from a list preapproved by the Clark County Commission. At the review, which is open to the public and livestreamed on the countys YouTube channel, a Clark County prosecutor will give a presentation that typically involves the informal questioning of the detective responsible for investigating the death. In many cases, the presentation also will include previously unreleased body camera footage or 911 audio. After the presentation, the ombudsman has a chance to ask questions before members of the public are given the opportunity to submit proposed questions in writing. The presiding officer reviews all proposed questions from the public and can decline to ask a question if it is deemed irrelevant or redundant. The district attorneys office does not make any further determinations or decisions on the day of the review. But within about two weeks, the district attorney will make a final decision about whether charges will be filed against an officer or officers in connection with a death. A report outlining the final decision is then posted on Clark Countys website. Not a perfect process Law enforcement officials have said the fact-finding review is a win for transparency in fatal police shootings and in-custody deaths. But some say the process is merely an act of theater that favors law enforcement. Im not going to say theres no rhyme or reason for this procedure, said Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, because if done effectively and transparently, I think it would make a lot of sense. But theres little faith right now in the ability for the DAs office to actually prosecute. It seems to be a process that doesnt do anything more than greenlight underlying police misconduct. In the near decade that the procedure has been in place, not a single preliminary determination has been overturned following a fact-finding review, and only one police officer has been charged in connection with a death. Fridays review will mark the 86th held in the county since the process was adopted. Last summer, amid the wave of national protests following Floyds death, Clark Countys district attorney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the procedure is probably ripe for review to determine if any more improvements could be made. It is not a perfect process, Wolfson said at the time, because the involved officers that caused the death of one of our citizens cannot be forced to testify. Even so, ahead of Fridays review, Wolfson defended the process. This is an important case, he said of Gomezs killing. Its getting a lot of attention. All we want is for the truth to come out. Metros version of events that led to the fatal shooting vastly differs from the picture painted by surveillance video released in February by a team of civil rights attorneys retained by Gomezs parents. The Police Department claims Gomez, who was armed on the evening he was killed, raised a weapon at a group of officers stationed outside the federal courthouse, prompting four officers driving by on Las Vegas Boulevard to exit their vehicle and fire a combined 19 rounds. The officers Ryan Fryman, Dan Emerton, Vernon Ferguson and Andrew Locher have since returned to duty. Video captured by nearby surveillance cameras in the area show Gomez running, with his back turned to the officers, just before he was shot. Gomezs family and their attorneys faced a lengthy battle with Metro for months before the department turned over the videos. Before the fact-finding review The fact-finding review was adopted after a failed overhaul of the coroners inquest, the previous procedure to probe police killings that had been in place for four decades. Under that system, officers were required to testify, and at the conclusion, an inquest jury would determine whether a death at the hands of law enforcement was justified. That system, similar to the fact-finding review, was criticized by some as being biased in favor of law enforcement. When the concept of the fact-finding review was first introduced in late 2012, then-Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown said the goal was to have a public procedure in place that allowed families to learn what caused their loved ones death at the hands of police. But unlike at a coroners inquest, officers cannot be forced to testify. Instead, families typically hear only from the detective who was assigned to investigate his or her colleagues. To see a persons life reduced to a PowerPoint presentation after theyre killed by police, said Haseebullah, the ACLU executive director, what sort of solace is that supposed to provide Gomezs mother, who has been asking for answers to her questions for nearly a year? If Clark Countys law enforcement officials want to tout transparency, Haseebullah said, cases of deadly police shootings and in-custody deaths should be handled by outside prosecutors. Such is the case in Minneapolis, where, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, metro area county district attorneys offices adopted a new practice last year for fatal police shootings. According to the Star Tribune, the practice calls for the county attorney in the jurisdiction where a shooting takes place to refer the case to another county or to the state attorney generals office. Contact Rio Lacanlale at [email protected] or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. | https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/why-is-a-fact-finding-review-held-after-a-police-killing-2329686/ |
Whats the difference between Googles newest phones? | For the longest time, Google made the Android operating system and just gave it away for anyone to use. Based on a modified version of the Linux operating system, Android was introduced in November 2007, and the first Android device went on sale in September 2008. (Anyone remember the HTC Dream?) Android would become the most popular mobile operating system, but for the hardware of other companies, not Google. Fast-forward to 2016, when Google introduced its own Android phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL. They were heralded as devices that ran a clean version of Android. Other manufacturers customize Android with their own software additions to help their devices stand out from the crowd. As the maker of Android, Google gave the user a pure Android experience. Just to give a little sales perspective, according to International Data Corp., in 2019 Google sold 7.2 million Pixel phones, while Apple sold 196 million iPhones and Samsung sold more than 296 million phones. Now Google has released the Pixel 5 5G ($699) and the Pixel 4a ($349) and 4a 5G ($499), which are updates to last years Pixel 4. These phones can be purchased at store.google.com/us/category/phones. I was planning to write about the Pixel 5 5G, but there are a lot of people who think the Pixel 4a 5G is a better value, so lets compare them. The Google Pixel 5 5G. (Google) Pixel 5 5G Lets run down the specs of the Pixel 5. It has a 6-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels for a pixel density of 432 pixels per inch. The screen is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 6. The always-on display has a refresh rate of up to 90 hertz and it has HDR (high dynamic range) support. The phone measures 5.7 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces. It has a 4,000-milliamp hour battery with 18-watt fast charging and wireless charging, and it can reverse charge to provide a charge to other wireless devices. It ships with a 18-watt USB-C power adapter and a one-meter USB-C cable. It runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor and the Adreno 620 graphics processor with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of onboard storage (there is no slot for additional storage). It ships with Android 11 and will get a minimum of three years of operating system and security updates. There are two rear cameras a 12.2-megapixel main camera with optical and electronic image stabilization. The lens has an f/1.7 aperture and a 77-degree field of view. The other camera is ultrawide with a 16-megapixel sensor, f/2.2 lens and a 117-degree field of view. The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor, f/2.0 lens with 83-degree field of view and the lens is fixed focus. The Pixel 5 can shoot 4K video at 30 and 60 frames per second. It has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone. The phone has 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. It runs on both Sub-6 and mmWave 5G. It has one SIM slot and can use an eSIM. The body is aluminum and it is IP68 dust- and water-resistant. The Google 4a 5G. (Google) Pixel 4a 5G The 4a 5G has a larger screen at 6.2 inches with the same 2,340 by 1,080-pixel resolution. Because the OLED screen is larger, the pixels density is slightly lower at 413 pixels per inch. The screen is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The 4a 5G has HDR support, and it does not have the dynamic refresh rate of the Pixel 5. The phone measures 6.1 by 2.9 by 0.33 inches and weighs 5.93 ounces. It has a 3,885 mAh battery with fast charging, but it does not have wireless charging. The box includes an 18-watt USB-C power adapter and a 1-meter USB-C cable. The 4a 5G runs the same Snapdragon 765G CPU and Adreno 620 graphics processor, but it has only 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The 4a 5G also runs Android 11 and will get updates for at least three years. The front and rear cameras on the 4a are exactly the same as the Pixel 5. The phone is made of plastic, so it is not water-resistant, but it does have a headphone jack. I have to wonder about Googles sales expectations for the Pixel 5 vs. the 4a 5G. They have some differences, but they were both released at the same time, so Google knew people would have to make a choice between them. Lets look at the major differences. The Pixel 5 has a screen with a higher refresh rate, but 98% of you wont really notice the difference. The Pixel 5 has two more gigabytes of RAM, but again, most of you wont notice. The 5s battery is slightly bigger but not enough to make a difference. The 5 has wireless charging, which I use every day on my iPhone. Perhaps most important, the Pixel 5 can take a dunk in the pool, and it has stronger glass on the front. The two phones have the same cameras, the same CPUs and graphics, and the same storage. They both have 5G. You can also use either Pixel phone to provide fast 5G internet to your other devices via their Wi-Fi hotspot feature. The way I see it, youre paying $200 for an extra two gigabytes of RAM and wireless charging. I know people who would not blink at paying an extra $200, but I also know people who have no interest in wireless charging. My mom and dad have always plugged in their phones, and if I told them you could pay extra for the ability to wirelessly charge, theyd think I lost my mind. So Id have to recommend the Pixel 4a 5G, especially for people who dont absolutely have to have the latest and greatest. Google Pixel 5 5G Pros: Great screen, wireless charging, water-resistant, great cameras. Cons: The CPU isnt the fastest, limited storage options. Bottom line: Good phone that is overshadowed by the cheaper Pixel 4a 5G. Google Pixel 4a 5G Pros: Big screen, great cameras. Cons: Plastic body, no wireless charging. Bottom line: The many strong features this phone shares with the Pixel 5 make it a slightly better choice. | https://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2021/04/15/whats-the-difference-between-googles-newest-phones/ |
What are the Iran nuclear talks about? | Negotiations to bring the United States back into a landmark nuclear deal with Iran resumed Thursday in Vienna amid signs of progress but also under the shadow of an attack this week on Irans main nuclear facility. In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with the U.S., Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain that was intended to set limits on Tehrans nuclear program in order to block it from building a nuclear weapon something it insists it doesnt want to do. IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER: VIENNA OFFERS 'NOT WORTH LOOKING AT' In exchange, Iran received relief from sanctions that those powers had imposed, including on its exports of oil and access to the global banking system. Iran was allowed to continue to pursue its nuclear program for civilian purposes, with strict limits on how much uranium it could enrich, the purity it could enrich it to and other measures. Before the deal, conservative estimates were that Iran was within five to six months of being able to produce a bomb, while some feared it was within two to three months. With the deal safeguards in place, that "breakout time" was estimated to be more than a year. But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the deal, criticizing clauses that ease restrictions on Iran in stages and also the fact that eventually the deal would expire and Iran would be allowed to do whatever it wanted with its nuclear technology. He also said it needed to be renegotiated to address Irans ballistic missile program and regional influence such as backing militant groups. The crippling American sanctions that followed took their toll on Irans economy but failed to bring Tehran back to the table to broaden the deal as Trump wanted. Instead, Tehran steadily exceeded the limitations set by the deal to pressure the remaining members for economic relief. In February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of Irans estimated breakout time that "were down to three or four months and heading in the wrong direction." U.S. President Joe Biden has said that he wants to rejoin the deal, but that Iran must reverse its violations. The European Union called the talks in the hopes of doing just that. Though an American delegation is present in Vienna, they are not meeting directly with Iran. Instead, diplomats from the other countries shuttle back and forth between the two sides. Heading into the talks as they started last week, Iran said it was willing to return to full compliance with the deal, but that the U.S. would first have to drop all of the sanctions imposed under Trump. That is complicated, however. The Trump administration also added sanctions on Iran outside those related to its nuclear program, including over allegations of terrorism, human rights violations and for the countrys ballistic missile program. Still, there are signs of hope. The talks quickly moved past that "who goes first" debate and have already started addressing specifics, said Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, an Iran scholar at Britains Royal United Services Institute. "Its a very good development that there are these working groups actually talking and looking at the nitty gritty," she told The Associated Press. For Iran to return to the deal, it must revert to enriching uranium to no more than 3.67% purity, stop using advanced centrifuges and drastically reduce how much uranium it enriches, among other things. Despite the challenges, Tabrizi said the task ahead is not as complicated as the one that faced the group in 2015 since they already have a deal to refer to. There is no specified timeframe. Diplomats involved say the issues cannot be solved overnight, but are hoping for a resolution in weeks rather than months for several reasons. The original deal was agreed after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, widely seen as a moderate, first took office. Rouhani cant run again in upcoming June elections due to term limits, and he hopes to be able to leave office with Iran again able to sell oil abroad and access international financial markets. Meanwhile, the U.S. could face a much tougher negotiation if it doesnt get a deal before Rouhani leaves. Hard-liners in Iran reject the nuclear deal, saying it hasnt delivered enough economic relief and is a slippery slope to more pressure on Iran. That doesnt necessarily mean they would end talks if elected, though it would complicate things, said Sanam Vakil, deputy director of the Chatham House policy institutes Middle East and North Africa program. There is another reason to move quickly: Iran in February began restricting International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear facilities. Instead, it said that it would preserve surveillance footage of the facilities for three months and hand them over to the IAEA if it is granted sanctions relief. Otherwise, Iran said it would erase the recordings. Lots, as recent events have shown. Over the weekend, Irans Natanz nuclear facility was sabotaged. Its not clear what exactly happened, but a blackout damaged centrifuges there. The attack was widely suspected of being carried out by Israel, which opposes the nuclear deal, though authorities there have not commented. Iran says Israel explicitly hopes to derail the talks with the sabotage. Rouhani said he still hoped the talks would yield a result but the attack has complicated matters. For one, Iran responded by announcing it would increase uranium enrichment to 60% purity far higher than ever before and install more advanced centrifuges at the Natanz facility. And in the wake of the developments, both sides have ramped up the rhetoric. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP On Wednesday, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, dismissed all offers seen so far in Vienna as "not worth looking at." Still, he said he had confidence in his negotiators. Blinken, meanwhile, said Washington had shown its seriousness by participating in the indirect talks in Vienna, but with Tehrans recent announcements, "it remains to be seen whether Iran shares that seriousness of purpose." | https://www.foxnews.com/world/what-are-the-iran-nuclear-talks-about |
What Does Bidens Decision to Withdraw From Afghanistan Mean? | Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Get The Nations Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week. Thank you for signing up for The Nations weekly newsletter. Join the Books & the Arts Newsletter Mondays. The best of The Nations Books & the Arts, in your inbox biweekly. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Mondays. The best of The Nations Books & the Arts, in your inbox biweekly. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Sign up for our Wine Club today. President Bidens plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11 is a welcome and long-overdue action. The decision was made politically possible by two things. First, by what CNN described as Bidens reason for withdrawing the troops: the fact that there is no military solution to the security and political problems plaguing Afghanistan. And second, by the crucial reality that thousands of people across this country understood right at the very beginning of the US war, and millions more have figured out in the almost 20 years since. The idea that there is no military solution and that therefore the war is doomed to fail is nothing new. From the former UN secretary-general and the US State Department to former president Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to dozens of generals, analysts, and TV pundits, the understanding that there is no military solution in Afghanistan, and indeed no military solution to terrorismthe original US rationale for invading the country in 2001is an old story. Biden himself, as a senator and as vice-president, at various points urged an end to the war, sometimes yelling at high-ranking military officials who were trying to feed him an overly optimistic line. In fact, recognition that the US war in Afghanistan was wrong emerged even before the US invasion. The first major protest against the then-looming war was held in New Yorks Union Square on October 7, 2001, just three weeks after the 9/11 attacksand beginning just hours before the first US bombs exploded over Kabuls night sky. Those first demonstrations were small, there was a sense of isolation from the majority of people who had accepted George W. Bushs claim that war against Afghanistan was an appropriate answer to the 9/11 attacks, believing it to be a good war, a just war. Protesters understood that the war was illegal, lacking either UN Security Council authorization or the necessity of immediate self-defense; was immoral, since the US assault raged against an impoverished population that had no part in the criminal attacks of 9/11; and would inevitably fail to achieve any of the variously claimed US goals of democratization, westernization, counter-terrorism, stability, or womens rights. Over time those understandings grew; the early protests broadened and fused with the huge global anti-war mobilization that erupted to challenge Washingtons follow-on war in Iraqand the discourse was transformed. Three weeks into the war, 80 percent of Americans supported using massive ground troops in Afghanistan, and 50 percent wanted the US military to simply take over large swathes of the country. Almost two decades later, that 80 percent US support for the war in Afghanistan has collapsed, with 76 percent backing withdrawal of all troops. Forever Wars Withdrawing US Troops From Afghanistan Is Only a Start. We Have to End the Air War Too. Phyllis Bennis That powerful public opinionor even elite opinionwas not the main reason for Bidens decision. Nor was the earlier US promise to withdraw all troops by May 1, 2021that was somehow massaged into a start-the-withdrawal date, despite Trumps signing off on the agreement after months of negotiations with the Taliban. But the reality of what it would meanand what it would cost Biden politicallyto prolong a disastrous war into its third decade, seems to have finally pushed this fourth Afghanistan war president to respond. And that reality is: Supporting an ineffective and massively corrupt government whose power and reforms largely end at the city limits of Kabul and maybe Kandahar. Continuing efforts to train a military force populated by ghost soldiers who long ago abandoned the unpopular war to return home while their commanders pocket their salaries. Presiding over the illusion of western-style parliamentary democracy in a country whose long history remains one of reliance on family, village, tribe, and regional identities. Cheering for the important but tiny gains in human rights won by the small sliver of women living in the cities, while the 75 percent of Afghan women who live in isolated villages and rural areas continue to face the highest level of infant mortality in the world. Not surprisingly, the US-installed and US-backed government in Kabul is not happy with the plan to withdraw the last 3,500 U.S. troops. The Washington Post headline was direct: Push for peace is splintering Afghanistans fragile government. Push for peace. Not the years of venality and incompetence that have plagued every government since the US invaded and installed a regime assembled from former warlords and long-time western-based exiles. Not the warsintra-Afghan ground wars and US-led air and drone strikesthat continue to extinguish civilian lives. No, its the push to end the wars that seems to be more than the US-backed authorities in Kabul, most notably Washington favorite Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, can handle. The Taliban, unsurprisingly, responded with a rejection of the US plan that will keep thousands of foreign troops in their country for months beyond the May 1 deadline Washington had agreed to just a year earlier. Within hours of the announcement of Bidens plan to withdraw troops by September 11, the Taliban stated that it would not participate in a US-proposed conference with the US-backed Afghan government scheduled to be held in Turkey in coming months to continue working towards an intra-Afghan agreement on governance andcruciallya ceasefire following the US withdrawal. Current Issue View our current issue There has been lots of discussion about the Talibans likely response to a US withdrawal. Many commentators are claiming that the pull-out of the last several thousand troops currently in Afghanistan will result in a massive escalation of the civil war, that the Taliban will quickly seize power across the country and the result will be a complete collapse of all human rights, especially for women. The Taliban, they claim, will re-impose the harshly intolerant, extreme religious laws that prevailed in Afghanistan during the Talibans rule from 1996 to 2001, and likely welcome back al Qaeda or other terrorist forces. The possibility that the Taliban will significantly increase control over territory and people in parts of the country is certainly likely. But the wider claims leave out important realities and likely changes in Taliban thinking. The Talibans strategic goalasserted widely and publiclyhas always been to rid their country of foreign forces. Their longstanding refusal, only recently and grudgingly ended, to negotiate with the Afghan government was based on that governments backing by the United States and its western allies. With US troops gone, the Taliban will be able to claim victory in ridding the country of foreign occupation. That means they may feel more willing to negotiate both with the government in Kabul and, perhaps more importantly, with local authorities. Some may well have no such interest. But almost 20 years have passed since the Taliban was in power, and many in the organization are certainly all too aware of their impoverished and war-riven countrys dependence on the international community for economic aid and eventually, political support. Many of the Taliban negotiators staking out hardline positions in Qatar or elsewhere have lived outside the country for years or decadesand they may believe nothing has changed. But their compatriots inside Afghanistan have lived through the devastation of war; many havequietlynegotiated with local religious and community leaders over such issues as access to health care and yes, girls education. They know they will need support from the United Nations, the European Union, China, both India and Pakistan, and that support will be far easier to obtain if they are seen as open to post-war engagement, including some versions of womens rights and especially keeping al Qaeda or others out of the country. Absolutely notmost especially for women. Taliban rule will no doubt be harsh and human rights will have to be fought for every step of the way. One of the most notorious of 1980s-era US-backed Afghan warlords was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has long been associated with having first used the horrific weapon of acid thrown in the face of young women who had the temerity to seek higher education in Kabul in the 1970s. He returned to Kabul in 2016 and signed a peace agreement with the Afghan president. He has now proposed his own peace plan between the Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government and is central to negotiations over governance and potential power-sharing. And he is hardly the only one. Even after Bidens April 14 speech acknowledging that there was no justification for keeping troops in Afghanistan and that the US role would be diplomatic rather than military, it remains unclear exactly what withdrawing troops means for the US in Afghanistan. There is still no clarity whether US dronespiloted from a secretive military base outside of Las Vegaswill continue to drop bombs on Afghans. We know that US and US-backed airstrikes and drone attacks continue to kill civilians in Afghanistanand that in recent years the US air war killed more civilians than the Taliban. Many things remain unclear. What we do know is that it will take a continued and broadened mobilization of anti-war people and organizations and movements to hold the Biden administration to its words that this really is the end of the US war in Afghanistan. Withdrawing US troops wont end the warbut its a necessary step to make that possible for the people of Afghanistan. Its time to pull out the troops and end the air wars in Afghanistan. Now comes our work of making Bidens commitment real, and making sure that diplomacy overtakes war as the basis of US foreign policy. Echoing President Bidens speech, it is way past time to end Americas longest war. It is way past time for American troops to come home. | https://www.thenation.com/article/world/end-war-afghanistan-biden/ |
What's going on with the Iran nuclear talks? | London Iranian and U.S. negotiators resumed talks in Vienna on Thursday that could eventually resurrect the nuclear deal struck back in 2015. But that's a big could. President Joe Biden's administration wants to reverse his predecessor's unilateral withdrawal from the agreement, but the process was always going to be delicate. Sunday's attack on Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz has complicated things even further. Iran responded to what it called an act of "nuclear terrorism" carried out by Israel by announcing that it would start enriching uranium to 60% purity a big step up from its current maximum of 20%. While 60% enriched uranium still isn't technically weapons-grade (90% or above), having a stockpile of it could reduce the time Iran would need to make a bomb something Iran vehemently insists it doesn't want to do. This file photo released November 5, 2019 by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP President Hassan Rouhani said bluntly that, "60% enrichment is an answer to your evilness," making it clear that the Iranian regime holds the U.S. and Israel both responsible for the current escalation in tension. Iran said it will use the 60% enriched product for radio-pharmaceuticals, which can be used to treat diseases including cancer. But France, Germany and the U.K., three countries which are also party to the negotiations in Vienna, expressed "grave concern" at the move, and said Iran had "no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level." In fact, the extra-enriched uranium would be of less value to Iran as a medical tool than as a new bargaining chip in Vienna. Halting 60% enrichment is now one more thing that Iran can offer in exchange for a lifting of U.S. sanctions. The talks are cumbersome because Iran refused to meet American negotiators face to face. All proposals and counter-proposals have to be relayed back and forth by European diplomats. A senior U.S. State Department official, speaking to reporters last week, revealed the frustration that's causing. "You could imagine, for all these questions, how hard it is when the United States tells the EU, the EU tells the Iranians, the Iranians tell the EU, and then come back to us," the official said. "That just really makes it slower and more complicated." There's no question that both sides want a deal. Iran needs the U.S. sanctions lifted so it can start selling oil freely to shore up its crippled economy. The U.S. wants international cooperation and oversight to guarantee that Iran isn't secretly building nuclear weapons that would destabilize the Middle East. The first round of negotiations last week was about building an agenda laying out a list of the things that both the U.S. and Iran would need to do to return to the terms of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "On a whole, the discussions were productive," said a State Department representative of last week's talks. "The atmosphere was very constructive." This week, if all goes well, Iran and the U.S. again via European intermediaries will start to hammer out in more detail who does what and when. They'll also tackle how each move can be verified. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a televised address in Tehran, Iran on March 21, 2021. Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Getty For the moment, Iran's Supreme Leader is sitting firmly on the fence about the negotiations. One the one hand, he said they're probably a waste of time. "The offers they provide are usually arrogant and humiliating not worth looking at," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Monday, the first day of Ramadan. On the other hand, he is letting the talks go ahead, even after Sunday's deeply damaging and humiliating attack on the Natanz nuclear facility. There's a chance, though, that if things don't go well this week in Vienna, Khamenei could decide to slow down or even pause the talks until after Iran's national election in June, when a new, hardline president will have taken office. That could put a return to the nuclear deal completely out of reach. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-nuclear-talks-united-states-israel-biden/ |
Should Senate Democrats abolish the filibuster? | About this episode: The filibuster is one of the better-known bits of procedure in the Senate. It might conjure images of politicians droning on for hours, or simply partisan gridlock, but the rule has an insidious, racial history. Senators have used it as a tool to block civil rights legislation since the later part of the 18th century. But this history isnt confined to the past. Today, the threat of a filibuster is colliding with a fight over the future of voting rights, as Republicans vow to block a bill called H.R. 1, which expands voting protections for Black folks and other minorities. There are growing calls to reform or even abolish the filibuster. But Republicans, and a few Democrats, wont let go of the filibuster without a fight. Host Trymaine Lee talks with New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb about how the filibuster has been weaponized and racialized over time and asks whether American Democracy might be better off without it. Write to us at [email protected]. Listen here: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher Castbox TuneIn | https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/should-senate-democrats-abolish-filibuster-n1264124 |
Can tech wealth save low-cost housing in South L.A.? | Tech wealth is coming to South Los Angeles but not in the way some other neighborhoods in the city have become accustomed to. A new program backed by the personal philanthropic company of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, aims to help small landlords there so that properties stay in the hands of locals, stay affordable to locals and help build wealth within the community. The Los Angeles Local Rental Owners Collaborative, or LROC, is a joint effort of nonprofits, an online property management firm and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. It will put $5 million in the hands of landlords particularly those slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic to pay for rent owed by struggling tenants, and for any needed building repairs. Its a critical part of having a healthy neighborhood having locally owned assets, said Alejandro Martinez, chief real estate officer for the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, which is administering the program. Advertisement The program, which launches Thursday, will also provide financial coaching for small landlords, including helping them pool resources to gain discounts on insurance, mortgages and legal services. Its the latest deployment of tech money to alleviate a housing crisis that tech companies have been blamed for worsening through their rapid expansion over the last decade, as their offices expanded and highly paid employees moved to new neighborhoods. Much of that money including a $1-billion pledge by Google in 2019 has gone toward building new housing. Advertisement The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which has invested in efforts such as housing, education and criminal justice reform, has in previous programs given money to enable nonprofits to acquire existing housing in California. In this new initiative, funds will flow directly to private owners to enable them to keep their properties. The idea is to directly help small landlords, particularly people of color, in order to stanch a potential tide of gentrification and lost wealth if the pandemic-induced economic downturn leads to a wave of foreclosures and forced sales similar to what happened in the 2008 housing bust. Our communities are at their best, and are their most vibrant, when everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home, Chan said in a statement. The new program will help stabilize and improve housing for those who need it most particularly within Black and Brown communities that have been hit hardest by the pandemic and by decades of exclusionary housing policies. Advertisement The program, which is also receiving funding from the Roy + Patricia Disney Family Foundation, is starting a pilot in a specific area of South Los Angeles, but backers hope it can expand in the future. For now, owners must have a tenant who is behind on rent and must own two to 20 units, including one that must be in the corner of South Los Angeles that encompasses the Historic South Central, South Park and Central-Alameda neighborhoods. The boundaries are Washington Boulevard to the north, Slauson Avenue to the south, the 110 Freeway to the west and Alameda Street to the east. Ruby Bolaria Shifrin, director of housing affordability with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, said the pilot program was crafted this way targeting the smallest landlords and that specific geography to help people most in need. Advertisement Landlords with just a handful of units were more likely to have trouble paying bills before the pandemic and are more likely to have trouble now, research shows. The mostly low-income, Latino and Black neighborhoods that the program will serve have been hit hard by COVID-19s health and economic effects, reflecting racial inequalities the pandemic has worsened. Bolaria Shifrin said the neighborhoods are home to many workers in industries slammed by layoffs during the pandemic. Housing there is low cost relative to many L.A. neighborhoods, and is often owned by landlords who are BIPOC Black, Indigenous and People of Color. She said the program is prioritizing help for landlords who are BIPOC, in part to prevent an expansion of the yawning racial wealth gap, itself a reflection of historical discriminatory policies such as redlining. A recent survey from Avail, an online property management service, and the Urban Institute that focused specifically on Black and Latino landlords also found they were financially more vulnerable than white owners before the crisis and are now facing more problems paying their mortgages, leaving them at heightened risk of foreclosure and their tenants at risk of displacement. Advertisement Helping lift mom-and-pop landlords those who own just a small number of units can have knock-on effects way beyond the individual owners, the programs leaders said. For one, these small landlords tend not to raise the rent in the way big investors and companies do, keeping housing more affordable. Theyre also in their community for the long run: using the income from their property for retirement, and passing an asset on through generations. About 80% of all L.A. County homes affordable to someone making 80% of the median income are that way because the landlord has chosen to set rents there, meaning there isnt a government mandate or special aid to keep them affordable, according to a report from McKinsey and Co. Seventy-six percent of these properties often called naturally occurring affordable housing are owned by individuals rather than companies. Most affordable housing stock is not under tax credits or something else, said Jacqueline Waggoner, an executive with affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners, which is also helping run the new program. Its critical that we dont lose what we have. Advertisement In the years before the pandemic, many tight real estate markets across the country including South L.A. were losing relatively low-cost, nonsubsidized rental units as large investors scooped up the properties to redevelop them into more expensive housing. The flood of capital coming into the larger South L.A. region has concerned many longtime Black and Latino residents, who worry they are being priced out of certain neighborhoods as wealthier, often white individuals move in. That latest investment push came on top of a previous wave of capital that arrived in South L.A. in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when Wall Street-backed firms scooped up many single-family homes that went into foreclosure, something they did in hard-hit markets across the country. The South L.A. program offers landlords 80% of what they are owed by tenants if they agree to forgive 20% of the arrears, similar to the terms of relief programs being administered by the city of Los Angeles and the state. Advertisement Money will go directly to the landlord, and the tenant will be protected from eviction for the amount of arrearages paid and forgiven. Landlords will also receive a year of free access to Avail. And the Coalition for Responsible Community Development will host monthly meetings with landlords to talk about new laws and how to access various government programs. In addition to prioritizing BIPOC owners, the program will prioritize applications from landlords with two to five units and those at high risk for foreclosure. It will also give priority to people who havent received financial help from other sources, such as the more than $2 billion in rent relief now being distributed statewide. Landlords can start applications here. | https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-04-15/zuckerberg-chan-relief-program-helps-south-la-landlords |
Can Minnesota United succeed where Vikings and others have failed? | A very odd 2020 Major League Soccer season was on the verge of having an even stranger conclusion: A major Minnesota men's professional team was just minutes away from advancing to the championship round of its league something the Twins, Wild, Vikings and Timberwolves haven't done, let alone win it all, in the three decades since the Twins were crowned World Series champs in 1991. But then the very familiar happened: Minnesota United, playing on fumes against a better-rested and favored opponent, couldn't hold a 2-0 lead. Seattle drew within 2-1 in the 75th minute, pulled even in the 89th and scored the winner in stoppage time, ending the Loons' season and memorable playoff run just short of the MLS Cup Final. I talked to both Star Tribune beat writer Jerry Zgoda and new Loons midfielder Wil Trapp on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast about the team's aspirations to get back to that point and beyond in a season that begins Friday. If you don't see the podcast player, click here to listen. Minnesota history and sports/human nature would suggest the Loons have a difficult task ahead in trying to take another step forward, though it is hardly impossible. The Vikings have reached the NFC title game six times since their last Super Bowl appearance, losing all six times. In each case, they likely believed with good authority that they were on the verge of greatness and could take the next step the following season. The first three times they at least got back to the playoffs, but they lost in each case in the division round. The last three times, following trips to the NFC title game in 2000, 2009 and 2017, the Vikings didn't even make it back to the playoffs and twice fired their head coach (2001 with Dennis Green and 2010 with Brad Childress) while mired in dreadful follow-up seasons. They made it to the ALCS in 2002. In 2003, they got back to the playoffs and lost to the Yankees in the division round, starting a trend. They haven't made it back to the ALCS at all since 2002 despite eight more trips to the postseason. The magic of 2003-04 faded quickly the next season when an NBA Western Conference Finals trip gave way to a season missing the playoffs. They've only made the postseason once since that trip. They made it to the West finals in 2003. They missed the playoffs in 2004. They've never been back to the conference finals. You see a pattern here, and it's not just restricted to a large swath of Minnesota teams. Those are just the ones that tend to stick with me. The reasons are varied, but it probably has a lot to do with this: A combination of the burden of expectations and the fact that trips to the conference final are just hard to replicate because they are often seasons in which many things go right. Assuming (or at least hoping) that strengths will remain in place while weaknesses will be addressed seldom happens seamlessly. And so teams take a step back. Minnesota United has gone to great lengths and has used a good deal of intention to prevent that from happening. Several veterans were brought in to bolster a core that made what in some regards was a surprising playoff run last season. Trapp is one of those players, and he can help in a number of ways: solidifying play in the back end and in transition as a defensive midfielder and by providing both the experience and perspective necessary to stay focused in a season of high expectations. Trapp was a key starter for Columbus in 2015 when it made a run to the MLS Cup final, losing 2-1 to Portland. The Crew had high expectations the next season but finished with a losing record and didn't qualify for the postseason. "You can't sit there and automatically assume that because we were so close that it will happen once again," Trapp said. "The level of effort and focus and application for the group will need to be even more than it was last year. For our group (in Columbus) in 2016 after losing an MLS Cup, I don't think we did a very good job of realizing how hard it is to get there. Taking things for granted was a big issue that we had that season. I don't think I've felt that at all from this group this year in preseason, but it was definitely something I struggled with and went through as a teammate in 2016." We'll see if the Loons can avoid repeating history this season starting Friday in Seattle, where last year's joyous playoff run came up just short. | https://www.startribune.com/can-minnesota-united-succeed-where-vikings-and-others-have-failed/600046227/ |
What is an adenovirus? | Adenoviruses are a family of viruses that can cause a wide variety of illnesses in humans, from the common cold to gastrointestinal infections to pink eye. And recently, scientists have used these viruses as the basis for several COVID-19 vaccines, including those produced by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. There are 88 types of adenovirus known to infect humans, and these are grouped into seven different species, A through G, according to a 2019 report in the journal Scientific Reports. The viruses circulate year-round, meaning they don't show strong seasonality like influenza viruses, for instance. Additional adenoviruses infect a broad range of vertebrate animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles and even the occasional fish, according to a 2019 report in the journal FEBS Letters. 27 DEVASTATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES In humans, adenovirus infections most commonly cause mild respiratory symptoms, but sometimes, the viruses can cause severe disease; people with compromised immune systems, existing respiratory diseases or heart diseases face a higher risk of severe infection than others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No publicly available vaccines protect against adenovirus infection, although one existing vaccine is sometimes given to U.S. military personnel, according to the CDC. (This vaccine works against type 4 adenoviruses, classified as species E, and type 7 adenoviruses, which fall under species B.) BLOCKING MIDDLE SEATS ON PLANES REDUCES RISK OF CORONAVIRUS SPREAD: CDC That said, scientists have used modified adenoviruses to build other vaccines, such as those that protect against COVID-19. These modified viruses can no longer infect human cells, but they instead act as a vehicle for the vaccine to enter the body. Adenovirus symptoms Adenovirus infections can often cause common cold or flu-like symptoms, fever and sore throat, according to the CDC. They can also cause pink eye, or conjunctivitis; inflammation in the airways of the lungs, called acute bronchitis; pneumonia, an infection of the lungs; and inflammation of the stomach or intestines, known as acute gastroenteritis. The gastrointestinal infections result in diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain. Less commonly, adenoviruses can cause urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation or infection and even neurologic diseases that affect the spinal cord and brain. THE 9 DEADLIEST VIRUSES ON EARTH Adenoviruses spread between people through close personal contact, as well as through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People can also pick up the virus from contaminated surfaces and become infected by touching their mouth, eyes or nose before washing their hands. Some strains of adenovirus can be spread through an infected person's stool, and very rarely, the viruses can spread through water, such as in swimming pools. (Outbreaks can be avoided with adequate levels of chlorine in pools, the CDC states.) You can reduce the spread of adenoviruses by washing your hands frequently with soap and water; not touching your face with unwashed hands; and avoiding close contact with sick people. If you are sick, you can help prevent spread by staying home, washing your hands often and coughing and sneezing into tissues or your upper arm, rather than your hands. And infected person should also avoid close contact with others and make sure not to share utensils or cups with other people. Adenovirus infections can be diagnosed using clinical tests that detect the virus in samples from the patient, or detect specific substances that the virus produces, called antigens, according to the CDC. These diagnostic methods may include antigen tests; polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect viral genetic material; virus isolation, where samples are cultured in a lab dish; and serology, which uses blood samples. Some people can "shed" adenovirus particles for weeks after their infection has cleared; that means sometimes, even if someone tests positive for adenovirus, it may not be the cause of the person's current symptoms. Doctors may perform additional tests to rule out other diseases, according to the CDC. There are no specific treatments for adenovirus infections, and most cause mild symptoms and don't require treatment at all. When treatment is needed, doctors prescribe medicine to relieve symptoms. The antiviral cidofovir has occasionally been used to treat severe adenovirus infections in people with weak immune systems, but it's not specifically approved for the purpose, according to the CDC. Outbreaks of adenovirus in the military led the U.S. Department of Defense to begin vaccinating military recruits against two strains of the virus in 1971, according to Medscape. When vaccine production stopped in 1996, due to economical reasons, cases of adenovirus in the military increased, as the viruses spread easily in close quarters. This re-emergence of adenovirus led to the reintroduction of the vaccine among recruits in 2011, Medscape reported. The vaccine prevents an estimated 15,000 cases of adenovirus infections in U.S. military recruits, according to the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity. A recent study, published in 2018 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, looked at adenovirus respiratory infections in nonmilitary individuals and concluded that the vaccine should also be considered for susceptible groups outside the military, such as those living in long-term care facilities or college dorms. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, previously told Live Science that he agreed with this conclusion that, "because [adenovirus] does cause a considerable burden of illness, we want to explore" the ability to use the vaccine outside of the military context. JOHNSON & JOHNSON COVID-19 VACCINE PAUSE EXTENDED, CDC COMMITTEE WANTS MORE TIME For example, the vaccine may benefit people at high risk of contracting these viruses, such as patients with lung disease and others with compromised immune systems, but it may even benefit the general population, given that people in congregate living situations are prone to infection, Adalja said. However, future studies would be needed to examine which segments of the population would benefit most, and whether vaccination would be cost-effective, he said. Adenoviruses can be used as so-called viral vectors in vaccines, meaning they carry the ingredients of a given vaccine into cells. For example, the COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford contains a weakened adenovirus that naturally infects chimpanzees. Scientists modified the virus so it cannot replicate in human cells, and then they added genes that code for the coronavirus spike protein. Inside the body, the vaccine enters cells and delivers these spike protein genes to the nucleus; the cells then use the delivered genes to build the spike protein itself. The spike proteins trigger an immune response, training the body to recognize and attack the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 if a person encounters it. QUICK GUIDE: COVID-19 VACCINES IN USE AND HOW THEY WORK Similarly, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson's Janssen contains a human adenovirus called Ad26, which has been modified so it cannot replicate and instead carries coronavirus genes. The company used the same method to create its approved Ebola vaccine as well as vaccines for other diseases that are still in clinical trials. Recently, scientists are finding that the AstraZeneca shot seems to cause a very rare autoimmune response that causes an unusual type of blood clot. The Johnson & Johnson shot has also been tied to a similar type of blood clot, though experts don't yet know if the vaccine is causing them. It's not clear in either case whether the adenovirus vector has anything to do with the rare side effect. Importantly, adenoviruses contain double-stranded DNA, and the coronavirus genes are placed within this structure, The New York Times reported. The COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna also deliver coronavirus genetic material into the body, but in the form of messenger RNA (mRNA), a much less stable molecule. The double-stranded DNA in the adenovirus-based vaccines makes them robust enough to be stored at warmer temperatures than the mRNA-based vaccines; additionally, the outer coat of an adenovirus is sturdier than the protective fatty coating made to surround mRNA in vaccines. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE In addition to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, the shot produced by CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology also contains a weakened adenovirus, one that normally infects humans called Ad5. The so-called Sputnik V vaccine, created by the Russia Ministry of Health's Gamaleya Research Institute, contains two human adenoviruses. Live Science reporter Rachael Rettner contributed material to this article. Originally published on Live Science. | https://www.foxnews.com/health/what-is-an-adenovirus |
What does it mean to invest 'ethically' or with 'impact'? | LONDON (Reuters) - Demand for funds which cherry pick investments with strong environmental, social or governance (ESG) credentials has surged in recent years. FILE PHOTO: The sun rises behind an electric power windmill in Halle, Belgium September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo/File Photo Many of these funds include terms such as ethical or impact in their names. Below is a glossary of the key terms often used to describe investment styles and processes. SUSTAINABLE/RESPONSIBLE INVESTING In the absence of a global consensus, the two are often used to describe a range of investment approaches used by fund managers to assess ESG issues before choosing to buy or sell an asset. This could mean looking at a companys climate change preparations, its record on deforestation or its boardroom diversity to ensure it is operating in a way that is socially and environmentally sustainable over time. It also covers the way in which the asset is then managed, for example in the way the fund looks to influence company management on topics of concern. ESG INTEGRATION The most commonly used process, including across funds with no specific sustainability objective, ESG integration is where ESG-related factors are systematically considered as part of the investment analysis conducted by a fund manager as a way to better manage risk and returns. ETHICAL INVESTING One of several strategies that explicitly exclude certain stocks or sectors. Commonly used in funds which avoid the so-called sin stocks such as companies tied to pornography, weapons, gambling, alcohol or tobacco, ethical investment funds allow an individual to invest in line with their environmental, religious or political values. IMPACT INVESTING While all forms of investing in theory have impact, for good or ill, funds which carry the label look to ensure the positive impact is measurable. For example, by investing in projects where the financial return is linked to improving literacy rates or health outcomes in the developing world. BEST-IN-CLASS As the name suggests, this approach picks companies that perform strongest on ESG-related issues, even if the sector is one that many would consider less sustainable, such as Oil and Gas. Unlike ethical investing, which could see investors miss out completely if the sector they eschew surges in value, best-in-class investing allows funds to retain the option of exposure to the sectors returns. POSITIVE TILT Often used in index-tracking funds, a positive tilt approach would see a fund buy more of the stock of companies in a given index with a good ESG performance, for example on carbon emissions, and less of those with a worse performance. ENGAGEMENT Stewardship refers to the responsibility of a fund manager to manage their clients money in a way that creates long-term, sustainable value. One way they do this is by engaging, or talking to, the boards of the companies in which they invest to challenge them to perform better on ESG issues. PROXY VOTING When words are not enough, fund managers can turn to the ballot box. Specifically, anyone who owns shares in a company has the right to vote once a year on a range of issues including whether or not to confirm the board in their jobs, and to support their proposed pay and bonus plans. In a mutual fund, where many thousands of people may share ownership, the fund manager or the fund management company running the fund decides which way to vote on their behalf. | https://www.reuters.com/article/sustainable-finance/explainer-what-does-it-mean-to-invest-ethically-or-with-impact-idUSL8N2M24MB |
Is Corcoran FSU-bound? Gaetz targets CNN with ad buy Florida House passes transgender athletes ban A deal on police reforms? | Presented by Floridians for Affordable Rx Hello and welcome to Thursday. The daily rundown Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the number of Florida coronavirus cases increased by 6,772 (0.3 percent), to 2,141,686; active hospitalizations increased by 1, to 3,258; deaths of Florida residents rose by 44 (0.1 percent), to 34,164; 7,584,736 Floridians have received at least one dose of a vaccine. The buzz has been building that Corcoran is interested in the position that is now held by FSU President John Thrasher, himself a former House speaker and state senator. Not ruling it out Corcoran for his part isnt saying whether hes going to apply for the job. But he didnt rule it out either. In a statement to Playbook, Corcoran said It would be an amazing honor but right now were focused on having a strong close to our school year and having a great session. Ongoing The search for FSU president is in a bit of nebulous phase. Thrasher is scheduled to retire later this year and the university has engaged a search firm to look for potential successors. Late last month, the firm told FSUs search committee that discussions had begun with sitting and former school presidents across the country, according to FSUNews.com. Behind closed doors All this is going on while the Florida Legislature moves closer to passing a bill that would keep presidential searches completely under wraps until the very end. Despite assurances that finalists would be identified, the actual bill doesnt define how many must be publicly named. Nor does the legislation bar legislators from seeking the posts. His record Corcoran, an attorney who briefly attended UF and once served as chief of staff to Marco Rubio when he was Florida speaker, has been outspoken especially when it comes to K-12 education. He has been a strong supporter of the states accountability laws, charter schools and private school vouchers. He also joined Gov. Ron DeSantis in pushing for in-person instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic. Corcoran has never shied away from battles and more than once has turned his ire at Floridas teacher union. Theres no doubt that there will be some pushback from students and faculty and yes some alumni if Corcoran is in the mix. For some FSU faithful the biggest question about the next president is their relationship with Republican power brokers (right now, the university is trying to keep extra funding it got from the Legislature in recent years intact) and whether the next candidate can raise money successfully. Stay tuned in the months ahead. Nothing official announced for Gov. DeSantis. Get in touch: [email protected] RECOVERY LAB: The latest issue of Recovery Lab, POLITICOs new project surfacing the smartest ideas for speeding recovery from the pandemic, launches today with a focus on Education. The Covid-19 pandemic has forever changed teaching and learning in America and it has also changed how we think about schools. Employers quickly learned how much they and their employees rely on schools to provide childcare. Communities learned just how dependent their families were on other supports provided through schools, such as healthy meals and medical checkups. And if the learning loss that occurred this year persists, it will become a long-term drag on those students lives and incomes. Read all the stories here. A message from Floridians for Affordable Rx: For too many Floridians, prescription drugs are unaffordable, and thats unacceptable. Thats why its time to take politics out of prescriptions and find real solutions to lower Rx costs for all Floridians. The key to lowering drug costs is through increased competition, not big government mandates on private-sector tools used to reduce costs. The independent pharmacy lobbys special interest agenda undermines access to affordable prescription drugs. Learn more: Floridians for Affordable Rx ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... PURELY POLITICAL Florida House passes contentious transgender sports ban, by POLITICOs Andrew Atterbury: The GOP-controlled Florida House on Wednesday passed controversial legislation banning transgender athletes from playing girls sports, shifting attention to the state Senate where final approval is needed to send the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis. The 77-40 mostly party-line vote, with all but one Democrat opposing, came one day after House Democrats held up a floor session for hours attempting to scale back the measure. GOP lawmakers say the bill is needed to protect the sanctity of womens sports, but opponents contend it would only legalize bullying for transgender students. KEEP IT DARK Florida House okays exemption for college president searches, by News Service of Floridas Ryan Dailey: People applying to lead Florida colleges and universities would get a public-records exemption to shield release of their personal identifying information under a measure passed Wednesday by the House. The House voted 101-16 to approve a bill (HB 997) that would create a records exemption for applicants to become college and university presidents. Only information about finalists for the positions would be made public. STALLED Florida Senate election bill bogs down for now amid waves of opposition, by POLITICOs Matt Dixon: After more than three hours of heated debate, a key Florida Senate panel on Wednesday re-wrote and watered down a sweeping election overhaul that drew waves of opposition which at least temporarily postponed a vote. More than 70 people lined up to speak against the proposal during a marathon meeting of the Senate Rules Committee. Democratic opponents filed nearly 20 amendments to the proposal, most of which were swatted by GOP majorities trying to muscle the bill to the Senate floor. Republicans push to advance the measure, however, was thwarted for now because they ran out of time due to lengthy debate and public testimony. A BIPARTISAN EFFORT Florida House leaders, Black Caucus agree on policing reforms. Choke holds targeted, by Miami Heralds Ana Ceballos: After months of negotiations, Republican House leaders and members of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus have reached a compromise on a bill that aims to improve trust in police by addressing use of force and other police tactics. The bill, introduced by the House Judiciary Committee, would set statewide use-of-force policies for Florida law enforcement officers, limit the use of the controversial choke-hold tactic and would require the state to collect data on cases in which police officers use force that results in serious bodily injury or death or shoot at a person. PRIORITIES Florida Senate eyes corporate tax cuts after reducing hospital, university funding, by Orlando Sentinels Gray Rohrer: A week after passing a budget that would reduce funding for hospitals and universities, the Florida Senate is moving forward with a slew of bills to cut taxes for large corporations totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The Senate Finance and Tax Committee on Wednesday is set to vote on bills to reduce state corporate income taxes, give a property tax cut to those reselling timeshares and offer tax credits to Hertz and Electronic Arts, costing the state more than $400 million. Another would allow corporations to deduct 100% of business meals, also known as the three-martini lunch tax break. AIRING IT OUT Rep. Matt Gaetz announces ad buy to fight back against CNN, allegations, by POLITICOs Benjamin Din: Rep. Matt Gaetz on Wednesday announced a six-figure ad buy for a spot that targets CNN, as he fights to save his political career amid sexual trafficking allegations. The new 30-second ad will be featured in the Florida Republicans congressional district and nationally on select cable networks, according to a statement from Gaetzs congressional campaign. The ad marks the beginning of Gaetzs counteroffensive, as he fight[s] back against a multiweek fake news cycle against him, it said. AND CNN AIRED THIS Women detail drug use, sex and payments after late-night parties with Gaetz and others, by CNNs David Shortell and Paula Reid: The first thing some of the women were asked to do when they got to the house parties in the gated community in suburban Orlando was to put away their cellphones, according to two women in attendance who spoke to CNN in recent days. The men inside, a who's who of local Republican officials that often included Rep. Matt Gaetz, did not want the night's activities documented. The partygoers, at times dressed in formal wear from a political event they'd just left, mingled and shared drugs like cocaine and ecstasy. Some had sex. Gaetz, the brash Republican, liked to discuss politics, said one of the women. He behaved like a 'frat type of party boy,' she said, sometimes taking pills she believed were recreational drugs. PUT ON NOTICE No. 2 House Republican says GOP would act against Gaetz, by The Associated Press Alan Fram: "The No. 2 House Republican leader said Wednesday that party leaders would 'take action' against Rep. Matt Gaetz if the Justice Department formally moves against the Florida lawmaker, who is under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking. The remarks by Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana made him the latest congressional Republicans to opt against springing to the defense of the three-term lawmaker from Floridas panhandle." CAMPAIGN MODE WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS Dark money details emerge as Artiles and no-party candidate head to court, by Miami Heralds Ana Ceballos and Samantha J. Gross: An alleged election scheme that stumped Floridas political world for over half a year is about to spill into court, as former Republican Senator Frank Artiles is set to plead not guilty and ask for a jury trial in a high-profile public corruption case. Artiles, who will be arraigned Friday in the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami, is facing several felony charges for allegedly recruiting and paying Alexis Pedro Rodriguez, an auto-parts dealer and longtime acquaintance, to run as a no-party candidate in Miami-Dades Senate District 37 race to sway the outcome of the election. Former State Sen. Frank Artiles | AP Photo DESANTIS V. THE WORLD Mounting corporate opposition to proposed voting restrictions tests long-standing alliance with GOP, by Washington Posts Todd C. Frankel, Josh Dawsey and Jena McGregor: Even as executives representing a wide swath of Corporate America discussed via Zoom last weekend potentially withholding political donations and business investments over the issue, speakers at the Republican National Committee retreat in Palm Beach were pledging to continue the fight. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was applauded at the RNC meeting for attacking Major League Baseball, among others, according to a recording obtained by The Washington Post. From the speech Major businesses who are getting in bed with the left, the corporate media and big tech ... these corporate executives have no backbone, they dont want to be criticized by the corporate partisan media they cave, they virtue signal in one direction, DeSantis said. You have these woke corporations who are colluding with all those folks," he continued. We have to stand up for ourselves, weve got to fight back. A message from Floridians for Affordable Rx: CORONAVIRUS UPDATES MOUNT TALLAHASSEE SAYETH Masks should be voluntary in schools in the fall, says Florida education commissioner, by Miami Heralds Colleen Wright and Ana Ceballos: Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran on Wednesday asked school superintendents to revise their school districts mask policy, if they have one, to be voluntary instead of mandatory for the 2021-22 school year Corcoran did not include any data to back up his claims in the letter. WHO YOU KNOW Former neighbor put on vaccine VIP list after complaining to Manatee commissioner, emails show, by Sarasota Herald-Tribunes Zac Anderson: Emails show the former neighbor of Manatee County Commission Chair Vanessa Baugh complained to Baugh about her inability to get a vaccine through the countys lottery system shortly before Baugh put the neighbor on a vaccine priority list that appears to have bypassed that appointment system. Orange County provides vaccination rates by ZIP code, gets cut off from state database, by WFTVs Lauren Seabrook and Sarah Wilson: Weeks after Channel 9 first requested records providing a breakdown of COVID-19 vaccination numbers by ZIP code, Orange County finally turned over some of the data. Orange County provided Channel 9 with three maps showing which communities have had the most access to the vaccine. The maps are public record and do not identify any personal information. But after the county released the records, the state turned around cut off the countys access to the Florida Department of Health database." 12 fully vaccinated people in Leon County still got COVID-19, Florida records show, by Tallahassee Democrats Christopher Cann TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP QUITE THE TALE As insurrection raged, a South Florida video blogger provided a play-by-play to Russians, by McClatchys Kevin G. Hall: The Russian-speaking video blogger from South Florida walked alongside the throngs wearing MAGA hats and carrying Trump flags as the crowd descended on the Capitol, heeding the call to disrupt the certification of electoral college results. His broadcast reached Russian speakers across the United States and in the mother country, pushing the Stop the Steal narrative and other debunked election-fraud allegations. LOCKED UP Brevard County man hunted Nancy Pelosi at US Capitol on Jan. 6, prosecutors say, by WKMGs Erik Sandoval: A federal judge ruled a Titusville man will stay in jail until his trial on charges that he conspired with others to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Kenneth Harrelsons attorney had asked the judge to grant Harrelson bond after he was denied the change to leave jail by a federal magistrate in Orlando in March. During a two-and-a-half hour court hearing in Washington, prosecutors alleged Harrelson conspired with other members of the Oath Keepers to break into the Capitol building. Target They also claimed Harrelson was the leader of ground operations for the group that day, with the task of finding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Prosecutors allege one of his co-conspirators texted Harrelson, saying they wanted Pelosis head rolling down the steps of the Capitol. Prosecutors also alleged that the group of Oath Keepers, which included Marion County residents Connie and Kelly Meggs, stored weapons at a Comfort Inn in Virginia on the day of the riot, while they stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn near the Capitol building. MEDIA MATTERS UP IN THE AIR Tribune Publishing sticking with Alden offer for now over bid by Maryland businessman and Swiss billionaire, by Baltimore Suns Christopher Dinsmore: The special committee of Tribune Publishings board of directors continues to recommend shareholders approve a buyout of the company by a New York hedge fund even as it considers a higher offer from a Maryland businessman and a Swiss billionaire. In an updated filing Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Chicago-based newspaper group cited a number of factors in the reasoning to endorse Alden Global Capitals deal, valued at about $630 million, over a tentative $680 million offer by Maryland hotel executive Stewart Bainum Jr. and his business partner Hansjrg Wyss. A message from Floridians for Affordable Rx: Its time to stand up to special interest lobbies trying to increase prescription drug costs for Florida families. Floridas independent pharmacies claim that theyre struggling, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses around the country were forced to close, while there were 20 more independent pharmacies in the state. In fact, there are 13 percent more independent pharmacies in Florida today than there were 10 years ago. In fact, there are 13 percent more independent pharmacies in Florida today than there were 10 years ago. Florida needs a competitive marketplace to reduce Rx costs, not special-interest-backed legislative mandates that restrict the tools used by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to reduce Floridians prescription drug costs. Its time for the independent pharmacies lobby to come to the table with real solutions to lower Rx costs in Florida. Presented by Floridians for Affordable Rx. Learn More. ODDS, ENDS, AND FLORIDA MEN Judge is accused of taking too much time off. She says she was working remotely, by Sun Sentinels Rafael Olmeda: Palm Beach County Judge Marni Bryson is under fire for apparently taking too much time off when she should have been working at the courthouse, according to the official state watchdog that polices judicial misconduct. POLITICO Florida has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Sunshine State. Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected] Follow us on Twitter Gary Fineout @fineout | https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/04/15/is-corcoran-fsu-bound-gaetz-targets-cnn-with-ad-buy-florida-house-passes-transgender-athletes-ban-a-deal-on-police-reforms-492480 |
What's next for Afghanistan as the US prepares to pull out? | The Biden administrations surprise announcement of an unconditional American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 appears to strip the Taliban and the Afghan government of considerable leverage and could ramp up pressure on them to reach a peace deal. The Taliban and Afghan government can no longer hold the United States hostage the Taliban with escalating violence and the Afghan president by dragging his feet on a power-sharing deal with the insurgents that doesnt include him as president because Washington made it clear that its troops are leaving, no matter what. Still, there are growing fears that Afghanistan will collapse into worsening chaos, brutal civil war, or even a takeover by the Taliban once the Americans are gone opening a new chapter in the constant war that has lasted for decades. Already, violence and seemingly random attacks on civilians have surged since former U.S. President Donald Trumps administration reached a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that had committed Washington to withdraw by May 1 this year. More than 1,700 civilians were killed or wounded in attacks the first three months of 2021, up 23% from the same period last year, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the Biden administration set a new timetable. It said it would begin pulling out its remaining 2,500 troops on May 1 and complete the pullout at the latest by Sept. 11 the 20th anniversary of the Al Qaeda terror attack on the U.S. that had triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO announced it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing nearly 10,000 troops, 7,000 of whom are non-U.S. soldiers. In leaving, Washington has calculated that it can manage its chief security interest ensuring Afghanistan doesnt become a base for terror attacks on the United States from a distance. Still, it is hoping to leave a country with a chance at peace. The U.S. is pressing the Taliban and the Afghan government to reach a peace agreement during an April 24 to May 4 conference in Turkey. At the moment, its not certain that the Taliban will attend. In response to the new withdrawal timeline, the Taliban said they wont attend any conference on Afghanistans future while foreign forces are still in the country. A spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that if the original May 1 deadline is not met, problems will be compounded. Still, he did not explicitly threaten a resumption of Taliban attacks on U.S. troops. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary Afghan public on the withdrawal plan. A day earlier, he ramped up indirect pressure on the Taliban during a phone call with Pakistans powerful military chief. With their leadership headquartered in Pakistan, the Taliban ignore Islamabad at their own peril. Until now, Pakistan has been key to getting the insurgent militia to earlier rounds of talks and has expressed support for the Turkey conference. The Taliban control about half of Afghanistan. But they also have much to lose if they walk away from the peace process, particularly a chance at international recognition. The group has been courting world powers since 2013 when they set up their political office in the Qatari capital Doha. The U.S. has warned that the Taliban wont get that recognition if they are not part of a new government. The Turkey conference, jointly convened by the U.N., lends international support to that warning. The bet is that the Taliban wont want to rule as a pariah, as they did from 1996 until their overthrow by the U.S.-led coalition in 2001. They had no money to feed their people, unemployment was rampant, and drought and poverty devastated farmers. Their only source of income in the final years was from Al Qaeda and its wealthy Saudi leader at the time, Osama bin Laden. If the Taliban wants recognition, if they want international support ... that cant happen if they press war further, Mr. Blinken said on Meet The Press on Sunday. Well see how the parties calculate their interest. Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser, said he doesnt expect the insurgents to attend in Turkey. Instead, he said, they are likely to negotiate with local leaders around Afghanistan and wait for the Americans to leave, further weakening and isolating President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban have refused to even sit across the table from him. Responding to the U.S. strategy shift, Mr. Ghani pledged to pursue peace, without elaborating. He tweeted late Wednesday that he had spoken with President Joe Biden and we will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition. Previously, Mr. Ghani had floated an alternative peace plan that calls for him to head an interim government until fresh elections can be held. Rejected by the Taliban, its seen by his political opponents as an attempt to cling to power. Mr. Ghanis government has been denounced for runaway corruption and divisive politics. He has embraced warlords he once shunned, like Uzbek powerhouse Rashid Dostum, accused of war crimes. The many warlords who hold sway in Kabul have amassed considerable wealth in the last 20 years and boast loyal militias with well-equipped arsenals. Most Afghans say the U.S. and NATO troop presence has kept feuding warlords apart and fear that without it the country will collapse back into the brutal infighting that raged from 1992-1996, giving rise to the Taliban. The previous Trump deal with the Taliban had imposed conditions. The big one was that the Taliban break with their longtime ally, Al Qaeda, and stand against other militants before U.S. troops would withdraw. A senior Taliban official earlier told The Associated Press that the group last month ordered the remnants of Al Qaeda and other militants out of the country and told its own fighters not to associate with foreign fighters. Asfandyar Mir, at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said the order against foreign fighters was a good first step. But he noted it only confirms the Talibans use of foreign fighters, which it long denied even as publications affiliated to the Taliban and Al Qaeda touted Al Qaedas oath of loyalty to the Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akunzada. Mr. Mir also pointed to the evidence of Al Qaeda operations even in recent years in areas under Taliban control. Controlling militant groups will be even harder if Afghanistan tumbles into chaos. Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center said that its hard to imagine any scenario under which peace would break out post-Sept. 11 in Afghanistan. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Your email address By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy The best hope is that the peace process wont be dead, he said. This story was reported by The Associated Press. | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2021/0415/What-s-next-for-Afghanistan-as-the-US-prepares-to-pull-out |
Did Justin Fields make Kyle Shanahan tweak for second pro day? | originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea Kyle Shanahan sure did look happy Wednesday at Justin Fields' second pro day, and for good reason. The Ohio State star quarterback again put on a show, this time in front of the 49ers' head coach, along with general manager John Lynch and QB coach Rich Scangarello. He aired it out with all eyes on him, showing off his rocket arm rolling to his left and firing balls down the field on the run. Fields also appears to have made a major tweaks to his mechanics that Shanahan might have had say in. Throughout his college career, Fields began his setup under center or in shotgun with his right foot forward and left foot back. But at his second pro day, his first with Shanahan and the 49ers' trio in person, he switched it up. This time, he put left foot forward and right foot back. Quarterbacks starting with their right foot back is a Shanahan staple. I just went back and looked at some film, and Matt Ryan played with his right foot forward until the 2015 season - when Kyle Shanahan arrived in Atlanta. From then on, Matt Ryan has had his right foot back. https://t.co/BY8Hj7lXYy William McFadden (@willmcfadden) April 14, 2021 The Twitter detective work pans out, too. When looking up Matt Ryan highlights from the 2014 season, you can see he starts with his left foot back. Shanahan then became Ryan's offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in the 2015 season and he switched to his right foot back. With Shanahan as Ryan's offensive coordinator, the Falcons QB was named the NFL's MVP for the 2016 season with the footwork change. Jimmy Garoppolo appears to have started with his right foot back as both a member of the New England Patriots and the 49ers. And for what it's worth, it looks like Alabama QB Mac Jones started with his left foot back at his second pro day, which Shanahan attended. Story continues I'm no QB guru, but beginning with your right foot back as a right-handed quarterback seems much easier to get set quicker and in your drop more efficiently. The 49ers are in constant contact with Fields' QB coach, John Beck, who also happens to be Trey Lance's QB coach. Beck played for Shanahan when he was Washington's offensive coordinator in 2010 and 2011, and now has helped train Shanahan's possible quarterback of the future. When recently talking with NBC Sports' Peter King, Beck highlighted Fields' coachability and his desire to adapt. "There's been a lot of times where he's asked to come in and work on an off-day," Beck said. "He'll say, 'I just got this information from an NFL team, can you help me go over it so I can learn in the best I can?' To me, that demonstrates someone who has a great desire to be the very best he can. "To the team that picks Justin, they're going to love the way he approaches improving at his craft." Though it isn't clear Shanahan or anyone from the 49ers asked Fields to make the change, he certainly did so in what essentially was a showcase for the team with the No. 3 pick the NFL draft. Shanahan was all smiles, Scangarello dapped up Fields after one of his eye-opening throws and the 49ers might have quietly been celebrating finding the QB they've dreamed of after moving up nine spots in the draft. Fields has it all. From arm strength to accuracy, size and athleticism, he's who you make a franchise-altering move for. This is just the latest example. Download and subscribe to the 49ers Talk Podcast | https://sports.yahoo.com/did-justin-fields-kyle-shanahan-143550806.html?src=rss |
Will Kyle Pitts be the 1st non-QB picked in the 2021 NFL draft? | The more I talk with teams, the more I believe Kyle Pitts will be the first non-QB selected in the Draft. No tight end has ever been taken 4th overall. Only 5, all-time, have gone in the top 6. https://t.co/sIKVzkLd8v Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) April 15, 2021 We all know who the best prospect in the 2021 NFL draft is, and there are plenty of reasons why Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been locked into this years No. 1 overall pick since his freshman season. Quarterbacks are also expected to be selected at the next two spots, and perhaps even the next three. There are certainly multiple quarterbacks in this years loaded class worthy of those selections, which isnt always the case. It should be Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, and from what NFL Networks Peter Schrager is hearing, that appears to be how things are trending with two weeks left until this years big event. A dominant pass-catcher with a rare combination of size and athleticism, Pitts would be a slam-dunk pick for the Atlanta Falcons at No. 4 overall, should they pass on a trade-down offer, or a quarterback of the future for themselves. If a quarterback does go in that slot, the Cincinnati Bengals would be wise to steal Pitts at No. 5 overall. | https://sports.yahoo.com/kyle-pitts-1st-non-qb-154201253.html?src=rss |
Can South-East Asian techs hot streak last? | W HEN UBER came to South-East Asia, the Silicon Valley ride-hailing giant coaxed customers into cabs with free ice cream, a tactic it had deployed in Western markets. Grab, a local rival based in Singapore, plied riders with durian, a pungent tropical fruit that repels many Westerners but is beloved of people in places like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. GrabDurian, as it called the effort, delivered several varieties of the fruit (as well as desserts made from the stuff). After years of brutal rivalry Grab acquired Ubers South-East Asian operations in 2018. The tale lives on as a lesson for doing business in the region, which is home to nearly 700m people. Digital services such as ride-hailing and food delivery can thriveso long as they adapt to local conditions. Now it is Western investors who are salivating. In the past year South-East Asias internet-startup scene has got hotter than Thai chilli peppers. The market capitalisation of Sea, another Singaporean group that listed in New York in 2017 (and whose name alludes to the shorthand for South-East Asia widely used in the region), has quintupled in the past year, to a mighty $125bn. On April 13th Grab said it would go public on New Yorks Nasdaq stock exchange by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company ( SPAC ). The deal values the company at nearly $40bn. Gojek, an Indonesian ride-hailing group valued at more than $10bn, could merge with an e-commerce firm called Tokopedia, before also considering listing via a SPAC in New York. Traveloka, another local unicorn (as unlisted startups worth $1bn or more are known), is reportedly in talks to list in New York via a SPAC . All told, the regions half-dozen biggest internet darlings are worth nearly $200bn. Wall Street, in other words, has finally woken up to South-East Asias great promise. The region is more populous than the European Union or North America. Its economies are growing fast. Wealthy, English-speaking Singapore at its heart is a global financial centre, with all the bankers, lawyers, consultants, admen and creative types that a modern firm needs. Critically, American and Chinese tech giants have a patchy record of coping with the regions archipelagic geography, potholed roads and unbanked masses. Besides Ubers abortive foray, Chinas Alibaba has struggled to turn around Lazada, a regional e-commerce firm it bought in 2016. Meanwhile, local internet firms have thrived. As they grow they will face another challenge: bumping into each other. The South-East Asian tech firms began in their own separate niches. Sea started out in gaming. When Grab launched in 2012 it was a taxi-hailing service in Malaysia. Gojek gave out smartphones to Jakartas moped drivers (known as ojek), who could then cut through the Indonesian capitals epic traffic jams to bring mangoes, a manicurist or any other product or personal service offered by merchants on its platform to consumers. Traveloka specialised in airline bookings; Tokopedia was a digital marketplace. All have since expanded, evolving towards becoming super-apps with parallels to those run by Alibaba and Tencent, Chinas biggest internet firms. Grab is present in eight countries and in addition to rides offers food delivery, mobile payments, insurance, investments and health advice. Last year it launched corporate services such as fraud detection, digital maps and advertising. This year it plans to start setting up a digital bank in Singapore. Tan Hooi Ling, its co-founder, says that the firm is like Uber, DoorDash [an American food-delivery app] and Ant [Alibabas financial-technology affiliate] all wrapped into one. Gojek, which now offers a similar suite of services, last year bought a large stake in an Indonesian bank. The co- CEO , Kevin Aluwi, also sees similarities between his firm and the Chinese super-apps. We are a little bit of all those companies in some ways, he observes. As Grab, Gojek and the others continue to grow they will still have to grapple with some of the problems that have dampened the spirits of the foreign titans. Until roads, transport links and communications networks improve, many of the regions consumers will be too expensive for the tech firms to reach profitably. Nirgunan Tiruchelvam of Tellimer, a broker specialising in emerging markets, notes that the logistical nightmare of delivering online-shopping baskets to Indonesias 6,000 inhabited islands is vastly different to e-commerce in China, which has world-class infrastructure, let alone the West. What is more, much of the population will remain poor for years to come, with little discretionary cash to spend on online shopping and investment products. Even if the upstart digital champions surmount these obstacles they will increasingly face one another. As their offerings broaden they will inevitably begin to overlap. Grab and Gojek already compete for the same customers in areas from ride-hailing to finance. In Indonesia, by far the biggest market, they are burning through cash as they fight over customers in markets where switching costs are low. Neither has turned a profit. Grabs gross operating loss narrowed in 2020 but still amounted to $800m. High growth means investors are tolerant: Seas revenue expanded by 101% last year and it makes money on its preferred measure of profit, thanks to its gaming business. Grab has told investors that it expects to break even by 2023. Mr Aluwi of Gojek sees enough room for several successful firms. I dont think this is a winner-take-all market, he says. | https://www.economist.com/business/2021/04/17/can-south-east-asian-techs-hot-streak-last |
How does the J&J COVID-19 vaccine pause affect Rhode Islanders? | Medical professionals reiterate that vaccines are subject to safety regulations, but some public health officials wonder if the headlines about the rare reaction the clotting affects less than one out of every million people who receive the vaccine could cause the public to become more hesitant about the shot when and if the pause is lifted. PROVIDENCE When federal health officials recommended this week to temporarily pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to review the six extremely rare cases of blood clots, officials said it was a necessary safety and oversight move. Advertisement Dr. Kirsten Hokeness, chairwoman of the science and technology department at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, said there are two main categories of people who are hesitant about getting the vaccine: those who are outright against it and those who fall in a wait and see category. I think that the situation with J&J will help solidify the fact that those individuals (who are against it) will not get vaccinated, Hokeness said. For those that fall into the wait and see category, typically these individuals are waiting for more data, particularly safety data, before they strongly consider getting the vaccine. I think that this news will most likely impact these individuals the most and may prolong their decision-making process, but I do think it will be short-lived. JoAnne Camara of Bristol, Rhode Island, was supposed to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Tuesday. She said she has bad allergies and sensitivities that causes her to have to go to a special anaphylactic clinic to get a COVID-19 vaccine. I was hoping to get one and be done, she said. With the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose vaccines, she could have an anaphylactic reaction to the first shot, and then would not be able to get the second. It could leave her unprotected. Advertisement I was thinking of not getting vaccinated at all, due to the side effects that it could have for me, she said. But shes still on the fence, she said, as her daughter is getting married this summer and she wants to be fully vaccinated to safely attend and be around family. She said she hopes the pause will soon be lifted. The pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccines on the federal level could last for a few weeks as they review what happened. But in Rhode Island, where approximately 310,000 doses of the one-shot vaccine has already been administered, state health officials plan on going through their own review of the vaccine. The state still has about 3,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in storage. Joseph Wendelken, the spokesman for the state health department, said the state will review the findings of the analysis at the federal level with local experts, including members of the states COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee, which on Tuesday that said they accepted the recommendation by the federal government to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the state. When asked when the state-level review might happen, Wendelken said in an email to the Globe: We will certainly be very open with this process, but that the federal review and vote had to be conducted first. On Wednesday, the CDCs Advisory Panel did not vote to lift the pause on the vaccine because they wanted to conduct a full-risk assessment before making a decision. Advertisement Health officials said no blood clots stemming from the vaccine were reported in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the Rhode Island state health director, said that those who had received the shot about a month or more ago are at very low risk. The six women who did have rare blood clots developed symptoms between six and 13 days after they received the shot. Alexander-Scott said that anyone who has received the vaccine and develops symptoms such as severe headache, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, or leg pain within three weeks of receiving the vaccine should contact their health care provider. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the CDC, tweeted Wednesday, addressing how the pausing of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has led to questions. We made this decision out of an abundance of caution and because of our commitment to protecting people, to vaccine safety, and to science, she wrote. Local public health officials followed suit, including Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and one of the nations leading public health experts, who said its more likely to get hit by lightning this year than developing a blood clot from a vaccine. Hokeness said that consumers must weigh the safety and efficacy of the vaccine itself against the dangers presented by the virus. Advertisement We have seen the virus wreak havoc across the globe, killing millions. In the case of J&J, we have observed one death thus far with the other vaccines showing to be very safe with very few adverse events, she said. The vaccine is incredibly important to protect not only individuals but the global community. Alexa Gagosz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/15/metro/how-does-jj-covid-19-vaccine-pause-affect-rhode-islanders/ |
Is growth in China soaring or slowing? | T HE HEADLINES will write themselves. When China reports its GDP for the first three months of the year on April 16th (after The Economist goes to press), growth is expected to have soared to 20% compared with a year earlier. It will be Chinas fastest growth on record, underlining the strength of its recovery. Yet it will also illustrate the oddities in how GDP is reported. Chinas recovery should be old news. Since last March, when the country emerged from its covid-19 closures, a wide range of indicators, from metro ridership to export orders, have pointed upward. But because the convention in China is to report GDP in year-on-year terms, it is only now that the recovery makes a dramatic appearance in its most-watched data series. The nearly normal first quarter of 2021 is being compared with the largely locked-down first quarter of 2020. America and Japan instead focus on growth in quarter-on-quarter annualised terms: what growth would be if the quarters pace were maintained for a full year, adjusted for seasonality. Seen this way, Americas rebound came in the third quarter of 2020, when annualised growth hit a jaw-dropping 33%. China, by contrast, reported a more modest-sounding rate of 4.9% year-on-year back then. Both methods have drawbacks, especially in times of extreme volatility. Chinas figures are backwards-looking, reflecting the economys horrid state a year ago as much as its relative vigour today. The American figures, by contrast, exaggerated the economys vigour early in the rebound, when the unemployment rate still topped 10%. Annualised rates can mislead when output suddenly jumps or plunges; they implicitly assume that a one-off event repeats every quarter for a full year. In annualised terms Chinas rebound was even bigger than Americas, with growth of 55% in the second quarter of 2020. There is a third way, which is to present quarter-on-quarter growth, without annualising it. This is what most European countries emphasise. China does in fact publish quarter-on-quarter rates, but never puts them in the spotlight, partly because they are so volatile. Growth in the first quarter of 2021 is, for instance, expected to have slowed to about 1% from 2.6% in the preceding quarter. Such a slowdown might cause the government some blushes. But it would still be wise to draw more attention to the quarter-on-quarter data. They more accurately trace the ups and downs of the economy. For the rest of 2021, the quarter-on-quarter pace is likely to inch higher, even as the annual rate comes down sharply. That picture would better match Chinas reality. It is a solid, somewhat bumpy rebound, not a giant one. | https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/04/17/is-growth-in-china-soaring-or-slowing |
Can any fool read a quiz question? | Re the excellent and somewhat horrifying solutions from chefs for hangover breakfasts (14 April), many years ago, I was in a hotel in Tenerife, indulging in group commiserations about our enfeebled states. I said the only thing I could face was two Anadin and vanilla ice-cream, which duly materialised, served immaculately on a doilied plate. That has since become my gold standard for hotel service. Incidentally, it really works. Fiona Allen Edinburgh As we return for tonsorial treatment from our possibly out-of-practice hairstylists, we should not only remember William Prynnes fulminations in the 1630s against excessively flowing tresses (Editorial, 11 April), but also the very fate that befell him having his ears clipped. Ian Thackray Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Lord Hay is lucky that his path to British citizenship is relatively straightforward (Irish-born DUP peer refuses to take Home Office test for British passport, 14 April). At least nobody is threatening him with deportation, the fate of so many of the Windrush generation. Sue Durham Cambridge Id like to ask Jeremy Paxman if any fool could read out the questions from a card picked up by the person hosting University Challenge (Reeta Chakrabarti rejects Jeremy Paxmans claim any fool can read news, 13 April). Ian Ferguson Thornton Dale, North Yorkshire | https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/apr/15/can-any-fool-read-a-quiz-question |
What is a lateral flow Covid test and how accurate is it? | Everyone in England is now able to take a free Covid-19 lateral flow test (LFT) twice a week, but experts have raised concerns about accuracy. We take a look at the issues. LFTs are a rapid way of testing for Covid-19. A swab is taken from the back of the nose or throat, mixed with an extraction fluid, and a drop of this mixture is placed in a well on a small device. The fluid is then drawn into the device and along a strip of test paper. Should coronavirus proteins be detected, a red line will appear, in addition to a second line that indicates the test is working. It works a little like a pregnancy test, but instead of looking for certain hormones, the test contains antibodies that bind to coronavirus proteins. These tests differ from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which look for genetic material from the virus, called RNA (ribonucleic acid) and are more accurate. However, LFTs have the advantages of being cheap and offering results in about 30 minutes, and they can be carried out at home. Until recently the tests were used for mass testing in particular settings, such as schools. However, earlier this month NHS England announced that LFTs would be made available for all adults to take a test twice a week. The idea is that the tests will help pick up cases of Covid that may otherwise go undetected, for example because of few or no symptoms, and help prevent the spread of the virus. There are two important measures to think about when it comes to accuracy: false positives, where a test erroneously suggests someone has Covid, and false negatives, where the test fails to pick up that someone has the virus. When it comes to LFTs, the accuracy appears to depend on the make of the test used, whether people have symptoms, and who is conducting the test. For example, one study by researchers at the University of Oxford and Public Health Englands Porton Down lab found the LFTs were more accurate in the hands of skilled scientists, picking up 79% of Covid cases, than self-trained members of the public, who detected 58% of Covid cases. Estimates for these rates vary. However, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and comparing results against those obtained by PCR testing, the false positive rate for LFTs is fewer than one in 1,000, while the false negative rate could be as high as 50%. One concern is that those who receive a negative result from LFTs may still have the virus experts have previously said this means the tests should be seen as offering a red light rather than a green light. But as the prevalence of Covid falls, the problem of false positives also becomes pressing. That is because the false positive rate refers to the proportion of erroneous positive tests out of people who are not infected, not the proportion of positive tests that are incorrect. This is not a big problem when there is lots of Covid about, as the number of false positives will be far lower than the number of true positives. But when Covid cases plummet, the problem grows. Look at it this way: if one in 1,000 tests mistakenly show up positive (a false positive rate of 0.1%), then even if there is no Covid around, 10 people out of every 10,000 tested would receive a positive result. That could mean a large number of people are asked to self-isolate who do not have Covid. In a leaked email seen by the Guardian, a senior government official warns that at the current Covid levels someone who tests positive with a lateral flow device in London has at best a 25% chance of it being a true positive. If the test is taken at home, that falls to as low as 10% or even 2%. Leaked government modelling produced last week suggested that in places where fewer than one in 1,000 people have the disease the proportion of false positives will outnumber true positives, because there is little virus in circulation. As of last week, overall prevalence in England was 0.12%, while it was 0.04% in London, 0.02% in the south-east and south-west, and 0.08% in the north-east. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/15/what-is-lateral-flow-covid-test-how-accurate |
What Is the Cheapest Car Insurance Third Party? | Third-party car insurance refers to a standard type of coverage that is required in most states. It is also called third-party liability insurance and protects you against an insurance claim from another driver. The types of insurance include: First-party: You buy the insurance. Second-party: An insurance company provides you with insurance. Third-party: The insurance protects you against a claim from another driver. Third-party insurance is a requirement in all states except for New Hampshire, which is the only state that does not require you to carry insurance, according to Finder. However, you must be financially stable enough to personally cover damages if you are at fault for an accident and don't have vehicle insurance. You might be required to prove you can afford to cover damages in the event of an accident. Other states, such as Arizona and Virginia, might allow drivers to waive the insurance, as long as they pay a $40,000 bond to cover any potential damages. In most cases, it makes sense to just purchase insurance. Third-party insurance covers you against an insurance claim. It often includes: Bodily injury coverage: Bodily injury covers costs such as medical bills, lost wages, and any other expenses related to the accident, including pain and suffering. Property damage coverage: Property damage covers the cost of repairing or replacing property damaged in an accident. Most third-party insurance policies do not have a deductible. This means you don't need to pay anything out of pocket for the insurance company to cover the other driver's damages. It is important to note that third-party insurance does not cover your own medical costs or damages to your vehicle if you are at fault. If you are in an accident in which the other driver is at fault, then their third-party insurance policy covers these costs instead. It also does not cover other costs, such as roadside assistance. If your vehicle is stranded or breaks down on the side of the road, you must pay a company to hook it up and tow it to a repair shop. Story continues How to Get Cheap Third-Party Insurance Third-party insurance is usually the cheapest type of insurance. It does not include other coverages like comprehensive or collision. It is the cheapest because it also does not cover your damages or theft or weather-related damage. You can usually get the cheapest third-party insurance rates with the following tips: Drive a cheaper vehicle: Cheaper vehicles are usually more affordable to repair or replace, which can lead to decreased rates. Avoid insurance add-ons: Avoiding add-ons such as comprehensive and collision can save you a lot on your insurance rates. BuyAutoInsurance.com recommends skipping these coverages if their cost is 10 percent more than the value of your vehicle. Increase your deductible: Increasing your deductible can also reduce your insurance rate. But, keep in mind, third-party insurance usually does not require a deductible. Instead, this is the amount you must pay out of pocket to access other types of insurance. Drive safely: Driving safely and avoiding accidents and traffic violations can lead to better insurance rates. You might also be able to adjust your liability limits. However, most states have minimum requirements, and failing to carry them can lead to penalties. Some drivers might also choose to increase their coverage, meaning they are less liable personally if they cause an accident. Shopping around and comparing quotes is an important part of finding the best insurance rates, whether you want full coverage or a third-party policy. Always consider how much insurance is available when comparing prices among different insurance providers. How much insurance you need will vary depending on your vehicle, location, and provider. If you drive a new vehicle that has a loan, then you might be required to have full coverage. Even if you don't have a loan, you might choose to carry full coverage so your repairs are covered if you're in an accident. With third-party liability insurance, your provider will not pay for any of your vehicle's repairs or replacements. According to BuyAutoInsurance.com, the average car accident claim is $3231. These are funds you will not receive if you only have a third-party policy. When considering whether you need more coverage, consider the value of your vehicle and how much it will cost to repair or replace. If you have a loan on the vehicle, you could be left making payments even when you don't have a vehicle to drive. Third-party insurance also does not cover injuries to your passengers. If you frequently travel with passengers in your vehicle, then you might need additional coverage. Otherwise, you could be left paying for their medical bills or property damages yourself. Filing a Third-Party Insurance Claim If you are in an accident and the other driver is at fault, then you will file a claim with their provider. If you're at fault, they will file a claim with your provider. Your insurance company will usually handle everything, but you might need to provide them with details of what happened. You can usually expect your insurance rates to increase if you are at fault for an accident. Multiple at-fault accidents can significantly increase your insurance rates. That's why it's so important to avoid distractions and drive safely. Drivers with good driving records and who are eligible for discounts will usually get the cheapest car insurance for third-party coverage. It pays to shop around and find the best rates, whether you want a third-party or full-coverage policy. Check this out if you need additional information, resources, or guidance on car insurance. Sources: https://www.finder.com/car-insurance/third-party-auto-insurance https://www.buyautoinsurance.com/third-party-car-insurance/ https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a35915206/car-insurance-with-roadside-assistance/ https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a35620814/best-full-coverage-car-insurance/ You Might Also Like | https://news.yahoo.com/cheapest-car-insurance-third-party-172600649.html |
Where Will 5G Make A Significant Impact For Big Business? | 5G has been designed from the start to meet the needs of enterprise customers, and its already starting to make an impact. Businesses of all sizes, from large enterprises down to microbusinesses, are looking to 5G not only to provide mobile communications but also to service a new work-from-anywhere (WFX) paradigm. Although no one could have foreseen this current situation, it turns out that 5G has arrived at just the right time to help us rebuild and reshape the post-pandemic economy. Technicians can use augmented reality over 5G to receive immersive training or to collaborate with remote experts when performing complex tasks. getty One of the most exciting use cases is mixed realitysuperimposing virtual images onto real surroundings to create an augmented reality scenario, which can be used to help front-line workers perform their tasks more effectively. Augmented and virtual reality technology is a key area of focus at T-Mobile for 5G use-case development, and it is applicable to so many industries, from healthcare to manufacturing, agriculture and more, John Saw, executive vice president of advanced and emerging technologies at T-Mobile, said in a recent blog post. Immersive Collaboration, Virtually Anywhere Because enterprises often have to use complex equipment, and at the same time may be coping with a shortage of skilled workers, it is more important than ever that they can provide that workforce with sophisticated training and technical support capabilities. Technicians can use augmented reality over 5G to receive immersive training or to collaborate with remote experts when performing complex tasks. T-Mobiles low-latency, high-capacity 5G network using mid-band spectrum is ideal for this application, giving businesses the help they need to boost productivity. In his blog post, Saw describes how Timberline Communications Inc., a company that builds out communications infrastructure, is using AR over a 5G connection to perform cell site upgrades and maintenance on T-Mobiles own network. The AR software developed by Taqtilea recent graduate of the 5G Open Innovation Lab, and co-founded by T-Mobileis hosted in the cloud. By superimposing visual instructions over relevant equipment, it allows TCIs technicians to perform routine maintenance and troubleshoot problems using remote assistance. AR solutions like these can enable front-line workers to update their skills from any location, with the ability to explore machinery and installations in 3D from every angle. Giving New Dimension To Video Calls While video calls have become the go-to replacement for in-person meetings over the past year, the limitations of talking to a flat 2D image have sometimes been frustrating. Using technology called holographic telepresence, video calls could be made much more realistic. Multiple moving projections of lifesize 3D images can be projected into the room, providing an experience that simulates physical presence. The technology promises a more natural, intuitive way of communicating with people over a distance, and also hints at the possibility of virtual or hybrid conferences and exhibitions becoming a viable alternative to in-person events in the future. Holographic presence demands low latency if it is to look realistic and responsive, and T-Mobiles national mid-band metro spectrum allocation is ideal for this application. We have been testing holographic video calling technology with Omnivor, another graduate of the 5G Open Innovation Lab, said Saw. Just recently we conducted part of our quarterly all-hands team meeting using holographic telepresence including about 70 people, all interacting virtually in their home offices and other locations in real time as 3D holograms. Supercharging Business Growth As well as making it easier for people to work from home and for kids to be home-schooled, 5G technology has the power to provide innovative opportunities for businesses to evolve and for organizations to fulfill new needs like telehealth. Thanks to 5G, consumers will soon be able to benefit from contactless home deliveries via small robot trucks or even drones. Consumers love the self-service economy, and with robots, drones and autonomous vehicles running on 5G, well do so much more, commented Saw. Helping businesses get back on their feet post-pandemic will take even more creative uses of technology to keep everyone safe while boosting productivity. T-Mobile has the only nationwide stand-alone (SA) 5G network in the U.S. This means the network uses 5G equipment thats built from the ground up, rather than being built on top of existing 4G infrastructure. SA 5G provides the foundation to enable advanced capabilities like edge computing as well as network slicing, and this is what can transform industrial IoT and allow us to build smart factories. Robots and cobots on the factory floor, and sensors monitoring key processes, can all be controlled by the supervisor from the safety of their office, or even from a remote work location, while materials and components can be moved around warehouses and factories using small autonomous guided vehicles. In rural areas, where fixed broadband speeds can be slower or less reliable, it has been particularly difficult for remote workers to collaborate and work efficiently and for local businesses to effectively build online offerings. 5G fixed wireless access using mid- and high-band spectrum has the potential to fill the gap by providing a more robust home broadband experience, with speeds as high as those of Wi-Fi or regular home broadband. Moving Forward With its accelerator program and 5G Open Innovation Lab, T-Mobile is working hard to develop 5G use cases to help its enterprise customers transform their businesses. Supporting all existing use cases for 5G, T-Mobile is now challenging innovators and entrepreneurs to develop transformative applications to further unlock the potential of 5G for enterprises. Were seeing a ton of interest from the developer community because we have a real, meaningful 5G network they can test and develop for, Saw said. Without a doubt, 5Gs speed, capacity and coverage will enable businesses to improve collaboration and productivity wherever work happens. More than just fast network speeds, find out why T-Mobiles 5G network is your platform for innovation. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmobile/2021/04/15/where-will-5g-make-a-significant-impact-for-big-business/ |
What is NBA Top Shot and how can I buy an NFT 'moment' of spectacular plays? | It sounds crazy. Someone bought a digital moment called an NFT of Giannis Antetokounmpo dunking on the Indiana Pacers for $95,000 on NBA Top Shot. A different person bought a Khris Middleton dunk against the Washington Wizards for nearly $11,000. But that is what the market for NBA Top Shot said those moments are worth to customers. Top Shot is a form of a non-fungible tokens that's in limited supply and has a certificate of authenticity. Think of moments on NBA Top Shot like buying sports trading cards. Generally, there was no market for sports cards until decades later. The digital moments have an already established market and a busy secondary market. League and team officials are investing in the popularity of digital currency and more than 350,000 people have signed up for NBA Top Shot. Here are some basic questions about this new way for fans to get involved with their team and favorite players. NBA Top Shot was created by a company called Dapper Labs with a partnership with the NBA. It uses blockchain technology to allow users to buy digital moments from NBA games. Those moments can be collected or sold on a secondary market within NBA Top Shot. For each moment users can see details about the game, the players box score and their season averages, similar to what sports card collectors would see on the back of a card. The moments can be bought in a digital pack (like when someone bought a pack of sports trading cards) and different packs cost different amounts money. The more common packs are cheaper because there are more of them. The rare packs are more expensive. Each pack contains a limited amount of moments. Each moment is its own non-fungible token, or NFT, making it unique to collectors. Collectors can resell those NFTs for their own price. Whether people will buy the NFT at that price is up to the market. Think of a non-fungible token as a digital bar code or serial number created by an algorithm to give a product legitimacy. Its what gives the moment its authenticity, making it difficult for someone to duplicate. The short answer is theyre worth what people are willing to pay. Some rare moments sell for thousands of dollars. Other more common moments sell for less than $10. The collectors can decide the prices to ask for the NFTs and the technology behind them allows buyers to see how much money the seller paid for the moment. So, if someone paid $20 for a moment and is selling it for $2,000, there would be no way of hiding that from the market and the likelihood of a sale at that price is small. Buyers can also see how many people are selling the same moment and for what price. So, if someone is still trying to sell a moment for $2,000 that they bought for $20, its going to be difficult to get someone to buy that if someone else is selling that same moment for $21. Transparency is key and the lure when it comes to NFTs and blockchain. No. There are a rare few moments that a small amount of people can own and those are sold for thousands of dollars regularly. That rarity, like with sports cards, gives the NFT its value. More common moments are held by more people and generally have lower value. There are nearly 60 Bucks moments available to purchase. Prices vary from $6 for a Brook Lopez dunk, to a Giannis Antetokounmpo dunk for more than $124,000. The NBA licenses the footage from the games that are being included in the moments to Dapper Labs for NBA Top Shot. The league does receive some revenue from each purchase, even on the secondary market, and that revenue is evenly distributed to the team for basketball operations, which can include money for players. Its difficult to say because the revenue from sales has not been made public and it's unclear how much money goes to the teams, and then how much is funneled to the players. Yes, all 30 teams are available on NBA Top Shot. Yes. People interested in getting involved on NBA Top Shot have to go to the website, nbatopshot.com, to sign up like they would if they were to buy or sell things on Amazon or eBay. It's free to sign up for NBA Top Shot, and once you're signed up you can start browsing, buying and selling moments. Once you find a moment you want to purchase you click "select and buy," which gives you a list of who is selling that moment and for how much. When you find the one you want, click "buy." If you've ever bought anything online, you should have no problem navigating the experience. OK, I bought a moment. It's up to you. You can keep it if you want. It will be displayed in your collection under your profile on NBA Top Shot. Or you can sell it. You get to decide how much you want to sell it for and the website has a pricing calculator that includes the 5% market fee and it shows you how much you will receive after you sell it. Once you put the moment on the marketplace you'll have to wait for someone to buy it or you can cancel the sale to take it off the market. | https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2021/04/15/what-nba-top-shot-moments-and-how-you-can-buy-these-nfts/7221353002/ |
Could Psilocybin help clinicians treat depression? | Psilocybin, a psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms, is as effective at reducing symptoms of depression as conventional treatment, a small, early-stage trial of 59 people has found. Those taking part in Imperial College London's Centre for Psychedelic Research's trial were given either psilocybin or a common antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Dr Carhart-Harris who led the trial, told BBC World News that although more research needs to be done, in the future psilocybin could be added to the toolkit clinicians use to treat depression. The scientists involved in the trial have warned against people trying to self-medicate. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-56764279 |
Has an important 'missing link' been added to the Russia scandal? | In 2016, Russia attacked the U.S. political system in the hopes of putting Donald Trump in power. Last month, the U.S. intelligence community confirmed that Vladimir Putin's government did it again in 2020. This fact, coupled with the SolarWinds cyberattack, left little doubt that President Joe Biden -- the target of the Kremlin's 2020 offensive -- would announce new sanctions targeting Russia. The Democrat did exactly that this morning, blacklisting several Russian companies, sanctioning dozens of entities and individuals, and expelling 10 personnel from the Russian embassy. But as part of today's announcement, the administration also disclosed a striking new detail. From the NBC News report: One of the Russians listed is Konstantin Kilimnik, a former employee of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort whom U.S. officials have identified as a Russian intelligence agent. The Treasury Department said Thursday that Kilimnik provided Russian intelligence services "with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and "sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election." The information was mentioned almost in passing as part of the Treasury Department's sanctions announcement, and the most relevant sentence was just 21 words: "During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, Kilimnik provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy." Let's take a minute to review for readers who may need a refresher. Kilimnik's name probably sounds familiar. After all, it was just last year when, according to the U.S. intelligence community, the Russian agent tried to boost Trump's re-election prospects. But Kilimnik's work four years earlier was even more notable. Paul Manafort, in his capacity as Donald Trump's 2016 campaign chairman, shared sensitive internal campaign information with the Russian operative during the race, making Kilimnik one of the stars of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. What we didn't know for sure is what Kilimnik did with the information he received from the Trump campaign. Today, the Treasury Department filled in the blank: Kilimnik relayed the information to Russian Intelligence Services. It's possible that Treasury got a little ahead of itself here, and overstated what it can prove, but if the information is accurate, it's both new and important. In fact, Ryan Goodman, former special counsel at the Pentagon, described it as a "missing link" in the scandal. Because it appears to further solidify the flow of information: Trump's campaign chairman was indirectly feeding information to Russian Intelligence Services, by way of a Russian operative who was trying to help get Trump elected. I'm mindful of the debate surrounding the opaque definition of "collusion" -- a political term, not a legal one -- but let's review what we know. According to the information released to the public through the Mueller report and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, Trump's political operation in 2016 sought Russian assistance, embraced Russian assistance, capitalized on Russian assistance, lied about Russian assistance, and took steps to obstruct the investigation into Russian assistance. All the while, the man overseeing Trump's political operation was sharing sensitive internal campaign information with a Russian operative, who apparently conveyed that information to Russian Intelligence Services. Anyone telling you this scandal is a "hoax" is trying to deceive you. Postscript: In case this isn't obvious, let's also not forget that, shortly before Christmas, Donald Trump pardoned Paul Manafort, rewarding him for refusing to cooperate with U.S. law enforcement. | https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/has-important-missing-link-been-added-russia-scandal-n1264209 |
Does banker Mark Carney have his eyes on Canada's top prize? | Article content OTTAWA Mark Carney, who has led central banks in two Group of Seven nations, may be running out of time to enter politics in his native Canada and become a contender to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Speculation is rising inside the ruling Liberal Party that Carney may be seeking to position himself as a successor to Trudeau, who has governed Canada since 2015. Winning a seat in the House of Commons is seen as a required first step, as the Liberals have rarely chosen a leader from outside its ranks in the past century. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video If Carney, 56, does not seek a seat in a general election expected later this year, he could miss a chance at a post-Trudeau leadership contest. The center-left Liberals held a policy convention last week during which Carney, an economist and former Goldman Sachs investment banker, dropped his biggest hint yet that he could run for parliament. Ill do whatever I can to support the Liberal Party in our efforts to build a better future for Canadians, he told the delegates. Six senior Liberals say Carney would be a notable catch to much acclaim he steered the Bank of Canada through the 2008 global financial crisis and the Bank of England through the tumult that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum, leaving that job in 2020 shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Those experiences have made Carney one of only a few Canadians with a global profile. The Liberal sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say a candidate of Carneys caliber would not run without the promise of a prominent cabinet seat. The obvious position for him would be minister of finance. NOT THE MESSIAH Carney, who was born in Canadas Northwest Territories but currently lives in Ottawa, has not ruled out a future in politics. When asked by Macleans magazine last month whether he planned to run for public office, he replied: I dont have any current plans. Carney, who is an informal policy adviser to Trudeau, did not respond to a request for comment. He is currently promoting a new book, a 600-page tome titled Values: Building a Better World for All, and is considered a top expert on how the global economy must shift to fight climate change. He is generally regarded as a centrist in Canadas political landscape. But some Liberals are doubtful Carney will run for a seat in the House of Commons soon, in part because he likely would have to serve a considerable period of time in the Trudeau government before a leadership contest materialized. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Because this prime minister isnt going anywhere, said one well-placed Liberal. Trudeau, 49, told Reuters in January that he was looking forward to a number of more years of serving Canadians and aides say nothing has changed, though they think the next election is likely to be his last as leader. When asked twice during the last week whether he wanted Carney to run for a seat, Trudeau did not answer. There is also no guarantee Carney would have a lock on the party leadership or even be the front-runner if Trudeau stepped down. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who also has a global profile, is seen as a serious contender for the job. Carney would not want to make a leadership move if it meant a civil war bloodbath, the well-placed Liberal source said. Under Freelands watch, Canada has racked up record budget deficits to fight the pandemic, and she is promising major new spending initiatives in a budget due to be unveiled on April 19. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Liberal sources say some members are uncomfortable with the colossal spending and could look to Carney as a brake. But even Liberals who support him fret about raising expectations too high. Hes not the Messiah, I dont think he walks on water, I dont think he performs miracles, said one legislator who wondered why Carney would be tempted by politics. Carney currently heads the green investment program at Canadas Brookfield Asset Management Inc, acts as a United Nations special envoy on climate change and finance, and is helping Britain prepare for a climate summit. Anything in government is junior to what hes already doing he has dealings with the most influential people in the world, the legislator said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren Editing by Steve Scherer and Paul Simao) Share this article in your social network Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Shopping essentials Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Posted Newsletter Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of Posted Newsletter will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again Trending | https://nationalpost.com/pmn/environment-pmn/does-banker-mark-carney-have-his-eyes-on-canadas-top-prize |
What Is Insurance for First Time Drivers Over 25? | Insurance for first-time drivers over 25 is a policy that covers drivers who are over the age of 25 years but have not previously had an insurance policy. Teen drivers traditionally pay the highest rates because they are less experienced drivers. They are higher risk than more experienced drivers and more likely to file a claim. Usually, insurance rates decrease when a driver reaches 25 years. If you are a new driver, however, even if you are 25 years or older, you might be subject to higher rates. This is because as a new driver, you don't have the experience that a traditional 25-year-old has, which is what qualifies them for the insurance discount. You will likely experience rates similar to a 16-year-old driver. Fortunately, according to Car Insurance Companies, you might receive discounts faster than a teenager. You might notice a decrease in rates within three years of driving experience. You might need to wait up to eight years to see a significant decrease, however. You should notice a significant decrease by the time you reach age 30, and insurance rates will continue to decrease in your 40s and 50s. If you receive numerous traffic violations or at-fault accidents during this time, your insurance rates are unlikely to decrease, regardless of your age. Where to Get the Best Insurance for New Drivers Over 25 If you are a new driver over the age of 25, you might find the best rates with the following providers: USAA: Average six-month rate of $605 GEICO: Average six-month rate of $680 State Farm: Average six-month rate of $726 Progressive: Average six-month rate of $885 Liberty Mutual: Average six-month rate of $888 Farmers: Average six-month rate of $919 Reevaluate your coverage and rates after you have more driving experience. Once you are no longer considered a first-time driver, you will likely be able to qualify for better rates. Before renewing with your current provider, compare prices between different providers. If you maintained a good driving history during this time, you might also qualify for safe driver discounts. Story continues Other Factors That Affect Insurance Rates Being a new driver is not the only factor insurance providers consider when calculating rates. According to WalletHub, gender also makes a difference, especially as a first-time driver. Twenty-three-year-old male drivers can expect to pay, on average, 6.7 percent more than females of the same age. This amount decreases with age, with 24-year-old males paying, on average, 6 percent more than females of the same age. By age 25, the differences decrease to 2.5 percent. Some states, however, prohibit insurance companies from charging different rates based on gender. These states include California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Other factors companies consider when calculating your rates include: Credit score Driving record The vehicle you drive The number of miles you drive The number of claims you have filed, though as a new driver, you will likely not have a history of claims Your marital status might also affect your rates. Insurance companies usually consider married drivers to be more responsible and, thus, lower risk. How to Find the Best Insurance Rates as a First-Time Driver Fortunately, you can save on your insurance rates even if you are a first-time driver over the age of 25: Avoid filing insurance claims: Some factors, such as filing a lot of claims in addition to your lack of experience, can lead to high rates. Before filing a claim, consider how much repairs will cost versus the increase in rates. Reduce your insurance coverage: Always evaluate your coverage to make sure you don't have more than you need. Car Insurance Companies states that if your vehicle is older than 10 years or worth less than $4000, you might not need collision coverage. Just make sure you have the minimum amount required by your state and lender. Bundle policies: If you carry other types of insurance, such as homeowner's or renter's, you might receive a discount for bundling your policies. Routinely check for discounts: Qualifying for discounts can make your insurance premium more affordable. The many discounts available include safe driving, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, and good student. Sign up for a telematics program: Some insurance providers have telematics programs. They install a device in your vehicle that measures your driving habits to prove you're a safe driver. Shop around: Comparing quotes is the best way to find the most affordable rates as a first-time driver of any age. The vehicle you drive will also affect your rates. If the vehicle is equipped with certain safety or anti-theft devices, you might receive an insurance discount. What discounts are available and who qualifies for them varies from provider to provider. For example, some insurance providers might require you to be under the age of 25 to qualify for a good student discount. Your credit score also makes a difference. Many drivers notice a decrease in rates by age 25 because of an increase in credit score. Even if you are new to driving, you can maintain a good credit score to reduce your insurance rates. Other discounts, such as bundling your policies, are usually available to all drivers. A green discount can save you a few dollars if you choose to receive your policy statements and invoices exclusively through email. You might also save money by paying your policy up-front. According to Insurance Panda, this could result in savings of as much as 5 percent. If you're a new driver over the age of 25, you can expect to pay higher rates. But by comparing prices and taking advantage of discounts, you can find an affordable policy. Check this out if you need additional information, resources, or guidance on car insurance. Sources: https://www.carinsurancecompanies.net/auto-insurance-for-new-drivers-over-25/ https://wallethub.com/answers/ci/insurance-for-first-time-drivers-over-25-2140722505/ https://www.insurancepanda.com/11840/getting-insurance-for-first-time-drivers-over-25/ https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a35877033/cheapest-car-insurance-for-16-year-old/ https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a35877083/cheap-insurance-for-truck/ You Might Also Like | https://news.yahoo.com/insurance-first-time-drivers-over-185200211.html |
What's the difference between the Wright and Babbitt shootings? | Within an hour of each other, charging decisions in two lethal police shootings were announced with strikingly different conclusions. The decisions reached in the shootings of Daunte Wright in Minnesota and Ashli Babbitt in Washington highlight concerns over the political and legal elements that can influence such decisions. The timing of the two decisions that involved two chaotic situations raises questions why charges were filed in Minnesota, but not in Washington. In the Minnesota shooting, police were attempting to arrest Wright who, after a traffic stop, was found to have an outstanding warrant for fleeing police with an unlicensed firearm. Wright broke free of officers while he was being handcuffed and jumped back into the car to drive away. Kim Potter decided to deploy her stun gun. Wright, which would likely be viewed as a reasonable level of force in that circumstance. However, in the struggle, Potter grabbed her service weapon rather than her Taser. In the video, the officer is heard yelling taser, taser, taser before she swears and says, Holy S**t I just shot him. Weapon confusion cases The case has tragically familiar elements as a weapon confusion case. There are so many such weapon-confusion cases that departments have tried a variety of solutions, from adding special training to new designs for stun guns. The problem is such training can be lost to the fog and frenzy of the violent scene. The case is similar to what happened in 2009, when Bay Area Rapid Transit officers struggled with Oscar Grant to arrest him. With Grant on the ground, BART officer Johannes Mehserle warned he was about to use a Taser but then grabbed his service weapon and fired a fatal round into Grants back. Outside the Brooklyn Center on April 13, 2021, in Minneapolis. The videotape of the incident showed Mehserle moving his thumb over his weapon as you would to release a safety on the Taser. (His service weapon did not have that type of safety release). The jury rejected second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter charges but found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Story continues Police shootings: Despair is real among Black, brown Americans as police 'mistakes' persist, Daunte Wright killed Unlike past cases, the prosecutors did not overcharge Potter. However, under the criminal provision, the prosecutors must show that the 26-year veteran "creat[ed] an unreasonable risk, and consciously [took] chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another." The question is whether a possible split-second mistake legally constitutes a conscious choice of an officer. The Babbitt shooting In Washington, the Justice Department announced that it would not charge the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot. The decision in Washington had a number of striking differences. Potter was charged within a few days. It has been months since Babbitt was shot in the Capitol. The identity of the responsible officer has not been made public. Babbitt was an unarmed Air Force veteran without a criminal record. While she was clearly trespassing and at the forefront of a riot, there is no claim that she was threatening any officer or possible person with serious bodily injury or death. Indeed, near her were other officers who could have been hit by the round. (Babbitt was trying to climb through a broken door in the Speakers Lobby as police fought back the mob). If the officer intended to shoot Babbitt, it would not likely meet the standard for a justified shooting under governing cases like Tennessee v. Garner (1985). If the officer fired blindly or wildly, it would appear to have many of the same negligent elements as the Wright shooting. In rejecting charges, the Justice Department statement notably does not say that the shooting was clearly justified. Instead, it noted that prosecutors would have to prove not only that the officer used force that was constitutionally unreasonable, but that the officer did so willfully. It stressed that this element requires a showing of a bad purpose to disregard the law and that evidence that an officer acted out of fear, mistake, panic, misperception, negligence, or even poor judgment cannot establish the high level of intent. Of course, weapons confusion cases are often caused by an officers acting out of fear, mistake, panic, misperception, negligence, or poor judgment. Yet, in one case an officer is charged and in the other the officer is cleared. George Floyd's death: What I tell myself every time my blood boils over George Floyd's death An uncertain line For the public, the line of distinction can be hard to discern. For officers, that uncertain line can be the difference between discipline and incarceration. Officers have to be able to see that line clearly in carrying out duties with often in split second decisions in violent incidents. Both of these deaths were tragic. There was a clearly different political contexts and timelines for the decisions. After Babbitts death, there was no outcry over her death because she was part of an infamous riot that stopped a constitutional process of certifying presidential electoral votes. Yet, the shooting does not appear any more justified than the Wright shooting, which was likely an accident. The Justice Department indicates an intentional shot was fired by an officer either at Babbitt or the mob generally. It does not explain which. Violent riots are unfortunately common today in cities ranging from Minneapolis to Portland to Washington. The use of live rounds however have never been authorized absent a particularized showing of a significant threat to an officer or others. Nothing in the announcement in the Babbitt case answers how such a showing was made by the officer. In the end, these cases capture the uncertain line in these cases of when mistakes or errors by police are criminal matters. There is a credible basis for the charge in the Wright shooting, but a jury will now have to decide if this was a conscious decision or tragic (but noncriminal) mistake. All such cases are highly fact specific. However, the Babbitt decision leaves more questions than answers for the public and police alike. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAYs Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @JonathanTurley You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to [email protected]. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police mistakes and the difference between Wright, Babbitt shootings | https://news.yahoo.com/difference-between-wright-babbitt-shootings-191705361.html |
Can the tech trade show return in 2021? | The past year has been a devastating one for the conference industry. Its certainly an issue weve grappled with here at TechCrunch, as weve worked to move our programming to a virtual setting. Clearly each individual case calls for an individual solution, dependent on geography, attendance and a variety of other factors. IFA has proven itself bullish on the in-person element. The Berlin tech show was one of a small handful of these sorts of events to go on with the show in Europe. The organization held an in-person event in September, albeit at a dramatically scaled-back rate. To be a little poetic, usually in the late summer, theres a special air in Berlin and you go out in the morning, you feel this air, director Jens Heithecker told me of last years event, which scaled back to around 170 exhibitors from 2,300. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organization is planning to come back big this year, in spite of prolonged concerns around COVID-19 and its variants. A press release announcing the shows fall return is downright celebratory. With the world on course to emerge from the pandemic, IFA Berlin is set to take place as a full-scale, real-life event from 3 - 7 September 2021, the company writes. Huge interest from brands, manufacturers and retailers across all industry sectors to exhibit, network and co-innovate on location in Berlin. The organization highlights some health and safety measures that are being carried over from last years event. But while its not quite ready to talk scale yet, the organization is highlighting a number of new tracks for the conference. As always, keeping our visitors and exhibitors safe is our top priority, it said in a statement. Of course, with all our precautions to ensure everybodys good health, we dont expect IFA Berlin 2021 to set new records. However, the trend is clear: IFA Berlin is set for a full-scale comeback, to lead our industry once more. Story continues Over in Spain, the GSMA is still working on its messaging as a number of large companies have already announced they intend to only attend the show virtually. Organizers offered TechCrunch the following statement: We appreciate that it will not be possible for everyone to attend MWC Barcelona 2021, but we are pleased that exhibitors including Verizon*, Orange and Kasperksy are excited to join us in Barcelona. To ensure everyone can enjoy the unique MWC experience, we have developed an industry-leading virtual event platform. The in-person and virtual options are provided so that all friends of MWC Barcelona can attend and participate in a way that works for them. We respect the decisions that have been made by some exhibitors and are working with them to move their participation to the virtual platform. [*Disclosure: Verizon owns TechCrunch] Google, IBM, Nokia, Sony, Oracle and Ericsson have already announced they wont be attending the show in person. Other large names are seemingly undecided. The whole thing is reminiscent of the lead-up to last years event, which was ultimately canceled. The necessity of these large events was called into question prior to the pandemic, but the shift to virtual events has truly brought the topic into sharp relief. Its true that theres still value in an in-person event for hardware, specifically, but many have learned to adapt to a virtual setting. Even though if the last CES taught us anything, its that there are still a whole lot of kinks to work out with the system, especially as it pertains to prioritizing content all effectively being channeled through the same funnel. Peoples willingness to attend these events is based on a broad range of factors. At the very base level, theres a question of personal comfortability (I can't be the only one who has a visceral reaction every time they see crowded photos from past events). For many, it will be a bit of a shock to the system to suddenly attend a large indoor conference. There are factors like vaccinations and a particular regions handling of the pandemic (all of which can wildly swing in the course of several months). Just today, Germanys Health Minister sounded the red alert, asking states to tighten restrictions. "We know from last autumn what happens when we don't act quickly," Jens Spahn warned the media. There are a slew of other factors, including a potential attendees location and their workplaces willingness to approve travel. Many companies have restricted business travel to all but the most essential trips. Depending on what you do for a living, your definition of essential may vary. But given how much can potentially change in that time, the soundest strategy for many is planning to tackle things remotely. Earlier this week, the GSMA sent out its own email to previous attendees titled, Why do you believe MWC Barcelona 2021 will take place? The note seems to be a direct response to stories about exhibitors opting for a virtual presence. Depending on when you are reading this, we will be about 12 weeks away from the doors opening for MWC21 in Barcelona, CEO John Hoffman wrote. To say that the last year has been disruptive is an understatement and my thoughts are with anyone who has been impacted by COVID-19. I am not only hopeful about the future, but I am also excited about convening our ecosystem at MWC21. We recognise that not everyone will be able to attend in person and that is fine as we will augment our physical event with our MWC virtual program bringing you content from the show. Canceling a flagship show one year could have been utterly devastating. For many of these organizers -- and the local governments who rely on tourism money -- two years might seem unthinkable. MWCs virtual strategy in year one of the pandemic was, understandably, undercooked. More than a year into this, however, the GSMA and organizations like it hopefully have more robust strategies in place. The fact of the matter is that going virtual isnt a one- or two-off. For many companies and people profoundly impacted by the pandemic, this is what the future looks like. | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-trade-show-return-2021-182443089.html |
Is There Any Truth to Those Aaron Rodgers-to-the-Patriots Rumors? | Aaron Rodgers of the Packers Though it has flown somewhat under the radar, there has been a steady stream of sentiment in recent weeks about Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers leaving Green Bay for a new job that has nothing to do with hosting Jeopardy!. On both a local and national level, there has been buzz that Rodgers could be headed to New England via trade or following the season to play quarterback for the Patriots. See below: While those reports come from lesser-known sources, veteran Patriots reporter Tom Curran, who often has the inside scoop on the team, penned a piece earlier this week about the prospect of Rodgers heading to the Patriots, giving the topic instant legitimacy. Story continues Partially based on both New Englands seeming lack of urgency to find a worthy successor to Tom Brady and Green Bays apparent reluctance to re-commit to Rodgers, Curran believes the Patriots could be interested in making a run at the reigning MVP who completed over 70% of his passes for 4,299 yards and a 48-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio last season in 2022. As Curran points out, the Packers have second-year quarterback Jordan Love waiting in the wings and would have the opportunity to deal Rodgers, who is under contract through 23, for a significant haul of draft picks if he has another MVP-quality year. Bill Belichick, who knows a thing or two about coaching aging quarterbacks, clearly mismanaged Bradys exit from New England and might be facing pressure from owner Robert Kraft to make up for it. Also, Belichick is intent on breaking Don Shulas all-time record for wins by an NFL coach and cant afford to keep going 7-9 like he did last season. Situations like this one are why the Patriots should just keep surveying the landscape, Curran wrote. Green Bay has a high pick sitting behind Rodgers. They want to go year-to-year with him. Rodgers is irritated by both the kid drafted to apprentice for him and the Packers foot-dragging. Hes old. Hes expensive. He can be a lot of work. But hes still very, very good even though he isnt surrounded by top-flight offensive personnel. Its not going to happen this year. But if youre the Patriots, you want to keep your options open as long as you can until the answer is revealed. And the answer isnt in trading up in this draft. For what its worth, FS1 host Nick Wright compared Rodgers going to the Patriots to winning the lottery without buying tickets or marrying Rihanna without meeting her. The idea that the Patriots are waiting on a 37-year-old QB, with three years left on a contract with another team, is ridiculous, he said. And Wright is far from the only talking head to call the Rodgers rumors hogwash. "There is ZERO chance of this happening. Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay are trying to figure it out. Both of these parties want to be there." @BMarshall pic.twitter.com/e4hsTN0Yx7 First Things First (@FTFonFS1) April 14, 2021 Clearly, there is no consensus about the Rodgers rumors and no reason to expect to see him under center in Foxboro in the near future. That said, sometimes when theres smoke, theres fire. Nothing is burning yet but wait until next offseason, just like Belichick and the Patriots might be doing. More Like This Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter. appeared first on InsideHook. by Evan Bleier was originally published on InsideHook. | https://sports.yahoo.com/truth-those-aaron-rodgers-patriots-161641646.html?src=rss |
What's the best oil for seasoning cast iron? | Theres a lot to love about cast iron pans, but one of the materials greatest virtues is that it can be seasoned, and re-seasoned almost indefinitely, potentially extending its life and restoring its non-stick qualities for decades, or even generations. Before you choose a seasoning oil, it can be useful to know what exactly seasoning is. Essentially, its a layer of baked-on oil or fat that hardens and adheres to your pan through a process called polymerization. This layer of seasoning protects the metal underneath from rust (the kryptonite of cast iron), and also imbues the pan with nonstick properties. Basically any time you use your pan, youre doing things that can either be restorative to your seasoning, or damaging to it. Any time you cook with oil or fat, youre probably repairing and enhancing the seasoning thats already on your pan as those oils polymerize during the cooking process. However, any time you do things like use dish soap (in large quantities), leave standing water in a pan, cook with acidic foods, or scrape your pan with metal utensils, youre chipping away at your seasoning. Sometimes, those damaging actions outweigh the restorative ones to the point that food will start sticking to the pan, and you might even notice some spots of rust. At this point, its time to do a thorough re-seasoning. What to look for in a seasoning oil First of all, dont be scared about screwing this up: name a cooking oil, and theres probably a large contingent of people out there who swear its the best option for seasoning. The fact is, basically any oil you use is going to make your pan more non-stick, and protect it from rust. Theyre (almost) all good! Some will just form a somewhat more durable barrier, or take less time to polymerize. The most important thing to look at here is an oils smoke point. While you generally dont want your oil to smoke when cooking, its exactly what youre going for when youre seasoning a pan. Smoke means your oil is polymerizing, and hardening to become part of your seasoning. Seasoning your pan at a significantly higher temperature than your oils smoke point wont necessarily result in a better finished product, but it will speed up the process, which makes oils with lower smoke points appealing. In this chart from Lodge, you can see that flaxseed oil has a far lower smoke point than any other common cooking oil, but most ovens will be able to exceed the smoke points of most oils, which is what ultimately matters at the end of the day; higher temp oils will just require more patience. Puritan's Pride Organic Flaxseed Oil, Cold-Pressed, Source of Vegetarian Omega 3-6-9, 16 Fluid Ounce, Pack of 1 - amazon.com 8.43 Shop Now Saturated vs. unsaturated fats All oils contain both saturated and unsaturated fats, but its the unsaturated fats that will more easily polymerize and bond to the molecules already present in your pan. Again, with enough heat and time, its hard to screw up cast iron seasoning no matter which oil you choose, but all things being equal, youll get better results with an oil with a higher makeup of unsaturated fats. Many people swear by the lard and bacon grease that their parents and grandparents used for seasoning, because those types of fats were widely and cheaply available in decades past. However, both of those oils have a high percentage of saturated fats compared to more modern cooking oils (which, pro-tip, is why they solidify at room temperature), so there are better options available. Safflower oil, flaxseed oil, grapeseed oil, and canola oil are all very low in saturated fats, and all would be great options for re-seasoning your pan. If you have one of them in your pantry, go ahead and use it! It wont even take more than a few tablespoons. If you need to buy an oil for this project, flaxseed has the lowest smoke point and will probably take the least time, but its not cheap. Safflower oil has a high smoke point of about 500 degrees, but would be a fine option if youre sure your oven can get hot enough. Grapeseed and canola oils both have smoke points in the low 400s, and canola oil will usually be the cheapest of the bunch. All four will give you great results, and should keep your pan slippery and rust-free for years to come, as long as you remember to clean it properly. | https://www.sfgate.com/shopping/article/What-s-the-best-oil-for-seasoning-cast-iron-16104154.php |
Whats different about Johnson & Johnsons vaccine that might explain its blood clot risk? | Scientists suspect its related to the way the vaccines are designed. All three of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized for use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration one from Pfizer and BioNTech, one from Moderna and one from Johnson & Johnson teach the immune system to recognize the coronavirus without exposing the body to the real thing. The vaccines pull this off by showing the immune system the spike proteins that stud the coronavirus surface. A spike protein on its own isnt dangerous. But since its foreign, the immune system will develop antibodies against it. Then, if a vaccinated person encounters an actual coronavirus, those antibodies will be ready to neutralize the spike proteins along with the rest of the virus particle theyre attached to. Advertisement Newsletter Get our free Coronavirus Today newsletter Sign up for the latest news, best stories and what they mean for you, plus answers to your questions. Enter email address Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Instead of injecting a person with a real-life spike protein, the vaccines deliver a recipe for making spike proteins inside the body. Human cells follow that recipe after immunization a process that requires one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna offerings. What really differentiates the J&J vaccine from the others is the vehicle it uses to deliver its genetic cargo. That vehicle is an adenovirus a type of virus that can cause cold-like symptoms. The one J&J uses has been genetically modified so that it cant copy itself and make people sick. AstraZenecas two-dose COVID-19 vaccine which is not authorized for use in the U.S. also employs an adenovirus. And it also has been linked to a rare condition that causes blood clots. Advertisement To some experts, that looks like more than a coincidence. Its plainly obvious to us already that what were seeing with [the Johnson & Johnson] vaccines is very similar to what were seeing with the AstraZeneca vaccine, said Dr. Peter Marks, the FDAs chief of drug evaluation. As scientists dig into the possible ways an adenovirus could trigger a biological process that ends in a life-threatening blood clot, they will study the patients who have wound up with a clot after receiving either vaccine, Marks added. Advertisement So far, that unlucky group includes seven of the roughly 7.5 million people in the U.S. who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and 44 of the people who received at least one of the 20.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered in Europe. Officials at the European Medicines Agency, the drug regulator there, strongly suspect the AstraZeneca vaccine is responsible for the blood clots. The EMA said, however, the benefits of the vaccine still outweighed the risks. (That assessment also applies to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which the agency authorized in March but hasnt yet put into widespread use.) Its too early for anyone to say with certainty that the blood clots experienced by those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were caused by the shots themselves. U.S. officials have recommended a pause in use of the vaccine while investigators dig into the problem. Advertisement Scientists do have some clues about how a vaccine that uses an adenovirus could wind up triggering a rare blood clotting disorder. Some of them believe the seven women may have suffered a condition called autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Usually, it happens because the immune system mistakenly attacks a patients blood platelets, the cells the body uses to form clots. Paradoxically, patients with the condition also develop dangerous blood clots in the brain, lungs, legs or abdomen. A study of 11 patients in Europe who developed blood clots after getting the AstraZeneca vaccine found that all of them had high levels of antiplatelet factor 4 antibodies a sign that they, too, might have had autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Safety monitors have not heard of any cases of blood clots in people with low platelet counts after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, which use mRNA technology instead of adenoviruses. The instructions for making the spike protein are encoded in messenger RNA and protected by a tiny ball of fat. Advertisement Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this report. | https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-04-15/how-could-johnson-johnson-vaccine-cause-blood-clots |
How Long Does Immunity To SARS-CoV-2 Last? | MIAMI, FLORIDA - APRIL 15: Larry Grier, a junior at Florida International University, receives a ... [+] Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine from Jason Rodriguez, a pharmacy student, at the Jackson Memorial Hospital on April 15, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Jackson Memorial Hospital began a vaccination initiative with all the colleges/universities in Miami-Dade County, in which all students will be able to get the vaccine, as long as they show a valid student ID and a license. Universities and colleges across the country will be deciding if they will mandate students returning to campus be vaccinated. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Getty Images A key unanswered question about Covid-19 is how long a person can expect to be immune after recovering from illness. Answering this question is crucial for understanding how extensive our vaccination programs must be to drive down transmission, planning for next year, and identifying long-term strategies for managing Covid-19. A new study suggests that the answer may be years, not months. To be clear, the study actually establishes that protective immunity from prior infection by SARS-CoV-2 lasts at least seven months. (Note: this is similar to what we currently know about immunity conferred by vaccination with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.) It does not, however, establish exactly how long that immunity lasts. At the end of this post, I explain how we can extrapolate from their findings to find a (speculative) duration of 4.7 to 8.4 years. The study followed 25,661 health care workers in the UK from June 18, 2020 to January 11, 2021. Of these workers 8,278 about one third of the total were known to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 either because they had antibodies to the virus or because they had received a positive PCR test. The remaining 17,383 participants were presumed not to have been previously infected. Altogether, participants were followed for 5,018,549 person days, including PCR tests every two weeks and antibody tests every month. The protective effect of prior infection was measured by looking at the different rates of infection (measured by a positive PCR test) in the group with prior infection compared to the group without. Specifically, for the group that had previously been infected, a participant was considered to be a possible reinfection if a person received two positive PCR tests more than 90 days apart or had no antibodies when they enrolled in the study, but was found to be PCR positive four or more weeks later. A participant was considered to be a probable reinfection only if there was very strong, quantitative serological data or genetic sequence data, which is the gold standard for documenting reinfection. In fact, only two probable reinfections were documented along with 153 possible reinfections for a total of 155 reinfections altogether. Importantly, some of the possible reinfections may actually have been chronic infections. Thus, the analysis, which is based on all 155 reinfections, represents an upper bound to the number of people who may have been reinfected. These 155 reinfections compare with 1,704 infections in the group not previously infected. Thus, the chance a previously infected person being reinfected was 155 out of 8278 (or 1 in 53) while 1,704 out of 17,383 (1 in 10) previously uninfected persons became infected during the study period. These crude numbers dont tell the whole story, however, mainly because when a person was originally infected or became reinfected during the study, they were no longer at risk, and because the groups differ in other, relatively minor ways. Thus, the authors used a statistical model to estimate the incidence rate ratio, which is a better measure of the relative risk of infection faced by a person who had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared with one who had not. I think the key finding of the study was that when all possible and probable reinfections were considered, the incidence of reinfection in the group that previously had been infected was reduced by an estimated 84.1% compared with the incidence of primary infection in the group that had not previously been infected. Recall that the combination of possible and probable reinfections is an upper bound, which means that this 84.1% is a lower bound. (Well, its a lower bound of sorts. I have not considered the confidence interval on this lower bound, a statistical measure of reliability, which in this case establishes that the lower bound is most likely between 81% and 87%.) So, to conclude, the study establishes that protective immunity from prior infection by SARS-CoV-2 is pretty robust, at least for seven months. It has not established how long that immunity lasts. However, we can make some rough calculations if were willing to go out on a limb and extrapolate. First, we know that not all people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 mount an effective antibody response. The fraction that fails to mount such a response is probably around 5% or 10%. I assume that this fraction of the previously infected cohort never actually developed any protective immunity in the first place. This is an idealization. Such people may have some partial immunity conferred by other immune mechanisms, but its reasonable as an approximation. Second, we assume that those people who did develop a protective immunity lost it at a constant rate. (This compares with, for instance, a situation where everyone who develops antibodies has complete immunity for a specific period of time and then loses it all at once.) Theres presently very little information about this part of the process, but again the assumption is reasonable for a first approximation. Given these assumptions, the rate of waning can be calculated from the formula: rate of waning = ln(protective effect/(1-fraction that fail))/-study duration From this study, the protective effect is 0.841, the fraction that fails is around 0.05 or 0.10, and the study duration is 207 days, which gives a waning rate of 0.000328 to 0.000589. Taking the inverse gives a theoretical average time until immunity is lost of 1699 to 3053 days or 4.7 to 8.4 years. Interestingly, this appears to be about double that of other coronaviruses that circulate in people. So all in all, this is good news. A long duration of natural immunity means that vaccination programs do not need to be sustained as intensely to drive down transmission, and lends some added flexibility to future planning and long-term management strategies for Covid-19. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2021/04/15/how-long-does-immunity-to-sars-cov-2-last/ |
Are Republicans really lecturing Democrats about packing the U.S. Supreme Court? | That kind of reverse psychology assumes Americans arent smart enough to know the trick. But hey, Republicans have nothing better to do than to try to fool people with all sorts of conspiracy theories, election fraud lies and blatant hypocrisy. Packing the court goes against everything we believe as Americans, GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a Tweet on Thursday. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was also fuming with fake judicial independence duplicity. Packing the court is an act of arrogant lawlessness. Those behind this effort spit in the face of judicial independence, Lee said on Twitter. McCarthy and Lee should ask their fellow Republican governor of our state, Doug Ducey, who packed the Arizona Supreme Court with his pals. Ducey expanded the court from five to seven courtesy of a 2016 law from the GOP controlled Legislature. This sudden burst of protecting judiciary independence comes just as the former president packed the U.S. Supreme Court with conservatives and local attempts to do the same in states like Georgia and Iowa. The Left and the liberal dark money groups that support them wont stop agitating to pack the Court, said in a tweet Carrie Severino, president of the right-leaning Judicial Crisis Network. Oh, please! Don't buy into this dishonesty But just in case their hypocrisy doesnt work, the Republicans are trying the ridiculous reverse psychology trick. They want to trick Americans into believing that expanding the high court from nine to 13 justices is a Godsend gift that will give them control of Congress in the 2022 midterm election. This is such a fantastic gift to the NRSC, tweeted Matt Whitlock, a former staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Just a fantastic turn of events. Its fantastic only as a chance to call out the Republicans dishonesty, because actually expanding the Supreme Court has little chance with a 50-50 Senate split. Another view:Try to pack the Supreme Court. It'll save the Republican Party Republicans are right when they say they are galvanizing and uniting around certain issues and shared values. But lets make it clear what that means for the rest of America. They like packing the courts themselves with their own pals but call it an assault on the judiciary when Democrats try to do the same. They spew election fraud falsehoods to sow distrust in democracy and pursue restrictive voting laws to make it harder for those who lean Democrat to cast a ballot. They defend and protect the America of Jim Crow laws to keep certain segments of the population on its side of the tracks. The fight for Americas heart and democracy is real. Its tough. Its long overdue. Elvia Daz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. Subscribe to get more opinions content. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2021/04/15/republicans-think-can-lecture-over-supreme-court-packing/7241315002/ |
Are the 49ers the Team to Beat in the NFC West? | I can tell you why the 49ers are the team to beat in the NFC West. But first, let me tell you why the other three teams aren't. I can tell you why the 49ers are the team to beat in the NFC West. But first, let me tell you why the other three teams aren't. 1. The Arizona Cardinals. Forget them. Their head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, is over his head. Hasn't proven he can win at any level of football -- college or pros. Last season, he went 8-8 -- not a winning season. He needs to win next season, or he could be on the hot seat, because he hasn't had a winning season yet. Too bad his best play involves five receivers running five matching curl routes. 2. The Seattle Seahawks. They're a very good team, but basically they're a quarterback who runs around a lot who's getting older and gets hit. Their wide receivers, D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Locket, are terrific. But the rest of the team is not. Their offensive line is terrible -- worse than the 49ers offensive line. So while they're still a very good team, they're not elite, and they seem to be getting slightly worse as time passes. 3. The Los Angeles Rams. Sure, they got Matthew Stafford. So now people think they're Super Bowl contenders. We'll see. Stafford is good, but he can't singlehandedly propel a franchise to a championship. Otherwise he would have done so in Detroit. Instead, his record was 74-90-1. Stafford needs help. And the Rams lose key players and assistant coaches every year. They're not a deep team. The 49ers are one hell of a team on both offense and defense. In terms of talent, they're the best team in the NFC West. They just need a starting quarterback who can stay healthy for an entire season. They should get one in two weeks. | https://www.si.com/nfl/49ers/news/are-the-san-francisco-49ers-the-team-to-beat-in-the-nfc-west |
When Love Is Optimized, Is It Still Love? | My frustration with shows that get wrapped up in hypothetical technology is that they seem to miss the forest for the trees. TV and film have largely ignored many of the real-life developments of recent years that even a decade ago might have seemed plenty dystopian: To spend so much time agonizing over how brain chips or soul uploading or a digital afterlife might affect relationships is to leave things such as Tinder, location services, the sex recession, and the dating gap relatively unexamined. And to speculate obsessively over advancements that dont yet exist is to gloss over the innovations that do, even when theres abundant reason to interrogate them. One of the things I appreciated about Forever, Amazons offbeat dramedy about a couple who find themselves bound together after death, was the otherwise very real conundrum at the core of its surreal plot: a marriage turned stale by time. More often, though, we see fantastical, paranoid stories about love and technology. Both 2013s Her and 2014s Ex Machina imagined sad-sack male loners losing their heart to beguiling female AIs, as if the most alarming thing humanoid robots could do would be to trick men into falling in love. Black Mirror has imagined technology that can replicate deceased loved ones from their social-media footprint, as well as tools that can blur out unwanted people from someones vision or rewind memories to provide proof of infidelity. The 2017 episode Hang the DJ placed a couple inside what seemed to be a hermetic world where the length of their relationship would be set at its beginning, only to reveal that they were a virtual version of a real couple using an algorithm to predict their compatibility. These scenarios are fascinating, but they rarely have any meaningful connection with or insight into real life and real love. Made for Love, at least, does. The series spins a madcap tale that contains a caustic kernel: Byron wants to implant chips in his and Hazels brains, to file-share Hazels soul, and gain permanent, irrevocable access to every thought, memory, and impulse shes ever had. Hes an overbearing partner taken to an improbable extreme. In its final two episodes, the show relaxes its frantic mania to let Hazel and Byron truly connect, and to explore where his need for such overwhelming control comes from. What are you afraid of? Hazel asks him. Being alone, he responds. His fear of isolation has led him to crave the reliability of a partner whos so governable, shes not quite human. The Girlfriend Experience echoes this theory of desire. Iris is as blank and unreadable as the shows protagonists have historically been, as robotic and preprogrammed in her interactions with men as any AI. But that is exactly what her customers want. Satisfaction, for them, is predicated on their specific needs being anticipated and met, and nothing being asked of them. In both series, characters want other people to act like computer programs, or like the sex doll (price: $6,000) that Hazels father happily turns into his companion. If, as these shows argue, what some humans truly want is total control over the object of their desire, then maybe we shouldnt be so anxious about technology designed to love and be loved. It might not be so dystopian if it can absorb that oppressive need for control and set the rest of us free. | https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/04/made-love-girlfriend-experience-and-limits-futuristic-love-stories/618607/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlantic+%28The+Atlantic+-+Master+Feed%29 |
Where is Ohio State in ESPNs newly released Football Power Index for 2021? | MMA Weekly Following a loss to Cris Cyborg in January that cost her the Bellator featherweight championship, and the onset of the coronavirus lockdowns, for former titleholder Julia Budd getting an opportunity to close out her 2020 against Jessy Miele at Bellator 244 last August was a big thing. Budd was able to pick up a unanimous decision victory over Miele and get herself back on track, continuing the trend of never having lost two fights in a row during her 11-year career. I felt like it was awesome that I was able to get back in there after my fight with Cyborg in early 2020, Budd told MMAWeekly.com. I was hoping to get in there even sooner so its awesome that Im back on one of the early (2021) Bellator cards back in there (following the win). I was happy but I really wanted the finish in that fight. I always want to even do better than I do, but I was proud of myself. In her constant journey to improve, Budd ran into an unexpected adjustment she had to make in training this past year. Im just constantly evolving and getting better in every aspect, said Budd. I train my wrestling. I train my ground. I train my striking. Im constantly evolving my skills so I can go in there and have better performances and look for those finishes earlier. Adjusting from five-round fights to three-round fights has been a little bit of adjustment, so its been nice getting training for three-round fights in. This Friday in Uncasville, Connecticut, Budd (14-3) will look to build a winning streak for herself when she faces Dayana Silva (9-5) in a preliminary 145-pound bout at Bellator 257. UFC champ Francis Ngannou and champion boxer Tyson Fury butt heads I was familiar with her before Bellator mentioned her, and after studying her and seeing what she does, I feel like my overall experience, my strength, and how well-rounded I am as a mixed martial artist is going to play into how Im going to get that win that night, Budd said of facing Silva. I respect her. I respect the team she comes from. Ive seen shes been doing MMA for longer than I have, but Im prepared and I know Im going to go out there and shine. Having gone through what she did in 2020, Budd is just looking to approach things one opportunity at a time as she seeks to work her way back into title contention this year. I think the last year has definitely taught me to take it one fight at a time, one day at a time, so this is the most important fight for me, and making sure I make a statement of who I am and why I was the champ for so long, said Budd. Im still super hungry and motivated and Im not going anywhere. | https://sports.yahoo.com/where-ohio-state-espn-newly-231300345.html?src=rss |
Why are these Kanye West sneakers valued at more than $1 million? | A significant piece of Grammys and sneaker history could be yours for a very hefty price. Valued at more than a record-breaking $1 million, the Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototype worn by rapper Kanye West at the 50th Grammy Awards is on sale this month at Sothebys auction house. These arent just any old pair of shoes. The first look at a top-secret collaboration between Nike and the rap mogul, Wests Air Yeezy 1 was the debut of what was to become his billion-dollar Yeezy fashion brand. And the shoes took the sneaker world by storm in 2008 ahead of a booming black market for luxury sneakers.. The Air Yeezy was an entirely new silhouette created for an artist rather than an athlete, and paved the way for many of the artist collaborations of today, Sothebys said in a press release for the auction. A company representative noted that the pair on sale was created exclusively for West. Advertisement Kanye West performing at the 2008 Grammy Awards, where he wore the Air Yeezy 1 sneaker prototypes. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times) The shoes are available for purchase via a private sale, in which prospective buyers submit their offers to the auction house. Theyll also be on display at an exhibition in Hong Kong from Friday until April 21. Ryan Chang, a sneaker collector and curator who previously owned the shoes, appreciates them for their cultural significance. The Air Yeezy Prototype is particularly special to me because it captured the cultural moment in 2008 so perfectly, he said in a statement. The 2008 Grammys were particularly momentous for West. He took home four awards (out of eight nominations), including rap album honors for 2007s Graduation. Advertisement Kanye West wore these Air Yeezy 1 prototypes at the 2008 Grammys. (Sothebys) Backed by Daft Punk, West performed a commanding rendition of his hit Stronger at the ceremony before transitioning to an emotional version of Hey Mama, the song he wrote for his mother, who had died three months prior. The prototypes West wore for the performance come in a soft black leather, each shoe adorned with Nikes swoosh and the forefoot strap that would become archetypal of Yeezy sneaker design. The Size 12 shoes up for auction also have bright pink medallions that werent worn during the show. Wests Yeezy prototypes are poised to become the most expensive sneaker sale by the auction house. That record was formerly set by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s worn by Michael Jordan himself, which sold for $615,000 last year. Advertisement The Air Yeezy 1 was born out of Wests creative partnership with Nike that went on to become notably contentious, ending once the musician struck a deal with Adidas in 2013. Not many collectors can say they own a pair of Yeezy sneakers from a collaborator that West would go on to diss in his 2016 song Facts. Whether you buy into the hype, the shoe has long been been part of footwear history. Its just kind of inspiring, crazy, cool to see that this type of hunger for sneakers still exists, fashion designer Virgil Abloh said in a 2009 interview about the shoes release. | https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-04-15/kanye-west-air-yeezy-sneakers-sothebys |
Why did Prince Andrew think he should go to the funeral as an Admiral? | Prince Andrew and Prince Philip, pictured here at the Epsom Derby in 2016, were said to be close - Getty When Prince Andrew suddenly re-appeared in public last weekend, giving an interview outside the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor, the public could understand his grief at losing a father. Yet his appearance also raised an unfortunate question mark. It was 512 days after having last spoken publicly, and it seemed that on Sunday the Duke of York had returned to the frontline of the monarchy and was speaking on its behalf. Within a day an unceremonious controversy erupted. Prince Andrew had reportedly demanded to wear the uniform of an Admiral at his fathers funeral on Saturday and had gone so far as instructing his tailor to style it with the distinctive three rows of lace and four stars, crossed baton and sword of that rank. The prince was, like his father, tested in war no doubt a unique bond and a source of pride for the Duke of Edinburgh. As the only one of the generation of royals younger than his father to serve in battle, Prince Andrew certainly deserved to wear a uniform, as Prince Philip did his as honorary Admiral of the Fleet, the navys highest rank. But his current rank is Vice-Admiral, not Admiral. Prince Andrew and Prince Philip wore their military uniforms to the National Service Of Thanksgiving and Remembrance in 2005 - Getty Despite what you might believe from watching the latest series of The Crown, it was Prince Andrew who was likeliest the child closest to his father. Prince Philip had named him after his own father, and Prince Andrew was his first son to receive his surname, Windsor-Mountbatten, a long-fought battle by the Duke of Edinburgh. When he was born, Prince Philip is said to have bounded up the stairs to tell Princess Anne and the Queen Mother. They were twins separated in space. Both confident, Prince Philips mother Princess Alice recognised in both how they would hunch their shoulders if perplexed or excited. The family repeated about both: sometimes naughty, never nasty. The Duke once explained a swollen eye with a broad smile as That was the boss, and everyone thought he meant the Queen, but it was Prince Andrew, with whom he had been sparring. Story continues They shared the same ribald officers humour and Prince Philip was the only one to whom Prince Andrew would ever listen. Once while the family was watching Coronation Street, the Duke of York exclaimed about Bet Lynch: Oh God, look at all those common people. Prince Philip clipped his ear and silenced his son by saying: If it wasnt for people like that, you would not be sitting here. Of Fergie, he boyishly gave Prince Andrew his unvarnished opinion: I think shell be a great asset. For one thing, she is capable of becoming self-employed. And at the end of active navy service, Philip gave Andrew a tongue-lashing for being selfish and lazy. For 10 years, the Duke of York would become a special UK envoy for international trade; Prince Charles could only abandon all hope to reign in his younger brother. Even so, it wasnt clear why Prince Andrew ever thought he should go to the funeral as an Admiral. The Duke of Yorks royal duties are currently in animated suspension and there was the fact that he is currently merely a Vice-Admiral. In a policy adopted by the navy in 2009, the duke had received automatic promotions every five years, in line with peers who are still serving. His last serving rank in the navy was Lieutenant-Commander, but when retired from active service in 2001 he was promoted to Commander. Later, he was made an Honorary Captain in 2005, thereafter automatically Rear Admiral in 2010 and Vice Admiral in 2015. His 60th on February 19 last year would have been the occasion for the prince becoming an Admiral after the passing of another five years. However, on February 7, he asked the navy in a public statement if this promotion might be deterred until he returned to public duty. The request was a direct consequence of fallout around the world following the BBC Newsnight interview the prince had given a few months earlier to Emily Maitlis, on the subject of his relations with the felon billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The day after the interview, he had also asked the Queen if he may step back from official duties, which started the princes time in the wilderness of Windsor Park. Not unreasonably, on Sunday the prince may have thought that the moment of his return to public duty had come, when he expressed the feelings of the Royal family. It was left to the Queen in mourning delicately to unruffle feathers in her family by apparently deciding that no uniforms would be worn at the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. This also side-stepped a wider debate that was ranging on why Prince Harry wouldnt be in uniform. Understandably, given the situation, her decision didnt address the question of whether Andrews relationship with Britain had been reset in any meaningful way according to the palace. If this were the case, several obstacles lay ahead. The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, a close friend from his early 20s, is due to start in July in relation to Jeffrey Epstein and the prince is a character in the background. Moreover, however sympathetic the British public may feel in this period of mourning towards the royal family, it is also keenly aware that the prince has his own unsolved legal problems. Last June, the US President and the US Attorney General confirmed that the US Department of Justice had made a formal request under the UK-US Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty for access to the prince concerning Epstein. It is not clear yet whether he and the British Government have dealt with the USs inquiries, but late last year the dukes legal team insisted Prince Andrew had made three offers to give a witness statement. Prince Philip had aided his son with advice back in 2011, at the beginning of the long-running saga. Although the Duke of Edinburgh was well known for his gaffes, he knew when to hold his tongue. While Prince Philip happily admitted putting his foot in his mouth, Prince Andrew seems to be eager to shoot himself in the foot repeatedly, and without realising it. It can sometimes appear as if the prince never learns and, unlike the Habsburgs, remembers little. For 513 days, the prince was doing well in not making new waves. After a long and strongly worded missive of his newly appointed lawyers on June 7 last year, he kept a more dignified silence, folded his website and stopped his Twitter feed a minimum of gossipy sources close to prince were made available to the media and he wasnt in the photographs of his daughters wedding or Christmas service. Nigel Cawthorne is author of I Know I Am Rude (Gibson Square, 9.99). Buy now for 8.99 at books.telegraph.co.uk or call 0844 871 1514 | https://news.yahoo.com/why-did-prince-andrew-think-135523057.html |
How Does USC Men's Basketball NCAA Penalties Affect The Program? | USC men's basketball will be on two years of probation following the NCAA's completion of a bribery scandal from a former assistant coach. News broke on Thursday that USC Mens Basketball received NCAA sanctions following former associate head coach Tony Bland's violation of NCAA ethical conduct rules. The former assistant coach violated the NCAA ethical conduct rules when he accepted a bribe to steer players to a business management company. Luckily for coach Andy Enfield, a majority of the punishment that the Trojans endured from this case already occurred to the team over the last few years. According to the NCAA, The committee used the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to prescribe the following measures: Two years of probation. A $5,000 fine plus 1% of the mens basketball program budget. A reduction of mens basketball scholarships by a total of two during the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university). A reduction of mens basketball official visits to 20 during the 2018-19/2019-20 rolling two-year period (self-imposed by the university). A reduction in the number of mens basketball recruiting person days by 20 during the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university). So let's dive in to see how the NCAA infractions will affect USC's program. First and foremost, USC will be on a two-year probation period. The probation runs until April 14, 2023 and does not include a postseason ban. This is important because a postseason ban could potentially scare future transfers and recruits away from the program due to the team being under tight watch. To add, the bad publicity of having a recent scandal within the organization can a slight turnoff for recruits and their families. Losing money from the basketball team's budget doesn't help either, as the Trojans will have to give 1%, of their earnings over to the NCAA. Luckily for Southern California's program, the Trojans already served their self-imposed punishments. This included reducing the total number of scholarships they were awarded in 2018-19 by two; reducing official visits to 20 during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 rolling two-year period, and reducing the number of recruiting days by 20 in 2018-19. Coming off of an Elite Eight appearance, the NCAA's penalties shouldn't affect USC's program all too much, especially since they were able to avoid any major sanctions. ----- You may also like: [Scouting Report Details Concerns on USC CB ahead of NFL Draft] [USC Defender Reveals 'Battling a Form' of Depression] [USC Basketball Receives NCAA Sanctions] ----- Be sure to stay locked into AllTrojans all the time! Follow Austin Grad on Twitter: @AustGrad Follow AllTrojans on Twitter: @SI_AllTrojans Like and follow AllTrojans on Facebook For more USC news visit www.alltrojans.com. | https://www.si.com/college/usc/basketball/usc-ncaa-penalties-scandal-basketball |
What's Going on With the Future of Game of Thrones? | Watch : Kit Harington Reveals Fondest "Game of Thrones" Memory Game of Thrones may be over, but the world of Westeros will never truly leave us. On Wednesday, April 14exactly two years after the final season premiered and three days before the 10th anniversary of the series premierethe Game of Thrones Twitter account sent fans into a tailspin when it tweeted, "Winter is coming." Now, that phrase can mean a lot of things to a GoT fan. It's the title of the first episode ever, but it's also the Stark family motto. It's also a thing multiple characters say throughout the series, and it has become the easiest way to say that Game of Thrones or something related to it is on its way. It can also just mean that winter is literally coming, though on Game of Thrones, "winter" has a meaning that's a whole lot darker than just less sunlight and more snow. It wouldn't be truly weird for the Game of Thrones Twitter account to tweet "Winter is coming" just whenever it feels like tweeting something, but considering the fact that it is April, there's an anniversary afoot, and it's only about to be Winter in Australia, it feels more likely that something bigger is on the horizon. | https://www.eonline.com/news/1259340/what-s-going-on-with-the-future-of-game-of-thrones |
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